The bright spring sunlight warmed him as he sat on
the cobblestones of Monument Square, his back up against
the pedestal on which Longfellow's statue rested. It was
almost noon, soon the office workers would be teeming
into the square with their lunches, along with tourists
taking in the sights of Maine's largest city.
He took the three bent playing cards from his shirt
pocket and placed them down on the cobblestones. Then he
closed his eyes and searched.
He sent his mind forth to touch and probe the idle
thoughts of the people starting to fill the square. It
wasn't long until he found them.
They were transparent to him, their thoughts strong,
rough, colored by ignorance and prejudice. They were not
from the city, they were lumberjacks, down in Portland
for a day of drinking and trouble.
Perfect.
Come to me, he beckoned, come to me.
They did.
"Hey, whata ya doin'?" The biggest one
asked, his beer gut exposed by his too small motorcycle
T-shirt. "That some kinda game?"
"Yeah, yeah it is." The red haired one answered.
"Don't you 'member, Billy? We saw it when we took that
load a' lumber down to New Yawk City. Them nigras were
playin' it. Sumthin' three card, three card..."
He looked up at them. "It's called three card monte.
It's a betting game."
He let the bait tangle.
"Yeah, now I 'member it..." Billy said, pausing to
take a swig of the beer he held wrapped in a paper bag.
"How you play?"
"It's easy. I have three cards, two black aces and a
red queen. The queen of hearts. See? Now I turn them over
and shuffle them around. All you have to do to win is to
follow the red queen." He stopped shuffling. "Where is
it?"
They stared at the cards for a moment.
"I think it's the one in the middle." Red said after
a moment.
He flipped the card. It was the queen of hearts.
"You win."
"Fuck! This is easy!" Billy laughed.
"Yeah, meybe." added Red, his eyes narrowing. "But
how do ya bet?"
"You may bet any amount of money you want. And if you
win, I'll pay you double."
"Double?"
"Yes."
Billy fished around in the pockets of his greasy
jeans.
"Here's twenty. Let's go."
He started to shuffle. "Ace, ace, queen. Keep your
eye on the lady, sir, and win forty dollars." He stopped
tossing the cards. "Pick."
Billy peered at the cards.
"That one, on the left."
It was the ace of spades.
"You lose." He said, picking up the twenty and
pocketing it in one deft motion. "Would you like to try
again?"
Billy shook his head but Red was game.
"Damn, Billy, you jest too fuckin' slow, man." Red
taunted as he threw down a twenty and a ten. "You ain't
foolin' me buddy. Do it."
He tossed the cards again.
"Pick."
Red took his time.
"It's...ah...ah...the middle one. The center one."
He turned it over with a flick of his finger. Ace of
clubs.
"It's a trick." Billy snarled. "It's a trick, It's a
fuckin' trick just like I told ya, Red."
"There's no trick." He said evenly.
Red looked around quickly then squatted down in front
of him.
"Lemmee tell you something, you little fuck, I think
Billy's right, there's a trick here someways." Red spat,
a thin trickle of tobacco juice running out of the corner
of his mouth into his unkempt beard. "So I'll tell you
what, you're gonna do it one more time. Fifty dollars,
double or nuthin'. And you, smart ass, you throw them
cards once. Just once." Red raised a gnarled fist in
front of his face. "Or else..."
Billy leaned down over him. "Or else we'll fuck you
up."
He looked from Billy to Red and back again.
"Fine."
"Good." Red replied, throwing down a wad of cash.
"Deal."
He placed the cards into their positions then slowly,
ever so slowly, moved them once. As he did, his mind
swiftly etched the picture he wanted them to see. He held
it until both of the men looked up and into his eyes.
Then he sent it forth, burning it into them.
"All right, gentlemen..." He said with the faintest
of smiles. "Choose."
Red peered at the cards.
"Center again, center!"
"Turn the card."
Red did so. It was the ace of spades.
He swept up the money quickly, knowing, with these
men, what would come next.
"Fuck it, Red!" Billy growled as Red continued to
stare at the card. "Let's just take the little bastard
someplace and kick the shit out of him! Teach him a
lesson."
He had Red's measure already and he would make him
the voice of reason. No, he whispered into Red. No,
you're in a public place, you don't want any trouble.
You're far from home, far from home, far from home...
Red looked up from the cards and stared at him, his
eyes widening. Then he broke off.
"No, Billy, no. let's just leave it, man. Let's go."
"What? No! Let me fuck him up! I want my goddam
money!"
Far from home, far from home, far from home...
Red grabbed Billy's arm and started to pull him away.
"I said let's go! I just wanna go. I hate this
fuckin' city anyways, we shoulda never come down here."
They were three paces away when Billy snatched the
card that Red still held in his free hand, crumpled it up
and threw it at him.
"Don't you ever let me catch you upcountry, you
cheatin' little fuck, cause I'll kill you." The card
landed in his lap and as he watched the men disappear
into the crowd he unfolded it.
Queen of hearts.
He waited for a moment to make sure that his two
marks were clear of the square then stood and stretched,
letting the sunlight warm his stiff legs. Which bank to
use today, he wondered. It was getting too late to use
one of the small branch offices in the suburbs. So today
he would have to make a break with tradition and
patronize one of the bank headquarters that ringed
Monument Square.
The glass doors of the Northern Bank made a soft
whoosh sound as they opened, the result of the climate
controlled atmosphere meeting the air from the outside.
He stood quietly in the lobby, letting other customers
pass in front of him to join the various lines. And he
searched.
He projected himself forward, gently touching the
thoughts of the busy tellers, first one then another. Who
was concentrating? Who was preoccupied? Who
was...ah...yes...
She was in the second cage from the wall, near the
bank's large bay windows. He moved a few steps closer
and watched.
A square of sunlight framed her, the loose strands of
blond hair from the bun atop her head creating a frizzy
halo effect. Her face was pretty but ill served by her
severe hairstyle. Her conservative business suit
performed the same function, hiding her trim, petite body
from the world under a layer of brown serge.
As he watched, he probed her thoughts. Past her
shyness, past a vague loneliness and uncertainty about
the future, until he found what he knew would be there.
The richness of her fantasy made him smile, its brutality
and passion made him blush. Every player, every detail in
it had been lovingly thought out.
As he joined the line in front of her window he eased
it from her. While he waited, he enhanced it, making it
more vivid and real than life itself.
The elderly woman in front of him took a long time
with her business but had now finished. He stepped
forward.
"May I help you?"
"Yes." He replied, looking up at her as he pulled the
crumpled bills from his pocket. "I've got a hundred
dollars here and I need some change."
She counted the money."What denominations?"
"Uh...ten tens, please."
Her hand was reaching into the cash drawer when he
forcefully returned the fantasy to her. She gasped, a
tiny intimate sound shared only by the two of them.
Trembling, she brought up a pile of bills and began
to count. "Ten... twenty...thirty..."
...she was moisturizing herself in the steam from the
shower, languidly gliding her hands over her smoothly
shaven legs when he grabbed her from behind.
"Not a word." The man said, his hand firmly clamped
over her mouth.
"Not a sound. Understand?"
She nodded her assent, her heart pounding like a
triphammer when she saw his reflection in the bathroom
mirror.
"Mark...?"
He pulled away her towel. "Yeah, that's right."
"Why are...why..."
He brought his hands around to her breasts, kneading
them, rubbing his knuckles against her nipples until they
stood erect.
"I've seen you watching me. I know you stand behind
the curtains and watch me work out." He took her nipples
and gave them a long, slow pull. "Time we got to know one
another better."
She shuddered. It was true. she did watch him working
out with free weights in the common yard their apartments
shared. He pulled her nipples again and she moaned
despite herself and pressed her back up against him.
Another pull. "You like that, don't you, baby?"
"I...I..."
"Spread your legs."
She did as she was told, her feet cool on the tile
floor. He buried his face in her neck kissing and licking
while his hand traveled down her front. He let it fall
slowly from the cleft between her small firm breasts,
down her smooth, slightly rounded belly until it came to
rest on her blond bush. He rubbed her therewith the heel
of his hand for an instant then suddenly opened her up,
pressing his heavy thumb up to her clit which he slowly
began to rub back and forth.
She moaned as the moisture began poring out of her,
betraying her.
"You're not going to call the cops, are you?
"Uh...uh..."
He increased the pressure with his thumb. "Are you?"
"No!" she gasped. "No..."
"Good." he replied, burying his face in her hair and
pressing harder still. "And you'll do exactly what I
tell you, right?"
Her hips quivered uncontrollably as she ground
herself back and forth on his hand. "Yes, yes, yes..."
He held her tightly from behind. "Yeah, baby. Do your
nasty dance for me. C'mon..."
She was bucking now, grunting and heaving on the
brink of climax when he pulled his hand away from her
clit and inserted his middle finger into her.
"I'm gonna give it to you, baby. But not yet. You
need to be warmed up first." He pulled his slick finger
out of her and brought it up to her mouth. "Lick it
clean."
She hesitated, caught between sensation and fear, He
responded with a sharp slap across her ass.
"Do it."
He forced his finger into her mouth and the
suddenness of the slap made her receive it. She
understood what he wanted now and gave it to him, running
her tongue around it, sucking and licking her juices from
it.
"See? You know what I mean. Good girl."
He twisted her right hand behind her back and pushed
her forward out of the bathroom into the dark bedroom.
She stumbled on a pile of clothes there and he used her
forward momentum to throw her on the bed. Whipping off
his belt, he then pulled her back up into a sitting
postion in front of him.
"Cross your hands in front of you."
She obeyed instantly. He looped her hands in the
belt, drew it taut then laid her back across the bed,
tying the free end of the belt to the brass headboard. He
stared at her for a moment, then deliberately started to
take off his clothes, teasing her with his slowness.
Finally he was upon her, his hard cock barely
inserted into her wetness, teasing but not taking. He
brought himself upright between her legs, rubbing his
cock head against her swollen clit.
"Say it."
The excitement and want made her strain against the
belt.
"What... say what?"
He slapped his cock against her clit.
"Say fuck me."
"Ah...uh...fuck me."
Slap. "Again."
"Fuck me." she replied, more urgently this time.
Slap. "Say please."
"Please fuck me."
Slap. "Louder."
"Please fuck me!"
Slap. "Now beg with your pussy."
She did, moving her hips frantically in an effort to
get at his cock.
"Please fuck me, please, please!" she pleaded.
"Now...hard...please...."
He entered her abruptly and fully, pushing her legs
back towards her shoulders. She started to shriek as he
took her, setting a hard and fast rhythm and as their
bodies collided violently he released her hands. She met
his thrusts with her own, her nails scoring his back as
he pounded into her, the small rivulets of blood mingling
with their fuck sweat and coating them both.
She was beyond any manner of control now, her back
arched, legs spread, head thrashing from side to side
with the sheer animal pleasure of it.
"Yes!" she screamed, beating her fists into his sides
as he plunged in and out of her. "Yes!...Yes!...Yes!...Yes!..."
" ...eighty...ninty...one hundred." She finished unsteadily.
He took the pile of hundred dollar bills and tucked
them into his pants pocket.
"Thank you."
"Huh? Oh...uh...you're welcome. Have a nice day."
The sun was starting its descending arc towards
twilight as he trudged up Congress Street toward home. At
the top of the hill he stopped at a mailbox, fishing
around in his pockets for the envelope he'd prepared
before he left home.
It was addressed to the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelity to Animals. Counting out nine hundred dollars,
he stuffed the money into the envelope, licked it and
dropped it into the box.
It had been a challenge when he started but now this
would be the last time. It was merely child's play now.
Besides, his father was right. When you're almost
fourteen years old, it's time to put aside children's
games and prepare to take on the business of men.
==END==