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  “I’m grateful for what I do have. I was allowed to go down the hill the last few days. I have a good life and so do you, Ashley. Don’t be selfish.”

  Joe spoke up, “Ashley, just because you believe everyone should listen to their own heart, sometimes we need just a little guidance. Think of where I was before you came to us.

  “I would have lived out the rest of my life just like I was, never knowing anything any different. I believe Ted and his group is in the same place mentally. They have never been challenged to think in a different way.

  “You don’t have to tell them what to do but just get them to consider something else. You see what I’m saying?”

  “Okay, I’ll think about all this. You people are so good for me. You challenge me just like you’re talking about me challenging others.” We all hugged each other and went to our separate homes to get ready to go down the hill.

  I had designed more clothes and several of the women had made them. We were planning on taking some down with us this morning. Remy, Ted’s girlfriend had commented on our clothes and I wanted to give some to them as gifts.

  As soon as we came down the hill, we broke into groups with men in one group and women in the other. While the women looked at clothes and accepted them as gifts and tried them on, the men went to the different gardens and talked about growing vegetables.

  When we had all gathered together under the huge shade trees and settled on the big rocks, Ted said, “You know you guys don’t have to sleep in a damp old cave. I followed you yesterday to see where you were sleeping. We could put you up between all of us.”

  I looked at Joe and he winked, “Tell them,” he communicated silently.

  I laughed in delight, “We would like you all to come and visit us in our cave. I think you will be surprised.” Then without thinking about it I added, “But only if we invite the folks in the mansion too.”

  They stared blankly at me and no one said anything. “Look, from what I know, every generation and every time and every planet and society have a group of people they want to feel is inferior to them.

  “It doesn’t have to be like that. We would like to make this world a place where everyone loves and respects each other. Can’t we start here and now? I promise you, when you see what we have to show you, petty differences won’t matter.”

  “Just keep those pigs out of my way,” Ted said and it reminded me of the white people calling the colored people niggers in my time.

  “Joe and I will go to the mansion and get those folks and the rest of you take Ted and his group on up to the cave,” I said and Joe nodded in approval.

  I wanted to go with them and see their reaction but I knew I couldn’t do both, so Joe and I started toward the end of the street.

  I had never seen such luxury in either of my lives. A uniformed maid answered the door and I could see into the foyer. The floors were huge white tiles with pink grout. There was a winding staircase that looked like it was coated in gold.

  The huge chandelier looked like crystal. Before the maid could invite us in a man came from the interior of the house. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen, even more handsome than Joe. He had pitch black, very thick hair worn just below his ears.

  His eyes were a deep blue/green. I had never seen eyes that color before. He had on a cream colored ruffled shirt and skin tight pants of the same color. He reminded me of pictures of men from the 1800s.

  He had a friendly smile and I noticed his top lip was just a thin line but his bottom lip was full and light pink. His hair and coloring complemented that of his wife, Marion.

  “Come in,” he said. “Marion told me about your group who lives in a cave.”

  “We came to invite you to visit us there,” I said.

  “I know, Marion has been wanting to go up there, but she didn’t want to go alone. Let me go get her.”

  When he walked away I turned to the maid, “You’re invited too.”

  “You’re inviting our maid?” Marion asked as she walked into the room.

  “Hi, Marion your husband just left looking for you. Yes we invited, I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

  “It’s Edna and I think I will go,” she said as she looked at Marion with rebellion in her eyes.

  Rory came back in, “Then I guess it’s settled.”

  They didn’t bother to change clothes but went in their silks and satins. Marion had on a bright green silk dress that was mid calf length. The skirt was flowing. She wore high heeled beige sandals.

  I asked her before we left if she didn’t want to at least change her shoes but she looked at me like I was crazy, “I’m a woman of the higher class. I have to wear these.”

  I didn’t question her farther and started down the street and up the hill.

  “Marion told me she heard part of one of your stories. I would like to hear them sometime.”

  “I want to hear your story. Do you go by the same book as your neighbors?”

  “No, we don’t have a book to go by like that. What we have is a book of the ones of our class who came before us.”

  I looked at Joe and he silently communicated, “Get him to let us read it.”

  I turned back to Rory and he had been watching us with a question in his eyes. “May I read your book?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry, but we’re not allowed to let outsiders read it. But we will tell our stories in exchange for hearing yours.”

  We agreed and continued to walk up the hill. I commented on the beauty of the countryside and they looked around like they had never been this far from their house. They agreed that it was beautiful.

  Irene was sitting in the mouth of the cave when we got there. Ted’s group was inside. “It won’t let us into the city,” she said shaking her head. “The membrane is across the entrance. Some of this bunch took out knives and was going to try to slice through and I had to stand in the between them and the entrance.

  “When they threatened to slice me they all became blinded. We had to lead them back out here and they haven’t caused any more trouble.

  “I’ve been sitting here in a state of shock. I’m glad you’re back. This must be the people from the mansion.” She held out her hand, “Hi, I’m Irene.”

  They looked at her hand like they didn’t know what they were supposed to do with it. Then Rory said, “I’m Rory and this is my wife Marion.”

  “And this is Edna,” I added and the couple turned and looked at me like I had two heads. “No one is better than anyone else here in our home. You got that?”

  They nodded like two obedient children. I motioned for them to sit on the spheres and then they noticed the others were sitting on the spheres and that the spheres were molded to their bodies. Rory poked one with his fist and then sat down and it molded to his body. He sighed like he was more relaxed than he had ever been.

  After watching him the two women sank down into the spheres and closed their eyes. Marion actually smiled at Edna, shocking her.

  Joe and I shared a sphere and Irene began, “What is customary for us is that we usually sit here in the front room of the cave and share some stories before going to the city. It’s sort of an orientation.

  “There is a city back there through that passage. I want Ashley to tell her story first because it includes some of our own stories. When she is done then Joe and I will tell our stories.

  “I will then ask for volunteers but whether anyone from our group volunteers or not, I want Rory to tell their story and then Ted. Is that agreeable to all of you?”

  I told my story and watched as there was wonder in all the eyes that were watching me. I included, in my story, about ending up in Joe’s world and about all the trouble we had there with the people who wanted to destroy us because we wouldn’t get the transplants. I told about Joe and me getting together and about us rescuing a good part of the people there.

  I told about the cave uprooting its self so it wouldn’t be destroyed and how it became transparent and how we floated
through the universe for two years before landing here.

  Then I backtracked and told about some of the things that had been going on in my world before I died, including the Manson family.

  While I had been talking Irene and some of the women had gotten up and fixed tea and coffee and sandwiches. They passed them around helping the blind people and Irene told them the sandwiches had sliced tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and avocado.

  They had never had avocado and loved it. Rory and Marion didn’t look as enthused with their sandwiches but ate them anyway with cups of coffee. Ted and his group drank tea.

  I had already heard the other stories so many times, I found myself growing impatient until they were finished. I was looking forward to hearing Rory and Marion’s stories.

  CHAPTER 26

  This is the story told by Rory in his own words:

  Marion and I are the last in our blood lines. Everyone else has been killed by Ted’s group and the bloodlines that came before them. Marion and I are very lonely and can’t seem to have any children. Edna is the last of her bloodline, who comes from a lower class than ours.

  Our story starts many generations ago. I don’t know how our people came into being but our chronicles began about 2000 years ago and were written by a man by the name of Homer.

  He writes about his life with his wife Hannah and their 14 children. There were many houses like ours during that time and there were tents where the servants lived.

  His best friend was Roark who had 17 children. Those two families plus the servant families were the beginning of all the families. They intermarried and every now and then someone would marry outside his class and there would be an uproar among the rest of the people.

  A few generations ago some people started arriving that didn’t fit into either class and that generation didn’t know how to classify them.

  My great, great, great, great grandfather wrote about this group of 47 people arriving in a spaceship. They had many children and started building tiny houses. They didn’t live in tents like the servants. These people were confusing to him.

  Before this group came there were many of us and many houses like ours. They started right away attacking our houses and killing our people without any explanation.

  Before they came, our people were a peaceful group and had servants to take care of us. After this group came some of the servants joined them and we had to start looking out for ourselves.

  The whole structure of our society was changed almost overnight. By the time my grandfather was born most of the houses had been destroyed and we had very few people left. Many of our people had learned to take care of themselves, cooking their own food and washing their own clothes. We have only one servant ourselves and that’s only because she had no one left of her own kind.

  CHAPTER 27

  As soon as Rory finished talking Ted snorted, “What a puntz! Poor thing, now you have to do for yourself. And you wonder why we want to kill you? You’re worthless and you’re a pig, just like it says in The Book.”

  “Be silent!” Irene said and turned to the rest of the group. “Do any of you have any questions you want to ask Rory?”

  When no one said anything she turned to Ted, “Do you want to tell your story now Ted?”

  “You bet I do,” he said and this is his story in his own words:

  We are Mansonites and live by the words of Charles Manson. Charles Manson was an extremely intelligent and enlightened prophet. He was designated the fifth angel and came down from the sky as a star, born of a young girl. He was persecuted from the beginning, being locked up in prison many times but he held strong because he knew he was sent to earth for a purpose.

  He became even more enlightened when he discovered a book written by a man named John, centuries before, about the dreams he had. John had called his book Revelations. We never could locate that book.

  In the book of Revelations, it had predicted that a group of locusts, with faces like men but with hair like women, would come out of the smoke and power would be given to them.

  It was right after Charles Manson studied about these locusts that a singing group called the Beatles came out of Liverpool England and they had long hair.

  The locusts were supposed to have breastplates of iron and Manson knew these were their guitars. They were supposed to have fire and brimstone come out of their mouth and he knew that was those powerful songs. There were four of them and they were supposed to be the four angels sent to begin the holocaust.

  The four angels that John talked about in the book of Revelations were going to be looking for a fifth angel and that fifth angel was Charles Manson.

  The songs they wrote were in code so that only Charles Manson could understand them. That’s how he knew that the four angels had chosen him for the fifth angel.

  I could quote chapter and verse from Charles Manson but the bottom line is, we are supposed to continue, as his followers, to create Helter Skelter so that the rich pigs like you and yours will eventually wipe out all the black people.

  So, when there were only a few of us left, we decided it was time to steal a spaceship and escape and continue his work on another planet. We knew we had come to the right place when we saw that there were so many pigs here.

  When he finished his ranting and raving I felt like I needed some fresh air and without a word, I left the cave. Rory and his wife and maid followed me. As we walked around outside I told them the real story about Charles Manson.

  “It seemed like every generation or so, someone comes along who believes they are special and are chosen by their god to be some sort of savior.

  “Just in the time I lived on earth, there were so many, some more famous than others, who needed to be the chosen ones.”

  Rory and Marion looked puzzled and then Rory asked, “Why can’t they just live and let everyone else live like they see fit? Why do they have to feel chosen?”

  I shrugged, “I can’t answer that, but if we can get you into the city, do you want to go?” I thought a minute and then laughed, “I wonder what Ted’s group will do if you’re no longer there and they won’t have anyone else to hate? Will they turn on each other?”

  “Can we take our things with us if we go to the city?” Marion asked.

  “You’ll have everything you need there. You can go just as you are.”

  She looked puzzled, “We have some very valuable things. We can’t just leave them for Ted and his group.”

  “What kind of things are you talking about?” I asked.

  “Jewels that are worth millions. Gold, silver and precious gems.”

  “Those things are not important anymore. You’ll see when we get to the city. Do you want to go or not?”

  “No, not without our things.”

  “You mean you’re willing to risk your life for some things?”

  She hesitated and then started to cry, “I can’t imagine living without our things.”

  “It’s a decision only you can make. I have a feeling that Edna will want to go live in the city.”

  “We won’t let her,” she cried.

  “You have no say in the matter. If she wants to go we will take her.”

  She was still crying and Rory put his arms around her, “Honey, let’s just go look at it. Can we do that, Ashley?”

  “Yes, I’ll take you to the entrance. It may not let you in anyway, not if things are so important to you. It gives us everything we need and the ability to do what we want to do to contribute to the community. You may have to make a tough decision.”

  CHAPTER 28

  When we got back to the entrance of the cave, Irene was talking to Ted’s group. Some of our group had lingered to help.

  “Glad you’re back, Ashley,” she yelled from the entrance. “This is one stubborn group. They have been brainwashed for generations. I don’t know what to do with them.”

  “Send them home,” I said. “I’ve lost patience with them. I’m taking Rory, Marion, and Edna back there to l
ook at the city. Marion’s having a hard time making up her mind between living in peace and holding on to a few trinkets.”

  I knew I wasn’t being nice but I didn’t care. I started down the dark passage and they followed me without saying a word.

  When we got to the entrance of the city, all three gasped. Josie ran toward us holding up her little arms to be picked up. The membrane was in place and I told her to wait until I could enter.

  Marion fell to her knees and wept, “Can I have children if I live here?”

  Before I could answer, the membrane disappeared. They were evidently now ready to enter and the being was willing to admit them.

  Without another word, we all entered and immediately Marion fell to her knees clutching her abdomen. Rory went toward her but before he could get to her, he fell on his knees and clutched his groin.

  Edna looked at me like she was going to ask a question but their apparent pain was over in seconds. They got up from their knees and seemed to be communicating telepathically.

  Marion looked at me, “I can’t believe it. Not only have we been healed but we can communicate without talking out loud. Can we live in one of these cute weird little houses?”

  “Just pick out the one you want,” I said and they ran toward an all white house.

  “We’re going to start working on a baby,” she called over her shoulder, laughing. The jewels were forgotten.

  I picked up Josie and held her close, “Isn’t life wonderful, Josie?”

  She patted my cheek, “Me is going to make a cake.”

  “What kind, darling?”

  “A mud one. We go to the creek to get more mud.”

  I put her down, “Have fun. Mommy has to go talk to Irene.”

  “Me lub Ilene,” she said and ran off to find the other kids.

  When I got back to the entrance, no one was talking. My group, except Irene got up without a word and headed down the dark tunnel.

  I had never seen Irene look so angry. I patted her shoulder and then turned to Ted’s group. “Okay, here’s the situation. Rory, Marion, and Edna have entered the city.”