Amorous Goods: The Victrola

"My turn, birthday boy," she said with a wicked smile on her face. She pushed me down on the bed, then grabbed the opening in the front of my boxers and literally ripped them off, throwing the pieces of cloth on the floor. Who was this wild woman, I asked myself.

Taking my hard cock in her hand, she put it in her mouth -- the WHOLE thing, something she had never done before. I'm a bit bigger than average in both length and girth, and she had never been able to do what she was doing right now. I thought what she did this morning was wild, but THIS... As I watched, I could see her nose was literally buried in my pubic hair as she worked her tongue over my shaft. Before long, I felt the beginning of an orgasm coming on.

"I'm getting ready to cum, baby," I said, knowing she had always refused to take my semen in her mouth. That prompted her to work even harder on me, and soon, I exploded in her mouth. When I finished, I looked down. She had taken my shaft out of her mouth and was looking at me, her mouth open. She ran her tongue through the stuff in her mouth and made a production of swallowing my load.

She got up off her knees and put my feet on the bed. Then she climbed on top of me and kissed my face.

"I've always wanted to taste my pussy on your face," she said. She sat back up and took my penis in her hands and began stroking. "I'm just getting started, birthday boy," she added, a wicked gleam in her eye. "I'm going to put this big hunk of man-meat inside my wet little pussy and I'm going to fuck... your... brains... out," she said, spacing out and emphasizing the last four words. I could've swore I saw a glint in her eyes, but it could just as easily have been a reflection. "You just lay back and enjoy the ride, okay?"

"Uh huh," I managed to croak. Terri had always been a passionate lover, but this was way beyond the way she usually acted. I didn't complain, though. After she got me hard again, she slid my cock inside her and began riding me, cowgirl style. It felt so good to be inside her like that again. She rode up and down, back and forth, moaning the whole time.

It's normal for us to encourage each other as we made love, but tonight was completely different. Yes, I enjoyed hearing her talk dirty as we had sex, but tonight, she was downright vulgar. I didn't complain, though, as I heard her tell me to fill her cunt -- yes, she used that word, something she never did before since she hated it.

"Oh yes," she moaned. "Fill my cunt with your cum. Fuck my juicy wet pussy. Make me your personal cum whore." On and on it went like that. Between her dirty talk and her riding me like I was a bucking bronco, I couldn't last any longer and exploded deep inside her, sending her into another orgasm. She literally growled as she bit my shoulder to keep from screaming.

Eventually, we both calmed down and lay there in the bed, covered with sweat, catching our breath. She looked up into my face and smiled. The wild look in her eyes was gone. I smiled back and kissed her.

"Happy birthday," she said. "I hope you liked your present."

"That was wonderful," I said. "I loved it. Except maybe for that bite at the end."

"Oh my God," she exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I had bit so hard. Are you okay?"

"Did you draw blood?" I asked. She looked before answering.

"No," she said. "But it did leave a mark. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," I said. "What brought all that on?"

"I realized I'd been putting you off for a while, and I wanted to give you a night you'd never forget," she said.

"You certainly did that," I told her. "I love you so much."

"And I love you, my husband," she said. We held each other and drifted off to sleep.

The next day began as most of our mornings did, getting breakfast and seeing the kids off to school. Robert and April gave us each knowing looks and I wondered if they heard us last night. They headed out and I grabbed a cup of coffee for the road as I always did. I noticed Terri didn't have the ring on her right hand.

"Anything special today?" I asked her. She smiled and shook her head.

"No, other than staying off my feet as much as I can," she said. "You wore me out last night." I chuckled at that. "How's your shoulder?"

"It's sore, but it'll be alright," I said. "I really enjoyed last night. I never knew you were such a wildcat in the bedroom." She smiled and gave me a kiss.

"You were pretty amazing yourself," she said. "I'm still tingling. I hope you had a happy birthday."

"I did, dear," I said. "And I have you to thank for that."

"Only because I love you so much," she said. "I'd better get going, I'll see you tonight."

"See you," I said. "And I love you, too." We kissed and headed out the door. On my way to work, I stopped at the address Vikki gave me yesterday and went inside. The shop was crammed full of all kinds of things. If I didn't have anything else to do, I could have easily spent a couple hours in this place. Eventually, a young woman came out.

"You must be Mr. Thornton," she said with a smile, offering me her hand.

"Yes. And please call me Jack," I said, shaking her hand.

"I have those records all ready for you, Jack," she said, stepping behind the counter. She pulled out a large cloth shopping bag from behind the counter. "I think we agreed on $20 for the stack."

"Yes, we did," I said, pulling a $20 bill from my wallet. "Quite a place you have here. All this came out of the Parker house?"

"Yes, it did," she said. "Did you know my Uncle Jonas?" I shook my head.

"No," I said. "I only know what my wife has told me. She's selling his house." Her face lit up as she remembered Terri.

"Oh, of course," she said. "Terri Thornton. I should've put it together. Yes, she's doing a wonderful job. I think she comes over almost every day to do one thing or another. I've heard she may have a buyer or two considering the place. Frankly, I'm surprised she found someone so soon. We weren't expecting the place to sell for quite a while."

"She's there nearly every day?" I asked. That wasn't the impression I got from her.

"Almost," Vikki said. "My brother even gave her a little ring as a token of our appreciation for all her hard work."

"I see," I said. So the story about the ring was also a lie, I thought.

"Oh, it's not much, really, just a little trinket my uncle picked up during his travels," Vikki said. "I hope you don't get the wrong impression."

"Of course not," I said. I looked through the records and saw they were in brown protective paper sleeves with a cutout for the label. Most of them were recordings of bands and singers from bygone days, but one had a label with no markings or writing on it at all. "Any idea what's on this?" I asked Vikki.

"No, none," she said, shaking her head. "We really didn't mess with that old thing. Didn't want to take a chance the records would get broken. They're wax, you know, and they can break pretty easy. I think that was a record my uncle cut for his wife a long time ago. They used to do that back in those days. A spoken love note to her or something, I think. I asked him about it once and all he would say was that it held a message specifically for the listener. I figured he was making some kind of philosophical riddle so I never pressed him on it."

"Interesting," I said. "So all of this stuff came from his house?"

"Every bit of it," she said. "And there's more on top of this. That's in addition to the inventory he had on hand when he died. I just didn't have enough room to bring it all in."

"I see," I said. "Well, it's been very nice talking with you, and I expect I'll be back to look at more of what you have to offer. I love antiques." She smiled and her eyes twinkled as she did so.

"I look forward to seeing you again soon, Jack," she said. "If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call."

"I will, thanks," I said before heading to the door. As I was about to step out, she spoke up.

"Seriously, Jack," she said, the smile now gone. "Any time day or night. I'm always here." I considered her words and the tone in which they were spoken. I nodded my head.

"I'll remember that, Vikki," I said. "Thank you again." I drove the rest of the way to work thinking about what Vikki had told me about Terri. I was very concerned about the lie I had been told about the ring. And why would Vikki's brother give Terri a ring? That made no sense to me. Then I thought about the way Terri acted last night.

Granted, she was always a passionate woman and she often encouraged me during sex with slightly dirty talk. But she was like a whole different woman last night. There wasn't much if any love involved in what we did last night. It was just lust. She was more like an animal rutting for the sake of the act. Yes, it felt stimulating at the time, but it was so unlike her.

Prior to yesterday, for example, she never gave me a blowjob like that. It was maybe a few kisses, some licks and she might take an inch or two in her mouth. She never took the whole thing and she never let me finish in her mouth. And she was completely against swallowing.

I got to the office and headed inside. When I got there, I decided to play one of the albums, so I selected one marked "John Philip Sousa -- Stars and Stripes Forever." I figured that would get everyone's blood pumping. I turned the crank to wind up the spring motor inside, put the record on the green felt that covered the turntable, flipped the switch to get it started and placed the needle on the record.

Soon, the sounds of a marching band playing "Stars and Stripes Forever" boomed out of the external horn. It was a bit tinny, and sadly, there was no adjustment for volume or tone. Still, I thought it sounded good. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy when the music began. A minute or so into the song, Alan came into my office.

"What are you trying to do, give us all a heart attack?" he asked, laughing.

"I just thought I'd get everyone's heart started," I said.

"Well, you did that. Is there any way to turn that down a little bit?" he asked. I shook my head.

"No can do, boss," I said. "These old things didn't have volume controls."

"Well, close your door, then, please," he said as he prepared to leave.

"Will do," I said. After he left, I closed the door and listened to the record play. I was truly impressed with the way the record sounded on that old machine. But I had work to do, so after the record finished, I turned the thing off and got to my paying job. I wanted to hear the record with the blank label, but I knew I would have to wait until I could figure out a way to play it softly.

It was the end of the quarter for us, and I was tied up in meetings and spreadsheets for several days, making sure everything was as it should be. I went over all the expense reports, the balance sheets, and the spreadsheets provided by the various departments. I also spent a lot of time making sure our tax filings were correct, so I didn't have much time at work to do any research on the record player.

I also spent that time watching Terri closely. I noticed some things after a few days. Call it a trend, if you wish. For starters, she always wore that ring on the days she went to the Parker house. I also realized that we never had sex on those days, or most of the other days for that matter, but NEVER on the days she wore that ring.

I also noticed her temperament was quite different on the days she was at the house. Instead of the carefree, happy woman I married, she seemed distant and sometimes short-tempered. At first, I thought it was the stress of selling the place, but she was always under stress to sell more property, so that couldn't be it. What was so different about those days, I wondered.

I also noticed that she was spending more days at the Parker house than before, and she was coming home later and later. Sometimes, she wouldn't get home before midnight. She always dressed professionally and she never appeared disheveled when she came home. I never said anything because I didn't want to set her off. The few times I asked if everything was okay, she simply said, "just fine," waving me off before she turned and went the other way.

Eventually, the kids began to notice as well. Both of them came to me, asking if there was anything wrong between Terri and I.

"It's just that damn house she's been trying to sell," I told them.

"Well I hope she sells it soon. It's like she's two different people, and I want our old Mom back," April said.

"Yeah, me too," I said.

It was about the middle of October when things settled down at work. By then, I had found what I thought might be a solution to the volume issue. I found a couple websites where people said they used to put socks in the horns to quiet them a bit. According to one site, that's where the phrase, "put a sock in it" came from. Whatever works, I thought, but I didn't want to use anything that might scratch the ornate wooden horn, so I found a nice soft towel and decided to give that a try.

The next day, I put the towel in the horn of the old player and tested it with "Stars and Stripes Forever." Sure enough, it worked like a charm. I could even open the office door as it played and no one was bothered by it. I decided to try it with the unlabeled record during my lunch hour.

When the time came, I grabbed my lunch out of the refrigerator -- a sandwich, a banana, a small bag of chips and a Pepsi -- packed by myself, since Terri was too busy these days to really care about much except her work. I closed the door, put up my "out to lunch" sign and pulled the shades -- a signal to everyone else to leave me alone -- and fired up the player.

I had just taken a bite out of my sandwich when I heard the voice of a man with a slight accent come out of the horn.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Thornton," the man's voice said. I nearly spewed Pepsi out of my nose when that happened. I looked at the Victrola, shocked. "Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Thornton. Jack, isn't it? May I call you Jack?"

"Uh, yeah, Jack is fine," I said. "And who are you?"

"I'm Jonas Parker," the man said.

"But how can that be?" I asked. "You're dead. Aren't you?"

"It is true that my physical body no longer functions and is what you would call 'dead,' at least on the physical plane you perceive as reality, but the essence of who and what I really am continues on," the man said. "You might call it the soul."

"But how is that possible?" I asked. The man laughed before continuing.

"What was it the Bard once wrote?" Jonas asked. "Ah yes, 'There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' You have no idea how correct he was."

"But how can you be speaking to me through this phonograph?" I asked.

"Because it was once mine," he said. "It was in my home for many years and like so many other things in my home, it has become what you might call enchanted. Or cursed, as the case may be. Although I am glad it is now in the hands of someone who appreciates history as you do. I know it will be well cared for."

"You still haven't answered my question," I said. "HOW is all this possible?"

"Very well," the man said. "I don't have time to explain more than 50 years of work, but I'll give you a brief synopsis. In 1921 an amateur archaeologist named Alfred Watkins discovered that ancient sites around the world, both man-made and natural, seemed to have a form of alignment. When looked at on a map, they seemed to be arranged in straight lines. These lines were later called 'ley lines,' and the points where those lines intersect were thought to be highly charged with pockets of supernatural energy that can be harnessed by some individuals.

"It turns out that my house happens to sit at the intersection of six of these lines. My grandfather was something of a spiritualist in his day, and felt there was something special about the location, so he built the house there, long before Watkins made his discovery. Naturally, I took up his work and traveled the world looking for clues -- anything that might give me answers.

"Along the way, I collected a number of artifacts and trinkets that on their own, held some amount of power. But when brought together at that location, their power grew in ways you cannot imagine. I learned to harness the power of those objects for my own benefit. You see, the so-called 'scientific community' wasn't interested in hearing about what men like Watkins had to say. They dismissed it as just so much hokum."

"So I endeavored to prove them all wrong. I spent over a half century collecting and researching. I sold many of the items I collected, but there were others I kept for myself. You wouldn't believe the mountain of information I gleaned. Eventually, I was able to understand nearly all of it, but there was one step I had to take before I could realize my ultimate goal," he said.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I had to let my physical body die," he said. "So I did. And voila, here I am."

"You're mad," I said. He chuckled.

"Perhaps," he said. "I've been called that and much worse, by experts. But consider this. Of the two of us, which one is holding a conversation with a machine?"

"I see your point," I said.

"Each of us has a purpose, Jack," he said. "Mine is to travel the space-time continuum and enjoy whatever is out there. Yours is to raise your two children to be responsible adults. And your wife is fulfilling her purpose even now as we speak."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my anger rising.

"Oh come on, Jack, surely you know what I'm talking about," he said.

"You mean selling your house?" He laughed out loud.

"Selling it?" he asked. "Heavens no. She's not selling it. She preparing it."

"For what?" I asked. "Quit talking in riddles, dammit!"

"For our return," he said. "My wife was taken from me years ago by a cruel disease. In short, I was robbed of a lifetime of love and happiness. I intend to get that back."

"How do you plan to do that?" I asked. "And what role does my wife play in your scheme?"

"I'm sure you noticed the ring she was given," he said. "The pattern came from an ancient tribe of people who believed the dead could replace the souls of the living. The pattern on that ring makes it possible. Your wife's body will soon host my dear departed wife's soul for good. Haven't you noticed the changes in your wife recently?"

"I have," I said.

"That's because the human mind was not made to house two people," he said. "My wife's soul is slowly taking your wife's body and mind over. In the meantime, she's learning to adapt and use what your wife's body has to offer. And I must say, it's quite exhilarating. Your wife sure knows how to be a wild woman in bed, the way my Annabelle once was."

"And what happens to my wife's soul?" I asked.

"Eventually, it will replace Annabelle's in the great beyond," he said. "Before long, there'll be no need for the ring. When Annabelle gets strong enough, she'll push your Terri out completely."

"You'll never get away with this," I said. He laughed.

"Jack, Jack," he said condescendingly. "Please don't insult my intelligence. Look at the big picture here, will you? There's no way you can stop what has already started. And who would believe you? You'd be sent to a mental institution, and who would be left to care for your children. Hmm? Why not simply accept the inevitable and get on with your life? There are other women out there, you know. Many of them would love to be with someone like you."

"This can't be real," I said quietly.

"Oh, but it is real, Jack," he said. "It's as real as it gets. Look, I'd love to chat some more, but the record finished playing long ago and I really need to get back to what I was doing. I know this is a lot for you to embrace at one time. Terri has left a message for you on one of the records you bought this morning. The label is clearly marked. In the meantime, listen to this..."