Red Moon Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Anne was lying on her bed with her hands behind her head looking up to the sky when Eve walked in. "Well, when am I going back?"

         Anne, you're being silly, why don't you just give it a try? You've nothing to lose."

         "It'll just go wrong, it always goes wrong. I should carry a banner. Hi, I'm Anne, come over and hurt me some time. Dennis was the only person that ever really loved me and I broke his heart. I hurt him, I know I did, and I was so stupid, so bloody, bloody, stupid. Please make them take me to him so I can tell him how sorry I am. I know they can do it. Just a few minutes, just let me see him for a few minutes then I'll do anything you ask. I'll be a slave, a whore, anything, but please let me see Dennis." Anne was becoming upset and irrational. But she knew Eve was trying to make her feel better.

         "Calm down, Anne. These are nice people and I am sure that right now they are trying to solve this problem. I am sure that when they do you will be fine with it."

         She did manage to calm Anne down and they sat talking about Eve’s husband Roger and their two grown-up offspring. As Anne became more relaxed Eve changed the subject back to Dennis.

         "He must be some guy this Dennis?"

         "He is the nicest lad I have ever met and I hurt him. Dennis truly loved me and I ruined it all because of Craig."

         "Who is Craig?"

         "A man who used to call at my work. He tricked me, Eve. But I can't give all the blame to him. I knew the risks of going on holiday with him, and I still went. All my thoughts were that at last, I had a chance of a holiday in Spain, nothing else mattered. I was such a fool. He used me to have sex with him and destroy my relationship with Dennis and then didn't want to know me."

         "What, did he force himself on you?"

         "No. Oh, Eve, I was sort of mesmerised by the whole thing. I didn't try to stop it or even avoid it. I was so angry because I caught Dennis in bed with my best friend. But it was my fault because I forgot about the man that truly loved me. How could I have been so stupid as to have done that?"

         "Everyone makes mistakes in life, Anne. We don't know what waits around the corner. Look at how we all got here for instance."

         "Why did I jump off the bridge. I can't think of any time when I thought of suicide, but why was I even on the bridge? Sure I was depressed, but I would have wanted to find Dennis, not spoil the chance of making up, if he would have me."

         "So you have forgiven him and maybe he has forgiven you."

         "But I am not going to find him now, am I?"

         Eve gave a deep sigh. "I don't know what the answer is, Anne. You would have died if they hadn't rescued you. I can't see them sending you back to your death and they would only rescue Dennis if his life were at risk. I don't think they can just go and abduct him. The best that you can hope for is for them to agree to find him and bring back some news for you, about how he is getting on and that."

         Anne knew that she had to accept that it was the best offer she was going to get. They made their way back to the living room and sat with the old man. He agreed to arrange to check up on Dennis but said Anne must also agree to co-operate with them. She accepted her fate to a point, but she refused to get married or even to have a relationship with anyone until she had received news of Dennis.

         "We will see how it goes Anne," he said. "But I think you need a bit of time to adapt and relax." He turned to Eve. "Can you show Anne around the island, Eve, if you do not mind?"

         Eve smiled at Anne, a genuine caring smile and she couldn't help but return the smile.

         "Of course I don't mind. Anne, you'll love it here."

         "Eve, I do not want to keep putting on you, but I think it will be best if you take Anne in as a guest for now. We will have to let Jimmy move in here on his own until we can effect another female rescue."

         "That's not a problem, but I suppose it means we won't be having a dance again for a while." Eve gave a chuckle.

         "It is not funny, Eve, I could be in serious trouble over this."

         Trouble, Anne thought. Why should he be in serious trouble? She felt sorry for the old man as he bid them goodbye and left to make the arrangements, but she didn't think it was really her fault.

         Eve took Anne to her house next door to meet her husband Roger. She was embarrassed when she met Jimmy again, but he soon put her mind at ease, saying he understood and was not the least bit offended by her decision.

         The evening drew in and Eve was running a bath for Anne. Anne had been listening with genuine interest to Roger's tales of aerial combat but hurried to the bathroom when Eve called out to tell her that her bath was ready.

         Anne looked in at the foaming bathwater. "Bloody hell, Eve, I've got nothing, not even a change of knickers."

         "You can borrow one of my dressing gowns, and there are some new pants in the dressing table drawer. We'll order some underwear and clothes tomorrow from the catalogue. You'll get them the next day, but feel free to raid my wardrobe. I really don't mind."

         Anne freshened herself up and washed her hair in the sink, but she kept looking up at the clear ceiling, wondering if she were being watched. She pulled the plug in the bath, feeling reluctant about taking all her clothes off and getting in the water. She felt slightly annoyed as she remembered walking about in the bedroom earlier with no clothes on, not knowing at the time that someone might be watching her.

         That evening Eve and Roger took her along to The Red Lion. She was made welcome by the other residents and she felt no friction when Jimmy joined them. She was beginning to feel more at ease. She thought how strange it was to be sitting in an Old English style bar and looking up to the stars and the red moon.

         "Would you like to put some records on the jukebox?" Roger asked. Anne smiled and stood up. "Do you know how to work it?" he said.

         "Do I know how to work it, of course, I do," she replied. She walked across and looked at the jukebox, but there were no titles and only one button. She turned to look at Roger and laughed at him grinning at her. "Help!" she said.

         Roger came over to her. "It's got every record since nineteen forty. Just press the button and say whatever record you want and it will play it."

         "What, any record?"

         "Yes, Frankie Laine, Elvis, even that new pop group The Beatles, A side, B side, whatever you want."

         "Fantastic." She selected a Buddy Holly record and it began playing as she walked back towards her seat. "Do you dance, Eve?"

         "Course I bleedin' do, practically invented it. Dum de dum dum, Oh Boy," she sang as she stood up. "Get ready to sweat, girl."

         The evening came to an end and Anne felt a little tipsy as they walked back to the house. She went to her bedroom and Eve brought Anne one of her nightdresses.

         "This is creepy, how do I know they are not watching me?" She giggled and then hiccupped.

         "You don't, but you'll get used to it after a while."

         Anne looked up through the ceiling. "Eve, what about when you... When you want to, err, do things in bed?"

         "You mean sex?"

         "Yes." She gave a laugh and Eve laughed with her.

         "For the first couple of months we would only do it in the dark and under the covers, but after a while, we thought what the heck. Funny enough Roger found it quite exciting the first few times, not knowing if we were being watched or not. I was not so happy, but I got used to it. Oh, and the lavy, if you want a bit of privacy in the lavy you'd better use the one in the yard. It's the only place with a tiled roof."

         It was ten o'clock the next morning when Eve took Anne to the garage. Eve selected a two-seater, open, sports car and gave the attendant her finance card. Anne looked on in amazement as the garage attendant returned with her card and happily just gave her the keys. "I don't own a car," she said. "I prefer to just hire one when I need it. Come on, let's get going, it's a bit of a drive to my daughter's bungalow."

         It was a large island, the vegetation was a mixture of lush green trees and grasses, the same as back home in England, but mixed with palm trees and tropical plants. They drove onto the coast road and the view out to sea was like a tropical postcard. Even while in Spain, Anne had never seen such clear sparkling water, the water washing over the white sand, almost glowing white like the shirts in the old black and white, Persil soap powder, advertisements.

         "This is a lot bigger than I imagined."

         "Yes, it's quite a size. It's nearly as big as the Isle of Man, and there's about twenty thousand people here."

         "I've never been to the Isle of Man," Anne said.

         "No, neither have I, but Roger has. Anyway, this is only one of six of our islands. You can take a two-week holiday on the others if you want, so in five years you can visit the lot. I like the Afro-Caribbean best. They're such a bleedin' happy bunch. It's like one big party over there."

         Anne smiled. "It seems to get more inviting all the time," she said.

         "Good, and remember there's a lack of illness here. Most people live to be over a hundred and even if you got heart disease or something, they can clear it up in minutes. There is no crime and no loneliness and you don't see old folk wasting away on their own. When you're married here, your hearts are linked somehow. So that when your partner dies, you die with them. You might find that a bit scary, but after a long life together, you won't want to outlive your husband for many more years, old and alone."

         "I don't think it's scary, I think it's nice. I could get used to it here, Eve, if I were with the right man."

         "Anne, you can't expect them to bleedin' abduct him, it just wouldn't be right. You should accept your fate, after all, really you should be dead."

         Anne looked at her briefly before looking back out to sea. The hazy twinkling water was reflecting the blueness of the sky. She looked up from the sea and began scanning the sky as if she were looking for something. "I just need a little time."

         Eve flashed her headlights at an approaching van. The woman driving the van waved as she passed. "That's one of my pals; she works for one of the food firms. They make the bacon and sausages and that sort of thing."

         "Oh, she works at a slaughterhouse."

         "No, nothing's slaughtered here. They don't believe in it. It's all synthetic, made by machine."

         "But I've had the bacon and it was so realistic, like real bacon."

         "Yeah, clever sods ain't they? That's why they've never made contact on Earth; they think we're all barbarians."

         "So, Really," Anne said. Everyone here is a vegetarian."

         "I suppose so. I'm not sure about the eggs though."

         "I can drive," Anne said, with a sudden excitement in her voice. "Do you think your friend could get me a job?"

         "Don't see why not. We'll call into her depot later on and get your name down on the list. If not, they are often looking for people at the newspaper factory."

          “So there is a local paper?”

          “Yes and they print lots of other stuff. Even the daily’s from home.”

          “But, how do they know?”

          “They have agents on Earth who copy the papers and send them here digitally. They come all that way in seconds and just get copied and printed here.”

          “What does digitally mean?” Anne said.

          “I don’t really know, but whatever it is it seems to work.” Eve pulled into the drive of a large bungalow.

         "It's like millionaires row. They must have good jobs," Anne said.

         "These are the three-bedroom homes; all the houses are as good as this. You'll get something the same if you decide to have children. The only thing is you have to give them up when the kids leave home. Some people though decide to have just one child so that they can remain in the smaller houses, like mine. Myself I didn't mind the moving, I think it makes a nice change."

         Anne was worried about getting married so soon and having children unless it was with Dennis and she decided to change the subject. "You know, the Scottish boy, Jimmy, he's not a bad lad really."

         "Hold on, Anne, it's a bit late now. There's a ship going to get him a wife."

         "It's all right, Eve. I said that he's not a bad lad, but I still don't want to marry him."

         "Just as well. They'll probably get you a new husband while they're gone."

         "I don't know if I'm happy about that or not."

         "You made a deal."

         "Yeah, and I can't wait to get news of how Dennis is getting on. I hope he is okay. He cried you know when he found out I was going to Spain with Craig. No one has ever cried for me, and I feel so bad, Eve."

         "Hey, don't go upsetting yourself again. Get the news and then you have to bury that old skeleton. It'll be time to move on."

         "Yeah, maybe you're right." Or maybe not, she thought.

         "Come on, cheer up. Come and meet my daughter and my grandchildren. Then you can drive the car round to my son's house."

         Anne did cheer herself up a little, finding the environment quite to her liking. Knowing that she could have a drive of the sports car perked her up a bit more and she looked back at the car as they walked towards the house, eager to have a drive. Despite all this, she is determined to end her time here and return home to find Dennis.

Red Moon Chapter 14  (18+) Final Chapter, #2032149 by Bruce.