IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION
JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT
By; Speaker Gerald Polley
All rights reserved.
Chapter 6
It was late the next afternoon when Knuckle hollered "The
computer's beeping!" Carol ran in and activated it. A very
handsome man appeared on the screen.
"Ah!" he cried, "The mysterious young woman who wants to be an astronomer! This is Carol, isn't it?"
"Yes!" Carol answered with a big grin.
"I'm Professor Jonathan Throttlebottom," the man
announced, "and I'm no relation to the Tennessee Throttlebottoms.
Totally different family. I'm from Virginia."
Knuckle behind Carol, was in stitches and one of the children remarked "He talks funny!"
"Now," the professor continued, "if you'll open the
pages at the bottom corner of the screen we'll give you an entry test,
and we'll try to determine what level you should be put at.
Shouldn't take more than an hour."
Carol looked around. "I can take care of
everything!" Knuckle commented. "Black Ant will be home in a few
minutes. You've got plenty of time!"
Carol returned her smile, opened the pages, and
began answering questions. An hour later the professor was
staring at the screen. "You've never had any formal education
passed the first year of high school?" he asked.
"I just did a lot of reading," Carol answered. "I didn't much like television."
"Darn!" the professor sighed. "I'd like to
give you the standard finals exams. I think you already may be
beyond anything that we could teach you in the standard courses!
You should be going on to graduate work. It would take four
hours. There's some built in breaks but we would need adult
supervision to make sure you haven't got another computer on and
bringing up the answers."
"Well, I'd have to arrange someone," Carol sighed.
"What about me?" came a deep female Russian
voice. "I've got nothing planned, just to go home to an empty
house. The baby likes it better here, anyway!"
She turned to see the baby's mother.
"Well! If you really don't mind!" Carol agreed. "I'd really
like to do it just to see where I am."
"Then do it!" the woman answered.
Carol turned back to the screen. "What does she have to do?"
"Just sit down," the professor answered, "fill in the witness form, and give me her verification number."
Carol got up, her guest quickly sat down, filled out
the form and clicked done. She got up, Carol sat back down.
"Well! the professor snapped with a grin, "Here we go! I'm
giving you the first tests."
Carol began answering questions. She
really had to dig for some of the stuff, but she managed to finish each
section on time. In the middle she got a sandwich and a glass of
milk and then kept going, those around her watching with considerable
admiration. Finally she sat back and cried "Done!"
"Indeed!" the professor answered. "Somebody,
somebody must've instructed you! There's fine details here you
could've never picked up in books! There's no question, no
question at all putting you through the basic courses would be a total
waste of time! I'm going to put in a petition that you be granted
a graduate certificate on the strength of these tests. If you
can't pay the fee I'll pay it!"
"Only if I can pay you back!" Carol insisted. "I do not want to overburden your kindness."
"Most certainly!" the professor agreed.
"Dingleberry is going to want to see these grades! He's out there by
you somewhere. I'm sure he's going to want to visit. You'll like
him. Amazing! Just absolutely amazing! I'll get back
to you tomorrow. I've got to go through these answers
again. You expressed a couple of theories I may have to write a
paper on, giving you the credit of course! Talk to you tomorrow!"
He broke the connection and Carol sat back.
She realized there were several different people in the room when they
started clapping. She looked around a little embarrassed. Zorba
congratulated her. "Come on!" he told his daughter, "time to go
home."
"I don't want to!" his daughter snapped. "That
house is cold and empty. It's not alive. This house is
alive. Why don't you sleep with Carol and I can use my bed here?"
Her father stared, wide eyed and looked to
Carol. "I assure you," he managed, "I never, in any way
encouraged such comments!"
"That's regrettable!" Carol answered. Her guest smiled and looked back to his daughter.
"Well, that's something we might discuss," he answered.
"Right now we'll have to go home." He took his daughter's hand
and they departed.
Carol looked to the baby's mother. "It's
absolutely terrible," she admitted, "I've been taking care of your baby
all this time and I don't even know your name!"
The Russian woman grinned. "I'm Rapunzel
Korzinoff," she answered, "my baby is Gretel. My mother was Swedish and
didn't like Russian names. Neither did I."
"You're not a prisoner," Carol asked, "how'd you happen to be here?"
The woman looked embarrassed. "I was in
the Russian army," she explained, "stationed in the Georgians. My
commanding officer decided I was better sex than no sex at all. I
objected and he got rough. When I got pregnant and asked him to
acknowledge it he said he wouldn't, he'd claim that I'd been whoring
with the men. One night when he was drunk on vodka I took a
straight razor and cut it off, stole a vehicle and got to the
border. I asked the Republican troops for protection. I
stayed with their young commander for a while, he thought I was great
sex, period! So was he! Then they thought they'd better get
me out of there before things got nasty. Didn't want to take a
chance on me being captured. A position was open here and this is
where I have been! Very nice people, The Republic. But men
won't let me in the house if there's a razor there."
Carol couldn't help it. She started roaring with laughter, then her guest joined right in.
"Well, thank you for your help!" Carol mentioned. "And I saw how you were looking at Zorba."
The Russian nodded. "Unfortunately," she
remarked "he does not look back. For some time he has been looking
elsewhere, and I cannot blame him. The young lady is quite
remarkable."
Carol hesitated a moment. "You know, don't you?" she asked.
"Yes," the Russian answered. "I don't know if
I should say, but maybe it would be better if someone tells you that
will not put negativity in it. The Children started awakening on
Crete, most welcomed them. They brought unity and the old hatreds
were dying away. But there were some that could not let go.
Zorba's wife was among them. He found out they had planted a
bomb. They did not know where. So they took a
prisoner to each place they suspected. Zorba took his wife to the
Unity school. He had a suspicion. His wife wouldn't use the
nursery there and he wondered why. He chained her to a pipe in
the basement. Though she had been screaming that she would be a
martyr for her God she finally admitted the bomb was there, and they
only had minutes to get out. Zorba left her in the cellar fully
intending to go back and get her after he got everybody out of the
building. Unfortunately the bomb went off sooner than they
expected. She was killed. The authorities thought his
actions quite improper. They didn't want a serious punishment, so they
sent him here for five years as a trustee. Now, I didn't tell you
any of that."
"I understand!" Carol sighed. "What about his other wife?"
"Your Iranian rockets here, actually just two stops
down. Somehow they weren't detected. They just started
going off. She never knew what happened. She was standing at the
gate waiting for head count. Fortunately the baby was in the
house. She had been a wonderful mother. Now, well, you can
understand. He's a little slow to commit even when there is great
attraction, even when the daughter is already committed."
Carol smiled. "Thank you!" she managed.
Things went on for a week and then Mr. Asad showed
up. "I've got a very troubled friend," he began, standing in the
door. "He wants to ask you something but he doesn't want you to feel
that you are under any pressure."
Carol held up her hand. "I think I've been in
love with him," she remarked "from the first time I saw him! And
I've got the same problem. I don't want him to feel pressured."
Asad nodded. "Then I think we'll take care of
matters!" he snapped. "I think perhaps we can elevate you to an orange
and let you have a little bit more responsibility. I will be
back!"
Zorba came at end of shift but didn't say anything,
just nodded, and continued on. A little while later Asad returned
carrying a box, which he handed to Knuckle. "Get her ready!" he
snapped. Knuckle smiled, dragged Carol into the bedroom, and had
her strip down to her bra and panties, then took the wedding dress out
of the box. Her and Black Ant got it on Carol and stepped back.
"Wow!" Black Ant muttered, "Absolutely perfect fit! It's like it was made for her!"
"I think mother took it in," Knuckle remarked. "Pretty damned good without taking measurements!"
There was a beeping. They escorted Carol out
front. A vehicle was pulled off to the side. It had been
opened up. Carol realized it was a portable chapel!
All the children and their parents were there. Carol was handed a
bouquet of flowers. Somebody turned on a recorder with The
Wedding March, and Knuckle nudged her. The rest was kind of a
blur until the next morning when she woke up next to Zorba in
bed. Xena was on a cot next to them. She looked up and
Zorba was staring at her. "Satisfactory?" he asked.
"Ummmm!" Carol answered, rubbing his chest. "She wasn't here when we..?"
Zorba put his finger on her lips. "She came in
afterwards," he explained. "I've got to get going! At least
I won't have to drop my daughter off this morning! Get to work!"
"Yes, officer!" Carol snapped.
Zorba slapped her butt and she let out a little
"Oooh!" then got up, showered and dressed. The children would be
coming soon. Her daughter came out sleepy eyed. but went to the
shower by herself, and then began helping. "You don't have to do
that!" Carol explained.
Her daughter's response was only a smile that said "I want to."
Things became very, very comfortable. Carol
sometimes worried if it was right, if she should be so
comfortable. But then she stopped thinking about it, because she
knew it was wrong. She had every right to be comfortable, every right!