CHAPTER 203: THE CELEBRATION OF SURVIVORS

Tim walked out of the office and greeted her. "Mrs. Pirillo, it is my esteemed pleasure to welcome you to the Z1 main house. It belongs to my father, Zachariah Spinelli. I was most fortunate to be raised here from the age of nine years old by him. My name is Timothy Zachariah Spinelli, but less formally I go by Tim. Welcome to our humble home."

Celeste looked around and looked back at Tim. "What has my son Vincent done? I know him, and he can be a handful at least."

"He’s not done anything. We can go into the office and discuss everything, and I will answer every question possible before my father arrives. Then we can surprise Vincent, and it’s going to be a good surprise."

The two went into the office and chatted like old friends. Tim had the cook bring in a couple of cappuccinos and Vienna-style wafers. The cookies were made by Donnie. As the two of them sat there drinking the cappuccino and eating wafers, there came a knock at the door.

Willy stuck his head in and asked if he could leave some paperwork files for his grandfather.

"Sure, Willy, come on in and leave them here on your grandfather’s desk. And while you’re in here, meet our guest for the weekend. William Spinelli, I would like to introduce you to Mrs. Celeste Pirillo." Willy suddenly felt ill and turned several shades of green.

Celeste looked at him. "What’s wrong, honey? Are you still getting the sickness from that baby that you carry? Don’t worry, that’ll pass. Believe me, after 19 kids I’ve seen it all, and believe me, my last one—I was sick for the entire nine months. And Vincent would kick me all the time. He danced on my bladder; I had to go to the bathroom continuously. I don’t want to talk about that. So, tell me, is the father excited about his baby?"

Willie looked back to his uncle Tim and gave him the evil eye. "Yes, ma’am. Now that he knows, he’s very excited. Originally, I didn’t know how he would take it since he’s not like me. He still doesn’t know how his family will accept the baby or even me, as a matter of fact."

"You go tell that young man that the child, no matter how it gets here, is a precious gift and he better accept it. As far as his family, if they cannot accept you or the child, then maybe they don’t deserve you anywhere in their family. You are better than them."

She hugged Willy’s neck, and he thanked her for her kindness and understanding before he left the room quickly.

Zack walked into the side door just missing Willy. "Good morning, ma’am. I am the owner of the Z1. My name is Zachary Spinelli—I go by Mr. Z or Zach to most people. It is such a pleasure to host you here in our home during this celebratory weekend. I hope you will find your accommodations appropriate for you, ma’am. If you need anything, there’s a buzzer beside your bed—call Jarvis and tell him anything you need. If you need coffee or danishes, whatever, the cook will make sure it’s available to you 24 hours a day. Tim has got an extra space with him and his future mate, so you can sit with them and join all the festivities that will take place today. We call this ’Coming Home’—it is a celebration commemorating the Genmen’s freedom from slavery and tyranny when their ship crashed here on this planet. Here at the Z1, we’re all family, and believe it or not, these Genmen know how to party. It can get a little wild sometimes with some of the visitors, but we’ve asked everyone to be on their best behavior. You’ll be one of our first city dwellers to witness the wonder of the new learning center, library, and interactive museum chronicling Genman life as it has evolved here on this planet since the crash."

"Well, Zack, you make a very appealing offer to this old woman, but I would really like to see my son Vincent."

"Yes, Mrs. Pirillo, I know you do, and I have a strong feeling that right about now he’s learning that you are here for the weekend. Let’s pull a good one on him and let him search for you. Once in a while, I imagine that you went looking for him many a time growing up. From the conversations that I’ve had with him, he was quite a handful. I’ve had my own grandsons that have been quite a handful and one son that was trouble personified until he finally met his proper mate. So if you would be my guest, let’s go find your seat with Tim."

Celeste was very pleased with the way she was treated and left the main house on Tim’s arm as his guest and the guest of the Z1.

Zack was standing in the doorway when a very out-of-breath Vincent Pirillo made his way to the main house. "Where’s my mom? I heard she was here. Willy has even seen her. I didn’t expect her—she just dropped in. I don’t know what to do."

Zack cleared his throat. "Young man, I believe you need to start rehearsing how you’re going to tell your mom that she’ll be a grandmother in 5½ months. I know she has met Willy and has no idea that the child he was carrying was her grandson. So you have catch-up work to do. But right now, everyone needs to be in the staging area for the beginning of the celebration, and trust me, she’s in good care."

There must have been 10,000 Genmen in attendance at the opening ceremonies. A brief prayer was given and a moment of silence for all those who perished in the original crash. Tributes and accolades were given to the survivors and all of their descendants who now resided on the planet.

Earl stood up and made a speech about the original origin of the Genman race. He told them of the planet that was their original homeworld of the Goren and how it had split between two factions—one faction stayed on the homeworld while the others went to a new planet and renamed themselves Genmen after that planet. He told them of the civil wars, how one house royal tried to overthrow another house royal, how they used deception and slavery to build their armies, the ruthlessness of the warrior queens that were the rulers of the two worlds. He told them that these were only stories that were passed to him through his dad, an original Goren survivor. He wished all well and that they could look forward to the future and not dwell in the past, but never forget it because something like that should never happen again. There was a robust round of applause after Earl gave his speech.

Celeste took in every word that she heard. She remembered the wars on old Earth, and she remembered her own flight with her husband and children to a new planet. They were in the third wave of exodus from a war-prone world. She and her husband Salvador boarded a transport freighter along with their 18 children and were placed in cryo-tubes for the journey. When they arrived at the New World, parts of it were a carbon copy of the old, especially the cities, the boroughs, and so-called neighborhoods where people were packed in like sardines. Vincent was the only one born here, and he was her hope for a new start.

Shortly after they came, there was an uprising between the government and the Italians. After horrendous fighting, most of the Italians perished. A few of the children were sent away by their parents out into the streets to escape before the government cleaners came through and wiped out whole neighborhoods. She remembered a certain young man who couldn’t have been no more than nine years old that received a blaster wound to the shoulder. She was told to leave him in the streets by her husband Salvador because he did not want trouble within their house. She could not leave the wounded child, so she picked him up, carried him inside, cleaned and dressed his wound, gave him new clothing so that he looked like a Sicilian, and told him where to run. She always wondered what happened to the boy and hoped that he had made it okay.

Zack made his speech and thanked everyone for the years that he had had at the Z1. "Who would’ve thought an abandoned, dirty street rat who was dropped off on the front porch one night in the middle of the country by his friend would one day own the place and make it an inviting place for all strays? I have done my best for everyone here and everyone that visits. Not all of our family members stay—some come and some go—but one thing they’re told: if they ever need us, we are here because we are family."