THE SON OF ELI

CHAPTER 17: TENDER MOMENTS

Jo knew Nancy was not happy the moment she saw the girl's tight lips and crossed arms.

She closed the door gently and put a hand on Nancy's shoulder.

"What's it, honey? Why do you have your old aunt look?"

"It is Eli!" Nancy announced dramatically. "He is acting weird!"

Jo felt her heart lurch, and for a moment, she was filled with trepidation.

"What's happening to him?" she asked, fighting to keep the concern from her voice. The study door opened, and Dr John came in with a faint smile on his face.

"Nothing happened to him, Jo," he said softly. "I guess Nancy doesn't like the fact that Eli is acting all grown up!"

"Yes, I don't want him to be like that!" Nancy cried primly. "I want him to be just like he was!"

Jo raised her eyebrows.

"Grown-up?" she asked in a tight voice.

"Do come in, Jo," the doctor said hurriedly. "Take the weight off your feet."

Still looking a tad uneasy, Jo marched into the living room and sat down. Nancy sat beside her and wrapped her arms around Jo.

She wriggled her nostrils suddenly, and a look of surprise and sudden craving crossed her face.

"John, you cooking?" she asked with wonder. "That food – whatever it is – smells really nice!"

Dr John sat opposite her and rubbed a hand across his face.

"That's Eli," Nancy said. "He's cooking Mexican food, so he says."

"Nancy, why don't you go and check on him, dear?" John said suddenly, and Jo knew he wanted Nancy to be out of the room.

"Yes, Uncle John!" Nancy said with a giggle and bounced out of the room.

Jo looked intently at the doctor.

"Cooking? Eli?"

"He's amazing, Jo. So very amazing! He was a child before I took him to the library, like an unformatted hard disk, blank and without depth," Dr John said, his voice awed. "Then, once in the library, I left him alone, and he read everything! From world history to geography, science, zoology, archaeology, the Bible, the dictionary, thesaurus, novels, animal books, children fairy tales, books on pop culture, music, nature, to cooking, to crafting, sculpting, arts... everything, Jo, every word in there! And, the next time I saw him, he has been transformed from a blank child to an enlightened gentleman!"

Jo sighed with a little worry.

"Who's he, John?" she asked softly. "Surely, a man like that couldn't possibly be an accident! Maybe, he's a robot, a cyborg, something advanced. And maybe he could be deadly."

"He's human, Jo, but with the most advanced system that I've ever come across. Look, he was hungry, and I took him to the kitchen intending to prepare some boiled rice and vegetable stew. He asked if it would be for the four of us, and I said if he wants to. He approached the ingredients and grouped them, and told me straight away they could prepare a Mexican beef and rice skillet for all of us. I asked him how he knew, and he mentioned the Mexican cooking book he read, the chapter and page numbers! I went to the library, found the book, and bingo, right there it was! His memory grabs diverse information and stores them in the most amazing way!"

Before Jo could speak, Nancy came back into the room with an excited face.

"Food is ready!" she announced. "Mommy, Eli's food is delicious! Come, both of you, come quickly, let's eat!"

Jo sighed, hit by the unreal nature of what was going on. She followed John and Nancy to the dining-room where Eli had served four plates of the steaming food. The aroma was tantalizing, causing Jo's belly to rumble almost immediately.

She looked at Eli.

He was coming back from the kitchen and cleaning his hands on a napkin. Tall, muscular, cored, just like a demi-god. And that incredible handsomeness, the perfect structure of his features, the perfect symmetry, his s****l aura and appeal. Her heart fluttered as he looked at him, and when he smiled, it melted her.

Horrified by her feelings, she walked to the table. Suddenly, he was there beside her and pulling out a chair for her.

Jo gasped, startled, and glanced at the doorway where he had been standing a moment ago! Surely, he could not have covered that space in just a beat of a second.

"How… how did you… mo-mo-move that fast?" she murmured.

Nancy giggled.

"He's like the wind, Mommy!" she said as she drew the tray of food towards her. "He picked me up and ran, and it was so fast I almost puked!"

"I'm sorry," Eli said, his expression troubled. "I just… moved. Sorry if I upset you."

"No, Eli, of course not, I'm not upset just… impressed, I guess," she said in a rush, oddly affected by his proximity and his amazingly clear eyes fixed on her. "Thank you."

She sat down on the chair, and he pushed her close to the table.

"And I'm sorry for interrupting your bath last night," he said. "I didn't really know how inappropriate it was. I now know better."

She giggled nervously.

"Stop worrying, Eli. I understand."

"Thank you," he said with a relieved smile.

He sat down near Nancy.

"Well, we thank the Good Lord for the provision of this food," Dr John prayed. "We know He will continue to bless us with more food each day and see us through this catastrophe. Go on, let's eat. I hope this food tastes as good as it smells, my friend."

It was heavenly, simply the best food she had tasted in many years.

"Jer fooshy shooo shweeet!" Nancy said with a full mouth of food, and whilst John and Jo laughed softly, Eli smiled with delight, and his eyes once again rested on Jo's face.

Suddenly, for no reason at all, she started to feel self-conscious. Jo knew she was a beautiful woman and had had her fair share of advances from the opposite s*x, but with the Meltdown in its full rigours, being feminine and fashionable were aspects of living that were no longer sensible. Survival was the core of living. Make-up was now limited to a clean face, brushed teeth, and tidy hair. Fashionable dressing, of any form, was restricted to what they could find and scavenge.

Even being married to Pat – and then Mike – had not filled her with any urgencies to look feminine and presentable. It had been about staying alive a day at a time. She was a buxom lady, curvy and still with hills and valleys, enough to make men drool, but that had been the least of her attention for so long.

But now, feeling the eyes of this teenager on her, the eyes that were no longer baby eyes but a man's full admiration of a woman's beauty, she felt acutely aware of herself under his intense scrutiny.

Dr John cleared his plate and drank a glass of water, then he smiled sadly for a moment.

"That meal reminds me of years before the Meltdown when I used to eat and wish the food wouldn't get finished!"

"Me too!" Nancy cried. "I do want some more!"

"I don't believe there's more, right?" Jo said, and they all laughed, including Eli. His laugh, in his deep voice, was pleasant to the ears indeed.

"No, cooked enough for four," he said. "With specifications from the recipe."

"Ah, those Mexicans surely don't each much," Dr John said. "But we're starving Africans in the Meltdown!"

"I'll remember that," Eli said, and again they all giggled.

It was a relaxed, pleasant atmosphere.

After dinner, she packed the plates and took them to the kitchen to wash them, denying Eli's wish to wash them.

She was rinsing them when he came into the kitchen and stood behind her. Jo did not look behind her, but she was acutely aware of his presence.

A moment later, he came directly behind her and stood still.

"I read about husbands and wives. You're married to Mike, so Nancy told me."

She could barely breathe, and she stood quite still.

Her voice sounded weird in her ears when she spoke, and she could barely understand her sudden urge to make him understand what she was saying to him.

"Did you read about divorce too? About cheating?"

"I did," he replied softly. "Has he cheated on you? And have you divorced him?"

She put her hands in the water and found that her hands were not steady at all and that her body was tingling with a hunger she had never experienced since Pat.

"He cheated on me with Anita, and I gave him back his ring. I would have gone to court, in the former years before the Meltdown, and would've been granted a divorce. But now, giving him back his ring means we're no longer together."

"I don't understand why he should prefer Anita," he said, his voice puzzled. "Anita does not make me feel what you make me feel. You're so much more beautiful and kind. I am happy you do not want him anymore."

"Eli!" she said tightly. "I am forty years, possibly more than twice your age, about twenty-two years older, if Dr John's assumptions are correct. It would be wrong for you to have any feelings other than friendly towards me!"

"Why is that?" he asked, scowling. "I did not learn anything about age restricting… is it, love? Could you perhaps show me a book to prove that our age difference should be a hindrance? Unless, of course, you do not feel what I feel!"

She turned around and faced him then, and tears shimmered in her eyes.

"What you're feeling is natural, Eli," she said kindly. "You're young, eighteen, and I presume that at that age your hormones must be raging. But, I barely know you. There are a lot of young girls your age on the Complex."

"I do not feel for them what I feel for you!"

"But you haven't met them yet!" she hissed fiercely. "Please, do not do this to me!"

"You don't feel  love for me?" he asked, and his handsome face creased with pain.

"It is not love that you feel!" she said anxiously. "Oh, Eli! It called infatuation, and young men your age feel that quite often for older women, maybe because you have lacked maternal care, but believe me, it is not love! You will get over it, and find someone your age to share real love with."

His expression was troubled as he looked at her, and she felt a pang of great guilt in making him feel miserable, but she knew he was still a child, and this was something she should not encourage no matter what she was feeling.

"I suppose you're right," he said at length and turned away without another word.

Jo had to clench her hands tightly to stop herself from running after his broad back.

***

They walked towards the house.

Eli walked between them, and Nancy held his hand. The moon was a diamond sheen on the sea, and they could see it when they came to a high-rise on the compound. They looked at it for a while, and then descended towards the house.

As they neared the door, Jo reached out and took his hand, and felt a rush of warmth when his big fingers curled around hers protectively, warmly. She looked up into his face, and he smiled with pleasure down at her. Her heart thudded, and for some wild reason, she could not wait for Nancy to fall asleep.

Eli stayed with Nancy, lying beside her in bed and narrating a story he had read.

"The Blue Princess by Akosua Nimo," he said. "Copyright Nimo Publishers, ISBN…"

"Nooo, silly, noooo!" Nancy giggled with delight and held her ribs. "Oh, Eli! Noooo! Just tell me the story!"

He giggled and started narrating, and Jo stood for a moment in the doorway gazing at them with a lovely smile on her face, relishing again what a wonderful man this young man was.

She left after a while to take a bath.

Her body was tingling with expectant arousal that both excited and scared her. When she came out, with her towel around her, she found him in the middle of the room.

She stopped abruptly.

"Nancy?" she asked in a rush.

"Asleep deeply," he said, and his voice was low too. "You're very beautiful, Jo."

She could not reply to that.

He passed a hand through his hair uncertainly.

"Am I sleeping here tonight?" he asked suddenly. "Or you want me to use the other room?"

She looked at him, breathless suddenly.

"Sleep here, Eli."

"But… I feel such strange things within me!" he said with great confusion. "I am a virgin, aren't I?"

She nodded.

"Maybe I should take a cold bath," he said softly. "I read about it. Coldwater will help."

And without another word he took off the T-shirt, he was wearing and peeled down his shorts.

She held out her hand to stop him, but he was already naked and staring at his erection with sudden horror.

"Oh, Jo, I'm so sorry!" he said, his expression shattered, his face agitated. "I'm not supposed to be naked in front of you. And this thing… oh, I'm so confused!"

She crossed the space between them, dropping the towel around her luxurious body as she wound her arms around his neck and pulled his head down.

She kissed him fully, desperately, with a hunger she had never felt with Mike, not even Pat, and she groaned as his hands moved gently across her breasts. She felt a wetness on her face suddenly and reluctantly drew her head back to stare at him.

He was weeping.

He was not making any sound, but tears fell down his face even as he smiled from a tender face, and it was the most beautiful thing Jo had ever seen.

"Eli!" she whispered. "You're crying!"

"Because you're so beautiful, and you feel this for me when I thought I disgusted you… and it makes me so happy my heart is bursting!"

And, for no reason at all, those words brought tears to her eyes and washed away the pain of Mike's deceit. She wound herself into his arms again and kissed him desperately, passionately, hungrily.

A moment later, unable to control herself, she took his hand and drew him to the bed… and she held nothing back because her body, mind, and heart took over.