Book 5, Chapter 81
Timothy sat on his bed mat as the sun moved slowly toward the high ridge of
the Andes Mountains. He heard the sound of the purple perwalts and many high flying
birds as they circled in grand arcs under the skies of the Att Valley and remembered the
time remaining for him in the Palaqua was short. Looking at his arms, he knew that in
a few weeks his skin would return to it’s normal gold and white color. He would be able
to see his freckles again, his blonde and brown body hair.
He pulled his briefs up tighter around his body and felt the movement of the
round green device: the door opener. He recalled squeezing the stone and watching the
doors open. Strange power. Different energy source. Powerful.
He still heard the Germans and his brothers discuss the translation from the silk
cloth: these people must be descended from the tribes of Israel. They had to come from
the Mediterranean area, they’re Caucasian, not Indian or people with normally dark skin.
He felt the green stone door opener in his briefs against his belly, imagined he opened
the old wooden door in the mural with the stone, and considered entering the Att quarters
to explore by himself. He wrapped his arms around his legs and placed his chin on his
kneecap. Watching the sun dip behind the mountains, he placed his chin between his
knees and stared at the ridge of the Andes.
Phillip walked to the edge of the first level, patted Timothy on his back, and sat. “Strange things, huh?”
“Strange,” Timothy said. Phillip sat close to Timothy on the mat. The young
men stared at the distant mountains and were silent.
“What is this all about Dex?” Phillip asked.
“I don’t know, brother,” Timothy responded. “I’m trying to sort it all out.”
“We seem to have accomplished everything we came to do, and it wasn’t that
difficult. Do you think it was difficult for us?”
“No, Dex, I don’t. That’s puzzling.”
“There are many questions,” Timothy said. “We’ve got to get the answers.”
“Listen guy,” Phillip said, nudging Timothy’s leg, the Att want a session
tomorrow morning and Peiqua wants us for dinner tonight.”
“How soon?”
“They say in about an hour. At his tent,” Phillip replied. “Toomai suggested
Peiqua had something important to tell us.”
“You mean there’s something else that’s important? How much more?”
“I know, Dex.”
“We’ve got to determine how we’re going to handle the information on the silk
cloth, too.”
“Right!” Phillip said.
Timothy stood got up and helped Phillip to his feet. They walked to the wide
mural door and stepped through it. The sun’s rays reflected off Tooma’si and Coolai’s
chocolate bodies, as the Aides followed the young gods and smiled at each other.
“The Att want a meeting tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah. I think they said they’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Wonder where they’re going?” Timothy asked as they walked through and small
room onto the wide inside balcony.
“They’re going home!”
“I know they’re going home. I wonder where home is for them?”
“Probably somewhere in the southern part of South America. I don’t know,”Phillip said, as they walked down the stairs to the main floor.
“I think it’s farther than that, Phil,” Timothy replied.
Timothy walked over to David as he lay on the long, dining table. Richard
listened attentively to Daniel, who tried to convince him that as few as twelve hundred
people could have started the trip.
“I’m tired,” Richard said. “I think we’ve milked this scroll for all the
information we’re gonna get out of it. For now anyway,” he sighed.
Timothy and Phillip walked up to the long, green, dining table. David turned to
them. “Will you guys tell the brothers to shut up about those Chiqua ancestors.
What the hell does it matter whether there were twelve hundred or two thousand?” He
sat up on the table. “Maybe this whole document is a forgery.”
“I don’t think so. That language, Aramaic, is too old, certainly not known to
these people here. Who the heck speaks Aramaic anyway? How many people do you
know?”
David nodded his head. “Guess you’re right, Dex.”
“Hey guys,” Timothy said, “what do you say we go the shower tower, grab a
shave and a shower, and then we’ll go have dinner with the Omu.”
“Sounds great. Let’s do it. We’ve got just about the right amount of time,”
Richard said.
The Delta Rhos agreed and headed toward the stairway to the first level internal
balcony. Their Aides and the young Chiqua followed the young gods across the grass
plain of the Att Valley to Richard’s monument, the shower tower. They stripped off their
briefs, stepped under the tower and ordered the water.
“Hey, look at that,” David said watching a long line of young Chiqua walking
out of the northern jungle carrying buckets. “Here comes the water brigade. Hey guys!”
he shouted, waving at the young Chiqua. He whistled at the young warriors and soldiers.
They waved to the young gods.
The young men showered, were shaved by their Aides, took turns and helped the
Aides bathe and splashed some of the young Chiqua cadre. They walked out from under
the tower, grabbed buckets of clear water, and poured them over the heads of the young
Chiqua in the water line. The Chiqua danced with delight and touched the bodies of their
five young gods. Many Chiqua passed the Delta Rhos and touched them as the Aides
dried their bodies.
The evening winds fluffed the short bright green plumes of their jeweled
headdresses and the young gods were pleased with the green briefs, battle belts, short
daggers and scabbard and bejeweled green and white sandals.
“It must keep you guys busy making this stuff,” Daniel said.
“No,” Chilor responded. “The Att machines require little input. No care. They
just keep running and making marvelous attire. Throw in a branch or weeds and get out
a silky cloth; any color.”
“I could have guessed it,” David said, adjusting his battle belt and briefs.
“Are we ready you guys?” Timothy asked. “Let’s go hear our surprise.”
“I wish I looked like they do,” Coolai said softly to Toomai.
“You do, my friend,” Toomai smiled. The Chiqua stared at each other. Coolai
arched his eyebrows as if asking a question. Toomai took on an expression that said, “in
every way.”
Peiqua’s principal chief bowed to the young gods as they entered the tent and
informed their Aides this meeting was only for the young gods. Coolai, Toomai,
Chiquan, Chilor, and Quipo bowed to the Omu, the young gods, the principal chief, and
walked away and stood a great distance as the young men walked around the table and
stood behind the chairs at places set for them. Peiqua entered, wearing only gold mesh
briefs sprinkled with diamond dust and the green leaping jaguar over the navel, gold and
white diamond encrusted sandals, and a floor-length, gold thread cape that flowed behind
him.
Timothy was impressed by the Omu’s entrance and the manner of the Omu’s
smile excited him. Such majesty. He’s really a king. Neat guy!
David regarded Omu’s chocolate body, smiled at the leader, and admired the
splash of diamond on his attire. Imagine what meaning those rocks would have at home.
Here they are just decoration and they conduct trading with them. He returned the Omu’s
smile.
Look at that chest. What muscles! When does he exercise? He doesn’t look like
he’s out of shape. Daniel and Omu smiled at each other.
I like his briefs. I like the way he wears them. Why don’t we have capes like that?
His skin is really chocolate like us. Phillip smiled and said, “Omu,” and Peiqua smiled.
Richard acknowledged Peiqua, smiled as Omu’s hand gestured for them to be
seated. Richard pulled his chair out, sat, and moved his chair closer to the table.
He admired the fruit, the tall glasses, the four attendants as they brought in suckling
tapir, fruit, nuts, and vegetables and waited while all were served.
“Please,” Peiqua said, picking up his gold knife and fork. He cut the small piece
of pink tapir.
The young men followed his lead and cut their meat.
“May we speak,” Richard asked.
“Of course, my friends,” Peiqua answered.
“I need to make certain that the Omu understands the meaning of the silk cloth,
at least as we understand it,” Richard said to his brothers.
“I believe I do, but say anything you want to say,” Peiqua said.
The Delta Rhos listened as they ate. The attendants walked slowly around the
table; David appreciated their attire. White everything: headbands, three small feathers,
briefs, small front apron, sandals with enough jewels to buy New York. Wow!
“We have deduced, so far anyway, that you are the descendants of a tribe,
maybe what historians call a lost tribe, and your are descended from....”
Peiqua raised his hand. Richard became silent and was surprised that Peiqua
signalled he didn’t want to hear more. He looked at his guests, around the table, and
said, “That, my young friends, was many, many years ago, and I believe I do understand
the entire story, and we shall tell all Chiqua the story, but our history is of little interest
to us today.”
The Delta Rhos were intrigued by Peiqua’s words.
“I do not know what China really means, along with the names of some of the
other places the silk cloth speaks about. We know enough of our history. But the past
is gone now. We don’t care about where we came from. We look to the future. And we
wait for our God.
The young men listened as Peiqua spoke.
“Truth is your strength, Richard, you and your brothers, and it is the strength
of the Chiqua. You have no secrets from one another and speak only truths. We, too,
speak only truth. Nothing dies between people when truth is spoken.”
Never thought about lying. Phillip thought about David, then Richard, Timothy,
and Daniel. I’ve never lied to my brothers either.
Why lie? Richard asked himself. What’s the point?
What would I lie to them about? Timothy placed hishand on the smooth table
cloth.
If I could only tell Timothy. Daniel scratched his hand. I gotta tell him somehow.
He felt guilty about Timothy and was aware that Richard, David, and Phillip were quiet
as they listened.
Peiqua smiled at the young men and asked. “Is there any doubt in your minds
that you are immune to the deadly poison called curari?”
They shook their heads at the same time Richard said, “We’re immune.”
“I agree with that. You have been darted on various occasions and have not
suffered,” Peiqua said.
“Only headaches,” David said, drinking his juice.
“But even the headaches didn’t last long,” Phillip added and peeled a banana.
“This condition is a gift. Do you agree?”
“Yes, I agree,” Richard said.
The young men nodded.
“And do you know how your immunity happened?” Peiqua asked.
“Yes, we do,” Richard answered. “Do you?”
“Yes,” Peiqua responded. “You, Richard, had a friend, who loved you and
wanted you to live. He gave you the only gift he had to give you. He gave you his
friendship. Little did he know he gave you back your life. He gave you the life from his
blood. ”
Richard glanced at Timothy, out of the corner of his eyes and said, “Thanks,
Dex.”
Timothy glanced at the table, wiped his face, glanced at Richard and set
his gaze back on the table. He stopped eating and listened to Peiqua.
“Life has more mysteries than we know. Life has truths. If we are smart enough,
we recognize these truths and live life.”
The young men listened.
“Only from Omu to Omu has the following story been told. And then each Omu
has told his children, the Chiqua Nation. It is more than a story. It is truth. And it is law
that makes each Omu respond to it and obey it.” Peiqua paused. “At the time of the first
Omu, the first leader of the Chiqua, which in the language of the Chiqua means “chosen
children,” there was always the story of the great God from the sky who would some day
come to his people, the Chiqua. And the laws of our God say: Love God, believe in
God’s bounty; love The Palaqua, cherish family and friends, have many babies, and
listen to the truth in your heart. It is simple. Our God told us to look for the simple
things. He gave us the gold and diamond caverns. He gave us abundance.”
Timothy sipped some water, wiped his mouth an set the cup on the table.
“These laws or manner of life were followed until the time of the Omu, the
Thirty-Third Omu, which was when God came to the Palaqua. He stood above the
ground and blessed the Chiqua people, who numbered many at the time. Chiqua saw
blood on his hands and feet but only love in his face and in his words. Love for us, his
children. He said he would return for Chiqua when Palaqua would be no more. The time
is near. He commanded Chiqua to be faithful, help other people and tribes, always love
one another. Some Chiqua saw him disappear before their eyes. The Omu, the Thirty-
Third Omu, saw him rise into clouds, but all Chiqua waved to him, and bowed.
Peiqua asked his young gods, “Do you understand?”
They nodded.
He came here to the Palaqua! Wow! Phillip smiled excitedly. “Where Omu?
Where did Jesus stand above the ground?”
“Everywhere!” Peiqua answered.
The young men were silent and thought about Peiqua’s answer.
“Everywhere?” Richard asked, sounding perplexed.
Peiqua smiled radiantly and said, “Chiqua farming in the eastern Palaqua, in
jungles, in Palak, no matter what they were doing, inside buildings, outside on
farmlands, swimming, bathing, they saw God. Grown men, temple workers, warriors,
soldiers, runners, chiefs and children, saw and heard him. Yes, my young friends,
everywhere they heard and saw the God, they listened to him, watched him leave, and
believed, without any doubt, that he would provide for them until he returned for them.”
“Amazing,” Timothy said. “That’s a great story. We could tell you one that’s
almost the same. It’s the belief most of us have. Timothy knew that the sun was setting
as the reflection from Richard’s and Phillip’s and Omu’s bodies glowed more golden and
chocolate in the evening twilight.
“You know this story, but do you believe?” Peiqua asked.
They nodded again.
“We believe,” Timothy said.
“I have not yet told you the reason I have related this information to you,”
Peiqua said. He drank more juice.
“Oh?” Timothy said. “What else?”
“God told us to mark the days and he would keep his promise.”
“To return?” Richard asked.
“Yes, and take us to paradise,” Peiqua added.
“What’s wrong with the Palaqua?” Phillip asked.
“Our God’s house is perfect. That’s what we strive for,” Peiqua said. “The
Palaqua is only a sign of paradise.”
“Palaqua is only a hint of things to come?” David asked.
“Right!” his brothers responded.
Peiqua continued. “God told the Chiqua that he would return before The Omu,
The Fifty-Third Omu, had lived out his life. He told us to look for a group of twelve.
They were different in countenance. Travel long to get here. They would come to the
Palaqua to feed and cloth the Chiqua better than ever before. They would be great and
loving teachers to the Chiqua, and they would remain many years. This prophesy is, of
course, our beloved Att.” Peiqua bowed his head. “Our beloved brothers. There is no
doubt.” He closed his eyes and bowed his head. The attendants faced away from the Omu
and allowed him privacy.
Phillip glanced around the table and shrugged his shoulders. The young men felt
Peiqua’s passion for the Att.
Peiqua looked up again. His attendant handed him a white table cloth. He wiped
his face, drank water, and continued, “We were told of visitors that would look like us.
God said that years later there would be three peaceful strangers from the north. They
would be friends. And these people, part of our God’s prophesy, were your parents,
Richard, and Grandfather Pennington. Then he talked about young men with chocolate
skin and white bodies. They would come to save the Chiqua from ill health. It would first
appear to the Chiqua these young men were only five, but they would be, in fact, twenty-
two in number. Twenty-one known and one lost. One must be found. And there is more,
but the prophesy has happened. The Chiqua see it.”
The Delta Rhos talked to one another. They used pwo.
“We’re must really be important!” Richard said. “We really are gods.” Or is it,
we are really gods.
“The other brothers, too,” Timothy said. He smiled broadly. “I wonder if they
know?” I don’t feel any different than I did as a kid, a guy, a Delta Rho, or an
American.
“How could the brothers be gods?” Daniel asked. “They’re hardly old enough.
Can you imagine it! Harley, Ray, Jonathan, Chief, Chad and all the guys!” Daniel’s heart
felt lighter and he brimmed with pride.
“No wonder the Chiqua attend us,” Daniel said. “They really do think we’re
gods.”
“Even if you had numbered three or four, they would still love their young
friends,” Peiqua said, “as I do.”
“Thank you for all of us, Omu,” Richard said and bowed his head.
Peiqua bowed his head toward each of the Delta Rhos.
“Well guys! What do we do with this information now that we have it?” David
asked. “There’s twenty-one in our pledge class, but one is lost. Who is it? Who knows?”
he said answering his own question. “Well, we’ll figure that one out. Now, I don’t know
how to change from a person to a god. I’ve never had a course in it. It’s scary to me.”
“You’ve done fine so far,” Daniel said. “You’ve acted like a god all summer.”
“Thanks, Danny, David continued, “As I was saying, I thought I wanted to stay
here in the Palaqua. Maybe I should go back to East Grand Rapids and become a
shoemaker.” He frowned, turned his head, and gazed directly at Peiqua. “Do you know
pwo? The language of silence?”
“Yes, my friend,” Peiqua responded. “And I know you taught it to the Chiqua.”
“This guy knows everything,” David said laughing.
“My children tell me everything,” Peiqua replied. “Particularly when they brag
about their gods. The feats their gods performed. How well they performed. How
privileged the Chiqua were to watch you.”
“Thank you, Omu,” David said. You and Danny have overcome my doubts.
“I’m not doubting your story,” Daniel said to Peiqua, “it could be as right as
anything, but...”
“But,” Peiqua said interrupting Daniel, “there comes a time in life when the
future either does come true and prophecy is proven or it does not occur, in which case
the prophecies are not true. It is important to recognize truth when you see it, when you
hear it and when you feel it, and to understand that only love is love. Love has no other
meaning. And God has spoken truth.”
Daniel remained silent. Timothy knew Daniel heard something personal in
Peiqua’s words: a silent conversation. Richard interpreted Daniel’s silence to something
he was thinking about. David wondered if Daniel was hiding something from the group.
Phillip slowly licked his lower lip and knew that Daniel was sad again. He did not know
what to think about Daniel’s strange reaction.
Daniel finally nodded. Peiqua knew the young men understood his words.
“But you may still say coincidence,” Peiqua continued. “There comes a time
when coincidence doesn’t make as strong a case as does the word, ’truth’, and it is there
the point is made.”
“What point?” Timothy asked.
“The point that the prophecy to this date has been fulfilled in every aspect. The
God will return, possibly in your lifetimes.”
“What is the last prophecy that was fulfilled?” Richard asked. “Did you tell us?
Did I not understand it?”
“Perhaps you found it difficult to hear, my friend,” Peiqua said. “But listen and
understand. This is truth. You five men and seventeen other young men, those at your
home in Indiana, are, without any doubt, the fulfilled prophecy of a second group who
bring unending health to Chiqua.”
“But the Att gave you health and material for clothes, such as they are, I mean,
Omu, for as little as you wear. Don’t misunderstand. I love your way of life, your attire;
you have more variations in your clothing than Bastions in Naptown,” David said
smiling.
“Dave,” Richard said, “get to the point.”
“But the Att gave you healthy food not us...”
Peiqua smiled at David and stood. The attendant moved Peiqua’s chair backward.
Peiqua walked to David and showed him his hand. He held out his index finger to him
and said, “cut my finger and then cut your finger.”
David took a gold knife and cut his finger. He winced, as the blood trickled
down his finger, grabbed Peiqua’s hand and said, “Ready?” They held their fingers
together as Peiqua regarded each of the young men. “You, you five men, the five of you
here at this table, tonight, are the second group of prophecy, and you have given us
sustained health. We are now immune. The Aides are immune and immunization
continues throughout the Chiqua Nation, first from the Aides and then from all those who
are immune. It spreads rapidly. All because of you,” Peiqua said and returned to his
chair. “Curari and other poisons, plagues and illnesses will not harm us. We have
example of eternal life. Free from worry. Things to come.”
“I dig it,” David said. “I’ll drink to that,” he added, drinking his juice. “I
wonder why? Why are we immune? Why are they?”
Timothy shrugged. “Who knows?”
“That’s quite a story,” Richard said.
“This is your destiny.” Omu said.
They were silent. The young men listened.
Peiqua said, “The time before the God comes is short now. Perhaps our brothers
and sisters in other places have their prophecies too. Perhaps the prophecies concern the
coming of a group of young men: talented, handsome, well developed, virile men, and
they are those that were prophesied, who must appear to them before God comes. It is
more than something to think about.”
The Omu, The Fifty-Second Omu, continued, they stared at one another, took
in the Omu’s words, shifted in their chairs, looked at the ceiling of the tent, tapped their
fingers, and stared back at Peiqua.
Peiqua continued, “I don’t know these places. I only know their names: Palaqua,
and the Palaqua is very real as you can see, China, The North Lands, Europe, Australia
and Africa.”
“Do you mean that we should travel to these places and find the other people,
as you put it, just like we came to you?” David asked.
“Your heart, my young friend, and their prophecies, will determine what you
shall do, not the opinion of an old Omu.”
“Old?” Timothy asked, “you only have thirty-three years. You’re young yet.”
Peiqua smiled. He sipped water.
“It appears that we have no choice,” David said. He turned to Timothy. “See that
old fart that taught us Philosophy? Remember how he and I argued about the definition
of predestination?”
“Yes,” Timothy said smiling at David. “I don’t think I shall ever forget it.”
“Well, he was wrong, Dex,” David said, and this proves it. “We cannot change
that which is destined for us. Either as individuals or as a group. He should have given
me an A plus.”
Peiqua nodded. “It is time, my young friends. I want to wish you the happiest
of dreams for this evening. Dream your dreams. I have always thought that my dreams
have been Gods’ love for me. And I wish the same for you.”
“Some of mine are beauts,” Phillip said. “Those bananas are great.”
Peiqua referenced the bodies of the young men and said, “Your prowess will stay
with you a long, long time.”
“I hope,” Richard said.
“Yes, my lord,” Timothy smiled.
“It is fun,” Phillip replied.
“Thanks for everything,” David added.
Daniel said, “While we’re young anyway.”
“Forever,” Peiqua replied. He surveyed the table then each of the young men
again. “Forever.” He turned to Daniel and said, “And clear your path.”
Daniel nodded and looked to Timothy, who was puzzled by Daniel’s manner..
What is in Daniel’s mind? What is it? Timothy looked at Daniel and smiled at his
brother Rho, hoping his brother would smile back.
The Omu, The Fifty-Second Omu, walked toward the sheltered entrance, curtains
shifting lazily in the evening winds, to his private bedroom, turned and waved to the
Delta Rhos. “You may keep the silk cloth. You may have need of the silk cloth, its
message, someday. I give it to you.” A chief held back the sheer curtain for the Omu to
proceed. “We leave in two days for Palak. It is time,” Peiqua commanded.
The young men bowed, did not speak further but thought abou the Omu’s words.
They noticed their Aides coming toward Peiqua’s tent.
“Being a god is more than skin deep,” Richard said. He stiffened his arms and
leaned against the chair he had sat on. “I’m grateful he’s giving us the silk cloth.”
“We’ll be going home soon, won’t we?” David asked.
The four Rhos nodded.
“Where is home, guys?” Timothy asked.
“Where we are, Dex,” Richard said. “Perhaps when we’re there.”
“We?” Phillip asked.
“All of us,” Richard said, “and the other sixteen brothers back at the house.”
“Twenty-one,” Philip said, “Just think if they had pledged that guy, what was
his name?” Phillip rubbed his chin trying to remember,”Oh yes, Ferris Morgan, we
would have been twenty-two, it would have been more crowded in the crapper, the
shower, the dormitory where we sleep, and it would have nullified the prophecy. God,
life is complicated.”
“No,” David said, “You still don’t get it, Phil. Please listen, carefully. Had
Ferris pledged Delta Rho, the prophesy, that we knew nothing about, would have been
twenty-two young gods and said nothing about a lost one.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Dave,” Phillip said. “It’s almost as if we have a lost
brother, a lost friend, an important part of the puzzle and we have to go find it, or him.”
“Beautiful, Phil,” David added, “I could have used you in my Philosophy class.”
“Question! Pledge Ferris?” Timothy asked. “They were going to pledge Ferris
Morgan in Delta Rho?”
“That’s what I heard, but they didn’t. So?” Daniel answered.
“Do any of you know any more than that? Why didn’t he pledge?” Timothy
asked.
“I think if was something serious, something seedy,” David said.
“Why?”
“One night, my roommate got drunk and said some things that were weird.”
“Like what?” Timothy asked.
“He knew the real reason Ferris would not pledge,” David answered.
“What was it?” Timothy asked.
“He didn’t say, but it had to do with the body beautiful, something like that?”
“I heard someone in the house didn’t want him,” Daniel said.
“That’s not what Ferris told me,” Timothy said. “I can still hear him tell me the
house was no place for him.” God why didn’t I hold onto my twin? What was I thinking
about? Why didn’t I recognize him? Why God?
“What’s the matter, Dex?” Daniel asked as tears came into Timothy’s eyes.
Timothy shook his head.
“Ferris is...” Richard said, “Should I tell them Dex?”
“I will,” Timothy said, wiping his eyes. “Ferris is my twin brother!”
The Delta Rhos were silent. Richard walked to his cousin and put his arm around
his waist. Richard nodded that it was true.
“That means that Ferris is really a Delta Rho or should have been. That means
Ferris is lost to us. That means we are twenty-one in number. That means we must find
Ferris. But most of all guys. it means that the Chiqua prophesy is true. Wow! We’re part
of the Chiqua prophecies, so let’s face it.”
“We have no choice,”’ David said.
“So we’re twenty-one,” Timothy said, “and you know what we have to do. We
have to find the twenty-second missing brother.”
His four brothers nodded.
“We have to make plans,” Richard said.
“We’ve got a little time according to the prophecy,” Phillip said.
“Hey! Look at our bods!” Timothy said smiling.
They looked down at their bodies. They looked at each other. “They’re shining
like wet chocolate. We’re sweating like, like gods, huh? Well, at least players in the
prophecies. Heavy stuff!” David said, wiping his face.
The Chiqua Aides followed the young gods toward the temple and knew they
would travel beyond the temple down toward the cold water and the hot water pools.
Coolai and Toomai walked together and tossed their headdresses into the air above them,
laughed, punched each other, grabbed each other by the arms and legs and necks, pushed
each other down, and wrestled quick holds. The Aides were amused as the young men
jumped up with sand over their bodies and continued running, jumping, and walking
toward a late night bath.
“Like us when we were kids, eh, Coolai?” Toomai asked.
“I guess that is so,” Coolai responded.
“What do you mean, guess,” Toomai asked.
“Did we look as handsome as they, now?”
“Of course, look at my face, my brother,” Toomai suggested and smiled.
“Yes,” Quipo responded, “Toomai is as handsome as either you are I, Coolai,”
he punched at Chiquan then Chilor, “but not as handsome as these two stallions.” The
Aides smiled at each other.
They walked rapidly behind the young gods who threw down their headdresses
and sandals and as they approached the Att Plaza. The Aides bent over and stepped out
of their briefs, picked them up, and threw them into the air as they ran laughing and
shouting toward the bathing pools.
They gave orders using pwo to the young Chiqua warriors, soldiers, and
attendants. They ordered towels and robes for the young gods and themselves and
promised the young Chiqua they could bathe with them and the young gods.
“The young gods are learning them to be forthright,” Coolai said, tossing his
headdress into the air. “Now,” he said to Toomai. They took off their briefs and threw
them into the air.
“We’ve learned something from them, too,” Toomai shouted. “It feels good
too,” he said, feeling his freedom. The Chiqua ran to keep up with the young gods.
The guards on the various levels of the Att Temple walked their posts with spears
and a long knife in their scabbards on their battle belts. They wore only a black
headdress, black briefs and brown sandals. Ten guards walked each level. One hundred
guards walked the levels of the Att Temple.
The guard nearest the entry mural door on the forth level noticed two Att step
through the doorway and walk past him toward the edge of the temple. The guard was
distracted when he heard screaming and yelling from below and identified the five young
gods, their Aides and some of their personal cadre running naked across the Att Plaza,
and knew they were sprinting toward the jungle to languish in the cool water of the
bathing pools.
He pulled his briefs down to his thighs, spread his legs, and scratched himself,
enjoying the feeling, pulled his briefs up again, fixed them tight around his waist, and
continued his post. Sweat ran down his body. I hope the night of the flute is soon. He
thought about his wife and children in Palak, saw his wife’s body, the curves of her
breasts and the softness of her neck. He smelled her perfume and desired the night of the
flute. He walked faster in order to be relieved of his swelling. He thought about the
young gods swimming in the bathing pool. He heard them laughing and splashing as he
turned the corner of the temple, greeted another guard, and continued walking. He
looked up into the night sky of the Palaqua and smiled at the bright round moon. He saw
his body cast a shadow on the temple murals, was thrilled as the brilliant colors of the
murals turned gray while his shadow passed over them, and continued to walk his post.
He wrapped himself in the warm night air as he listened to the laughing and shouting.
Phillip spit a fountain of water at Timothy’s face and said, “I can make it,” and
laughed.
“Make what, Phil?” Timothy laughed and spit a mouthful back at Phillip.
Phillip arched backward and lay on his back in the water. “Being a god. Going
to those other places, China, Europe, Africa, and all that.”
Daniel swam toward Phillip raised his arms back and over his head and brought
them down on Phillip’s chest and stomach and the two went underwater.
“Ship is underwater,” Timothy yelled playfully and Richard swam close to him.
“Who’s going down?” Richard asked.
“Phillip and Daniel,” Timothy said. “Where is Dave?”
“Here,” David said stepping out from under the waterfall. “What do you want?”
“Thought we’d have a meeting. Decide what we want to do,” Timothy said.
David soaped his chest, between his legs, thighs and between his buttocks. Quipo
braced his leg. David placed his foot against Quipo’s knee and he soaped David’s calf
and ankle, slapped his foot, and soaped his other leg. “When?” David asked walking
back under the foaming, bubbling water and spray.
“Now,” Timothy responded watching the water cascade in bubbles over David’s
body.
“OK with me,” David replied.
Timothy pointed at Richard. “OK with me,” he said.
“Danny?”
“Let’s do it, Dex.”
“Phil?” Timothy said laughing at Phillip floating head down and talking to his
feet. Daniel slapped his feet, pulled Phillip to the surface, slapped his butt and said,
“Speak Lord Peiquoo, speak.”
“Did somebody call Lord Peiquoo?”
“Yes, my lord,” Timothy said. He noticed Dr. Hansen Mueller and Father
Marko approach the cold water pool. Hansen wore only his undershorts and a towel
around his neck while the priest wore only a robe and his long sheer white cotton
underwear. “I thought we should decide what our plans are going to be with respect to
school and the other places where the Chiqua cousins are,” Timothy added.
“I agree. Let’s do it.” He turned to the priest. “Hey Father. That’s a real sexy
outfit. I can see you,” he smiled as the priest stepped out of his white undergarment. The
priest dove into the pool while the German doctor walked toward the waterfall. He and
Timothy smiled at each other.
“We need to talk Dr. Mueller,” Timothy said. The doctor stopped and stared at
Timothy as he pulled his lean body out of the water onto the flat rocks. He stood up
straight several feet from the German. “It’s important.”
“Sure. Where? When?”
“Tomorrow morning. We’re having a meeting right away. As soon as we get
back. Then we need to talk to you. OK?”
“Yes, of course, OK! How about in my tent?” the young blonde said and walked
into the falling water.
“That’s good,” Timothy answered as the water cascade over the German’s body.
What do these kids want to talk to me about? Hansen rubbed his chest hard with
soap, stepped backward away from the falling water and continued to lather.
Coolai dried Timothy and threw a short white robe over his shoulders. “Just does
cover your butt,” Richard said to Timothy. “Looks great, too! Smart. Military and all
that.”
Richard’s and David’s Aides dried them and put briefs on their gods. Daniel and
Phillip chose short robes and the five young men started back to the temple. The Aides
followed them, enjoyed their walk, and tried not to think how little time remained for the
young men in the Palaqua. They knew it would be soon that the young gods would walk
out onto a pier in the big water beyond the Andes, up the waiting arm of a large ship,
and leave them, Peiqua and the Palaqua, perhaps forever.
Toomai sighed as they followed the young gods onto the temple walkway toward
the Att Plaza.
“I’ll miss them,” Coolai said. “Very much.” He thought of Timothy, his young
Lord Poutak, and knew he would never forget his manner, the way he walked and talked
at the same time_unique mannerisms. Such exuberance. Great body movement. He had
never heard a voice so soft, so convincing, and Timothy was always trying to explain,
understand or persuade. I wish he were my son. I wish he would stay here.
“I know. Me too,” Toomai said under his breath.
Chilor stepped in between Coolai and Toomai and matched stride with them. He
didn’t take his eyes off Daniel. His short robe flapped and curled as the young god
walked along the walkway, the beads of water trickling down his muscular chocolate
colored legs. “I’ll be glad when we get back to Palak,” he said, “but I wish these kids
were going to stay. I’ve gotten used to them.”
The group turned the last corner of the temple and stepped out onto the plaza.
They followed their young gods toward the front entrance of the wooden stairs and
started to climb. They heard Quipo yell, saw him trip and fall over a mural in the floor
of the plaza. Coolai, Toomai, Chilor and Richard, Daniel and Timothy were silent as
David helped Quipo to his feet, stooped, and lifted him over his shoulders.
David carried Quipo carefully up the front wooden stairs into the greeting room,
onto the first level balcony, and finally down the stairs to the lower level of the temple.
They gathered at the long dining table and helped David gently seat Quipo.
“Can you move your foot?” David asked.
Quipo rotated his foot and pushed it up and down.
“That’s good,” David said. “Let’s wrap it.”
“I’m sorry, my lord,” Quipo said.
“I’m am too, tiger nuts,” David said. “Now I have to take care of you! You took
care of me all this time. Now I must take care of you.”
Quipo liked the words of his young god.
The young men smiled at one another. They sat down at the table. Coolai and
Toomai served water and juice.
“Juice or fruit, Lord Plorpek?” Toomai asked David.
“Juice,” David answered while pressing Quipo’s ankle. “I want to have sweet
and juicy dreams tonight.”
A young Chiqua handed David a length of blue cloth. “Tear it this wide,” David
ordered. As he wrapped Quipo’s ankle tightly, he noticed that the material stretched and
adhered to itself.
“This material is the right stuff for sprains,” he said to the young Chiqua
warrior, who stood naked and resplendent next to his Lord Plorpek.
“He said, ’it feels good and it works,’ my lord,” Quipo said, as he pulled the
young warrior up on his lap.
“You treat him like he’s your son,” David said finishing wrapping Quipo’s ankle.
“He is. They all are,” Quipo said, setting the young Chiqua next to him on the
table. He’s part of your personal cadre. I am responsible for him.”
“Responsible to whom?” David asked.
“To you my lord, and to his mother and father.”
“Of course,” David said. He tapped Quipo’s foot and asked, “How is that. Try
to walk on it and use it as much as you can.”
“Thank you, my lord,” Quipo said. He stood up. “Feels good, my lord.”
David winked at Quipo, walked around to the other side of the long dining table
and sat down on the bench. “Well?” he asked.
“I don’t think we need a prolonged discussion,” Timothy started, “but I guess
we’re individually and maybe collectively more than we thought we were.”
“I didn’t think of myself as being religious, but maybe I am,” Phillip said.
“It’s more like being part of a plot we had nothing to do with,” Daniel said.
“Not a plot, Danny, a plan.” Richard said. “Perhaps it’s a plan we want to be
part of. And Phil, you are more religious than you know.”
Phillip opened his eyes wide.
“We may not have been born if we were not part of a spectacular plan,” David
said. “Like I told that old retired Minister, ’You may know the Bible, but you don’t
know shit about teaching young people, and you don’t know the dictionary.’” Timothy
recalled having heard the story before. He smiled and listened. “I’ll never forget what
he said, ’The what?’ he asked. I said, ’The dictionary.’ I told him that according to the
dictionary, and I had memorized about three hundred of those crazy definitions from Webster’s
for that horrendously difficult final exam, including St. Augustine’s ’City of God,’ do you know what
he said to me?”
“What Dave?” they laughed.
“He said, ’If you want to know how to spell a word, look in the dictionary. If
you want to know what a word means, think!” David and the Delta Rhos laughed. Phillip
roared and held his belly. “Can you imagine? ’Think!’ he said.”
“What grade did you get?” Phillip asked.
“A B plus, but I wish I hadn’t told him about memorizing so many words. I may
have gotten an A minus, who knows?” David said and drank his juice.
“Anyway, I want to tell you guys something,” Phillip said. “I have never been
so happy. I know, I’m only a kid, but so are you guys. I like the Palaqua; I like the idea
of being a god; I believe that we must serve in this life; I believe that we were chosen;
I believe we should do what we need to do.”
“And that is?” Daniel asked.
“Go find the other Chiqua people, wherever they may be,” he said and opened
his eyes wide. “Go find Ferris,” he added and smiled at Timothy.
The young gods looked at one another and knew Phillip spoke the right words.
They knew how they would vote.
“Any more discussion?” Timothy asked. His brothers shook their heads.
“All those in favor?” Five arms pointed to the ceiling.
“Now let’s make our plans, Timothy said, finally sitting at the table.
Ivy Walls, Book 5, Chapter 81
RAG Fiction Novels
Ivy Cast
Book5, Chapter 88
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