1 comments/ 5336 views/ 3 favorites Peers Ch. 01 By: jjcolejr Marc had always been a misfit. He had always been the smartest kid in school and the best athlete in school. He was much taller and much more handsome than the others. He had also held back on his abilities to keep from drawing everyone's scrutiny. Most found him to be pleasant but reserved but he could be utterly charming when he felt the need to do so.He did attract girls and got laid regularly; his fuckmates adored his lovemaking, his control, and his attention. They hated his reluctance to commit. He was now twenty-six years old and had never had a girlfriend for more than three weeks. At the age of twenty-two he had graduated with a PhD in Physics/Astronomy from a prestigious university. He had also won over a million dollars on a one time pull on a special slot machine in Vegas. Before he pulled the lever he knew he would win. He invested the cash and now had enough money to take him through two lifetimes. He began to travel around the world on a quest, he intended to visit every major celestial observatory on Earth. By then he had learned that stardom in sports or music or business or academia were not what he was searching for. He knew he did not want fame. The problem was he had no idea what he was searching for. He learned the customs and history of the people he met on his travels and made many friends and had a few lovers, all missed him when he left each destination. He remembered each and every one he had a conversation with and had mentally tagged many for further visits but did not know why he did that. He did know all of those people were very smart, very talented, and very pleasant. The kind of people he would like as neighbors. Some thought he was from a royal house, a few asked him to remember them "when the time comes." "I will always remember you," he had always answered, and he did. He had also had some very strange encounters. In Singapore he met an old man called Mr. Wu that after several hesitations asked him to come and visit him at home and have dinner with him. Marc accepted and learned his house was on the second story of a busy restaurant. He was met at the door by a young lady that said to him, "This way please your highness." He corrected her saying he was just an astronomer from Vancouver but followed her. The home was very well appointed and it was obvious the man was very rich. Mr. Wu and his family greeted him warmly and with respect. Dinner was sumptuous and he enjoyed it very much. After dinner the old man took him to a large room that was full of pre-teens and teenagers. He said, "These are my children although I am the father of just two, the girl that escorted you up and the one wearing the school uniform. The others are orphans, abandoned children. All of them will be very helpful in any endeavor. All have brilliant minds. All are good people." He was introduced to the sixteen teens and pre-teens and he had to agree with the old man, the kids were special. After he visited with each they left the room until only the young woman that had escorted him remained. "Follow me please," she said. Her name was Jing Li and was gorgeous, in her early twenties, and a bit taller than her father. She was still treating him as if he was royalty. She took him to what appeared to be her bedroom. She made herself nude then undressed Marc. She made love to him. He made love to her. She had been a virgin and had not expected pleasure but he made sure she had enormous pleasure and a memorable first fuck. Afterwards as they cuddled she said, "Our children will be special. They will make you proud. I will wait for you until you return." He said nothing but understood he may have made her pregnant but also knew that if the opportunity presented itself he would see her again. He made love to her a second time, which made her proud. He took her to several more orgasms that made her grateful. After another cuddling kissing session he left her asleep in bed, dressed and went in search of her father. He thanked Mr. Wu for his hospitality. The old man wanted to hug him but couldn't. So Marc hugged him and praised him for rescuing the children. Several of his lovers were secure in their knowledge she was pregnant with his child. None of them were showing or had children even though for some women it had been well over six years since they last made love. He had suspected it was a ploy to have him commit to them but none had asked him to marry her and none seemed to expect him to help with her child. In fact all any of them had asked him to do was remember her. He visited with Jing Li twice more and had stayed with her at her apartment. She was now the executive chef at her father's restaurant. He had become her souse chef on each trip. They had fucked often during the time he was there and although eight months had passed between his visits she was still convinced she was pregnant. He had revisited with the children, all had working shifts at the restaurant after school. He got them eight fine chess sets and brought each a book he thought they would enjoy ranging from science fiction to engineering. All got books full of math puzzles. Many of the books were in English with a few in other languages. Two boys came to him with completed math puzzle books the same day they received them. They were brothers and the oldest one said, "My brother finished first but I did not need him to help me on any of them." The pride he had in himself and in his brother was palpable. Each book had one hundred problems and Marc checked their answers and pointed out three errors in the older one's book and one in the younger one's. The younger one's book was in Spanish, the elder's was in French. Both were crestfallen when he pointed out the errors, but Marc said, "The problems were not with your math but with the language, you misinterpreted the question. Amazing work considering neither language is your own." Both preened with pride when he praised them. That evening he brought each adventure novels in Spanish and French.? On his quest he charmed everyone in each observatory into allowing him to use the instruments and made sure they remembered him with a smile. He had visited the JPL lab for two weeks and made good friends and had an exceptional lover there. She was older than he and an avowed Lithuanian lesbian but was his most energetic lover. She also had a brilliant mind that would interpret data before others realized there was important data to decipher. He had stayed with her for ten of those days which was second only to Jing Li At the Lab he was allowed to listen in on their communications with each spaceship and was given the codes to be able to pick it up on his laptop. He was very interested in the Voyagers but the time frame during which they tuned in to them was not when he was there. Budget cuts had made the time to visit with those space ships rare. They did supply him with the schedule before he left and the means to tune in when they did. He had made useful suggestions to the people at each observatory and all thought of him as a brilliant colleague. But when he finished the observatory quest he felt he was just adrift, no experience had felt like the end of his search. He had searched the Americas, Australia, Asia, and Africa thinking he would find something. As it turned out what he was looking for was a someone. He was on his second trip to Europe, his first as a tourist. He had spent two weeks in Portugal and Spain and was on his second week in Italy. He was sitting in the Duomo in Milan watching people go by as he drank a beer. He liked people watching and it often got him laid. He was sitting across the way from a McDonald's trying to guess the nationality of those going in. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him and turned to look. A woman was staring at him with intensity. They looked at each other, frozen in place for several moments until he stood and pulled out a chair for her. Both had big grins as she walked to him. They kissed. It was the kiss of long time lovers. They sat and for several moments they just stared at each other. Finally she spoke to him in Russian. He spoke to her in English. They understood each other perfectly. They had studied each other's language intensely but had also studied five other languages, the same five other languages they would later learn. The waiter approached the table and she ordered red wine in Italian and he ordered another beer but Italian was not one of the languages they knew well so they continued their conversation in French. Her name was Natalia and her life had been the mirror image of Marc's including winning a large cash prize four years earlier. Over time her sex partners had become mostly women, men had left her unsatisfied but she already knew this man would not. A gorgeous redhead that made you smile would describe her perfectly. She was tall with fine breasts and a fine ass. She had a gorgeous grin and a melodic voice. He loved her giggles and her freckles. He really loved her large green eyes. She loved his grin, his deep voice, his caramel colored eyes and his thick black hair. She loved how he gently touched her. Each wondered why they had not met before. During their conversation it had become obvious to them that they had been searching for each other for years and had been in the same place at the same time often. Yet they did not meet at a Melody concert they had attended in his hometown of Vancouver in October of the previous year. Of course that would have been catastrophic since both were on dates with sexy blonde women. They had not met in a Costa Rica vacation each had taken early that year. They had each taken their Mom's. In fact they had been at ten identical places around the world at about the same time during the last four years but had never met. Most of the time one was leaving as the other arrived. "It's like something or someone was keeping us apart until now," Natalia said. "That is exactly right," a lady said to them as she sat at their table. The language she had used was Spanish and their conversation continued in that language. She was a very pretty woman, small with black hair and very white skin. Marc and Natalia assumed her to be in her late twenties to early thirties. Both adored her immediately. The woman continued, "You both needed to get those many travel experiences out of the way before you were allowed to meet. Your life would have become centered on each other otherwise and the people and places that made you think would not have been noticed. You had me working interference often; the most of any couple although your best friends were somewhat close. "May we assume we have not met our best friends yet?" "Correct, they met each other yesterday. You two are my last. Call me Carmen. You will not need to get married, for all practical purposes you already are. You have the next three nights in Milan to make love; you already have train passes for all of Europe so may I suggest day trips to Florence and Venice?" The waiter came by their table and Carmen ordered a red wine. Marc ordered refills on Natalia's and his drinks. Carmen continued, "I placed the brochures to the Duomo on your dressers before you got here. I followed Natalia when she came this way. You have a meeting with others like you the Monday after next in Vienna. Your hotel has booked both of you in the same room as man and wife. Your hotel floor will have only your peers, make friends." "Mom, who are we meeting?" "The chief and our sponsors, and don't call me Mom," she said with a big grin. "Yes, Mom," Marc and Natalia said. "You two are such bad children." "But we love you." "Which is as it should be." The three laughed and drank their drinks. Natalia asked Carmen, "What is the meeting about?" "You will learn about yourselves as well as your assignments after that," she answered. Natalia and Marc tried to get more information but all they got out of her was that there were going to be ten couples at the meeting. Natalia gave her a nice pout that mesmerized and pleased Carmen and Marc but except for the kisses she got it did not work. Carmen told them to just enjoy their honeymoon; they had eleven days and all of Europe for themselves. Soon Carmen finished her wine and stood to leave. Marc and Natalia kissed her on the lips before she left then after paying their bill left for their hotel. They were not surprised to discover they had adjoining rooms in the same hotel. They went into her room, got naked and went to bed.The first thirty minutes were spent with kisses, caresses and conversation, mostly kisses. Somewhat different things on their travels had fascinated them but they shared a fascination with people and a strong leaning towards the sciences. Hers were geology, volcanology and tectonics. She joked he had spent his life looking up and she had spent hers looking down so they most likely walked right past each other often. "No chance of that, today I could feel you were there when you were ten meters away." Natalia smiled and kissed him, he kissed her. He did not touch her breast until he began to kiss them. She was more than ready for him to love her tits by then. He could hear her purr. Ten minutes later he kissed his way to her pussy rubbing his face on her red pubic hair as he went by. She had an orgasm as soon as the tip of his tongue made contact with her clit; it had felt like an electric shock to Natalia. He gently loved and devoured her pussy to several orgasms until she pulled Marc up to her. His cock slid into her pussy as he kissed her lips and she had another orgasm. He began a slow fuck and she felt his cock increase in size with every stroke until her pussy was full then the fuck became frantic. Natalia began to groan into orgasms and she nearly lost control of her body. Marc had to pin her down until her last orgasm began to wane then took a few more long hard strokes and released his sperm packet into her. He rolled them over putting her on top. They paused until they regained their breath. They kissed. But Natalia knew it was not over, his cock was still hard. She began a slow intermittent fuck with many pauses for kisses and more conversation. "What is today?" Natalia asked. "The second of May. Why do you ask?" "It's our wedding day. It is also the first day of our real life and after next week we begin our real career. Why did we call Carmen Mom?" "I don't know but it felt right even though she is not old enough to be our mother. She was neither surprised nor upset we did. It could be we know her from our early childhood. My memories only go back to when I was three. I know I was adopted." "Humm, same here, I grew up in Penza by the way." "Rally? That was on my list for this trip, I expected to be there in nine weeks." "Well now you don't need to go, I'm here." Natalia gave him a long deep kiss and herself a small orgasm. After a pause she said, " I don't feel like Carmen is our real mother. If she were she would not have encouraged us to fuck. Speaking of the fuck, that was the best of my life, thank you." "It was mine too. Anytime you want one please help yourself." "Thank you. Expect me to take advantage of your offer often. In fact now would be good." She began a long session in which both came close to orgasms but held them back. "Why are you holding back on your cums?" Marc asked her. "It will make the last one huge. Don't be concerned if I pass out. Hey, it just crossed my mind we are crazy in love with each other." "You are right about that," Marc said. They kissed and fucked until Natalia had her earthshaking orgasm during a pause to kiss. Marc held her to him until she was past her climax then a few moments later his second sperm packet was released into her. "We have twins," Natalia drowsily said with a happy smile then went to sleep. Both knew she was pregnant and both knew they would be twins, a boy and a girl. It did not occur to either to wonder how they knew that, they just accepted it with joy. Marc kissed her neck as he caressed her ass and followed her into sleep. When they woke up an hour later they showered and dressed for an Opera in La Scala. They were only mildly surprised to see that they had tickets to adjoining seats. "We probably need to thank Mom for this," Natalia said. After a very enjoyable performance of Tosca they decided to go to dinner, which in Italy can be a long drawn out affair. They went to a restaurant near the Duomo that was not as well known as others in that area but had the most excellent food. The girl at the hotel desk had seemed proud and upset she had pointed them there, she was supposed to give them the name of a more upscale place but she couldn't lie to them. Natalia praised her honesty and kissed her cheek before they set out. During dinner Natalia and Marc called their foster Mom's and told them they had met their spouse and had met Carmen. Their Mom's were very exited, very pleased and congratulated them on the start of their new life. Natalia and Marc could tell their Mom's were crying so they reminded each that they loved them then exchanged phones and told their new mother's the same. All four smiled for the rest of their evening. Natalia ate like a starving fat man and finished every bit of the five-course dinner. Marc asked, "Are you sure there are only two in there?" She gave him the finger, which he promptly slurped into his mouth. They had a marvelous meal and really enjoyed each other's company. They had fun. They admitted to an older tourist couple from Spain that they were indeed newlyweds and thanked them for their well wishes. It was not until then that they realized they had been speaking Spanish since Carmen sat with them. Then suddenly realized they had also spoken in Spanish to both Moms. They wanted to stroll around the Duomo but they were too eager to get back to bed and fuck. They kissed the hotel clerk on her cheeks as they went past her then they fucked slowly for an hour, got their usual five hours of sleep, then fucked for another hour before venturing out for breakfast a bit before six AM. They had already learned their choices for breakfast were limited at that hour of the morning so Claudia suggested they eat breakfast in Florence. He thought that was a great idea and they took the train. They ate a panino for brunch at a small bistro near the train station in Florence then walked into the historical district. They were fascinated by the art at the Piazza de la Signora and toured Galileo's museum and the Uffizi museum. They realized Carmen had been right; they never had a conversation with anyone except each other. After some shopping they took the return train back to Milan and managed a quick fuck and a nap in their compartment. Back in Milan they strolled around and ended up enjoying a very satisfying dinner at the previous nights restaurant. They told the restaurant manager that their hotel desk clerk Ana had recommended them even though she was supposed to recommend another. The manager said he would see that she got rewarded. After dinner they walked around the Duomo area for a couple of hours. They stepped into some shops and some high fashion houses. At a famous designer house Natalia bought a 'going out dancing with my husband' dress. Marc bought a very well tailored black sport coat at the famous men's fashion store for 'when I am showing off my wife'. Back at the hotel they loved each other until they enjoyed very fine orgasms then sleep welcomed them. The next morning they took an early train to Venice and once there got semi lost often as they meandered the streets and alleys. They walked into shops and got some gelato and took pictures. They got souvenir shirts and kissed often. Peers Ch. 01 They accidentally found themselves in St. Mark's Square and lunched at a café's outdoor table. After lunch they fed the pigeons. They got lost again and Marc took the opportunity to try to convince a gondolier that was sitting at a small piazza's outdoor café to take them in his boat, even though he was apparently on a break. His craft was in the nearby canal. His craft seemed to be much older than the others and the gondolier was also older than the others. Marc and Natalia were correct in assuming the craft was more than one hundred years old. The gondolier was just the third to man that craft. His name was Ramon and it had been his gondola for the previous forty years. The two ended up sitting with him and Natalia asked him all about himself and the boat and they learned that he was from Spain but left when he fell in love with a man. Spain was a dangerous place for non-conformists then. They tried their luck in Milan but jobs were scarce there. His lover had a cousin in Venice that had a gondolier legacy and license so he became a gondolier. The café they were in had been his partner's. He had died five years before so he did not sing as often as he had used to. He was seventy-three years old but looked fifty at most. Marc and Natalia stayed at his table visiting with him until his break was over then he took them on the canals.The gondolier began to sing an old love song in Spanish and was very happy when Marc and Natalia sang with him. The three got applause from the people on the streets. Marc left him with a fifty-euro tip and Natalia left him with a kiss. As they walked away they heard someone say, "Tio, te adoro." They turned and saw Carmen on the other side of the canal blow a kiss to the old man then wink at them. He was her uncle. They blew her kisses as she turned and walked away. Marc and Natalia wondered how long they had been speaking Spanish. Over two days was the consensus. They decided to stick with the language between them. They again managed a quick fuck and nap on the train ride back. They ate supper at a seafood place not too far from the main train station then took the subway to their hotel. It was late that evening when they got back. Marc went to his room and packed then returned to Natalia's room and helped her finish packing. They knew they would not make it to the overnight train so they took their time and played. She had just straddled him and sunk his cock in her when their hotel phone rang. "Hola, this is Carmen. I suggest you practice for your public life on your way to Vienna. Charm everybody's pants off. Oh, and don't tell anyone you are pregnant, you will give birth in six weeks." "Oh, no. We told our Moms." "That's OK. They will understand. I am happy you called them and happier to see they are Moms to you. I left your married papers, two passports, driver's license and such at the desk. I also left you a reservation slip for your hotel in Vienna." "Why didn't you just come up?" "You are fucking" "How did you know?" "You are on your honeymoon. If you want to see Vienna I suggest you do not dawdle on the way. You will be leaving for your assignments after the meeting. Love you, bye. Oh, thanks for making my uncle Ramon happy. Bye." Natalia and Marc just smiled at each other for a few moments until Marc asked, "Two nights in Zurich and skip Munich?" "Yeah, we can do that. It's not Oktoberfest anyway. Lets finish so we can take the early train." "You are on top," Marc said ,"Oh, right," Natalia, said as she resumed their fuck. They took the early morning train but skipped planned stops at Lake Como and Lugano and rode on to Zurich. They spent one full day there and found what appeared to be a medical center and wondered what had brought them to it. They intended to continue to Vienna on the train but suddenly felt themselves in a hurry to they flew there the next morning. ?As they checked into their hotel they got two envelopes, one had a map of the city, tickets for an opera, a symphony concert, metro passes, tickets to the Ferris wheel and a boat excursion on the Danube. The other had the agenda for their meeting the following week.The items on the agenda were listed as Who You Are, The Event, and Your Job. It also had the names and home of each of the attendees to the conference. There were pictures of each couple. Neither Marc nor Natalia remembered anyone taking a photo of them in the Duomo but were not surprised, they only had eyes for each other at that time. They assumed Carmen had taken the picture before she sat with them. Not all the photos were taken in Europe but the last four were. Marc and Natalia were listed last and they felt that was of some significance but could not figure out what. "The agenda is not very helpful but it does tell us there are nine other couples like us," Natalia said. When the elevator doors opened on their floor the first thing they noticed was that the air smelled different. "Ozone," they simultaneously said. They could also sense their peers in the two rooms that were already occupied. The two couples opened their doors to introduce themselves. All four were naked. All smelled of very recent sex. The women embraced Natalia with full lip kisses. She cupped a naked breast of each woman. Once Mark and Natalia got settled in their room they fucked then left the hotel for some sight seeing. They could tell that their new friends had resumed fucking as they walked past their rooms. Marc and Natalia watched a Lipizzaner stallion show rehearsal, toured the palace and the Freud and Beethoven houses. They did some shopping; both had always made a point of buying a souvenir shirt from every place they visited. They discovered a place that had fabulous potato soup. They made note of the location of the opera and symphony venues. As they walked the Ringstrasse they found a club that looked like it would be fun late at night. They stopped at a small restaurant and ate a Weiner schnitzel lunch. Marc was getting them some ice cream at St. Stephens Square when another couple approached them. When Mark turned to look he saw Natalia in mid kiss with a statuesque blonde .Her husband was an Asiatic looking man and he seemed familiar to Marc. They soon learned they had stayed at the same hotel at the same time in Sidney. They had actually never seen each other then but apparently had sensed the other's presence. It took them a while to realize they were speaking Mandarin, his name was Hu and he was from Hong Kong. The blonde was speaking German, Vienna was her hometown. Her name was Claudia. The four continued their walk together; Natalia and Claudia held hands as they gossiped ahead of the men. Each knew they had just met their best friends. The four were aware that most people stared at them with smiles on their faces, all nodded and smiled back. The fact that they were definitely couples and yet the wives spoke German while the men spoke Mandarin made them a curiosity. But all the young ladies were in awe of the wives and the wives could have easily had them take their clothes off for them. The men could have too. Marc and Natalia were fascinated that Hu and Claudia had met in Florence just the day before they had met in Milan. They left Florence for Venice the day Natalia and Marc went to Florence and left Venice for Lugano the day Natalia and Mark got to Venice. Both couples assumed it was more of Mom's magic. All four admitted their love for Mom. When they returned to the hotel they learned that their rooms were across the hallway from each other. A time was set for a double date and each couple went into their rooms and fucked then took a nap. An hour later they awoke and fucked, took a shower then dressed for a night on the town. Natalia was wearing her new dress and Marc his new sport coat. Both couples opened their doors simultaneously. Neither couple was surprised. As they walked down the hallway the two couples Natalia and Marc had met that morning were exiting their rooms. After hugs and kisses they said they were going to see if they could find a nice club in which to dance and drink the night away. Natalia said, "We are following Claudia, this is her hometown." They were now a group of eight, Carlos from Puerto Rico and his wife Moesha from Senegal and Jim from Texas with his wife Mizuki from Japan were now members of the group. Jim and Mizuki had met in Bologna two days before Natalia and Marc met, Carlos and Moesha had met in Turin three days before. "Mom!" all exclaimed in laughter. Claudia took them outside the city center to a club in a plain front building that apparently had once been a bank. It had a large dance floor and the club spread over four large rooms one of which was a restaurant. Claudia had called and made reservations for them and after the late dinner they were seated at a party table next to the dance floor. Claudia pulled Hu up as she said, "Come on, we will not have many chances to dance after next week." "Yeah, that's right," the other women said and pulled the men to the dance floor too. The men were good dancers as their wives had expected and the eight danced and worked the room until the early morning. The four women were around one point eight meters tall and their husbands were around two meters tall. As individuals they were hard to miss but as a group they pretty much commanded the room. They were the best looking people in the place and the most charming people in the place. Natalia, Claudia, Mizuki and Moesha openly flirted with all the women there; they 'accidentally' caressed hundreds of breasts. Their caresses were more than welcomed and the tits were soon pressed into their hands. Many parting kisses included tongue play. The husbands engaged the men in talks of electronics and sports and smiled at the antics of their wives. The nearly three hundred people they met would never forget them. When they got back to their respective hotel rooms each couple went straight to their bed and fucked. The women were exceptionally horny but their men were very patient and lasted until their wives fucked themselves out. After another fuck and a shower the following Sunday morning the wives asked the men for time for a little private session with the other women. The men understood, dressed and headed out. Marc saw a naked Claudia walk into his room as Hu joined him in the hallway. They saw the naked Mizuki and Moesha walk past them to join Natalia and Claudia. Carlos and Jim were holding the elevator for them. As they passed the hotel desk they saw two couples checking in. They knew the couples were peer from their photos in the meeting agenda. They stopped and introduced themselves and told the wives where the women were. The new men were invited to join the guys as soon as they had settled in. The men were Darren from Australia and Marcel from France with their wives Akari from Tahiti and Labiba from Ethiopia. Akari and Labiba somehow understood that the women were having sex with each other and were suddenly in a hurry and told the husbands to just go along with the group. The men were now a gang of six. None of the men were too surprised to see Carmen sitting at a table in the nearby bistro. All the men kissed her on the lips and called her Mom. There were two couples with her and they were introduced. Mariano was from The Philippines and his wife Eji was from Mongolia. Mauro was from Brazil and his wife Mara was from India. Hu told Mom where the women were and what their plan for the morning was. Carmen and the wives quickly became very antsy and Marc suggested they go to his room first. Carlos warned them, "They are going to gobble you up." "They better," Mom said as the women hurried out. The eight men had a leisurely breakfast then did some shopping and looked around and told everyone that asked that no they were not a sports team. They noted that many women shivered when they saw them. Most men initially seemed to want to challenge them but soon relaxed. The men had smiles that could disarm anyone. They switched languages on whims, if one language had a better word for what they wanted to convey they switched to that language and stayed with that one until a new word in a different language fit better. A bit past mid-morning a tall man from Kenya introduced himself as Ruhidi and said, "As my wife and I were going into our room a naked woman came out and pulled her into a different room, but before she did she told me to tell you that lunch will be in the hotel banquet room at noon. Mom has reserved it for us. Apparently all of us are here now. A couple had checked in right before we did." "The meeting is not for a week. I wonder if they will move it up?" Hu asked. Marc answered, "Possible, but we don't know if the chief is here, whoever that is." "Dad?" Carlos asked with a smile. All the men chuckled and continued wasting time as they charmed the locals and tourists alike. The other guy caught up with them, Aadi from Bali. He said his wife Sonia sensed what was going on and just walked into someone's room naked. He decided to look for the men figuring they would not be hard to find. They were not. The ten men walked into the banquet room at eleven fifty nine AM. Even though the lesbian orgy lasted the entire morning the wives were already there sitting in pairs with an empty seat beside them. Marc and Hu found their wives sitting together as they had expected. They kissed their wives and sat next to them. Moesha and Mizuki were sitting together and Marc ended up sitting next to Jim. "Had fun?" each man had asked his wife. An emphatic, "Yes," had been the answer from all. They were seated at a semicircular table facing a large screen monitor; they knew there would be visuals to go along with the presentation. It occurred to a few that Mom knew they would all be there that day. Carmen and a man walked in and sat at the end of the table, they were followed by servers pushing carts. Each person was served their own personal favorite lunch; Natalia's was potato soup. Sonia, Marc, Jim and Carlos got empanadillas; Hu and Aadi had Asian versions of empanadillas; that caused a stir in the conversations. All ate and chatted until the dishes were taken away and the doors were closed. The man with Mom stood and helped her stand and they walked to the front of the room. "Welcome," the man said. I am Jor El."