Chapter 10

Someone Very Special

In mid May, 2006, Gerry has been Clan Father for three weeks when a special meeting of the Clan Board is requested by a clan member living in Dareena. The Board consists of the Clan Father, the Great Mother of the Clan, selected advisers, and senior clan members. The Board has more authority than the Clan Father alone and it’s a great deal easier to arrange for a meeting than a Clan Table, which is a meeting of all of the eligible clan members where a quorum of fifty-five percent of the clan members is needed, except for the Annual Clan Table held on the last Saturday of April each year which qualifies as a quorum regardless of how many people are in attendance. The Board meeting is to be held at 11:00 a.m. on a Saturday.

First Meeting

At 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning Gerry is at Far View, the Amir Clan residence, in the Young Children’s Playroom spending time with some of his children. His mother and the clan’s Great Mother are there as well. The door opens when an aunt shows a middle aged woman into the room along with two young women. They’re taken over to the Great Mother and are introduced as Wayena Silverstein with her daughters, Juna and Meara. Distant cousins on their first visit to Far View. Wayena and her daughters were born in Berana. They’re here so her husband can seek assistance from the clan, because he’s a migrant and he has no other family in the country they’re seeking help from her clan. All of the adults present are introduced to them.

Since entering the room they’re all looking around at the children and the room’s extensive facilities. After being introduced Wayena sits to talk with the Great Mother to seek her support for her husband’s proposal. Twenty-two year old Juna, a very pretty woman, sits with Gerry’s mother to talk to her about the clan. Seventeen year old Meara, an average looking teenager, walks to where Gerry is playing a game with a group of three year old children. When they start the next round she joins in and she encourages more children to join the game as well, some do. She spends the next hour having a good time playing with the children, and the children are really enjoying her time with them. They get a lot of adult attention, but they always welcome more because there’s so many children as well as this being fun attention for them.

At 10:45 a.m. Gerry stands while gently saying, “Sorry, munchkins, I’ve an appointment to keep and I have to go.” The children with him sigh. He turns to Meara, “Will you be staying the night, I’d like to take you out to dinner, if you are?”

Wayena curtly answers, “No, we’re leaving after lunch. Anyway, Meara still has school and university to finish before she has time for an affair. I’ve already heard a lot about you, Casanova Gerry.”

Hearing Meara sigh about the short visit Gerry firmly says, “I don’t know what you’ve heard, and I don’t care. But you’re staying the night and you’re not leaving until after you have lunch tomorrow. Mother, please make suitable arrangements.” Turning, he leaves the room.

A shocked Wayena turns to speak to Lara, Gerry’s mother, stopping with her mouth wide open when she realises Lara is talking on the phone while making those arrangements. Lara turns to Wayena and says, “He’s right, it’s extremely rude to just turn up to spend a few hours seeking money and then dash off again. You’re staying the night.” Standing, she walks out, leaving an amazed Wayena in her wake.

While standing up the Great Mother says, “Well, I’ve not heard Lara that angry since the Dareed War. You really do know how to upset people, don’t you? And Gerry isn’t a Casanova. He may have over thirty concubines and most of the children in this room are his, but his problem is keeping women out of his bed, not getting more into it. Except for close family members Meara is the fourth young lady he’s asked out to dinner in his life. And two of the others were for special birthday dinners he’d set up for classmates because their families couldn’t afford the cost for a real party.” Turning around she leaves the room. Leaving a stunned Meara and Wayena in her wake.

Wayena is shocked by this, and all in the room are watching her closely. A three year old girl asks, “Meara, will you agree to marry Daddy when he asks you? I’d like you to be my mummy. Mother’s nice, but she only visits every other weekend because she’s very busy with her career, and I’d like a full-time mummy who lives with us.”

While Wayena is stunned by this Meara is only surprised, and she replies, “What makes you think he’ll want to marry me?”

The girl says, “Because he likes you a whole lot.”

Lucie, another young woman helping to care for the children, says, “Amarayah speaks truth. Like me, Gerry sees with the heart not with the eyes. Thus he sees and knows your gentle heart. I saw how he reacted when you got close enough for him to see your heart properly. He was greatly moved by what he saw. I’ve not seen him respond to another person like that in a long time, not since Amy died.” All of the residence adults present are surprised by this because they know Lucie has The Sight, but she rarely speaks about what she sees.

Wayena and Meara are stunned. Meara says, “Should he ask I’ll give his request careful consideration, but I hardly know him. I’d need time to learn what he’s like.”

Looking up Lucie says, “What’s he like? I doubt anyone will ever know all of him. But he’s solid, he was in charge of the patrol that fought at Tim’s Halt. He won’t speak about what he saw at Thistledown, but others who saw it throw up when asked.” Meara’s eyes go wide, because she’d read about that at school. “Already he runs several successful businesses he created, and he gives large amounts to local charities each month. In many ways he’s softer than a plush toy, and in some other ways he’s harder than a diamond. I know he’s personally executed captured murderers and he’s risked his life to save children. Our Gerry is a very complex person. How old do you think he is?”

Wayena quietly says, “Eighteen, nineteen.”

And Meara softly says, “Seventeen, eighteen.”

While shaking her head no Lucie says, “No, he’s not that old, but his grandfather says Gerry is much wiser than he. The clan agrees, that’s why we voted him in as Clan Father this year, the youngest ever. So get used to the idea you’re staying overnight. No one has out stubborned Gerry before, and now, as Clan Father, he has the authority to make things happen. He’s been a member of the Guards for some years and is a Captain, acting Major. You don’t get that rank without having the skill to go with it. Also, he’s a qualified doctor, engineer, and scientist, so he’s smart as well. He’s the current Amiri Amur Elder too. However, the best way to get an idea of what he’s like is to watch how he interacts with the children, especially the slow ones. Ask them what they think of him, watch him at lunch and dinner tonight.”

Meara slowly nods before she goes back to playing with the children. She really likes children and would like to work with children when she finishes school.

The Board Meeting

The meeting starts at 11:00 a.m. when Isaac Silverstein presents his story. He’s a smart chemist who’s been working on some ideas. Sadly, he had a business associate he trusted. The associate lodged all of the patent paperwork in his own name and is now getting rich marketing Isaac’s inventions through a company the associate owns outright. Isaac has another idea and he wants clan funding to set up a business to develop and market the idea, then he gives a summary of his idea. Because the room lighting is set to highlight Isaac the rest of the room is very dark and he can’t make out any details of the board members.

When the members start to discuss the idea Gerry asks, “Are you more a scientist than a businessman?” Isaac nods yes. “As such, I’m sure you posted articles about your work in various scientific journals. If you’ve copies of them with you I’d like to see them.” Isaac opens his briefcase and hands the journals to the Master at Arms, because he’d brought every document he could think of as having a possible bearing. The Master at Arms hands them to Gerry. While reading the articles he asks, “Do you have copies of the patents your old partner lodged?” Isaac hands them over. Gerry studies them closely. He notes the journal articles are older than the patents and the patents include a lot of the same information that’s in the journal articles, word for word.

Picking up a phone Gerry calls and speaks to a patent lawyer he has on retainer. He then makes another phone call. Turning back to Isaac he says, “This isn’t worth discussing. You haven’t got the business smarts to do this without getting ripped off again. It’ll be better for you to sign an employment agreement to work at our clan owned research facility and get a proper wage while getting recognition and Royalties for your work. I’ve set up a meeting with the manager for you on Monday morning, she’ll send you a confirmation e-mail later today. This way you can look at some non-commercial research of interest to you as well.” Isaac smiles as he nods his agreement.

Gerry continues, “I’ve also arranged for a lawyer to sue your old partner. Your journal articles prove prior art so his patents won’t hold up in court. We can tie him up in court for years, but the easiest option is for him to sign over the patents and pay Royalties. Worst case scenario is you can legally sell the same product, so we can go into that business and just wipe him out. Since your meeting will be in Carmel you can stay here until then.” Isaac has a wide smile when he nods his agreement as this is much better than what he’d asked for. He leaves a very happy man, and so do the board members because this doesn’t require any decisions by them while it’s a neat solution to all of Isaac’s problems.

Afternoon

At lunch Gerry is aware of the scrutiny he’s getting from Meara, Juna, and Wayena. He ignores it, but he notices the increased tempo when he leans over to correct one of his younger, simple, cousins on using the cutlery. He wonders what happened, and what was said, after he left the room that morning.

During lunch Isaac is happy, and he’s talking a mile a minute about how the board saw the problem with his proposal, how to get around it, and how they’re helping with the old problem. He explains about how their life will improve if he gets a contract with General Research Labs, the clan research company. Wayena looks at Gerry all through this. She’s of mixed emotions because she knows this is the best result, but she dislikes the thought Gerry is responsible for it happening as she’s disliked him since their earlier talk.

After lunch Gerry is amongst those supervising a large group of children going to the park in View Port’s shopping district as it has a good playground and they’re going to play there. Meara joins them. When they arrive the park is full of children from around town and the orphanage opposite. Meara notices Gerry knows every child and has a kind greeting for each one. She watches him all afternoon.

At 3:30 p.m. Gerry walks over to the orphanage and he talks to the woman supervising the younger children playing in their enclosed playground. Smiling, the woman calls the children to her, forms them up, and starts walking up the street with all of the children smiling. The older orphanage children in the public playground see this and smile. Within a minute all of the children in the playground have stopped playing and are watching Gerry like a group of hawks. When the column of children enters the ice-cream parlour Gerry stretches and yawns. Meara is frightened when every child suddenly yells and runs toward the ice-cream parlour with the adults in close pursuit. Only Meara and Gerry are left in the area. With a grin he walks toward the parlour as he calls out to ask Meara if she’d like an ice-cream. Confused by the events she nods yes. Entering the parlour she finds it’s packed with children and the staff are lined up like starters in a race while there’s absolute quiet. Gerry reaches up and he rings a bell inside the door five times. Pandemonium breaks loose when children yell with delight and those near the counter start giving orders to the staff. As soon as a child has an ice-cream they leave. Seeing Meara is confused Gerry gently turns her head toward a sign on a wall, the only one on that wall. Reading the sign she realises Gerry is buying an ice-cream for every person in the store. She also realises the way the children reacted means this is a fairly common event. Twenty minutes later they’re the last to be served and he pays for it all with his credit card.

Walking back across the square Gerry stops to talk to a woman with three children. Noticing the way she holds herself he says, “Louise, take your dress off.” She shakes her head no as she starts to cry.

The eldest child, a nine year old girl, tartly says, “He beat her up again last night.” Lifting her own dress she displays a large bruise on her lower ribs, “And I got this for trying to stop him.”

Turning Louise around Gerry undoes her dress and he opens it up to examine her bruises. Doing the dress up he says, “You know what this means, don’t you?”

Crying, Louise says, “He’ll go to prison for a year.”

While shaking his head no he says, “For hitting you again, yes; but for hitting Jess again, he dies.”

Louise’s eyes go wide as she shakes her head no. When she pleads for her man Gerry says, “He can’t live in town or near children any more. Either sterilisation and you move to a mountain farm and leaving the girls here, or he dies. That’s it, I won’t risk the girls any longer.”

Crying and shaking with her pain she looks at Jess. The girl says, “You and he have known the problem and the options since the last time in court. You can’t have him and us. Also, I spend more time caring for Carla and Jenny than you do. I know how much you’re tied to him, go to the mountains, we’ll be all right staying here. We’ll find someone to care for us. If he stays we’ll be running away soon, anyway.”

A large and surely man strides across the square. Reaching the group he pushes Jess aside, knocking her down. Gerry moves like a striking cobra. Suddenly the man is on his knees with an arm up his back and a gun in his mouth. With a voice of frozen helium Gerry says, “Shut up and be still, or I fire.”

A wide-eyed and crying Louise says, “The mountains.”

Two police officers walk over and ask what’s going on. Putting the gun away Gerry draws an identity card from his pocket, he shows it to them as he orders them to get an ambulance. When it arrives he has the man sedated and taken to a hospital. Louise goes with him. The girls stay with Gerry.

When the ambulance and police leave another woman walks up and she asks what’s happening. Jess tells her. The woman asks Jess if she and her sisters want to stay with her family from now on, because Jess and the woman’s eldest daughter are best friends. Jess smiles as she nods yes. Gerry smiles and says he’ll work out the paperwork with Child Welfare Services for them. The woman leads the children away.

A very worried Meara asks Gerry, “That was a bit assertive and hard, wasn’t it?”

A very calm Gerry replies, “What you mean is you think I was very pushy and brutal. Yes, I was, but no more than the situation called for. He’s a vicious brute who spent time in prison for bashing his first wife to death. Louise’s first husband, the father of her children, died in an accident. Yet Louise won’t leave him, as you saw. There’s a fourth girl still in the hospital, she’s been there for five weeks, he bashed her, but we’ve no evidence fit for court. While he hits only Louise I’ve no power, but when he hits Jess and she tells me about it I’ve the power and authority to act, so I did.” Meara stares at him, “As well as being the Amir Clan Father, and Jess’ father was a clan member so she is too, I’m the Amiri Amur Elder, and this is Amiri land. I judged and sentenced him for his mistreatment of the children now I’ve clear evidence of it.”

Note: Later Meara learns they were both sterilised that day and moved to a remote mountain farm to live on and work it.

Walking by him Meara realises he must be an exceptional person to be a Clan Father and Amur Elder at such a young age. She’s not sure what an Amur Elder does, but she knows it’s something to do with tribal law administration and it’s the second most powerful tribal position.

At 4:30 p.m. the Far View group head home. After a shower and change Meara is in a lounge room watching a movie when Gerry walks in with a fawn coloured roll under his arm and a leather roll in his hand. When he walks over to one of the tables everyone in the room stops what they’re doing as they watch him with bated breath. Placing the things he has on the table he stands beside it, obviously waiting for someone else to arrive.

An Important Request

A little later Gerry’s mother enters the room and walks up to him. Lara says, “You want to speak to me about something important, my son.”

Smiling and nodding he hands her a sheet of paper, “Yes, Mother, something extremely important.” He turns, “Meara Silverstein, will you please come sit at this table.” She walks over to the table and she sits down. Lara reads the paper, her eyes go very wide, and she looks at Gerry. While nodding Gerry undoes the roll, flipping it out on the table, all can see it’s a lovely fawn animal hide. Reaching out and touching it Meara feels how lovely and soft it is. It looks beautiful. With care he opens the leather roll to remove a knife, fork, spoon, salt and pepper dispenser, plus a set of gold strips to lay them all on the hide in a set way. All in the room have gathered to look at the table, many gasp. Looking about the room Gerry selects a woman and he says, “Lucie, Meara doesn’t know the ways of the tribes. Will you please honour me by explaining the meaning of these items and this ceremony to her?” She nods yes. He turns to Lara, “Mother, please negotiate for me.” Turning to Meara he says, “Meara, regardless of what happens here, now, I’d like you to accompany me to dinner at six thirty tonight.” She’s confused by this, but she nods yes because she wants to go to dinner with him. He turns and he leaves the room.

Lara sits down at the table opposite Meara and says, “Lucie, I’ll wait until you’ve finished your explanation as the tribal rules allow for this delay.” Lucie nods her agreement.

Lucie sits beside Meara and explains, “This hide of a mountain lion may only be used in this manner if the man has killed the lion himself with bow or knife. Hunting mountain lions is now unlawful and they may only be killed in self-defence. The quality of this hide shows it was killed by an arrow in the head. Some years ago Gerry defended a group of girls from an attack by a mountain lion pride where he killed five with arrows and one by knife while it raked his back.” Meara stares at her in surprise. “Gerry has formally asked you to table to place this before you as part of an important tribal ceremony. The hide shows he’s a good hunter and provider. The knife, fork, and spoon represent his wish for you to cook for him. The spices represent a request for you to flavour his life. The gold represents his ability to provide more than just food. In this ceremony it’s now usual to just present an animal hide of some sort. Gerry has provided the full, formal, ancient ceremony. I think this is to make a point of how serious he is. He’s unmarried, so he’s asked his mother to conduct negotiations on his behalf. If he was married his first wife or chief wife would conduct the negotiations. Do you understand what I’ve said so far, please nod or shake your head?” With wide eyes Meara nods yes and goes to speak. Lucie interrupts, “Please don’t speak! Under the tribal rules Gerry has invoked with this ceremony you’re only permitted to say Yes or No to the formal question Gerry’s mother, Lara, will soon ask you. With these items Gerry is showing you he’s a warrior of worth and able to provide for you in all ways. In doing this he’s indicating his wish to marry you.” Meara turns to look at Lucie, her eyes questioning, “No, none of us have spoken with him of this morning’s discussion. But I think he was heading here, even then. I wasn’t the only one to see it within him.”