“Come in. Cherine, this is my boss Mr Georgiades.”
He gave his hand, “Call me Alki. Cherine eh? Is that an English name?”
“I don’t know.” She smiled, liking his emoting.
Cherine was still worried that Robert might try to get out of her why her father had called her a freak so she did all she could to affect the emoting of Alki so that he would want to stay. He had not come to bring him his salary, it was only an excuse, as he wanted to warn Robert that he was slacking, not producing the required amount of work. When he saw Cherine he was about to ask Robert to step outside for a confidential talk, but without understanding why, he found himself entranced by the little girl. Robert said something to her and she gave a cheeky reply with such a mischievous look in her eyes that he sat down and talked to her while Robert rushed to make coffee, asking her questions about why she is in Greece and what school she will go to.
As he was about to leave, he patted her hair. “I can see why you are not getting your work done, she is enchanting.” He spoke to Cherine. “Perhaps I could tempt you and your mother for a weekend at my beach villa? You need to see a bit of sun and seawater is good for you.”
“Are you trying to steal my girlfriend?”
“Ach, what would a pretty girl want with a struggling artist who doesn’t work?”
Robert laughed. “I got the message, I’ll send in something in the morning.”
Robbie was laughing. “Damn, I like this Robert. It must be his Australian background.”
Joanna and his family laughed when Cherine answered cheekily, “He’s nicer than you were. She’s going to wrap him around her little finger - Alki too.”
“Are you suggesting you didn’t?” He turned to Joanna, asking without needing to, “Are you alright?”
“I was a bit upset when he became aroused - she’s such a tiny little thing! Then I reminded myself it is not the man I know, the Robert part in him must be responsible.”
Robbie nodded. “Maybe. Annavi, transfer her to Cherine.” We agreed with him, we were certain sex would become a part of their relationship and it was wiser that she senses them through Cherine. It might help prevent her from blaming him. Whoever was sharing with the family did the same. Personally, I could not help wondering, had he never had an erection when playing with or holding his daughter? She must have been a cute little girl.
Robert waited a few days. She spent her weekend with her mother and on Monday morning she showed she was glad to be back with him. He had bought some pastries and making tea he made her sit opposite him. She enjoyed acting like a grownup, though she could not resist teasing him. He smiled at her.
“How are we going to explain to your mother the chocolate you’ve managed to smear your blouse with?”
“I’ll change before she comes home.”
“Perhaps it would be better I wash and iron it. When we’ve finished you should go upstairs to change.”
“I’m supposed to be your baby-sitter, babies aren’t supposed to wash their baby-sitter’s clothes.”
When they’d finished and he sensed she is relaxed, he leant forward and took her sticky hands in his. “Cherine, do you trust me?”
Wary again, almost guessing his reason for asking, she answered, “A little.”
“You really like Alki and you are a bit afraid of my mother.”
“True on both accounts. Are you saying you want to change the topic?”
“I’m answering your question. You’re going to hate me.”
“Do you think that is possible?” He stopped and thought of what she’d said. “Do you mean you can feel whatever I’m feeling?”
Looking at the carpet she answered, “Yes.”
He was thunderstruck, not having imagined such a possibility. “Do you know what that is called?” she looked up at him, surprised. “Empathy. Empathy is the ability to place yourself in the shoes of another person and feel how they feel. You can actually sense everyone’s feelings directly?”
Question by question he dragged it out of her. When she told him of the warning by her father, he moved next to her and placed her on his lap. “Sweet little Cherine, your father was trying to protect you because you have a very special gift and other people would be jealous of you. It does not make you a freak, just somebody who is the most special person in the whole world.”
She gained courage from his easy, or should I say excited acceptance, and told him of how she killed her father - and of her mother’s reactions.
“What you are saying is that you feel responsible because he tried to answer your call by turning back. My love, he was the adult and an experienced driver, it was his responsibility to check for oncoming traffic, not yours. He made a mistake and had an accident. You were not to blame.”
We felt the release of the weight of guilt she’d carried as he continued to reassure her and Robbie sat with tears in his eyes, feeling guilty at not having helped his own love with such an obvious answer. She cuddled up to him and he squashed her against himself.
The relief was such that she cried and then fell asleep. He tenderly held her while a growing feeling took over. He felt an overpowering need to be there for her forever and be her protector. He thought to himself that he has lost whoever he’s loved and it will always happen, but even if he is granted the years as she grows up, it will be enough to give meaning to the rest of his life. As all Roberts do, he was already idealising his little Cherine.
It was growing hot so Robert bought a sprinkler system for Cherine to play. He could not afford to take time off for visits to the seaside as the office was sending him more and more projects to handle. He placed a sheet of plastic on one of his sofas and a beach towel over it so that she could run in still wet and sit with him for a while. Sometimes, when she was not watching, he’d sketch her lithe young body that was acquiring a chocolate brown colour and he’d find himself amazed at how perfect the body of a child is. He’d lost his fear of reacting to her sexually as it had not happened again.
The phone rang. “Roberto, I have not forgotten my invitation for Cherine and her mother. Could you invite them for supper so that I can meet her mother?”
“Eisai sigouros?(are you certain) She is quite a tough lady.”
“Roberto! You are learning Greek? Whatever she is like, she must have been a good mother to bring up her daughter so well. Say eight o’clock tomorrow evening at the Foinicas (Palm Tree)? I’ll book the table.”
“It is settled then. You will be my guests during your summer holiday? It is not far from here, just a few kilometres past Vouliagmeni. Roberto, I will send my car on Tuesday morning at nine?”
“Are you including me? I have too much work.”
“I’m your boss and I say you have no work - let them wait, it is good for the soul.” He turned to Cherine. “And you little one, you need someone to watch out for you when you swim?”
Robert said, “I don’t swim.”
He smiled at Cherine. “Teach him. I think you better look after him, he does not look very strong.” Marian frowned at the banter that she was not a part of, but then the thought of the stories of luxury she would have for her co-workers softened her irritation.
Although the Sparklers had three days to prepare, it only took them seconds once they’d visualised what Alki expected to see. They extended the land and sea for another fifty kilometres in case he decides to take them for a drive or ride in his yacht.
None of us blamed Robert for not taking a sexual interest in his Cherine. We knew it depends on her stimulating him with her own desires. This Cherine seems to be happy having him as her friend - she wasn’t even thinking of him as a surrogate father. We have the feeling she is starting to view Alki as a father figure.
They had eaten at the taverna in a bay, splashed around in the sea and watched ferry boats pass by for islands whose names stirred Cherine’s imagination when Alki spoke of them. Robert took her hand in his. “Shall we walk up the hill?”
The driver took them to the restaurant at the top and after buying her a red ice cream in a small tub, they walked towards the ancient temple.
Robert said, “If I could be a god, I would choose to be Apollo.”
“Why? Was he strong?”
“Apollo was the Sun god; god of prophesy and poetry and music and healing; most of what makes life worth living. I wonder why he didn’t grab art in all it’s forms.”
“I’d like to be Athena, she was wise.”
“She was, or is, but she was also the goddess of war and was the defender of Athens.”
“Is there someone in the temple, maybe a priest who can prophesy for us?”
He grinned. “You don’t need a priest to prophesy for you. You’re beautiful, very smart and you’re going to have a wonderful life breaking men’s hearts.”
“I don’t want that. I feel what it is like and it is horrible. I wish I could make everyone happy.”
Robert dived for her and as he slid down the slope he managed to catch hold of her foot. Wildly he dug in and they stopped falling. Carefully he pulled her to him and saw lacerations on her face, arms and legs. He felt her arms and legs for breakages while she stared at him with enormous dark eyes, still recovering from her shock and fright. He felt sickened by the scratches and cuts and closing his eyes he wished as hard as he could for the power to heal her. Nothing happened. Tenderly he picked her up and returned to the car waiting for them. The driver instantly drove for the closest clinic, first paying a waiter to run down to advise Mr Georgiades of what had happened and where he ias going.
Robert spoke softly to her, mixing in with his reassurances words of his love for her. She stared back for a while, moaned a bit as the sting of a wound grew worse and closed her eyes. His eyes showed for a moment the despair he felt at not being able to heal her and then his eyes shut as he wallowed in his feelings. She sensed him, even in her pain, and she reached up to his face to touch his cheek. He opened his eyes and seeing her look he moaned, “Oh Cherine’ and love exploded in him. Her eyes widened as she received his emoting and forgetting her wounds she built on it and sent back to him a blast that should have exploded his heart. He bent over her, “Oh baby” as he tried to become one with her within his heart. She gasped and for a second he thought she was in pain.
“The pain is gone!”
As he stared, her wounds closed and soon even the scars had faded away. The driver called back to them that they are at the clinic. With an insane laugh Robbie told him to return to the taverna. The driver looked back to protest and saw Cherine. He slammed his foot on the brake, stared with shock and superstitiously made the sign of the cross three times.
They arrived just as everyone was climbing into a car. Cherine jumped out and ran to them, her face radiant. Alki looked at her and walked over angrily to demand from the driver why he’d sent the message. Trembling, the driver gave a garbled explanation.
“Roberto, what is he saying?”
“She’s been healed. I don’t know how, but it happened.”
Alki has spent a lifetime being careful. He drew the driver aside and ordered him not to tell anyone. Only then did he return to them. He turned Cherine around, saw the marks on her clothes and made certain she does not even have a scratch.
“It’s a miracle!”
“Maybe it was Apollo, Robert said he is a god of healing.”
“If any god healed you, it was not a pagan god!” Marian admonished, angry now that she was over her fright. Cherine looked at Robert and he knew she believed it was Apollo.
When they returned to the villa, Robert walked down the slope of the garden and sat on a wooden bench surrounded by flaming bougainvillaea, his eyes not seeing anything as his heart hammered. He tried to recall exactly what he’d felt, hoping to sense something of power reaching from him to Cherine to heal her, but all he could sense was the crazy love he’d been filled with.
Mother and daughter had retired to their room for a shower and change of clothing. Alki was quicker and walked out into the garden when he saw Robert sitting. He looked at Robert’s face and gently touched his hand. “Did you heal her?”
“I was trying to - I don’t know Alki.”
His face turned to Alki with a look of ecstasy. “If I did, it means I can protect her!”
He was silent for a moment. “She means that much to you?”
“She is special Alki, very special.” Alki agreed, but as he returned to the house he looked worried.
When they arrived back in Athens, Alki politely dealt with Marian and Cherine, thanking them for coming to make his holiday such a pleasure and finally they entered the block of apartments. Robert had his bag in his hands as Alki came to him.
“Do not start any work tomorrow, I’m picking you up at ten. I have a friend who is an expert on paranormal phenomena. He will examine you and try to find out if you have the gift of healing.”
It was a pointless exercise. Themi could not provoke even a scintilla of paranormal healing powers. He kindly reassured Robert, who looked crestfallen, that his desperate need might have enabled him to heal the child. Alki stopped at the square and they went for a coffee.
“I have a feeling the professor was right. You were desperate to heal her and managed to reach into a part of your mind that I believe exists in all of us. If it is true, it means you are an exceptional young man. Roberto, be careful, if you must heal someone, do not let others see you. You would have no private life if people hear you can heal.”
“I think I can only heal Cherine - if I can do it again.”
“Themi is right, if you healed her, your hands should have felt hot. In the village I come from, a woman could sometimes heal and she always complained about it burning her hands. Roberto, I’ve talked to Marian and she will explain to Cherine that she must not talk about it to anyone.”
“Oh, she starts school in September!” He looked glum. “I suppose I’ll get more work done, but I’ll miss having her around all day.”
“It is not healthy to spend all your time with a child. You should meet your friends and go out more often.”
We have left the Sparkler World and those that remain are kept in sleep so that time does not pass, as the Sparklers will it. We returned to collect the father and daughter that will be needed. Wendy did not have Aids, for that disease has not been created in this reality, but her body and mind have been just as severely damaged by the brutality she has had to experience. We found her mother still alive but not much more than a shell. This Richard is not as the others we considered evil. He has long since crossed over into an insanity of sadistic needs and nightmares, using instruments of bondage and torture on both his wife and daughter. We do not understand how he could have survived to become what he is without him being locked up in an asylum.
We’d thought to add memories of Wendy and her father moving to Greece so that Cherine could sense her. What we found made that impossible. The father was taken directly to the prison planet while our healers fought us as we only allowed them to heal internally the most urgent damage. False memories were implanted of a benefactor taking them to Athens and we returned to the Sparkler World, accepting that we have no choice, this family will be very different from us. After meeting Wendy, there is zero possibility of Cherine and Robert becoming lovers while she is a child.
Someone knocked on his door and Robert was surprised to see Cherine. She was dressed for school and was carrying her satchel. She dropped it on the floor and sat on the couch. He held back his automatic query as to why she had not gone to school and sat opposite her. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s a horrible pain Robert.” She looked up and saw his panic and pointing at her chest added, “In here.”
“What kind of pain?”
“When I was a child I felt a woman being raped, it was horrible. Now I know there is something worse.” He sensed she was having difficulty in explaining.
“What is worse?”
“When your daddy does it to you.”
He felt his heart sink like lead. “Are you saying your daddy…”
“No! Another little girl. Her name is Wendy.”
“Where did you…oh, is she at school?”
She shook her head. “I met her in my dreams. She sang for me Robert and it makes me cry inside all the time.” Slowly he managed to get her to explain.
“Do you know what your dream really means? The rape you sensed when you were younger has been worrying you inside and your mind made you have the dream so that you can think about it and …”
“You’re wrong! If you don’t believe me, ask her!” And she pointed at the sketches.
“Cherine, that’s crazy, how could she…”
“You never told me her name so I’ll tell you. Her name is Dominique and she does know, the dream told her also. Call her and you’ll see I’m not lying.”
“I didn’t say you are lying Cherine, I was only trying to explain that the subconscious has strange ways of working out old problems by using dreams.”
“Call her.”
“I can’t love. I’m sorry, I can’t.” He was inflexible and Cherine saw there was no point in insisting.
Claire came back into the bedroom and sat by the mirror. She saw Elia was awake and talked to him by watching him through the mirror as she powdered her face. “Kalimera agapi. I had a strange dream last night. I saw Dominique, but she looked older. She told me about…”
“An English woman and her daughter?”
His face was white as he sat up. “I had the same dream!”
She swivelled around to face him. “It can’t be a dream, it must be a vision. We must go to the hotel.”
He was perturbed and thought about it for a moment. “It is not the kind of place for us to go to, I’ll go to the office and then send the driver to check with the hotel.”
“No! Our daughter asked us to help her, you go to the office if you want, I’m going to the hotel.”
They sat on the terrace for their coffee and Melba toast with cheese. As they were about to leave, Dominique walked out in her nightie and dressing gown.
“You’re up early.”
“I had a dream and then couldn’t sleep.”
“What kind of dream?”
She gave an embarrassed laugh, “I saw myself. I told myself that there is an English woman and her daughter I have to help. She said they are at…”
“A hotel in Omonia? That’s where we are going. We both had the same dream also. Do you want to come with?”
“No, I can’t. Mama, she insisted I must take them to Roberto. I can’t do that!”
“Do you talk to him at all?”
“No, Phillipos would make my life hell if I did.”
Elia asked, “Did she tell you why they must be taken to Roberto?”
“She said only he can help them. I don’t know how.”
Sternly her mother answered, “All three of us had the same dream. This is not a dream, I think you came back from the future to ask for our help. They must be important to you in the future, come with us Dominique.”
Claire and Elia entered the hotel. Dominique point blank refused to enter and waited in the car. A long while later her mother came out carrying a little girl. From her red eyes Dominique saw that she had cried and looking at the child she saw why. She was little more than a skeleton and her face was blank, no life in her eyes. Claire passed the little girl over to her and when she felt the tiny body, bones only, she understood why her mother was so upset. She looked into the child’s blue eyes and she felt her heart spasm. There was no sign of a personality or intelligence. Her hand felt something on the leg as it held her and she pulled up the dress. She gave a cry of horror when she saw the scars.
Dominique called Nicko and asked him for the address of Robert. Her voice sounded as if something was very wrong and when she refused to explain he promised to meet them in Kolonaki Square. He drove like a taxi driver, switching from lane to lane and arrived five minutes after them. He went to the back window, looked in and saw Dominique holding a little girl, a woman next to her and his mother. He leant by the front window. “What’s going on patera?”
“Take us to Roberto’s home. We’ll explain there.”
Cherine jumped up in a panic. “They’re here! I don’t want to see her. I can’t see her! Please!”
“I can’t, they’re outside the door.” She slumped, her face a mask of fear and pain. “I have to stay. Open the door Robert.” Someone knocked and then he heard Nicko calling him.
Robert’s heart had reached out to the poor child and broken woman as he was told about the dreams, but he was concentrating more on soothing Cherine who trembled in his arms. He knew that the sight her eyes were glued to were as nothing compared to what her gift of empathy was forcing her to feel. He vainly tried to warm her heart with his love but she did not reciprocate, so he knew she was not paying him any attention.
“I don’t understand what the dreams expect me to do, I’m not a doctor.”
Cherine looked up at him and he saw a spark in them. “Ask Alki to come.”
“What for, he can’t help.”
“Please.” He called, got through to him and explained. Alki promised to drive over immediately.
Everyone was feeling uncomfortable as they waited, so Robert asked, “Did Dominique have the same dream?”
“Not exactly. It was in her dream that she was told to bring them to you.”
“So you brought them, but she hates me that much that she would not come with?”
“She doesn’t hate you Roberto. She is in the car outside, but she’s afraid to come in.”
His face was grim, bitter. He softened his look. “You are the only family I’ve known. I’ve loved both of you as my mother and father. Even Nicko was more of a brother than friend. I would never do anything to hurt Dominique.”
Nicko spoke up before his parents could answer him with platitudes. “She does not fear you Robert, she fears that bastard she is in love with.”
Cherine had felt the bleakness and pain in him and realised he still is in love with the girl of his sketches. Mostly out of curiosity she decided to meet her. She squirmed off his lap. “I have to go upstairs, I’ll come back soon.”
As she rounded the corner she saw the limousine. She walked straight to the door and stared at Dominique. Her little heart filled with dismay, she was even more beautiful than in his sketches. Dominique glanced at her and looked away. Cherine tapped on the glass and it was opened.
“I’m Cherine, you must be Dominique. Can I sit with you for a while - until Alki comes?”
“He’s coming here? Oh yes, Robert works for him. Why is he coming?” Cherine opened the door and clambered over her to sit next to her.
“He’s our friend and Robert doesn’t know what to do. He’s afraid to try.”
“Try what?”
Cherine shrugged. “He still has a few photos and lots of sketches of you. What was it like having him love you? Was he a good friend?” She led the conversation, swirling emotions every time Dominique thought fondly of Robert and it caused her to open to her memories and speak more warmly of him, sinking and flying as she spoke, seeing the Robert she had not appreciated and it broke her heart. She did not notice that Cherine sat silently, nor did she sense what Cherine was doing to her. It was to her as if she’d experienced a revelation. She compared Robert to the man she’d thought she loved and was aghast at her choices and terrible mistakes. Cherine’s eyes filled as she felt the love filling the beautiful older girl sitting by her.
“Kyria Claire, Elia, Dominique kai Nicko, good to see you again. This is…” Alki’d been speaking in Greek so that the foreign woman would not understand what he intended asking when he saw the child. His face turned hard, his eyes cold with his anguish. “They should be in a hospital!”
Dominique turned to him with concern. “I was told we must not take them to a hospital, the authorities will separate them when they are returned to England and the little girl will die. Only Roberto can save her - I don’t know how.”
“I can’t Dominique - god knows I would if I could.”
Cherine tugged at his hand. “Hold her Robert.”
He knelt and pulled her to him. “Oh my love…” Tears filled his eyes as he stared into hers.
“For me Robert, she is hurting me.”
He nodded, gave her a hug and turning reached out for Wendy. Her eyes followed his arms and she shuddered as he picked her up. Her slight weight, her distant fear that Cherine sent on to him made him tender as he held her to him.
“I’m not going to do anything to you sweetie, but we have to see how you’ve been hurt. Okay?” She did not react so he pulled off her tatty t-shirt and everyone gasped at the sight of the wounds that should have been nipples and the scars all over. Claire rushed to the bathroom and they could hear her as she was sick and wept. Robert forgot everyone as tears coursed down his cheeks. “Oh god baby, how could anyone?” Hardly aware of what he was doing he pulled down her nylon trousers and panties. The sight sickened all of them.
Cherine flung herself against Robert as she cried to him, “Heal her! You must. Heal her!” He put one arm around her and with the other pulled Wendy to him. He closed his eyes and with everything in him he struggled to send the power of healing into her. Robbie saw he was going about it in the wrong way and was not going to succeed, so he reached out and opened the door in his mind.
Both Robert and Cherine felt his healer as it entered Wendy. Holding their breaths they waited. Cherine reached up and pulled at his face and stared into his eyes with pure adoration. “I felt it! She will be fixed.”
“What are they talking about?” Elia asked.
“A miracle my old friend. Roberto is healing the little girl.” Even as he spoke they saw the changes starting to take place. Scars slowly faded away, for the healer was mostly concentrating on healing her internally. When the scabs fell off and they all saw pink little girl nipples, the Greeks crossed themselves - even Dominique. Outwardly she seemed to be healed and yet Robert and Cherine sat frozen, staring at Wendy, obviously concentrating, so everybody waited as silently as they could. Finally they went to wait outside where they could talk softly while watching through the open door, only Dominique quietly sitting down next to the mother, her eyes fixed on Robert.
Robert picked up Wendy and lay her down on the sofa and bringing a sheet he covered her. He stopped before Dominique and stared down at her. She raised her hand and he took it in his. The three of them walked outside and Robbie answered the enquiring looks, “It will take hours, I feel she was damaged inside.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Without you I could not have done it, yours is the gift that opened me.”
Dominique put her hand to her mouth, biting on it. “You did it, you opened my eyes! Why? I can see you love him. Why?”
“He was hurting.”
“Oh God!” She fell to her knees and pulled Cherine to her, flooding Cherine with love.
Alki felt he needed something to anchor him as his emotions threatened to explode so he pulled his old friend to him in a hug. Elia held him for a moment and then whispered, “Den katalavaino (I don’t understand).”
“Roberto told me she is special, but I didn’t understand. The gift of healing he has, it comes from her.”
Cherine found herself surrounded by adults staring at her in awe and she grew afraid. Robert saw it and pulled her into his arms. He stroked her hair as he felt her trembling and then looked into her eyes, “You and me love, together. We are a team - forever.” He looked at Dominique, saw the look in her eyes and pulled at her. “The three of us love.”
Alki knelt by them and put his hand to Cherine’s cheek and then gently touched Robert also. “Not just the three of you. I’ll be by your side.”
When people feel emotions too strongly they sometimes tend to pull back. Claire suddenly said, “I’m making coffee, who wants?”
They made a cup of tea for Sylvia and sat by her. “When we’re finished with Wendy, we’ll heal you also. Who did this to both of you?”
“My husband.” She diffidently touched his hand. “Can you make her forget?”
“I don’t think so.” He felt his two loves sitting by his side and he saw the answer. “We can only help her forget by teaching her what love is. Will you allow us?”
Cherine reached out and touched Wendy. “She is part of us Robert, can you feel it?” As if Wendy had heard, she opened her eyes and stared into Robert’s. He stared back into her blue eyes, confused by the emotions battering at him.
“Is she well, can I hold her?”
“I’m not finished.” Robert tried to contact his healer. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how long it will take.”
“Another hour Robert. Can’t you hear it telling you?”
“No.” He stared with amazement at Cherine. “You can hold your daughter, I don’t think it will affect the healing.”
As Sylvia made to take Wendy to her she moaned and tried to pull away. Sharply Cherine called out, “Robert, hold her.” As soon as he took her in his arms she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
When Marian returned from work she was angry when she saw the apartment was empty and went downstairs to get her daughter. The door was open and she saw Cherine and Robert were not alone. Cherine ran to her and hugged her by the legs. She picked her up and looked at her and then looked at Robert who had a little girl sleeping in his arms. “What’s going on?”
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