The Madam and the Queen

Without experiencing sadness, cheerfulness would lose its shine.

Laka was storming around their bedroom chambers, frustrated with her husband.

Ekewaka, someone in the council, is going to kill you, Laka said.Laka, what would be the point, we have peace, and our people are happy.

Laka could foretell events. Visions haunted her as she watched her husband perish, night after night.

Their daughter Ailani was not yet of age to understand the problems with their people. For her, it was simply a good time. They played made up games, laughed at jokes and when they could find a way, loved one another, as was the custom of their people. Ekewaka too had magical powers; his came from the Gods of Love. Refusing to believe that any of his subjects would seek to harm him, Laka’s worries did not persuade him to be more careful. In the months to come, Ekewaka was indeed poisoned by those that sought to overthrow him.

Laka was furious with them. She had suppressed her dark side, but this event brought it out. Her diaphanous flowing white robe turned black as the night. Her hazel eyes now glowed with green fire as her red hair was ablaze. Another scepter replaced hers, which glowed green as her eyes.

Ailani and her friends no longer recognized her mother and hid from her, as she sought the destruction of several in their realm. Many felt Laka’s wrath. The more that she killed the methods of their demise seemed more intense as Laka was enjoying her revenge.

The Gods overseeing their world saw that she had given in to the darkness that often pervades those that allow the desire for revenge to take over. Removing her from their realm, they sent her to a place reserved for those souls that were so malevolent that eons would have to pass before they would evolve. They sent her to be with her mother, Pele; who also had given into revenge.

Laka was now home with her mother in the underworld. Pele could finally rest; it was now Laka’s turn to torment the damned. Ailani took her parent's place as the leader of the tribe. Her friends watched out for her as they felt that Laka had not expunged all of the evil in their hearts. The balance between light and dark was missing from their lives; Ailani sought help from the hall of records. Some of the texts were in another language, which she had not yet learned to read. These texts were from another tribe’s King, known throughout the realm for his benevolence. She needed to call to him, as he must translate them for her.

Practicing their songs in the great hall, they would take them to the surface of the ocean to cast them out onto the winds. Night after night, Ailani, and her friends would go to the surface and sing their songs for the passing ships, and others who might hear them, casting their songs as large webs, searching for the elusive King. Their songs carried wide and far, calling to those who might be able to help.

The ruling elders changed the laws much to her protest, as they wanted to control the new queen while forbidding external influences. Ailani knew that they were wrong. She kept her quest for the King secretive while placating the council members.

All that Sparkles

Neither wealth nor weapons are evil; it is he who employs them wrongly, that is evil.

The plane landed with a bounce as we came into Johannesburg airport. I was ill prepared for the cooler weather at about 15c. The diamond mine owners had found a discrepancy that concerned them. My parents had arranged for me to help them if I could.

Grayson Enterprises is an international company, and my parents knew that my proclivities were in technology. They decided to see if I knew my stuff and could assist one of their clients’.

A tall blond woman met me at the doors escorting me to a conference room. Meeting with executives who owned a diamond mine, I was to engage in the process of detective work for them, through forensic computing. Tracing bits and bytes was what I did best. Dealing with people was not my strong suite, but my father had made an art of it. I had watched him work over the years, however; I was nowhere as smooth as he was. I was a quick study and was tenacious when I needed to be.

Margaret left me alone after getting me something to drink. Time dragged by as I sat there looking at the walls through the glass partitioned conference room. Artwork of a much earlier period adorned the walls as well as a few statues here and there. As an artist myself, I temporarily lost myself in its design and composition until some people of stature came into the room.

They had made the financial arrangements with my father, and I was the product. My parents left to go on Safari while I was here to earn my keep.

Mr. Grayson, your parents have been singing your praises. Are you as good as they say?

I have no idea what they have told you MR..? But I am pretty damned good at what I do.

Schmidt is my name; I have known your dad for years. We are missing some money, and I think the thieves are working for my company. He said.

What makes you so confident of that?

The funds are being funneled off through bank transactions. My accountants are sure of it, but they can’t put their finger on how.

So you think it maybe something to do with your accounting system? I asked.

We think so. I won’t kid you, son; we are talking millions of dollars here, and I am dubious about your abilities.

You realize if the purpose of my visit is learned, I could go missing, I said.

I will see to your safety Bud, help me catch the bastards, and I will be your strongest supporter!

Let it be known that I am doing a disaster recovery plan for you; that will give me access to your system and hopefully not get me abducted.

If I were to tell you that the lady that got you that drink was a highly skilled bodyguard, would you feel more comfortable Mr. Grayson…?

Is she going to be responsible for me the entire time that I am here?

Mr. Schmidt smiled at me, She will see to your safety son, what you do after hours is between you and her but, don’t piss her off… he said looking at me with a knowing smile. Taking his warning seriously, allowed me some modicum of comfort. Not having to watch my back would facilitate a quicker turnaround time to find where your money was going, and maybe even who was taking it?

Motioning to her, the tall women came back into the room… She was intimidating for sure but breathtakingly sexy… Margaret, this is ….Bud Grayson… He is doing some work for us; a disaster recovery plan, and I would like for you to make sure that he can complete his work undisturbed; and while he is here, make sure that he is well is taken care of, and safe. You can show him what this city has to offer and use your company credit card for everything…

Nodding to her boss, she smiled at me as she left the room. Margaret seemed to appreciate the assignment and told me that she would be my constant companion while I was there….walking out of the area, Mr. Schmidt smiled as he patted me on the shoulder… see what you can find Bud…we need to plug the hole….

Within minutes, I was hunting bits and bytes in the world of data mining. I found where the database was corrupted; the checksum did not match up; now, all that was left was a matter of repairing the audit log.

That night Margaret came into the conference room. The door closing alerted me to her presence. She was standing there in a black evening dress. Her ample cleavage complimented her slender build and blond hair. The world of digital mayhem, which meshed into my brain, suddenly was pushed out by the diversion of blood to other places.

In her hands, she had clothes for the evening for me, which were better suited for the uptown clubs in the area.

I guessed at your size; I hope I was right. She said.

I smiled looking at her while noticing the clothes. I asked where I could change, and she pointed to the office surrounding us, which was dark as we were standing in a glass-enclosed conference room... How about changing right here? I can help you with the bowtie? she said slowly and seductively…

She pushed some buttons on the center console and blinds came out of the ceiling covering the windows. Nervously I started to remove my shirt when her hands replaced mine, as she undressed me… Quickly she had me down to my boxers. Pushing me back, sitting me back onto the huge wooden conference table, she pressed her body in between my legs. Would you trust me to see that you have a lovely time?

Smiling at her, my answer, written on my face told the tale. As she kissed me, all thoughts of the data breach were now gone as I was into yet another world. Touching me briefly as if she was inspecting me, it was not long before I was ready for action.

Good, she said, I was hoping that you found me as attractive as I find you.

Kissing me again, she put me away helping me to get dressed. We can continue this after dinner and dancing; you do dance don’t you Bud?

I may have been a geek, but women were not lost on me. I do alright, I said.

After dressing in the tuxedo, a limousine patiently waited for us to exit the building. At dinner, Mr. Schmidt and others, who were visibly out of my league as far as affluence, met us.

Mr. Grayson…I was in hopes you would find your way here, I trust Margaret is taking good care of you? He said.

I smiled at him, as he surely knew what she was doing with me, and I was right. You are an investment, Mr. Grayson… I like to take care of investments… Have you had any luck thus far?

What I do does not depend so much on luck Mr. Schmidt, I found where the audit log was breached; I am trying to reconstruct it so we can discover who, what, and where.

My phone buzzed as the camera on my laptop picked up motion…Hang on a minute. I told them as I pulled my phone out of my vest pocket. Pulling up the screen, there was a video feed of his employees messing with my laptop, trying to figure out what I was doing. I had left disaster recovery information all over the table and had removed all of my data from the laptop and stored the data on my thumb drive…I put the phone on the table for Mr. Schmidt to see for himself, who was interested in what I was doing.

Mr. Schmidt took my phone and showed it to the two people standing guard at the table. He gave them instructions and returned to the table…

I think we have the who…;" Mr. Grayson; now we just need the where and when… Good job on the laptop camera trick, by the way…My hat is off to you… Expect a bonus at the end of this...

After dinner, Margaret and I took our leave of them as we went dancing in a very exclusive club… Around midnight, we found ourselves back at a penthouse suite apartment, that my luggage was sitting in with my clothes hanging neatly in her closet.

I hope that you don’t mind me having your things delivered to my home... I need to watch out for you, and there is no better place than right here…in my bed….is that ok with you? She asked.It became apparent that the guess on the size of the tuxedo, was no guess.

More than ok, I look forward to seeing more of your methods of keeping me safe!

Margaret came over to me and untied my bowtie.

Sliding her hand inside my shorts, it was not long before I was ready for action again… I was not as smooth as she was in removing her dress but I did all right. There was no bra to contend with, as her dress fell to the floor exposing her firm breast. They were nicely shaped and full form to say the least. Black lacey panties that barely were there were all that she was wearing, other than her black high heels. Picking her up, she wrapped her legs around me sitting on my manhood, which was just about firm enough to support her.

My fingers found her moisture as I placed her on the bed, pulling her panties off with her legs high in the air still wearing the black high heels. Making my way down her body, kissing every little inch of her perfect skin, I made my way to a landing strip of nicely trimmed hair. A tattoo of a scorpion was just above the hair but below the panty line, which I found interesting but not enough to deter me from my task.

Her lady-parts were ready for anything but, I had a job to do, and I meant to do it right. Bringing her to climax as a good man knows how to do, was my first charge; I am aware that if you want an encore performance; you need to be good enough for the audience to demand it.

The night went on until about three before the sounds of our breathing became slow and rhythmic. Morning light filtered into the room as I found Margaret checking out the man in me, which was erect and ready for action…again….Her near perfect hourglass figure was daunting. Why she did not have a whole list of boyfriends or husbands was an enigma.

Getting into the office, after we ate, I went back to work to find that the corporate IT people had trashed my laptop. I was back in business with only about an hour lost.

The people that were messing with my laptop the night before never made it back into the office that day. On the news that evening, two men had a serious hang gliding accident as the aircraft they were using became un-airworthy shortly after they dove off the cliff. My IT skills were now necessary, as they were short two prominent people on their staff.

By the end of the following day, I had found the hole and plugged it, and I had found the when… As money stopped traversing the digital corridor to the Swiss account…I knew that Margaret’s services might be needed sooner, rather than later. I alerted her to that fact, as an FYI.

That night was another stellar night of fun and frivolity followed by frolicking through the finer aspects of foreplay and fun…. Pillow talk was never my strong suite, but I was beginning to enjoy this woman’s company on other levels than sex. Her intellect was above most women who I had dated, and she had some mystery to her that enticed me. On her finger, she had a most unusual ring that I had ever seen. I commented on it, and she was tight-lipped about its origin, but it was neither gold nor silver. The metal was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and the artisanship was superb.

That day, I managed to find the where… which set Mr. Schmidt into action; his men had tentacles that reached out globally. Mr. Schmidt paid me handsomely for my efforts and sent me back to the airport with Margaret who was to see me off…This woman moved my heart while rocking my world. While I had been in casual relationships before, this one seemed different.

My parents were proud of me and helped me establish an IT company, focusing on disaster recovery with many ad-hoc projects; including forensic computing. My business became a small sub-company under Grayson Enterprises. I ran it, and it prospered. Margaret and I became a memory that I cherished. After several e-mails, we lost touch.

The Dream

Focusing on dreams is like focusing on the past, both are yesterday’s illusions.

Gibberish woke me from sleep that left me uncertain if I had heard it or dreamt it. A flash of red, in a sea of green and blue with what appeared to be a nude body, awoke me. Laying there under the covers soaking wet, I realized that I must be ill. Getting out of bed, I stripped off the wet t-shirt and boxers and headed into the shower.

It took forever to get the water temperature warm enough to crawl into the shower. I was comforted by the stream of hot water. As the water made its way around my body, while cascading over the different curves and structures, I soon recovered from the chills and the ill feeling of a few moment ago.

After taking a nice long shower and toweling off, I made my way back into the bedroom but not before looking at myself in the mirror. Bloodshot eyes looked back at me. There was a strange scratch on my upper torso that I could not account for.

Putting on fresh nightclothes, I made my way back to the bedroom. The sheets were still damp from the night sweat. Pulling the bedding and sheets off the bed and re-making the bed allowed me time to think about the dream, which I just had. There in the recesses of my memory, there was this red blur in the woods, I think. The sounds that woke me were unintelligible.

Monday

With mundane as the baseline for happiness, anything else is a plus.

Making my way into the office was a regular process, which seemed like any other day. Traffic was horrible, and there were some phone obsessed people out there. Some individuals who sat at red lights with their eyes glued to their phones. After the light turned green, they are both still on the phone, or they look up and see that it changed, and finish their text or thought; before proceeding on.

Dave had already made the coffee and was well on his way to drinking most of the first pot, by the time I walked into the office.

Mr. Grayson, how are you today?

Not wishing to answer with the facts, I just stated Ducky! As I headed to find my coffee cup and turn the lights on.

Finding my cup, I noticed that I forgot to wash it Friday before I left, so there were the distinct beginnings of a culture, which looked eerily like something one might find in a petri dish. Cleaning the cup, I made more coffee waiting for it to brew, there were plenty of people to visit with as they passed through. Some saw me as a dick. Indeed I could be. When people try to screw me, I am unmatched. When I play, I play to win. When I negotiate, I have this unbridled passion for negotiating to win.

Mail, for the most part, are advertisements from some vendor hoping that I will want their services. It takes an average of 3 seconds per piece of mail to determine if it goes into the trash or filed for later consumption. By the time I had made it through the voice mails, my coffee was already getting cold. Taking a swig of the coffee, now it was time to check e-mail and see what fires were there. There were 351 e-mails from Friday night to Monday morning and most demanded a response.

This too was something that Rose or one of her reports should be doing. I was a control freak, and that served me well. I built this company by controlling everything. Rose entered my office with stacks of contracts from the lawyers for me to go through. Rose was a natural beauty with long black hair. She was not much over 5’ and self-deprecating, which I never saw the reason for. Her comments made me believe that she was unhappy with her body but from my vantage point, she was well put together.

One of my team leaders stood at the door waiting, while I checked over the invoices and other documents, which needed my signature. I glanced up to notice him undressing my secretary with his eyes. I wondered how far he managed to get before I interrupted his train of thought with what do you need?

The programmers have run into a problem with the database, and they think there might be corruption, Bill said.

Were they testing against a live database? I asked. Bill’s face lost its color, letting me know that they had skipped a step, in a rush to make things happen. Tell Ethan to repair the database, and get the programmers working on an older version that is not live! Keep me updated as to the status of both.

I made a mental note to hire a CIO… I cut my teeth on technology; I have never wanted to let it go. Engineers, when promoted usually make piss poor managers, as that is not their skill set. Changing job titles means, you change what you do… I was still adjusting to that concept.

Rose looked at me shaking her head, not the way you wanted to start this week is it?

Four meetings, 37 phone calls, and a business lunch, which lasted excessively long, the sun, was already beginning to set beyond the horizon. I looked up from the screen to see the crimson glow on one of my many white boards alerting me to the fact that this day was done, and I had been lost in my work after the phone stopped ringing.

I turned around in my chair facing one of the banks of windows, which overlooked major highways and an airport. Traffic was zipping along at posted speeds, and there were some cars had already their lights on.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, I realized that without my business, I did not know who I was. The problem with that was, I was still here, while my employees had long since gone for the evening. Such is the life of a business owner. What I do for a living was who I am, and I knew that logic was flawed… How do you fix that?

Thinking of my ranch in Colorado, I could not help but visualize what the mountains would look like right now, with the sun gleaming against them. The ranch was my home away from home; it was my happy place; a place surrounded by a rugged landscape that I grew up on. I often thought the place was so enticing because of its’ rustic surroundings. I knew every large rock, every nook, and cranny that tried to be a cave. There was one cave that I had been told to stay out of more than once, as it was dangerous. I never saw the danger and explored it often as a child.

From a pirate’s hideout to a place to hide from the bandits, it was no small part of my childhood. Occasionally I would find the bones of some animal, which met its death at the paws of a predator. Were these bones the leftovers from the great dragons hunting expedition or perhaps ancient relics left over in some sacred burial chamber? Before I grew up, my mind was awash with different scenarios and adventures that one must create when one is an only child.

Once in the University my childhood friends and foes took a backseat to technology, business strategies, and marketing, all of which my parents thought important. Before college, there was art and yes, the bloody piano that my mother insisted I should learn. Thinking back on those days, I would relish hearing my mother fuss at me about hitting a wrong key or perhaps exploring my secret hideout.

A small cabin built for me instead of a treehouse where I could spend my time. The creek provided many hours of fishing and sometimes my father would camp out with me at the cabin. Those were special times, which I longed for. Now, when I left here and went home, there was me. I had not taken the time to build many relationships outside of work. I was the consummate workaholic; I thrived on it.

All of my energy went into making the company larger and better than it was the day before. Working with the Saudis was a different world and the contract they sent me for one deal that we were working on. Buried deep in the boilerplate and provisions there was a gotcha, and I had to figure out a workaround...The cubicles outside my office were all vacant, and the offices around me dark. Some of the computers were on with a green screen, and a blinking cursor waiting tolerantly for a command.

I had spoken many times with my people about security, and locking screens, seeing this just upset me. I made a mental note that if the success continued, I needed to think about expanding or even building my own building, which had a certain allure.

There is a difference between rented office space, and owning your own building. The swagger factor is paramount when negotiating with people. The president invites heads of state to the White House because it is intimidating and it has a swagger factor. Sports Teams like the Cowboys here in Dallas have a Swagger Factor, and Jerry knows this too.

The door slammed open as I was walking by it, the cleaning crew came in. Once again, I greeted Jorge, the head of the cleanup crew. Working late again? he asked. Yes, I think the day got away from me my friend. You have a good night! He smiled as I turned to make my way back to my office and shut things off for the evening. Jorge was a good man and a good hire.

Thinking about food, my housekeeper offered to make food for me and have it ready for me to heat up. Maybe I should consider this. Eating junk food and my lifestyle will kill me. Martha was a wonderful person who talked little and thought nothing of catching me walking out of the shower or swimming nude, in my very private back yard. She was a tall woman of German heritage, and I always felt that under her loose fitting clothing, was probably a nice looking lady. Her hair was always pulled back, and she wore little makeup; that I could tell. If she was there when I got home, it was a plus, as it was someone to talk with, even if it was just small talk.

Escape

Nightmares are dreams that have gone wrong. Unfortunately, you do not get to choose them…

Once in the bed, thoughts of the day raced through my head. Some of the problems with some of the projects were on my mind as I visualized each one of them thinking of possible solutions. I know better than to do this as it could lead to insomnia but, I am by nature a night person, and that is when my brain seems to be most active.

Tossing around, turning, trying to find the most comfortable position I managed to close my eyes and think of something peaceful. I pictured myself on a beach somewhere. The sun was warm, and the ocean was inviting. Seagulls called as if to ward off any possible invaders. Their intrepid calls punctuated the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore.

The thunderstorm that was there before my arrival, quickly dissipated as if ordained by a higher power. The sun overhead warmed me but, only to the degree that I was warm, not too hot and no worries about being burned.

Burying my toes into the sand, I could feel the warm wet sand ooze up between my toes and come up over my feet. I decide to swim and wander into the water.

The ocean is clear, and I can see the small creatures scurrying out of the way of my feet as I slowly walk into the water. The warm water feels inviting as it caresses me. The further I walk the ocean moves up my legs between my thighs and eventually up past my waste. The ocean feels good on my skin as I dive in headfirst, I can see the ocean floor perfectly. In my dream state, the water breathes as air. This world is foreign to me. I do not belong here, but for some reason, I press on.

The ocean is now an underwater adventure. There is coral everywhere with starfish greeting me, welcoming me into their world. A shark swims by but does not take notice of me. Several small yellow fish, swim in a choreographed dance around me. I watch as they do tricks and swim in patterns as if they are part of the opening act. Sea Turtles break up the performance as they too welcome me into their world. A turtle the size of Volkswagen swims by, I reach out, patting his shell.

Sunlight filtered by the water, flickered around as if orchestrated by some technical light crew spotlighting the different actors in the play... The performers scatter as the shark re-appears. This time it takes notice of me, in fact becoming the focal point of my attention. Once again, I put out my hand with no fear and rub its underbelly as it swims by. Turning around the shark stops right in front of me waiting for something.

Instinctively, I place my hand around its dorsal fin and find myself instantly propelled through the water as if powered by engines of enormous strength. Deeper and deeper the mighty shark took me. The beach was now nowhere in sight and ahead there were more coral and seaweed, which reached all of the way to the sun. Many bubbles were coming up from the area. I let loose of the shark and settled still deeper in the ocean. Leaving me, the silhouette of the shark swam overhead and then simply disappeared in the murky bluish green water in the distance.

Once again, the sunlight played around the bottom of the ocean and small creatures came out from their respective hiding places. Instead of me watching them, they appeared to be looking at me.

There was something red behind the seaweed. Bubbles were surrounding this thing. As I wondered over to the bubbles, they seem to move away from me. My swim fins or something resembling them was gone. I was swimming to the bottom where it was very difficult to walk. The seaweed entangled my legs and wrapped around my torso. The fact that I was breathing water panicked me; I needed to get to the surface, something was holding me back, and something had a hold of me! A hand, a hand had my leg!

Struggling against the seaweed and the hand was no use. This is a dream, and not a good one, wake up! Wake up! Struggling against the hand and the seaweed, I felt my body moving which encouraged me to fight all that much more, wake up!

My eyes popped open to the alarm clock, which read 5:55. My sheets tangled around my legs, and my pillows were on the floor, enough of this! Making my way to the kitchen, I put on the coffee and the morning news.

Friday

Life is punctuated by dreams or, are dreams punctuated by life?

The rest of the week pretty much looked like the first day. There were project managers to deal with, budgets to deal with and investors wanting updates.

The sun was once again blinding me in my monitor so once again I had stayed too long. Swiveling around I closed the curtains as I had a few things to wrap up before I left.

Jorge was vacuuming outside of my office when I realized that it was now very dark outside and I really needed to get something to eat! The Jar of MM’s had been my meal on way too many occasions, and I needed to do better than that.

After dinner, I turned the TV on to the Friday night wrap-up of the news. As I sat there looking at the TV, I just turned it off!

It is amazing I thought that I could be around dozens of