Amorous Goods: Black Pearls

"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...