Chapter 9 ~ Aretta at Home
A Tale of Two Times: Volume 4, Reign of the War Que
~ 1 ~ Through the Shade Teller, Aretta had mind-spoken from Nigeria daily with Ottilie, until the very last days of Ottilie’s War Thing.
On a day two months before that day on which both Ottilie and Emily were to die, Aretta had come down to the Okubos’ airfield from the isolated hilltop hut, several miles from King Henry’s Clan Hold, in which she had been living since the beginning of Ottilie's War Thing.
Aretta was one of the large Okubo party awaiting the arrival of a new Aeronauticas amphibious transoceanic aircraft called the Sea Sprite. The new aircraft was bringing Walter to confer with his friend King Henry—who had made a financial investment in the Sea Sprite’s development—about manufacturing the aircraft in Africa. Walter was coming on more important business, too: a War Thing deliberation with King Henry, Little Henry, Aretta, Emily and a few others. The meeting had been called because events in Europe were approaching a crisis for the War Thing, and Emily had recently returned from a visit to Georgia concerning the Circle’s activity in the Soviet Union.
Outside the small terminal building, Aretta was talking with her grandson Little Henry. Since returning home with his Ethiopian bride, Edna, Little Henry had been successfully following the plan recommended to him by Ottilie for keeping peace in his extended Christian-Muslin family. Edna, who was now seven months pregnant with their first child, joined in the conversation. King Henry and his wife were chatting excitedly with some other members of their extended family, and with Herr Stoll and other members of King Henry’s staff.
On the airfield were a number of Bush Hoppers and other aircraft frequently used for commuting with distant Ethiopia, and on the airfield’s far side was a cluster of low buildings. These buildings served as the operational center for Soviet agents who were monitoring, for Stalin, Communist movements in Africa. Years earlier, Vladimir had asked Winfred to have the Guild establish the center for Stalin. It was the price paid by the Clan for having Vladimir—and Russia—in the War Thing.
Aretta spotted Emily, who was eager to see Walter again, driving her Jeep across the airfield to them from her small office in the Soviet complex. While Emily was parking her Jeep, Aretta was walking over to meet her and beginning to hear the sound of an aircraft’s engine. Emily jumped out of the Jeep, and as she began walking quickly toward Aretta, almost at once she spotted Walter’s Sea Sprite in the far distance. Emily shouted, pointing at it, and all heads turned toward it, watching intently as it grew nearer.
The large aircraft had begun its landing approach when Emily saw a second aircraft suddenly appear “out of thin air” close behind it! She gasped, along with many of the others. The new aircraft, which appeared to be an odd sort of Bush Hopper, hovered while the large amphibious aircraft was landing; then it settled down neatly near to it.
“Who is that?” asked Emily.
Aretta alone, among the greeting party, did not share Emily’s surprise at the second aircraft’s sudden, unexpected appearance. She answered, “It is our War Queen, coming to put her finishing touch on War Thing plans.” Aretta wrapped her thin and sinewy arm around Emily’s shoulder and hugged her feelingly.
Walter was surprised to see Ottilie there. While she was telling him about the flight, which she had made directly from Germany, he was observing that her aircraft was a cleverly-designed new Device. He knew that Martin’s original-model Bush Hopper had incorporated a few Makers’ replica Devices, but that aircraft was not in itself a Device. It appeared to him that Martin’s plane must have been used as the first matter of Ottilie’s new aircraft, which had the form of Martin’s original Bush Hopper in the way of a child resembling her mother. As Ottilie did not volunteer any information about it, Walter, respecting Makers’ etiquette, did not ask.
Emily, like Herr Stoll, had long been resident in the Okubo compound, and they both taught in the village’s Guild School. Emily’s work as the Guild’s liaison with the Soviets had been part-time, and had come to her in spurts, but it was deeply involved with her work for the War Thing. Now, Ottilie’s unexpected arrival and Aretta’s sympathetic hug combined to stir in her a feeling that her War Thing work was coming to a fateful climax.
Ottilie had brought gifts for all of them, including a cradle which she had made for the baby expected by Edna and Little Henry.
Everyone was surprised by Walter’s marriage proposal to Emily, and her acceptance. They were married by Fr. Anthony in a simple ceremony in which Ottilie—not Martin—was one of the witnesses. Ottilie encouraged Walter and Emily to fly the Sea Sprite to Lake Victoria for their honeymoon, taking with them the wedding party. She and Aretta remained behind.
On the next day, Ottilie asked Aretta to show her the isolated hut in which she lived. She said, ”Aretta, I have promised Albert that, if I am wrong about the time of my departure from Earth’s Province, I will come to live with you in your hut to keep watch with you over the Clan.”
“My hut has a place in which a second person can sleep; come with me and I will show it to you. It is, however, a walk of several miles, and a white woman on foot might attract the wrong kind of interest.”
“I have a load, Aretta, to carry on my head, and I will wear a face covering and a long gown. I will walk behind you, appearing to be your servant—which I am.”
The load was a short wooden beam—a Lintel for the door to a Maker’s Workshop. After a long trek and a steep climb, the two women entered Aretta’s hut, which was built up against a huge rock outcropping crowning the hill. Into the side of the rock had been hewn one of the hut’s walls. Ottilie unwrapped the Lintel and held it up against that stone wall, singing a Makers' joining Chant. The stone wall received the wooden Lintel, which Ottilie moved as though it were floating on the surface of a pool, guiding it toward a section of the wall which was covered by a hanging. Aretta lifted the hanging away from the wall, and Ottilie guided the Lintel to a location, a few inches above her head, on the wall section which had been covered. Aretta watched, fascinated.
Having adjusted the location of the Lintel to her satisfaction, Ottilie smiled at Aretta. “Do not try this yourself, Mother,” she said, and walked right through the stone wall, vanishing. Aretta was almost not surprised. She released the hanging to cover the invisible entrance in the stone wall.
What a fine Maker she is! Aretta ran her hands over the hanging, feeling only her old stone wall behind it. She understood that Ottilie had transformed her hut into the Antechamber of a Workshop.
She went out to her garden to gather soup vegetables for a lunch with Ottilie, having said, “Ottilie, before you decide to live with me, you should know what my cooking is like.” Aretta kept an eye her wall hanging while preparing the soup and simmering it slowly over a fire. After nearly two hours, the hanging fluttered; Ottilie pushed it aside, entering the hut. Squatting down before the fire, she inhaled the soup’s aroma.
“It smells good, Aretta. I have been working up an appetite.”
Without a word, Aretta tipped her hanging caldron, filling bowls with soup for Ottilie and herself. Receiving her full bowl, Ottilie touched her hand to Aretta’s, communicating to her a strand of Living Memory.
“Memories are more secret than spoken words, Aretta. If it happens that you learn that I will not be coming to live with you, remember me in this bowl of your soup.” Ottilie ate all of her soup. She set down her empty bowl on the raised wooden floor and stood up from her squat. “I like your cooking, Aretta. I hope to come back and learn your culinary secrets.”
