From Jenny to Mei Ch. 09

"You will."

"But what can I do? I can't cook. You do that better than I ever could. I can only clean your apartment so many times. What else can I do?"

"Write me a letter."

"Huh?" 'Why haven't I thought of that?' she wondered.

"Write me a love letter."

"Wow, what a great idea. I will."

"Now I've got to go, honey. I really enjoyed watching you come."

"Me too, baby. Thank you for letting me return to you."

"Sweet dreams."

He disconnected and she lay there on the couch contemplating her man and began to compose the outlines of a letter to him in her mind.

##########

Since hearing of Mei's first encounter with Karla, he'd done a some research and design. IT was his profession, evolved from an obsession, but mature, no longer able to fascinate. Mechanical design and implantation still interested him. There was nothing better than developing some gadget that did something and bend metal to create it. Tinkering with whatever device he had developed, fine tuning its function. Was a joy. As a kid he created some pretty astounding Rube Goldberg type devices. At five he created a door alarm by balancing a battery over a doorknob that would fall into a bucket of blocks when turned. Not high tech, but not bad for a five-year-old. At seven he ripped apart an old record player, remounted the workings and created arms from his erector set. It periodically tilted a container of water into a funnel and refilled his hamsters water feeder. Of course it was totally impractical and wet the interior of the hamster's cage, but he enjoyed the day and a half of its operational life.

Now he was designing something much more practical. It was a gift for Mei, for Karla and for himself. It lay in pieces behind his work desk and would take several more hours to perfect. It was complex and innovative and, he felt, was sure to please her. However, there was a problem. With something like this you just had to have a test subject, to get the angles precisely correct and ensure maximum comfort. But where was he going to find a willing volunteer? He thought about asking Sara but she's probably resent it, like an old girlfriend being asked to model the new fiancée's wedding dress. 'Too bad you just can't order a stunt double,' he thought, then realized he could.

With a bit more research, he found an agency that specialized in women by the hour, but they wanted references from girls who had provided similar services and he had none. He explained the nature of his requirements and offered to pay double, but still the otherwise pleasant woman with a Korean accent refused.

"So where do I look for a model?" he asked, "Just point me in the right direction."

She gave the name of a few websites, suggested a massage parlor or two and curtly wished him a good day.

He found the website, basically a classified ad site with photos and descriptions and began sending out a barrage of emails from a disposable account. After four hours there were plenty of no-replies, four refusals and three, 'tell me mores.' The best written was from a girl named Sandy. She charged more than he wanted to pay, but clicking through to her personal site, he was impressed with the photos and how much her figure looked like Mei's. Sandy was perhaps an inch shorter than Mei and five pounds lighter, but she would do very nicely for his purposes.

He emailed and explained the nature of what he needed.

"I'm game," was her rather enthusiastic answer and they arranged for her to show up tomorrow around noon. "You can bring someone else if it would make you feel more comfortable," he offered.

He got back to tinkering, warbling out 'Whistle While You Work' from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 'Making things is so much fun!'