A Memory Close to Her
by Michael Fowler
part 1
The first explorers coming from Earth to the wetlands received a friendly reception. Descending from their mothership in a three-man exploratory vessel, the trio encamped by one of countless large lagoons. There they were astonished to observe, rising from the algae-filled water before them, penguin-dolphin beings whose natural feathers dressed them in tuxedos or gowns and who, mute and smiling, took them under their wing-flippers and escorted them to makeshift cushions of vines and branches set out on the firm and mossy bank.
The voiceless creatures proceeded to offer their visitors unlit “cigars” — woven packets of fronds and reeds through which it was delightful to breathe — along with shells brimming with a refreshing and relaxing drink that all three graciously if heedlessly sampled.
The hospitality of the grinning animals included many humorous antics, performed in noiseless gestures or accompanied by a low and unintelligible whistle. Throughout this reception they maintained the personas of standup comics. The Earthers felt surrounded by many pantomiming comics ranging from revered ancient ones in silent films down to the present, all looking good in formal dress.
Among the visitors was Ed Farrow who, like his companions, relished the instantaneous bliss that the relaxing green vegetation and shimmering water of the foreign place brought him. And he enjoyed being catered to by creatures of obvious humor, grace, and intelligence. But these attributes, as delightful as he found them, also puzzled him. The animals must have acquired them by natural selection or by chance.
Or was it possible they had encountered Earthers before and seen Bob Hope and Joan Rivers on a nostalgic TV network? The odds of that seemed vanishingly small, and Ed, despite a growing feeling of comfort in such congenial company, began to feel a warring sense of entrapment. Were he and his companions being set up as victims, the creatures only waiting until they were all paralyzed by tranquility to make a deadly move, whatever form that might take?
Though the animals used their teeth only to fill in gleaming smiles, Ed noticed, they were toothy enough to devour meat and bone. And what was in these fronds and drinks, that he along with Walt and Tina, the two others in his group, found their sound-free riffs on Joan and Bob so uproarious? Ed began to feel an inexplicable love for these peculiar beasts.
True, the intoxicants, if that’s what they were, seemed harmless, since the creatures also partook of them, but were they really? They must have cast a powerful spell over Ed for him to delegate his well-being to the whim of these quiet others. And when he noticed Walt and Tina actually hustled back into their viny seats when they attempted to leave — in Walt’s case by a waddling, pant-suited Joan Rivers who applied her teeth to his arm, oh so gently, to steer him back for more contemplation and drink — he worried that soon her incisors would go deeper, tearing flesh or inserting venom.
What occurred was odder. Joan pressed her breast with her flipper and squirted some drops of her milk, if that’s what it was, into Walt’s open mouth, when he attempted halfheartedly to resist her and go. Bob did the same with Tina, from his equally flowing breast.
Immediately, Walt and Tina broke into smiles, relaxed again onto their cushions, and along with their beaming hosts Bob and Joan contemplated their watery surroundings with a contentment unknown to them in their lives. Another Bob or Joan did the same for Ed, squeezing drops of breast milk onto his tongue as he delightedly sucked it down.
As the three later recounted to each other, they felt surrounded by friends in an ideal world without stress or anxiety. In addition, Ed and Walt had sported erections, and Tina had noted her moistness.
Walt and Tina didn’t mention to Ed that, despite their long-standing romantic relationship, they had considered breaking up before coming here, having discovered in each other enough faults and shortcomings to make further life together impossible. But, under the influence of the lagoon and its secret concoctions, neither could recall in detail what it was that made the other unsuitable. Each knew, abstractly, that something had come between them, but what was it? Memory revealed only an idealized partner without flaws, and all doubts vaporized. A revival of their love and union seemed in the offing, as long as the unknown drugs continued to act.
Openly, and with a certain disdain for the jovial creatures whom they continued to call Bobs and Joans, the visitors discussed building a tourist resort. A high-rise hotel by a spruced-up lagoon with additional clear-water features and a sanded beach with rides for children sounded like a money-maker.
The real draw would be the induced euphoria and sexual stimulation for adults, and a temporary wipe of love’s slate, giving a fresh start to couples with a problematic past. Of course, the lagoon water, the smokeless cigars, the shell drinks, and above all the breast secretions would undergo analysis and hopefully be determined unharmful. Samples of all these, which the Bobs and Joans donated without objection, even allowing themselves to be milked, were packed for transport home.
All this may have been pie-in-the sky and premature, but the trio’s euphoria convinced them in advance that they entertained a sound proposition. Before they left for home, they threw a party to celebrate their profitable paradise to be. Many Joans and Bobs came, parading their spruce young replicas before them, as such festivities needed little excuse here.
Fresh green cigars and shell drinks were passed around, and breast secretions flew in the air, swallowed by Earthers and natives alike. The toothy grins of the comedians shone in the night under a luminous moon, and they reacted to the braggadocio and jibes of the Earthers as if they too were stakeholders in the future enterprise and entitled to share in the good times to come.
Soon the Joans and Bobs were slapping themselves and the Earthers on the shoulder with their flippers, in imitation of how the three Earthers playfully nudged each other. They boogied on their woven cushions as did the Earthers, to an internal rock beat. It was proposed by Tina and Walt, and Ed agreed, that the Joans and Bobs become performers at the new resort hotel, as well as the maids and butlers they resembled, if such adaption was possible.
There was singing too, and a Joan and a Bob duo waddled forth from the water and did some hilarious mooing and moaning, the Bob even blowing on a reed to create a high-pitched drone that tickled the listeners’ ears.
Yet there was something disturbing in this musician’s mien that no one but Ed noticed. The artist possessed an array of orange-red neck feathers, like a copper goatee, that adorned no other Bob or Joan, giving him a forbidding air, at least in Ed’s eyes. This Bob also seemed to grimace from time to time rather than smile, and fixed Ed with a cool stare once too often.
Ed, coming off his euphoria, thought he read something in the Bob’s features that he hadn’t been aware of earlier, a kind of resentment. But then, tired and growing sleepy, he decided that he must have imagined it. After all, that was the mind-sweeping effect the place had on everyone.
* * *
Five years later, Ed and his wife Ada sat at a table in the dining room of a sprawling, high-rise hotel, looking through a storey-length window at the outdoor crystalline swimming pool and spouting fresh-water play features that encroached on the lagoon. On the opposite side of the table sat Walt, but without his former love interest and fellow explorer Tina, whom Ed already missed.
Tina had been fun and attractive. But, like Ed himself, Tina had sold her investment in the lagoon to Walt, and watched with cool detachment as he and a group of developers transformed the place into a lucrative vacation spot and spa for interplanetary travelers, especially lovers but also families with youngsters.
Ada knew that much about the place already, since Ed had occasionally spoken of it. She now took in what Walt had to add, the savvy part-owner having invited his former partner and wife to see how the spot had blossomed after five years of growth and, if they desired, to sample its famous love elixir.
Ada had agreed to the visit, realizing her marriage needed some sort of boost, but not so secretly held doubts about a magic potion. At the first sight of the mammoth hotel, Ada had in fact felt a certain revulsion. The Joans and Bobs — now collectively called the Hosts, she learned — were a cute novelty but rather carnival-like and not too thrilling. But then she and Ed had been on the outs for some while, each contemplating divorce, and that dampened her mood.
“The fresh water and the other gentle stimulants we enjoyed on our first visit are entirely harmless to humans and most other visitors here, and the lagoon is already legendary for its medicinal benefits to bathers,” Walt explained over appetizers for Ada’s benefit. “All you need is a quick dip, Ada, and a warm shower afterward, and you’re as good as nature made you.”
Avoiding Ada’s look, he glanced out the window at an elderly couple entering the cloudy water of the lagoon in bathing attire, prodded gently by one of those smiling penguin-things.
“Thanks, Walt,” said Ada, not overly charmed by their host or the locale, “but I understand this is mainly a trysting spot, a lover’s lane kind of setup.”
“Absolutely the top spot in the galaxy for lovers and those looking to rekindle an old fire,” said Walt. “If you and Ed ever find yourselves at odds in the romance department,” he dared to suggest, “this is where you come to make up and get back on track. We’re also a top venue for weddings and renewals of wedding vows, as Ed has probably told you.”
Walt noticed Ed and Ada exchange not too friendly glances. Had he struck a nerve? If so, it was nothing his drugs couldn’t handle. “And the kids love it because they get to interact with our cuddly Hosts.”
“Our three-year old Bennie will be joining us later,” said Ada. “He’s visiting the beach here with his grandparents for a couple of days first. I know he’ll love those charming giant penguin-dolphin creatures that walk right up to you like they know you.” She wanted to ask next what the Hosts thought of Walt's use of their land or if they were always as placid as they looked now. Instead, she asked: “Are you also an owner of the beach development here, Walt?”
“No, Ed and I missed out on that. Those beautiful natural beaches were off our radar when we first landed here five years ago. We simply didn’t know they existed. Later arrivals got in ahead of us there.”
This was not quite true, as Ed knew. Their companions aboard the mothership had discovered the popular golden beaches minutes after Ed, Walt, and Tina had set off on their own for the lagoons. If only they had remained on board the ship a little longer and resisted the lure of the mysterious but less fruitful inland waters! Ed had never mentioned this lost chance to Ada and said nothing now.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael Fowler
