We beat a hasty retreat and
head back home for tea and medals.
I ask Jesus to take charge of
the organisation of the asteroid.
'It'll be my pleasure,' says
Jesus, delighted that I've asked him.
'Where do we start?' I
ask.
We are going to need some
rules.'
'Rules, I hate rules!' I
protest.
'Rules,' he says. 'When
you have more than a few people living together you need rules. I
would start with something really simple like: You need to show
respect for one another. All disputes will be settled by
arbitration with the management having the final word. Then make up
more rules as needed.'
'Sounds good to me.'
Jesus and me make a tour of the
asteroid.
We start at my place looking at
the trees. Apart from the pine trees that were destroyed by the
building they are all doing well. I've still no idea what they are
but they've grown almost as tall as me. Jesus arranges for sapling
umbrella pines to planted to replace the missing trees.
Next stop is Pollux's moon.
It's lovely to see Pollux again.
'Thanks so much for
sorting things out Emily, I thought they would stay forever and I'd
never see you again.'
'I'm so sorry,' I say, giving
him a big kiss. 'It was all my fault.'
He reddens up and a big tear
rolls down his face. It's a bit tricky to give a slug a hug but I
spread my arms wide and push myself against his face.
He gives Jesus and me an
overview of the asteroid and proudly points out all the work that
has been done.
The land on Camillo is a big
island floating in the ocean. On the north side is the mountains.
Streams cascade down their rugged slopes towards the flatter land
on the south side. The west end, which used to be scrubland, has
changed into a patchwork of fields and orchards, in the middle is
the prairie and the east end is heavily forested hills.
There's some new islands in the
ocean and lakes in the mountains.
The most noticeable changes are
the new towns and the road network linking them together. 'Kastela,
the main town,' says Pollux,' is just over the hill from your
house. It'll be easy for your kids to walk or ride their bikes to
school. Campos is the village at the west end that will service the
farming community. Alaro, up by the prairie will be the centre for
sheep and cattle farmers, and there's a quarry there, and Deia, in
the hills at the east side will be for the lumberjacks and
furniture makers.'
A flash of lightning
comes from over the mountains and we watch the clouds chasing each
other around. 'There's some feisty ones,' says Pollux laughing.
'We're going to have trouble with them.'
'It looks wonderful,' I say
marvelling at Camillo. Having been away so long, I don't really
feel like it's mine anymore.
Jesus has never ridden a
bicycle before and has a few tumbles trying to get started. I run
alongside him shouting instructions until he gets the hang of
steering, then he comes unstuck and crashes at the bottom of the
first hill when he can't find the brakes.
There's a network of cycle
tracks all over the asteroid. Starting at Azziz's cafe, the track
wends its way through the sand dunes, skirts around my place then
over the low hill to reach Kastela. From the top of the hill the
view of the town is spectacular. Because of my fear of slimeballs,
the towns are walled for protection with gun turrets ready for when
they come under attack. Kastela is based on Dubrovnik and is an
absolute gem. I'm looking forward to walking around the city walls.
Now Camillo has towns and stuff, it needs maintaining, and a
population of zinodes has shifted here from Vespa. I like zinodes.
They embrace life and live it to the full. They're passionate about
work, love, their children and football. On the way into the town
we pass a football pitch where a team wearing gold and maroon
stripes in training. I hope they'll let me play, and my kids too.
Nelly is almost old enough. She loves football.
The town of Kastela centres on
its port. Brightly coloured fishing boats and small coastal traders
bob about on their moorings, waiting expectantly for their crews to
arrive from Earth. Guarding the port, there's a little fortified
island with a tall lighthouse painted in red stripes.
We leave the bikes at Kastela
and teleport around the other towns. While none of them is quite as
spectacular as the capital, each is protected by strong walls and
charming in its own way. I especially like Deia. Being up in the
hills, the air is fresh and there's spectacular views out across
the island and along the rugged east coast.
Jesus is embracing his new role
and has a working model of Camillo in the office he's set up at his
and Azziz's house. The model is biometrically linked to the
asteroid, so if you look closely you can see how the plants and
animals are doing, how much snow is on the mountains and how full
the reservoirs are. You can even see the two security moons
orbiting. That's cool.
Jesus says, 'Camillo needs to
be self-sufficient for most things: energy, timber, stone and food.
Things are set up so it should be sustainable but we'll keep an eye
on it and fine tune as we go along. For things that need importing
we'll need to trade. At the moment we have the velvet spring water,
Azziz's rum and my wine. We'll look at some light manufacturing,
like designer label clothes and letting a few tourists in so we
don't get too insular.'
He seems to have it all in
hand; I'll leave him to it.
Then I remember, there's
something missing, people! 'What about people?' I ask.
'Who would you like?' asks
Jesus.
I'd like Azulay, but I'm not
telling him that. 'Let's get who we need first, then grab a few
interesting ones to make life a little zany,' I suggest, then add,
'I don't want weirdos again.'
'Leave it to me and the slugs,'
says Jesus. 'I plan to start with mostly European people in
Kastela, Asian in Campos, Arab and Indian in Alaro, and African in
Deia. English will be the official language and religion will be
tolerated as long as respect is shown for other beliefs.'
'Sounds perfect!' I say.
'Thanks so much.' I give him a big hug and forgive him all his
Prince Charlesy moments.
26
I do like these new clouds. The
old ones were grumpy, disagreeable and predictable. The new ones
are all over the place. They seem to work more as a team, hanging
out together around the hilltops. They're ever so mischievous. I
can leave the house with a clear cloudless sky, arrive in the
garden in the middle of a rain squall and have to ask Castor to
help me find my way back to the house with my bunch of carrots
because the fog's so thick. It must be their first asteroid cos the
weather's very clumsy.
With the topsy-turvy September
weather we're spending more time indoors. Normally the kids would
drive me spare but for some odd reason, I've got clucky. I want
more.
'You must be mad,' says
Annie.
I probably am.
'And who's going to be the dad
anyway?'
'Never you mind!'
It might just be that I'm back
in my house again or maybe it's because my heart has started
aching. I don't know what it is at first; I think I might be going
to have a heart attack. Then I notice that if I think of Zula, the
pain is much sharper. I don't know if it's him thinking of me or me
thinking of him, but one thing is for sure, the connection between
us is getting stronger. The dull pain is reassuring and when it
fades, I worry that I've lost him and want it to come back. Then it
comes back stronger later on. Yes!
One evening the pain piques
sharply. I click my fingers to get the worm.
I arrive in the thick of an
argument.
'You're off in the
desert, then you come back and say you're missing Emily. What about
missing me and your children?' shouts Ijju, stomping her
feet.
'I didn't mean it like that,'
pleads Zula, lamely.
'What do you mean it like? Why
don't you go and see her in Paradise? I'll help you on the way,'
she screams, throwing a saucepan at him and collapsing in tears as
it smashes into the wall, taking a big chunk of plaster off.
Stupid plonker. Oh Ijju, I do
feel for you. I wish I could give her a hug.
A couple of nights later,
when I've sort of half forgiven him for treating my friend like
that, I click my fingers and he's here beside me. I savour his
smell and hold him tight. He comes to life and
ooh-la-la!
'Mum, mum, mum, wake up,' I
wake up groggily. It's daylight and Lilly is tugging at me. The
cover disappears off the bed and she screams. 'Mum, a man, a
man!'
Zula jumps up. Looks at me,
then looks at Lilly and back to me. 'Emily?' he asks.
Nelly comes running in. Vinny
starts crying next door.
Nelly looks at Zula, looks at
me and says, 'Dad?'
Zula looks at her then back to
me again and pinches his arm really hard. His face creases with the
pain. He freaks and runs from the room. I run after him,
naked.
He's out the door and heading
down the path to the garden. I'm hot on his tail; I'm fast. We
chase through the sugar cane and across the field.
'Zula, stop!' I shout, but he
keeps going, following the track.
I chase him up the hill. He
trips and falls but is up on his feet again before I can catch him.
At the top, I'm hot on his heels. 'Stop, stop, Azulay, stop!' I
scream.
Not seeing the edge, he tumbles
over and falls towards the waves far below..
I scream, then gather my wits
and think Zen. I click my fingers.
Click!
I'm nearly out of range of the worm,
but get a faint image of Zula tumbling down the side of a sand
dune.
I guess he won't be in a hurry to come
back. He's gone!
No
Hi Em, cool to see you
.
No, he just
took one look at me, freaked out and ran away. I stomp my feet,
curl up in a little ball and go into melt down.
Am I that nasty? Does
he hate me? Have I taken advantage of him, using him as a mobile
sperm bank that I summon with a click of my fingers? What a monster
I am! The evil, scheming Emily that lures him off to the far side
of the Solar System to have her wicked way with him then spits his
spent body out, se
nding it
tumbling back to Earth.
I pi
ck up a rock and throw it at a seagull. It
squawks angrily at me as it dodges out the way.
Maybe it was my kids
that did it.
His
kids!
Our
kids! Now that
would be enough to make anyone freak!
Well even if he hates me, I kinda like
him.
Just as well too,
because he’s left his calling card.
A few weeks later my body starts doing weird things, weird
and very familiar. I'm not sure I'm happy about it. Four will be
too many; I can't even cope with three.
My heart keeps aching. It looks like
it's a pain that's here to stay.
27
There's no sign of my prickly
cagoon, Negrita. I hope she wasn't gobbled up by the slimeballs.
She might be with Tat. I would love to spend all day and hike up to
his shack in the mountains to visit but it's one of those pleasures
that don't go hand in hand with having kids; I teleport
instead.
He's not in. There's fresh hoof
prints in the mud, so I follow them up through the cloud and
stunted beech trees. I find Tat in a small clearing. It's a
beautiful place surrounded by gnarled trees, their twisted
silhouettes softened by the mist. Trigger snorts a friendly welcome
and comes to see me. Tat stands motionless, and alert, his eyes
shut tight. I open the little cage in my pocket. Enzo hasn't been
out for ages. He whizzes around the clearing then jiggles about in
front of Tat, taunting him. Tat moves like a blur, I don't even see
what happens. Then he bounces over to me and gives me a hug.
Standing back, he opens his hand and out flies Enzo, who dips
slightly in a polite bow. Tat bows back then Enzo shoots off
looking for the cagoon.
'I've been thinking,' says
Tat.
'You have the perfect place for
it,' I say.
'The tiger came first, followed
by the monkey and the crane. Now kung fu enters the age of the
cagoon. Coming out of nowhere and striking with razor sharp claws
and a breath of fire.'
There's a flicker of black, a
flash of claws and Negrita picks Enzo out of the air, tumbling back
to the ground and rolling to a halt at my feet. She lets Enzo go,
then looks up at me, flattens her ears and snarls. I reach down to
stroke her. She hisses and breathes fire, then draws blood with a
lightning strike of her claws. She's so adorable. Not!
I give Trigger a rub behind the
ear. He pushes back against me, nearly knocking me off my feet, 'So
when are you going to come and visit, then?'
He gives a friendly whinny and
trots off into the mist.
We walk back to the hut, with
Enzo and Negrita charging around like crazy things, happy to see
each other again after so long apart.
The kids are delighted that
Trigger is here. He's giving them pony rides around the front lawn.
The six kids, all up on top of Trigger together is one of those
things I wish I had a camera for. I'll make a sketch of it later.
Trigger is not so delighted. He has a dark cloud hovering over his
head and is sending out sarky Unilangue messages.