Chapter 12
The next day, while Roger spent much of his time visiting with George and Mia.
Natalie and Zenobia invited Freya to go on a hike with them.
Prior to their leaving, George rummaged around and pulled out a large straw hat for Freya, while Roger made certain she had plenty of sunscreen slathered on her exposed skin.
Ayesha made them a lunch and after all their canteens were filled, they set out armed with Roger's camera and his dire admonition fresh on their minds, "If you drop it, make sure you throw yourself under it!" to which Freya had cheerfully replied, "Gotcha! If Ah drap it, flin' someain under it!"
They briefly hugged and she planted a little peck on his slightly grizzled cheek.
As they left, Roger watched the unusual trio walk, sinuate and scuttle away.
He grinned at George and remarked cheerfully, "She'll love the desert. Growing up in the deep forest, she's very much at home in the woods. This place is all new to her."
They turned around and saw Mia and Ayesha looking at them, or rather, at Roger.
A warm smile spread across Ayesha's dusky face and she winked knowingly at Mia, her oldest daughter.
Mia smiled back and George suddenly declared, "All right you two, out with it! What's with all the smiling and exchanging knowing looks?"
Ayesha sinuated forward and circled around Roger, looking him up and down all the while. He stood still while she coiled up her tail and sat in front of him, her forked tongue flicking in and out of her luscious mouth.
"She's in love with you!" Ayesha pronounced with certainty.
Roger gaped and exclaimed, "Who...Freya?!" he spluttered and said skeptically, "No way! She's just a kid!"
Ayesha laughed gaily, the little golden discs on her bustier tinkling faintly.
She stretched a shapely arm towards him and playfully touched his nose as she declared firmly, "Never doubt a lamia's instincts! That girl loves you and you are seen by her as her protector."
Mia had slithered next to George and as she slipped her arm around him, she said gently, "Mom's never wrong about that Rodge, she knew we were falling love even before we did!"
Roger cried out in exasperation, "Guys! The girl's a kid, she's ten and I'm thirty-four...Do the math!"
Mia giggled and said merrily, "So when she's eighteen, you'll only be forty-two!"
"And she'll be nine feet tall!" blurted out Roger.
George grinned roguishly and slyly replied, "But, Rodge, you like tall, leggy girls!"
Roger threw his hands up and said half in disgust, "You guys are seriously twisted!"
George laughed and said playfully, "Wait'll Henri hears about this!"
"Don't you dare bring that crazy Frog into this! He's already teasing me enough as it is." Howled a nearly frantic Roger.
Ayesha sinuated up next to him, slipped an arm through his and squeezed it against the side of her impressive bosom, and in her rich, contralto voice, said soothingly, "Roger dear, in time, you will grow to love her too and your lives will be very rich together."
He found it hard to argue with one of the wisest, most beautiful women on earth, lamia or no lamia.
He also knew that when Ayesha had appeared on a TV show where the interviewer was known for being hard on his interviewees. Jaws had dropped at her exotic beauty and at how easily she had him eating out of her hand.
Roger smiled weakly and said wistfully, " The truth is, I do care for her and want the best for her."
He looked around at everybody and said, "On her eighteenth birthday, she will declare her heart's desire and hopefully, he will be good to her. I am prepared to lose her on that day, regardless of my feelings on the matter."
It was late afternoon when the girls returned from their trek, tired, thirsty and hungry. Roger sat in a stout chair on the patio with a beer in one hand and watched the trio approaching through the heat mirage.
Freya under her big straw hat, Natalie, her serpentine form swaying from side to side as she sinuated and Zenobia, her spidery legs carrying her along without apparent effort.
He could hear them laughing as they talked freely among themselves.
He envied their gaiety, their lack of inhibition and freedom from control.
Even painfully shy Zenobia was smiling.
He smiled and called out cheerfully, "Hello, weary travellers! What news do you bring to our humble village?"
He plainly saw Freya roll her eyes as the other two broke into the giggles.
Freya trotted up to him and after a big hug, she gushed, "Ah had sae much fun! Zenobia showed me all kinds ay things Ah've ne'er seen afore...An' Ah saw some tranchulas!"
Roger laughed at his tall companion and said, "Actually, it's pronounced ta,rant,u,la but, I got the meaning."
Freya grinned and retorted, "Anyway, they're a really big spider!"
Natalie sinuated up and grinned at him, "And she saw a really big snake too!" then she briefly hugged him too.
"Yeah, I'll bet she did!" replied Roger, then he smiled at Zenobia and said pleasantly, "Thank you for showing her around, I really do appreciate it!"
Zenobia's six eyes blinked rapidly in her embarrassment and she stammered, "Y...You...You're welcome!"
Mia sinuated out of the house, carrying one of her babies and declared, "There's food in the kitchen, go ahead and help yourselves!"
When the trio grinned at each other and began heading into the house, Mia called out, "Make sure you wash your hands first! Who knows what you guys picked up out there." Freya grinned and held up an impressive snake shedding, it was nearly six feet long and was clearly from a Western diamondback rattlesnake.
Mia grinned and remarked playfully, "My point exactly!"
Freya said happily, "This is bigger than th' serpents back haem by far."
As the trio went inside to wash up and eat, Mia coiled up and sat next to Roger.
He asked, "So, where does Zenobia live?"
Mia smiled and replied, "She lives up in the attic of this house, she has a whole nest up there and an additional outside entrance so she can come and go without disturbing us."
"I don't recall that big of an attic on this house, you had it made larger?" Asked Roger.
"Yep! After mom and everybody got here. We met her and while everything was being remodeled for us it was easy to make a few changes to the house, since we had to alter the roof line anyway." Replied Mia as she opened her top to let her baby feed.
"I definitely noticed the widened doorways and much bigger bathroom with the onsen tub." Remarked Roger.
"Have you seen the patio?" Mia asked, "George and Jorge Ortiz, one of the local forest rangers got together and built this amazing barbecue set up. Jorge said it was easier than having to bring his own set up out here when we have barbecues."
Roger grinned at her and replied, "Oh yes, George gave me the 50 cent tour. He took me down to see the houses for your family and we looked at the oasis and the fruit trees and the gardens, pretty much everything really."
Roger felt a tiny hand tugging on his shirt sleeve and looking down, he saw a tiny lamia looking up at him, a forked tongue flicking in and out of her tiny mouth.
Moments later, she smiled and reached up for him to pick her up.
He smiled back and as he gathered her into his arms, he said softly, "Well looky here! Someone's saying hello!" he made a silly face and the tiny girl grinned while her long tail coiled around underneath her making a sort of bundle as he set her in his lap.
Mia giggled and said gaily, "Now I just fed you! Don't tell me you're hungry again?"
The little lamia merely made a "Thbbbbbft!" sound and burrowed into his lap, only to fall fast asleep.
Roger sat quietly gazing out over the desert while the baby lamia slept in his lap.
Taking a sip from his now faintly cool beer, he sighed and said softly, "I sure do miss the desert, there's such a stark beauty about it. Most people see only sand and rocks while I see all the rock layers and their subtle colors."
He grinned at Mia and added, "You dad has promised to take me out on a geological tour of this ranch tomorrow. I guess he's still a field geologist at heart."
Mia smiled at him and said playfully, "I could tell you stories about my dad and I going out into the desert near our old home, he knew every rock outcropping and wadi in the entire area and I went there with him."
Caressing the tousled head of the baby nursing at her lush bosom she said, "I fully expect him to do the same with my children as well."
Roger smiled as the baby in his lap squirmed in her sleep and he said, "And you won't deny him that right, cause he's 'grampa' now."
Mia smiled and replied happily, "Of course he's grampa now and we will never deny him the divine right of a grandfather to spoil his grandbabies!"
Finishing off his beer, Roger set the can down carefully to avoid wakening his tiny lap guest and leaned back.
His blue eyes gazing out over the desert stretching in all directions around them, he murmured, "Someday, if I live long enough, I'd like to retire to the desert." he looked over at Mia, "Of course that's assuming I live long enough! I've had a lifetime of getting into scrapes and somehow emerging with a whole skin."
He thought for a few moments, "Now that I have Freya in my life, I find myself less inclined to go looking for trouble."
He grinned at Mia and asked, "Does this mean I'm finally growing up?"
There was a squirming in his lap as his wee guest adjusted her sleeping position and smacked her tiny lips in her sleep.
He smiled at her tiny form and said softly, "Oooops! I nearly woke her up with my big mouth and my rambling."
Mia smiled and said quietly, "She'll be getting hungry again pretty soon."
The door opened and Freya came outside to sit in a chair alongside Roger, she leaned back and stretched our her long legs then sat gazing out over the desert. "This is sae differen' frae back haem, everything's all colored brown ur tan ur beige. There's hardly onie green here an' Ah can see such lang distances, it woods be hard tae get lost haur." She mused.
Roger smiled at his young companion and said, "Believe me, you can get lost out in the desert. You have to respect it or you'll get into trouble, much like you can get into trouble in the forest."
Freya smiled at him and replied cheerfully, "An' if ye hadnae gotten intae trooble, Ah wouldnae have met you."
Roger saw Mia wink at him as Freya made her remark and he wanted to retort, but the tiny lamia in his lap stirred and made suckling noises with her mouth.
Mia grinned and whispered, "Pass her to me and we'll trade babies."
The exchange was made without disturbing their peaceful slumber and soon, Mia had a fresh baby nursing at her lush bosom whilst the other dozed in Roger's lap.
Mia's father Phillip came strolling up the driveway from his house.
In one hand he carried a basket with a cloth draped over it and on his weathered face, a smile.
He was about to call out something when he saw Mia's upright finger pressing against her full lips and he merely smiled at his sleeping grandchildren.
Drawing near, he leaned over to kiss Mia on her forehead and say softly, "I'm going to get the barbecue going, grandma will be along in a few minutes."
Mia smiled at her dad and replied softly, "George should be in the kitchen putting together the side dishes."
Phillip winked at his oldest daughter and entered the house.
Roger glanced over at Freya and noticed she was drooping in her chair so he gently nudged her and said, "Go get yourself a little nap, you've had quite a day."
The girl nodded sleepily and rose from her chair to go inside, but not before she bussed him on his cheek.
When she was gone, he saw Mia grinning at him, her amber eyes twinkling in merriment.
Roger grumbled, "Not, one, word!"
Mia grinned some more and stifled her giggling as best she could.
Roger picked up his now empty beer and swished it experimentally, yep, it was empty.
He set the can back down, then sat quietly with a sleeping baby lamia in his lap.
Ayesha came sinuating up to them and smiled at the sight of Roger so occupied in providing a lap for a baby girl, she said softly, "You're quite the natural with babies, that's a good sign."
Mia smiled at her mother and remarked, "We were just sitting here when this one," she indicated the nursing babe, "came out and wanted an 'uppie!' and he couldn't refuse her." Roger just shrugged and remarked quietly, "Can't say no to kids I guess."
Ayesha smiled warmly and sinuated into the house her long, pythonesque tail wriggling behind her.
Roger idly noticed that the door was now a double door with two way hinges for ease of lamia passage.
He remarked to Mia, "I see you changed all the doors to two way doors." Mia grinned and replied, "Yes, we did that shortly after the last time you were here. Conventional doors would sometimes pinch my tail and it really hurt! So all the doors in all these houses are now lamia friendly and it turns out, they're arachne friendly too!"
Roger thought a moment and remarked, "Jeeze, that was...right about the time we brought everyone out of Algeria, almost a year now...Damn, I've been so busy with Freya I'd lost track of the time!"
One hour later and dinner was ready.
Phillip and George had whomped up a grill full of sizzling steaks, chicken and sausages, while Ayesha had put together some veggies and a salad to balance out the carnivorous portion of the dinner.
Roger and Freya sat down at their table and were soon joined by her new friends, Natalie and Zenobia.
Zenobia being an arachne with her eight spider legs, sat on a sort of pedestal which Roger couldn't resist dubbing 'her tuffet' after the nursery rhyme.
Natalie like all lamias, sat on her own massive coils.
The next table over accommodated George and Mia with their two children and her parents, Phillip and Ayesha.
A third table was for Mia's other two sisters, Katherine and Rosalind.
Sitting with them was Brad Henderson, one of the younger forest rangers, he and Katherine had become friendly and were often seen talking together.
Mia had confided to Roger that she felt they were taking things a little too slowly to which Roger had replied with a sly grin, "You and George were a special case, Cupid shot you two full of arrows before you knew what hit you!"
Mia just made a face and stuck her long, forked tongue out at him in reply.