She changed me

Writing from Jovil's point of view has been one of the most exciting parts of writing Tandro. He is Stefanie's alien lover; he is her thunderbolt and she is his. The French refer to it as your coup de foudre - your bolt of lightning.

Jovil has come from a world where emotional connections do not exist. He was not born into a family unit or ever exerienced a physical or emotional connection with another person...until he came to Earth and spends the day with Stefanie.

As he says in his introduction:

I had never questioned being a single unit; of living life as just me, no family, no partner, no child to care for. You do not question or yearn for something that does not exist in your life; or even your universe.

She changed me.

When Stefanie and Jovil meet secretly they have some interesting conversations about their backgrounds and planetary conditioning. Christmas is a subject that Jovil finds particularly intriguing:

“Do you have Christmas in Tandro? In your Universe…?.” Stefanie asked.

Jovil’s expression was serious as his eyes took in the flickering from all around the branches of the tree, his own pupils matching the action of the lights. “My understanding from my resources is that you spend weeks decorating and getting ready for this day to celebrate what seems like a mythical baby’s birth, this Jesus Christ?” He asked. Stefanie nodded at him, smiling in amusement at his summary, enjoying being able to stand near him and study the features of his face as the lights from the tree illuminated them.

“It is strange for me though. The previous Hedler abolished religion many years before my own first day of existence so this is a difficult concept for me to grasp; this idea of a heaven and a God type figure people worship. Just as this Father of Christmas concept that you have.” He shook his head . “This universal deception to children which goes against your parenting mantra that children should not lie? We Tandroists have taken much amusement from this.”

Stefanie laughed, her hands on her hips. “Unbelievable! I have always said to Robert, can you imagine if little men from outer space came down to Earth and heard us telling our kids not to tell lies and then saw us blatantly doing just that with Christmas and the tooth fairy lie we have too. Hypocrisy in its finest. That’s human for you!”

“Hypocrisy! Yes, that is the word I was thinking of. There is a lot of that on Earth from my observations. I imagine this is what happens when so many emotions are allowed to be explored? It is the opposite of our controlled society.” He turned away from the allure of the tree lights then and smiled at her, a teasing expression on his face. “We are not little men though Stefanie!”

Stefanie grinned back at him. “No! You are not little, that’s for sure, or green with three heads!” Jovil frowned at her and she gave his arm a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry. It’s just another Earth thing. Our ideas of what other species might look like. But going back to what you just said…about emotions. A bit more control on it here might not be a bad thing. But, what did you mean when you said, ‘your first day of existence?’ Is that what you call your birthday?”

He nodded at her. “It is the equivalent I believe, yes. We do not refer to a birthday as such as this has emotional connotations too. Are you aware that I, like all my people, were grown in a development chamber after our donor eggs and sperm were specially selected for one hundred per cent purity?” He asked.

“What? You mean, you are not actually born? You didn’t come out of a woman’s body? I can’t begin to imagine that.”