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     Our s
tory starts many generations ago.  I don’t know how our people came into being but our chroni
cles began about 2000 years ago and were written by a man by the name of Homer.

     He writes about his life with his wife Hannah and their 14 children.  There were many houses like ours during that time and there were tents where the servants lived.

     His best friend was Roark who had 17 children.  Those two families plus the servant families were the beginning of all the families.  They intermarried and every now and then
someone would marry outside
his cla
s
s and there would be an
uproar
among the rest of the people.

     A few generations ago some people started arriving that didn’t fit into either class and that generation didn’t know how to classify them. 

     My great, great, great, great grandfather wrote about this group of 47 people arriving in a spaceship.  They had many children and started building
tiny houses
.  They didn’t live in tents like the s
ervants.  These people were confusing to him.

     Before this group came there were many of us and many houses like ours.  They started right away attacking our houses and killing our people without any explanation.

     Before they came, our people were a peaceful group and had servants to take care of us.  After this group came some of the servants joined them and we had to start looking out for ourselves.

     The whole structure of our society was changed almost overnight.  By the time my grandfather was born
most of the houses had been destroyed and we had very few people left.  Many of our people had learned to take care of themselves, cooking their own food and washing their own cloth
e
s.  We have only one servant ourselves and that’s only because she had no one left of her own kind.

CHAPTER 27

     As soon as Rory finished talking Ted snorted, “What a puntz!  Poor thing, now you have to do for yourself.  And you wonder why we want to kill you?  You’re worthless and you’re a pig, just like it says in The Book.”

     “Be silent!” Irene said and turned to the rest of the group.  “Do any of you have any questions you want to ask Rory?”

     When no one said anything she turned to Ted, “Do you want to tell your story now Ted?”

     “You bet I do,” he said and this is his story in his own words:

     We are Manson
ite
s and live by the words of Charles Manson. 
Charles Manson was an extremely intelligent and
enlightened prophet.  He was
designated the fifth angel and came down from the sky as a sta
r, born of a young girl
.
  He was persecuted from the beginning, being locked up in prison many times but he held strong because he knew he was sent to earth for a purpose.

     He became even more enlightened when he discovered a book written by a man named John, centuries before, about the dreams he had.  John had called his book Revelations.  We never could locate that book.

     In the book of Revelations, it had predicted that
a group of locusts, with faces like men but with hair like women, would come out of the smoke and power would be given to them.

     It was right after Charles Manson studied about these locusts that a singing group called the Beatles came out of Liverpool England and they had long hair.

     The locusts were supposed to have breastplates of iron and Manson knew these were their guitars.  They were supposed to have fire and brimstone come out of their mouth and he knew that was those powerful songs.
  There were four of them and they were supposed to be the four angels sent to begin the holocaust. 

     The four angels that John talked about in the book of Revelations were going to be looking for a fifth angel and that fifth angel was Charles Manson.

     The songs they wrote were in code so that only Charles Manson could understand them.
That’s how he knew that the four angels had chosen him for the fifth angel.

    
I could quote chapter and verse from Charles Manson but the bottom line is, we are supposed to continue, as his followers, to create Helter Skelter so that the rich pigs like you and yours will eventually wipe out all the black people.

     So, when there were only a few of us left, we decided it was time to steal a spaceship and escape and continue his work on another planet.  We knew we had come to the right place when we saw that there were so many pigs here.

     When he finished his ranting and raving I felt like I needed some fresh air and without a word, I left the cave.  Rory and his wife and maid followed me.  As we walked around outside I told them the real story about Charles Manson.

     “It seemed like every generation or so, someone comes along who believes they are special and are chosen by their god to be some sort of savior.

     “Just in the time I lived on earth, there were so many, some more famous than others, who needed to be the chosen ones.”

     Rory and Marion looked puzzled and then Rory asked, “Why can’t they just live and let everyone else live like they see fit?  Why do they have to feel chosen?”

     I shrugged, “I can’t answer that, but if we can get you into the city, do you want to go?”  I thought a minute and then laughed, “I wonder what Ted’s group will do if you’re no longer there and they won’t have anyone else to hate?  Will they turn on each other?”

    
 
“Can we take our things with us if we go to the city?”  Marion asked.

     “You’ll have everything you need there.  You can go just as you are.”

     She looked puzzled, “We have some very valuable things.  We can’t just leave them for Ted and his group.”

     “What kind of things are you talking about?” I asked.

     “Jewels that are worth millions.  Gold, silver and precious gems.”

     “Thos
e
things are not important anymore.  You’ll see when we get to the city.  Do you want to go or not?”

     “No, not without our things.”

     “You mean you’re willing to risk your life for some things?”

     She hesitated and then started to cry, “I can’t imagine living without our things.”

     “It’s a decision only you can make.  I have a feeling that Edna will want to go live in the city.”

     “We won’t let her,” she cried.

     “You have no say in the matter.  If she wants to go we will take her.”

     She was still crying and Rory put his arms around her, “Honey, let’s just go look at it.  Can we do that, Ashley?”

     “Yes, I’ll take you to the entrance.  It may not let you in anyway, not if things are so important to you.  It gives us everything we need and the ability to do what we
want to do to contribute to the community.  You may have to make a tough decision.”

CHAPTER 28

     When we got back to the entrance of the cave, Irene was talking to Ted’s group.  Some of our group had lingered to help.

     “Glad you’re back, Ashley,” she yelled from the entrance.  “This is one stubborn group.  They have been brainwashed for generations.  I don’t know what to do with them.”

     “Send them hom
e,” I said.  “I’ve lost patience
with them.  I’m taking Rory, Marion, and Edna back there to look at the city.  Marion’s having a hard time making up her mind between living in peace and holding on to a few trinkets.”

     I knew I wasn’t being nice but I didn’t care.  I started down the dark passage and they followed me without saying a word.

     When we got to the entrance of th
e city, all three gasped.  Josie
ran toward us holding up her little arms to be picked up.  The membrane was in place and I told her to wait until I could enter.

     Marion fell to her knees and wept, “Can I have
children if I live here
?”

     Before I could answer, the membrane disappeared.  They were evidently now ready to
enter and the being was willing to admit them.

     Without another word, we all entered and immediately Marion fell to her knees clutching her abdomen.  Rory went toward her but before he could get to her, he fell on his knees and clutched his groin.

     Edna looked at me like she was going to ask a question but their apparent pain was over in seconds.  They got up from their knees and seemed to be communicating telepathically.

     Marion looked at me, “I can’t believe it.  Not only have we been healed but we can communicate without talking out loud.  Can we live in one of these cute weird little houses?”

     “Just pick out the one you want,” I said and they ran toward an all white house.

     “We’re going to start working on a baby,” she called over her shoulder, laughing.  The jewels were forgotten.

     I picked up Josie
and held her clo
se, “Isn’t life wonderful, Josie
?” 

     She patted my cheek, “Me is going to make a cake.”

     “What kind, darling?”

     “A mud one. 
We go to the
creek to get more mud.”

     I put her down, “Have fun.  Mommy has to go talk to Irene.”

     “Me lub
Ilene,” she said and ran off to find the other kids.

     When I got back to the entrance, no one was talking.  My group, except Irene got up without a word and headed down the dark tunnel.

     I had never seen Irene look so angry.  I patted her shoulder and then turned to Ted’s group.  “Okay, here’s the situ
ation.  Rory, Marion, and Edna have entered the city.”

     “Why the hell do they get to go in and not us?  We have lived strictly by the book and we get punished.”

     “Makes you wonder doesn’t it, Ted?  Maybe you need to rethink this book of yours.  Look at you.  You’re blind.  You couldn’t get into the city, so you resorted to violence.  And you saw what happened.  I would say open your eyes but you can’t see.  Isn’t that interesting?

     “Rory and Marion have been healed and can now have babies.  When I left them they were headed to their new house to get started on that.”

     “Okay, if we agree to go into the city, will we get our sight back?
”

     “I don’t know if you will be allowed into the city, Ted, not if you’re going to resort to violence.”

     “Okay, you guys.  Listen up.  I want all of you to get rid of your knives so we can go into the city and be healed.”

     But when they reached for their knives, they were gone, “What the hell?” Ted said.

     I laughed in delight and looked at Irene.  She was laughing too.  “The weapons have already been taken from you.  This is about more than having weapons.  It’s about your whole beliefs and attitudes.

     “You can’t just get rid of your weapons and expect to go into the city and be healed and then live like you’ve been living.  It may take awhile for you to get this so I suggest that you go on home and think about all this.”

     “How are we going to get home when we can’t see?”

     “I will lead you out of the cave and down the hill and I believe your sight will come ba
ck.”  I didn’t know if this was
true but I hoped it was.

     Their sight returned as soon as they left the cave entrance and they ran down the hill without looking back.  I hoped
we would see them again but not
with more weapons.

CHAPTER 29

     We didn’t see Ted’s group for several weeks and spent the time enjoying ourselves.  We didn’t see Rory and Marion much and left them alone to enjoy each other and hopefully start a baby.

     Edna had her own house with a vegetable garden out back.  She had picked a small red house and told me she had never had so much.  She was so happy.

     Our community was growing and we had kids everywhere.  Joe and I had started another b
aby and I was so excited.  Josie
asked me everyday why her little brother or sister didn’t hurry up and come.

     I was designing more and more clothes every day and was designing baby clothes.  We had more seamstresses and silk and cotton weavers so we had plenty of clothes.

     There were several men who liked growing cotton.  It amazed me how many people liked to grow things and I thought about Ted and his group and the great gardens they had.  They could contribute a lot if they would only straighten up their act.

     Joe continued to study his music and could now play seven instruments.  We all got together someti
mes and sang and danced
.