by Dan Glover
Her strength returned quickly.
"Just tell me if you want me to drive, Ginger."
"Yes, mother."
Mindy insisted on going with them.
Ginger was in and out of consciousness for two days while Kāne, Mindy, and Lauren maintained a bedside vigil. She awakened on the second day with a raging thirst, an overwhelming hunger, and Joshua at her breast.
"Mom... is that you?"
The room was dark, illuminated only by a full moon slicing through the window curtains.
"Yes, sweetie... I am right here. Can I get you something?"
"What are you doing here?"
Ginger hated how her mother was riding along with them to their new home. She hadn’t spoken to the woman in fifty years and she wasn’t about to let the woman coddle her now.
"Kāne came to my apartment. He told me how you were having problems giving birth. You don’t remember of course but I had the same trouble with you when you were born. So I rushed over with him."
"Where is my husband?"
"He's sleeping right over there on the sofa, sweetie. Shall I wake him?"
"No... let him sleep. Please bring me a little something to eat."
"I'll be right back, sweetie. Are you okay with the baby?"
"Yes, mother... I am fine with my own son."
Ginger could not help but feel irritated with her mother. While she was growing up, Mindy stayed drunk from the time she got out of bed until the time she passed out. From the first day she learned to walk Ginger had to fend for herself. Luckily, other members of the People felt sorry for the scrawny red-headed little girl in rags and so they fed her and gave her clothes to wear.
Mindy never bothered sending Ginger to the school which Lady Natalia had instituted. Instead, Ginger learned to read and write by mimicking the sounds and letters she found on an old computer terminal which ceased to work when she turned ten. From then on, her education consisted of the library and the boys who took quick advantage of her situation.
When she was twelve years old Ginger came home one night to find an empty apartment where she stayed with her mother. She waited a day, a week, and then a month. Mother never returned. Later she learned how Mindy had taken a room on the sixth floor of the castle with one of the daughters of Drummond where they drank themselves into unconsciousness every night.
From that day onward, Ginger wondered what was so extremely wrong with her that her own mother would not stay by her side. When she looked into a mirror she saw a hideous beast with penny red hair sprouting up in all directions and a lumpy chest that failed to fill out any shirt she tried to wear. She remembered taking a vase once filled with flowers and shattering the mirror in a fit of depression and from that day on never ventured a look into another.
"I'll come home with you and Kāne, Ginger. You'll need help for the first month or so."
Ginger wanted to shout and go into a rant at her mother but before she could, Kāne was thanking Mindy and making plans to pick up the clothing she would require for the visit. She could not help but notice how her mother's eyes seemed to take on a particular sparkle whenever Kāne was in the room and what's more she could not help but notice her husband lapped up the attention.
"Why did you tell her that she could come home with us?"
Ginger was pissed. She had told Kāne all about how she had grown up alone and abused on account of her mother being an alcoholic. She might as well have been talking to a wall for all her husband seemed to care.
"She's your mother, darling Ginger. I thought you might need help."
Kāne seemed to believe that her mother was much like his. But Lauren was nothing like Mindy. Lauren was like a god while Mindy was a malignant growth... a tumor that ought to have been excised a hundred years ago.
Still, it was true that Mindy had been instrumental in saving her life as well as the life of her son. From what Kāne and mother Lauren told her, if Mindy had not arrived when she did, the baby would most certainly have died along with his mother.
Ginger appreciated what Mindy had done but that didn’t excuse the fact that the woman had been a horrible parent. She didn’t want her son to know his grandmother and the type of person she was. She knew with a certainty that if Mindy had half a chance, she would insinuate herself into the little family only to end up tearing it apart.
"But I have you, my sweet husband. I don't want that bitch coming home with us. You have no idea what she put me through while I was growing up."
Ginger didn’t want to tell Kāne how she felt about Mindy, especially seeing how well he got on with his mother. She felt guilty for putting the woman down yet it was impossible to forget growing up the way she was forced into doing.
She hated herself and how she didn't want their son to know his own grandmother. She didn’t even want to think about the sparks she thought she might have seen flying between her husband and her mother. It wasn’t something she would ever accuse Kāne of doing yet she had no doubts about the woman she once called mother.
"I'm sorry, sweet Ginger... I should have let you make the decision. If you don’t want your mother to come home with us, I understand. I will tell her that we don’t have the room."
"We live in a castle. She knows that."
"Well, then I'll just tell her she can't come with us, period. All that matters to me is your happiness, my love. I honestly thought you'd welcome your mother's company."
"I should have told you more about my family, Kāne. My father was a drunk who ran off from Orchardton Hall and died. My mother thinks of no one but herself."
"She saved your life, darling Ginger. Mother Lauren couldn’t turn the baby. Mindy not only helped to birth Joshua but she gave you the blood you needed to survive."
"You're kidding me, right?"
"No, sweetie... you lost so much blood we thought you were dead. You didn’t have a pulse. We could barely detect a heart beat. Your mother set up the equipment to give you a transfusion and told us to take all the blood we needed from her to save you. She was willing to sacrifice herself."
"I haven’t seen her in fifty years, my darling Kāne. I guess I've grown used to hating her... I always thought she was a horrible mother but I suppose she must have done the best she could. Perhaps she's changed. Is she still drinking?"
"I haven’t noticed any alcohol on her breath, sweet Ginger. She seems sober."
"Maybe we should go ahead and let her come with us. Maybe she really has cleaned up her life."
Regret furrowed her brow as soon as the words were spoken but she couldn’t take them back.
Chapter 66—Marooned
"What happened to my mother?"
Ena's voice startled Amanda. She hadn’t seen her emerge from the ocean. All her attention was focused upon saving Sileas. Ena knelt next to her mother touching her like a child might.
"She must have been injured when the Liberty rolled over. Your father found her floating in the submerged cabin and brought her to the surface."
"Is she going to be okay, Amanda?"
"I'm doing all I can with what I have here to work with. She's hurt pretty badly."
"What can I do to help, father?"
"Please look about and gather any wood you can find, precious Ena. We'll need a fire. We also need a source of fresh water. I'm going to swim back to the Liberty to see what I can salvage."
Father and daughter went off in different directions leaving Amanda to tend Sileas. She had no experience with an injury this severe. The skull was fractured leaving a deep depression in the right temple.
Amanda was unwilling to attempt to excise the circle of bone with the simple medical instruments in her bag. She knew she could cause more damage than by just leaving it alone yet at the same time she worried about blood clots forming on the brain and exerting pressure.
She stood to stretch her legs. Looking about her she couldn't determine the size of the island or if they might even be on part of the mainland. She wondered if the Liberty could be
righted and how extensive the damage might be.
Maon returned first with a load of soggy blankets and clothing and a jug of water. After squeezing the excess water from them he hung blankets in the sun to dry over the low brush that grew thick along the breakwater before plunging back into the sea.
Ena returned shortly after Maon set out on his third trip to the Liberty.
"I piled wood behind the breakwater. When the tide comes in we'll have to move back off the beach. How is she doing, Amanda?"
"She's the same. Were you able to find fresh water?"
"There's a spring farther inland."
"Can you see if we are on an island, darling Ena?"
"I can't tell. If this is an island, it's a big one. I walked quite a ways until I found the spring. Isn't my father back yet?"
"He's been here twice. He just left to go back to the Liberty."
"Do you think I should go help him, Amanda?"
"I need your help to move your mother farther inland. Let's use one of those blankets. We'll lay it beside her and roll her onto it so we can carry her."
Working together they managed to bring Sileas off the beach to higher ground. Ena guided them to where she piled the firewood and then she left to go find her father. The sun was lowering itself into the palm trees when Amanda realized they have no means of lighting a fire.
"Oh, I hope they remember to bring a lighter, my precious Sileas. Otherwise we will not have a fire tonight. It's funny but it is already getting chilly."
She had read that people in a coma could sometimes hear voices even while they were unconscious and how it helped to bring them to waking. Amanda pulled the edges of the blanket around Sileas to help keep her warm as a sea-scented breeze washed over her redolent of the coming night. About the time stars begin poking holes in the sky, Maon and Ena appeared out of the gathering gloom laden with sacks.
"Did you remember to bring a lighter?"
Maon smiled as he produces a small metal box bronze in color.
"This will work. It's my tinder box. It's sealed so it should stay dry."
As he began breaking large branches into smaller ones, Ena unpacked their dinner laying out jerked turkey still sealed in baggies and fresh apples from Orchardton Hall. As soon as Maon had the fire going, they ate. Amanda didn’t realize how famished she was; she couldn't remember the last time she ate anything.
Ena was quiet tonight—too quiet. Amanda sensed something was bothering her. It wasn’t long before she found out what it was. They were gathered around Sileas sitting close to the fire to make sure the wounded woman stayed warm through the night.
"How could you just leave me in the middle of the ocean?"
Ena seemed ready to burst into tears. Maon went to her meaning to hug her but she yanked away from him. Though Amanda wanted to explain what had happened, she couldn’t seem to find her voice. What she had done was inexcusable yet at the time there had been no choice.
"You all swam to shore and left me alone. I can't believe it."
"Your mother was badly injured, Ena. We had to make a choice. Amanda knows enough about medicine to save her life and I had to help her get your mother to shore. I fully intended to return for you."
"I thought we were friends, Amanda."
"Before you go blaming her for this, you should know she saved your life. She pulled you out of that hold and brought you to the surface, Ena. I literally had to force her to leave you there."
"How badly is mom hurt?"
"She has a fractured skull."
"Mom?"
"She's in a coma, darling Ena. I'm so sorry. But talk to her... she may well be able to hear you. The sound of your voice might aid her recovery."
"Can you do anything for her, my darling Amanda?"
Hearing Ena address her in her old endearing way loosened Amanda's tongue and the words poured forth as if pent up for too long a time.
"I've done all I can. Your father had to carry Sileas and I had to bring my medical bag. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to swim to shore with you in my arms or I would have. We were really worried about leaving you there, sweet Ena. I'm sorry but we didn’t know what else to do."
"Did you really pull me out of the hold, precious Amanda?"
"When I woke up I was trapped inside the ship. I knew we had capsized but you and Sileas were gone. I thought you were both dead. The air pocket I was in started to disappear so I swam out. That's when I found you floating at the bottom of the hold. You really scared me. I thought you might be dead."
"Thank you, my lovely Amanda."
"For what, my lovely Ena?"
"For saving my life... I might well have died down there. I'm sorry I accused you of leaving me."
When the girl sat down beside her Amanda thought it was to take a closer look at her mother. Instead, Ena put a gentle finger to Amanda's cheek, turned her face towards her own, and kissed her full on the mouth.
Chapter 67—Pull of the Lake
"What happens when we run out of food?"
Natalia loved Chester as much as the rest of the crew but the enormous cat with a voracious appetite devoured an entire cow in one sitting. Sailing down the eastern seaboard they were able to go ashore to procure food but once they hit the open sea they would have to rely upon what they carried or fish they caught.
He was rumbling like a locomotive as he sunned upon the forecastle.
"Does he seem smaller to you, my darling Natalia?"
"Actually... now that you mention it, sweet Lily, he does look as if he is shrinking. I wondered if perhaps it was only me who thought so. Do you think he isn't getting enough to eat?"
"Perhaps my presence is having an affect upon his size. He really is shrinking. See how he always lays in the same spot? His hair was so bristly it wore the finish off the deck. Look at the circle around him... see how it seems to be growing as he shrinks? And his fur is much softer now."
Natalia walked over to where Chester was laying. His ears pricked up. He made the weird squeaking noise he made when greeting someone, stretched his enormous legs, flexed his claws, and blinked open his eyes. She noticed they were no longer steel gray ball bearings swimming in a liquid black but rather they'd turned green with black slits for pupils... cat's eyes once more.
Chester rolled onto his back with his belly in the air while Natalia reached up and scratched him between his eyes and under his chin. She got the distinct feeling that he'd never hurt any of them even if he began to starve.
"Looks like you've made a friend, sweet Natalia."
"It's strange, darling Lily, but I can't help but believe Chester here knows exactly what we're saying. I think he is trying to reassure us that we are completely safe around him."
"He's changing back into a regular-size tiger. See how his fangs are retracting?"
"Perhaps that means he will no longer eat so much, lovely Lily."
"Have you tried the short wave radio lately, my sweet Natalia?"
"I've given up. I'm sorry, my precious Lily. I've been negligent."
"Perhaps punishment is in order, my wonderful Natalia."
"Hush... you might give Chester ideas."
"Forgive my, my darling Natalia, and you too, precious Chester."
Lily laughed as she rose from her chair. As she walked into the control room Natalia followed her with eyes full of longing. Though she knew Lily was going to give the short wave radio a try Natalia desired the touch of her lover.
Throughout the ordeal at Cornell they stayed on the alert never finding time for one another. During their trip down the eastern seaboard there were never-ending tasks which consumed time like Chester consumed cows.
Now Nate and Kirk were planning on laying over in the Bahamas for supplies and for a bit of shore leave though Natalia had her reservations about the stopover. They'd been away from home for so long all she wanted was sleep in her own bed again.
Something else had been nagging at her of late too though she couldn’t quite put what she was feeling in
to words. It was more of a dull ache deep inside of her, especially when she tried to lie down at night to sleep.
At first she told herself she missed Lauren—and she did—but it was more than that. She wasn’t where she belonged. Rather than doing what she was intended to do, she was doing what everyone else wanted.
Now, she was regretting ever having come along on this trip. The men seemed intent upon making all the decisions without so much as consulting the women aboard the Nautilus. It was as if they were feeding off each other's ego, challenging the old status quo set in place a century ago.
Theirs had always been a matriarchal system. The Ladies of the Lake were the de facto leaders and Natalia by her close proximity to them had always been accorded the same respect.
She wasn’t sure if it was part of Nate's newly found self assuredness or whether the discovery of the three men in old New York City had something to do with it, but suddenly Nate and Kirk were paying little more than lip service to the women, rarely asking for their advice and never heeding it when it was offered.
"I don’t understand why we are stopping, sweet Lily... I thought once we got free of old New York City that we'd sail straight home."
"When I asked Nate why he deemed it necessary to set anchor in the old Caribbean he wouldn’t answer me. I think he is attempting to reassert his masculinity. After his bout of dementia, he may feel we've been treating him like a child instead of the man that he is."
"Nate never acted like that before, darling Lily."
"Yes, you're right, sweet Natalia. I think this is only a phase he's going through... perhaps it is a sort of rebound effect that he's feeling. Soon he'll realize what he is doing and go back to being his old self again."
"I miss our castle and our sweet Lauren."
"I dream of her each night, my darling Natalia. Do you as well?"
She wanted to lie, to tell Lily that she did dream of Lauren. But it wasn’t so and she knew her Lady would see through the falsehood and be hurt because of it. During all their days together, Natalia had never practiced any form of deception with her lovers and she wasn’t going to start now.