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 A World of My Choosing

   An Out-of-this-World Story by Gil Gamesh

   Chapter Fifty-One

   I waited a moment for Matt to arrive before helping Aiden to the toilet.

   "Aiden, Matt and I are going to take you to the toilet to piss.  Can you
slide down to the end of the chair and put your arms over our shoulders?  I
can tell you've been beaten but, with two of us, I don't think we'll do any
more damage.  If it hurts too much, just say so.  Do you understand?"

   "Aiden, let David and Matt watch you pee," Anna said.  "If there's blood
in your urine, I want to know."

   He nodded and I watched his face as he slid to the end of the chair.  I
could see he was hurting but he seemed OK moving.  Matt and I gently helped
him to stand, he put his arms over our shoulders, and we let him slowly
walk to the toilet.  We lined up at three urinals but Aiden seemed to have
trouble starting.  I pulled the bow knot on my loincloth and let it fall to
the floor.  Matt did the same and we both started pissing.  Aiden looked
right, left, chuckled just a little, a good sign, and then started.  I
watched him pissing and I couldn't tell that his urine was any darker than
mine or Matt's.

   Back in Aimee's room, Matt and I slowly lowered him into Aimee's chair
again.  I started the usual litany of questions and got the usual
responses.

   "Aiden, Aimee's our avatar.  I'm sure you're familiar with avatars like
her.  She has prescribed medications for you and given you something to
drink.  Take the pills and drink as much as you can."

   Anna was ready with the pills and juice.  Aiden took the medications and
drank about half a liter of juice.  He paused, said, "That's good," and
drank the rest.

   "Aiden, I was an Army nurse, an operating room nurse, before I came
here," Anna said.  "I'm going to give you a quick thoracic and abdominal
exam to see how much damage the beating did.  OK?"

   "OK, Anna.  I know your history, yours and David's.  We had files on all
of you."

   She reclined him in Aimee's chair again and then poked and prodded and
rubbed with her fingers.  I watched his face while she examined him and I
saw pain registered but nothing severe.

   "Aiden, I think you're going to be fine," she said.  "You'll be very
sore for a while but I don't think the beating did any permanent damage. 
You may have bruised internal organs but that's not a big problem unless
there's internal bleeding.  We'll deal with that if we need to.  For the
next few days, we need to watch your urine to see if there's blood in it."

   He nodded and tried to smile.  I saw that he could hardly keep his eyes
open.

   "Aiden, hang in there for a few more minutes," I said.  "Matt's going to
raise the chair to a sitting position again and put a blanket over you.  I
don't think you want your children to see your body.  If they ask why the
blanket, just tell them you were cold.  OK?

   He nodded again.  Matt gently spread the blanket over him and raised the
chair.

   "We'll let them stay just a few minutes and then Matt and I are going to
take you the bed chamber Anna and I use.  There are three beds and we'll
put you in a fresh one.  We'll let you sleep as long as you wish.  Aimee
will monitor you and Anna and I will watch out for you too."

   His eyes closed and his head almost fell forward.  He jerked upright.

   "Listen, Aiden, don't give up now.  It's important for your children to
see that you're OK.  Take some deep breaths and, when you're ready, I'll
tell Aimee to let them come in here.

   He nodded again, tried to smile, and breathed deeply a few times.

   I looked at Aimee and nodded.

   A few seconds later, I heard the sound of running feet and two voices,
one boy, one girl, both yelling the same thing, "Da, Da, Da."

   <><><>

   Two days after Aiden's arrival, I went looking for him.  I had asked him
not to share his story with everyone.  I had seen men who acted the same
way and I saw no need for him to tell everyone what he had done.  At the
same time, I knew firsthand how talking about a problem could lighten the
load of carrying it.  I stopped by our bedchamber just long enough to grab
my tablet.  I wanted Aimee to hear and record my conversation with Aiden.

   Outside our front door, I found him on a bench leaned back against a
rock, just sitting in the sunshine, eyes closed, and arms crossed in front
of him.  Like the rest of us, he was naked except for a loin-cloth.  The
bruises on his body were already a mottled yellow and red and brown.  I
hoped his kids had believed the lie he told them about the car accident.

   "Aiden," I said, and waited for him to look up.  He finally did, no
welcoming smile, just the look of a man suffering from something.

   "Let's go up on the top terrace," I said.  "We need to talk."

   "No, David, I can't talk to you," he said.  "I can't talk to anyone."

   "Maybe, but I'm going to talk to you," I said, and held out my hand.

   He took it.  I pulled him up, hugged him for a moment, and smiled at
him. We climbed the steps to the little top terrace and sat down.  I said
"Aimee, please," and her smiling face appeared on my tablet.  I told Aiden
that I wanted to record our conversation and that Aimee could never reveal
any of it without the permission of both of us.  He consented.

   "Now, how much of my story do you know?" I asked.

   "Some.  I know it was you who killed Ayatollah al-Badr."

   "There's a part you can't know," I said.  "You can't know how I felt
when I saw my father's severed head held up by a jihadist when I was twelve
and I couldn't talk for six months.  You can't know how I felt when my
mother disappeared when I was fourteen and I felt responsible.  You can't
know why I devoted myself to one goal for years: pashtunwali.  In case you
don't know, that's an ethical code requiring revenge when a family member
is murdered.  You can't know how I felt the day after I killed seven
jihadists in a dusty street in Islamistan or how I felt when I killed
Ayatollah Bad-Ass.  You can't know any of that.  I want to tell you."

   We sat there for perhaps an hour while I told him the honest truth about
what had happened in my life and, more importantly, how I felt after the
loss of my parents and through all my years of preparing myself.  I finally
ended my story with my act of revenge: when I killed Grand Ayatollah
Muqtada al-Badr after he came out the door of the Imam Al-Hussein Shrine in
Mamoon after mid-day prayers.

   "Now you're going to tell me your story," I said.  "You've got revenge
for the death of your wife; haven't you?"

   He nodded.  "David, we did things...I did things you won't believe.  I
never dreamed I could do things like that to another human being.  You
don't want to know."

   "Yes, I do.  It felt good; didn't it?" He looked at me frowning.  "Now
start at the beginning.  Who helped you?  How did you locate the jihadist
group, the ones who bombed the subway and killed your wife?"

   He hesitated for a moment and then started talking.  "I was the bait,
David.  My London group helped me, six men from our old world.  More than
that helped but those six came in the house to rescue me.  We had more men
and women outside."

   "Go on."

   For the rest of the morning, I sat and listened as he recounted his
story and I was hardly aware of the passage of time.

   After his wife's death he began to plan for revenge and gradually his
group, he called them the London group, all from his old world, joined him
in the plans.

   They constructed a false identity for him as a reporter from a
Scandinavian newspaper.  He approached the London media and claimed that he
had been sitting on a book of cartoons out of respect for their religion.
Because of the subway bombing, he was going to have the cartoons published
in his newspaper and was sure they would.  His picture was on the evening
news and in the papers for days.  He expected to be kidnapped or killed but
was counting on the jihadists trying to stop the publication first.

   He was coming up from the underground, supposedly heading back to work,
when they snatched him.  They stuffed him in a car in about two seconds,
put a black bag over his head, and tied his hands.  He couldn't see where
they went but it didn't matter.  He had swallowed something which looked
like a big pill but was actually a wi-fi device which communicated by GPS
with his group.  He knew they would be tracking him.  The jihadists drove
around for a while and then hustled him in a house somewhere.  They
stripped him naked, duct-taped him to a chair, and then took the bag off.

   He counted 23 of them, 19 men and 4 women, all of them relatively young.
They asked him all sorts of questions and beat him mercilessly, one man and
woman in particular, and but he refused to answer their questions.

   He heard three loud horn blasts outside and knew that was the signal
that the others would be coming in soon.  Then a few minutes later one of
his group walked in looking like a clown from a circus: face and hands
painted green, a red bulb on his nose, a transparent face shield which gave
him air.  He was dressed in green pants and a green top, loose to hide body
armor.  The front of the green top had been painted in yellow plates
something like a turtle.  He was armed with only a red and white
diagonally-striped spray-can and a rubber bulb-horn.  And he was wearing a
ballerina's white tutu.  He was intended to look ridiculous and harmless so
they wouldn't shoot him.

   Aiden took a deep breath and held it, knowing what was coming next.  The
guy in green held the bulb horn down and squawked it and then held the
spray can up and sprayed the room with an aerosol.  It caused anyone
breathing it to drop in their tracks, unconscious for at least ten minutes
and, within a few seconds, there were 23 unconscious jihadists in the room.


   The other five guys, dressed in black outfits, armed with silenced
pistols, with breathing masks over their faces, came in, put one of the
masks over Aiden's face, and cut the duct tape binding him.  The seven of
them quickly bound all the jihadists, hands behind their back, stripped all
of them naked below the waist, bound their ankles, and then wrapped strong
rubber bands around nineteen tiangas.

   Only then did Aiden dress in a black outfit too and strap a silenced
pistol around his waist.  By the time the jihadists became conscious again,
barely able to move, there were six guys dressed in black standing around
casually talking to a weirdo in green in a language that was like nothing
they had ever heard.

   Aiden was handed long pruning shears, worked then a few times, admired
them, and stood looking around.  Where to start?  The bearded guy who beat
him the worst seemed like a good place.

   He pointed and a team member caught the head of the bearded guy's penis
with plyers.  Aiden chopped between the head and the rubber band.  The
guy's screams were cut short when Aiden shot him between the eyes with a
silenced gun.

   The woman who had beat him screamed but only for a second.  The guy with
the plyers stuffed the little bloodless dick-head in her mouth and held it
closed.  When he released it, Aiden shot her too, right between her
horrified brown eyes.

   "OK.  Who's next?" I asked.  "You guys like to behead people; we're
going to de-head you."

   "Don't be in such a hurry," the guy in green said.  "I need to remind
them of something before we kill them."

   "Wait a minute, Aiden," I said.  "I'm confused.  Did you start speaking
English before you de-headed them?  Why?"

   "We wanted them to know that we spoke at least one common language.  We
were going to leave two of the women alive for the press and police when we
called them.  We wanted the press and police to be confronted with an
absolutely unbelievable account."

   "Well, what did the guy want to remind them?"

   "He reminded them that they were about to become sacred martyrs for
their religion and ascend into heaven and could claim their reward of
seven-two virgins.  They might have a problem though because they would be
lacking the heads of their kirs."

   Kir was penis in Farsi.  I couldn't help but laugh.  I really was
enjoying his story.

   After that, they set up a production line.  They chopped off the heads
of 18 more kirs, one guy holding the head with plyers and another chopping.
The room reverberated with screams and moans.  This time the guy with the
plyers deposited the kir heads in a bowl and then handed the bowl to Aiden.
The plan was to flush then down the toilet but Aiden had another idea.

   The house was a modern one and he thought the sink might have a disposal
underneath.  There was.  He started the water running, the disposal
running, but then hesitated.  He wanted to be sure the remaining guys knew
what he did.  He asked his team to bring two women in the kitchen.  While
they watched, he slowly poured the bowl contents down the drain and smiled
when everything was pulverized.  The women were horrified and screamed
until Aiden pointed the pistol at their heads.

   "Did you kill the rest of the jihadists after that?" I asked.

   "No, not all, just the guys and one more woman.  We took turns using
silenced guns on them.  My crew insisted they all wanted to kill one or
two. Strange, how deathly quiet it was in that room the moment after there
was another phhtttt and a head snapped back."

   "Why did you kill the other woman?"

   "Because she was looking at me with such virulent hatred in her eyes,"
he said.  "The other two women just looked horrified at what we did."

   "So you wiped out the jihadist cell and killed, how many, twenty one,
nineteen men and two women.  Damn, Aiden, you guys beat my record.  I've
only killed eighteen men and one woman."

   "David, we were fighting terror with terror, only our terror was worse
than anything they had ever imagined would be done to them.  We knew if we
left them alive, they'd still be alive years later and might never pay for
what they did.  Our team called the press and media thirty minutes after
they left and then, one hour later, they called the Bobbies.  We wanted the
world to know what had happened."

   "OK, go on."

   "That's about it, David.  I sat there in a chair, just smiling, in front
of the two women who were still alive but bound to a chair.  I knew I was
about to be transported and we wanted them to see me vanish.  That was the
last thing I saw, two horrified unbelieving women watching me disappear."

   "What did all your friends do?" I asked.  "After your little party, they
were in too much danger to stay in London.  Did they leave?"

   "Yes, that was the plan, men and women, everybody, both groups in the
United Kingdom and Ireland.  They had buses waiting to take them through
the chunnel and all the way to Switzerland.  We have another group there."

   "Well, I've got just one thing to say, Aiden," I said, and held out my
hand to him.  "Good job.  I couldn't have done it better myself."

   He shook my hand and then just sat looking at me.

   "I don't know what I'm feeling, David," he said.  "It's like I'm dead
inside."

   "Aiden, you know I'm the leader here and that Aimee must always obey me
and no one else.  The others here obey me too but out of, I hope, respect
and love.  Can you change that?"

   "No," he shook his head.

   "I don't usually give orders, Aiden," I said.  "But I'm giving your two
orders and you will obey me.  Understood?"

   He nodded, affirmatively.  "Yes, David."

   "Good.  The first order is that you will never tell anyone else what
you've just told me.  They don't need to know.  You and I know what revenge
is like and it's not easy to carry the burden.  It's easier if someone else
helps you carry it.  Let me help you carry it.  We'll talk again whenever
you're ready."

   "Yes, David."

   "The second order is that you will become a father again for your
children.  They need you and nobody else can ever satisfy that need like
you can.  I want you to do something with your children every day.  Talk to
them.  Take them for a walk in the woods.  Play hopscotch with them.  Play
dodgeball with us.  Just stay busy with them as much as possible."

   "I will, David," he said.

   "You know they're not virgins anymore; don't you?"

   "Yes, but that's OK.  They told me.  If they can find a little bit of
love, that's fine with me."

   "Good.  Now, we need some fresh fish and tomorrow I would like us to go
fishing, just you and me and both sets of twins.  Do you think you'll be up
to it?"

   He smiled and nodded.

   "David, I forgot to tell you something.  The group that Iain came from
was going to have a big explosion and fire to completely destroy that old
mansion before they disappeared.  Shall I tell him?"

   "Did his parents plan to go with the others to Switzerland?"

   "Yes."

   "Then you can tell him.  Are they still going to send any more people to
join us?  Renée said they were going to keep sending people until we had at
least twenty."

   "As far as I know, they will keep to that but one of the groups in your
country, in the state of Georgia, I think, will now be in charge.  Maybe
the others will come directly from my old universe, maybe from your
universe.  I don't think it's been decided yet."

   "They've been sending us supplies and tools and we've sent requests for
lots more stuff.  Will somebody send that?"

   "Yes, there might be a little delay but we communicate with all the
other groups and the Georgia group will coordinate the other groups and
will make decisions on who has that job."

   "Good.  Now tell me what you think happened when the press and police
found the jihadists."

   <><>><>

   The next day, Aiden and I took both sets of twins fishing in the lake.
The early morning was a little cool so we left home dressed in Sherwood
Forest outfits, backpacks with lunch and a change of clothes, empty
backpacks for fishing creels, fishing poles and spears in hands.

   As usual, we sang on the way down the mountain, first You Are My
Sunshine and then She'll Be Coming `round the Mountain.  Pyotr volunteered
me next and I gave them my version of Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. 
Murphy's Chowder.  The chorus to the song says, "Who threw the overalls in
Mrs., Murphy's chowder?  Nobody spoke so they shouted all the louder." The
four Mouseketeers shouted each chorus as loud as they could.  Aiden
actually grinned and then joined in for the next repeat of the chorus.

   At the lake, our bamboo raft was still floating where we had tied it and
it looked sea-worthy.  I stood thinking for a moment and then stripped
naked.  Aiden shook his head and stripped too and the four kids grinned and
shed their clothes even faster.  We all stuffed our clothes and moccasins
in our backpacks.  The boys climbed down to the raft and the girls passed
the fishing poles and spears and backpacks down to them.

   Aiden and I stood and watched them while they arranged everything.  They
were four beautiful children, just beginning their journey to sexual
maturity, two blond sprites, one blond boy, one freckled brown boy, all
naked but unashamed, chattering away excitedly.

   "Why did we get naked, David," Aiden asked.  "It's still a little cool."

   "It will be warmer out on the lake in the sun," I said.  "Besides,
somebody is going to fall in the lake."

   "What?"

   "Yeah, I think Pyotr will fall in the lake first.  Then I imagine the
rest of them will accidentally fall in too.  I'm going to shove you.  Then
I'm going to get overbalanced and fall in too."

   "The water might be cold."

   "Do you think that's going to stop them?  Look at them.  Four kids,
absolutely perfect and beautiful, happy to be doing something as simple as
fishing.  This is life as it should be, Aiden.  It's up to you and me to
make this a perfect world for them."

   "I know," he said.  "I hope I'm up to it."

   "You can be," I said.  "You just stripped too.  The way we are, naked in
front of each other and not self-conscious about it, that's one of the
customs I'm trying to start in this new world.  Those four kids are about
as innocent and beautiful as anything you'll ever see.  Do you understand
that I don't ever want anyone to be ashamed of their body or to think that
it's ugly?"

   "Well, I agree with you about the kids anyway," he said.

   The four kids sat down on the bamboo raft and left the poling to Aiden
and me.  He quickly mastered the use of the pole and we were about in the
center of the lake when it happened.

   Pyotr stood up and said, "My butt's tired."

   Of course, the others stood up too.  Pyotr looked at me and, I think,
raised his eyebrows a little.  I gave a quick nod.  He took one step, his
foot slipped, and he fell overboard.  Petra bent over and extended her hand
to pull him out.  Brian bumped her butt and she went in with a flailing
splash.  He turned to Brianne and she jumped in.  He grinned at me and his
father and jumped in too.  The four of them quickly swam back to the raft
and hung on to the side, waiting to see what the two old men were going to
do.

   I decided to give Aiden a chance.  I bent over and extended a hand to
Petra.  Aiden put his hand in the center of my back and extended a hand to
Brianne.  Maybe Aiden pushed down a little too hard; maybe he didn't.  I
lost my balance, flailed the air for a moment, and went in head first over
the kids.  As soon as I came up, I turned and looked at Aiden.  He grinned,
shrugged, and jumped in next to me.

   That's when Aiden and I were attacked.  Four grinning splashing kids
tried to duck us.  I courageously fought them off for a few seconds and
then let them succeed.  As soon as my head was under water, I swam under
the raft and surfaced quietly just at the edge on the other side.  I heard
the kids yelling and screaming when I didn't come back up.  Pyotr figured
it out.  He swam around to the end, peeked at me, and yelled "Here he is!"

   I fled.  I swam a few meters from the raft, waited until I saw four kids
in pursuit, and then started swimming around in a circle.  When I got back
to where Aiden was treading water and grinning, he joined me in fleeing
from the menacing gang.  With all the splashing and giggling and yelling,
maybe they weren't really menacing.  We both swam around the raft in a
complete circle before we feigned exhaustion and let them catch us.

   The waterfall plunging down into the lake proved to be a good spot for
fishing again.  I actually managed to catch a couple before I gave up and
helped the kids by taking the fish off their hooks and stuffing them in
empty backpacks.

   The day was warmer by mid-afternoon when we started back, two smiling
grown men and four kids, chattering away and giggling at nothing, all still
naked except for moccasins.  We trudged in at home in time for our evening
meal, each carrying one backpack with clothes and another laden with fish.
It was just another good day in paradise.

   <><><>

   A few days after our fishing trip, I grabbed Aiden before he could
volunteer to wash the breakfast dishes again.

   "Aiden, come with me."

   "Where are we going?"

   "Up the mountain.  We'll probably be gone all morning."

   I led him up the path to a good view of the isthmus and the mainland. 
The first part of the path led through some of the oldest trees I had
found, where the canopy almost completely blocked the sun and there was
little underbrush.  As we climbed, the path led through darker and darker
woods and through narrow openings between lichen-covered boulders.  At one
point, the path split in two, and, like Robert Frost, I chose the one less
taken, the most difficult part where we had to climb.

   Finally we broke out of the woods and stony crevices into a rocky
outcropping on the mountain where the big trees were unable to find a place
for their roots and the sun warmed the huge boulders to baking.  I led him
to the place I wanted him to see: a promontory where nothing obstructed the
view and the isthmus connecting us to the mainland could be seen.  The
isthmus was completely free of vegetation, a jumble of sand and boulders.
The mainland was a rolling blue-green forest of trees which seemed to go on
forever.

   I opened my backpack and took out two bottles of juice and my tablet.  I
handed a bottle to Aiden, opened one, had a good drink, propped my tablet
against a rock, and then asked Aimee to record our conversation.

   Finally I looked at Aiden.  "What do you think?"

   "It's beautiful, David, but why did you bring me up here?"

   "Aiden, you've just come through the dark forest, through crevices
between rocks, all with little sunlight.  Now you're standing at a point
out in the direct sun, looking at our pathway to a new world, and wondering
why you are here."

   "I suppose."

   "Aiden, you still have a purpose in life.  You've been through a hell I
can only imagine but you have years yet to live.  You have a challenge: to
love your children and guide them and care for them until your death.  You
must muster the strength to meet that challenge."

   "I don't know if I can, David."

   "Look, Aiden, I didn't ask to be brought here.  I didn't ask to be made
leader.  Still, I've accepted my challenge and I will do my best to meet
it. You can do the same.  You began to accept it when we went fishing."

   "What's my challenge?"

   "Aiden, you and I are the only two here who have something in common: a
fight against adherents to a religious belief which is beyond horrible,
evil, monstrously wicked, a belief that seeks to rob us of our humanity. 
Now we're in an untouched world and we've both got the same challenge.  All
the boys and men who come here will be our sons and brothers.  All the
girls and women will be our daughters and sisters and wives.  Most of the
children who are born here will be sons and daughters of two different
universes.  We've got to lead them.  We've got to instill in them a sense
of love and caring and family.  That's what we are, you know, the new
family of mankind."

   "I was warned you could be quite eloquent, very persuasive.  You are
indeed."

   "I need your help, Aiden.  Your children need your love.  All of us need
your caring.  I want you to reflect on what I've said and then accept your
challenge."

   "I will."

   A swiftly-moving shadow crossed over us and I looked up.  I saw not one
but two of the large raptor birds gliding far above the mountain top,
probably playing in the updraft from the mountain.  I pointed them out to
Aiden and told him how I killed one and how Matt and I stole the pig from
another.  We stood and watched them for a minute or so and they never
flapped.

   "Aiden, we have a leadership council comprised of Iain and Caitlyn, Matt
and Jean-Nicole, Anna and me.  Ultimately, every decision is mine but I
need the others to advise me.  I want you to sit in on our meetings as a
non-voting member for a while.  Anna's in the second trimester of her
pregnancy and before the babies come I want to step aside and let somebody
else replace me on the council.  Will you do it?"

   He nodded.  "When you're being leader, do you really wear that ratty
bearskin in the hallway?  A young boy told me you did."

   "No, I just assume the mantle of authority.  Pyotr?"

   He grinned and nodded.

   "I'll get even.  James and Toby have already served a one-day term as
leader.  I'm going to appoint Pyotr next and then Brian.  It's just one day
but they can be serious about it."

   "Yes, responsibility can make anyone serious."

   "Tomorrow, we're going to work in the garden all day, except for our
cooks.  That's one way we accept our challenge.  One day soon, we're going
to the swimming beach.  You'll see something you're perhaps never seen
before: a group of young boys and girls, men and women, all naked, playing
in the water, gymnastics on the beach, yelling and running and screaming,
enjoying the sun on their bodies, just having fun like innocent children,
life as I think it's meant to be."

   "Well, we certainly couldn't do that in London," he said, grinning.

   "Aiden, I didn't ask to be sent here but your people chose me to lead
this small group of humanity.  I've accepted my role as leader and, as long
as I'm alive, I will not permit anyone else to assume that role.  You and I
both have been badly wounded by religious hatred and I'm adamant that we I
will not permit such hatred here."

   I paused for that to sink in with him.  After a moment he nodded and
said, "Go on."

   "I was once asked if I was an atheist, someone who doesn't believe in a
god and who views all religions as myths.  I replied that I was beyond
atheism, that I was an antitheist, someone who views all religions as
inherently evil and the source of most human conflict.  In my old world, it
took real strength and courage to espouse those views.  In this world, I'm
going to do my best to keep anyone from bringing religion here.  They will
have to do it over my dead body."

   "David, you're safe with me here," Aiden said.  "My world is largely
free of religions and the wars they cause and we've had peace for years. 
You were chosen in part because of your views and I knew about them before
I came here.  I'm not going to challenge you on that."

   "Good.  Now there's something else I want to talk to you about.  Have
you had sex with a woman since your wife was killed?" I asked.  I knew this
was a sensitive topic but I thought I might as well bring it out in the
open.

   "No."

   "If you want me to, I'll stop right now," I said.  "I just think you
should know how we cope with our needs.  Can you talk about her?""

   He nodded.  "Go on," he said.  "I'm listening."

   "Aiden, I've learned a few things since I came here.  Our bodies have a
need for sex and our minds have a need for love.  When we can find both
with a woman like Anna, we're as happy and content as it is humanly
possible to be.  I don't know anything about your wife and the relationship
you had but perhaps it was the same.  Was it?"

   "Yes, sex with her was always good but it's her love that I miss the
most."

   "Occasionally Anna and I, with the help of others, have tried to pair up
some of our younger males and females, like James and Sam.  I think
somebody in your old group was trying to do the same.  Pyotr and Petra were
somehow saved from being sold into sexual slavery.  Now you send your own
twins here and they are a perfect match for the first twins.  Did that
influence your decision?"

   "Not until after my wife was killed," he said.  "I knew about Pyotr and
Petra; we all did.  I didn't want my twins to have to stay in your old
world and I thought they'd be a perfect match for your pair."

   "I think they are too," I said.  "Brian lost his virginity with
Jean-Nicole and Anna.  She and I were going to play, that's sexual play,
with Matt and Jean-Nicole.  Somebody suggested we include Brian.  The rest
of us watched him with Jean-Nicole first and then Anna."

   "Both?"

   "Yeah, in about five minutes."

   He grinned.  "Horny little devil."

   "Yeah, weren't we all?"

   "Brianne lost her virginity with Brian and Pyotr one afternoon out in
the woods.  All fourteen of us had gone down the mountain to a beautiful
spot, supposedly to get naked and soak up some sun.  It was also a good
place to play at sex.  We all watched Brianne with Brian and Pyotr.  She
was smiling all the time.  She's got a beautiful smile."

   "Yeah, she uses it on me to get what she wants."

   "Are you really OK with them becoming sexually active already?"

   "Yes.  David.  In my old universe, children were permitted to have sex
as soon as they wished.  We made sure to guide them and protect them from
unwanted consequences like pregnancy.  We knew some of the ones we sent
here were too young to have children.  That's why we provided contraception
for you."

   "Well, you're not too old to still need sex," I said.  "I don't know
what we're going to do about love but I have an idea that someone will be
sent for you.  Do you think so?"

   "Yes.  No decision had been made when I left.  I know they were looking
at some prospects."

   "Aiden, you're not too old to have more children either," I said. 
"Maybe you could have another child, one created in this new world."

   "I've thought about that but I don't know whether I can do that again."

   "If they want us to merge our DNA from two different universes, they
will send someone from my old universe for you.  Do you agree?"

   "Yes, that's where they were looking."

   "Well, until she arrives, there's no need for you to do without sex. 
Anna and I have talked about getting together to play, that's sexual play,
with Iain and Caitlyn sometimes soon.  Maybe we'll invite Matt and
Jean-Nicole too and call it a meeting of the leadership council.  When it's
just two couples, I've made love to both women and so has the other guy. 
With three, who knows?  Would you like to join us?"

   "I thought your culture pretended to be monogamous."

   "We don't, not here.  As long as we can prevent unwanted pregnancies, we
get together, usually two couples, and we swap partners at least once. 
Occasionally we have sex play parties, the whole bunch of us, and we warm
up with a lot of wild giggly foreplay with everybody else and then we
choose a new partner for the night."

   "Anna's pregnant, right?"

   "Yes, but she still wants sex.  Still needs to have it.  Still needs
love.  I try to give it to her.  She's welcomed all the guys here with her
body.  She says she's about to stop doing it with anyone but me and I'm
being extra careful with her."

   "And you don't mind if she has sex with me?  Iain doesn't mind if
Caitlyn does?  Or Matt and Jean-Nicole?"

   "No, I don't mind.  Iain and Matt don't mind either.  None of us guys
would try to tell the ladies what to do.  You need to know something about
women's role here.  Anna and Caitlyn and Jean-Nicole are the ones who
suggested it.  They all want to help you.  You need sex and they all want
to share their love with you."

   "David, I really don't know whether I can," he said.  "What if I can't
do it?"

   "Aiden, Anna will understand.  I think Caitlyn and Jean-Nicole will too.
They both want to give you a little gift, a reminder of what a woman's love
can be like.  You should try to accept it graciously.  Sam and Renée will
probably offer you the same thing later.  I've made love and played or had
sex with all of them.  If they offer someday, perhaps I'll do the same
thing with Petra and Brianne."

   "Well, let's wait a while for my body to heal a little more," he said.
"Just try to understand if I can't perform.  I really loved my wife and her
death has been almost impossible for me to bear.  If I didn't have kids, I
probably would have committed suicide."

   "I understand.  I spent three months without Anna here and I thought
about cutting my own throat if she didn't come to me.  Matt and Iain and I
want you to try to accept what our wives want to do for you.  They all want
to give you a little taste of a woman's love again.  I'm betting you'll
perform fine with one of them, maybe two, maybe even three.  Who knows?"

   "Well, there's a first time for everything."

   "Aiden, Anna and Caitlyn and Jean-Nicole have given this a lot of
thought.  It's not so much about sex.  It's about healing, about becoming a
normal loving man again."

   I stood up, retrieved my tablet from the side of a rock, and looked at
Aimee's smiling face.

   "Aimee, I wanted you to know what Aiden and I talked about.  Please make
a record of our conversation and keep it for a couple of months.  Let Aiden
listen to it again if he wishes."

   She smiled as usual.  "Yes, David.  Before you leave, would you show me
the view from where you are?  I think our mountain home is beautiful and I
enjoy looking at it."

   <><><>

   A few nights later, after dinner was over and the kitchen had been
cleaned, we gravitated as usual back to our two adjacent tables.  I looked
around and realized that we were about to reach another milestone: we were
going to need three tables soon.

   The Mouseketeer table now had eight sitting at it, three on each side on
swing-out seats, two on one end on a bench.  The oldest teens, James and
Sam, Toby and Renée sat opposite each other.  The youngest, Brian and Petra
and Pyotr and Brianne, sometimes sat on table seats and sometimes on the
bench.

   The adult table now had seven: Anna and I, Iain and Caitlyn, Matt and
Jean-Nicole, and now Aiden.  The three couples had drifted into sitting
opposite each other and Aiden was adamant that he would sit at one end on a
bench.  I walked over to the other table and stood there waiting until
their giggling and talking stopped.

   "We're having a leadership council meeting tonight and Aiden's going to
sit in.  Do any of you have anything you want us to discuss?"

   "Yeah, I do," Toby said.  "When can we have another sex play party?"

   "OK, we'll talk about that.  Anything else?  Once we go to the council
meeting, I'd prefer not to have to worry about all of you.  Can you be
good?"

   "Sure," James said.  "Sam says I'm always good."

   "Renée says I'm the best," Toby crowed.

   I shook my head and walked away from the table of eight giggling kids.
Except for Aiden, the others at our table were standing, waiting.  I walked
up behind him and put my hands on his shoulders.

   "You're invited too, Aiden," I said.

   He stood up, Anna took his hand in hers, I grabbed his other hand, and
we went down the hallway toward the rear and then to an unused bedroom. 
Anna and I dropped our loincloths just inside the door.  Aiden looked at
arrangement in the room, looked at me, at Anna, shook his head, and dropped
his.  Iain and Caitlyn walked in and dropped theirs.  Matt and Jean-Nicole
followed.

   The room had been prepared the way Anna had said it would be: three
mattresses in one corner of the room, pillows against the wall, and lights
on dim.  I knew my role.

   I put my hand on Aiden's shoulder and guided him to one side with me.  I
sat down, leaned back against a pillow, lifted my tolos from between my
thighs, crossed my ankles, and rested my hands on my stomach.  Aiden
watched and then sat down beside me the same way.  I looked to the other
side and saw Iain and Matt just getting in the same positions.  Four guys,
none with hard-0ns but four dicks swollen close to standing up, looking up
at three beautiful women, one of whom had a little poochy belly.

   The three women stood there until we were settled and then sat down with
their legs between ours, leaned back on straight arms, and raised their
knees.  It was impossible to look anywhere else except at what they were so
prominently displaying.

   "Is this really a leadership council meeting, David?" Aiden asked.

   I looked to the side and saw his eyes moving from one woman to another,
well, at least between their legs.

   "It's a meeting of the leadership council first," I answered.  "Later,
we might do something else."

   TO BE CONTINUED:



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