© 2022, 2024 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. This story or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary. If you see this story on any website other than Literotica.com, it has been copied without the author's permission.

Amorous Goods: Black Pearls

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Note to reader, Amorous Goods: Black Pearls has been updated to bring it into the Andi's Dream/StormWatch timeline more accurately. The Previous iteration had confused the timeline, but it should all be straightened up now. Fans of Mike and Audrey von Köster will notice that they are no longer in this story. The confused timeline of this story had them in the story and married before Josh proposed to Veronica. This story takes place two months before that happens.

Prologue:

A lifelong collector of goods and objects from far and wide has passed and left the entire collection and the business built around them to the only remaining relative, a niece on a career path of her own. Vikki has taken on the task of administering the estate and liquidating the business and collection. However, she has come to find out that many of the goods have been cursed or enchanted with amorous powers that affect those who encounter them. Vikki found that under the right conditions, these items can help those that need help. These are the stories of some of those encounters with objects found at "Amorous Goods".

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It's early October in a small village, the buckle of the snowbelt the residents called their village, and with every puff of wind the sound of crisp dried leaves dancing through the streets fills the air. Days ended noticeably sooner now, the sun was gone before 7:00 PM, and by Halloween, it will be gone by 6:00 PM. On Main Street traffic was light, people dressed against the chill hurried along, it's not cold now, but it will be cold soon. A few pedestrians ducked into their favorite restaurants, grilles, or taverns for their evening meal.

Inside Worzil's Bar and Grille, a small group of the regulars sat on the far side of the squared U-shaped bar, Unkle Stash as Stan is called, holds court. King of the barflies, their evening meal known as the "Barley Sandwich" is served in 12-ounce glasses. A couple sat in a booth at the front window holding hands across the table and talking as his beer gets warm and her tea gets cold. And on the other side of the bar, a morose looking young man of 28 years sat staring at his beer. Black hair, gray eyes, tortoise shell framed glasses sat atop a small, pointed nose, black electrical tape held the glasses together in two spots.

"What's the matter Kenny? Does the world got you down?" asked Ayato Tanaka, bartender and owner of Worzil's Bar and Grille. Ayato is the youngest son of Japanese Americans that were locked up in internment camps during World War II. He was born years later, after his dad returned from Italy, where he served in the US Army and went ashore at Anzio.

Ayato is a retired Air Force officer, and he tried to marry the retired pilot's dream girl, a rich, young, nymphomaniac with huge tits and a bar. However, Ayato was not a pilot. He was a maintenance officer and love steered him to his present wife, Julissa. She is only a few years younger than Ayato and she was a sergeant under him in the chain of command, her savings account never held more than $1,574.50, and the bar she owns is a little local dive in a little village south of Buffalo NY that they purchased together. But she does have nice tits and can fuck him three ways to Sunday. Love is awesome, and after 15 years they still love each other madly, but from their chatter in the bar you'd never know it. Ayato wears glasses thick enough to be bullet proof yet he still needs a magnifying glass to read the ingredients on any label, but his hearing is incredible. It's said that if a bum takes a piss against the side of the feed store up on Main Street, Ayato can hear how well hydrated the bum is. If you drop a coin, he can tell the denomination and year of the coin from the sound it makes.

Speaking of the feed store up on Main Street, that feed store is owned by Davis Johnson, Kenny Johnson's dad, and now Kenny is sitting forlornly at the bar in Worzil's Bar and Grille, second stool from the end of the bar. Instead of answering Ayato's question, Kenny simply drained his beer, sat the empty pint glass on the bar, and quietly pointed at it. "Ok," grinned Ayato, "be that way." He took the glass and started to draw Kenny a beer, "but I'm here if you need someone to talk to."

"Oh, leave him alone," called Veronica from her booth where she sat awaiting dinner with another veteran, Josh Gravely. She hopped up from the booth and walked up to Kenny and patted his arm just as his fresh beer arrived. "Sometimes it's not easy," she whispered so that only Kenny could hear, forgetting how good Ayato's hearing was. "If it's meant to be, she'll come around." Veronica is tall, slim and Josh's coworker and lover. Nicca and Effie, as they secretly call each other, like to come to Worzil's on occasion to get out of the house, which is only a few blocks away.

Kenny shrugged sadly and sipped his beer. "She was pretty firm about it," he mumbled. "She said that it can't be like this anymore." He took another sip and stared off into the distance.

"That's not a breakup," whispered Ronnie as she eased onto the stool next to him with a grace that would make a jaguar jealous, "that's frustration, she's not happy about something, but she's giving you the opportunity to fix it."

"Like what?" Kenny was desperate, he's crazy over Yi-jin Carlson, the governess of Doctor Paul Jarecki's kids and the executive chef for Doc Jarecki and his wife who is also a doctor, Andi. Tall, slim, athletic, smart, Yi can pamper a child, create a souffle blindfolded, or rebuild an engine. She is the walking embodiment of every wet dream that Kenny has ever had. Her long black hair with blond highlights and dark almond-shaped eyes were the hallmarks of her Korean heritage, but she grew up on the beaches of South Florida and was a true beach bunny. The smaller the bikini, the better. She would be happy with a G-string and a pair of pasties, and he's spent hours dreaming of her dressed like that. "She says she wants me to be more assertive, I try, and she gets mad and says I should be more sympathetic to her feelings... but she won't tell me her feelings."

Veronica was Yi-jin's confidant. Veronica would stroll over to Jarecki's house when Yi wasn't busy, and they'd chat. That's the reason Veronica brought Josh to Worzil's for dinner tonight. Earlier today, Yi-jin confessed her frustration to Veronica. Her complaint about her boyfriend Kenny was "He's too nice," which confused Veronica. The reason Veronica fled into Josh's arms is because he is so nice. How could a woman not like nice? Veronica was tired of being used as a fuck toy by both men and women, but Yi-jin wanted some excitement in her life. She loved the children and Paul and Andi, but she missed the party life.

Veronica knew that Kenny always came to Worzil's after a disagreement with Yi, and he always sat on the second stool from the end of the bar, his back to the door. He would have two cold beers, then head back to the feed store to stack sacks of dog food or whatever needed his attention until he was so exhausted that the problem no longer existed. While Veronica was trying to settle Kenny down, Ayato's wife, Julissa, delivered dinner to Veronica's table. "Where's your princess Josh?" she asked.

"It's Kenny again," said Josh with a sigh. He hated to see Kenny in such pain over Yi. Josh's first wife emotionally tortured him the same way for years until he came home from a combat deployment to find her pregnant with another man's child. "Yi told him he was too nice, and it's over."

"I am so tired of that woman," growled Julissa inwardly. "She comes into this town, messes with our men, and leaves the mess for me to clean up..." She somehow painted a smile on her face and turned to Josh. "You eat up sweety, I'll send Ronnie back to ya," and she headed to the end of the bar.

"I don't know if I can do this anymore," Kenny groaned as Julissa stepped up behind him.

"What happened now?" demanded Julissa.

"She says he's too nice to her," said Veronica, as she sadly stroked his back.

Julissa shook her head sadly. "That girl, I swear..." She sat down on the other side of Kenny and said, "Ok, I got something I think will work, but the fewer people that hear it the better, we need it to be a surprise for Yi-jin, got it?" said Julissa. When Veronica nodded, Julissa said, "Ok, thanks, sugar. You go eat before your fries get cold and your man gets lonely."

Veronica learned months ago that it did you no good to argue with Julissa. She was a block wall when it came to changing her mind about something. The only person on earth that can get Julissa to change her mind once it was made up was her husband. And if you went to him and asked him to help you change her mind, he would say, "No, sorry, that is my one superpower. It is only to be used for good."

Julissa took a pen out of her pocket and looked for an address she had stored on her phone, then wrote it on a cocktail napkin. "This place has what you need. Talk only to Vikki, no one else. If she's not there, come back another day. Tell her Julissa sent you. DO NOT LOSE THIS ADDRESS! Put it on your phone right now and give me the napkin back."

"Why not just send it to me?" asked Kenny without looking up from his beer.

"It won't send." Kenny gave Julissa a confused look. "Believe me, it won't send!" she insisted and handed the napkin to Kenny.

He looked at the napkin. He wasn't happy with the address; it was in one of the seediest sections of Lackawanna NY, Buffalo's twin sister in urban decay. The name of the business was Amorous Goods.

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Two blocks away, in a huge Victorian house on Howard Street, Andi Jarecki was singing to her yet to be born son Daniel. In one month he'll be born and from the way he's kicking, he'll be born walking. Supper was finished, and the twins were at the dining room table doing their "homework." Because of their diminutive size, they were placed in kindergarten to get socialized with the school children, but at the same time they're getting tutored in math and reading at a third-grade level and far outstripping their teacher's expectations.

The object of Kenny's love, Yi-jin Carlson, was finishing cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. She was the executive chef for the Jarecki family and the governess for their children. Today was a quiet day. Andi was off and spent the day with the twin girls Sandy and Madeline, so all Yi had to do today was cook dinner. "Not going out tonight, Ye?" asked Andi.

"No," Yi snapped quickly. She was scrubbing the stove a lot harder than it deserved to be scrubbed.

"Come sit down," said Andi, as she patted a chair next to herself. Yi dragged herself over to the chair and sat down as Andi didn't look comfortable. She's a tiny woman, and she looked huge at eight months pregnant, but Yi knew better than to avoid Dr. Jarecki's requests to come sit and chat. There was one time she weaseled out of a chat, and she missed her chance to upgrade to a brand-new Mustang Mach 1. Sometimes it's nice to work for the owner of 10 car dealerships. When Yi-jin finally sat down, Andi asked, "Is it Kenny?"

"No, of course not," said Yi. The only sound in the kitchen was the thumping of Andi's small hand patting her tummy and the quiet chatter of the twins in the next room as they did their arithmetic in crayon. Andi waited and soon Yi broke and quietly said, "Yes."

"Did Kenny do or say anything to make you want to break up?"

"We didn't break up!" Yi insisted.

"Kenny seems to think you did." Adrianna, or Andi as she's known to everyone, stared at Yi with her warm brown eyes. Those eyes could identify a vascular issue from five miles away. She could easily spot a crafted answer from a matter of feet easily.

"I'm tired of being handled like I'm porcelain. I told him that I couldn't do this anymore."

"That's a breakup girl." Her statement was punctuated with an enthusiastic kick from Daniel. As always, at Andi's call, his big sisters dashed into the room and placed their hands on her mother's belly to feel him move, then they dashed back to their homework.

"It's not! I just want him to... treat me differently."

"How?" asked Andi. "How do you want him to treat you?"

"I don't know... differently..."

"Like how? How do you want him to treat you?" asked Andi. But Yi just slumped her shoulders. "Did you tell him?"

"Yes," the distraught chef said quietly.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him... that I wanted to be treated differently."

Andi shook her head... kids! Yi was almost the same age as she was, but Andi is now a doctor with twins, expecting number three, and is married to a successful husband. Yi is an accomplished chef and has an engineering certificate from the coast guard meaning she can maintain most yachts and was one of the most in demand yacht crew members on the Florida Treasure Coast, but emotionally she's still a 20-year-old party girl. "Let me guess, everything he tried, you told him was wrong."

"Yeah... I guess." Now Yi was desperately avoiding eye contact with Andi.

"And everything he did was wrong... am I right?"

"I DON'T WANT TO GET MARRIED!" Yi suddenly demanded. She had jumped up and thumped her fist on the table.

"He didn't ask you that. I don't think he even hinted at..."

Yi sagged back to the table and buried her face in her crossed arms. "When I look in his eyes, all I see are wedding bells..." she groaned.

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"The boys" were gathered in the hayloft of Paul Jarecki's enormous barn, each had a beer in their hand except Paul's "kid" brother John, the pastor of the Springville Congregational Church, who held a store brand cola. They were working on a project for the Springville Halloween Festival to raise money for the local children's hospital. The guillotine was going to be part of a haunted house to raise money. "The Boys" as their wives and girlfriends called them, were Doctor Paul Jarecki, his brother Pastor John Jarecki, their neighbor Josh Gravely, and a computer nerd that Paul recruited, Kenny Johnson, whose family owned the feed store.

Josh was working on the platform that held the body of the intended victim. They wanted something comfortable, but at the same time looked uncomfortable. Everything they did either looked great but was horribly painful to lay on for any length of time, or something that was comfortable but sadly looked comfortable. John came up with a brainstorm, make a woven webbing instead of a cushioned platform, kind of like a piece of lawn furniture. "Yeah," grinned Josh, "It'll be easier to clean the blood off of." They were now happily weaving old tie-down straps into a strong wooden frame. "Ol' Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval is probably turning over in his grave wondering why he never thought of this," said John.

All the work stopped. "Who?" Paul finally asked.

"You've never heard of Charles-Henri Sanson?" asked the astonished pastor. "He was the head executioner of the French Revolution."

"I thought it was Maximilien Robespierre," said Paul.

"He was just an anti-Christian ideologue, a Marxist, before Karl Marx was born," said John as he and Paul painted the guillotine frame.

They wanted to make a full-size version of a finger guillotine magic trick they all had as kids, but after many failures, they were ready to give up on the entire idea. Paul and John were talking about it while picking up chicken feed at Johnson's feed store. The assistant manager, Kenny, heard them and said he had an idea that would eliminate moving parts. He came to the next meeting of "The Boys" and gave them his idea. "No, it won't look like an operating guillotine to an observer, they'll just see some flashing lights, but to the person IN the guillotine looking up at the blade, it will look real, and the entertainment value will be their experience and watching them freak out," explained Kenny.

"So, what you're saying is that you can terrify people so horribly that they will think they are going to die and utterly panic? Convulsions of terror?" asked Pastor John, "You want to put them in fear for their lives just for the entertainment of their friends?" He now sounded like he was going to vote down the idea.

"Yes," said Kenny innocently.

"Perfect," said John. "That's exactly what we want."

But now Kenny was seated on a stool with a laptop on his knees. It was connected to the guillotine, and he clearly wasn't liking what he was seeing. The LEDs were working; they shot a beam straight across from one bar to the other. With a mist of water from an atomizer, the beams were clearly visible and from beneath; they looked like the sharp edge of a blade coming down. But controlling everything, the sounds, LEDs, even a motor to shake the guillotine, it was too complex. He could do it, but having a laptop connected to a guillotine was insane. The mantra of all programmers came to mind: There's got to be an easier way. Kenny spent 10 years in the US Army programming missile systems and anti-missile systems. A fake guillotine should be easy. "Look, guys," he sighed as he folded up the laptop. "I need to step away and think this out."

"Are you ok?" asked Josh. He's seen programmers hit a blank wall before and sometimes they need to wander around and think over their next step. The really creative programmers can get freaky at this point.

"Yeah... I got... a thing." He slid the laptop into his backpack and walked toward the staircase leading out. "I'll be back tomorrow. I just got to think out the sequences."

"Jeez," said Mike as he held a strap taut for Josh to secure. "I hope he'll be OK."

"That girl of mine, Yi-jin," said Paul, "She's got him all messed up." Paul swore an oath to Yi-jin's folks that he would watch her like a daughter, and he did, as did his wife Andi, who loved Yi like she was one of her girls.

"Yeah," said Josh. "I've seen him following her around like a puppy."

"Macy says that Yi feels the same way about him," said John. Macy is his wife and is very close to Andi and Yi. Macy is also 8 months pregnant.

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Forty-five minutes later, Kenny drove his truck slowly through the dark streets of the city of Lackawanna, a small city that was once called a "streetcar suburb" of Buffalo. During WWII, Lackawanna was home to the largest steel mill in the world. Steel churned out from the Lackawanna plant won World War II through tanks, ships, and guns of all sizes. Now the war has come to Lackawanna, crime is 20% higher than the national average, which is quite high, unemployment is rampant, and most of the buildings Kenny saw were empty.

He wasn't quite sure where he was, but the rotting remains of the former linchpin in the arsenal of democracy loomed ahead of him in the darkness. The furnaces were now cold; the fires were extinguished and what ore remained sat in a pile on the old American Steamship Lines ore dock, waiting for an ore bucket that will never come. Occasionally, from deep in the depths of the cavernous building, a screech of tearing metal could be heard as the formerly vibrant building slowly fell apart.

He cruised slowly, desperately looking for addresses on the shuttered businesses. The only businesses open appeared to be pawn shops and stores with the word Dollar in their names. The address that Julissa gave him didn't come up on Google Maps, but he could use an old fashion paper map to estimate the approximate location, which on the paper map was the middle of a field. He drove up Clifton Ave. and the street continued where the map said it should have ended. He pulled up in front of a dark shop, the sign out front was illuminated by one very weak light bulb, between ancient advertisements left by a previous tenant that stated, "Licensed RCA Dealer!" and "See the All-New Dupont Network!" was a newer sign that simply declared, "Amorous Goods."

Kenny stepped through the door and was transported to a Victorian age collection of... things.

He saw everything from exotic sex toys to what looked like a desiccated monkey's paw. The shop was dimly illuminated by small lamps placed hither and yon, and their pale glow illuminated devices that may be sadists' devices. Some could have been prized by an executioner. On one wall behind a counter hung belts, straps, buckles, collars, harnesses, chains, paddles, quirts, whips, floggers, lashers and something called a "fluffinator." It looked like a cat-o'-nine-tails made with nine fluffy fox tails. And was one tail gently writhing? It was hard to see in the dim interior of the shop. It could be a trick of the flickering light from some lamps which had lightbulbs that simulate a flickering flame.

There were many odd pieces of furniture, some harbored leather restraints, some had strategically placed dildos. He noticed a chair with a five hundred-thousand-dollar price tag. It was an ornate antique chair with an oval back which had a hand stitched pastoral scene on the seat cushion and carved into the wooden back. Wooden arms were cushioned with cross stitched pads. It was nice but nothing amazing; it looked like the furniture that Grandma Lacy had in her suite in their big drafty house in Springville.

Kenny decided to sit on it just to see what a half million-dollar chair felt like against his ass. As he started to sit down, an older woman with long silver hair stepped out of a back room and said, "Oh, I wouldn't sit there."

Kenny leaped up and said, "I'm sorry, is it fragile?"

"Ummm, no. Not at all. That is Sir Henry. He's a nice chair, but he is quite lonely and he gets a bit... affectionate. How may I help you?"

"A friend, Julissa Tanaka, sent me. She said you could help," said Kenny as he looked back at the chair. Did Sir Henry's arm just move? It had to be a trick of the light.

"Ah Julissa, how are she and Ayato doing?"

"They're very happy." Kenny watched the old girl as she walked back and forth behind the glass counter containing various items of jewelry and crystal glassware. She was wearing a long, flowing black dress, and he swore he had caught a glimpse of flesh behind that black gown. Was that black dress sheer? He thought of how nice it would look on Yi and looked again, and he was sure now that it was as opaque as a sheet of plywood. "What kind of help could you offer me?" he finally asked when she didn't say anything.

"That depends. What kind of help do you need?" she smiled. It was hard to say, but it looked to Kenny like she was shifting her hips under the dress.

"My girlfriend, I just don't understand what it will take to make her happy. She says I treat her too nicely, and when I try not to treat her so nicely, she gets mad and says I don't treat her nicely enough. I don't know what to do. Sometimes our relationship is hot and loving, sometimes she's cold and pushing me away. Now I think she wants to dump me. Can you help me?"

"That depends." The woman placed her hands on her lower back and arched her back, thrusting her breasts against the fabric. "What do you think of this dress?"

Kenny shrugged. "It's ok, kinda fancy. I like black dresses like that."

"Don't you think it's a bit daring?"

"When I first saw it, I thought it was a bit sheer, but now that I look at it in a better light, I guess it's not at all." He considered it and nodded. "Black looks good on you."

"Then I suppose there's quite a bit we can do for you." The woman put a gold statue of a gnarled ogre on the counter. The statue had a cloth wrapped wire connected to it. "First, you need to touch the statue."

Kenny reached forward to the statue and as he reached for it, an arc of electricity jumped between his finger and the ogre. "Wow, what was that?" asked Kenny. "Was that like a magic spell or something?"

She gave him a look that practically screamed, "Get real!" She moved the statue inside the glass case. "That was static electricity," said the woman. "This is just a grounding device. See the grounding wire?" And she began to look through drawers behind the counter for something.

"Is there some electronics involved?" asked Kenny.

"Oh, heavens no!" said the woman as she searched through a small iron strong box. "This is the real thing. If you want electronics, you can go to any Adult Superstore or Fantasy Outlet or whatever they call them now a days."

"So, static can hurt the real thing?" he asked.

"Imagine you have a relic with a five-hundred-year-old hex on it. Now imagine the hell there would be to pay if you woke that hex with twenty thousand volts of static electricity."

"Bad?" asked Kenny.

"Only if you survive," she said as she brought out what appeared to be two magicians' rings that were linked together and a pair of oversized purple sunglasses with thick yellow frames. She separated the rings without a bit of effort and handed him the rings while she put on the ugly sunglasses. "Hold the rings up. We're going to play rabbit's ears..."

"Play what?" Kenny was starting to get nervous.

"Rabbit ears, like the old fashion antenna. It had two bars like your arms. Now I'm going to adjust you..." and she leaned over the counter, grabbed his forearms and moved his arms around like she was trying to adjust the antenna on an old TV.

"Oh yeah, the old, inverse sloping dipole antenna..." started Kenny.

"Don't move, stop shaking. I'm getting a fuzzy picture."

"Huh?" Kenny held the semaphore letter W longer than he ever wanted and the whole time he wondered what she meant by "Fuzzy picture" and every time he tried to ask, she'd snap her fingers at him to be quiet and she'd readjust his arms. Finally, the lady let him lower his arms, and she took the rings back from him.

"The problem isn't you," she said as she took off the sunglasses. "Your woman, Yi-jin, is her name, right? The problem is that she doesn't know herself." Josh was startled. He was sure he never mentioned anything personal about Yi, including her name. "Such a pretty Asian girl," the woman muttered. "You two look so nice together."

"How did you know her name? How do you know what she looks like?" demanded Kenny.

"Rabbit ears! Duh!" and the woman poked Kenny in the forehead with a long boney finger. "What she needs to do is learn herself, and to do that, we will show her who she is through you. You need Black Pearl."

"Captain Jack Sparrow's boat?" asked Kenny, completely confused now.

The woman gave Kenny a withering glare. "First we need tea, let's sit down," she indicated a small round table with two chairs over to the side, "sit, I'll be right with you." As Kenny sat, she busied herself with a display tray that she covered with a black cloth, then sat the tray in the middle of the table. She then produced a tea tray with saucers, cups, and spoons and set that on the table. "Hmmm, what else do we need here?" she said as she tapped her chin.

"Tea?" suggested Kenny.

"Of course!" The woman went behind the counter and began looking through the shelves behind the counter, eventually finding a teapot that matched the cups hidden on a shelf behind a bat that was mounted on a branch with his wings spread. Did that bat's head turn as she walked away? She took the lid off the teapot and shook it upside-down, shaking out a few scraps of paper. Then, with a rag, she dusted out the teapot and returned to the table and sat down. "What kind of tea do you prefer?" she asked.

"Earl Gray, hot," said Kenny, trying to imitate Cpt Jean Luc Picard, and to his astonishment she poured a cup of scalding hot tea from the pot that he was sure was completely empty a moment ago. The scent of tea with that citrus hint filled his senses.

"I prefer black," she said and poured herself a cup of dark tea and set the pot down. Kenny reached for the pot to inspect it, and the woman glared at him as she sipped her tea. "That is not for sale. Tell me about Kensington Johnson."

Kenny was truly shocked. He never tells anybody his proper first name, not even Yi. He was named after the street Kensington Avenue by his dad because it's a family tradition, so to the world he was Ken or Kenny. "How did...?" but the look she gave him informed him louder than any words could that she was not going to answer. "I'm an Army veteran, did three tours in Korea, and time in the sandpile. I got out at ten years when mom, dad, and Grandpa Archie got hurt in a car wreck, and I came home to help. They're doing better and I'm now managing our feed store and doing some programming on the side."

"And the yellow fever?" she asked.

Kenny smiled sadly. "Is it that obvious?" She nodded, still sipping her tea, and he continued. "I don't know. My first tour in Korea and I met so many wonderful people. I fell in love with the culture and the food, and the women! Something in my heart told me that I was going to marry a Korean woman." He sipped his perfect cuppa; something in the tea made him want to talk. "I came back to Korea two more times, and I met so many wonderful Korean girls, but every time my heart would tell me 'She's not the one.' When I had to hang it up and come home, I realized that I missed my chance. I was never going to get married. But that thing in my heart kept telling me, screaming at me that I will marry a Korean girl, but there's so few Asians around here... then Yi showed up and that thing in my heart stopped."

"What happened?" asked the woman.

"I thought you knew all of this from the rabbit ears."

"I need to hear it from you now," she said as she lifted a cookie from a plate that Kenny was sure was empty a moment ago.

Kenny shrugged, "She came into the feed shop with Doc Jarecki to get chicken feed, and I saw her. It was like everything paused and she became the only person in the store, and I knew that she was the one, the girl I was waiting for my entire life." He sighed, remembering the rush of emotions that day, the feeling that everything was going to be ok, his search was over. "She came back a few days later for cold weather gear and we started dating. And now? I don't know... I guess it doesn't matter. We're going to have to close the feed store soon. The jerk that owns the building is going to raise the rent and we can barely afford it now. I'll be out of a job and useless to everybody anyhow. Maybe it's better that she wants to dump me."

"No, she doesn't want to dump you. She doesn't know her heart. Tell me about your first date."

Kenny remembered it like it was earlier today. He replayed the joy of that day in his mind. "It was a rough day at work. A big shipment came in and the help called in sick, so I had to unload the truck by myself. I was soaked in sweat, so I took my shirt off and as I worked, I thought someone was watching me. I never saw anyone, but I felt them there. After work, I ended up at Worzil's bar in Springville. I was dehydrated from working in that heat, and the bartender, Ayato, told me I had to sit in a booth and that Julissa would bring me what I needed. So, I'm sitting in a booth sucking down a beer, waiting for Julissa to bring me dinner and instead she seats Yi in the booth with me."

"What happened?" The look in the old woman's eye showed that she knew exactly what happened. She just wanted to hear Kenny say it.

"We sat and talked all night. I told her about the army and running a feed store. She told me about the yachts she's worked on, about when she was on the Food Network, and the kids she watches now. When Ayato closed and kicked us out, we went to the 279 Diner and drank coffee and talked. When the sun came up, they demanded that we order or go, so we shared a stack of pancakes until we had to go to work. In the end, she admitted that she was watching me unload the truck."

"And your dates since then?"

"Well, neither one of us has much money, so we go to the drive-in quite often, and we camp out on Doc Jarecki's land. If we ask Josh Gravely, he lets us use one of his cabins and we can fish in his pond... sometimes we're real close, like we're on our honeymoon or something, other times I honestly think she hates me... I've saved up a few dollars and I'm going to take her to Niagara Falls if we ever get close again..." his voice drifted off and his eyes showed that he was getting trapped in a world of what may never be.

The woman leaned forward, her eyes twinkling. "And sex...?"

Still lost in a world of his own creation, Kenny said, "Thanks, but I've got a girlfri..."

"BETWEEN YOU AND HER!"

Kenny tried to hold back, it was none of her business, but he was somehow compelled to tell her about their first time down on Cattaraugus creek on the sandbank, Doc Jarecki's favorite fishing spot, how they slowly peeled off each other's bathing suits and how neither one remembered doing it, how she ended up on top of him so she wouldn't get sand in her hair, and how hard she came. It scared both of them. "She was crying, and I thought I hurt her, but she eventually said that it overwhelmed her. 'It's never been that good, ever,' she said."

"And now?" the woman asked.

"I don't know. Right now, I can't even get her to look at me... It really hurts because I love her so much..."

The woman crossed her arms and asked, "If she came up to you and said that she didn't ever want to see you again, that seeing you makes her unhappy, what would you do?" Kenny looked shocked, what this woman said was terrifying to him, he could never consider such a thing, but she asked again with an insistent glare, "What would you do?" she demanded, "answer truthfully."

He couldn't deny her. It was as if she became a force of nature, like a hurricane or a tsunami. Nothing could resist her. The shop dimmed as he struggled to keep his answer private, but he finally said, "I would leave. I'm not needed here anymore, so I would just go and prevent her from any pain..." He realized that was the truth. He would leave, probably to Nashville. He knows people down there...

"Good answer." the woman's expression softened. "You were honest. Now let's prevent that from ever happening." Kenny watched as she placed two candles on the table, and they flared to light. That seemed to be all the light in the shop. Everything else had faded into the darkness. And it was quiet, so quiet that the occasional crackle from the candles was loud. The entire shop seemed to take on a spirit of expectancy. "Do you love Yi?" she asked.

A soft creaking noise could be heard. Kenny thought it could be Sir Henry, the half million-dollar chair leaning in to hear his reply. "Yes ma'am, with all my heart, I've never loved anyone like her."

"Do you want to marry Yi?"

"Yes ma'am, just as soon as she says she's ready and not a minute before."

The woman considered his words, then said, "What if she says no?"

"Ma'am, I've always lived by 'no means no,' and that's that."

"What if I told you that she doesn't know what she wants? What do you say then?"

Kenny sighed, "I guess that's why I'm here."

"Good, let's get started." The woman took the black velvet cover off the display tray and there on the velvet lined tray lay several pieces of jewelry, each one stunning in its complex and intricate designs, each piece was designed to look like a piece of Victorian artwork decorated with tiny black gems so black and perfect they look like a tiny piece of a moonless night that was placed in each fitting.

"Marcasite?" asked Kenny. "My grandma loves marcasite; I give her marcasite every Christmas."

"Close," said the woman, "but have you ever seen marcasite cut to a perfect sphere?" With a pointer that may have been a dental pick, she pointed out that every piece in the collection had at least one beautiful, shining, almost glowing black sphere set as the center gem of the piece. "These are small, but perfect in every way, black pearls."

"Cool, I guess," said Kenny as he looked at the jewelry.

"Cool? Mister Johnson, these black pearls are the..." the woman suddenly grew quiet, terrified something may hear her. "The black pearl is the master gemstone. Many other gems may claim to have power, but in the end, they're just shiny rocks."

"I heard that quartz..."

"Quartz isn't even a rock, it's a crystal, like salt. Very pretty, but very fragile. Struck just right and it shatters. The pearl, on the other hand is created by a living being over the period of ages." Her voice began to take on a mystical quality as she spoke. "No gem is more beautiful or more meaningful than a pearl. And while a gemstone or crystal like a ruby or diamond must be cut and polished to bring out its beauty, a pearl comes to us whole and beautiful. These are Tahitian Black Pearls, the only natural black pearls on earth."

"The Chinese tell us that black pearls are created inside the heads of dragons which they perceived as wise, and the dragons carried the pearls between their teeth until their death. But we know they come from a mollusk that lives in the waters of Tahiti where many ley lines intersect, imbuing these living gems with power that we are still coming to grips with. Only the great pyramids in Giza have more ley lines intersecting near them."

The woman was on a roll now as she pointed out the beauty and the mystery of the black pearls. Kenny had heard about ley lines, but he wasn't sure that they were any more real than the UFOs, ghosts, and Big Foots (Big Feet?) that so many people claim to have seen but no one has taken decent pictures of. Then she said something that grabbed his attention.

"Tahitian Black pearl is a symbol of hope for the broken-hearted, a symbol of everlasting love, wisdom, knowledge, and prosperity. Black Pearl wards off evil and heals hurt feelings. It's useful for getting rid of negative thinking and thoughts. It will prevent you from getting confused by wrong information and will show you the direction that is best for you to follow. Should you choose the wrong path, it will guide and protect you."

"All that huh," said Kenny disparagingly. "And I'm sure it comes with a price." He suddenly felt nauseous. Kenny let himself believe there was a chance that he had a shot at a happily ever after, and even if one of these pearls could do the marvelous things, this woman is claiming, there's no way he could afford it. He'll just have to go tell Yi that he's not going to be hurting her anymore. "Thank you, this stuff is so beautiful, and your story nearly convinced me, but I can't afford this. I don't know if I have gas to get home... I'm sorry for wasting your time." And he started to get up.

Suddenly the candle flames rose a good foot. He was halfway out of his chair when something grabbed his belt and pulled him back into his chair. The woman sighed. "Kensington, maybe you were given the wrong idea about Amorous Goods. This isn't a sex shop or an antique store, this is an... let's call it an adoption agency for items that need a good home. If I wasn't 100% sure that you were the right recipient, then yes, I would charge you money for this set, a lot of money, instead I may need a few hours of help on weekends in the warehouse."

Kenny looked at the array of beautiful silver and black jewelry in front of him. The pearls gleamed, trapping the now small candle flame in their mysterious depths and reflecting only joy. "This has got to be worth..."

"Forty hours," she said, "Payable in increments of no less than four hours and to be complete before the winter solstice."

"Sold," said Kenny as he gazed at the objects that lay glittering on the velvet tray.

"Wait a minute, you haven't heard the cost," she said darkly.

"You said forty hours of labor..."

"That's the price. I'm now talking about the cost." She picked up the empty plate and offered Kenny a delicious-looking brownie, which he declined; he never eats when he's this confused.

"I don't understand," he muttered.

"These will do everything I mentioned, and more. You will win Yi-jin's favor and at the same time she will learn her heart," said the woman. "The pearls will ward off evil, they will heal hurt feelings, they will eliminate negative thinking, they will guide and protect you, and more, but there is a cost involved."

"What is the cost?" This was getting spookier to Kenny.

"There must be a luck sacrifice."

Ken stared at her in shock. "A luck sacrifice?" He suddenly felt the urge to start laughing.

"Do not mock the knowledge of the ages," she demanded. Her voice now had a mysterious echo. "For over ten thousand years, men and women have studied and understood the nature of fate, how fortune can be blocked or stolen by misfortune. Luck is a tangible resource and has been known and studied in the east for over one hundred centuries. China is on the rise because they knew when and how the luck of the west would be squandered and lost."

"Ok, if I assume this is real, what is a luck sacrifice?" asked Kenny. "Do I burn a lucky rabbit's foot? Make a four-leaf clover salad?"

"Do not mock what you do not understand. This is a blood sacrifice." Her tone was threatening now.

"Blood? Now wait, this is too weird, I'm getting out of here," and he tried to get out of the chair, but his legs wouldn't work.

"You must transfer the misfortune that is destroying your relationship with Yi to a blood relative. If you do not, you will be alone, in Nashville, where you will die alone."

"How do you know about Nashville?" he demanded. He never said a word about Nashville to her. Then again, he never said that his name was Kensington. What she said hit him. "A blood relative? You mean someone whose DNA I share?"

"Exactly, parents, brothers, sisters, down to 25% DNA, which would be aunts and uncles."

"What happens to them?"

The woman leaned back and crossed her arms under her ample breasts. "You have a lot of negative energy directed at you and your immediate family, but the black pearl requires a sacrifice, a new target for all that negative energy, and it must be a blood relative. They would become the target of that negative energy and suffer what you are suffering. Whatever is keeping you and Yi apart would affect their relationship with a loved one. Whatever doubts and worries that affect you would affect them."

The entire premise was mindboggling. All his bad luck bundled up and dumped on a close relative, and he could have Yi to himself. He had one aunt and two uncles on his mom's side, and they were angels to mom and dad when they were in that car wreck. He couldn't do this to one of them. His two younger sisters are wonderful, beautiful women with children of their own. There's no way he could pick one of them. There's only one thing he could do. He looked the woman in the eye and said, "My father."

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Yi walked past Worzil's Bar & Grille on her way up to the B-Quik Superette, a tiny grocery store. She needed a hand of ginger for tonight's dinner, so she headed up Howard Street to Main Street. As she walked past Worzil's, she looked in the window and saw Kenny seated in a booth working on his laptop. She tapped on the window, and he gave her that smile that does a little something inside of her, and he waved to her, signaling to come on in, and in she came.

"Hi baby," said Kenny as he set a drink in front of her and gave her a friendly kiss. Did he know she was coming? She didn't see him get the drink from Ayato, and he was only out of her sight for about six seconds as she came through the entrance.

"Oh baby, you know I can't drink," she held up Sandy's dinosaur baby backpack, which she used for grocery shopping, "I'm on duty."

"I know, it's a Virgin Pussy Liquor."

"A what?" laughed Yi.

"Pussy Liquor," grinned Kenny. "It's a drink with Seagram's Seven and Squirt. The Virgin Pussy Liquor doesn't have any Seagram's Seven."

Laughing, she asked, "so what are you up to? It's been a while." It's only been three days, but when your heart is in turmoil, three days seem like forever.

"The last time we talked, you sounded like you wanted some time to think, so I'm giving you some space," he said as he went back to typing on his laptop.

Yi put a delicate hand on his arm, "What are you doing here, with the laptop and all this," she indicated several boxes and devices on the table especially a small device that was connected to the laptop via USB cable and a programming book, it was a bare circuit board with things attached to it.

"Oh, the guillotine for the haunted house, I came up with an idea to give you the illusion of being executed in a guillotine without a blade dropping and cutting your head off... that part is a total downer."

"Messy too," she agreed as she sipped her drink. "This stuff is good! How do you make it?"

"You, uh... open a can and pour it into the glass." He pointed to Ayato, who was at the bar and was holding up a bright yellow can of Squirt to show her. Ayato truly does have incredible hearing. Kenny then showed her the little box he had connected to the laptop. "This is a Raspberry Pi. I'm programming it to control the effects of the guillotine, lighting, sound, mist, and vibration. It's a minicomputer, and it even has a touch screen."

"Raspberry pie?" she giggled.

"Yeah, I was, uh... shopping and driving home. I thought that the fix should be as easy as apple pie. Apple pie... Raspberry Pi. It just clicked."

"That's awesome, but why are you here in the bar?"

"Oh, dickhead raised the rent again, so it was pay the rent or pay the Wi-Fi, so I'm here poaching signal from the library across the street," sighed Kenny. Dickhead was Wehrle H. Holloway, the owner of the building that Johnson Feed Mill was in, and conned his dad and mom into a rental agreement on the attached house.

"Why not just work in the library?"

Kenny gave her a look that a teacher would use on a student that missed the most obvious answer on the test. He lifted his glass. "There's no beer over there." Inside, he was dying. He wanted to throw his arms around her and beg her to take him back, but Andi, Audrey, and Veronica told him to play it cool. Don't rush.

"What are these? Do you have a date tonight?" She reached for two jewelry boxes that Kenny had sitting out on the table. Yi-jin was quick, but he was quicker, and he got the boxes first.

Kenny moved to Yi's side of the booth and sat next to her. He was terrified that it would all fall apart, but it's time to try... "No, I don't have a date tonight I'm booked with the boys at Paul's tonight, we're working on the guillotine, then I have the late shift, but my calendar is open two nights from now," and he slowly opened the box, "...if you will wear this, I might find a quiet place we can have dinner together." He opened the box to display a huge, pear-shaped black pearl pendant necklace. The jeweler made a beautiful sterling silver cap for the smaller end of the pearl, which made it look exactly like a tiny steely black Christmas ornament. It was one of the most enticing things Yi has ever seen. Most black pearls that Yi has seen had an undertone. They weren't completely black. They had a gold-ish tint to them, some had an olive green-ish tint, others were steely gray. But this black pearl was black. The depth of the black color of the pearl made Yi think of a deep dark well, drawing her in, but not scary. It's more like it's reaching around her to comfort her.

She didn't move her eyes from the pearl as she said, "I can't make dinner that night, it's Friday, it's a family day with Paul and Andi..." her words sounded less and less convincing as Kenny took the necklace out of the box and unlatched the chain.

"It will work out," he said. "I think our luck is going to change." Unconsciously, Yi bunched up her beautiful black hair and raised it as Paul attached the chain around her neck. His voice grew soft as he said, "This is a natural Tahitian black pearl. Natural means it wasn't farmed, it wasn't cultured; I was told that it was found in a black-lip pearl oyster on a coral reef at the depth of twenty meters by a Tahitian diver."

Kenny connected the chain ends and let the pearl hang and he found that the length of the chain was perfect. "The unique shape of this pearl," he continued, "gives it the name baroque. It's eighteen millimeters in diameter, making it huge for a pearl of any color." He unbuttoned three buttons on her blouse and settled the pearl between her perky breasts. They are delightfully formed and fit his hand perfectly and were preternaturally firm so that she rarely wears a bra. Both areolae are perfectly circular, with sharply defined edges between the tango pink areola and her pale skin, and her nipples are particularly enticing to Kenny. It takes just a slight touch to get them to spring to attention, firm and erect, and just a gentle nibble on them could have her squirming in ecstasy. He could spend a day gazing at her breasts and at the end, he would wish he had the time to do it all over again, but right now he didn't even peek. His lips remained near her ears and his eyes were closed. She hung on every word as his lips grew close to her ear. "Black pearls are symbols of wisdom, prosperity, and everlasting love. They will prevent you from getting confused by devious information and will guide you to where you are most welcome."

Kenny buttoned up her blouse while Yi sat transfixed by his words, gasping softly as each syllable spoke to her heart. Suddenly Kenny became quite different, but he's the same Kenny. It's a little confusing, but it's also entirely exciting as his gentle voice continued to mesmerize her. "I have a watchband that contains the mother of pearl from the oyster that created this pearl, so we will always be in touch..." He never finished the sentence because Yi kissed him. The need to kiss him overwhelmed Yi and their soon their tongues were entwining and caressing, her fingers tangling in his hair...

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

"How was Chicago?" asked the woman in Amorous Goods as she sat behind the counter reading a newspaper that was always 89 years behind the times. Today's news is from 1934.

"It was fine, I was able to... MOM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

The silver-haired woman with the newspaper and cup of coffee looked up at a blond version of herself 20 years younger. "I'm just reading the paper..."

"NAKED? Mother, put some clothes on!"

"Oh, Vikki, relax," Maxine got up and pantomimed taking a dress off. And when her act was done, she was holding a black dress. "I wore this last night for a customer, and he never saw a thing."

Vikki took the Gown of Lovelorn Revelation from her mother and arranged it on a hanger, then hung it on a rack full of dresses. "I'm trying to sell this thing!" The dress was designed to be completely invisible to someone who loved you. A gentleman who madly loved to look at his mistress's body had it made by a seamstress of the arcane arts so he could "safely" take her out in public naked. Unfortunately, this woman had a large and adoring "fan club" and she showed off all the goods at a large gathering, and the dress was never worn again. It also turned out that you don't have to be romantically in love with the wearer, familial love worked too. If she were a sister or mother, she would be completely exposed to you. If someone wore it that you cared nothing about, it would appear to be see-through, but the more in love with another person you are, the more modest the Gown of Lovelorn Revelation becomes to you. For Kenny, that gown could have been made from blackout curtains.

"The fellow that was here last night might want it for his lady-love in the near future," said Maxine, as she sat back down with her newspaper and coffee.

"Mother please! I'm happy for you that you feel comfortable in your body now, but here on the sales floor we need to wear clothes! This is Lackawanna, New York, not Monaco or Saint Tropez! We wear clothes here!"

"I don't believe I raised such a prude," grumbled Maxine. Then she brightened even though she was pulling on a "Have a Sexy Day!" knee length t-shirt, "That fellow that came in last night was nice. You would have loved him."

"What was he looking for?" asked Vikki as she pulled out the receipt book. "I don't see any payment marked down here."

Maxine hugged her daughter from behind. "I got one of the best freelance programmers in Western New York for forty hours. He's going to look at the mess we have in the warehouse, and we'll have an inventory control program custom made for us in two days. It just cost us a few pearls."

"Was he nice?" asked Vikki.

"You want to see?" Maxine reached for the gold statue of a gnarled ogre. The cloth wrapped wire coming out of the back of the ogre was still plugged into the large ugly yellow and purple sunglasses. "Here, look," said Maxine, as she unplugged the sunglasses and handed them to Vikki.

"How did you get him to load his memories into the Lenses of Past Vision?" asked Vikki as she put on the sunglasses.

Maxine patted the ogre statue and said, "I told him that the receiver was a static ground."

"Well, it kinda is," said Vikki, then she chuckled; programmers will believe anything. "What did he do while you were reviewing these images?" Reviewing the images of someone's recorded memory can take a long time. He could have been going through the safe while Maxine was reviewing the "tape."

"We played rabbit ears," said Maxine, as she went back to her newspaper and coffee.

Vikki chuckled, "Programmers really will believe anything..." then she saw the images of Yi; tall, athletic, a thick mane of dark black hair with golden highlights, such a darling smile. Then she saw an image of Kenny and Yi together, "Oh, they're so cute! We definitely need to help them... Wait a minute..." Vikki saw a memory of stacking sacks of fertilizer, then cried, "I thought you said he was a programmer. This guy is sweeping a feed store warehouse."

"Right! Keep watching. He re-wrote the target acquisition software for the new series of patriot missiles, got a medal for it. He got out of the Army, went home, and wrote a brand-new stock tracking program for his parents' feed store."

Vikki whipped off the "sunglasses" and pulled the receipt book out of her mother's hands. "Oh no, oh no, oh no..." she muttered over and over as she flipped through the book then shouted "DAMN!"

Vikki's shout startled Maxine, who spilled coffee all over her t-shirt. "What?" cried Maxine. "What's got you all fired up?" She stripped off her t-shirt and was nude again.

"Those pearls you sold to," she looked up the name and repeated it slowly, "Kensington Johnson, were from the mouth of the Chinese dragon Guoxin!"

"So?"

Vikki almost burst. "Guoxin was an EMPEROR Dragon! Those were incredibly powerful pearls."

Maxine was naked again. Her breasts were large and too shapely to be real, especially for a woman of her age, but they were real. She found an old AFL Champion Buffalo Bills t-shirt, a shirt that embodies the spirit of former AFL and CFL great halfback Cookie Gilcrist. "Kenny is smart. He'll figure it out."

"Kenny? Kenny Johnson? He was supposed to be mine; you were supposed to tell him to wait for me!"

"Don't worry, he's a sharp guy. Cute too. He'll be ok."

"It's not him," huffed Vikki as she gathered her purse together. "it's his dad I'm worried about. Guoxin was a wrathful dragon. If he has to drop Kenny's bad luck on Dave, it's going to be horrible! I'm going to go see them right now."

Maxine was trying to decide which G-string she should wear with the t-shirt, the matching 1965 Buffalo Bills logo, or the one with the modern charging buffalo emblazoned with the number 17 for QB Josh Allen. "You're not going anywhere; The Advocate will be here sometime between two hours ago and dinner time."

"Oh shit, I forgot," moaned Vikki, and she put her purse back. The Advocate's one and only job is to ensure that the items that Vikki is selling are not used for dark purposes. She hung her keys up and poured herself a cup of hot, strong coffee from the empty tea pot that Maxine used last night. "Mom... you really should be trying to attract men your own age."

"There are no men my age." Maxine finished knotting off the t-shirt beneath her ample, bobbling breasts showing off her abs and the Buffalo Bills Electric Company panties that she settled on. OJ "The Juice" Simpson was halfback for the Bills and set record after record for running 1973 - 1975 behind the blocking of that incredible line. He named his offensive line The Electric Company a name that gained immediate popularity because at the time there was a Children's Television Workshop show named "The Electric Company" a Sesame Street for older kids.

OJ named his offensive line the Electric Company because they "let the juice flow" and the pun wasn't lost on Vikki. "Mom... no. Just... no."

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Once again, "The Boys" were gathered in the hayloft of Paul Jarecki's enormous barn. As usual, each had a beer in their hand except Paul's brother John, who held a ginger ale. They were looking at their creation, a replica of an 18th century guillotine. The physical construction of the device was complete; however, it still needed the details to be painted, details meaning blood splatters. Right now, Paul was painting blood on the foam rubber blade while Kenny was finishing up the electronics of the device.

On the inside of the rails that the blade would normally slide down was a series of bright white LED lights that were now flashing in some amazing patterns. "You guys ready?" asked Kenny. "Paul and I worked on this, and we think we got it right."

"Who wants to take a ride?" grinned Paul.

"I am not doing it," said John. "I do not enjoy these kinds of things at all."

"Then why are you here?" asked Josh Gravely, as he lay down on the execution bench.

"For the kids," The guillotine was part of a Halloween carnival meant to raise money for the children's hospital in town.

Josh got centered on the guillotine and Kenny set the neck brace holding him in place. "Do we really need this?" Josh asked.

"Oh yeah," replied Kenny, "It's job is to hold you in place, but most of all, it blocks much of your vision, so you will be concentrating on the blade."

"I can see that," Josh agreed.

"This will be the kiddy ride, this is for the weak of heart," said Paul as he reached for the control box and turned the power on. The control box was the tiny Raspberry Pi computer and touch screen, no bigger than the box a bottle of aspirin is sold in. "This better work, or heads will roll."

"Oh, pull-eeeeze," groaned Josh.

The lights turned off in the hayloft, and a series of amber lights dimly illuminated the scene. A mist of atomized water gave the scene a spooky atmosphere. "This guillotine is well a-head of its time," said Paul as he grabbed the blade release lever.

"Please stop," groaned Josh.

"It has cutting-edge technology," said Kenny.

"Please kill me now," moaned Josh, to the chuckles of the men watching.

Paul pulled the lever. A spray of atomized water filled the air between the upright beams, and now the beam of light between the LEDs could be seen. A swoop was heard from hidden speakers, the LED lights flashed in series from the blade down to Josh's neck and a mechanical "ka-CHUNG!" was heard from the speakers and the guillotine shook. "That was kind of cool," said Josh. "from this angle you can't see that the blade isn't moving. The lights make it look like the edge of the blade coming down at you."

"Ready for the big ride?" asked Paul. "The French Revolution?"

"Bring it on," grinned Josh, and Paul entered the selections on the touch screen.

"I love being executioner," said Paul. "it's so easy to get ahead."

"Please stop..."

"I never thought I'd be a good executioner, but here I am killing it."

"Paul... stop..."

"I'll admit, being an executioner was hard at first, but then I got the hang of it."

"Please... no more..."

This time two cushioned frames held Josh's head in place, but the cushions contained headphones, how Josh heard sounds of a crowd. His body was held in place by straps because, as Paul explained, when the head is cut off, the body flops around like a chicken with its head cut off. (Har, har, har.)

Kenny showed Paul how the touch screen on the Raspberry Pi allowed you to pick between the three programs Mild, Medium, and Horrific. Josh chuckled; how bad could it be? It was only flashing lights.

This time, the sound of the crowd jeering filled his ears. "Off with his head!" was shouted at Josh with no humor at all. Josh saw Paul's hands grasp the huge lever, and he pulled it back. Josh heard the grinding of gears then a loud click! A quick puff of water vapor mist to highlight the lights and the lights flashed toward his neck. But to Josh it wasn't lights. To Josh it was the gleaming edge of a razor-sharp blade descending toward his neck! The crowd in his ears screamed. There was the whooshing sound of the blade dropping then ka-CHUNK! The guillotine shook and then all the sounds stopped. Everything went black, and it felt like he was falling! "HOLY SHIT!" Josh shouted.

Paul, John, and Kenny all started laughing as Josh struggled to get out of the contraption. "Hold on!" called Kenny, and he began to help Josh out. "See? I told you that dropping the head like that was too much."

"No," said Josh as he sat up, "it was the whole thing... what a kick in the head!" He sat on the bench, holding his head, amazed at the bizarre experience. As the "blade" drops, the whooshing sound is heard in the headsets growing louder as it dropped the dropped then suddenly as the blade reaches its base all sounds stop, the guillotine jerked giving the illusion that the blade slammed down with some weight, then a hood popped up covering his face blocking off all light as if he suddenly went blind, then the small platform that supported his head dropped down a bit. That was supposed to make him think his head was falling off, but it made him feel like his whole body was falling away. "That was so cool!" he finally cried. "We need to extend it longer... we can make a fortune!"

"We can get people to execute their bosses or teachers," said Kenny thinking of the renaissance faire where you can hire the "city guard" to "arrest" someone and put them in the stocks.

Suddenly, excited ideas were flying around the hayloft, as the creative juices began flowing. "Can we get the cos players from the RennFaire to help?" asked John.

"I know several cosplayers, I'll ask them," said Kenny, too sheepish to admit he was one of them. The guys at the RennFaire will eat this up!

"Oh, yeah!" grinned Josh, "being led to the guillotine in chains, the executioner reading silly charges..."

"No," said Paul, "the executioner never says anything. He wears a mask and never says a word. The chief magistrate will be reading the silly charges... like failure to go on green or Diligent Display of Perseverance."

"Creeping with the intent to crawl," said Josh.

"Exposing oneself to a blind person," said Paul.

"Collusion," added John.

"Reckless vagrancy," suggested Kenny.

"Third degree narcolepsy."

"Aggravated loitering."

"Christmas card fraud."

"Mopery."

"Second degree Ipsedixitism."

"Furfuraceous Lethargy."

"Hey fellas, we need to make a background for this," and as the creative juices continued to flow, several large pieces of cardboard, some boards, masking tape, and some spray paint began to take shape as a 17^th century town square.

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

By day number two of wearing the large black pearl, Yi began to wonder if she was ever going to see Kenny again. He didn't try to come see her after work, keeping his promise to give her some space to sort it out. What a mistake this has become! Now at night she dreamed of him. They were lying on the warm sand bank of Henderson Beach State Park in Florida. It's a beautiful beach and today it was all theirs. Kenny brought a picnic lunch, and they ate in the shade of a large beach umbrella, then stripped off their bathing suits and splashed in the water like children.

When she had enough, Yi led Kenny back to their beach blanket by the cock. He needed no leading, but her warm, firm grip on his throbbing pole was wonderful, and by the time they reached the shade of their umbrella she was stoking his cock with a slow, delicious rhythm. She pushed him down on the blanket and straddled his waist. He protested that he wanted to spend time with foreplay, but she insisted that the whole day has been foreplay, it's time to fuck.

If she let him, he would spend hours on foreplay, teasing and taunting, driving her out of her mind, bringing her to the very edge of an orgasm, then backing off, leaving her trembling and begging for his cock. It was good, no; it was incredible to have a man so skilled at foreplay, but spontaneity can be incredible too. Yi could tell that they both wanted sex now. Her only article of clothing was her pearl necklace, and it was telling her that it was time. She lined up the head of his cock with her opening and surrendered herself to gravity. She drove herself down on his cock and it hurt so good! He spread her open wide so quickly that she felt an ache, but that added to the sensation.

Jerking her hips back and forth she rubbed her clit against his pelvis until she was near cumming, then she leaned forward, propping herself on her hands and she began fucking herself back and forth, driving herself back against the root of his cock, faster and harder, the tension building in her. Their eyes were locked with each other. Occasionally, the pearl swung into their line of vision, encouraging her onward. Kenny's hands were now on her ass, not directing but letting her drive herself to ecstasy, he was merely caressing her, the sensation of his strong hands on her tender ass cheeks added to her frenzy, Yi pushed herself up and felt his cock drive deep, deep into her vagina, pressing against her cervix which set her over the edge and suddenly she was cumming. She shrieked in joy as waves of relief washed over her. Kenny grabbed her hands, which gave her something to push against, and now she was rising up and down on his cock, driving her onward.

Yi collapsed exhausted on to Kenny's chest and in her dream her eyes closed and the sound of the gentle waves of the Gulf of Mexico became the gurgling of Cattaraugus Creek. She opened her eyes and there they were on a sandy bank next to the creek on a hot summer day in Zoar Valley, not far from Paul and Andi's cabins, Josh and Veronica's Pond. They had just made love and now she was laying with her head on his shoulder, snuggling close and happy. They were talking in that dream talk where the words don't matter, but you know what each other is saying. Suddenly, Kenny's speech became very clear. It was plain English, almost like he was sitting in bed with her. "Hey, Surfer Girl, come by the feed store around 7:30 tonight. I want to kiss you."

"You can kiss me now," said Yi in her dream while her fingers tugged at his crisp pubic hairs. She loves to ride him, cowgirl style, rubbing her clit against his pubic hair.

"If you come, I'll give you a present," he said in the sing-song voice that he uses to taunt the Jarecki twins.

"Tell me what it is," Yi whispered into his ear.

"I'll show you; you can look but don't touch," he teased, and he opened up his free hand. Yi sat up and looked in his hand and saw two perfect black pearls. They were black and gleaming like anthracite, two flawless black spheres threatening to draw her into their depths.

"They're perfect!" she gasped, and she reached for his hand. Normally, he would close his hand and pull it away, teasing her, but not this time. He just smiled at her, and she stopped before her fingers touched the pearls.

"Emperor Guoxin wants us to have them. He gave them up freely for us." Kenny drew up next to her and they both looked in his hand at those amazing little points of black.

"Who is Emperor Guoxin?" asked Yi.

"Shhh, it's time to get the girls up." Kenny smiled and gave her a little kiss.

"Wait, tell me who he is," pleaded Yi.

But instead of answering, he grabbed her wrist with one hand and with the other; he placed the pearls in her hand and gently closed her fingers around them. "Tonight," he said. He said something else too, but it was lost in the blaring of her alarm.

"Damnit," she muttered, and she woke up to find herself sitting upright in her bed. She reached over and hit the button on her ancient alarm clock, stifling the alarm. Why was she clutching her hand so tightly? With her free hand, she turned on her reading lamp and slowly opened her other hand to reveal two perfect black pearl earrings.

Alarmed by Yi's cry, Andi Jarecki dashed into Yi's room to find their girl's governess sitting up in her bed shivering in terror, staring at her fist. "Yi, baby, what's wrong?" gasped Andi.

"I had a dream last night; Kenny and I were on a beach, and he told me to come to the feed store tonight and then he gave me two pearls."

"And that scared you?" asked the diminutive blond doctor.

"No, it was the whole end of the dream. It was like he was sitting here with me, and it felt like it wasn't a dream. He told me to come by the feed store tonight. He wants to kiss me, then he gave me a pair of pearls. Kenny said that Emperor Guoxin gave them up for us, but he didn't say who Emperor Guoxin is." Now Yi was beginning to question the validity of the dream, her memory of the beach in Florida was fading as all dream memories do, but the memory of talking to Kenny at Cattaraugus Creek was still fresh in her mind as if he were just here.

"What about the pearls? What do they look like?" asked Andi.

Slowly, Yi started to open her hand. She was worried that they would not be there, but at the same time she was scared that they would be there. She closed her eyes and opened her hand. For a long time, there was nothing. Then Andi said, "You should put those earrings on. I'll bet Paul would like to see them."

"They weren't earrings when he gave them to me!" Yi insisted.

"What else could they have been? Pearls don't just grow a stem."

"But how did I get them? He gave them to me in a dream!"

"He must have given them to you when he gave you the pendant," said Andi. She found the box that the pendant came in and there were two tiny holes in the velvet covered back that held the pendant. "See? Here's where the earrings go. You probably just missed them. Black earrings in a black box? Anyone could miss it."

Yi looked at the box. That had to be the explanation. There was no way that Kenny just appeared in the room and handed her the earrings. She was about to respond when Andi got up and said, "you should get some clothes on, the kids will be up soon."

Yi just realized that she was naked. She never sleeps in the nude when the Jareckis are home, not with the twin thunderbolts Sandi and Madeline zipping around the house. She got up and dressed and came downstairs and started breakfast. Andi was right. Paul did like seeing them. "They're beautiful! Where did you get them?" he asked.

"Kenny," was all Yi could get out as she served breakfast to the two doctors.

"Kenny's been sandbagging us then," he smiled at Andi as he scanned the headlines of The Buffalo News.

"What do you mean?" asked Yi.

"He's been crying poor all this time. But those earrings, if they're real, they're worth three to four thousand dollars."

"They're just studs!" said Yi, unable to believe that estimate.

"But look at how big and perfect those pearls are," said Paul. "Add a white gold setting with a nice diamond and you're talking five to six thousand dollars."

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Kenny found himself on a beach next to a broad, calm ocean. In the distance was a cluster of islands that were made of tall columns of rock like Ko Tapu, which is called "James Bond Island." That island was in Phang Nga Bay, Thailand. Kenny isn't sure if he's anywhere near there. The temperature was quite warm, but a constant breeze from offshore kept him comfortable. After getting over the initial panic, he piled up a few rocks that he lifted out of the freshwater stream, then he began walking along the beach, keeping the jungle to his left. He felt like he walked for hours. Kenny came across several other freshwater streams coming from the jungle of different sizes. He found several trees bearing different types of fruit, all were delicious and juicy. As he walked and occasionally swam, all he could think about was Yi and how it would be so wonderful to share this beach with her.

Finally, after several hours, he came upon the original stream, which he recognized by the small cairn that he made before he set off on his journey. By now the sun was low in the sky and he was covered in sweat and fruit juice, so he took off his t-shirt and shorts, washed them out in the stream then hung them on a branch to dry, then slipped into a pool to wash off.

He woke as the sun rose behind the rock islands to the east. He slept in the sand beneath the branch that he had hung his clothing from, but as he looked up, he saw that his clothing was gone. Damnit! He looked around, but he didn't see any footprints, so he assumed that whoever took his clothing came from the jungle. Having no footwear, he didn't dare go far into the jungle for fear of stepping on something dangerous. He would have to take today's sojourn into the forest via the stream.

In anger and confusion, Kenny shouted out, "Who took my clothes?"

A voice inside his head boomed, "I DID."

Kenny dashed to the waterline and looked around, but saw nobody. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

"I WILL SHOW MYSELF WHEN YOU GUESS WHAT I AM."

Kenny looked around and saw nothing that could cause this voice that boomed so loudly in his head. "You're a figment of my imagination."

"YOU CANNOT IMAGINE SOMETHING LIKE ME."

"Are you a dream? A nightmare?"

"NO."

"Then you're a psychotic breakdown."

"NO. I AM VERY REAL. I'M AS REAL AS YOU."

Kenny looked around and saw a hermit crab scuttling for shelter. "You're a crab."

"NO."

"You're a coconut."

"NO. THESE ARE JUST WILD GUESSES."

"Then give me something to work with!" shouted Kenny in frustration.

The voice suddenly took on an ominous tone as it began to reveal its source;

"FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS,

SEEN ONLY IN TALE.

THE WIND AS A SAIL.

FOR ONE THUNDEROUS GALE.

SHINY STORES RICH IN LORE,

THE BURNING TEMPER, LIKE EARTH'S CORE.

WHAT AM I?" the voice demanded.

Kenny knew exactly what this was, but he didn't believe it. He's spent years playing D&D and other fantasy games and he's heard many, many word puzzles, riddles, like this in the past. He shook his head in anger and shouted, "You're a dragon! Show yourself!"

Out in the ocean, halfway between his island and the columns of rocks in the distance, a large patch of the ocean became a bubbling froth which then erupted into a geyser of water and from this shot a huge, long dragon. Wingless, the massive worm rocketed into the sky then turned and shot toward Kenny, circled around him surrounding him with massive yellow scales, a thick blue mane of hair ran down its back to the end of its tail, it then roared out over the ocean, splitting the surface of the water in its aftermath. It circled around a column of rock and came back at Kenny with blinding speed, its maw wide open and it roared as it approached at near supersonic speed, the barbels on either side of its mouth flapping in the wind. For his part, Kenny realized that there was nothing he could do to avoid it, so he closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable while wishing he could have spent more time with Yi.

He stood at the sea's waterline and was surprised to not be swallowed, but was showered by water from the dragon's wake. He opened his eyes and saw the dragon hovering over the ocean nearby, his body writhing and coiling like a snake with a back itch that it just can't reach. The dragon grinned at him, but Kenny couldn't determine if that was a hungry grin or an angry grimace. Kenny knew a lot about dragons, but those were all fictional dragons with wings and breathing fire. But here... here is a real, live, angry dragon, and if Kenny tries to impress it with his knowledge acquired from uncounted hours of playing Dungeons & Dragons, this worm might get angry.

All Kenny knew for sure was that this dragon was bright yellow, which meant he was the most powerful of the Chinese dragons. He's already displayed that he can swim, and he can fly, his huge paws attest that he can walk, usually Chinese dragons can do one of the three, but this dragon can do all three, meaning that he's the Leader of The Pack, the king or emperor of all dragons.

Summoning his courage, Kenny said, "What is your name, dragon?"

"MY NAME IS GUOXIN, PROTECTOR OF MY PEOPLE." The dragon considered Kenny and Kenny felt something in his head looking around through his thoughts and memories. "THAT INCLUDES YOU."

The dragon drew closer. His glare grew milder. "YOU PROTECT MY PEOPLE... THE FATHER OF YOUR GRANDMOTHER FOUGHT THE WO REN WHEN THEY INVADED... YOU AND YOUR GRANDFATHER PROTECTED THE HAN..."

Wo Ren was the Chinese derogatory term for Japanese people for two millennia, politely it meant "dwarf people." Han is the name the Chinese and Koreans have for each other, although Kenny was sure that each culture has a different pronunciation of the word depending on which culture it's used to describe. Kenny and his grandfather, Grandpa Archie, both served in Korea. The father of his maternal grandmother, grandma Lacy, is great grandfather Gordon Peterson. "Grandpa Gordon was a desk clerk in an Army Air Corps recruitment office in St. Ignace, Michigan," said Kenny. What was this dragon talking about?

Suddenly, the island around Kenny was transformed. He saw a muddy field; rain was pouring down from a dark sky. Several large aircraft, propeller driven bombers, were parked on one end of the field, tarps stretched over the cockpits and engines as men worked feverishly on the planes. On another portion of the field was a row of severely damaged planes. Many were burned, all were twisted and ruined, a few men were over there with wrenches and hammers prying usable parts off of the planes. Behind him was a row of healthy-looking airplanes. Men were preparing these B-24s for a mission. In the center of the row was a tent where an incredibly young-looking Gordon Patterson, technical sergeant, stood glaring at a chalkboard. Great Grandpa Gordon. Kenny only knew him by reputation and photograph. He died before Kenny could walk. GGG (as he was called by Kenny's older cousins) had a clipboard in one hand, a coffee cup in the other, and a soggy cigar chewed to a pulp in his mouth. Suddenly Kenny KNEW. Great Grandpa Gordon, known to his older cousins as GGG, was a flight engineer on a B-24M. He would direct maintenance and fly in combat missions. And Great Grandma June, she was...

Suddenly Kenny was back on the island, the story of GGG being a recruiter was merely a fable, he risked his life daily for the Chinese people trying to drive the hordes of "wo ren" out of China where they raped and killed with reckless abandon, he shoved them back onto their island nation. Grandpa Archie served in Korea after the war helping the south to rebuild, and Kenny served three tours in Korea on the North/South border, protecting the south from the blatant aggressiveness of the north, and protecting over a million Chinese immigrants who live in the south.

Guoxin nodded at Kenny, "YOU CHOSE YOUR FATHER FOR MY WRATH... YOUR FATHER! ...THAT CHOICE ANGERED ME TO NO END... I BROUGHT YOU HERE TO BITE OFF YOUR HEAD."

"I hope you understand why I chose him."

Guoxin's answer was a smile, "I DO NOW," and he lowered his massive body gently into the water and swam up to Kenny and opened his mouth wide. "Take as much as you want Kensington," and there between the dragon's knife blade size teeth were black spheres, most were perfectly spherical, but others were interesting random shapes, all of them completely and perfectly black unlike the "almost black" of a cultured pearl. When Kenny had gathered dozens of pearls, Guoxin said, "SHE COMES." He closed his mouth and slipped quietly beneath the water; the enormous dragon's passing barely left a ripple.

As Kenny searched the water for the dragon, he almost didn't notice a large, 72-foot yacht with the name Andi's Dream on the stern quietly moved near the island. He watched as it lowered its stern ramp and the small zodiac on the ramp was free and it raced to shore. Yi was at the tiller. "Hey sailor," she called, "is this a clothing optional beach or is nudity mandatory?"

"You step on my beach wearing that swimsuit," he said, indicating Yi's tiny bikini, "a dragon will come steal it." His clothing was on the ground next to him, and he placed the pearls in a pants pocket. Then he turned to Yi wearing only a smile, his pearl and leather armband, and an erection.

"Don't just stand there, get the umbrella," she said as she stripped off her bikini and lifted a cooler out of the little zodiac. Kenny chuckled and got the beach umbrella out and set it up near the stream where they ate sandwiches that Yi made. If you haven't had a bologna sandwich made by a culinary institute trained chef, you're missing out on one of the greatest delights in life; thick sliced bologna, fontina cheese, shredded lettuce mixed with chopped green onion, sliced cucumber and a tangy jalapeno aioli on a crusty, fresh baked roll. Kenny ate like he was ravenous, but then he's been on this island a full day and has only eaten a couple of bananas and two cherries the size of a baseball.

After stowing the picnic basket on the zodiac, they frolicked in the surf like children, splashing and playing until Yi could take no more. She grabbed his cock and led him up the beach and with a quick move that reminded Kenny that she has earned a black belt, she "dick slammed" him onto the sand and straddled his waist.

If she let him, he would spend an hour on foreplay, teasing and taunting, driving her out of her mind, bringing her to the very edge of an orgasm, then backing off, leaving her trembling and begging for his cock. It was good, no; it was incredible to have a woman who enjoyed foreplay as much as Yi, but spontaneity can be incredible too and she's not shy about demanding it. He could tell that they both wanted sex now. His only article of clothing, the leather and pearl wristband, was telling him that she was ready. He held his cock straight up while she lined up her vagina with the head of his cock, and when the head of his cock was nestled in her pocket, she surrendered herself to gravity. She slid down on his cock and was so tight! She stretched around his girth so quickly that he was afraid of hurting her, but that seemed to add to the sensation for her.

Yi began jerking her hips back and forth and she rubbed her clit against his pelvis until she was near cumming, then she leaned forward, propping herself on her hands and she began driving herself back and forth, driving herself back against the root of his cock, faster and harder, the tension building in her. Their eyes were locked with each other, and suddenly Kenny rolled her over and began fucking. Normally he holds himself off of Yi, so he doesn't hurt her, but this time he lay on her, crushing her into the sand as he pounded into her mercilessly. "Ken..." she started to yelp, but she surrendered herself to the fuck. Her perfect legs rose up and wrapped around his thighs, her hands clasped his ass and urged him on.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" was all she could say as he fucked like a madman. Before she knew it, she was cumming, skewered on his plunging cock. As her mind warping orgasm faded, she begged, "Please, let's rest a moment..."

They lay in each other's arms and the sound of the gentle waves of the unknown ocean became the gurgling of Cattaraugus Creek. Ken and Yi opened her eyes together, and they were at Paul Jarecki's secret fishing spot, and Kenny was probably in trouble for bringing Yi with him. Paul doesn't like his secret fishing locations revealed. They were lying naked next to the creek on a hot summer day, down in Zoar Valley, not far from Paul and Andi's cabins, and Josh and Veronica's pond. The couple had just made love and now she was laying with her head on his shoulder, snuggling close and happy. They were talking in that dream talk where the words don't matter, but you know what each other is saying.

Softly, the dream changed again, and Kenny felt his speech become very clear. It was plain English, almost like they were sitting in bed together. "Hey, Surfer Girl," he said, using his favorite nickname for her. "Come by the feed store around 7:30 tonight. I want to kiss you." Guoxin wanted her to come by for some reason. Kenny didn't think he was going to eat her.

"Tonight," he said, "You're going to love tonight's gift," and she begged to be told what it was. He put two pearls in her hand and wrapped her hand around them. He was about to kiss her, but he found that he was alone. Instead of holding the girl that he loves, he was sitting up in his own lonely bed, his shorts laying on his lap.

He looked at his clock. It was a half hour before he normally gets up, there's no sense in going back to sleep, so he dragged himself out of bed and took a shower and thought about Yi. They had such awesome sex, but he didn't get a chance to cum. He sighed. Sometimes that happens. She came huge, and that's all that mattered.

Breakfast was disorganized, he had to open the store today, mom and dad had meetings with the bastard and neither looked happy. That damn bastard that owned the buildings was raring to see them all penniless and homeless. The local farmers counted on them for so much, if they closed the store, the local farmers would have to go into Gowanda, or Ashford Hollow, or North Boston. Before they left, he noticed that his dad looked especially drawn. "Are you ok dad?"

"Oh, it's just having to meet with Wehrle. It takes so much out of your mother," he said sadly. Wehrle H. Holloway, the bastard that's done so much to destroy their lives.

Overcome with the emotion of seeing such sorrow and defeat on his dad's face, Kenny gave his dad a hug, patting him on the back, and he whispered into Dave's ear, "It's going to be alright; I have a feeling it's going to get better."

"God, I hope you're right, your mom can't take much more of this," said Davis Johnson as he went to meet the man who was desperately trying to drive him out of business and drive his family from their home.

When his folks had left, Kenny sat down for a cup of coffee and the morning paper with Grandpa Archie, his dad's father. "How's that little girl of yours?" grinned Archie. Grandpa Archie was there when Kenny met Yi and to this day, he claims to have introduced them when actually it was Paul Jarecki. "You're still not on that silly 'Time Out', are you?" Like Kenny, Archie served in the Army in Korea, but in Korea in 1953, when PFC Archie Johnson was there, it was a vastly different Korea that Kenny or Yi knew.

"Don't be late for work," Kenny admonished with a smile and got up and went to the back of the big drafty old house. Grandpa Archie grew a tiny store on Main Street in a building that held three other little stores to the store it is now. He bought the old grain silo and now instead of sending Springville wheat and corn out, he started bringing feed grains into Springville to feed the dairy farms and horse ranches that were popping up. Now, sixty years after starting as the 10-year-old floor sweeper, Archie is retired and greeting the customers just like he used to, but now he's greeting them from a wooden rocking chair at the front of the store with his best friend Lacy Flanagan.

"Gotta get my butt to work," said Kenny as he folded up the newspaper and made sure that the crossword and the Jumble puzzle were on the first page she would see. "Gotta make sure your manager is ready to slap your ass into line," said Kenny to Grandpa Archie.

"Git goin' ya smart mouth whippersnapper!" laughed Grandpa Archie. Archie once heard that expression on a cartoon show one Saturday morning, and that was his name for Kenny and his two sisters for the rest of their lives. Kenny's sisters are both married and have children of their own and are still known as "Whippersnappers" to Grandpa Archie.

Before opening the store, Kenny went to check on Grandma, his mother's mom, Lacy Flanagan. "Morning Grandma!" he said cheerfully as he made sure her coffee was on and her iPad had charged overnight. She needs that iPad to play Keno. Like Archie, she was a happy grandparent, and like Archie, she was the backbone of the family. You could take any problem to her. After making sure she was set and had what she needed, he asked her a question that was on his mind. "Grandma? What was your dad like during the war?"

Lacy thought for a moment, then laughed, "Oh, he was a pisser. He told everyone he was a recruiter so they wouldn't ask him to tell them war stories. Your great grandpa did that mostly so his mom and dad didn't worry about him during the war because he was a flier. He was with the Army Air Corps in China, and he was one of the few American servicemen to come home from China with a war bride."

Kenny was shocked. He never knew! "Grandma, your mother was Chinese?" Grandma Lacy doesn't look Asian... well, maybe around the eyes if he thinks about it.

"Mom used to say that she was half Chinese; she'd say that her mother was Chinese, and her father was a British missionary that was killed by the Japanese, but she later admitted to me that she was a foundling and adopted by them. Being raised by a European, she was still despised by the locals. Her name was really Juan, which means graciousness, but everybody called her Joan when dad brought her home. Your great grandfather fell in love with her the minute they met, and he brought her home, where she could be safe." Grandma Lacy leaned over and whispered, "I was almost born in China!" and she laughed at the thought.

"Why didn't you tell anybody? That's a wonderful story!"

"That's just how your great grandfather was. It was their story, no one else's. He didn't want people to worry about him flying a bomber in China, and he didn't want them gossiping about bringing a pregnant bride home."

"So, I'm part Chinese Grandma? Is that why I like General Tso's chicken so much?" He teased his grandma while serving her coffee.

"Where do you think you got that black hair from? Now, go to work!" she laughed and gave him a swat on the butt. "You're not so big that I can't give you a whoopin'!"

"You're right about that grandma." Kenny chuckled, but as he left the house, he nearly cried. He couldn't believe it was almost over. If Wehrle H. Holloway was successful, they would be turned out on the streets. Their big loving family, three generations, sometimes four generations when his sisters come to visit with their babies, all living under the same roof, the way it was meant to be, would be no more.

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Yi entered Johnson's Feed Mill that evening after serving dinner to Andi and Paul and the twins. She was about a half hour early and looked around. Nothing had changed, but the atmosphere was completely different. It seemed to be a happier place. As she looked around the displays for the old tinplate items like the planters, watering cans and washboards, she heard a cheery "There's my girl!"

She turned and there was Archie Johnson, a fixture here in the Johnson Feed Mill for six decades, Kenny's paternal grandfather. He was sitting in a big comfortable wooden rocking chair by the antique pot belly stove. "Grandpa!" she called and hurried over to hug him. Ever since she first started dating Kenny, Archie told her to call him Grandpa or he'll tell everyone that she's really his fiancée. Seated next to Archie was Kenny's maternal grandmother, Lacy. "You two dating now?" asked Yi as she gave Lacy a hug.

"Oh, that cheap thing?" said Lacy, as she gave Archie a swat on the arm. "He'd make me pay for myself, then stick me for the tip!"

"I can't believe Kenny grew up to be such a nice guy with two feisty ol' birds like you as examples," laughed Yi. "Where's that grandson of yours?"

"Oh, he's in the back making big plans," shrugged Archie and went back to his conversation with Lacy.

Yi headed back to the storeroom and found that it was nearly empty. There was one stack of fifty-pound bags of what she once laughingly called "Purina Horse Chow" and was shocked to find out that's exactly what it was. Horse and pet food were just a small part of what they sell. Most of the feeds they sell are livestock feeds, calf, cow, sheep, swine, poultry and goat. Next to the horse feed was a stack of forty-pound bags of Beaver Brand livestock feeds. It could be barley malt sprout pellets, timothy grass pellets, extruded soybeans. Whatever this mix was, the sign on the wall said it was for "Alpaca." Kenny and Yi had an interesting relationship. She made her living feeding people, he made his living feeding food.

Kenny was stacking fifty-pound sacks of Purina Omolene 300 Mare Food onto a cart to move it out of the storeroom, his dad Davis and his mom Angie were measuring the room with a tape measure and marking the old wooden floor with a piece of blue chalk left over from a grandchild's bucket of sidewalk chalks. Kenny has four nieces and nephews that leave all kinds of toys and devices at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. He started to shove the huge, heavy stack of feed when his mom called, "Kenny! She's here!"

Kenny looked around the stack and saw Yi. As he came up alongside of her, he swept her up in his arms and called "Surfer girl!" and swung her up on top of the stack of horse food, which put her crotch right at face level as he pushed. "What a delightful view!" he said as he pushed, then "Doorway, duck!"

"What are you people doing? This room was full yesterday."

"Well, mom and dad had a meeting with asshole this morning, but he didn't show up. Two lawyers and an officer from the bank did. I wasn't there, but the gist of the meeting was that asshole messed something up bad and he's no longer in control of this building. I've always wanted to expand the sporting goods section, and with all these yuppies like Paul and Veronica moving into town, adding more sporting goods options is a good idea. The bank guys agreed."

Yi squealed in excitement, a sporting good section filled with hunting gear in the fall, fishing tackle in the summer was Kenny's dream. Now he can add so much more to their collection. He leaned forward and kissed her inner thigh. "What does that have to do with all this work?" she asked.

"We're moving all the feeds and fertilizers OUT of the heated space and into the side garages where Wehrle H. Asshole once parked his antique tractors, and we're turning that space into the seasonal sporting goods area," he smiled as he wheeled the cart into a large storage garage and began to carry the sacks to their new resting spot. He pulled off his shirt and was working up quite a sweat. Yi remembered ten months ago when she first moved in to the Jarecki's home after cooking for them on their first yacht cruise.

<><><><><>

After a hurried breakfast, Andi and the twins took Wonka to the cabin while Paul took Yi to Johnson's Feed Mill to get the high protein winter feed for the chickens and some other supplies. For her part, Yi was fascinated with the quaint, old-time layout of the store. There was even a pot belly stove surrounded by wooden chairs where the locals could meet and stay warm during the winter squalls.

Being raised in south Florida almost everything Yi had experienced in her life was new and modern, now living in Paul's century and a half year old house was new and modern too, it was filled with modern devices and was brought up to date in Paul's years of updates and remodeling. But this beautiful old store was Yi's first exposure to what life 150 years ago was like.

As the pretty Asian slowly walked through the store, an old fellow came up behind her. "Can I help you find anything, ma'am?"

"Huh? Oh no, it's just I've never been here before. It's like a museum!"

"I hope not," he said with a grin. "we aim to sell these works of art. History museums kind of frown on that."

Ye smiled, "That's what I was thinking of - a history museum. It's like this stuff has been stored here for ages, like this," she held up a washboard.

"That's brand new," he said, "they still make 'em and we still sell 'em. Just not as many as we used to, but folk use them for crafting a lot now. Just because it's an old design, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have a use."

All the while they were talking, Yi noticed a young man who wouldn't take his eyes off of her, and the more he stared, the more uncomfortable she got. Of course, she never realized that she was staring at him, too. Tall, good looking, thick straight black hair, tortoise shell framed glasses, he was Clark Kent in blue jeans and flannel. She thanked Archie for the tour and decided to give that young man a piece of her mind. Strolling up to him and giving him a snotty "Take a picture, it will last longer!" should do it. She was used to horny men staring at her in Florida, stares brought on by her tiny bikini and her fine-tuned, well-tanned body. Here she was in a parka that was clearly too big for her, so what was he staring at? "Probably never seen an Asian before," she muttered to herself.

Her anger began to eat at her as she got closer. However, that anger started to change. He was pretty cute and the closer she got, the more nervous she got. She soon lost her resolve and walked past him, staring down at the floor ahead of her, her stomach tied in knots. If she had noticed, she would have seen him getting more nervous the closer she got to him. She probably would have kept walking right to the back wall of the store where she would have had to pretend to be interested in rat traps, but Paul found her in time. "There you are," he caught her arm, "let's get our feed and head out." He had a small box of what looked like machine parts under his arm.

"Ok," she mumbled and, keeping her eyes on the floor, they headed toward the front of the store and that young man.

"Hey Kenny!" Paul called out, "can you get that sack of feed for me?"

"Sure can, doc," said the young man.

Yi felt it coming, but before she could bolt for the door, Paul's grip on her arm tightened and he said, "Kenny Johnson, this is Yi-jin Carlson. She's our twin's new governess." Both mumbled a quick hi, but not satisfied, Paul tried to egg them on a bit. "Imagine that! You both have Norwegian names. You could be cousins!"

"Yeah, but my mom is Irish," muttered Kenny.

"My mom is Korean," said Yi, not looking up.

Her admission seemed to loosen up Kenny a little. "God, I loved Korea! Doc and I were on the same base over there..." his voice trailed off.

"I go with my mom to visit my grandparents on occasion...

Then, as if to hide his embarrassment, he effortlessly swung the 50 lbs. sack of chicken feed up on his shoulder and headed for the door.

Ye suddenly had an image of him scooping her up off the ground and carrying her off to do whatever he wanted with her, and that thought gave her tingles in some interesting places.

<><><><><>

But her second visit! In the back of the store, where few people even knew there was a sales floor, was the small sporting goods section. It was winter, so it was full of winter equipment, and she was told to get ski boots, but she didn't know that there was a different boot for cross-country skis. She grabbed what she recognized as a ski boot and was walking around the store and Kenny went up to her to help her, and their eyes met...

<><><><><>

Yi and Kenny were lost in each other's eyes. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. She must think I'm an IDIOT! He cleared his throat and tried one more time... "Can I help you, ma'am?" Oh crap! Did my voice just squeak?

Yi continued to look up into his sparkling blue eyes and softly said in a fluttery whisper, "Tall..."

They looked at each other for another long moment, then Ken said, "Pardon?"

Yi covered her mouth with one hand and giggled, yet at the same time she cursed herself for acting like a silly teenager. "I, uhh... I need ski poles; how tall should they be?"

"That depends on how tall you are and what kind of skiing you intend to do," responded Kenny, still trying to get back on to familiar ground, but failing desperately.

"I'm five foot seven and we're going cross country skiing, I guess."

"A 140 centimeter pole should be perfect for you; we have them in stock. Is there anything else I could help you find?"

Ye look flustered and shrugged her shoulders. "Everything, I think. I just moved here from Florida and we're going to have a blizzard party and we'll be doing cross country skiing and snowshoeing. I need ski poles, ski boots, snowshoes, gloves, coat, hat, muck-a-lucks, and something called a Blue Polly. God, I hope that last one is a drink."

"Let's take care of your shopping list, then we'll go over to Worzil's and see if they have a Blue Polly, ok?"

She gave a single nod of her head and said, "Ok!"

"To start with, you're looking at the wrong ski boots..."

"How do you know?" She was worried that he may be psychic. If he were, he'd see the sexy little scenarios that were running through her head.

He reached out and took the ski boot she still held in her left hand. "This is an alpine ski boot; we want something more comfortable."

'Oh God!' she screamed in her head; she had forgotten she was holding that boot. She automatically put her hand over her mouth again and giggled and blushed, which made her mentally scream at herself again. 'Might as well get a Hello Kitty t-shirt, Yi, because you're acting like a schoolgirl'.

"Here, you'll want something like this. What size shoe do you wear?"

"Seven," she almost couldn't get the word out because she wanted to shout, "Hold me!"

He took a box down off a shelf and led her to a chair where she sat. Ken slipped the sneaker off her dainty foot and rolled a warm, fluffy ski sock on, then eased a Rossignol woman's ski boot on her foot and laced it up.

"Her whole body is trembling," whispered Andi, as she smiled with the remembrance of how she trembles when Paul touches her.

"Look at her eyes!" whispered Macy. "Her eyes never leave him. It is like he has mesmerized her." They watched Ken and Yi for a few moments. His hands never left her leg, even after getting the boot laced up. All the while, Andi and Lucy were taking pictures with their cell phones.

"Do you like them?" asked Ken as he slipped the boot off of her foot. He placed the boot back in the box, along with the socks she wore. He massaged her foot gently before putting her sneaker back on. She bit her lower lip as he massaged her foot in an effort to keep from crying out. But all three women, Andi, Lucy, and Macy, heard her gasp.

"They are comfortable," said Yi, her voice trembling with passion, "but I can't really afford them..."

Suddenly Andi appeared, grabbed the shoebox and another pair of socks, and said to Kenny, "She'll take them," and walked away.

<><><><><>

Kenny may have been thinking about the same because he made sure that she could see him hoisting every sack of feed. He was starting to hurry, it was getting close to seven thirty, there were several stacks of bags of feed on that big cart and he made it a personal goal to empty the cart before he captures her heart, Guoxin was adamant that Kenny must wait until 7:30.

Now he's slinging a 50-pound bag of feed on each shoulder and Yi was loving it! Like the first time she saw Kenny, he was carrying a 50-pound sack of feed out to Dr. Jarecki's truck like it was a bag of drier lint. There was something about seeing Kenny lifting those sacks and wishing she was one of them. That first meeting the image of him scooping her up and carrying her off like a cave man caused her clit to tingle and her pussy to twitch. Never had that happened before. If someone had even kidded about carrying her off like a possession, that would be the last time that Yi would allow that person to speak to her.

But there's something about Kenny. Hoisting heavy sacks of livestock feed and huge farm implements differs from spending his money going to a gym and flexing in front of a mirror. He's lifting weights to help his family, and he's doing it with a smile. She's so tired of arrogant, self-centered jerks whose attitude simply says, "Watch Me!" like a little kid. Kenny's attitude says, "what can I do for you?" This week she pushed Kenny away, but what she did was push herself away, which gave her a better view of Kenny. And it looks like it gave him more confidence.

Suddenly, he did scoop her up! She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice him approaching. He simply scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder and carried her squawking and kicking all the way to a stack of feed sacks, with an occasional spank on her surprisingly tiny ass. Kenny sat her on the stack he chose with the admonishment, "Stay!" and he went back to emptying the cart. He's got 10 minutes.

"You can't order me like a dog!"

"That wasn't an order," said Kenny, his muscles flexing as he hoisted a sack on each shoulder. "that was a safety briefing. You could turn your ankle if you jump down," he unloaded a sack of Timothy grass pellets onto a stack next to her. "I have plans for your ankle."

"You can't threaten me with kinky... wait, ankles?" The question of being kinky with someone's ankle bounced around in her head for a moment. Is that possible? Cool!

Kenny hoisted the last two sacks, both being "all stock" meaning it was good for all domesticated herbivores. It was pelletized hay. These were the hard bags to lift, the very bottom of the stack on the cart. He had to crouch, get them up on his shoulders, then stand. It took everything he had to push to the upright position and Yi watched in awe as an exhausted Kenny stood. Catching his breath, he walked over to the appropriate stack and slammed the sacks down like they were the bodies of vanquished enemies, which excited Yi to no end.

Yi crouched on top of the stack of feed sacks. She was up on her hands and knees watching Kenny approach. He really was a Clark Kent kind of guy, mostly mild mannered, reserved, glasses, dark hair. But when push comes to shove, she was sure Kenny would shove back with authority. He rose and turned to Yi, and approached. He's not a huge, buff, muscle bound kind of guy. In fact, he's kind of skinny, but now, after that workout, "skinny" isn't the adjective she would use. "Hot" is much closer.

The room is unheated and is quite chilly, but right now Yi feels a heat that can only be her own. As Kenny approached, she could see a slight haze of steam rising from his sweating body, and it was almost surreal, and the closer he came, the hotter she became. It was like a conquering hero approaching her to take her and she knew that if he decided to take her, to claim her as his, she would gladly consent... after a mock struggle, of course.

"Yi-jin Carlson, you cannot possibly believe how badly I want you," said Kenny as he firmly scooped her back up in his arms. "However, it's not time yet."

What the fuck? How could she be hotter for him? What is he talking about? She couldn't believe how badly she wanted to strip down also and hold him, to press her swollen, aching breasts against his hard, sweaty chest. Their eyes met as he carried her across the room to another stack of feed sacks, one that is shorter. Their lips met as he set her down, their tongues gently entwined, and her breath caught. She could not believe the intensity of the emotions that were circulating through her right now. He set her down, and she gasped, "Kenny, I..."

He stifled her with a gentle finger to the lips and whatever she was going to say was lost in the swirl of emotions. Kenny pulled a long, slim jewelry box out of his back pocket and opened it up to show her a beautiful, intricate bracelet created in the Victorian style. The bracelet was white gold and the open links in the bracelet design were filled with exquisite black pearls. Yi gasped, then the words caught in her throat, then finally she was able to gasp, "it's beautiful!"

He looked at her expectantly, and she broke into a smile and nodded happily, then held out her hand. He simply smiled and knelt, which shocked her a bit. However, he gently slipped off her pump and massaged her shapely left foot. "This is an anklet. Guoxin made it for us."

Yi gasped. The dragon he's mentioned? She looked down at Kenny and the room seemed to disappear, only they were left. As he clasped the anklet on her leg, she felt the pearls calling to each other, the pearl in her earlobes, the pearl between her breasts, the pearls on her left ankle, the pearl on his right wrist all began to sing out for each other. Again, their eyes locked, and Kenny grinned and stroked a finger up the underside of her foot, causing a shock of pure sensual energy to shoot up from her foot and surge through her body. He climbed up on the bed of grain sacks that they made and lay kissing.

"We're not going to get much time together," he whispered in her ear.

Just as Yi was about to ask him what he meant, his mother, Angi, stepped into the room. "There you two are! Kenny, get some clothes on, you'll catch your death, it's freezing in here!"

"Hi Missus Johnson," said Yi as she propped herself up on her elbows, suddenly as shy as a teenager caught necking on a school night.

"Yi-jin!" said Angi happily. "I didn't know you were here! Maybe you can help. We'd like some ideas setting up our sporting goods section."

"Sorry," said Kenny softly, "I tried to warn you."

"I'd be glad to help Mrs. Johnson," said Yi as she sat up and prepared to hop down. "I don't know anything but a shopper's point of view."

"That's what we're looking for, and it's Angie. OH! What a pretty ankle bracelet!" said Angie as she helped Yi down. "Pretty sex-eeee!"

Yi looked at Kenny. She wasn't sure if Angie's reaction was girl talk or a mother trying to get her 32-year-old son out of her basement.

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Vikki looked at her watch and saw that The Advocate's inspection took DAYS rather than the six to ten hours that it normally takes. It appears that there were several items that were in circulation that did not originate here in Amorous Goods. "Please keep your eye out for them, especially the Over Ardent Fleshlight. That device has been linked to the physical exhaustion of an entire fraternity at Ohio State University..."

"I've done that myself," muttered Maxine, whose t-shirt read "My Tits Are Down Here."

"...and the Old McDonald Prostate Milking Machine, which was last seen in the Muncie, Illinois Elks Lodge number 5706..."

"Regular massages promote prostate health," observed Maxine.

"...and the Lost Weekend Ben-Wah Balls."

"I will definitely keep my eye out for that!" smiled Maxine.

"Good luck, that device disappeared from the Museum of Amorous Pleasure in 2001 and hasn't been heard from since."

"Selfish bitches," Maxine mumbled under her breath.

Each remark from her mother received a glare from Vikki. When the advocate completed the assignation Vikki slammed closed her inventory book and said, "Let's close this place up, we're going to find out what Mister Johnson is doing with those pearls and why he chose to dump his bad luck on his father."

"Kenny is a good kid," said Maxine, as she closed up the safe and spun the dial. If someone besides Maxine opens the safe, they would find that there's nothing in the safe. But burglars that like to try the safe soon find out that their efforts become the last burglary they ever attempt. If they have evil intentions, the safe will open easily. Then bite down on their arm and set off an alarm, otherwise it just won't open until Maxine opens it. Even Vikki can't open it (it doesn't like her).

"Where can we find them?" demanded Vikki as she looked through the receipt book. Her mother didn't bother to write down an address.

"Probably Springville," said Maxine as she pulled on a dress. "Julissa Tanaka should know where they are. She gave him our address." The best part about having a celestially unlisted address is that you can track whomever hands in out. "Why do you want to find Kenny so bad?"

"You gave him the most powerful black pearls I've ever seen, and he picked his father to be the blood sacrifice! What kind of kid does that? Guoxin will bite his head off!"

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Yi sighed. She was unhappy; she wanted to spend time with Kenny, but she had promised Doctor Jarecki weeks ago that she would go to dinner with them tonight. Her parents, Stan and Sunny Carlson, were adamant that she treat the Jareckis as if they were family and do what they ask, but still! Family dinner on a Friday night? She should be out bar hopping in North Tonawanda with Kenny.

Friday night in Western New York means Fish Fry at a local restaurant and for Andi and Paul Jarecki that meant Worzil's Bar and Grille. Yi can make halibut a thousand different ways, each one healthier than the local fare of beer battered and deep fried, but none as tasty. Even the twins, Sandy and Madeline, who are entering a picky stage where they will only eat mac and cheese or pizza rolls, will gladly eat Friday fish fry.

Worzils was decorated for Halloween, just weeks away, with spider webs, orange lights, black and orange streamers, Monster Mash on the Juke Box and a full menu of Halloween themed liquid intoxicants. As usual, Ayato was tending bar, but now he's dressed in a Kung Fu uniform. Julissa was dressed as a witch and wearing pale white zombie style make-up instead of the traditional green complexion. As the Jarecki family was led by Julissa to the dining room in the back of Worzils, they found that the dining room was packed, but a big table was set for them with Josh Gravely and Veronica von Köster, along with John and Macy Jarecki seated waiting for them. Just as everybody was getting seated, Julissa came up to Yi and said, "We don't have enough chairs, but don't worry, hun, I have a seat for you." Yi was about to say something when Julissa gave her a saucy wink and then led her out to the front.

There, in a dark corner behind the U-shaped bar, was a booth that was rarely used. It was isolated behind the bar with one other booth and normally used to stack glassware and other bar necessities. Tonight, the table was covered with a white linen tablecloth, good silverware was laid out, a white candle lit in the dark corner and a single white rose in a bud vase gave a very unHalloween atmosphere. The traditionally ignored corner became a very romantic little nook.

As Julissa seated Yi, the pretty Asian girl asked, "How did Kenny set this up?"

"This is small town Western New York honey," smiled Julissa. "You're in the buckle of the snow belt, and like it or not, you're a member of the family now. We take care of each other." She handed Yi a leather-bound menu and asked, "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Water for now," said Yi, who was stunned at the display. What did Kenny do to arrange all this? Yi opened the menu and saw exactly what she expected. Inside was a single page that simply said, "Friday-Fish Fry." She closed the menu as her wine arrived. "I ordered water," said Yi.

"Ahh, you'll get over it," said Julissa as she took the menu from a now laughing Yi. Ten months ago, this would have infuriated Yi. It would have set her off in a gale of righteous fury concerning thoughtless wait staff, but now she just enjoyed the show that Julissa and Ayato put on for their customers. Right on cue, Kenny showed up and placed a glass of ice water in front of Yi, then bent over and gave her a kiss. "You're late. Usually the water arrives first."

"Sorry," smiled Kenny as sat across from her. "It's been a big day; I almost didn't make it."

"Why? What went on?"

"It seems like Mister Wehrle H. Holloway's empire crashed around him and mom and dad now have full ownership of the business, the building it's in, and our big old drafty house," Kenny was so happy he could barely contain himself.

"That's wonderful!" she cried, and Yi came over to his side of the booth and they were still kissing when Julissa showed up with the dinner they hadn't ordered yet.

"You guys want I should box this up for youse to take with?" Julissa asked. Even though she's not a native Buffalonian, she's got the accent down.

"No, we're good," said Yi as she returned to her side of the table. Julissa placed their meals and disappeared with practiced ease. "So, what happened?" asked Yi as they dug into their meals.

"I don't understand the details," said Kenny. "my training is in programming, not accounting, but it was a big scam. Years ago, the business needed some money and Wehrle said he could get the money for it. Dad and Wehrle had been partners for years. In the end, how the accountant set it up, dad had sold the business to Wehrle unwittingly thinking he took out a loan. Then dad was led to believe he was paying off the loan giving the money back to Wehrle, but Wehrle was marking that money off as rent payments. Wehrle didn't pay the accountant enough to keep quiet, so he admitted to dad what was going on. Dad got a lawyer involved and Mister Wehrle H. Holloway's little house of cards collapsed, and tonight we're having a brief ceremony."

"Is he going to jail?" asked Yi, still wondering how Julissa's cook, Rodney, got the fish so perfect. Yi can cook fish a thousand ways, but a perfect beer batter fish, especially a piece of fish this big, is a trick she's still working on.

"God, I hope so. His best bet is to plead no contest," said Kenny as he romantically fed Yi a perfect crinkle cut French fry.

"What about us?" asked Yi.

"That is up to you. Am I still in the doghouse?"

"You're not in the doghouse," said Yi. "I guess I've been trying to figure it out for myself."

"And...?"

Yi took one of Kenny's muscular hands into both of hers. "I love you; I love you so much. It scares me sometimes. Do you understand that?"

"No, but I understand that it's something that you need to deal with on occasion," said Kenny.

"Sometimes you're ... you're too nice. Sometimes I'm so afraid you're going to propose to me..."

Kenny looked sad, "if the thought is that distasteful, I won't..."

"NO! That's not it, it's just... if you ask right now, I'll say yes and... and we will get married, but for me, it will be over. I LOVE working for Paul and Andi. I love living with the twins and little Danny. I love the beautiful bedroom they gave me. Wait till you see the bathtub! I love living there. But when we get married, I'm going to live with you in that big house with all those other people that I love, and I'll love that too... but this part of my life..."

"I understand," said Kenny as he brought out a small jewelry box and opened it. Inside was a delicate white gold woman's ring with a small black pearl. "This is a promise ring. I love you with all of my heart, and I promise I will 'till the day that I die, but I can't marry you right now."

"WHAT? WHY NOT?" Yi demanded. How dare he does not propose! Yi even shocked herself with her sudden change of direction.

"Because... the business. We can start growing now. If we were engaged, or even married, I wouldn't be able to give our business the time it needs and give you the time you deserve. I want to do it right, grow the business so I can afford a bathtub that will fit a VW like you have right now."

"Well, ok," she pouted. She loves her enormous bathtub. It would easily fit her, the twins, and Kenny. A man that will provide her with an "indoor swimming pool" that size is worth marrying.

"Let's do it like this," and he took her right hand and slid the ring on her right ring finger. "When you're ready, just let me know that you're ready for more rings and I'll know to present you with the engagement ring that we agree on." With that, he kissed her hand and sealed a promise that she was very comfortable with, then he handed her a small jewelry box that she opened and inside was a man's ring featuring a gemstone that resembled a flat black pearl.

"Is that a pearl?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's what they said when I got the set," Kenny said. The ring looked like a class ring or a sports championship ring but understated compared to those designs.

She took the ring out of the box and smiled. "Which finger?"

Kenny shrugged, "your choice, but it needs to be right hand."

"Here, here's my favorite finger," Yi said as she slid the ring up and down his middle finger while she licked his fingertip with the very tip of her dainty tongue. She paused and looked Kenny in the eye. "Does my engagement ring have to have a black pearl?"

"Are you saying we're getting married?"

"No," Yi lied, "but just in case, IF we get engaged, does my engagement ring have to have a black pearl?"

Yi slid his ring into place and suddenly Kenny felt a rush of something between his left and right arm. It coursed through his lungs, his heart, his mind. It felt like he was caught in a whirlwind of emotions and feelings until finally he returned to his body and gasped, "For continued blessings, Guoxin insists on it..."

"Who or what is Guoxin?"

Immediately, Ayato appeared at their table side. He had been as far away as he possibly could be, in a noisy bar with a wall of bottles and glasses and a wall of noise between them, but he heard every word they said. "Did you say Guoxin?"

Yi showed Ayato her ring and said, "He said that Guoxin gave that to him, and this," as she showed off her black pearl pendant and her earrings.

"Guoxin gave them to me," said Kenny. He didn't want to go in to detail about how he got them, not right now.

Ayato examined Yi's pendant necklace and said, "I don't want to play the race card, but you white boys don't get to see Guoxin, let alone..."

"I'm Asian," said Kenny softly. "At least part Asian. My great-grandmother was a Chinese war bride." Seeing the shocked look on Yi's face, he said, "Grandma Lacy just told me yesterday morning."

"I knew there was something about you that I liked," grinned Ayato.

"Let's eat up, soon as Lacy and Archie get here, we're going to have a ceremony."

Not long after that conversation, two women dressed in black robes entered the bar. One saw the costumes that the bar employees were wearing and pulled out a wide brimmed pointed hat from the folds of her gown. "Mom!" gasped the blond woman as she saw Maxine put the hat on her head. It was the very same hat that gave JK Rowling the idea for the sorting hat that she used in the first Harry Potter books.

"Oh, Lighten up, it's a party!" Maxine scolded Vikki. "It is a party, isn't it?"

Ayato appeared before them, made a few kung fu flavored gestures, struck a pose that he thought most resembled Bruce Lee, and said, "It's an open party for a local business. What'll you have ladies?"

An eye opened from the folds of the hat and studied Ayato, another eye opened, then a mouth opened and finally said, "The ladies are with me, and they'll both have a Schönauer Apfel Schnapps and a Strongbow chaser."

"Mother please," whined Vikki.

"Make the blond's schnapps a double, she just had an audit," said the hat, then the face disappeared into the hat's wrinkles.

"That hat is so cool!" said Ayato as he poured the drinks. "How much do you want for it?"

"It's not for sale. Besides, all it does is order drinks," said Maxine as she sipped her schnapps. "It will order for you until you're in a coma or bankruptcy, whichever occurs first."

The face on the hat appeared and said, "My date will have another schnapps, and so will her... ahem sister," then the face disappeared once more. Maxine nodded and tapped the rim of her glass, and Ayato poured her and Vikki another drink.

"How do you make it work?" asked Ayato

"It's now how to make it work," said Vikki as she sipped her Strongbow hard apple cider. "The trick is to make it STOP working."

Maxine nodded in agreement. "Once it orders a drink, you just have to drink it. That's how things are done!"

"That is so cool!" laughed Ayato, who still thought it was a trick. "Where did you get it?"

"A little town near London named Chipping Sodbury, in South Gloucestershire," said Vikki. Her words were already beginning to slur. "Got it at an estate sale."

"No kidding?" asked Ayato.

"If we hadn't gotten it first, JK Rowling would have snagged it and drank herself senseless. Harry Potter never would have existed if it weren't for us," said Maxine.

As Maxine was talking, Julissa came up behind them and hugged Vikki. "Hey, you bum, what cha doing here in the real world?"

"I'm looking for..." she looked at a scrap of paper blearily, she moved it nearer and farther from her eyes until the words swam into focus. "Kensington Parker Johnson. Who in the hell would give a kid three last names?"

"Don't ask. That's their family tradition. We just call him Kenny. They're in the back. Come on." As Vikki and Maxine snagged up their drinks, one in each hand, Julissa led Vikki and Maxine into the back room, where a crowd had gathered around a table. Dave and Angi Johnson stood in front of an old metal trash can. Dave held a piece of paper that he claimed was the mortgage for the building their business was in. (It was actually a copy)

"Paid up! Lock, stock, and barrel!" called Dave, and he tore the paper into a few large pieces and held it over the metal trash can. Angi then lit the paper on fire with a lighter and Dave (Davis Jackson Johnson) held it while it burned, and their friends cheered. Eventually he dropped the burning remains into the can before his fingers burned and turned to hug his wife Angi, his dad Archie (Anderson Abbott Johnson), then he turned and hugged his son Kenny (Kensington Parker Johnson).

"That doesn't make any sense," said Vikki as she studied the contract that Kenny signed. "Kensington Parker Johnson sent all his bad luck to his father and they're having a party, hugging, and having a great time." She was having trouble focusing, but she was sure something was wrong. Did they sell him the wrong pearls?

"He was pretty firm about it," said Maxine. "I was there when he signed the papers. I asked which relative you want to screw over, and he said, 'My father' loud and clear!" she emphasized the expression loud and clear with an apple scented belch.

"Oh," said Julissa, "That guy over there is Dave. He's not Kenny's biological father, he's the man who raised him, he's Kenny's dad. Years ago, Dave Johnson's secretary came to him in tears, she was attacked a few months prior, and she found out she was pregnant, so Dave took care of her, fell in love with her, and eventually married her and took the boy on as his own and followed it up with two girls. Only recently did Angi admit to Kenny who his biological father really is. He's a genuine piece of shit, Wehrle H. Holloway. Imagine finding out that your father was your dad's old business partner who is trying to take over the business!"

"What happened?" asked Maxine.

"Kenny somehow got the courage a few days ago to go over the business books, and he figured out how Holloway was screwing over his dad. He took what he found to a lawyer who took it to the district attorney."

"So, Kenny is an accountant?" asked Vikki. 'The Books' are the worst part of running a business.

Julissa whispered, "Not at all. He told me some Chinese guy named Guoxin told him where to look."

For the first time in days, Vikki felt relaxed. Justice had been served with a little help from Amorous Goods. "I think our work here is done," said Vikki.

"There she is!" cried Kenny, and he led a smiling Yi to Maxine and Vikki. "Ma'am, this is my best girl, Yi-jin Carlson, Yi, this is the lady that sold me the pearls."

"Hi, I'm Maxine, and this is my daughter, Vikki. It's really her shop. She inherited it from her dad's brother." They shook hands around, then Maxine said, "I see the earrings, pendant, anklet, wristband, and rings. There's a few of the interesting pieces missing."

"I'm slow-rolling them out," grinned Kenny.

"There's more?" Yi quietly asked in Kenny's ear.

"There's a few that... ummm... are best worn in private," he whispered back. As Yi tried to hide a grin, Kenny turned to Vikki and said, "I think this covers my debt to you," and he handed Vikki a cloth bag with two dozen perfectly matched black pearls.

"But... we really need that help in the warehouse..." said Maxine, hoping that he would write them some software.

Kenny thought about it, then finally said, "If you have a dress like the one you wore the other night in Yi's size..."

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Kenny and Yi spent a day exploring their island, discovering secret groves of fruit trees as brightly colored songbirds serenaded them. In the interior of the island not far from a waterfall into a clear shimmering pool, a flame flickered and danced. It was seated in the middle of a small pile of rocks and occasionally a secondary flame would puff up near it. "This must be natural gas leaking to the surface," said Kenny. "A friend showed me one like this on Connisarauley Creek."

The water from the waterfall was sweet, and the flame showed no indication that it would go out, and next to the flame was an open area of soft, dry sand. "This looks like a perfect campsite," said Yi firmly, hands on shapely hips. "No cabin needed."

"Wherever we are, we can always find each other here," said Kenny as he held her hand and their black pearl rings touched. The pearls were joining them together. Kenny couldn't figure out how, but he stopped asking how and started enjoying the closeness he was feeling with Yi, both awake and asleep.

Yi sighed in relief, the Jarecki's love to travel and since they hired Yi, traveling with the children is much easier, they bring Yi along to help with the two children, soon to be three. There is more travel in the future for Yi and this island will make the future days and weeks of separation from Kenny much easier. As they melted into each other's arms to seal the idea with a kiss, Guoxin's voice boomed at them from above, somewhere in the palm trees swaying overhead.

"STAY OFF THE BEACH UNTIL THE DANGER IS PAST!"

The voice of the dragon was impossible for them to ignore. It rang in their heads as it was accompanied by the sound of small arms gunfire offshore. His US Army training kicked in and Kenny crept toward the sound of battle followed by a terrified Yi and soon they were at the edge of the forest watching a large boat filled with modern day pirates shooting in all directions as dragons of different colors swooped and dove at them, primarily a black dragon. The black dragon took glee in causing terror among the pirates, then with a bellow from the black dragon, the other dragons scattered away from the pirates. A huge dark cloud had grown over the ship during the attack and now, with a roar from Guoxin, a storm erupted. Lightning and hail poured down from the massive cloud, driving the pirates away.

Guoxin turned to inform Kenny and Yi that they were safe now, but he saw they were entwined on the sand, and he chose not to disturb the lovers. The huge yellow dragon slipped below the waves to his home in the sea.

Kenny was suckling and squeezing Yi's breasts, her bikini was tossed to the side along with his shorts, his fingernails gently scraping up and down her sensitive inner thighs, his kisses moving down lower, lower... Yi gasped and writhed, it's been so long since he's kissed her there, her fingers tangled in his hair and....

PUMPKIN DAY!!!

Pumpkin day? What the fuck? Kenny sat up in bed and checked his alarm clock and found that it was still four AM. The cry of Pumpkin Day interrupted a beautiful dream. His erection still throbbed, the scent of Yi still filled his nostrils. He could almost taste her. He ran through his mental calendar and yes, it's pumpkin day. Today was the day that The Boys and their families gather together to carve pumpkins so they would be ready for the Halloween carnival next week. Kenny wasn't part of the carving party; in fact, he had work to do at the feed mill. He pulled the blanket up over his head and tried to go back to sleep.

"PUMPKIN DAY!" shrieked the twins as they bounded onto Yi's bed in Paul's cabin. Yi groaned; her wonderful dream was just starting to get good! She was on the island with Kenny, they were safe from marauders and Kenny was kissing his way down her ribcage, getting closer and closer... "Yay," groaned Yi, "Pumpkin Day." She moaned sadly and looked at her watch... "You little turdburglars! It's four AM!" she whispered to the tiny five-year-old twins.

"But there's so many pumpkins!" gasped Sandy, her hands held palm upwards. She's the most active of the two and the instigator of most of the trouble.

"Shhhh! Baby!" Yi warned. By this time next month, the girls will have a baby brother and they were practicing how to behave around a baby. You can tell the twins to keep quiet until you're blue it the face with no appreciable drop in volume from the twins, but saying "Shhhh! Baby!" they understand and quiet down.

"But there's so many Pumpkins!" gasped Sandy quietly, her hands held out, palms upward.

"That's right, but they're safe in a cabin behind Mister Josh's Pond and we can't get to them until Miss Veronica unlocks the cabin later. You guys just snuggle with me until then." The twins crawled under the blanket with Yi, and after a few giggles, were fast asleep.

At about six AM, Yi's watch alarm went off, and she worked her way free of the sleeping twins and pulled on her sweats. As she dressed, Paul's chocolate lab, Wonka, slipped into her bed between the twins, silently called "dibs" on the warm spot and went to sleep as Yi crept down the creaky wooden steps. Yi doesn't have to come to the cabin with her employers on the weekend, but she enjoys the country life, it's the complete opposite of the ultra-modern life she lived in Florida. So, when Kenny has to work, she'll be fifteen miles away in a cabin, eagerly waiting to be reunited with him in their dreams.

Yi crouched in front of the wood-burning stove, the source of heat for the cabin, and fed a few logs into the dying fire without disturbing Paul and Andi, who slept on the unfolded couch. Poor Andi! Her stomach is so huge! And she has another month before the baby arrives! How can she find comfort on a futon?

Andi and her sister-in-law Macy both claim to have been impregnated on Valentine's day, Macy here in this cabin and Andi in a Canadian hotel overlooking the falls. Both couples refused to have the doctors tell them what their babies will be (other than healthy) but Mama Giardini, an old family friend of Paul and John, insist that Andi is carrying a boy as brave and smart as his dad, and Macy is carrying a girl that will be far more beautiful than her former fashion model mother.

Yi grabbed her basket and a flashlight and stepped out of the cabin and walked over to the barn to see if the girls had left her any eggs. The girls were, of course, Paul and Andi's chickens. The chickens lived in a huge 150-year-old barn; the main beams were held together with wooden pegs. The cabins were three small barns in a row, the two outer barns where the living quarters and the central barn contained the common kitchen, bathroom, and showers.

As Yi scooped up the last egg, her phone chirped and she saw it was a text message from Kenny-"I miss you, <3" She chuckled at his old school keyboard emoji and headed back to the cabin to start breakfast. Maybe a nice breakfast casserole... No! She's got a stale loaf of homemade French bread. "I'll go over to Hirsh's farm and get some fresh whole milk and make some French toast," she thought to herself. She pulled on a jacket, then stepped outside and fired up the ATV.

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

It had been a busy day; they spent the day carving pumpkins and taking plastic pails of the bits and pieces cut from the pumpkins and Josh took those pieces and scattered them in a grove of Larch trees, those oddball pine trees that drop their needles in the fall. Of course, the twins had to help Josh, which insured a wagon ride back to the large cabin where the pumpkins were being carved. The deer will feast well on those chunks of pumpkins and hopefully hang around until deer season, hoping for more. There were some wild turkeys strutting about the woods. Wise in the way of people, the turkeys apparently knew it wasn't turkey season and allowed the pint-sized visitors to marvel in awe at their size and grace. The twins were fascinated and watched the large birds for a long time.

Later, after a dinner of their dad's beef stew that simmered in the iron pot on the wood stove all day long, the twins were at the table in the cabin doing their homework, Andi was proctoring their reading test when Madeline started whining that she wanted her upside-down pumpkin. They spent the day in one of Josh's cabins with "the gang" carving pumpkins and hauling pumpkin chunks out into the woods and were getting very tired. Mom and dad are tired too and Yi is doing what she can to help. Sandy had a pumpkin with a surprised look on it that her daddy Paul carved for her, it was sitting on the picnic table outside their window, but Madeline insisted on a happy pumpkin that was upside-down, so Paul carved her one like that too. It's a cute upside-down smiling face that Madeline just loves (probably because daddy made it for her). However, the upside-down pumpkin that used to be just outside on their picnic table is missing.

Yi went to the shared kitchen and looked around upstairs where in the cooler months the attic there becomes cold storage, but there were no pumpkins up there, so she knocked on the doorway into John and Macy's cabin and stepped in. Paul was in there with John and Macy and was reading a hunting magazine. It's getting close to deer season, and the guys were getting excited. "Has anyone seen Madeline's upside-down pumpkin?" asked Yi. "She's pretty upset that it's missing."

"Kenny borrowed it," said John.

"K-Kenny was here?" The look on her face was priceless. Her boyfriend swung by and didn't bother to stop by and say hi? There will be hell to pay.

"Yeah, 'bout a half hour ago, you and Andi were getting the twins settled down to do their lessons, so he swung by here and asked if he could borrow it. Something about the guillotine. He might still be in the barn," said Paul.

Yi peeked out the front window of the cabin and saw Kenny's truck over by the barn. He was probably up in the hayloft fiddling with that guillotine he and "the boys" made. It gets transported over to the Community Center for the Halloween Haunted House tomorrow. She stormed back to Paul and Andi's cabin, grabbed a sweater and said, "I'll be back with your pumpkin... or with a headless horseman." And without waiting for a response, she stormed out the door. Hurricane Yi is building up strength.

Paul strolled into his cabin followed by John and Macy. "That poor Kenny is in serious trouble."

"He has no idea," agreed Andi.

It was a bit chilly outside, even though everyone said it was "unseasonably warm." The old timers said that the warm late October weather foretells a hard winter, but nothing in the Farmer's Almanac can prepare Kenny for Hurricane Yi. She was halfway across the yard when the Yard Light, the big streetlight style lamp on the front of the barn that lights up the entire area, suddenly went out and Yi was plunged into a sea of darkness. She looked behind her and saw that the lights were still on in the cabin so NY E&G wasn't to blame, but looking at the barn, she could see a glimmer of light coming from the workshop. The ancient incandescent light above Paul's workbench that had been burning for over 40 years was still pumping out the lumens.

Then she saw it, the upside-down pumpkin. It was on a board that was sticking out of the upper hayloft door. A small candle inside the pumpkin flickered and gave a warm yellow glow. The gloom of the evening made the pumpkin look like it was floating next to the barn. She walked up to the big side door of the barn and found that it was latched from the inside. "Hmmm, there must be another entrance he wants me to use," she thought. But she had a better idea and took the Buck knife off her hip, opened the blade and slipped it through the crack at the edge of the door and jimmied up the latch. She's been here almost a year, in the frigid winter, muddy spring, and hot summer, and she knew of many ways to get in the barn to get those eggs from the roost full of hens.

"He won't see me coming this way," she chuckled to herself as she entered the parking bay as Paul calls it. It used to be the milking parlor, but now it's where Paul parks his tractors. With the light from the old 25-watt bulb in the workshop, she started to make her way to the staircase that leads up to the hayloft. "It's too easy," she thought to herself... just before the light went off.

"Oh damnit," she groaned, "fucking hell." She reached for her cell phone to use as a flashlight when a string of gold Christmas lights came on, leading her to the staircase upstairs. Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, she followed the path of light between the tractors and up the staircase, her soft soled pumps making her passage silent and stealthy. As she got up in the hayloft, she moved quietly toward the corner where they assembled the guillotine. A small light was burning over there. Ten more steps, eight more, five more. She's almost there and...

A pair of insanely powerful arms wrapped around her and lifted her up off the ground.

"Kenny! Honest to God, set me down or I'll..." he carried her into the circle of light where the guillotine was set up. She twisted in his arms and looked and saw that he was wearing an executioner's hood, but she saw his eyes and he looked like he was having fun. As he set her down, she heard a voice from behind a convincingly good prop store front, "For the crime of cutting off your man without cause, you have been sentenced to the guillotine!"

Suddenly a crowd roared to life and the occasional scream of "Boo!" and "Off with her head!" could be discerned in the shouts. Somehow, her executioner got her in soft leather wrist cuffs and attached them to an overhead rope. Then he pulled the rope via a pulley and her arms were hoisted above her head. There were several propane heaters in the area and before she knew it, she was sweating, and not just from the heat, from fear. That crowd sounded angry; even though Yi knew it wasn't real, it sounded very real, which caused an undercurrent of fear in her. At one point, a voice called out, "The guillotine is too good for her, BURN HER!" and the crowd started chanting, "Burn! Her! Burn! Her! Burn! Her!"

As the lights dimmed, a fake fire burst into life around a stake near the foot of the guillotine. And she could tell it wasn't real, but it looked good. Orange tissue paper flames danced, simulating a blazing fire while the crowd cheered. Then the voice of the judge was heard again, "It has been deemed that before execution she must be HUMILIATED!" and the crowd went wild! "STRIP HER! STRIP HER! STRIP HER!" they chanted. The executioner gave her a shrug of the shoulders that clearly said, "It's a living," and he pulled the rope, and she was lifted off the ground.

"DAMN IT KENNY!!!" Yi squealed and kicked, but her executioner was skilled, and he had her shoes off in an instant, then pulled down her sweatpants and tiny, tiny panties. "I'm going to get you Kensington Parker Johnson! If it's the last thing I do!" Her legs were a whirl as she tried to kick him, but she felt a hand circling her hip, moving closer and closer to the front. "Don't you dare Kenny! DON'T YOU DARE!" she shouted as his hand drew closer and closer to her pussy and then she could feel a finger touch her vagina, now two fingers, circling, rubbing, he discovered her moisture, this girl was turned on now more than she ever had been turned on in her life. Her juices were literally flowing from the combination of the forbidden nature of this sex play, and from Kenny finally acting like the tough guy she wanted.

A flash of lightning and a loud roll of thunder boomed as her "favorite finger" slid deep into her pussy and collected her moisture. The executioner's hood only had eye holes, but right now there were no eyes, just two black holes. He slid his fingers under the hood and was obviously licking her moisture off his fingers, and suddenly his eyes appeared again. It looked so weird that it scared her. She whimpered as she watched him lick up her essence, then her executioner peeled off his flannel shirt and Yi recognized Kenny's muscular chest. He was in completely buff condition after years of lifting heavy sacks of feed and fertilizer, and now, with adding the much larger sporting goods section, he's been doing a lot more lifting.

The lights were dimmed now, the only light came from the propane heaters and the lights incorporated in the scenery. There were lights that simulated flaming torches and lights hidden in the backdrop to look like lamps in the fake houses were lit. Occasionally there was a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder along with a witch's cackling laugh to make the scene as spooky as it was creepy. Kenny must have loved programming the effects for this.

Now Kenny knelt at her feet, and she looked down to see what he was doing. She kicked at him with her bare feet, and he just caught them and gently tickled the sensitive soles and attached leather ankle cuffs to her legs. Then she saw what he was going to do next... "NO! KENNY DON'T!" He attached her ankle cuffs to a three-foot spreader bar and now her legs were spread wide open, and she was completely helpless, her feet didn't touch the ground, she was hanging mere inches from the ground completely helpless. "What are you doing to me, Kenny?" she begged, her voice trembling with emotion. No man has ever dominated her like this, ever! Her father has never even spanked her. The worst he has done was grounding her.

Kenny had remained silent since the moment she entered the barn, and as he stepped behind her, he remained silent. Yi tried to turn to see him, but her arms prevented that from happening. What was he doing back there? Now she felt Kenny behind her, close to her, very close. He must have undressed because she could feel the head of his cock brushing against her ass cheeks, now trying to burrow its way between her round, firm mounds. She whimpered, "Kenny?" torn between her desire to push back or to push away, but both were impossible right now. "Kenny please, this is getting scar..." Her words were cut off by a ball gag.

Kenny adjusted the gag as she mutely squawked in anger, then she felt a jerk on the rope as a bolt of lightning flashed and the boom of thunder shook the barn, which was loud enough to be real! Now her feet touched the floor, and the weight was taken off of her wrists, but she was suddenly scooped up and carried to the guillotine. He sat her down on the deck and laid her back, but she was squawking and fighting the entire time, and when he pulled off her sweater and shirt, leaving her nude, she fought the hardest.

Soon she found herself strapped in place, her hands bound to the upright blade rails, her legs held wide by the meter wide spreader bar, the overhead rope was used to hoist her legs in the air by the spreader bar and now Kenny took off his mask. He began to suckle and gnaw on Yi's breasts; he nibbled on her nipples so perfectly, his big hand squeezing her breast, holding it like it might get away, allowing him to nip and gnaw at her erect nipples.

Kenny paused for a moment and opened a small jewelry box and brought out two beautiful Victorian designed white gold and black pearl nipple clips. He displayed them for her, silently showing her how the jaw work by clasping it on a finger he held up, pretending to wince in pain when the jaws closed, then very, very slowly he attached a clip to her turgid left nipple. She was trembling in anticipation and when the jaws closed tightly on her nipple, her eyes rolled back in her head and she groaned at the exquisite sensations. Pain and pleasure rolled into one and she was still writhing in the residual bliss when the second clip closed on her right nipple, starting the sensations all over again.

Then Kenny began to kiss and lick Yi's sensitive inner thighs. As the black pearls scattered about her body, earlobes, neck, nipples, finger, and ankles tingled and drove the other sensations higher into the stratosphere, Kenny was delighting in very delicately caressing her most tender spots as gently as possible while his fingers were flicking and tugging the nipple clamps. The counter sensations drove her crazy. She gasped and grunted into her ball gag.

When the last assault on her pussy started, Yi went out of her mind. Two fingers slid in and out of her pussy while his other hand the fingers spread her labia exposing her tiny clit and his tongue flickered and licked, and as her massive orgasm approached, he sucked on her clitoris while his tongue slavered over it. His fingers fucked her firmer and faster, and her body tightened up as her orgasm neared.

Yi fought against the oncoming tsunami. She's never had more than one orgasm in a session, and she wanted to have hers at the same time as he did. She gasped and pleaded against the ball gag but that seemed to urge Kenny on, his fingers twisting in her pussy, rubbing against her G-Spot, his tongue sliding up and down on her clit, and now his little finger pressing against her anus, wriggling, trying to penetrate her asshole. It was all too much. Her orgasm hit her like a tidal wave. She wanted to hold his head in place, to make sure he would keep lapping away at her clit. Her body jerked as one convulsion of release followed another.

She was still cumming when he released her legs and they fell limp to either side of the rack they lay on, her pussy still twitching as her orgasm retreated. Kenny got up and put his mask back on, then he slid something into her pussy and strapped her body down as the crowd continued to scream for the execution they were promised.

Yi lay trembling as the aftershocks of the most powerful orgasm of her life still echoed through her. Is this what the magic of the black pearls was? To turn Kenny into some kind of raging pervert? He broke so many of the rules she had, he should know that she's terrified of being tied up and helpless, he was so mean... Who let him think that clamps on her nipples were ok? (they are, but he never bothered to ask) He was still Kenny the whole time... his bobbing erection preceded him as he stepped closer to her head, and she saw the silver glans ring just behind the big mushroom head of his cock and she saw the two black pearls that adorned the silver glans ring. The vibrator that he slid into her pussy came to life, stoking the flames that he ignited with his tongue.

Her mind was swimming with anger and fear, and she didn't know what she wanted more - to exact revenge? To escape and run away? Or did she want more of whatever he was planning? Kenny lowered the board that held her neck in place then closed two cushions held her head in place and the cushions had speakers in them which made the crown become even louder, their shrieks for blood could not be ignored, nor could the occasional call of "Happy Halloween!" and "Trick or Treat!" from the enraged crowd.

Wait... Trick or Treat?

Before she could laugh at the silliness of it all, she realized that this guillotine was coming to life. The neck board blocked her vision of almost everything, but she could see the blood covered blade above her aimed at her neck, parallel rows of LED lights flashing in hypnotic patterns, and she could see her executioner, his hands on the lever, his cock huge and throbbing, the vibrator in her pussy was increasing in intensity... she now wanted that cock more than ever! His eyes were locked with hers and she could see the lust in his eyes. He then nodded and pulled the lever!

There was a mist of atomized water and she saw the gleaming edge of the blade race down toward her. The crowd shrieked in blood lust and suddenly everything went black and silent; the guillotine shook as the blade slammed home, the vibrator stopped, and she felt like she was falling. She was shocked at the intensity of what happened in that one second, but it felt like it took an hour. She nearly wet herself in fear, yet she nearly came at the same time.

The hood over her head retracted, and she found herself staring at Madeline's upside-down pumpkin. As she tried to sort out her feelings, her view was blocked when Kenny stepped in front of her and unfastened the ball gag, and gently removed it. Then, before she could say a word, he replaced the gag with his cock. She was shocked at first that he would dare to do such a thing, but he was gentle as he sawed his enormous cock in and out of her mouth an inch or two at a time. He continued fucking her mouth with short strokes and soon she relaxed and responded with a gentle moan. It was weird, as she ran her tongue around the head of his cock. The glans ring was strange, but then she noticed that she could almost feel what he was feeling. Was it the black pearls doing that?

She's such a great cocksucker, but she doesn't do it very often. Kenny had a feeling that this might be goodbye, so he may as well get what he wanted to do out of his system as he began to gently fuck her mouth. He was shocked at how good it felt and he began to realize that she wanted a little more freedom, so as she sucked and swallowed his cock, he removed the neck board which was actually just a painted bit of packing foam and released her wrist cuffs from the shackles they were locked to. He was shocked and delighted when her hands went to his hips and began to guide his strokes in and out of her mouth.

God, it was good. She was so eager for his cock that it surprised them both. He was almost ready to cum, but neither of them wanted it to end here. He reluctantly pulled his tingling cock from her mouth and began to undo the straps that held her in place, and before he could climb onto the rack with her, she flipped over onto her hands and knees. Not wasting a moment, Kenny lined his cock up with her cunt and with his cock was still wet with her saliva, he drove in as deeply as possible. She was hot, tight and extremely wet from the workout he had just given her, and her eyes bugged wide open in pleasurable shock as Kenny's cock stretched her open and dove deep. "Oh god!" she groaned happily, and she began rocking back and forth in times with his thrusts.

Kenny pushed into her, pounding away at her, fucking firmly. He's broken so many of Yi's rules today. Why not a few more? This was a big one. Yi always says she hates doggy style, but she initiated it this time. Gentle kissing, and maybe a whisper or two, just isn't possible. There's no eye contact, no romantic whispers, just sweaty, raw fucking, which sometimes is just what is needed. Kenny looked at her back, beautiful and flawless, cello shaped, smooth and without blemish, her heart-shaped ass, and the juncture where his cock cleaved into her cunt, and he could smell her excitement which drove him on further. If this is goodbye, he wanted to remember this beauty forever. They both grunted and cried out in sheer rut. Nothing but "Fuck me!" was spoken as his groin slapped into her ass over and over, his cock plunging a little deeper with each thrust.

It began to happen. The pearls they wore began to echo their heart's cries and their orgasms' intensities. As Kenny plunged into Yi, he could feel what she felt as his cock spread her open. The pearl on the glans ring began to tingle in harmony with her clit. In Yi's case, she could feel the aching of Kenny's erection, the almost maniacal need to penetrate, to cum. She nearly barked with the need to complete this mating, now! Faster! Harder!

Yi began to tighten up and shudder. Her little cries let Kenny know she was cumming. She's not a screamer. It took him a while to be sure she was cumming, but when she did he stopped holding back and with a loud groan he came. The semen that had been building up for a week exploded in a rush of release. His body twitched and jerked with each convulsive wave of relief. The pearls projected her orgasm into him, causing his cum to be mind-blowing in intensity. When it was finally over, he collapsed on Yi's back and she collapsed onto the rack, and they lay holding each other close while aftershocks of pleasure coursed through Yi's body. "If this is goodbye," he whispered as she fell asleep, "just know that I will always..." and she was gone.

Yi found herself in their clearing in the forest with the waterfall and flame. The beach of their dream island is nearby. Kenny wasn't here yet, so she walked out to the beach and looked out over the ocean at the pillar islands in the distance and saw a yellow creature rising from the ocean. It began writhing as it headed towards her; it had to be over 100 feet long; the body twisting like a snake as it traveled. The creature's bright yellow scales glistened in the bright tropical sun, almost blinding Yi with its brilliance and its massive lion like head seemed to be engineered to strike fear into her heart. "SO WE FINALLY MEET," the words suddenly echoed in her head.

Startled, Yi dropped to a fighting stance. This monster could swallow her whole, but if he tried, she was going to go down fighting. The beast grinned in satisfaction, "YOU TRULY ARE A DAUGHTER OF MINE," the beast nodded in self-satisfaction and drew nearer and nearer to Yi. He was truly massive, and he started to circle Yi, soon she was completely surrounded by yellow dragon. She reached out and touched his flank. His cobalt blue mane was as soft as her own hair and his shining yellow scales were like solid metal and cool to the touch. "YOU ARE BRAVE LITTLE ONE, THE ONLY OTHER WARRIOR TO TOUCH ME IN FOUR HUNDRED YEARS IS KENSINGTON!"

"Who are you?" demanded Yi. "Are you Guoxin?"

"EMPEROR GUOXIN IF YOU DON'T MIND, I AM SURPRISED YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME. WE MET THREE YEARS AGO IN PUSAN."

Yi wracked her brain. Three years ago, she was in Pusan with her mother and her baby sister Bit-na, they went to visit her mother's parents... there was no dragon... no actual dragon. Grandmother Da-eun took them to a Buddhist temple and the Buddhist monk explained... there were four dragons carved in the four corners of the temple roof eves, and there was one painted bright yellow. "You were carved on the corner of the temple, the south corner!" said Yi. "You're the dragon of the south, the Yellow Emperor, you guard the Han and warn us of invasion." When she spoke, Guoxin chuckled. "What is so funny, Mister Emperor?" Yi insisted.

"YOU SAID "US."

"No, I didn't... did I? I guess I did." Yi remembered the words of that Buddhist monk; the Han were the people of the Middle Kingdom, the Pre-China Asians who populated what is now China and surrounding areas, who explored and settled what is now Korea and Japan. Being Korean makes her part of the Han just as Kenny's Chinese blood, even though his eyes no longer have the epicanthal fold that is the hallmark of the Han.

"WHY ARE YOU LEAVING KENSINGTON?"

Yi was shocked. "I never said that!"

"BUT HE BELIEVES YOU WILL, HE BROKE MANY OF YOUR 'RULES' AND NOW HE LIVES IN FEAR OF YOUR REACTION."

"Is that what your pearls do? Give him the audacity to ignore what I asked?"

"YOU DID NOT ASK. YOU LAID A MINEFIELD AROUND HIM AND DARED HIM TO WALK, AND THEN YOU COMPLAIN THAT YOU HAVE A MAN THAT WON'T MOVE."

Yi was shocked as the Dragon revealed the quandary that she put Kenny in. Guoxin's shouts echoed in her mind and his coils around her started to tighten. "Did the pearls give Kenny the courage to move?" she finally asked.

"NO," replied Guoxin, no longer shouting, "HE ALWAYS HAD THE COURAGE, WHAT THEY DID WAS GIVE YOU THE COURAGE TO DEACTIVATE THE LANDMINES YOU CREATED."

Suddenly Yi's mind was filled with visions that left her scared, the first vision was Kenny, working as a telemarketer, conning people into purchasing extended car warranties and bad Medicare supplemental insurance, hating himself with every sale he made and going home to an empty two-room apartment. The only decoration on the wall was a picture of Yi and Kenny together, smiling at the camera. He no longer looked at the picture.

The next vision was Yi herself at the wedding of one of the twins she raised. She was there alone, wondering why there was no longer anything left in her life. Her phone wallpaper was a picture of her and Kenny and the twins when they were six, but she no longer looks at her phone. The rings go unanswered now. She can start over, go back to cooking in a restaurant, or maybe get a job rebuilding marine engines. She used to love that... but where does she start? Where did it all go?

"Did I do this?" she gasped.

"NOT ANYMORE," Emperor Guoxin growled, and he said, "HERE, TO SEAL YOUR UNION." The dragon opened its mouth, and she saw that between the massive teeth were black pearls, she cautiously plucked two and then realized that she was laying with Kenny on the rack of the guillotine, he was whispering in her ear, "If this is goodbye... just know that I will always love you."

Yi smiled and rolled over in his arms until she was facing him. "Not goodbye," she whispered, then she realized she needed the courage the dragon gave her, "It's more like..." she gulped and gathered the courage, "I'm sorry for being tough on you," she shuddered, this was the hard part, "I've had problems in the past..."

Kenny hushed her with a kiss, "It happened to me too, Let's work through it together, ok?" Yi looked at him in a whole new light, they've had so many of their own problems that they didn't see each other's problems. "What do you have in your hand?"

"I met Guoxin," she said. "he gave me two pearls," she said as she slowly opened her hand, afraid to drop the pearls. She and Kenny looked at her hand and smiled. The pearls were no longer pearls. "I was hoping for a nipple chain," Yi said as she looked at the matched set of wedding rings in her hand.

"I still have one of those for you," said Kenny as he closed her hand with his. "Let's put these in your jewelry box for a while."

"Good plan," Yi said as their lips met, and with a flash they were on their island. It was hot and humid, the trees were beautiful, but they blocked the ocean breeze, and it got quite warm as they lay kissing in the soft sand, neither Kenny nor Yi were shocked to be here by now, they've been traveling to this place in their dreams so much it's becoming a second home to them. Kenny stood up and urged Yi to get up, but she refused to get up.

"You're coming with me." Kenny scooped the slim Asian up and carried her along the path to the beach while her feet kicked, and she laughed.

"It was nice there... what are you doing? Put me down!"

"We need to wake up soon! Somebody's going to come in the barn and find us!" shrieked Yi as Kenny carried her naked down the path that led to the beach and into the warm, calm ocean. Foot tall breakers were rolling in, perfect for teaching a country boy how to bodysurf. As they splashed and played, a fountain of bubbles rose from the depths of the ocean and Guoxin rose and floated toward the playful couple.

"HAVE WE SETTLED OUR DIFFERENCES?" the dragon asked.

"We have come to an agreement, I believe," said Kenny.

"Is that what the black pearls do for us?" asked Yi. "They help us understand each other?"

"OH, THEY DO MORE," growled Guoxin, "MUCH, MUCH MORE." He grinned and writhed in glee as he surrounded the couple with a double loop of his length. "I HAVE WORK FOR YOU TO DO WHEN YOU ARE READY."

"What?" asked Kenny. He was both shocked and curious, "What do you have for us?"

"ANOTHER OF MY CHILDREN WILL NEED HELP." Guoxin gestured with his massive chin to the tree line and two women stepped out of the trees, one a dirty blond with shoulder length hair, the other a fit Asian woman with short black hair, both were covered with a multitude of scars and bitemarks.

"Oh, they are so cute!" cried the blond. "But Guoxin honey, we need grownups."

"EMPEROR!" roared the suddenly angered Dragon. The blond winced and her face twisted in pain, the Chinese woman held her ears as did Yi and Kenny and they dropped to their knees in the surf.

"Ok, geez! Sorry, your emperorship, I was only..." she stopped when the slim Chinese woman slapped her on the ass.

"I'll take over, ok?" scolded the Chinese woman.

"Whatever you want," whined the dirty blond as the headache settled in.

The Chinese woman turned to Kenny and Yi, bowed elegantly and said, "I am Long Yu Ming, and you may call me Ming, my associate," she rolled her eyes, "is Alicia Ingersoll. We would like to enlist your aid in helping our husband."

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Yi and Kenny had been gone for a long time. The twins were in bed, and it wasn't like Yi to not tuck them in, even when she's not on the clock. "Kenny is here," Andi explained to a very disappointed six-year-old pair of girls, "and he is her boyfriend. You're going to want to spend time with your boyfriends someday."

The twins looked at each other and wrinkled their noses. "Ewwwwww."

"Your poppa is my boyfriend," Andi said.

"No, he's not!" said Sandy, "he's daddy!" A snort of stifled laughter from downstairs announced that Daddy had heard Sandy's outburst.

"I want my pumpkin!" whined Madeline.

"Ok, ok," said an exasperated mommy, "I'll have daddy go find your pumpkin. Ok?"

"K."

Ten minutes later, a chuckling Paul carried Madeline's upside-down pumpkin back to the cabin and placed it next to a sleeping Madeline. Then, taking a blanket, he whispered to Macy and Andi what he found in the hayloft. Andi returned with him while a softly laughing Macy kept an eye on the kids.

In the hayloft Paul placed a blanket over the slumbering Yi and Kenny, while Andi photographed the pair sleeping on a guillotine, Andi called it their homicidal love-nest. "I have an idea," said Paul and whispered to Andi what came to mind. She agreed, and she and Paul set to work.

Half an hour later, in a very dark and empty hayloft illuminated only by four dim Jack-o'-lanterns, a large flat piece of lumber began a descent toward the floor. It landed flat with a tremendous BANG! scaring Kenny and Yi into wakefulness. Yi shrieked in terror and Kenny yelled in fear and he fell off of the rack that they were laying on. Suddenly a floodlight illuminated two ghostly figures that jumped off a stack of hay bales at them and shrieked loudly, terrifying the pair.

Kenny and Yi finally realized that they were in the darkened hayloft. They also noticed that the entire guillotine and backdrop were gone! They were in an empty hayloft with just a blanket that Yi now claimed complete ownership of, and two laughing ghosts.

"Happy Halloween!" cried the short ghost in a feminine voice.

"Thanks boss," groaned Yi as she pulled the blanket tight around her.

Paul went to find the light switch as Andi explained, "We tried to wake you guys." they did, but not really hard. "So, we packed up the scenery for shipment tomorrow and, you know..."

"That was pretty funny," said Kenny as he pulled his shirt on.

"No, it wasn't," groaned Yi. Then she said, "Hey Andi, we got some part time work in the spring. Mind if I take a week or two off to make a few bucks out west?"

"I don't see a problem," said Paul as he returned after turning on the lights. "Where is the work at?"

"A place called Gainey Mountain, in Colorado," said Yi.

-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-=●=-

Yi and Kenny will return in AI Era: Agent Ai - X-Hour