The Krakow Klub (19 page)

She was delighted by the golf
course,
and John was pleased to learn that she was also
an avid golfer. She even ventured to bet that she could beat him in
a
round,
and he had a sneaking suspicion that
she wasn’t just bragging.

At last, they sat on a secluded bench looking
out toward the ocean. John reached out and took her hands in
his.

“Julia, you are the first and the
only
person
that I’ve ever told
about my past
and
my heritage other than Jim
Slater. I’ve given you my complete trust. My life is now in your
hands. When I saw you on that flight from the Caymans, I had
feelings that I hadn’t had for many years.
Well,
probably never. I couldn’t believe my luck in
finding you again when we met at the museum. It was like some
divine intervention. Deep down, I have a very sneaky suspicion that
Maxx engineered the whole thing to get us together. It would be
just like him. There are times that I think that he must believe
that he still owes me for all those lonely years.”

Somewhere, far, far in outer space, a deep
computer voice could be heard chuckling.

By now, John was gaining confidence. He had
been very honest, and very careful, in revealing himself to Julia.
He had done so piece by piece so as not to overwhelm her. He moved
closer and bravely put his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t
resist.

“Julia, I believe that fate brought us
together. We’ve both had long and successful lives. We both have
money. What we don’t have is someone very special to share it all.
I haven’t known you very
long,
but I feel, no,
I know, that you are that one special person for me. I hope that
you’ll feel the same way about me. I can offer you adventure,
excitement, a good round of golf, and lots of fun on my private
island.”

Mister T watched discreetly from a distance
and decided that his emotional module was soon going to need some
serious updating.

Maxx, ever the trickster, spoke from far
away, “Believe in fate if you will, but when push comes to shove,
always trust Maxx to get the job done.”

Julia had obviously been spending much of her
time since meeting John in thinking about this new relationship.
This new man in her life was utterly mysterious and fascinating.
She had been initially shocked by his revelations, but after seeing
the images of the interstellar transporter, she began to accept his
story as truth.

“John, I’ve always been rather bored with the
mundane. I’ve always been independent and without fear of the
unknown or uncharted. I’ve had lovers who were just interested in
my money and lovers who were interested in the real me. None seemed
to fit the bill. In every case, I just lost interest quickly and
walked away leaving a wake of confusion and sometimes pain. I’ve
often regretted my actions but I just never knew how to end things
amicably. It’s just not my style. I’ve never looked
back,
and I don’t plan to start now.

“When we met at the museum, I, too, felt that
there could be something very special between us. Your eyes told me
that you were a sincere and honest person. Your face betrayed a
life of loneliness, but not loneliness as most people would
describe it. I mean a loneliness that comes
from
within
. A loneliness of the soul that can’t
be
pushed
aside.

“You intrigued me with your air of carefully
controlled mystery. You let nothing out yet I knew that, inside,
there was much to offer. That’s why I accepted your first
invitation and why I came to your island.”

The moon had moved slowly across the dark sky
and was now hovering over the ocean leaving golden reflections in
the water. Soft lights could
be seen
glowing
from the villa and tiny solar lights brightened pathways. John fell
under the spell of this magical moment and pulled Julia to him for
a kiss that electrified his whole being.

She gently pushed him away, turned and ran
toward the water with a playful laugh. They ran through the waves
and splashed about like happy children until, sadly, they both
realized that the hour was growing late and a very busy day awaited
them in the morning.

“Okay, okay, I give up!” John exclaimed,
“It’s time for my brandy. Mister T will think we’ve deserted
him.”

As they walked slowly toward the house, arms
around each other’s waists, Mister T peered through the shutters.
As he watched John and Julia, he thought, “Humans are most
certainly an interesting lot. Myleans would never think to play in
the surf.
Such childish behavior just didn’t seem to
be in their nature. But, somehow, I’m beginning to think that
having fun might just be a very important aspect of
life.”

He smiled and gently closed the
shutters.

Mister T opened the door and led them through
the house to the veranda where he served them a late night
brandy.

“Boss, have you noticed that
anything is
missing around here?” Mister T spoke very
impishly for a robot.

John looked around, scanned the grounds, and
then looked around some more.

“Everything seems perfect to me. I can’t
think of anything that might be amiss. I did notice the new pathway
lights. Great idea!”

Mister T spun around slowly with arms
outstretched.

“Mosquitoes!”

John
was taken
aback. He
had always hated the little beasts as they seemed to find him
equivalent to mosquito caviar. They were everywhere in this part of
the world and took great pleasure in making life miserable for
everyone. A constant war waged between the buzzing hordes and their
intended miserable victims.

“As soon as we got here, I realized that you
hated mosquitoes. The other day, when you stayed over in Key West,
I came back here with a special purpose in mind. I consulted with
Maxxine,
and we came up with a system that
keeps those tiny insects away from Scott Key. They
are permanently banished
. I’ve never had a project of my
own,
so I’m very proud of myself.”

John roared with laughter. “You’ve outdone
yourself, my friend.
I'll
have to get your
secret since I could probably be richer than Croesus if I decided
to sell it.”

Mister T was obviously quite pleased and had
a definite skip in his step as he returned to the house.

Julia clapped excitedly. “Mister T is a true
genius, but now, it’s time for me to go back to the guest house.”
She hopped up and trotted down the pathway and out of sight.

John sat back down at the table and sipped
slowly on his brandy. About fifteen minutes later, he heard a
rustling sound behind him. It was Julia; she had changed into a
long, flowing tropical dress and carried her travel case. Her hair,
still damp from the surf, was pulled back into a ponytail.

John just sat there with his mouth open.

Julia sat down next to him and said, “When I
was a small child, I was afraid of the dark. Every
night,
I could almost see the huge monsters with sharp,
pointy fangs that were lurking under my bed. Every tiny sound
caused me to cringe and hide my head under the pillow. Just now,
when I went back to the guesthouse, I heard a strange noise or two,
just like the ones in my childhood memories. Needless to say, I was
terrified. I am certain that I wouldn’t get a single wink of sleep
if I stayed in that scary place all by myself.”

She winked at John, “I’m a damsel in
distress,
and I need rescuing from the
monsters.”

John was speechless.

Mister T appeared instantly, took her bag,
and after a questioning look at John, took it into the master
bedroom. He pulled back the covers on the bed, lit some candles,
and opened the doors to the veranda so that the sounds of the ocean
could
be heard
. Then, he quietly exited.

They entered the house and sat in the living
area where Mister T served another small glass of brandy. They
laughed and talked until almost one in the morning.

The house had never known such laughter.
Julia kicked off her sandals and went over to the grand piano. She
opened it and began to play a simple melody. John walked over and
stood behind her until she finished without a single sour note.

He called Mister T for one last request of
the day. “It’s quite late and time for bed. Don’t forget to groom
Akiro first thing in the morning. You’ve
been
programmed
appropriately. He’s a good little fellow and
won’t give you much trouble.”

Mister T nodded and left, leaving the two
lovers alone. They walked slowly to the bedroom and quietly shut
the door behind them.

****

At precisely 8:30 AM, there was a soft knock
on the door. It opened very
slightly,
and
Akiro bounded inside, perfectly groomed, and
looking
very
handsome. Mister T had even anointed him with nice,
florally scented doggie cologne. He hopped on the bed and began to
growl and pull the covers playfully.

“My plan is for Akiro to be a mate for Mitch.
He’s a perfect specimen and has the personality to boot. She’ll
love him. I’ve never played canine
matchmaker,
but I do believe that they’re perfect for each other.”

“Did you ever consider the fact that Mitch
may not even like Akiro? And he is still just a puppy. She might
not want to rob the cradle.”

He reached over to nuzzle
Akiro,
and Mister T admonished him not to pull out the
perfect little bow
tied
around his
topknot.

Julia sighed, “I have a feeling that your
matchmaking career may not be quite as rewarding as you expect. You
can’t just go around running other people’s lives for them. You
should know that from your experience with Maxx.”

She reached over and brushed a strand of hair
from his brow. “Let’s worry about all that later. You’ve got a lot
do
before
Jim and Mitch get here, and besides
I’m famished. Let’s have some breakfast.”

At breakfast, Julia questioned him about
Sylvia. He explained that she and Jim had once been very much in
love,
but time and careers had
intervened,
and they had drifted apart. They hadn’t seen
each other
for
several years.

John, ever the optimist,
was
convinced
that they would instantly fall into each other’s
arms and renew their romance in a
blaz
e of
passion. It would be as if they had never been separated. He was
quite proud of his little subterfuge to get Sylvia to his island.
She was totally unaware of his little plot. What
could
go wrong?

Julia, with a rather sarcastic
tone in her voice, sipped her tea and opined, “Let’s hope that
you’re right. However, don’t come crying to me if your little plot
has a surprise ending.”

She then
added,
in a
much lower tone of voice, “Women are very complicated, John.”

“Wishing to be friends is
quick work, but friendship is a
slow-ripening
fruit.”
-
Aristotle

“Don't walk behind me; I
may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just
walk beside me and be my friend.”
-
Albert Camus

On Saturday morning in Washington, DC, Jim
Slater climbed the stairs to the roof of his condo a few minutes
before eleven. He cradled Mitch in his right arm and carried his
weekend bag in his left hand. As he stepped out onto the roof, he
looked up into the gray, gloomy sky and thought how appropriate the
weather was at the moment. A misty rain fell as if the sky was
silently shedding tears over the recent events in the nation’s
capital
.

He looked down at his garishly colored shirt
that would be right at home in Florida but would brand him as a
freak here in Washington. He had found the shirt at the back of his
closet where it had been languishing ever since he bought it on a
rather forgettable trip to Acapulco.

He could hardly wait to get away and forget
about his troubles, at least for a few days.
Mitch
was ready for adventure and eager to go, as always.

Fortunately, he had very little time to
ponder his sartorial decisions since, precisely at eleven, the
spacecraft landed on the roof and switched from stealth mode to
visible mode. The hatch opened
immediately,
and Mister T beckoned him to enter.

The craft closed the hatch, entered stealth
mode, and lifted off immediately.

Mister T took a seat across from Jim, rolled
his eyes upward, and laughed. “My emotional module is functioning
at a very high level. Where in the galaxy did you find that shirt?
It almost screams at me. Ghastly, quite ghastly! You humans have
peculiar tastes, but enough of that. The boss gave me instructions
for programming the
ship,
but he knows very
well that I’m quite capable of functioning without his input. We’ll
be
traveling
quite slowly by my usual
standards,
but we’ll still reach the island
before lunchtime.”

Mister T took a seat across from Jim and
glanced over at
Mitch,
who was already dozing
contentedly in the seat beside Jim.

“The boss also asked me to give you a
message. You’ve always known him as Tom, but that isn’t his real
name. It’s John F. Scott. Don’t ask me why
he
used an alternate identity, but I guess that’s his business. He
also asked me to assure you that everything else that he’s ever
told you is true. Any questions?”