Amorous Goods: Black Pearls

© 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.