Chapter 21: Finale

We woke to the sounds of bacon sizzling and aromas of fresh coffee brewing. Alfred was busy juggling eggs while Lexa laid the table under the shade trees.

That memorable demonstration in the rain had removed all vestiges of bashfulness. Even my stodgy self had to accept that casual nudity would be with us in the future. I went for a dip au naturel in the cleansing pond but did not push my luck by testing any of the other waters, since I noticed I was being watched. Alfred knew me too well, softly he whispered 'Wimp!' into my mind.

That was it then. On this very late morning the world, our world, was fine. Sabreena would give Jake a chance to work himself into her heart as he had worked himself into the paper mill. The poor beleaguered widow would not be able to hold out much longer.

Lexa would continue to drive Alfred relentlessly to finish their home but warned that the parklands would forever need a lot of attention. Alfred waggled his head on hearing this but chose to remain silent.

"Bert, it would appear that you are one hell of a lucky fellow. Your future looks neat, uncluttered and hazard-free by comparison," Jake sounded wistful as he contemplated me openly envious. "A bit of administrative duties, some strenuous thinking of how to spend all that nice cash, guzzling your half of good plonk at leisure – not too hard a fate, do you think?"

"No, Jake, not too hard, I might just scrape through. But I do have a sneaking suspicion that Elise will think up something for me too. She has been exposed to those liberal Damyankee girls for far too long, I shall have to domesticate her again."

On a last companionable walk around the island, taking stock of everything as it were, we watched a fox make off with an ostrich chick, the enraged cock in hot if futile pursuit, said hello to the tortoises and kangaroos. Alfred was extraordinarily pleased with the way the island developed.

"I don't interfere at all. The foxes breed very well and take their toll of the lesser animals and their young. They in turn are prey for the eagles, the smaller raptors go for squirrels and such. We did well, Bert, but whenever we come back we must do a lot of fishing in the lake and Wilbur's pond. They are overstocked."

"Alfred, I don't want to appear critical of what you guys have created here, but I have to admit that not seeing anything manmade anywhere, apart from our stuff, neither seeing nor hearing any other people whatsoever, no ships, no planes, does give me the creeps. That's the reason why I asked Berthold to summon you all for our first feast. I do find the isolation oppressive. Perhaps that is the reason why our actions and reactions tend to be so extreme at times.

"I realise that Berthold has been here on his own for longish stretches and I don't know how he can stand it. But perhaps this environment is conducive to deep thinking – and deep drinking," Elise added with a chuckle.

"Yeah, Elise, I share your feelings. The atmosphere of this place can be overpowering, but I have been here on my own often, sometimes for a few days too, and Alfred has done the same countless times. I do know that this isolation has helped me greatly in sorting through a multitude of issues speedily."

"This is one other instance where men and women are on different wavelengths I believe," Alfred added to Jake's comment. "But just as strong as our need to get away from it all is the urge to go back and rejoin the world after some stretch of time. Much as Jake pointed out, once my reasoning is done I experience a great calmness, a contentment which is restful beyond measure. But not long after that I am eager for home and for Lexa."

It was sobering to realise that a lot of our problems were due to me selecting an island refuge. How we would have fared had I chosen any of the other rather more exotic options in Alfred's programme could be anybody's guess. In retrospect we all understood the complexity of our fumblings, realised that what we had done was beyond any other achievement by man. Alfred was the first to admit that he probably would not have attempted it, would rather have disappeared in an unmarked grave or ended up as a corpse on the slab in some anatomy class, had he perceived all those endless ramifications beforehand.

"In some ways," he said, "Jake's insistence on fun with science was a direct invitation to disaster. On the other hand, we would have foundered, and fatally so, in the earliest stages were it not for our ability to see the funny side of things.

"Our slanging matches, Bert, your scathing comments about my approach did much to reduce my arrogance, made me regard, perhaps for the first time in my life, another human being from close by. Your infuriating carelessness about your health taught me to hold my own precarious existence as secondary to our common goal. You had the guts to carry on with the healing, the guts to taunt me into proceeding with it, you laughed away the fearsome odds and even after things went disastrously wrong with Elise your suggestions on how to deal with those CareWell bastards were not overly cold and cruel but tempered by your admittedly rather peculiar sense of humour.

"That is why we were able to pull through. Jake's droll clowning when times were most serious was also essential, as was Sabreena's astonishing loyalty and Elise's and Lexa's trust and forgiveness. If I say so myself, my friends, we did bloody well, all considered."

"This will only take you so far, Alfred, good buddy, but you do overlook the material side of things, you always have. Just imagine if Bert had been a teetotaller, a wearisome uncouth proletarian to boot or, God forbid, a religious freak with only one book to throw around. What if neither he nor Elise had been able to speak English, would not your project have foundered there and then? How would we have fared if our mates had been unable to do wonders in the kitchen, had been raving intolerant feminist bitches, ugly as sin and hating the sight of each other?

"When you complained ad nauseam about Bert, I had the greatest misgivings, wanted you to stop the experiment; we discussed that often enough. However, when you guys dragged me up the hill and he poured me that first shot of his potion I was convinced that we would be fine together. The following orgies and our exhaustive talks proved the point beyond doubt. You have to include all those facts in your equation as well, you know, don't just overwork that poor old humanitarian hobby horse all the time."

We enjoyed some kind of communal vexed silence as we trekked along the coast till Sabreena broke out laughing her deep bellylaugh.

"You guys surely know how to talk an awful lot about the most obvious things. For shouting to the heavens, we are six individuals who like each other – that means six friends; there are three men who all happen to love their woman – that makes us three friendly couples, right? Now, that is not asking too much and people all over the world are able to enjoy similar constellations quite frequently even if our circumstances are somewhat unusual."

"Hey, Sabreena, have you been listening to Bert a little too often? Those were a lot of large, expensive words you stringed together," Lexa stated happily.

In the end, Elise was the one who summed it all up for us, very concisely. "You guys are mad – in a rather agreeable way. But what this makes of us, your betrothed, I shudder to think.

"And we should also pause to ponder the future effects this adventure will have on our lives: we will have to be forever careful not to talk about it to outsiders, we cannot even share the secret with our children. This is, for me, the one most serious drawback and I do fear some estrangement if not outright antagonism from our lot."

"Yes, Elise, I have thought often about this after Bert earned himself his black eye from me. You are right, you dare not tell your children. From what you have told us you do have some doubts and you should heed them.

"We newlyweds on the other hand have no way of knowing how our children will turn out. Will they grow up to be responsible and caring enough to use this limitless power with the same restraint and joyfully, beneficially like we do or are we going to unleash satanic monsters against the world? Jake has no ready answer either and I admit that this is what is holding me back from committing myself," Sabreena agreed.

"You are both right," Alfred consented sombrely. "Those same thoughts have been heavy on my mind as well. Not everybody will be as bad as that CareWell crowd, but if ever a government, any government, got its hands on the heavy matter our world would inevitably be destroyed. For this reason I have decided that I will not pass on our knowledge, ever. We will do what we can with our children in the normal way and hope for the best. You, Jake and Sabreena, will have to make your own decision about this and I am confident that your conclusion will be the same. – There is our hill now, race you to the top."

"Oh no, you don't. Let's have a session in the gym first to pare down the competition."

Jake was quick to pull back a fat branch to almost breaking point, challenging us to enter his realm. Small wonder that he was subjected to our combined assault and forced to beg for mercy soon. Some people need to learn the hard way.

The race to the top became a non-event. Jake was severely mangled but we refused to heal him, claiming that only real emergencies warranted the use of precious healing waters and any self-inflicted punishment did not qualify. Instead we prodded him forward, encouraging him with lofty words and hefty nudges now and then.

When we reached the top the kitchen became a hive of activity. All available edibles were being prepared in one way or other, mashed, shredded, roasted, boiled, deathrayed and served together with the remnants of our liquid stores.

We took the huge meal quietly. Jake put off his healing till after lunch, stating that he always knew his priorities. Instead we all tried our best to polish the plates, bowls and glasses as if the next day would bring famine. Only the glasses emptied easily.