5 February 2024

Don't forget to donate to support Nifty!

Email me. Comments, ideas, and suggestions welcome

I love email. If you give me a story line, I'll name a character after you. I really need ideas for fun situations. Get it?

The Queen is dead

I'm devastated. Just so sad. We lost a legend.

The Queen is dead. Long live the King.

Not our queen. Any of them. The Queen.

Liz

I can't imagine how Beatrix feels. Finally reunited for such a short time. Reunited in a different way than publicly shared.

They married in Robertville. After all, they are citizens of Dionysus. Which can't surprise you.

I guess I should share this is Ruby. Of us all, I think I was the closest to Liz, but it could have been Pari, or Carlina, or Tegan, or Chris, or Leslie.

We were all close with Liz. She called us her Dionysus granddaughters.

We considered it an honor.

Hmm. My phone is ringing.

Martha. Now, you might remember Martha as the Director of Protocol and that used to be correct. Now Martha is the prime minister.

Chris might have been involved.

"Ruby, it is Martha," she said.

"My sincere condolences. We are all devastated," I said. "We are waiting for notification whether anyone from Dionysus is invited to the funeral. We all understand that as a new country our monarchs might not be invited."

"About that," said Martha. "We have a bit of an unusual situation, and it directly affects you and your friends. You see, the Queen's final decree was naming her pall bearers. She broke from royal tradition and only named six."

Martha took a breath as if preparing herself for the revelation.

I waited.

"Pari, Carlina, Tegan, Chris, Leslie, and you," said Martha.

Well played, Martha. She waited me out.

"OK," I said.

"That's it?" said Martha. "No questions. No curiosity?"

"Lots of both but you can't have imagined we would say no," I said.

There was a moment of silence.

Ah.

"Do you need us to politely decline?" I said. "That's going to be tough if this is what Liz wanted."

Martha sighed.

"It will cause a firestorm," said Martha.

"But what she wanted," I said.

"Yes," said Martha. "It will quickly be drowned out the day after the funeral."

"Beatrix," I said.

"She will be revealed as the Queen Consort," said Martha.

"Holy shit," I said.

"Yes," said Martha. "It is my next call."

"Don't," I said. "She's here. Staying with Carlina and Tegan. She is in mourning. I'll tell her."

"OK," said Martha. "I admit I didn't know how to do it. I'll have the new director of protocol reach out about being the pallbearers. You have an hour to tell the others."

"On it," I said. "When all this settles down, come for a visit."

"I will. Thank you," said Martha as she gently hung up.

Dionysus will be in the middle of a giant controversy.

Imagine that.

I'd better move and get over to Carlina and Tegan's. I sent a quick text to the three others to meet there. Pari replied she was in Athens but would be there quickly. The other two are at home.

They could have been on another planet and still made it in 15 minutes.

Weird.

I walked and got there just as Pari landed in a nice Aventador. Rylee got out with her.

"I'll see you at the house," said Rylee, to Pari. She walked around and got into the driver's seat and drove away.

"She could have stayed," I said.

"She has plans," said Pari, with a laugh.

We walked inside and Carlina and Tegan were waiting for us in the living room. Chris and Leslie, too. We all sat down.

"What's up?" said Tegan. "It sounded important."

I admit I laughed.

"Liz signed a decree that there would only be six pallbearers," I said.

They all look confused.

Pari got it first and could not stop laughing. Carlina and Tegan are staring at her.

And then they knew.

"Us!" screamed Tegan.

I just nodded.

"That's going to spark some shit," said Carlina.

We all just sat there for a moment.

"Should we decline?" said Pari. "No. Liz wanted this. We need coaching though. What do we even wear?"

"Dress uniforms," said Pari.

"We don't have dress uniforms," said Tegan.

Which is why I am not surprised that Timmy and Mia walked in.

With uniform dresses on hangers.

"How long have you had them?" asked Carlina.

"Worked overnight on them," said Mia.

"We are a little tired," said Timmy.

They even have hats. Military hats. We quickly changed.

It didn't feel like the time for an orgy.

They fit perfectly, to no one's surprise. Even the hats. We went into the closet room to the big full-length mirror.

"We look pretty good," said Colonel Carlina.

I'm a two-star. So is Pari. Carlina and Tegan are colonels.

Or maybe not.

Leslie just walked up holding boxes I recognized.

Rank pins.

But she has a lot of boxes.

Ribbons.

"What are the ribbons for?" said Tegan. "I've never been active duty."

"Tokyo," said Leslie as she handed a ribbon to Carlina.

"Boreas," said Leslie. Those went to Tegan and me.

"The invasion," said Leslie. We all got one of those.

She handed one more to me.

I just raised an eyebrow and she laughed.

"Getting your ass shot down," said Leslie.

"Not sure that's deserving of a ribbon," I said.

"You saved my life," said Leslie, softly.

We pinned on all the ribbons.

She handed us a few more.

"Pilot, submariner, space, interplanetary travel," said Leslie.

One more for Tegan.

"Inventing it," said Leslie. Tegan started to speak, and Leslie held up her hand.

Tegan nodded. She was going to say it was all Nan.

She always does.

Leslie pulled out five small boxes.

"Three stars?" said Carlina. "You promoted us."

"Why?" said Pari.

"Because if any real crisis broke out," said Leslie.

"Again," said Carlina.

"Again," added Leslie, with a smile. "The five of you would be leaders."

We would.

Just then my phone rang with a London number. Feels like I should answer it.

"Ruby, here," I said.

"Good morning," said a male voice. "My name is Remington. I am the director of protocol."

"Oh good," I said. "Let me put you on speaker. We are all here."

"Thank you," he said. Just so polite. Kind of like Martha.

I admit I am curious. Again.

"Again, my name is Remington, and I am the director of protocol," he said. "I'll be working with you through this."

"Hold up," said Pari. "Let's make this easier. Are you at Buckingham Palace?"

"Yes, your majesty," he said.

"You know our voices," said Leslie.

"Yes, your highness," said Remington. "We would like to talk to you as well to discuss security."

"Sure," said Leslie.

"Let's meet at our London house in twenty minutes," said Pari, who shared the address with Remington.

"I wasn't aware you were in London," said Remington.

"We are in Robertville," said Tegan. "But we have space planes. Twenty."

"See you there," said Remington, hanging up.

"Hold up," I said. "I have to tell Beatrix something."

"What do you need to tell me?" said Beatrix, who walked into the room.

"Holy shit," said Beatrix. "She really did it. She named you pallbearers."

"Yes," I said. "But that is not all she did."

Beatrix looks confused.

"She had quietly named you the Queen Consort," I said. "It will be announced after the funeral."

She looks crestfallen.

"We lost so many years," she said.

They did.

Just then Hunter and Noah walked in. Two of Beatrix's favorites. Feel free to read anything you want into that.

"Go," said Noah. "I'll make tea."

We kept the uniforms on and headed to the plane.

We landed just as a small Ford pulled up. A man got out of the car.

A freaking gorgeous man.

He walked over and bowed.

"I am Remington," he said. "It is an honor to be in your presence."

He appears confused that we are all laughing.

"We don't really take this quite as seriously," said Pari.

"We need you to take it seriously," said Remington.

We all just nodded. Pari led the way inside and into the library. There is a conference table and we all sat down.

"This is a very difficult situation," said Remington.

"How does King Charles feel about all this," asked Tegan.

"Apoplectic," said Remington. "And I haven't told him about Beatrix yet."

"Should go over well," said Carlina.

Remington just stared at her.

"Sorry," said Carlina.

"This may all be humorous to you," said Remington. "It is not to us."

"You have properly chastised us," said Pari, in her queen voice.

It knocked Remington back a bit.

"My apologies your majesty," said Remington.

"Can we just cut through all the bullshit," said Leslie. "We are going to be working together through a difficult time. We respect your rituals and will take your coaching but for this group why don't we just put that all aside and work as a team? I'm just Leslie. We don't use titles and don't expect you to. Treat us like you would your sister."

Remington smiled.

"I don't really like my sister," said Remington. At least he is lightening up, although I know this is a stressful time for him.

"We will fix that, too," I said. "But let's focus."

Remington just looked at me for a moment and moved on.

"The funeral is the day after tomorrow. Normally there is a full rehearsal the day before but given the circumstances we are not sure what to do," said Remington.

"You don't want to announce us," said Pari.

"We would prefer not to," said Remington.

"We can do it at our place in Oxford," said Leslie.

"I'm not sure that would help," said Remington. "The press would use helicopters and drones."

"That's our airspace," said Leslie. "We will just shoot them down."

Remington appears a bit stunned, but Leslie laughed.

"We have a very large soundstage," said Leslie. "We should be able to practice inside."

"That might be ideal but how do we get everyone there?" said Remington.

"How many people?" asked Leslie.

"Almost 200," said Remington.

"That's easy," said Leslie. "Two E-111 planes. We can have everyone meet somewhere in London and land at our place."

"You have a landing strip for airliner" said Remington.

"Yes," said Leslie. "But we won't need it. The planes can land vertically."

Props to Remington for just rolling with it.

"Vertically," he said. "Including at Windsor?"

"Sure," I said. "But there is a simpler solution. My house is next door to Windsor. There's even a gate in the wall. We'll land next to the gate, and everyone can walk through the gate."

"There is a gate to your house from Windsor Castle," said Remington.

"We're going to waste time if you challenge our statements," said Carlina. "We will not lie to you or mislead you. We just don't."

Remington just nodded.

"I'll put jammer drones in the air," said Leslie. "That should cover us, and it is restricted airspace. We'll chase anyone off under the auspices of our airspace. I'll put an F-87 in the air."

"They'll be in helicopters," said Remington. "How will a fighter help?"

"Our fighters can float like a helicopter," said Tegan.

"Of course they can," said Remington, so stoically. Well done, Remington.

"I think we have a plan," said Pari.

"I'll get Maria up here," said Leslie. "She can coordinate air security with you. I'll bring up Bentley for ground security and Della as operations leader."

It did not surprise me when they all walked into the room.

In dress uniforms.

Oh, I see there have been promotions. Good for them. Bentley and Maria are one-stars. Della is a three-star.

Remington just appears confused. He's staring at Della. She does rock the uniform. We did the introductions, and you could tell Remington was holding something back.

"Just say it," said Della.

Remington took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You appear young to be in charge," said Remington.

"Not really," said Della. "I'm 12.

"I'm 12," said Pari. "And a queen and the Minister of Education."

"10," said Carlina. "Nobel Peace prize."

"Me too," said Tegan. "But my Nobel is in Physics".

"14," I said. "I run multiple multi-billion dollar corporations."

"I'm 16," said Leslie. "Minister of Defense and head of the UN Security Forces."

"I run our Special Forces," said Della. "And report to Leslie."

"And I report to Della," said Bentley.

"I report to Leslie, too," said Maria.

"It is quite confusing," said Remington.

"No it isn't," said Pari. "Let me guess. Your sister is younger, and you think that she's acting too advanced for her age. Does she go to our school?"

"Yes," he said.

OK, we're all laughing now.

"She's smart, can debate you pretty effectively, and is sexually active, and it all drives you nuts," said Tegan.

Remington was quiet for a bit.

"But she's 9," said Remington.

"A very fine age," said Carlina. "Do you volunteer at her school?"

"No," said Remington.

"You should," I said. "You'll see her in her element. What degree is she working on?"

"Her PhD in Public Policy," he said. "I'm very proud of her educational achievements."

"Then you need to understand that it is all interrelated," said Pari. "Including the sex. I'll tell you what. After we're past all this, I'll take you on a tour of her school. The three of us can go to the wrestling room."

Remington looks a bit shocked.

"You, you would, you," he said.

I admit we're laughing again.

"Dude," said Della. "We'd all do you right now."

"Repeatedly," said Carlina.

"Including me," said Bentley. It was a peep, not a full moan. From Remington.

"And you don't think that's bad," said Remington, to Bentley and Maria.

Who both laughed.

"We had a three-way with Della this morning," said Maria. "And it was glorious."

"It always is," said Bentley.

"Aw, thanks, Dad," said Della.

Remington appears to be a bit confused.

"Let's focus," said Leslie. "This is a big deal. Pari, fix his situation later."

"OK," said Pari.

"What time do you want to start tomorrow?" asked Leslie. "We'll need to all be on the planes about 20 minutes earlier."

"Oh, wait," said Leslie. "I have a better idea. Almost forgot. Orlando built a new soundstage. There is no way anyone could get there."

"Where?" said Pari.

"Earth 3," said Leslie.

"Oh yeah," said Tegan. "That's perfect. Totally undeveloped."

"Did you say Earth 3?" said Remington.

"Yeah," said Leslie. "It's very similar to Earth."

"You're saying another planet," said Remington.

"Yeah," said Leslie. "Those planes can jump."

"Jump. To another planet," said Remington.

Leslie just nodded.

"Why is it called Earth 3?" said Remington.

"Because it is almost a clone," said Tegan. "Down to the continents. It's just at an earlier stage of development."

"How early?" asked Remington.

"There are still dinosaurs," said Tegan. Hey, we get the look, too.

"Surely you jest," said Remington.

"No," said Tegan. "We already explained that."

"You expect King Charles to go to another planet that has dinosaurs," said Remington.

"Sure," we all said. Della just screamed it out.

"We'll hold that one," said Della.

Good call, Della.

"Our compound has force fields," said Leslie. "There is no risk."

"Force fields," said Remington. "On another planet. You're way more advanced than people know."

"Yes, and we'd like to keep it that way," said Pari. "We don't trust many with this information and we're trusting you and everyone that is getting on those planes."

"I don't think I can recommend that the King go to another planet with dinosaurs," said Remington.

"OK," said Leslie. "We'll stick with Oxford. Too bad. Earth 3 is nice. So much more oxygen."

No, it is not rejuvenating like Nibiru and Priapus. Still nice, though. We haven't quite figured out rejuvenation yet. We know it is the atmosphere.

"OK," I said. "We have a plan. You should go let everyone know."

Remington stood and bowed and left.

"I'd do him," said Pari.

"We all would, and you know it," said Della.

"Yeah," said Bentley.

We're a fun country. Really fun.

So we celebrated. Our London friends joined, too. Oh, I mean Donnie and crew, but we celebrated in the wrestling room at the school.

It was quite a celebration.

We so enjoy working with the students. In ways you can't even imagine. OK, maybe you can imagine.

Just flying here

Looks like I'm in the F-87 today. This is Tia. Not sure why but happy to do it. I don't get enough seat time in an F-87. Nothing preventing it. Just don't. I'm flying around Oxford. I'm not even clear why, but Mom Leslie promised me she'd share what is going on soon.

Basically she said to scare away any air traffic that comes over land we own.

That's a lot of land. I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but buying Oxford was tricky. It is spread out throughout Oxfordshire. So we bought all of Oxfordshire.

Put down the phone, Tia. Incoming.

I bopped over and in front of a helicopter that just breached our border. Our border inside England.

Our lives are fun.

"Unidentified helicopter, you have just illegally breached Dionysus airspace. It was well publicized that you cannot do that today," I said.

"We have every right to fly here," came the voice. "This is UK airspace."

"You don't like your pilot's license very much, do you?" I said.

"Huh?" he said.

"You either know it is not UK airspace, in which case, you'll be up for a review of your license," I said. "Or you think that it is UK airspace, and, gosh, you'll be up for review of your license."

"I, what? My license?" he said.

"Or I shoot you down," I said. "That's your other option. I'm going to count backwards from five and at zero I am going to fire. Now, our weapons are different. Your helicopter won't explode. It will just vanish, with you in it. Would you like a demonstration?"

"Sure," he said, with some cockiness.

Let's take care of that cockiness.

I fired a small drone and just as it got about 10 feet in front of his windscreen, it disappeared.

"Where did it go?" he squeaked.

"I vaporized it," I said. "The beam is invisible."

His helicopter backed out of our space.

The hilarious thing is the drone just cloaked and flew back into my plane. Why would I vaporize a perfectly good drone?

I still reported him. He will still lose his license. You just can't invade another country, which is what he did. I feel a little bad for him. I do not feel a lot bad for him.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Mostly because I realized that my being up here was totally unnecessary. I contacted our command center on Aether. Yes, we have a command center on Aether. You know all about it. Rylee and Granddad built it when they were finding all the companies that are, well, wacko. That they bought. Now we use it to monitor the planet. And a lot of other ones.

Still weird.

I told them to assign someone to monitor this airspace and if anyone got close to it to warn them that they will be shot down. Most veered off. Some didn't. For those that didn't, they remotely took control of the aircraft and diverted it and landed it.

The UK authorities were waiting and arrested them and revoked their licenses. You would have thought word would get out and maybe it did.

Way too many pilots are looking for new vocations now. Oh, I stayed up there, just in case.

Kind of a boring day. I spent most of it playing on my phone. OK, I read all the books for a PhD in Organic Chemistry. It took us way too long to realize we could just have our phones show the pages super-fast. I'll take the tests next week. It's not like anyone actually has to fly our planes. Leslie could have just put the plane up there. It could have done everything. It might not have come up with the drone idea. Might.

The rehearsal went well

Sort of.

It didn't start off well. The King didn't like it. God, how is this even happening. I am freaking 12-years-old. I'm a little Iranian girl. I am not a meter and half tall. Less than five feet. I barely have A cups. I weigh 41 kilos. Ninety pounds.

I am about to have a disagreement with 74 year old King Charles. The leader of the Commonwealth. The son of Queen Elizabeth. And I am going to win. He doesn't believe that, and he thinks he is right, but he is not. He is wrong. It isn't a matter of me being right. I don't see it as a win. There is a right answer. I will help him get there. Now I might have just come up with what I have to say.

He is on his way over. Storming a bit. Stomping a bit. A curmudgeonly look on his face.

"I will reward you for curmudgeonly," thought Bob.

And Luke. And Orlando.

Well, that's nice.

Oh, and Amy, Rylee, Ruby, and Leslie.

We'll have fun later.

Apparently it is a well-received word.

"This is not going to happen," said King Charles, in what I assume is his King voice.

"Will you give me an opportunity to share my thinking? I'm not arguing or disagreeing with you. I understand your position completely. I just have some thinking to share to add to your thought process," I said. I think it knocked him back a bit. He nodded.

"We didn't ask for this. It is as much of a surprise to us as it is to you. You don't have to be angry or raise your voice. If you politely ask us to step to the side, even to the point of not attending the funeral, we will honor the request and leave," I said.

Yeah, that surprised him.

"But here's my thinking. I think that considering the information, that is not the choice I would make. You did not have the opportunity to really see or understand the bond the six of us had with your mother. We spent a lot of time with her, especially recently," I said. "We went to water parks with your mother in the last year. More than once. All of us. We had a simply wonderful time. We had high tea. We traveled into space. Your mother dedicated her entire life to this country and there is literally no one in history that has done a better or more admirable job as the leader of a country than your mother. History will always recognize her for that. If we went into the future a thousand years, your mother will still be revered and deservedly so."

I paused for a moment for that to sink in.

His face softened, just a little.

"What we gave your mother, I think, was a little fun at the end of her life. A little joy. A small step away from the rigid protocol of her life. We both know that your mother had a simply wicked sense of humor. Maybe she let herself loose with us in ways she never did with you, but she could just cut you with her humor and it was simply hilarious. We spent a huge percentage of our time together laughing. I will spend the rest of my life wishing I had more time with her. I know you will, too. So I look at this request, as wildly unconventional as it is, as your mom's final humor, not only directed at the six of us, but at the entire world. She not only gets to force us to be center stage, in military uniforms, but she gets to force the entire world to gasp at the audacity of it. It is truly glorious.

"But none of that, as true as it is, is why you should allow this to happen," I said. "You should allow it because it is what she wanted. But it is entirely your decision. None of us have any say. We will honor your wishes."

Then I waited. I honestly think he appreciated my patience. Finally I could see that he had made a decision. He gave me no clue what that decision was.

Until he nodded, turned, and walked away.

Apparently we're still the pallbearers.

The rehearsal went well. We finally broke for lunch. I got a plate and found an empty table. The six of us spread out. Not really intentionally but we like to meet new people and we really don't know many people here. As soon as I sat down, Martha came over and sat down.

"Hi," I said. "No food?"

"I will in a minute, but I needed a moment with you," said Martha.

"Coming to tell me we aren't pallbearers?" I said.

"No, not at all," she said. "King Charles talked to me. You impressed him. He was very complimentary. You gave him your thoughts but let him make the decision. In the end, I think he appreciates that it is his mom's final fuck you to the world."

Which is why we took a moment to laugh at the rehearsal for a funeral.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I said. She looks embarrassed and uncomfortable.

Oh.

"You haven't told him about Beatrix," I said.

She shook her head no.

"He at least knows they married, right?" I said.

She shook her head no again.

"Holy shit," I said. "That's going to be a shock when you tell him. Kind of waited a little late."

Now she's squirming.

Oh.

"Would you like me to tell him?" I said, softly.

"Would you please?" she said.

"Well, it is a good thing he likes me," I said.

"At least for now," she said, as she got up and headed to the buffet line. Hey, it is one of our buffets. It is good food.

Just then King Charles walked up, with a plate full of food. I waved for him to sit down.

Some of my family walked up, too, and I subtly shook my head no. They veered off before he saw them.

"Thank you for hosting the rehearsal," he said. "And this food is amazing."

"Did you try any of the wines?" I said, holding up my glass.

"Not yet," he said. "Perhaps after we're done."

"I'll have a selection delivered," I said, and he laughed a little.

"You're the last of the six to offer," he said.

"Well, they're good wines," I said.

"I know," he said, with a small smile. "Why did you wave off your friends?"

"You caught that," I said, and he nodded.

Well played.

"Because Martha should have told you something and she didn't," I said. "Which means I have to."

"Can I guess?" he said.

"Certainly," I said.

"I know you made my mother a citizen," said Charles. "Which she valued quite highly. She did think so much of you and your family. My wild guess, which is likely not that wild, is that she and Beatrix married, and Martha didn't want to tell me."

"Yes, they did," I said. "And that's part of it."

"Part of it," he said. "Oh, it is to be announced."

"Yes," I said. "Still part of it."

That's when his eyes got huge.

"Well, the furor over pallbearers won't last, now will it?" he said.

"It will be quickly forgotten," I said.

"Queen Consort?" he said.

"Yes," I said. Nodding felt disrespectful.

"Good for her," said Charles.

"Really," I said. "I think so, but I admit I am surprised you think so."

"If I had found out yesterday I would not have thought so," he said. "I think so because of you."

"Me," I said. "Really."

"I am 74 years old," he said. "I see my mother through different eyes today than I did any of the prior 74 years. I owe you my thanks for that. I also owe you and your family and friends my thanks for making my mother's last year more fun. A queen does not have much fun."

"Well," I said. "Not your queen."

My friends and family took our laughter as permission to join us.

Good call.

"She told me," he said. "Queen Consort. The shit is going to hit the fan."

"How do you feel about it?" said Leslie.

"I couldn't be happier," he said.

"Really," said Ruby. "I admit, not the reaction that I expected."

"Not the reaction you would have gotten before I talked to Pari earlier today," said Charles.

"Pari," said Chris. "Not Queen Pari."

"We are on a first name basis now," said Charles.

"Wow," said, well, all of them.

No one said it.

"What, no jinx?" said Charles.

Now they're all just staring.

The rest of the afternoon went as well as a somber rehearsal could go.

The funeral is tomorrow.

It is going to suck. We miss Liz.

The funeral

Yes, the Dionysus monarchy was invited. Technically I was invited, too, being a Queen and all, but I'm in the funeral as a pallbearer. Obviously Pari, here. Space was limited, so only heads of state were invited. In our case, Princess Chris was invited, too, since she is the Prime Minister, and she brought her husband. Honestly, I think they would have invited more.

Our being friends with Liz and all.

I'll be damned. I'll bet that's why we are pallbearers. Liz wanted us at her funeral and this way it was controversial but didn't cause a furor with other countries.

Well played to the end, Liz.

We just got to the church. We walked in to take our positions by the coffin. We didn't do the entire walk. That was family. As I turned to face those sitting in the pews, I almost fainted.

Charles is in the first pew, of course. Camilla is at his side. On his other side is Beatrix.

Yes, you read that right.

Beatrix is holding Charles' hand.

For some reason, on such a sad day, that was just a dash of happiness.

It is now go time. We're dressed in our military finest, complete with white gloves. We took up our positions. Ruby and me at the front, Carlina and Tegan in the middle, and Chris and Leslie in the back. We lifted the coffin. The entire audience is silent. I am sure the news coverage is going simply insane, but those in the church are being respectful. We moved forward and made the turn and headed down the main aisle to the front door. It is a long, slow walk. We're keeping very flat expressions, as you can imagine. It is almost a simple march. The music is playing.

It is freaking sad.

We approached the doors, and two military officers opened the doors. This is where the most cameras will capture us.

We ignored it. We stepped out into the sunlight and carefully walked down the steep stone stairs to the waiting hearse. We had practiced and practiced rolling a coffin into the hearse and it slid in properly. Ruby closed the door, and we stepped back and stood at attention.

The immediate family streamed out. They're the only ones going to the actual cemetery. With one exception.

Us.

We're not done. The hearse pulled away slowly and each group loaded into the appropriate cars. There was an order. We rehearsed it. Our car was last. A big limousine. We climbed in and sat in the back, holding our hats. Quietly. What was there to say?

It wasn't a long ride. We finally got there, and we walked past the unloading vehicles. We waited until everyone found their spot around the gravesite and then opened the door of the hearse. We slid the coffin out and did our little march to the gravesite. We rolled it onto the frame. There had been much debate on what we should do at this point. Our suggestion was that we walk back to our car and quietly leave.

Charles would hear nothing of it.

There were six open chairs at the end for us. We all sat through a truly wonderful graveside service by the minister. Then Charles rose to speak. The only other speaker. He said some really nice things. It really came from the heart. He even shared a little of our conversation from yesterday, heading right into the controversy. Then he freaking went off script.

As far as we were concerned.

"My mother did have one last request, to be accomplished here at the gravesite," he said. "She left it to me whether I would choose to honor that request. I admit, my initial inclination was to just leave it and not honor it. I have since gotten to know these two fine young women better and am thrilled to say that they and their friends and extended family made a huge difference for my mother in her last years. I ask that Princess Ruby and Queen Pari join me, along with someone I am now so proud to know."

Well, he's just hitting them head-on now isn't he?

Ruby and I got up and walked over to Beatrix.

"You don't have to do this," said Ruby.

Beatrix damn near hopped out of her chair.

You go, girl.

Charles wasn't done.

"I learned a lot about my mother this week," said Charles. "And most of that was from a fellow monarch. Queen Pari of Dionysus. I am sure it is quite controversial that the pallbearers are from Dionysus. It was to me. I did not accept it. I was going to stop it.

"Then I spoke to Queen Pari, although she prefers just Pari. These six young women were my mother's friends. They literally changed the last few years of her life. They gave her something that very little of being a monarch could give her.

"Fun.

"Many of you are likely surprised that I allowed them to be the pallbearers. It was my mother's wish, but it angered me. I felt that it was inappropriate and should not happen.

"And then I met Pari. I will share some of Pari's words.

"What we gave your mother, I think, was a little fun at the end of her life. A little joy. A small step away from the rigid protocol of her life. We both know that your mother had a simply wicked sense of humor. Maybe she let herself loose with us in ways she never did with you, but she could just cut you with her humor and it was simply hilarious. We spent a huge percentage of our time together laughing. I will spend the rest of my life wishing I had more time with her. I know you will, too. So I look at this request, as wildly unconventional as it is, as your mom's final humor, not only directed at the six of us, but at the entire world. She not only gets to force us to be center stage, in military uniforms, but she gets to force the entire world to gasp at the audacity of it. It is truly glorious.

"But it was her final observation that changed my thinking.

"But none of that, as true as it is, is why you should allow this to happen," I said. "You should allow it because it is what she wanted. But it is entirely your decision. None of us have any say. We will honor your wishes.

"And my decision was to allow it to occur.

"And perhaps even more amazing was that this was not the most important information shared with me by Pari, just yesterday. This beautiful woman standing with me is Beatrix. Beatrix was my mother's closest childhood friend. The pressures of the monarchy separated them over eighty years ago. The fine people of Dionysus reunited them last year so they could reconnect their friendship. And they did. In ways that will surprise you.

"You see, both my mother and Beatrix were awarded Dionysus citizenship last year.

"Right before they married."

He paused to let that sink in. There were more than a few gasps. I was impressed that the youngest children actually clapped.

All of them. Which made Charles smile. And then he continued.

"While it was sadly too brief, I would like to properly introduce my stepmother, the Queen Consort, Beatrix."

Beatrix is smiling. It is a funeral, so not a big smile. She just shook her head no at the idea of speaking.

Charles just nodded.

"I am proud of my mother," said Charles. "Very proud. It was late in her life, but she was finally able to be just Liz, not Queen Elizabeth, both with these young women and with Beatrix. I will miss my mother profoundly but am thrilled to learn what I have. God be with you, mother."

And we were done.

It took a bit for the press to catch up. This was a very small, very private graveside service. I am pretty confident that the source was Remington.

At Charles direction.

We ended the funeral with all six of us hugging Charles and hugging Beatrix.

We'll miss her so much.

My last hug was with Charles. He started crying. I held him for quite a while. That's what you do. I don't know how it happened, but a photo of us hugging went viral.

I should add that I did find out two things later.

The first was that he quoted me so accurately because Leslie sent a history drone back at his request and provided the transcript. As for the viral photo?

Another cloaked drone.

That's my little girl.

Leslie.

OK, that made us both laugh.

Sibling conflict

One last story. Still Pari. If you recall, Remington doesn't like his sister, Marigold, very much.

Oh, let me change doesn't to didn't.

I promised Remington that he and I would join Marigold in the wrestling room at our London school. Remington is quite young for his role at 26, but he still doesn't understand the concept of being with his 9-year-old sister.

He is, however, clearly turned on by me.

So we're meeting for breakfast to talk. I prefer breakfast in bed after a life defining sexual session, but a little cafe will do. It is a nice day, so we're eating at a little table outside. I see them walking up now. I was a little early.

Marigold appears to be about to jump out of her skin.

"It is such an honor to meet you," said Marigold. "Remington said we were meeting a friend. He didn't mention that his friend was Dionysus royalty. Are you finally going to convince him to go to the wrestling room with me?"

"Maybe," I said. "Sit down, sit down. And it is an honor to meet you, too."

Marigold barked out a laugh.

"I'm just a little girl in school," she said. "You're a Queen!"

"Still just a little girl," I said.

Marigold is nodding. Remington is sitting with a bemused expression.

As he should.

"I'll bet it is hard," said Marigold. "Especially with King Bob around."

I love the twinkle in her eye.

"You should tell him that joke," I said. "He will reward you."

"Sure, sure, the King will reward me," she said. "Probably with a good fuck."

"Sure," I said.

Remington's expression is no longer bemused. Shock. I would go with shock. Marigold is laughing.

"Remington," she said, in a stern voice. "I am a powerful, sexual young woman who is succeeding in my studies beyond even my own expectations. I would be quite the conquest for the King."

I'm over here just nodding away.

"It's child abuse!" said Remington, but without much heat.

"Oh, Remington," said Marigold. "You just don't understand. I've tried to explain. I've shared research. Heck, Pari is a frequent example."

Remington was quiet for a bit. Marigold was smart enough to let him think about it.

"I have it all wrong, don't I?" said Remington.

Marigold laughed.

"Mom and Dad think so," she said. I admit my eyebrows hit the ceiling which made her laugh even more.

"With permission," she said, laughing some more.

We let Remington think so more.

"Is anyone that interested in breakfast?" said Remington. "It feels like our hunger might be satisfied elsewhere."

And it was.

Repeatedly.

Soulmates.

Now, given his role, that might be tougher. But not insurmountable.

There isn't much that is insurmountable for us.

And yes, of course I will be rewarded for insurmountable.

Again repeatedly.

Madison freaking Garden

Grace, here. We're sad the Queen died. My story is new, though. Holy moly. Madison Square Garden. No, not watching a Knicks game.

Performing. The show was just called Orlando and Grace. Yes we fussed at each other over the order of our names. We both wanted the other to be first. I won so I'm second. Did you ever doubt I'd win? He is his father's son.

Our intro group was Ray and Rachel. No real argument on that order. The other way was just confusing. I can't even believe we were doing it. It was Camila's idea. I should have said no. I've been on tour before, and I'm still freaked out. The Garden.

Orlando will keep me sane. He is my rock, and I am his.

We were doing the initial walkthrough of the set, dressing rooms and the rest. Valeria and Mia were with us, just because. OK, Valeria is our third, and Mia is our pretty often fourth. OK, we're married to Valeria and not Mia.

Hmm.

Orlando leads quite the life.

Rachel and Ray were with us, too, of course. Do you know what we noticed?

This place is crap. Old. Dilapidated. Outdated. Just crap. Still the Garden but jeez. Worse, they just spent billions on a tacky refurb.

The exciting news is the shows are sold out. Yes shows. We had started with a Thursday night concert figuring we were not that big of a draw. It sold out in less than three minutes. Not the record but damn fast. Orlando worked with the promoters and there were open dates on both sides. We started with Wednesday and boom. Sold out. We added Friday and Saturday.

You know what happened. We hold the record now.

So we added a Sunday matinee and adults could only come if they brought a child under 10. We wanted to do a fun show for kids. You and your spouse want to come and only have one kid? Borrow one.

Then Rachel suggested we add a second Sunday show and make it free, first come first serve, for those that couldn't afford it. Oh, I don't mean festival seating. That shit is dangerous. It all worked out.

But I kept coming back to the fact that this place was shit. I didn't like that. The owners were not respecting an icon. I put Mary Lou on it. Hey, I'd never bought anything. It turned out that the corporation owned a bunch of things including the Forum in LA. They own the Knicks and other teams, too. The Knicks have been embarrassing for years. The whole thing is owned by the Dolan family, but their lease was up in a few years and the city was going to demolish the Garden to rebuild Penn station. Oh, there was opportunity here. I'll come back to the concerts, but this turned out to be fun. Oh, the concerts were amazing. Just be patient.

We had a school nearby now in Connecticut. We have the NYC schools, of course, but the Connecticut school had key specializations. A former mall, of course. I met with the head of the architecture school, the business school and the engineering school, together. I shared that I wanted to buy the corporation and make a pitch to the city to rebuild Penn Station as a state-of-the-art facility and build a new Garden. It could be a win for all three programs.

The business classes were going to craft our bid for the entire project. Buying it, rebuilding it, and long-term profitability. The architecture group was going to propose designs that I knew would be stunning. The engineering group was going to figure out how to do all this without disrupting train service and with minimal downtime for the Garden itself. I gave that group credit. They got Lawrence involved. They expanded on an idea we had done on a smaller scale.

Today was pitch day. Four teams in each group. The financial teams went first. They were data heavy so had handouts. No PowerPoints. Just spreadsheets. This group went fast since their analyses were surprisingly close. The team that took the prize so to speak had done considerable research on the Dolan family. Their focus was on how to get them to sell. Money was a factor, but ego was more important. No need for the details but our confidence was high. We could overpay a bit, too.

The architecture teams had done a stellar job and every single group had designed a special facility. Simply stunning. The team that won had gone the extra mile and worked with an engineering team. Yes that team won, too. They had designed a beautiful facility, but it was the implementation that won the day. It was complicated so I'll give you the short version. Essentially the entire new facility including the train station would be built offsite. Literally the whole thing just sitting in the wrong place.

Then the existing facility would be demolished all the way down through the train station in the basement. They had developed a variation of the tech we used to clear archeological sites. Basically you programmed in the exact dimensions of what you didn't want anymore and poof it was gone. From an entire building and train station to a perfect hole in the ground. The tracks wouldn't be touched.

Here is where it gets cool. As if what I'd written so far wasn't cool. The building was equipped with antigrav tech. Yes the entire thing. It was smaller than Leslie's first Starship, so it really wasn't that hard. Listen to me. I had no idea how it worked but believed them. OK, you've likely seen lots of these pieces before.

We had a winner. The first step was to buy the whole thing. Yeah, another NBA team. Oh, I had called Adam before we even started. You know. Adam. The commissioner of the NBA. My impression was that he was thrilled that the Knicks would have new leadership. So, that base was covered. Jason used his contacts to arrange a meeting with Jim Dolan. It was just Orlando and me. My idea. My project. Oh shit. My project.

The meeting went really well. I took the lead and Orlando jumped in at the right times. It helped that we could have a running conversation between us, in private. We certainly focused on cost but really played the ego card. It was kind of brutal but in the end we cut a deal that included a massive donation to the charity of his choice in his name. He liked that. He got all the credit and it cost him nothing.

Step one down. Now we had to change the minds of the city. It was probably one reason he sold. Buying it first was a huge gamble. Our confidence was high. We arranged a meeting with the mayor, the head of the planning commission, the head of Amtrak, and several other key participants.

This time we brought Xenia, the lead architect on the project. We also brought Crispin who heads up the engineering and construction. Xenia was going to make the pitch. Our world is always interesting. After all, Orlando and I are still teenagers, and we were the old farts on this trip. Xenia just turned 7 years old and was smart as a whip. That can't surprise you. Crispin was an old man of 8.

What can I say? We arrived at the meeting in our business finest. The meeting started and I was surprised. Not one person mentioned our ages. They were aware of our purchase and were intrigued but you could tell they wanted MSG gone. Well, starting from the last row never stopped us before.

Xenia started us off. For such a tiny thing she gave one heck of an impassioned speech. It helped that she had a 3D hologram of her design and it built itself up. The underground portion of the train station was incredible. Truly state of the art and designed for the future. We shared that we were working on antigrav trains, and this station was ready. That excited them, too. The next layer was the above ground portion of the train station. It, too, was spectacular with shops, restaurants, movie theaters and more. It was quite large. The excitement in the room was palpable but we weren't done.

The next layer was the new arena. That startled them. Oh, the team went all out. It was large, seating over 30,000, which would be the largest in the league, but was a much more comfortable arrangement than any other stadium. Then they showed the reconfigurations that were possible. Just wait, I'll explain. She ended and they clearly believed they had seen choices and they needed to pick one.

Nope.

The engineering team cleared that up. First they showed how the old complex would be removed and how the new one would fly itself over. Then they showed how the stadium could reconfigure itself. The roof opened and sections actually flew themselves in and out and reconfigured. You could go from a comfortable 30,000 seats to a less spacious 40,000 to a more spacious 20,000 and everything in between. Then they showed how all the seating could be removed and have a giant convention floor. Bathrooms and restaurants for that layout flew themselves back in. Even the stands flew out. We had already purchased the staging area outside the city but still in the boroughs of New York. We thought that was important.

Oh, the roof. I should mention that the roof for the arena is a force field. As in no roof. Even in a rainstorm.

It is pretty cool. It was Casper's idea.

To sum it up, we would shut down the complex one evening and be back up the next morning. All automated. How cool is that?

The group to which we were presenting sat there stunned.

"None of this is possible," said the Amtrak guy.

"I appreciate your disbelief," said Xenia. "But none of this is even that difficult for us." Everyone was shaking their heads.

"Let's cut to the chase. How much do you expect from the city and state and what concessions do you want?" asked the mayor.

Tulip jumped in. Oh, I forgot to introduce her. Almost a teen at 12. I have to share this because I love it. Tulip has a sister, Daisy, who is 9 years old. Yes, both flowers. What made me smile is that they were cousins to Berry and Peaches. If there were more cousins, I would expect Broccoli and Green Beans. Hi, my name is Green Beans, but you can call me Green. Unless it was in the south where they use middle names a lot. You can call me Beans.

That doesn't feel better and that was ridiculous. I have no explanation for why Tulip and Daisy were going to school in Connecticut. Tangents. Sorry. Back to concessions from the state. Bob will find it funny and reward me.

Tulip and Daisy are our finance team.

"None," she said. "We will cover all construction and ongoing costs and pay our taxes as expected. Our policy is to never ask for public funding or any concessions. We don't feel it is right. We are also planning on using union labor and we pay quite well. We predict that we will add over 22,000 jobs to the community. The financial impact on area business should be substantial as well. We also have the venue prebooked for events for the next six years." She handed out the list of proposed events. Come on. Our friends stepped up.

"All of these events are prescheduled?" asked the mayor. "This list is incredible."

"We like it," said Orlando. The first words he had said!

"When?" asked the head of the planning commission.

"Our confidence was high," said Xenia. "We are prepared to do the demolition Saturday and installation Sunday, although we should be able to get it done in one day."

"That makes sense to do it on a weekend but didn't answer the question. Which Saturday and Sunday? Do you anticipate it next year? The year after?" asked the mayor.

"My apologies. My response wasn't clear. This Saturday and Sunday," said Xenia. "We have worked to rearrange the weekend's events, with your approval of our project."

I expected bedlam but what we got was silence.

"Would you like to see it?" I asked. There was a reason that we had the meeting early in the day. With the time change it was later on Vino. Yes we built it on Vino. It could fly. It was just easier on Vino. It wasn't exactly speedy to fly an entire building complex, but it could be at our staging area in time.

"See it?" said the Amtrak guy.

"Sure. It had to be done for us to do Saturday," said Xenia.

"Where is it?" asked the planning commissioner.

"On Vino," I said. "We will move it to our staging area in the Bronx once we get your approval."

"You own land big enough to stage this entire thing?" said the mayor.

"Sure," said Orlando. "It was a mall. We own a lot of them. We did have to vaporize the mall though."

Well, we did.

"Forgetting the fact that you have to move an entire building across the Atlantic," said the Amtrak guy. "Going to see it would take days." Crispin snorted. Then blushed. We didn't even make him explain. We're nice like that.

"It is a 13-minute flight," said Orlando. "If you'll just step outside." They all followed us out like puppies. I think we overwhelmed them a bit.

An E-82 dropped over traffic and lowered its stairs. An empty E-82. It's even more futuristic when a C-112 darkens the sky to pick people up. We stepped outside the plane floated down and they all climbed on board. We didn't need to, but we took them up high. They needed to tell the I went into space story at dinner. We got to a remote part of Vino where it was built and flew around it a bit so they could see it. It is freaking impressive. It was also fully functional. All the power was ion based so it was truly self-contained. We even had new toilet tech. I don't think I'll go there. We did know where all the water and sewer hook ups were and planned for that.

I'd toured it before, but I was still in awe every time I went in. It is truly an amazing venue. Spectacular in every way. We weren't sure if anyone would ride the elevators though. We might have to revert to regular elevators. Our concern was moving that many people out quickly, particularly in an emergency. When the elevator door opened and you stepped in, it looked just like any other glass elevator.

Then it detached and floated to its landing spot and the next elevator waiting just off the floor had already moved in and opened. We could clear the entire forty thousand in under 5 minutes. In an emergency, the regular size elevator cars didn't attach. A huge car that could hold a thousand people attached. There were 21 elevator doors around the complex. Fill a car, replace it, fill it, the stadium is empty.

It is kind of cool.

Our alternative for the regular elevators was to just float them to the ground like they were in a traditional elevator, then move it and the next one could land. It slowed the process down by a solid 30%, so we would play with it. Maybe we would alternate them and use signage.

Did I mention there were a number of sky elevators, too? You just stepped into space and were quickly lowered to the ground. We didn't count on those moving many people. They were a novelty. We actually had a pool going on how many people would use it. Three pools. Three nights. Would it go up or down? Not the elevator. Usage.

I might be getting down into too many details. We flew them all back and they approved it on the spot.

Saturday. Woo hoo. Within minutes of their signing, the stadium took off. We notified everyone we could notify and released photos of it over the Atlantic to the media. We made sure that an E-82 was next to it for the pictures. At max capacity it held 40,000 people.

It was not small.

The facility left midday Tuesday and landed late Thursday. I guess it wasn't that slow. Xenia and Crispin rode over in the stadium. My guess is they fucked like bunnies the whole way. Hey, two days to kill. I asked them later and they laughed and said they ate a lot of hot dogs, drank some good IPAs, and fucked.

Not a bad couple of days.

We were all at the site early Saturday morning. We were well back, but close enough to see well. A C-80 hovered over Madison Square Garden. The beam is invisible so one moment you saw the Garden and the next moment you saw a hole. It even vaporized the ash now.

The C-80 was for show. A satellite did the vaporization, but we were not yet ready to share that.

Less than five minutes later, the train station floated into view and settled into its spot. The crews took less than a half hour to connect water and sewer. Electricity was self-contained. Right behind it was the shopping plaza, then the stadium.

Start: 7:03 am
Finish: 8:42 am

Do you think this will change construction?

By 0900, we were sitting in the owner's box having one of the aforementioned IPAs. A morning brew.

Our owner's box.

We told them we had moved all the events, but we had fibbed just a little. The Knicks play tonight. When everyone arrived, their ticket would be exchanged for their new seats. We'd used computer modeling to ensure that everyone got a seat at least a little better than their old one. It still left a huge number of seats at every level. After all, we had over 11,000 more seats, the worst of which was much better than any upper-level seat in the Garden. It is a hell of a design.

So we moved everyone in the old nosebleed seats to better seats.

The team showed up to shoot around and were escorted to the dressing room and then the court. It was confusing for the first time. The dressing room was state of the art. When they came out on the court, Orlando and I were sitting in the two chairs at the end of their bench. We knew almost everyone on the team. After all, the family owns other teams. We stood up and a crowd gathered around, and we got caught up a bit.

"You better get out of those seats," said Jason. "Dolan will explode if you're sitting in them."

"Really," I said. "That can't be a great environment in which to build a team." Silence. No one was going to say anything about the boss.

"Too bad you don't have an owner like me," I said, smiling. "I'm a lot more fun."

That got at least a half dozen inadvertent moans.

"Orlando's fun, too," I said. That got a different set of moans. No, not true. Some overlap. Mental note.

"Are you kidding?" said Derrick. "If you were our owner, I'd guarantee the next five games are 5 and 0."

"Wins, right?" said Orlando, which broke up the group.

"Your next five games are against marshmallows," I said. "Guarantee me six, and I might buy the team."

The sixth game was against the Pacers. Yeah, that was an unlikely win. But Derrick threw down.

"You buy it. We win it. It's even a home game," said Derrick. "Although what the fuck is this place?" Then the light bulb went on.

"You already bought it. No one else could rebuild the Garden overnight," said Derrick.

"I couldn't rebuild a sandcastle overnight," I said. Derrick actually blew a raspberry at me. That might not translate, so Google it if it doesn't. I did deserve it. I didn't answer. I just took Orlando's hand and pulled him back and we sat in the two owner's chairs.

Which generated a lot of applause. Derrick was still the leader, which I liked.

"This means you're going to break us up and bring in different talent," said Derrick, clearly a little sad about it.

"Maybe," I said. "Seriously, this is a business, and you know it, and we will, over time, make changes. Dude, you're getting old." That broke up the group.

"But. You promised me six wins. Now I know who the last opponent is, so I admit I'm not hopeful so here's the deal. If you win either the first five games or beat the Pacers, we'll keep this entire team together through the end of the season. If you win all six, I'll keep the team together through next season."

These guys liked each other. They believed in each other. We spent the next two hours talking about what could be changed to improve this team. Several were easy. Dolan was a control freak and damn near dictated the plays throughout the game. He wasn't good at it either.

"You're the coach. I'm not. Coach however the fuck you want," I said. "Happy to chat about whatever you want to chat about, but I'm not a rich guy who thinks he knows shit. I know what I don't know. You're the coach. Now, let's go tour the training facility."

"We're going to the practice facility?" asked the Coach. "That's quite a hike and we have a game."

I just hooked my finger, and the entire team followed me. We walked off the floor, across the sales floor and through a set of double doors. Into their new training facility. State of the art. Everything you could imagine, brand new. Lots of advice went into this room. Four full size gyms, training rooms, offices, several apartments. The apartments weren't for us. Well, maybe they were, but I neglected to mention the residential tower we had added. It was 66 stories. The top three floors were our family's, even though we had the other places.

Hey, sometimes you need a fuck midgame, right? Although we also had an incredible owner's suite that had one-way glass. Orlando was bending me over a chair and fucking me during the closing minutes of an exciting game.

Visualize that one. You'll enjoy it. You're seeing an entire row of people fucking, aren't you? It's a pretty common occurrence.

"This is incredible, but many of us live near the practice facility," said the Coach. I didn't answer, I just walked to the far end of the facility and through a door, into the team garage. As far as you could see there were really high-end vehicles. Everything from SUVs to sports cars to nice sedans. Even some restored classics.

"Wow," said Derrick. "Whose are these?"

"Pool cars," I said. "Drive any of them you want. Your watches will let you in and start them. They won't let you fly until you've had the training."

"Fly?" asked one of the rookies.

I touched a menu item on my watch and every car in the garage floated up about a foot. Well, not quite true. The big Escalade only floated a few inches. It was too tall to go higher.

And it knew it.

Bedlam ensued. Bedlam is a great enough word, but come on, combined with ensued it is especially cool.

"What watches?" asked the rookie. Good question, rookie. I led them back into the training facility and there was a table that had quickly been set up with new cellphones and new watches for everyone on the staff. Everyone. You're the guy that scrubs sweat off the floor in a game, you get a phone and a watch and access to the pool cars and can take a car home. We'd have to teach them how to park them in hover mode. Then the meter maid couldn't reach them. Literally.

I did push them back towards the floor, because, you know, a game. I was concerned about the cars because they were a distraction, but it was also a motivator. You don't work hard, we trade your ass, and we keep the phone, watch, and cool cars.

Our other team owners rolled the cars and watches out to their teams, too. The same day. Rolled. Hah!

Well, this is getting a little long, so I'll go back to the story about our concerts.

Oh. You want to know about the 6 games.

I'm not letting Morgon forget her team's loss.

The concerts were fun. Maybe I'll come back to that story.

The games are a better story. Three of the six games were at home. The family attended them all. Every single game, I was bent over a chair. Not at the end of the game. Well, yes, at the end of the game. Throughout the game. Orlando, Gabe, Luca, Bob, Tom, Ruby, Amai, Orlando.

Oh, you noticed Ruby. You knew there was a toy closet in our suite.

During the first game, Bob and I got in an argument. Not about the game. Amy joined in on Bob's side. Their position was ludicrous.

They insisted the apartment on the top three floors was mine, not theirs. I bought it, I built it, it's mine.

Well, I didn't actually build it, but you get the idea.

"Fine, I'll agree to this," I said. "The master will be Orlando's and mine, but in the app."

Bob and Amy looked at each other and laughed.

"You're going to set it up so that random people can join you any night you're here, aren't you?" said Amy.

"Well, that's the default for everybody now," said Bob. "Everybody changed it as soon as I added it, so it seemed silly."

Amy pulled out her phone. You can make a bed request and if the other person agrees, that's your assignment. My phone beeped and I pulled it out.

Amy was requesting to join us in our bed, with Bob, tonight.

Approved

Then I set up an auto approval. For anyone.

I like new people.

I like new people

I started a new section because while that night with Bob and Amy was spectacular, the next night was a better example. A good friend added her sister to the system. That's allowed, but she was flagged as new to the culture. Our friend and her sister signed up.

We'd never met the sister.

The friend is Camila. Her sister is Sofia. She's 13 years old now. Once approved, I got a text.

Sofia needs a virgin whisperer. Orlando is too big. Invite the best person

Oh. Boy. Honestly, we needed more than one more cock. Camila and I alone could wipe out a lot of men. Add in the virgin...

Sorry, that was blunt. True, but blunt. I showed it all to Orlando and we had a spirited conversation about who to invite. He agreed we needed more cock, but not that night. It was going to be Sofia's night. Apparently she really wanted to meet us, too. I can't believe we never had. Camila had been careful about separating her lives and we understood it. No, that's not quite true. Some had met Sofia, but not met Sofia. I did text back and forth about why and why now.

Sofia was ready. That's what it came down to and Camila wanted it to be special.

So we needed a virgin whisperer. Hmm.

Both of us said it at the same time.

"Luke," we said. I got the jinx in first. Yum.

I texted Camila. She wondered if he was too young. He is, but he's patient and skilled and simple wonderful.

You're not going to be in the room. Neither are Orlando nor I," I said. "Just Sofia, Luke, and Cassie. It's the right way.

I suspected she was disappointed, but quickly agreed. Given Cassie is still lactating... Maybe TMI. Fun though.

Oh shit.

Is she on birth control?

She replied that she was. Oh good. Getting her pregnant would be bad. It's already happened to Luke once. Wouldn't that be a trip?

Me? Come on

I can't believe Grace asked. I went to Cassie, and she laughed. See a stupid idea.

Oh. She laughed because she thought I was perfect.

"Just don't get her pregnant," said Cassie, in a serious tone. Uh oh.

Then she laughed.

We were doing it on a night that there isn't a game, so that gave us plenty of time. We all went out to a nice dinner. Sofia, Camila, Cassie, Grace, Orlando, and me. It started off great.

"There is a serious shortage of cock in this group," said Sofia. Camila's face was hilarious, and we all laughed, none more than Cassie.

"I'm guessing that bringing in Luke to be your first might have been unnecessary," said Grace and Sofia laughed.

"Camila's a bit behind the times," said Sofia. "Sis, you know I changed schools."

Camila didn't understand the segue.

Then she did. And she squealed.

"So more cock, for sure," said Cassie. "Any requests?" Sofia's face lit up.

"I can make requests?" said Sofia. Then she moaned.

"Anyone you want. Boys, girls, men, women, trans, you name it, we can accommodate it," said Camila.

"You know this from experience," said Sofia.

The rest of us all yelled "yes". I simply loved that Sofia yelled "yes jinx". Now, that's confidence. We were in one of our restaurants, so Sofia climbed on each lap, one by one, and got payment. Cassie leaked a little onto Sofia.

Breast milk

Which is synonymous with Cassie cumming the whole time.

You know, this is silly. I'm passing the pen back to Grace.

Silly? Freaking amazing

OK, I'll take the pen. Grace, here.

We adjourned to our new apartment, which is freaking insane. This is not a small tower. Three floors are a lot of space. Sofia had read the journal by now and her choices were classics. She stayed with people on the East coast so time zones wouldn't be an issue. Anyone in the Eastern Time zone is also just minutes away. Her list is impressive. She'd done her homework.

Orlando was first. I am fine with that. He's amazing. Then her list went Luke, Cassie, Bob, Pari, Tim, Jim, Amai, Juanita, Carlina, Tegan, Kevin, Nan.

Now, that's a list. She even had notes. They weren't a list of ten. They were a list of five pairs. Look at the list again. Luke and Cassie. Bob and Pari. Tim and Jim. Amai and Juanita. Carlina and Tegan. Kevin and Nan.

"I get every one of these," I said. "Except Kevin and Nan."

"Well, that was a difficult one," said Sofia. "I needed a few hundred more slots, but you said 10. I included Luke and Cassie because they were here, so didn't count. Same with you and Orlando. I like powerful young men and women. That left me thousands of choices, literally. Kevin has just done so much. From a terrible situation in New York to where he is today. Kevin could have been Hunter or Tomas or Gabe or Tavi or Ty or Horacio or more. Nan was just as difficult. I had Carlina and Tegan covered. That still left so many choices. Nylah. Amy Lou and Mary Lou." She paused.

"And Jessica," she said, followed by a moan. From all of us. There is no better definition of powerful young woman.

"And Ruby and Amara and Sophia," she added, laughing. "And Amy." She moaned again. We all moaned again.

"But I know Kevin and Nan are close," she said.

"And I'll bet they bring Gina," she added, in a much deeper voice.

Just then coming down the stairs was her list. Not just the ten. Everyone she had mentioned. With them were siblings and friends and partners and more. I laughed because Bob and Amy walked down together and Pari was on Bob's shoulders. She was clearly bouncing and getting off by rubbing her clit on his neck. Weird, but clearly effective, because she was having a tough time holding on.

Sofia turned to me and mouthed "Thank you".

Then she started unbuttoning her blouse.

"Wait," said Nan. That voice from Nan is commanding. Almost all of us know that. I can't anymore, but there was a time. Eighteen kind of sucked.

"None of my business and you don't have to tell me, but I think it is important," said Nan. "Have the two of you ever?" She pointed at Sofia and then at Camila. They both shook their heads no.

"Do you want to, Sofia?" asked Nan.

Sofia damn near snapped her neck from nodding so fast.

"Do you, Camila?" asked Nan. Camila hesitated and Sofia noticed. Sofia's face fell.

"If you don't want to," she said, her voice trailing off. She was about to cry. Camila came over quickly, I thought to say something or maybe hug her, but that's not what she did. Camila pushed Sofia into the wall behind her and kissed her. Passionately. Tongue. The whole enchilada.

Sofia grabbed the bottom of Camila's T-shirt and they separated enough for her to pull it over Camila's head. Damn, she has fine tits. Camila did the same to Sofia, then leaned in and took Sofia's nipple in her mouth while tweaking the other one with her fingers. She used her other hand to rub Sofia's pussy through her shorts.

She didn't last long. She would need new shorts. Sofia skinned down her shorts and panties and then did the same to Camila. They are both so beautiful. Sofia turned Camila so Camila was in her spot leaning against the wall. Sofia duplicated the move by sucking Camila's nipple. She took a step up by inserting one, then two, then three fingers, while strumming Camila's clit with her thumb.

Well, we'd need new carpet. After tonight that was almost guaranteed.

Bob and Pari walked up and took Sofia's hands. Not being stupid, I grabbed Orlando's hand and dragged him over and he took Camila's. OK, not really that much dragging involved. Orlando pulled us out onto the balcony and onto a quad lounge. Hey, sometimes you need a quad lounge. I laid down, upside down, but you expected that. Camila climbed on board. Pari laid next to me, in the same position, which was handy because we could make out, at least for a bit. Sofia followed the plan and climbed on Pari. Sofia has skills. Bob hadn't even gotten to the lounge and Pari was almost bucking Sofia off.

Then Orlando and Bob slid in. That left Sofia and Camila side by side, too. Sometimes they'd take breaks from going down on us to kiss. We were good with that. I sensed a change in movement and knew what was coming. Camila and I were covered with cum, although at opposite ends. She spun and started licking my face while I licked her pussy. I glanced and Pari and Sofia were in the same position.

"Stop," said Nan, sternly. "And swap." Camila and Sofia understood, and I ended up with Sofia licking off Orlando's cum and kissing it to me. I think I might be here awhile, because Tim slid into Sofia and Jim slid his cock between both of our lips. Jim went off first and covered us again, while Tim filled Sofia up.

Go read the rest of the list. It was a hell of a night.

And all I did was agree to play the Garden.

And now I own the Knicks.

Email me. Comments, ideas, and suggestions welcome

End of Chapter