Algeria Here I Come
by: E Walk
(© 2008 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 18

The Winner Is?

When we got to the suite, Allie and Brahim were already dressed for dinner.  Allie looked at me, “Dad, get your backside in gear and get dressed for dinner.  I’m worried about Mr. Khalid and Mr. Amir.  Dad, after dinner why don’t you go collect Doctor Roberts’ things so he can stay with us tonight and we can make sure that he’s okay.  Dad, call Doctor Sorenson and see what we should do.  I don’t want Grandpa Darryl to be alone.”

Doctor Roberts looked at Allie, “Allie, I’m fine.  I’m an old man and I can take care of myself.”

Allie was unfazed, “Your not old and you lost a lot of blood.  Dad, please tell Grandpa Darryl that he has to stay with us at least for tonight and maybe for tomorrow night too.”

“Doctor Roberts, I think that Allie has a very valid point.  You probably shouldn’t be alone.  It would be best if you spent the night here with us.  That way, there would be three people to help you if something should happen.  Allie, where is everyone going to sleep if John and Jim to spend the night?”

“Dad, I’ll talk to Albert or Daniel while you’re getting dressed for dinner.”

When I was returning to the living area, Allie was talking to Albert,

“You’re positive it won’t cause too much extra work.”

Albert shook his head no, “Sir, it will be easy to take care of.  We’ll make the sofa into a bed when we prepare your suite for when you go to bed tonight.  We’ll do it while you are at dinner.  Thanks for telling us that we need to leave six treats tonight.”

Allie reminded Albert, “Please don’t call me sir.  If I have to refer to you as Albert, the least you can do is refer to me as Allie.”

Albert just smiled, “Very well, Sir.”

Allie had to have the last word, “Mister Albert, you just wait and see what a mess we have made in here in the morning.”

The four of us made our way to the dining room and two ladies and Jim and John were already seated at the table and there were spaces so that Brahim and I could sit beside Kate and Jocelyn.  Allie sat beside Dr. Roberts so he could help him.  When Dr. Whitney and his wife arrived, Allie helped them to get seated.

We still had two seats at the table that weren’t filled.  Allie wondered out loud, “I wonder why Mr. Khalid and Mr. Amir aren‘t here?  I hope we didn’t upset them.”

Philippe stopped by, “Mr. Khalid called and said they are going to eat later this evening.  They are still at the police offices assisting the police.”

During dinner, Allie was indeed helping Dr. Roberts cut his lamb chops.   Dr. Roberts laughed, “Heck, maybe I’ll injure my other arm so I won’t ever have to do any work again.  I’ll just call for Allie.”

Allie responded immediately, “That’s not even funny.” 

Allie turned to Dr. Whitney,  “Dr. Whitney, why did you stand up this afternoon?  How badly are you hurt?  Don’t you realize that you could have been killed?”

Mrs. Whitney answered for her husband, “Allie, he thinks he’s invincible.  I have already scolded him because he was so careless.  He just had a flesh wound, but the big question is why did you stand up and take a shot at the assailants with a sling shot?  If you were my grandchild, I would paddle your butt.”

Allie’s answer was very direct.  “Mrs. Whitney, the bad guys would never expect me to be able to do anything to stop them from killing Mr. Waller.  I happened to take my slingshot with me this afternoon, and I found some great stones while we were in Tivoli Garden.  I figured no one would miss a few pebbles.”

Unbeknownst to Allie, Khalid and Amir had entered the dining room.  Amir started in on Allie, “Roommate, that kind of thinking is going to get you wounded again.  We’ll talk to you all in Mr. Waller’s suite after you finish your dinner.  We have a proposal to suggest when you finish your dinner.  We’re going to go grab something in the Lido restaurant while you enjoy this decadent setting and service.”

Allie questioned, “Do you mean all of us sitting at the table or just Dad, Brahim and me?”

Khalid put his hands on Allie shoulders, “We want everyone there, so they can watch us blister your backside so hard that you won’t be able to sit for the rest of the voyage.  We’ll meet you all in Mr. Waller’s suite in 45 minutes.”

Allie started to stand and pretended he was crying, “I'm going to go report you to Captain for the way you are threatening me.  I’m sure that it’s against the law of the sea.  Now, why don’t you two gentlemen go feed your faces, so I can help Dr. Roberts with his food?”

The table was laughing as Khalid and Amir left.

Jacob looked at us, “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do, Allie, we’ll send two of each of the desserts to your cabin so everyone can have their choice.  If you need more, let Albert know.”

As we finished dinner and were leaving the dining room, the small orchestral group, who had been playing background music during the meal, started to play Fanfare For the Common Man.  Everyone in the dining room stood and applauded as we were starting to walk out.  Allie turned to me and asked, “Dad, what’s going on?  Why is everyone applauding?”

Alan, the cruise director, took the microphone, “Ladies and gentleman, there goes the Slingshot Kid.  If you’re ever in trouble, call Allie, and he’ll be there to help you.”

The look that Allie gave Alan would have frozen the blood in the veins of most human beings.  Allie led us to the closest elevators, so he could get away from the attention.

We took two elevators because there were ten of us. We could probably have fit into one except Dr. Whitney had his crutch and Dr. Roberts had his arm in a sling.

When we got to the suite, the sofa had been made into a queen sized bed.  Dr. Whitney snickered, “Now I understand why you were invited to sit at the Captain’s table last night.  You’re either very rich or very important people.  Perhaps both.”

Allie shook his head vehemently, “How about neither, Dr. Whitney?”

The discussion was interrupted by the ringing of the veranda door chimes.  Allie opened the door and bowed to Amir and Khalid,  “Please enter, your royal highnesses.”

The seven people who didn’t know about the opening in the Veranda wall looked really confused.  Dr. Whitney asked the question that must have been on everyone’s mind, “How did you two gentlemen get onto the veranda of this suite?  Did you climb over the railing or something?”
 

That was all Allie needed to get started, “Nope, they just walked through the wall.  It seems that they are in the cabin next door.”

Jimbo was shaking his head, “Real people can’t walk through walls.”

That broke Allie up, “See, General Khalid and Colonel Amir, I told you that you weren’t human.  Now, what did you need to talk to us about?”

Khalid grabbed Allie, “First off, Mr. Alexander Graham Safi Waller, I demand that you show us the proper respect, since I am now a Major General.  Which means, I have two stars on my Uniform.  Your ex-roommate will now be referred as Brigadier General Amir.  We were both promoted because of you three wild ones.  The President sends his regards for a job well done.  Now the reason for the meeting, I hope that none of you signed up for a tour tomorrow because we think it might be advisable if you not go on an organized tour.  Allie, what would you like to do when we dock in Stockholm tomorrow?”

“I wanted to go to see the Museum where the reconstructed Viking ship, Vasa, is on display.  We had too many things happening today that we never did sign up.”

Khalid nodded, “Allie, here’s what I propose that we do.  In the morning, we’ll make arrangements for us to be picked by private vehicles and be taken directly to the museum.  We are of the opinion that after what happened today that the terrorists might  not be after you all because the two persons that you wounded today explained who they were working for.  As a result, two more high ranking officials in the Algerian government have been placed in jail.  The person who has been masterminding what has been happening may still be at large, so we can‘t take any chances.”

“Amir and I will be accompanying those of you who would like to go with Allie.  We need to know how many of you would like to join us.”

Everyone decided they wanted to go.  I got the impression  they were afraid that they would miss something if they didn’t go.

The conversation was interrupted by the ship giving three short blasts of its horn so the three young guys went to the veranda to watch as we pulled away from the pier.  The Whitneys, Kate and Jocelyn excused themselves, so Khalid, Amir, Brahim, Dr. Roberts and I went to watch with the guys.

The lights of Copenhagen were fading into the distance when Albert arrived with a cart with a multitude of desserts.  He announced, “I’ll get the desserts that you don’t eat in the morning.  Is there anything else I can bring you, Sir Allie?”

Allie went to the phone and dialed, “Hey, this is Allie Waller in Cabin 1001.  Would you please advise Mister Albert that he is to stop calling me sir.  He's trying to turn my hair white like Dr. Roberts’ before I’m eleven.  I have enough stress watching out for my Dad, brother and the two Generals in suite 1000.  … Thanks Captain Brower.  Sorry, if I bothered you, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Jim and John were sitting there laughing.  John asked, “Did you really call the Captain?”

Allie stuck out his tongue at Albert, “No, but if Albert calls me sir once more, I will.  Now let’s eat the desserts before we go tuck General Khalid and General Amir into bed.  We need to find out if they sleep in the nude as Dad and Brahim do.”

Brahim looked at Allie, “Alexander, you’re stepping over the line.  You need to pull back.  I know that your adrenalin is flowing after what happened today, but you owe these gentlemen an apology.  It’s nobody’s business how anyone sleeps.”

Albert excused himself, and I thought to myself, ‘This is a side of Brahim that I had not seen.’

Allie sat on the sofa bed and began to cry, “Mr. Khalid, Mr. Amir and Dr. Roberts, I apologize.  Bra is right, I got carried away.  Please forgive me.”

Amir went and sat down next to Allie and put his arm around him, “Roommate, for your information, we do sleep naked.  You’ve already seen me, so you know what Khalid looks like.  I think it might not be wise for you Jim and John to be going around looking at naked men.  What would their parents think?”

Jimbo spoke up, “General Amir, me and John have been checking out what men’s peckers look like every chance we get, when we go to exercise club and swim, while our dad exercises.”

Khalid reacted, “Jim, does your father know what you’re doing?” 

John answered, “Yeh, Dad says he does the same thing, just to compare.  He has warned us though, to not be too obvious in looking or someone might take it to mean that we might be interested in doing something.  He says we have to be discreet in our spying.”

I was totally unprepared for what happened next.  Khalid stood and started to undress, “Okay everyone, it’s show and tell time, so there won’t be any secrets or surprises if we see each other naked during the remainder of the trip.  Everyone get undressed.”

Dr. Roberts got a funny look, “Guys, I’m not sure we should do this, and besides I would need help.”

Khalid started to undress, “Don’t worry, Dr. Roberts, we won’t molest you.”

It was amazing how fast the three ten years olds were undressed with heaps of clothes on the floor.  Dr. Roberts resisted, but I helped him undress, since I had already seen him naked.  When we five adults were undressed, the three ten year olds were scrutinizing us.  They went into a huddle and when they broke, Allie announced, “And the winner by unanimous decision is that Mr. Edward Waller is the best endowed.”

Khalid took exception, “I’ll have you three  barred from ever judging a beauty contest again.  How much did that Waller guy pay you?”

Allie flipped back, “Sorry, General Khalid, but we just got the signal that it was time for us to take a shower before the hot water runs out.”

The three ten year olds disappeared and the rest of us put on our briefs and shorts.  Dr. Roberts needed my help to get started.  We were waiting for the three preadolescents to emerge from the shower.  When they appeared, Allie announced, “Dr. Roberts, I’m going to sleep with you while Jim and John sleep on the sofa bed.  Hey, the scenery was much more interesting before you all got dressed again.”

Khalid and Amir picked up the rest of their clothes and disappeared through the veranda wall.

Allie and Dr. Roberts disappeared into Allie’s bed and I hugged Jim and John and wished them a good night.  John looked at me, “Thank you, Mr. Waller, that makes us feel as if we are part of your family.

“John, you two are part of our family.  Haven’t you ever heard the old adage, ‘The family that gets shot at, stays together.’

Jim looked at me and then hugged me, “Yeh, Dad Ed, you’re as weird as your son.”
 

After Brahim and I had taken a nice leisurely shower where we decorated the shower wall two times.  We climbed into bed, naked of course.  I held Brahim and whispered,  “We need to find some condoms soon.  I want you to make love to me.”

He turned to face me, “I would like that very much.  Now let’s go to sleep.  It has been an extremely long day.”

We were awakened by someone shaking us, “Dad and Bra, Dr. Roberts is moaning and thrashing.  He keeps saying it hurts.  Please make the pain go away.”

I put on a robe and went to see what was happening.  Dr. Roberts was definitely moaning and I could see why.  He was lying on his injured arm.  I woke him and had Allie get a glass of water so he could take a pain pill and a sleeping pill that the doctors had given him.  Allie and I rearranged the pillows so he would not be able to lie on his injured arm so easily.

After I had the two of them settled, I crawled back into bed and it seemed as if I had been sleeping only a short time when I was being shaken again.  “Mr. Waller, get up.  We can’t find Allie or Dr. Roberts.  They must have been kidnapped”

Thank goodness, Jim and John had seen me naked the night before as I pulled on a pair of shorts and a robe, “Look guys, no one would want to kidnap them.  Did you check the veranda?”
 

John answered, “Yes and we walked through the wall to see if they were in General Khalid and General Amir’s suite and we didn’t see them.”

The door opened and we heard Allie say, “I hope the rest of them are awake because I’m hungry and I am in desperate need of nourishment.

I looked at the two of them when they were coming into the room, “Where have the two of you been?  Why didn’t you tell us where you were going?”

Allie looked at me with a funny look, “Dad, we went to get Dr. Roberts some clothes and his notes so he could make his presentation on Helsinki before we dock in Stockholm. So just chill.  Why aren’t you dressed?  We’re hungry.”

The veranda door opened and Khalid and Amir just walked in, “Why aren’t you people dressed.  It’s time for breakfast.”

I threw up my hands, “It might be nice if someone told us what we were supposed to do next.  We don’t seem to be doing anything correctly.  We’ll just stay here and hibernate.”

Allie took exception to that comment, “Come on, Dad, we’ll help you and Bra hide your penises for the day.”  

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: Why would they name a town after a place like Hell, and have it sinking too?  Everyone seems to be recovering and getting along pretty well, except Dr. Roberts. He was still in pain last night.

I think Ed and Brahim are becoming closer and closer all the time. I hope everything works out well for them. This story keeps getting more and more exciting all the time.  I think I need more chapters.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 03/13/09