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Subject: +*+*+*+ Solomon's Private File #389 "For Marcel's Marriage" +*+*+*+
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2017 02:44:47 -0400
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Solomon's Private File #389
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in the
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 33 in this story, in the Summer of 2059.
Solomon's Private File #389 "For Marcel's Marriage"
START Page
I said to the outgoing Council leader, "The marriage of Marcel and
Emirmis is going to bleed me well." He tried not to grin. I said, "The
mother has an appreciation of er, expense, that knows no limit." He had
to laugh. I said, "What's worse, is if what she wants to do for it is
actually done, it will be after she's long gone before the wedding even
starts." More laughter. He said, "She wants something big?" I said,
"Like the biggest in the world? No, that's not big enough." Laughter. I
said, "To start, she wants me to rent the Council hall." He said, "That
can be done." I said, "That's the easy part. It's only money. Ouch!"
Laughter. I said, "The problem is in decorating it, having the wedding,
and restoring it, all between Council meetings."
He said, "I think we can do without one meeting." I said, "Absolutely
not! Don't DO that to me!" He laughed so hard, he had to sit down. When
he could listen, I said, "I've hired people to make the decorations,
and my carpenters will make the parts that can be assembled and taken
down quickly. Some other households are lending me their cooks. Much of
that can be stored in the back rooms until needed. What the Council
will like to purchase of that for future events, could be negotiated."
He said, "Oh, that's a good idea!" I said, "I'm not begging, at least
not loudly, but I wouldn't mind still having a few coins after this."
He laughed. I said, "At the moment, what I need now is a date for this
torture. Er, event." More laughter. It was to be held in a little over
a month
Marcel and I had a meeting with our lead carpenter. I gave him the
plans for the parts for the decorations, and the dimensions of the
hall. I said, "These things are to be made to put together and taken
apart by stupid, I mean, inexperienced workers." He tried not to laugh.
I said to Marcel, "That looks interesting, but if you explode, you're
going to have to clean it up yourself." He had to laugh, and loudly.
When I could be heard, I said, "If we do this well, the Council may
purchase them from us, for future abuse. Er, use." I looked carefully
at him, and he almost lost control again. I said, "Better." He
struggled more. I said, "We will drape the walls in patterned cloth.
There needs to be a method that can support it. Strongly. Enough to
physically support drunken revelers." Carpenter said, "You suspect
they'll need help standing." I said, "Better they lose what they
imbibe, on the curtains, than on us." He said with a grin,
"Understood." I said, "We'll need a lot of seating and tables. Here's a
list. Note the removable cushions. Easier to clean and replace. We
don't want to ruin the Council chairs." He looked at the drawings, and
said, "These fold! That's a very good idea for efficient storage!" I
said, "Er, thank you. So, get to work!" With a grin, he left to do
that.
I met with him alone and said, "I want some posts for the lamps to be
easily removable for use as weapons." He said, "You suspect something?"
I said, "A feeling that something unpleasant is going to happen there,
but simple to take care of, if done well." He said, "Going to warn
Marcel?" I said, "No. It might not happen. I don't want to ruin his big
day. And he is very capable of handling whatever happens, well. And he
will have pledged friends there." He nodded, and said, "I think I
understand."
When one of the assembled lamp stands was available, I showed Marcel
how the parts could be used in a hurry, for fighting. He said, "You
suspect something bad will happen?" I said, "Have you seen the
accounts? It already has!" He laughed. I said, "The worst trouble is
what you don't suspect, and so don't prepare for. There will be a lot
of very wealthy people there, and their er, wealth. I should know, I'm
providing some of it. Somebody might not be able to resist the
It's my turn to look effective. If it happens." I said, "I'm already
I met with the mother of Emirmis. I said, "Marcel asked me to give
this to Emirmis. He has courage, but not so much of this new kind." She
tried not to laugh. She opened the box, and gasped. I said, "Different
from your own, but related, to be in the family." She said, "It's
beautiful!" I said, "We thank you. I agreed to bring it today, because
if Marcel had, we might have needed to have the wedding much sooner
than we planned." She had to laugh. She said, "Was it the same for
you?" I said, "Unfortunately, no. My wife and I knew we would marry,
when we were children. We grew up with each other. We lived close. Our
wedding was a simple thing. That was the day. The night was another
matter entirely." She laughed.
She called for her daughter, and when she arrived, told her about it,
and showed her. I said to her mother, "Her eyes didn't quite pop out of
her head, but one more gem, just might have caused it." She laughed. I
said, "That reminds me of another matter." I said to Emirmis, "I hear
you're very good with needlework. I have a large assortment of gem
beads, and some other gems that can be mounted in settings that can be
sewn to clothes. I don't think I've ever seen anyone more interested in
my entire life!" Her mother went almost hysterical with laughter.
Daughter said to me, "Do you always make people laugh?" I said, "When I
can, yes. Great self defense. I've never been attacked by someone who's
laughing, and yes, that's actually worked with people who DID want to
attack me. Tell me, what are enemies for?" She said, "I think it's
something I wouldn't know to say." I said, "Wise of you. What enemies
are for, are to make friends of." She said, "THAT is wise." I said, "My
father said it before I was born. He said a lot of wise things, but I
love that one probably the most. I try to live it." We felt a touch.
Mother said, "I felt something! Do you feel it?" Daughter said, "I
did." I said, "So did I." She said, "Do you know what it was?" I said,
"That could cause a problem with belief." Mother said, "It was your
father, wasn't it. He was holy." I said, "Yes."
She said, "And you?" I said, "I should not say more about that.
Please keep what happened, secret. There is something else. I will not
be home the wedding night, and for the week after. I'll be in my office
building in the city. After that, I'll move my things out. I'll leave
what so captured your interest. You should hope your face doesn't
freeze like that." She laughed. I said, "A caution. After the VERY
public wedding, the whole city will know something of your wealth. It
is VERY sensible to not encourage more envy and avarice in others, by
er, bragging about that. I DO know the urge to do that, very well. Who
knew I could make things like that?" She said, "Oh! I understand. The
safety of our family is VERY important!" I said, "We know you will want
to increase the envy of other people. Well, who wouldn't? But it's just
not safe to do that. You are a much smaller number of people than the
whole city. If you need to be defended, it's a VERY good idea to have
friends who will actually want to do that, rather than to see you
brought down, in their angry jealousy." She said, very seriously, "I
thank you very much for this wise counsel. I admit I was going to do
that with my friends. I didn't think about the very natural
consequences of that!"
Her mother said with tears, "I wish I had received such wise counsel.
I caused a lot of problems in my younger days, that I shouldn't have."
I said, "Was part of that due to his skill with the sword?" She said,
"It was." I said, "So now we should discuss Marcel in that area. You
have heard that I never lie?" They nodded. I said, "I am the best
fighter in this land, by far, with any weapon, or none. I am stronger
and faster. My memory is complete. My senses are much more acute. I
have greater knowledge of many things. All this has come from much
effort and time. And a little fun." Smiles. I said, "I have worked to
make Marcel as much like me in those things, as possible. I've been
more successful in that than I thought could happen, not having started
with him when he was a baby. He's not my equal, but he's better than
any man his age, by a significant amount. You will have a LOT of pride
in him, hopefully only in private," She tried not to grin, and said, "I
understand." I said, "A struggle, we know, I who would want to shout it
to all I meet." Nods and smiles.
I said, "Over time, his worth WILL be noticed by others. He will
become a leader. That can't be avoided. I see you don't dislike that."
Grins. I said, "But that will take away some of his time with you, and
there might even be some danger with it. Men need to do this. Holding
him back will hurt him." Her mother said, "I know this well! I'll help
her to know this more." I said, "I will be leaving soon, when my office
building is complete and occupied. You know of the attack on Marcel."
They nodded. I said, "Those men are pledged to him, and willingly, with
love and respect. You ever need their help, go to them." Emirmis said,
"I will." I said, "One more thing. If he's ever attacked, try not to
have fear for him. Fear for the safety of his opponents. Hmm, what
unusual expressions." Giggles. I said, "You are not now able to
understand how very capable Marcel is in many things. Discovering that
is going to be very interesting for you. That's REALLY an interesting
expression!" They laughed.
I told all that to Marcel, word for word. He stared at me, and had
some tears. He said, "Some of that I wouldn't have thought of, but I
should have. Thank you!"" We hugged. I asked to meet with Marcel's
pledged friends. I said, "You know Marcel's getting married." Nods. I
said, "You know of the er, excessive mother of the bride." Grins. I
said, "There is an issue that nobody seems to have thought of but me.
The most wealthy and powerful people will be there, and they are
deliberately not going to be leaving much of their portable wealth at
home. Who doesn't think that some of that wealth is going to try to
leave in the hands of different people?" One said, "Ho! That IS an
issue!" The nodded. One said, "We don't want Marcel's wedding to be
stained by such a thing!" I said, "I knew you would feel that way."
They appreciated that.
I said, "How to handle that is the REAL problem. Make too much of a
fuss, it could be worse than ignoring it." One said, "You think there
WILL be trouble." I said, "A feeling, yes, and reasoning agrees with
it. You know of my sleepless nights, and what I do in the city?" Grins.
He said, "We all do. The streets are much safer for your lack of
sleep." I said, "That has caused some of the criminal class to be less
than perfectly happy with me. That could provide them some extra
motivation to try some revenge er, activity." One said, "You wouldn't
be talking to us about this without some plan." I said, "You couldn't
just play along?" They laughed. I said, "How has the stick fighting
lessons been going?" He said, "Marcel is a great teacher!" I said,
"Does that mean you are great students?" They were embarrassed. More
when I grinned.
I took them into another room, and showed them the lamp posts, and
how to take them apart. They were all grins. I took two padded sticks,
and said, "You may attack me. Yes, all at once, and yes, with the real
sticks." They did, and I hit them a lot with my padded sticks, while
hardly getting hit by them at all. I said, "Stop!" They did, and were
out of breath. I wasn't. I said, "You did well." They were embarrassed
and proud. I said, "We don't want to kill them. Bad complications with
that. And bodies are so awkward to remove. Better they can do that
themselves. So, no killing, but painful embarrassment, well, it would
be improper to grin so widely at that time, so get it out of your
systems now." Chuckles. I said, "This is Marcel's affair, so you should
take the his lead in things. I have finer senses, so I might signal a
need before he's aware of it. And I'll be watching for this, while
he'll be thinking of more pleasant things." Grins. I said, "If he's not
careful, some may think he has a stick, when he doesn't." They laughed.
I said, "Bad people know better than to go after me. Painful
lessons." Grins. One said, "I understand. They may think young Marcel
is a better target, to hurt you." I said, "VERY bad idea." Bigger
grins. I said, "I should not intervene. It should be seen that I have
full confidence in his abilities, and that he shows them if needed, or
he will continue to be a target. So, it's best if you don't defend him
directly. And I know you really want to see him in a real action, even
more than I do." Gigantic grins. I said, "We work this right, it could
be a very interesting night to remember, and not just for the couple.
I've never seen more hungry men, when it wasn't about food. Except in
some nightly interruptions." Laughter. One said, "What does Marcel know
about this?" I said, "The sticks in the lampposts, he knows about, and
the possible reasons for it. We have signals we can use. He knows it's
his event, not mine, and why. I haven't told him about meeting you, but
he knows me, and knows you." Nods.
I said, "Here are pictures of possible suspects. Marcel has seen
them, but not for this event. Well, he's been attacked in the street a
few times. Identifying them before they attack, is a little useful."
Nods and admiration. I said, "There are three criminal bosses. One, and
his men, will not attack me, and may not attack Marcel. The other two
aren't as smart." Chuckles. I said, "The smart one may even provide us
with some warning before the event." One said, "Sir, what did you do to
him?" I said, "There is no man in this land who has been more
frightened than he was, twice, and survived." They laughed hard. I
said, "He tried to threaten me and mine, in my home. BIG mistake." He
said, "What did you do?" I said, "I listed the names of all his people,
and the construction of his establishments, and how they might be
damaged. Then I picked him up in one hand and snarled to his face that
I wouldn't kill him no matter how much he begged me to end his
suffering, if he tried to harm anything of mine. I dropped him, and he
ran out the door. He so frightened his horse, it took off without him.
He walked back into the city."
They laughed. I said, "That was just the first part. After he left,
and Marcel stopped laughing, I decided to engage in some exercise. I
ran into the city, and arrived at his door before he did. He didn't
notice me until I greeted him pleasantly. You would have thought he was
trying to escape his clothes, with his body going skyward in a hurry,
he was so startled." They laughed hard. I said, "Then he mentioned I
was unarmed. I reminded him of my throwing knives, and that with my
strength and accuracy, even a thrown rock is deadly, and much faster to
reload than a pistol. And and a coin would go right through the throat.
That's when he decided to pledge er, niceness. Yes, he meant it, and
has acted so since then. Yes, Marcel knows, and with the same
reaction." Grins.
I said, "You may tell Marcel any of this, but I would request you
save it for later. And he will know, on observing how you are at the
wedding." One had an idea. Before he could speak, I said, "Please not
now. Yes I knew what you would have said. I've been expecting it. That
embarrassment I can live very well without." They tried not to grin,
while I was showing them to the door.
I said to Marcel, "I've moved my private workshop to my office
building. Come, I want to show you what remains, and another thing." He
opened the hidden door, and we went inside. The work area was empty of
my things, but in their place were beds, chairs, and a table and a
desk. I said, "A hiding place, if there is a war." He said, "Oh! That's
a good idea. A family man would think of that." I said, "Yes. Now to
the reserves." We went into the other room, and he said, "You didn't
take these!" I said, "I think I noticed that before you did." He
grinned. I said, "When I leave this land, I will have very little with
me, specifically to travel fast, and with less enticement to thieves."
He said, "Sensible. Then I am to be burdened with this unwelcome
embarrassment." I said, "True. It can't be helped. You'll just have to
suffer with it. How you can keep your wife from making very strange
noises about it, I don't know." He tried to control his reactions, and
said, "I was thinking of that myself." I said, "Some may be buried, and
hidden in other places."
I said, "There is something else. I'm disappointed you didn't ask
about it. While this is a very safe room, it can also be a trap." He
said, "That's true. Can I use the excuse of the shock?" I said, "Ah,
no." Chuckles. I said, "Here is the release mechanism for this far
wall. It swings outward." He used it, and we pushed the wall open. It
was heavy. There was a stone walled passage. Then it opened into big
room. We lit some lamps. I said, "A ventilation shaft goes to the
gazebo. Here are stores of preserved foods, weapons, and clothes of all
stations. And some books, and some coins of other nations." In the next
room were beds and toilet facilities. Then another passage. I said,
"This shaft leads to the carriage barn." We climbed up it, and I showed
him how the trap door worked. Back down in the passage, we walked along
it, until there was a pierced stone wall. I said, "This is the shaft of
the well. Good for ventilation, and you can remove this wall when you
need to, and climb out the well. There are concealed handholds for
that. You can also use its water. Before I leave, you need to show your
wife this. She might think you are ill, to think there could be such a
need. But after she has her first child, she will think it insane not
to have this." He grinned. He said, "So all large houses have this?" I
said, "Isolated as we are, they should. Some do. I haven't examined all
of them. In the city, it's mostly not possible, and there is less need,
with people close by to call to aid. In a war, if the enemy is able to
attack individual houses in a city, escape then is very unlikely, even
with such as this. Exits couldn't be far enough away from the danger."
He said, "So our house in the city doesn't have this." I said, "I
didn't say that." He looked very interested, and tried to hide his
grin. I said, "Yes, there is an underground storage and safe room, and
a tunnel, but it exits in the basement of another house, who's owner
isn't aware of it. Try to avoid causing them fatal startlement, in your
explorations." He chuckled.
The next day, we went to see it. There was money in it, too, and the
master bedroom had a concealed strongbox in the closet, like at the
estate house. We started training new hires for the country house. My
extra servant presences were moved to the house in the city, and the
office building penthouse residence, one at a time. There were some
problems, and we replaced them, including one servant from the other
family. She was paying more attention to the men servants than to her
job. She actually damaged some things. I had a talk with the father,
and he sent over a better one. I said to her privately, after we saw
she was good, "Do you think the last one sent here was a test?" She
grinned, and said, "I think more of a way to lose a problem." I said,
"And for us to gain one? That was SO unfair." She tried not to laugh,
and said, "Everybody wants to work here." I said, all innocent, "Not
I." She laughed. She said, "They might have hoped she would be better
in a new place." I said, "I agree with you and me. They wanted to lose
her." She tried not to laugh. I said, "Age might help her
employability. I mean maturity." Grins.
The chairman of the Council said, "I will retire soon after I
negotiate the purchase of some of the things you made to use in the
wedding, after it." I said, "You have chosen who I should support to be
the new Chairman?" He looked at me, and tried not to grin, and said,
course, but I was thinking that it has levels of hidden wisdom in it,
and that you intend that. Your humor captures the attention and memory
of it, as you want." I said, "True." He said, "I didn't expect you to
verify it!" I said, "Good." We grinned and hugged. He told me the man
he chose. Good one. I told Marcel that conversation, word for word. He
said, "He's wise." I said, "That can happen with age. Less reasons to
END Page
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Grant
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