Little Cherine Book 04 - BPost019

Gilli looked up at Estella. “Is this the one who hit Sam?”
“The same one.” Gilli gave her hand and they shook.
“I’m glad to meet you,” Gilli said, “You must be very brave.”

Previous: Book 04 - Post 018

2281

Sam came over and hugged her. Estella looked at her for a moment before recognising her. “But you’re older than I am!? Oh! I forgot.”

“How are you?”

“I’m having a great time. Robert, did you do something to my friend? I never find him to chat anymore.”

“Let’s find somewhere quiet to talk. Do you mind?” We went outside and jumped to the beach. Estella gave a squeak of surprise and giggled.

We sat at the taverna while I explained to her.

“It seems you were not supposed to get the disk. The person he sent it to never received it. From the details he gave us we were able to work out that he does not live on this world, he comes from an alternate world. I’ve tried to find him, but I cannot. Will you tell me his name please? I want to find his alternate of this world so as to make him a Cherinian. He has asked me to do so, but is afraid to give me his name. I promise not to enter it in the diary.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know you that well, how can I trust you?”

“What is there to fear? I could not expose him without exposing my loved ones.”

“I’ll have to tell you the truth then. Robert, I lied to you. I said he met me when I was a little girl and tried to make you think he is a relative. I was just too ashamed to tell you that I gave my real name and address to a stranger. I did it because I had already chatted with him for a long time. When I was sad he would know and ask me what is wrong. I found that he is caring and always gave me good advice - even if he had to tell me things I did not want to hear. When he told me he was writing a story and what it was about I pleaded with him to send it to me. I wanted to see how he thinks, to know if he really is as sweet as he is on chat.”

“What did you decide?”

“Well, he teased me a lot about sex. He said that if we ever met he could not tease me anymore and I told him he could - as long as he doesn’t think he can have sex with me. I’ve got a boyfriend and anyway, he is far too old.”

“How old is he?”

“I don’t know, but I think he must be over sixty.”

“How did he react to that?”

She giggled. “He told me that I was too old for him!”

That made me chuckle. “I think if he met you he would not find you too old. He would definitely find you prettier than he thought you are.”

“Oh, he said I was immature because I keep having fights with my best friends.”

“He thinks you are too old, but also too immature?” I thought about that for a moment. “He obviously is a strange man.” An idea crossed my mind, but I kept quiet. If she had not met him, how could we be certain he is a man? He could have lied about his age, sex, the country he lives in or anything else.

“How did you learn his real name?”

“From his emails. Under the personal information it gives his name.”

“Don’t mention what he uses for his emails, just tell me, is it one of the free ones?”

“Yes.”

“So he would have probably used a false name too. Damn!”

“You really want to make him a Cherinian?”

“Yes.”

2282

“Why don’t you want me?”

“Would you want to be?”

“I think so.”

“I’ll ask Cherine. You do know that you are the only person who is a Normal and knows, has known for years now, of the Cherinians? I’ve sent my healer into you, just to be certain nothing goes wrong before we come back for you.”

“Cherine loves Sam?”

I laughed, her thoughts were transparent. “She does, very much. Forget about you hitting her, even Sam has.”

“I’ll give you his email, if you find him, will you tell him I gave it to you?”

“I can promise that if I do, he will be grateful to you.”

“It’s ………………..”

(I’m not typing it in, I cannot take the risk. If he is getting my diary, how can I say for certain that nobody else is?)

“Thank you. I should be able to use it to track him down, even if he gave false details. You have given us our first hope of finding him. Thank you.”

Candy showed she wanted to climb on to her lap and she picked her up. Candy put her little arms around her and kissed her. “Thank you for helping Robbie find him. He is very special to us. We all know he has a very good heart and we’ll love him.”

When we got home everyone was very excited. Even if he is only an alternate of the one we want, it is a start. Cherine put her hands to my face and stared into my eyes.

“In a few days it will be our tenth anniversary. If you can find him by then, it will be my best ever present.”

“Ten years! How come you still love me!?”

“I wonder about that sometimes.” she teased. She nuzzled my lips and I inhaled that sweet little girl fragrance of hers with the same ecstasy as ever.

“I see what Sam meant when she said that hundreds of years from now she still stayed a little girl so that I would love her more. God, even after all these years, holding your tiny body, smelling your little girl scents, they still drive me wild. They also make me feel very fiercely a need to protect you.”

“You mean that if we all grew up you may lose your protector?”

“I don’t think so love.” A suspicion crossed my mind and the way I stared at her made Cherine afraid.

“What!?”

“I can’t say yet. I need time to think about it.”

“Tell me.”

“No.”

I was literally shaking. I took her off my lap and calling the protector I jumped to the top of Mt Olympus, giving off the strongest privacy signals I ever had.

It appeared as a man, sensing I wanted to talk to it.

“I do not know the answer Robert.”

“Then go find out. If you don’t, I will.”

2283

“You said we must never go to your future.”

“I must know this. Please. I must not go, I might learn things I should not.”

It left and returned almost instantly. From the way he glowed I knew even before he answered.

“You were right.”

My heart exploded in a song of joy. I screamed with my face looking up into the sky. I grabbed hold of the protector and hugged it. I did not know how I could contain my feelings within such a small body. I left it and going to the void I became the void and it rippled, energy streams disrupted by my wildness. Even the void did not feel large enough to hold my joy. I knew what was big enough and I returned to my body. Only the hearts of my loves would do.

I returned home and from the way they all screwed up their eyes I realised I was glowing brightly. I dimmed myself.

“Cherine, girls, I want everyone here. All our Cherinians now please. Those from the other worlds we can go to afterwards. This is first our joy.”

We went to the hall and within minutes all had arrived. I was floating and still glowing, streamers of light reflecting the joy that was burning me up.

“How long do we have to live?” They stared, none answering.

Alki took the lead. “You said perhaps a thousand years.”

“Then we must get old before we die?”

“I suppose so.”

“How Alki? How!?”

It was as if he was too afraid to answer. All of them were.

“Look at Cherine, she looks seven? What if she wants to look seven a thousand years from now? How can she grow old and die if she stays seven or twenty or any age she chooses. Can’t you see, none of us will ever grow old!! We will always be able to choose our age.”

“You have decided this by logic?”

“Not this time Alki mou. I thought of it and I was terrified. If I said that this was so and you believed and I was wrong, how terrible that would be! You see, I’m even learning from Emmie. I sent the protector far into the future and it returned with a confirmation of what I believed. We will never be older than we want to be!!!!”

Perhaps they do not have the same need to protect, so instead of joy they were only stunned. Only Cherine stared back at me with tears pouring from her eyes.

“You will never die Robert?”

“Only if you leave me.” She flew into my arms and sobbed.

Luigi smiled, once all had calmed down. “Why so much joy Robert? A thousand years is a long time and you said we could return to live new lives as many times as we wanted.”

“I see none of you have understood. What has been our biggest weakness, our fear? That Cherine could die and there would be no more Cherinians! What about Meli?”

She blanched. “My worlds!!”

Sol and Ordinx stood there as if paralysed.

“Yes my love, your worlds and as many more as you can hold within that weird head of yours. Solomon could release every species as you create their worlds.”

2284

Now they thought they understood my joy. They did not. The thought of my Cherine, my girls, Alki, all those I love someday dying had been a future misery, even if I had their souls by my side and new lives to share with them. I love them as they are and never want to lose them. Never!!

The girls jumped and brought Cherinians of all alternate worlds and it was the same for them. Only the Roberts and Cherines wept with joy and clung to each other.

Common sense took over and discussions began to be generated throughout the hall; it became the general consensus that eternal life was not the likely outcome. It was decided that we would, at some time or other, grow weary of our lives and allow our bodies to age and die. This frightened the Cherines for they can sense in their Roberts a tendency to grow weary easily.

“What you are all saying makes sense, but it does so, based on how we are today. Let’s take an imaginary advance. Say I grow weary and need a change. What if I can place my body in stasis, stay as a soul for as long as I need to, return to a world of my choice in another body and live a different life. After that, would I not be refreshed and welcome back my original body? If I have remained a Robert, I believe I would.”

“But if you have taken on a new personality?”

“I’m the lucky one. I have a Cherine who will see to it that I always remain a Robert. It is not only my Cherine who would make the difference. Look at my girls and tell me for which one I would not want to return for, to be loved by them? I think who and how many you each love as the present personae will be the deciding factor.”

“Sol, you can tell us, your people live for almost forever, do they grow weary of life and being who they are?” Dimitri asked.

“I think it is not the same for us Dimitri. It may be in the future, but it was not in the past. Your Robert has awoken us to many new ways of thinking and is busy changing us. The way we were, without strong emotions and sense of the ‘I’, if we grew weary, we allowed the rest to think for us and sort of hibernated. I think that may not be possible in the future, not if Robert has his way with us.”

I was appalled. My first reaction was to want to withdraw, stop interfering in the way other species live or think. I could see that where I had only seen advantages in widening their horizons there can also be drawbacks. Then I recalled how I saw them evolving if I did not interfere and sat there vacillating in my decisions. I finally made what was perhaps the correct decision. I will ask the Sparklers themselves to choose what they want me to do - the same for the Anadir and any other species. As for those of my species, the Cherinians that is, I know that I will be driven to keep on changing them, forcing growth on them until they are beyond me. I am already able to see they will leave me behind, for I cannot change with them if I am to remain the protector.

(I’ll insert my answer here my loves. Why are you upset? You have already left me behind. Each of you has grown already and are that one step further ahead of me. It does not leave me alone or lonely. All it does is fill me with pride and happiness. Each generation owes it to the next one to push them up that hill, to keep your children with you at your own level is selfish. Too many humans of our world do that out of fear or envy, perhaps thinking their children will no longer respect them, so that mankind has remained in an eternal cycle, making the same mistakes repeatedly. I would not want that for my loves. Perhaps as you change and evolve, you will understand me more intimately and instead of being repulsed by my weaknesses and backward ways, you will feel closer to me. As long as you love me, I will be happy.)

“Roberto mou, you have brought all of us great happiness. It is not the thought of my living forever that fills me with joy. My children, to know that you have given this to them, that is my happiness.”

“Roberto, I tried to hurt you and you have done this for my Smaragda…”

2285

“Stop that Anna, you too Alki. I have done nothing but find out the truth that belongs to Cherine. She is the one who has given us the present and the future. Anna, please do not ever speak of the way we met again. You were a lonely and frightened woman trying to protect your daughter. Do you truly believe I of all people would not understand the need to protect a loved one?”

Since we were all together and none admitted to any urgency to return, we decided to have our storytelling and golden circle of love, as we were going to for Katrina and Emmie anyway. How my Wendy does it, I do not know. They ended the storytelling with my announcement and her song tailed off with a soaring of our hearts as we all looked to the future. Perhaps Emmie did not understand all of it, but the direct sharing had an immense impact on her. I disconnected her so that she can recover on her own.

As our evening came to an end and we were all about to leave, I sensed Apostoli needing to talk to me. I invited him and his daughters to our home. He asked to speak to me alone, in my office.

“Roberto, I feel embarrassed, you will think badly of me, but I have to tell you. Perhaps you can help me face all the others.”

By now all my girls knew and were rejoicing, but I let him tell me. “Martha and Vicky are both expecting my child.”

“You find it so difficult to change Apostoli? Your daughters are very proud and happy, have you not felt them?” I chuckled, “If you are worried and need approval of what you did, why did you choose me? You know that all my daughters are my lovers or my wives. They would all already have my children if we were not too many as it is.”

“That is why you have not had children with them?”

“It is the only reason Apostoli. How can any man keep so many women satisfied and loved? The day will come when I’ll have to let them have my child and I do not know what I’ll do then. Of course that is only the beginning of my problems. What of the day when the child of my child wants my child?”

“Theé mou!!”

“God will not help Apostoli. I’ve just told you tonight, that you may live a million years. How many generations of your children will you have children with?”

The door opened to the sound of the girls laughing. “Has he frightened you even more uncle Apostoli?”

“He has convinced me I must become a monk and hide in a monastery.”

“You should never have gone to him for this, you should have come to us.”

“Cherine, that sounds like you have a solution, would you like to share it with me also?”

“Nope.”

She did not have an answer to our problem, but she was enjoying herself and it was good to see and feel their laughter and their feeling so very alive as they sparkled with joy from ganging up on me. Their laughter and teasing, their happiness for Martha and Vicky also helped Apostoli accept what has happened.

Sol asked if she could organise a party for our anniversary, but I told her that we would prefer to celebrate it on our own, just the two of us. Later that day I went to the void and called for Solomon.

That world you make for us, how complex can it be?

You wish for something special?

Yes. If you take from my mind the apartment I lived in at that time, could you recreate all of it?

Show me. I pictured it all, the flat, the furniture and the garden outside. He made me go further, showing him the whole area, the square we went to for her ice cream and so on. We could do it all Robert, including all the buildings and the people. What exactly are you planning?

2286

I was thinking of both of us blocking our minds so that when she comes to my garden we re-enact our meeting without our memories. It might be interesting to see whether it all happens the same way again.

For what Earth time period?

Even one day would be good.

If you bring another Robert and Cherine and have them revive your body every day, you could have as long as you want Robert. You know that any of them would do it for you.

Most of them have the same anniversary date as we do. Only Rob from Keith’s world would be suited to this. Let me ask them. Are you certain your people would not mind Solomon?

I think the streets of Athens will be crowded as everyone will want to be a part of this. We should also allow the Anadir and Gillians to take part. How about your family?

Do you think Sol will also want to? I teased him.

You just try and keep her away!

“Cherry baby, what do you think of my idea, do you like it?”

“It is scary! What if you chase me away!!”

“What if you decide you don’t like me baby? We just take the risk, it will not alter how we feel about each other.”

“How can my mother spend all that time with us?”

“She only has to appear for the evening and night, until you fall asleep.”

“You are wrong Robert. Because you did not have any gifts you forget I did. If she stopped existing in my world I would feel it.”

“Would you be able to tell the difference between the alternate Marians?”

“It would puzzle me. Each of them have their own memories so they feel different.”

It turned out that Marian loved the idea and wanted to do it. Her alternate agreed to help keep her body fit. The others all had to be on standby in case we wanted them. That is Alki, Nicko and Dommi. As they would all be spending time there, it was not a big problem. As Solomon said, everyone wanted to be part of this experience. Gilli chose to be the woman at the periptero (kiosk). I’d planned for three days, but there was such an outcry from our girls, that we had to extend it to a week with the possibility that it may last longer.

Meli grinned. “Our friend, Mr ‘A’ will complain that we are making his book boring. He’ll think his readers won’t want to read the first chapters again.”

“I hardly think it is likely everything will be the same.”

“I wish it could be. We’d love living through that time with both of you.”

“Dommi love, how do you feel about it?”

“In a way I don’t like it. For it to work you will have to feel the same way about me again, the only difference will be that this time I will be able to feel how I hurt you.”

“I had not thought of that. Dommi love, think how I’ll feel when I discover again that you do love me. Can’t you mute the way I feel about you before that?”

She looked astonished. “Are you crazy? To have this opportunity to feel how much you hurt and loved me and mute it!!?”

2287

That made everyone laugh, including me. I made a point of making sure my dad and mom would be there too. This was a turning point in my life and I knew they would want to see it. Dad showed me the sign he put in his bar:

“Going to spend a week or more with some aliens from space. Be nice to those who are keeping your bar open for you in my absence - The Owner.”

The evening before, I sprawled over a couch, reading an SF book and enjoying the feeling of my family. Aganthi came and sat on my lap, almost lying over me. I looked at her eager face and putting the book to the side pulled her to me for a kiss.

“When you come back Robert, would you and Cherine mind if I ask for your help?”

“What a silly question. What is the problem?”

“One of our students, a young boy, he is opening his mind very fast. If Cherine thinks he could be a Cherinian someday, would you mind us paying his family for him to go to a good school?”

“Why would we do it only if he is to be a Cherinian?”

“You must not be silly Robbie, we haven’t got enough money to help everyone. We should first help those who can become Cherinians.”

It is strange how personalities differ. Claudia did not really suffer abuse, Theresa and Aganthi did and the three of them are affected in the same way. They are the ones with their feet on the ground at all times. Wendy, Maria and Marita are softies and dreamers, just like the rest of us. Perhaps their experiences were not what made them become as they are, or at least, not only.

I went on line and checked the email details of Mr ‘A’. I noted the name and country of residence so as to pass them on to Tasso. Early the next morning I gave them to him and asked he make it his priority. I’m surprised Mr ‘A’ has not made a comment yet - perhaps he is waiting to see how it turns out.

Sam has agreed to take over the diary again. I wrote of our first meeting and I would have preferred Cherine to write the second one, but she is adamant about refusing to even try. Sam offered to help her, but it seems they ended up agreeing that Sam will write for her, giving the details from her perspective. I can hardly wait to read it.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Nine

I could not believe what the Sparklers had done. We found ourselves in Kolonaki Square with all the buildings, cars and people they would have had in the original Athens of that time, though the people were only correct in numbers and the ratio of young adults to elderly that Robbie recalled, not the actual persons who did exist then. It does mean that there were very few children, since families did not visit Kolonaki Square very often, unless they happen to live in the area. Some of the crowds were made out of people we know, projecting if the protagonists of that time could have recognised them, but most of them were either Sparklers or Anadir. Robert had seen to it that Emmie is included. Once she had understood what we were trying to do she found the concept fascinating and willingly joined us. The idea of recreating an experience Robert and I had shared, giving ourselves the opportunity to live an alternative possibility felt totally alien to her and she could not understand our excitement as we imagined the possibilities of living through different experiences to those of the original time. I suppose that only goes to show how all of us have become used to living as Cherinians.

I’ll admit it now, I was nervous. I knew that if Robert turned me away he would not forgive himself - after all, it has happened in at least one alternate reality, that we know of, so the possibility does exist. He is a romantic and believes that if we meet for the first time a hundred times, he will love me all of them, since we belong together. He fears hurting any of us girls, but this time he risks hurting himself. I considered cheating, but then I would have to live with it forever. Also, if he found out, he would say I did not trust him!!

They had to block Robert first as I would still have my original gift and sense him. He lay on his bed after making himself look the age he was then, which actually meant he had to look older, but it had the opposite effect. His stern taut look disappeared, the only tightness to his face and eyes were those of pain and grief. I watched as Dommi and Meli blocked him off and then we went upstairs to my mother’s flat. I made myself look exactly as I had then and they blocked my mind. I was still linked to all Cherinians, but was made unaware of the link and them - anyway, the other Cherines were all helping, shoring up my faint link. We had originally thought of letting the other Cherines take over the links, but the tiny tremors I felt in Robert when this was suggested and my own instant dislike of the idea squelched that proposal. After I was blocked, I slept for fifteen minutes to give everyone the opportunity to leave.

* * * * *

2288

I woke up with butterflies in my tummy. Today is the day, I decided, I will meet the man I’ve sensed. Even if he turns me away, at least I will know what he looks like. I am determined to hide from him my secret, for experience has already taught me to expect him to see me as a freak if he knows. I could hear my mother getting ready to leave for work. She came in and sitting on the edge of the bed, she leant over and kissed me good morning.

“Be up within quarter of an hour, you have to let in the woman I hired, her name is Maria, and Cher, you be good, you hear me?”

“Yes, mummy.”

“I’m going to be late, I better go. Give mummy a kiss.” I did and she left. I lay there a while thinking. This man I am going to see today, why do I feel it is so important to see him? This has never happened before, I’ve never had this feeling before, more of an urge, that I have to get to know him. Is it because he is special in some way - I wondered, just wishful thinking really, whether he has the same curse I do. If he does, then I know I have to stay away from him and yet I feel compelled to go to him. I have no guide book to show me what is right or wrong and feel very alone and afraid.

I had decided not to go downstairs until it is ten o’clock. By nine I was walking up and down the pavement wishing time would hurry up and also that it would stop. The man who looks after the building had told us about the Englishman and then warned us that he does not like company, he is a loner. When he explained he has suffered a tra…a bad thing, I’d felt sorry for him without even knowing what it was. When I decided it is time, I almost ran there and went on to the grass so that I could not stop myself or chicken out.

I walked in front of his window a couple of times, hoping he would see me. I could feel him now very strongly and it was frightening. He was full of emotional pain and very bitter - which meant it was not a good time to be introducing myself. I knew he had seen me when I felt him become angry, but before I could run away he opened the door.

His eyes made me even more afraid. The way he was holding a pen in his hands, his fists curled tightly around it and the knuckles white, warned me that he was barely in control of his anger, which seemed to blaze out of him. I could feel the blood drain from my face, my eyes felt huge as I stood rooted to the spot in terror.

His words were clipped and harsh, “Who are you?”

“Cherine…”

“Okay. Play!” He slammed the door shut and I ran.

Even as I reached the comparative safety of the corner of the building and felt safer, I stopped, shocked. I had felt his tremendous anger turn into grief. I knew he was crying! A grown man was crying. Stealthily, my heart hammering, but determined, I crept back. At his door I could now hear him. On my knees I crept to the windowsill and out of a corner I saw him. He was just standing in the middle of the room with his cheeks wet. He was almost facing me, but his eyes were turned toward the carpet. He took a step and from the feelings inside him I thought he was going to fall to his knees, but he collapsed on a sofa with his back to me now. I could now also recognise that his sorrow did not only come from his anger, there was a feeling of guilt.

I sat down on the grass and while I let his emotions come into me, I also thought about what he felt and a tiny wonder grew within me. He feels the same way I do!!!

I desperately wanted to run back to our flat, get into bed and hide, but something made me stay. Something about the way he was feeling told me he would not hurt me, that I am stronger than he is. I wiped my eyes dry and crept over to the door. I stood up and waited as I tried to build up my courage. The only problem was that the longer I waited the less courage I had, but I also could not face leaving him without finding out what his tra…bad thing was. Did someone he loved also die, I wondered.

2289

I tapped on the door very softly and then suddenly a change came over me. I straightened and knocked again harder. I heard him, felt his wish to be alone even as I heard him come to the door. He did not open but called out, “Who is it?” in an unfriendly voice.

“Cherine.”

“What do you want? I’ve said you can play on the lawn.”

“I told you my name, but you haven’t told me yours.”

“What do you want it for?”

“I can’t play on your lawn if I don’t know your name.” Suddenly what my mother calls my curse came to my rescue. Cheekily I added, “I gave you my name, but you didn’t tell me yours. That is rude.” As he opened the door I forced a smile to my face while every muscle in my body was ready for sudden flight.

His eyes were still red, but he’d dried his face. He tried hard to make his voice friendly. “Cherine eh? Tell me Cherine, are you a cheeky girl?”

“I’m not allowed to talk to strangers. You haven’t told me your name yet.” I gave the best cheeky smile I could. My fear was gone, I could feel he is nice.

He laughed as if I had said something funny. “Well, you answered my question! I’m Robert.”

“My friends call me Cher.”

“My friends call me Robert.” He cocked his head in a funny way and I suddenly felt that I like him. “You do not look like a Cher. I think I prefer Cherine, it sounds more exotic and suits you - as if you have stepped out of something like a Thousand and One Nights…it is an Arabian story.” He gave me a grin. And he calls me cheeky!? I’ve never had an adult give me that kind of cheeky grin.

“Are you very rich?”

That caught him off balance. “Why?”

“You have to be. You stay at home and don’t go to work.”

“Am I still a stranger?”

“Why?”

“You can’t come in to a stranger’s home. If you want to see what I do, you would have to come in.”

I shook my head, backing away. “Maybe tomorrow.” I rushed away and hid around the corner. I felt he was sorry I’d been frightened as he closed the door. I giggled to myself, though I also felt a little sad. I had to pretend I was frightened or else he might guess I know he is not dangerous. I waited and felt his sadness did not come back for a long time. I felt that he also likes me!

I went up to our flat and let the old woman moan at me for a while then went to my room and lying belly down with my chin cupped in my hands, I thought about Robert. I still cannot understand why I am attracted to him. Why do I feel I have to see him again, that he is a friend, or will be? At least I cannot sense that he has anything like my curse, so that is not the reason - he is not making me like him.

I also knew that I had affected him. Since moving into our flat the previous day, I had not felt one moment that he was not sad or hurting. I had managed to make him feel, not happy, but at peace for a while. That must mean he likes me I decided. Slowly his sadness came back while I ate the lunch Maria made for me. She put on the telly and soon I felt her fall asleep. I’d become sweaty from lying on my bed, so I changed, putting on a tee-shirt and a tiny skirt.

Quietly I left the flat and went to the kiosk on the pavement and bought a small chocolate, the big ones cost too much. Just before tearing the paper I got an idea. Still wary of his reaction I knocked on his door again.

“Is it tomorrow already!!?”

2290

I giggled. “Do you want half my chocolate?”

He pretended to be suspicious, though I felt he was touched. “Why are you offering me chocolate? I was warned at school about strange girls offering me chocolates.”

“I’m not a strange girl, I’m Cherine.”

“Sorry, I forgot. In that case I’d love some. I’ll share it with you if you have a coke.”

Really scared now I walked into his flat and he got out of my way as I walked in. I looked back over my shoulder and to hide my fear I gave a cheeky grin, “Okay.”

I felt his heart become soft as he let me in and then went to the kitchen. I was still afraid though. I had learnt that I must never make friends and I already knew that Robert is going to be my friend. It meant he will hurt me very much when he calls me a freak.

I only live with my mum and we almost never have guests so I guess I forgot to sit properly. As he came back with a coke for me and a coffee for him, I had a shock. I felt him thinking of me in a bonking way. I was shocked that a grown up thought of me that way, but it was not a strong feeling and before I could become afraid I felt his surprise and the way he fought it. It was such a slight feeling and gone so quickly, I nearly thought I’d imagined it. I was aware now though and saw how he looked at my legs and arms and felt he liked them. I was surprised he does, for I am not even tanned and I’m sort of skinny. My thighs don’t fill out, they just go nearly straight up to my bum.

We chatted a while and he was relaxed and I felt he is enjoying my company. I also felt a sort of tenderness in the way he thought of me. He took me to his computer and showed me some pictures he has drawn.

“That is how I earn my living. I do my work at home on my computer and then when I take it to an office I work for, they pay me.”

“They pay you for drawing? What do they do with it, do they put it on their walls?”

He laughed, but in a nice way and I felt something I’d never felt anyone feel about me - he was delighted by my question, as if there is something very sweet about me. This puzzled me a lot for I knew I had not tried to be sweet.

“Do you know anything about computers and the internet?”

“We did learn a little about them at school.”

“Well, the internet is a place I can go to through my computer and there are millions and zillions of places where I can learn all kinds of things. Those places are called sites. Some people want to put a site on the internet, but they don’t know how. They pay me to design it for them and draw some pretty pictures so that it will make people want to come to their site.”

“I’ve never met a drawer before.”

He grinned and again I got the same feelings from him, so when he corrected me, like a fuddy-duddy teacher, I did not get upset. “Not a drawer Cherine. I’m an artist. At least I like to think I am.”

I could feel Maria was going to wake up soon. I gave in to temptation and feeling that I was being a little bit naughty, I went back to the sofa and sat down with my legs open and my skirt flopped up a bit so that he can see my panties. I wanted to know whether I can make him feel the same way again. As I was sprawling, almost lying back, I think he could see the bump under my panty sticking out and I felt him react much stronger this time. I pretended not to be looking at him, but I could see his eyes were glued to my panty. I was surprised to feel a strange feeling below my tummy. He came over and sitting next to me his hand reached out. I was trembling with fear at the feelings in him, but also felt wonderful that I can make him react to me this way. When his hand touched my skirt and flipped it down to cover me again, I let out my breath.

“I have to go now Robert.”

“I’m glad you came Cherine. It can get monotonous sitting here by myself.”

Next [Book 04] - Post 020

I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.

Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου

(Alexander Zenon Eustace)

^{5th October, 2019}

• posted on Steemit: 5th October, 2019
  
  
  
  
  

  If you wish to read from an earlier book, from Book 01 to Book 04, use this link button to open the LC Book Index: