This makes up half my novel, taken twice as long as I expected, and here will break to gather energies for an equally exciting finale. Derek and Esmeralda's wedding brings peace even on Lotus and Quen. Meanwhile, 'visitors' arrive, heading deep into the jungles of Borneo on a mission. [This last section needs work -not finished yet and it''s already past 9pm]
1. A summoning, a reminder
Derek / Curtis, the reason you are in a prophecy is not to control you, nor to hurt you. Why does God ask men to prophesy? Master I don't know. Stacy, tell him, or have I to force logic upon YOU all the time? She explained gently, do you like prophecy? Yes, we were raised to expect, obey it. And so should it come true? Of course... but if you gave me a look into my specific future -I might not want my old self anymore. Derek, prophecy is God's way of making sure people remember Him not themselves. Why must we remember our Creator? Derek stared blankly at her. Enough! Said Master Mark. You have the faith of a gnat. How much is a gnat like the Creator? How much are you not? Which would you prefer to be with -fleas or angels? Angels, I-. Don't answer me with buts. Do you understand you are not to impregnate Esmeralda on this wedding night and on every subsequent time you both join? You were not supposed to remove your underpants -now you're half man, half monster. What can God call for you as? *Sigh*. If only I understood Jesus the way He speaks to you, Master. Mark began to tear up. He hugged Derek and they let him go.
Rules are meant to be broken as surely as Law does not save, Pete said and Stacy nodded.
Esmeralda and Derek were in each others' arms as morning broke over their islet home. There was an old law that you can live anywhere fully encapsulated by rock. It might have been a consequence of absurdity meeting future needs. Derek didn't know or care. Theirs was these interconnecting chambers. And rock shard shutters kept in the gentle glow of non-radioactive neo tritium, trademarked as Glo-Forever. It lighted the floors and walls while cool sea breeze channeled along the ceilings. Their bed was an old fishing net. It was oddly trapezoidal and stuffed with seagull feathers, swaying as they shared love in the cool of morning.
And at home, Derek's mother fussed over her dress. Their only son was getting married -stupid Derek / Curtis actually found a wife. Don't give them any money Gail, said Jerry. Do they need furniture, a bathtub? How does my hair look? Jerry kissed her on the mouth and her heels fell off. Their son was getting married.
The Hawiian and Kyoko opened the letter they found in their mailbox as they opened the store. 'You're invited to the wedding of Curtis Truck and Esmeralda Gypsy' I told you the boy'd do it. Kyoko checked herself in the mirror. If I have a zit or a rash on my cleavage I'm not going. I hope it's a beach wedding?
Stacy, what do you truly feel for Derek? Nothing worth mentioning -I suppose. Because faith in a woman is different. From what? From what it should be. Are you proposing? No, but living vicariously through our boy has filled me with a certain longing -since my wife passed and I was taken in. What did you feel on that day down at the loom? She understood. Their experiences and reactions were all the same -God in the highest was good for living. I suppose I fell in love with Derek on some level. Seems everyone does except Esmeralda. She had a curse woven upon her. Are we then as the angels, never marrying? The way the sun glinted off her hair as if it were frayed threads of gold -Stacy, will you swim a while with me?
Even Lotus was whimsical that day. She had received an invitation from Esmeralda. 'Come be our guest,' it said, 'From Curtis and Esmeralda Truck'. That was bold of her, said Quen. Do we know anyone called Truck? Lotus, the database was destroyed in the fire. Secretly, he had kept a photo montage of his sister. It was from when times were better, freer, when they weren't hunted or urging the hunting of a poor sod -like Derek was. Witches otherwise were normal human beings. Perhaps he was overcompensating with his Titan projector phone. He lay in the dim of pre-dawn. Lotus danced in-frame, stretched yoga-wise, sang her heart out, among the hundreds of frames spiralling around the walls of his bedroom. Was he in love with his sister? Maybe, maybe not. But deep inside, cruel Quen knew there would come a time scarce of love. Even wicked men knew the healing power of sex.
There was a single card for the evening's menu -jellied squid crackers and sauvignon blanc. Jerry had hired the best priest via Facetime, all the way from Vegas. His schedule was packed as it was but telling the truth and making it sink in was important to Derek's Dad. Marriages last, son, he said. Just because you have super powers and are a magnet for every young blonde thing doesn't mean you give the wife a hard time every night.
Everyone was packed into the cave to watch Derek / Curtis and Esmeralda tie the knot before the virtually present priest. Father Asisee drew the vows from their body language and was eerily precise, then he made Esmeralda take off her amber ring and Derek put on her finger, one of drilled black pearl. He had searched for it for days, plucking it out of a giant oyster on the seabed below. She kissed him, and as it was extra special, their tongues met. Black and sheeny like the color of her hair. The gathered clapped and cheered. Even Quen was impressed.
2. Adventure wrong
Agent Hoag and Daphne waded through the surf, dropped off shore by tilt-wing boat plane. Are there jellyfish? No, just crabs, lots of annoying little crabs. Pesky things that drilled into the wet sand before they were crushed. Is that a cone shell? Yes -don't look at it. Their guide met them at the edge of the village. Welcome to Free North Borneo. Quite recent on the map? Yes, we had to throw our weight behind God's people, and in the end we could no longer be in the Federation of Malay States. Even now there's a 'small' civil war especially near the oil and gas fields. Come with me, it will be safe.
Is there witchcraft here? There is witchcraft everywhere -isn't it the end times? Can we meet with your tribe to see how you deal with it? Daphne stopped to brush off a swarm of insects. Their armpits were sweatty and their boots hadn't dried off. Life here must be miserable. The guide read her mind. If you try to do everything the old way it will be 'miserable'. But surely, madam, sir, -we will meet with the council of pawang.
Night fell like a thunderstorm approaching. Rushing waves and low clouds drowned the sun as drizzles of rain blew at their faces. I think we've come to the right place? Ma'am I know this is it, Hoag shouted above the roar of the shallow South China Sea. Not quite Waikiki, the jewel of the Pacific. This was a tense and torrid land bordered by forces they didn't understand. In her heart, Daphne said a silent prayer -if prayers were ever answered on the edges of Purgatory.
There was gunfire in the distance. They dropped to their bellies. A scream was heard and flames and sparks swirled from behind a stand of palms. Hoag looked at Daphne, questioningly. She looked back, and they nodded. We'll make it somehow, thought Hoag.
Celebratons at Derek / Curtis' home went on all night long. Lotus and Quen got into a long conversation with Pete and Stacy. They were each, the most interesting people they'd ever met. Lotus, Stacy and I aren't a pair, it's just our occupations -we're tailors. Having Stacy would be a lot more fun, thought cruel Quen. She was shorter, with shorter, skinnier arms and a behind that would weigh her down when he wanted it. She looked brittle, like a cracked lighbulb with its filament still burning. She shot him a look and he followed her to the stairwell and up to the precipice. Meanwhile, Pete took Lotus down to the sinkhole. They stepped into it, wine in hand and laughed at the irony of dressing up for a soaking.
Kyoko, that just leaves you and me -eh? Saw you ridin' this football jock yesterday, or was it next week? You telling me you weren't there? Sister, I feel these things... and they were interrupted by Jerry and Gail. Let's play a round of Coup.
Along the moonlit beach, Esmeralda confessed: I showed for a Christian boy when I was young, that's why I was 'cursed'. And I worry, because you're so connected, she removed his beanie, revealing his head sensor stubs, you'll be hurt. Maybe I'll lose my hair. She rolled it up into his beanie and smiled shyly. You'll always love me? Even when I grow old? I'm not afraid of dying with you, Es. I don't want to live like vampires -600 years. I just want to lay down without all the cell chatter, and just... Es put a finger to his lips. The sky glowed blue and the waves were moving in slow motion. There was a figure in the distance. Derek and Esmeralda, come here. Here, Curtis Truck, this is for you. It was a Cretacolor lead holder in pale wood grain, filled with an oily brown stick of Sanguine. Master Mark, I'd always wanted one, thanks! And why did you not get it? I rarely draw more than doodles. It would have been a waste but now it's motivation to begin your career in comics. May I see the ring? Es took it off for the Tailor. In his fingers, it began to glow -the black pearl -and he handed it back, blessed.
The war in Iran is wearing down our country. Derek, we know you can turn the tide. But I hesitate to inform the government you're alive. Perhaps your 'death' was well timed. Perhaps you are still loved by the Savior. Pehaps I was wrong. Curtis, there's something I want to tell you, a fluff of cotton is nothing without all the other fluff. Imagine fluff as a miniscule particle whose destiny is to become thread. Tell me, how long is thread? One spool? Right, because it has to fit on a loom. And how broad should a loom be -don't say infinite...? Why not? Because later, you have to cut the cloth. They all chuckled at Master Tailor's joke. Esmeralda, is the Word of God three dimensional? What do you mean? I mean, can perfection exist in 3 dimensions? No... Your guess is part right -everything in 3D is potentially profane. Just as a tailor stitches, so too God stitched and something went wrong with the master plan -the markings on the fabric of time and times beyond. Thus the fabric became the Messiah... For whom we wait, said Derek. There was no reply. What is Lotus doing? Give her a teaaching in modesty and hatred -the words will flow from you, and Pete. Where's Pete? Getting both of them wet.
Derek appeared at the mouth of the sinkhole just as Lotus had gotten naked -the snake she was at heart. Yet in the darkness of the water, they were covered. There you are, Curtis. Come to join us? They were both a little tipsy and loquacious though very much alert. Esmeralda, you're welcome too -Lotus blew her a kiss. Actually, and I was not being sarcastic, why don't both of you join us or just blow off.
Pete, Master sent a message for Lotus. At a party? Yes. Quen and Stacy are sharing love on the precipice and it seems she genuinely likes it. Pleasure is drawn out pain. What better partner than a cruel one. Lotus laughed, remembering how her brother forced his way on her. Let's go see. But Derek held her back. Lotus, what you are: immodest -it isn't a crime. What you feel: hatred is only that you're despised with yourself projected onto others. Hatred and immodesty destroy a soul for they sum to fornication which consumes from within. The witch faltered, Pete caught her cup as it slipped from her fingers. Lotus, I'm Derek whom you loved but tonight no more, I'm married and so should you be -with Pete. With that, the young man's store of all he had kept for his former neighbor was exhausted and they sank neck deep into the pool. I didn't know you had all that in you. But Derek was fixated on Lotus. She has great beauty. Pete nodded. Esmeralda was holding her hands underwater, and tears were running down her cheeks.
Call me, Pete, she said, lifting herself out of the water. He took a long look at her sinuous body trickling with water. Derek stared as well, much to Esmeralda's chagrin. Immodesty between people is confirmation there is a God. Pete reminded. Derek nodded. Why else would anyone feel double? Wait, Mrs. Truck, here is your gift from us: he handed her a portable sewing machine. It was a high quality one, made in Old England and painted red and white. As above, so below -he showed them the bobbin beneath the needle -that's how to make a stitch.
3. Rising sun
Machine gun fire tore through the underbrush. By their haphazard angles it appeared they were caught in cross fire. Run, hissed the guide, like me. He ran like a goose, neck forward, skipped like a chicken, ducking frequently, like a squirrel darting from tree to tree. Then they fell sideways just below a shallow embannkment of orange clay and tree roots. The guide held his finger to his lips as Federation dog drones marched overhead, having forced back the indiginous militia. They waited 15 minutes then proceeded in the opposite direction.
[more later...]
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