“So, Mother, what is it??”
Jellia met her at the door, she and the kesh-u hurrying through their kisses and starting at her.
“In the kitchen, please,” Fenestra said and everyone raced off.
“Do you have the benth, Darling?” She asked and Jellia soon has seven different containers of oil out on the counter.
“Seems like an expensive experiment,” she said.
“Not in my business,” Fenestra said, and getting out one of the little jars opened it and moved it toward her nose to sniff but before it had even gotten close… “Oh!” She said, and, seeing everyone else move away from her, she quickly poured it into one of the containers.
“Ok, Darling, now let us do the same for each of these,” she said, closing the container and shaking it.
“Ewww,” Jellia said, but between the two of them they soon had six large containers of oil on the counter.
“Now, it is up to you to try some recipes with this,” she said, and Jellia, diffidently, went over to the first container and sniffed.
“Oh,” she said, “This isn’t so bad, now.”
“Me smell?” Bobbin asked.
“Certainly, Bobbin-kesh,” she said.
“Try, Sister?”
“Yes, I’m going to try marinating first. I think this will go with lemon and onion…”
Fenestra wandered back to her room, where her en-drek was waiting for her. Then she spent a very pleasant two hours planning out routes of trade for the art. Each of the art galleries she had visited had given her more ideas, as well as promising proposals. And in this case she was pretty sure she could accept all of the proposals!
“Dinner!” She heard, and came down the stairs. Everyone else was already there and she took her seat. But there was nothing on the table.
“Ska-drek-a,” Jellia said, from where she stood at the door to the kitchen, “Has asked me to experiment with a new ingredient. So I made and am making a dozen different recipes, and you are going to get a little bit of each.
She disappeared and came back with some cheese and crackers. “Just a little bit now,” she warned.
Fenestra tried some of the cheese on a cracker. Fascinating taste! “I don’t know how to describe it,” Jellia’s en-drek said.
“Do you like it?” Jellia asked.
“Oh, yes.”
“It’s yummy,” bobbin said, and Jellia disappeared again.
“And here we have duck… or what they call duck here… with a glaze. I used onions and lemon to make the glaze, plus the new oil, of course…
Fenestra liked the duck, but was amazed at her daughter! Where had she come from?
Contract Marriage
Contract marriage is an adult dystopia examining the issues of marriage. Like 1984 and Brave New World, Contract Marriage treats the relations between the sexes as a fundamental aspect of how a society is formed and, thus, how a society can go wrong.
Unlike those dystopias, Contract Marriage isn’t all horrible all of the time. The characters for the most part have a good time and get along in their society. But the issues of sexuality, of marriage or not, monogamy or not, faithfulness or not, and gender roles… keep coming up and causing tension and conflict and joy and pain.
My desire is that my readers would be thinking along with my characters about these issues and perhaps even arrive at the same place (minus the flying cars).
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.
Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid: A Christian historical fiction chapter book about four orphans who go to live with their aunt on a dairy farm.
The Bobtails and the Cousins: The sequel to Preacher’s Kid. The aunt has married, and the cousins come to visit. Meaning town kids dealing with chores and manure and…
The Bobtails go to France: The sequel to cousins. The Bobtails, and Preacher’s Kid, get to take a trip to New York, London, Paris, and a small town in France. To get some cheese.
and
No Ordinary School: A brilliant but socially clueless boy gets recruited for a special school. Where he makes a lot of money, gets a girl, and solves a mystery.
As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.
Arthur also has a substack, and a website. On the substack you can listen to some of his published books. Free.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Other Stories
Contract Marriage is not my only story on Substack. I have two light dystopias, or cultural sci-fi, or one of them is military sci-fi with aliens… Science Fiction can be difficult to categorise :)
Article 17: Intro
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8 JANUARY 2024
She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.
And a fantasy-esque series of morality tales:
The Oracle at Toko-Ri
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1 MAY 2023
Next Post →
Prologue IP0
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11 AUGUST 2023
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
Without a Word
Without a Word is a historical fiction story set in 1808 and follows the struggles of a young woman, betrothed against her will to an older man. A Christian woman, and a man of very questionable morals.
Without a Word attempts to contrast Biblical advice against the advice of this age, even the advice of the church. It concerns a young, immature woman growing in her own Godliness through her obedience to an ungodly man. And who knows, perhaps she shall even win her husband.
