"She didn't say directly, but this came up in her confession when she was talking about her feelings towards you and how you controlled her. I believe that she didn't want you to have control of the music table. She wanted to own it herself."
"Did she say why?"
"No, but she's been acting differently ever since she started having sex with Pablo."
"She's been open about that with you?"
"She's in the confessional booth, so yes, she tells the truth. She tells me that she has sex with him three times whenever he visits."
"Does she enjoy it?"
"Apparently, yes. You understand that I couldn't ask her for details of her sex life. Priests are not allowed to inquire about such things."
"Yes, I understand."
"She doesn't understand why it has to be three times. I couldn't explain it either."
El Patrón could. "I told her she had to have sex three times so that she would tell you and then I'd know whether you were telling me everything my daughter told you in confession."
"Oh."
"I leave lots of little traps so that I'll know if you're ever keeping secrets from me."
"Oh."
[Narrator: Remember that shift in allegiance that I talked about earlier? Guess when it happened.]
"My daughter doesn't want me to be able to use the music table to control her behaviour. That sounds to me like she's planning to do something that would anger me. Do you have any idea what that would be?"
"She has given me no clue of that in her confessions, Patrón." On this, El Pervertido was telling the truth because Kashmira had stopped attending confession altogether. Everything that El Pervertido had said about Kashmira wanting to own the music table and about her sex life had been memorized from a script that Winnie had written.
Winnie's plan was to convert El Pervertido from a part-time pervert to a full-time liar about Kashmira. The priest would keep El Patrón happily and ignorantly content about Kashmira while the escape operation unfolded. Even Mathias had thought it was a good idea.
"Should I smoke another cigar, Paterfamilias?" Diego asked this only as a token threat. A prompt for honesty, just in case.
"I may have heard a hint, Patrón."
"And yet you still hesitate to tell me?"
"It was part of another person's confession, Patrón. The confessional is a place where secrets are always respected, Patrón. I must obey my God."
"How much do you want?"
"It's not about money, Patrón. You know that I would merely give your money to charity."
"What is it about then?"
"Patrón, your daughter is becoming increasingly difficult for me to understand and to control. Part of growing up, no doubt. She is not as open to me as she used to be. Perhaps she is not happy that I know about her sex life. Perhaps she sees me as another male who wants to control her. I fear that her anger at you may be converted to anger at me. She might try and interrupt the serene relationship I have had with her all of her life. She might do that by telling you lies. I sense that she has become so infatuated with this Pablo, and with the sex that she is enjoying three times a day, that she may try and escape from my innocent pastoral association with her by trying to turn you against me. She has already started to argue with me. Like she argues with you."
"She does like to argue."
"She has never done that with me before, Patrón. But recently..."
"Recently?"
"I believe that female hormones are making her emotionally unstable, Patrón. A fate that all women face, as you and I both know. She may become so unstable that she'd lie about her relationship with me. Strictly so that she could get away from my benevolent awareness of her life. If that happened, and if you believed such lies, you would not have any awareness of what was going on her life, Patrón."
"You wouldn't have any awareness at all. You'd be dead."
"True. But once she escaped from my religious duty, she'd escape from your parental supervision next. She would become uncontrollable."
"And you want what?"
"Assurances that you would not believe any incomprehensible lies about the times when I am with her and am trying to lead her to the light of God's forgiveness for the sins that she is starting to commit. Women can't control their emotions, Patrón. We both know that. Her mother, for example."
"Yes. Her emotions convinced her to become pregnant."
"Apples and trees, Patrón."
"Yes, they don't fall far from each other."
"Once the sex genie is out of the bottle, Patrón."
"There's no telling what Kashmira could do? Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes, Patrón. You and I must retain firm control."
"Very well. I recognize that Kashmira may become unstable like her mother. You will have a chance to explain her comments if she tries to stray from your guidance. And in return, the hint."
"Somebody in Pablo's family revealed this hint in confession, Patrón. Kashmira and Pablo have talked about trying to run away from Maasin City and go where you'd be unable to find her."
"That would be impossible. I control every form of transport in and out of Maasin City. I would know if she tried to hire a vehicle, ship, or copter."
"And El Jefe's little smuggling boats?"
"Under my control now."
"And the big jumbo plane?"
"What big jumbo plane?"
"The Suerte family is friends with a foreigner who comes and goes from the Philippines as he wishes. He buys goods from the locals and sells them elsewhere. He has been seen with two of their sons. He's very distinctive, as is his plane."
"How so?"
"The plane is extremely large. It has white and green colours and the letters W I L I Z Y on the body."
"What do those letters mean?"
"I have no idea, Patrón."
"And the man?"
"Young. About Kashmira's age. Wears his long hair down in a braid to his shoulders. Wears foreigner clothes. Can't speak Spanish."
"She and Pablo could escape in his plane with his help."
"Yes. We'd never know in time to stop them, Patrón. He comes and goes like a ghost."
"She wants to buy the music table so that she can take it with her."
"Yes, Patrón. I believe you have found her secret."
...
"Agree to sell the music table to Kashmira at a very high price. I will find an excuse to cut off her allowance so that she'll be unable to pay for it. Meanwhile my guards will talk to some citizens about this young man. If he enters Maasin City again, I will know. We will kill him and destroy his plane."
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 22
Wizard and Yuri had had several meetings since the beginning of July when they had discovered that they had met before on the mud flats north of Chicago. Between meetings, Wizard took the opportunity to check out the peach business that he had helped Yuri to create in Chicago. Sadly, he had to report to Yuri that the peach trees were untended, would probably have a decent crop in a month, and would soon die of neglect.
"Too bad we couldn't bring the trees here," Yuri had said.
Hmmmm, Wizard had thought.
In Yuri's vision of his farm, he would plant peach trees on both sides of the small river that passed through the former Ranch #4. The land on either side was arable, provided he could find a way to irrigate it. He had plenty of room to expand the peach business since the river traversed the ranch for at least a mile. How wide they could extend the peach farm sideways would depend on the irrigation techniques he used. So far, Yuri had thought simply of a series of small dams that could create mini lakes which would overflow onto the land beside them.
"You'll have a monopoly on peaches in western United States if you can grow enough of them," Wizard observed. "But you'll need a second money-making crop in case the peaches have a bad year. Any thoughts?"
"Cattle," Yuri offered. "When we irrigate the peach farm, we'd
also be irrigating land that can be used to grow feed. The cattle business did poorly here because the land was too dry to grow much feed. That will change with irrigation. Both crops require a minimum amount of care, except when the peaches have to be picked."
"What do you need from me?"
"Ripe peaches so that I can plant their seeds. A better way to irrigate my land will mean I can raise more cattle and grow more peaches. I'll need more staff, but all the previous slaves here and on the nearby ranches are gone. I also need a way to transport the crops to market."
"I have some ideas," Wizard said. "Let me get back to you."
Not once in any of their discussion had either of them talked about how Yuri had been a gang leader in Chicago. What he had had to do to stay alive as a gang member in Chicago was not something he would share willingly. For his part, Wizard could talk about business plans at length but he wasn't much into frivolous non-business conversations.
Also missing from Yuri's conversations with Wizard was an accounting of what had happened when two men in suits had landed their copter on the grass in front of the big house one week after the slave uprising. Yuri was down river determining potential peach tree locations when he saw the copters land. By the time he reached the Big House, his two guests were tied up and sitting on the Big House's main steps, dog collars around their neck. The shotgun that Pililiani had used to capture them was leaning against the door. She had a dog collar wand in her hands and was describing what life had been like as a Safe Haven slave.
"These men are accountants from Safe Haven," she revealed as Yuri approached. "They tried to tell me that Safe Haven owned the ranch. I've been filling them in on how Safe Haven treated the slaves."
"Have you shown them the whipping post yet?"
"Thought you might want to introduce them to it."
"Let me get my whip."
On the way over to the whipping post, Yuri explained why it had been such a central part of his life. "Big Momma is buried right below your feet," he said in conclusion as he tied both men to the post so that they both were facing outwards. "Facing outwards is a gentler, kinder way to die. You'll see the whip coming and will have a chance to prepare yourself before it bites into your flesh."
"Should I take their clothes off now or should I whip them off?" he asked Pililiani.
"I was hoping to use the dog collars to kill at least one of them."
"You decide who you want to kill. I'll hide their copter now. I'll be back before nightfall to whip the other one to death."
Yuri used the copter to round up all of the horses and bring them up to the main ranch. He hid the copter at the cattle ranch and would pick it up later. By the time he returned, Pililiani had finished with the Safe Haven accountants. Her story about losing her son had persuaded them that they might not want to remain employed by Safe Haven any longer.
"We can let them go," she told Yuri. "They won't be telling anybody about us. I'll give them a week of supplies."
"Give them two of the horses I brought up too and tell them to follow the river south."
"Are you planning to tell Wizard about them?"
"It's our ranch. We handled it. I don't have to report to him."
"Do you want to look through any of those legal papers they brought?"
"Nah. They won't be back."
# # # # # # # #
Back to present time. Wizard flew over the Montana plains where the slave ranches had been situated. Afterwards he flew further north, south, and east. Yuri's plan for his farm was small scale. Wizard's idea was wizardian.
"Before the troubles, Montana was a dominant agricultural state in the former United States," Wizard explained to the Wilizy participating in his mind-messaging conference. "Now it's mostly deserted because of climate change and the lack of water. The Missouri River and Fort Peck Lake have a huge amount of water that isn't being used profitably. If we could move that water to where it was needed most, Montana could become fertile again."
"You mean Yuri's ranch and some of the other slave ranches could become prosperous?" Dreamer asked.
"Yes, but that's only a single instance. We could use Yuri's ranch as a pilot for a bigger business that might eventually cover much of Montana. Yuri wants to grow peaches and raise cattle. We can help him do that by helping him with irrigation equipment and transportation for his crops. Once the pilot program is working, we can extend the concept to other Montana ranches that might have different crops. But as a company policy, we won't become involved in their day-to-day operations."
"What do we do then?" Momaka asked.
"We sell them power to their ranches, water to their crops, and transportation services."
"Do I understand correctly that you want to provide agricultural services to all the arable land in Montana?" Stu asked with a hint of incredulity showing through.
"No," Wizard admitted.
"Good," Stu said. "I thought you might be overreaching."
"I want to provide agricultural services to all of the arable land in Montana and then use that experience to expand into North and South Dakota. They have large water supplies there too – Lake Sakakawea, Lake Oahe to name two of the biggest. We have to find a cheap, efficient way to move that water."
Stu sputtered as he tried to put some words into complete sentences but was interrupted by William. "I have a few ideas," William announced. "We can do this."
"Who owns that water?" Dreamer asked.
"Good question," Wizard said. "We'll need to negotiate with them. Hopefully, the state owns the water. We ourselves don't want to own the water. We only want to transport it and charge a fee for that service. Did you have something to say, Stu?" Wizard noticed that Stu was opening and closing his mouth like a fish beached on a sand bar, but only two words were emerging.
"... need water, ... need water..."
"You're right, Stu. Supply and demand. Water is what the farmers need; we'll provide the supply. Basic business principles, right?"
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 23
Monday, July 29th, Kashmira accompanied Pablo to the front gate as she always did for their morning's public osculation.
[Narrator: "Osculation" is a fancy word for kiss. If a person kissed a friend's left cheek, and then the right cheek, and then the left cheek, and then the right cheek... those kisses would be known as "oscillating osculations." A tool for measuring the frequency with which such oscillating osculations might be performed would be an "oscillating osculations oscilloscope." Don't ask me why I subject my readers to such ostentatious word plays. I don't have an ostensible answer. I deserve to be ostracized.]
Instead of turning around to go back into her house, Kashmira took Pablo's hand and left the property, heading in the direction of the busy market place. Her four guards were not expecting this and they had to scamper quickly on their dainty little feet to catch up to them. You may imagine this pursuit as a herd of rampaging musk-oxen in pursuit of a can of musk and you'd have a good image of what happened. Once they were in place, the musk-oxen impersonators surrounded the lovebirds. Sadly, the guards who usually took up positions well in front of and well behind of Kashmira had been unprepared for the sudden departure. They were left well behind, sheepishly looking for their quarry. They couldn't find them because Kashmira kept changing directions. [Narrator: musk-oxen are Artic mammals that are more closely related to sheep than to oxen. Hence the guards' sheepish look. Try to keep up with me now.]
I mentioned that a quartet of guards was surrounding the lovebirds. As Kashmira moved into the busy market, that quartet had to form a tighter and tighter envelope around them. Kashmira bristled at that and told them to take their normal distant positions. The head guard ignored her.
Living in the Philippines as they did, the guards couldn't have known about the sirocco – a hot desert wind that sweeps across the northern African deserts and brings paint-blistering sand-laden winds to Europe. The second time that a guard accidenta
lly touched her body with his hand, Kashmira siroccosized the head guard. In essence, she peeled off his skin and left him seeping blood onto the cobblestones. This demonstration of wind power took place in front of the crowd that usually saturated the market place at this time of day. After the guards had retreated to a satisfactory distance, she turned her face slightly upwards and blinked. She continued to blink her eyes rapidly for a couple of steps, and then smiled at the memory that the blinking had provoked. Meanwhile the head guard was reporting in to El Patrón by pinky ring and complaining vehemently.
My readers may be wondering about all the blinking. The previous day, Mathias had tried to teach Kashmira how to wink while they were relaxing side-by-side in the love seat. His efforts had been futile. Kashmira was hopelessly wink-challenged. It didn't matter if she tried winking with the left eye or with the right eye, she'd blink with both. She could physically hold one eyelid in the closed position with a finger and wink with the other eyelid. But left to their own devices, her eyelids operated simultaneously.
At one point that afternoon, the wink lesson had turned into a challenge to see who could blink the fastest with both eyes. After both of them had lost track of the count, both claimed victory. Kashmira settled the matter. She grabbed Mathias' face with both hands and placed her left eye immediately in front of his right eye. "Blinking war," she announced and proceeded to blink Mathias' right eye into submission. As you would expect, the most beautiful girl to have ever existed had long eyelashes. That must have been the reason she won. The cheek-to-cheek contact probably didn't affect Mathias at all.
As Mathias had explained to Kashmira, he wanted to use the wink as a private signal from one friend to another. For their Monday adventure, it would mean that she had sent the guards far away and they wouldn't be guarding her closely again. In view of Kashmira's weirdly-worrisome, wackily-wily, wink-weakness, they agreed that their private signal would have to be a series blinks instead. Mathias would be hiding in the crowd somewhere, disguised. After she had forced the guards to retreat almost out of sight, Kashmira executed a perfect blinkedy-blinkedy even though she couldn't see Mathias in the crowd. Paco felt the breeze and patted his hair flat again. I told you that the most beautiful girl to have ever existed had long eyelashes.
Remember that comment about Paco and Kashmira being lovebirds? This was obvious to all who watched their market stroll. As they entered the busy market, the crowd pressed in around them, and it was only natural that they switched from hand-holding friends to arms-around-waists friends. It was quite natural for such friends to suddenly change their minds as to what direction they would take next. From time to time, Kashmira would rise on her toes and kiss Paco on his cheek. My readers are wondering about Paco, aren't you. Yes, he had been brought into this part of the plan.