Wonderland II

Jenny felt the whisper soft kiss on her lips. It was simply the sweetest feeling, so pure and chaste, yet thoroughly delicious.

Jenny slowly opened her eyes to fully awaken. She loathed losing that good feeling induced by such a brief, yet memorable interlude.

She smiled and took a few moments to reminisce about that sweet kiss before she had to start her chores all over again.

It was quite different from the kiss that Oscar had furtively given her during their lunch break. He was upset with her since the last time they had spoken, and perhaps it was for the better.

She missed their camaraderie, but their clashes in views, always caused him to distant himself.

She recalled their last conversation.


-“Jenny, I am 24 years old! I am old enough to be a father and take care of you. You tell me when and we will run away together. I am saving all my money from my second job so that we can get a place to live.” Oscar offered once again.

-“That’s very sweet Oscar, but I don’t want a family so soon. I am already saddled with household chores, and I’m sick of it. I don’t want that for me; I want something different.” Jenny said, unsure as to what exactly.

-“When you’re old enough we could then get married. Meantime, I’d take care of you, or you could work too if you want to save for a car and stuff. That’s the way things work Jenny, you need a man to stand by your side, and I love you.” Oscar said with puppy love eyes.

-“You are right Oscar, yet, will you listen to what I need please? To me freedom seems more precious than anything else.
One day, I’d like to be free, to go anywhere I please without fear of immigration, or of the police, or of Myrna!

I would also like so much to be like those girls that dress in high heels, hose, and skirts to go to the office. They look so pretty and sophisticated, some even carry a briefcase.

There's nothing more than I’d like besides freedom, than to go to school.
I’d like to be carefree like those girls that giggle on their way to school and carry the burden of their books. I think that to me those books would not be a burden. I would like to learn so much more - I crave that!” Jenny said dejectedly without hope.

-“You don’t need to go to school for that. You can be a receptionist and dress nice and answer the telephones. Anyway, you would not work when we have kids; I’d like to have two or four at least.” Oscar tried to reason with her.

-“You would take care of the whole family Oscar by working two jobs? We would become a burden an always worry about making ends meet. We would never see each other, except maybe on a holiday or each Sunday.

I don’t want to be a burden; I want to lift myself up! Don’t you see?” Jenny tried to reason with him.

-“What you don’t see Jenny is that you are stupid. You let Myrna enslave you without freedom or pay working from dawn to late into the night, cleaning her home, cooking, and during the day you work in her business with hardly any pay. That is enslavement, but you are too scared to run away. What I offer you is a home and a future family!”

-“I owe her Oscar. She keeps me safe and I have a roof over my head and food to eat. And I'm also safe from the police and the immigration authorities.

I have to pay her for my keep and my debt. What would I have back home? There was not even enough food to eat, and they decided to send me away to work since I was nine years old.
Anyway, I must make the best of my destiny now, and I won’t be with her forever, and I won’t jump from one type of enslavement into another!” Jenny said passionately.

That is what it took for Oscar to storm off looking furious at her.

Jenny shook her head. She had to be true to herself, and bid her time to escape. Anyway, as sweet and cute as Oscar was, two illegal aliens hooking up made little sense in the current state of affairs.



To be continued…






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Wonderland

Its wings lightly fluttered. The movement was as imperceptible as the motion of the wind to the common eye, but Jenny was able to see it even through her peripheral vision.

Only in the interim between being fully alert and awaking from a deep slumber was this angel so wicked in its teasing. The cherubic face camouflaged its underlying mischievous nature.

Sometimes it would play its guitar, although Jenny could not hear the melody. She would simply perceive the elegant movements of its tiny hands glide over the musical instrument.

That is the sole reason why Jenny slept with the bedside lamp on. She wanted to catch the angel in action. There was no sunlight yet when it was time to wake up.
By 6:00 am she had to be ready to start the long day ahead.

-“I saw you, you know.” Jenny said to the image of the angel posted on the wall next to her small bed. She smiled because whenever she caught it in action; she felt that she was not so alone. Perhaps he watched over her during her sleep she mused, as she quickly dressed in something warm.

Softly closing the door to her room, Jenny walked up the stairs to the first floor bathroom. She washed her face and teeth, and saved the bath time for later in the morning. She had too many chores to do in the morning, and was strictly forbidden from making too much noise before 7:30 am.

Jenny did not need the booster to accommodate her to the sink anymore. She had had a growth spurt in the past two years, and although slight of stature and girth, there was unmistakable evidence that she had developed into a young woman of sixteen.

With the expediency and efficiency of a professional chef, Jenny simultaneously prepared both breakfast and a full meal for lunch. She boiled the water in the large pot for rice, as well as more water in a slightly smaller pot for oatmeal.

While those were gathering steam, she quickly chopped vegetables for the scrambled eggs, and plenty more for the stew. She started with the potatoes though, since those were slower to cook.

Jenny’s face was flushed from the vapor of the aromatic stew, and of the other three fires at full burn. She had to halt the coffee making process as her name was yelled from above.

-“Jenny, you stupid girl! Where is my red dress? I TOLD YOU yesterday that it had to be hand washed and pressed. Where the hell are you?” Myrna yelled from the second floor.

-“I’m coming! It’s in my room, I had pressed it last night, and I forgot to take it upstairs. One moment please, while I turn off the stove!” Jenny did as told at a frantic speed.

-“Here, I’m sorry.” Jenny said as she transferred the impeccable dress to Myrna’s hands. She was careful to look down at the floor, so as not to incur more of her wrath.

-“Stay here. I need you to help me zip the back.” Myrna said as she quickly donned the tailored dress. “Push harder! How can you be so inept?”

-“I am trying, but it is stuck! The zipper refuses to budge." Jenny said as she waited for to be blamed for this as well.

-“Wait! Just unzip it, I need to take this off for a moment!” Myrna said as she struggled into an industrial type full- body girdle.

-“Okay, now I am going to lean over the dresser, and you should be able to zip it up. Try it now.”

After struggling for five minutes, the zipper was conquered, although Myrna’s breasts seemed to be flattened like massive pancakes. The seams were over extended, and threatened immediate dissent.

-“Oh great, I forgot to put on my pantyhose, and shoes, and there’s no way I can bend now. Jenny, get the taupe control top panty hose from the drawer, and my brown pumps. I need you to put those on for me.”

Jenny knelt down on the floor next to the bed and while she rolled on the pantyhose over Myrna’s feet, she avoided staring at the corns and darkened toenails for too long. That would seem rude.



To be continued…





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Irony

About 9:30 pm, I was seated in my car slurping the contents of my soft drink cup, when I see her walking in front of me.

She moved at a labored pace, as if she carried the weight of the world. The gaunt look she wore was further evidence that she was tired.

She was almost beyond my range of view when I turned on the ignition, and drove out to catch up to where she was sauntering at her leisure.

-“Are you going far? Do you need a ride?” I asked her in Spanish as I drove along her side.

-“No, just about 12 blocks.” She said as she eyed me with curiosity and distrust.

-“Get in! I’ll take you there. I’m alone here; I won’t do you any harm.” I said as I offered her a little smile.

-“But you don’t even know me. Okay.” She got in weighing her options of a long walk on a chilly night.

The light-knitted sweater only covered her arms; the bulk of her protruding stomach overstretched her t-shirt to the limit.

-“Just coming from work?” I inquired to break up the silence.

-“Yes, I work at Carl’s Jr. in Glendale.”

-“Wow! Long way from where you live.

You should wear a jacket at this time of night to avoid catching a cold.” I said when I heard her sniffle after she had given me directions as to where to take her.

-“I know, but when I left this afternoon it was so hot.” She said.

-“Yes, but it’s better to be cautious than to incur complications. Your baby doesn’t need medicines in your system if you can avoid it. Try to carry a jacket with you next time.”

-“Thanks! Goodnight.” She said as she struggled to haul her body out of the car.

While driving home, it occurred to me that she was right to have been overtly cautious. One hears on the news horror stories about crazy women stealing babies from the womb of the mother. She must be about seven to eight months along.



This reminded me of something that almost happened several years ago. My dear friend from Peru, whom I correspond with via instant messaging, shared with me his dilemma.

Ricky had recently met a girl whom he really liked, and after several weeks of going out together, she had confessed to being almost three months pregnant.

-“Wow! So, where do you stand?” I inquired with mild curiosity.

-“She says she has to get rid of it. She already has one kid, and can’t afford this one. She wants me to help her with money for the procedure.” He answered.

-“You know Ricky, that is a life on the balance. You should think real hard about that.
Do you see any chance of a future with her? Do you think that you could carry the load of an instant family?”

-“I’ve barely met her. I can’t say. Anyway, she has decided to do it. She doesn’t want it, and she can’t wait much longer to do it.” He said washing his hands.

A cocktail of emotions blended in flavors of rage, shock, and grief. Without thinking it through I blurted out:

-“Ricky, if she really doesn’t want it because she can’t afford a kid, tell her this for me please. Tell her that she should have the baby, and give it away rather then kill it. I will take it, and raise it, rather than knowing that she is going to kill that baby!
I'll help her out too - but just during her pregnancy.

Promise me that you will speak with her tonight, and come online tomorrow and tell me what she decides!” I urged.

The man I was seeing at the time reacted with incredulity.
He asked me if I knew all the red tape and cost one had to go through to adopt a baby, and it being foreign, one had to deal with visas on top of that. I said that I did not know with certainty, but that I intended to find out.

That evening while browsing the immigration web site, the seed of a back up plan was germinating.

If it came to a lot of bureaucratic bullshit and cost incurred, how feasible would it be to fake a pregnancy?

I had limited resources, and although it was unorthodox to attempt something like that, the end justified the means - so I thought at that time.

The more I thought about it, the more viable the back up plan seemed to become.
If it were that it would take months for the visas and paperwork to come to fruition, those would be critical months in the development of the baby that we would have to be separated.

I did not think that I could leave it in care of the natural mother. Not because she had said that she did not want it, but rather because it would be cruel for her to bond with the baby only to have to part with him or her later on.
Besides, she would probably become very attached to the dollars wired to her name every month. It just spelled more trouble than dealing with the problem head on.

Surely one grand would be enough to elicit the cooperation of a doctor in a rural, provincial clinic back there. And after all, there would be no money exchange at all, as it would technically be mine when bequeathed to me.

I decided to rest my weary head, until I found out what that girl had decided to do.

The next morning I logged onto my instant messaging at work, and waited impatiently for Ricky to log on.

About noon time, I saw his icon light up.

-“So? What did she say?” I asked with a knot in my stomach. After all this could be a life altering experience for me.

-“We talked it over, and she had decided to keep it after all. I am going to stay with her and help her out.”

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, I was pleased, yet, I also felt a bit crestfallen.
My mind had gone into overdrive while conjuring a myriad of scenarios and changes that would upheave my life irrevocably.

Yet, I knew this was the best possible outcome, and I was glad I had not omitted from prodding Ricky the day before that to be a man, meant to take on responsibilities, and that a father was not just one that ejaculated sperm, but also the one that raised the kid.

I had also reminded him on how much he used to bemoan that it was so hard to find someone to love.



The last time that I saw Ricky was in May 2008. He was in “heaven and hell.” He had moved on to another relationship, and was married two years now.

-“Why are you in heaven and hell?” I asked.

-“I love her very much, but she is always unhappy and harping that I don’t give her the lifestyle she wants. I can’t afford to now, I am struggling to make ends meet and make a success of my ventures.

I risk my life every time I go to the jungle to supervise my crops. Those are my investments, and you know that exports are up, particularly those to China and Japan.”

-“Yeah, I heard that to travel some roads is too dangerous due to resurrected activity of the Shining Path rebels. I’ve heard they hijack bus loads of people and those passengers are left naked, even without shoes.

But Ricky, you know you can’t buy love, she has to understand that.” I answered while I hoped that at least she was a great lay for all that trouble.

-“Also, we still can’t get pregnant; It seems that she is sterile after all the tests we’ve both taken.

I still see the kids though; they love me like their dad.” Ricky said with a sweet smile laced with irony.




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Sugar and Spice

While shopping at Target, I crossed paths with a teen girl holding the hand of a little girl about five to six years old, and of a little boy about seven.

The teen says: - "I have twenty dollars with me, I can lend her some money."

Then the little girl who is holding a box in her hand says: -"You don't have to, but since you want to be nice, you can."

I turned around to look at her, and I could not surpress a big smile.

It just seems to me that little girls are more adept at wheeling and dealing from an earlier age. And as they grow older, they have more arsenal in development.



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Cheap Thrills

It was amusing that part of the 2009 consumer electronics show in Vegas, was housed with the Adult Entertainment Expo in the same building.

There was a sea of silicone, as far as the eye could see.

The picture above is of a male host for the adult event. He wore a leather mask with a blonde pony tail, and a metallic body suit with considerably large, vibrating breasts.
Those boobies felt rubbery and pliant to the touch. Do breasts implants feel similar to the touch? I wondered.

When I asked him for a hug, he looked deep into my eyes, while I strained to see his through the small slits of his leather mask. Before grabbing my hips to pull me in, he turned on the switch for his boobies to twitch.

I felt all tingly in front, and beyond.


Among the novelties this year was a 7" computer screen intergrated to the head rest of the backseat of a car.

Also almost a life sized robot, engineered with the dexterity of fingers to do household chores, such as pick up stuff off the floor. Last but not least, it is worth metioning that it interacts with the user.

It's amazing how attached one can get to electronic gadgets, yet in a sense this also can distance one from direct contact with others'.

A hot item touted by Sony is a mini laptop. Screen rages from 7" to 10.5. Their version coming out later this year will retail for $900. Or you can get the knock out version with lesser applications from Shenzhen for only $95.00.

Last but not least, for the person who has it all. The prototype of a 150" flat screen TV on the works from Panasonic, is estimated to retail around $100K.

If you are moderating your budget, perhaps the 103" seems more reasonable at merely $70,000.




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Unlucky in Love...

Lucky in game.

Sometimes it's fun to play with loose slots.




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Velvet VIII

-“There is the law of cause and effect. The doors opened to darkness in the past, perhaps pave the way to more death and destruction today.

For instance, the Swastika was also a pagan symbol representing the power of sun and fire. Hitler personified evil itself, and his actions are repercussive to this very day.

For a long time Jews, Arabs, and Christians lived in relative harmony and they prospered in business trade and cultural exchange.

Even during time of duress, when the Catholic Church persecuted the Jews during the inquisition, and expelled them while confiscating their assets in the process, the Arabs opened their doors to them.
Many Jews fled to Turkey, and North Africa where they were met with open arms.

Yet it was after the holocaust that the Zionism movement became a dominant force, which is understandable and coincidentally, the domain of England over Palestine came to an end a few years later in 1948.

The 1948 UN partition plan for Palestine was to create one Arab and one Jewish state. Yet a dispute eventually resulted in the first war of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which rages to this day."

-“Sorry, but I don’t plan to vacation in the Middle East, anytime soon. I told you that I don’t even read the newspapers, unless they come with glossy pictures of celebrities.” Beatriz said despondently.

-“Beatriz, New York is not that far away. Don’t you see that violence begets more violence, and this in turn feeds the darkness?

Put yourself in a neutral place, or in another’s shoes. Would you forgive and forget the loss of a son, daughter, or brother so easily? Although we do forget that we all bleed the same, and although distant relatives, we are all still related as members of the human race.”

-“I guess I don’t think about it that way. I guess it’s safer to point the finger at someone as the bad guy, like in the plot of a movie.” Beatriz says.

-“One should be careful not generalize a whole group of people based on the conduct of the rotten apples and take a rational and neutral approach, for there are good and evil people of every creed and every race – you know that.”

-“I guess so, but still…I’d rather not read the news; it just gives me a feeling of hopelessness and despair. Sometimes I just feel so empty inside.” Beatriz says with defeat.

-“Perhaps you feel empty because even though you fill your body indiscriminately, you don’t connect the soul. In your frantic search for sex, you distance loneliness for a bit, yet push away that which you are truly seeking - love.

Come here baby, and give me your right hand.” Carmen takes hold of Beatriz’ extended hand and makes a fist of her right hand. –“Here takes his ray of light I enclose here and keep it tight.” She folds Beatriz’ hand into a fist.

-“Use it to shine your path, and to be a light in the dark. Choose which side to serve. We can’t allow evil to triumph over the light - for the sake of mankind.

We can’t allow it!” Carmen urges.


Slowly Beatriz unfolds her hand and contemplates the valleys and roads delineated, as a solitary tear travels down the length of her cheek.

-“This is bullshit.” She says still under the influence.


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