Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Thirty-Five
12th September 1969
Pohnpei
As soon as Mary Clark and her son, Mike Rockefeller, were gone Ben watched as Kiki just seemed withdraw into herself. It was then that he had realized that she had been forcing herself to play the part of the gracious hostess, after spending months aboard the Antonia where she had basically been on duty constantly. That had been absolutely exhausting for her, both mentally and physically.
Now, all she wanted to do was as little as possible and Ben couldn’t blame her. Not that he minded what they were doing in the meantime as they were laying on the hammock on the covered porch that ran the length of the back of the whitewashed villa. It was a rainy day and as was frequent in the Tropics, it was pounding on the roof tiles above. Ben was trying to hold as still as possible because he feared that he might spill them out of the hammock.
“I always mess everything up” Kiki said to the ceiling and Ben had no idea that she was even awake. “You didn’t need to find yourself in the middle of my drama.”
“You were doing your job” Ben replied, “Protocols and all.”
“Doctor Berg once said that rigid adherence to rules is an excuse to act in untoward ways without consequences” Kiki said, “I suspected that Doctor Rockefeller was there to spy on me, and I threw him into the quarantine bay the instant I was given an excuse.”
“For starters, I doubt that Berg would use those exact words” Ben said, “And Mike said that he was there to spy on you, after a fashion.”
“What?” Kiki exclaimed and forgetting that she was on a hammock sat up and tipped the balance precariously. It took a moment for them to restabilize the thing only for Kiki to get out and start pacing around the porch as Ben rocked back and forth. She was barefoot and the style of dress that she was wearing, little more than a cotton sheet wrapped around her which was a nod to the hot, humid climate, didn’t lend itself to stomping around in agitation.
“Mike said that his father sent him to get a feel of who you are without seeing you through the lens of CIA or US State Department paranoia” Ben said, “That was why he flew from New Britain. He certainly got to know how you are when you are not trying to endear yourself to someone.”
Kiki gave Ben a dirty look. “Why did he tell you that?” She asked.
“Because I asked him” Ben replied as he put his feet on the floor, “He thought the whole thing was silly and likes politics about as much as you do.”
That seemed to deflate Kiki. “As I said, I always mess things up” She said flatly.
“Stop it Kiki” Ben said, “No one is perfect and there is no way you could have known that.”
Even as he said it, Ben knew that Kiki had legions of detractors who had spent years trying to catch her in a moment when she was less than perfect. It was the reason why the villa’s security caught a photographer trying to sneak in at least once a day. Recent events, with Kiki postponing a Royal wedding so that she could go on the medical mission and Ben himself drawing attention for his efforts in Bavaria had brought the focus of the public eye on them as a couple, as well as loads of speculation. People had questions and the dearth of answers because Kiki wasn’t interested in giving them any.
“I should have asked the obvious questions” Kiki replied as she sat back down on the hammock next to Ben. “Like you did.”
“Who said that was an obvious question?” Ben asked, “The lab on your ship said measles and that is not something you could afford to ignore, plus you have the whole political angle to consider. I had the luxury of not having to worry about that when I arrived here.”
“So, there are advantages in having a Doctorate of Philosophy as opposed to Medicine at times” Kiki said.
“Perhaps” Ben said, “But it doesn’t command nearly as much respect. Everyone knows what you do is life and death, while I get to be asked if I do presentations at the Archenhold Observatory’s Planetarium.”
“Is that a joke?”
“Hardly, I get asked that more than you would think” Ben replied, “That is one of the reasons my father asks if I am going for a Professorship. A career in the Sciences requires that sort of gravitas, it is how we determine the proper order when the faculty fucks goats.”
Ben said that last part in an imitation of his father’s voice.
With that Kiki started laughing. “All these years spent working towards our goals” She said, “We reach them and then we get reminded that we are still at the beginning.”
“I wouldn’t say that” Ben said, “It just means that there are still a whole lot of things we have yet to do.”
For a long moment they sat there listening to the rain.
“The Cook said that it is seafood for lunch today” Kiki said.
“Let me guess, with bananas and yams in some capacity?” Ben asked.
Kiki just shrugged. “Welcome to the islands” She said, “No one ever said that paradise had a great menu.”
