Heartbreak and Hope Ch. 12

Covid does not exist in this story world.

In this story, all history 2016 and after is different. Read NO political objective in this story.

Heartbreak and Hope Ch. 12

Monday, August 17, 2020

Jennifer and I were having an evening at home when her phone rang around seven. She showed me the caller ID which showed Gao Yanmei. She shrugged and answered the phone on speaker, "Hello?"

"Jennifer Simmons, this is Gao Yanmei, though I suspect you already know that from caller ID. What you may not know but suspect is that I have an executive position. I am a director at MOFCOM, The Chinese international trade ministry. I am calling to ask you specifically what you need. The list you provided us is rather generic and I have been tasked with making sure this order goes through correctly and this mess can be put behind us."

Though her speech was a bit formal, her English had very little accent and it was clear she had extensive training in our language.

Jennifer shrugged at me and with a bit of uncertainty, said, "Uh, Okay."

Gao Yanmei was very observant "I hear that I am on speaker. That is okay, but may I ask who is with you?"

I shrugged and Jennifer answered, "My husband, Joshua. Uh, Mrs. Yanmei."

Gao Yanmei lightened the mood, "Relax, Jennifer and my name is Yanmei and please call me that. In China, surnames are first. I will take little of your time tonight. As I said, I have been tasked with making sure the agreed shipments of Christmas Decorations and shipping containers are done without further incident. I am also aware that you know that the incident was never supposed to happen."

"Corruption is not tolerable and when it causes international incidents, corruption is punished. Several people have been tried and recently sentenced to decades long sentences. Those motors were supposed to be first quality and they were not. When they arrived back from The Cornwall Islands, we tested them ourselves and found them wanting. It was not directly the motor company's fault except for the fact that they did not test the motors sufficiently before shipment. The copper windings inside the motors were fraudulently labeled as pure when they were not and this caused them to overheat when under load, but not when they were briefly tested at the factory without a load. The motor company received a large fine while several people in the company that supplied the windings have received lengthy sentences for fraud."

"My call is to assure you that I am going to personally make sure the things you ask for are first-rate."

Interesting to say the least. The phone call did not last much longer after that and they made arrangements to talk on the phone Wednesday at five in the evening, our time which I figured out was five in the morning in Beijing. In other words a painful time to be up and already working. It was clear that Yanmei and the government in China were serious about getting the order done correctly.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Knowing that Jennifer was going to have a busy evening, I brought home a ready-to-eat meal from the Tesco Express near the end of our street and found my wife busily going through her laptop looking at things on Alibaba, taking notes, and paging back between web tabs and pages of similar items. I walked in the door and she did not even notice me until I knocked on the door frame of her office and she looked up with a smile, "Oh, sorry. I was just looking..."

She smiled brighter when I plopped her hot and ready Swedish Meatballs dinner on her desk then sat down on her futon and asked her about her day. That got me a huge smile as she happily told me about her day between bites of food. She was debating between certain very similar blue glass Christmas ornaments from half a dozen suppliers. Was I actually interested in the subtle differences between the ornaments? Of course not, but I got a ton of 'good listener' points and it helped settle her mind, bouncing ideas off me as she removed a couple of the possibilities.

Gao Yanmei called at exactly five and they started going back and forth, posting links and going from page to page. Jennifer looked at me, smiled, then dismissed me, "Busy! Go somewhere!"

I took this as my cue to get out and headed to The Fountain for a couple of hours of just relaxing in a place I knew I was welcome. Lisa was bartending and gave me a bit of side-eye of why I was alone. I explained and she looked a bit skeptical. I knew she would somehow ask Jennifer about it to check up on me. It's all good because she has my wife's back and I have no problem with that.

I got home around eight and Jennifer was still on her call. Ugh! Jennifer ended the call after FIVE HOURS as they went page after page on the Alibaba website selecting...

Everything.

Finally, just after ten, she came out of her office and into our bedroom, kissed my cheek, and sat next to me to fill me in. Damn! MOFCOM was serious about the order. China was going the extra mile to ship the containers with the roll-up doors already installed, the side door opening reinforced, precut, and framed along with some windows pre framed waiting installation of the sliding Lexan panels. The roof kit was to be pre-assembled and in two ten foot long sections to fit inside of each container.

She had a long list of Christmas decor in her hand which she showed me but did not make me read.

Thank heavens for small miracles and thought tired. Jennifer looked satisfied with herself that she had done good for her project which put her in an amorous mood. Being tired, she wanted our session soft and lazy. That look as we made love as she looked up with a happy content smile and an "I love you, Joshua."

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Jennifer had a conference call that evening and this one included everyone involved in the Christmas market as everyone including Charles Hall wanted to know the results of her phone call the previous night. She wanted my company so had it on speaker as she leaned on me, taking my hand and putting it across her stomach in a from behind, loose embrace.

Charles complimented her but took a bit of the wind out of her sails when she mentioned she liked Gao Yanmei. Charles cautioned, "Jennifer I love your enthusiasm, and your work has been exemplary. That being said, remember that Gao Yanmei works directly for the government of China and everything she does has everything to do with advancing their interests here. She may be nice, but she is not your... or my friend. It does sound like good news as far as getting the items we need in a timely manner."

I think Jennifer felt a bit played, but understood and Charles read her well then followed up by complimenting her work again, saying everything looked good for the launch of The Christmas Market and that it was looking to be the best ever. That was the way Charles ended the meeting and left my wife smiling.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

The peak hurricane season started in earnest and Movie Max was taking no chances in scheduling major activities. We met the shuttle van at eight that morning to head to a nice place on the edge of West Park named Ernestine's which had a pretty mundane menu and only stuck out because it had a private back room for parties and the quality of the food was very good as usual.

Jay was our host that morning and started with the usual greeting, "Good Morning Couples!"

He continued, "I know the recent adventures of late have been modest and this is by design. The grander adventures take a while to organize and hurricane season can mess up weeks worth of preparations. We have another rather low-key adventure today at a remote beach noted for its beauty and good waves for surfing."

It was one of the 'sex highlight' video mornings for the month. Nick and Hannah received extra bonuses for a rather intense session while she was in ballet dancer position which followed some intense bent over the half wall shower sex. It was certainly vigorous, but looked too much like commercial porn, but without the bleached hair, plastic tits and too much makeup. You could see there was no connection; not love or hate. Just intense determination. Movie Max thought it was a hit... I guess.

We got back into the shuttle van, taking an hour and a half long trip to the southern part of the island. Another picture postcard scene at a beach perhaps a mile long between areas of higher rocky cliffs both East and West on the south coast of the island. Two distant tropical storms were churning up waves along with a pretty stiff wind from the south. This was the first time we heard about the 'Twin Storms' Henry and Ileana.

We met our surfing coaches Jack, Lewis, Nathan, Bradley, and Liam who gave us a brief tour of the beach, explaining why the beach had the perfect topography for a surfing beach. I sort of understood because of my engineering background, but nodded along as if I truly understood to be polite, figuring they knew what they were talking about. We were paired up with Jayson and Cara and had Liam as our coach.

If you have paid any attention to my tale, you will be zero surprised alpha chick Cara was up and riding the waves on her own the quickest which frustrated Jayson a bit as he didn't quite seem to figure out the balance thing quite right. I'm not weak, but I'm more 'Men's Fitness' and he tended a bit more 'Muscle Mag' and being a bit more on the muscular side he was top heavy and that exaggerated any mistake he made. It took me a bit longer than Cara, but I was the second to figure out the balance thing and had a great time then helped my wife as Liam helped Jayson who finally figured out how to use his strength to maneuver the board as he needed. Liam shook his head that the method was not correct but Jayson did not care as it worked for him.

What a fun day! A few hours later, we were all under our own beach shelters having lunch followed by more surfing. Most of us had figured out the balance thing by lunchtime and would head out with our spouses throughout the day then come back, talk with friends and just enjoy the awesome day.

Sunday, August 23, 2020

The day was spent rock climbing on a very large rock wall created from a rock wall in an abandoned quarry an hour south of town. It was fun, but you likely don't want to know more about it other than I did fairly well once they explained a few techniques to me and with what they had taught me, I could see the hand holds they spoke of once I knew what to look for.

Just as we finished up, I received a text that at eight that evening, I was looking at possibly having my movement restricted late the following week. The storms, Henry and Ileana had both strengthened to category one, but were ten or so days out from us if they hit us at all. At that point it was a courtesy call so I could warn Jay who nodded and explained the next several weeks were all easy to cancel or move dates around. They had long figured hurricane season could cause problems.

Saturday, August 29, 2020

The shuttle bus took us an hour South and a bit West of Somerset to a hilly, almost mountainous area and into a smaller town where we parked along the main street and holy shit! Another place so cool it seemed unreal. Harrisburg was nothing like its namesake in Pennsylvania at ten blocks long and about three blocks deep along a river valley with the main business street, Kenneth Road, laid out along the shores of Wood Lake. Two and three story Victorian style buildings lined one side of the street while most of the other side was a city park along the shore of the lake which was formed by damming the Wood River.

Jay had a giant smirk as if saying, 'I have no end of cool places to show you.'

Jay waited for us to assemble on the sidewalk then began, "Good morning couples! Today, we have a treat for you for breakfast then we are headed back to the North end of Somerset to put you to work!"

Yeah, that was a surprise, but I knew there was a catch or something unusual as I could not see them taking video of us picking up litter.

"First, we have another adventure for breakfast at Wood Lake Dam Restaurant which has great food and the view... Wait until you see!"

The town was designed to charm and like pretty much everything else built on the island, everything was a facade over reinforced concrete. Still, the mix of Victorian styles from Tudor to Queen Anne gave the town charm with small businesses, mostly restaurants or food places like bakeries or those serving the farm areas to the North, occupying the first floor while the floors and above held apartments. We walked a half block East of the main part of town then walked across to the street to what looked like a very large Queen Anne style home, complete with turret on the left front corner.

We did not go up the front porch stairs at the center, but rather up a newer stair at the left side of the porch near the turret. We went back and into a door on the left side where Jay talked briefly with a woman at a podium. Once he had checked in, we were taken through a couple of smaller dining rooms to a set of stairs down an all glass rear addition looking over... FUCK!

Wood Lake is the result of damming the Wood River which is in a rather deep gorge which had been scoured out during ancient hurricanes inside the shallower valley. Wood Lake Dam Restaurant was on the downstream side of the dam so the view was of a gorge with a surprisingly large river two hundred feet below us. Someone had quite deliberately planted the far side of the gorge with mostly pink and purple flowering trees and bushes, making the view stunning.

Jay was quite smug as we took in this too perfect to exist view then took us down the stairs and out a door onto a deck overlooking perfection. He gestured grandly at the landscape behind him, "Welcome to the home of Sir Edward Harris, the 9th great-grandson of Sir Kenneth Harris who settled this area in the very early 1700s, coming from the Edinburgh area of Scotland in a story of war and religion and more war that would take a year to tell."

"After rebuilding this new home in 1948, Sir Edward Harris died without children in 1950 and willed the land to The Cornwall Islands. This area of The Cornwall Islands is ideal with lots of hills and rivers and of course, rain. Lots of rain. This part of St Ives Island is at almost three thousand feet in altitude and no matter what direction the wind blows, the air cools, clouds form and it rains every day or three. One river or another catches that rain and we have rivers depending on wind direction. We dammed most of the rivers in the 1930s to form a dozen lakes. As a bonus, each dam generates power which provides a bit over thirty-five percent of the electricity for The Cornwall Islands."

I have to admit I was surprised that The Cornwall Islands would have dams, given that a hurricane bringing a foot of rain was not unheard of so me being the engineer, I raised my hand.

Jay looked at me, "Yes, Joshua?"

I asked, "What about hurricanes?"

Jay just shrugged, "Every dam in The Cornwall Islands was built with a spillway to one side or another. This was done before the big 1946 hurricane as it was long known the island could get enormous amounts of rain in a short time."

He pointed at a large rock outcropping covered in purple flowers, "Behind that outcropping is a large open spillway and yes, every dam has held, even in the 1946 hurricane. The water simply overtopped the spillway and the enormous flood of water went down the far side of the dam wiping out a couple of small villages along the river that were never rebuilt."

He smirked at me, "Any other questions?"

The whole country was designed by engineers then the concrete ugliness was covered by artists and designers. Makes sense to me.

Jay continued, "So The Cornwall Islands took possession of his house and divided it. Originally it was turned into a small inn. Eventually they divided one side into a restaurant and turned the other side and the upper floors into an apartment building. Seven lucky families have the ultimate perfect view out their rear windows."

Jay laughed, "Enough history. Let's eat!"

We had a railside table with a view of... Well, I just blathered at you for a page about it. The food was a typical Cornwall Islands mix of UK and American. A lot of culture went from the UK to the US and vice versa and The Cornwall Islands were a big mish-mash of both. I had a couple of pancakes while Jennifer had a waffle with clotted cream. We managed to finish breakfast while taking a bazillion photos with our phones and you know damn well my overlong list of favorites on the CIS app grew by one yet again.

Once we had completed breakfast, Jay got up, "Okay couples! Today you are going to give back to The Cornwall Islands."

Movie Max had set up a thirty-two inch TV on one of the tables at the far end. Jay hooked his phone to it and brought up a picture... Damn, why didn't I get to live near one of these when I was a kid? Imagine a good sized play structure with slides and bridges and platforms in a typical city park.

Then multiply it by twenty.

Exeter Park is roughly three miles directly south of The Central Fountain and along Stephens Road and the Southern tramline. The 1946 hurricane pretty much wiped out The Cornwall Islands and when they rebuilt, they mostly rebuilt to a grid plan. Near the harbor and within say a couple miles, the roads were very much a grid. As you got further South, only the main streets held the grid and the neighborhood roads began to look more like US suburbs though the lot sizes were kept smaller.

After the 1946 hurricane, the random tangle of roads from the late seventeenth century were removed and all land was expropriated under the post-hurricane declared emergency. Everyone lost their land. There were almost no structures standing or for that matter, trees, so they lost only the land.

Everything was pre-planned and everyone received land in exchange in the new layout. They lost in the short term, but the modern cities of Somerset and Devon, were born. A lottery draw was set up and yes, previous landowners were in the first set of draws and the most valuable land owners were in the first part of the first group.

I know that would never fly in the US, but in The Cornwall Islands, they forced the plan into existence and because of the much smaller scale, at the time only around seven hundred fifty thousand people across both islands, the plan worked. Every family in 1948 in The Cornwall Islands, was a landowner. EVERY family. It was probably just a lot and may not have had a home yet built and some did sell later, but EVERY family got something under the plan.

The net result was of course, the rich guy with a center downtown lot was still the rich guy with the center downtown lot and the poorer renter ended with a residential lot a mile from the center. Still, a decade before, he was now an owner when he had been a renter. I know I blather, well, distributed all nice and neat under the plan, were a good number of parks. One hundred acre Exeter Park was one and that is where we ended up.

Fuck me, they were creating the play structure under the theme, 'Go big or go home'. They made a sixty foot high hill out of harbor dredgings that was perhaps five hundred feet long and a couple hundred deep then put the play structure to end all play structures on top of it. There was a slide that went from the top platform all the way to the bottom and close to a dozen more of varying heights. Platforms and bridges and monkey bars and... Eh, you get the idea.

We got out of the shuttle van and Jay gestured behind himself, "Welcome to Exeter Park!"

We were pretty much silent and I would imagine everyone else was pissed they didn't get such a play area when they were kids.

Jay pointed behind and said, "As you can see, we have quite a project. With the surgegates complete, this year's St. Alexander Island Navy Base payment is going for parks and recreation. This is one of hundreds of projects. Exeter Adventure is the play area being constructed and you are all going to help."

Dozens upon dozens of families from babies to grandparents were there doing this or that under the direction of Olivia, a junior project manager who was one of my workmates from The Interior Department. We lined up and waited for assignments. Olivia was taken aback when I was at the front of her line and she kind of stumbled, "Uh, hi, uh Joshua. Are they having you take over?"

I shook my head, I was not going to steal her thunder, "Nope. Just here to help. Tell me where to go."

She seemed relieved. Giving back seemed a big thing here, but no doubt, her Saturday community help day idea was her trying to earn going from junior project manager to senior. She gave me a wristband and said it was good for the food trucks due to arrive in an hour then told me to head to the top where they were working on the large top platform that was also where the giant top-to-bottom children's slide was located.

A local carpenter was in charge at the top platform. No, I did not pull rank there either. He asked if I had any skills. I nodded, read the blueprint enough to convince him I knew construction, then spent the day putting in hundreds of balusters on some wooden rail along the edge of a platform near the top.

Dinner ended up being us snacking from the food trucks. Gemma had arranged some good ones and I went Greek with a Gyro along with some chicken tenders from a different truck. I met a very sawdust covered Jennifer for our meal. She had been handed a sander and told to sand the edges of the wooden rail tops. Even sweaty and sawdusty, she is my sexy woman!

Believe it or not, no one complained about the work and we stayed until almost seven that evening. We showered inside and while we did mutually clean each other off, we were both way too tired for sex.

We did good!

Sunday, August 30, 2020

We went back to Exeter Park and did the same thing as Saturday. Gemma showed up with a smirk as I worked on balusters on the next platform down from the top, "Why Joshua, not in charge?"

I causally scratched my nose with my middle finger which she reciprocated. She laughed then smiled, "Pretty cool project, eh?"

I nodded and Gemma beamed, "Lots of new recreation projects though this one is more of a project for a junior project manager."

I nodded, not wanting to demean Olivia who was clearly living her project and was standing two levels down and casting nervous looks at me talking with Gemma. I nodded at Olivia and quietly said to Gemma, "She might be thinking you are trying to replace her."

Gemma nodded then smirked and said loud enough for Olivia to hear, "Well stop standing around like an oaf! Get your ass back to work!"

And with that, Gemma had just made it clear Olivia that I was no threat to her and that is one of the things that makes her a great leader. I did get back to work and we made a day of it again. At the end of the day, the structure had progressed noticeably so I complimented Olivia as we walked out. Life lesson: Simply complimenting someone can make their day as she beamed when I said how well the project was going.

Be cool to people. You never know when they may be in a position to be cool to you.

Monday, August 31, 2020

I was on my way out the door when I got a text from Gemma, "Joshua, the storms are looking like more of a threat and you are now restricted to ten miles around Somerset.'

'Both Henry and Ileana are category 3 and strengthening and most models have a good probability of us being in the path of one or both.'

I felt a mix of fear and confidence. Jennifer and I were to be relocated during the storm into a building that could survive anything short of a nuclear bomb strike, but I had friends who would not and the biggest storms still scared me. What if it got to category five? Would all this reinforced concrete and the storm shutters hold?

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

I went to my tram station to see how things were progressing to find my crews at work and things were exactly where I expected them to be. An hour later, I was texted to button up the site of my tram station as Henry was given half a chance of hitting us and it was now category 4 and still strengthening. Trucks arrived to take my lulls and cranes away as other trucks arrived to take the toolboxes.

I was responsible for the final check and if it was not bolted down or otherwise attached permanently, it was put on a truck and put away.

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Fuck! I got a text at one in the afternoon from Gemma.

'Hurricane Henry has been upgraded to category 5 and Ileana has been upgraded to category 4. I remind you to stay within your restricted range.'

Gemma had assigned me to organize the incoming trucks of tooling and materials on my project categorized and put into some twenty huge warehouses they had East of town. Think of them as windowless and rather ugly rectangular concrete warehouse bunkers with a single door at each end. Those doors were partly obscured by large earthworks in front of them so that nothing could damage the doors if they were blown directly toward them.

The warehouses had a single purpose: Hold everything needed for cleaning up a big storm if the worst happened and the equipment from my worksite did double duty.

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Henry was still category 5 and projections had it tracking over the town of Somerset in four days. The entire island was under a lockdown order as of midnight and I was given instructions to read which boiled down to I was considered a minor official on the island and if I saw something that needed to be done I was to do it with saving a life coming before saving property, but I was responsible for doing both. The government of The Cornwall Islands would back me and my decisions unless I deliberately made a decision with malice or recklessness.

Batten up and hunker down.

Friday, September 4, 2020

I received a text at six that morning that they were not taking chances so I was to immediately head to my surgegate and deploy it. Jennifer did not need to come to the storm shelter until nine that morning. I arrived five minutes before my alternate, Owen, arrived as backup. I put my key in and turned on the system and was greeted with all green on the status panel. I checked to make sure the drydock was clear then opened the gates... Ninety minutes later, the gate was deployed and locked in position. Once done, I looked at Owen who shrugged and we headed for the storm shelter in Somerset.

Jennifer went to the storm shelter after shutting the storm shutters of our condo. Jennifer said it was one of the more odd experiences as right after I had left, Claire showed up and knocked on everyone's door, making sure they understood exactly how to lower their storm shutters and even waiting while each couple tested them out. Claire had defied the lockdown and ventured out to make sure our group was prepared. Damn, she is a good person and I sure as heck did not rat her out.

Obviously, the weekend plans with Movie Max were canceled and I got back two hours later and headed to the storm shelter to meet Jennifer. Ya know what is borning? The Interior Department storm shelter. It's not like we were gonna fuck in front of all the other employees and playing games on my phone gets old.

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Such build up then nothing. Henry veered and split the difference between The Cornwall Islands, going closer to Bermuda than anticipated while the physically much smaller Ileana followed two days behind, heading even further west of us. Bermuda got whacked with category two winds from Henry and St Ives Island's west end got hit with thirty mile an hour winds. We ended up with a lot of rain and were released at six that evening.

Ileana hit nothing and spun its way northeastward, but it was still a close call. No longer a hurricane, Henry hit Southwest England with enough wind and waves to inspire a lot of Youtube videos.

One nice thing about the big scare: My surge gate and the others all worked perfectly. There was a real world situation and all those billions and all that time had worked out and they worked exactly as they had been designed. The next morning, I went to my surgegate and sent it back into its drydock.

Monday, September 7, 2020

I was finishing the day when I received a text from my mother-in- law, 'Thank you so much for bringing us here. We are safe thanks to you. Robert and I want to treat you to a home cooked meal.'

The message was odd so I texted her, 'You are welcome, Mom, and we would love to visit. What brought that on?'

She sent me a link; 'St Louis area descends into chaos.'

The violence had been going on for over a year. Sometimes it was a dozen or more people dead per night. Last night sixteen thousand people died. There was a riot at one of the homeless camps and it spread to the others. After a few of their members were killed by rioters, the Missouri National Guard had gone on an extermination campaign in the camps. Sixteen thousand were dead and the battles were ongoing as the rioters had overwhelmed some units and taken their weapons. The videos of firefights were grim and heavier weapons were being moved to the area including regular army troops.

Fuck. Sixteen thousand and I realized, my in-laws were at one of the camps where thousands had died.

Jennifer and I were on time to their place since it was an easy walk from our workplaces. Robert was always happy to see me, but his greeting held gratitude in addition to a simple greeting. Joyce came to the door with her usual boob smash hug. The meal was a bit somber as Joyce and Robert thanked me profusely saying they would probably be dead had I not done what I did to get them out.

Our lives touch so many others in unpredictable ways. I had simply been at the right place to save a little girl and received a favor. I spent that favor for Jennifer to bring them here and they were possibly saved from death in the mounting violence. We spoke little of it and concentrated on more pleasant topics though the horrific news hung like a bad vapor in the air.

My in-laws knew I loved steak so it is no surprise they were cooking them on the electric grill they had won at the big day for the beginning of the Premier League season. After dinner Robert got strangely quiet, clearly wanting to say something. Finally he said, "I just wanted to thank you again. Our lives here are all we could ever want. Our place is small, but after our time in the camp then what just happened at the camp... Well, we just wanted you to know how much we appreciate you, son."

An idea hit me with his word, 'son' and I came up with a plan so I told them, "I gained more than either of you realize. My biological father died when I was a boy and you know the story of how my biological mom basically rejected me. My point is that I have gained something precious. I have parents again and you don't seem to realize just how much I appreciate it."

Joyce was tearing up, then I hit them both with my idea.

I smiled and told everyone of my idea. "I have received as much from both of you as I gave. Having a mom who loves me is a treasure you won't understand until you get it back after having it taken away by the mom who should never have even contemplated such a thing. So next week, on Tuesday the fifteenth I will take my mom out for our own special mother's day and Wednesday I will take my dad out for our own special father's day. Let's make it an ongoing thing. On the second full week in September of every year, Tuesday will be my own special mothers day with mom and Wednesday I will take my dad out. Jennifer will have her normal mother's and father's days on the regular days, but I will have my own special ones with parents who chose me. Neither of you seem to understand how much I have gained from you."

Joyce stood up and immediately gave me one of her giant boob smash hugs and cheek kiss as Robert waited then gave me the bro hug of a lifetime.

The night ended with Joyce giving me the nicest cheek kiss and, "I love you, son."

They CHOSE me. Something I appreciated for the rest of my life.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

The news was even more grim. Other states now had open fighting and Forty-seven thousand dead. The fighting had spread to other cities until regular army units came in with heavier weapons and the US was now under martial law. As a child, I could never imagine this. The elections were canceled and both the major US parties had been formally dissolved and banned.

Major General William Robertson brought an army battalion into Washington DC with five more in reserve and after a very brief fight, dismissed the president and Congress. He called himself President, but held power with two other generals and made promises to fix the economy and bring order at whatever the cost.

I was conflicted, but had not been a member of either party. It was my home. The unimaginable had happened.

Was the US my home any more?

Friday, September 11, 2020

I tried to ignore the news as it was very depressing but it found me throughout the day. Several groups from both parties had staged uprisings in their traditional areas of support and both were put down. Six hundred fifty dead across all states as the fights tended to be very short and very one sided.

Six hundred fifty is less than forty-seven thousand. I guess. My workers at my worksite gave me sympathetic nods and space. At The Fountain, Jennifer and I along with Anthony and Sophia and Jayson and Cara received quite a few free beers and 'If ya wanna talk' offers.

The Fountain... really is a big family.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Saturday had been a photo shoot for the nudior books at a bird sanctuary. Sunday, after a breakfast at a new place named Wafflopolis which was near St Ives Marketplace, we were taken to a secluded cove about twenty-five miles West of the center of town for more pictures for our nudoir books. We ended up with around one hundred fifty pictures of which two ended up in the book of a dozen finalists. The first was Jennifer standing against the base of the cliff holding a surfboard which was among a small truck full of props Movie Max had brought for the day. The second was of Jennifer sitting on a rock leaning a bit back with her legs apart a bit. Again a little 'lippy' but not porno wide spread. She nailed that smile and her eyes were coy telling me without words, 'Yeah. I love you and you are definitely getting laid tonight.'

I did get laid but our minds were still heavy and the session is very unlikely to make it into any of the 'best of' sessions on Movie Max.

Monday, September 14, 2020

The news was slightly less grim. Seven died, all on kamikaze runs for one side or another. General Robertson had gone on TV emphasizing two things again. Getting people working so they can eat, and keeping order.

All homeless camps were secured by the regular army and were no longer locked down. His final words, "As a gesture of good faith, I have ordered the camps opened. You are free to come and go as you need. Please, be respectful and don't make me regret this."

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

I arrived at my in-laws at half past five as arranged. I had barely knocked when Joyce answered the door and gave me one of her patented hugs then I handed her a single lilac rose. She started crying as she hurried to find a cup to put the rose in with the request to Robert to go buy a vase someplace. He gave me a thumbs up and said, "Thank you son. She has been looking forward to this all day."

I took Mom out to Kitakyushu Teppanyaki, a place that would have been out of their budget for any day short of their anniversary and an easy walk from their place. She loved the dinner and loved the show as our chef made his masterful show out of creating our food on the grill in front of us.

After that, we went to a comedy show. It was an easy, safe, and platonic thing to see with my mother-in-law. It turned out the internet descriptions missed the mark in that it was a pretty crude show and I thought she might be embarrassed. Nope. Turns out she's quite a pistol and thinks dick jokes are funny. Yeah, I just learned something about her.

The evening ended as it began with one of her patented hugs and a cheek kiss, "Thank you son. I had the best night in ages."

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

I arrived at my in-laws at the same time as the previous night. My wife and her mom were making a shopping, but not really buying anything evening out of it and he was alone, but anxious to get the evening rolling.

For such an evening for a father's day dinner what could be better than than steak and sports? Nothing! So I drove us to Steak and Sports which was near The St. Ives Marketplace at the end of one of the stripmalls across Marketplace street.

That is what we did, just two guys enjoying steak and sports until nine when both of us knew it was a work day the next day and staying late or drinking too much was a disaster waiting to happen. It turns out that Joyce had told Robert all about the show and had the time of her life. I was about to apologize when he stopped me, "Son. My wife rarely lets anyone but me see that side of her. I'll just go with the woman has an incredibly dirty mind that works very much in my favor. She won't share or be shared, but anything else..."

His smile never faded as he switched to a Forrest Gump voice, "And that's all I have to say about that."

When I got home, Jennifer greeted me again in the mood, thanking me for treating her dad as if he were blood family. It was early and not all that stressful of a day so I bent her over the balcony rail and pounded her from behind. We both enjoyed it and Movie Max had another video they would like.

In briefly going through my phone at the end of the night, something good... well... less awful happened. No one was killed and things were quiet in the US. General William Robertson gave a report and then listed things he was doing to push on his two promises and that all other issues were secondary.

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Italy descended into Chaos and the short attention span world outside the US forgot about the US and shifted their attention to Italy. I did follow one link about the situation in the US. Another night of no one being killed in riots. I'll stop with most of the frequent updates about it as it is depressing and likely to upset one side or another...

It depresses me, too.

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Jay had warned us of a longer day going to the island of St Austell to another area in Devon that sounded just too cool to exist. It was, of course, purpose built to appeal to tourists and locals alike. The Pub District was ten blocks long and two blocks heading away from the promenade and many of the buildings were pubs of one kind or another.

The shuttle van picked us up at half past nine in the morning to take us to the ferry for a quick journey to the docks and a cross harbor ferry ride and a brief stop at a nice waterside restaurant named The Harbor Inn. It was a well kept two story timber Tudor style building with the obligatory back deck for dining with a view.

Claire was our host and greeted, "Good morning couples! Heavy news this past week and a half and I hope you are all coping. Remember that you have access to counselors through Movie Max if needed and it is free of charge. The Harbor Inn is one of many favorites on St. Austell and I recommend their omelets are their most requested item. For those that don't care for eggs, their pancakes and waffles are very good and very safe bets."

"Today we wanted you to experience The Pub District. The area on the far side of the tram lines and West of downtown has a purpose built pub district. Again, it is something we created with the express purpose of attracting tourism. There are eighty-four pubs in the district, all with their own theme whether it is Irish, English, German or even Mexican Cantina plus others with a theme including one done up like the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars. I won't tell you which pubs to visit though I remind everyone to pace themselves and of course, eat. Alcohol will creep up faster on an empty stomach."

We finished breakfast and walked North past the tram line and into The Pub District and I will give credit, you could feel the energy in the air. It was all a carefully created image, but it worked on us both and I smiled at Jennifer as she smiled at me.

We did pace ourselves though that only works for a while. The first place we found was called The Brauhaus which was a very convincing copy of the Munich Hofbrauhaus. We each had a pint, enjoying the atmosphere of the copy of a world famous landmark then went on to the place across the street which was the copy of Mos Eisley. It was a very good copy, but the pricing on the wall convinced us that there were less expensive choices in other pubs. We took a few pictures and walked on.

Five minutes later we were in front of Dunne's, a copy of the famous Mulligans in Dublin with a menu on the outside, we went in. It wasn't cheap, but nothing about today was cheap and they had a small group playing Irish music adding to the charm of the place.

The list of places we visited was fairly long, we looked at several and walked back out deciding time best spent elsewhere. The Christmas themed bar and a traditional English Pub were two of our better stops. The Christmas one had the bartenders were dressed as Buddy The Elf. I'll stop now, it was a pub crawl and probably something we would do in the future when our movements to the island of St Austell were not restricted, but having a night at one as a single destination for dinner and drinks, possibly with friends, is a better idea.

Movie Max was wise enough to keep tabs on us and helped a number of us stumble into the ferry without incident and make sure we made it safely into our condos was appreciated.

I definitely wanted to return to Dunne's again as a singular destination for a future evening with my wife and probably friends.

Sex? Uh. No and Sunday was a recovery day.

Monday, September 21, 2020

Jennifer and I decided to hit The Fountain for an easy night of being with friends. Walking in, Squatch greeted me with a bro hug and an oversized smile. We sat at a table with them and ordered food from the kitchen. The fountain makes a very good chicken wrap.

It was good to simply hang out with good friends as we were talking after eating. Squatch brought his phone out then typed something in and both Jennifer's and my phones buzzed. He had sent us a picture so we both opened the photo.

Jennifer stiffened before I realized the significance of the picture. It was a picture of the St. Austell group in Somerset the day of our pub crawl on St Austell. The group was standing in front of the ferry docks and standing on the left end of the group was my ex-wife standing next to a man who had his arm over her shoulder. He was nice to look at... I guess... and pretty similar to what I remembered from our day at the soccer contest. She looked happy and was in fact leaning into him with a content smile.

It was an emotional conflict. I was jealous, but not as much as I thought I would be. We had walked away from each other in our deal with the corporate devil and it was foolish to think Ashley would do anything other than make an honest effort to make her new marriage work as I had. In the end, I was happy for her as we had both moved on. I loved Jennifer and I would be... well... evil, if I did not wish the same happiness for Ashley.

I looked for Jennifer's ex, Aaron from what I remembered from the soccer contest and found him with his new wife at the right side of the group. The group was posing for photos for one of the Movie Max crew photographers who was also caught on the picture Squatch had captured. Aaron was standing with a big grin as his new wife, whose name I did not know, was standing behind him with her arms on his shoulders. I will say Squatch nailed the timing as she had jumped up, using the leverage of handing her hands on his shoulder so she was head and shoulders above Aaron with a huge, happy grin.

I looked at Squatch, "I'm not sure I was allowed to see this picture."

Squatch apologized and realized the possible error. Neither of us were angry, of course and I regard Squatch and Ems as good friends. I texted Claire immediately. Fifteen minutes later I got a text back, 'Thank you for informing us of the incident. Did YOU or your wife have direct contact with the St. Austell group?'

I texted, "No. A friend saw them and snapped a picture which we saw.'

Claire texted back, 'No worries then. This has happened perhaps a half dozen times for each group and don't forget, you were on TV when you saved Charles Hall's granddaughter and I would imagine your ex saw both you and your new wife. Don't stalk your ex, but things like this were bound to happen. The Cornwall Islands are a small place and only five miles of water separate the groups.'

Squatch looked concerned, "Did I get you into trouble?"

I smiled, "No. It's happened more than once apparently, so no harm."

He felt bad and I guess that is the sign of a true friend. He thought he was doing me a favor and felt bad that it could have done me harm.

It was me that ended up having to spend time reassuring Squatch that there was no harm. A truly great friend. A huge man with an even bigger heart. After a bit of texting to Cal, I made it a point to invite myself, my wife, Cal and Arra over in the middle of the week for a steak barbecue at Squatch and Ems' place. It worked exactly as desired. Squatch smiled then grinned.

The best part is that I am getting a steak dinner out of the deal!

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Trouble went from Italy and moved to Australia. In some ways, it was depressing, but as the trouble moved away from my former home, it was more like a fading worry than one constantly on my mind. Many will find it perhaps a little heartless that I did not seek information on my biological mom. She rejected me on the insistence of my stepfather. I did not wish her ill, but it was not very much of a worry for me. My mother-in-law was my mom as far as I was concerned and she treated me like a real mom should.

We had most of the day free so most of us took part in a small scale pool party at the condos. Jennifer and I did the Walmart run and Andrew and Stephanie did the Kroger run. The shuttle van met us at half past four and took us West of downtown to a dock we had never visited before then boarded a two deck dinner cruise boat named Nautilus IX. The upper deck held perhaps forty tables with four chairs each. We were paired with our hostess, Claire, and her husband.

We boarded a half hour before the general boarding so Claire got our meeting out of the way, "Good evening couples! Today, we will enjoy a nice dinner cruise to show you the harbor fronts of both Somerset and Devon. Next weekend will also be one of the weekends with smaller adventures, but the following week on Saturday October tenth will be one we think you will enjoy with a bit more required on our ends as far as logistics. By then the threat of large hurricanes will be moderate and will decrease rapidly from there."

"A small incident happened this week where a friend of one of the couples had seen the St. Austell group and took a picture which was shown to one of our couples. This was not the first incident and certainly won't be the last. We ask you to not stalk your exes and of course, we have blocked direct access on CIS, but these are going to happen. We ask you to report them and this was not the first reported to us. I want to emphasize that unless you have direct contact with your ex, that it is not a huge deal the vast majority of the time. We are a small country and things like this will happen."

She smiled and said, "Lecture over."

"So let's go over the bonuses for the last month..."

The dinner cruise was excellent, I know, zero surprise. Movie Max worked hard at finding the best of the best and the best was working their best to look good for an upcoming streaming show. Good publicity is the best advertising.

There were six choices for dinner, and Jennifer and I both opted for the prime rib which was as well done as anything we've had in our time here. Afterward I danced with my wife. I'm a passable dancer and the band was smart enough to play mostly slow songs so the men could just sway with the women in their lives. Not much more to report other than I really like Claire's husband and his biggest flaw is that he is a Tottenham fan when it's obvious that everyone with a brain likes Arsenal.

The cruise ended at ten and we were home by a quarter after. Fifteen minutes later, I had just pushed myself inside Jennifer and coupled to my wife.

The best privilege in a man's life is coupling to and having part of himself inside the woman in his life, she looks up with adoring eyes and says, "I love you."

Sunday September 27, 2020

The shuttle van picked us up at half past eight and took us to a place named Julie's just East of the center of town. Simple name for a simple place for breakfast. The sole part that stuck out was the quality of the food and both Jennifer and I had excellent pancakes. Jay started the day off, "Good morning couples!" Yes, I know you are sick of seeing those words.

"Today is another simple day and simple adventure taking photographs of your beautiful brides, this time at Harrington Ledges, a scenic wonder Southeast of town."

It was almost two hours to Harrington Ledges which was near the Southeast corner of the islands. Once past the sign that said Harrington Ledges which held a sign below it that said 'Closed for private event', we drove through a forested area into a parking lot with a wide trail at the far end near an admission booth. Jay went to the booth for a few minutes then returned and motioned us in.

It was as advertised. Once several hundred feet past the admission booth, the area opened up to a cliff area made up of broken but weathered and rounded boulders and slumped areas with a maze of trails leading in random directions with house sized boulders with trees clinging to the rocks with exposed roots in an idyllic wonder.

He led us through the maze which opened up to an area with short cliffs all around us save for where we had walked in. Half of the open area was a very shallow pool perhaps ankle deep which was fed by three small waterfalls! The Cornwall Islands never cease to amaze me. At one corner near the entrance to this enchanting grotto, they had several makeup and hair crews to take care of our beautiful brides before our photo sessions.

We ended up with around a dozen favorites of the hundreds of pictures taken, the best of which is my wonderful bride standing to the side of the small cascade that made Bridal Veil Falls which was the smallest of the falls being scarcely wider than the stream that would come from someone dumping out a five gallon bucket. She is holding her hands out catching the water which splashed from her hands. Her delighted smile as she played with the water was magic.

Perfect magic.

Thursday October 1, 2020

October, well the weather was only marginally cooler though the sun felt much less intense compared to the summer and the worries about big hurricanes fading quickly. Dinner at The Fountain, our home away from home turned into a pleasant evening with Cal and Arra who wanted to head back to Club Cousteau. I mostly danced with my wife though I did do a couple fast dances with Arra showing off her considerable chest.

I found it kind of embarrassing though Jennifer loved teasing me that once again, my eyes would be bouncing like Arra's boobs. Privilege is having good friends and good times. Oh, privilege is a wife who does not care if I look as long as I'm not a dick about it sure helps. She thought it was funny.

The evening ended around half past nine and shortly after, we received a text that Saturday was going to be a longer meeting detailing our next big adventures.

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Our shuttle van met us at eight o'clock and took us to the area West of West Park to the Hilton where we took an elevator to the 16th Floor. The restaurant was simply named after the hotel, Hilton Somerset, but what a view and of course, we shared a window side table with David and Brianna.

Claire was our host for the day who started with the predictable, "Good morning couples! Welcome to the Hilton Somerset Restaurant. The name is not particularly creative, but the buffet is one of the best you will encounter. Once everyone has come back with their first course, I will announce our next big adventure which will happen next Saturday."

The buffet was top notch, no surprise there, Hilton is not cheap, but is known for using better ingredients and not scrimping. Four kinds of waffles, five kinds of pancakes, a mountain of bacon, you get the idea. Once back at our seats Claire announced, "We are headed to Diana Bay, a large swim area."

She turned on a large TV which showed a video of a large shallow bay full of reefs and water features to swim in."

After that she grinned, "If you think that is good, wait until the weekend after. Please make sure you block off Thursday, October twenty-second through the following Tuesday and make sure to take the entire time off Friday through Tuesday."

She brought out her Ipad and showed us a picture of a fairly large sailing ship and pretty much every one of us was completely shocked in the best way possible.

Saturday, October 10, 2020

The shuttle van picked us up at seven which is not a fun time to be up and ready on a Saturday though the adventure looked to be worth it. It was almost an hour and a half to Diana Bay to a good sized parking lot where the shuttle van dropped us off at a somewhat distant corner where a barbecue truck sat.

Claire was the announcer again, "Good morning couples! Welcome to Diana Bay which was renamed from Southampton Bay in July of 2011 on the fiftieth anniversary of Princess Diana's birth. She remains popular today in England and it was another of the things we did in gratitude for the first two concrete plants they sent us right after World War II. It was the beginning of one of our biggest success stories."

We have arranged for a food truck for breakfast. You may not associate barbecue and breakfast, but I assure you Javier makes some amazing egg recipes and I wholeheartedly recommend the Huevos Picantes. You can get them in mild, medium, and 'Diablo'. I will warn you to take the last description seriously and only order if you are used to extremely hot and spicy food. Note that even the medium is pretty strong, so you can imagine how hot Diablo is."

"The park does not open until ten and it is not quite half past nine, so enjoy your breakfast!"

Both Jennifer and I ordered the mild and it had a nice, but not overwhelming kick. Afterward, we were handed plastic wristbands as Claire explained, "Once again you all have the deluxe experience here which includes interacting with wild dolphins. There are no guarantees as they are wild and can come and go as they please, but on any given day, the average number is between six and ten.

We headed inside and just past the gate... wow!

The parking area is level as is the ticketing office which is adjacent to it. Once inside the gate, you could get an overall view of the park as it was roughly fifty feet lower on the tidal plain. There were three main pools of water. On the left was a more or less open bay that was connected directly to the ocean through a shallow inlet. The left side of it had a dock which appeared to be the area to interact with dolphins.

The center section was longer than wide and fed into the section on the left through a narrow inlet. This seemed to be the main swimming area with lots of small islets and places to explore. This section was fed by the one on the right which was a series of somewhat short stepped waterfalls feeding the center section.

It was early and everyone decided to head to the dolphins first. It was a group, but we would be among the first and the line would only back up and grow longer as the day went on.

Jennifer did better than I did with the dolphins. One, probably a male came up to her and let her grab onto the base of his top fin for a quick circle that had her laughing in delight. He also got underneath her feet and pushed her along. Me? One let me give him or her a fish. Sophia also seemed to get the attention of the dolphins.

The day was not bad, even with the disappointing time I had with the dolphins and I understood that they had picked Jennifer, not the other way around. Swimming and splashing with my wife in the center section before we made our way to the area with the stepped waterfalls made the day very enjoyable.

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Things were winding down with the nudior books as our upcoming adventures were more elaborate, but today was a special trip to a reproduction of a Victorian country home that had been destroyed in the 1946 hurricane. The interior and gardens were ours for the day. I have not gone into every day we went to locations for them and I won't go into long descriptions of every photo taken that day but three stood out.

One was Jennifer in the library with floor to ceiling dark wood shelves full of books behind her as she faced me with a gorgeous smile and some very sexy white thigh high silk stockings that almost went up to her crotch. The second was in the same stockings as she laid back on a couch, her most intimate charms visible but her legs together enough they did not gap open. Her eyes closed with a coy smile... delightful. The third was her in those same stockings wearing high heels on a flagstone patio in front of a statue of a water nymph in a fountain.

Beautiful pictures of my beautiful bride and a grand adventure coming up!

*******

The giant kids play structure in Exeter Park is inspired by 'Chutes and Ladders' in Houghton, Michigan. I really do wish I had lived near something like this when I was a kid.

Harrington Ledges is based on Nelson's Ledges state park in Ohio (note, the rock formation ledges portion, not the swimming quarry park.)

The idea of Diana Bay is based on Xel Ha in Mexico, but without the waterslides and large man made structures.