Chapter forty-four

Damian&Chandra

say you wanna have my baby
say you wanna give the world
lots and lots of boys like me
and i wanna give it girls
like you baby
" Like you, baby"from the New Genesis CD by akamardukson

They were three days out from the Northern coast of what used to be the United States, and so far it had been nothing but smooth sailing. When Damian stood at the bow and stared ahead--something he loved to do--the big cat was always right beside him. She seemed to love staring across the water as much as he did. Ever now and then she would nuzzle him with her head, ears quivering to be scratched. Damian would happily oblige. He had grown to love that cat.

They rowed the boat in one hour shifts, three shifts, four people each shift, except when it was Damian's turn to row. He, Steve and Bruce, rowed without a fourth pair of hands.

The ship was designed to cut through the water like a knife through butter and on the calm waters it didn't take much strain to keep it pointed where they wanted it to go. They have yet to even hoist the sails but they still had a contingency plan in case they ran into rough waters.

" It's so beautiful...God's green earth." Chandra had joined him. The big cat's head swung over. Chandra scratched behind her ears.

"That, it is." Damian nodded. "Almost as beautiful as you."

" Is it fair, bwoy?"

"Is what fair, baby?"

"For me ti be so happy...so much in love...with a kingman who loves mi back?"

" Why wouldn't it be? You deserve everything that's good."

"I don't know." She held her head to one side and stared him in the eyes.

" Do yuh eva tink about yuh, Maddah?"

"Not too much anymore."

She sighed. " I wish mi Maddah could be here. Ti know yuh. She would be so happy for me. And mi Faddah too, in he own way, though yuh'd never know it by listening to him."

" I wish ma could know you. She never had any one close to her but me and Sheree. She never saw Sheree much. You would have made ma so happy. She would have adored you Chandie."

"Really." She looked at him with disbelieving eyes. Damian knew what she was thinking.

"Yes, really. Ma was deeply Christian, in the way it was taught to her. Yes, she thought that anything healing that didn't have the u.s.d.a., stamp of approval on it, was voodoo, but no one can spend five minutes with you Chandie, and not see you. She would have focused on you and forgot about everything else."

"Dat meks me happy ti tink about." She didn't mention that she had helped his mother die. Sheree had called her brother because Damian's mother had no insurance, and was not being treated seriously by the hospitals. Her brother did what he could, and had sent her to help the woman pass easily.

"It's true."

"Sumtimes, weh I let mi mind go like yuh do, staring across dat watta, I feel like I'm awake, dreaming. Ev'ryting dat's happening seems so fantastic, so unreal."

" I know what you mean."

"Do yuh tink we cyan haf trildren, bwoy?"

" One day, if you want."

" I want to gi' di world more Damians." She laughed. " Lot's of Damians."

" What about Chandras. There can't be Damians without Chandras."

She twirled and let her hand run lightly across his face.

"But di Chandras cyan nuh com' out of mi belly bwoy. Maybe di Chandras com' outta Ada, Fei, or Janie."

Damian laughed at her silliness. "Maybe. You really don't want any girls?"

"Mi nuh wan' ti birth any Chandras for mi Damians."

" I'm serious, Chandie."

"Do yuh wan' girl chile?"

" It don't matter to me."

" Me neither." She giggled.

"Come here, you little--." Damian laughed and grabbed her by the waist. He picked her up and carried her toward one of the cabins below deck.

The big cat padded off to find someone else to scratch behind her ears.