Chapter 55: Getting Help from Friends

Greg POV: Friday Jan. 16, 1987

Tonight will be the second Friday our ‘Construction Family’ will be going up to Ibera’s. Judging from last week’s visit, I can tell this is going to become a weekly event.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself just a bit...

On the Monday after our initial visit to Ibera’s, Craig Robertson did indeed come out to get the crews started. The meeting was a bit awkward at first, since Craig couldn’t hide the fact he really wanted to talk to Marty and Wendy ‘in private’. Since we’d already decided that Linda and my Jamie needed to stay away, Sarah and Charlene were there to take their places. So, it was just the three of us plus Craig and the two crews.

Craig started off explaining that for the first few days the ‘Dirt-work’ crew would be out getting the entire area, including the second half of the building, leveled to grade. They actually showed up just as he said it and I noticed there were already grade stakes set for them. Then he explained (mostly for my benefit) that the surveyors would layout and set offsets to the corners of the slab, then set all of the underground utility locations. Our crews would then follow behind them with the plans to check the distances and verify everything was ‘perfect’.

I was hoping the occasion would present itself for me to approach Craig with my proposal to be the Site-coordinator/Supervisor. With Craig’s current ‘jitteriness’ about wanting to talk to the girls, I just looked at Jim to see how he was feeling. We’d been ‘talking’ telepathically and he could tell, like me, the time just wasn’t right yet.

Finally, I could tell it was driving him crazy, so I just came right out and asked, “Craig ... how are you feeling? I know being attacked like that had to have been very traumatic.”

He sighed deeply, looking longingly at the girls, “Ughhh, about that ... did you see the TV coverage about ... everything that happened?”

Wendy patted his shoulder, “Marty and I were with our guys and Greg’s whole Family at the bar. Did you know that Jake and his gang of thugs showed up there right after they ... did everything to you? They tried to attack us, too!”

Craig gasped, having never been told about that, “NO. On Saturday the Police came and told me Jake and his accomplices had been arrested and wanted me to go and identify them. They never told me they’d gone after you guys too!” He said, apologetically.

Jim nodded, “Yeah, we saw them coming and Rog and I tried to stop them from getting too close to our table. I thought I was about to get the hell beat out of me when all of a sudden one of Greg’s ‘Family’, a big guy named William Monte, stopped Jakes punch just inches from my head!”

Marty grinned, “You shoulda seen it, Boss! I mean, he stopped Jake’s punch so sudden and fiercely it broke Jakes arm! Then he started threatening Monte so Monte hit him right in the face with just the heal of his hand. Monte hit him so hard, he went flying backwards and knocked all seven of his guys down!”

Craig’s eyes were like pie-plates when Wendy giggled, adding, “And they were still on the ground, stunned, when the Sheriff got there and put them all under arrest!”

Craig laughed, shaking his head, “Wow! I guess that explains why Jake looked like he’d been hit by a baseball bat when I identified him! And why the Sheriff didn’t ask if I did it?”

Jim chuckled, “No, the Sheriff was just coming into the bar and saw the whole thing. He said there was already an APB out on Jake and he saw Jake’s truck turn into the parking lot.”

Craig looked at me, “Greg? Would that Mr Monte be around anywhere right now? I’d sure like to meet him and shake his hand. I owe him a sincere’ thank you’ for stepping up like he did!?”

I sighed, shaking my head, “Sorry, I’m afraid he and seven other members of his, how should I put it, branch of the family, had to fly back to Washington DC last night. They were just here for the holidays I’m afraid.”

Craig’s eyebrows furled, “Are they also part of the large family that’s going to live in this house when we get it finished?”

I nodded, smiling, “Absolutely. They’re just staying in DC until the first half of the house gets completed, at that time, we’re hoping ... they’ll get reassigned around here somewhere.”

Craig still looked puzzled, “I know it’s none of my business, but ... just how many people are going to be living here when we get it completed?”

I lolled my head back and forth a couple times, “As it stands right now, counting everybody that’s missing, there’ll be 21 adults and nine kids. Eight of the kids are currently less than a year old and the ninth, is Kelly, Bill and Sal ... er, Emmy’s nearly 4-year-old daughter.”

I know I almost screwed up, as the look on Craig’s face told me he was even more confused now than before.

I let out a long sigh and said, “It’s a bit complicated. Bill’s first wife, a very sweet lady by the name of Sally was killed, murdered actually, a little over four months ago. You see, Bill, Sally and Emmy were in what you might call a trio relationship. Bill had two kids with Sally and one with Emmy. All three of the kids considered both Sally and Emmy as their ‘Moms’. Bill and Emmy are planning to get married, legally, as soon as the whole family gets back together again.”

Craig was slowly nodding his head when suddenly a curious grin appeared on his face after looking at his six crew members.

He chuckled, “So ... the three of them were kind of like my six crew members here?”

It was hard not to laugh when our six new friends suddenly gasped with their eyes wide open in disbelief. With all their attention now on Craig, Marty squeaked, “So, so you know about all six of us living together?”

Craig chuckled, “Of course! Don’t think I didn’t notice when Jim and Roger changed their addresses a while back. I find it curious though, why didn’t the six of you just rent one apartment as opposed to two, right next door to each other? And now, I see that Carl and Paul moved into an apartment in the same complex as you guys. Are Marian and they part of your group too?”

Jim was laughing and shaking his head, “Well, you old dog, to answer your question, they weren’t until Saturday.

He grinned at me, Sarah and Charlene, then nodded, “The night you got beat up, we’d just made friends with most of the people in this family after Monte saved my bacon. I’d love to tell you more, but there’s not a lot I can say that isn’t ... confidential. What I can tell you is, thanks to our newest friends, don’t be surprised if we change our addresses again to someplace where all nine of us can be together. If you know what I mean?”

Craig was grinning, looking at Marty and Wendy when suddenly his face fell a bit.

He looked a bit sheepish for a second before asking, “Would it be all right if I asked Marty and Wendy a personal question? In private? It’s about that night when those two beautiful Angels ... saved my life.”

I looked around to make sure there was nobody else in their office trailer before contacting Linda and Jamie, asking them to come here to be part of this. Thanks to Sarah, they’d already heard everything that had been said so far. They told me what they wanted to do, which I thoroughly agreed with, and set the stage for them.

I stood up and asked, “Craig, I’m pretty sure I know what it is you want to talk to them about. Let me save you the trouble, because anything you say to them can be said in front of any of us. But first, how would you like another chance to meet your Angels?”

“I would give anything and everything I own to have that chance!?”

Right on cue, in their full angel regalia, Linda and Jamie appeared on either side of me, floating about a foot off the floor.

I thought I was going to have to catch Craig as it appeared he was about to pass out. Then, with his hand over his mouth, he slowly approached us while Linda and Jamie descended, then took a couple steps forward to meet him.

The man had tears streaming down his face and he stopped just short with his arms out, asking if it was okay to hug his angels. Both Linda and Jamie grinned and nodded for just a second before embracing him in a warm hug and a kiss on each side of his cheek. Just as he tried to get his emotions under control, he started asking them a question. Linda and Jamie just shook their heads, took a half step back and changed back into themselves.

Craig, once again had his hand over his mouth before gasping and saying, “Oh my God! The last two nights all I could think of was how much my two Angels looked like the two of you!”

I nodded, “We had a feeling that you recognized them. That’s why they didn’t come down here this morning. Please understand that, you absolutely must keep their identity a secret! Besides you, the only other people that know about this are your nine construction guys.” I chuckled, “And girls.”

I DID put a ‘Confidentiality Spell’ on him, just in case, feeling at some point we’d be adding him and possibly his wife to our telepathic ‘Club’.

Marty and Wendy came around the table to also give Craig a hug. Then they turned and each gave Linda and Jamie not just an intense hug but also a very sweet kiss on the lips.

When Marty finished kissing Linda, Linda giggled, “Well, this seems like a new development!?”

Marty giggled back, “Yeah, very recent, as in last night. The jury is still out but I think I’m going to end up being just like you. Kissing other girls is okay, but, I don’t think I want it as a steady diet, if you know what I mean?”

Linda hugged her again then said, “I usually kiss every new member of our little group at least once. I guess I still owe Marian one?”

Craig seemed quite intrigued by this little turn of events. He was smiling wide, when he caught Linda’s eye and began to blush. He stammered for a second, “Ummm, Linda, if you wouldn’t mind, I would really like to give you and Jamie a proper thank you kiss?”

Linda just beamed at him and embraced him in a warm hug and commenced to trying to suck the oxygen out of his lungs. After his eyeballs finally shrunck back down into his head, I could see his grip on Linda tighten, too. Linda actually started moaning into the sensuousness of his kiss. I was grinning like a loon, making eyes at Jamie, wondering if she was going to do the same thing.

After about three minutes, I got my answer when it appeared that my sweet Jamie was trying to polish his tonsils with her tongue! I could see the bulge in his trousers threatening to bust open the zipper.

When they finished, both Marty and Wendy were giggling like crazy. Wendy chirped, “Wow Boss, are you gonna tell your wife what you just got finished doing?”

He chuckled, “Hell yes! I just wish I could tell that her Linda and Jamie were my two beautiful angels! Because, thanks to that miraculous healing you two gave me, my E.D. is now gone! I just know, if she could, Ellie would also want to kiss both of these fine young ladies for giving me my ‘mojo’ back.”

He winked at Linda, “You weren’t kidding when you told the doctors that you cured absolutely everything! Do you realize that wonderful ‘Happy Ending’ you gave me was the first time I’ve ejaculated in nearly 5 years? I can’t begin to tell you how happy my wife was! She and I spent nearly the entire weekend in bed together. That woman liked to wear me out! We must’ve made love eight times between Saturday and Sunday. Heck, even when I was in my 20s I couldn’t get it up that many times!”

We were all blushing and laughing, but, he wasn’t finished yet.

He patted Jim on the shoulder and said, “You know, if I was 15 years younger I’d see of Ellie and I could join your group, too! I know you think I’m just some old fuddy duddy, but, every year, Ellie and I used to go on this special cruise out of Miami, that catered to swingers. I haven’t heard from the owner, a guy named Stan, since the last time we went. I wonder if he’s still in business? I’ll never forget our last cruise when he told us he’d just hired this really fine, young brunette named Melody. That girl was one of the hottest babes I’ve ever had the good fortune of making love with!”

I started laughing so hard I was doubled over. Linda, Jamie and Sarah were also laughing and pounding their chests.

Craig choked back a chuckle and asked, “Did I say something funny?”

I slapped him on the shoulder, grinning, “Oh no my friend, I just can’t believe you know Stan and his niece, Melody! To answer your question, yes, he’s still in the business and he’s actually a very good friend of the family! We’ve all been on his cruises many times. He somewhat recently just purchased two magnificent Superyachts. One is a 220-foot motor yacht and the other is a 175-foot sailing vessel. The next time we go, would you and your wife be interested?”

He was slowly shaking his head, “Oh God, I can’t even imagine what he’s probably charging people now. I seem to recall that for Ellie and I it was about $8000 for a three-day cruise. And that was over 6 years ago.”

I grinned, “You just gave me an idea. What are the chances we could have the first half of this house done by Christmas?”

Craig chuckled, “Extremely good, considering I was hoping to have the entire second half of the house under roof by Christmas!”

I grinned, “That’s perfect then, I’d like to offer all of you a little, shall I say, added incentive. If we can be moved into the house by the week before Christmas, all of you will be invited to be my special guests for Stan’s annual Christmas – New Year’s ‘by invitation only’ cruise. Our entire family, plus many of our parents were invited this year, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to decline. Stan assured us, and we assured him, that we wouldn’t miss it next year. What do you say to that?”

All of our friends were looking at each other in excited disbelief.

Craig looked at me seriously, “Do you know how much that’s likely to cost?”

I just grinned and winked back at him, “It will cost each of you, absolutely zip, zero, nada, zilch, zed, not one red cent. It will also include airfare to Miami. As a matter of fact, even if I offered to pay, I don’t think Stan would accept my money.”

Jim and Roger were grinning and shaking their heads. Marty asked, “I don’t know that I would even know what to wear? What kind of stuff do we wear on a cruise like that, anyway?”

I chuckled and started, “All you need to bring is maybe a slouch hat, sandals or deck shoes, maybe one set of shorts and shirt, and maybe a sundress for you ladies. Because, other than that, the dress code on board the yacht is...”

“Au naturale!” Craig finished for me, laughing, “I can see nothing has changed! The only time we have to wear clothes on the entire cruise is when we’re within five miles of a port! Just think girls, no tan lines! And for all the dudes, no farmer’s tans!”

“Everything else on the cruise is free, including drinks.” Jamie added, before smirking, “Um, Mr Robertson? My husband has something he wants to ask you. Before things in our lives got turned upside down, he worked as a Construction Coordinator/Supervisor for a large Commercial construction company near Chicago. Would you ever consider hiring him?”

“Seriously!? I was just stressing about how I was going to supervise this job and everything else that’s going on at Sun Lakes. Greg, I would LOVE to hire you! You’re like the answer to my prayers! It’s perfect. Would you be willing to come to Sun Lakes tomorrow so I can get you familiar with our paperwork, policies and suppliers? Then you can work this job, since it’s your house, and just report to me every Friday?” Craig asked, a sense of hope and relief on his face.

I couldn’t believe it! I kissed my ‘Angel’ and told Craig I’d see him first thing the next morning.

So, that was set and now I’m officially the Site Coordinator for our hacienda! Then, last Friday, we all went up to Ibera’s again. Our East Coast brethren couldn’t make it, but, that was okay since they all knew everything we showed our 9 new friends, anyway.

Well, almost everything.

It took over 6 hours to show them everything important up to where Elmer’s thugs blew up our house. They were flabbergasted seeing how we thwarted the Pirate, El Muerte and came into a large portion of our money. Jim and Roger were laughing and said that the episode with Jake was like ‘small potatoes’ compared to what we did to those pirates! Glenn, Jay and the girls WERE a bit unnerved watching me telekinetically snap the necks of the pirates that were raping our mothers.

They were also very intrigued by our interactions with Melody and her crew. Especially when Charlie, some of our girls and I ‘educated’ her crew in the ‘oral arts’ of giving pleasure!

By the end, our friends were getting ‘information overload’ and we decided to head home. Glenn made us promise to show them what happened to Charlie, Bob, Mary and CJ the next seek.

And, we planned on showing them my and Ibera’s combined ‘vision’, so they’d know there was still hope they would be saved.

And that brings us up to today.

It looked like the underground utility crew was going to finish today. Our crew was really getting itchy to start the slab layout.

This wasn’t the first time I’d done a building without a basement, but it was my first time with a ‘post-tensioned’ slab.

The idea is basically brilliant, turning the entire slab into a bridge so that if small fissures form under the slab it won’t crack. The reason the utility locations were so critical was because you CAN’T drill or cut into the slab once it’s set. On an ordinary slab if you needed to adjust something you can just cut out a small chunk of the slab and fix it.

That’s not possible with our slab.

Just before quitting time, Craig came out to check on our progress and basically just say ‘Hi’. Then he tossed a monkey wrench into our crew’s plans when he eagerly invited them out to the bar, saying the first two rounds were on ‘him’.

I knew our new friends’ relationships had progressed by leaps and bounds. They stated, several times, they were ‘beyond ready’ to push their relationship with us to the next level. And, they were very excited when told Ibera had a great ‘bedroom’ we could design for whatever activities they wanted to explore. They were so horny that they made sure we’d invite our ‘East Coasters’ to join us tonight!

I told them they were thrilled to be invited and were definitely coming (cumming?).

They even wanted to start in with that before we showed them more portal events! So imagine the reaction Craig received when he announced his plan to go to the bar.

Yeah, you guessed correctly.

I was even tempted to just invite Craig to come with us. However, he was eons behind our crews when it came to knowledge about us.

I was tempted to contact Darren. But, I knew Darren and Ed were already up at Ibera’s since Darren was monitoring the ‘Space’ crew’s current project. And, they were nearing a new planet to practice landing on. Since this wasn’t something we wanted to show our new friends just yet, he just took Ed with him early this morning. (Ed was now in on everything and was becoming Darren’s new right hand man!)

Just as I was getting frustrated, my Dad and Lenny ‘called’, confirming that we were ready for them to bring all the kids back on Saturday. With all the heavy equipment being used we felt it best to leave them in Chicago till that settled down.

Dad sensed my conflicted mood and asked me what was up.

I’d previously told him all about Craig, his ‘beating’ and subsequent ‘cure’, our new crew friends, and all pertinent info about where we were in our current relationship with them. Thankfully we were on a ‘closed group’ convo with Lenny and several of our parents.

Both Dad and Lenny were laughing like crazy at my current conundrum! Dad suggested it was time for them (He, Lenny, Jamie’s Dad, Ted and Mary’s Dad, Paul) to come out and see our ‘project’. Especially since they understood that Craig and his wife, Ellie were just like them!

I could have kissed Dad when he said they’d ‘distract and entertain’ Craig (and hopefully Ellie) for us. I made sure Lenny understood Craig was only under a Temporary ‘spell’ and would have to tread lightly so as not to cause Craig to forget everything!

Lenny assured me they had it covered.

There was an entirely different vibe after Linda and Jamie led the four of them over to the trailer where we were having our ‘end of the week’ discussion.

Especially when Jamie giggled, “Hey, look who just ‘popped in’ to say Hi!?”

I made the introductions, noting that my Dad, Dan, had been in Construction his whole life and had been my inspiration for also getting into the business. I could tell Craig was thrilled to meet them. When they pulled Craig away to talk, without the ‘young-uns’ being around, I felt overjoyed.

After they left, Jim was happily curious about the timing, since they all knew everything about our parents.

I chortled, in a hushed sort of way. “I had to bring in the ‘big guns’ to keep Craig happy and also not delay our plans.”

That earned me a very erotic kiss from Marty, leaving no doubts that I made the right call.

Since our day was nearly over, we gave the ‘old fogies’ about 20 minutes to see what might (hopefully) happen.

None of us were ready for what actually happened next!

A smirking Craig poked his head in the door, “Uh, guys, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to renege on my offer to go to the bar with you!”

Then he continued... ‘silently’, “Oh don’t look at me like that! Lenny and Dan just invited me and Ellie to go to Chicago with them tonight. I’m supposed to tell you, Greg, that they’ll be bringing the kids back on Sunday when they bring Ellie and me back! We might even make some kind of a trip to see some really nice lady named Ibera on Saturday! I don’t know where she lives, but they said they’d tell me after they give my sweet Ellie telepathy! Can you believe it? Bye y’all, see ya on Monday!”

Then ‘Poof’ and he disappeared.

Our six new friends were just looking at me and my girls, dumbfounded, with stunned disbelief and goofy grins on their faces.

Then, we all broke down laughing like a bunch of idiots!

Darren POV: Earlier that same day.

Ed and I skipped breakfast at home, wanting to get up to Ibera’s ASAP. (Not to mention her breakfasts are to die for! And we didn’t have to bother any of the girls to cook for us that early.)

As soon as I finished eating, I grabbed my Journal to document the current ‘planet’ day. I saw that the day JB, Max and Co. left Perdition Island was Day #57, so, I put down today as #60 since I knew they’d been flying for about 90 some hours.

Ed looked at me with a confused look, “Whoa, shouldn’t today be like #66 or something?”

When I looked back through the journal, I couldn’t see where I’d skipped or missed any days. But, when I did the math in my head, I immediately saw what he meant!

Since I knew today was January 16^th I realized we were way over 80 Earth days into our project. Since it started on October, 27, that was 5 days, plus 61 for Nov thru Dec 31st, then 16 for January that was 82 total Earth days or 82x24 hrs. for 1968 Earth hours divided by 30 ‘Planet’ hrs./day for 65.6 planet days!

Holy shit! How the hell did I lose 5 freaking days!?!

I called Ibera to see if she could help me solve this mystery.

She started giggling immediately after I explained my problem, “Darren, do you remember me telling you how the dates wouldn’t ‘line up’ when I explained how old I was?”

I nodded.

“Well, I didn’t explain it at the time, but, when you try correlating actual dates comparing one planet to another that are over 1000 light years apart, you’ll discover that, that correlation is NOT a constant! Now, you couple that with your nearly 100 different portals that you’ve used, some past, some present, and it’s not surprising your ‘dates’ aren’t lining up!

“Understand the physics involved in observing Perdition Island that’s 80,000 light-years away. It’s hyper complicated, but, every time you do it, the portal takes into consideration that ‘physics’ question and automatically adjusts so what you see lines up with where you are so that it’s the same ‘REAL’ time with where you see!”

Both Ed and I just looked at her and I grunted, “Ugh, that clears it up? Clear as mud!” I chuckled.

She was more than willing to let Ed and I use her ‘hat-gizmo’ and give us the full class, but I just told her that was alright and at least now I knew I hadn’t screwed up!

Ed did wonder how that affected space travel calculations? Ibera said that was included in the ‘Astral Navigation’ classes that JB and company took. And, I’ll be damned if suddenly I didn’t ‘see’ how it did! Of course, just plotting a course from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’, one wasn’t necessarily concerned with exactly ‘when’ you’d get there! It was all ‘Relative’.

My sci-fi loving friend, Ed, just had to go one step further and asked Ibera, “On the show that I love, called Star Trek, they use a thing they call ‘Star date’ such and such. Would something like that work to synchronize time in space?”

Ibera was smirking, “Nope. Let me make an example. Let’s say you have two identical spaceships with identical mechanisms controlling their time and date functions. If they were to synchronize dates and then travel in different directions, according to your thinking, if they met up again say 300 days in the future you would assume their chronometers would still be exactly the same? Am I right?”

Ed was slowly nodding his head, but his face looked skeptical, “I have a feeling that you’re going to tell me that they wouldn’t be exactly the same?”

She grinned, “There’s only one way that could possibly happen. They would both have to have traveled at the exact same hyper-warp speeds and for the exact same amount of time for their chronometers to still be synchronized 300 days into the future. Now my cute, breast-milk loving man, can you tell me why that is?”

Ed let out a long sigh, but was finally grinning when he said, “Because, when you travel at hyper-warp speed, you’re actually using different dimensions and the time spent in the different dimensions is what would cause the chronometers not to line up! Am I right?”

Ibera’s right breast suddenly appeared as if she’d opened a nursing bra. She pulled Eddie’s head to her nipple and Eddie was moaning happily, sucking as much of her sweet milk from her breast as he could possibly get! After a few minutes she giggled, “Now, aren’t you glad you guys all got that special education?”

I was chuckling before and after shaking my head in saying yes, while Ed just continued to blissfully fill his belly with Ibera’s tasty milk.

I dialed up a ‘current’ portal to check up on my friends and see how close they were getting to the planet they wanted to check out. For my purposes, I marked this entry as being planet day Number 60.

Tumrik, Tiny, Annie, JB, Wanda and Max were all on the bridge with Tumrik at the navigation station. Max and JB were looking over his shoulder as Tumrik explained they were nearing the point where they needed to drop out of hyper warp. Tiny was at the controls and immediately pushed a few spots on the control panel, causing the computer to confirm they were now on impulse power.

Tumrik activated a couple pop-up monitors and began scanning for lifeforms and other signs of advanced technology. When he picked up a faint radar beacon he told Tiny to activate their cloaking device. They began orbiting the planet in such a way they could cover the entire thing several times over the next few minutes. Max pointed out a couple of areas where the population was very low density and after a short discussion, settled on one area to attempt a landing.

Tiny asked if Tumrik wanted to take over the controls, but, Tumrik just grinned, “You got this, Big Guy. I’m right here if you run into trouble, but all you have to do is remember, if things start getting ‘hinky’, just accelerate and gain altitude as quickly as possible and we’ll circle around and try it again.”

I was impressed that Tiny just grinned and nodded his head.

As they began descending toward the planet, their ‘camera’ monitors began picking up much more detailed pictures. It was amazing that the planet below looked much like Earth, in nearly the same technological stage as our own. There were cars driving on what looked to be paved roads and even airplanes flying around in the sky. The cars looked nearly identical to each other, however, suggesting there may not be as many different models as American cars. They also looked much sleeker. I compared it to the hypothetical mockups of what cars might look like in the mid-21^st century. The airplanes appeared to be jet propelled, not noticing anything that looked like propellers.