Nelly is a time waster. I
spend hours with her; holding her, cleaning her, feeding her and
playing with her. She sits up and smiles and giggles and chortles
at me, wanting my total, undivided attention at all times. I manage
to fit the training sessions in but the chores don't get done and
the mountain of laundry grows taller by the day. The slugs see that
it's getting too much for me and send a team of zinodes around to
help. I had good intentions of spending time up in the moons to see
how other single mothers manage but when I do get a quiet moment I
just want to chill, not watch baby TV.
Breast-feeding is really
relaxing. She latches on and sucks away, watching me all the time
with her dad's eyes. Then her eyes roll back and she's asleep.
Sometimes I just hold her, not wanting to put her down.
14
I get a sudden urge to show off
my baby. She's just so cute. Without even thinking, I click my
fingers and Annie is here. She's stark bollocks naked and covered
with soap bubbles. The look on her face is priceless.
'Emmmmmm!' She screams and
gives me the biggest hug.
'Meet Nelly,' I say handing her
the baby.
'Argh, it's a baby,' she
screams, and nearly drops Nelly.
Nelly catches her eye and
smiles at her, then sucks on her boob. 'Get off, get off! Stop
that!' she says, but Nelly has latched on and won't let go. Annie
doesn't know quite what to say or do. Finally gathering her wits,
she says, 'I want one too!'
We chat about home and school.
I'm glad I'm not at school anymore; it's like something kids
do.
Azziz babysits; Annie and me go
riding on Trigger. We follow the stream up to the meadow and gallop
across the prairie until the long grass stretches from horizon to
horizon.
'Look out!' shouts Pollux; I've
got a problem.
We'v
e got a problem. A
slimeball crashes to ground just in front of us, rolling over and
over until it comes to a halt.
'Go, go, go,' I shout, digging
my heels in.
Trigger needs no encouragement.
He goes like the wind.
The slimeball is charging along
behind us, cutting a broad swathe through the prairie like a giant
lawn mower. He's gaining on us. Trigger is heading for some giant
boulders where we can hide or squeeze into a crack. We bounce
around on his back, hanging on for dear life. We're almost there
but the slimeball is too close. We're not going to make it; it's
going to get us.
Trigger suddenly stops and
turns on the spot. Annie and me go flying and land in a tangle of
arms and legs in the long grass. Jumping up, I see Trigger charge
into the slimeball knocking it over. He backs up and charges again,
then before the slimeball can recover; he turns and gives it a
mighty kick with both hind legs, right on the chin. The slimeball
flees, shooting off across the prairie with Trigger in pursuit.
Trigger, you star!
'Hit the ground,' yells Castor.
'I'll be up over the horizon in 2 seconds.'
As we duck a couple of photon
torpedoes whistle low over our heads and the slimeball
explodes.
Trigger limps back over
to us. He has a huge gash down his side. I teleport him back with
us and I get Annie to hold a pillow against the wound while I grab
my sewing kit and stitch him up with a bit of string and the
biggest needle I can find. Trigger stays at the house while he
recovers. We feed him on carrots and lettuces, fresh from the
garden and massage him all over with a scrubbing brush twice a
day.
When we go to visit Pollux, he
apologies, 'I'm so, so sorry, my moon is getting old. I think but
it doesn't always react.'
Nelly is hungry. I'm eating
like a horse but can hardly keep up with demand.
'Cow, you are nothing but a
cow. She loves you for your milk,' jokes Annie. 'Why don't you give
her real food?'
Why don't I? We start her off
with bits of ripe banana, then squish up what's left of our dinner
and give it to her. She's getting to be so grown up.
Annie can't stay very long. Her
mum thinks something terrible has happened and gets real upset.
Having just lost her husband she really needs Annie back home.
Nelly needs company. Not boring
adult company, but other children. I'm going to need more people on
Camillo as my children grow up, but I'm not ready to open the gates
yet, I like Camillo as it is and I want it to be all mine as long
as possible. I'm already losing little bits; Jesus and Azziz have
the chunk around the cafe and distillery and Tat has his space up
in the mountains.
For the moment, I'll make
more babies and I want Zula to be their dad. I know it's completely
daft because I could grab one of those talented rock stars from
Zwingly or could save the most cutest, sexiest guy on Earth when he
crashes his sports car, and he could be with me here, but Zula has
my heart. I give him a little something else as well, and on
mid-summer's day, I find that I'm pregnant again. Am I a sucker for
punishment or what?
'Ouch! Stop that. You'll be
weaned!'
Breast feeding was really
relaxing but it's not at the moment. She's teething and gives me
painful little nips with her sharp new teeth. Her gums swell and
she groans and whinges, complaining about the pain. She can't sleep
and gets cranky and short tempered. I give her a book to chew on.
She eats most of it and leaves the rest of it in sticky little bits
pasted all around the house.
Tat is at one
with everything around him. He's the one they based the Jedi
Knights in
Star Wars
on. Like the slugs, I'm sure he can
see everything around him at all times, even in the
dark.
We're at the stream mouth
skimming stones and watching Jesus surfing.
'You have great energy about
you. I have never seen such dark power before,' he says, furrowing
his brow.
'Beware the evil Em,' I say,
skimming another stone.
'No seriously, you have a great
power about you. Your heart is pure but there is this huge
energy.'
I suddenly click. Shall I show
him?
'Can you keep a secret?'
I skim a stone then lift Enzo
out of my pocket.
'Meet Enzo,' I say flicking
open his cage of white antimatter rings.
Enzo hovers just in front of
Tat, who regards him with wide eyes. Then he closes his eyes and
concentrates. His hand shoots out like lightning but misses; Enzo
moves slightly to the left and hovers there joggling from side to
side. Tat spins around and kicks out but hits nothing but air. His
left hand flashes across, but misses.
Tat opens his eyes and says,
'I've met my match.'
'Take care,' I say. 'He has a
bit of trouble with his gravity sometimes.'
'Gravity?' asks Tat.
'Yes, gravity.'
As if to prove a point, Enzo
sucks in a large boulder.
'Wow!'
'You can borrow him for
training if you like.'
'Cool.'
But Enzo doesn't want to
go; he likes to stay in sight of me. I'm happier like that, cos I
like his comforting presence. When Jesus isn't around, Enzo trains
with us. Tat is delighted to have a new challenge to master and
they are a trick to watch, with Enzo teasing and tempting Tat, then
making surprise attacks. Tat has yet to outwit Enzo and marvels at
Negrita who springs out of nowhere and wrestles Enzo to the
ground.
Eventually Nelly's clothes
arrive, having been sent to the wrong asteroid. I love parcels.
Nelly eats the wrapping paper while I sort through the clothes. I
was never one for playing with dolls but I dress up Nelly just for
the fun of it. It's summer and she doesn't need clothes. If Number
2 is a girl, she can wear them.
Nelly wriggles and
squirms and turns over, then she shuffles and before I know it,
she's crawling. Now nothing is safe, she goes around the house on a
search and destroy mission, emptying cupboards and chewing on
everything. After she burns her fingers on the stove, I make a
fence from a couple of huge pieces of bleached driftwood, which I
teleport into place with a click of my fingers. That keeps her
out.
I love the sense of chaos
that has arrived since Nelly became mobile. She’s fascinated by
Negrita and pursues her around the house babbling, 'Ga, ga, ga, ga,
ga, ga, ga.' After stalking her for weeks she finally catches a
hold of the cagoon's bushy black tail.
I'm mopping the floor
when Negrita lets out a hiss and spins around breathing fire,
setting Nel's hair alight. As the flames shoot up, I scream and
throw my bucket of soapy water at her. Negrita screeches and shoots
out the door like a scalded cat. I just love it; it's
wonderful!
15
It's somewhere in the small
hours of the morning and I'm lying in bed worrying. Out of the
window I can see stars. They're so bright that they look really
close. If I had a long ladder, I could climb up and pluck them from
the sky. I would bring them home and stick them on the ceiling and
they could twinkle down at Nelly and me. Nel would like that.
The stars
are
really far, far away.
That's it, that's what I'm worried about, Earth. It's far, far away
and I haven't spared a thought for it in ages. God was worried
about Earth. I click my fingers to fetch the worm.
Things seem
good on Earth, very good.
The
golden era of peace,
shouts
out the front cover of
Time
magazine. I read
a little of the article,
Since the fall of Ariella and her regime in Europe, the
world has entered an unprecedented era of peace. Even the Israelis
and Palestinians are getting along, having recently torn down the
barricades and formed the state of Pisrael. Analysts are at a loss
to explain why former enemies around the world are now getting
along. Some have even suggested it is the alignment of the
stars.
Things are
good; it must be the influence of The Book. I try to zoom in on the
little island of Mulo in the Adriatic but The Book blocks access
and there's nothing there, just a fuzzy splodge. I wish I could
visit and see Petra. She lives a life that is in so many
ways
similar to mine. She has
immense power at her fingertips yet is probably pottering in the
garden weeding, or throwing stones at the seagulls or something
like that.
Our destinies appear to be
intertwined so I'm sure our paths will cross at some stage. I hope
so. We could hang out together.
I have a peek
at Ijju's baby. It's curled up in bed with her and Azulay.
Her and Azulay.
Negrita is lucky she's not here; I'd kick her for
sure! It's no surprise that Ijju's curled up with Zula. I shouldn't
be jealous, but I am anyway. That'll teach me to go spying on them
in the middle of the night. I should show a bit of respect to my
friends.
Time is flying;
the cicadas of summer sing their lovers song then fall silent
again. I thought being pregnant would be easier second time around.
I'm sure I heard that it is. It was probably one of those New Age
mums who just wriggle their hips and the baby pops out,
'Oh giving birth, it was a truly
cosmic experience'.
Well it
wasn't for me and neither is being pregnant again. I'm always sweet
to Nelly; well at least I try to be. It's Negrita who cops the real
me. She used to rub up against my legs when I was cooking. Not
anymore. After being kicked one too many times she stays clear of
the mean, nasty, horrible Mama Taylor. She doesn't even sleep on my
bed anymore.
My kung fu is coming
along. The meditation bit is tricky with Nelly there and it may be
a little while until I reach the same, hover about the place, state
of Zen that Tat and Jesus enjoy, but it does help. My body and mind
relax and I become a nice person. I am getting strong and agile
too, and rather than just bumbling along in a daydream, I'm
starting to have an awareness of what's around me. Jesus and Tat
fight sometimes, bowing politely first then attacking each other in
a blur of arms and legs. Tat usually wins but Jesus is extremely
tough and can take a lot off punishment.
Tat has a trick of holding
Jesus's spikes in a special way that paralyses him and puts him to
sleep. 'Anodes are incredibly tough and can be evil creatures,' he
says, teaching me the move. 'It might just come in handy
sometime.'
Nelly loves my
slimeball fang. She also wants to get her hands on Enzo. She knows
there's something in my pocket and tries her best to get hold of
it. I usually carry her on my left side so she can't reach; she
struggles and struggles then turns her attention to trying to pull
the fang from my belt. She can get hold of it but hasn't yet
managed to pull it free. I'm not sure I should let my nine month
old baby play with a black hole or a slimeball fang. What would
social services say if she went
splut
and disappeared
into nothingness or turned into an evil tyrant who ate her own
babies under the powers of the fang? She's driving me nuts though.
In the end I stomp my feet and plonk her down heavily on the
floor.
'Okay, okay,
okay,' I screech, flicking Enzo’s cage open and giving Nelly the
fang.
'If you want them that
bad, you can have them. Here you go, have the fang, play with the
black hole, but don't you come crying to me if you poke yourself in
the eye or get sucked in!'