A LAD AN' HIS WONDERFUL LAMP

Chapter 1

Poverty and Power

The sun was unrelenting.

Moreover, it was searing, intense, oppressive, and blindingly bright.

In short, it was business as usual.

The sun is uncaring. It shines down on man, animal, vegetable and mineral. It does not care who it burns, boils, or roasts. It cares not that it causes visions of water, luring men out into the burning deserts only to be disappointed just before their brain roasts inside their head, causing insanity and death. It is pulled along on an orbit around a bigger, brighter, even hotter sun; that who knows, maybe is what we think of as God. As it moves around on its millions of years orbit it cares nothing for time. Day and night do not exist for it as it drags us along with it around the universe like a harried mother drags her kids around the supermarket. There is only fire, and one nuclear explosion after another.

Down on Earth, in a "bigger than a town but smaller than a city" town in the middle of the Mojave, none of the people who lived there could tell you any of this. They did not know.

The sun cared nothing about the time, but kept moving, moving around the space in its million-of-years dance. It could not tell you what year it was despite the fact that it mapped them out. And so, neither will I tell you what time it was.

However it was a time when the people in the arid town knew only that it was death to go out into the desert without proper supplies, stupid to go out in the middle of the day, and not to go out without your head covered and with a water pouch handy. The town that was not quite a city was called New Liberty.

New Liberty was ruled by the mayor who was called Jack Kinney. Jack had a son called Brian. They both loved each other very much and Jack treated Brian like a little Prince and as a result, Brian grew up rather spoiled.

Brian's mother, Joan, was dead. Joan had been Catholic, devout to the point of being a maniac. She was also kind of an alchie with a taste for only the communion wine so she went to Mass as often as possible. One Sunday, while walking on her way to church, she tripped on a pothole and fell, breaking her ankle Her bible and reading glasses fell nearby. Joan yelled for help but no one heard as everyone in the neighborhood was in church. They could not hear her over the dulcet tones of "Onward Christian Soldiers".

The congregation was just finishing up that hymn when Joan was reaching for her Bible for comfort. They started "Bringing in the Sheaves" just as the sun shone through her glasses at exactly the right way and set the thin pages of her Bible on fire. An arid wind blew burning paper over to her and set her thin dress on fire. By the time Bringing in the Sheaves was over, Joan was dead.

So that happened. Joan died and the church lost two members. Jack raised Brian by himself, spoiled him rotten and sheltered him carefully and cleverly in such a way that Brian didn't even know it was happening.

Brian had one friend, the son of his chief advisor. His name was Michael. Michael had green eyes and straight brown hair and passably boy next door good looks.

At 14, Brian had hazel eyes, messy on purpose brown hair and passably fuckable good looks. This did not go unnoticed by Jack. Jack knew he needed a plan so Brian wouldn't catch on about the sheltering but also so he wouldn't roam as horny, hormonal boys are wont to do.

So he set up a arranged playdate with the daughter of the mayor two towns over. A grown up play date. The daughter was Lindsay, fair of face, pale skin, blue eyes, blond hair. Typical Aryanlooks. Typical WASP behaviour. She wore her hair long and flowing down. She dressed in a wispy white dress and her eyes were wide and watery. She was beautiful. Or so she thought as Brian thought when he walked in the dining room. A banquet lunch had been set up. Michael was playing waiter in a snappy tux.

Brian looked everything over carefully. He smiled a wide smile, showing white and even teeth. He turned and slid the dining room doors shut. The smile was now feral.

A few hours later, Jack thought he'd better check up on everything and see how the young people were doing.

It was a good thing he did. Lindsay had been tied to her chair. Her soup bowl had been turned upside down and placed on her head like a hat. The soup had poured all over her flowing hair and wispy dress. New England clam chowder. Somehow a sign had been stuck to her and proclaimed in big childish letters: COOTIE FACTORY. Brian and Michael were gone.

They remained Gone, disappeared like a cat in heat with its mate until sunset.

The sun was half gone when they finally reappeared from the woods at the edge of the mayoral estate. They seemed very carefree and they marched toward the house, holding hands. They did. Jack saw. He saw from where he was waiting and watching from a second floor balcony.

In the middle of the yard was a huge, spreading magnolia tree. Brian stopped under it and slammed Michael up against it. In the rays of the dying day he framed his face and kissed the would be waiter deeply. Michael closed his eyes and it was clear he loved it. From this closer vantage point the peeping progenitor could see that they both had an aura of the freshly fucked.

It was at this moment that Jack thought that Brian just might be gay.

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Meanwhile on the other side of town, on the other side of the tracks there was a poor family living a poor life. They were the Taylors, Father Craig, Mother Jennifer and Son Justin. There was also a Daughter Molly but she had been sent to live with Jennifer's brother, Molly's uncle because they were too poor to keep them both and they wanted to keep Molly out of the foster system.

So there they all were, together Inken, Blinken and Spud. Uhhhhh...oh, sorry my mind wandered. Where was I?

Ahhh yes. The Taylors were poor. This was because Craig owned a small electronics store. This initself did not make them poor However the store was small, heavily mortgaged and they were in the middle of the Mojave. Why did this make them poor you may ask? You may but I may not answer. Now that we have that out of the way let me answer your question. It was hot. It was so hot the tar on the roads would often melt and be sticky. The same thing would happen to plastic and the innards of the electronics that Craig would try to sell. And so, it was a bit of buyer beware as anything you'd try to buy (or he to sell, if you prefer) you'd have to hustle it home the way a harried housewife might rush home a load of ice cream from the grocery store with the same result.

Added to this, an enterprising individual had started a solar powered power plant on the edge of town. This meant New Liberty was seeing a trend to a new liberty in power and a rising trend in DC power which meant plug ins were rapidly becoming obsolete. Electronics used plugins. Or rather they did.

Despite that, Craig struggled with his little mom and pop organization. Or rather pop and son organization as he tried to have Justin work at the store. But Justin would have none of it. Machines were not his calling. He would often blow off work to go swimming or work on watercolors paintings which was ironic seeing as where they lived.

And despite this, when Justin was 14 years old Craig finally paid off his mortgage. Brian was 18. And just as he'd paid it off, on another edge of town someone opened a Q-Mart.

The Q-Mart was a full 2 miles square. There were 5 acres of parking. There were shuttles to drive you out to the farther reaches of the parking lot until 9 pm. It had a Nut Bar, a frozen yogurt Bar and a Brow Bar. There were groceries and toys and clothes and hardware and a 5 star restaurant. And....there was a large...electronics and batteries department. Once a child went missing and was never heard from again. Of course there was the obligatory amber alert and kidnapping inquests. But nothing came of it. Years later, a grassroots urban legend cropped up that the Q-Mart itself had absorbed the child. The child lived in the store, ate the groceries, slept in the bedding department and eventually when he got big enough was hired on and worked there. The Q-Mart ate him. The Q-Mart owned him. But this was just a legend and years later.

But I digress. I apologize. Where was I?

The Q-Mart was so big that it ate power. It guzzled it. And so, even with the solar power plant there were rolling brownouts throughout the town in order to feed the beast. Especially on the wrong side of the tracks. This drove the demand for electronics down even further especially in Craig's neighborhood.

Everybody hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. And the Taylors did all they could but on opening day it was clear they were crushed. Each of the Taylors reacted to this in a different way.

Jennifer screamed for 20 minutes solid and fell unconscious and when she did wake she was still under Morpheus' power and she was catatonic for a week.

Craig had a heart attack.

Justin looked upon his insensate parents with disgust for a few moments. Then he called 911 for an ambulance. He covered his mother with a blanket where she lay. When the ambulance came he gave them his father's information, flirted outrageously with the hunky paramedic (he was gay and horny) got the man's number (who was also gay and horny) and watched the ambulance drive away. Then he went out, locked the door, put the key in the keyholder, put the keyholder up inside the drainpipe which was their hiding place and then left to go join a gang.

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Brian was sixteen. Sweet sixteen. Ring a ding ding. Whoop dee do. Such were Brian's feelings about the whole thing.

He didn't want a party. He didn't like parties or surprises and even after two years the whole partydatedebacle with Lindsay still stained his memory.

Therefore Brian was spending his birthday with only Michael in the swimming pool. They were sitting in floating loungers, naked and eating cake. By the side of the pool, in the shade of a beach umbrella was a boom box playing Brian's favorite music. The boom box had been plugged into an extension cord supplied by the solar power plant. The other end of the cord was a flat, metal, magnetic edge as round and as smooth as a coin. This magnetic edge could be placed on metal faceplates that the company had installed all over the inside and outside of the subscribed houses, so nearly all of them and especially the Mayor's mansion. The faceplates then had wires that led to huge rechargeable batteries in a designated room, usually the basement. For a small charge (and the only charge) the company took away the old batteries and delivered new ones at the same time. The old batteries were taken back to the plant and recharged using solar power.

As well, the plant had provided portable batteries, like square cubes about the size of a bread box. On the top a satellite dish could be collapsed or opened like a steamer dish. Only instead of steam holes the inside of the dish was solar panels. The cube's casing was metal and all you had to do was stick the magnetic end onto side of the battery. This is what the boys had done.

Brian lay back in contentment and gave a deep sigh as every inch of him soaked up the brutal sun. He took a bite of his cake, chocolate of course, with his silver spoon well fork and wondered how life could get any better.

"Briii-annn! Let's do something!" said Mikey plaintively.

"I'm doin' it. I'm soakin' up my birthday sun in my birthday suit eating birthday cake, listening to birthday tunes. I can't think of anything more fun than that."

"But Briii-annnnn! I'm bored!" whined Mikey.

Brian winced. My God, he was shrill. God the whining! The never ending whining! How had he endured it? Why was he enduring it? Why was he still here? Why didn't he just go home? Not for the first time did Brian regret the folly of that fateful 14 year old fuck fest. Michael had grabbed on like a tick and to this day never let go. Brian smiled. He remembered the "play"date. His father had told him a blond was waiting for him. He imagined a petite man yet masculine with a button nose and cupid bow lips or conversely a broad shouldered hunk with shining white gold hair that could match him stroke for stroke in bed and wrestle him for top. Instead, he got that will-o-the wisp of a girl with air for a dress SLUT and weak and watery eyes. Mikey was in a parody of servitude. Brian took in the situation and knew just what to do. Carefully he closed the world out and locked the door. Within 5 minutes he was tying the napkins together in his lap 300 thread count from Egypt and within 7 minutes had stretched and claimed he needed some air and opened the window. While the bitch was sucking down her soup That had been a disgusting noise. The soup was too salty. He d tasted it while he was making the gag. Made him want to gag. Two spoons of the soup the salt had probably raised his blood pressure. Salty. God what he wouldn't give for a wave of icy sea water to splash over him. But he was landlocked and in the middle of the desert. Never gonna happen. he surreptitiously cutthe curtain cords mimicking an old Cary Grant movie. He nattered on about the sun and the sky and the view until he was right behind her CLUELESS and ruthlessly tied her up and gagged her before she could scream too much. Then he did the rest and grabbed Mikey and got the hell out of there.

"Remind me to get my blood pressure checked," Brian said.

"WHAT!?? What has that to do with anything? Brian, you're not listening to me again!" Mikey shrieked.

"Geez Mikey stifle it, will you? If you're so bored no one's tying you down. Leave. Do whatever you want. I can't hear my tunes."

Mikey changed his tone. "Brian...Now listen to me. Listen to me. Now listen to me....Are you listening?"

"Yes, I'm listening."

"I'm bored. You're bored. Let's go horseback riding. The wind on our faces, blowing through our hair. It's exciting and masculine and will cool us off. The vibration of the saddle against your juicy nuts makes you horny. Very horny. Horseback riding is a great idea. It's your idea. You can take complete credit for it. It's a good idea. It's a great idea."

Michael snapped his fingers.

"Hey, let's go horseback riding! The wind in our face will cool us off for sure!"

"Well, I dunno...What about the tunes?"

"Oh we can listen to music any old time! Don't let the grass grow under your butt Mikey! Come on! What a great idea! Glad I thought of it! Let's go!"

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Two years later....

He drew the line at drugs.

He stole, scammed, forged, hustled, fought and was fought with. He pickpocketed, dine and dashed, pole danced at ladies night at some bars sucked and fucked with a condom. But no one went in the back door and he drew the line at drugs. He didn't make them, he didn't sell them and he didn't use them. He saw firsthand too many times how his homeys would sample their merchandise and become hooked themselves. No way was that happening to him with a useless mother and an ill father in the mix. Way too risky.

Craig had had two more heart attacks since the first one. He was weakened substantially by the first one and the others didn't help a bit. Finally the doctors said there was nothing more that could be done. Any more surgeries would be like working on a heart made out of tissue paper. They sewed him up bundled him off home and charged the Taylors enough money to nearly give Justin a heart attack.

So there they were, the three of them in as much debt as before. Craig took Justin with him to his store, Justin bundled him into his fold out bed with laptop in his lap and his coffee and nitro pills close at hand. He left the office, checked with the one employee that they had left that everything was copasetic and then left the store again to make his rounds. Craig never knew.

Craig truly wanted Justin to follow in his footsteps but Justin would have none of it. In Craig's footsteps meant on the verge of death, in debt, in loveless marriage, failing business, failed everything. Not only that, Justin could never tell him because Craig was a homophobic bigot. So... yeah... Justin made his own hard path with a hard life, hard choices and walked his own footprints.

Justin walked the streets and hustled his way up to the business district. He walked up and down the business district a couple of times light fingering his way through the crowds. This netted him substantially less than the hustling to get there but a dime was a dime. He pocketed the cash, checked that there was ID, left the CC s and dropped the wallets in mailboxes. Too bad they'd be cancelled anyway.

Not for the first time did he look over longingly at the Q-Mart. But it was too big, too spread out and the security was ridiculously fantastic. Justin had heard stories from his homeys how they heard of a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who got caught shoplifting a pair of toenail clippers. It just wasn't worth it. Justin checked his watch and saw it was almost time for his 12:00. He hurried to the right corner and waited. At exactly 12 a blue BMW with tinted windows pulled up. Justin got in.

Twelve o'clock...Justin refused to call him anything else other than spawn of Satan was a disgusting man. He was rich, clean, a snappy dresser and a head in whatever company he worked for. He was also a masochist and humiliation made him pop a woody. He didn't even care about conventional sex. But he had the lunch hour to drive Justin to a church parking lot; churches were deserted on Weekdays somewhere and have Justin spank him like a recalcitrant child and yell insults at him for an hour. This usually was enough to get Twelve to blow a load. Either way, He paid Justin $1000 and drove him wherever he wished. Justin usually chose Liberty Avenue. He rode in the back seat after it was done. He made sure his stomach was empty so he wouldn't lose his lunch. At 1, was his lunch hour. He lightfingered his fellow fags and went into the Liberty Diner.

"Hiya Sunshine!" screeched Debbie. SHe cracked her gum and cackled like a wicked witch. Justin grinned.

Debbie was a friend. Justin came in after Twelve to wash the blood off his hands and eat when he was flush with cash. Fagin would call him soft and call Debbie an easy mark but Justin didn't care. Fagin was only 20 and the gang leader. That wasn't his real name but that's the only thing Justin would call him. This pissed Fagin off to no end but Justin didn't care. He made sure Fagin knew Debbie and the Liberty Diner was off limits and it was the only place he didn't dine and dash.

"So Sunshine, how's tricks!?"

"Mostly bottoms today," Justin answered honestly.

This elicited another screeching cackle so shrill it broke a couple of water glasses.

"Gawd damm it Deb!! Can you at least tone it down?" yelled the toyboy annoyed who had been holding one of the glasses. He sustained a few cuts but avoided a severed finger.

"My voice is like you! Loud and proud and out there. So get used to it!" shrieked Debbie.

"Just get me another water willya? It's hard enough being a horse led to water without the oasis exploding in your face!" quipped the queer hunk of bulky beefcake.

Deb knew when enough was enough so she complied and apologized to the mollified molly and then came over to Justin and stood over him cracking her gum and holding her pad at the ready.

Justin ordered his usual burger and fries and chocolate milkshake with a baker's dozen lemon bars to go. He ate slowly but steadily and soon the aching chasm that was his stomach was finally filled.

When he was done he left a tenth of the thousand that Twelve had given him under his plate, grabbed his bag of lemon bars and hit the bricks.

He crossed the street and nearly tripped over a pair of legs stuffed into light blue denim. The scrawny fellow street rat was hunched in the doorway. He was dirty from his skin to his fingernails to his denim jacket to his dirty blond hair to his dirty green bandanna around his forehead. Justin tensed and reached for his switchblade. Popped it open. Green was bad. Green was a rival gang to his pink bandanna, the Pink Posse.

What you doin' here, man?" Justin growled low in his throat. "This is Posse territory!"

The fucker acted like he was just waking up. "Uhhhh...nuhhhh...whaaaaa....whaa...who are you?"

Justin showed the fucker his blade. "Wakey wakey, asshole. I'm the guy who will...end..you if you don't fucking tell me what you're doing in this doorway wearing green."

"I...I don't know where I am. Been walking since 6 am. Mom...my mom...can't go home until I bring her $500. I got dizzy...couldn't think right...sat here...just needed to rest my eyes...need to rest...my..."

Justin kicked hard in the leg. "Fucker! Don't you pass out on meDon't you ignore me! You ignore me, I end you, understand green fucker?!" Green fucker nodded.

"You're offences on me are many. You're on my turf. You tripped me. You nearly made me fall. You're trying to scam me. Well it won't work! Get up and fight me! Fight me fucker!"

The denim teen got unsteadily to his feet and faced off with his own blade. Then he lunged and over stepped and fell into Justin. Justin managed to drop his blade before it went into the other boy's stomach. The other blade also clattered on the pavement. Justin caught the boy in his arms and cradled him before lowering him to the ground.

"Shit man! I nearly ended you! Ended you! Don't you understand that!? What's the scam?"

"No scam man No...scam...promise...just a little hungry. You are right....my faults are many. I did the deeds you say. I'm in your territory. Kill me...or make my life....your...slave...." he passed out again.

Justin flicked him on the forehead and then squeezed both lobes and pulled on his ears to wake him up again. Yo! Drama princess! You say you're hungry! When's the last time you ate?"

"Morning...I remember the morning sun on my face..."

"That's not so bad."

"Three days ago."

"Hmmm....Thaaaaat's a little worse," decided Justin.

Green fucker didn't respond. There was nothing more he could say.

Justin looked very hard at his bag of lemon bars and then back at the asshole. Looked at the bag. Looked at green ass. Should make his ass grass. He could end him. End him right here just for being here. Justin picked up his knife and then the fucker's....

And clicked them closed. He gave the asshole back hisblade, pocketed hisown and took out a lemon bar and waved it in front of the dick's nose. Whatever the scam, he guessed it worked.

The nose smelled and the mouth opened like it was ready to receive a fat cock which in fact it did on a regular basis. This time there was no cock but a lemon square. The mouth salivated and snapped at the food by instinct, nearly taking one of Justin's fingers. The boy inhaled the food and chewed like 3times tops before swallowing. Justin fed him another one. The second one was relished, duly processed and swallowed. The sugar was processed quickly. The boy's eyes focussed a bit and stopped rolling around in their sockets.

"Why? Why are you doing this? Fattening me up before the kill?"

"Ohh....HERE!" Justin Shoved the bag at green fucker and leaned in close. "Now listen carefully asshole! A minute ago you were willing to forfeit your life to me as my slave! Fortunately I don't want that but instead you owe me! You owe me three times, three favors, three wishes. If I seek you out you must do whatever I wish or answer any question I give to you. You will not resist or question me only obey. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I understand, said the green slave forged by the steel of his blade and the kindness of his heart.

"What's your name, boi?"

Boi whispered in his ear.

Justin left.

The new slave inhaled three more of the sugary, lemon heavens before he could feel his senses returning to him. At that point, everything went darker as a huge woman with frizzy red hair stood over him with her arms crossed.

"Hey lady, you mind!? You're in my sunlight." His insolence coming back with his strength.

"I saw you! I saw you and Sunshine talking. And then you kept his bag! You stole these from him, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU!!" She grabbed the bag away from him. She looked inside and her eyes widened.

"Nononono NOOOO!!!!!" the ragamuffin leapt up with newfound strength and adrenaline and grabbed back. There was a brief tug of war before the paper tore and Debbie was left holding a piece of paper and greenie was holding a smaller bag with 5 lemon bars and a $50 dollar bill in it. He hunched around it and guarded it like a dragon who sleeps with his treasure. He stuffed in another two bars before she could steal them again. He looked up defiantly and chewed even though he almost couldn't swallow them.

Deb looked on in amusement. "Looks like you bit off more than you can chew."

The boy shrugged. Kept chewing until he could.

"How many of those did you eat before I got here?"

"HE fed me two. Ate 3. Now two more. Three left. Mine. They are. I traded three favors for them. I didn't steal. I mean, I've stolen before but didn't steal these. He gave. We made a bargain. We did. Mine. Best thing I ever ate and you can't have em." This astonishing speech was like a run on sentence that ended when it smashed into a brick wall.

"So....he only kept three of them for himself..." Deb said musingly, looking after Justin in wonder who was long gone.

"K..." said the boy simply. He ate his third to last lemon bar.

"And he gave you fifty bucks."

"Also mine," he said quickly and held the bag closer.

"Best thing you ever ate huh?"

"Yup. What's it to ya?"

"I made em."

The boi's eyes widened. They beheld a greater treasure. He said nothing.

"Well....if you're good enough to have Sunshine...." she mused.

"You're still in my sunshine!" he groused.

"How'd you like a burger to go with those and then 2 more bars? Diner floor's dirty. You can mop it."

"Haven't had food in three days. That's why he gave me the food. Burger first. Water. Then floor. Then bars."

"Sounds do-able," They crossed the street again while Deb fought the instinct to mother hen the boy and lost the battle. They went in and he inhaled a burger with the works and when Deb saw she put a large side order of gravy fries in front of him and a huge glass of milk. He could not refuse and polished everything off autonomically. In return, he swept and then mopped the floor in painstaking detail, taking as long as possible. Now that he was there he was loath to go back on the streets peddling his ass and cock.

Before any of this happened, as they were entering the diner, Deb asked him, what's your name boy?"

"What do you..." want it to be was the rest of that sentence before he remembered she wasn't a client. "wanna know for?"

"Income tax purposes! How bout you tell me or the deal's off!?" she bitched.

The boi sighed. She was a bitch.His mother was a bitch.Life was a bitch. Starving was a bitch. The gutter was a bitch. Dying was a bitch. He was 3 quarters starved and Justin had nearly killed him And had taken his name and dignity for three times. Might as well give up the only thing he owned. Who the hell cared that that was the case. He had nothing. Dignity. Life. Name. Nothing.

"Jason. My name's Jason Kemp." He gave up.

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Meanwhile, Justin.......

What?

What do you mean that's not enough? That's the trouble with you young people nowadays. Always wanting more. Fiiiiine...<Rolls eyes>

Meanwhile, Justin walked on down the street away from his act of kindness, never considering that it had been paid forward. He sucked two cocks for $50 each and then caught a rich John who he fucked with a condom for a $1000. It occurred to him not for the first time that there were a lot of gay or bi men in this town deep in the desert.

At about 4 PM, he figured that was about enough, hustled his bustle to the dingy and only gay bar in town, Woody's, where the Pink Posse had made it their hangout and headquarters. He made his way to the booth where Fagin hung out like Jabba the Hut, if Jabba the Hut was a surly twenty something with a leather fetish and had abs. He even had the 18 year old skinny kid slave on a chain and collar and allowed him only to wear leather tighty whiteys. Of course they were black tighty whiteys but.....uggghh...are you as bored with this douche as I am yet? Good. Let's move on.

"Hey Fagin," greeted Justin.

"Gawwd-dammit Justin, my name's not Fagin!" yelled Fagin for the hundredth time. "My name is...."

"Let's review. You're the head of a gang of a bunch of pickpockets and cutthroats. Myself excluded. You demand a cut of the take even though you do none of the legwork. And you're a huge hoarder and a tightwad. Sound familiar? Sounds like Fagin to me!" Justin said for the hundredth time.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Fagin prissily.

"You should read more. It's food for your mind. It'll make you smarter," said Justin brightly, sounding remarkably like a PSA.

"I'm plenty smart," said Fagin.

"Start with Oliver Twist." suggested Justin for the millionth time.

"Who's he?"

"Egggggsssactly," said Justin unhelpfully.

"Oh just give be your 25% and get out of here!" snarled Fagin. "I'm sick of looking at you!"

"The feeling's mutual," returned Justin, "However...crazy mother + heart attacked father = ....10%."

"Your home life concerns me even less than it interests me. 20%."

"15."

"You're really pushing it Taylor," Fagin growled.

"Awww, Fagin. That's why you love me. I challenge you when others bore you. Come on....We're saving up to bring Molly home."

"Grrrrrr. You always play the S- card!" (sister)

"That's because it's so valuable. Besides...I had a good day. Fifteen percent is better than nothing."

Fagin just growled which meant it was a deal so Justin paid his due and got the hell out of there. He was glad to see the sun again. He hopped on a bus, took it back to the wrong side of the tracks and walked into Taylor Electronics on the stroke of 5.

"How's business and how was he?" he asked.

"Slow as usual and he was quiet as a mouse." said the clerk.

"Dad! It's quitting time!" Justin said and walked into the office.

Craig's eyes were wide and he was laid out flat on his bed clutching his heart. His coffee was overturned and his nitro pills were all over the floor where they'd fallen over, probably when he'd grabbed for them in a panic. He was dead.

Justin sighed and called out the door. " Well, I've found out why he was so quiet! You wanna call 911 for me!?"

"Sure thing Justin!"

"Oh and try and get Leo to come! He was....real good with him the last few times....yeah, that should fly.....Oh....and tell them it's a DOA and 110 F! I'm sure they'll do the math!"

He shut the door of the office. Then he shut his father's eyes but otherwise touched nothing. He sat at the desk and swivelled to watch his father's body dispassionately. He took out one of the three lemon bars and ate it. He wished he felt something, anything about his death but honestly it was mostly like having a train arrive after waiting two years at the station for it. Then it hit him.

Dammit. This was going to cost him 5% with Fagin.

Justin called his mother, told her he'd be a little late, waited for the ambulance, waited till they'd packed him in, dragged Leo and his muscles around back and made out frantically with him and sucked him off in such a frenzy that Leo came buckets in about 2 minutes.

Justin swallowed every drop. He got up off his knees and blamed it on the grieving.

"Uh huh...So does this mean we can go on a real date now? Dinner maybe?"

"You know I'm a teenage hustler right?"

"Mehhh...."

"Well, how can I argue with that logic? I'd like that."

"Great." Leo left, with a smile on his face and took his big arms, muscles and abs with him.

Justin locked up and left. He was 16. Brian was 20.

TBC

Chapter 2

Uncle Duke

He closed his eyes and concentrated. The stars were aligned once more and it was time.

The Sahara, Tundra, the Moors of England. All that which was wasteland flitted behind his eyes. The Congo...Everglades...Verdant and barren. Overgrown and empty. All were waste. The Savannah.no. The Amazon...The Canadian And Brazilian rain forests The Australian Outback. The Pacific Northwest. No. The Canadian prairie. Which led into the US prairiesNebraska cornfields. Greenland. Antartica. no. The Mojave. No....Wait!

He went back, scanned it carefully and then homed in. Yes! This was it! His amulet glowed and transported him to the place.

He was an African magician and he was eons old. He had travelled the world, learned all sorts of magic from all sorts of witches and wizards. Celtic magic from Britannia. Voodoo from the deepest, darkest jungles, other evil magic that had grossed even his dark soul out a little. But he had learned it anyway. Jewish magic from exiled and unclean witches in the Promised Land who desired revenge and to spread their evil magic across the globe. Asian magic from Japan, China, Korea, Sri Lanka, Laos, and many other Asian countries. All had their own spin on things. When he learned the spell he even travelled across realms and learned fairy tale magic from the wickedest witches.

He stored everything in his wand, his staff and his amulet until he was a powerful warlock, maybe the most powerful in all the world. And when he was done with them, he killed his tutors, adding their life force to his own.

He was eons old, having learned the spell of immortality long ago. For good measure, he'd even found the Fountain of Youth so he could be any age he wished. Currently he looked around 35.

And even though, his power was immense, he desired more. He was greedy. He couldn't stand it if there was an object or spell out there that was making someone else powerful or worse yet was using it to turn things to happiness.

He had been searching for such an object for lifetimes. An object of immense power and wealth that would make the owner invincible. The thought that someone else might possess such a power made him so jealous and enraged that he couldn't sit still and would often gnash his teeth over it.

The African Magician was teleported to the sands of the Mojave. In the distance was a dark smear that was the closest town.

The Magician levitated and searched out with his inner eye. He floated north for about a mile. No...too far. He flew back about 1/2 a mile. He turned once and landed. This was the place.

He began to dig. It was there, only a foot down. A round stone with an iron ring in it. Around the edge of the stone were carved in ancient runes. Every time it moved, the runes changed to something different, like a password.

The stone appeared only once every thousand years when a few certain stars aligned themselves into position. The stone appeared in a different desert every time and could be anywhere in any one of them. Only the Magician had the powers to seek it out now. He'd made sure of that.

Inside the stone was a cave. Inside the cave were treasures beyond imagination and at the end was THE treasure that made everything else in the cave seem as dust on a shelf. But he could never get into the cave.

The Magician looked the runes over and spoke them, strange and twisted words and so unspeakably evil that a price must be paid. A mile away in a cave a thousand bats cried out their sonic scream and dropped dead all at once.

The runes glowed and in the center of the circle of light a beautiful Fairy appeared dressed in gauzy blue. She had hair made of moonlight and her eyes were two righteous stars.

"Who disturbs my slumber and seeks to enter the Cave of Wonders?" Then she saw and said crestfallen, "Oh...it's just you again."

"Of course it's me again!" snapped the Magician. "I'm the only one that knows about you and the Cave of Wonders for 20 thousand years! It's always me! Who else?"

"I always hope there will be another. That's all I have now, Hope. You've taken everything else."

"I'll cry all night. OK, pleasantries are over. Just give up and let me in."

The Fairy conjured a blue force field around the stone. "No. How many lifetimes have you sought me out? How many times must I tell you you cannot enter here? Your heart is too black and your hands drip with blood."

"Many. Tell me who can this time."

The Fairy concentrated. "I see a young man with a smile like sun and hair of gold. He seeks to do evil and his heart is cold. But always his evil deeds are replaced with good. His hands are clean and in spite of himself he does what he should. His hand are clean , he has made no cuts. His heart and body are pure. A diamond in the rough. Seek out this treasure and of his own free will...I will let the Sun shine in."

A mystical viewing portal opened and the Magician beheld Justin holding an emaciated boy in his arms. Justin was feeding him something. The vision faded.

"I don't care about the Sun! I want you to let the boy pass through!"

The Fairy faded away and disappeared. "I will let the Sun Shine innnnnnnn....." she said again, her voice a whisper on the wind before fading away as well.

The sand shifted and collapsed over the stone again.

The African Magician gnashed his teeth in frustration and rage.

BJBJBJBJBJBJB

The next three weeks were very busy. Well, not so much busy as they were expensive. Well maybe one went withthe other. There were police to deal with. After that there was the hospital and the morgue to deal with . The morgue transferred Craig's corpse to a funeral home. The Taylors could afford nothing there so the cheapest but still heartstoppingly expensive thing was cremation. Craig was duly cremated and they took him home in a decorative wooden box. Even the urns were ridiculously expensive.

The ambulance service sent a bill. The morgue sent a bill The funeral home sent a bill. Large bills.

After they got home, Jennifer went back to cleaning the house to looking at photos of Molly to wishing Molly was there to deluding herself Molly was in fact coming home to sleeping to cleaning the house again. Wash rinse repeat. After the Q Mart, she had emerged from the catatonia but she was never really the same again. Lights were on but no one was home sort of thing if you catch my drift. And so, Justin took it upon himself to take care of the paperwork. He sold his father's car. He actually went into the store and threw a Going out of Business sale(Everything must Go) and put ads everywhere, in the paper up in Liberty Diner in Craig'sList. He put the store up for sale. If there was a line where he needed his mother's signature, he forged it. Unfortunately, this meant the clerk had to go. But Justin wrote him out a good letter of reference and forged his father's name on it. He'd learned how to do both his parents' names when he was twelve. He could see that he was pretty much on his own even at that early age and he was NOT going the way of Molly.

And even when all the sales were over and done, it still didn't really make a dent. He paid off the ambulance and made a payment to the funeral home but it was incomplete and there was the morgue and the mortgage and the store rent and the hospital bills from Craig's heart attacks. And now that Justin could throw himself into hustling and pole dancing and pool hustling and even if he met up with Twelve (spawn of Satan) twice a day every day, they'd still be in debt for the rest of their lives. For the first time in his life, Justin toyed with the thought of dealing drugs. He wondered how much he could get for taking it up the ass. He thought about it a lot. He thought about a lot of things. It was overwhelming. And when Justin got overwhelmed, he got hungry for cock. So he headed out.

He was reaching for the knob when there was a loud knock on the door. The effect was startling.

Now Justin was normally a good boy but he was in debt to a lot of people so his reaction was...less than polite.

He jumped back from the door and yelled: "The rent's not due till the end of the month!"

A deep and sexy voice he'd never heard from before said pleasantly, "This is not the landlord."

"If this is regarding the phone bill, the cheque is in the mail!"

"I'm not here about the phone. I'm not a bill collector nor am I selling anything. I'm a relative. Open the door, Justin and everything will be all right."

"Mister, unless you're Ed MacMahon with a cheque the size of the Pacific Trash Gyre Vortex, nothing is going to be all right again!" But he pulled the door open anyway.

It was not Ed MacMahon. It was a rugged, handsome, 30 something man that faintly reminded Justin of Indiana Jones. He was dressed similarly, had stubble, carried a walking stick and a coiled up whip over one shoulder. The African Magician had used a charm spell. People saw what they wanted to see. He smiled.

Justin did not smile. But his eyes did widen and he asked: "Who the devil are you?"

"Hello Justin. I'm your uncle. I came to..."

"Shit! Where's Molly? Is she with you?" Justin craned his neck but he could not see past his just pleasingly bulky uncle that was comfortable.

"I'm sure she's fine. I'm not that uncle. I'm your father's little brother."

"Huh? Craig didn't mention any brothers. MOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!" he screamed unexpectedly, as teens are wont to do.

This nearly shattered the Magician's eardrums. He gripped his walking stickstaff and nearly turned Justin to ash before he remembered. "Wow, those are some powerful lungs you got there Justin," he said and imagined Justin with a tight ball gag strapped on instead. This made him smile.

At this point Jennifer answered the summons. "Don't scream Justin," she said and then saw the man, "Who's this"

"He says he's my uncle. On Craig's side." Justin put forth.

"Strange. Craig didn't mention any relatives. And his mother and father are dead." Jennifer said.

"We weren't very close," admitted Craig's "brother" sadly, "Plus I travel all over. But in the event of his death I thought I'd come to pay my respects and see perhaps..."

"To come with your hand out!" finished Justin in disgust, "Well you're outta luck, Uncle Grandpa! My father was a lousy businessman and we're 12 feet deep in debt! So whatever the scam, it won't work!"

"To see perhaps...if his widow and son needed any help and support during this difficult time of grieving. I don't need anything from you. I'm an archeologist and have travelled all over the world and found enough treasures from my digs to become independently wealthy."

Both of them said nothing but the whiteness of their faces at "independently wealthy" spoke volumes.

"Ummmm...what I meant to say was...was...umm...Well, sorry, sir. I've been under a lot of stress lately and that causes a sharp tongue sometimes...I actually could use a bit....a lot of help right now. What's your name?" Justin suddenly felt the weight of the world on his shoulders...fuckin'feltit...and he knew if he didn't take this opportunity and if this man left, he'd lose his tenuous grip andslip and have the weight of the world crash in - fallon him and kill himcrushhim or drive him as insane as his mother and then where would they be? Blind leading the blind. Justin felt he's eat crow right down to the tailfeathers to stop that from happening.

"You can call me Uncle Duke. Duke Taylor. And that's OK, Justin. Circumstances have made you into a bit of a diamond in the rough. Let's see if we can get you polished up though." He put his arm around Justin's shoulder and guided the boy in through the door. He knew neither would resist. "So..what made you mention the Pacific Trash Vortex?"

Justin was suddenly shy. "Oh you know...saw it somewhere, like to read...Internet....."

The door slammed, cutting off his disintegrating explanation. And why not?

The Magician had kicked it shut.

BJBJBJBJBJBJB

The sad tale was told. Ironically, Justin knew this made them look like scammers even though they weren't. They were in legitimate trouble and deep debt.

Justin showed his uncle the books. His uncle dutifully clucked his tongue sympathetically over them. Then he said well they haven't been paid till now, a while more won't hurt, and they went into the living room to find out what was being done and what could be done in future.

In an astonishing display of lucidity, Jennifer began to cry and outline the situation pretty accurately and at the same time backstab Justin right between the shoulderblades. "My husband was a poor merchant of electronics(boohoo) We almost got out of debt when the QMart hit.(boohoo) Craig tried to teach Justin everything he knew but it was no use. Justin wouldn't have it and preferred to run the streets in idle play instead. He joined up with a gang and is a no-good street punk.(boohoohoo) As soon as Craig died, Justin had sold the store out from under her and taken to the streets entirely. I don't know what else to do and he's too old for me to stop him so I've resolved to change the locks when he turns 18 turn him out of doors to make his way in the world or the streets or hopefully let the Q-Mart have him.(oh-boohoohoohoohoo...)

Justin was unimpressed with her crocodile tears. "Wow! Ladieeezz and Gentlemen! I present....the Mother of the Year!"

"My goodness!" Uncle Duke said, "This is all very distressing. Justin, why didn't you just get a job? What about school?"

"I quit." Justin said shortly. "And I'm a minor. Any job I could get would involve the phrase...Would you like fries with that, take up all my time and pay me minimum wage. School pays even less. I needed something more than an "honest job", or what my father was doing to survive. And I was the only one left to do it. When the Q-Mart crushed us, Wonder Mom over there passed out; he jerked a thumb; and went catatonic for a week and dear old Dad had his first heart attack. Uncle Duke, I wish I could look up to my parents but when the going gets tough, all I can do is look down."

"Justin, you and your little friend be sure and clean up after you have your party," Jennifer said in an entirely different, good girl/goodmanners WASP-y type of voice, "I have to go make up Molly's room. She'll be coming home tomorrow, you know," she informed Uncle Duke brightly.

"SureMomsure," said Justin, "Nice talking to you. Wow, ten minutes, that's a record," he said looking at his smartphone stopwatch.

Uncle Duke blinked and watched Jennifer wander out of the room humming disjointedly. "Oh? Is your sister coming home?"

"Molly's not coming home," Justin replied disgustedly, "For her, it's always "tomorrow". Ever since the catatonia, the lights are on but everybody left the house, if you catch my meaning."

"I'm beginning to," said Uncle Duke.

"Good. You should also catch that I'm hardly idle. Yeah, I'm a street punk but I joined a gang so I'm protected. I know how to handle myself and nobody hassles me. If they do, they walk away, knowing not to again. I've never killed anyone nor do I intend to, something my gangmates cannot boast. I have a schedule and I work the streets. I bring home $5000 a week, 5 times as much as my father does...uhhh...did. I have to pay my gang leader 15%...20 now. I pay the mortgage here. I was helping out with the store's rent. When I'm done, there's nothing left over for the bills so the hole gets deeper. I sold the store to pay half the funeral home. We owe the hospital...well, you saw. I'm in a hole, a trap. I can't get out. In two years, I'll be kicked out. That was new. Soon after that, my mother will be homeless because she lives in a dream world where the rent gets magically paid and Molly is coming home "tomorrow"." He made vicious air quotes with his fingers. He opened to say more, realized there was nothing more and shut it again.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in."

"It was a lot to dish out. But there you are. Look, Uncle, if you are my uncle." Uncle Duke made to speak but Justin overrid him and said, "Look, at this point, I honestly don't care. But...if you are my uncle...if you want to be...if you are rich...if you do want to help and support me....then support me...help me...I'm only 16...I'd like nothing more to stop being in a gang...see the back of Fagin forever...I could get my GED....I am smart, you know..."

"I never thought otherwise."

"I'm smarter than you think. But when you're in the pinch, smarts don't pay. Hustling does. But I don't do drugs and no one goes in the back door."

"Good grief, you don't have anyone over with your mother in her condition, do you?"

Justin sighed long-sufferingly. "I mean I don't take it up the ass."

"Ahhhh."

"So...can you help me? Will you help me?"

"Well Justin, I can pay off some of your bills for you but not even I could pay off the hospital in its entirety. Doing so would wipe out even me. And even if I did help you with your debt that would be feeding you a fish for a day. I'd like to really help you, Justin...really help you, teach you to fish, set you up to make your own money, honest money and bring Molly home for real. Isn't there anything you like to do? Anything you'd like to sell....ok, not electronics but anything else, anything else people in this desert town need...and want."

"The only thing I'm actually good at is drawing...I'd love to paint. But that doesn't sell unless you're established. The Liberty Diner does OK. The Q-Mart's frozen yogurt place does pretty well. People in this town always need another watering hole. I wouldn't like to be in direct competition with Debbie or work my feet off all day so maybe not a full diner but maybe a coffeeshop with teas and lemonade and waters and frozen yogurts and ice cream. And Debbie's lemon bars and other desserts. And I could hang my art up there to sell and paint in the quiet times or even off hours. And never have to steal or pickpocket or hustle or meet Twelve EVER AGAIN, oh that would be a dream come true!" Justin opened his eyes from the daydream he was painting on the inside of his eyelids to see his uncle scribbling furiously on a small notepad.

"What are you doing?" Justin asked, startled.

"Making notes. This is good stuff," replied Uncle Duke.

BJBJBJBJBJBJB

Well, there was no time like the present, Uncle Duke said so he sat right down and paid off what he could right then. And just like that, the funeral home was gone and the morgue and the mortgage for 6 months. Justin was speechless with joy and misty eyed with gratitude. My goodness boy if this is what you are like over a few bills, I'd hate to see what you are going to be like when we go out. The Uncle chastised gently. So Justin dialed back from jumping for joy to rocking on his heels with glee.

"Uncle Duke" didn't really mind paying off a few of the kid's bills. He actually did it. He knew he needed to stay there a few days so he couldn't scam it through although he seriously considered it. But the thing was he actually was obscenely wealthy, he actually had liquidated a lot of found treasure and now it was invested and making money for him every second. Of course a lot of those treasures had been sacred artifacts and gemstones and the like that certain cultures considered holy but the Magician had killed the priests and taken them anyway.

Now he was so rich he could have paid off the heart attack bills 4 times over and still be pigshit filthy rich. But of course he couldn't let on to Justin about that. He still needed to hook the boy and every hook needed its bait.

After the cheques were written and sealed in envelopes, Uncle Duke pretended to look over Justin with a critical eye and decided he needed a new image, a image one could put forth as a man of business. So they quit the house that very minute and left Jennifer alone with her dreamy delusions. They dropped the envelopes in a mailbox (Justin felt a huge weight come off his shoulders) and took a cab across the tracks and into downtown. Uncle Duke conveyed him to several high end clothing shops, shoe shops and haberdashers. The result was he bought Justin several new Armani suits, several dress shoes to match. These were followed by hats and ties and a pinkie ring with a pale pink stone on it that Justin had never seen before. (Uncle Duke himself had on about 3 or 4 rings per finger) Then they packed everything up carefully and the cunning uncle conveyed him to a sporting goods store and bought him a more casual, roughneck outfit with a wide brimmed hat like his own and hiking boots the salesperson was convinced were rattlesnake proof due to the tough leather and height they reached up to on his leg. In the end Justin looked like a mini me of Uncle Duke.

Gone were the street clothes and ripped jeans and bandanna of the tough punk kid. Justin felt clean and polished and professional and a little confused.

"Is this what a man of business wears?" he asked since he looked like Indiana Jones had shrunk in the wash.

"Of course not. But there's no point in wearing the fine clothes home just to dirty them and then parade them past your neighbors and rubbing their nose in it. Besides, I have another opportunity for you that will require these outfits. But I'll tell you about that another day. For now we'll call it a day and tomorrow we'll go buy your shop." He said this like they were going to the grocery store to buy some Velveeta and Justin was astonished and more than a little intimidated.

The whole experience was like a whirlwind and Justin both loved it and was afraid of it. He loved it because it was rich and opulent and amazing but he hated it because he had been poor for so long he was forever checking the numbers and waiting for the price tag and more importantly some other larger, more horrible price tag that his Uncle would drop on him at any time. But no price tag came and Justin learned to relax. He felt lavish. He felt like a Cinderfella. He felt like Harry Potter. Who WAS a Cinderfella, Justin guessed.

The next day, Uncle Duke was as good as his word. They went out to a realtor and looked through a few books of shops that were for sale for one reason or another. They shortlisted 5 and went looking at them. Justin chose a small shop with a lot of light, pale blue walls and all the amenities. There were dozens of tables and chairs ready to go in a store room. Best of all, it was only a few blocks away from the Liberty Diner so Justin could feel as if he were always close to home. Plus the experience in his place would be so different that they would not be direct competition.

After Justin had given his seal of approval to the place, Uncle Duke signed a lease, signed a cheque and Justin was in legitimate business for the first time in his life. Well legitimate business that would sell. Duke cut one final AND HEFTY cheque for supplies and took Justin to the bank to open a business account. This was done and then Uncle Duke figured they were done for the day and the hassle of ordering and research and setting up could wait til tomorrow. As they were driving Duke decided that now was as good as any to drop the final carrot and hook.

"You know, Justin, this is a good business and will set you up in years to come and earn you the steady income you need for the day to day. But there's still the hefty debt from the hospital to take care of and I have another way for you to pay it off."

"Oh yeah? How?" Justin growled, instantly on guard. Here it came. The payout, the scam, the pricetag. He braced himself.

"The truth is...I'm not here just because of Craig. I'm on a dig, a hunt for something...big...whispered...and if you come along, I'm sure there will be enough to pay off the hospital...maybe more.

This was unexpected. Justin relaxed visibly. If this was a scam, this was a damn good one. "More?" he asked.

Duke smiled and nodded.

"Tell me more, dear uncle."

BJBJBJBJBJBJB

They set off the next morning in a rented dune buggy with 4 wheel drive and no roof. They wore their adventure gear and took extra everything, food, water, digging things, gas and a few spare tires.

Justin felt a bit trepidatious when Uncle Duke drove them far out enough into the desert so that the town was just a smudge on the horizon.

"So where we headed? Is it much farther?" Justin winced at his words as they basically boiled down to Are we there yet?

"Not much. Do you see that circle of stones?" He pointed to the stones he had set up before he had left this place. "The heat is making them seem closer but they are still a ways off. Maybe an hour or more. Say, wanna drive?"

"Really? But I'm underage."

The Magician looked around at the perfectly flat perfectly deserted landscape and smiled "Oh....I think you'll be all right," he said wryly. "Just keep heading for the stones and you'll be fine.

Justin was agreeable and they quickly switched places. After they had strapped in Justin put the pedal to the metal drove like a speed demon and the Magician put his hat over his face and went to sleep.

"Thata ought to shut the brat up," was his last thought for a while.

When his thoughts started up again, Justin was screeching the jeep to a halt and jumping out as if his ass was on fire. Uncle Duke grinned at the impetuousness of youth, put the jeep in Park and got out using the door.

He grabbed a couple of shovels out of the back and threw one to a confused Justin. "Where are we? Where's the dig?" he asked.

"This is it. Dig in the circle and you will reach a stone with a ring in it. If you can lift the stone you can reach the cave underneath. In the cave is such wondrous wealth that you will easily pay off your debt and moreover be set for the rest of your life. Open a gallery. Open a dozen of those tea shops or whatever they were. Just dig. Get yourself paint enough to drown in. Just dig. Just dig Justin....NOW!!!"

"Uncle? What's the matter? You sound strange."

"Ahem!! Yes. It's probably the heat...And the slight motion sickness. I'll be fine. Let's just get to work, OK? It's not very deep."

"You seem to know an awfully lot about this forlorn treasure."

"I've been tracking it for 20 years." This was a total lie as it was a thousand times that but as he predicted it was enough to sufficiently impress the boy. "It's also a great secret and you will see why soon. That is why it's just the two of us." The Magician had telepathically gleaned that this was a concern for Justin.

This seemed to be enough for Justin and he began to dig with gusto. The Magician made great sweeping motions with his shovel but barely did anything. Any effort he did would be pointless anyway. Justin had to dig, of his own free will and of his own free will enter the Cave.

TBC

 Chapter 3

The Cave of Wonders

A few hours later, Justin had shifted the shimmering sands sufficiently sideways to show off the circular stone that strobed slightly as it stared up at the scorching solar source.

The mystical markings were different. The Magician was mystified. This had never happened before. Of course, he had never dug this thing up with a partner before either. It disturbed him that he could not read them. He conveyed this to Justin.

"Really, Uncle? It's perfect English. There are four words. Can't you see?"

"No. This is a very mystical stone, Justin. It is the gateway to a fabulous treasure and for this reason it is called the Cave of Wonders. Even I do not know all its secrets. Since you dug it up, you must say the words."

"How strange. Well, they are just painting styles. There's realism....abstract...impressionism...and fauvism."

These words were not evil in the least and so nothing had to die.

The words glowed, the stone glowed and the Fairy in shimmering blue and moonlight hair appeared again.

"Who disturbs my slumber and seeks to enter the Cave of Wonders?"

The Magician poked Justin who was so astonished his eyes were on permanent bug out mode and was stupefied into silence.

"Um...it's just me...I mean...I'm Justin Taylor...I didn't really disturb you, did I?"

"Justin!" The fairy focused on him and floated on air over to him. "Ahh yes! At last! I see you. At last we meet! Welcome Sunshine! Your heart is pure and your hands are clean. I can see that your soul is not moved by greed so you may enter my Cave of Wonders."

"Thank you...um....but...well you are beautiful and all....god knows I don't want to piss off a fairy....but I'm a fairy too...that is I'm gay...I'd rather not," Justin said.

The fairy laughed and her laugh was like an angel with a smoker's cough.

"Oh Sunshine, you are a breath of sweet air. I am aware of your orientation. I was not speaking carnally. The stone is open to you. Grasp the ring and pull and it will lift for you. Then you may enter the cave and partake of whatever you wish. All your worries can dispel, all your money problems will be solved. Enter, enjoy and be amazed. I will let my Sunshine innnnnn...." She faded and vanished.

She wrapped Justin in a tight buddy hug and led him over and emphasized every "you". At the last, her head swivelled and gave the Magician a big silent raspberry before she faded away. The Magician's blood boiled and wished there was a recipe for fricasseeing fairies.

Justin grasped the ring and pulled and it pulled upward smoothly. The gaping hole revealed a spiralling staircase going down as far as the eye could see.

"All right Justin, good luck." The Magician threw him a large backpack. "Use this to pack your riches. You will pass through two chambers. The first is a money chamber filled with all kinds of currency and treasure. Bronze, silver, gold is yours for the taking. Earrings, necklaces, armbands and cups and dishes, a dragon's treasure await thee. But resist filling your bag as the second chamber is a garden. I have studied this cave my whole life but I'm still unsure what makes it special but all my findings tell me whatever the nature of this place surpasses the first chamber in wealth. Somewhere in the garden there will be a prominent plinth. On the plinth will be an oil lamp burning. Blow out the flame, empty the liquor inside and then bring it with you. Take whatever else you want from the cave but all I ask from you is that you bring...me...that...lamp. OK?"

"Sounds do-able. Thank you Uncle. I won't disappoint you."

He looked down. The darkness was like Hell. He hesitated and voiced his concern.

His Uncle chose one of his many rings and gave it to him. The ring had a large green stone that was not an emerald but was rich in appearance.

"This ring will show you the way. It glows in the dark and I'm told it had a powerful protective charm on it. Go...and show no fear."

Justin nodded and started down.

"And don't forget the lamp!!!"

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

Down, down, down...

Down...down...down...

Down...down...down....

SCCCREEEEEEEEKKKK.!!!!!! Sorry, the needle was skipping. That's better.

However, luckily this was exactly the case. If down was up and up was down, Justin would have been on the moon. OK that's a bit exaggerated but that's how Justin felt at any rate. He looked up every so often and the circle of light that was daylight at the top of the shaft at this point he was sure he was the one getting shafted in more ways than one was as big as a basketball...as big as the moon....a star of light....gone.

And then there was only the puke-green light from his ring it did indeed glow in the dark. Justin held out his hand and it revealed one more stair as he stepped onto it...Always another stair...and another....and another...and another....and...well, you get the idea.

This went on for so long, Justin felt he should surely see a light coming from the bottom whether it be the core of the Earth, the other side of the world, or Hades. At this point Justin didn't care and assumed he was already in the latter.

Down...down...down...it wouldn't end. Justin was in despair. He'd gone too far to go back and the damnable stairs going down wouldn't end. Finally, Justin decided he was in a Sci Fi time loop that was showing him stair after stair after stair....after stair...after stair....after stair....

Part of a hallway. Justin did that nasty jerky thing where you overstep because you think there will be a stair but there isn't. Astonishment was total and joy was boundless. He was at the bottom.

The ring showed him step by step down a...not too long corridor with stone walls. This led to a huge wall with a crack running down it. This seemed apt as Justin figured he was in the ass of the Earth. He pushed against the wall and they were double doors. They moved inward to reveal...

This seems to be a good place for a boring commercial for insurance or a type of car or toothpaste or cocoa or cookies or pizza or...is anyone else hungry? Or maybe a PSA. No? And not a good place? Well, soooooo-oooorrrrrry!

So...the first chamber. O-M-G was all Justin could think and then...OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG....

There were a few gold coins at his feet. These led to more coins which led the eyes to 3 cups and a crown sticking out of a pile of money. The pile of coins was as tall as a tall strawstack. It turned out this strawstack led into yet another slope of gold that was as high as a...well however high a roller coaster is. It was as if Treasure Island, the LOTR Hobbit's treasure mountain and Scrooge McDuck's money bin had all puked in there.

The hill was like...a hedge. A golden hedge that stretched out in both directions.

Justin chose the smallest hill and struck out from there.

Scrooge McDuck is a liar. Walking on coinage like it was a sandy beach is bullshit and diving into it would have been certain doom. It slid around his ankles and trapped his feet like quicksand and he saw he needed to keep moving or it would be certain doom. He managed to create a sloping hill up the first mound, then another up the second and then a third and weaved his way back and forth, up and up, even as he dislodged wave after wave of coinage. Sticking out at intervals were...what could only be called cisterns...full of paper money as well, all kinds. American...Yen... Chinese Yuan...one was Indian rupees...Euros...it went on and on.

About halfway up the roller coaster hill, Justin rested on a concealed ledge and took stock. This was going to take forever. He looked around at the piles of emptiness. Out in the world this was coveted by every man but piled up in here it was as useless as garbage and twice as dead. There wasn't a sign of life except for a kind of flag flapping in the breeze upwards and a little to his left.

Wait a minute. There was no breeze. Justin struck out to see this curiosity because....well he was curious.

It took him about 40 minutes just to get there. What he thought was a flag was a carpet, with a rich, Persian design. It was about 7' long and 3 feet wide. A mass of coins had dislodged once upon a time and had covered one quarter of the carpet, miring it in the treasure forever more. However it flapped steadily up and sideways eternally trying to get loose.

Wait! That was crazy! A carpet couldn't be trying to "get loose". Nevertheless, Justin felt sorry for it and scraped the coins off of it.

He carpet flapped madly as if it was scared out of its wits like a trapped bear.

"Hey! Calm down or you'll trap the both of us!"

Incredibly, the carpet actually did settle down a bit.

Justin scraped and scraped and more and more of the carpet was revealed and it flapped and pulled until finally it pulled itself free like a cork out of a bottle and it flew away.

Justin was so astonished with what he saw that the pile he was on dislodged and avalanched him down two levels. In fact, Justin would have been buried except a cistern full of Canadian $100's slid past and Justin jumped in and rode the wave until it stopped. Justin popped his head out and saw to confirm...the carpet had not merely blew away, it was undulating and rolling itself up, unrolling again flying higher, lower, higher again higher than anything, nearly disappearing into the dark distance.....

And then it came back. It flew in a wide arc and came back. It flew back to Justin who was still taking a money bath and its front kind of...dipped down...in the front like...wait was it bowing? Justin also now saw it had gold tassels on each corner.

"Remembered me, did you?" Justin said wryly. The carpet flapped one of its tassels sheepishly. It bent down again.

"Wanted to stretch your wings again....so to speak huh? Well, that's OK. Say, do you know the way to a garden and a lamp?"

The carpet flapped both front tassels frantically. It bowed again in front of the cistern and sort of...stayed there....waiting...Justin felt a great excitement build in his chest.

"Do you mean....get on you?" The carpet flapped frantically again. "OK then." He grabbed several handfuls of the $100's and threw them in the back pack and then clambered out onto the carpet. It was better than nothing...even if it was Canadian.

And then....ZOOOM!!! They were off! Up and away and up and up and up some more....Justin felt incredible. He felt that excitement nearly burst his chest. He felt insane. He was riding on a fucking flying carpet!! He wondered if this was how Aladdin must have felt. He now wondered if Aladdin was really just a story or if he was real. Really real. He wondered what was real anymore. Maybe this was the only reality and his mother and the other world and his uncle and....everything else was the dream and this was waking. Or was it the other way around?

The carpet flew up and up and up and crested the roller coaster hill. Justin held out his hand and the sick green light seemed to glow brighter illuminating more and more around them. Justin's eyes widened, he felt dizzy, faint and a little sick. He had another OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG moment.

For the true nature of the treasure house was now revealed. The treasure had now leveled off. As Uncle Duke had promised, as well as bronze, silver, and gold coins from all nations there were gold and jewel encrusted: armbands, tiaras, earrings, necklaces, rings, goblets, utensils, daggers, swords, tea trays, and larger serving tureens with matching cloches of silver and gold. Poking out everywhere as numerous as zits on a man plagued with back-ne were those cisterns full of all nations paper money. Justin had to assume there were cisterns buried beneath the golden sand as well....everywhere. There were huge straw stacks everywhere made out of golden....well..straw. Golden string and strands that Rumpelstiltskin himself may have spun were stacked at regular intervals.

And yet...even this...was as nothing.

Justin could now see that Treasure Island, the LOTR treasure mountain and Scrooge McDuck's money bin were all just a drop in the bucket, change in a busking violinist's hat perhaps, compared to this. The golden mounds and straw stacks stretched out in all directions as far as Justin could see. Onward, he could not see the end, to the left, to the right, coinage and treasure endless as the sands of the desert above.

Justin stroked the carpet and thanked God and the carpet for helping him. He now saw he would never have made it across without assistance.

The carpet flew across the golden desert for about 10 minutes. At last it began to slope down again and after going down another slope the size of a roller coaster hill, they reached a huge open doorway with a curved arch. The carpet flew serenely through and Justin entered the garden.

It was a strange place. There was an unidentified light source and the walkways were solid gold, like glass, no bricks. Trees and bushes were plentiful and all had strange and colorful fruit on them; all the colors of the rainbow. There were fat bushes with white berries on them all over the place. Then Justin heard a gorgeous sound: the tinkling of water. The carpet flew him over and he disembarked at a marble, three tiered fountain with crystal clear water moving over and through it. Justin drank deeply and gratefully.

"I knew you were the right one to enter my cave. How clever you are!"

The voice was not loud but it was right behind him and just...there. The carpet leapt behind a tree and rolled itself up like a sausage and Justin almost fell into the fountain.

It was only the Blue Fairy.

The Blue Fairy wafted over and sat on the edge of the fountain beside Justin even though she was all wispy and apparition-ey down there and Justin doubted she had any legs at all. She sighed a soft, contented, "I've been walking mile and miles and only just now have I sat down" kind of sigh even though Justin strongly doubted this was the case at all since...well...no legs.

"And how are you enjoying my Cave so far, Sunshine?" she asked.

"It's the most fantastic thing I've ever seen," Justin said honestly. I took me 10 minutes to cross the golden waste and that was with transport," He whistled for carpet. Carpet came cautiously out and the Fairy stroked it, causing a back tassel to shake wildly.

The Fairy laughed at both of them. "I must say, I don't think I've ever heard of my treasure room referred in that way before," she said.

"It's all too much for one person. I heard my grandpa say once, "Money is like manure. It's just shit until you spread it around."

The Fairy thought that was hysterical. While she laughed some more, Justin took another drink. It was delicious.

"That indeed is a wise saying. I hope you shall remember it all your life. I notice you took very little. Are you not in need?"

"Oh I am! It's just that gold is heavy. I thought I'd grab the sack full on the way back."

"Very practical. And how clever of you to stop and drink from the fountain!"

"It's the first water source I came across. Men put much value in it but you cannot drink gold or eat silver."

"Wisely spoken. But that's not what I meant...exactly. This is the water of Life. Whoever drinks of it...I guess that's you...shall life forever in the beauty of Youth and shall never thirst again."

Justin gaped. "Whaaat....? But...but...I didn't mean for that! To live forever...."

"It's a long time, yes. This may make it a sweeter experience." She pulled a vial out of nowhere and filled it with water from the fountain. "Give this to the one who will be your mate. He shall share your gift and you will live together for all time."

Justin took it with shaky hands. "Thank you. I will have to....choose wisely."

"Not a problem for one who is wise and clever and courag-..."

"Oh, please stop calling me all that stuff! I'm not so great! I wonder why I'm even here, I don't deserve it! Don't you know? You must! I've done things! Awful things! Sexual things. I've stolen...so much....The guilt...is so hard to bear sometimes... Oh God, the things with Twelve alone..... And it still doesn't make a dent in things! We're still horribly in debt."

"Yes, I know the things you have done," the Fairy said quietly, "I also know everything you do is done out of duty and want and need. You do not glory in your evil deeds or seek to do evil. You are generous and greed is not in your heart. I have also seen that you have turned many of your evil deeds to good or tried to make restitution when you can. If you had the means to earn a living and were out of debt would you return to gang life?"

"Hell no!" returned Justin.

"Well then, there you go! That's why I chose you, Justin. You are simply a diamond in the rough. And together...we are going to make you shine, as bright as your name! You seek the lamp, of course."

"Ummm...yes as a matter of fact. But it's for my uncle really. I get any money I can carry. My uncle gets the lamp. That was the deal."

"Justin, that man up there is not your uncle."

"What? Well, who is he then?"

"An old enemy. He has sought the lamp for many of your years and has duped you with the promise of temporary riches in exchange for the greater treasure, the lamp."

"But who is he then?"

"That I do not know, only that he is very ancient and evil. As soon as he has obtained the lamp, he will kill you."

"And how do you know all this? And who are you?" Justin asked shrewdly, for it suddenly flashed upon him that she was dying to tell him.

The Fairy smiled sadly. "I am one of three siblings. Eons ago, the Great Power deemed I and my brothers' powers were too great and banished us to prisons, to be separated and slaves forever. I was deemed to this place and made the Keeper of the Cave. I do not know where my brothers are."

"That's terrible!" exclaimed Justin.

"Yes. But the Great Power...I guess he would be the one you think of as God....knew best. My older brother alone..." she shuddered. "Of course you've heard of Atlantis and the unicorns and the huge dragons that breathed fire and chaos."

"Well yes. But...those are only myths....legends," Justin protested.

"They are now," sighed the Fairy regretfully.

Justin could think of nothing to say to that so that's exactly what he said.

They sat in companionable silence for a while and then the Fairy said: "Well, I'll leave you to it then. The plinth with the lamp on it is around the next corner. Enjoy the fruits of my garden and take everything you need. But take care you hold fast to the lamp. Farewell, my Sunshine...we shall not meet again......"

She faded along with her voice and vanished.

Justin sat for a few minutes, trying to plan what to do. Finally, he got up and rounded the corner in search of the object of his quest.

The plinth itself was simple enough, Wooden and simply carved. The path ended where it stood. The old fashioned oil lamp sitting upon it looked like something out of Aladdin's story. It seemed to be bronze, dented in a few places and dirty. As he had been told, it was burning brightly for no reason at all.

Justin went over, took it up, blew it out, pulled out the wick, poured out the fuel just as he'd been told. He turned the lamp over and over in his hands wondering what was so special about this nondescript lamp. Finally, he shrugged and tossed it into his pack. Maybe he could sell it on Craig'sList or something.

He now turned his attention to the garden. He went over to the apple tree and picked an apple.

It was not an apple. It was a ruby.

Justin felt a great excitement in his chest and a great weight fall off his back. Whoever said money doesn't grow on trees had never been to this place

Justin went around to various trees and found along with the red rubies: yellow sapphires, green emeralds, blue turquoises, and purple amethysts; the bushes with white berries were pearls.

Justin gathered a few or more of everything and enough pearls for necklaces for his mother and Molly and then called for Carpet.

"I think it's about time to get out of here, whadd'ya say?" asked Justin. Carpet indicated agreement my scooping him up and whizzing him out of there. Justin laughed in delight. He'd never had anything this fantastic happen to him ever.

Along the way, he found a cistern full of American $1000 bills. He grabbed as much as he could ten times. Then he flew along and did that with some Euros and then Swiss francs. He heard the market was pretty good regarding those at the moment. He also stopped Carpet about halfway along and scooped in some gold and jewels indiscriminately and even stopped at a gold haystack and stuffed some of that in as well. When he was done, he was pleased with his haul and declared: "Well! If this doesn't pay off that blasted hospital bill...nothing will! Good bye, Spawn of Satan!!!" He laughed delightedly, so glad he was to be free of that weirdo. This might be considered counting one's chicken's before they're hatched but at this point Justin didn't care. He felt alive and free.

He flew back to the door in what seemed like no time since this was the case. Justin hopped off the carpet.

"Well, thanks for everything. I guess you'd be happier down here where you can fly in peace. You'd have to lie around all day in my world. Just promise me you won't get trapped by any more gold slides, ok?"

The carpet wasn't having any of that. Before he'd even finished speaking, the carpet spun around him and flew low and tripped him easily, catching him in his undulating folds.

"Ooofff!! Guess this means you want to come with, huh?"

The carpet made various gestures to say: "Of course!"

"Oh but what about getting you past...him?"

The carpet had that all figured out too. Tilting cleverly, he set Justin on his feet. He rolled himself tightly up and laid himself across the top of Justin's backpack. Of course, Justin felt no extra weight.

"Clever, Buddy. OK then! Let's blow this pop stand and start our lives!"

The carpet agreed by jumping to life again and scooping him up again. They flew through the doors and down the hall and then up the long stairwell. Justin just laid there and stroked the soft carpet lovingly.

"My own flying carpet. My very own...flying ...carpet," he repeated dreamily It felt like a dream. The whole thing was like a dream. He couldn't believe it even though a flying carpet was at that moment pulling elevator duty. Not to mention the backpack of treasure beside him.

The carpet flew them nearly to the top. Then he deposited him on the stairs and rolled up and assumed the position behind Justin's shoulders.

"Uncle! Uncle! I'm back! I'm back! I'm coming!" Justin yelled. He ran up the stairs with ease but pretended otherwise. The carpet had somehow draped himself around his armpits and was still giving him lift.

A head popped over the round opening. "Justin!! You're back?? I'd about given up hope!"

"It was...difficult going. How long have I been gone?"

"Two days. Did you bring the lamp?"

"Yes, yes I've got it. I brought quite the wad though and it's heavy! Pull me up and we'll get it."

"Give it to me first! Show it to me!"

"Uncle, it's buried in money and gold and jewels. It might be at the bottom. I can't remember. Just pull me up...we'll look together." Justin reached and reached but "couldn't quite pull out".

His wrists were caught up in stronger, larger hands. They pulled him up partways and somehow Justin found himself dangling over the void away from the steps. The Magician pulled him close enough to stare deep into his eyes.

"You aren't going to give it to me. You know....don't you?"

"Know what? I'm not sure wha-"

The Magician let him go.

Justin's scream was horrible as he fell down and away into the dark.

The Magician let out his own shriek of rage as he let go of what was his for another millennia. Then he spoke the magic words and the stone slammed closed on its own accord. The sand fell over it but the Magician knew it would disappear from this place as well.

He got into the jeep and drove away.

A little ways off from that place he spoke more words. A wind picked up and kicked up a sandstorm. There was a localized sand tornado. The Magician drove into it.

The wind and the sand dropped away. Everything cleared and when it did the jeep, Magician and all was gone.

TBC

 Chapter 4

The Genie of the Ring

At about the time Justin was exploring the fabulous Golden Waste, Brian was having an interview with the Ryder Ad Agency. At the same time, Michael was having an interview in the underground complex underneath the Q-Mart.

Jack had spoiled Brian and indulged Michael (for some reason, he couldn't really pinpoint why.) It was funny really, every time he thought about it, another thought would push in, or he'd give his head a shake as if he'd blanked (blacked) out for a few minutes and sometimes he actually had.

Anyway, after home high school was done, Jack gave Brian a choice: get a job or online college. Brian chose the latter. Michael was free to come and be friends but he had to start his life as well some way. Michael, whose family was running the diner couldn't afford college so Michael entered the family business. He started work at the diner and in evenings hung out with and onto every word of his Uncle Vic who was the mayor's assistant and advisor.

A few years later, Brian had graduated with majors in business and advertising and Michael had graduated the diner. He had played out almost every role there and had taken to none of them but having none of the education Brian had the luxury of, his job prospects were... lower in stature.

And so it was, time and tide had deposited these two men in two very different offices and different destinies as fate is wont to do.

And by the time Justin was sent screaming to his death a day or so later, both men had their jobs; Brian was a junior ad exec., and Michael was set loose in the Q-Mart stockroom which was a misnomer really as it was two miles square, windowless and cut into criss-crossing sections by floor to ceiling shelves filled with stuff. It was lit only by the fluorescent lighting so in the event of a power outage it could be a very scary place. Anyway, what was my point? I forget.

Brian was 22. He was a virgin. He had never been in love and didn't really care about that at this point. Two things that Michael was painfully aware of and cared most about at this point.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJ

So I expect you want to know what happened with Justin.

What?? That much!? Heavens, put down those torches and pitchforks already! Goodness, if I'd known you were this antsy in the pantsy I wouldn't have gone on about Brian's job prospects in such detail.

So...anyway...Justin.

Justin screamed until his lungs gave out as he was plunged into a shaft that was so deep it made the Kola Borehole seem like a pothole in the road. Finally he stopped screaming and just waited for the end. The wind rushing against his face was terrible.

And then...suddenly...it wasn't.

Well, what I mean the wind became less and less and less and then suddenly stopped. He had stopped falling and had the terrible sensation of hovering for no reason in midair.

This was even more disturbing.

Finally, he opened his eyes, opened his hand and let the ring shine in the dark as was its function.

Well, of course what had happened was this. Justin had fallen quite a bit, and as he did, the carpet had wrested himself loose. Speeding faster than gravity downward, he had got underneath Justin and unfurled. Still moving downward, he had let Justin catch up to him and then slowed down and then stopped. As Justin could now see by the sick green light of the ring, the carpet was keeping itself perfectly flat and was slowly descending like an elevator.

Justin slumped over in relief and just let the carpet take him where it willed. If his...if HE had dropped him down into this hell, he very much doubted he was going to keep the stone entrance open. He had been buried alive.

Maybe he could get the blue fairy to help out. Maybe...

That idea was quashed when they finally got to the bottom. The doors were gone. The passage to the doors was gone. He was in a stone cylinder that was miles deep. The only light was from his ring.

It was cold. Justin rubbed his arms, his hands. In doing so, he rubbed the green ring.

The ring glowed brighter and then brighter still. An orb or green light formed and detached. No longer sickly, the green was warm and verdant and reminded one of being in the filtered sunlight of a deep forest.

There was a really bright flash and in the place of the orb was a man with skin as dark as a dark tan and a green turban and silk pants. In spite of it being pitch black, Justin could see him perfectly.

The man bowed. "Hail Master! I am the slave of the ring and the one who wears my ring. Command me and it shall be done."

"Command...ring...slave...what...master???...." Needless to say, it was not Justin's finest moment.

The man said nothing in return but just stood there bent at an angle with his palms together. Justin said nothing but kept flapping his mouth open and closed like a fish out of water.

After about a minute of quiet, the man raised up slightly and murmured gently, "Perhaps...Master needs a minute to decide?"

"I - I -_I'm your...master? You're a slave? But what are you?" Justin finally got out.

"I am the slave of the ring...You know....a genie....with magic..." he supplied helpfully.

"But...but...but I don't want a slave!" Justin blurted.

"But...but...why not? What have I done? Have I displeased you in some way? What can I do to earn your favor?" asked the genie in distress, missing the point entirely. "After all, you wear the ring." He added.

"Oh. I was using it for light. And...I was told there was a protection spell on it," Justin said.

The genie toed the ground shyly with bejeweled slippers. "Ahh yes...Well that'd be me," he said shyly, "As my master, I'd let nothing harm thee."

"Oh. Well, anyway, I just meant, I don't want any slave. I don't want to own anyone! Not like this! Slavery was abolished a long time ago in my country."

"Impossible! Is there no one in your country who serves and takes away? Who builds things? Who fixes things? Isn't there anybody compelled to do thing they may not want to do by a stronger, more powerful or richer person?"

Justin thought immediately of Debbie, little Jason, Fagin and then even himself regarding the odious gang leader and the even more odious Twelve.

"Well...yeeesss..." he was forced to answer, "but nobody owns anyone anymore and if someone is a servant of some sort they get paid."

"Pawwwww-eeeeeeedd??" the genie said as if the very word had never been heard of. "What is paw-eed?"

"Wages...a salary...you know."

"Oh yes! A mixture of fresh vegetables usually with lettuce as the base and drizzled with a dressing of some sort. Many ring bearers have requested this. They even let me taste some. It was delicious."

"That's a salad," Justin said saladly...uhhhh....sadly.

"Ahh yes, salad. Very delicious. Would you care for some salad, Master?"

"No! I meant salary. You know..."

"The genie blinked and waited. He did not know.

"A salary...You know...you do something for me...I give you something valuable in exchange...like money."

"Mawww-neeeee..."

Justin sighed. "Gold? A jewel?

"Ohhhh....Like trade! The market! Merchants!"

"Yes!"

"Ahhh! The ring was worn by a great merchant once. His name was Sinbad. His merchandise crossed seven seas in his heyday."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. He grew very rich. He had many slaves, of which I was one. Also many harem girls...and a few boys."

Justin held his head. Back to square one.

"Well, let me try and show you. You said I get a wish, right?"

Yes Master! Anything you desire. Salad?"

Justin pinched the bridge of his nose. "No. What I most desire right now is for me and all my belongings including this carpet to be outside and out of this pit."

"Oh Master, that's so easy! Child's play!"

The genie snapped his fingers. It was as if someone had turned on a light switch. It went from deepest black to bright sunshine in one second and Justin was sitting on his carpet on the sands of the desert. His backpack was beside him. It had turned over and a quantity of gold and jewels had spilled out onto the carpet.

Justin picked out a pebble sized emerald and gave it to the genie. "Now, in return, I'll give you this. And any time you do something for me, I'll give you something in return. That's a salary. Get it?"

"The genie shook his head. "Not really. But my slipper has been missing a jewel for 2000 years. This will do nicely."

He snapped his fingers and the emerald disappeared and reappeared on his slipper in the proper place. "Thank you, Master."

"Thank you! I thought I'd never see the sun again."

"It is the sun who should desire to shine upon you. You are most beautiful. And kind. I think I can trust you to take care of me and be a good Master."

"Oh, but..."

"Now...if you need anything else...Just rub the ring again. Farewell Master." The genie glowed, turned back into green light and lasered back into the ring.

"Oh dear..." sighed Justin, "I do believe I didn't get through to him at all."

He looked around. He saw a campfire, abandoned. He was probably right above the stone entrance.

He sighed, scooped up the spillage and asked the carpet. "Please... take me home? I'll show you the way."

The carpet eagerly rose and flew away. Justin could feel his joy at having open air to fly around in, not just a giant cave but real and endless blue sky. They flew higher and higher and always toward the smudge on the horizon that was New Liberty.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

It was just over an hour later when Carpet made the final circling check over Justin's neighborhood, made sure no one was watching, and then quickly landed on the doorstop.

Justin jumped up and glanced furtively around as he folded up the carpet and went inside with it and the rest of his belongings. Fortunately, he did not have a Cravit as a neighbor.

"Mom! I'm home! I'm sorry it took me so long but I'm home!"

Jennifer appeared from somewhere. "Oh hello, dear. Did you have fun at your sleepover?" One eye rolled lazily around.

"What?? Mom, I've been gone for days! I'm not sure how long! I wasn't at a sleepover! Mom, you have to wake up! We can bring Molly home now! But you have to snap out of this!" He shook her and gave her a light slap. "WAKE UP, WAKE UPWAKEUP!!!!!"

Jennifer sucked in a deep breath and gave herself a shake. Her eyes snapped back into focus.

"Jus---Justin?? What happened? Where am I? Where's Molly and your father?"

"Geez, Mom, how long have you been out? Molly is safe at Uncle Andy's. She's been living there because we were so poor. Craig had a heart condition. He died a few weeks ago. We JUST went to his funeral. Remember?"

Yes. I think so. I---I remember a man in black, a lot of orchids and a teak box."

"That would have been the priest. The teak box was the cheapest thing we could get for his ashes. It's on the mantelpiece.

Jennifer went over to look as if she'd never seen it before. "Oh my God...Craig..." After weeping softly for a few moments for a man who had long been dead to Justin...she turned around.

"What - what's been happening to me? I feel so disconnected. Like I've been asleep for a long time. But with vivid dreams. Justin...was there another MAN living with us for a while?"

"Yes. He claimed he was my uncle on Dad's side..."

"Oh no, your dad didn't have any siblings."

"I know that...now. I suspected it and kept an eye out but he showed up at a dark hour. Mom, there was no money left. I couldn't get anything more. And he...just showed up after dad died and...helped out. He paid off a lot of the bills. He bought me a coffee shop so we could earn some real income. But it was all to achieve something else."

"What?" asked Jennifer. God, she just wanted to sleep. But she was too curious about Justin's story. And what had he said about Molly...She couldn't remember....

"Mom!" Justin yelled. He snapped his fingers in her face sharply and she jolted awake again. "This is important. Try and stay awake for me!"

"All right Justin...What were you saying?"

"Uncle Duke...well that's what I'll call him...wanted me to go on a treasure hunt with him. And treasure we found! Look at this!" And he overturned the backpack on the living room floor and dumped out the gold, jewels, and monies.

Jennifer's eyes bugged out. "He wanted you to find all this? Then where is he? Wouldn't he want it for himself? I mean, some of this stuff looks....priceless...amazing." She let some ancient gold coins sift through her fingers.

"That's just it. He didn't want any of this. He wanted one object. For some reason he was unable to retrieve it himself and needed a...well, needed me to get it. He wanted....this." He pulled out and held up the lamp.

There was an anticlimactic silence. At home, in the light of day, the lamp looked even more unimpressive. It was just a brass oil lamp out of Aladdin, moreover it seemed dirty and Justin swore it had a few dents in it since he put it in the back back...Maybe all the weight...?

"What? That?" Jennifer was incredulous. She took it from Justin to look closer "Why this? It looks like a knockoff from a dollar store! And it's dirty...Well...maybe you can get a few bucks for it at the pawn shop, Justin. If we can get this dirt off..."

She rubbed the lamp on her sleeve. "Oh! Ow!" she cried and dropped the lamp. "It shocked me!"

The lamp glowed like dazzling gold and thick white smoke began to gush out of the spout. There was a rumbling as there was a small earthquake.

More and more smoke gushed out. It filled the room but the room never seemed to contain it.

"It's on fire!" shrieked Jennifer.

"But it s not hot!" exclaimed Justin, touching, then picking it up. "It's just...just..."

But he had to leave off because of course he had no idea what it was doing

The smoke was coalescing into the form of a man. It became like cotton candy. It solidified. A man stepped out of it and the last of the smoke became his foot. But the man was 20 feet tall! And hugely muscled. And the living room was somehow 50 feet high and richly furnished to contain him.

The huge man had 20" biceps (proportionally) with a chest to match. His face melted into new and different forms all with a terrible scowl. He went from Arabic to black to white to Asian to white to Arabic and back to... He wore a turban.

On and on this went till it made Justin dizzy.

"What wouldst thou have!? I am ready to---" the man boomed in a terrible voice like thunder.

Jennifer screamed and fainted.

TBC

  Chapter 5

The Genie of the Lamp Or:

The First Wish

Justin looked in wonder at the 20 foot man in the now 50 foot high and somehow sumptuously elegant living room. The wallpaper was golden and there silk veils and gorgeous circular couches and conversely long thin divans everywhere. It looked like a casbah. His mother had collapsed on a circular couch but otherwise seemed fine. Justin sighed. Looks like it was up to him again.

"I rubbed the lamp. Who...or what...are you?"

The genie put his hands together and salaamed him. "Master! What wouldst thou have!? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of all those who hold the lamp; I, and the other slaves of the lamp!"

Justin thought and tried to think of something...anything that would not piss off the genie and yet at yet at the same time not send him straight to hell.

"Look...why don't we start things off small here. We're a poor family and it's just me and my mother right now. And right now...it seems it's just me...again."

"You feel alone," the genie said.

"Yes...a bit,"

"Wish for a wife and it shall be done!" boomed the genie. He spread his hands for a great clap...

"NO!!" yelled Justin. "God no! Not that!"

The genie backed down. He frowned. "Is there something wrong with a wife, Master?"

Justin rolled his eyes and he thought about it. "Not wrong...exactly. But it's not right...for me...yet."

"I understand perfectly, Master."
"You do? How could you possibly..."

"You wish to remain a virgin," the Genie boomed.

"Geez...tell the neighborhood..." huffed Justin. He was technically, a heterosexual virgin after all.

The Genie frowned. "All right...Seems strange but you're the boss..." He raised his hands....

"STOP!!! Do NOT tell the neighborhood!" howled Justin.

"But you just said..."

"Haven't you ever heard of sarcasm?" Justin yelled.

"No...not really," said the Genie honestly.

"Oh boy...this is tiring me out...and I'm so hungry..."

"Food, master?" the Genie asked suggestively.

"Yes! That would be OK! Bring me something to eat and drink. Enough for my mother too."

"Master, I understand perfectly. Your will be done!" The genie vanished.

Justin went to check on Jennifer. Fortunately, it seemed like she was genuinely passed out and not catatonic again. That was all Justin needed. When he turned around again, the genie was back with a simply enormous silver platter on which were a dozen smaller silver plates with cloches over them. There were old timey flagons of wine and water and gold goblets and silver cutlery and fine cloth napkins. It all looked and smelled wonderful.

"Here you are, Master," the genie said.

"Thank you. Now...could you...go away again? Wherever you were? I need to wake my mother and you are frightening to her."

"I understand Master. I shall retire. If you need me or any of the slaves of the lamp, simply rub the lamp and I shall re-appear. And don't worry Master... With me in your corner...you'll never be alone again." The Genie laughed a joyful, echoing laugh that went on and on as he changed back into smoke and dived back into the lamp. He took the finery with him and when all was said and done the casbah was gone and his old living room was back and his mother was passed out on the couch.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

Justin filled a cup with some water and considered sprinkling some in her face to wake his mother up. Then he thought of all the grief she'd put him through, shrugged, and dumped the whole thing on her.

"EEEEEEK!!! Justin what the hell?! Are you trying to drown me?"

"Sorry," he replied unapologetically, "My hand slipped," he added untruthfully.

"Oh my God! I remember! That lamp! What the hell was that Justin? It was like a huge man...or a demon...and all the smoke..."

"It was a genie. A real life genie. I think we've found out what makes that lamp so valuable."

"Well, get rid of it! That thing is horrible! It must be from Hell!"

"He's not from Hell! He just looks a little fierce that's all! Look at everything he's brought us!" Justin revealed the large silver platter. He lifted a few of the cloches and revealed a deep dish pizza, a large plate piled high with shishkabobs, a platter of some sort of Thai food and a few other plates with a different nations exotic food.

Moreover he said, "Besides, this is it for us. This is the answer. He can help me with my coffeehouse, feed us and we can sell the dishes later for extra money. We can get a better apartment and...this is the way we can make a home ready for Molly to come home."

Jennifer looked angrier and angrier and more frightened until the last part. Then she softened a bit but only because she saw that she really had no choice in it. She knew he was right, that she hadn't been the best role model for a while now and she wanted Molly home so bad it was like a constant ache in her gut.

"Oh fine! Keep the damn thing! But keep it out of my sight! Don't summon it in my presence! Got it!?"

"You got it! Don't worry, Mom! This is going to be great! We're going to get everything we need and want and Molly too. You'll see! Have something to eat but save some of that pizza for me!" He put the covers over the food again to keep them warm and packed up his backpack with all the stuff and the lamp and hauled it off to his room.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

After a great meal of a variety of the foods and especially the deep dish pizza, Justin packed up the rest of it and put it all in the fridge with practiced ease. His mother went to watch some TV and Justin went to his room.

Once there, he closed and locked his door. He rolled out the carpet next to his bed. The carpet stretched itself out a bit and fluttered its corners a bit but otherwise settled down and seemed to go to sleep.

Justin sat on his bed, took a deep breath and with his right forearm, definitively rubbed the side of the lamp.

There was indeed a shock like electricity but it was more like pure power shocking up his arm. Justin bore it though, and kept tight hold of the lamp.

And then there was the smoke and a great laugh and the room was changing and the huge genie stepped forth once again.

What wouldst thou have!? I am the slave of the lamp; I and the other slaves of the lamp. I hear and obey!" said the Genie, bowing low. He was a large white man this time.

"Well, first of all, can we please cut out the whole slave and Master thing? We don't really do that anymore. Well, the BDSM community might but otherwise.....well, I'd rather not."

This seemed to perplex the giant genie. After thinking about it and shifting weight to one foot and then the other for a bit, he said, "So what shall I call thee, Master?"

"How about by my name. Justin, please." He answered poilitely.

"This seems a most unusual thing for me to do and an interesting name to be sure, but very well. Pleased to meet you, Justin Please!"

"No! No, it's just Justin. Just Justin!"

"Yes, Just Justin!" the genie intoned.

Justin held his head and took a deep breath.

"No. Not Please. Not Just. My name is Justin Taylor. Just-no...only...Justin Taylor. Got it?

"Justin...Taylor?"

"Yes that's right."

"Very well, Master Justin. And don't worry. Many masters of the lamp were not just and many more never said please. But I have endured all and outlasted every one. Did you want to beat me now Master?"

"NO! NO! There will be no beatings! No beatings! Understand?"

"Yes Mast - uh... Justin."

"And I didn't mean just in that way. I'm very just...Very fair. I'm trying to make this fair...for both of us. Understand?"

"Master... not at all... Sir!" the Genie said grandly.

Justin groaned and held his head.

"Do you have a headache, little Master Justin?"

"Yeah...It's about 50 feet high," Justin quipped.

The Genie took this completely literal. "Ohhh, my poor Master." He plucked up Justin into his huge arms and ample pecs, cradling him. A hot compress appeared out of nowhere onto Justin's forehead and the Genie danced around with him in a circle. The furniture politely moved out of the way when he went by.

The genie meant this to be comforting and soothing but in reality it was dizzying and terrifying. At about 30 feet off the ground and being spun around so fast thing were blurry, Justin felt like he was on an amusement park ride gone amuck.

"Stop! Oh stop!" Justin yelled.

The Genie stopped immediately and put him down on his bed which was circular and soft and has silk sheets and a warm outer blanket made from the softest wool he had ever felt. "Is that better, Master?"

Justin had a headache and was dizzy and sick to boot. "I'm....super," he said through gritted teeth.

After taking a few deep breaths, he sat up without feeling like he was going to hurl. "OK, let's move on...You know my name, which is..."

"Just Justin Taylor Please," the Genie recited obediently.

Justin collapsed back onto the pillow.

After taking a deep breath and deciding to pick his battles, Justin sat up. "And what's your name?"

Now the Genie looked about as perplexed as Justin. "I'm....um....I'm...." He thought a bit. "I am the slave of the Lamp! I, and all the slaves of the..."

Justin made cutting and shushing motions. The Genie fell gratefully silent.

"Don't you have a name? Any name at all?" Justin said.

"Only what I am. In all the times I have been found, I have been called Slave...or Genie," said the Genie.

"Genie...genie...OK we can work with that...OK, let's keep things simple. I'll just call you Gene. You call me Justin. I'm in charge but let's keep the Master thing to a minimum, OK?"

"That sounds acceptable Thank you, Mast --- uh, Justin. I have never had a name before. I think it will be nice."

"You're welcome Gene," Justin said, smiling. The pounding in his head started to go down.

"So...Mast...uh, Justin...now that we have that out of the way, what can I do for you? I'd so much like to serve you, now more than ever. And I haven't used my powers, in so very long. I can feel myself near to bursting. Surely, there is some wish, some deep want that you have? Surely you did not call me just to quibble."

"You're right. I am going to need to make a lot of demands of you, Gene but they will all lead up to a single and ultimate goal: To bring my sister, Molly home!"

"What!!? Has thy fair damsel sibling been kidnapped!!? Why did you not say so at once little Master!!? Why have we been wasting time? Is she in a dungeon? What fiend and fool DARES to harm the flesh and blood of my new Kindhearted One?..."

As Gene continued to rant and rave and have the most massive of queen outs that could rival any fabulous fag, he grew and grew and grew and his muscles grew more and more and more massive. They would have made any self respecting juice pig jealous. His face grew red and the walls and ceiling fairly leapt out of the way not out of convenience but for fear and simple self-preservation.

"I'll cut him 1,000 times before he dies! I'll grind his entrails while he watches! I'll..."

"Gene! STOP! STOP!! SILENCE!!!" Justin finally yelled. He didn't like having to be so harsh but he had to yell simply to be heard.

Gene shrank back to...somewhat normal...and bowed his head to the carpet. "Yes Master," he said.

Justin was ashamed. "Gene...I'm sorry...I didn't...I didn't mean it like that. And I didn't mean to yell. It's just...It's just...you wouldn't stop!"

"It's all right little Master. I know I get carried away. Besides, you're welcome to yell. I've had 34 and a half masters who never lowered their voices to me."

That's terrible! Wait! Half a master?"

"Well there was one man who grew discontent with just yelling and took to beating me. I took 50 beatings before I got bored of it and decided to move on. So the next time he rubbed my lamp....I broke him in half!" the Genie smiled widely, showing large white teeth and then laughed out loud at Justin's frightened and horrified expression.

"Do not worry, little Master...uh - Justin! You have given me no reason to desire to hurt thee....yet ."

Justin gulped. "Well that's good. Well, let's get back on track, shall we? Molly's being taken care of by relatives but only because we're too poor. I've brought back treasure but it needs to be converted. Moreover you can help me in my new business and get us a new place to live. I'd be happy to turn my back on this dump forever and besides, why rent if you have a genie and can own?"

The genie smiled a wide, feral smile. "Ahhhh, little Master! NOW--- now you are speaking my language!"

He laughed a joyful laugh this time, as deep and rich as hot chocolate and scooped up Justin in one meaty arm and snapped his fingers.

P O O O O F !!!!!!!

When the smoke cleared, Justin was sitting in a comfortable...-ish chair in a modest but drab office. Justin looked around mildly, a little confused. What the hell was he doing in --- OHSWEET-SHITSNACKS what was that?"

Sitting across from him was the genie dressed in a bright red dress that was too high, too tight, and showed way too much tanned and hugely muscled legs. He was wearing matching red pumps. He wore a black curly Cher type wig and enough makeup to make a hooker jealous. It also looked like it had been applied in the dark.

In short, the genie was dressed in the worst, sloppiest, most grotesque form of skag humanly possible. Justin looked around for a melon-baller. Alas, there was none.

"Good Lord Genie, what the hell..."

"Welcome to Wishes Inc. Realty. I the slave of new homes and housing."

Justin narrowed his eyes. "Really?" As in...seriously??

"Oh my yes! We'll have you set up in your new dream home just as soon as possible. Now Sir, just step over to the back and see that hallway. Each door is a listing for an available listing somewhere in the world. You can step through, have a look around and come back here. And don't worry. When you're ready to return to your bedroom and the real world, absolutely no time will have passed. Which one would you like to try first?"

The aforementioned hall had white walls, was lined with doors on both sides and stretched off into infinity.

"This'll take forever! How many doors are there? And Gene, I know that's you. For the love of all that's holy, take that off."

"I am the simple slave of realty. Not sure what you're talking about," insisted the abomination. "Are you saying you wish me to be naked?"

"NO! For all the things....NO!! God NO!!" Justin yelled clapping a hand over his eyes.

"Very well then. Well at present, the world has 5,784,924 listing available."

"Oh, I see. Well I was hoping to live in the United States."

"I have 1,745,903 listings.

"In-..." Justin named his state.

"Hmmmmm...I have 274 listings." There was a ‘whump' and at least Justin could see the end of the hall. It was waaaaaaaayyy down there but he could see it.

"New Liberty."

There was another ‘whump and the hallway shortened considerably.

"I have 10 listings," said the skag monster disapprovingly.

"That's fine," said Justin, now looking at the significantly shorter hallway with 5 doors lining it on either side.

"You know....You might have let me know we were just going to look in your hometown." The skag monster said icily, "I feel quite silly bringing up over 5 million houses for you to choose from if all you wanted to do is live in that brokeback desert town."

"You didn't really give me a chance," Justin pointed out mildly.

The skaggy genie opened his/her overly big, overly red mouth and stopped. The he/she shut it again and bustled to the first door. "Oh fine! Let's move on! Ready to see your first house!?"

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

The door always opened out into the living room. Some were empty but some had the tenants still there, living their lives. The genie assured Justin that they were like shadows and they would never know they were there. The tenants were all due out of the house at the end of the month and acquisition of the house could be guaranteed.

Justin looked at them all but finally decided on #5. It was larger than their old house, clean, and sturdy. Good water, upstairs and downstairs bathroom with a third small bath for the master bedroom. There were three bedroom, one for each of them when Molly came home. Big kitchen, big living room, big back yard. The neighborhood out the front seemed idyllic, a typical suburban neighborhood. Gene assured Justin there was a high school within a bike ride away.

"This is the one," he decided. "When will it be ready?"

"First of the month or whenever the paperwork gets filled out and filed in the right places. So....because you're working with Wishes Inc., that'll be....tomorrow!"

The skag monster led him back to the front office where Justin was presented with paperwork up the yazoo, permits and repair and reno statements and escrow paperwork. After signing everything where the genie showed him, the genie rolled all the papers up in mid air and snapped his fingers. The papers vanished in a bright flash and in their place was another roll of a single sheet of paper. The genie presented this to Justin solemnly.

"Just show this to anybody who might have a problem with you living there," the skag monster told Justin.

Justin unrolled the paper. It was very official looking and had seals and signatures and among things the word DEED on it in curly script.

"I can't thank you enough," Justin said.

"Not at-tall, not at-tall," said the creature, "Now is there anything else I can do for you before I return you to your bedroom?"

"Only that I think I'd like to keep that bed that was in my room. You know the one when you - when he was there. The covers were divine."

"Not ta problem, not ta problem," said the apparition, "And might I say...excellent choice, Sir. Well, thank you for visiting Wishes Inc. Specializing and serving your housing needs since shortly after the Great Flood. Have a nice day." SNAP!

P O O O O O O O O F F F F F F F!!!!!!!!

Justin was surrounded by a dense fog of smoke. The chair he'd been on dropped away.

Justin found himself falling away through a smoky limbo.

TBC

   Chapter 6

The Liquidation Department

OOOF!!!

Justin fell out of the ether at last and landed on his new circular, sinfully soft, silken bed. He found he was still holding the lamp in one hand and in the other the rolled up deed to his new house.

Justin dashed downstairs to show his mother. She was astonished since to her it seemed as if he had just dashed upstairs a moment ago. However, she was even more astonished to see the deed, with its rich, curlicued writing,, official seals and rich appearance. Indeed, in our world, the deed looked and felt like pressed gold.

"But Justin! What about the mortgage here? And the bills and the electric and everything we've been struggling with? How can we pay all that off before tomorrow?"

"I'll use the treasure from the cave. Fortunately, some of what I grabbed was US currency but the rest will have to be sold to an antiquities dealer or refinery."

"Antiquities? A refinery? Out here? And how would you explain how you got all that stuff? How do we explain away gold doubloons and jewellery? They'll think you stole it!"

"Ironic," Justin said laconically, "This is the first income to cross my palm honestly in two years...at least. But this is what would bust me!"

"Oh dear! And I know I haven't been much help! I'm so sorry Justin! What are we going to do?"

Justin hugged his mother. "That's OK, Mom. At least you're back with me now. I'll go back up and talk to the genie. We'll figure something out."

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

Back Upstairs...

Justin rubbed the lamp.

Shock...smoke...and the genie in all his gauzy, muscled splendor.

Justin braced himself and then breathed a huge sigh of relief when the genie was in his (normal???) male appearance.

"Master, what is your second wish?"

"Genie, I've consulted with my mother and we feel it would be well if we pay off or are ready to pay off all our bills when we move. To do this, I need to liquidate the treasure I brought home.

Ahhhh I see. You need to sell your treasure but do not know the exact worth?" deduced the Genie.

"Yes, exactly. And I need someone who will trade fairly and not cheat me," added Justin.

"MASTER!! UHHHH...Sir Justin!" amended the Genie with joy, "I know just what to do! Please get your treasure and sit on the carpet."

"Uhhh...OK." Justin was a bit confused but he obeyed anyway.

"This is my favorite part of the job really! Hang on tight! Next stop! The LIQUIDATION DEPARTMENT!"

"Huh! What are you talking about? Wait a min-..."

"SIM SALA - ..."

"WAIT!!!" screamed Justin.

" BIM!!!" PPPPOOOOOFFFFF!!!!

It was like being in the middle of an explosion. Smoke was everywhere, the house completely disappeared and Justin was projectiled upward for 200 feet like a rocket.

"YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Justin screamed. He could feel he was moving slower and slower and then a prospect even more terrifying than shooting upwards at a great speed presented itself. Going down again.

Justin looked around but all he could see was smoke and clouds, Up, down, around. He knew he was moving up but it was a nasty feeling when at the same time, if felt like you were not moving or at least not getting anywhere.

Below him, Justin saw that the carpet had twisted itself into a messy tube, like a clumsily rolled doobie, and was shooting up after him like a rocket. As Justin began to slow and then stopped and hung in the air just before the moment when he would start his downward plunge again.... Carpet adroitly unrolled and flattened into a square and neatly caught him. The carpet continued to rise as if an elevator to nowhere.

"You've saved me again," Justin said wonderingly, as he stroked the soft carpet in praise. Carpet rippled in

pleasure.

They rose for a few minutes and then suddenly the clouds parted a bit and a floor appeared out of nowhere. Carpet halted his upward movement and Justin looked around in wonder.

Well, wonder was a bit of an understatement.

There was a large square floor. The floor was tiled black and white checkerboard style. It was literally like there was a giant checkerboard hanging in the air. On all four sides it was surrounded by clouds and there was no guardrail, just a sharp dropoff to Hell.

Near the middle of the floor was a barrier point. There was a kind of counter set up all along the floor and along the counters windows were set up with an attendant at each window. It was kind of like being at a bank or a bus station. Over the counter a sign was hanging in midair. In curlicued writing it said: LIQUIDATION DEPARTMENT.

The back half of the checkerboard was a small version of the cave of wonders. High mounds of treasure, gold coins, crowns, rings bracelets and other jewellery. There was a whole pile of scepters with a throne made with a gold frame and encrusted with jewels thrown into the middle of it upside down. There were various daggers and swords. Statuetttes of foxes, cats, dogs and birds were everywhere as well as ugly golden idols with various jewels encrusted into their foreheads. All this and much more were piled in ugly, haphazard mounds behind the barrier.

Carpet flew him over and the slanted over into a convenient little slide the deposited Justin neatly onto his feet.

Justin looked left and right and sighed.

He, of course, chose the window nearest to him, but he could see that every window was being manned (so to speak) by a differently dressed out skagged man. They were, of course, all HIM.

A "classy", buxom bushy platinum blonde, a slutty redhead, a Marilyn Monroe caricature, Betty Boop, Jackie O, a Scarlet O'Hara try to look alike in a hoop skirt and everything and even a Yoko Ono (OH NO!) attempt. All were different and garish and each was like looking into a different smashed in funhouse mirror.

Of course they were all him, replicas of the male genie downstairs. Justin didn't understand why he was doing this. But he was planning to have a serious talk with the genie downstairs.

He cautiously approached the Scarlet O Hara.

"So what can I do for you, my sugary sweet potato?" drawled the nightmare in what he thought was a surupy Southern drawl.

"Nooooooppe," was all that Justin would say and moved down to Jackie O.

"How can I help you?" asked Jackie in a somewhat more businesslike tone.

Justin plunked the backpack full of treasure down on the counter. A dagger with jeweled hilt fell out and stuck with the tip in the counter and two doubloons fell out.

"I see, I see." Jackie said and pulled the dagger out of the counter. She magically wiped the dent out of the counter. "And what currency are you looking for?"

"American dollars," said Justin.

"No problem."

"I'm...I'm trying to get out of debt, you see," Justin felt it necessary to explain.

"Absolutely no need to explain, "Jackie O'Djinn said. "84% of the Djinn's clients come here to get out of debt. Usually with COW trash like this."

"COW trash?"

"Cave of Wonder. The magician has tried bribing his way to the lamp 6, 584 times. But we're always very careful to keep out of his reach."

"I see. I wasn't aware that you were...aware of him."

"Oh yes...Oh yes..." With one hand, Jackie used a claw- like nail to scrape and count doubloons and with the other tap furiously on a computer keyboard. "Of course, he has no idea....and we like it that way...." The last was conveyed with more than a hint of warning.

"Oh...I understand...Of course. So...what do the other 16% come here for?"

"Oh, well, usually a person's first wish is for a cash lump sum. A million. A billion dollars etc. You get the idea. That's about 14%." Jackie O put the jeweled dagger on a scale, calculated the worth of the gold on it, tapped that into the computer. "Hang on a sec," she said. She affixed a jewelers lens over one eye and squinted hard at each ruby, sapphire and diamond, all the while her other hand was busy tap, tap tapping away.

Finally she was done with it and she casually threw it over her shoulder toward the pile. It flipped over and over, shining in the air until...CRUNCH....it buried itself to the hilt into the head of the Venus De Milo. Right between the eyes.

There was a terrible cracking noise and the statue cracked and then split completely in half.

"Oops," Jackie said mildly and continued counting out doubloons as if her life depended on it and otherwise ignored many a dirty looks from her worker clones in the background.

Justin sensed that was a touchy subject so he waited till she had worked her way past several crowns and rings and necklaces before speaking again.

"Um...so these other people...wish for money...and then what?" he asked.

"Oh yes. Well, invariably, they regret buying something or other...or many something or others, or they foolishly run through everything and come here to sell off what's left for seed money to start over." Jackie O finished her story in a way that said there really wasn't any more to tell. As was the case.

Finally she was down to the cash. She crooked a red, shiny claw nail of a finger and all the American cash jumped to the right side of the window and gathered itself in neat piles of $5000 each of $100 bills.

Any foreign currency jumped and settled itself to the left side. Jackie picked up a hunk of it, and ran a thumb through it as if counting it. She frowned and shook her head slightly and counted off a few bills, thumbing them back to the counter. She rifled through them again and was satisfied. She turned over the wad and thumbed through the other side. The wad turned green and smaller and they were a wad of $5000 American!

Jackie did this again and again, going through all the ducats and Euros and Canadian dollars and turned all of it into American. With each $5000 wad, she typed it into the computer.

At last, the remainder of the money was left. She thumbed through it, it changed into $362, and some change pooted out of the bottom of the bills and bounced off the counter. Jackie caught them before they could hit the surface twice.

"OK, so we're almost done. Are you cashing in the carpet as well? For a Persian carpet, it's pretty standard but with the magical properties it's exhibiting, that hikes its value up to 5 billion dollars." That shiny red finger hovered over the keyboard.

Justin was sitting on it as a chair as he waited and he immediately felt it droop. It's corners sagged and it kind of....deflated in sadness as it sank down to the floor. He knew Justin wouldn't be able to pass that up.

Justin didn't even have to think about it. "Oh, I'm sorry, this carpet isn't included. It's not for sale at any price. I've never owned a flying carpet before and I expect I never will again, if I let him go. Besides that, he's helped me out of a jam three times and two of those times saved my life I can't pay that back by selling him like a box of cookies. Sorry, absolutely no sale."

The carpet bounded back up in joy. It vibrated in barely supressed energy and Justin could tell he was in for quite a ride when he got back to Earth.

Jackie O "NO" siss gave an approving nod and then pressed a single key which seemed to be the total button.

"OK, so all that swag, taking into account, the antiquity, the gold, the silver, the platinum, the jewels and the current rate of exchange, your total balance comes to 1,745,895,862.86.

"A bill.... a bill..... a billllllll..........lionnnnnn dollars???? A BILLLL-ION?? A billion???" Justin couldn't wrap his head around it.

"And 745 million and eight hundred ninety five thousand and eight hundred and sixty two more dollars. And eighty-six cents." she added unnecessarily.

"OH..... MY...... GOD!!!!!" Justin was floored. He fell back onto the carpet but since it was still vibrating like a tuning fork, it wasn't much comfort.

When he felt he could stand , he did so and croaked, "So what happens now?"

"Well, would you like it in cash, cashier's cheque, or direct deposit?"

"You guys... can do... direct deposit?"

"Oh my yes! Easy as pie! It'll be waiting for you at the New Liberty First National Bank. I'll give you a passbook, a book of cheques and when you go in everybody will remember you having that account there for the last 5 years. Just don't press anyone for details, I find that those human mortals' memories are....rather temperamental...so to speak....especially when they are pressed too hard."

"Thanks for the advice. Well, I would like to take one wad of 5000 with me. Otherwise...yes! Direct deposit will be great!"

"Excellent! Here you go! Please sign here... it's simply a waiver saying you've received everything in full."

"Mmmm-hmmmm." Justin perused it quickly and signed it. He never signed anything he didn't read.

Jackie No tapped a few keys and tapped enter. The cash except for one wad vanished. In its place appeared a passbook and a chequebook both with the New Liberty First National Bank logo on them. Jackie handed them over.

"Here you go! Use them in good health and good wisdom. Keep close lipped about your fortune and invest. If you do, it will go far. Good luck Justin!"

P O O O O O F F F F F F!!!!!!!

The window vanished and with it the tiles shattered like crystal. And just like that, Justin was falling into a cloudy void once again.

TBC

 Chapter 7

First Day at Work

So there Justin was, once again, falling out of one of the genie's cockamamie magical realms. He fell through the endless cloudy void hearing the whistling sound of the air rushing past like one of those Wile E. coyote cartoons, although instead of an amusing BLAM and cloud of dust, he was sure that this would end in his much messier and certain doom. Justin sighed, a trifle bored, and examined his manicure, the gay way, palm out. He sighed again and though perhaps.....

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Oh, but this is a trifle boring, I'm sure, and it occurs to me that you're probably dying to know what Brian and Michael have been up to. It's been a while since I've gotten around to them but with Justin and his wishes and the whole skag angle has been going on, I'd quite forgotten about them.

Both Brian and Michael had had a shit first day at work. By the end of it, they were both tired, full of nervous energy and yet pissed off at the same time.

At Ryder's Advertising, Brian was shown to his cubicle by his supervisor. His supervisor was "supervising" Brian and 20 other ad execs. However, you'd never know it because the supervisor (ok, this is stupid, his name was Gary Sapperstein), anyway, Gary hovered over Brian the entire day and proceeded to micromanage the shit out of him until Brian felt Gary had crawled up inside his ass and laid eggs like the bug he was being.

Every time Brian reached for a folder...(Are you sure that's the right account to be working on right now?) Brian always answered yes and did what he was going to do. As an ALPHA, any decision he made was the right one. Anytime he tried to get up to get coffee or take a piss or simply stretch his legs, Gary was there, hovering, asking, "Are you sure this is a good time to take a break Brian?"

The first two times this happened, Brian shrugged and sat back down. The third time this happened, Brian stood deliberately and got right in Gary's face.

"Yes! It is 10:45 and I think that it is the perfect time to take a break. And I need one. From you. So unless you'd like to come to the bathroom and watch me piss and pour me cup of coffee yourself, back the fuck off!!"

"You know, Kinney, we're looking for team players here at Ryder. Maybe you don't know that, since it's your first day."

"I'd be happy to work in a team. Just make sure YOU'RE not in it, hovering over the rest of our shoulders!"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Gary said smarmily and prissily.

"I'm sure you do. Now get the hell out of my way. Or I can unzip right here and let loose but at this point I'd probably end up spraying you in the face!"

Gary got out of the way. "You'll pay for this Kinney! I'm going to tell Mr. Ryder all about your insubordination!"

Brian ignored him and rushed to the bathroom and peed like a racehorse. He viciously pretended Gary was on his knees chained to the wall and muzzled with an S/M urinal gag. Ahhhh well...Maybe one day...

The rest of the day was...tolerable. Gary kept his distance and Brian kept a stink eye on him to make sure he did. At the same time, he waited for the other shoe to drop.

At 4:00 PM, half an hour to closing, it dropped. Ryder opened his office door, yelled : "Kinney, get in here!" and slammed it again.

Brian sighed. A long day was about to get longer.

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Meanwhile, Michael was faring no better, only his day was horrible in a much more direct way.

Michael's job was just back-breakingly and non-stoppingly hard. They gave him a boring grey coveralls uniform and all day he lifted heavy boxes out of a truck onto a dolly, pushed the dolly into the building, emptied it, and returned to the truck. He and several others did this until the truck was empty. He then had to organize the boxes into a huge cube which often involved playing a giant game of tetris. Another worker then came along with a forklift and lifted this huge almost cube and carried it away in a kind of mail delivery to all around the storeroom.

As the forklift took off, Michael would turn and see with a kind of never ending horror that a new truck that looked just like the last truck was waiting for him. It was full to the brim.

Wash, rinse, repeat...and repeat...and repeat. Repeat ad nauseum, and it didn't take Michael long to become ad nauseum ed.

And meantime, all the while he was pushing and shoving and lifting and wheeling and otherwise breaking his back for these assholes, every few minutes one of them would make a horrible and thouroly offensive joke.

There were jokes about everything, yo Mama jokes, blond jokes, Helen Keller jokes, Black person jokes (sigh, really now??) and of course, Mikey was just waiting for it, homo jokes.

There was no stop. There was no escape. They wouldn't be ignored. God know he tried. But when he tried, whoever it was would stick his face right into Michael's and tell the whole thing over again twice as loud as if Michael was deaf. The whole thing was so loud it echoed through the entire warehouse. (The acoustics were very good there.)

And so, eventually, Mikey learned that if he did the fakest "ahh haw hawww hawww" the idiots would be satisfied, not know the difference and leave him (mostly) alone...until the next terrible, terrible joke.

By noon, Mikey was feeling permanently ad nauseumed in both his body and mind. He could barely eat his lunch. Well, of course he did because he probably would have collapsed without it, but it was now like stuffing his face with Styrofoam packing peanuts. I mean....what he imagined they tasted like, he didn't know exactly. I mean he'd never had them for real. Neither have I. I mean, that would just be...crazy. And neither Mikey or me are crazy now...so...yeah, couldn't tell you.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, so after lunch it was more of the same. And everyone was making those jokes. The workers...the truck drivers...the forklifters....the supervisors. Mikey blanched when he saw that I mean, what the hell?? Was there a space he missed on his application...? Are you a: Pick one... a racist__ homophobe__ troglodyte caveman__ Y/Y.

Finally, it was 5 PM. Michael refused all offers to go have "a cold one" and punched out and got the hell out of there with hell hound at his heels and feeling sick in stomach and soul until he could get to his car and go find Brian.

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Brian had fared no better. Inside Vance Gardner's inner sanctum and cushy corner office with a view, Vance screamed at him non-stop for the last half hour of the day.

Brian waited patiently to get a word in, then waited a bit more, realized he was in this for the long haul. So he stopped listening and gazed out the window at the fabulous view.

"KINNEY!! Oh...I'm sorry.... Am I.... booorring you?"

"Not at all. But then again, I didn't think you hired me just so you could waste your time trying to amuse me."

That brought Gardner up short.

"I assume you're done? Good." Brian smiled a small, feral smile. "You also didn't hire me to sit around wasting YOUR or MY TIME. And yet that's what went on here today. You hired me to make you money. You hired me because I got top marks in my class in half the time it took the rest of them. You hired me because you know that I know what I'm doing and don't need to be micromanaged and hovered over by a British nanny. I wasn't hired to be given the third degree every time I want a cup of coffee or to take a piss. You hired me to create advertisements and to MAKE.... YOU... MONEY. Making ME stressed and wasting YOUR valuable time yelling at me is doing neither of these things. Did I cover everything?"

Ryder's mouth was flapping open and closed in fury. "But he said... I said...Insubordinate...I...I...I....."

"At this point it doesn't really matter what he said but whatever it was, it was painfully one sided. And since you're clearly not interested in hearing my side, I'm not going to offer it." He theatrically looked at his watch. "Well, look at that! Five o'clock. And this is painfully boring." He got up and went to the door. "If you'd like to keep me, do nothing and keep that SAP away from me. See you tomorrow. If you'd like to fire me, Tweet Me!" The double meaning was clear.

He left. He left the meeting, left Vance's office, left the agency, left the building. He mentally left the office and situation as well, closed himself off as if none of it had ever happened. As if his first day had never happened. As if Ryder's had never happened.

And the whole time he was expecting a tell tale vibration and jingle of some kind from his phone. But there was nothing when he got into his Jeep. There was nothing as he drove away from the building. Finally, about halfway to the Diner, his phone buzzed. Wow, took him long enough, he thought as he dug it out.

But it wasn't Vance or even Twitter. It was a normal text message from Michael. ‘Hell of a day. How was yurs? Diner?'

Brian waited till he was at an intersection and at a complete stop and then quickly tapped the microphone option.

"O-M-W," he spoke into the phone and then hit send. He then flipped it shut and put it back in his pocket before the light went green. It buzzed again but he ignored it. Anything further could be taken care of when he got there. Texting and driving was a big no-no.

And that's when the blond boy on a flying carpet appeared right beside him.

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Down, down, down..... again.

Well, of course Carpet caught him again. It was still full of joy and energy at Justin's praise and saving of him.

Carpet caught him and zoomed off into parts unknown and Justin was ready to let him.

Instead, the carpet hit a wall. The sky of clouds seemed completely clear, but Carpet hit a barrier nevertheless and Justin was nearly pitched off again.

He hung on though and Carpet searched for a way past. But there was no way. They were in a kind of invisible cylinder. They followed the wall a bit lower and saw that it was getting closer.

"We're in a funnel!" Justin yelled, "Follow it down!"

And so Carpet did. Around and around, down and down, closer and tighter until....

"There!" Justin yelled and pointed.

Down below them was a yellow, pulsing glow. The carpet flew into it. There was blinding flash and...

They were back in the real world. They were in traffic. To their direct right was a black jeep with a gorgeous man in a blue suit in it.

The man looked over with incredulous eyes and open mouth. "Where did you come from?" he asked wonderingly.

"Your dreammmm... This is allll just a dreeeaaammmm." Justin tried.

"Nice try. But I'd never dream I was stuck in traffic," said the gorgeous man.

"Now you're wondering....Who am I?" Justin intoned, gamely soldiering on.

"You're right about that."

"For these questions and many others, you can find me at my coffee and tea shop in an hour..." He named it.

"I hate tea," said Brian.

"I allllsoooo have iiiiiccee creeeaaammm," Justin intoned.

"I never eat sweets or carbs after 7."

"It will still only be 6:00.... Besides, if you really don't want any...come anyway. You can watch me eat it." Justin winked and Brian got painfully hard in 2 seconds.

"Well....bye then." Justin tapped his foot and Carpet zoomed up and away so fast that it was out of sight in two seconds and made the Road Runner look like an asthmatic slouch.

Brian sat staring after it with only the wind on his face to tell him that indeed this was NOT a dream.

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At the diner, Brian walked in the door, took one look at Michael, and decided this would be a short visit. One look at his hang dog face and Brian decided he preferred visions of blond boys slowly sucking....on spoons of vanilla and rocky road ice cream much better.

As internally predicted, Michael launched into his tale of woe without even saying hello. The bent over, back-breaking work! The unending jokes. The bigotry against...everything! The unending jokes! He couldn't be out of the closet there! It was all hopeless....hopeless!!

"Well... as much as I am fascinated listening to the wonders of Hitler's Happy Hunting Grounds...it's been an hour and I have a previous engagement." Brian failed to mention this previous engagement had been made scarcely an hour ago. "By the way...I had a shit day too. I might be fired. Thanks for asking."

Uh Ohhhh!!! Michael sensed he had made a mistake and was losing his audience.

"Oh gee, Brian! I'm sorry! I guess I'm just tired. I guess I just..."

"Oh I see. Tired huh? Is that why you attached a motor to your mouth?"

"Oh, now was that necessary? Honestly, Brian, that was just mean."

Brian shrugged. "Maybe."

Michael sighed but didn't press it as he knew this was as close to an apology he was going to get.

Michael sighed again and toyed with the chain around his neck. As he twisted it around his finger, the medallion that was attached to it slipped out of his shirt. The medallion was a twisted snake made out of silver with rubies for eyes.

"Are you sure you can't stay....just a while longer?" he asked softly.

"I can't....I have to meet... I have... I....."Brian's gaze was caught in the snake's ruby eyes.

Michael let it drop right over the center of his shirt.

"You have to what?" he asked softly in monotone.

"Nothing."

"You don't have to go anywhere."

"No."

"What was your appointment?"

"I'm going to meet a blond boy I met an hour ago."

"That's not really important, is it?"

It's not important." Brian's voice was full on monotone now.

"You have no engagement, do you Brian?"

"No."

No prior engagements."

"No engagements."

"You want to stay with me..."

"I want to stay with you."

"You love to hear me talk."

"I love to hear you talk."

You want to stay with me....and take me to dinner."

Yes, Michael."

Dinner....and a movie." Michael knew he was pushing it but he loved watching movies with Brian...especially when Brian paid for it.

"Yeah...dinner and a movie..." Brian slurred still watching the snake eyes, unable to look away.

Smiling, Michael slipped the necklace back inside his shirt and waited for Brian to snap out of it.

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Carpet was still on a high of sublime joy. He continued his manic pace, did barrel rolls soared to higher and higher heights. Since he could not voice his thanks, he showed it instead. He raced Justin to Paris, spiraled him all the way up the tower and then rested for five minutes atop the very tip top of the tower. Carpet slowly turned in the air giving Justin a 360 degree panoramic view of Paris twice.

At last Justin burst out laughing and cried out: "OK! OK! You're welcome! You're welcome! Will you take me home now!?

He decided it wouldn't be wise to look over the edge, so instead he took out his phone and turned on the camera. Then he ventured this over the side and looked at the screen.

Uh! Oh! As well as the mob of civilians waving and yelling at him from the highest vantage point, there were a number of uniforms ascending. Armed uniforms.

"Oh dear! Not good! Carpet, I'm really going to have to insist now! It's time we were off. Home please!"

And with the unfettered freedom that matched his joy, Carpet did exactly that. He shot up and away like a bullet from a gun. He was a distant dot in two seconds and gone from the astonished eyes of the French in another two.

He flew high, higher, highest until he found a nice current in the jet stream and took Justin back to New Liberty in no time at all.

They spiraled neatly down to the coffeehouse that Justin invited Brian to and opened shop for an hour or two.

Seven came and went but Brian never did do either one. Justin couldn't deny being a little disappointed. He had been hoping for another meeting with the tall, dark and cynical stranger. But he could wait. He had a new life and it stretched out in front of him. No more debt. No more hustling. No more stealing. No more ..... No more Twelve.

And men. Lots of Men. Leo. More conjured up muscled bodyguards and/or attendants. And sex. Decent sex. Sex on his terms with pillow talk and rimming and foreplay and no...absolutely no hands changing money. That was a small thing but at this moment....to Justin....it seemed like heaven.

At 8:00 PM, when it was quite clear Brian nor anybody else was coming, Justin "carried" out Carpet, locked up and flew home.

There he found a partially reverted Jennifer who had again retreated to a trance-like hibernation. After Justin had shook her hard awake again, she awoke to a frantic joy. Justin questioned her and was shocked to discover that the financial realm had taken up 3 days! After two days of waiting, Jennifer had lapsed into daydreaming about her two lost children but it was a twilight sleep from which she could not wake on her own.

"Mother! This will not do! I may have to go away again sometimes and it seems time is erratic there. You HAVE to find a better coping mechanism! Especially since we are so close to our goal! Molly will be home soon and you can NOT lapse into one of these states when she is around. If anyone found out, she'd be taken out of reach for good this time!"

Jennifer promised and Justin showed her the passbook.

After they both had stopped screaming and hugging and jumping for joy, Justin ordered out for pizza and used some of the cash to pay for it. While he was waiting, he wrote out cheques to pay off the rest of their creditors. He wrote off several monthly installments and planned to go to the bank the next day to instruct them to send each one, one at a time at the beginning of the month instead of all at once. This would insure that the hospital and the other people they owed money to, would be surprised at the sudden steady income, a little curious even, but not curious enough to investigate, merely be happy that they were finally being paid.

This plan was duly carried out and went off without a hitch. Everyone in the bank, recognized him immediately, showed him to a soft chair and his own private teller and was served a small cup of muddy thick Turkish coffee. A small sip gave Justin an instant high.

After Justin explained everything discreetly, the tall, tanned teller with bulging biceps toadishly told him that he totally took in his meaning and would personally see to it that everything was done to the letter. He gave him his receipt with his phone number on the back.

And the next day after that, the Taylors woke up in their new house.

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Michael and Brian were enjoying their sumptuous Thai feast at their favorite restaurant. Well, it was Michael's favorite, especially when he was eating with Brian and especially when he took it upon himself...to take control.

"Man, I love Thai food! This was a great idea I had!" Brian congratulated himself...of course.

"It sure was!" Michael agreed, "What movie shall we go see? We can go back to your place and choose on Netflix in the media room."

"How about one of The Fast and the Furious?" suggested Brian. For some reason, his pulse quickened when he thought of fast and speeding things.

"Briii - yaaaannnn..... I don't want to sit there for two hours listening to motors revving. I was thinking of something more romantic....like 'Hearts of Spring' or ' Date with Love'."

Brian had no idea what Michael was talking about so he looked them up with a search engine on his phone. He blanched.

"Are you fucking kidding me!!? I mean seriously, Michael, what happened to you? Did you have a vagina transplant?"

"What? They're not that bad."

"They are made by the fucking Hallmark Channel!!! Yes, they are too that bad!"

"How 'bout Heart Felt?"

Brian looked it up and his face twisted in distaste. He looked up and although he never uttered a word, his expression spoke volumes.

Mike shrugged and said: "At least it's not made by Hallmark."

"Mikey, how in the hell do you even know about these movies? They're for ugly single lesbians who can't get a date because they have yeasty twats!"

"Oh now that's not true!" protested Michael vehemently, "I'm sure not all of them have yeasty twats."

"Well, let's make a rule. No movies with the words Love, Heart, Valentine, or Date in the title."

"My Big Fat Greek Wedd ---"

"Nooooooooooope."

"Mother's Day."

Brian had to look that one up. "Good Lord Mikey! Seriously...what is wrong with you?"

"I just wanna unwind after a hard day," Mike said sulkily.

"Yeah but there's unwinding and then there's...who the hell is Timothy Elephant?

"That's Timothy Olyphant. And he's a great...fantastic....well, he's a good romantic lead OK? Plus there's Jennifer Aniston in it too."

"Geez...how does she keep gettin' work?"

"Well, there's got to be a happy medium somewhere. Michael scrolled down a list on his own phone and then stopped: "Here we go. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Romance for me and violence and flesh eating zombies for you."

"Oh brother! All right, fine! You ready? Let's get this over with."

"Oh Brian! I don't just want to get this over with. I want...I just wish...."

"What the hell are you talking about, Mikey?"

Frustrated, Mikey spoke the words: "The sun was shining on the sea, shining with all it's might."

"It did it's very best to make the billows smooth and bright," said Brian.

"And this was odd because...."

"It was the middle of the night." Brian said.

"Pay up and let's go."

"Yes, Mast - uh...Mikey."

"Good Boy," said Michael.

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Later, in the Mayor's Mansion's media room, Brian and Michael sat on the couch, side by side. Michael sighed and rested his head on Brian's shoulder. The opening credits of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies started to roll.

"See? Now isn't this nice?"

"Yes. This is nice," Brian said woodenly.

"You know Brian, I was thinking."

Brian was silent.

"I was thinking, I've outgrown menial labor. I didn't like the Diner and I don't like the Q. I need a different field of work. Something important. I want you to talk to your father and convince him to give me a interview as his intern. Show me the ropes to becoming a councillor or something."

"This will not be easy. Will be hard to convince him and hard to pass the interview." said Brian.

"You're so so sweet to be concerned," purred Michael, "But you just leave all that to me. I'll take care of it. You just do your part." He snuggled in closer and gave a kiss to Brian's neck before laying his head on his shoulder again. He tried to ignore the way Brian's eyes were looking off in two different directions.

"Yes..... Master," said Brian.

TBC

Chapter 8

Two Weeks

Two weeks later.. :

Justin opened up shop with a whistle in his mouth and a song in his heart. He felt like a Disn--- uhhhh.... a cartoon princess. Well... you know... Those ones who had a penis.... and were ragingly and hornily gay.

Being debt-free agreed with Justin. A lot. No more hustling, no more Twelve, his mother was spending more and more time among the land of the living. She was also seeing a therapist twice a week to develop better coping mechanisms. Yes, things were looking up and the future was bright.

That is until two of Fagin's hired goons came into the shop, muscled their way to the front of the line said, with jocularity that was as fake as his smile, “Long time no see, Justin.” Then he drove the nail home. “We've missed seeing you on your corner. And the Boss (pronounced boh-oss) has missed his cut from you peddling that sweet ass of yours!”

Justin sighed as what few of his customers went running out the door. He couldn't really blame them though. He wished he could join them.

“In case you haven't noticed, I've changed professions. I don't hustle any more. You can tell... Fagin.... I quit!” He used the name viciously, knowing how Fagin hated having his name used in public

“You can tell him that yourself... when you bring him his money!” bit out Thug #1.

“Aren't you listening!? There isn't any money! I'm not hustling any more! I'm not going to hustle anymore. I've gone straight...well, legit anyway. At any rate, I'm not paying him a dime, ever again!”

“Then you can bring him 25% of whatever you're making in this pissant little fairy dump and count yourself lucky if he doesn't cut off a finger! D'uhhhh!! Nobody quits the boh-oss!!”

“Well I am! I did! I' through hustling and stealing and I'm through with the likes of you! This is my place and you can just... just get outta here! Get lost!”

Thugs Inc. did no such thing. Instead, they started giggling nastily and moronically. They raised up their baseball bats from and began happily swinging.

Justin ducked and a good thing too or they would have taken off his head.

Instead, they smashed in his fancy cappuccino machine. They smashed his coffees and all his teas all over the floor. They smashed all his tables and chairs into pieces. They finished off by swinging their bats through his beautiful plate glass front windows.

“Nice place you got here, Justin,” said one as he stepped through the window, showing a surprising bit of accidental intelligent humor.

“See you on the streets tomorrow, Justin,” said the other one. A command. “Bright and early.” They left.

Justin go up and stood there for a few minutes, not really knowing what to do. Truth be told, there was not much he could do. He'd left the lamp at home.

And a few minutes after that, of course, the brown haired, brown eyed dream, the six feet of sex poured into a suit, the hunk from the highway, walked up the street and poked his head into the smashed out window and then gingerly stepped inside.

“Doing a reno?” he asked mildly.

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Justin burst into tears.

“No! I am not.... doing a reno! I was vandalized not five minutes ago by two thugs wearing wifebeaters.... and baseball bats!” he quipped viciously through his tears.
“Holy shit! Are you all right? No, of course you're not!” Brian stepped over, the broken glass crunching under his loafers. He surveyed the sad eyes and snotty snout of the young man and pulled out and proffered a silken snotrag with his monogram on it. “Blow,” he said.

Justin did, with a mighty and disgusting honk. He offered it back.

“Keep it. Scratch that. Have it washed and return it. Delicate cycle or it'll be chewed to pieces.”

“Of course. And such nice initials. BAK. Favorite position?”

“You're a cheeky twat. Brian Aiden Kinney. At your service. And you are?”

“Justin Taylor.”

Well, Justin, back to the matter at hand? Why were you vandalized? And...oh shit!... Shouldn't we call the cops!?”

He pulled out his cell in a flash but Justin put his soft hand in Brian's bigger one.

“No. No cops! They'd only tie me up in red tape all day and they can't put it back together again.”

“But this was a crime! Don't you want to catch whoever did this!?”

“I know who did this. Two thugs who work for a criminal who thinks he's my pimp and that I'm good for nothing except hustling!”

“Why would he think that?”

Because two weeks ago I WAS in his gang and I WAS a hustler. But not anymore! I came into... an inheritance... and I gave that up at once. Now...I own and run this place.”

“Well....you did,” Brian said regretfully, looking over the wreckage.

“Oh...I will again,”Justin said mildly. Now that the trauma had worn off and he had a comforting presence in Brian, his confidence was returning, “You should come again tomorrow. Everything will be back to normal. Better even.”

“Oh? And how are you going to manage that?”

“I have.... insurance,” Justin replied.

“Mmmmmm—hmmmmmmm,” Brian hmmed which was to say he didn't believe it.

Come and see,” Justin challenged again.

“All right, I will. In the meantime, how bout we get out of here? We can finish this conversation somewhere more... comfortable. Ever been to Liberty Diner?”

“Frequently. I love Debbie. And I think that's a great idea. Just let me empty the register.”

This he did in haste, and then joined Brian in vacating the shattered shop.

Liberty Diner......

Brian looked across the booth at the blond beauty and felt the day's angst slide off him. He was reminded of that long ago disaster date when he had envisioned a blond hunk with a short part like Justin's. His hunk would have had a deep chest and biceps to hold onto and while Justin wasn't built like that, he had a good body and cupid bow lips without seeming effeminate. Then he had gone to the dining room to discover...her. He shuddered.

“Everything OK?” Justin asked.

“Oh yeah...Just...a bad memory.”

“Oh yeah. I guess you must come here with a lot of guys huh? Is it the booth? Should we switch seats?” Brian did not miss the slightly disappointed tone come into the young man's voice.

“No! It's nothing like that. I mean, I come here a bit but nothing romantic happened. It was a long time ago.... My dad tried to play matchmaker and... well, I won't get into it.”

“All right.” There was a pause. “You know, what I'd really like to know is why now? I invited you to my shop two weeks ago. But you never did come.”

“I was planning on it.... Then I just...I just...” His brow furrowed as Brian struggled to remember.

“You just what?”

“I guess I must have been more tired than I thought. The next thing I remember is waking up after a movie at my house with Mikey.”

“Oh? Who's Mikey?” asked Justin, trying and succeeding not to sound jealous. Mostly. After all, this stunning man was clearly not a virgin.

“He's my best friend. You know, you get one from childhood, that type of thing.”

Justin wished he did know.

“Anyway, after that, things got really busy. I'd had a really shit day that first day and gave my boss an ultimatum that could have got me fired.”

“Ballsy,” commented Justin.

Brian smirked. “My boss thought so too. I got no text response which was the signal to come in the next day. So I did and pretended the first day never happened. And my micromanaging supervisor, who was the problem in the first place, stayed far away from me. Now that I was left alone, I was able to double my workload. I set up dozens of meetings, ran pitches for ideas, signed on 6 new accounts. I kind of went into a workaholic haze and when I emerged yesterday, I got my supervisor's position.”

“And what happened to him?”

“No idea. Out of my hair for good, and that's all I care about. So anyway, I had some spare time, decided to take a half day and seek out the blond wet dream who was riding a flying carpet.”

“What?? Me? No... whaaaaa????” And with many other protestations and over the top comical gestures Justin attempted to deflect.

“Can it, Goldilocks! I remember what I saw. Care to explain.?”

“Not especially,” Justin rejoined brightly as he took a huge bite of his burger. He chewed slowly, keeping his mouth full for as long as possible hoping Brian would give up and ask another question.

Taking the hint, Brian changed tack and asked sternly, “So...can you tell me why your shop has been turned into Mike Holmes' wet dream?”

Justin thought a bit about how to explain. “Well, it's almost the exact opposite of your situation. I lifted myself out of a bad situation but that situation wants me back on the street hustling my ass so he can collect 25% of the take.”

“Oh. That's too bad. Do you need any help? You know any help with the reno? I mean...you're not going to go back are you?”

“Good God, NO! And you don't have to worry. If you come by the shop tomorrow, I'll have it fixed up good as new.”

“Huh!!? Justin... That's not possible!”

“Oh no?? Well then how about a little wager?”

“What do you mean?”
“Well, if I win, you take me out on a date... a real date, not this pussy-licking burger and fries bullshit but a...”
“Hey!!!” yelled Deb from somewhere.

“Sorry Deb!” Justin yelled out almost reflexively, “Oooops. But you know what I mean,” he said to Brian.

“Actually no, I don't! I've never been on a date in my life!” Brian declared a bit too vehemently.

“Dinner, something that requires a nice suit, maybe a nice pasta or French joint and then you take ME to a movie.”

“Mmmm-hmmmmm..... do go on,” Brian said shrewdly

“After that, you take me back to your place and make my eyes roll back into my head. Well...if you can,” said Justin impishly. “So that's a date.”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” mmm-hmmm-ed Brian again, “And what do I get if you lose?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if I come by tomorrow and it still looks like those elephants charged through there. If I don't get the best cup of Earl Grey tea I've had in my life along with one of Deb's fresh lemon bars, then...what do I get?”

“I dunno... I hadn't considered it...since I'm going to win,” retorted Justin. “So..... Backalley Blowjob? …... Oh very well, I don't know then.... What do you want?”

“You tell me about the magic carpet. For starters. Then you tell me the rest of it. The inheritance. Why you were a hustler. Who's after you. The works. Tell me...everything.”

“Full disclosure, hmmmm? OK......... You have a deal.”

“Good.” Brian got up and came over to his side of the booth. “Shake on it?”

“Sure.” Justin held out his hand.

Looking back, he wondered how he didn't see through the con. But he didn't.

And so, it was very easy for Brian to grab his hand, pull him out of the booth and into his arms. And once he was there, it was very easy for him to cover his mouth with his own and tongue-fuck him mercilessly for several minutes, all the while massaging his crotch till he was satisfied that Justin had a raging boner that would remain for the rest of the day, or at least until Justin could find a private place. Then he released him with a pop and dropped him back into the booth. He bent over him, both of them breathing heavily.

“Still not sure.... if I can?” Brian asked a bit impishly himself, although he'd never admit it.

Justin didn't reply so Brian just laughed and left him there and left the Diner to go on with his day.

He was about a block away from the Diner and almost to his Jeep when his cell rang.

“Brian Kinney,” he said into it.

“The sun was shining on the sea, shining with all its might.”

Brian stopped. “It did its very best to make....the billows smooth and bright,” he said.

“And this was odd because....”

“It was the middle of the night,” Brian finished up the code sequence.

“I am the sun. I am the light of your world.” A confirmation.

“I am the moon. I ride the night, deep as midnight.” Brian was deep in trance and ready for orders.

“Where are you?”

“On the way to my car for a drive. I took the day off.”

“Good. Come to my office. I want you under my desk, begging for my cock in 15 minutes. Be in uniform,” said Michael.

“Yes.....Master.”

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

Michael had had a prosperous two weeks as well.

That next day, after Brian had set up his interview with Mayor Jack Kinney, Michael dressed in a clean white shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. He wore a nice black tie. He brought a resume that was largely.... exaggerated, to use a nice word. Unfortunately, he couldn't fake his schooling but a lot of the work history was downright fiction. He added the Q but kept it minimal.

All too soon, the appointed time arrived and Michael arrived at Jack's office door. He was nervous but not for the reason most people would think. He knocked. He pulled out the snake medallion so that it rested over his heart on the outside of his shirt.

“Come in,” called Jack.

Michael did. He went over and sat down in the chair across from Mayor Uncle Jack (well, he practically was since Brian and him were so close) and smiled slightly as he saw the exact moment when Jack's eyes were caught and trapped by the snake's red eyes.

“Hello , Uncle Jack. Thank you for seeing me. Although, it doesn't really matter since all you see are my friend's ruby red eyes and by now you are seeing without seeing, falling deeper and deeper, feeling more and more relaxed. Your eyes must watch his eyes, see without seeing drop without ending and let your eyes close now Jack. Sleep deep, relax, let the day drop away let your mind be consumed and let your will be replaced with my own. That's it, drop deep, so deep to that familiar sleep where you hear my voice and all you want to do is obey.”

“Obey.......” slurred Jack, eyes closed and head back on the headrest already. This wasn't a huge surprise to Michael as he had been priming both Jack and Brian for years.

“That's right. That's good Jack, very good. I'm going to count back from 10. With every number you can go twice as deeply asleep. Ten... Twice as deeply asleep. Nine.... The deeper you go the better you feel. Eight... Body so heavy and relaxed. Seven.... Mind so heavy and empty. Six.... Heavy... empty and relaxed. Five....Empty and open and heavy. Deeper. Four... Empty and open and obedient. Three.... Empty and open and obedient. Two..... Empty and open and obedient. One..... Zero. How are you feeling Jack?

“Empty and open and obedient. Relaxed...” sighed Jack.

“Good boy. Now in a few moments, we will start our interview for real. I will have just sat down. You will feel very dominant and in control but in reality , it is I who will be in control and you will follow my cues accordingly. You will accept my resume without hesitation and you will love it. You will be sympathetic to my plight and you WILL give me a job even if it is a low one. However, you will keep your eye on me and whatever I do will turn to gold. I can do no wrong. Over the next two weeks you will promote me several times and even after that until I am Chief City Councilman. Understand, Jack?”

“Yes Sir. Chief Councilman.” said Jack softly.

“OK. In a few moments, I will say a phrase and you will come to full awareness and start my interview.” Michael named the phrase. “Just relax and let this trance sink down and away, forgotten and down a deep dark drain where it can never be recovered. Relax deep, feeling great.” Michael gave him a few moments and tucked the snake back inside his shirt.

“Thanks a lot for seeing me Uncle Jack.”

Jack raised his head and smiled at Michael as he shook off the cobwebs. “Not at all, my boy, not at all. What can I do for you?” Shit! He didn't have one of those blackouts again did he? Not in front of Michael! He hoped not.

“Well, as Brian may have told you, I'm looking for a job. And I want to work for you, the mayor and for City Hall. I've been watching you work over the years and I've been taking a lot of internet courses in politics over the last few years.” This last part was a whopper of a lie but it sounded good and this seemed like something Michael could do once he was free of the Q.

“Michael, I see dozens of candidates all the time, college graduates, who I turn away. Why would I choose you?”

“Nepotism.” Michael said frankly and abruptly, purposely shocking Jack. “Look Un.... Mayor Jack, I've known your family since I was a teen and you know me. I'll work hard and what I don't know, I'll learn. And I'd much rather work in this stable environment then the diner or the Big Q where I'll go nowhere. Please.... I'm sure... there's something you can do,” he said with confidence.

“Yes...Well, let's have a look see....” Jack looked over the resume but it seemed like gibberish all of a sudden. He looked into Michael's soulful eyes and felt rather sorry for him. He'd heard from Brian how backbreaking and bigoted the work was in the bowels of the Q. Of course, Michael had spent several hours telling all his woes to Brian while Brian was in trance.

“Yes....yes, I'm sure there's something I can do.” he murmured and the tremulous and shy smile he got from Michael made him feel like a muscled spandex clad superhero instead of the rather opposite circumstance that was his reality.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

So here it was two weeks later. Jack gave him a job as a “Sanitation Engineer” which of course was just a fancy moniker for garbage man. However with all the clean energy and recycling going on in new Liberty, it was a much different and cleaner job than it used to be. A few days after that, his supervisor “fell” into the paper recycler and ended up in the glue-ey, slimy mess that was the toilet paper making vat. He barely made it out with his life, thanks to Michael pulling him out. Jack was amazed and impressed and offered Michael a promotion to city planning engineering. (street planning and maintenance) Michael graciously accepted. Somehow, the supervisor's claims that Michael had pushed him in the first place fell on deaf ears.

Michael stuck with that job for a week before he came up with an ingenious plan to have a bypass built that would allow travellers to skip the heavier traffic of the mid town while still hitting a gas station to fill up before heading to Vegas. Michael was hailed a hero and given a hefty pay rise and a promotion to one of Jack's personal advisors. Of course, the accusation that Michael had stolen the plans off of his supervisor's computer went on deaf ears. Everything Michael did turned to gold. That supervisor was just jealous and duly fired. Michael could do no wrong.

Of course, what nobody knew was, that night Michael hired a burly bodybuilder from his gym who was looking to work off his roid rage to capture that supervisor with chloroform, drive him 50 miles out of town into the desert and then off road till he was out of sight of said road. He was dumped out like a sack of garbage in the middle of the wilderness. He was of course, never seen again.

Michael now had a office that was as big as his apartment, on the 10th out of the14 floors of City Hall, his own secretary (male and built like a brick shithouse....of course), a whole wall that was a window with a fantastic view and money to burn. Of course, he didn't burn it but bought nice clothes and internet courses that he would study at night.

He was in said office, preparing for a teleconference when there was a buzz on his intercom.

“Brian Kinney to see you, Sir!” said the shithouse built secretary.

“Send him in.”

Brian entered, closed the door and locked it. Then he dropped to his knees and begged, albeit a bit woodenly, “Please Sir, may I have your cock!? Please sir please...”

Michael snapped his fingers sharply three times.

Brian got up at once and stood at attention, hands behind his back.

“There's no time for that now. I have to go into teleconference in a few minutes. You're late.”

“Yes Sir. Traffic was a bitch.”

“I assume you are in uniform.”

“Yes...Master. Under my street clothes.”

“Well....strip.”

Brian did so until he was in nothing but a clean white jock strap.

Michael slid his chair back a bit away from his desk. He snapped his fingers and pointed wordlessly down at his feet. Brian took a step forward to comply.

“Ahh...ahhh...ahhhh.... Crawl.” Michael said, cruelly.

Brian immediately dropped to all fours and crawled over to Michael's desk and then backed up until he was under it. Michael slid forward just as Jack rang him and the other councilors with Skype.

By this time, Michael was quite an expert. He was quite proud that he was able to maintain a passable poker face. None of the other councilors, not even his father guessed that his son, Brian Kinney was completely mind fucked and currently sucking him off expertly with slow, steady strokes.

TBC

 Chapter 9

The Bet

Brian knocked off an hour early and headed to Justin's to collect his bet and hear all about the carpet.

He wasn't doing much good at work anyway. He'd been cranky and tired and his jaw was sore and kept clicking when he yawned which he did a lot since he was tired and....well you get the idea. Also, there were too many people there and if anyone came near him (which was a lot) he had to do a double take to be sure they weren't looking at him like he was wearing nothing but his underwear.

However, when he got there, his jaw dropped, causing it to click painfully.

Justin's coffee shop now proclaimed that it was called: The Brick House. The sign over the door spelled out the words using bricks. Red bricks for The, yellow bricks for Brick, and red for House. The two plate glass window were as whole as if they were new. The entire storefront around the windows was now made out of brick from top to bottom: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. The entire storefront was a brick LGBT flag.

Inside, everything was very neat and casual. The cappuccino machine had been fixed (was new?) There was section of shelving for even more coffees than before and another for a huge selection of teas.

The décor was casual and cartoonish. Everything was cushions or a futon or bean bag chair. In one section was a double futon that appeared to be made of straw but was just painted on to seem that way. A second air mattress was contrived to look like a wooden raft with "bumpy" air filled logs. A third section looked like it was just a mound of red bricks but under closer inspection were brick cushions that had velcro on 5 sides. It turned out you could stick the "bricks" together and build your own chair into whatever you wished. There was another mound of yellow bricks. The straw, wood, and brick seatings were all equipped with pig snout cushions. There was a futon that looked like a piece of bread with a pat of butter on it. There was a large square one near the window that looked like a waffle. There was another, round one that looked like a fried egg. In a corner, a ragged boy with a green bandanna was sleeping on a mound of purple cushions when velcro-ed together looked like grapes.

And everywhere, in strategic locations were circular sections of flooring Some circles were the size of a dinner plate and some only the size of a cup. Beside each circle was a small red switches. A friendly sign over the counter said:

WATCH YOUR STEP!

PLEASE DO NOT STEP ON THE RED SWITCHES

This soon became clear to the reader as near some of the beanbags, some of the circles were activated by the buttons. It turned out that when you pressed a button, a collapsable wooden cylinder would rise out of the floor like a telescope. As long as you pressed the switch the higher or lower the telescope would rise, so it was completely adjustable. Food items could be placed on dinner plate tables and coffee cups could be placed on the smaller ones if you wished. Of course, everything could be retracted back into the floor at a moments notice and Brian learned later that Justin carried a small remote on his keychain that was a master switch that would retract every table at a moment's notice.

In short, there was nothing there that was able to be (or worth trying) to destroy. At least with a baseball bat.

Brian looked everything over in wonder and amazement. Justin looked over at Brian with amusement and lust.

Finally, Brian made his way over to the counter and just asked one word. "How?"

"Internet," Justin answered cheekily.

Brian considered this and then looked over everything. In one day? Even the powers of the Great and Powerful Inter of Net had its limits. "Uh huh.... So how'd you really do it?"

Justin looked over at the poor man and decided to throw him a bone (Not that one, you creep!)

"Why don't we discuss things over a cup of Earl Grey?" he asked.

"You have good shit?" Brian asked.

"Best you ever had in your life. And there's lemon bars."

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

It was a few minutes later.

Brian decided on the fried egg futon, pushed the relevant switches to raise the tables and Justin served their tea and bars onto them. Then he settled into the eggs and snuggled next to Brian and moved in for a kiss.

Brian had just turned toward him and Justin was right there. He felt a wave of revulsion and panic. He recoiled violently back.

"What the FUCK are you doing?" he yelled.

"Brian...I... I'm sorry. I just thought...yesterday...you kissed me so good... I thought it'd be OK....." Justin moved away again, hurt and confused.

Brian was heaving like he was running a mile a minute. Slowly...in sections, things came back to him. "Oh. Right. It's just...I don't like... to be snuck up on. You were just...there, you know. I've never really liked that. I'm sorry Justin. Really. I remember now. And.... I really enjoyed yesterday as well. . Just...give me warning, you know?" And he kissed Justin, a soft, sweet kiss that seemed to melt away the horrible day he'd had like sugar in a rainstorm.

After many pleasurable minutes, Justin reminded him: "You owe me a date."

"What's wrong with right here, right now?" Brian purred, seductive mode turned up full blast. He licked an earlobe and felt the blond boy shudder in pleasure.

"A real date, Brian," Justin chastised gently, smacking him on the arm.

"Fine...fine... How 'bout the Truff n' Stuff?" Brian bent over to continue necking.

"What...the hell... is a Truff n' Stuff?" asked Justin.

"It's a gay run French restaurant with a back room," Brian said.

Justin considered this. Finally, he said: "Fine. But any use of this "back room" includes only me. No picking up other patrons or waiters or anything like that and disappearing back there or worse yet taking off and stiffing me with the check."

Brian sighed hugely as if it was a huge opposition and kicked himself mentally. Honestly, he was halfway considering the waiter thing but whenever he looked into those crystal blues more and more he'd think: who the hell cares about that?

"Fine. No waiters or other patrons or shit. And trust me, I won't stiff you..." Here he pulled Justin into his lap so that he was sitting on his rock hard dick. "...On the check." And he kissed Justin witless.

And Justin gasped as he felt Brian's hard length poking him with only a thin layer of expensive fabric separating them. Happily, he kissed Brian right back, matching his ardor and stamina.

The two men made out like horny adolescents for a long time. Patrons old and newer were so amused by this, they either backed out again or began to serve themselves and leave money on the counter or use the debit machine and take their receipts to prove what they paid for.

At last Justin pulled back and ended the session.

"I have a flying carpet," he said.

"Well, I know that much! I saw you on it, remember?"

"Yes."

There was a pause.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

Well, isn't there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

"Yes. You have beautiful eyes. I believe they're your best feature."

"What? You really think so? I know they're pretty hot but...- hey!!! I mean about the carpet!"

"Oh, that! No, not really."

What??? Come on!!! Where did you get a flying carpet? How? Does that mean magic exists?"

Of course it exists! In fact, I can work a very simple spell."

"You can?"

"Yup. First you close your eyes."

Brian obeyed.

"Then you kiss me."

"Mmmmm. I think I like this spell." They kissed deep, deeper, deepest.

"What now?" Brian asked, when they finally came up for air.

"Oh, that's it. I just wanted to make out with you again." At Brian's outraged expression, Justin whipped out his phone and snapped a picture. "That's a keeper.... What?? Didn't you feel the magic?"

Brian just crossed his arms and gave his best pissed off face.

"As for that other stuff, my lips are sealed. I won the bet remember? I don't have to tell you anything."

Brian sulked and considered staging a queen out.

"Oh, Brian, don't sulk. There may come a time where I can tell you all. But for now, I barely know you, and besides half of what I told you, you wouldn't believe and the other half you wouldn't understand."

"I'm a pretty smart guy. You might be surprised," Brian said.

"Not about this stuff. Besides, some things aren't my secrets to tell. Let's wait until after the date. I'll know what I can tell you by then."

"Fine. We'll table this discussion till after the date. But I will expect...more from you then. Not this evasive shit."

Agreed."

There was a comfortable silence for a while and then Brian said, "You know, if you can do all this in a single day, why stop here?"

"What do you mean?"

Well, it's one thing to pooch around with this tea and scone watering hole but it's still relatively small potatoes and will require your constant attention. And from the front, I gather you want this to be an LGBT friendly place but how many people are you going to get in here like that with the day crowd? And what about the punks? The trannies? The leather folk? Trust me, no self respecting leather daddy would EVER come in here to use...one of ... these..." Brian picked up a silver stirring spoon, one of those with an impossible teeny spoon part. It was one of those tea spoons whose sole existence was to stir and that's it. "Besides, we've got Debbie and the diner. And speaking of the diner, I love her and all but....she's been working there her entire life. Do you really want to end up like Debbie?"

"Hmmmm....good point," murmured Justin.

"Not to mention, the Big Q. Trust me, as soon as they get wind of this little store, they'll have coffee and tea kiosks dotted all throughout their monstrosity in order to drive you out and down."

"Well then, what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know if you know this but New Liberty has a huge gay community. Like huge. I have a huge list of contacts already and they all have contacts. I'm guessing we secretly actually outnumber the actual straights in this burg."

Justin was fascinated. "So what's your point?'

Brian groaned. So....there's this huge untapped market. And let's face it. We're fags...we like to fuck. But there's only one gay bar and a sleazy one at that, the Truff n' Stuff, Deb's, and now you. And out of those 5, only 2 have back rooms. And pathetically small ones at that. We need a place we can be proud to be queer, a safe place, a place to dance to let loose. Also a place to fuck besides the boring confines of own bedrooms."

What did you have in mind for that?" Justin asked cynically.

"A bathhouse," answered Brian honestly, "A big one. Trust me, if I'm right (and I usually am) it'd be packed every night. You'd make twice...no, three times as what this place would pull in."

"Justin was mulling everything over. "Actually....these aren't horrible ideas. Quite good in fact. I'll have to mull them over."

"Here's another one. Another gay bar. And not some sleazy rat hole like Woody's where all there is, is pool to play and a two drink minimum. Something nice, big, with a dance floor..." Brian got a dreamy look on his face. "God, the nearest big dance club is in Albuquerque and I have to take a weekend trip just to go there."

"That sounds like a chore."

"It is.

"Well, Brian, you've definitely given me food for thought."

"And I'll help you. I'm in advertising, after all. I'll come up with a killer campaign for whatever you decide to do." He gave Justin his card. "Ask for me by name," he purred into his ear, making Justin shiver in pleasure.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

Sometime later:

"I'll pick you up at 7." Brian bent down and pecked a last kiss in what might be called a tender gesture. It might be, but not by Brian. Justin kissed him back and then shoo-ed him out the door.

This time Brian managed to make it all the way to his car before his phone rang.

"Geez Brian, where ya been? I've been waiting at the diner forever!"

"You need to get out more Mikey. The world extends beyond the diner, you know. I'm not coming there tonight. I had plans. I was chasing a piece of tail."

"What are ya talking about?" Michael asked in this dark voice Brian didn't like.

"A guy. A hot ass. I'm sure you're familiar with the concept Mikey. Otherwise, never you mind. And change your tone huh? It's none of your business what I do."

There was a beat of silence. Then...

"The sun was shining on the sea...."

And Brian was sinking....focusing....falling..... "Shining with all it's might......"

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

7:00 PM...

At seven o' clock Brian didn't come. At 7:15 He didn't come. At 7:30 Justin began to suspect he was being stood up. He waited 15 minutes more and called the Truff n' Stuff (well, of course it was called something else stuffy....uhhhh.... fancy) to confirm their reservation and see if it could be extended.

No reservation had been made.

Justin called Brian's number but it was his office number. Of course, there was no-one there.

Justin considered leaving a scathing message, but then decided against it. He hung up without saying anything. Realizing he'd been stood up and their bet welshed on, he went up to bed horny, sad, and disappointed.

But Brian had done neither of these things. At least not intentionally. After driving to Michael's, he had been put even deeper into trance, stripped, collared, and strapped down to a large, wooden, S/M type chair. Michael had put goggles over his eyes and heavy, noise cancelling headphones over his ears. His cock was put inside a penis pump that would stroke Brian as slow or as fast as Michael wanted with the touch of a dial. He hooked everything up to a waiting laptop.

The insides of the goggles were screens and piped in a fast spiral with words flashing subliminally fast. The headphones had a deep authoritative voice intoning a trance deepener and instructions over and over.

Michael had added his own instructions to the program regarding one annoying gnat of a blond and had added his picture from Brian's cell along with a mind wipe program to go along with it.

Michael brainwashed, mindfucked and edged Brian mercilessly, for hours. Past seven, long past eight, long past 10 o' clock.

When Michael finally unhooked Brian and sent him to bed, Brian was in a exhausted, drone like state. He was a mind-emptied shell, a state of non-being that would last until he was at last allowed to fall asleep naturally. Michael of course implanted the memories that Brian had come over for a kegger, drank too much beer, and passed out. He had forgotten his encounters with Justin; he had been completely erased from his mind.... erased from existence.

TBC

 Chapter 10

The Palace

Brian awoke fitfully and then jolted fully awake and sat up with a jerk. His head ached from a hangover and he had that nasty sensation of not knowing where you are when you wake up. And this was scarcely odd because....he didn't know where he was.

He looked around frantically, trying to get his bearings and slow his heart rate. He was in a bed. He was in a bedroom. Elegant. That was a good sign. He looked over and recoiled.

He was in bed with Michael.

Fortunately, Michael was dressed in boxers and a wifebeater and was sleeping on top of the covers. But he still had a arm slung over Brian's waist in a proprietary way that Brian didn't like.

"JESUS, MIKEY! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? WHERE AM I!?!?" Brian yelled aggressively, shoved the arm off him and jumped out of bed. He checked. Pheww! He was wearing his silk undies.

Michael was shoved in the opposite direction. He was rolled over onto his back,bounced a bit and fell off the bed. This woke him up.

"Geez, Brian! What the hell!?" Michael groaned.

"Michael! I am waiting! Where are we and why are we in bed together?"

"Geez, relax, Brian! We're at my place and this is my bed. Don't worry. I slept on top of the covers. It wasn't like that." Mike saw that he had failed again and backpedaled the situation into a "not a big deal" situation.

"And why am I here? In your bed," Brian added dangerously.

"Don't you remember? We had a keg of beer delivered. We both got kind of wasted. So I put you to bed."

Brian thought back and was a little afraid to realize he didn't remember. Of course, he never showed fear so he continued with anger as a good cover. "And what was wrong with the couch?"

"Oh Brian, really! Surely, I'm a better host than that! Besides, I didn't want to throw out your back," Michael smiled in what he hoped was a winsome way but there were too many teeth involved for it to work.

"So you decided to throw me in your bed instead. Very hospitable indeed. NOT! Don't do it again!" He grabbed his clothes from off a chair and made for the bathroom. "Oh....and don't call me Shirley!" he bit out viciously. The bathroom door slammed.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

Michael sat there on the end of the bed and rested his forehead into his palms. He'd failed again.

No matter what technique he tried, no matter what he did hypnotically to Brian's noggin, what he couldn't...just couldn't make happen....was for Brian to love him.

No matter the mind-fuck, no matter the brainwash, no matter the post hypnotic trigger, or the hours of therapy and interrogation, it just wouldn't happen. Michael had Brian's brain fucked over, fricaseed, fried, baked, boiled and french fried. Uhhhh... hypnotically speaking, of course. Since he was 14, Brian had been his tranced chauffeur, bodyguard, sex slave, houseboy, movie mate, party date, and bedmate. But every time he eventually woke him back to his normal self again, he was his dismissive, arrogant self again and.... He... could... not... make... him... love...him!

Brian slammed out of the bathroom, fully clothed. Geez, he couldn't even stand to be partially nude with him.

"Look Mikey, thanks for the crash but maybe we shouldn't do this anymore for a while. Lose my number for a bit willya? This is incredibly awkward and I also feel like I'm holding you back from something. Maybe from me too....I can't shake the feeling I'm missing something, ya know?"

Inside, Michael was shrieking with rage. After all that.... he STILL hadn't managed to eradicate that annoying bug of a blond from his mind?

"So yeah...maybe we shouldn't drink together anymore.... And don't call me for about 2 weeks or so....just until I can get this little incident bleached out of my mind. OK....see ya!" He slammed his way out of the apartment.

Michael was left alone with his thoughts, seething and shaking with rage. Two weeks! Like that was gonna happen! Brian was HIS!! His sanity which was already only so-so, slipped a little bit more down and away to Wonderland.

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

Three days later:

"Brian! Brian! Have you seen it!? Have you seen it!?"

"Yes indeed, Mr. Ryder." He could hardly miss it. The hulking building on the edge of town had its own road leading to it and three towers topped with rounded tops on them that made them look like something out of the Arabian Nights. It had appeared in record time, over the last three days.

"Well!!?" Ryder yelled at him from across the desk.

"Well, what, sir?" Brian asked back patiently. Sometimes talking to his boss was like talking with a five year old.

"Well... where did it come from!? What is it?" Is it someone's home? Is it a business? And if it's a business, why aren't we representing them?"

Brian knew better than to say 'I don't know' to anything so he rattled off what he did, ending with something that he hoped would get him out of the office for the rest of the scorching day.

"It was built over the last three days. No one knows how. No one knows anything about it because he refuses interviews. It could be a home but I have a feeling anything that big has to be housing a business of some kind. A factory...amusement park, maybe another kind of Q Mart."

"Well, what are you waiting for? I want that...whatever it is, to be represented by Ryder by the end of the day!" Ryder screamed.

"Yes sir... but I just told you....he's not giving interviews." Brian just wanted to make sure a day trip would be in the bag.

"Maybe not to reporters. But I don't want his life story. I just want that gianormous account you're going to bring me. And when you do.....you'll be in charge of it. And I'll make you partner. Just think Brian....just think how rich you'll be. How rich we both will be. But you have to get out there first. So get going!"

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

When Brian drove up the driveway to the hulking....well, really, it could only be called a Palace; he couldn't help but be properly awed. He parked as close to the doors as he could get and then got out and walked up feeling like an ant.

The doors were huge, probably several feet thick and at least three stories high. Brian wasn't sure how he could open them even if he wanted to try. There were knockers on the door, two huge rings. Each ring was at least three feet in diameter and as thick around as his arm. They looked golden.

He grabbed a ring with both hands and gave it go to lift it. He was only able to raise it a few inches before it slipped and fell again. It crashed against the knocker plate sending a resounding and satisfying boom against the door. There was a pause.

Brian took the ring in his arms for another go when there was a harsh BEEEEEP sound to the right and a voice said: "That will not be necessary. I see you. I hear you, Brian Kinney. What do you want?"

Brian looked over and saw in relief that there was an intercom to the right of the right side door. He went over and pressed the send button.

"Hello sir. I'm from Ryder Advertising Agency and I was wondering if this is a business of some sort. If so, I should very much like to represent you. I could make you a very wealthy man Sir. We....would both....be very rich indeed."

"I see. And is that the only reason you came to see me, Brian?"

"Well, yes sir. Isn't that reason enough. Besides, this gets me out of the office on a hot day and my boss off my back in one fell swoop. Two birds with one stone, if you catch my drift."

There was a pause. Then: "Yes. Yes, I believe I do, Mr. Kinney. One moment, please."

There was another short pause and then a huge 'THUNK!!' noise from the door as a simply enormous deadbolt must have disengaged. The right hand door swung open on noiseless remote controlled hinges. Brian felt satisfied to see he was right; the door was about 2 feet thick. It opened into a cavernous room.

"Come in, and come up the most right hand middle staircase. Take it to the second level. There will be a hallway to your right. Go to the end, it will turn left. Come to the end and you will see a door marked Office. I am inside. Do not explore on your own as you will get hopelessly lost. I will give you a tour. Now come." the voice ended in a rather arrogant command and the intercom switched off.

Brian decided to go with it as there seemed nothing else to do and stepped inside the cavernous room. It seemed like the entire palace was this one room but that couldn't be....could it? Didn't anyone live here?

At any rate...this room. My goodness, where do I start? It was huge and at least four stories tall. Maybe five. Brian couldn't really see that high. The entire middle of the main level was a huge checkerboarded dance floor. All around it, were tables and chairs and bars stocked with liquor were positioned at strategic locations to the left, right and along the back. The second level wrapped around and reached inward so that it looked right over the dance floor. The third level wrapped around but reached a little less than that, the fourth a little less than that, and so on, but even so there would be plenty of room. There were tables and chairs on every level. The balconies looked strong and secure. All the floors were supported regularly with thick, metal supports. They looked strong and secure and they towered like trees.

There were double spiral staircases, like double helixes, three on the left, front, middle, and back, three to the left of the dance floor, front, middle and back, three on the right of the dance floor, front, middle and back, and three on the right, front middle and back.

Brian looked over everything carefully and was pleased. He even liked the staircases. Since they were doubled, one spiral could be used as an up staircase and the other a down.

At last, he made his way to the right hand middle staircase and went to the second level. Along the wall at the back there was indeed a hallway. There were, in fact, about 6 hallways at intervals but there were three on his right hand side. He chose the nearest one to him.

It was painted black and disorientingly dark and long and scary. At the end on the left was a door with a pushbar marked Employees Only and on the right it opened out into a large backroom, also painted black and it was lit by fluorescent blue bars light bulbs.

Again, Brian was inexplicably yet inordinately, pleased. Every club should have a backroom.

Brian stopped. He'd always thought that but he was swept away by a strong sense that he'd thought that recently. That he'd even said that recently. He had a strange and strong feeling of deja vu. It swept over him and then was gone.

Brian shook his head and headed through the door on his left.

Ahhhh! Now this was better! The hallway before him stretched out for a long way with doors all along it on both sides. The doors were a light brown wood. There was beige wallpaper and soft, bright red carpeting on the floor. It was brightly lit and as friendly as the dark hallway had been spooky.

Brian went along this new hall until near the end of it at last was a double door marked Office. He knocked politely.

"Come in," called the voice.

Brian obeyed and gasped in shock when he was inside. The door swung shut behind him and clicked shut ominously.

The inside of this office was as big as his whole loft apartment. Perhaps it was this man's apartment as well. There was the same red carpeting throughout. There was a fireplace. There was a leather living room set and a bearskin rug. A little way beyond that was the desk of the Man who owned all this and it was huge and made out of solid mahogany. It rested on its own raised dias that reminded Brian of his bed at home. The chair behind this formidable desk was also mahogany with red soft cushions for the back, seat and armrests. It was like a throne. The floor in front of the desk was covered by a large and expensive looking Persian carpet.

There were bookshelves full of books and a mini fridge and a microwave and cupboards. On the right side of the office were two doors. Brian assumed they led to a bathroom and maybe a bedroom. But he was wrong. This was not always the case.

However, the Man behind the voice was not in the throne or on the leather couch by the fireplace or even sprawled lazily and naked on the bearskin rug.

"Ahem....helloooo!!" called Brian.

"Out here!" called the voice, "I'm on the balcony! Outside!"

Brian went the full length through the office and through French doors onto a balcony that was huge and spacious and made out of solid marble. There were two large cushioned chaise longues and a table between them. There was a fruit bowl with apples, bananas, kiwis, grapes, and mangoes. There was a large jug full of ice tea. with lots of ice cubes swimming in it. Two glasses were waiting patiently with it as they are wont to do.

But all this was not what made Brian gasp anew and gasp in shock he did.

Stretched out on one chaise longue was the Man but he was very nearly almost a boy. He was completely naked except for a pair of short pants (or long shorts). They were silver with sequins that twinkled in the sunshine like stars. He was blond with cupid bow lips and an incredibly youthful face.

"I find it so much more pleasurable to sit out here when the sun is shining. And the sun is nearly always shining, isn't it Brian?"

Brian stood to attention. "It shines with all it's might," he said.

The Young Man cocked an eyebrow and looked at him shrewdly. "Yes...I suppose it does. Would you care to sit down?"

Brian shook his head slightly as if to clear the cobwebs and asked, "I'm sorry....did you say something?"

"Yes...I asked you if you'd like to sit down?"

"I uhh - sure...but.... Are you sure HE wouldn't mind?"

You see, curled up next to the boy-Man was a HUGE Bengal Tiger with its head in his lap.

It turned its head towards Brian and roared mightily.

"Now Rajah, that's not polite! Be nice. Brian is our guest." Justin spoke soothingly and scritched the huge tiger under the chin like you would a pussycat. The tiger growl/purred in pleasure and settled down again.

Brian moved slowly and carefully forward and the tiger growled untrustfully.

"Please sit down. I'm afraid that's the best you're going to get. Rajah's terribly protective."

Carefully, making no sudden moves, Brian sat on the other chaise.

There was an uneasy pause.

"So, I expect you've come because of the Palace," said Justin to get things rolling.

"Uhhhhh.....yes that's right," Brian said, unable to look away from the mighty mandibles and the fearsome fangs of the terrible tiger.

Justin sighed. He waved a hand dismissively. "Rajah, give me a chance to be alone with our guest. Go into the courtyard and hunt and sleep until I call you."

At once, Rajah got up and stretched its legs in the way cats are wont to do but in this case it looked strangely like he was bowing to the Boy King as well. The he went over to the railing and jumped easily over and down into the huge courtyard garden below. Brian only noticed it now and was astonished all over again because however big he thought this place was it was nothing. The courtyard stretched out like a park and had a jungle area, a man made lake, two, two story houses in different parts of the yard and flower beds everywhere.

"I - I didn't know about this," he stuttered.

"No. I'd appreciate it if no-one else did either. This part of the Palace is off limits to the general public and is my personal living space and Rajah's home as well. It's where he'll stay when the club is open at night."

"Club?"

"Well yes. That's why you're here isn't it? Didn't you like it?"

"Like it?"

"Yes...The downstairs....The dance floor, the bars. It's a night club. A dance club."

Brian thought about it. "Wow, yes, you're right! Wow, that's fantastic! It's even bigger and better than the one I go to..."

"In Alberquerque....I remember."

"Hey! How'd you know that? And how did you know my name?"

"Really! Oh God, I cannot bear this any longer. Brian! What kind of sick game are you playing here? It's me, Justin! I know I look a bit more... summery but I'm hardly in disguise! I know these things because you told me! Three days ago!"

"Whaaaat?" Three days? That's... that's just....impossible. I've never seen you in my life!"

Yes...you have Brian! You've seen me several times. The last time we had lunch and you told me how this town needs a dance club for the gay community here! That's why I built this place! I built it according to YOUR description! There's even a bathhouse downstairs in the basement! It'll make Caligula look like a prude! I built it because I knew you would come! I built it for you!"

Brian gasped. He was shocked and awed and to be honest more than a little turned on. No one.... and I mean no-one had ever thought of him in such lavish or erotic terms before. He tried thinking back three days but he hit a wall. There was nothing.

"Sorry, but I spend most of my time with my best bud Mikey. We were probably hanging out at the Liberty Diner. Twinks aren't really my type. I'm more into natural boy next door types. I haven't met anyone, especially anyone blond like you in at least two weeks," Brian said.

Justin frowned and smelled a rat. Not only did he know that was a complete lie, but it was coming out all....wrong.

"Brian.... why are you talking like that?"

"Like what?"

"Just now....you sounded like you were...rehearsed....wooden.....like you were reading off a script."

"I don't know what you mean. Beside the last two weeks have been a madhouse. I've been a workoholic."

"There. You did it again. Besides, I know that isn't true. Oh, I'm sure you're busy. But three days ago, you took time off to come to my coffeehouse and we made out like crazed rabbits and you told me all about the dance club and bath house that was needed in this town for the gay community. And then you made a date with me! And then you stood me up!"

"I would never do that. I don't date. I'm a queer. Queers don't date. Queers fuck."

Justin noticed but continued gamely on. "Well you were going to for me."

"Don't date. Queers fuck. I'm a queer."

"And what happened to you that night? Were you "fucking?"

"I don't know you. You're a stranger. I don't have to tell you anything." Wooden again.

Justin took a very deep breath. "OK....Even if that were true...which it isn't.... Humor me. What happened?"

Brian thought. That was the night of his blackout. "I went out with my best bud Mikey. We ended back at his place for a kegger. It was quite the shin dig. I blacked out. I woke up the next morning with a hangover." This sounded natural.

Justin made strangling noises and fought off a giggle fit. "Quite the.....shin dig??? Brian, really?? What the fuck is wrong with you? Listen to yourself! Shin dig? And there's that wooden talk again! Can't you hear it? You sound like one of those host android things on Westworld!"

"I - no I don't," he said....and did.

Justin decided on another tack. "Look, I can prove it! I can prove we met!"

"How?"

Justin went over to his mahogany monstrosity and opened a drawer on the left side. He took something out and brought it back to the balcony.

It was a blue handkerchief with the initials BAK on it.

"How else would I have gotten this? Unless you had given it to me to use. Which you did. Brian Aiden Kinney. It's been gently washed...and air dried in the sun. And treated with the greatest of care until your return. It was treated with all the love I could give it. It is the love I have for you."

"You....you love me? But I don't even know you!?....I don't like twinks. I prefer the natural, boy next door types. I haven't met anyone, especially anyone blond like you in the last two weeks. Wait......what the FUCK!!?" Even he'd heard it that time. It was like a script...like he was being fed (forcefed) the lines from an internal teleprompter and he was regurgitating them like a bird feeding her baby.

"So...you heard it that time too....plus you said the same thing practically word for word."

"Yeah....I did. I'm looking at the proof with my own eyes but I don't remember giving this to you. And even if these are rehearsed lines, I don't remember where they came from and I remember them as if they were real."

"Hmmmmm.... and this "kegger". What do you remember about that?"

"I went to Mikey's. It was a real shin dig. I blacked out."

"A real shin dig huh? Who else was there?"

"I....I don't remember."

"How many people?"

I...I don't remember."

"What brand of beer did you drink? How many drinks? Was there a barrel?"

"I....I...I don't know....I.....I....-------I went to Mikey's. It was a real shin dig. Blacked out. I........I.......I....... AHHHHHHHHHH...----OWWWWWWWWWW.....--------- NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

"BRIAN!!"

Brian held his head and reeled. He fell on the couch and screamed. It was deep, feral, then bloodcurdling, filled with pain and a fear from a nightmare.

"Shit! Brian!"

Brian spasmed as if he were being electrocuted. "AHHHHHHH!!!!!! No! I didn't.....Didn't tell! No blonds! It's for work! I couldn't help it! NO! PLEASE MASTER! NO! NO BLONDS! NO! NO!....... NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

He screamed again, convulsed, spasmed once...twice........once more........and was still.

TBC