Makarovia! Yes, I Know Where That is! Sophomore Year - 74. Homeward Bound: Part One

Homeward Bound

Part One

"I can keep a secret!” I protested to Yuri. “I was sleeping a real prince for months before anyone found out. These three have proven can be trusted. I haven't sensed I can’t with any of them.”

Peter nodded smiling smugly at Yuri, “He had you figured out long ago.”

“Don't worry,” Pano assured. “We're not telling anyone.”

Barry nodded. “Right, Dad?”

Edger should win awards for his acting abilities, “Tell who about what?”

“I guess,” Pano spoke with Barry. “We could shut down a week.”

"Why?" Barry asked. “The only reason we closed before was when Edger scared us.” He touched his father-in-law’s hand. “And that wasn't your fault.” Stated in a way that said they'd had to reassure him frequently over the years.

Edger nodded and shaking a finger at them, “Yes, it was, but I told you two I'll watch how I eat, I'll exercise daily, but don't force me into a life of denial just to add a few years.”

Barry smiled, “We aren't doing that.”

Edger nodded, “You aren't, but he does.” He pointed at Pano.

Pano closed his eyes and gave a wobbly nod, “Take me to court for wanting to keep you around.”

Yeah, I knew there was only just a little difference between Greeks and Italians than they'd be willing to admit. The volume was increasing, “Guys!” I said quickly and loud stopping them both. “Love, family and all that at play here...I'd like to say something.” I saw raised eyebrows on both the Greeks and Makarovians. I touched Peter's arm and clasped his hand. “Peter can understand this, too. We both lost our fathers when we at a young age. I was a bit older than Peter when my father died. I have more memories of my Dad than he does of his.” With more emotion than I had wanted to use, I said, “I still miss him. I know Peter misses his father. I've seen it on his face.” I pointed at Pano but spoke to Edger. “I think you know how fortunate you are to have a son that loves you as much as he does.” I looked at Pano. “You have a father that understands that. He isn't a feeble-minded man that needs taken care of.” I looked at Barry. “You haven't mentioned to me about your parents or siblings. There could be nothing to comment on.” I shrugged. “I wouldn't know, but this man accepts you as his son because of Pano.” I smiled at Peter. “I know how that feels as I have been accepted by King Olek and Queen Alla.”

Peter chuckled, “And Grandma.” He looked at them, “His Grandma who loved me almost from the first meeting.”

“No one has a monopoly on loss,” I said. “However, I've lost my father, my Grandpa, and my mother.”

To my surprise, Peter added, “And he lost the young man he first loved when they were just sixteen.” I heard statements spoken in four languages, Greek, English, Makarovian, and Russian, but I had a feeling it was the same word.

I bowed in my head a little, “As much as a teenager understands love, yes.” I grinned, “Though he wasn't raised over here, he was my first exposure to a culture that was Italian. The only difference I see between you and him is his family yelled louder.” I laughed, “I still say one stole from the other. Zeus, Jupiter, Hera, Saturn, Aries, Mars...it's the same. Even some culinary things are similar, but not the same.” I pointed at Edger. “He loves you.” I pointed to Pano and Barry. “They adore you. I'm no counselor and I'm no guide.” I looked around and didn't see Mercea. “I'm the youngest one at this table! You work your relationship as you want. I just want to tell you what I see. Be glad the world can freely see that. The time we have is finite. Keep that in mind.”

Pano nodded sitting back, “You're a grown man, Patēr. If I treat you like a child at...”

“No, Son,” Edger interrupted, “I need to remember where it comes from. I forget and...”

“Dad,” Pano interrupted waving at me, “I do sometimes...”

“We'd better leave,” Barry leaned forward stage-whispering, “They can go that this for hours.” He smiled. “You can start by showing me around this marvelous ship!”

We did escort them to the exit from the Duchess. Yuri didn't like the idea we could be seen. He was right, but they'd have to point the binoculars in the right direction. (Yes, that was sarcastic.) Could it happen? Who knows?

It was later in the evening when my phone rang, but it was a special ring tone for Mikell. I snatched it up answering quickly but dreading the possible reason. Peter rushed over and sat by me. “Mikell?”

“Hello!” Mikell said. “Listen to this.”

Then we heard a weak, but a distinctive voice, “Sorry, I'll be a little late.”

“Cosmo!” Both Peter and I blurted out together.

There was an attempt to laugh, but ended in a groan, “Please don't make me laugh.”

I was very happy to hear him, “We'll try not to, but no promises.”

“How is our favorite agent?” Peter asked.

“Excuse me!” Mikell's amused voice could be heard at more of a distance, but he wasn't offended.

"You know you're a favorite, Mikell," Peter said.

“Seriously,” I said, “Are you doing alright?”

“I'm getting there,” Cosmo said almost out of breath.

Mikell's voice came again but told Cosmo to take it easy and rest. "He's still very weak," Mikell's voice came stronger as he began speaking more directly into the phone.

“He will be,” I stated. “He was moments from death!”

“Is he still?” Peter asked.

“I was told the longer he continues to have moments like this one,” Mikell said, “his chances get better.”

“Then we won't tire him,” I said.

“Well,” Mikell said with the sound of walking, “I knew you would have wanted to speak with him, so I held my phone so he could talk with you.”

There now was the sound of a hospital hallway. It seems some noises were universal; a page called, in Greek, the ding of some machine that monitored something on someone. My guess was someone's IV needed replacing. I'd heard it with my mother.

“I'm not going anywhere, buddy,” Mikell said to Cosmo. “It's not even been twenty-four hours since the stabbing. The doctor said he was improving well."

"Good," Peter said with a sigh of relief.

“Sudden moves and thing like that could reopen his sutures,” I nodded, but Mikell didn't see that.

“Exactly,” I could hear him look back and then in an even lower voice added, “that pirate, or whatever, turned and stabbed Cosmo straight out. Not a down-thrust or an up-thrust just straight out and very deep. The cut goes eight to ten inches in and then,” his voice dropped to almost a whisper, “and then that horrible man twisted the knife. It was one of those serrated ones.”

“Jesus Christ!!” Peter didn't say that as a swear, but a prayer of supplication.

“Yes,” Mikell agreed louder but still quietly.

“You know,” I began, “I got you those Ipads for another reason.”

“Oh?” Mikell asked.

“Yes,” I said, “I'll give you the address, but it has a camera to shoot video. You can make a video call. Meaning we can see you.”

Mikell laughed, “Which I think you're not missing anything. I haven't shaved...”

“As interesting as that sounds,” I said, “I'd like to see both of you.”

“I'll see if it can be done tomorrow,” Mikell said. “He's pretty well done for today.” Then he changed the subject. “You should be almost to Venice.”

“No,” Peter said quickly. “We're still in port in Athens.”

I added, “We couldn't leave you and Cosmo here without knowing things were going alright.”

“Don't you have to return the Duchess on time?” Mikell asked a little worried.

“I think the Count and Countess will understand,” Peter said.

“Oh,” Mikell said. “You're not staying for the whole recovery.”

“No,” I answered, “We wanted him to recover enough to be his old charming self.” I heard Mikell chuckle. “Then you can fly back to Makarovia.”

“What airline does that now?” Mikell asked.

“I don't know,” Peter replied. “We can send the jet to you.”

“For just me,” Mikell stated thinking that wouldn't happen.

“Why not?” I asked, “You're important.”

“While I won't necessarily agree or disagree with you,” Mikell said. “Then you come back and get Cosmo?”

“If necessary,” Peter responded.

I held a hand up for Peter, “Let's wait until we find out more about Cosmo. We'll find out what needs to happen and the figure out how when we need to.”

A grunt of acceptance sounded on the phone, but Peter nodded, “Yes, you're right.” He looked at my phone, “You take good care of you as well.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Mikell chuckled back. “He'll be sedated soon. I can get some sleep myself.”

I heard the weariness in his voice. “Us, too,” I said suddenly very tired. It was a busy night and day that seemed like a much longer period of time. “Call tomorrow.”

“I will,” Then in a breach of protocol, Mikell yawned, “Excuse me!”

“Mikell, there's hope for you yet,” I said. “We'll talk later.”

Ending the call, we were aware that we weren't alone. Yuri had stepped into the living area while we were on the call.

“Hello, Yuri,” Peter greeted, “You heard about Cosmo?”

Yuri nodded, “I did. It's good.”

“It's getting there,” I admitted. “Hearing how the attack happened and how the wound was inflicted, I understand the hospital's caution. The wrong move by Cosmo can undo all those hours of surgery. The sutures can easily break.”

“Do we wait a while more?” Peter asked.

“I guess we should go back,” I said reluctantly. “This portion of the two weeks needs to end.”

Yuri nodded, “I'll let Captain Agius know.”

No special dinner that night; just some Chamomile Tea. I'd never really tried it. I didn't know many guys that did. Right or wrong; I considered it a tea for women. To my knowledge, they were the only ones to drink it. I had stayed up for this long before but the previous day just seemed endless and the tea may help us get to sleep. I don't do those all-night cram sessions, remember? Henri did present us with an odd snack before sleeping. It looked like a kind of pudding. We had consumed some of the tea and I only felt the edging tendrils of the tea in my head.

“This is something I haven't made in a while,” Henri smiled, “It's a sort of fruit salad. A lullaby salad. It has tart cherries, pomegranates, and peanuts. There are also bananas as you can see. It's not very sweet, but I think tastes fine. All of that will help by adding melatonin...” He waved at the small dishes. “Well, the banana converts serotonin into melatonin...”

“Meaning it won't keep us awake,” Peter chuckled, “and help us to go to sleep.”

“Precisely,” Henri nodded.

“Thank you, Henri,” I said.

Whether it was the tea and fruit salad, or the power of suggestion, we both began to feel the heavyweight of the need to sleep. Peter and I made it back to our quarters and collapsed. I slept very hard at first and then woke up a few hours later. Too hard and too fast. We hadn't even undressed. Groggily, I got up and did that. I was also aware that we were still in port. Day or night didn't matter, but the Captain had thought the middle of the night wasn't the best plan. Frankly, I didn't care what time it was. It was late? It may be early. I crawled back in bed and let sleep come again.

When I woke again, I could tell we were moving. After this amount of time; as good as the Duchess was about disguising the subtle rocking motion, you could tell. It was a very gentle motion.

I looked over at Peter and was a shock to see Peter had done what I had done. He'd gotten up, undressed and come back to bed. It was no surprise he'd done that. The shock was he'd done it and I didn't know it. We each normally woke a little when the other got out of bed.

The edges of the pulled curtains I could see the sun was up. I was still groggy, but I thought maybe I would until I got on my schedule again.

“How are you feeling?” Peter asked me thickly. I was surprised because he hadn’t moved.

“I am alive and breathing,” I said. “How are you?”

“The same as you,” Peter replied. He rolled over and pulled me closer, “You may not believe me, but I'm glad this is almost over.”

I chuckled, "I can understand why you'd doubt I'd believe you after all these months, soon to be years of lies. It's catching up with you."

“You'd know if I tried to lie!” Peter grinned back.

“That's a good attribute you have,” I said. "I'll be glad to be home, too."

Peter smiled bigger, “To Makarovia.”

“Of course,” I looked at him surprised, “Do you want to see my passport?”

“Maybe later,” Peter grinned. “When's the last time we said I love you?”

I was shocked when I realized; I didn't know! That showed on my face which Peter picked up on immediately. He nodded, “I believe we did, but I can't remember either. We do it all the time now.”

“Believing we have and knowing we did are separate things,” I said irritated. “We usually do at the end of the day...”

"Which took a while in coming yesterday," Peter said. "Do you have any suggestions about what we can do?”

“We'll think of something,” I said confidently.

“Except for the last few days, this has been the best honeymoon," Peter said.

I know it was silly, but the old me surfaced again. “As opposed to the other honeymoons you've been on?”

He didn't even react to that one, “We've been to some great places and made some great friends.”

“On and off the Duchess,” I agreed, “I will miss the ones we made until we see them again.”

“And you know we will,” Peter stated firmly. “I love you. More than anyone or anything.”

“I know,” I smiled, “I love you more than anyone or anything,”

Peter nodded, “I know.”

Was it just in my head? Maybe, but it felt like two loose pieces clicking together again securely. The emotion was sincere and laid out bare.

Peter grinned a bit maliciously, “Now, about that comment you made.” He growled pulling the sheet over us.

“I was thinking you were letting it go,” I said.

“Not a chance,” Peter growled. You don't even need to guess what happened next.

We got up a few hours later. I sensed were just drifting. Looking out the window I saw the high clifts that I recognized no were the clifts before entering the Corinth Canal. We were waiting for our turn. I wondered if they gave anything to the frequent passers. Ten passes and we got...say a free meal in Cornith. The bigger ships didn't use it. It had become a tourist attraction, remember? The big ships including the big cruise ships couldn't fit. We just barely fit. When we passed each time I had the feeling I could touch either wall of the canal as we went. We were many feet away, it's just the false impression I had. I didn't need to see t again.

We entered the galley and saw Henri again. So much time we spent with him, he wasn't just a chef on the Duchess any more. He was our friend. It wasn't pleasant, but I felt the pain again. Grandpa told me to cherish the pain as proof he meant something to us.

Henri looked up and smiled, “I hope you slept well.” He wasn't as flippant as he usually was. I suspected he was feeling what we were.

Peter stretched an arm to ease some soreness, “Perhaps too well.”

I bumped him lightly. “We just need to get back on a schedule.”

Henri smiled, "You two are in college. You don't have those all-night study sessions?"

Peter smirked, “Never him.”

“Not even before a big exam?” Henri asked surprised.

“No!” I said immediately. “Those things are counterproductive!”

“See?” Peter pointed at me.

“They cause you to doubt what you know,” I insisted. “If you paid attention in class and took good notes, a simple review is all that's needed. That and a good night's rest is all that's required."

Peter grinned, “And there you go. His grades are good, so who am I to argue?”

“Well,” Henri confessed. “Any meal will have to wait until we exit the other side of the canal. Any assistance will be difficult to come and help. No fires in the galley.”

“They regulate that?” Peter asked.

I wondered how they enforced that.

Henri shook his head and pointed up. For a second I wondered if he pointed to God. “Captain Agius won't allow it.”

I nodded, “Oh.” There was some logic to that...if we were on a wooden ship. The regulation was regulation.

“Sooo?” Peter let out trying not to sound sad or disappointed, “no coffee?”

Henri nodded, “I can make your coffees.” He waved at his refrigeration unit. “Even a pastry or croissants.”

I chuckled, “Just the coffee for me.”

“Same here for me,” Peter nodded.

Coffees were gotten and sought out others onboard. That was tougher than you think. We didn't dare to knock on Yuri's and Boris's door. They were still on leave, we didn't want to interrupt anything. We should have known better. I know, there are times I talk about how small the Duchess is and then comment about how big it is. It was small compared to other vessels. When looking for anyone, it became much bigger. When I heard there was a reduced crew I wondered if there would be enough. The Duchess was self-sufficient and extra crew were unnecessary. We had more security agents than the crew. They were asleep. It is fine to be lazy when you weren't needed. Empty corridors and rooms were making the Duchess seem bigger.

In the library we found Boris. Alone. He was looking over a desktop monitor.

“Boris!” Peter said happily. “I was beginning to think there was an abandon ship!”

Boris looked up and smiled at us, “Nothing like that. You should have tried the Bridge.”

"We started at the bottom and were working our way up. That was next,” I looked at Peter, “We should have known that. The Captain would be the one to pilot the Duchess through the canal.”

“Yuri's,” He paused as he considered his words, “infatuated with the Automatic Identification System. He wants to give people a more,” he paused again, “concrete...image.”

I nodded with a light laugh, “Yuri is a perfectionist.”

“If you don't mind letting us know,” Peter began as we sat on a sofa. “What are you looking at?”

He grinned, “You're webpage.”

“Why?” I asked not understanding.

"Do you know how many millions have that have signed up to have you represent them?" Boris asked and then answered his question. “Over ten million now!” He waved at the monitor, “It's risen since I sat down and first looked.” He shrugged. “It's a shame Yuri and I can't sign up. We're Makarovian.” He pointed again at the monitor, “And not all of them are homosexual!” He pointed specifically at some names. They were the crew of the Duchess. "And," he pointed again to the names of David Burke, Edmond Hammond, and their wives. There were many of the military assigned to Makarovian that had signed up.

I nodded, “I'm not sure that assigning a label to people works anymore,” I said.

“You're kidding,” Peter said in disbelief.

I shook my head, “No,” I held my hand up. “Yes, there are preferences...” I waved at the three of us, “obviously. I have never considered having sex with a girl or woman,” I shrugged. “There are those that claim to be straight that will willingly cross and have sex with men.” I shook my head again. “Not because, such as in prisons, the choice is limited. Taking the pressures of religion away or the approval of others those inhibitions sort of just disappear. There are college fraternities that claim to be straight, but do it with each other to make money. Many of those guys we lust after in magazines and in porn make more money for doing gay things and are gay for pay.”

“Then they aren't straight!” Peter stated.

"Who knows?" I shrugged, "and who cares? I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of people who have no opinion about it. It's just sex." I gave a grudging nod. “Granted we did primarily go to some very liberal countries except Montenegro. Friends I have in the United States couldn't believe they could ever marry in the United States. We had preachers and a lot of pressures from the churches to keep it taboo.”

“Not in Massechuttes!” Peter stated.

I held my finger at that, “Which was the first to legalize it statewide. I believe two states voted to grant it statewide and then took it back due to pressures. Hawai'i and California I believe. Slowly, state by state legalized it. South Carolina was surprising, but had several large cities that thought it was okay.”

“Why did those people against it have so much power?” Peter asked.

"Here another proverb," I smiled, "I don't believe it is strictly Southern, but...the squeaky wheel gets the grease. They were the most vocal and aggressive.”

“I read where that woman claimed the Pope gave his blessing to her,” Boris said.law

“Davis? In Kentucky?” I asked to which Boris nodded.

“Who is that?” Peter asked.

I smiled at him, “She was an authority who refused to give a marriage license to a gay couple even after the law was changed.”

“She couldn't refuse them!” Peter objected.

"But she did," I said smiling. "She claimed it was against God's Law.”

"It is not," Peter stated back and practically accused me. "You don't think so either. You were the one that told me of the bias of the times and how the Christian Church used it to manipulate lives to serve them.”

I nodded again, “I did! And I still believe that.”

“Did the Pope support her?” Peter asked.

“According to her, yes,” I said, “according to the Vatican and the Pope himself, he only nodded to her as he passed her.”

“She lied?” Peter grinned.

I shrugged, “Only she and the Pope know that." I pointed out. "I'm all for forgiving things in the past, but do you see the Pope voicing support to a woman on her fourth marriage and children with some of them? She's hardly the example to follow morally. She sure as Hell didn't lead a life to model after."

Boris chuckled, “Her claim to fame was short-lived. She was jailed and suffered lawsuits...”

I nodded more in agreement, "And she deserved it. She says he did, he says he didn't. Who are you going to believe?"

Peter nodded relaxing, “I see.”

“Now,” I grinned. “I have enjoyed all the people that have embraced us. The situation with the religions will be an ongoing struggle, but the silent majority is speaking up. Thinking is changing. The friends who were surprised finally married after thirty-six years together.” I smiled at the memory. “They were buried side by side as married. Something they only dreamed about."

"As we will," Peter grinned.

I shook my head. "Oh, no, I'm not dying. I plan to live forever." I took his hand. “If you agree to do it with me.”

Peter smiled leaning in, “Why not?” He kissed me.