What Goes Around Comes Around

The Beginning

It was a beautiful day in the Colorado Rockies - a blue sky with no clouds, a light wind that wouldn't turn last night's three inches of powder into a blizzard, and an unseasonably warm day on the slopes. He wasn't able to ski as often as he would like because of the demands of his job as an aircraft mechanic for a major airline, but he saved up his vacation time in the summer to have at least a week skiing each winter. This year he chose the Purgatory Ski Resort in Durango. He had never been there before but after fighting the crowds at Aspen Ski Area last winter he decided to go with a smaller ski resort this year.

He pushed off with his poles and accelerated downhill. When he was halfway down another skier flashed in from the left and cut him off. His response was to turn to the right where he found himself headed straight for the pine forest. He tried to slow down, but it was too late. He skied directly into a large tree trunk and slammed into it. He wasn't knocked out but everything in his vision was spinning around. He tried to stand up but his legs wouldn't hold him so we went down again.

He was about to try again when he felt a hand on his chest.

"Stay down. Don't move or you might exacerbate any injuries. Let me check you over first."

He followed the arm up from the hand until he saw a woman's face with a very serious expression. He tried to sit up again but the hand pushed him back down.

This time she said more forcefully, "I said stay down. I'm a doctor. Let me check you over for serious damage. He gave up his struggle and laid back into the soft snow.

The woman started with his neck and felt her way down the rest of his body, asking repeatedly "Can you feel that?" or "Does that hurt?"

He kept answering "No," or "Not much."

"Well, I don't feel any broken bones but we need to do a CAT scan to be sure there are no brain injuries. She held up four fingers and asked him how many, to which he answered "Eleven."

Her eyes opened wider in shock until he smiled. She responded, "I can see that your sense of humor isn't broken. I'll get the Ski Patrol up here to take you down the hill. I'll have an ambulance waiting."

As I lay on the CAT scan table waiting for the thumping to stop I thought "Damn! I didn't even get her name. . . . From the little I saw of her she must be a good-looking woman. I'll have to hunt her down so I can thank her . . . And maybe ask her out.

# # #

My name is Erik Martin and what I have told you so far is about how I met my wife, Kirsten, nine years ago. I didn't have to pursue her very hard because we both knew from our first date that we belonged together and after six months we were husband and wife. I thought I had won the Power Ball lottery. Kirsten is absolutely amazing with her blonds hair, blue eyes, and a sexual appetite that seemed insatiable.

So far it was just the two of us because she didn't want children to interfere with her medical practice, and I didn't want them get in the way of our love life. We both had strong libidos and even after nine years we still both wanted to make love four or five times a week. It was like clockwork . . . until it wasn't.

It wasn't something I noticed right away . . . actually I did notice . . . but I thought it was probably because she was working too much. Two or three nights a week she called and told me that her patient workload was backed up and she it would be another hour until she could get away and come home. The result was that she was too tired to accept my requests for some fun under the sheets. This cut our lovemaking to once every couple of weeks.

This went on for almost six months when she told me the hospital had lost one of their doctors and she would have to work even harder. Now she was getting home two or three hours late. At first I tried to have dinner waiting for her but then she said that she had eaten at the hospital cafeteria and wasn't hungry. She just walked in the door, went upstairs to take a shower, then crawled into bed and fell asleep . . . at least I thought she was asleep. When I came to bed her eyes were closed and she was snoring lightly. When I tried to slide in behind her and snuggle she rolled over on her stomach and pulled the covers tighter around her.

After a few months of this I came home to find Kirsten and some man I didn't recognize sitting at the kitchen table sharing a bottle of wine. I immediately felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, alerting me to impending disaster. Then I heard the fateful words,

"Sit down Erik, we have to talk."

As I did too often in our relationship I complied with her request . . . or was it a demand?

"Erik this is Dr. Steve Sorensen. We met several months ago when he transferred to our hospital. We became friends, then lovers, and now I want a divorce so I can marry him."

I sat there frozen for a minute or two with no reaction whatsoever. I didn't say anything or attack him because I knew it was over.

"Are you sure about this Kirsten? Can't you wait awhile before you act on this? Give us

time to talk things over?"

"No"

"Why"

"Because Steve and I are expecting a baby."

I sat there for another thirty seconds before I told her, "I'll give you one chance to change your mind . . . you have ten seconds."

"Erik I didn't want this to happen, and I still love you. But the love that Steve and I share is stronger than anything I have ever felt for you."

"Nine . . . eight . . . seven . . . six . . . five . . . "

"Erick, be reasonable. There's no reason to act like a child here. We can still be friends"

"four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . zero."

With that Erik stood and headed toward the front door.

"Don't you want to talk about it Erik?"

"No, but I will find a way to respond."

As he closed the door behind him Kirsten turned to Steve and asked, "What do you think he meant by that?"

Erik backed out of the driveway, turned left, then drove off. But he circled around the block, parked his car in an alley, and walked back to his house where he hid behind some bushes. He wanted to hear their conversation as they left. They walked out the door laughing.

Steve said "What a fool. He actually thought you were telling him the truth about being pregnant. But it was a great idea - telling him we're going to have a baby so he won't contest the divorce and let it go through quickly."

"He always was naïve. Whatever I tell him he believes, especially about why I was working late so we could go to your place and screw for a couple of hours."

"Well, we won't have that problem anymore. You'll be living with me and we will be married . . . I am a little concerned about one thing though. If you cheated on him to be with me, how do I know you won't cheat on me?"

Kirsten wrapped her arms around him and answered, "I love you too much to ever be unfaithful. You're it for the rest of our lives."

# # #

Erik took two weeks of annual leave and spent it trying to figure out why he didn't feel anything. He at least expected to hate her, or want to attack her lover, but all he felt was hollowness - devoid of feelings for her. Deeper in his thoughts he wanted revenge on both of them, but those remained buried . . . until a friend stepped in.

Erik was stretched out on the couch trying to force himself to fall asleep, but he knew that, just like every night for the last two weeks, he would lay awake most of the night. Then he heard a knock at the door. He ignored it. His friends had been calling and stopping by to help him get through the emotional trauma, but it got old real quick. The knock was repeated, more loudly this time. After a couple of minutes it stopped and he thought, Finally, they took the hint.

But then the knock became the boom of someone kicking the door.

"Open up Erik! I know you're in there. We need to talk."

He went to the door and shouted "Leave me alone. I don't feel like company right now."

Then a softer woman's voice said "Let me in, Erik. It's me, Sherry."

Sherry was one of his coworkers who had always treated him nicely, so he unlocked the door,

Her first words were "My God, you look like shit . . . and you smell almost as bad."

"Since I took some time off work I didn't see any reason to shower. What are you doing here?"

"Well, first I'm going to put you in the shower and next I'm going to put those smelly clothes in the washer Now strip!"

"I can't do that in front of you."

"Trust me, it's nothing I haven't seen before. I grew up taking care of three younger brothers. I'll turn my back, at least until you are in the shower."

When Erik got out of the shower Sherry was standing there with a huge fluffy towel in her hands to cover him up quickly, but he noticed her quick glance downward. I'm glad I wasn't excited, it would definitely embarrass her to see me erect, he thought.

After he got into clean pajamas, with jockey shorts underneath to make sure an erection wouldn't be visible if it showed up, he turned to her.

"O.K. why are you here?"

"I didn't know how devastated you would be over Kirsten's betrayal. I didn't want you to do something you would regret . . . like beating up Kirsten's lover, or shooting him. Do you have any guns in the house?"

"No to the guns. I'll admit I thought about those options, but she made her choice. There's nothing I can do that will change her mind. And even if she did I would never want her back."

"But don't you want to get revenge somehow?"

"Since I've ruled out violence and she's not asking me for anything in the divorce I can't hurt her financially. I don't see any other options."

Sherry replied, "Let me think about it for awhile. But right now you look like you haven't slept since she left you."

"I haven't - well maybe an hour here and there."

"I know how to fix that. Where are some blankets?"

He pointed to the hall closet where she removed a comforter and a couple of pillows and took them over to the couch.

"Lay down on your side with your back to the cushions."

"What do you have in mind? I'm not ready for anything sexual."

"Relax, Erik, that's not what I have in mind."

After he positioned himself Sherry told him to push back to make room for her. She laid down with her back to him, snuggled her butt into him, and pulled his arms around her. Within minutes he was sound asleep, but she lay awake for a couple of hours thinking of ways for Erik to get revenge.

# # #

Sherry woke up first. She thought about cuddling with him, but then realized that his morning wood was pressing into her butt. She knew that it was purely a reflex that all men have and not necessarily an indication of a desire for sex so she quietly moved his arms and got up. Ten minutes later the smell of coffee woke him up. He reached under the covers to make sure his jockeys were controlling his woody, then got up and joined her in the kitchen

She turned and smiled at him. "It seems to me that you got some sleep last night."

"I feel great so I must have. I still have a lot of catching up to do, though."

"Then I'll have to stay for a few more nights. Just let me know when it's time for me to leave and I'll be gone."

They sipped their coffee for several minutes, then Sherry spoke.

"I think I have a way to get some appropriate revenge on your cheating wife. It will take awhile, maybe a few months Are you ready for this?"

"O.K. What have you got?"

"Do you remember Yogi Berra's comment that what goes around comes around?

"Yeah. I thought it was a succinct statement that eventually everyone gets paid back for the bad things they have done."

"Well, that's what we are going to do to Kirsten and her lover. First we wait for the divorce to come through so they can get married and settled in comfortably. Then we arrange for Steve to have an affair and let Kirsten find out about it. She'll go nuts and demand a divorce."

"It sounds promising but where do we find a woman to be his new lover?"

Sherry said enthusiastically, "That will be my job. And I will destroy his confidence in bed while I'm at it."

"No way! I don't want you screwing Steve just so I can get even!"

"That's the beauty of my plan. I don't actually have to have sex with him - we just have to make Kirsten believe that's what is happening."

"How do we do that?"

"Messages on her cell phone or computer from an anonymous caller telling her he's cheating on her, followed by telephone calls from a woman that will add to her suspicions."

# # #

Four Months Later

Finally Kirsten was living the lifestyle she had always wanted in a house she thought she deserved instead the lower class stuff that Erik had to offer. The newly built house was 6,500 square feet of luxury in a new, classy suburb of San Diego. They had 'his-and-hers" high-end Mercedes cars that fit nicely into their three-car garage, along with a small sailboat down in the harbor. Yes, that was everything she wanted - except for the boredom that came with it.

She wished she could go back to the job she had when she was Erik's wife, but her new husband wouldn't allow it. He said it didn't match the image he was trying to cultivate of a well-off medical doctor with a lovely wife. When she talked with Steve about her boredom he suggested that she learn how use his desktop computer and develop some friendships on the internet. She was reluctant so he signed her up for a six-week introductory course at the local university. By the third week she was hooked and had almost 300 friends on Facebook.

Sherry was elated about this new development. Her younger brother, Mike was a first-class computer geek who bragged that he could hack into anyone's computer, which was perfect for what she had in mind. She asked him if he could get into Dr. Steve Sorensen's computer and insert some false messages to his email account.

"I would need to know the IP address of his computer to do that."

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's the Internet Protocol number assigned to his computer. Every device connected to the internet has a unique IP address assigned to it. If I put that into your computer you could send and receive emails as him and no one will ever know that it's really you at the other end."

"Where can we find the IP address of Sorenson's computer?"

"Give me five minutes alone with his computer and I'll know it."

"Uh, that isn't possible unless we break into his house, and I don't need it bad enough to go to jail for it."

"There is another way that might work. Do you know his home address?"

"Not yet. I can follow him home after work and get it, but what good will that be?"

"There is an illegal internet database that cross references IPs with street addresses, but it won't work if the guy's computer is set up with encryption it won't be in the database."

"I don't know if his site is encrypted or not."

"Well, bring me the street address and I'll see what I can do for you, sis."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Mike! I take back all the times I teased you about your geekiness."

"Is that even a word?"

"Probably not, but before I'm through everyone will know you as the King of Geekiness."

"When can you do it?"

"As soon as I have his address. I could even do it tomorrow if you're in a rush"

"No, let's wait a few days until I can talk this over with Erik

"If I bring him over to your place this weekend will you explain it to him?"

"Sure as long as he brings some beer. I work my best when I'm slightly buzzed."

"How slightly?"

"Oh, two six packs ought to do it."

"For just you or is that for all of us?"

"We'll need a case if we all will be drinking."

# # #

Saturday evening Erik, Sherry, and Mike gathered at his apartment to finalize their plan. Sherry had taken charge of the operation and explained what they had in mind to Erik.

"Mike now has the IP address of Sorensen's computer and using an app he created we can send emails to Steve Sorensen's computer from any fictitious sender - in this case a hot blonde woman with nice sized tits and a sexy face. In case you all didn't pick up on that, I'm talking about me. Although I don't intend to meet him face-to-face, if things go sideways then the woman who has been sending him sexy emails can show up. Have you got it so far?"

They all nodded.

"Next I'll start sending him emails and messages as a sexy admirer that will become more sexual as things progress. After a couple of weeks my messages will become very explicit, describing things we have done together and things and I want to do to him the next time we meet at our favorite motel. These need to be vividly described so that when Kirsten sees them she will absolutely believe them, so I may need to practice with you Erik."

Erik looked down at the floor with a red face showing his embarrassment. She looked at him questioningly and asked, "Do you have a problem practicing with me on this," she asked?

He shifted in his seat to cover his growing erection and answered softly "No . . . No I don't"

"Good! I was hoping you would say that. So, is everybody on board wit this plan?"

Mike spoke up. "I see only one problem. For this to beak up their marriage she has to find out about it somehow."

Mike smiled. "I'm one step ahead of you on that. Let me tell you how I'll do it. Most people seldom shut their computers down, they just leave them on standby. But that makes it easier for a hacker - that would be me - to take over their computer. Once I use his IP address to sneak into Steve's computer I can hijack information from it, plus I can add some custom apps to make it do my bidding. Then if they haven't blocked the video built-in camera above the screen - and most users don't bother doing that - I can get the camera to show us who is around it without displaying it on Steve's screen. So we will monitor his camera and when it tells us Kirsten is in the room we'll pop up one of the bogus emails from Steve's virtual girlfriend. If she glances at the screen and sees a suspicious email Kirsten will want to open it to see who it's from, especially if it's a woman's name.

# # #

The following Saturday Kirsten was cleaning and went into Erik's - now Steven's - study to vacuum and dust. The computer at Erik's apartment alerted Sherry to Kirsten's presence in the room. She saw on her screen the real-time video of Kirsten vacuuming the study, so she sent the first email on the list of deceptions they had planned for her. They had decided to ease into a set of emails designed to make Kirsten believe that her Steve was cheating on her just like she had done to Erik.

When the message arrived on Steve's computer Kirsten couldn't hear the beep signaling an incoming message because of the vacuum cleaner noise. Sherry waited until she shut it off then sent the message again. This time when she heard the beep she looked over at the computer screen and saw the message You have mail. She assumed it was a business related message for her husband and went about dusting the computer desk, but her curiosity took over and she sat down and opened the email. What she read shocked her:

Hey there my stud, what do we have planned for tomorrow? We could go out for lunch or we could eat carry out and have more time to have fun in bed, like we did last week. After what you did to me with your mouth and fingers it's taken me most of the week to come down from that high. But now I'm ready for another trip to pleasure island. Are you up for it? Give me a call.