Chapter Eighteen (And I Like It!)

Thursday, June Sixteenth, Just Before the Morning Feast, Walli-Wo island time

Bruce had been making small talk with King Lemmy while Alex rolled around on the ground until he was finally able to get his feet under him.  Once he was on his feet, Alex clambered back into the plane and grabbed the statue they were there to deliver.

He unwrapped it from the blanket it was wound in, and checked it over to make sure it was still in the same shape it had been in when he left Minneapolis.  Thankfully, it was.

Getting back out of the plane this time, even carrying the statue, was a much more graceful experience for him.

King Lemmy happened to glance away from Bruce, who was explaining the finer points of the fuel storage system in the Cessna and why landing was so much less nerve-wracking than taking off had been in this case, and saw Alex carrying the statue away from the plane.  He face broke into a huge, wide grin, and he walked away from Bruce, who was still mid-sentence about why wingtip auxiliary fuel tanks were preferable to cockpit mounted tanks, and over to Alex.

“You must be Mr. Minor, Mr. Darcy has said you are the best at finding things that are hard to find, and here you are with my great great grandfather!” King Lemmy said.

Alex assumed King Lemmy’s English was somewhat broken, and that he’d just forgotten to say “statue” after “great great grandfather’s.”

“That’s me,” Alex said.  “You’re welcome to just call me Alex, though.”

“Ah! And Alex, you are welcome to call me King Lemmy!” King Lemmy said, and laughed heartily. 

Alex didn’t know why, but he found himself laughing along with King Lemmy almost instantly. 

“I’m glad to meet you, King Lemmy,” Alex said.

King Lemmy took the statue from Alex.  Another one of the islanders stepped forward and reverentially took the statue from King Lemmy almost immediately.  Since he was dressed in a black morning coat, and  grey shorts, Alex assumed he was King Lemmy’s equivalent of a butler.  King Lemmy looked at Alex and gestured to his butler.

“Alex! You must meet Harry, my manservant.  He is the finest butler and valet on Walli-Wo!” King Lemmy said, with tremendous enthusiasm.

Harry smiled widely and nodded at Alex, since his hands were full with the statue at the moment.

“It’s good to meet you too, Harry,” Alex said.  “You know, I lived with a butler named Harold for a while.”

King Lemmy laughed again, shaking his whole body.  “An excellent name for a butler!  Forgive me if I boast, but I expect Harry is an even better butler than your Harold.”

Alex didn’t quite know what to make of that, so he just smiled widely and said, “I’m sure you’re right, although please don’t ever tell Harold I said so.”

More laughter from King Lemmy.  “Should I meet him, it will remain our secret, never fear,” King Lemmy said.

He put a hand in the pocket of his morning coat, and produced an ornate card case, which he opened with a flourish.  With the greatest of care, he removed one of the cards from the case and handed it to Alex.

Baffled, but doing his best to be respectful, Alex took the proffered business card with an equal amount of care and looked at it admiringly.  It was difficult for him to maintain his poker face.  The card read:

King Lemmy

King and Fearless Leader of Walli-Wo

First Astronaut of Walli-Wo to Walk On The Moon

Most Valorous and Daring General of the Army of Walli-Wo

Best Dressed Man of Walli-Wo

President and CEO of Walli-Wo International Bank

Finest Tango Dancer of Walli-Wo

He looked back up at King Lemmy, who was looking at him proudly.

“While you and your pilot, Bruce, are here on Walli-Wo, you are my most honored guests.  Should you require anything, please call upon me,” King Lemmy said.

Alex blinked twice, and said, “Thank you, it’s very gracious of you to say so.”

King Lemmy waved his hand in a comic dismissal, “It is nothing.  You have returned my Great Great Grandfather to me.  But for now, it is time for something to eat to start the day.  Tonight, we shall have a great feast to celebrate the return of my Great Great Grandfather, and to honor his rescuer and brave pilot.”

Alex and Bruce glanced at each other.

“OK, thank you very much,” Alex said, since he couldn’t think of anything else to say in reply.

King Lemmy laughed good naturedly, and Alex found himself starting to really warm to him. 

“Let us breakfast!” King Lemmy shouted.  He turned and started walking away.  Harry waited to follow behind, casually (though reverently) holding the heavy statue as if it was hardly a burden at all.  He gestured to Alex and Bruce with his head that the two of them should follow behind King Lemmy.  They did, and Harry followed close behind them.

The islanders broke into cheers, and started walking en masse behind the four of them. 

Alex had to admit, he probably should have paid closer attention to the packet of information about Walli-Wo that Mr. Darcy had given him.  He’d just kind of skimmed it, to be honest.  Had he read it, he may have been less surprised by the manner of dress of the islanders, and the peculiar combination of primitive and ultra-modern technology on the island.

It was true that the airport seemed to be more of what a bunch of industrious kids with access to a lot of bamboo and palm fronds would build if they wanted to pretend they had an airport.

At the same time, the great island hall, if you wanted to call it such a thing, could have been designed by Frank Llloyd Wright (actually, it had been a student of his), and was built out of completely modern materials.  The houses they passed along the way were relatively small, but also built from modern materials.  There were no cars, however, and domesticated animals and livestock wandered freely around the island.  And there was the occasional lean-to made out of bamboo covering what looked to be relatively current communications and networking equipment.  At the moment, there was a healthy looking pig relaxing in the shade of a lean-to next to what looked to Alex like a modem and wireless router.

There were two islanders acting as doormen at the great hall.  As King Lemmy approached, they pulled open the doors.  Alex couldn’t see who it was, but someone had started ringing what sounded like a large bell at the same time. 

King Lemmy led them into the great hall, where a spectacularly huge assortment of meats, fruits, breads and sweets had been laid out on a table that was easily twenty feet long.  At the far end of the hall was an enormous fireplace.  Great logs had been laid in the fireplace, but they weren’t lit at the moment. 

King Lemmy proceeded to the head of the table, where he stepped up on to a footstool, and waited for everyone to get into the hall.  Alex and Bruce stood next to him, after some prompting by Harry, and they watched as the islanders all came in.  Once everyone was inside, Alex guessed there were probably no more than one hundred people in the hall.

He leaned over to Bruce, and discretely asked, “Is this the entire island in here?”

Apparently, he wasn’t as discrete as he’d thought.

“Yes,” Harry said.

“Wow,” Alex said.  Then, because he didn’t want to be rude, he said, “What a fantastic hall! It’s terrific that you can fit everyone in here at one time.”

Harry beamed at Alex and nodded proudly.  King Lemmy also looked down at Alex from up on his footstool and smiled.

King Lemmy spread his arms and addressed the small crowd, “It is a great day for Walli-Wo!  These two brave heroes have returned my great great grandfather to me!”

The entire crowd broke into cheers and applause.  Bruce and Alex awkwardly smiled and nodded.  Neither of them had been expecting this reception (even Bruce had started to skim the info about Walli-Wo after a point…).

King Lemmy continued, after a suitable pause, “Tonight, we shall have a great feast to recognize and honor our special guests!”

The crowd cheered again.  Alex noticed several pretty women in the group were giving him coy smiles.  He smiled back, at which they’d mostly look away and giggle among themselves.  One of the pretty women batting her eyelashes at him, Alex noticed, was wearing a bright red dress, and an assortment of golden necklaces as well as gold bangles on her wrists.  She had long dark hair, with a red flower tucked behind one ear.  Unlike the others, she did not look away when Alex smiled at her.

It seemed like it was going to be a pretty nice day or two here on Walli-Wo to Alex.

Alex found himself breaking eye contact with the woman in the red dress first.  As it was, he glanced down.

Which is when he realized he was still wearing a pink bunny suit with fuzzy pink bunny slippers.  Only now, the bunny suit was also covered in dust and gravel from when he’d fallen down after getting out of the plane.

Awesome, Alex thought.

When he looked up again, he noticed the woman in the red dress was still giving him a coy smile.  He couldn’t help but smile back, and fell in love a little bit when she giggled while maintaining eye contact with him.

King Lemmy had been talking, but Alex hadn’t caught much of it.  The crowd cheered again, which brought Alex back out of his reverie.

“But for now, let’s eat!” King Lemmy bellowed, and laughed with great apparent pleasure. 

Alex smiled again despite himself. 

First Astronaut of Walli-Wo, huh?  Well, why not?  He throws a mean party, Alex thought.