Outlaw Badjans (Six of Toigan)

by D Gemcats Purcell

  Lo and behold, two very nice things were happening over those two weeks. Jessi made it back into town and announced that she couldn’t wait to come over to help on the farm, but really just to be with her man, we all knew. I wasn’t about to stop her. Then all of our group apparently who had been working quietly behind the scenes to finish their family mandated chores and related vacations had persuaded all their respective parents to join all of us on the beach. ‘Wohoo’. We were going to be in hogs’ heaven together. So there was going to be eight of us in one condo - really a fully equipped home on the beach housing Jessi and her parents Jace and Susan, my Dad Jonah Sr and Mum Elma plus myself and Moog with Juliana.

  I think that the other members of Six really did turn the magic key in the lock when they revealed that they could now comfortably pay for their condo and all expenses. Their parents then took them seriously and saw it as a reward for them which it was. Plus they would have been mostly hearing about the other members of Six and their parents, but had not yet met them in most cases. The parents of the four members of Six who all lived in the city, Matt, Cherese, Dillion and Mader were not close but knew each other. So this was the opportunity to get to know each other better. Those four rented one really large house with four different wings to accommodate the other four families of Six. It was the house right next door to our rental. They paid a pretty penny to get it on such short notice, but they could afford it easily among the four of them. It was going to be a lazy week and we had made arrangements for catered breakfasts and dinners. Lunch time snacks our parents agreed to supply. Their house had courts for lawn tennis, a swimming pool, table tennis boards, a pool table and a dance hall setup with DJ equipment. Our condo had a patio to play bowls and stocked lots of board and video games. We planned to rent some small two person sailing double hulled skiffs to practice our sailing skills with. Thinking ahead we ordered personal locator beacons and minimal rations to be stocked on each in case of a mishap. We would also rent a tutor for our first forays. We were Six and we were not typical carefree teens. We planned things out carefully. Also Mader said that Adrianna and her parent were already at the beach and would likely be overlapping with our time there and he was hoping they’d come over from their hotel to visit some.

  So almost by divine intervention from Lord Meneer my sweetheart was coming over tomorrow. I spoke to her for two whole hours after dinner. It was so cool to hear about her grandparents on both sides and the fun relaxing times they had together with Jace and Susan. It was nice that her parents were still so young and vibrant. Gone were the days in human history when becoming grandparents meant you weren’t far from the coffin. My grandparents lived three farms away and they came and went so casually that I didn’t think much of it. However being of the Meneer faith and devout, they would be lucky to live past their nineties. They were more doting on Moog since he was the more orthodox of the two of us. Jessi’s parents were Moderns and could easily make two hundred plus. If fact their own parents and grandparents were still around too. So Jessi had grands, great grands and great great grands. Joy! All those generations were functional and productive on Jessi’s side. Jessi and I had already agreed to bring our own kid up as a modern, although I would make sure he remained in touch with his heritage on my side too. There’d just be less grandparents living on my side though.

  Breecher came on line just then, “Hi Six, I know you all will be off on a joint vacation. Keep your wits about you down there. I’ll let our branch down there on the beach know that you guys are part of us and to call on you if they have major theft on the beach. That’ll keep you all from being too bored!” There were appropriate howls of laughter. “Anyway,” he continued, “We found out that those farmhouses in the Bahoe area that were serving as safe houses all belonged to Gooch under different aliases and they are being confiscated. So soon there will be auctions and if you have acquaintances who might need a farm or two tell them to follow the government gazette publications for dates and times. Also we have finished wrapping up all the top level, mid level and a lot of the bit players too in the Outlaw outfits in all four territories that we had targeted five weeks ago.”

  He continued, “We have had a few individuals with promising attributes show up but have not had new groups coalesce during the immersion like happened with your group and Five so far. So we will train these individuals by ourselves and won’t need to disturb you all soon, it seems. Enjoy your fun times together folks.”

  It was 0900am and our little work crew were down by the creek dumping some large rocks along the bend of the barely chuckling creek. Two months ago during some summer downpours it had turned into a raging river cutting into the bank a lot more than we liked and so we were here with the excavator scraping down to bedrock, pounding some large steel rods into it and then pouring some concrete with embedded large stones and boulders. That hopefully will buy us a few years before the water ate that up too. There’s not much to alter waters eroding power. My head jerked up as we were finishing to see Mum driving over on the 4wheeler with my sweetheart sitting beside her. We ran to each other and by the time we were done, there was mud all over her and her delicious scent all over me. She looked up and said, “Sorry Mr. Jonah and Moog, excuse my bad manners. I should have said my greetings to you all first.”

  Both Dad and Moog bobbed their heads and Dad demurred, “We would not have done any better ourselves so we understand.”

  Then Moog pretending to be cross about it and said, “Just let the young lad finish up his work here though, before you devour him.”

  I dutifully got back in the trenches and continued helping arrange the boulders to allow the concrete to be poured between and around them. Finally, we were done. There were a few odds and ends needing to be completed around the farm over the next day or so, but largely the chores were done that we had set up to finish before leaving. However, I was sure other things would soon be noticed. So I took off the heavy gloves, threw them in the pick up truck bed and stretched my hand out to Jessi. She came to me and we started walking along the creek bed. Mum offered to leave the 4 wheeler and go back to the farmhouse in the pickup truck with Dad and Moog. “No need Mum thanks, it’s a short walk back.” She smiled knowingly and sped off.

  We wanted to spend all possible time together. We walked along the bank marveling at the little schools of tiny fish darting through the water, at the yellow and brown floating leaves. The leaves were already falling, early harbinger of what was to soon come. We watched the sunlight glinting off the ripples downstream of small pebbles. It was as if we had never before seen those things. Jessi’s hands were in mine, fingers curled around mine. Her scent was enveloping me all around and I could feel the slight changes in pressure as her fingers were adjusting themselves around mine. Oh God my Lord Meneer, ‘I love this girl, this woman.’ My heart was just bursting with the fullness of the emotion. I hoped the moment would go on and on. I knew that I was totally in love with Jessi. She said, “Jonah oh Lord, I just needed to be with you so bad, so bad that I woke up at 4 am and could not go back to sleep for thinking of this moment right here, right now, just standing here by this little brook holding you, feeling you right next to me. Gosh Jonah, it was like a hurt, like a pain, and the only salve to make it better is being with you. I missed you so much during these last two plus weeks. Even being with you while facing grave dangers, was far better than being so far away.”

  All I could say was, “Jessi I feel the same way. My chest is just burning, yearning for you so bad, it’s like it’s going to burst open waiting to hold you, to squeeze you. I love you my Darling, I love you so much.”

  We just stood there a long time hugging, feeling each other breathe, comfortable in the knowledge that it was not going to be unrequited love. It was mutual all the way, not having to fear rejection. No, ‘I love you but’ ...We had bared our souls to each other and we could truly breathe easy, confident and secure. We would go forward with confidence and trust now. We felt so lucky to have such cla
rity about each other’s deep feelings.

  Yes we had felt a deep and enduring kind of kinship during the immersion that neither of us had truly experienced before. It had been electrifying yes. But it had been a meeting solely of the mind, in commonality of purpose, “You feel good to me, I’d sure like us to go on the quest together. I feel like your powers and mine, your outlook and mine are similar and I just love the way we can see into each other’s minds. You seem to have pure, clean intentions and are all about surviving this thing that we are going through and we both seem to sense that we could help each other get through this quest thing which sounds so scary and challenging. How about us working together on it. Let’s round up a few others of like mind to form a team.” Yes, that had been our perspective then in the midst of the Immersion. Now standing by the creek, arm in arm, those sentiments had been eclipsed by the personal commitment pledge that we felt, that we’d made.

  So yes it started out as that kind of searching and joyously finding each other. Now, now though, here we are standing inches apart with complete mind sharing, totally open to each other in mind and body, shamelessly sharing our deepest feelings for each other. No games being played here one against the other. We were completely naked psychically and romantically with the softly babbling creek holding its breath in witness, the last late summer cicadas screeching their approval. A passing turkey vulture circling way above us nodded approvingly. We felt one with nature and as one loving team of two, committing ourselves to each other. No morning for us will ever be quite like that one again, ever. “We are life partners, Jessi and Jonah, we were destined to be that,” was our common thought.

  Our foreheads bowed into each other and remained resting there. How many minutes, neither of us would have been able to tell. Then I gently kissed her there on her forehead, next I gave her nose a flicker of a kiss. Her eyes were closed and I closed mine too in anticipation of feeling her lips on mine. Her scent wafting like lazy contrails into my nostrils was electrifying, my breath, our breaths were drawing in and out in jerky puffs. Finally, I knew even with my eyes closed that she had tilted her head up and back and I could feel her warm delicious breath tickle my lips and we brushed lips. There was this tingle, that smooth yet rough raspy catch as our lips entangled, flattened, pulsed with emotion and a wisp of moistness, then an explosion of her smooth texture and moisture pure honey to the mind and body, her giving of herself and me giving her my all. Before we had experienced a complete mind meld, now we committed to each other in a truly individual to individual physical way, no holds bared. This was soul to soul mating. Time truly stopped for us. When we came up for air reluctantly, we opened our eyes and looked at each other. We looked at each other intently, imprinting on each other’s eyes and every flicker of color, texture every nuance of each other’s eyebrows, face, everything. How her hair curled past her ears, the ends, the middle, the roots emerging from her scalp. Seeing her superficially, seeing her deep, taking her all in as never before, my mate.

  “Jessi, did you have breakfast before you came?” I asked, as much to truly know but also to break the spell a bit, like is this real, that which I am experiencing!

  She said, ”Yes Jonah I did have a little bite and Mum tried to make me eat more, but I couldn’t. I just needed to get here, to just be with you.”

  Her calling my name made me know that yes, I am indeed here and had not gone through the pearly gates of heaven yet. She squeezed by hand then wrapped her arms around my waist standing partly behind me. Oh gosh, this is real for sure. I reached back behind me and locked my fists together feeling the muscles of her rear ripple under my wrists. She pushed her body into mine and I could feel her two round mounds press into the left side of my back. She brought her right thigh forward and I felt the press of her pubis against my left thigh. Her head somehow came to rest against my left breast and chest area. We were sort of wrapped around each other in an absolutely natural way. She was mine and I was hers totally was the body language. We started walking like that, somewhat awkwardly for a few steps then morphed into a more regular side by side gait yet totally joined at the hip with my left arm around her back curling under her armpit with her left arm holding onto my hand while her right arm curled around my waist. Somehow we made it to the farmhouse, opened the door still wrapped around each other. Moog looked up smiled at us and went back to his reading. It looked like he already had had a bath.

  Jessi and I were now both muddy and I looked at her with a momentary raise of my eyebrow. We were so in synch with each other that she said, “ First dibs on the bathroom. I brought a change of clothes that I already put in your bedroom.” I nodded and she ran up the stairs. Shortly thereafter I heard the shower going. When it stopped, I waited a good ten minutes, then went up the stairs two at a time as usual, went to my closet, noticed that she was collapsed on my bed face down fully clothed and I went to the shower. I dropped my dirty clothes as usual on the floor, picked them up and dumped them into the dirty clothes carrier along with the ones she had removed. Gosh they smelled her, pure Jessi. After emptying my bladder, I got showered, toweled dry, pulled on my clothes while in there a bit self consciously. Stepping out back into the bedroom, I saw her eyeing me with a cute smile. I plopped down by her, making her bounce up once on the mattress and she said, “You’re going to get me seasick you know.”

  I said, “If you didn’t get seasick during our weightless maneuvering, you’re not going to get it now.”

  She snuggled up to me, “Jonah, I never thought I’d tell a boy that, since you all are made of puppy dogs tails and all that, but I love your scent. Will our scents change a bit when we are out in space, you think?”

  I said, “Maybe, I don’t know. I know things do have a different odor up there. When we get the opportunity, we must ask some people like your Dad who should know. He’s been up there for long periods.”

  She said, “I have to confess, I was laying here just enjoying your pillow and bed scent. Do you think somewhere along the line I picked up some dog genes?” To my silly wife-to-be I said, ”It doesn’t matter if you sprout a dogs tail, I’m still going to marry you. You will not get away.”

  With that we started to plan our wedding. She said, “If Mader and Adrianna were already serious, wouldn’t it be super nice to all do it together?” Just so an idea was hatched, but it may never get born though, we realized. We also re- committed to hold off a bit longer from hitting fourth base, until we got full protections in place and we were both truly ready to go there. I allowed myself the luxury of full relaxation, her scent in my nose and her breath against my neck. I think we both fell into a quick slumber and awoke with a slight startle when Moog cracked open the door placed two drinks on my side table with two napkins and said, “I just had to come up see what you folks were up to you know. You all got so quiet.”

  I turned bleary eyed to him, “Sneaky bastard, I’m going to start barging into your room when Juliana comes a calling.”

  He just guffawed and went thumping back down the stairs.

  “I’ve read about it, but didn’t experience it before. That’s what it’s like to have siblings, a brother. That’s what ‘ribbing each other’ is all about!”

  I said, “Unfortunately yes.”

  Half hour later we got up had the refreshing drinks courtesy of loving peeping-tom Moog. Jessi carried the tray down to the kitchen where Mum was pulling trays from the oven and the incredible scent of baking fresh bread pervaded the air.

  “You guys must have been exhausted, good to take a nap. I was hoping Moog would help me peel those vegetables but he ran away.”

  “We will gladly help you,” we said with one voice.

  There on the other side of the middle island in the kitchen were a pile of different kinds of vegetables some to be peeled, others to be sliced and diced. We wiped down the cutting board found a sharp knife, asked her how she liked them, winked at each other and communicated mentally. Our hands became a blur as we sped up every movement of the proces
s. It took some what we called ‘fun concentration’, but we got the whole pile done in under two minutes actually slowed down, because we knew the knife was sharp and we were taking extra care to be safe. Mum stood there with her mouth hanging open mesmerized. What could she say, after that performance?

  “Incredible, you kids. You kids are truly gifted. I would not want to be a bad guy around you folks with that knife for sure.”

  She half turned away, but turned back when I said, “Thank you.”

  We quickly ran away. We headed to the barn, Moog’s favorite hideout. He had almost completely saddled one of the horses and so I grabbed two saddles and with Jessi helping we got two more ready. Jessi had taken riding lessons at one point. We slowly followed Moog as he had already taken off. He was inspecting the fences around the orchard now. They were not as subject to damage as those enclosing the large animals. We had over the years, kept large windbreak trees well trimmed but far enough away to not directly overhang the fences. So our gentle amble did not reveal any breaches. Jessi and I were quiet. I just admired her control and posture. That girl was good at everything, I thought to myself. When we headed back it was an hour later and the sun was at its peak. After watering, rubbing down and putting up the horses with a few handfuls of the oats they liked to munch on, we left them in the barn. Mum had a healthy snack ready. Then Jessi after a big hug grabbed her clothes from the hamper and started off to her home hoping to get through the traffic before rush hour. She left in her cute sport sedan after unplugging from our charger.