16.
I lie on the bed, leaning against the wall with pillows and teddy bears behind my back. After I ordered the pizzas I call Sharon. She almost immediately answers the call, as if she was waiting next to the telephone. We used to have that often, it seems as if we have a telepathic connection that even keeps persisting overseas.
‘Hi Manon,’ she says with her small voice that always makes me think of a wind organ.
‘How did you know it was me?’
‘You’re still asking? After all those years?’
I chuckle. ‘You’re right.’
‘You have to open more to miracles that aren’t visible, Manon, that makes life a lot more interesting.’
I consider that my life is interesting enough, but I don’t tell that to her. Sharon doesn’t know about my double life. The fact that I could never tell her about my education and field tasks with otherkinds always rankled in my mind.
‘I’ll try,’ I answer.
‘Good girl.’
I can see how she holds her heart shaped face aslant and how her fragile, pearl white hairs fall in front of her big, blue deer eyes.
‘How are you?’ I ask.
‘Oh, wonderful!’ She moans. ‘I’m sooooo in love.’
I grin. ‘With whom now?’
‘You don’t have to take it that way, Manon.’
‘Hm? How?’
‘I can hear the mockery in your voice and I know you, you’re having a big grin on your face right now.’
‘Okay, okay, sorry.’
‘When I’m in love it’s always very serious.’
Yeah, for a few months. ‘Ah, come on, Sharon, how long did your longest relation last?’
‘Relation? Manon! Don’t ever say that word! They are unifications. Unifications are under the influence of great universal powers and aren’t products of their age.’
Sometimes she sounds so woolly I can barely grasp what she means.
‘And love is?’ I ask.
‘Love stays, but the physical interest disappears. That’s why I have to look for a new unification every time. After all we live in this planet and not in the universe. We consist of flesh and blood and that needs to be fed too.’
‘Okay, I get it.’ Do I really? ‘But go on and tell me who he is?’
‘An angel. I met him about two months ago. He’s extremely cute. And his telekinetic powers… Wowie! Recently he made a feather caress my skin from head till toe, without using his hands. Ooooooh, it was so wonderful. I think I never came that way ever before.’
‘You say that every time.’
‘But each time exceeds the preceding,’ she says.
‘Yeah, could be.’
‘It is! Do you know he can even steer the wind? We were making love outside and it was pretty sunny, but there was a chilly wind. And you want to know what that hunny bunny did? He takes care of the wind so it wouldn’t touch us. Can you imagine? Few angels are that strong, you know.’
‘Sounds like a keeper,’ I think. All the more since he’s also an angel and therefore they can have children together.
‘Nah. We aren’t made to stick with one partner, although I have to admit it lasts longer than usual. But probably a new fascinating person will cross my path.’
‘But you’re so in love.’ I suppress a grin, knowing she probably senses it.
‘Yeah, so what?’
I give up. ‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier about him?’
‘Oh, because I was seeing someone else then and it wasn’t that serious in the beginning. And how are you, Manon? Do you have someone special in your life?’
‘Not really.’
‘You want to break the record or what?’
‘Which record?’
‘Of not-nun-being person that gets screwed the least in her life.’
‘Ha ha,’ I snarl. ‘I met someone.’
‘Oh, who? Tell, tell.’
‘A vamp.’
‘You’re kidding.’
‘Yeah. Recently he was in Oded’s pub and hypnotized me. I don’t really know whether that’s a good sign.’
‘Listen, Manon. You know I’m an expert in everything that has got to do with love of otherkinds, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’ And not only in love with otherkinds, I think after that.
‘Well. Than let me say this: do it!’
‘Do it?’
‘Yeah, do it! Vampires are extremely hot pieces of ass in bed. They are… how shall I say. Wooohooee!’
‘Woohoo?’
When Sharon can’t put something into words, she intensely expresses it with a cry or sound.
‘Most rewarding. Enormously yummy, sizzling and boiling.’
‘Okay.’ I chuckle. ‘But that hypnotizing feels wrong. It feels like mental rape, you know?’
‘Manon, honey, that hypnotizing is so normal to vampires as the giving of flowers to humans. It’s part of their seduction tactics and you should take it as a compliment.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘For a million percent!’
‘Any tips or tricks?’
‘Yes. Allow him to bite you, but only on your conditions.’
I pull a face. ‘I don’t know about that, Sharon, seems painful.’
‘Not at all! First it’s like a little prick and then… hm hm hm hm, you have to experience yourself, it can’t be put into words.’
‘Okay, I take you at your word.’
‘Good girl.’
‘Say, I hear the ding-dong. Pizza’s here.’
‘Tasty, bon appétit!’
‘Thanks. And Sharon?’
I think about the transformer that interrogated Diedie and now knows about Sharon’s existence.
‘Yeah?’
‘Be careful,’ I say silently.
‘Always.’
‘No. Listen, Sharon.’
I don’t know how to put it into words without betraying too much and then find the solution. I take a chance on the spiritual side.
‘I had a dream. A very lively dream about someone wanting to hurt you. It felt very realistic, as if I got an intuitive warning I definitely had to tell you.’
Sharon is silent for a while on the other side of the line. And believe me, that rarely happens.
‘Okay,’ she finally says. ‘I’ll be extra careful.’
‘I miss you,’ I say.
‘I miss you too.’
We still give greats from both sides to family members and then say goodbye.
Meanwhile the pizza has arrived and lies steaming and deliciously smelling on the dining table. Diedie, who gave the garden a thorough inspection, but didn’t find anything, pulls open a bottle of red wine and fills our glasses. Oded cuts the two gigantic pizzas in little parts. Jabar cozily lights the hearth and I the candles standing on the table.
It seems as if we collectively resolved not to let the situation touch us, to live as usual as much as possible and not to let the threat domineer over the sociability. At least, that’s how I feel it.
We talk about everyday things and enjoy our delicious pizza. Squeaky is beside himself with joy. Everyone gives him a little piece, which he then takes in his little mouth and after which he patters away quickly. In a most cute way he then takes the piece between his two front legs and continuously keeps an eye on us when he gladly nibbles on it.
The pizzas are finished quickly, but we still stay and talk at the table with red wine. The evening twilight falls in and I stand up to close the curtains. Jabar’s helicopter glistens in the last rays of light. Because of that we inevitably end up at our tight spot.
‘Diedie, can you check whether someone messed with the helicopter?’ I ask while I take a seat again.
‘Yes, of course, I’ll immediately check it tomorrow morning.’
‘And also the cars,’ Jabar adds.
‘From tomorrow onwards I’ll do a daily inspection and immediately protect every vehicle.’
‘That seems wise to me,’ Jabar says.
‘Could it be that Selena had to visit Manon in New York to take a closer look at her, so the transformer could put down a truthful Manon?’ Oded asks.
‘Then they could have send the transformer himself, couldn’t they?’ Diedie thinks.
‘Unless it was that transformer in Selena’s form,’ I suggest.
‘Seems far-fetched,’ Jabar says.
I think Jabar looks extremely old and tired recently. He can handle a lot of stress, I know that, because he’s mentally very strong. But the situation is naturally different now. The persons he loves and cares about are taken under fire and it will be gnawing at him. All the more since he probably feels responsible and has no idea about who is doing this to us.
The evening finishes with a drink and then we’re all off to bed. I hope we can sleep uninterrupted tonight. I really hope so.