The Symbiotic Travelers Ch. 03

The symbiotic Travelers

La Nouvelle-Orléans

BADSAM

The two syngeneic aliens were not aware that the war was over. England had had enough. After the Battle of Yorktown in the American War for independence from Great Britain, so too did Yaphet and Zlatex. After discussing it between themselves, they decided to leave the Boston area and go somewhere where no one was fighting. They are going to help a fur trader get his goods down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

They purchased a mule and acquired a small four wheeled farm wagon. It was missing some planking on one of its sides and the seat bench was cracked. But since they were only going to use it once, they didn't worry about it. At first, James offered to buy the cart. But then the owner gave it to James after he helped him fix his fence.

They knew that they wouldn't have enough room on the flatboat, so they sold their furniture to their landlord. Then they loaded their clothing, some cooking utensils and their personal belongings into one trunk and SAM, the Simplified Automatic Mainframe computer processor in another locked chest. Next, they joined with a fur trader who was going overland from Boston to the Allegheny River, which flows into the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. He was going down the Mississippi River to New Orleans on a flatboat with a load of beaver and racoon furs and deer skins to sell. The fur trader needed someone to help him get from Boston to the river and then help him navigate the river. After they loaded everything onto the flatbed, the two aliens dismantled the cart and used it for firewood. They gave the mule to a local farmer.

They made numerous stops along the way for supplies, whenever they piloted near the shore in the evenings and when the weather forced them to do so. Julia slept in a tent each evening, while James slept on the deck with the fur trader. It was the second time in their lives since reaching puberty that they didn't sleep naked together and have sex throughout the night - the first being when Zlatex got shot. When they got to the ports in Louisville, Memphis, Vicksburg and Natchez, James and Julia went ashore and spent the night in a boardinghouse. There they stripped off all their clothing and made passionate love all night long. Two months after beginning their adventurous journey, they were in New Orleans; it was December 18, 1781, Christmas was only a week away.

When they finished helping the fur trader unload his pelts and hides, they rented a room in a boardinghouse on Chartres Street, between the Ursuline Convent and the Place d' Armes, a military parade ground and the central square in the French Quarter. The two syngeneic aliens stripped off each other's clothes. Next, she knelt on the bed with her head on a pillow and he spanked her ass, as a form of foreplay, until her flesh was red and raw and she was crying profusely. Then while she remained on her knees, he entered her. After, they performed oral sex on each other. Finally, they coupled together and stayed that way until morning, both receiving numerous orgasms until the sun came up.

After celebrating Christmas and New Year's Day in La Nouvelle-Orléans, they decided travel to Cuba. Since they had been telling everyone that is where they were originally from, they thought it would be a good idea if they got to know something about the island. They used the money they got from the fur trader to purchase tickets to Santiago, Cuba. What they had left over, they hid inside SAM with the rest of their savings.

But their ship was not scheduled to leave the port of New Orleans until January 19th. They decided to set aside their worries and indulge in the music, food, and merriment in the city's unique atmosphere and carefree, laissez-faire outlook and high spirits in the face of challenges and hardships. Then they boarded their ship and went to Cuba.

But after living in Cuba for four years, they decided to go to Florida. They figured that they knew enough about the island and could now read, write and speak Spanish, so that they could answer any questions someone might have about where they said they came from. They sold the few pieces of furniture they had acquired, along with most of their pots and pans, to their landlord. Then they packed up their blankets and some clothes in the chest in which they kept SAM. The rest of their clothes, their personal items and the remainder of their kitchen utensils they placed in another trunk.

While living in Cuba, they debated between themselves whether or not to add Spanish to SAM. But it was SAM that helped them make the final decision. The computer processor informed each of them that the more information they gave to it then, the more it would be able to help them. So, while inputting information about what they learned about the Earth, its inhabitants, their mannerisms and their beliefs, they also "taught" SAM how to read, write and speak Spanish.

At first, they lived in Saint Augustine, Florida. They stayed there for six years and then moved to Pensacola after some residents questioned why they were not aging. They both still looked as though they were in their early twenties, not a married couple in their middle thirties.

While the two syngeneic beings lived in Saint Augustine, James got another job working as a bartender. It was easy work, and he didn't have to possess any special skills. But more importantly, no one questioned where he came from. Yaphet stayed home and took care of the two room house they rented; it had one large fireplace in the main room. They bought a couch, a bed, a table and chairs and a few more cooking utensils. That was the only thing they could afford at the time. They promised themselves that they would purchase more and better furniture when they saved enough money.

Together they planted a small garden of potatoes, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, cabbage and corn. They also raised a few chickens. They were both happy. They had a comfortable place to live, and no one was talking about war.

Then one evening two drunken patrons got in brawl. James was hit with a beer mug when he attempted to break up the clash. His left eye was blackened, and he had a small cut near his left cheek bone. But the next morning he was completely healed. There was no sign of him ever having been beaten. He was able to explain to everyone that ever since he was a boy his body recovered from injuries rather quickly. Everyone seemed to accept his explanation and both he and his counterpart thought that would be the end of it.

However, an elderly "medicine healer and soothsayer" claimed that Julia was a wicked witch. She said that Julia healed her husband with black magic. She also said that that was the reason the two of them never aged. Although the two extraterrestrials said that they were in their early thirties, they both looked like they were no older than someone in their early twenties. Further, their explanation to everyone that they lived in Cuba before coming to Florida was a lie. Neither of them had Spanish or French names. They were English names.

That was enough for the symbiotic equivalents. Zlatex and Yaphet knew what the American colonists did to witches. Neither of them wanted her to be burned at the stake. They didn't know if her body could recover from such a conflagration. They purchased another mule and a small four wheeled farmer's cart, loaded SAM and a few of their belongings and their chests onto it and rode out into the night, leaving behind most of their possessions.

In the middle of a furious afternoon thunderstorm on May 3, 1792, they settled in a deserted cottage they found situated between a small cove and a shallow creek north of Pensacola. Luckily, there was some kindling already in the fireplace. Yaphet lit a fire while Zlatex unloaded their two trunks. Then they both stripped down and, after hanging their wet clothes on a line near the hearth, they got in the bed and made passionate love until the following morning.

The hut was close to a wooden footbridge over the small stream; there was a one lane dirt road leading into the city. Their new home was far enough away from the town so that they wouldn't be bothered by noisy neighbors, and it was close enough that they wouldn't have too far to travel to purchase anything that they might need.

They soon learned that the previous owners of the house abandoned it about a year ago to live with the wife's mother somewhere in Georgia. Other than a few loose boards on the porch, the two room house was relatively stable. It had two fireplaces, a large centrally located one dividing the living and kitchen areas and a smaller one in the bedroom and the roof didn't leak. The furniture was solid, the bed was firm and there was plenty of firewood that could be easily gathered from the nearby forest. Most of all, the two alien beings like living there. It was away from everybody; they could live in privacy.

Zlatex did not want to be a bartender any longer. He had grown weary with putting up with drunks, barroom brawls and listening to the boring grievances and sad tirade of others. James got a job working in a butcher shop, after convincing the proprietor that he knew how to properly skin and prepare small mammals, piglets, chickens and other fowls. Every morning, he would climb onto their mule and trudge across the ramp-less footbridge to the butcher shop located on the edge of the metropolis.

His job was to pluck the feathers off the chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry that the owner bought from local farmers. First, he chopped the bird's head off; the owner sold the heads to local fishermen, who used them for bait in their crab nets and traps. Next, he dipped the animal in sizzling hot water, letting it sit there for several minutes. Then he would pull all the feathers off the bird, putting the plumage on a sheet in another room of the shop. As soon as the feathers dried, the miserly owner of the shop sold them to a man who used them for stuffing in the mattresses and pillows he sold.

After he finished cutting up these animals, James butchered any piglets that needed to be slaughtered. The proprietor of the shop reserved butchering cows, calves and hogs for himself. Until James got more experience, he didn't trust his hired help to do it. Although he wore an apron while working, James always came home stinking of blood.

But then his extraterrestrial consort would make him strip down and the two of them would bathe in the stone bottom creek that flowed behind the little cottage they lived in. Neither of them was overly worried about anyone seeing them bathing naked together. The adobelike hut where they resided was surrounded by tall grass and shrubbery and it was the only building in the area. The closest other dwelling was on the other side of the cove nearer Pensacola.

While James was at work, Yaphet washed his clothes and tended another garden of just potatoes, carrots, green beans and tomatoes. After feeding the few chickens they have, she went fishing in the cove. She would then walk to the butcher shop and sell what she caught to the owner. James would scrape off the scales and gut them. His penny-pinching boss sold the fish heads and guts to local fishermen.

The two symbiotic travelers continued to live this way for two years. Not unexpectedly, James eventually came to dislike his job. He told his symbiotic partner that he could still smell the blood from the animals he butchered, even though Yaphet said that she couldn't. But they didn't have much money and only a few articles of clothes, having left most of their belongings in Saint Augustine. So, they decided to stay just long enough to save some money, purchase some more clothing and stock up a few supplies. Then, Zlatex could look for work that wasn't so disheartening. They would also move into better lodgings.

On morning, just after Zlatex left for the butcher shop, Yaphet was bitten by a water moccasin. While she was quietly fishing, it just slithered by her, heading for the pond. She hit the pit viper with a stick, but it coiled up and bit her on her right forearm, leaving two fang marks on her skin. There was very little bleeding. However, within a few minutes the area surrounding the bite swelled. Within an hour, she had a slight fever.

At that point, she decided to consult SAM if either she or Zlatex were immune to snake bites. She wasn't worried about anyone hearing her talk to her personal mobile communicator, "a small black box," because she was all alone in the cottage. After asking the computer if she and Zlatex were also immune to poisonous snake bites, the processor confirmed that yes, they were probably both immune to disease and injury from venomous snake bites. Yaphet then figured she ought to ask Zlatex what he thought she should do.

She put on a shawl to cover her arms and walked to the butcher shop. Luckily, by the time she got there, both the swelling of her forearm, and her fever had abated. The only visible sign she had were two small puncture marks on her arm. James took a break from his work and the two aliens walked to a nearby park. While sitting on a bench, she told him what SAM had said. He examined her arm and advised her not to worry about it. He then asked her what happened to the snake. She informed him that it slid into the water and disappeared amongst the Lily pads floating on the water. He then went back to work and she went home.

By the time they were both ready for bed that evening, the bite marks had completely disappeared. After they made love, Zlatex "celebrated" Yaphet's invulnerability by performing cunnilingus on her. Next, she returned the favor and performed fellatio on him. Then they both went to sleep, cuddled up naked next to each other with Zlatex deep inside her.

Although the incident confirmed that they were both immune to sickness, injury and death, after this, they both decided to be more diligent when near the pond. The event was also a deciding factor in their desire to move to some place less hostile.

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It is Monday afternoon July 14, 1794, the syngeneic consorts have just arrived in Mobile. Zlatex is pulling their four wheeled farmer's cart through the city, while Yaphet pushes from behind. They arrived at a little village on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay late Sunday afternoon and decided to wait until morning to board the ferryboat in order to cross the cove. While crossing the waterway on the ferry, their mule became frightened and jumped overboard. The animal immediately began to swim away from the commuter boat but after a few moments, it sank into the murky waters.

Zlatex is cursing the animal, but Yaphet keeps telling him to be thankful that they unhitched the cart from it when they boarded the ferryboat. Had they not done so then, they would then have lost everything, their money, their supplies, their extra clothes and SAM.

The flatboat handler told them that they could get something to eat in a tavern and café in which they could also rent a room for the night. He told them that it was owned and managed by his sister and brother-in-law; he added that he frequently sleeps and eats there. What the commuter boat operator didn't tell them was that the bistro was on the western side of Mobile.

After trudging through the streets for nearly an hour, they located the eatery. James went inside and paid for three night's accommodation and asked if there was a livery stable nearby or somewhere where he could purchase a mule or horse. After helping Julia unload their wagon, he went to the stable and bought a horse. Next, he hitched the animal to their cart and returned to the barn. Then he paid the stable hand HH

to house the animal and the wagon for three days.

They had not planned on staying in Mobile for more than a few days, but while they were eating, Yaphet sang a song in order to cheer up Zlatex. When she finished, all the other patrons in the café clapped their hands and asked her to sing another song; one man bought those present another glass of ale. While she was singing several customers entered the tavern, each buying a glass of ale. The owner of the establishment offered Julia a job waiting on tables, and if she sang, he would pay her double.

At first, she declined until her male counterpart told her that they could use the money. He then asked the owner if he needed any help in the kitchen. The man also hired James to help his cook. While Julia waited on tables and sang, James learned how to cook; he also cleaned the tables after the guests finished eating and moped the floor when the place closed for the evening. It was easy work for both of them. They lived in Mobile for thirteen years. They finally left after the owner's nineteen year old son, believing Julia was the type of wife who would cheat on her husband, had made several amorous advances towards her.

They had already been talking about moving, as they both believed that they could no longer pass themselves off for a young married couple. The young man's attempts to get her to have sex with him just helped them make the decision.

It is Friday January 2, 1807. While they were loading their wagon with their belongings, Zlatex asks Yaphet, his female equivalent, where she thought they should go. Without any hesitation, she answered, "Let's go back to New Orleans. We didn't get to see much of the city the few days we were there the last time. I want to go back. Besides, I understand that it has a large population; large enough that we can move to different neighborhoods if someone questions us about our age."

"Ok, then that's where we will go," he answers her.

The two aliens from the planet Herth, more than four light years away, have been living on planet Earth for forty years. They have completely acclimated to life among the Earthlings. Neither considers themself to be a Herthian anymore; they are Earthlings now. Although they both miss their family and friends, they have moved on and accepted their new life.

According to SAM, they are now immune to disease and injury; they heal within a few hours. This was confirmed when Zlatex got shot in his chest; when his eye was blackened after getting hit with a beer mug; when Yaphet was bitten by a water moccasin and when she cut her finger one day while slicing carrots for their meal. In every instance, they were healed within a very short time.

However, the computer is unable to tell them how long they will live. Further, since they now do not have to be near to each other all the time, the computer is also unable to tell them if they will die together; the way life was on Herth. Nor is SAM able to give them any information on why they are now immune. It is only able to give them some probability figures based on the differences in the atmosphere of Earth, the sun's radiation and the food and water they consume when compared to that of Herth and its red burning star. Finally, the computer processor tells them that there is just a low probability that their hyper-sleep had any influence on the chemistry of their bodies that would affect their immune system. The scientists of Herth had performed numerous experiments on mice, guinea pigs, monkeys and chimpanzees and proved that hyper-sleep does not hurt anyone.

The only "problem" of Zlatex and Yaphet is that they don't age. They both still look like, feel like and have the health of someone who is only 23 years old; the age they were when they left the planet, Herth. It is a problem because they can no longer continue to tell everyone that they were married over 40 years ago while living in Cuba in 1766, the date they first landed on Earth.

Because they do not age, the two symbiotic equivalents have come to the conclusion that they will have to move every few years, no matter where they live. They now tell everyone that they met each other and were married while living Quebec, Canada, where French and English are spoken, but left because they wanted to "explore the country." Thus, giving them an excuse to periodically move before any of their neighbors notice that they have not gotten any older. They also figure that Quebec is far enough away that no one will question their heritage or why they are fluent in French, English and Spanish, learning the latter while living in Cuba for four years.

Of course, everything they learn, they input into SAM, the Simplified Automatic Mainframe computer processor. Usually in the mornings but sometimes in the afternoon before the sun sets. They put the solar powered battery near a window in the sunlight and use their personal communicators to enter the new info.

It took the two syngeneic alien beings sixteen days and fifteen nights to get from Mobile to New Orleans, mainly because Julia wanted to stop and mingle with the people they met along the way. In the evening, while Zlatex hung blankets from the sides of their cart for privacy, Yaphet put a blanket down under their wagon and they slept on it. Then they covered their nude bodies with another blanket. After Zlatex entered his counterpart, the two extraterrestrials then snuggled up to each other and enjoyed their multiple orgasms throughout the night.

James and Julia found a furnished apartment to rent on Decatur Street, just a few blocks from Saint Louis Cathedral. It also has an alleyway next to it where they park their wagon and horse.

The day after they arrived in New Orleans, James went looking for work. He found it helping to unload barges docked at the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, his female traveler set up house and planted another garden of potatoes, carrots, green beans and tomatoes. Yaphet also planted some rose bushes and azaleas. They were both content with where they were now living. But they were even happier to learn that the thirteen colonies had won their independence from England, Parliament and King George III. They were now citizens of a new nation, the United States of America.

They discovered that the thirteen American Colonies had won their independence from Great Britain when General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington's army and his French allies at the Battle of Yorktown on Friday October 19, 1781. But it was more than just a military victory for the American colonists. The outcome at Yorktown, Virginia marked the conclusion of the last major battle of the American Revolution.

The American Revolution was the "shot heard around the world," and marked the United States as a guiding light, a beacon for other nations to follow to throw off the yoke of tyranny and injustice. The Constitution the citizens wrote celebrated the beginning of the new nation's complete independence. It manifested that the people have the right to make their own laws and select their own leaders.

The United States of America, as the citizens now called their new government is a fledging nation, ready "to assume among the powers of earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitled them." The new government consisted of the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia.

The actual drafting of the Constitution of the United States began on Friday May 25, 1787. That is when the Constitutional Convention met for the first time with a quorum of representatives at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. Its purpose was to revise the Articles of Confederation.

It all began twelve years earlier in 1775. The Second Continental Congress had already begun laying the groundwork for an independent United States when it passed resolutions appointing committee members to draft the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence.

It was the Articles of Confederation that named the thirteen colonies the United States of America. They were written between 1776 and 1777, soon after the colonists declared their autonomy from the United Kingdom on July 4, 1776, in the Declaration of Independence, the day the United States was born.

Copies of the Declaration were sent to the colonies over the next several days, including a copy to the Commander of the Continental Army, General George Washington, who directed that it be read to the troops. Another copy was sent to King George III in England.

The committee members presented their work to Congress on July 12, 1776, and the delegates began to debate the plan soon thereafter.

After considerable debate and revision, the Second Continental Congress approved the final draft and adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. Each of the delegates signed the Articles and then they were printed up for distribution to the individual states. Two days later, Congress sent them to the states for ratification. The Articles required unanimous consent from the thirteen states to take effect. Maryland became the final state to ratify the document on March 1, 1781. The birth of the new nation was confirmed.

But the new government was virtually powerless. It needed a stronger, more central law.

Just a few years after the Revolutionary War, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and several others were among those who believed their young government was on the brink of total collapse. There were no executive or judiciary offices, and Congress was not strong enough to enforce laws or to raise taxes. To many Founding Fathers, their new government seemed to be simply a league of thirteen confederated states, and the Congress just a diplomatic assemblage representing thirteen independent political organizations.

Because the states retained considerable sovereignty, the central government had insufficient power to regulate commerce. Each state was independent from the others, and the national government had no authority to regulate trade between and among the various states. Congress was attempting to operate without sufficient funds. It could not effectively support a war effort if a foreign nation attacked it. Washington and other Americans were of the opinion that the national government's weakness led to serious problems that threatened its survival.

In order to correct this weakness, the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 went beyond its mandate to revise the Articles by replacing it with a new Constitution.

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The Charter of the new government grew out of efforts to reform and upgrade the Articles of Confederation. The earlier statute provided for a loose alliance of the thirteen states with a weak central government. The new law set up a stronger central government. Delegates from twelve of the thirteen states met from May 1787 until September 1787. They assembled in Philadelphia, where they wrote the new Constitution.

At the convention, two alternative plans were originally developed. The Federalist put forth the Virginia Plan. It offered a consolidated government based upon proportional representation of the citizenry among the various states by population. However, the Patriots advocated a proposal based on providing each individual state with equal representation in the Congress. The delegates eventually settled on the Connecticut Compromise, which allowed for both plans to work together in a bicameral Congress.

The draft of the Constitution was submitted to the Confederation Congress in September 1787. Within three days of its signing on September 17, 1787, the Constitution was submitted to the Congress of the Confederation, also known as the United States Congress Assembled, which was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, to March 3, 1789, during the period of Confederation. At this time, the representatives convened in New York City, the nation's temporary capital.

Delegates from eleven states assembled in New York City on March 4, 1789. The new government began after all thirteen states ratified the new Constitution. North Carolina waited to ratify the Constitution until after the Bill of Rights was passed by the new Congress, and the delegates of Rhode Island signed it after a threatened trade embargo. The Bill of Rights was ratified by the delegates in 1791. They established individual protection for the citizens for various civil liberties, in particular freedom of the press, religion and speech.

Monday, July 6, 1807, the two extraterrestrials have moved away from the French Quarter after finding a nicer house in the Garden District; it's also furnished, and the rent is cheaper too.

The sun rises to catch Zlatex and Yaphet naked and intensely engrossed in their customary morning love making. Zlatex is deep inside Yaphet, as he is every night when they go to bed, remaining there until after they wake up the next day. This morning, she is on her knees with her head on a pillow; he has entered her from behind with his right arm wrapped around her, cupping her breast. His left hand pressing down on her back, holding her steady. She is tossing her head from side to side and moaning softly from her multiple orgasms; her eyes are closed. After several minutes he grunts loudly upon reaching his own climax.

After a few moments, with the two syngeneic beings lying motionless, enjoying the rapture of their union, Yaphet turns her head, "Thank you, Zlatex. I love you," she whispers into his ear.

"Thank you. For allowing me to pleasure you," he answers her. Then he kisses her lightly on her lips.

She smiles, pauses and then, "Can we do it again, Zlatex? But this time I want to sit on top of you and ride you as though you were a wild stallion."

"Sure, I'd love to. But answer me one question. Do you ever get enough of the two of us making love?"

"Never!" Then she crawls on top of her lover. Her breasts bounce like two bowls of banana gelatin and her fiery red pubic hair glistens from the juices dripping from their previous love making. She kisses him hotly on his lips while probing her tongue into his mouth.

After, "I have to go to work," Zlatex informs her. "What are your plans for today?"

"I'm going to the butcher shop on Chartres Street in the French Quarter, the one near Saint Louis Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States. I'm going to buy some cut up beef pieces, salted beef chunks and a couple of sausages. I'm going to cook you a nice beef stew you like so much."

"That sounds delicious."

As soon as James leaves for his job helping to unload barges on the Mississippi River, Yaphet departs for the Vieux Carré, happy with the knowledge that neither she nor her symbiotic partner have to worry about going to war with the British. The Americans won their independence. There is no one talking about taxes, British tyranny, a corrupt parliament or an uncaring monarch.

On her way to the French Market, she reminisces about the city she has come to love over the past couple of weeks.

The history of Louisiana and New Orleans is a history that is significantly different than any of the histories of the thirteen original colonies. Since it was never a British colony, Louisiana, particularly New Orleans, has a very unique heritage from the other states. First of all, unlike the other states of the United States, Louisiana has parishes, not counties. Secondly, the laws of the state are based upon the Napoleonic Code, not English law, as are the other states of the Union.

New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French explorer Jean Baptiste de Bienville. He chose the site because it offered a valuable bit of natural high ground along the flood prone banks of the Mississippi River. He named his new settlement La Nouvelle-Orléans in honor of the Duke of Orléans, Philippe I; the Duke was regent and ruler of France when the city was founded. Louisiana is named after the French King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King. The Bayou State, the Pelican State, the Creole State and Cajun Country are four of the many nicknames for Louisiana.

The City of New Orleans also has many nicknames, the City That Care Forgot, the Big Easy, the Hollywood of the South, the Vieux Carré, although this actually applies to just the French Quarter, the Birthplace of Jazz, the Crescent City, because the Mississippi River forms a crescent around the city, the Queen of the Mississippi, the City of Festivals, the City of Balls, Mardi Gras City, the King Cake City, NOLA and of course N'awlins, as most native Orleanians pronounce it.

The area offered ship portage between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain through Bayou Saint John. La Nouvelle-Orléans was a natural seaport for any shipping going up or down the "Mighty Muddy." It was also near Native American Indian trade routes.

Soon after founding his colony, Bienville encountered a British ship sailing upriver a few kilometers downriver from his community. In order to frighten the British away and protect his new settlement, Bienville told them that he had a large task force of French troops ready to defend them if necessary. The British ship turned around, without ever attempting to endanger French claims to New Orleans or Louisiana. Ever since then, the location where they turned around has been known as English Turn.

Although Thomas Jefferson and many English colonists considered the Isle of Orleans to be an inhospitable swampland, New Orleans was far from such. When many of the original colonies were still struggling to overcome their backwoods appearance, New Orleans was one of only two cities in the Americas to have a flourishing opera, something that boondock villages do not have. At about the time of the American Revolution, New Orleans was one of the largest cities in North America.

There is no other city quite like her. Even her language is special. New Orleanians have an accent and dialect that only their heritage can account for. It is almost impossible to mimic; a person has to live there to acquire it.

There are also the many different ethnicities that reside in City. Besides the blacks, Hispanics, Jews and whites that many cities have, there are also Italians, French, Germans, Native American Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Latin Americans, South Americans and nearly every ethnicity, culture, race and religion imaginable. Then to top it off, the Crescent City has both Creoles and Cajuns residing within her borders, something that no other state has.

Although Louisiana had been settled by French colonists since the 17th century, many Cajuns can trace their roots to the arrival of the Acadian settlers after their expulsion from their homeland in Canada during the French and English hostilities prior to the French and Indian War, 1756 to 1763.

New York may consider itself to be the king and Washington D. C. may make the laws, but the Queen of the South rules and no other city can claim that crown without usurping the title. Even Thomas Jefferson recognized that the fledging nation needed the Birthplace of Jazz in order to survive. That is why he sent a delegation to France to buy the Isle of Orleans. It is the wife and mother of every household that rules the family.

Only New Orleans can boast that it had three flags in three days - Spanish, French and American - when the United States acquired the city in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, doubling the size of the rising American states. Also, no other city can boast that it celebrates Mardi Gras in the way it is celebrated in "the city that care forgot" - Laissez les bon temps rouler (Let the good times roll). Hence the purple, green and gold colors of the metropolitan area. It is the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States, started by Frenchman Nicholas Langlois in 1703 when Mobile was the capital of Louisiana.

Nor does any other city have an emblem quite like the Fleur de Lis and no other city has a street quite like world famous Bourbon Street.

New Orleans is the only place in the world where the compass "doesn't work." The Mississippi River divides the city into the East Bank and the West Bank. But because of the crescent shape of the river the East Bank is actually north of the city while the West Bank is south of the city. Further, opposite the Central Business District of La Nouvelle-Orléans the river actually flows north. Thus, the East Bank is west, and the West Bank is east. If this isn't complicated enough, when crossing the river on the ferry heading toward the West Bank the sun is setting behind you.

There are four main directions in the Greater New Orleans (GNO) area. There is Riverside, which designates any direction toward the Mississippi River and Lakeside, which is any direction toward Lake Pontchartrain. Then there is Uptown, which is upriver from the Vieux Carré and Downtown, which is downriver from the French Quarter. Most Americans or Kaintucks as the Creoles called them, settled upriver. Hence, downtown does not necessarily mean the central business district as it is in many other American cities.

The median strip that separated the tense truce between the Creoles and the Americans became an enormously wide boulevard and was named Canal Street after a proposed canal that was planned but never built. Today, any such median between divided streets throughout the GNO area is known as a neutral ground, a uniquely GNO label. Finally, many of the streets east of Canal Street are labeled north, such as North Rampart, North Claiborne and North Galvaz, while many of those that are west of Canal Street are labeled south, such as South Broad, South Jefferson Davis and South Carrollton, which crosses South Claiborne.

While Zlatex was at work, Yaphet read a book about the city written by Peirce Lewis, "New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape", from where she got much of this information. The author presents a detailed examination of the Crescent City. It concentrates on its architecture by exploring how its unique environment and cultural history have shaped its urban scenery.

Both Yaphet and Zlatex love New Orleans. Although they have been living here for only a few weeks, they have already made plans to stay here the rest of their lives. At this time, they are living in a small house near the corner of Fourth Street and Coliseum Street. It is far enough away from everything that they do not have to worry about being intruded upon by noisy neighbors wanting to know why they haven't aged. Further, the city has a population large enough for them to "hide in" without them being noticed. All they have to do is move to another section of the city.

Nor are they worried about flooding, like they were previously. They have learned that French settlers reinforced the natural levees built by sediment deposits from the Mississippi River.

James has quit working at the docks. He now cooks in a small restaurant at the corner of Washington Avenue and Coliseum Street, just a couple of blocks from where he and his extraterrestrial consort presently live.

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It is Monday December 26, 1814, Zlatex and Yaphet have been living in New Orleans for about seven years. James is still working at the restaurant. After celebrating Christmas together, the two syngeneic equivalents board a mule drawn trolly that takes them down Saint Charles Avenue to Canal Street. They walk the few blocks to the foot of Canal Street and then go to a coffee shop in the French Quarter for a breakfast of beignets and hot chocolate; neither of the alien beings likes the taste of coffee. While there, James purchases a newspaper. He wants to read about the new war that the United Kingdom is waging against the United States.

Since New Orleans is a major port of the United States, and of strategic importance to the United States, both militarily and economically, they are both worried that the war will eventually come to the Queen of the South. So far, the Crescent City has not been besieged but that is not saying that the British won't attack her. There have been rumors and everyone is talking about what they will do if the war comes to the port city.

In 1807, tensions escalated between Great Britain and the United States after the British navy began enforcing restrictions on American trade with France. It also started impressing American sailors to work on British ships. England's ultimate goal of was to provoke the young United States into declaring war in the hopes that they could defeat it and regain the thirteen colonies as part of the British Empire, with the added plum of the port of New Orleans and the entire Louisiana territory.

Open hostilities began when the United States declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812.

When General Andrew Jackson arrived in New Orleans on December 1, 1814, he discovered the city had not created any defensive measures. One of the first things he did was to shore up the city's defenses against an anticipated British invasion.

Meanwhile, Monsieur Jean Lafitte and his older brother Pierre operated a lucrative smuggling enterprise along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, particularly near the mouth of the Mississippi River and the coast of Texas. He was not a pirate as many believe. He was a French privateer who had a letter of marque from the French government that allowed him to attack any English and Spanish vessels sailing in the Gulf of Mexico.

During the age of sail, a letter of marque was a government license that authorized a private individual, known as a corsair or privateer, to attack and capture ships of a nation at war with the country that issued the edict. The captain and his crew were allowed to keep any bounty that they captured, including the vessel.

The Lafitte brothers kept a base of operations in Barataria Bay with a warehouse of the goods that they had plundered. Pierre smuggled the merchandise into New Orleans and sold them in the French Market. Then on September 13, 1814, United States naval forces attacked and destroyed their base in the bay. Pierre and some of their men were captured and held without bail.

Jean Lafitte offered General Jackson favorable deal. He and his men would help defend New Orleans against Great Britain if he would obtain freedom for his brother, Pierre and his men.

Governor C. C. Claiborne, inspired by Lafitte's offer to help defend Louisiana, also wrote to General Jackson that the destruction of Barataria Bay, the capture of Lafitte's ships and the imprisonment of Pierre Lafitte and his men, impaired a potential first line of defense for New Orleans.

Jackson praised Jean and Pierre Lafitte for having displayed dependability and courage. He formally requested clemency for the Lafitte brothers and the men who had served under them. The Lafitte brothers then committed themselves and their men for the defensive measures needed by New Orleans.

Lafitte recognized that the line of defense for New Orleans was inadequate; it could potentially allow the approaching English army to encircle the American forces. The privateer suggested that the line be extended into a nearby swamp. Jackson ordered it done.

On December 23, 1814, some advance units of the British fleet reached the mouth of the Mississippi River. The soldiers disembarked and began their offensive against the American lines five days later on December 28. But they were initially repulsed by an artillery crew manned by two of Lafitte's men Renato Beluche and Dominique Youx.

Then on January 3, 1815, the British besieged New Orleans. The battle was actually fought on a Chalmette plantation, farther down the Mississippi River from New Orleans. But with the aid of some Choctaw Indians, freed slaves, Jean and Pierre Lafitte and their men, General Jackson's army were able to defeat the English army.

Although peace terms were agreed upon on December 24, 1814, in the Treaty of Ghent, the war did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by the United States Congress on February 17, 1815. President James Madison signed the treaty the same day. The United States retained its independence.

The Treaty of Ghent began more than two hundred years of friendly relations between the United Kingdom and the United States, allowing the two nations to form a strong alliance between themselves. Only three minor incidents threatened that peace, the Aroostook War in 1839, the Pig War in 1859 and the Trent Affair in 1861.

The Aroostook War, sometimes referred to as the Pork and Beans War, is more aptly described as just an international incident. It involved a boundary dispute between the British colony of New Brunswick and the state of Maine over the actual border line between them. Military units were called into action, but they never engaged in actual combat. It began in February 1839 and ended the following April. The final border between Canada and the United States was formally resolved through diplomacy.

The Pig War of 1859 was another land dispute between the United States and Great Britain. It was over the ownership of the San Juan Island group, which are an assemblage of small islands located between the state of Washington and the British Vancouver Island. It is called the Pig War because the territorial disagreement came to light when an American farmer, who lived on San Juan Island, shot a pig owned by a British employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. He demanded more compensation than the farmer was willing to give. The British authorities threatened to arrest the farmer.

Due to ambiguities in the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which established the boundary between the United Kingdom and American territory along the 49th parallel, both the U. S. and Great Britain claimed legal guardianship of the islands. The treaty stated that the border would run "through the middle of the channel" that separates the mainland from Vancouver Island. But there are two channels, the Rosario Strait on the east and the western Haro Strait, with the San Juan Island group situated between the two straits. The treaty was unclear as to which channel was to be the dividing line between the two countries.

Negotiations were eventually mediated by officials from both nations, and it was agreed that joint military occupation of the island group by both the U. S. and Great Britain would be continued.

The boundary question was finally resolved in 1872 through arbitration by Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany. He ruled that the Haro Straight, which is west of the island group and divides it from British Vancouver Island, would be the boundary between the two nations. The San Juan Island group became part of the United States.

Both the Aroostook War and the Pig War stand as excellent examples of how peaceful diplomacy can prevail over violence and bloodshed. The only casualty was a pig.

The Trent Affair of 1861 was a diplomatic confrontation during the American Civil War. It created considerable, albeit temporary, friction between England and the United States, with the potential to bring the United Kingdom into the war as a Confederate alley.

Two Confederate diplomats, John Slidell and James Mason, were sent to Europe to gain support for the Confederate states. Slidell and Mason traveled on the British mailboat RMS Trent, which departed from neutral Havana, Cuba. On November 8, 1861, Captain Charles Wilkes, the commander of the United States Navy warship USS San Jacinto, boarded the Trent in international waters and arrested Slidell and Mason. He then brought them to Boston as prisoners of war.

The British government issued an ultimatum demanding the release of the two men. President Abraham Lincoln realized the potential danger of alienating Great Britain. He ordered their release.

The U. S. freed Slidell and Mason on December 27, 1861, and said that Captain Wilkes had acted without authorization. The release satisfied British demands and avoided further escalation.

Again, peaceful diplomacy prevailed over violence and bloodshed.

Yaphet is just happy that James was not "drafted" to fight in the Battle of New Orleans. Both General Jackson and Louisiana Governor C. C. Claiborne had asked for volunteers from among the citizens of New Orleans. The two symbiotic partners didn't want to get involved in another war. They both considered themselves citizens of the United States now, but they were afraid that if James fought in any American war, he might get wounded or even killed. If he got wounded and his body "miraculously" healed overnight or killed and his body dematerialized in a dazzling display of colored lights, there was a good chance that everyone would discover that they are alien beings from a distant planet. The two extraterrestrials did not know what would happen to them if that happened.

They made plans to leave the city the evening of January 2nd. They just wanted to find some place to live without having their lives interrupted by war. James purchased another small four wheeled cart and mule. Early the next morning, just as the sun was coming up, they loaded their wagon and headed north toward Baton Rouge. When they neared the outskirts of the city, they discovered that a small detachment of soldiers had set up a barrier. They learned that the militia was there mainly to warn General Jackson in case any British troops had circled the city in order to attack New Orleans from another direction. They turned around and spent the night sleeping united together under their farmer's wagon near the Metairie Bayou.

On the morning of January 4, they were allowed to continue on their journey north, arriving in Baton Rouge later that afternoon. They stayed overnight, renting a room in a local boardinghouse. The next day they set out for Alexandria, Louisiana arriving a week later.

To be continued . . .