by Beth Cohen
Jane valued the importance of the relationship she had with Gabrielle. They both needed each other to be autonomous and emotionally disentangled. They both needed to be able to count on each other’s counsel without being fettered to each other by anything besides the desire and drive to protect the Realm.
Gabrielle’s Dream
Gabrielle never thought much of dreaming…She made plans and knew what she needed to do to achieve those plans…She did have dreams, but daydreams, dreams of the reality she wanted to live and the life that she believed the women deserved and could live.
One night after Gabrielle’s partners left her bed…and only one woman, warm and soft, remained, Gabrielle fell into a deep and dark sleep…She felt herself pulled into the leaves, a soft rain fell from the sky. She dreamt a dream; it seemed so real.
She walked into the parlor of her
grandparents’ house. Her grandmother was sitting in her big chair waiting for Gabrielle’s arrival. Although Gabrielle was already fully grown, when she saw her grandmother she suddenly felt her body revert to that of a 10-year-old child.
She climbed onto her grandmother’s lap and put her head on her shoulder and fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up, she was sitting on the sofa next to her grandfather. He was reading a book…a book of war and bloodshed…He wanted to make her strong. He was absolutely certain that the words and harsh pictures would give her the same strength her brothers had found playing war games, hunting and fighting in the streets…He thought he was doing her a favor…giving her a learning experience that would help her survive a world that he knew to be cruel and would get more cruel as time passed.
Back in the session when her grandfather had married her grandmother, the women of their generation had a purpose. Although they were not responsible for supporting their families, he felt, they were highly respected and held a place of honor in the family and in the community. Gabrielle knew, she could feel, that this was how he felt and why he was reading her this awful book. She knew, but she did not know why or how …And she certainly did not understand. As he read, she too felt that listening to him read these horrible tales would strengthen her, strengthen her in any way that she was yet to understand. She could feel an armor building up around her, encasing her in something strong, safe, something that held her apart from everything and everybody else.
Gabrielle wanted to get up and be with her grandmother. She longed for that warm smell of her neck and the soothing smoothness of her softly wrinkled skin. She tried to get up from the sofa. She willed herself to get up…even as a young child, Gabrielle was extremely strong-willed, but she found herself unable to move. It was as if she was glued in place…She felt tears come up into her throat. She knew she must not cry. Her grandfather hated weakness and tears and weakness were one and the same.
Gabrielle tried to call out to her grandmother. She could hear her singing in the kitchen…but she did not come…
When Gabrielle looked over at her
grandfather, he was not her grandfather — not the man she had learned to love and fear…fear and love…the person sitting next to her telling her those stories was just a man, just another man…
Tremendous fear filled Gabrielle's chest…The tears again came to her eyes. Since the man next to her on the sofa was no longer her grandfather whom she feared and who hated tears, Gabrielle burst into a storm of tears and heavy breathing…she could no longer hear her grandmother singing in the background. She could no longer hear the man reading, and she could no longer hear herself…
Gabrielle was in a frenzy of tears and hysterical crying…when she looked over on the sofa — it was her grandfather there…. he was totally himself…and he looked at his granddaughter sobbing next to him. He did the only thing he knew to do when a child of his began to scream…He slapped her. He slapped her hard. It felt good. It felt great and he did it again. And he did it again…
And then, Gabrielle, the child, stuck glued in her place, not able to move…a small powerless child embraced the armor she had grown…And Gabrielle returned to her full- grown woman self. She got up from the sofa…She looked into her grandfather’s eyes, this man who hit her again and again, her and her grandmother as well…Gabrielle stopped her sobbing and took her grandmother by the hand and led her out the door…together they walked…and walked and finally they were home, in Gabrielle’s quarters in the Realm…
When Gabrielle woke up, she found herself crying in the arms of her last night’s lover…She had remembered her past and now knew her future.
Love in the Realm
For Dally Blyth, Kay King Junior, First Cowander-inChief Gabrielle and Jane Double D, the new world of possibilities that were open to them in the Realm were based on an equality that they could not have dreamed of in the Wideness. It was an unnamed equality and self-value. It was a fleeting thought, a non-existing breeze in a stuffy room.
As time went on, the women of the Realm began to uncover different parts of themselves that had been dormant up until then. The women and their leaders, these leaders, like the women they led, worked hard day in and day out. They had given their entire selves to the creation of the Realm.
After several months, though, these women found themselves exhausted, both physically and mentally, in a way that they could never imagine. This exhaustion had an unexpected freeing affect. They were so very weary, they could no longer keep up their protective façade of the single-minded goal. This in turn brought on a tremendous boost of inner strength. While their shared goals eased the intense exhaustion, the shifts that took place in many of their relationships gave them a fire and desire, leading them into a newly found strength. Definitely not as lonely as the men from the Wideness had expected, the women did not experience the same loneliness and isolation they had experience in the Wideness living with their men. Even though these women were considered to be excellent wives (except for those like Jane Double D and Gabrielle, who never could settle down) in the Realm, their world took an utterly different shape. Their work was never about their own goals and future. Their work had been about the men they worked for and whose business literally owned their asses.
Yes, every part of life in the Realm had a different measure, a different taste. ENERGY. INDEPENDENCE. PERSISTANT RESISTANCE.
*** It was then a surprise to even the women themselves that they found themselves in this unexpected and yet completely authentic,
indubitable situation. Their emotions, their exhaustion and their exhilaration, shared so intensely and yet, they did not foresee this almost inevitable change that began to take place in their personal lives. One morning, as the sun began to climb, Kay and Dally lay in bed, staring into each other’s eyes. When some weeks earlier, they found warmth and comfort in each other’s arms and then touching each other’s lips and softness…they were at first surprised and even a bit embarrassed. This was actually and unexplainably the very last thing they had expected. Even Dally, who had witnessed her daughter falling in love with her best friend, was shocked that she was having these feelings for another woman…They had been friends for years. In the Wideness, the women were together in the difficult times as well as the fun times. They were best friends and shared laughter as well as constrained tears. Now, in the Realm of the Womeness, they found themselves enjoying each other not just in discourse and work but, in time, they found each other’s warmth and comfort. Soon their bodies aligned and mingled. They found that what they now shared with each other brought a pleasure that they had never before known. For many, it was a pleasure that they did not believe existed. Kay and Dally still could not fully acknowledge what was happening; indeed, they truly seemed to not yet know, but it was true. They had been falling in love. And they were enjoying each other on every level, emotionally, intellectually and sexually.
They loved the way their bodies melted together…Kay’s breasts to Dally’s breasts, Kay’s lips to Dally’s lips; their bones even felt right. They loved each other intensely. They had been each o
ther’s closest companion and confidant for so long…so it seemed so natural when their bodies came together. It happened without any planning or forethought. Suddenly, it seemed to them, they found that they could and did enjoy every minute that their bodies were together…incredibly together…Their love was passionate…Their fit was divine.
Both of these women were physically strong and fit, each in her own way. Dally’s body had a softness to it that both fascinated Kay and brought her much bliss. She loved the moments after their lovemaking, watching Dally’s restful, spent pose. Kay would lie next to her, leaning on her arm, gently touching Dally’s exhausted body with her fingertips, tracing the ripples that appeared on her
belly…ripples as smooth and quiet as the deep dark blue sea at nightfall. Dally would fall asleep almost immediately as their lovemaking came to its loud and surging finish. Kay would lie awake, calm but energized from their passionate
lovemaking…Thinking to herself how lucky she was to have found in Dally not only a friend and soul mate but a tender and devoted lover who could share in every part of her life — body and soul, the most wonderful union two people could share. Kay would lie in rapt amazement and an energized joy, until gradually her own exhaustion would get the better of her and she’d fall asleep, her head resting on the softness of Dally’s full and ripply belly…The smell of Dally’s skin a soothing, hypnotic potion that brought her sweet dreams of all the tomorrows that would come.
*** Dally Blyth and Kay King Junior had not decided to hide their relationship from the other women. Dally brought Kay home and into her Multi. She introduced Kay as her woman to her extended family. At first it was difficult for Kay King Junior. She was not used to living with so many people and the children intimidated her ever so slightly. After a few nights together, all was well in this newly grown household home and this particular Multi was now the home of two couples, one single woman and several children, all living with abundance. Food, clean laundry and a lot of noise together with quarrels, misunderstandings and general familiar love. They were happy. The adults understood the idealized home they had created and this kept them appreciative, enabling them to work out quarrels and disagreements with love, grace and respect.
*** Somehow, the rest of the women, including most of the Daily Deed and the Upper Stratus, did not know or had been too busy to notice that Dally Blyth and Kay King Junior were “a couple.” When Dally Blyth and Kay King Junior walked down the street together, hand in hand, more than just a few heads were turned and more than a few women smiled a blissful smile to themselves. It seemed to them, in that moment, that anything was possible.
Part 6
Life — Hard but Good Wombitee
As the women worked to build their society, a conscious effort was made to take into account the needs of the women, as women. A committee, the Wombitee, was set up to discuss and review the various ideas that were raised. This was to be a holistic committee, women body, mind and soul, with desires, dreams and ideals. Anyone could bring an idea to the Wombitee. Any idea was valid for a first review in the Wombitee. The idea that something was too extreme or crazy didn’t even occur to the women. They had had enough of that from the men who raised eyebrows or, worse, laughed in their faces, unable to believe that any one of them could have come up with an idea on their own that was worthy of attention or respect. The women of the Realm made it a principle that no one would be humiliated for an idea or thought. For the women, respect for one another had to be a basic tenet. Respect for one another, even if this was not always easy to achieve. It was the basis for
EVERYTHING they had worked for. In the beginning, every idea went straight to the Wombitee, without going through any kind of screening or preliminary evaluation.
The Wombitee members were mostly senior members of the Daily Deed, most often those who were past a time when physical labor came easy. Now, in their aging bodies, their minds were sharp and their obvious wealth borne of a lifetime of experience gave them a wisdom that was valued and much needed. The Wombitee would meet and receive the women twice weekly. In the beginning, they would meet every evening, just themselves, and discuss everything! Who needed what, who would be responsible for this, how it would be done, and in what time frame — every complaint, every argument, or potential argument regarding the governing and all decisions.
During the first few months, the Wombitee members shared in as much of the daily workload as they could. It soon became clear that this was too much to ask of the women of the Wombitee. Eventually, it was decided that the Wombitee members would work Wombitee full time. Soon the Wombitee members were the senior members of the Daily Deed, plus a few other wise women, whose opinions were much valued and sought after by the original Wombitee (who were in need of others who had yet to have ‘heard it all before’). Their life experience as measured in their years and age was invaluable… their wisdom was sought widely throughout the Realm.
*** Within a few months, the Upper Stratus chose Kay King Junior as the Head Wombitee. Kay King Junior was an excellent leader. She had an innate ability to empathize with each and every woman she came into contact with. She was able to convey simultaneously a sense of safety, as well as a sense of the absurd. The Wombitee had become so busy and so central to the lives of the women, they felt they needed someone to centralize and direct the energy into the necessary channels. That is, someone to make sure the Wombitee were awake and listening to the women who came to speak. Beginning this society from the idea of equality, sensitivity and sensibility, all matters found a path to the Wombitee, the consequential and significant, as well as the unrelated and irrelevant. Some of these were incredibly serious in nature, like the issues having to do with childcare and provisions. However, plenty of issues were borne out of pure frustration. When these came to the Wombitee, they were met with an equally gentle and respected reception. Every woman’s voice had importance and deserved a listening ear. No one was to be turned away. Respect was the essence of their being.
First, the presenter was invited to express herself in full. Often, the woman who had been given as long as she needed to get her point across and her issues ‘out’ would suddenly find herself talking to an audience of women who were struggling to keep their eyes open — or, worse yet, that each was trying desperately not to burst out into laughter and to hang on to the respect both promised and expected. When the latter would happen, the presenter, would, as often as not, stop speaking. It was often the case that she just needed to be heard. She needed to know that her situation was understood, that she wasn’t alone and that, in fact, her life, and pretty much everybody else’s, was very difficult, especially in the beginning when the Realm of the Womeness was first forming.
Kay King Junior understood that for as long as these women had been alive, they had not been given sound to their voice. While in the Wideness, when the women had complained, their complaints had not been heard. They were like the tree falling in the forest, empty of sympathetic ears, none to bear witness and acknowledge that their voices even had a sound, let alone could make a difference or affect another’s essence. Their complaints, suggestions, requests and, eventually, even their demands fell on deaf ears. Kay King Junior believed that listening was the key to a content, nonviolent society. She believed that by giving sound to the women’s voices, each woman would come to recognize what was truly important and what the real and immediate issues were; and eventually, the direction and goals of the Realm would be clear, as would her role and her destiny.
Voice – Listening – Future – Contentment – Peace
*** Kay King Junior also formed another subcommittee within the Daily Deed. This new subcommittee became known as the Templits. The role of the Templits was to help the women whose issues were of a more personal matter. While most of the women led a very public, not private, life, some matters needed to be dealt with delicately and discreetly. The interdependence of the women was natural. They had left their homes and previous life en mass. They had vacat
ed their homes, their husbands, their jobs and their entire way of life. In order to survive, the women reached out to each other to both help and to receive help. For many who spent their whole lives helping others, the latter was extremely difficult. The act of receiving had been unlearned and learning to receive anything from another was exceedingly difficult, especially when it came to the parts of their lives they had been so alone with, the caring for their homes and children.
Templits
In addition to the shift in the design of the family, there were other shifts as well. Several months following the Great Split, the majority of women and children flourished, but there were some who suffered greatly. Children who missed their fathers, wives who had never known any other way of life except to be somebody’s wife, those who now perceived themselves as fragmented, suddenly and not so suddenly, found the loneliness of life in the Realm overwhelming. These women and children needed special care and guidance that the Wombitee and the Daily Deed as a whole were not able to answer.
It was not an accident that the women in the Wideness developed their roles as caretakers. This was the one area of life they dominated in numbers. The men saw the role of caretaker, the emotionally supportive and loving characteristic, a weak quality. While this was considered somewhat virtuous in females, it was rejected as a worthy trait for the men. It was, therefore, more than just luck that the traditional role of woman as caretaker was very much alive during the time of the Great Split. These aspects of the women were the qualities that gave them life. The women were the psychologists, the social workers, and the caretakers in general, as well as by profession. It was the Templits who actually did the caretaking. Although their job in the Realm took on a different form, it was nonetheless necessary and something that they found themselves equipped to take on and they found their rightful and muchneeded place and purpose in the Realm.
