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<sup><h6>Get into the mind of Niko, find what is his ideal - as you did with me for Diana. I’m ready now, Ordinx, shall we go?”</h6></sup>
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<p><center><a href="https://steemit.com/sfandf-fiction/@arthur.grafo4/little-cherine-book-02-bpost026">Previous Post 026</a></center></p>
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<p><h3><center>961</center></h3></p>
<p>I decided to visit our World, see if the <i><b>I</b></i> is still as pigheaded.</p>
<p><i><b>I</b></i> welcomed the Robert part. <i><b>I</b></i> told him of what <i><b>I</b></i> have learnt from watching the other parts that have been joining me. <i><b>I</b></i> explained that he was wrong to think that <i><b>I</b></i>, his <i><b>I</b></i>, is stubborn. <i><b>I</b></i> am only what he and the girls had made me to be. <i><b>I</b></i> mentioned to him that <i><b>I</b></i> had noticed something that does not come from any of my parts: The Sparklers dance. </p>
<p>He became excited, but <i><b>I</b></i> had nothing further to tell him. He thanked me. He gave all of his memories to date and <i><b>I</b></i> was amazed at all of it. My Robert part has grown since our last fight.</p>
<p>He was called and <i><b>I</b></i> let him go.</p>
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<p>I refused to go into the bedroom to see the babies until Niko had seen them. The girls laughed at my fears. “Silly, there is no soul in them, you will not love them. They will come out just now anyway - unless you do not want to see your friends again. Robert, we forgot that we will need passports for them.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think so. With so many of us checking in, surely we can see to it that they do not notice an extra two.”</p>
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<p>The door opened and the twins came out and behind them came the two girls. The first thing that hit me was the resemblance to Diana. The second is that they look as if they are related, but are quite different. If they are the ideal for Niko, he has damn good taste. They are both stunners.</p>
<p>“Robert we have decided it is not necessary for us to change them to males. To tell you the truth we dare not, it would feel like sacrilege. They are miracles and their creation is still not to be believed. The girls created them within such a short time!!”</p>
<p>“Ordinx I can understand your amazement. I am pleased that Solomon is not enthusing to the same degree. Solomon, you gave me the information, but you also gave me the history of a people that spans such a vast period of time that I could not assimilate it all. I have now understood something new.</p>
<p>Cherine, remember when we danced and the Sparklers came and mimicked us? They were not only mimicking us. We just were not looking closely enough. They were dancing their own dance. Sparklers dance. Is it for the same reason we do Solomon?”</p>
<p>“No. That is what confused us. We dance so as to join and create our offspring. When two dance and join they give a part of themselves and a new Sparkler is born made of both.”</p>
<p>“Your original forms were of the material world, even if they did not live on material worlds. After the explosion that killed off your people, you became the Sparklers as we know you today. How can spirits, souls or energy forms create new lives?”</p>
<p>“The differences between our previous forms and those we hold now are very slight. The way we procreate now is the way we did then. It still happens that out of so many millions being created, a handful are created in the old form.</p>
<p>Those we show special care for, as they need to be assisted to feed. You may have noticed them. Their colour is slightly different, more yellow than green. They are the ones we train. They are always Thinkers.”</p>
<p>“But…but then you are saying your Thinkers have a material form and they can exist in the void!” Ordinx seemed equally stunned by this revelation.</p>
<p>“This world we are on, these bodies, they are all within the void. I think you misunderstand our original forms. They did not consist of material as you know it; there were a small number of energy levels that were stripped from us by the explosion. However, all Sparklers contain and have contained in all generations a few molecules of matter within our energy forms.”</p>
<p>“Our scientists believe that matter is made of energy. I think they call matter cold energy. This is too huge a concept to discuss within the time we have now. I have one question I need to ask. The Thinkers, do they also dance and procreate; if so, do they do so amongst themselves only?”</p>
<p>“That is more than one question, but the answer is one. No, we do not procreate. Not since the void became our home. Only the green ones do.”</p>
<p>“I think that was to be understood by your comment that they need assistance to feed themselves. I suppose they would need to find a cloud with the same conditions of your earlier existence.”</p>
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<p><h3><center>962</center></h3></p>
<p>“We have searched many nebulae. There is no such cloud. Of the many clouds that are formed, for some reason we do not understand, the conditions are not the same as they were in our home cloud. Sometimes, for brief moments, until they are disturbed and torn apart by the surrounding energies, explosions and effects of changing gravities, a small area forms that resembles our cloud. They never seems to last long enough for us to travel to them and for the Thinkers to adjust enough for procreating.”</p>
<p>I spoke without thinking first, excited by my idea, “Create a cloud within your minds, with all the requirements you have. I would suggest that if you know what led to the explosion and can exclude any one of the factors or perhaps add another factor for stability, do so. When you are ready, let us see if Meli can understand your visualisation and create it. After all, it is but another type of world.”</p>
<p>Solomon sagged and I grabbed, leading him to a chair.</p>
<p>“I cannot communicate that to the other Thinkers! If I do and the Lady Melina cannot create such a world for us, the disappointment would cause them all to die.”</p>
<p>“Solomon I could not have kept hidden the possibility, but it is only a small possibility. Think of it as a game. Start a game, so as to keep the origins of your people alive forever, do a pretend situation where your Thinkers try to look for stabilisers, as an exercise to see if your Thinkers are capable of creating and solving a theoretical problem that the olden Thinkers could not or did not. You could claim that your visit here, seeing a race that is young and evolving made you aware of the need for every race to continue evolving. Something like that within your own terms of reference, would it work?”</p>
<p>“Our Thinkers consider games as being only for the green ones.”</p>
<p>I grinned. “Maybe you should introduce a few of our games then. How about a three dimensional game of chess. It teaches one to think ahead and to create strategies. In our war you did not use any strategy at all. You just blindly kept on smashing yourselves into a wall. That was what made many of us think of you as some sort of mindless insects.”</p>
<p>“The majority of us are close to becoming that already. Even the green Sparklers are capable of becoming Thinkers to a certain extent. Why are you doing this Robert? If you waken us, teach us to use strategy and we ever become enemies, you could be the cause of your people losing the war.”</p>
<p>“I would rather have strong intelligent friends than worry about a possible war. If you develop a protector, then I will worry.” I added with a grin.</p>
<p>“Perhaps.”</p>
<p>In a cheeky voice, Cherine said, “It would not be enough Solly, you would also need to develop a Robert. Every time he does something crazy, it would spoil your strategy.”</p>
<p>“Cherine! You do not call Solomon Solly.”</p>
<p>“It is a diminutive used in affection?”</p>
<p>“It is Solly, like the girls call me Cher - only Robert insists on calling me Cherine.”</p>
<p>Ordinx said, “A diminutive then may be considered an honour.”</p>
<p>“Careful Ordinx, otherwise they’ll start calling you Inx or Dinx.”</p>
<p><i>*Meli, do you think you could create a world for them?* </i></p>
<p><i>*You were right Robbie, if they can show it to me and I can imagine it, I think I can - but it will have to be stable, without any large explosions and suns forming.*</i></p>
<p>“Solomon. In your game, add a few challenges of the kind that would stimulate your people. Do not create an ideal world where they can live without effort. You could use the cloud Meli creates for you to send Sparklers, Thinkers and not, for them to grow and then return to the void.”</p>
<p>“Ordinx, Robert. I have gone beyond the point where it is necessary for me to stay. You have already proven yourself a friend of the Sparklers. I wish to emulate a custom of your world and will ask that our people call you a Thinker of the Sparklers.”</p>
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<p><h3><center>963</center></h3></p>
<p>Cherine looked grim. “Solly, if you do that, then you are going to keep taking him away to think with you - and you take hundreds of years to think about every problem!”</p>
<p>“That might give you time to start missing me now and then.”</p>
<p>My note of levity was wasted as she earnestly replied, “I miss you every time you are out of my sight, even for five minutes.”</p>
<p>I picked Cherine up, hugging her tightly. “Sometimes I wish it was possible for me to love you more.”</p>
<p>“I have a crazy friend and daddy who says that if you can wish it, you can do it.”</p>
<p>“<i>Thanks a lot Sam!! </i>With friends like you who needs enemies?”</p>
<p>“You do, for the challenge.” The girls were delighted to hear Solomon tease me. I foresaw this might be a development I could end up regretting.</p>
<p>Cherine whispered in my ear, “You already love me too much. When I love you as much, then you can try to love me more.” I nearly answered with the obvious question, but she had walked into that one on purpose in her need to make me feel good. All I did was hold my little big-hearted treasure even tighter.</p>
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<p>“Solomon, I hope your statement does not mean you intend leaving us. I may be selfish, but I have been enjoying having you with us.”</p>
<p>“I only said it was no longer necessary. As a friend I would also like to stay. Watching you interact with your loved ones, seeing how they outsmart you so often, it is a pleasure to watch and learn from them. It also makes me grateful that they are not the leaders. It is obvious that the Thinkers among you have decided to leave the leadership to you for the purpose of stimulating your mind with challenges in the hopes of forcing growth upon you.”</p>
<p>My loves cheered and clapped so I turned to Ordinx. “Ordinx, don’t you also start.”</p>
<p>“I would not Robert. Your race is far too young, our jokes would not be understood by you. If you had been Chinese you might have at least understood a little more of the finer nuances that make a good joke.”</p>
<p>“You know why they are both teasing you now Robert?” I saw the glint in Cherine’s eye, but chanced it anyway and nodded I did not know. “By having sex with both of them you have made them more human, I mean, like us girls.”</p>
<p>“And Ordinx dares say our jokes and teasing have no depth. I think that is one of your finest Cherry baby. You take a dig at them and at the same time one at me, implying I am not ‘human’ because I am not a girl. We are all forgetting the two new bodies. They must eat, shall we go to our local taverna?”</p>
<p>They put the paper tablecloths, the owner running over with the wine he knows I prefer, followed by two waiters carrying cold drinks for the girls. We could all see the curious looks of the waiters as they saw our two new girls. Cherine got up and ran off to the entrance waving.</p>
<p>We soon had the Tasso family and Maria with her family. Her daughter Nafsika is a very sweet delicate looking girl of about thirteen. Her oval face almost hidden in her rich long hair did not hide two enormous eyes and a mouth that seemed too large, until she smiled. No doubt that she modelled herself on whatever her father loves about her mother. A pity she is so reserved when I am present.</p>
<p>The local taverna is a small shop and when Alki and wife with their three kids came and Keith and Annabelle, the owner was beginning to panic. We represented a large improvement in profits for him for that day, but his regulars were being squeezed out. I called him over.</p>
<p>“That backyard you were thinking of using for Summer, can you put us out there? Do not worry, we will not be cold. We are testing a new Swedish heater a friend of mine designed. It will also give us more privacy.”</p>
<p>I used my healer/protector and with the help of the girls we were soon in a pocket of warm air held by the protector. I do not think anyone would have noticed the cold anyway. They were all smitten by their new daughters.</p>
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<p><h3><center>964</center></h3></p>
<p>Tasso had tears in his eyes as he held his wife tightly. “I cannot believe that we are already grandparents. Such lovely granddaughters! What are their names?”</p>
<p>“At the moment Solly and Inx. When the new souls take over their bodies, they may choose their names.”</p>
<p>“Where are the souls of my granddaughters?”</p>
<p>“We decided it would be kinder not to create them yet.”</p>
<p>“You are creating their souls!?” He almost shrieked his question.</p>
<p>“We are not gods Tasso, we are creating their souls from their mothers, taking a sliver from each. It is suggested we add a few slivers from others so that they are different to each other, otherwise they would be twin souls, as are Alexis and Nicole.”</p>
<p>Maria said, “I would rather they be twin souls.” </p>
<p>“It is up to you. The parents decide.”</p>
<p>Agapi spoke softly, as if afraid of our reaction. “I would like my one daughter to have a sliver of Cherine and the other a sliver of Wendy.”</p>
<p>“You are hoping Niko and the girls will love each other?” Alki asked. I nodded. “Then Agapi has chosen well.” Maria nodded her agreement.</p>
<p>“Will their birthdays be today or the day they get their souls?”</p>
<p>“Which would you prefer Annabelle?”</p>
<p>“I think it must be the day they come alive as the people they will be.”</p>
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<p>It was a night of celebration and the love that was swirling around the table had the waiters looking for excuses to come to our tables. When we got home and went to bed, all I wanted was for Dommi and Cherine to sleep in my arms as we used to long ago. Nights like these can be sweeter than the most passionate nights. Cherine insisted the next morning, when the girls teased her, that she had not snored, she had been purring. Claudia did not let her get away with that scot-free.</p>
<p>“Is that why you are always making catty remarks?”</p>
<p>I joined in the teasing. “My Cherry baby does not make catty remarks, she can’t, she is still only a kitten.”</p>
<p>Cherine walked away without replying. A few minutes later a little kitten padded over to me and jumped on my lap. It wrapped itself up and seemed to doze while we all heard it purring. As I was beginning to think how sweet it was of her to do this, she began to dig her little sharp claws into my thighs.</p>
<p>“Cherine, you want to do that sort of thing I think you should be doing it to Claudia the Claw, she said you were catty, not me.”</p>
<p>“This is Cherine!”</p>
<p>Cherine jumped over to Solomon and putting her two front paws on his chest stared up at him.</p>
<p>“Solomon, gently rub your fingers under her chin and over her head. Cats love having their ears scratched. Try it and see why humans love to have cats as pets. Maybe we’ll even let you keep this one.”</p>
<p><i>*That was nasty Robert. I owe you a big nasty too.* *Promises, promises! You are no longer a lion cub, you are a tame little kitty.* *Now I owe you two!*</i></p>
<p>Both Ordinx and Solomon played with and petted her. The feel of her soft fur was a pleasurable tactile sensation to them also.</p>
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<p><h3><center>965</center></h3></p>
<p>“I have to go to the bank to pick up the cash I ordered. Please be ready when I return.”</p>
<p>“We can’t go yet. You must wait for Lua, she needs clothes.”</p>
<p>“Tell her to hurry up Wendy. I do not want to arrive later than lunchtime. We can do our shopping there and then we still have to drive to our hotel.”</p>
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<p>Soon as Lua arrived, after her polite greetings, she ran off with Wendy into the bedroom. She returned as a slim girl of about twenty two or three, her Eurasian features of exquisite beauty. Her bright blue eyes and black long hair combined with her almost hairless white skin made her look like a porcelain doll. What brought it all to life was a slight upturn to the corners of her lips, giving her the look of someone who finds life beautiful and fun. I could not resist putting my arms around her for a hug.</p>
<p>“Charlie and Wing giving you the love you deserve?”</p>
<p>“Wake up Wing - Robert is trying to steal your girl.”</p>
<p>“I think they are Robert, maybe I need to compare how others can love me so that I know for sure?”</p>
<p>“A splendid idea. I’ll volunteer.”</p>
<p>I turned to her family. “I must have been crazy to let you have her. The girls wanted to bring her to us…oh well, my fault. Tell me, to a European she is gorgeous, a delicate beauty who is warm and has class. Would she appear beautiful to Chinese men?”</p>
<p>“She is beautiful to all, my friend Robert. When she appears as an adult they look at her and see something very rare. Every man dreams of a girl who is not only beautiful, but has a heart to match it. This one, she will never cause one second of sorrow. She is a giver of joy and love. That is when she is not singing - then she breaks all our hearts.”</p>
<p>I put my fingers to her chin. “It sounds to me like you are truly loved my little Lua.”</p>
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<p>We arrived in Sandton on the roof of the mall. The girls now saw the sense of my suggestion. We did all our shopping, bought a few suitcases and found our bus waiting for us. We arrived at our hotel still in high spirits and my girls were so eager to show the sights to those who had not been there before that we could not relax in our rooms. It seems everyone had bought a camera and an endless supply of films.</p>
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<p>Solomon said to me, “I am continually amazed at the amount of energy placed into nonessential entertainment.”</p>
<p>“Entertainment is not nonessential Solomon. If people live their lives without it, their spirits wilt. The body of man needs nourishment, but so do the mind and spirit.”</p>
<p>“Sex does not provide for all three?”</p>
<p>“It does. So does the teasing you see the girls and I indulging in. Now that I think of it, in our family we hardly ever play the power, or domination games other families play. But even though we keep each other amused, we still go to cinema, watch videos, go out for meals and to dance. We need our interaction with friends and we either have visitors every day or we go to visit. We need to keep our brains stimulated</p>
<p>A simple question Solomon. Since coming here, with all that you have experienced, have you not felt your mind come alive?”</p>
<p>“It has filled my time with many questions. Every answer seems to bring new questions.”</p>
<p>“Let me add to your knowledge of us. Apart from the entertainment we’ve talked about, there is another kind. If there is no danger, no death, what meaning does life have? We are an extremely short lived race. I believe the average life span is in the seventies. Seventy years Solomon, such a tiny amount of time you would not even notice it. You would think that with us having such a short time we would treasure each second and avoid any possibility of losing our lives.</p>
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<p><h3><center>966</center></h3></p>
<p>This is the weird thing - we need the danger. Some will take part in highly dangerous sports; others will go to fight wars that mean nothing to them. Most of the needs for danger though are met in symbolic ways. Riding on a roller-coaster stimulates the responses from our body without a high degree of danger. Men and women will work hard at jobs they hate so as to earn enough money (potential energy to you) so that they can buy food, clothing, heating for winter, schooling for their children and of course a little entertainment.</p>
<p>Then they come to a place like this and they feel challenged. They risk the money they need in a gamble, trusting their abilities or hoping luck will favour them. They lose their money and suffer the rest of the month. They will tell you, someone has to win and it could be them. They totally ignore the true chances of them being a winner.</p>
<p>If I have two hundred dollars to waste or spend on entertainment and use it to gamble, it is not going to cause me or my family distress if I lose. If I take the money I need to buy food for my girls and lose it, I face a catastrophe. You would not believe how many people do that every day.</p>
<p>We are a race that court danger and death and yet will fight to the extremes to stay alive. That is why I wanted you to stay with us in our bodies. As you get used to the body, as hunger causes you discomfort, sex gives you pleasure, you begin to care for your body. Then you may start to understand us, or at least understand what is puzzling about us within the context of who we are - not just in line with how Sparklers think.</p>
<p>Look there, at that pool of water. Do you see that trough with water running in it and the adults and children who are sliding down it? Listen to how they are screaming. Using logic they know they are not in danger. The falling movements are awakening instincts that shriek out in their minds, ‘danger, I may die or be badly hurt’. The body releases chemicals to stimulate the speed of thought and their reactions. That is what they are looking for and enjoy.” I grinned. “Time for us to do our own courting. Let’s go have some fun at the casino.”</p>
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<p>To a certain extent I was lying. With Gianni along, I was hoping we could bring the odds into our favour. His instant calculations and Cherinian memory should work in our favour. I was putting up the money and his family will get half the winnings, if we win.</p>
<p>I let him walk around getting the feel of how it all works while I had some fun with my girls. They did not like craps and found blackjack boring. They wanted instant and fast results. Most of them ended up playing the slots. Wendy, Cherine and Dommi stuck with me. We found an empty table of roulette where all of us could sit. I bought chips for each of us and we began to play.</p>
<p>I tend to be cautious and do not throw my chips all over the table. Cherine played on fewer numbers, but covered them heavily. Wendy was not really interested, but played by scattering her chips, trying to at least win back her stake. Dommi had spent years watching her father so she was more like me. She watched the numbers that had come and tried to calculate a pattern which would show her more or less where the ball is likely to fall. That only works for as long as the same croupier is spinning the wheel.</p>
<p>We all lost at different speeds. The occasional wins were not going to keep us in the game for long. Cherine lost her chips and took a few of mine and put them on a number. I slapped her hand. She lost anyway, so she did not complain and sat back relaxing, watching us also lose. Her eyes had half-closed when she whispered in my mind, ‘eight is next’. I played along and put a chip on it also.</p>
<p>Eight came up.</p>
<p>As I got my pile I split it and gave her half. She ignored it and as I placed my bets she sent me ‘eight again’. My chip was still on it so I left it alone.</p>
<p>Eight came up.</p>
<p>The back of my scalp prickled. I slowly put a few bets, waiting for her. ‘Three’. I put two chips on three. It came.</p>
<p>Soon all the Cherinians were standing around our table. I played another nine rounds, winning on the number Cherine gave me. She opened her eyes and sat up.</p>
<p>“I’ve had enough. Can we go?”</p>
<p>The money we had made was not much, but it felt good. It felt even more wonderful to us that our girl has opened another door in her mind. The Tasso family had also won, their share almost equivalent to a month’s expenses for them so it was a good time to leave. Gathering just outside the casino entrance, we left for our party.</p>
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<p><h3><center>967</center></h3></p>
<p>We’d booked a conference hall and I’d asked that we be served and then during our speeches we be left alone. They set up a bar for us and I signed for whatever they said they had stocked it with. </p>
<p>As we ate and joked and danced to the band, the younger members started making requests. They were asked for a ballad, a powerful song and I thought they sang it quite well. Wendy suddenly spoke up.</p>
<p>“They did that wrong!”</p>
<p>“Go show them!” the other girls told her. Not shy, she got up and stopped them in their next song. She chatted to the singer a while. He disagreed with what she said so she told the band what changes she wants and took the mike.</p>
<p>From a great song that was already a hit all over the world came a song that if recorded would have become an all time best seller. Even when the band faltered she did not let them spoil it for her, her voice covering their mistakes. </p>
<p>“Now do you agree?” The singer nodded.</p>
<p>“Then get up here and sing it with me. The next time you can do it on your own. I kept my voice within your range, so you can do it.”</p>
<p>The poor singer looked terrified, he had never sung this way before. They did their duet with her leading him, showing him how to improve. She then ordered him to sing it again and she returned to her seat. He sang and though he was no Wendy, he suddenly found he has a powerful tool and by the end of the song he stood there looking stunned.</p>
<p>He left the stand and came to Wendy. “Who are you, I’ve never heard of you. Where do you sing?”</p>
<p>“I am not a singer, I only sing for my family and friends.”</p>
<p>“You do not know what you have done for me! If I sing that song your way in a recording studio, I will get a contract immediately. How can I thank you?”</p>
<p>“By listening to how you sing. Explore the possibilities of the song, do not just accept what the songwriter gave you.”</p>
<p>He managed to get her to agree to sing another song. Impishly she asked them to play a children’s song, instructing the band to improvise and follow her. There was no way the poor singer would be able to emulate her rendition. Her song soared above the clouds and sank into the deepest bowels of the earth. She was the music and the singer and she lost us our band. They would not play for us after that. They did put recorded music for us before leaving, so it at least gave us the privacy we wanted.</p>
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<p>I got Cherine to ensure we had total electronic privacy (she blanked a secret camera and mike, without destroying it) and the protector enclosed our sounds within the room. I tinkled my knife against my glass until I had everyone’s attention and stood up.</p>
<p>“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, well, that is how I am supposed to start, but I cannot see any gentlemen here. I’ll start over with something safer. My friends, I am very glad to have you all with us tonight. For all of us this date is very important.</p>
<p>It is now the 25th of March. As you will recall, we chose this day to celebrate as our day of the Cherinians. Our anniversary. I am certain that in the future there will be long speeches for you to endure, but for today I want to keep it very short.</p>
<p>We are perhaps the youngest species in the universe. Some may consider that we came into existence when Cherine and I got together. I prefer to believe we came into existence the day she was born. I ask that you all raise your glasses and drink a toast to Cherine, the day she was born and equally importantly, a toast to her mother and father who gave us this wonderful gift of magic. Cherine, if your father could have been here tonight, he would have been very proud of you. Three cheers.”</p>
<p>They cheered her and stood up and drank to her.</p>
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<p><h3><center>968</center></h3></p>
<p>“That was the beginning as I said. The road from that beginning to this day has not been an easy one. It would have been far easier if Cherine had used the intuition women are supposed to have and had chosen a more dependable man. I caused her and Dominique years of agony as I fought to adjust myself to what I saw as being necessarily the new ways. I died a number of times. Many women will fight for their man, even if he leaves them they may chase after him and get him back. My Cherine went one step further. Even when I chose death, she chased after me and brought me back. When this girl gets her claws into you, there is no escape.</p>
<p>Slowly we have grown as a group. We made a terrible error and fought a war that did not need to be fought. I am happy that we did not lose one Cherinian, but I am still shamed by the deaths we caused the Sparklers. I would ask that you all decide on a date of remembrance of how we slaughtered over two hundred million souls. We must never allow this to happen again.</p>
<p>Thanks to the initiative shown by the Sparklers, the war ended and we today have with us the one we have named Solomon. Solomon is truly a rare person. With all we did, he had the greatness to see past all our mistakes and take us in as friends.</p>
<p>We have been shown by my protector that time does not end. Somewhere very far in the future, time finds its tail and starts over - at least, that is what we think it does. I hope it means we all get a chance to do things the right way next time - there would be no point in everything being repeated endlessly in the same fashion. I make the following wish. I hope that when we reach that tail, our friends the Sparklers will still be there by the side of mankind as our friends. Both older and wiser, but still friends. I ask you to raise your glasses and toast our friend.”</p>
<p>I gave them just enough time for a sip. “Before Sam was conceived, as I am sure you are all tired of being told, her soul had the bad taste to come back and visit us from the future, probably for the pleasure of glorying over how primitive a Robert I am. I tried to fish out of her what the future held for us; hoping for something to comfort us through the dark days we are sure to find ahead of us. Again she showed bad taste, preferring to obey the Robert of her time and refused. Two good things, no three, came out of her visit. The first was personal. For her mother to be, for my wives and myself, we cannot begin to describe our joy at meeting her, at seeing what a wonderful daughter we would have. She has since then made up for her lapses by loving me and choosing me as her husband. The second - why are you all laughing, that was not a joke!” I had to stop until they quietened.</p>
<p>“The second, as I was trying to say, was that despite what that idiot in the future ordered, her coming was a comfort. At times that I would despair, I would remember her coming and know that even if I cannot see the solution, there must be one. Would we have found the solutions if she had not come? Was there a first Robert who had to do it without that comfort? Who knows and who cares. I just am grateful I have had the picture of her bright soul in my heart to carry me through. The third, because of her birth, we had our first visit by Ordinx. He had no name then for us, except that of ‘friend to be of Samantha’.</p>
<p>That name opened the doors to my heart which would have been closed out of fear. Not many of you know what a close friend he has become. Not only of Samantha, but of all Cherinians. He has stood by me and helped us through difficult situations. I include Ordinx and his people in my earlier wish and ask that you raise your glasses to the toast, ‘May your people be with us at the tail, a friend of Man and Sparkler and friends of Samantha.’</p>
<p>I promised to be short, but I am enjoying trying to get you all drunk. I’ll keep on going until none of you can stand up for another toast.</p>
<p>We are a very strange people. I do not believe there has ever been before a nation created by love and existing for love. As we grow in numbers I find that my heart grows so as to fit you all in. I feel this in you too. I thank you all for being such special people and I ask that you raise your glasses in a final toast, please drink a toast to yourselves and your fellow Cherinians. May love grow within your hearts forever.”</p>
<p>I had timed it right. I did not want others standing up and making toasts and speeches as I feared they might try to embarrass me. Soon as they had drunk their toast I stood up again, asking for silence, stopping those who had been wanting to speak.</p>
<p>“Friends, it is now past midnight. As friends and loved ones I have asked that you all come to join us in a celebration...”</p>
<p>“Not fair, sit down, we also want to talk.”</p>
<br>
<p><h3><center>969</center></h3></p>
<p>“You are too late my friend, the anniversary has come and gone. We are here now to celebrate two wonderful events. Firstly, the wedding anniversary of our ‘pappou’ Alki and his wonderful bride Marian. </p>
<p>In case there is anyone here who wonders why I feel it is so wonderful that they loved and married each other, may I remind you, if they had not, they would not have had two beautiful daughters for me to steal. Melina and Bernadine. There would have been so much magic and love missing from our lives without them.</p>
<p>In a way I feel sorry for Alki. He has loved playing the role of pappou and now he is getting far too young to be called that. Guess he will soon become uncle and then cousin Alki - but in our hearts, he will always be the pappou of my loves.</p>
<p>Our second anniversary is the wedding anniversaries, that is right, not one but two, firstly Dominique, Cherine and I and the following year that of Wendy and Diana to Cherine, Dominique and I. </p>
<p>My friends, I look upon these beautiful faces, I sense the hearts that beat within, the love they have for me and I am humbled. No one person can deserve such love. If any of you could feel what it is like to be loved so purely by such wonderful persons, loyal and willing to brave death for me, even dying because they thought they had lost me, if you could feel what I feel, you would all hate me from your envy. Sorry, that was in bad taste - I just do not know how to put across the magic of being loved by them. Please celebrate and be happy for me that I had the luck to be so loved.”</p>
<p>I sat down overcome by emotions, forgetting to toast my loves. I could not - Cherine had taken their feelings and flooded me.</p>
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<p>Alki took his turn, speaking about his shock and fear as he realised how special we were. He explained his fear was for us when he saw that we were vulnerable and that we had no idea how the world would destroy us if we were found out. He told of how he suffered through my deaths, of his amazement at the courage he saw in the little English girl, of her deep love for me - of our deep love for each other. He made them laugh when he told them how confused he became when he saw that my weakness was my strength. He dramatised our story and if future generations use his version I will not forgive him for trying to make me look like someone special. After all is said and done, the truth is, I am only a simple artist who had the good luck to choose the right people to fall in love with. It is <i>their</i> love that strengthens me. Being a drinking man, Alki had everybody bending an elbow for toast after toast.</p>
<p>I was touched when he spoke of the love that crept up on him for Marian. Of what she has come to mean to him, of his pride when his daughters joined my circle. Then he spoke of his three children, of how they opened his heart and brought so much beauty into it, of his pride and love for them.</p>
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<p>By the time we were finished, there were not many eyes that had not shed a tear or two. The whole room had that warm cosy feeling of a large family gathered in love. Ordinx, who had drunk a few too many stood up.</p>
<p>“Cherinians. I have come to understand a little of how politics is handled in your world. Many of you probably still see Solomon and myself as emissaries, ambassadors or even leaders of our people. It is customary I understand, on such occasions for the parties to talk of friendship between their nations. You have heard we came here as friends. That is misleading because it sounds to you as more of the political talk you are used to.</p>
<p>We are not here as representatives of our people to talk about friendship between us. We are here as friends hoping to build on the already existing friendship, in the Cherinian sense. To do so it was necessary we learn to understand each other - else even friendship can lead to terrible misunderstandings. We have listened to you, heard beneath your words the fears that fill you when Robert talks of making us suffer. </p>
<p>You have chosen well for yourselves. He is a good leader, a man who does not wish to be a leader is the best kind of leader. To him the simple things of everyday life are of importance. Love, friendship, sharing. He has dealt with us as the Robert he wants to be, and we have seen that in him.</p>
<p>I think it is the right time for me to mention that as Robert wishes us to suffer in the name of friendship, so shall the day come when he too will have to suffer. If we all come through with love in our hearts, then we will have made of our love and friendship something that will endure till the tail, as Robert put it.</p>
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<p><h3><center>970</center></h3></p>
<p>Thank you for welcoming us and we hope we will have many occasions to meet you, in the void and here, and I will be pleased to see the Cherinians of this world grow in number. I said Cherinians of this world, for I believe there will one day be Cherinians of many worlds, species and races.”</p>
<br>
<p>The next morning we were late in getting up so only had half a day to tour the park. I managed to fit in a quick cup of coffee and settled our bill at the front desk. While I was doing so, Ordinx and Solomon saw a map of Africa. They asked the girls questions about what it all symbolised. They explained about mountains, rivers, deserts and how they are depicted.</p>
<br>
<p>Of all the animals, our aliens were most impressed by the elephants. Apparently the giraffes reminded Ordinx of a species which had lived on his planet. This was the first time Solomon met insects in their multitudes and I saw him glance at me out of the corner of his eye and I knew he was thinking of my description of the Sparklers as mindless insects. He saw I understood and smiled to show he had not taken it the wrong way.</p>
<p>I paid the driver his full fee and told him he may leave, as we are being picked up by friends. We walked away from the petrol station he dropped us at and soon as nobody was in sight, we said our goodbyes and jumped for our homes, with the girls helping our two friends as they could not jump on their own.</p>
<p>We landed in hot burning sand. All of us tumbled, falling over each other. Luckily we did not suffer anything more serious than a few scratches. I say luckily and mean it, for our healers were gone. The girls, Henry, Angelo and I stared at each other in shock. Our links had disappeared. </p>
<p>The worst was that my protector was also gone.</p>
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https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYL48vGMavHKCNGsD8P6KZrXgymEkqmZamgBjoJKHfBYL/Desert%20Heading-LC%20Bk02.png
<p><h3><center>Chapter Eighty Four</center></h3></p>
<p>I had once before dropped out of a jump so I would have recovered from this if it were not for the shock of being cut off from my healer, protector and all Cherinians. I saw from the distress on their faces that it was the same for all of them. Being able to see my loves helped a lot and I was quick to calm them, encouraging my loves to believe we will get out of this and return to our gifts. </p>
<p>“We are always saying that the greatest power of all our gifts is the love we feel for each other. That gift has not been taken from me. Even though you cannot feel it, my heart still beats only for you. Have courage, we must use our heads and see to it that we survive.”</p>
<p>“We haven’t got any water and we are in the middle of a desert, how can we survive?”</p>
<p>“Angelo, now is not the time to despair. Despair is a luxury we cannot afford. First step. Who are our most vulnerable? Aganthi, we must be careful, you are carrying our baby. Ordinx and Solomon, you are guests in your bodies and you will not recognise all the symptoms of distress. You two have the option of leaving, returning to the void. We will not feel upset if you decide to do so.”</p>
<p>“I think we would not Robert. We cannot abandon our friends. In any case we do not have a choice. I can feel that I have not the ability to leave this body.”</p>
<p>“If this follows the pattern of what happened to me before, we must have fallen on our route back home. Just one thing puzzles me. The only desert on our route is the Sahara. It is close to Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It is hot here, but not as hot as I would have imagined. The sun is also facing us from the wrong direction. That means we must be in a desert in Southern Africa. We have then been thrown off-course. Cherine, with you losing your link to everyone, I hope it does not mean they have also dropped out of their jumps. If they have and they die, Solomon, will your people collect and hold them for us?”</p><br>
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<p><center><a href="https://steemit.com/sfandf-fiction/@arthur.grafo4/little-cherine-book-02-bpost028"> Next [Book 02] - Post 028</a></center></p>
<p><center>I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love.</center></p><br>
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<h6>Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου<br></h6>(Alexander Zenon Eustace)<br>
<sup>22nd May, 2019</sup>
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* posted on Steemit: 22nd May, 2019<br>
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