Right now I'm at roughly the halfway point of "The Power of Positive Slavery." It's going to be a long story, which will be great for you when it finally comes out! The problem is getting it out. I feel like I'm giving birth. :-/ Anyway, I thought I'd gift you with the first couple of sections tonight, just so you have something to play with. This should give you a good idea of where the story will be heading, and you can fantasize about all the nice and nasty little touches I'll throw in along the way.
The wording isn't pinned down yet, but this is how the story begins.
The wording isn't pinned down yet, but this is how the story begins.
“Not even komodo dragons?”
Ainsley groaned. “Komodo dragons
live in Indonesia, not Polynesia, and don’t act like you didn’t
know that already.”
Gemma had already drunk more wine
than was good for her. Sober, she was a brilliant lawyer. Drunk, she was a very
deliberate airhead. She held her fingers a couple of inches apart and giggled.
“Not even little itty bitty dragons?”
Ainsley was drunk enough, herself,
to brush that off. “Oh, sure,” she said, “we’ve got tons of those. But since
they don’t have wings, we had to come up with a special name for them. We call
them lizards.”
Gemma pretended to pout. “Well, I
don’t see how you can name an island Île des Dragons if you don’t have any real dragons.
Maybe I shouldn’t go after all.”
“I bet you’d go if you knew Chance
Finney would be there.”
Gemma’s eyes widened. “He won’t!”
“He will. He signed up just last
week.”
“So if I go, I get to fuck him?”
“Like I told you, it’s all about
the free love, baby.” Ainsley had never met a genuine hippie in her life and
quickly abandoned the accent. “After a full battery of tests, of course.
We take care of your health and your pleasure. By the time you leave the
island, you’ll be tanned and fit and more mentally stable than you’ve in your
life.”
“You know, that last bit really
does kind of make it sound like a cult.”
Ainsley snorted. “How long have we
known each other? Trust me, Gemma, if I got brainwashed into a cult, you’d be
the very first person to notice. Do I look like a cultist?”
She really didn’t, though Gemma. She looked fit and
happy – too happy, but that was just the wine. The only real change Gemma had
noticed in Ainsley’s personality was the loss of her sense of entitlement.
They’d been shopping earlier in the day, and Ainsley had actually chatted with
some of the sales clerks. Normally she’d have treated them like servants.
Gemma bent close and peered into Ainsley’s eyes.
“Okay, your pupils aren’t spinning, and you haven’t shaved your head or started
wearing funny robes. I guess you’re all right.”
“Damn straight I am! So, are you in? I promise
it’ll be the best vacation you ever had.”
“I thought it was a retreat, not a vacation.”
“It’s both! That’s the beauty of it. And since I’d
be your host, it would be like we were taking a vacation together, with
beautiful scenery, great activities, and some of the hottest guys on the
planet.”
“Don’t forget the mystery dragons that may or may
not exist.”
“Oh, I can’t forget the dragons,” she said,
and grinned. “Now, do you want a chance to fuck Chance, or not?”
“Eww, bad joke, Ainsley. Very bad.”
“Give me a drink. No, sorry, I mean give me a
break. It’s the drinks making me tell bad jokes. But come on, Gemma,
please tell me you’ll come!”
Gemma sighed. “Okay, I suppose I can take the time
off work.”
“That’s my girl!” Ainsley raised her glass. “To Île
des Dragons!”
“Or Île des Lizards!”
They clinked glasses and poured
themselves another round.
*****
It was almost morning before they
said goodnight. Gemma stumbled off to her bedroom singing Chance Finney’s
biggest hit. All she knew was the chorus.
Ainsley slipped into the guest
bedroom and locked the door behind her. Then she stood listening for several
minutes, making sure Gemma wouldn’t come out again. Once she was satisfied, she
dropped her mask and pulled out her cell phone. The wine made it difficult to
dial, and she had a lot of digits to get through; but she couldn’t put this
number in her directory. After three tries, she got through.
The call was picked up on the first
ring. “Result?” said a calm male voice.
“Positive,” she answered flatly.
Then she ended the call and went to bed.
