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In this week's episode it's the debut of 'Cannon Fodder', a recurring series of episodes where I watch a curated selection of films made by schlockmeisters Golan/Globus in the 1980's for their Cannon Film Group, one of the most entertaining production shingles you'll ever hear or see. In Brad's view, he is a man of the people's cinema and I am a high-minded, opinionated cinephile. Duly diagnosed, I agreed to expand my horizons under Brad's careful tutelage. The result is either an epic argument or filled with surprises...or both. Here's a great must-see documentary about the "Go-Go Boys" as they're known. Here's some info about my frequent guest Brad Kane. Watch '10 to Midnight'  Here's the Cannon Group's wiki page.

New Deep State Coup Operation Inside Pentagon Against Trump Administration Blown Wide Open! Pentagon Branch Chief Caught Leading Effort To Sabotage & Resist The Duly Elected President!

Hour 2 Audio from WGIG-AM and FM in Brunswick, GA

Richard Doerflinger on the Dr. J Show, episode 275 https://youtu.be/W1CEN49YgGU “When young women go to college, they are instantly expected to fall into the hook-up culture," Richard Doerflinger says in Part 2 of this interview. "Their initial feeling is ‘I'm free. I'm liberated from all these restrictive norms. Nobody's watching. Sex is consequence-free.'” And yet, among these young women is more depression, anxiety, isolation, suicidal thoughts, and cutting “to know you're alive," he notes. "Then they can't figure out why they feel so miserable.” Watch part 1 here: https://youtu.be/RSUCTbkjOtM More about Richard Doerflinger: https://lozierinstitute.org/team-member/richard-doerflinger/ Chapters 00:00 The Impact of Contraception on Society 02:49 Consequences of the Contraceptive Mindset 05:49 Moral Norms and Their Importance 09:10 The Dangers of Relativism 11:56 The Role of Experience in Moral Decision Making 15:06 The Breakdown of Marriage and Family 18:14 The Need for Moral Absolutes 21:08 Reviving Natural Intuition 23:59 The Long-Term Effects of Individual Choices 26:55 The Importance of Sharing Experiences Transcript (Please note the transcript is auto-generated and contains errors) Richard Doerflinger (00:00) the social science part of it. What happens when people pass new, broader, more sweeping contraceptive programs? Do they reduce abortions? And I ended up doing a fact sheet with a couple of dozen references, concluding that they don't reduce abortions in a number of cases, they have increased abortions. The contraceptives have given people a false sense of security. made them more open to more casual sex and therefore opened them up to the possibility of a pregnancy that they don't know what to do about because they're the act that created that child was so anonymous and and so meaningless to them in a way. So it's a it was a big wake up call for me because even as a even as a social phenomenon. Contraception doesn't work. It certainly at reducing the number of abortions. And that's something that John Paul the second mentioned in his encyclical on the gospel of life as well. People think it's going to prevent it, but it can be very many times a road toward it. You had this technical thing that was supposed to prevent this. But as a backup to contraceptive failure, you have this other technical thing that will solve the problem you didn't think you were supposed to have. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (01:39) And you know, repair of a couple of economists, Janet Yellen and her husband, right? You know this article. Yes, yes. Richard Doerflinger (01:48) Let's sources, yeah. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (01:51) Basically, they were asking the question, how is it possible that in the age of contraception and abortion, both being readily available, that we have more out of wedlock childbearing than we ever did before? How is this possible? And they concluded pretty much what you just concluded, which is that the social is, contraception is the social cause. It's not a cause like smoking causes cancer, but it's a social cause in the sense that it sets a set of incentives into motion. which then the net result of the whole new system that you've created ends up with people having pregnancies that they feel socially are not sustainable, because you're the father of the child is your boss who's married to someone else. And you would never have done that if you didn't have contraception, you know, that type of thing or some schmuck you picked up at a bar, which you never would have done if you didn't feel protected. And so the woman has a choice of either aborting the baby or carrying it to term and being a single parent because there's no marriage isn't really practical. And then our friends in the crisis pregnancy center world, the pregnancy care center world, they are dealing with this issue all the time. And they would like to be able to tell the young ladies, should be, can you marry this guy? And oftentimes the answer is it would really, they couldn't in good conscience urge the girl to marry the guy. So there have been a whole series of consequences from the widespread promotion of sex that is not intended to be procreative, you know, if you can put it that way. Can you, from your perspective, Richard, spell out, you know, just kind of trace more of those consequences? What are some other things that have followed from the whole contraceptive ideology, the whole contraceptive mindset? What are some other… things that you've documented or observed. Richard Doerflinger (03:50) Well, one thing, and this was the subject of Anne Maloney's chapter in this book about, you the boys from the trenches. She's been teaching for many years at a women's college, Catholic women's college. And, you know, the female students, they come there, they're freed from their past social Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (04:03) yes. Richard Doerflinger (04:20) environment from their parents and so on. And instantly you are expected to fall in with the hookup culture. their initial experience or their initial feeling is, I'm free, I'm liberated from all these restrictive norms and nobody's watching. And I'm a liberated woman. The sex is consequence free. Well, it's not consequence free because what she found in talking to these young ladies over decades really is more depression, more anxiety, more cutting, cutting yourself in the arm to know you're alive, more isolation, more abandonment, more suicidal thoughts. And they can't figure out why they feel so miserable. It's the saddest thing I've ever read. And as we as well, you know, where's where's the young man? Well, you know, it was one night. never talk to me again. This is a very destructive culture, destructive, especially to women, though I don't think it's it's good for men either. So it's something you can see writ large in social findings. My friend Helen Alvarez calls it the immistration of women. That means women are more miserable than ever before. And that shows up in social surveys. And I think it does make people ready for abortion. The other thing is that the ideology that started with contraception and then was used to create a Supreme Court judgment that there was a constitutional right not only to contraception but to abortion, I found has gotten used by later courts, by later judges, to justify the lethal neglect of handicapped newborn children to as a precedent for euthanasia and assisted suicide for elderly. And so the whole idea that life, innocent life, supposedly burdensome life or imperfect life has no great rights that can Trump, should stop using that word, shouldn't I, can override liberty, personal liberty. that has gotten into any number of other areas where life is at risk. So it's something that has been kind of poisoning society. This idea that you can have actions that are, you don't have any actions that are consequence free. And very often the consequences are bad consequences for the most helpless among us. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (07:45) And you know, I like the way you put that because the whole idea that there are some norms, some moral norms that have no exceptions, there's a reason for those things having no exceptions. And the underlying reason is that you're trying to protect the true equality of every human being and their right to life. know, so much of this has been done in the name of equality for women. Well, when they're talking about equality for women, they're talking about in terms of income or occupational stature, that kind of thing. There's no question that women make more money as individuals than they used to, or that women have more education than they used to. That's certainly true. And so men and women are more equal. But only in that dimension. The women are now more miserable than they were before. And the idea that every human person has a baseline of human rights, that gets completely shot. you know, that the woman has the sole right to determine whether this particular person even gets to live, you know. That idea is extremely corrosive. And it's one of these things, it's superficially appealing, but when you really dig down a little bit, you find there's all sorts of dark sides to it. And, you know, it seems like it's been the job of the faithful Catholic remnant to make sure that at least somebody digs down a little bit. to pass that superficial appeal of the thing. Richard Doerflinger (09:14) Yeah, it's a, it reminded me of something that was once written by one of my favorite priests that I ever met, Jesuit priest named John Connery SJ. And he had a steady debate going back and forth between him and Richard McCormick, who was one of the great consequentialist theologians in the United States in journals like Theological Studies. And he ended one of his articles about moral absolutes with a statement that I thought, well, it's so obvious that you're the first person that wrote anything that brought it home to me. And that was, look, it's when it's hard to obey a moral norm, that's when you need the moral absolute. You don't need moral absolutes for when it's easy. You only need it when it is when the temptation is greater to to violate it. And I don't know why they're just stuck in my mind as well. It's enormous common sense. But for some reason, there are people who think that that's not true. The. And the whole history of Catholic moral teaching has been to refine and sometimes to expand the application of its witness to life. You know, more and more of the church has turned against capital punishment as, you know, an unnecessarily violent means for trying to punish or stop crime. Our tradition on war has become more and more skeptical about the idea that you could ever have in practice today with all our technology, a just war, a limited war. And so here, when life is at its most helpless, we seem to be wanting to go in the opposite direction. And I would like to say to some of my liberal Catholic friends, do you really think that once you make this new paradigm where it's only your subjective Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (11:20) Mm-hmm Richard Doerflinger (11:29) desires and your own experience that are going to make the moral norm for you. You don't think anybody's going to think of applying that to war. I don't see any reason why not. If it's a paradigm, it's a paradigm. It undermines all moral absolutes. So I think it's very, very important to that. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (11:45) Right And it undermines all moral absolutes, but it also places the weak in an even weaker position, right, because there's nothing to which they can appeal. The law of the strongest becomes much more potent in a relativistic type of system, and this is something Pope Benedict was, I think, referring to when he talked about the dictatorship of relativism. If you really don't have any standards, then you are going to end up with the law of the strongest, whether you mean to or not, whether you like it or not. that's where you're going to end up because you don't have any standard that everybody can appeal to. Richard Doerflinger (12:30) That's right. That's John Paul II as well in the Gospel of Life. When liberty, when freedom does not serve the truth, it's just a war of the strong against the weak. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (12:44) Right, right. And that's pretty much where we are. Richard Doerflinger (12:47) what we seem to be heading for. The other thing that just surprises me is that a lot of the Protestant denominations, and this has been noted by Mary Eberstadt and others, have taken this road toward a more subjectivist, more relativist morality, accepting the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age, in terms of sexuality, among other things. And those are the denominations that are dying. know, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, at least some branches of them have decided we need to get with the spirit of the age so that people will find us credible. And instead, people found them dispensable. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (13:43) Yes. Richard Doerflinger (13:44) They were just saying the things that the secular society was already telling them and wrapping it around in some theology, but you don't need the theology if you've already got, you know, the answer to what you're allowed to do, which is pretty broad answer. So it's very frustrating to find that this, you know, sexual revolution, obviously, I mean, you have to just open your eyes had many, many casualties. And I don't know why that can be invisible to bishops, to theologians. The evidence is all there. again, know, Berenstead has been, and her contribution to this as well, and in yours, it's all there. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (14:36) That's right. Richard Doerflinger (14:37) Question about it, really. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (14:40) Well, I can tell you how this works, Richard. can tell you exactly how this works, because this is the kind of stuff I track, right? People selectively choose the evidence. And so the people who are talking about lived experience, they always have one kind of experience in mind, the experience of the hard case, whatever the hard case might be, the issue is abortion or the issue is end of life issues or homosexuality or whatever the issue is, it's always the hard case where it's hard to meet the norm, like you were saying before, but they never ever present the evidence, the lived experience of the people who violated the norm and then later regret it. And the whole list of reasons why people turn out to regret violating the norm. You know, it's like we're driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in California, which is a beautiful winding road, but we're driving down that highway with no guardrails. in a car that has no brakes. Well, when you go careening off the cliff, you kind of wish you had the brakes. You kind of wish somebody had said, danger, slow down, you know? But that's what the absolute moral norm can do for you, is it keeps you from the worst kind of catastrophe, but still give you lots and lots of freedom about how. So for example, you and your wife, I want to come back to your story, which by the way is the subject of his contribution here. That what you discover is when you say, okay, certain things are off limits. We're not going to use the rubbers anymore. We're not going to take the pills anymore. Okay, that's off limits. But within that, within the constraints we've now accepted for ourselves, we can do all sorts of things. We're very free if we stay in the playground, you know, and the playground is much safer than the free for all that includes cars coming through at 50 miles an hour. You know, can, the kids can't play in that kind of environment. And so, but the contraceptive ideology has broken down marriage precisely as Paul VI said it would do because if you have a strong marriage culture and you know you're supposed to be sexually exclusive, that means this ring says I'm off limits. I'm off limits to everybody, you know, and you're off limits to everybody because you got a ring on your finger. Richard Doerflinger (16:59) Even the guys who are trying to cheat on their wives and go to a bar to pick up a woman they don't know, they realize they need to take that ring off first. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (17:12) Yeah, that's right. No, that's very true. That's very true. Because there is still some residual moral norm around that you don't mess around with somebody's spouse. But contraception makes it seem like it will be OK, that we can get away with this. It's not as potentially catastrophic and stuff. And how many marriages are destroyed by infidelity? A lot. A lot are destroyed by infidelity, obviously. So yeah. Anyway, go ahead. Richard Doerflinger (17:44) I was just going say that, you when you're talking about the playground, it reminded me of something that I think GK Chesterton said about there was once a playground. It was on a sort of plateau, but it has this big strong fence all around, all around the playground. And kids would come and they would play. And sometimes they, you know, when running in a ball game, they'd actually bounce off the fence or something, you know, that everybody was having a good time. Everybody decided. Although their parents decided, well, this is very restrictive. We will take away the fence. The next day they came, the fence was down. The children arrived. They were all huddling together in the center and no one was laughing. And it reminded me also of there's a palliative care physician I used to work with on the issue of physician assisted suicide. said something very similar. said, because I know that deliberately ending the life of my patient is the one thing I must never do that freed me to do all of the ways to explore all the ways in which I can relieve his suffering and accompany him or her. Because I know that's where I don't go. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (19:09) Mm-hmm. Richard Doerflinger (19:10) So I think that's very true on all kinds of issues. You say this is what I will not do. What is it? Meet Lo, Fustasing. I'll do anything for love, but I won't do that. Those norms are there to free us for the ways in which we can live with each other and, yes, plan our families. and respect each other. I that was one of the other things that just I had to respect my wife's body and its natural cycles and so on. And that helped to undergird my respect for her, which, of course, every husband should have for his wife. And so it is a way of working with reality instead of trying to change reality to your whims. I think this is a much longer term debate or struggle than just, you know, changing laws or, you know, changing official documents. It really is about changing culture. It's about changing attitudes. I've done some writing in the past about this whole worldview of expressive individualism, that every one of us is just sort of a individual. Well, it's really, it's very Nietzschean, you know, it's the will to power. I express myself, I can create myself, making my identity by the way that I work out what I want to do. And that is so destructive on so many levels. And I think that the marriage culture, the idea of actually committing yourself to another person, that that is freeing. It frees you from all the consequences of uncommitted sex that so many women have had to experience. And it is also something that, there is also you were talking about, you know, there's a there's a moral norm built into us, you know, instinctually, a mother has the instinct of protecting her child. at every stage. We have been trying to suppress that over the recent decades of developments on this is what your individual freedom frees you or maybe requires you to do. I was very taken aback once I was reading a Catholic account of abortion. This is a priest who is responding to an essay by Anne Landers in favor of abortion. And he went through all kinds of rebuttals about the arguments in favor. And then he said, but to get back to the one thing, the essential thing, the only thing to abort is to destroy your son or daughter. And I have been working with the, you know, this is the taking of a human life or this is, you know, a form of killing and so on. And suddenly just those words took me aback. Well, of course it is. You're related. This is a member of your family. It already is a member of your family. Even if your family is only the two of you. And I think it has taken a lot of work for society to break down that very natural intuition. And there must be ways to revive it because it hasn't entirely disappeared. mean, many, many abortions are very broken up about it. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (23:01) Yes, yes. And many men are broken up by their wives or girlfriends' decisions to have an abortion. And even siblings. Every once in a while somebody will share with me, you know, Dr. Morse, my mom told me when I was a teenager, my mom told me that she had had an abortion, you know, at some point. And that guy said to me, my gosh, I have a sibling who died, you know. So even there, none of these things only affect the individual. This is the other big myth, you know. The person making the decision cannot foresee all the consequences if you, particularly if you expand the consequences beyond yourself. What impact will this have on the people around me, on my husband, on my boyfriend, on my other kids, you know? What are all those consequences? This has always been the argument against consequentialism. You know, no, I mean, it's one argument against consequentialism. You can't possibly know all the possible consequences. Richard Doerflinger (24:12) And there's no way to quantify one against the other because they're different projects. And the first consequence is on you. I you have just made yourself the kind of person who does this. And I mean, there's certainly opportunity for repenting of that, for turning your life around again. But the first consequence is on your own conscience. There are people who, you this was the first time they realized they were capable of doing this thing that they didn't think they would ever do. And that changes your life. it's, yeah, consequentialism is, it's a very one dimensional way of talking about one very small subset of all the consequences that we create when we have a human act, a moral act. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (25:10) Yes, yes. And I'm glad you're calling it expressive individualism, because one of the… I almost think of it as a trick. You know, one of the tricks that is done to make you think this act is okay is that you greatly redefine what counts as a consequence. You know, so when you see people expressing themselves by deciding they were really born in the wrong body, and they're going to change the sex of the body, and they're going to leave their wife and their children to go live as a woman… You know, that person's thinking about the consequences to themselves. They're not thinking about the long-term impact on the wife and the children. Somehow that doesn't enter the calculation. It doesn't enter as a harm, you know? And that's how a lot of this stuff is done. That's the trick, I would call it the trick. And one of the things that we try to do here at the Ruth Institute is to make sure those people get a microphone, you know, that the people who've been left behind have an opportunity to say, you know, my dad did this and it was awful. My mom did this and it was awful for us, you know, all of those type of things to broaden that discussion so that people understand your actions do have far reaching consequences, not just to you today, but to generations down the line. You're gonna be having consequences, the consequences of these acts. So we have our work cut out for us in this volume, us little, our intrepid people who are trying to fight against consequentialism in the Roman Catholic Church. where it doesn't belong, okay people, it does not belong in the Roman Catholic Church. The rest of you maybe have an excuse, but no, we're not gonna accept this. So in your opinion, who should read this book? Who should get this book? Who should have it on their shelf? Richard Doerflinger (26:55) You know, I think it would be a very handy guide for pastors who, you know, deal with people coming to them with questions regarding sexuality and so on. know, people will not necessarily always listen to, well, that this is immoral in the teaching of the Catholic Church. They might listen to, well, I mean, what you're doing or what you want to do. has really done a lot of harm to a lot of women and a lot of men. And here's some experience. I mean, if people will listen to experience, this book has got those. I think people who are teaching moral theology or are teaching marriage preparation or RCIA, Pre-Kena programs, can look at this and get some insights that will help them to talk in a very down to earth way about sexual ethics. I mean, I have a vested interest, I would, you know, I hope everybody reads this book, of course, but I think especially in those consequences, you know, in those situations, it could be an extremely helpful guide for where to go when just saying no is not enough. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (28:19) Right, right. And do you think people would respond well if they received this book as a gift from someone else? I wonder if some of our viewers might want send it to their pastor, might want to send it to their moral theologian professor or something like that. I don't know. Maybe people don't respond well to that. But maybe they do. Maybe. I don't know. What do you think, Rich? Should people try that? Richard Doerflinger (28:46) It couldn't hurt. The one person I know I should not send it to. I was talking to one of our grown daughters the other day and said, you know, Maria, I just finished, you know, I got a chapter in a recently published book. We were talking about, you know, moms and my married life in our checkered history with family planning. You want to read it? She said, God, no. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (29:15) That's it. Richard Doerflinger (29:18) So, you know, your kids don't want to. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (29:20) Send it to her. Duly noted, Richard. We will not send it to your daughter. Richard Doerflinger (29:26) But I hope other people will be sort of interested in what we learned from our experience. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (29:33) Yes. And the strategic significance of this book, just to reiterate something that Rich and I started at and have been kind of hinting around about, is that lived experience is the terminology that people use to defend consequentialism. Lived experience can trump those moral norms. And we want to say that it's actually the lived experience of people who violate those norms that should tell us that the norms are very valuable to us. and that the norms are worth defending and the norms are worth keeping. Richard Dorflinger, thank you so much for being my guest on today's episode of the Dr. J Show. This has been very interesting, very, very helpful. Are you still writing and working in this series or do you have a website or something like that where people can keep up with you? Richard Doerflinger (30:25) I don't have a website. mean, if you were to do an internet search in my name, some of my work would come up. Also, some nasty articles about me from people who didn't appreciate what I was doing in Congress. my wife is asking me once in a while when I'm going to retire from my retirement. I continue to do writing and speaking. giving a talk at Notre Dame next week, part of their fall conference on the Catholic imagination, which is interesting, is they wanted me to apply the idea of the Catholic imagination, the Catholic worldview and how it looks at reality as having deeper levels than other accounts recognized and apply it to some of these issues like abortion. so So it's mainly, a lot of the speakers are gonna be novelists, poets and so on, but I get to take that idea and apply it to what I work on usually. And it's been an interesting exercise to figure out what I'm gonna say. I haven't figured out all of it yet. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (31:44) Well, Richard Darflinger, it has been a lot of fun talking with you about these issues, these very serious and important issues, but we have had a little bit of fun while we're doing it. I do hope that people will take this volume seriously. I do hope that people will use these thoughts to interpret what you see coming out of Rome from time to time and help you understand what some of these debates are in Catholic moral theology. Your contribution here, Richard, has been really a big help to me and I'm sure to many of the viewers of the Ruth Institute. So I want to thank you so much for being my guest on today's episode of The Dr. J Show. Have a question or a comment? Leave it in the comments, and we'll get back to you! 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It takes more than an, R; rating to save the world.By kittybeaver, in 5 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. Of course he was good looking. In fact, 'good looking' was an understatement. 6'4" and 240 lbs. of muscle clad in tight blue jeans and an equally tight red t-shirt, he was intimidatingly gorgeous. Dirk Allen made his living as a male model, so Tina had expected intimidatingly gorgeous. Good thing for her she wasn't easily intimidated.If he hadn't been her assignment, she would've entertained the thought of seducing him. Sometimes, when global safety was at stake, seduction was part of her assignment, so she had that skill set. Tina knew how to accidentally position herself in a man's line of vision and show her figure at the best angle. She could purposefully make the random eye contact that somehow led to the chance connection. She knew how to suggest he come back to her place in such a way that it was obvious she'd "never done this sort of thing before." And she knew how to ride a cock. She would have been more than happy to prove that to male model Dirk Allen.Tina could picture him sprawled naked on her living room floor. In that picture she was straddling him, impaling herself on his engorged manhood, rocking her hips to a rhythm that made him whimper. She could almost feel his silky, raven black hair as she fisted it and pulled him up into a sitting position, encouraging him to suck and bite her breasts. Oh God, her breasts ached for the touch of his full, pouty lips."Keep on mission, Agent Blondell," an authoritative voice chirped from the small communicator tucked behind Tina's ear."Stay out of my bio readings, Fact-Tel," she snapped.Generally it was helpful to have an artificial intelligence with access to every database in the world at Tina's beck and call. Usually it was a good thing Fact-Tel monitored her vital signs, making sure she hadn't been poisoned or wasn't bleeding internally. But at that moment, when Tina's nipples were so stiff they cast shadows on her silk blouse, Fact-Tel's omniscient omnipresence wasn't helpful or a good thing."This is why I don't like working with biologicals," Fact-Tel muttered. "You all get distracted by the mere thought of reproduction.""Target is heading west on Spruce," Tina said as Dirk Allen disappeared from view. "Possible destinations?""I don't know," Fact-Tel groaned. "There's like 80 coffee shops between here and 22nd Street. He's probably going to one of those.""You're a big help. Thanks." Tina casually slid around the corner onto Spruce Street, catching sight of her target almost immediately. With his broad shoulders and tight ass, he stood out in a crowd."He's not good breeding material," Fact-Tel warned her. "Sure he's got perfect DNA, but all my research indicates he's a mama's boy.""Not looking to breed," she said while she slipped through the lunch crowd lining up at a sidewalk hot-dog cart."Do you really want Delia Villa-Allen as your mother-in-law?" the AI asked. "She is kind of evil.""We haven't proved that yet," Tina reminded him. "And I'm not in the market for a mother-in-law, or husband, for that matter."Love wasn't a luxury she could afford. As the number one agent for the SWSO, Tina Blondell didn't have time for date nights or boyfriends. All her time was spent protecting the public from people like Delia Villa-Allen, CEO of Villa Pharmaceuticals. If reports could be trusted, Villa-Allen had developed the formula for Delectiovenenum and was planning to use it to enslave the human race.It was Tina's mission to infiltrate Villa Pharmaceuticals, find out if those reports were true and, if they were, stop the fiendish plot before it could be completed. She hoped hunky Dirk Allen was, in fact, a mama's boy. If he was the sort of son who diligently listened while his mother complained about her workday then perhaps he knew a thing or two about Villa Pharmaceuticals' alleged illegal experiments and maybe, just maybe, Tina could trick him into giving up those secrets and helping her save the world.For the last block and a half, Tina had stealthily followed Dirk. She noted his every move, never taking her eyes off of him. But she did have to blink and it was in that half second of blinking that she lost sight of him. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't."Fact-Tel," Tina gasped. "Where'd he go?""I, um, Ahh, " the AI stammered."Hack into the surveillance cameras on the neighboring buildings," she ordered. "There's got to be something. He was just here.""Maybe that alleyway," Fact-Tel suggested, but Tina could tell from the tone of his mechanical voice he had nothing.Sure enough, the ally was a dead end. There wasn't a single male underwear model hiding behind the dumpster. Tina sighed with frustration. If the human race was enslaved it would all be her fault, hers and her stupid, blinking eyes."Check architectural plans and recent building applications," she said, knowing it was hopeless, but she had to try. "Maybe there's a hidden door somewhere."At that moment a gust of wind stirred the back of Tina's skirt, almost lifting it past her hips. She spun around and found herself not two feet away from the elusive Dirk Allen. By God, he was even better looking up close, what with his pale green eyes and chiseled jaw."Did my mother send you?" he asked.Tina's face stayed deadly serious, but in her mind she smiled. She knew how to get the information she needed. It would be as easy as picking up a one night stand at a sports bar."She's worried about you, Dirk," Tina said, her eyes filling with concern. "We all are."Of course, the cute, little blonde worked for his mother. Dirk couldn't have been more disappointed.When he had noticed her following him three blocks back he'd hoped she was a fashion model groupie. He never actually had a groupie stalk him before, but he had heard stories and they all ended in filthy, unnatural, hate-yourself-in-the-morning sex.There were a few things he didn't particularly like about himself, things that definitely fell under the category of "unnatural." Heck, he was going to hate himself in the morning anyway. For the past few months it had been his constant mindset. If he was going to feel like shit, Dirk might as well get laid first.And the blonde was just his type, petite but with ample tits and ass. Dirk was a big guy and he had large hands. For him to get a satisfying handful there had to be a lot there to grab. This woman had a lot and he wanted to grab it all and squeeze.But, she worked for his mom. Squeezing was inappropriate.If she had been a groupie he would have grabbed her ample ass. He would've lifted her by her ass and let her wrap her legs around his hips. He'd lean her against the filthy alley wall, because that's how she liked it, filthy. Reaching up her skirt, he'd push her panties out of his way and sheath himself in her slick, hot cunt."Oh Dirk, Dirk," she would pant as he'd start to move inside her. "More, harder, "The more he'd give her the more she'd beg until his thrusts made her breasts bounce so hard the buttons would pop off her shiny, purple blouse. She'd scream his name one last time before she came, her inner muscles gripping his cock and forcing him to shoot his load.That's what probably would have happened if the blonde didn't work for his mother, but since she did she was going to do what his mother usually did; look at him like he was a big disappointment." and that's why she's worried about you," the cute, little blonde said. "You don't seem to be able to focus.""What?" Dirk asked. "I'm sorry. I wasn't listening.""She's concerned," she said, her voice taking on a bit of an edge, "that you may have inadvertently told someone about the Delectiovenenum.""Is that an STD?" Dirk shifted uncomfortably. "She knows I'm clean. She gets the blood and urine samples every week."Over the past month or so he'd begun to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with his relationship with his mother. Perhaps all scientists regularly collected and studied their children's blood and urine, or gave them vitamin injections, or made them sit under the "health" lamp so their skin could absorb all the "health" rays. It was possible all the things his mother did were the actions of a normal loving parent, but Dirk was beginning to think there was some connection to the mysterious abilities he had recently developed.Could it be that the health rays were the reason he could move so fast no one could see him? Maybe the vitamin injections were what made him so strong he could lift a car with one hand. Dirk felt a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach when he pondered whether or not his mother had performed experiments on him. Had she turned him into a monster, albeit an extremely attractive one?"You stopped listening to me again," the petite blonde said, her cute little nose twitching with annoyance. "Didn't you?""No," he said with feigned confidence. "Well, maybe a little. You were talking about detective something.""De-lec-ti-o-ven-en-um," she repeated slowly, enunciating every syllable. "It's the militarized airborne aphrodisiac Villa Pharmaceuticals was ordered not to develop.""Was I supposed to know about that?" Dirk asked. "Sometimes I forget to listen when people talk to me, so occasionally I don't know stuff I'm supposed to know."The woman sighed as if all hope was lost. "Either you're brilliant or unfathomably stupid.""Let's go with brilliant," he said, "because I'm not sure what unfathomably means.""I'll just have to figure something else out," she mumbled while she started to walk past Dirk."Wait a minute." He grabbed her arm as a stray thought rattled around in his head. "What is a militarized airborne aphrodisiac? Is it like a gas that makes people fall in love with the army?""Not exactly," she explained. "It's a chemical that, when inhaled, causes an uncontrollable need for sexual contact, a need that one would be compelled to satisfy immediately. If used as a weapon on a population, it could break the will of the people."Dirk shifted from one foot to the other. "Part of me thinks this Delective thing is wrong." He stopped to adjust the front of his pants. "If we were to get dosed right now, you and me, I'd be okay with it. It'd be awkward later, but I'm used to awkward." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "On the other hand, if it hit while I was home with my dog, well, that would be traumatic for both of us. This sex gas needs to be stopped."The blonde studied him for a moment. "You're not so dumb after all.""That's what brilliant means.""I haven't exactly been honest with you, Dirk," she said, "but I need your help so I'm going to tell you the complete truth." An angry squawking noise suddenly erupted from the woman's ear. "Shut up, Fact-Tel," she spat. "I'm doing this.""That's a little weird," Dirk said to himself.The woman held out her hand to him. "I'm Agent Tina Blondell with the SWSO.""SWSO?" he asked as he shook her hand. "South West Student Organists?""Secret World Security Organization," she corrected. "We're concerned your mother may use Delectiovenenum on the city of Middleburg. Now, I know you don't think your mother could do something--""No," he interrupted. "That's totally something my mom would do. She's very sneaky and controlling in a creepy kind of way."Tina grabbed his hand. "I need your help, Dirk. I have to get into Villa Pharmaceuticals' headquarters. You think you can get me in?"Technically Dirk was no longer allowed at Villa Pharmaceuticals. Growing up he used to go there all the time, but when he was a teenager he'd done something which the family referred to as "The Donkey Incident" and since then he'd been banned. But he wasn't going to let that stop him from helping what's-her-name save the world."Sure can." He scooped the tiny blonde up in his arms. "Let's go right now." And with that he started to run.Tina didn't scream. She would have liked to say it was her training that helped her keep her head, but really there hadn't been time for her brain to process what was going on and even less time for her mouth to scream. One moment she was in the alley, cradled in Dirk's strong and solid arms. There was a blast of wind and then quite suddenly she was still in Dirk's arms, but also halfway across town, in another alley next to the Villa Pharmaceuticals corporate headquarters."What just happened?" she asked as she rapidly blinked, trying to restore moisture to her eyes."Ah, " Dirk set her down on her unsteady feet. "I probably should've mentioned this before. I kind of can run really fast." He pried his fingers between a metal door and effortlessly ripped it off its hinges revealing a cement stairwell. "I'm also kind of strong. I think my mom's been experimenting on me.""Interesting." She stepped into the stairwell and peered up. It was an emergency exit and the stairs disappeared into the dark distance above. They most likely led straight to Delia Villa-Allen's penthouse office."Don't trust him," Fact-Tel whispered in her ear. "He's a mama's boy."Tina reached up her skirt and un-holstered the pistol strapped to her thigh. "If it came down to helping me save the world or helping your mother control it, which side would you pick?" she asked. "And Dirk, I need you to be honest with me.""I'll be completely honest." He held up a finger. "One, I don't remember your name and two," he held up another finger, "my relationship with my mother is complicated. Obviously, I love her. She is my mother. But I'm in my late twenties. I should have a say in whether or not I'm experimented on and given freakish superhuman powers.""That didn't answer my question." She slipped the safety off her gun. "And you can call me Tina.""I don't want her controlling me," he said. "I definitely don't want her controlling the world. I'll help you, Tina." He stopped for a moment to think and then added. "If you're going to kill her I may need to leave the room.""Fair enough." Tina motioned with her head. "Can you use your powers to get me up to her office?""No problem. I can run you up the steps." He swept her into his arms again. "Besides the strength and speed, I also have inhuman stamina." He moved toward the stairwell, but stopped to add, "I'm not trying to brag. I'm just stating a fact.""Duly noted." Tina patted his biceps straining against the soft, red fabric of his t-shirt. She pressed her face against his chest as a way to protect her eyes from the moisture stealing wind of his inhuman speed. There was the added benefit of surrounding her senses with his scent, an intoxicating concoction of musk and Old Spice. If things went according to plan and they were able to save the world, maybe later she'd test his stamina and find out all that Dirk Allen was capable of doing."Dirk, honey, what are you doing?"Tina looked up to see an attractive middle aged woman in an impeccable business suit sitting behind a large mahogany desk. Delia Villa-Allen. Even if Tina hadn't studied her case file, she would have recognized her from all the magazine covers and cable news show appearances.Delia casually, almost too casually, turned off the monitor on her computer and shifted some papers on her desk before standing up. "Is this your way of telling me you have a girlfriend?" she asked. "She's not good enough for you.""No," Dirk blurted out. "This is, this is, ah, " He looked at Tina, his lips curving into an equivalent of a question mark. "I've forgotten your name again.""Tina Blondell," she reminded him as she gracefully slipped from his arms. "Dr. Villa-Allen, I have some questions I'd like to ask you.""Yeah," Dirk said. "like why did you perform experiments on me? Why did you turn me into a freak?""That actually isn't one of my questions," Tina tried to say, but Delia talked right over her."I did no such thing." The older woman m

A senior nurse said he's filled with dread at the prospect of police pulling back from their involvement with mental health patients. Starting today, Police are reducing the time they'll spend on mental health callouts - including limiting ED handovers to 15 minutes and they'll also spend less time on transporting patients and dealing with low risk cases. Frontline workers have warned there's an increased risk of violence with police turning more of their focus to crime fighting duties. Duly authorised officers or DAO's, are nurses with special powers to assess and detain mental health patients and RNZ understand about half a dozen of them have quit over safety concerns. Greg Davies is a DAO who is still on the job in Marlborough and spoke to Lisa Owen.

gliding towards a crashreflections on this moment Note: This bonus episode is from my ‘a calm presence' substack about ‘short, practical essays about collapse acceptance, adaptation, response and art'. Cover photo was taken by me at Tribune Bay, Hornsby Island, BC on September 17, 2024.Friends and colleagues often ask me why I focus my energies on ‘anticipating, observing, and experiencing societal disruption and collapse' (deep adaptation forum).A good question.  Instead of societal collapse, Arno Kopecky (author of The Environmentalist's Dilemma: Promise and Peril in an Age of Climate Crisis and an upcoming guest on conscient e206), suggested to me in a September 14, 2024 email that I consider focusing on : a thriving society lens so that we're running toward something beautiful, rather than fleeing something terrible.A good point.Arno also mentions that ‘ultimately it's the same thing', e.g., that societal collapse and societal revitalisation follow essentially the same path, but I would agree that running towards something positive is more interesting (and useful than the negative). Duly noted (as they say on the Canadaland podcast).However, I have to admit that I quite often fall into collapse rabbit holes and sometimes can't see the light so I call upon guests from previous episodes, such as e165 bill crandall - art can change usBeing an artist, or making art, in the context of climate is more about being a kind of light in the darkness, making us believe in ourselves and believe in the future so that we want to endeavor to save the thing that we have, our habitat.  Some people like to say art can't change the world, but art can change us. Then we can change the world more effectively.So here's my answer to the ‘focus' question. It's a story about a story that I recorded in e202 coman poon - what are you doing with your life ? : When I first met Vanessa (Andreotti) in 2019, I think she shared this story with me about, you know, the metaphor of the plane crashed as a way of talking about the time of the great turning, so to speak, for lack of a better term. And this idea is that there is no. There is no prevention of the crime, right? If you and I, and, you know, every living thing that is on, so called, the plane is on Pachamama, Mother Earth with us, we're going through a crash. We're going through, you know, six, extinction, we're going through climate collapse, geopolitical collapse, economic collapse, all types of overlapping, interlaced cycles of destruction. And like on planes, what you can do, at best, is to get ready for a glide as opposed to a hard landing, because that means some will survive, and those that survive aren't necessarily the lucky ones. So while we're on the plane, you know, instead of putting on our noise canceling earphones, pretending that we're not in a sardine can, we could try turning to each other, saying hello. So many things can happen between the moment when we know the plane is going to crash, that there's no getting away from that and the crash itself. So my invitation is to the listeners, what are you doing? What are you doing before the crash, in this time? What are you doing with your life? How are you going to actually weave connection? Because it's still possible to operate without hope. It's absolutely imperative.‘Saying hello' is what I try to do with every ‘a calm presence' posting and also the conscient podcast - balado conscient. Saying hello in Coman's way. I don't feel doomist, defeatist or nihilistic in saying that.I don't feel like I'm being overly negative, proselytizing, virtue signalling or being self-righteous, though I have certainly done that in the past, and probably will again.I produced an episode about this:  e111 traps - what are the traps in your life?:Observer: I see a trap called proselytizing which happens when people try to teach and convince others that a particular issue of interest should be the most important thing for everyone. Me: Wait a second, I do that all the time as a climate activist and with my art and ecology podcast and… Observer :(interrupting) of course you do and well you should - no worries - but, the danger is that your work could be perceived as an effort to assert ‘moral high ground' and while this trap may be driven by a genuine passion for an issue, and you certainly are passionate about your work, it has the potential to impose onto others in a way that does not respect their own un/learning journey, and often actually has the opposite effect, pushing people away rather than inviting them in. Me: Ya, Ya, I see. Let me think about that.Observer: Sure and when this trap occurs, it can be useful to ask, for example, why do I need to teach or convince or inspire others about my learning experience? Where is this perceived need stemming from?  And if you really feel you need to bring something to the attention of others, maybe you can ask yourself: What is the most pedagogically responsible and effective thing to do so that your message can land?But this is different. It feels good to accept reality. Not good, good because it's actually awful and very painful, as we feel the disappearance of life unfold around us but for it's better to accept reality than to live in denial. It's better to undergo a lens shift and therefore see and feel things as they really are. It's better to be ready to die at any moment knowing that the truth of that moment was our final breath. Now none of this is new. Buddhism and similar spiritual practices have been teaching us this forever. So what's next?I try keep this excerpt from Robert Janes' Museums and Societal Collapse : The Museum as Lifeboat in mind:Hopeless need not mean helpless. On the contrary, hopelessness is the springboard to helpfulness – supportive, effective, and useful.'In other words, how to be supportive, effective and useful while living on a plane that is gliding towards an inevitable crash.My energy is not focused on fixing that gliding plane in mid-flight - tempting as that might be - but rather to focus on those who survive the crash so that they might have a fresh start. And for those who follow the conscient podcast season 6 will beginning sometime in 2025 on ‘art and culture in times of crisis and collapse':Claude: Welcome to conscient podcast, Bob. Bob: Well, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. Claude: Now this is the beginning of season six, so I'm quite excited. And it's also early days. Today is Monday, September 16th, 2024, and we're at your farm (on Denman Island) and we've just been walking around with your son. It's actually not your farm, but your son's farm or both of you. Bob: It's a partnership. . Claude: So I'm not absolutely clear what season six is going to be in the end - t's early days- but I do know that I want to talk about art and culture in times of crisis and collapse and I see your book in front of me here called Museums and Societal Collapse : The museum as Lifeboat…I'm also working on an Artist Survival Kit.I sometimes think it should be called ‘Artist Thriving Kit' but I'm not there yet. Thanks for listening.  *END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODESI've been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). It's my way to give back and be present.In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and it's francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I publish a Substack newsletter called ‘a calm presence' which are 'short, practical essays about collapse acceptance, adaptation, response and art'. To subscribe (free of charge) see https://acalmpresence.substack.com. You'll also find a podcast version of each a calm presence posting on Substack or one your favorite podcast player.Also, please note that a complete transcript of conscient podcast and balado conscient episodes from season 1 to 4 is available on the web version of this site (not available on podcast apps) here: https://conscient-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes.Your feedback is always welcome at claude@conscient.ca and/or on conscient podcast social media: Facebook, X, Instagram or Linkedin. I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. Claude SchryerLatest update on July 20, 2024

Volunteer Firefighter and History & PE Teacher at MRHS - Wade, joined Triple M Brekkie alongside NSW RFS Operations Manager Justin MacKellar. Nell was one of hundreds of firefighters deployed from Australia to Canada to assist in battling the Canadian wildfires. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It takes more than an, R; rating to save the world.By kittybeaver, in 5 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.Of course he was good looking. In fact, ‘good looking’ was an understatement. 6'4" and 240 lbs. of muscle clad in tight blue jeans and an equally tight red t-shirt, he was intimidatingly gorgeous. Dirk Allen made his living as a male model, so Tina had expected intimidatingly gorgeous. Good thing for her she wasn’t easily intimidated.If he hadn’t been her assignment, she would’ve entertained the thought of seducing him. Sometimes, when global safety was at stake, seduction was part of her assignment, so she had that skill set. Tina knew how to accidentally position herself in a man’s line of vision and show her figure at the best angle. She could purposefully make the random eye contact that somehow led to the chance connection. She knew how to suggest he come back to her place in such a way that it was obvious she’d “never done this sort of thing before.” And she knew how to ride a cock. She would have been more than happy to prove that to male model Dirk Allen.Tina could picture him sprawled naked on her living room floor. In that picture she was straddling him, impaling herself on his engorged manhood, rocking her hips to a rhythm that made him whimper. She could almost feel his silky, raven black hair as she fisted it and pulled him up into a sitting position, encouraging him to suck and bite her breasts. Oh God, her breasts ached for the touch of his full, pouty lips.“Keep on mission, Agent Blondell,” an authoritative voice chirped from the small communicator tucked behind Tina’s ear.“Stay out of my bio readings, Fact-Tel,” she snapped.Generally it was helpful to have an artificial intelligence with access to every database in the world at Tina’s beck and call. Usually it was a good thing Fact-Tel monitored her vital signs, making sure she hadn’t been poisoned or wasn’t bleeding internally. But at that moment, when Tina’s nipples were so stiff they cast shadows on her silk blouse, Fact-Tel’s omniscient omnipresence wasn’t helpful or a good thing.“This is why I don’t like working with biologicals,” Fact-Tel muttered. “You all get distracted by the mere thought of reproduction.”“Target is heading west on Spruce,” Tina said as Dirk Allen disappeared from view. “Possible destinations?”“I don’t know,” Fact-Tel groaned. “There’s like 80 coffee shops between here and 22nd Street. He’s probably going to one of those.”“You’re a big help. Thanks.” Tina casually slid around the corner onto Spruce Street, catching sight of her target almost immediately. With his broad shoulders and tight ass, he stood out in a crowd.“He’s not good breeding material,” Fact-Tel warned her. “Sure he’s got perfect DNA, but all my research indicates he’s a mama’s boy.”“Not looking to breed,” she said while she slipped through the lunch crowd lining up at a sidewalk hot-dog cart.“Do you really want Delia Villa-Allen as your mother-in-law?” the AI asked. “She is kind of evil.”“We haven’t proved that yet,” Tina reminded him. “And I’m not in the market for a mother-in-law, or husband, for that matter.”Love wasn’t a luxury she could afford. As the number one agent for the SWSO, Tina Blondell didn’t have time for date nights or boyfriends. All her time was spent protecting the public from people like Delia Villa-Allen, CEO of Villa Pharmaceuticals. If reports could be trusted, Villa-Allen had developed the formula for Delectiovenenum and was planning to use it to enslave the human race.It was Tina’s mission to infiltrate Villa Pharmaceuticals, find out if those reports were true and, if they were, stop the fiendish plot before it could be completed. She hoped hunky Dirk Allen was, in fact, a mama’s boy. If he was the sort of son who diligently listened while his mother complained about her workday then perhaps he knew a thing or two about Villa Pharmaceuticals’ alleged illegal experiments and maybe, just maybe, Tina could trick him into giving up those secrets and helping her save the world.For the last block and a half, Tina had stealthily followed Dirk. She noted his every move, never taking her eyes off of him. But she did have to blink and it was in that half second of blinking that she lost sight of him. One moment he was there, the next he wasn’t.“Fact-Tel,” Tina gasped. “Where’d he go?”“I, um, Ahh, ” the AI stammered.“Hack into the surveillance cameras on the neighboring buildings,” she ordered. “There’s got to be something. He was just here.”“Maybe that alleyway,” Fact-Tel suggested, but Tina could tell from the tone of his mechanical voice he had nothing.Sure enough, the ally was a dead end. There wasn’t a single male underwear model hiding behind the dumpster. Tina sighed with frustration. If the human race was enslaved it would all be her fault, hers and her stupid, blinking eyes.“Check architectural plans and recent building applications,” she said, knowing it was hopeless, but she had to try. “Maybe there’s a hidden door somewhere.”At that moment a gust of wind stirred the back of Tina’s skirt, almost lifting it past her hips. She spun around and found herself not two feet away from the elusive Dirk Allen. By God, he was even better looking up close, what with his pale green eyes and chiseled jaw.“Did my mother send you?” he asked.Tina’s face stayed deadly serious, but in her mind she smiled. She knew how to get the information she needed. It would be as easy as picking up a one night stand at a sports bar.“She’s worried about you, Dirk,” Tina said, her eyes filling with concern. “We all are.”Of course, the cute, little blonde worked for his mother. Dirk couldn’t have been more disappointed.When he had noticed her following him three blocks back he’d hoped she was a fashion model groupie. He never actually had a groupie stalk him before, but he had heard stories and they all ended in filthy, unnatural, hate-yourself-in-the-morning sex.There were a few things he didn’t particularly like about himself, things that definitely fell under the category of “unnatural.” Heck, he was going to hate himself in the morning anyway. For the past few months it had been his constant mindset. If he was going to feel like shit, Dirk might as well get laid first.And the blonde was just his type, petite but with ample tits and ass. Dirk was a big guy and he had large hands. For him to get a satisfying handful there had to be a lot there to grab. This woman had a lot and he wanted to grab it all and squeeze.But, she worked for his mom. Squeezing was inappropriate.If she had been a groupie he would have grabbed her ample ass. He would’ve lifted her by her ass and let her wrap her legs around his hips. He’d lean her against the filthy alley wall, because that’s how she liked it, filthy. Reaching up her skirt, he’d push her panties out of his way and sheath himself in her slick, hot cunt.“Oh Dirk, Dirk,” she would pant as he’d start to move inside her. “More, harder, ”The more he’d give her the more she’d beg until his thrusts made her breasts bounce so hard the buttons would pop off her shiny, purple blouse. She’d scream his name one last time before she came, her inner muscles gripping his cock and forcing him to shoot his load.That’s what probably would have happened if the blonde didn’t work for his mother, but since she did she was going to do what his mother usually did; look at him like he was a big disappointment.“ and that’s why she’s worried about you,” the cute, little blonde said. “You don’t seem to be able to focus.”“What?” Dirk asked. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t listening.”“She’s concerned,” she said, her voice taking on a bit of an edge, “that you may have inadvertently told someone about the Delectiovenenum.”“Is that an STD?” Dirk shifted uncomfortably. “She knows I’m clean. She gets the blood and urine samples every week.”Over the past month or so he’d begun to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with his relationship with his mother. Perhaps all scientists regularly collected and studied their children’s blood and urine, or gave them vitamin injections, or made them sit under the “health” lamp so their skin could absorb all the “health” rays. It was possible all the things his mother did were the actions of a normal loving parent, but Dirk was beginning to think there was some connection to the mysterious abilities he had recently developed.Could it be that the health rays were the reason he could move so fast no one could see him? Maybe the vitamin injections were what made him so strong he could lift a car with one hand. Dirk felt a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach when he pondered whether or not his mother had performed experiments on him. Had she turned him into a monster, albeit an extremely attractive one?“You stopped listening to me again,” the petite blonde said, her cute little nose twitching with annoyance. “Didn’t you?”“No,” he said with feigned confidence. “Well, maybe a little. You were talking about detective something.”“De-lec-ti-o-ven-en-um,” she repeated slowly, enunciating every syllable. “It’s the militarized airborne aphrodisiac Villa Pharmaceuticals was ordered not to develop.”“Was I supposed to know about that?” Dirk asked. “Sometimes I forget to listen when people talk to me, so occasionally I don’t know stuff I’m supposed to know.”The woman sighed as if all hope was lost. “Either you’re brilliant or unfathomably stupid.”“Let’s go with brilliant,” he said, “because I’m not sure what unfathomably means.”“I’ll just have to figure something else out,” she mumbled while she started to walk past Dirk.“Wait a minute.” He grabbed her arm as a stray thought rattled around in his head. “What is a militarized airborne aphrodisiac? Is it like a gas that makes people fall in love with the army?”“Not exactly,” she explained. “It’s a chemical that, when inhaled, causes an uncontrollable need for sexual contact, a need that one would be compelled to satisfy immediately. If used as a weapon on a population, it could break the will of the people.”Dirk shifted from one foot to the other. “Part of me thinks this Delective thing is wrong.” He stopped to adjust the front of his pants. “If we were to get dosed right now, you and me, I’d be okay with it. It’d be awkward later, but I’m used to awkward.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “On the other hand, if it hit while I was home with my dog, well, that would be traumatic for both of us. This sex gas needs to be stopped.”The blonde studied him for a moment. “You’re not so dumb after all.”“That’s what brilliant means.”“I haven’t exactly been honest with you, Dirk,” she said, “but I need your help so I’m going to tell you the complete truth.” An angry squawking noise suddenly erupted from the woman’s ear. “Shut up, Fact-Tel,” she spat. “I’m doing this.”“That’s a little weird,” Dirk said to himself.The woman held out her hand to him. “I’m Agent Tina Blondell with the SWSO.”“SWSO?” he asked as he shook her hand. “South West Student Organists?”“Secret World Security Organization,” she corrected. “We’re concerned your mother may use Delectiovenenum on the city of Middleburg. Now, I know you don’t think your mother could do something–”“No,” he interrupted. “That’s totally something my mom would do. She’s very sneaky and controlling in a creepy kind of way.”Tina grabbed his hand. “I need your help, Dirk. I have to get into Villa Pharmaceuticals’ headquarters. You think you can get me in?”Technically Dirk was no longer allowed at Villa Pharmaceuticals. Growing up he used to go there all the time, but when he was a teenager he’d done something which the family referred to as “The Donkey Incident” and since then he’d been banned. But he wasn’t going to let that stop him from helping what’s-her-name save the world.“Sure can.” He scooped the tiny blonde up in his arms. “Let’s go right now.” And with that he started to run.Tina didn’t scream. She would have liked to say it was her training that helped her keep her head, but really there hadn’t been time for her brain to process what was going on and even less time for her mouth to scream. One moment she was in the alley, cradled in Dirk’s strong and solid arms. There was a blast of wind and then quite suddenly she was still in Dirk’s arms, but also halfway across town, in another alley next to the Villa Pharmaceuticals corporate headquarters.“What just happened?” she asked as she rapidly blinked, trying to restore moisture to her eyes.“Ah, ” Dirk set her down on her unsteady feet. “I probably should’ve mentioned this before. I kind of can run really fast.” He pried his fingers between a metal door and effortlessly ripped it off its hinges revealing a cement stairwell. “I’m also kind of strong. I think my mom’s been experimenting on me.”“Interesting.” She stepped into the stairwell and peered up. It was an emergency exit and the stairs disappeared into the dark distance above. They most likely led straight to Delia Villa-Allen’s penthouse office.“Don’t trust him,” Fact-Tel whispered in her ear. “He’s a mama’s boy.”Tina reached up her skirt and un-holstered the pistol strapped to her thigh. “If it came down to helping me save the world or helping your mother control it, which side would you pick?” she asked. “And Dirk, I need you to be honest with me.”“I’ll be completely honest.” He held up a finger. “One, I don’t remember your name and two,” he held up another finger, “my relationship with my mother is complicated. Obviously, I love her. She is my mother. But I’m in my late twenties. I should have a say in whether or not I’m experimented on and given freakish superhuman powers.”“That didn’t answer my question.” She slipped the safety off her gun. “And you can call me Tina.”“I don’t want her controlling me,” he said. “I definitely don’t want her controlling the world. I’ll help you, Tina.” He stopped for a moment to think and then added. “If you’re going to kill her I may need to leave the room.”“Fair enough.” Tina motioned with her head. “Can you use your powers to get me up to her office?”“No problem. I can run you up the steps.” He swept her into his arms again. “Besides the strength and speed, I also have inhuman stamina.” He moved toward the stairwell, but stopped to add, “I’m not trying to brag. I’m just stating a fact.”“Duly noted.” Tina patted his biceps straining against the soft, red fabric of his t-shirt. She pressed her face against his chest as a way to protect her eyes from the moisture stealing wind of his inhuman speed. There was the added benefit of surrounding her senses with his scent, an intoxicating concoction of musk and Old Spice. If things went according to plan and they were able to save the world, maybe later she’d test his stamina and find out all that Dirk Allen was capable of doing.“Dirk, honey, what are you doing?”Tina looked up to see an attractive middle aged woman in an impeccable business suit sitting behind a large mahogany desk. Delia Villa-Allen. Even if Tina hadn’t studied her case file, she would have recognized her from all the magazine covers and cable news show appearances.Delia casually, almost too casually, turned off the monitor on her computer and shifted some papers on her desk before standing up. “Is this your way of telling me you have a girlfriend?” she asked. “She’s not good enough for you.”“No,” Dirk blurted out. “This is, this is, ah, ” He looked at Tina, his lips curving into an equivalent of a question mark. “I’ve forgotten your name again.”“Tina Blondell,” she reminded him as she gracefully slipped from his arms. “Dr. Villa-Allen, I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”“Yeah,” Dirk said. “like why did you perform experiments on me? Why did you turn me into a freak?”“That actually isn’t one of my questions,” Tina tried to say, but Delia talked right over her.“I did no such thing.” The older woman moved around the desk. Her every step was filled with an old world elegance. “I was merely studying you, trying to uncover the origins of these extraordinary abilities you’ve manifested.”“Do you expect me to believe that?” Dirk’s hands curled into fists. “Do you really expect me to understand all the big words you just said? Do you?”“If I could redirect the conversation,” Tina spoke in a purposefully calming tone, “there is the issue of a highly potent gas.”“It’s always the mother’s fault, isn’t it?” Delia’s voice rose in volume to match her son’s. “Of course you suspect me when this is exactly the sort of thing your father would do.”“Don’t bring Dad into this!” Dirk yelled. “He isn’t the one who made me eat Brussels sprouts!”Tina sighed with resigned frustration. This wasn’t going to end anytime soon and she hadn’t worn comfortable shoes. No one noticed as she slipped behind Dr. Villa-Allen’s desk and sunk down into her stylish, ergonomic chair.“I will not apologize for being the responsible parent,” Delia snapped. “Do you truly think your father loved you more simply because he let you stay up late and taught you demonic incantations?”Tina absentmindedly balanced a pen on the back of her finger and yawned.“No,” Dirk said. “I think he loved me more because he didn’t change me into a monster.&rdquo

Evelyn's Task: 100 shags in 2 days. By BradentonLarry - Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. Evelyn remembered that there were four or five high stools arranged around her table and looking down she saw that there were three faces smiling up at her, watching her move in the light. There were two men and a woman. One of the men looked Latino and the other was black with a slightly light complexion. Both men seemed naked from Evelyn's viewpoint. The woman seemed Chinese or Vietnamese, or possibly Thai, but had curly blonde hair brushing her lovely neck, she seemed younger than the two guys by maybe a decade. She was wrapped in a white towel for some reason, but it had slipped down to expose her left breast.Evelyn casually looked around to see how her fellow dancers were doing. Though one of the guys was still dancing much as she was, the other girl and guy had moved into much more suggestive styles. The guy was reclining on his haunches, bending back so his rather impressive erection was standing straight up as several members of his audience reached out to run their hands over his muscular thighs. The girl was on her hands and knees wiggling her ass and exposing her vulva for the people on that side of her table. Evelyn decided she should be having more fun with this situation. Spreading her feet wide apart on the table, with her back to the two men, she slowly bent at the waist until she had placed her hands flat on the table. Her long red-brown hair cascaded around her head and brushed the tabletop. She felt a hand moving up over her right ankle and then a moment later one caressing her left. Smiling, Evelyn, took her right hand and lifted her hair from her face and had a closer look at the pretty Asian woman who was smiling back at her. Letting the Latino and black guys, she assumed, continue to caress her feet, ankles, and strong calves, as well as admire her exposed pussy, Evelyn crooked her left index finger at the woman, beckoning her closer. Letting her towel fall away, the woman leaned forward over the illuminated tabletop. Evelyn caught her face in a light grasp and gave her a lingering kiss. Releasing the woman's face, Evelyn slowly stood and went back to her dancing for a moment, slowly turning until she was facing the Latino guy, and then repeated her slow bending, including giving a kiss, which was a bit less lingering than the first one. She went through the same routine for the black guy. She was planning to change things up but by then a third man had joined her audience. This was a guy who seemed Indian or Pakistani, and who was admiring Evelyn with quite obvious lust, over and above the admiration the others were exhibiting. Ordinarily, she would have thought 'This one's trouble,' but under the circumstances the way the new guy was looking at her just turned her on more and emboldened her further. This time, while facing the new guy, Evelyn backed up toward the edge of the table, nearest the Latino gentleman, then lowered herself to her hands and knees, and then crawled the short distance to the new guy who met her with a passionate kiss. Evelyn let herself enjoy the feeling of his tongue against hers for a long moment, but then backed up, rolling back until she was sitting closer to the Asian woman. With her hands and feet planted firmly beneath her, Evelyn lifted herself up into a table-position, her thighs spread so the woman could see her pussy clearly. Very slowly, Evelyn lowered herself, sinking toward the woman who was watching her with a smile. Watching the woman's expressions, Evelyn slid her hand down over her taut belly until her fingers were moving over her labia. Then she found herself slowly fingering herself, pressing her palm tightly against her clit. She might have just laid back there on the table and brought herself off, but just then the pretty Asian woman crooked her finger at her, copying the gesture Evelyn had used on her just minutes ago. With a broad smile, Evelyn crab-walked herself to the edge of the table right in front of the woman, who ran her hands along the inside of Evelyn's thighs before leaning in to kiss her very ready pussy. The woman's tongue slipped between Evelyn's lips and flickered over her clit, sending shivers all through her body. Momentarily forgetting the three men and the rest of the situation, Evelyn lay back and enjoyed what the woman's tongue and lips were doing to her. Evelyn slipped her legs around the woman's shoulders to hold her close and clasped her own tits tightly, pinching her nipples a bit. She was content to stay there and let the lovely woman lick her to an orgasm, at least, but then she felt a warm hand on her left thigh, which was the one on the side toward the newer guy. Looking down, she saw that that man was saying something to the woman, who stopped what she was doing to Evelyn to smile and nod to him. Then, reluctantly, Evelyn relaxed her legs' grasp on the woman so she could pull away and be replaced by the gentleman with lust in his eyes. Fortunately, he picked up right where the pretty Asian had left off, which earned him a happy smile from Evelyn. Then she watched as the Latino guy helped the Asian woman climb up onto the table with Evelyn. Her pale, slender body was beautiful in the bright light as she crawled over to kiss Evelyn, who relaxed and enjoyed being pleasured by two affectionate mouths. Too quickly, though, the woman broke the kiss and moved to straddle Evelyn's face. Smiling up at the woman, Evelyn grasped her tight ass and helped her get into just the right position so Evelyn could run her tongue between her lips, tasting her sweet nectar and licking at her hard little clit. The guy between her legs wasn't exactly the best, but he wasn't bad, and he was clearly intent on making Evelyn come. Evelyn felt her legs resting on his shoulders and her heels pressing against his back, holding him there, as she tried to concentrate on licking and sucking at the pussy and clit on her face. She felt her orgasm approaching as she saw the Latino guy moving up in front of the Asian woman. Evelyn wondered a bit how many people this table could hold, but went on with what she was doing, trying to make this pretty woman come for her. By now the man between Evelyn's legs was fucking at least two fingers in and out of her pussy rather violently as his tongue lashed at her clit, and she could see the Asian woman on her face was sucking the Latino guy's cock. She thought what a nice spectacle this must be for the people watching, and then she was coming. Her body clenched and spasmed as Evelyn rode a wave of tumbling ecstasy. She stopped licking at the woman on her face's clit and just moaned into her pussy as she shook. Only when she came back down did she manage to get back to work, squeezing the woman's ass in her hands as she continued licking and sucking. Evelyn was barely aware of the fact that the man between her legs was shifting around. Then, she felt the unmistakable sensations that came with having a cock moving between her lips and then pushing into her pussy. Evelyn wondered how the man, who she was assuming was the same guy who'd just been licking her, managed to get up high enough to fuck her, but put that concern out of her head and let herself enjoy being fucked. She felt her legs being lifted up, held in a V, as the man shoved into her with increasing force. Soon, it was all Evelyn could do to keep the woman's clit in place enough for her to keep licking at it, as she was driven into again and again. She found herself wishing she could get a hold of something to encourage her fucker to ram into her even harder, or that he had a bigger cock. Even so, she thought she was likely to come again before she was able to make the woman on top of her come. She was wrong. The woman had been pressing down on Evelyn's mouth and tongue more insistently, when suddenly she was shaking and rubbing herself on Evelyn's face as her juices flowed freely. Evelyn found herself bathed in sweet wetness as the woman shuddered and gasped on her face. Then she felt the man fucking her filling her pussy with his cum. As the woman carefully moved away and Evelyn felt the cock being pulled away from her pussy, she remembered where she was and thought it was extremely hot that she had been putting on such a display for everyone in the club. She also thought that she needed more cock. Rather than just lay there sprawled out at the edge of her table and wait for someone to put his dick in her, which was sure to happen soon enough, Evelyn thought she should do something more proactive about the situation. Wiping her face a bit with the back of her hand, Evelyn sat up and looked around. She saw that the table had actually lowered quite a bit while she'd been distracted. It was now at a level where it would be quite easy for the average man to fuck her as she was. While that was convenient, Evelyn wanted to go on with her performance. Knowing that she must look pretty wild with her mane of hair all messed up and wet, she twisted around and cast her eye to the people around her table-stage. The lusty guy who had licked her and then, she presumed, fucked her was still there, and had a contented smile on his face. The black guy was there too, but the Latino and Asian woman were gone. A new guy caught her eye. He was a young man, maybe early twenties, white, with short black hair. After crawling to the center of her table, Evelyn beckoned to this new guy and the black guy who'd been waiting so patiently. She knelt there in the middle of her brightly lit little stage as they came up to stand in front of her, presenting their cocks. The black cock was nice and long, and very thick, while the white one was even longer, but not so thick. Before she even began to kiss and lick at these beautiful phalluses before her, Evelyn had a plan. She took her time, really trying to make a show of things, licking and sucking on both cocks. After a bit, she gestured for the black guy to lie down on his back for her. Holding on to the long white cock for support and to keep him from wandering off, Evelyn straddled the muscular black man and sank slowly down on his wonderfully fat cock. Groaning a bit as she impaled herself, feeling herself so blissfully filled, Evelyn reached down with her free hand to stroke her clit. There on the illuminated platform, on top of a muscular man with his big thick cock in her pussy, another man standing next to her, his long cock tightly in her hand, Evelyn brought herself off in a brief but sweet orgasm. Then she was riding slowly up and down on that thick column of hard flesh, fingers stroking her clit furiously, while her other hand twisted and stroked at the other cock, until she threw her head back and her muscles tensed all over as she came loudly for everyone to see. She really let herself go with it, squeezing herself on that cock and arching her back and crying out incoherently, gasping and shuddering. When Evelyn was able to think again, she smiled down at the man underneath her and began to rock herself against him, working his thick cock in and out of herself again. She pulled the waiting guy over to her mouth, quickly going back to sucking hungrily at his long cock. She tried to get as much as she could of that length down her throat, but there was quite a bit left over. When she had that cock nice and slippery with her saliva, she looked up at its owner and tossed her head over her shoulder, hoping he would take the hint. He did. In another moment, Evelyn braced herself with both hands on the black guy's firm chest as the guy behind her began to push his long prick slowly up her ass. She loved the feeling of being so completely filled – a sensation she hadn't appreciated so well before that orgy on the Riverboat. For the first time since climbing onto her little stage, Evelyn said something. She groaned and said, “God yes! That feels so good! Fuck me boys, fuck me!” It took a moment for them to get the right rhythm, but soon the two men were working well together, pistoning in and out of Evelyn's body as they succumbed to their carnal desire to fuck her until they came inside her. She came and came again, shuddering and crying out between them, before someone else joined their party. An Asian guy with a long cock, but not as long as the guy who was vigorously fucking her ass, came up and offered himself to Evelyn's mouth. Without hesitating, she opened her mouth and let him slide past her lips, over her tongue and into her throat. Evelyn was now merely hanging on, letting the three men move in and out of her. She let herself go, merely riding along as the sensations and pleasure had their way with her. Oddly enough, it was the man fucking her face who came first, pumping what seemed like a lot of cum down her throat and then splashing across her face. Before Evelyn could wipe any of the jizz off her forehead, she felt the big cock under her pumping hot cum up into her pussy, and then, before the first was finished, the guy behind her was coming deep inside her bowels, hot cum rushing up inside her. This was all too much for Evelyn's body to resist and she came again, this time in an explosive wrack of clenching muscles, shaking limbs, and wordless crying out. “I came so … fucking … hard,” Evelyn breathed. She had worked the end of her staff up into her ass and was fucking the fingers of her left hand in and out of her pussy, as she strummed at her clit with the fingers of her right. “Fuck! I'm going to come again, Don! Come with me!” Don had stripped out of his Batman costume and was stroking his very hard cock as he listened to her story and watched her. Although she had brought herself off earlier during the story, he had held off, but now, at her urging, he gave in. “Yes,” he nodded, arching his back, pushing his cock upward, “yes! I'm going to… oh fuck, yes!” “Yes, baby!” she cried out. “YES!” Across the room, in her chair, Evelyn was shaking and moaning, while Don's cock swelled and erupted spraying a flood of hot, white cum all over his belly and chest. He clenched and shuddered as the orgasm went on and on. “Wait,” Toshia said. “She used the end of the staff as a dildo?” Don nodded, “It was a good size for it, and smooth, no splinters.” “Damn,” she grinned. “I kind of wish I'd thought of that.” “Hum,” Evelyn purred, laying in her chair, legs splayed widely, staff sticking out of her butt, fingers idly stroking her labia. “I do wish we could play.” “Believe me, me too!” Don grinned as he used his discarded costume to wipe cum off himself. “Was that the end of your story?” “Well,” she said as she slowly drew the staff out of her ass. “Hey, note that I have now taken the stick out of my ass.” Don laughed and said, “Duly noted.” “Well, the rest of that session just became an orgy, which was a lot of fun, but for me that was the best part.” “Excellent!” “The rest of the week passed with more of the same, basically – nothing more intense and very little of it was boring.” “What about the rest of the Resort? You said you had time off every day.” “Yeah, I think I've been into every one of the clubs,” she nodded. “I didn't stay long in all of them, but I made a point to check out every one I found.” “Any favorites? Or particularly hot events?” “I had a good time in Ladies Night,” she winked. “And I bring the hot event with me, you know.” Don laughed, “I do know!” “Nothing really stands out as particularly noteworthy… I'm sure I'll think of more stories to tell you, but I should tell you about my next mission. Did you want to take a break and get properly cleaned up, though? I could use a drink and a bite to eat.” “Sounds good!“ Don smiled, grabbing a vest to hang his sheriff's star on. "Hey, where's that deputy girl?” “Hell if I know,” shrugged Don. “She seems to have gone with the previous sheriff.” “‘Seems like you should have someone to watch over things when you're sleeping.” “Want the job?” “Sorry, lover,” she chuckled. “I can't stay that long.” “Well, that sucks.” “Don't you think it would be even more frustrating for us to spend this year here together but not getting to have sex?” “Good point,” Don agreed. They had come to the Jungle Room, and Evelyn suggested they pop in to see if India was about. She wasn't, and neither was Jaden, but they took the opportunity to clean up in the pool before deciding to walk and talk. “I can call this doing my rounds,” Don smiled. “Now, that was your first mission, right?” “Yes,” she nodded. “The next one was very straightforward: fuck one hundred men in two days.” “Ah, what? Seriously?” Evelyn grinned at his reaction and said, “Well, not exactly. The exact phrasing was more like ‘Have one hundred men come in or on you within 48 hours.'” Thinking back to her own escapades in Eros, which she had considered impressive, Toshia laughed and exclaimed, “There goes my slut of the year title!” “I don't remember that being official,” Don laughed. “But, hey, you left early, and you've got Sarah.” “That's true,” she smiled. “Still, I'm a bit jealous, and I was fond of that title.” “Maybe you can find a way to win it back later,” Don grinned. “Oh, you can count on it!” Toshia laughed. “A hundred?!" Don gaped. "Yep,” Evelyn nodded. “I didn't think it would even be difficult. I just planned to head down to the huge-ass orgy downstairs. It would be easy to get twenty-five guys in the morning, twenty-five in the afternoon, twenty-five in the evening… Hell, I'd be done early.” “Well, yeah, when you put it that way. But I take it things didn't go quite so easily.” She laughed, “Yeah, that woman, Pamela, added something; I couldn't do it either in the Pleasure Dome or at the on-going orgy here in the Temple.” “That would make things a bit trickier,” nodded Don. “Yeah, but 'the timer' started with the first guy to come, and they picked where they would send me.” “Hum, they could be real dicks and put you in the middle of nowhere.” “Yeah, but they didn't,” she smiled. “They sent me to a place you're familiar with, the Manor.” “Oh! Fun!" Don grinned. "I turned up outside the front door, but I could tell where I was from your description. I wanted to get my task done as quickly as possible, but I remembered our system, so I went in and found the library as quickly as possible. Thanks to what you told me about getting around in there it was pretty easy. Sure enough, Robert was there and had a lot of questions. I tried to fill him in as best as I could, and then I let him fill me in, if you follow my meaning,” she winked at him. Don grinned, “I'm sure he appreciated both things.” “I think he did,” she smiled. “I rode him right there on his chair.” “Nice. That's one.” “You're going to give up on that pretty quickly,” laughed Evelyn. “Once I got that first dose of cum, I was on the hunt. There was a slender young guy wandering around in the stacks just outside the Scholar's office, over to the right of those tables, remember?” “The place, but not the guy,” nodded Don. “Yeah, smart ass. Well, I just went up to him, dropped to my knees and blew him right there.” “Two.” Evelyn rolled her eyes, “Do I have to shove you in?” They were walking hand-in-hand by the side of the giant pool in the middle of the Resort. When Don just laughed, Evelyn continued with, “I found two more guys there on that floor of the library. I got them together and had one fuck me from behind while I sucked the other one off, right there in the stacks.” “Nice,” Don said, adding under his breath, “Four.” Ignoring him, Evelyn said, “I was able to find eleven more guys… well, eighteen, but seven of them were busy. So, I fucked six of them and sucked off the others. There were two more threesomes in there, and the last three were all at once, which was fun.” “Did you come while you were with these, fifteen guys?” “Oh, a few times,” she grinned, “but that wasn't what I was after. When I left the library, I was thinking I needed to find someplace where people were more likely to congregate, and I thought about some of the things you'd mentioned. So, I thought I'd try that steam room. I found it quickly enough, and had a dip in that big bathtub, or pool, or whatever you want to call it, then headed into the steam room. "There were eight guys in there, not including four guys who were ganging up on this one pretty little thing in the corner. I thought she looked like she was having a good time, so I dove in. I just said, 'Any of you guys want to party?' Before I knew it, I was surrounded by cocks. I started out sitting on that first bench, moving from cock to cock, sucking each one some before moving to the next. Then I was laying back as they started taking turns fucking me. After a couple of them came in my pussy and a couple on my face and tits, the others got me down on the floor on my hands and knees. They just took me from both ends, either fucking my pussy or ass while I sucked a cock.” “Hot!” Don breathed. “It was!” Evelyn grinned. “I noticed that one guy who'd fucked me earlier was waiting his turn to get some head, so I stopped and told them it was one orgasm to a customer, but they should go send any friends my way.” Don laughed, “How did they take that?” “Cheerfully, actually. That guy and the others who had come already left and soon I was down to just two guys. I was jerking this guy's cock until he came on my face, and the other was about to come in my pussy, when other guys started coming into the steam room and heading in my direction. (I had completely lost track of what was going on with the girl in the corner.) As I was wiping some of the cum off my face, but before the last of my original eight buddies came, I saw six more guys standing around me. I smiled and said 'Welcome boys! I'll take you however you want, but just one orgasm each, okay?' They all smiled and nodded, stroking a wonderful variety of cocks for me. "So, there I was, getting gangbanged in the steam room, first by the original eight, then the second wave of six, and then four more. I had changed position half a dozen times, and taken loads in my pussy, ass, and down my throat, not to mention having it splashed on my face, tits, butt… well, pretty much everywhere.” “Damn, that's fucking hot!” Don grinned. "Orgasms?“ "Too many to count, though I was really just focusing on making each man come.” “Damn,” he breathed again. “And you were already a third of the way to your goal. How long was all that?” “Since Robert? I'd guess about three or four hours. By then I was quite a mess. The steam room guys had been all in one long go, and I needed cleaning up and a break. So, I went back to the bath and devoted myself to a nice long soak and wash. Of course, while I was there, I had to take breaks when men came in to bathe.” “Of course. How many times did that happen?” “Four, but two of those times included more than one guy. Okay, okay, the first break was just one guy, then there were two, then just one again, and then four guys came in all at once. Actually, that last one was pretty hot. I got one guy to sit up on the edge of the pool so I could give him a blow job and his friends each fucked me from behind, in the water. Uh, now I'm thinking we should spend some more time by the pool tonight.” Don grinned, “I like that idea, though I had another spot in mind.” “Oh?” “No, carry on,” he laughed. “I think you're at forty-one.” “Fine, fine,” she shook her head. “So, by then I was hungry and thirsty, so I decided to look for that lounge you mentioned. I went down to the ground floor and found it in no time. I got some fruit and a drink. I was in no hurry to get back to my hunt for cock, since I was sure I was doing well enough, timewise. So, I took a look around, just out of curiosity. There were some couples having sex, a few people actually just taking a nap, and up on the top level there was a group of people actually playing pool. There were three or four women who looked like swimsuit models, a couple of less interesting guys, and a tall, thin black guy with a nice sized dick between his legs. This guy seemed to be the ringleader of the group.” Don smiled, “That sounds very familiar.” “Yeah, that's what I thought, too,” she laughed. “When he saw me watching, he asked if I would like to play. I said I didn't have time for any complicated games, but I was willing to give it a try if he'd agree to make things interesting.” Laughing, Don said, “He must have loved that.” “Yeah, he grinned and said, 'Of course. What did you have in mind?' And I said, 'Simple 8-Ball. If I win, you and these two other gentlemen cum in my pussy. He smiled and said, 'And if we win?' 'Then,' I said, 'you cum in my ass.'” “I did tell you how well-hung he and Igor were, right?” “Yeah, but I was feeling reckless, and I kind of underestimated things, to be honest. Not my pool skills, mind you,” she laughed. “I suck at pool! I was pretty sure I would lose, but I was feeling cocky, so to speak. The Player's posse watched as we played, and I did better than I thought I would, but still, yeah, he won. I took Peter first, bent over the edge of the pool table, while the girls got Igor and the Player nice and ready, both hard and wet. Then the Asian girl…” “Keiko.” “Right. Keiko got under me and played with my clit as Igor pushed that big cock of his into my ass. I thought I was going to pass out, and then I was coming so hard. He just started fucking me while I was coming, and he kept at it until I felt him pumping a crazy amount of cum up inside me. Then it was the Player's turn. He picked me up and laid me back on the pool table, lifting my butt up so he could fuck my ass and look into my eyes, like you did that night on the Riverboat. The girls got up on the table around me and started kissing and fondling my body while the Player slowly filled my ass and then got down to fucking me. I must have come half a dozen times during this whole thing. When he came it felt like someone had flooded my ass with cum. "When he was done, I was lying there sprawled on the table with cum running out of my ass and a ridiculous smile on my face. I thanked the girls and then said I needed to repay them. I know I was supposed to be focusing on making men come, but they had been so sweet and helpful.” “Naturally.” “Naturally,” Evelyn nodded. “So, I had them each sit on my face so I could make them come, too. While I was licking one, the other two were busy using their mouths and tongues to clean the fellows and me up. They were very thorough! "Anyway, when I was done, they invited me to come along with them to find new games to play, but I explained that I was on a mission, and then what that mission was. At the time, I was thinking I might actually finish my hundred before bedtime. The Player thought this was a fun idea and suggested that I try the theater next door because it was movie night. After grabbing a couple more strawberries and a nice glass of water, I headed over.Evelyn continues telling Don of her task adventures. “It was a bit weird to see so many people gathered to watch porn there in Eros. I mean, they live porn 24/7, right? But there they were. The place wasn't packed but there were quite a few people scattered around in there. When I came in, the scene on the screen was of a young blonde girl giving an enthusiastic blow job to two well hung gentlemen, and in the front row I could see half a dozen men sitting by themselves, idly stroking their hardons. I could see women in the audience too, but I was focused on the gents.“I decided to go right for the middle of the front row. There was a dark-haired guy dead center of the row stroking a long, thick cock for me. It wasn't anywhere near as big as Igor's or the Player's of course, so it looked just the right size. Giving him a smile, I knelt down between his legs and ran my hands over his thighs, then leaned in to kiss and lick his heavy balls and then his shaft. He had gotten it nice and hard already, so I didn't waste too much time before pulling it away from him so I could suck it. This was just an appetizer for me, though, and in another minute, I climbed up on his lap and sank down on his cock. I made a point of riding up and down on him as theatrically as possible. I wanted to get some attention. It helped that he was enthusiastic about helping me out, holding onto my ass and sucking at my tits. "There was a guy sitting in the next row behind us who was now watching me grinding on my new favorite prick more than he was watching the movie. I smiled at him and gestured for him to come closer. He stood up and I saw that he had a hard cock, too.” “What a surprise!” Don chuckled. “I know, right? So, then I was leaning over the guy I was riding to suck on this new cock behind him. If anyone minded someone standing up in front of them no one said anything. It didn't take too long before that guy in row two to hold my head and start fucking himself in and out of my mouth until he was coming. I sucked it all down and gave him a smile as he pulled away. It was then that I noticed that the guys on either side of us had moved closer, to get a better look at the action. Before I knew it, they were on either side of me, perched a bit precariously on the theater chairs so I could suck and stroke their cocks for them. They were also running their hands over my back and butt, which was seriously turning me on. "I turned to the guy on my left and suggested he fuck my ass. He was pretty quick to get down there and push himself up into me. I really tried to concentrate on making the men come, but with that nice big cock up inside me and the cocks in my mouth and ass, I came pretty hard before any of them did. After that, I got pretty busy. The guy in my ass came, and the guy I'd been sucking took his place, but by then there were two more guys on either side of me. I took a moment to ask the guy under me how he was doing but he just grinned and said he was having a great time. "When the guy fucking my ass came, I decided to change things up a bit. I reluctantly climbed off that sweet cock, turned around and sat back on his lap, taking him up my ass. God, that felt good right then! Then, the two guys on either side who I'd been stroking each fucked my pussy until they came. When the second of these guys pulled away, I saw that there was a semi-circle of ten guys standing there watching me all stroking themselves. "I leaned forward and started sucking cock after cock. After a couple of them came down my throat, the next guy pushed me back and shoved himself up into my pussy. He didn't last long and was replaced by the next guy, and then the next. All in all, two of those ten guys came in my mouth and the rest came inside my pussy. I was feeling so insanely slutty, and I just wanted more. "Then I remembered the guy whose hard, thick cock was up my ass. I asked him what he needed to come, and then I was on my hands and knees, getting my ass fucked hard and fast. I played with myself as he banged me, and I came really hard as he pumped a huge load of cum into me. "Damn!” Don breathed again, painfully aware of how hard his cock was as it swayed in front of him while they walked. Evelyn laughed, “Want me to stop?” “Hell no!” “Okay, then… Well, I decided I needed to get cleaned up again, so I left the theater and went down the hall to find that pool you mentioned. You didn't tell me there was a shower room there, though. When I found that, I took the time to get washed up and then went for a swim. Of course, that water was reinvigorating, so I went back on my hunt. "I scored another four guys in the hot tub, and then a train of eight guys while I laid on my back on a weight machine bench. Then it was back to the showers, where I found another three donors for the cause. I was starting to feel a bit worn out by then, though, and wanted to be somewhere I could sleep comfortably before I ran out of steam completely. So, I headed upstairs to check out the bedrooms. "Wouldn't you know it, but I found a room with a nice little nine-person orgy going on. There were five men and four women. I knew I was way over my count for the first day, so I decided I would join this party, maybe get all five of the guys to come for me, but call it quits for the night after that. Since I was the only one with any kind of specific goal in mind, it wasn't too hard to arrange things so each of the guys came for me. I made two of the girls come too, which was nice. After all the hard cocks and fucking, it was very nice to fall asleep between two lovely women with my head resting on a soft breast.” “Nice!” Don smiled. “And if my count is right, you were at eighty already.” “Don, who would be counting such things?” “You would,” he laughed. “I can tell you were keeping score, just from the fact that you can give me all these details.” “Hey, I knew you'd want the story!” Don held up his hands, “Oh, I am definitely not complaining!” “You better not be,” she smirked back at him. “Now, where was I?” “The second day, I think.” “Yeah, well, I woke up the next day and decided to continue my exploration, and found the garden, where I took a swim and cleaned up yet again. I grabbed some fruit and water, then got back to work. I thought about trying that maze game but thought it would take too much time. Still, it looks like fun.” “It is,” Don nodded. “We should try it together sometime.” “I'd like that,” she smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. “Well, I played some more in the pool… I seem to really like fucking in the water here. I got six more guys to give me their cum: four orally and two in my pussy. Then I went back into the Manor and just started looking for available cocks to pounce upon. I blew one guy right in the middle of a hallway, another took me from behind as I leaned against a wall. At one point I was on my hands and knees on a bench in the hallway with a guy behind me and a guy in front of me. When the guy in front of me came, another guy came out of nowhere and took his place. I was still sucking him when the guy behind me came and was replaced by yet another guy. "I came across three guys wandering the halls looking for trouble and led them into the nearest bedroom where I tried to get them all to cum at the same time, but my ass is just too hot, I guess. When I left them, I was in need of yet another shower, and headed for the main bath and steam room. When I got there, there was something of a little orgy going on in the pool, and I dove right in, managing to get fucked there in the water again, but this time being held up between two really fit young men, one in my ass and one in my pussy. That was one of the better orgasms that day. "I went from the pool into the steam room and picked three of the guys there, waving them over to me on the main floor. Once they got down to me, I dropped to my knees and proceeded to move from one to the other, sucking and stroking until they were coming all over me, hot cum splashing all over my face and tits. That was one hundred, I was sure, but I was honestly still horny, so I grabbed one of the guys and had him fuck me from behind as I leaned against a bench and played with myself till I came. "Then, without bothering to get cleaned up, I headed for the front door. As soon as I stepped through, I found myself back in that crazy courtyard outside the Pleasure Dome.” “That's quite a successful mission, I'd say,” Don said. “Yeah,” she smiled at him, and then drew him in for a kiss. “Do you mind if I take a break before I tell you about the next one?” Don noticed that they had walked back around to the poolside. There were a few couples playing leisurely down the way, but closest to them were several single men, just relaxing on their chaise lounges. At least one of them, a tall guy who looked Arabic or Turkish to Don, though he had brown hair rather than black, was eyeing Evelyn openly with a hard cock lying on his belly. Don smiled down at Evelyn, who was already stripping out of her clothes, tossing her top onto the closest lounger, and said, “Mind if I watch?” “You better!” she laughed as she kicked off her boots. Then she was shimmying out of her skirt and diving into the pool. Don saw the tall fellow was both watching Evelyn as she broke the surface, water running over her shoulders and breasts, and looking to see if Don was going to follow her. Don smiled and gestured to indicate that the man could join her if he liked. By the time Don had sat down on the end of the lounger on which Evelyn had deposited her clothes, the tall guy had slipped into the water and moved over to stand talking with her. The man was tall enough that the tip of his erect cock was actually poking up out of the water, and Evelyn was short enough that the water came up to just under her perfect breasts. Don could tell that Evelyn had maneuvered herself so Don could see both of her and the man talking to her. She smiled up at the stranger, and then reached out to start stroking his cock. For just a brief moment she bent down to suck on the head as it bobbed there above the water. She looked up at the tall guy and said something with a smile, and then bent down again to suck him more seriously, dipping her face under the water as she did. Don looked back to the lounges to either side of him and saw that there were now three naked men watching Evelyn and her tall new friend in the water. There were two black guys, the lighter skinned of whom seemed about a decade older than Don, but both of whom were in great shape, and an east Asian man who, going against stereotype, had the longest dick of the bunch. Don caught the eye of the older black guy, who had been sitting beyond the tall guy in the water, and tossed his head to the side, suggesting that he get in there too. With a smile, the man got up and moved to the pool. Don turned to the other side and managed to convey the same idea to the other two guys. Back in the pool, the older black fellow had gotten into the pool and was moving over to next to the tall man. He must have picked up on Don's desire to watch, because he made sure to go to the far side of the couple. Evelyn looked up at him and smiled, then flashed Don a smile, before going back to talk to her two new friends. From the way her body was moving, Don guessed that she was now stroking both cocks, though one of them was a bit lower than the other. Then the other two guys were moving up to join the party. Evelyn looked at them and laughed, smiling again in Don's direction. She was surrounded by eager men who were obviously making themselves busy touching her body under the water. Don gave his aching erection a squeeze but kept things at that for now. In the pool, Evelyn had gone back to sucking on the tall guy's half submerged cock, and the Asian fellow had moved behind her. He seemed to be reaching down to stroke her pussy, and then he was clearly pushing himself into her. Meanwhile, the other two guys continued to caress and fondle her body. Don suspected she was stroking their cocks. Evelyn raised her head and said something that made the tall guy laugh and nod his head. The Asian pulled back and then the four guys were moving with Evelyn over to the side of the pool, not in front of Don, but off to his right just past the nearest corner. The tall guy lifted Evelyn out of the water and sat her on the edge of the pool. As she parted her legs for the darkest fellow to slip up between them and begin going down on her, Evelyn caught Don's eyes and blew him a kiss. Then, the tall guy was kneeling beside her and she turned her head to begin sucking his cock in earnest. The other two guys climbed up next to her and continued to caress and tease her body. The older black guy leaned in and started sucking on one of Evelyn's breasts. Don watched intently as Evelyn took all of the tall guy's cock into her mouth and throat. Then she was coming, her body tensing and her legs clasping the man between them to her tightly. When she finished shaking, she pulled herself up off the cock she'd been sucking and said something to her admirers. While the guy in the pool quickly got up out of the water, the other three helped Evelyn up and moved over to the lounger right next to Don. She gave Don a grin and a wink and told the tall guy, “Farouk, lie down on your back. Excellent.” She straddled the man's long body and lifted his cock so she could push it up into her pussy. She looked over at Don and said, “Do you like watching me suck and fuck, baby?” “God, yes!” Don nodded. “You're amazing.” “His cock feels good up inside me,” she said as she ground on Farouk, working his cock in and out of her. “I'm going to make each of these cocks come. Do you want to see that?” “Hell yeah, I do.” “Good!” she smiled. “Bring that cock over here, Phil. Damn, that's long! Were you fucking me with this? Let me taste it.” Don's own cock ached in his lap as he watched Evelyn's mouth suck in the head of Phil's long organ and then move down it until she had at least half of it in her mouth and down her throat. She pulled back off it and said, “Uh, I like it! Would you like to fuck my ass with this beauty, Phil?” Before Phil could respond she lowered her mouth on him again, bobbing her head up and down on him enthusiastically. When she came back up for air, she looked up at Phil and said, “Get back there, and give me all of this beautiful cock of yours.” As Phil hurried to comply, she said, “Marcus, you gave me such a nice orgasm; you're next. Come over here.” As Phil began to push himself slowly up into Evelyn's ass, she groaned and said, “God, yes, that feels so good. Baby, I've got cock in my pussy and ass, and they're going to fuck me so hard. Aren't you, boys?” The men all nodded enthusiastically and murmured their agreement. “Give me all of that cock, Phil!” she said before turning her attention to the dark black cock Marcus offered her. Don watched as Evelyn's taut muscular body rocked between Farouk and Phil. He watched her legs flexing and her hips grinding against their bodies. He watched her arms as she pushed and pulled against Farouk's shoulders. He watched as her breasts swayed beneath her, her nipples brushing against Farouk's chest. He watched as her throat swallowed occasionally, and her lips moved up and down on Marcus's hard, dark cock. He couldn't resist giving his own hard cock another squeeze. This time, he didn't let it go. Before anyone could come, Evelyn pushed Marcus back and said, “I want to try something, guys. I don't know if it'll work but I've seen it done, so it should be possible.” In a moment, Phil had pulled out of her, and Evelyn had turned around, sinking down on Farouk again, this time with his cock in her ass. “Okay,” she breathed. “Now Phil, fuck my pussy. Damn that feels good! Okay now, pull back almost all the way out. Marcus, can you get between me and Phil now, so you can get your cock in there too?” Don groaned a bit at the very thought of what she was attempting, though he did think Toshia had done something like this in her gangbang with the Sisterhood's men. Watching this though, in person, was so intensely arousing. While Marcus and Phil got themselves all sorted out, Evelyn said, “Come over here, Jeremy. I don't want to leave you out.” She held onto Jeremy's hard cock for a moment as she said, “Okay, nice and easy guys, push in… oh fuck, fuck, fuck! No, don't stop, keep … FUCK!” She dropped her head back onto Farouk's chest as a series of spasms shook her body. Marcus was holding her legs up and Don watched her toes curl up tightly. Her fingers dug into Farouk's forearm just below where he was holding her waist. She must have been squeezing Jeremy's cock very tightly, but he didn't complain. “Oh god,” she breathed. “Okay, fuck me, guys. Give me all you got!” Then, as Phil tried to follow Marcus's lead in moving in and out of Evelyn's tight pussy, and Farouk held on for dear life, Evelyn pulled Jeremy's cock to her mouth and sucked him in hungrily. Soon the two guys fucking her were moving in unison, and Jeremy was holding Evelyn's head in his hands, fucking himself in and out of her mouth. Don's cock was rock hard and aching in his hand. He knew that if he moved it just a bit he would come, but he wanted to wait. He wanted Evelyn to see. Then Evelyn was moaning and shaking again. This time it went on and on, her body clenching and shuddering between the four men, who kept fucking her as she shook, their cocks moving in and out of her body as she came and came. Then, before Evelyn was finished coming, Jeremy groaned, and Don watched as Evelyn tried to swallow the sudden flood of cum being pumped down her throat. There was too much too quick, though, and she choked a bit. Jeremy pulled back, shooting a last gout of pearly white cum over Evelyn's cheek and neck as quite a bit of spunk also spilled out of her mouth. She smiled up at Jeremy and said, “Thank you!” Next, she turned to smile at Don with her cum covered face and said, “One down, baby. How do I look?” “Like a goddess,” he said earnestly. “Damn right,” she grinned. Then she turned her attention to the guys between her legs, who were still fucking steadily in and out of her. “I don't suppose one of you guys likes getting fucked in the ass, do you?” “Sounds fun,” Marcus grinned. “I like your attitude!” Evelyn smiled. “Would you mind fucking Marcus in the ass while he fucks me, Phil?” “No, I could do that,” Phil laughed. “Try to save your cum for me, though, Phil,” she added. Soon, Phil had drawn out of Evelyn and pushed himself up into Marcus's ass. Marcus went back to fucking in and out of Evelyn, and Phil shoved into Marcus each time Marcus drove into her, pulling back in time with his partner. “Yes, that's it!” Evelyn called out, “Fuck me through Marcus! You guys are all going to make me come again! Don, they're going to … oh god!” Then she was climaxing again, and so was Marcus, shoving up into her and groaning as she grabbed at his ass and pulled him in. Don watched as Phil drew out of Marcus, and Marcus pulled out of Evelyn. “No, come here and let me taste that,” Evelyn said before Marcus could collapse on the next lounger over, next to Jeremy. Phil didn't wait for further instructions, but quickly moved in to push himself deep into Evelyn's messy pussy. He must have been about ready to blow when he was fucking Marcus, because it only took a few shoves into Evelyn before he groaned and pulled his long cock out to spray several big splashes of cum onto her belly and tits. “Hum, nice!” she grinned. “Thank you, boys! Now Farouk, you need to come. How do you want me?” In very short order, Evelyn was lying on her back as Farouk lifted her up so he could push his cock into her pussy. She was basically upside down, with her shoulders on the lounger and her head and long red hair over the edge. She was looking at Don as she squeezed her left breast and reached down, or, really, up, to play with her clit as Farouk fucked her hard and fast. She was talking steadily, “Baby, he's fucking me so hard! I'm all covered and full of cum… I'm going to come so hard. Your cock is hard… Won't you come for me, baby? Yes, that's it! Come closer. Come on me, baby! Oh fuck, I'm coming again! Oh god!” Then Farouk and Evelyn were coming together, and Don joined them. He could hold back no longer, and a torrent of hot cum shot out of him to splash over Evelyn's beautiful chest and throat as she cried out with her own climax. Don fell back on his lounger, grinning broadly at Evelyn, who was smiling and laughing in post-orgasmic bliss. He watched her, as Farouk withdrew and as she fell onto the lounger, and as she played with the cum all over her. “I needed that,” she smiled at him. “It turns me on when you watch me.” “I'm glad,” Don laughed. “It really turns me on to watch you.” “Excellent,” she laughed. “Okay, I need to get cleaned up.” “And then you have another story to tell.” “Yes, I do,” she smiled. “Come on, let's have a swim, first.” Chapter 9. The Dark Labyrinth Evelyn shivered a little. She found herself standing naked, her staff in hand, on a broken sheet of granite at the apex of a dreary mountain pass. Looking behind, she saw a long, rocky climb she was happy not to have made. Ahead of her lay a large valley swathed in a grey fog. The path at her feet wound down the slope in front of her until it disappeared in the scraggly trees and low hills. The moist air was unusually cold for Eros, and there was a light breeze chilling her skin, but which seemed to not bother the fog in the valley. Evelyn had been teleported to this remote location at the conclusion of her meeting with the watcher's council, as Don called them. Her assignment was straightforward, if rather enigmatic: “Reach the center of the Dark Labyrinth.” She supposed the labyrinth must be ahead, probably in the valley below. It didn't really make sense for the council to put her here otherwise. With a shrug to herself, she started down the trail. Given the nature of the unpaved and sometimes slippery path, Evelyn was obliged to keep her eyes on the ground and didn't really notice until she was well into it that she had descended into the fog. Looking around, she found herself struck by how actually creepy the landscape appeared in the thick mist. The mostly bare trees were twisted in attitudes that suggested they were clutching upward at the unseen sky above. The rolling, rocky ground was ideal to hide any number of potential hazards. Everything had taken on the grey of the fog; any hint of color was washed out in the twilight. At least without the breeze it was a bit warmer. Still, the mist was XYZ and inevitably Evelyn found herself growing frisky again. After all the sex she'd had lately, particularly during what she was now thinking of as her cock hunt in the Manor just a day ago, she had thought she might be good-to-go for at least a few days, but the moisture gathering on her naked flesh and slowly soaking her thick auburn hair covered her body in a glistening aphrodisiac sheath lightly caressing her with every motion. For a moment, Evelyn considered stopping there on a moss covered rock to relieve some tension, but then remembered her earlier thought about those potential hazards hiding among the rocks and decided she could wait at least a bit longer - perhaps even until she got through the fog. Besides, she thought, one orgasm would only satisfy her for a little while in this situation. As it turned out, it took her over an hour to climb down through the fog until she could look out and see the rest of the valley spread out before her underneath the grey cloud blanketing it. Casting a quick look around to make sure she could actually see her surroundings clearly, Evelyn found a soft enough spot to recline upon. With one hand gripping her staff and her gaze sweeping the area around her, at least to begin with, she slipped her fingers between her legs and then up into herself. Soon she had let go of the staff so she could use both hands - one to shove three fingers into her grasping pussy and the other to frantically stroke her clit. Momentarily careless of the fact that she was out in the open and vulnerable, Evelyn closed her eyes tightly as a blistering orgasm tore through her body, nerves firing wildly and muscles clenching tightly. Her fingers kept fucking and rubbing furiously as she pushed herself on and on, prolonging her ecstasy until she collapsed back on the ground, grinning up at the clouds so close over her. Remembering where she was, Evelyn sat up and looked around frantically, half convinced she would see a bear or wolf creeping up on her. When she was quite sure she was still alone, she noticed that she was still slowly frigging herself. She decided she wanted something harder, more rigid, inside her. Her eyes lit upon her staff then, and she noticed that the end was nicely round and smooth. Soon, Evelyn was lying there on the ground underneath the heavy, leaden cloud cover, naked and pale in the wild grey landscape, strong legs spread, arms taut and reaching downward, incidentally pushing her small, firm breasts together, as she played with her clit and fucked herself with the end of her staff. She cried out as she came again, arching her back and shoving that wooden shaft up into her pussy, squeezing it intensely. Then her teeth were clenching as the orgasm's second and third waves rolled over her. When she finally found herself relaxing, she laughed at how ridiculous she must look, naked in the open with a long wooden stick up her pussy. After Evelyn collected her wits, and took her ersatz dildo out of her vagina, she got up and got a more careful look at her situation. Walking a bit further down the path she'd been following, she came to a tall, bare tree at the head of a long series of rough, uneven stone steps leading down into the valley. Without the masking effect of the fog, she could make out the maze that had been cut or built into the vast majority of the valley. At her crude estimation there were at least fifty miles of twisting pathways there waiting for her. She could see that there were occasional openings and other aberrations, but none of those things allayed her apprehensions. To be continued. By BradentonLarry for Literotica

Quinn's Dating CalendarBy Quinn_McMullen, in 8 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 16I showed up at Zoë's house about 6. I called in through the screen door, "Hello!"I heard Zoë's voice, "Come on in!"I found Zoë in the kitchen cleaning some dishes. I came up behind her and gave her a hug. I kissed her neck and she squealed."Oh, you gave me shivers!"I cupped her breasts, giving her nipples a little pitch and took her earlobe into my mouth. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are Dr. Maisano? She turned around, put her hands behind my neck, and kissed me. "Thank you. I didn't tell you. Asha is in. Probably tomorrow.""How do you feel about that?""A little nervous. A little excited."I smiled and kissed her again, "Where's Chris?"I heard her descending the stairs. "I'm coming!"I turned around and Chris came through the doorway. She wore a sundress with a red and white floral pattern with red flats. She had curled and colored her hair so that all trace of grey was gone."Christina, you look lovely."She came over, hugged me and gave me a kiss, "Thank you my handsome friend.""Princess Zoë, I promise to have Princess Christina home sometime Sunday."Zoë asked Chris, "What time do you pick up Johnny tomorrow?""4:30 so he can be in bed by 7.""Well, you two have fun."I gave Zoë another kiss. Chris and I drove the short distance to the new Asian restaurant. She was going to practice her Japanese until she found out that the owners were Korean. We had a very nice dinner sharing stories from our respective times in Japan. The entire time was spent gazing into each other's eyes.We were in a corner booth and the place was noisy enough that we couldn't be overheard. Chris still whispered. She reached over and touched my hand. "I am wondering if you would help me with some research.""What kind of research?""Creative writing research.""Okay.""Ever since that wonderful Friday evening, I have been thinking about making love with you again. In the evening after Johnny goes to bed I go online. The whole idea of porn and the objectification of women repulses me. But I have found a guilty pleasure,  erotica.""Cool. So how does that involve research?""Well, I'm thinking I am going to write my own stories. I will change the names, places, and stuff like that. But I need some first-hand research.""I would be happy to help you as much as I can. So how erotic is this erotica?""Some of it is really good. Some of it sucks which is why I want to write. I know I can do better. I really get off on the good stuff. There is a real lack of stories written from a woman's perspective.""So in the interest of research, what happens when you get a really good story?"Chris smiled impishly and lowered her voice further. "I told you that I have a dildo, right?""Yes.""Well, I also got myself a nice vibrator.""Perhaps the writer in you should paint the scene for me.""Oh, good idea. So, the first thing I do is lock the door. The last thing I need is Johnny walking in on me at the height of an orgasm. I strip down to nothing and settle in on my bed with some pillows behind my head. I get my laptop out and I begin searching for some highly rated erotica. I am usually playing with my nipples or fingering my clit while I'm doing this.""So what are you looking for?""Usually something from a woman's point of view, or something that is sympathetic to how women experience sex.""I take it a lot of the stories are guys pounding cunt?""Now, don't get me wrong. Some days a girl really needs to have rough sex.""But that wouldn't relate to present company or today's date."Chris had a shit-eating grin on her face. "Oh, no. I'm a fragile as a gal can get. I would hate to have you slam into me. To pound me into orgasm after orgasm. To use me like a wanton whore filling me with your huge member. Be filled with so much cum that it runs like a river down my legs. To have you fuck me until I can barely stand. To be fucked so hard that I ache for days."I laughed, "It sounds like you have some of the language down. Do they actually use terms like 'huge member'?""Sometimes, but not a lot. I used it because it is such a cliché. I will need to avoid clichés in my actual writing.""So you would hate if I were to treat you like that."Chris got a serious look on her face, "Quinn, please don't take this the wrong way. I absolutely adore that you are such an attentive, caring lover. But sometimes a woman needs rough sex. Sometimes I need rough sex.""Duly noted. Zoë enjoys it too. You were talking about what you like to read.""One turn off is that size plays a big part in a lot of the stories,  huge cocks, triple D boobs. I mean how many people are at the extreme size end. I want something that I can relate to. Normal sized breasts. Normal sized penises. When I find something good, I like to tweak my nipples to get me started. When I get my juices flowing, I get my dildo and start fucking myself as I read the story. As I start getting close, I put the vibrator on my clit. That will usually send me over the edge. I feel myself contracting on the dildo. The warmth and pleasure flows up through my body.""It doesn't sound like you need me to help you.""Solitary sex is actually very boring. There is nothing like feeling warm skin-to-skin contact. Of feeling your mouth on my mouth, on my body. Feeling your tongue probe into my vagina. Feeling you tease me, bring me to the edge and pull me back. Of feeling your penis slip into my warmth and wetness. Feeling you sustain my orgasm beyond what I am capable of doing.""Chris, if I can share something,  you have me leaking pre-cum all over my leg.""I'm so wet right now.""So is this the research you need to do?""Actually I was hoping for more of a hands-on approach.""In that case, we probably need to renegotiate our agreement. This probably isn't a good place to do that."I paid the bill, then drove us to the park downtown. It was a balmy evening with a gentle, warm breeze rustling the trees.As we were getting out of the car, Chris asked, "Why the park?""You suggested it last night.""Please don't let me drink like that again."I put my arm around her shoulder and she put hers around my waist. We began strolling down the path that circles the lake. The sun had just set and twilight was settling in.Chris broke the silence, "So what did I suggest last night?""I told you. You want to be my sex slave."She slapped my ass, "I did not. Although, on second thought being your sex slave would have a very nice benefits package. Maybe we should discuss me being your sex slave.""Because you don't have any other obligations, like motherhood or teaching.""You're right. What did we discuss?""Mostly, you were demanding that I fuck you.""Remember our discussion at the restaurant?""Where you told me you were a fragile flower?""When I said I needed rough sex. But back to last night.""Mostly you were discussing a hypothetical renegotiation.""Well, let's not be hypothetical. What do you think about being friends with benefits?""So first, what happened to your idea that you and I shouldn't be lovers?""Quinn, I haven't been able to stop thinking about that first Friday evening with you. That was the best orgasm I have ever had. Every time I had sex with Mr. Asshole I faked the orgasm. He was clueless and didn't know the difference. He was really good at pounding me, but not a lot more. With you it was completely different. You actually cared about me.""I still care about you, but you need to know that bringing a woman to an orgasm for me is just as pleasurable as having one myself.""See! I don't know very men like that. In fact, I know a total of one: you. You gave me an insight into what my life could be and what my life has been missing.""So, before we negotiate, what is it you are looking for in this arrangement?"Chris thought for a while, "Trust. I need to be with someone I can trust. I think I miss the intimacy of a lover. Skin-to-skin contact. Being held after making love. Being regularly brought to the heights of ecstasy. I miss being able to share things with my lover. Being treated like a person and not a life support system for a vagina that only exists for the other person's sexual gratification. I also would like to have some freedom to explore like Zoë has been doing. That doesn't mean I haven't loved our semi-sexual time together, but I need real sexual time together. I have this hunger to have an orgasm again like you gave me."I nodded. "Anything else?""The reality of being a single mom is starting to dawn on me. I said that you and I should date other people so we wouldn't be rebound lovers, but so far this is my only date. How about you?""This is my second. Although, I wouldn't even call the first a date.""Why not?""I went down to the state university library and this very nice research assistant did a shitload of work for me. I took her out to dinner on Wednesday at a new Greek restaurant, as thanks. There can't be anything between us. I'm old enough to be her grandfather.""Well, you're old enough to be my father.""Chris, there a substantial difference between twenty and thirty-eight years.""Okay.""I had a nice dinner with Violet, that's her name, and nothing more. Oh, she kissed me twice before she ran into her house.""Hopefully, with this date there will be something more.""Back on task. Now I will have two friends with benefits. How do we make sure this doesn't get awkward?"Chris thought some more. "Well, I guess there are two ways to go. Complete openness or complete secrecy.""I almost feel like Zoë should be part of this conversation."Chris whipped out her phone, "Let's call her."I pointed to a park bench and we sat down.Chris put the phone on speaker.Zoë answered, "Hey."

While the world often pulls us off-center with temptations, being "duly opened on the Centre" allows you to embody Freemasonry's highest ideals of balance, integrity and purpose. By centering your life on these timeless principles, you tap into an enduring source of wisdom and strength to overcome obstacles, leave a profound legacy of service, and inspire future generations as a true builder of enlightenment.Show Notes:Read original article on SubstackWatch on YoutubeFollow the Daily Masonic Progress Podcast on SpotifySubscribe to the Daily Masonic Progress Podcast on Apple PodcastsRead and subscribe to Daily Masonic Progress on SubstackWatch and Subscribe Youtube

Dave is joined by Chris Ying for an episode in which the two discuss the Courvoisier club, the enduring greatness of Hamlet's Kitchen, and rules for a restaurant playlist before they get into a game of Price Fixing. The two guess the prices of items on menus at Jiquitaia in São Paulo, Brazil; Khaluna in Minneapolis; and Duly's Place in Detroit. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Producers: Victoria Valencia and Euno Lee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, we explore the powerful Masonic principle of being "duly formed" and how it can transform your life, helping you achieve success, happiness, and fulfilment. We discuss the consequences of ignoring this crucial concept and provide practical examples of how being "duly formed" applies to various aspects of our daily lives, from the workplace to personal relationships.We also delve into the practical steps you can take to apply the concept of being "duly formed" to your life. By incorporating the principle of being "duly formed" into your daily life, you can create a solid foundation for personal and professional success, ultimately leading to a greater sense of pride, accomplishment, and fulfilment.Show Notes:Read original article on SubstackFollow the Daily Masonic Progress Podcast on SpotifySubscribe to the Daily Masonic Progress Podcast on Apple PodcastsRead and subscribe to Daily Masonic Progress on SubstackWatch and Subscribe Youtube

Hey all! Welcome to another episode of Mr. P.'s Tales from the Road! In this edition, I go back to a discussion I had with you all way back in my first season of this podcast, a reboot and retelling of what I called a “Love Letter to the City of Detroit, Michigan,” to explain just why I continue to go back to the Motor City over and over and over again. Naturally, tales and history abound, so grab a cold Red Pop Faygo out of the refrigerator, snag a few Coney Dogs from Duly's Place on Vernor in Detroit , listen in and enjoy the show! Have a great weekend and we'll see you in next week's episode! -Mr. P. Also now available on APPLE PODCAST!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mr-p-s-tales-from-the-road/id1717990959 Mr. P.''s Rust Belt Monthly Mixtape (April): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3p4NOCAgecy9mVruYWoT2x?si=23c098ad3e7d44f4 MR. P. INFO: The majority of my work gets published at the Mr. P. Explores Facebook Community:⁠ https://www.facebook.com/MrPExplores/⁠  Stop by for full photo explorations, history and stories told from the road! Mr. P. Explores Instagram (extras that never make the site or videos, and much more!):⁠ https://www.instagram.com/mr.p_explores/⁠@mr.p_explores TWITTER (X?):⁠ https://twitter.com/ExploresMr⁠ @ExploresMr  (come on over and say hello!)  Thanks all, and have a great week! I am also now on VERO, @mrpexplores or directly at:⁠ ⁠⁠https://vero.co/mrpexplores⁠

 In the Limousine, off to honeymoon! In 8 parts, By Dragon Lair Reads. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. I handed our stuff off to my roommate, and Maggie and we waved goodbye to the guests, who lined up outside to throw rice at us. I don't get that tradition, and no one was able to explain it to me at any point. At long last we were in the limousine, seated at the very back and began to pull away. We seemed to have gotten away with it. [[MORE]] Except that once in the moving limo, Liv climbed into my lap and began grinding, and even through my own pajama pants, I could feel and hear that she had thoroughly soaked through hers. She panted and whimpered in my ear grinding and kissing, holding my neck. "You came on my face in a bathroom you fucking pervert," she panted, her words still running together. "You worked pretty hard for that," I said back around the bushel of red hair that moved from one side of my face to the other as she kissed and bit my neck. She laughed, "I milked your cock all over me, I'm a good little cock milker." I grabbed her ass firmly and she moaned with satisfaction, pushing her hips back into my grip, "You're my favorite cock milker." She pushed me against the back of the seat and kissed me hotly, grinding her hips against me, her slick pajama bottoms soaked into mine and I could feel her wet folds against my shaft through the cloth. She was panting and crying as she humped me like a teenager in the back of a car. I put my hands in the waistband of her pants, but she pulled my wrists away, "I'm gonna cum;  no, I'm gonna cum." I put my hand back on her ass and she ran her tongue against mine, fighting the sounds her body wanted to make as her hips flexed rhythmically until suddenly she grabbed my neck and buried her face in my shoulder crying and shaking in my lap as orgasm twisted across her. She was still twitching and panting when the limo came to a stop. I let her catch her breath before whispering, "We're here, let's go up to the room." "I want to fuck, let's just fuck here." She panted. "No, that's a bad idea. Come on little milker." I said slapping her ass, she giggled and climbed off so I could get the door open. The hotel was waiting for us when we arrived and the bell hop took our stuff up ahead of us while I checked in at the desk, wondering if everyone saw how glossy and dark the middle of Liv's pajamas were. Check-in was quick and I shuffled her off to the elevator. I wasn't so much worried about what people saw as much as I was her stripping in the lobby or trying to jerk me off at the check-in counter. My new wife is the genuine redhead item, when she gets hot, nothing can extinguish it. We made it into the elevator, and it jolted upward towards the completely unnecessary suite our families had sprung for. As soon as we were in motion, Liv started unbuttoning her top. I didn't even notice except that I looked over and saw her pale chest becoming visible. "Whoa, not yet." I said grabbing the two ends of the top and pulling them closed, as I did she grabbed her pants and pulled them down. I barely caught them pulling them back up while holding her top closed. The elevator dinged and the door open. I tugged on the blouse. "Come on, our room is this way." I said leading her out of the elevator. She followed down the hall laughing and trying to pull her top open. We got to the door, and she fell against it still giggling, grabbing my neck, and dragging me into a kiss. Her hand grabbed my cock, she didn't even have to feel for it and started stroking as her mouth locked with mine. She put a leg around my leg and panted and whimpered into the kiss as I fumbled with the key to get the door unlocked. I got it and it clicked. "The room is open," I said around her kiss, she shook her head in protest. "Fuck the room do me here. Everyone can watch you turn me into a cumsock." I put my arm around her and turned the knob so the door fell open. She fell backward but I caught her and swung her into my arms and carried her into the room. It was hard to see where I was going because she clung to my shoulders licking and biting my neck. The suite was palatial. Marble swept from the front door all across the floors on a white expansive open floor plan. The bed on one side was surrounded by columns that supported a circle of windows above it. White see through curtains were draped from column to column and LED lights sunk into the corners of the ceiling were set dim over the white duvet. Opposite the bed was a large jacuzzi tub with a fireplace set behind it, a gas fire burning for us already. The tub was empty but pristine, textured stone winding out in a circle around it with fresh towels set on the side. On the glass table set in the middle, was another bottle of Jack Daniels, this one however, looked considerably nicer. I set Liv down and she marveled at the room for a moment looking around with big eyes like a girl who just got a princess bed. I leaned in behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, hands feeling her exposed stomach from when she tried to undress in the elevator. She snapped out of her childlike wonder when she felt my hand and pushed back into me with a loud gasp. She rocked her hip into me grinding her ass against my stiff cock in my pants making quiet whimpering sounds. "I can't believe you made me behave until we got all the way up here." She said in a pouty voice. "When you're sober tomorrow, if you want to fuck on the couch in the lobby, I'll take my own pants off." I said putting my head by her shoulder and kissing her neck. She groaned loudly reaching back to stroke my pants with her hand. I ran my hand up her stomach and under the few closed buttons of her pajama top until I felt her soft breasts which I cupped and squeezed. Her body clenched and she moaned into the room. I used my other hand to open the top and pulled it from her shoulders. Her pale body was exposed and tickled her ear with my tongue now aggressively groping her breasts and pulling on her nipples. She cried loudly jerking her head back so that there was a full mess of red hair under my nose as her sensitive body reacted. While she panted, holding my neck I put my thumbs in her pants and pulled them down, a thick rope of hazy fluid sticking to the inside until it snapped against her leg. They hit her ankles and finally the svelte, pale, ginger was naked, her lean, willowy, body, once and for all mine, was totally bare for me. I ran my finger up her thigh making her shudder and licked what had come out of her leaking cunt before grabbing her by the neck and pulling her to the bed. She laughed as I threw her onto it rolling on her back with her legs spread wide open. I dragged her to the edge of the bed and crouched by the end taking in the sight of her waxed, pink, messy, cunt under her flat stomach and sharp hips. I leaned over and bit her thigh and she groaned, clenching her stomach upward before I licked and kissed to her folds and attacked them with my tongue. Her voice caught as I lashed her clit and opening with heavy licks, circling her little button, stroking around it and digging my tongue into her. Her cunt drained freely, quickly darkening the duvet, and leaving a clear, slick, trail down her ass. She was jerking and shaking as I hungrily lapped all of the flavor from her, even dragging my tongue across her ass and back over. It wasn't before an animalistic groan and suddenly violent shakes told me she'd cum already. I gave her a moment to recover before I rolled her over on her stomach and pulled at her hips until she was propped up on her knees, face in the blanket. I pulled her ass open and buried my tongue against her pink asshole making her squeal in surprise and moan into the blanket. I dragged my tongue against the stiff ridges while my fingers fucked her. Clear fluid drained out of her onto a small pool as I stroked my fingers into her tight, slick, body and she moaned low and weak, her body shaking as I licked at her ass. I held it open with one hand keeping my fingers dug into her flesh until she yelled and seized on her knees from another orgasm, causing her to fall over, and her cunt to spill thick lubricant on the bed. I rolled her back over onto her back and climbed on the bed putting my messy fingers to her lips. She took them sucking the taste of herself off them eagerly. I touched her chest, cupping her breast and feeling her taught stomach as she cleaned my finger. I pulled it away and she panted, "Licking my asshole is fucking disgusting." "You don't have to kiss me after that, it was-" I started to say but she grabbed me and pulled me into a hard kiss, pushing her tongue into mine, wrapping her legs around me. I teased her through the kiss, dragging my cock up and down her messy cunt making her cry and roll trying to catch me. I kissed her neck and rolled her breasts in my hand. She tried to beg to be fucked but couldn't put words together as her sensitive body overreacted to everything I was doing. Each drag of my tip across her folds made her shudder and groan. "You want some cock?" She nodded and gasped, moaning loudly when my finger squeezed her nipple. I pinned her hands over her head and teased her outstretched tongue with mine until I felt my cock catch at her opening and pushed. My tip forced its way into her, pushing squeezing walls apart, fluid running out of her onto the bed. She groaned in a hoarse, strained voice her body shaking until I was into the hilt and started fucking. I started drilling her limber, pale, body and she shrieked into the room grabbing the blanket beneath her. I pushed her down flat onto the bed as her back arched upward and face flushed. She was moaning and screaming, her mouth hanging open as I fucked her pale body. "Fuck! Fuck me, fuck me, shit it's so good FUCK!" She started to drool down one side of her mouth, her eyes rolling upward and her stomach clenching randomly as my slick, soaked, balls slapped her ass. I grabbed her hair, a thick red mess in my fist as my cock threatened to burst and panted to her, "I'm gonna cum, fuck;  I'm so close" She hissed through her strained voice, "Fucking cum in me, fucking cum in your fucking cumsock; " I started to groan, and she grabbed my neck goading me, "Fucking thrash me until I'm full, fuck I want cum; " I yelled loudly as my cock erupted making me shake and lose my posture above her. She grabbed me snuggly holding my neck and rocking her hips, her fried voice moaning in my ear as jets of cum shot into her. Her body was cool, and slick under me as I felt the sweat on her breasts and stomach as I laid on her trying to keep stroking until my cock fell out, pulling a stream of cum out with it. We both laid still, twitching for several moments, the air chilling the sweat on her body as it began to damp the pj top I had never taken off. I heard a hoarse giggle and rolled off her, looking at her big sparkly eyes quizzically. "You always make me cum like a hundred times whenever we do it and my favorite part is still when I feel you finally lose control and pump me full to the brim. You've put so much cum in me since we met I'm surprised it's not what comes out when I cry." I ran a hand over her chest and neck, looking over my new wife's body, her sweet face, pink and sweaty darkening the roots of her burning crown of hair, "You're an absolute sex object, watching you climax is an event all on its own, cumming in you is like the backstage pass." She laughed and pulled me into a long kiss holding my face, "I'm your wife now, you have to make sure I stay good and used up. That way if I get murdered one day, the cops know who I belong to, like a owner tag." I laughed and she smiled, proud of the joke, "No more true crime podcasts for you." She leaned over kissing me softly. I felt the cold from the sweat in her hair and slick cold of her misted legs as her tongue played with mine. The kiss was gently, and while I could feel myself stiffening again, I could tell she was tired. "Ready for a shower?" I asked, she shook her head. "It's our first official night together, I want to sleep in the mess." I raked hair from her face, and she kissed me again, "I'm cold," I got up and pulled the blanket back before leaning across the bed and pulling her to the sheets and tossing the blanket over her. I don't know that she was awake when the blanket landed on her. It was a little early to call our first night, but she was wasted. I laid next to her watching her sleep, her mouth hanging part way open sucking in threads of hair as her mind drifted across oblivion. She drools when she sleeps. I don't know if she knows that I know, but I do. She's definitely drooled on me before. Eventually I went to shower and climbed into bed, inching up until I was snug against her and passed out. I was pretty drunk too. I don't know what time it was, but I was slowly pulled from drunken sleep by movement on the bed. I fought waking up trying to ignore it but eventually my mind rose to consciousness and I rolled over, blinking rapidly to try and see in the dark. It took much longer than I wanted for my vision to clear and adjust. But when it did, I saw that Liv had kicked away the blankets and sheets and was laying in the dim light from the bathroom that had been left on, laying on her back with her legs spread. I heard wet noises smacking quickly and heard her voice through a bit lip. The more I watched I realized she had two fingers buried in herself and was working herself over with them, trying to moan quietly as she did. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her whole body was rigid as she drove herself to the brink with quick flexes of her wrist. She panted for breath and whispered to I assumed herself, "Fucking give her a baby, I don't care, breed that stupid bitch; hold him in and take it all, fuck; " Part of me wanted to interrupt so I could help bring the whole ordeal home, but I don't get to watch Liv masturbate and I don't even know how often she does. I didn't know what she was thinking about, but I suspected it had to do with the night before. She grabbed her breast and strained through gritted teeth as she started to climax, slapping her hand over her mouth and shaking. She laid limp for several seconds twitching and rolled her head over and caught me watching. She covered her mouth in humiliation and laughed, "Sorry!" "No need to be sorry, it was really hot." She made a cringing face, "I probably shouldn't be masturbating on our wedding night, but I had crazy sex dreams about you and didn't want to sully our first night with my extra marital weirdness." "Don't have to be sorry at all, it's nice to know I'm in your fantasies too." "You're in all my fantasies, it's just usually not me you're doing." She said quietly blushing. "You're all I ever do in mine, redhead for life." She laughed and rolled over kissing me, her slick fingers holding my face. Her body laid halfway on mine and her hip and leg brushed my stiff member as we kissed. She squirmed in place to encourage it to stay standing beneath her as we kissed. "Sorry I got you all hard in the middle of the night, let me empty that for you," She pulled the blanket away and climbed on top of me. "Don't be, it looked like you had fun." I said putting my hands on her ass and squeezing, her face reacted to my grip and her back flexed. "I did, I love reliving your conquests where you use and discard them." She said, her voice low and husky. She lifted off my hips and her cunt left a heavy, wet, smear where she'd sat and moved back so her folds dragged along my shaft. She leaned over and kissed me, stroking my aching cock with her lips, saturating it with fluid, her throat making noises as her tongue tried to wrap around mine one way then the other. She parted our kiss and sat up. She was surprised when I followed her up, grabbing the small of her back and leaning over her chest. Liv laughed and pulled her hair behind her shoulders so I could wrap my lips around her breast. The moment I did she moaned and strained, grinding in my lap harder and grabbing my hair. I flicked her nipple with my tongue, tugging gently with my teeth, sucking and licking making her pant and squirm. I could feel her flexing against my cock as I played with her breast, her cunt leaking more hot fluid onto me. I pulled away, looking up at her flushed face, her little pink nipples at the bottom of my vision, and smiled, "Remember how insecure you were about these when we met?" She rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed laugh, "Ugh, it was all that prick's fault. You know when we got to college, he tried to get me to save up for implants?" I grabbed both of her breasts as though sheltering them from some invisible blow, "What? No!" She laughed and put her hands over mine, "The sad thing is, before he dumped me, I had given it some thought." I gave her breasts a gentle squeeze and felt her body react, "I stopped an evil thing from happening that day, through the power of pizza." She smiled and laughed again, red hair hanging in her face as she looked down at me, "I'm glad you still think so. It's a good thing you're a quality lay because you suck at video games." I shifted my hands to her waist and smirked, "Keep talking shit and I won't bang anymore of your friends." She gave a coy laugh and leaned over to kiss me softly, holding my lips and tongue to hers for several moments before pulling back and smiling, "Yes you will, I have a lot of hot friends and you can't even tell Maggie no anymore." "She doesn't count, we don't know that anyone tells Maggie no." I quipped and she laughed. She bent over and kissed me again, her kiss rising in intensity. I groped her breast with one hand, holding her ass with the other and the vocalizations in her chest got louder. She pulled away and raised up straight, leaning off me and reaching back to grab my cock, "If you'll excuse me, I need to attend to some wifely duties." She adjusted herself to meet my tip and pushed back. I felt my tip plunge into her, my shaft sliding along her tight insides that squeezed out juice as she pushed me into her. Her face turned red and her eyes closed. She groaned with a straining voice and I felt her ass meet my stomach. "Fuck you feel so good; " I panted as she started to rock her hips. She bit her lip and tried to mute a moan, "I love when you use me to get off; " I grabbed her ass roughly and she groaned leaning over to kiss me as her hips stroked my cock. I panted and groaned into the kiss, groping her breast with my free hand, feeling the soft flesh and pointed nipple against my palm. "Fuck I think I might cum again." She panted. I leaned up and tongued her nipple making her moan, she pushed me back down, "No, I'm getting you off; " she protested, but it was too late. "Oh fuck;  damn it; " She moaned, her face showing fading control. She cried loudly and shuddered on top of me. I watched her breasts shake and felt her cunt pulsing as her flat body jerked in place through the orgasm. When the climax passed she covered her mouth and laughed, "Whoops." I spanked her and she yelped before leaning over and kissing me, moving her hips that had now smeared a slick, clear, mess onto my waist. She kissed and bit my neck, panting, red hair sticking to her face, her breasts grazing my chest as she flexed her hips fucking me steadily. "Don't hold back; " She gasped, "I want it; " She was moaning and panting in my ear as her wet cunt worked my cock. I grabbed the hair on the back of her head and tugged making her groan. I moaned under her and began to shake as my cock erupted, launching thick bursts of cum into her over and over. She laughed with satisfaction, moving her hips, making me jerk and shake as she milked my cock until it started to go soft. She leaned over and kissed me with a smile, "I should wake you up by masturbating more often, you've never cum that fast for me." I moved hair from her face, "I had one ready from before we fell asleep." "I'll remember that trick too," She said smirking kissing my jaw, "Keeping your poor balls empty and light for you is my responsibility." She laughed kissing my neck, her sweating body laying on mine. I could feel cum streaming out of her, down her thigh and onto me. I felt her stomach tighten and a fresh heat as she flushed more out, "I'm never happier than after you've loaded me up with cum, it's better than a hug, or a dessert, or sleeping in." She said sleepily, her body loosely draped across me. "I'm gonna fall asleep again," she said quietly. "I think that's what beds are for." I said back making her smile. "Nuh uh." She whispered, and then she was out. I eased her back into place on the mattress and cleaned myself off again. She may love being sticky with cum, but it's not my favorite way to sleep. Once I was at least no longer sticky or wet, I climbed into bed, scooted until I was close to Liv and passed out. The following morning, I woke up before Liv and ordered breakfast to the room while she slept. I put on one of the robes and wheeled in the food cart all before she ever stirred. When she did, it was with a miserable groan. "I know that sound," I said sipping coffee, "That's a hangover." She groaned again, "Why would whiskey betray me like this?" She roared into the room rolling over and burying her face in the pillow. "Because you drank almost a third of a bottle." She groaned into the pillow and lay unmoving for several long moments. For a second I thought she had fallen asleep, but she rolled over onto her back and groaned again. "Go shower, then eat and take some aspirin." She groaned and swore into her pillow and slowly crawled off the bed, dragging her feet along the marble floor to the bathroom and closed the door. Liv is the most beautiful, wonderful, woman I've ever met. But even that cute ass couldn't get me to follow her with a hangover. I don't think this part of the story got told, but after we first hooked up over pizza and a humiliating loss at a beloved video game, she barfed on me in the shower. This morning she stayed barf free and emerged with stringy, wet, copper hair in a white robe and joined me at the glass table. I set a plate in front of her and served up a large portion of a Spanish omelet and poured a mug of coffee, which she eagerly picked up. "Feeling better?" She shrugged, "The shower helped some." She took a sip of coffee and cut a small bite of her omelet, grimaced, and cut another. By the end of the morning and our long, ambling chat she had put away half of what I had put on her plate, and I demolished the rest of what we had. She finished her coffee, then another cup, and she seemed to have perked up quite a bit. After she'd eaten, we chatted about all our plans when we got to the honeymoon, how good the food was, how much we liked the hotel room and then she cratered and went back to sleep. I was not excited about her nap not only because I was hoping she'd recover enough to be rambunctious again, but also because having to wake her up to leave would be no fun. But wake her up I did, and she and I dressed ourselves and she and I readied for our trek to the airport. We called an Uber XL, because why not, and settled in for a long trip. The drive to the airport took almost an hour, and checking into our flight took just as long. Once checked in, we settled in for a long, two hour wait. She read and I played phone games when after a whole five minutes she nudged my elbow, "What?" "Let's get drinks at the bar." "You literally just recovered from a hangover." "I'm not going to drink a third of a bottle this time. C'mon, we're on vacation." I paused my game and rolled the thought around, "Yeah alright." I followed her over to the bar and we sat down. I laughed when she ordered rum and Coke, "No Jack and Coke?" "I may never drink Jack Daniels again." She said taking a sip of the drink. She finished and ordered another, and I wasn't far behind her. We spent almost forty-five minutes sipping cheap cocktails as I continued my quest to teach her football. It had started the weekend after we met, and it was slow going. No one realizes how many rules football has until you try to explain it to someone else. After two drinks and over an hour, Liv was beginning to misbehave which worried me because we were about to board an aircraft wrapped up in an awful lot of very strict federal laws. She was handsy, giving me a lot of kisses and laughing. Which usually, I am more than happy to have happen, but right before a long flight? She kept her behavior PG until we boarded. I was relieved she didn't get wild right there in the gate, but my relief was short lived once we took our seats in the back row. Yes, our honeymoon flight was in the way back of the plane, but I didn't book them she did, and I think she booked all four seats back there because no one joined us. Or it's just a terrible place to sit. We got settled and buckled in and I looked over, "The back of the plane?" "What? The honeymoon was gifted, not the flight." The plane taxied down the runway after we had sat for what felt like hours and at last the g-force of takeoff pushed us against the seats and we were off. As soon as the remove seatbelt light came on, stewardesses began wheeling food carts out into the aisles and we were first up. Liv ordered gin and tonic, and I got a coffee. The gin knocked Liv out cold. I don't think that was her plan. There's no way we ended up in the worst seats on the plane, with three empty rows ahead of us because she hates being comfortable. But it was totally fine with me. The mile high club is overrated, and I wasn't interested in being banned by an airline. For the second time on the trip her awakening was not fun. The trip to Santa Monica hadn't been that long and she scrambled to get things put away to meet our ride to the resort. Whatever mischief she'd planned, hadn't materialized and she was sour the whole way through the airport and into the Uber. It didn't take long though, for the beach views and gorgeous red brick resort visible from the road to turn her spirits around. We checked in at the lobby and our luggage was moved to our room for us. White comforter with hard wood floors and lush rugs greeted us, the walls decorated with large gothic arch windows displaying the paradisaic beach outside. We ransacked our bags for bathing suits and changed without exploring the room or hotel at all. Liv put on a green bikini with gold links that held the bottom in place and the halter top behind her neck. She always looks very skinny, but when she has so little on it highlights just how skinny she is;  even with the way the outfit clung to her small round breasts and heart shaped ass. I had to concentrate on changing or I'd be walking through the hotel fully erect. I'm sure Liv would love that, but it wasn't my idea of a relaxing beach trip. We grabbed towels from the hotel and sunscreen and barefoot hurried out the door to our room that led right onto the beach. The resort featured four poster beach beds in front of which had been situated recliners. The beds were white with white curtains and spaced about fifteen or twenty feet apart and almost thirty feet from the crystal blue waves. We tossed our stuff on the bed and Liv immediately flopped onto it. "I can relax and not roast in the sun, its perfect!" She said happily. "Unless you want to turn into a well-cooked lobster you'd better put on sunscreen just in case." She rolled over and grabbed the tube from her bag and handed it to me before fishing out a hairband and tethering the thick mane of red hair behind her in a loose tail. She pulled her hair over her shoulder and rolled onto her stomach. I squeezed sunscreen into my palm and rubbed my hands together before rubbing down her legs. I kept myself hunched over I as spread the ointment over her legs, calves, and thighs to try and hide how excited contact with her slick body made me. It didn't help as I had to crawl over her legs to reach her back, shoulders, and neck. She sighed and breathed as I gave her a sunscreen massage before rolling over. She immediately burst into giggles and laughs, her face turning red, "Are you sure sunscreen is all you put on me?" "What? What are you talking about?" She pointed to my bathing suit, which was tented so hard the fabric strained. "I'm literally covering your nearly naked body in what is basically oil with some minerals in it, that would have anyone standing on end." She laughed again and ran her finger over it, feeling it flex, "I'm not complaining. After all the pretty girls I've run you through, it's flattering you still get this hard putting sunscreen on my back." "I get a little stiff looking at you in line at the bank." She blushed and touched me again feeling me stiffen, "Put more sunscreen on then, lemme feel how hard it gets you." "I think you know it's going to be pretty hard, but you want me to do the front or more on your back?" She giggled and wagged a finger, "Don't ask that like I don't already know what you want." She rolled over on her stomach and laid flat, wiggling her hips. I climbed back over her legs and poured more sunscreen into my hand and started running over her pale skin, over her shoulders and back down her sides to her hips and back up. This time, I leaned over so the stiff tent of my bathing suit pressed against her ass. She wiggled against it and pushed up with her hips giggling and looking back as I rubbed her down. With the pretense of just getting ready for a day at the beach long gone, I didn't resist the urge to run my hands over her ass, digging fingers into the flesh as I massaged it. I moved down adding more sunscreen to her legs, brashly running my hands up her thighs and down her legs which made her squirm and gasp. I massaged her calves and feet and back up to her ass and onto her back keeping myself pressed against her. She reached back and pulled the bottom of her bathing suit tight, exposing her pale, soft cheeks, burying the green fabric between them so I was pressed against her mostly exposed ass now. She laughed, reaching her fingers up to touch my tip through my bathing suit, pulling away a string of clear fluid that had soaked through. Liv struggled to turn over and I got up so she could. She rolled onto her back and grabbed the waist of my bathing suit pulling me toward her face, "Take it out, I want to drain it." "We can't do that here, it's a public beach." I said looking around bashfully. "So, close the curtains, I want to milk your cock. It's mine now, lemme play with it." She was trying to pull my bathing suit down as I crawled to the edge to close the curtains that were tied to each of the four posts. "I can't if you keep hanging on my bathing suit." I said half laughing pulling two curtains closed. "You're the bashful one, I don't care if we're seen." I hurried away and she chased me on hands and knees as I raced to get the next curtain untied and pulled shut before she crawled to me across the cushion grabbing at my shorts. I leaned away and managed to reach the third slinging it half shut as she tried to tug my shorts down. "Would you give me five seconds you brat." I said laughing, crawling away as she tried to pull me back with the waist band of my bathing suit, getting dragged to the final curtain with me as I untied and pulled it shut. "There, finally." I said winded and let her yank my bathing suit down to my knees. She grabbed my shaft and started stroking it, her face pink from exertion and laughter. "You married a redhead;  you should have prepared yourself for unhinged lecherous behavior." She pulled her hand away from me and licked the slick precum off before leaning onto her hands and knees licking the tip. I watched and felt her lick and kiss my shaft and tip. She toyed with my cock smearing precum on her lips and chin as she teased me with her mouth relishing the way I stiffened in response. She looked up and smiled before dragging her tongue along the underside. "I can feel how full it is," She giggled quietly before wrapping her lips around me and gently stroking me with her mouth and tongue. She sucked gently, bobbing back and forth coaxing pressure and heat to build as she worked me. I put my hand on her head and watched. She pushed her head forward until I was pushing close to her throat and heard her start to gag before pulling her face away, strings of drool pulling with her. She panted, eyes starting to water and stroked me with her hand. "Fuck my throat," She said panting, pulling her hair loose for me to grab. I didn't need encouraging, grabbing a first full of her red hair and jamming my cock into her open mouth. She gagged, her ribs flexing and drool dripping off her chin as I started stroking my cock with her mouth and throat. She didn't resist or recoil at all, moving her tongue even as my tip strained her reflex and choked each time I pushed it forward. I pulled myself from her mouth and she gasped for breath, rubbing my cock on her face, stroking it with her hand and licking the shaft and tip, coughing. She stroked me with her hand until she had caught her breath, her face now red from exertion, hair sticking to her forehead with misting sweat as she took me back in her mouth and resumed bobbing. I was struggling to keep my breath as her mouth worked my shaft and her tongue teased my tip, tugging gently. She sucked tirelessly like it was all she wanted to do that day. She groaned forcing me down her throat and urging me to be rougher with her hands. I grabbed her head with my hands and jammed my cock into her throat. She made gagging, choking, and unpleasant sounds as I fucked her face. Drool dripped off her chin and her hair darkened against the sweat on her cheeks. She pulled away and dragged her tongue over my shaft, submissively kissing my cock and panting. She stroked me with her fingers as her mouth lavished me and she panted and whimpered, smearing her drooly mess on her face. Her big eyes looked up at me and she smiled, wiggling her tongue just under my tip, "You're so close I can feel it, cum on me, cum on my face." She grabbed my shaft and stroked it steadily, watching my face twist and hearing me groan. "Stop resisting let me empty your balls." She laughed and pulled me to her mouth sucking. The heat of her mouth and tongue sent me over the edge with a loud noise. I came hard and she made a squeak of surprise as cum shot into her mouth several times. She pulled her mouth away, letting the cum on her tongue fall onto her chin, neck, and chest, her hand stroking my cock, emptying the rest onto her nose and cheeks until the pulsing slowed to a weak drip. She sucked the tip, making me groan and jerk before licking cum from her hand and wrist, laughing. "Umm, that's a lot for just putting sunscreen on me," She laughed again. She wiped cum from her chin and watched it string before sucking it off her finger. "I think you're getting weirder and kinkier." I said as she giggled and played with the cum that dripped down her chest. "I just love when you're possessive and rough and use me like an object;  but you're too nice so I have to coach you into it." "I think you've been hanging out with your sister too much." "Oh, she loves handprints." Liv laughed again before reaching for her towel and wiping away the sticky, white, mess that now coated her face and torso;  "Come on, let's go get in the water!" She jumped to her hands and knees and crawled toward the curtain, "Liv," "What?" "You still need to sunscreen your front and face." She held up a finger, "Right." We played at the beach for most of the rest of the afternoon, taking breaks for water and cocktails. She tried to teach me how to surf, something I didn't know she could do;  and then we borrowed toys for building a sandcastle, which turned into a sand fortress that she tried to model after Hyrule and failed dismally. Wet sand doesn't form sharp peaks well. After a long day in the sun, we were beat, dehydrated, and ready to eat so we headed into the room and showered. We showered separately since neither of us has any kind of self-control, and our reservations were in forty-five minutes;  and she wanted to look nice. Which, of course she did, hair folded into a loose princess braid that showered her black cocktail dress with the uncontrollable wash of fire that was her hair. It set off her porcelain face, legs and arms in a way that made her look either angelic or devilish depending entirely on the angle. And whatever ridiculous expression she was using to get her way. She gets her way a lot. It's those damn, big, brown eyes which she framed with dark lashes and just a touch of eyeliner to make the gold-brown pop. We went down to the resort dining room which was stunning. A giant chandelier frosted in crystal hung over the center of the wood paneled room. Our table was seated next to a fireplace that crackled beside the table covered in a white tablecloth. We were treated to cocktails, fresh salad, followed by the best surf and turf I've ever had. The whole dinner, Liv and I spent debating the appropriate ranking of the Soul Calibur characters by strength. We stayed for a second round of cocktails and dessert before heading out to dance on the tiled patio. The resort had fielded a live swing band and Liv and I had a blast twisting away as the sunset. I move like a cow on skates when dancing, but Liv is so good she makes me look good anyway. At the end of our third song straight, we collapsed against the railing of the patio laughing. A waiter came around bringing out champagne and we helped ourselves, sipping and catching our breath. She clung to my shoulder as she sipped her drink watching other couples move as we chatted about whatever came to mind. I jumped when a voice spoke to my left. We didn't know anyone there, so I wasn't expecting to be greeted. I turned and felt like I'd been hit in the eyes by a spotlight. A gorgeous, pale redhead was standing with a man I also didn't recognize. Honeymoon gets wild. "Hi." I said back dumbfounded. She laughed, her blue eyes glittering with the light of the torches. She wore a short, tight, velvet, violet dress that kept virtually no secrets, and her hair which had once been put up, was now a rolling mess across her shoulders. "Sorry to surprise you, we were just impressed with how you two cut it up out there." "Oh, well thanks, but its really all her." I said pointing to Liv. She blushed and extended her hand, "I'm Liv." "Kayla." Said the woman sweetly, "Where did you learn to dance like that?" "We took some classes when we first started dating. He's a great dancer he's just being modest." "This is my boyfriend," Kayla said gesturing to the skinny young man next to her. Liv and I took turns shaking his hand, "We're celebrating graduation from college." "Congratulations!" Liv said excitedly, "We'll be done this summer." "We're celebrating our wedding right now actually." "Oh congrats!" Said the young man, Kayla following, "You are a really cute couple." "She's cute, I'm just couple." I said, Liv hit my shoulder. Kayla took a glass from one of the wandering servers, her boyfriend followed suit, and she leaned against the railing, "Have you done anything fun since you got in?" "We just got in today actually." Liv explained, "We went to the beach for a long time and goofed off and came straight to dinner. Do you know any of the fun attractions?" Kayla gave her lips a pensive twist, "We went snorkeling a few days ago. In the afternoon the water is crystal clear, and you can see a ton of fish and cool stuff out on the reef." "Oh, that sounds like a ton of fun." I said looking at Liv, "We should sign up." She nodded enthusiastically, "What about you two?" "We get into a fair amount of trouble," Kayla said rolling her eyes. Liv arched her eyebrows, "What kind of trouble?" "Uh," Kayla hesitated, "well; " "We got caught skinny dipping on the trip out to snorkel for one." Said Kayla's boyfriend, she giggled. "Oops," She said through a wave of laughter, "We got in trouble for smoking pot in the roof hot tub too." The guy snapped his fingers, "When you got caught making out with the lifeguard." Kayla blushed and poked her boyfriend, "I was high as a kite that doesn't count." "Sounds like you two have had plenty of fun." I said glossing over the last comment, "I can't wait to get out on the open water." Liv was laughing, "You made out with the life guard?" "Yeah, I was baked and had been drinking. He told me I was too beautiful to be single and I got all bothered." "Probably made his whole day." Said her boyfriend who made an uncomfortable amount of eye contact with me. Kayla sniffed, "I could make his whole week." "Yeah you could." Her boyfriend said kissing her cheek, she blushed and grabbed his neck. While their moment was happening, Liv nudged me and whispered, "She's wearing an anklet." I gave her a confused look, and she just smiled. I didn't get it, but I didn't like it. Kayla's boyfriend looked over at me, "Redheads right?" "Man, I'm sure fond of mine." I said, now it was Liv's turn to blush. "You two want to come find some trouble? We were going to grab a bottle and head up to the roof." Said the boyfriend. "I dunno, we're pretty spent, we traveled today, the beach. But we-" I started to say but Liv cut me off. "-will muster the energy for our new friends. We'll meet you up there." "Great, see you in a bit." Kayla said excitedly. They headed for the hotel and I looked at Liv. "What are we doing going up to the roof with them? They are super weird." She smiled broadly, "Kayla's wearing an anklet. She's a hotwife; girlfriend, whatever, her boyfriend is trying to connect you two." "We are not swingers." I said firmly, she laughed in response. "Of course not. He's not trying to get with me, he wants you to get with her. He's doing what I do to you to her." "It's weird when you do it, it's even weirder when someone does it to me." I said. "Ha, I've seen what you do to girls. You can't fool me." She said sardonically, "Come on, let's make a new friend." I rolled my eyes as she dragged me through the dance floor to the elevator and hit the top floor. The elevator lurched and Liv grabbed my waist grinning at me, "Umm this is gonna be so fun." "I already have more than enough crazy redhead than I can handle, I don't need two." I said flicking her chin. She giggled, "We're going extinct you know, redheads." "That's a myth that spread on social media." I said, she pressed in closer. "Umm but shouldn't we be breeding more;  just in case?" "When you want kids just say the word." I said touching her nose. "That's not what I meant." "I know what you meant." The elevator dinged and opened onto a covered patio the spread across the entire section of roof. The hot tub and pool glowed a deep blue and everything was illuminated by small lamps along the floor. Beyond the roof was a stunning view of the whole beach and blue ocean rolling away under the night sky. We headed to a far table on the corner. I didn't get a chance to sit down before Liv pushed me against the table, grabbed my face and kissed me. She held me in place, her tongue making soft sweeps of mine, her body leaning into me as she kissed. I put my hands on her sides, letting them slip gradually as she pushed her hips against me, her body trying to rub against mine. She pulled away from our kiss and kissed my neck, whimpering and sighing. "You are not drunk enough to be this worked up in public." "I'm always this worked up, I just don't always have an opportunity to express it." She whispered. "Duly noted," I whispered back and I felt her smile. To be continued in part 8, By Dragon Lair Reads for Literotica.

 In the Limousine, off to honeymoon!In 8 parts, By Dragon Lair Reads. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.I handed our stuff off to my roommate, and Maggie and we waved goodbye to the guests, who lined up outside to throw rice at us. I don't get that tradition, and no one was able to explain it to me at any point. At long last we were in the limousine, seated at the very back and began to pull away. We seemed to have gotten away with it.Except that once in the moving limo, Liv climbed into my lap and began grinding, and even through my own pajama pants, I could feel and hear that she had thoroughly soaked through hers. She panted and whimpered in my ear grinding and kissing, holding my neck."You came on my face in a bathroom you fucking pervert," she panted, her words still running together."You worked pretty hard for that," I said back around the bushel of red hair that moved from one side of my face to the other as she kissed and bit my neck.She laughed, "I milked your cock all over me, I'm a good little cock milker."I grabbed her ass firmly and she moaned with satisfaction, pushing her hips back into my grip, "You're my favorite cock milker."She pushed me against the back of the seat and kissed me hotly, grinding her hips against me, her slick pajama bottoms soaked into mine and I could feel her wet folds against my shaft through the cloth. She was panting and crying as she humped me like a teenager in the back of a car.I put my hands in the waistband of her pants, but she pulled my wrists away, "I'm gonna cum;  no, I'm gonna cum."I put my hand back on her ass and she ran her tongue against mine, fighting the sounds her body wanted to make as her hips flexed rhythmically until suddenly she grabbed my neck and buried her face in my shoulder crying and shaking in my lap as orgasm twisted across her.She was still twitching and panting when the limo came to a stop. I let her catch her breath before whispering, "We're here, let's go up to the room.""I want to fuck, let's just fuck here." She panted."No, that's a bad idea. Come on little milker." I said slapping her ass, she giggled and climbed off so I could get the door open. The hotel was waiting for us when we arrived and the bell hop took our stuff up ahead of us while I checked in at the desk, wondering if everyone saw how glossy and dark the middle of Liv's pajamas were.Check-in was quick and I shuffled her off to the elevator. I wasn't so much worried about what people saw as much as I was her stripping in the lobby or trying to jerk me off at the check-in counter. My new wife is the genuine redhead item, when she gets hot, nothing can extinguish it.We made it into the elevator, and it jolted upward towards the completely unnecessary suite our families had sprung for. As soon as we were in motion, Liv started unbuttoning her top. I didn't even notice except that I looked over and saw her pale chest becoming visible."Whoa, not yet." I said grabbing the two ends of the top and pulling them closed, as I did she grabbed her pants and pulled them down. I barely caught them pulling them back up while holding her top closed. The elevator dinged and the door open. I tugged on the blouse."Come on, our room is this way." I said leading her out of the elevator. She followed down the hall laughing and trying to pull her top open. We got to the door, and she fell against it still giggling, grabbing my neck, and dragging me into a kiss.Her hand grabbed my cock, she didn't even have to feel for it and started stroking as her mouth locked with mine. She put a leg around my leg and panted and whimpered into the kiss as I fumbled with the key to get the door unlocked. I got it and it clicked."The room is open," I said around her kiss, she shook her head in protest."Fuck the room do me here. Everyone can watch you turn me into a cumsock."I put my arm around her and turned the knob so the door fell open. She fell backward but I caught her and swung her into my arms and carried her into the room. It was hard to see where I was going because she clung to my shoulders licking and biting my neck.The suite was palatial. Marble swept from the front door all across the floors on a white expansive open floor plan. The bed on one side was surrounded by columns that supported a circle of windows above it. White see through curtains were draped from column to column and LED lights sunk into the corners of the ceiling were set dim over the white duvet.Opposite the bed was a large jacuzzi tub with a fireplace set behind it, a gas fire burning for us already. The tub was empty but pristine, textured stone winding out in a circle around it with fresh towels set on the side. On the glass table set in the middle, was another bottle of Jack Daniels, this one however, looked considerably nicer.I set Liv down and she marveled at the room for a moment looking around with big eyes like a girl who just got a princess bed. I leaned in behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, hands feeling her exposed stomach from when she tried to undress in the elevator.She snapped out of her childlike wonder when she felt my hand and pushed back into me with a loud gasp. She rocked her hip into me grinding her ass against my stiff cock in my pants making quiet whimpering sounds."I can't believe you made me behave until we got all the way up here." She said in a pouty voice."When you're sober tomorrow, if you want to fuck on the couch in the lobby, I'll take my own pants off." I said putting my head by her shoulder and kissing her neck. She groaned loudly reaching back to stroke my pants with her hand.I ran my hand up her stomach and under the few closed buttons of her pajama top until I felt her soft breasts which I cupped and squeezed. Her body clenched and she moaned into the room. I used my other hand to open the top and pulled it from her shoulders.Her pale body was exposed and tickled her ear with my tongue now aggressively groping her breasts and pulling on her nipples. She cried loudly jerking her head back so that there was a full mess of red hair under my nose as her sensitive body reacted.While she panted, holding my neck I put my thumbs in her pants and pulled them down, a thick rope of hazy fluid sticking to the inside until it snapped against her leg. They hit her ankles and finally the svelte, pale, ginger was naked, her lean, willowy, body, once and for all mine, was totally bare for me.I ran my finger up her thigh making her shudder and licked what had come out of her leaking cunt before grabbing her by the neck and pulling her to the bed. She laughed as I threw her onto it rolling on her back with her legs spread wide open.I dragged her to the edge of the bed and crouched by the end taking in the sight of her waxed, pink, messy, cunt under her flat stomach and sharp hips. I leaned over and bit her thigh and she groaned, clenching her stomach upward before I licked and kissed to her folds and attacked them with my tongue.Her voice caught as I lashed her clit and opening with heavy licks, circling her little button, stroking around it and digging my tongue into her. Her cunt drained freely, quickly darkening the duvet, and leaving a clear, slick, trail down her ass. She was jerking and shaking as I hungrily lapped all of the flavor from her, even dragging my tongue across her ass and back over. It wasn't before an animalistic groan and suddenly violent shakes told me she'd cum already.I gave her a moment to recover before I rolled her over on her stomach and pulled at her hips until she was propped up on her knees, face in the blanket. I pulled her ass open and buried my tongue against her pink asshole making her squeal in surprise and moan into the blanket. I dragged my tongue against the stiff ridges while my fingers fucked her.Clear fluid drained out of her onto a small pool as I stroked my fingers into her tight, slick, body and she moaned low and weak, her body shaking as I licked at her ass. I held it open with one hand keeping my fingers dug into her flesh until she yelled and seized on her knees from another orgasm, causing her to fall over, and her cunt to spill thick lubricant on the bed. I rolled her back over onto her back and climbed on the bed putting my messy fingers to her lips. She took them sucking the taste of herself off them eagerly.I touched her chest, cupping her breast and feeling her taught stomach as she cleaned my finger. I pulled it away and she panted, "Licking my asshole is fucking disgusting.""You don't have to kiss me after that, it was-" I started to say but she grabbed me and pulled me into a hard kiss, pushing her tongue into mine, wrapping her legs around me. I teased her through the kiss, dragging my cock up and down her messy cunt making her cry and roll trying to catch me.I kissed her neck and rolled her breasts in my hand. She tried to beg to be fucked but couldn't put words together as her sensitive body overreacted to everything I was doing. Each drag of my tip across her folds made her shudder and groan."You want some cock?"She nodded and gasped, moaning loudly when my finger squeezed her nipple.I pinned her hands over her head and teased her outstretched tongue with mine until I felt my cock catch at her opening and pushed. My tip forced its way into her, pushing squeezing walls apart, fluid running out of her onto the bed. She groaned in a hoarse, strained voice her body shaking until I was into the hilt and started fucking.I started drilling her limber, pale, body and she shrieked into the room grabbing the blanket beneath her. I pushed her down flat onto the bed as her back arched upward and face flushed. She was moaning and screaming, her mouth hanging open as I fucked her pale body."Fuck! Fuck me, fuck me, shit it's so good FUCK!"She started to drool down one side of her mouth, her eyes rolling upward and her stomach clenching randomly as my slick, soaked, balls slapped her ass. I grabbed her hair, a thick red mess in my fist as my cock threatened to burst and panted to her,"I'm gonna cum, fuck;  I'm so close"She hissed through her strained voice, "Fucking cum in me, fucking cum in your fucking cumsock; "I started to groan, and she grabbed my neck goading me, "Fucking thrash me until I'm full, fuck I want cum; "I yelled loudly as my cock erupted making me shake and lose my posture above her. She grabbed me snuggly holding my neck and rocking her hips, her fried voice moaning in my ear as jets of cum shot into her.Her body was cool, and slick under me as I felt the sweat on her breasts and stomach as I laid on her trying to keep stroking until my cock fell out, pulling a stream of cum out with it. We both laid still, twitching for several moments, the air chilling the sweat on her body as it began to damp the pj top I had never taken off.I heard a hoarse giggle and rolled off her, looking at her big sparkly eyes quizzically."You always make me cum like a hundred times whenever we do it and my favorite part is still when I feel you finally lose control and pump me full to the brim. You've put so much cum in me since we met I'm surprised it's not what comes out when I cry."I ran a hand over her chest and neck, looking over my new wife's body, her sweet face, pink and sweaty darkening the roots of her burning crown of hair, "You're an absolute sex object, watching you climax is an event all on its own, cumming in you is like the backstage pass."She laughed and pulled me into a long kiss holding my face, "I'm your wife now, you have to make sure I stay good and used up. That way if I get murdered one day, the cops know who I belong to, like a owner tag."I laughed and she smiled, proud of the joke, "No more true crime podcasts for you."She leaned over kissing me softly. I felt the cold from the sweat in her hair and slick cold of her misted legs as her tongue played with mine. The kiss was gently, and while I could feel myself stiffening again, I could tell she was tired."Ready for a shower?" I asked, she shook her head."It's our first official night together, I want to sleep in the mess."I raked hair from her face, and she kissed me again, "I'm cold,"I got up and pulled the blanket back before leaning across the bed and pulling her to the sheets and tossing the blanket over her. I don't know that she was awake when the blanket landed on her. It was a little early to call our first night, but she was wasted.I laid next to her watching her sleep, her mouth hanging part way open sucking in threads of hair as her mind drifted across oblivion. She drools when she sleeps. I don't know if she knows that I know, but I do. She's definitely drooled on me before. Eventually I went to shower and climbed into bed, inching up until I was snug against her and passed out. I was pretty drunk too.I don't know what time it was, but I was slowly pulled from drunken sleep by movement on the bed. I fought waking up trying to ignore it but eventually my mind rose to consciousness and I rolled over, blinking rapidly to try and see in the dark. It took much longer than I wanted for my vision to clear and adjust.But when it did, I saw that Liv had kicked away the blankets and sheets and was laying in the dim light from the bathroom that had been left on, laying on her back with her legs spread. I heard wet noises smacking quickly and heard her voice through a bit lip.The more I watched I realized she had two fingers buried in herself and was working herself over with them, trying to moan quietly as she did. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her whole body was rigid as she drove herself to the brink with quick flexes of her wrist. She panted for breath and whispered to I assumed herself, "Fucking give her a baby, I don't care, breed that stupid bitch; hold him in and take it all, fuck; "Part of me wanted to interrupt so I could help bring the whole ordeal home, but I don't get to watch Liv masturbate and I don't even know how often she does. I didn't know what she was thinking about, but I suspected it had to do with the night before. She grabbed her breast and strained through gritted teeth as she started to climax, slapping her hand over her mouth and shaking. She laid limp for several seconds twitching and rolled her head over and caught me watching.She covered her mouth in humiliation and laughed, "Sorry!""No need to be sorry, it was really hot."She made a cringing face, "I probably shouldn't be masturbating on our wedding night, but I had crazy sex dreams about you and didn't want to sully our first night with my extra marital weirdness.""Don't have to be sorry at all, it's nice to know I'm in your fantasies too.""You're in all my fantasies, it's just usually not me you're doing." She said quietly blushing."You're all I ever do in mine, redhead for life." She laughed and rolled over kissing me, her slick fingers holding my face. Her body laid halfway on mine and her hip and leg brushed my stiff member as we kissed. She squirmed in place to encourage it to stay standing beneath her as we kissed."Sorry I got you all hard in the middle of the night, let me empty that for you," She pulled the blanket away and climbed on top of me."Don't be, it looked like you had fun." I said putting my hands on her ass and squeezing, her face reacted to my grip and her back flexed."I did, I love reliving your conquests where you use and discard them." She said, her voice low and husky. She lifted off my hips and her cunt left a heavy, wet, smear where she'd sat and moved back so her folds dragged along my shaft.She leaned over and kissed me, stroking my aching cock with her lips, saturating it with fluid, her throat making noises as her tongue tried to wrap around mine one way then the other. She parted our kiss and sat up. She was surprised when I followed her up, grabbing the small of her back and leaning over her chest.Liv laughed and pulled her hair behind her shoulders so I could wrap my lips around her breast. The moment I did she moaned and strained, grinding in my lap harder and grabbing my hair. I flicked her nipple with my tongue, tugging gently with my teeth, sucking and licking making her pant and squirm. I could feel her flexing against my cock as I played with her breast, her cunt leaking more hot fluid onto me.I pulled away, looking up at her flushed face, her little pink nipples at the bottom of my vision, and smiled, "Remember how insecure you were about these when we met?"She rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed laugh, "Ugh, it was all that prick's fault. You know when we got to college, he tried to get me to save up for implants?"I grabbed both of her breasts as though sheltering them from some invisible blow, "What? No!"She laughed and put her hands over mine, "The sad thing is, before he dumped me, I had given it some thought."I gave her breasts a gentle squeeze and felt her body react, "I stopped an evil thing from happening that day, through the power of pizza."She smiled and laughed again, red hair hanging in her face as she looked down at me, "I'm glad you still think so. It's a good thing you're a quality lay because you suck at video games."I shifted my hands to her waist and smirked, "Keep talking shit and I won't bang anymore of your friends."She gave a coy laugh and leaned over to kiss me softly, holding my lips and tongue to hers for several moments before pulling back and smiling, "Yes you will, I have a lot of hot friends and you can't even tell Maggie no anymore.""She doesn't count, we don't know that anyone tells Maggie no." I quipped and she laughed. She bent over and kissed me again, her kiss rising in intensity. I groped her breast with one hand, holding her ass with the other and the vocalizations in her chest got louder.She pulled away and raised up straight, leaning off me and reaching back to grab my cock, "If you'll excuse me, I need to attend to some wifely duties."She adjusted herself to meet my tip and pushed back. I felt my tip plunge into her, my shaft sliding along her tight insides that squeezed out juice as she pushed me into her. Her face turned red and her eyes closed. She groaned with a straining voice and I felt her ass meet my stomach."Fuck you feel so good; " I panted as she started to rock her hips.She bit her lip and tried to mute a moan, "I love when you use me to get off; "I grabbed her ass roughly and she groaned leaning over to kiss me as her hips stroked my cock. I panted and groaned into the kiss, groping her breast with my free hand, feeling the soft flesh and pointed nipple against my palm."Fuck I think I might cum again." She panted.I leaned up and tongued her nipple making her moan, she pushed me back down, "No, I'm getting you off; " she protested, but it was too late. "Oh fuck;  damn it; " She moaned, her face showing fading control. She cried loudly and shuddered on top of me. I watched her breasts shake and felt her cunt pulsing as her flat body jerked in place through the orgasm.When the climax passed she covered her mouth and laughed, "Whoops."I spanked her and she yelped before leaning over and kissing me, moving her hips that had now smeared a slick, clear, mess onto my waist. She kissed and bit my neck, panting, red hair sticking to her face, her breasts grazing my chest as she flexed her hips fucking me steadily."Don't hold back; " She gasped, "I want it; " She was moaning and panting in my ear as her wet cunt worked my cock. I grabbed the hair on the back of her head and tugged making her groan. I moaned under her and began to shake as my cock erupted, launching thick bursts of cum into her over and over.She laughed with satisfaction, moving her hips, making me jerk and shake as she milked my cock until it started to go soft. She leaned over and kissed me with a smile, "I should wake you up by masturbating more often, you've never cum that fast for me."I moved hair from her face, "I had one ready from before we fell asleep.""I'll remember that trick too," She said smirking kissing my jaw, "Keeping your poor balls empty and light for you is my responsibility." She laughed kissing my neck, her sweating body laying on mine. I could feel cum streaming out of her, down her thigh and onto me.I felt her stomach tighten and a fresh heat as she flushed more out, "I'm never happier than after you've loaded me up with cum, it's better than a hug, or a dessert, or sleeping in." She said sleepily, her body loosely draped across me."I'm gonna fall asleep again," she said quietly."I think that's what beds are for." I said back making her smile."Nuh uh." She whispered, and then she was out. I eased her back into place on the mattress and cleaned myself off again. She may love being sticky with cum, but it's not my favorite way to sleep. Once I was at least no longer sticky or wet, I climbed into bed, scooted until I was close to Liv and passed out.The following morning, I woke up before Liv and ordered breakfast to the room while she slept. I put on one of the robes and wheeled in the food cart all before she ever stirred. When she did, it was with a miserable groan."I know that sound," I said sipping coffee, "That's a hangover."She groaned again, "Why would whiskey betray me like this?" She roared into the room rolling over and burying her face in the pillow."Because you drank almost a third of a bottle."She groaned into the pillow and lay unmoving for several long moments. For a second I thought she had fallen asleep, but she rolled over onto her back and groaned again."Go shower, then eat and take some aspirin."She groaned and swore into her pillow and slowly crawled off the bed, dragging her feet along the marble floor to the bathroom and closed the door. Liv is the most beautiful, wonderful, woman I've ever met. But even that cute ass couldn't get me to follow her with a hangover. I don't think this part of the story got told, but after we first hooked up over pizza and a humiliating loss at a beloved video game, she barfed on me in the shower.This morning she stayed barf free and emerged with stringy, wet, copper hair in a white robe and joined me at the glass table. I set a plate in front of her and served up a large portion of a Spanish omelet and poured a mug of coffee, which she eagerly picked up."Feeling better?"She shrugged, "The shower helped some." She took a sip of coffee and cut a small bite of her omelet, grimaced, and cut another. By the end of the morning and our long, ambling chat she had put away half of what I had put on her plate, and I demolished the rest of what we had. She finished her coffee, then another cup, and she seemed to have perked up quite a bit.After she'd eaten, we chatted about all our plans when we got to the honeymoon, how good the food was, how much we liked the hotel room and then she cratered and went back to sleep. I was not excited about her nap not only because I was hoping she'd recover enough to be rambunctious again, but also because having to wake her up to leave would be no fun.But wake her up I did, and she and I dressed ourselves and she and I readied for our trek to the airport. We called an Uber XL, because why not, and settled in for a long trip. The drive to the airport took almost an hour, and checking into our flight took just as long. Once checked in, we settled in for a long, two hour wait.She read and I played phone games when after a whole five minutes she nudged my elbow, "What?""Let's get drinks at the bar.""You literally just recovered from a hangover.""I'm not going to drink a third of a bottle this time. C'mon, we're on vacation."I paused my game and rolled the thought around, "Yeah alright."I followed her over to the bar and we sat down. I laughed when she ordered rum and Coke, "No Jack and Coke?""I may never drink Jack Daniels again." She said taking a sip of the drink. She finished and ordered another, and I wasn't far behind her. We spent almost forty-five minutes sipping cheap cocktails as I continued my quest to teach her football. It had started the weekend after we met, and it was slow going. No one realizes how many rules football has until you try to explain it to someone else.After two drinks and over an hour, Liv was beginning to misbehave which worried me because we were about to board an aircraft wrapped up in an awful lot of very strict federal laws. She was handsy, giving me a lot of kisses and laughing. Which usually, I am more than happy to have happen, but right before a long flight?She kept her behavior PG until we boarded. I was relieved she didn't get wild right there in the gate, but my relief was short lived once we took our seats in the back row. Yes, our honeymoon flight was in the way back of the plane, but I didn't book them she did, and I think she booked all four seats back there because no one joined us. Or it's just a terrible place to sit.We got settled and buckled in and I looked over, "The back of the plane?""What? The honeymoon was gifted, not the flight."The plane taxied down the runway after we had sat for what felt like hours and at last the g-force of takeoff pushed us against the seats and we were off. As soon as the remove seatbelt light came on, stewardesses began wheeling food carts out into the aisles and we were first up. Liv ordered gin and tonic, and I got a coffee.The gin knocked Liv out cold. I don't think that was her plan. There's no way we ended up in the worst seats on the plane, with three empty rows ahead of us because she hates being comfortable. But it was totally fine with me. The mile high club is overrated, and I wasn't interested in being banned by an airline.For the second time on the trip her awakening was not fun. The trip to Santa Monica hadn't been that long and she scrambled to get things put away to meet our ride to the resort. Whatever mischief she'd planned, hadn't materialized and she was sour the whole way through the airport and into the Uber.It didn't take long though, for the beach views and gorgeous red brick resort visible from the road to turn her spirits around. We checked in at the lobby and our luggage was moved to our room for us. White comforter with hard wood floors and lush rugs greeted us, the walls decorated with large gothic arch windows displaying the paradisaic beach outside.We ransacked our bags for bathing suits and changed without exploring the room or hotel at all. Liv put on a green bikini with gold links that held the bottom in place and the halter top behind her neck. She always looks very skinny, but when she has so little on it highlights just how skinny she is;  even with the way the outfit clung to her small round breasts and heart shaped ass.I had to concentrate on changing or I'd be walking through the hotel fully erect. I'm sure Liv would love that, but it wasn't my idea of a relaxing beach trip. We grabbed towels from the hotel and sunscreen and barefoot hurried out the door to our room that led right onto the beach.The resort featured four poster beach beds in front of which had been situated recliners. The beds were white with white curtains and spaced about fifteen or twenty feet apart and almost thirty feet from the crystal blue waves. We tossed our stuff on the bed and Liv immediately flopped onto it."I can relax and not roast in the sun, its perfect!" She said happily."Unless you want to turn into a well-cooked lobster you'd better put on sunscreen just in case."She rolled over and grabbed the tube from her bag and handed it to me before fishing out a hairband and tethering the thick mane of red hair behind her in a loose tail. She pulled her hair over her shoulder and rolled onto her stomach. I squeezed sunscreen into my palm and rubbed my hands together before rubbing down her legs.I kept myself hunched over I as spread the ointment over her legs, calves, and thighs to try and hide how excited contact with her slick body made me. It didn't help as I had to crawl over her legs to reach her back, shoulders, and neck. She sighed and breathed as I gave her a sunscreen massage before rolling over.She immediately burst into giggles and laughs, her face turning red, "Are you sure sunscreen is all you put on me?""What? What are you talking about?"She pointed to my bathing suit, which was tented so hard the fabric strained."I'm literally covering your nearly naked body in what is basically oil with some minerals in it, that would have anyone standing on end."She laughed again and ran her finger over it, feeling it flex, "I'm not complaining. After all the pretty girls I've run you through, it's flattering you still get this hard putting sunscreen on my back.""I get a little stiff looking at you in line at the bank."She blushed and touched me again feeling me stiffen, "Put more sunscreen on then, lemme feel how hard it gets you.""I think you know it's going to be pretty hard, but you want me to do the front or more on your back?"She giggled and wagged a finger, "Don't ask that like I don't already know what you want." She rolled over on her stomach and laid flat, wiggling her hips.I climbed back over her legs and poured more sunscreen into my hand and started running over her pale skin, over her shoulders and back down her sides to her hips and back up. This time, I leaned over so the stiff tent of my bathing suit pressed against her ass.She wiggled against it and pushed up with her hips giggling and looking back as I rubbed her down. With the pretense of just getting ready for a day at the beach long gone, I didn't resist the urge to run my hands over her ass, digging fingers into the flesh as I massaged it.I moved down adding more sunscreen to her legs, brashly running my hands up her thighs and down her legs which made her squirm and gasp. I massaged her calves and feet and back up to her ass and onto her back keeping myself pressed against her.She reached back and pulled the bottom of her bathing suit tight, exposing her pale, soft cheeks, burying the green fabric between them so I was pressed against her mostly exposed ass now. She laughed, reaching her fingers up to touch my tip through my bathing suit, pulling away a string of clear fluid that had soaked through.Liv struggled to turn over and I got up so she could. She rolled onto her back and grabbed the waist of my bathing suit pulling me toward her face, "Take it out, I want to drain it.""We can't do that here, it's a public beach." I said looking around bashfully."So, close the curtains, I want to milk your cock. It's mine now, lemme play with it." She was trying to pull my bathing suit down as I crawled to the edge to close the curtains that were tied to each of the four posts."I can't if you keep hanging on my bathing suit." I said half laughing pulling two curtains closed."You're the bashful one, I don't care if we're seen."I hurried away and she chased me on hands and knees as I raced to get the next curtain untied and pulled shut before she crawled to me across the cushion grabbing at my shorts. I leaned away and managed to reach the third slinging it half shut as she tried to tug my shorts down."Would you give me five seconds you brat." I said laughing, crawling away as she tried to pull me back with the waist band of my bathing suit, getting dragged to the final curtain with me as I untied and pulled it shut."There, finally." I said winded and let her yank my bathing suit down to my knees. She grabbed my shaft and started stroking it, her face pink from exertion and laughter."You married a redhead;  you should have prepared yourself for unhinged lecherous behavior." She pulled her hand away from me and licked the slick precum off before leaning onto her hands and knees licking the tip.I watched and felt her lick and kiss my shaft and tip. She toyed with my cock smearing precum on her lips and chin as she teased me with her mouth relishing the way I stiffened in response. She looked up and smiled before dragging her tongue along the underside."I can feel how full it is," She giggled quietly before wrapping her lips around me and gently stroking me with her mouth and tongue. She sucked gently, bobbing back and forth coaxing pressure and heat to build as she worked me. I put my hand on her head and watched.She pushed her head forward until I was pushing close to her throat and heard her start to gag before pulling her face away, strings of drool pulling with her. She panted, eyes starting to water and stroked me with her hand."Fuck my throat," She said panting, pulling her hair loose for me to grab. I didn't need encouraging, grabbing a first full of her red hair and jamming my cock into her open mouth. She gagged, her ribs flexing and drool dripping off her chin as I started stroking my cock with her mouth and throat. She didn't resist or recoil at all, moving her tongue even as my tip strained her reflex and choked each time I pushed it forward.I pulled myself from her mouth and she gasped for breath, rubbing my cock on her face, stroking it with her hand and licking the shaft and tip, coughing. She stroked me with her hand until she had caught her breath, her face now red from exertion, hair sticking to her forehead with misting sweat as she took me back in her mouth and resumed bobbing.I was struggling to keep my breath as her mouth worked my shaft and her tongue teased my tip, tugging gently. She sucked tirelessly like it was all she wanted to do that day. She groaned forcing me down her throat and urging me to be rougher with her hands.I grabbed her head with my hands and jammed my cock into her throat. She made gagging, choking, and unpleasant sounds as I fucked her face. Drool dripped off her chin and her hair darkened against the sweat on her cheeks.She pulled away and dragged her tongue over my shaft, submissively kissing my cock and panting. She stroked me with her fingers as her mouth lavished me and she panted and whimpered, smearing her drooly mess on her face.Her big eyes looked up at me and she smiled, wiggling her tongue just under my tip, "You're so close I can feel it, cum on me, cum on my face." She grabbed my shaft and stroked it steadily, watching my face twist and hearing me groan."Stop resisting let me empty your balls." She laughed and pulled me to her mouth sucking. The heat of her mouth and tongue sent me over the edge with a loud noise. I came hard and she made a squeak of surprise as cum shot into her mouth several times.She pulled her mouth away, letting the cum on her tongue fall onto her chin, neck, and chest, her hand stroking my cock, emptying the rest onto her nose and cheeks until the pulsing slowed to a weak drip. She sucked the tip, making me groan and jerk before licking cum from her hand and wrist, laughing."Umm, that's a lot for just putting sunscreen on me," She laughed again. She wiped cum from her chin and watched it string before sucking it off her finger."I think you're getting weirder and kinkier." I said as she giggled and played with the cum that dripped down her chest."I just love when you're possessive and rough and use me like an object;  but you're too nice so I have to coach you into it.""I think you've been hanging out with your sister too much.""Oh, she loves handprints." Liv laughed again before reaching for her towel and wiping away the sticky, white, mess that now coated her face and torso;  "Come on, let's go get in the water!"She jumped to her hands and knees and crawled toward the curtain, "Liv,""What?""You still need to sunscreen your front and face."She held up a finger, "Right."We played at the beach for most of the rest of the afternoon, taking breaks for water and cocktails. She tried to teach me how to surf, something I didn't know she could do;  and then we borrowed toys for building a sandcastle, which turned into a sand fortress that she tried to model after Hyrule and failed dismally. Wet sand doesn't form sharp peaks well.After a long day in the sun, we were beat, dehydrated, and ready to eat so we headed into the room and showered. We showered separately since neither of us has any kind of self-control, and our reservations were in forty-five minutes;  and she wanted to look nice.Which, of course she did, hair folded into a loose princess braid that showered her black cocktail dress with the uncontrollable wash of fire that was her hair. It set off her porcelain face, legs and arms in a way that made her look either angelic or devilish depending entirely on the angle. And whatever ridiculous expression she was using to get her way. She gets her way a lot. It's those damn, big, brown eyes which she framed with dark lashes and just a touch of eyeliner to make the gold-brown pop.We went down to the resort dining room which was stunning. A giant chandelier frosted in crystal hung over the center of the wood paneled room. Our table was seated next to a fireplace that crackled beside the table covered in a white tablecloth. We were treated to cocktails, fresh salad, followed by the best surf and turf I've ever had. The whole dinner, Liv and I spent debating the appropriate ranking of the Soul Calibur characters by strength.We stayed for a second round of cocktails and dessert before heading out to dance on the tiled patio. The resort had fielded a live swing band and Liv and I had a blast twisting away as the sunset. I move like a cow on skates when dancing, but Liv is so good she makes me look good anyway. At the end of our third song straight, we collapsed against the railing of the patio laughing.A waiter came around bringing out champagne and we helped ourselves, sipping and catching our breath. She clung to my shoulder as she sipped her drink watching other couples move as we chatted about whatever came to mind.I jumped when a voice spoke to my left. We didn't know anyone there

John Kirwin, author of “The Conspiracy Theorist Survival Guide”, returned to the podcast to school the truther community on the real-deal definition of “shill”. Duly educated, we meander into the realms of simulation theory, dimensional manipulation, and Bible prophecy. A deep woo episode, if there ever was one. Find part 2: danikatz.locals.comwww.patreon.com/danikatz Find Dani's books, courses and webinars:https://lnk.bio/danikatz Find John Kirwin:www.wakeuporelse.com Show notes:‘Shill'~ how best to apply the labelDefining ‘truther' and 'normie' Hierarchy of shilling~ the higher up, the more corruptRussell Brand~ controlled op or ignorant?Politicians- shill vs pawn who is shillingFollow the money & patterns Celebrate victories to stave off cynicism and pretensionRFk and his views on IsraelCitizen journalism~ how to know who we can trustVirus vs no virus conversation~ Steve Kirsch as controlled opWolf den of Washington~ compromised 'Public servants' Truth doesn't need a movement or leadersLegal Education Movement & Black's Law bookTrust Law and Maritime LawBible Prophecy and Mandela EffectGod, Satan & Simulation TheoryMathematical proof of Bible being written by GodWhere did the "Jews are the chosen few" narrative come from?John tells of when he met JesusConspiracy Theorists Survival Guide~ John's bookBeing in relationship with irreconcilable differences Erased History & End Times~ finding hope through a biblical lens Don't save the world, just your part of the world

3.14.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: SEIU $200M Political Spend, Haiti's Crisis, Tenn. Banning Police Reform, Fla. Cop Charges Dropped The Service Employees International Union, representing about 2 million health care, property service, and government workers, will spend $200 million to get voters of color to support President Biden. One of SEIU's top officials is in our studio to discuss their plans get get folks out to vote.  As the Senate confirms a new U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Haiti, violent gangs in the deteriorating country are fighting for control. Congresswoman  Stacey Plaskett will be in the studio to discuss how the U.S. may help the county from spinning further out of control. A Florida police officer will not face a jury for shooting an unarmed man now that DeSantis-appointed state's attorney has taken over. Duly-elected state attorney Monique Worrell and the victim's attorney will explain how this move fits into DeSantis' plan of not holding law enforcement accountable.  Tennessee senate passed the bill banning local governments from passing police reform on traffic stop policies. It's now headed to the governor's office for his signature.  And a Mississippi officer is facing charges for forcing a man to lick urine off the floor.  Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The promise of computers augmenting our minds has been a long time coming. We're beginning to see better tools for extending human cognition, but good guidebooks for using them have been sparse. Jorge Arango's new book, Duly Noted, fills this gap elegantly. It shows you how to extend your mind with connected digital notes that capture your thoughts and nourish them in a personal knowledge garden from which you can harvest and share your unique insights. Through February 15, 2024, use the code ContentPod to get a 20% discount when you order the book at the Rosenfeld Media website. https://ellessmedia.com/csi/jorge-arango/

Today — ahead of the relaunch of our Wednesday episode that we discussed earlier this week — we have an interview to share featuring TechCrunch's very own Morgan Sung and Shruti Dwivedi, the co-founder and CEO of health-tech startup, Duly.Duly took part in TechCrunch Disrupt's 2023 Battlefield cohort, showing a global audience its contraceptive care platform that is initially targeted at the Indian market.Why India? The company cites a large, young population in the country with more than 700 million people under the age of 30. However, Duly also reports that fewer than 15% of Indians have access to sexual education. Even more, the startup notes that condom usage in the country is modest at best, and nearly half of young, unmarried women felt “judged when seeking contraception.”Put that all together, there's a massive market gap that Duly wants to bridge.Sexual wellness is not a small market, naturally, and other startups are active in the space. News broke late last year, for example, that Evofem Biosciences — which makes Phexxi, a non-hormonal contraceptive gel — found a buyer after financial struggles. Changes to American law regarding abortion make it clear that access to contraceptive care is critical for women around the world.A big thanks to Morgan for the interview, Mary Ann for the intro, and Theresa and Kell for the edit and production!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity's Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more! Credits: Equity is hosted by Editor in Chief of TechCrunch+ Alex Wilhelm and TechCrunch Senior Reporter Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Crain's health care reporter Katherine Davis talks with host Amy Guth about layoffs and other cutbacks that follow an executive shakeup at the debt-heavy physicians group Duly Health. Plus: Discover reaches consent agreement with FDIC, United Airlines starts program to woo pilots leaving military, Chicago firm Cresa acquires Detroit brokerage and restaurant-industry vets raising $100 million venture fund.

Republicans determined to replace democracy with authoritarian tyranny. No it’s not 2023, it’s 1973 when they succeeded. Duly elected democratic socialist Salvador Allende is overthrown and replaced with dictator Augusto Pinochet. It’s not well known today, but listen in as, The post The First September 11th: 50 Years Ago appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.

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When John Bowe learned that his extremely reclusive cousin, who had lived for decades in his parents' basement, had moved out and gotten married at the age of fifty-nine, John was extremely surprised. What made him equally surprised was how his cousin had finally launched his life. It hadn't been meds or therapy. Instead, he had joined his local Toastmasters club.Duly intrigued, John set off on his own Toastmasters journey, as he details in his book I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection. Today on the show, John shares how he discovered that the ethos of this nonprofit organization parallels the tradition of rhetoric espoused by the ancient Greeks, especially by Aristotle, and why the ability to speak, whether in the context of giving a formal speech or simply having a conversation, continues to be such an essential skill in the modern age. In my favorite part of the show, we discuss how our ideas of authentic speech can actually get in the way of expressing our authentic selves. We then turn to the techniques for better speaking that John learned from joining Toastmasters and how Toastmasters ultimately transformed his own life.After the show is over, check out the show notes at aom.is/toastmastersResources Related to the PodcastToastmasters InternationalAoM Podcast #698: The Secrets of Public Speaking From History's Greatest OratorsAoM Article: An Introduction to Public SpeakingAoM Podcast #639: Why You Should Learn the Lost Art of RhetoricAoM series on classical rhetoricRhetoric by AristotleThe Fall of Public Man by Richard SennettAoM series on overcoming shynessAoM Article: How to Minimize Your Uh's and Um'sSunday Firesides: Want to Solve Your Social Problems? Get Over Your Self"How to Speak in Public" — article in Psyche magazine by JohnConnect With John BoweJohn's website

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Poppy and Tora screech their way into Ares Street. Duly guarded, Poppy receives a key from Tora but assures him that she will wait for him. Tora shows her his new tattoo on courage, one that Poppy inspired. They kiss, and Tora heads off to his mission.He pushes the frightened Patrick around, asking for the body. Meanwhile, a frightened Poppy is being harassed by a bunch of thugs surrounding the van. She tries to steel herself by repeating Tora's tattoo over and over. Tora comes in the van in his massive helmet, and Poppy, not knowing who he is, tases him repeatedly. Back at the motel, the lovebirds come out to see a bloody Patrick, claiming he told him everything.

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Episode # 197 Rock Bassist Billy Sheehan talks The Winery Dogs III Album, Songwriting, Tour, Yamaha Bass and more! While the all-out smokin' opening track and lead single “Xanadu,” title might evoke different imagery in more progressive-leaning listening circles, KOTZEN's zen-seeking, hard-rocking ruminations on “Xanadu” once again shine a light on the eternal power of good collaboration. “Coming out of the gates, that's a barnburner,” acknowledges PORTNOY. “It's one of the fiercest tracks on the album.” Incidentally, eagle ears will also delight in picking up on how definitively PORTNOY drops his drumsticks right as the song concludes. “At the end there, you're hearing me toss my sticks — not in frustration, but very much in satisfaction of what we had just done,” he clarifies with a laugh. From the clarion call for connection and societal understanding in “Mad World” to the door-opening personal realizations of “Breakthrough” to the undeniable muscle-flexing reign of the white-hot “Pharaoh” and the album-closing energy spillage of “The Red Wine,” all 50-plus minutes of III prove THE WINERY DOGS haven't lost a step when it comes to conjuring fresh hooks, gutbucket grooves, and bold harmonies. That said, it's been a long road back to the collective compound for guitarist/vocalist RICHIE KOTZEN, bassist/vocalist BILLY SHEEHAN, and drummer/vocalist MIKE PORTNOY. Back in 2015-16, they hit the road hard together to showcase their mettle as hardcore (you guessed it) road dogs in order to build upon the success of their well-received 2015 sophomore studio effort, HOT STREAK, by touring all across the globe. Eventually, the seasoned trio returned to their respective corners to focus on various other projects for the ensuing next few years. But when that live itch needed another scratching, these three working musicians knew just what they had to do. “We wanted to tour,” KOTZEN confirms succinctly of The Winery Dogs' 22-date run in early 2019 that was appropriately dubbed “Who Let The Dogs Out,” before adding, “We had to get those cylinders firing together once again.” Concurs PORTNOY, “That was a fun little tour that reignited our enthusiasm — and that's also when we knew a third album was definitely in the cards.” Adds SHEEHAN, “Getting back together like that was really refreshing. We could relax a bit and enjoy being together onstage, playing without any pressure. It was a beautiful thing.” Duly reinvigorated, THE WINERY DOGS were finally aligned to record again by initially ensconcing themselves together in KOTZEN's intimate, cozy home studio in Southern California to jam on new material that was mainly created in the moment during many hours of face-to-face musical interaction. Always the driven and intuitive songwriter, KOTZEN displays a definitive M.O. whenever he's working out new songs in the studio by scatting melodies and putting forth short bursts of semi-improvised lines and phrases that will soon enough transform into sharply honed subject matter. “My attitude is this: when I'm in the studio creating new music, the last thing on my mind is, ‘How am I gonna do it live?'” KOTZEN admits. “The reality is, I may never get to where I'll do it live. What's relevant is getting the vision that's in my head, in my heart, and in my soul to come out of the speakers. If it gets to the point where the tour is booked, the dates are confirmed, and we all get back in the rehearsal room together, that's when you figure out, ‘OK, how do I interpret this in a way it can be delivered live, and still be the same song?'” III is the follow-up to the band's critically acclaimed and Billboard-charting album, HOT STREAK, which was released October 2, 2015 on Loud & Proud Records via RED (a division of Sony Music Entertainment). After landing in the Top Five on many of Amazon's pre-order charts, including #1 on the Amazon BestSellers/Hard Rock chart and #1 on the Amazon Pre-Orders/Hard Rock Albums charts, it sold 30% more than their 2013 self-titled debut, landing them on various Billboard album charts including #2 on “Top Current Alternative Albums,” #5 on “Top Current Hard Music” and “Top Hard Music Albums,” #6 on “Top Current Rock Albums” and “Album Core / Genre Rock,” #15 “Top Current Physical Albums,” #16 “Top Current Albums,” and #30 on the “Top 200 Albums” chart.

The Two Bobs episode 208 for Monday, March 20, 2023: What are The Bobs drinking? Rob enjoyed a Chocolate Éclair Rye Hipster Brunch Stout from Odd Side. https://untappd.com/b/odd-side-ales-chocolate-eclair-rye-hipster-brunch-stout/4604949 Robert took down a Pigeon Scout Choconut Pastry Stout from Eavesdrop Brewery. https://untappd.com/b/eavesdrop-brewery-pigeon-scout-chococonut/5119369 Follow us on Untapped at @RobFromTTB and @lowercaserobert or we'll train our roosters to attack you.  Rob's technical woes continued. God damn it.  Performing any of the acts in this week's CRAZY NEWS will land you in prison. If you're in the New York area there's a big dumb pumpkin with a red hat looking for a cellmate. Whatever you do, don't drop the soap.  If you're ever at Taco Bell when they run out of Crunch Wrap Supremes you best leave. https://www.outkick.com/chaos-breaks-out-at-taco-bell-after-they-run-out-of-crunch-wrap-supremes/ Roosters are taking over a Phoenix neighborhood. https://www.azfamily.com/2023/03/11/realtor-says-roosters-taking-over-phoenix-neighborhood-deterring-potential-buyers/ Boneless wings aren't made of chicken meat. This Richard just realized it and got all butthurt and now he's suing Buffalo Wild Wings. He's hoping to use the proceeds to move out of his parents' basement. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/03/13/buffalo-wild-wings-boneless-lawsuit/ A car crashed into a Houston coffee shop and almost killed some podcasters. Who records a podcast in a coffee shop? https://www.fox26houston.com/news/caught-on-camera-car-crashes-into-houston-coffee-shop-while-podcasters-were-filming Florida Man® had meth hidden in his butt. https://wdhafm.com/2023/02/10/florida-man-picks-a-really-bad-hiding-spot-for-his-meth/ A man spends the day telling people their babies are ugly. https://dailynewsreported.com/togetherness/man-spends-the-day-telling-people-that-their-babies-are-ugly-while-standing-outside-of-walmart/   Please share the show with your friends, and don't forget to subscribe! Visit www.thetwobobs.com for our contact information. Thanks for listening! Leave us a message or text us at 530-882-BOBS (530-882-2627) Join us on all the social things: Follow us on Twitter Check out our Instagram Follow Rob on Untappd Follow Robert on Untappd The Two Bobs Podcast is © The Two Bobs.  For more information, see our Who are The Two Bobs? page, or check our Contact page.  Words, views, and opinions are our own and do not represent those of our friends, family, or our employers unless otherwise noted.  Music for The Two Bobs was provided by JewelBeat.  

Crain's health care reporter Katherine Davis talks with host Amy Guth about how the future for independent physician groups is growing more uncertain. Plus: Biden budget includes $350 million for Red Line extension; former Apple store on Mag Mile scores a new tenant; Pritzker shakes up ICC with new chair, two other new appointments; and GM offering buyouts to most U.S. salaried workers.

Listen to this week's episode as Jett Miller is duly sworn in to tell the truth. You will hear Jett in his own words answer questions during his deposition on how the idea of the lawsuit was formed, whose idea it was, and how the ball got rolling. Website: www.sheilawysocki.com Facebook: withoutwarningprivateinvestigation Instagram: withoutwarningpi How to Connect Sheila's Website: http://sheilawysocki.com/ Join Patreon and make a difference in a Victim's family life: https://www.patreon.com/withoutwarning Listen to Without Warning Podcast: https://www.withoutwarningpodcast.com/ Join the crusade on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WithoutWarningPI Follow the updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/@scrappymomPI Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheila-wysocki/ Youtube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/WITHOUTWARNINGBYSHEILAWYSOCKI Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/withoutwarningpi/ Private Eye Pups on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/privateeyepups/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been more than 50 years since humans last set foot on the lunar surface. But the recent success of NASA's Artemis I mission has put the US back on track to return man to the Moon. As the Artemis program proceeds, space enthusiasts remain skeptical of NASA's timeline and its expensive Space Launch System rocket — especially as the reusable SpaceX Starship rocket comes online. To find out more about the future for NASA as well as private companies like SpaceX, I'm joined today by Eric Berger.Eric is the senior space editor at Ars Technica and author of 2021's excellent Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX.In This Episode* When will the US return to the Moon? (1:19)* How SpaceX's Starship will change the game (5:58)* Reusability and launch costs (12:04)* The future of America's space program (15:59)* Is the window for Mars colonization closing? (24:13)Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.When will the US return to the Moon?James Pethokoukis: I think you have one of the best journalism jobs in America. I hope you feel that way too.Eric Berger: I have a fantastic job. I love space, I live and breathe it every day, and I get to write about what I think is really happening out there. It's pretty nice.It's almost like someone who is covering the internet in the late ‘90s, when all of a sudden there's just so much happening. I remember you at year end recounting what happened in 2022, and it was a pretty long list of space achievements.I first got into space more than 15 years ago, and at the time it was really pretty dull — not to downgrade the space shuttle program, but it was kind of dull. They would do six or seven launches a year, go up, work on the International Space Station, come down. Everything pretty much worked like clockwork. There just wasn't a whole lot happening. It's really accelerated and accelerated since then. And you just have so much happening in the United States commercially, abroad. It is just a very vibrant field. And as you say, it feels like we're in the early days of this space flight revolution.When will the United States return to the Moon, and what is going to take us there?We returned to the Moon last year, right? We sent an uncrewed spacecraft, Orion, around the Moon. That really was the first step back to the Moon. And I think probably in about two years from now, we'll send the first crewed mission up there. This was going to be a mission where they fly out to the Moon, loop around, and come back. So it's not like they're going to go to the surface or anything like that. But that will be the first people going into deep space in more than 50 years. And then we're going to have a lunar landing later this decade. I don't really feel comfortable putting a date out there. I think it's probably 2027, 2028 maybe. And most likely, they're going to launch on the Space Launch System rocket built by NASA and its contractors, and go up on Orion, and land on the Moon in a SpaceX Starship.Is there a current official target date?It's 2025, but that's completely unrealistic.What hasn't happened to make a 2025 mission seem highly unlikely to you?The first thing is they have got to do the crewed flight, the Artemis II mission, around the Moon. And we're probably 22 to 24 months away from that happening. They're not going to turn around then and do Artemis III the same year. And then you've got two other really important pieces to put together. SpaceX has to fly its Starship, it has to do a bunch of orbital refueling tests, then it has to actually go and land on the Moon and take off and show that everything's ready ahead of that lunar landing. And the other big piece of this is there's a private company in Houston, Axiom Space, that is building the space suits for Artemis III. These are the suits that will allow the crew to get out on the surface of the Moon, walk around and explore. And this company has never built a space suit before, and they just got the contract last fall. It's going to take time for Artemis II to happen, and everything has to go right there. There's a bunch of planning that has to go on, and then you've got to have the Starship and the space suit pieces come together.Is there a chance that the rocket that ends up taking Americans to the surface will end up being a Starship rocket?There is a chance. But at this point, I would think it's a fairly low one. The fact is, the Space Launch System rocket, which took a decade and billions and billions and billions of dollars to develop, finally did fly in November of last year. And by all accounts, the flight was flawless. It's pretty impressive for the debut launch of this rocket for it to perform as well as it did. I think NASA has pretty high confidence now in that launch vehicle. And it will have more confidence in Orion after the second mission. I do think that, initially, that's how we're going to get to the Moon. I think eventually that will change. It would not surprise me to see astronauts launching on, say, a Crew Dragon and rendezvousing with Starship and going to the Moon that way. Because the fact of the matter is, if you can do that, you don't need to spend the $3 or $4 billion every mission to go to the Moon on an SLS rocket and an Orion. You can do it with SpaceX vehicles for probably one-quarter of the cost.How SpaceX's Starship will change the gameBased on that cost structure that you mentioned, why are we even doing this? Why are we even using a rocket that may never fly again after that Moon mission, Artemis III? It just seems like a lot of wasted money. Why don't we just wait for Starship to get out the kinks, launch, and go that way?That's a great question. The reality is that we built the SLS rocket because in 2010 there were two senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Bill Nelson of Florida, who were looking at the end of the space shuttle program and all the jobs in Florida and Texas that were bound up by that and said, “Well, we've got to have a replacement for this.” There were contractors who had been working on the space shuttle program, building the solid rocket boosters, the engines, and the structures and so forth saying, “Hey, we've got to preserve all these jobs.”If you look at the Space Launch System rocket, it uses the same engines as the space shuttle. It uses very similar solid rocket boosters on the sides. And the diameter of that core stage is the same diameter as the external tank of the space shuttle. All of those jobs were essentially rolled from the space shuttle into the Space Launch System rocket. Now, at the time that decision was made, SpaceX had not launched a single Falcon 9 rocket, so I don't think there was the confidence in the private sector then that there is today. The fact of the matter is SLS will continue flying for as long, I think, as Starship is not shown to be a viable vehicle. Once Starship starts flying like the Falcon 9 rocket — which by the way flew 61 times last year — once it starts flying like that, there will be no need for a rocket that costs five or 10 times as much, is not reusable, and can only fly once a year. There'll be no need for that. But 1) it's a political thing. Lots of political support for that program. And 2) as of today, there is no viable alternative, even though we all know one is coming down the line.What is the best estimate of the Starship launch agenda, launch tempo from here on out? Do we have a good idea of what that's going to look like?I'm happy to make predictions with the proviso that they're going to be almost certainly wrong.Duly noted.I do think we're getting closer to the first Starship orbital test flight. This is going to be a big moment. You're going to have a rocket with 33 very powerful Raptor engines taking off from south Texas. That's the first stage. And then the second stage is the Starship upper stage. It's going to go up and go briefly into orbit before it comes back down near Hawaii. That is going to prove that A) the rocket works. And I still think that's kind of a crapshoot because this is a rocket with 33 engines, it's never flown, we haven't seen these Raptor engines in space flight before. It's also very important to get data on bringing Starship back from orbit, if it does make it there. I think we'll see maybe two or three test flights this year. And then next year, maybe half a dozen test flights. And then perhaps in late 2024, 2025, we'll start to see some operational missions carrying Starlink. And also they'll start doing some fueling tests. One of the things that Starship has to do is … it's got enough fuel to get to orbit this massive vehicle — and it can carry like 100 tons to low-Earth orbit, and then it lands back on Earth — but to go anywhere, to go to the Moon, to go to Mars, or what have you, it needs to be refueled. And that's a technology we've never really demonstrated in space: the storage of these cryogenic propellants. Starship runs on liquid oxygen and liquid methane. And we've never shown the ability to store these propellants in space, because you have concerns like boil off. These propellant depots, if they're sitting in the sun, the temperature is much higher than is able to keep them at liquid temperatures. And then you've got to show you can transfer them from one vehicle to another. SpaceX will be doing those tests almost from the beginning of their Starship test program.When I was a full-time journalist, I'm pretty sure that when I would use the word “game changer,” editors would hate that. They would strike that word out. But Starship seems like it would be, if all those “ifs” are solved, it would be kind of a game changer. It's a big rocket.If you think about it, everyone remembers the Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program, this massive launch vehicle. But all that came back to Earth was that tiny little capsule at the top. The first stage, second stage, third stage all fell into the ocean. The capsule came back, but then they were put in museums because they weren't reusable. The goal of Starship is for that whole stack to be reusable. So the first stage comes back, Starship comes back, and then you fly them again at some point. I think we're probably years and years away from those kinds of operations. But if and when SpaceX gets there, it does entirely change the paradigm of spaceflight that we've known since the late 1950s when Sputnik first went to orbit, which is now 65 years ago.It's always been a premium on size — you want small vehicles that can fit on top of rockets in the payload fairings—and mass, because it costs so much to get to low-Earth orbit. If Starship works, it completely or almost completely removes those constraints: You can launch often, and it's got this huge payload fairing that you could fit elephants inside them, you could fit just massive structures inside of this thing. All of a sudden, the problem of scarcity, of getting stuff to orbit, no longer exists. It becomes not about the one thing we can do in orbit, but all the things we can do because it costs so much less to get there. And you can bring much larger structures.Reusability and launch costsRight now when we look at SpaceX, we're looking at partial reusability. What you're talking about is the whole thing: everything you can use more than once.Yeah. Right now with the Falcon 9 rocket, which I would submit is really a modern-day miracle, you're reusing the first stage, which is about 60 percent of the mass of the rocket. You get all those nine engines back, and they're now reflying relining those first stages 15 times. I think they're going to continue to push the limits. They're also getting back the payload fairing, which is that protective structure on top that then falls away once the rocket gets to orbit and the satellite comes out and pops out like a jack-in-the-box. That payload fairing costs like $5 or $6 million. So it's not insubstantial that they're collecting those, refurbishing them, and flying again. What is not reusable right now is the upper stage. It has a single Merlin vacuum engine, and those probably cost $10 to $12 million to manufacture. So that's a significant piece that they have to build. Every time they launch, they have to build a second stage.An SLS launch versus a Starship launch where everything is reusable: Do we have a guess at the difference of each of those launches?The cost difference? The NASA Inspector General has put a cost on a single SLS launch with an Orion spacecraft on, and it said that's $4.1 billion. That is exclusive of development costs, which for those vehicles are now about $40 billion. So if you just say, “Okay, we're going to ignore the fact that we spent all this money,” it's still $4.1 billion to launch one of these a year. Starship, we don't know how much it's going to cost. But if it's made out of stainless steel, and you're getting all those Raptor engines back, and you're flying each vehicle like 10 times or 20 times, the incremental cost of launch is going to be on the order of $100 million or less. So that's a 40x cost difference. Again, once Starship becomes operational. It's probably at least five years away from that point. But that's the future we're headed into. And it is coming. [If] you look at what's happened with the Falcon 9, they will get there. Or get close.We talk a lot about the reusability of these rockets. Does SpaceX also just make them cheaper than competitors? Is that the only factor in the decline in launch costs?Yes, they also have … Musk is pretty cutthroat on costs.I hear.The whole Twitter experiment, right? He runs a tight ship. One of the very important things that SpaceX did, and a lot of the new space companies that have come afterward have tried to emulate, is they very much did vertical integration. And that just means that prior to 2000, the way you built your rocket in this country was, okay, you're United Launch Alliance: You buy your engines from Aerojet, you buy your structures from someone, you buy your software from someone, you buy your payload fairing from RUAG, you buy your upper-stage engine from Aerojet. And then you sort of integrate that all together into your factory after paying a premium for all these different products. And you launch the rocket. You're the operator.SpaceX came along and said, “No, no, we're going to build the engines. We're going to build as much of each of these rockets as we can in-house. And when we need to outsource some components, we will.” And a lot of these other companies that have come since, like Rocket Lab, have tried to do the same. Relativity Space is trying to additively manufacture, so 3D print, its entire rocket inside its factory. And so they've really changed the game. And that vertical integration has allowed them to control costs and move more quickly.The future of America's space programAfter we land on the Moon via an SLS rocket and a SpaceX lander, is the American space program at that point government doing more science-y things and the private sector doing private sector things, whether it's, you know you know, orbiting space platforms. What does the Americas program comprehensively look like after that landing?We don't really know. We're talking about something that's probably about four or five years in the future, and it's very difficult to say where we're headed.I'm very glad, by the way, that you say four or five years in the future, not four or five decades. I like the fact that we keep talking years, single digits.After the success of Artemis I, we are definitively on the way back to the Moon. This is a great time in US space policy. It's healthier than I've ever seen it, I think, in my lifetime or certainly since I've been covering this. The NASA and United States space program has problems, has difficulties, has challenges, but we are on a healthy trajectory, I think. So we can all feel good about that. It's just going to take a little longer than I think any of us would like. But the way NASA has been going, and I don't see this trend changing, is it wants to be a customer and not the customer. It is looking to buy services from companies rather than top-down build processes. The SLS rocket was procured through a cost-plus program where NASA designed the rocket, its engineers were side by side with the contractors at Boeing and elsewhere. And it costs a lot. It takes a long time. And NASA oversees every step of the process, and it's the only customer. No one else wants to fly in the SLS rocket. The military doesn't. Private customers don't because it costs way too much. NASA's science program doesn't want to use it. NASA would rather be a customer. SpaceX launched 60 Falcon 9 rockets last year. NASA bought like six or seven of them, and the rest of them were other customers and SpaceX's Starlink missions. It's buying services, like this spacesuit contract it's giving to Axiom and to another company: It's basically leasing spacesuits. And the lander, it's like buying the landing service on the Moon. It's going to private space stations next decade, and it's buying time on those space stations. It's not going to own those space stations. NASA wants to procure services. NASA would like to see an ecosystem where it is one customer for activity on the Moon alongside maybe the European Space Agency or private companies or Hilton Hotels, I don't know. They sort of want to be one customer in that area. I think the question in my mind is, will there be more entities that want to get involved in human space flight or exploration of the Moon? Or will this be a NASA-led program for a long time, simply because it's so expensive and there's not that much there for people to do beyond collecting rocks and doing science experiments for NASA? And that's the question I don't think we've answered. It may be NASA for a long time, unless you do really get vehicles like Starship or Blue Origin's New Glenn that come along and really do bring down the costs of transportation to and from the Moon.How far behind is Blue Origin?Very far behind. They were founded before SpaceX was, and they still haven't put anyone in orbit. They just move slowly. That's kind of Jeff Bezos' philosophy in space fight. He wants to go very methodically. I don't think their CEO, a guy named Bob Smith, has been particularly dynamic in terms of getting them moving forward quickly. But if they ever do get their act together, they have a large and talented team of engineers. They could really kick some butt in this field. But they're way behind SpaceX in terms of building rockets. The New Glenn rocket probably doesn't launch for at least two years. That's a massive vehicle, but then they're going to have to go through some growing pains. And it's going to take a while. I don't think New Glenn will ever be able to catch up to Starship.I'm interested in there being a permanent Moon base. Would that be operated by NASA? Would that be operated by somebody else?That's a great question. I think NASA would love for Lockheed, or I don't know who, to say, “We are going to build a lunar surface station.” And NASA says, “Great, we want to buy 50 percent of the capacity. And we'll give you $2 billion a year for that service.” The question is whether any private company is going to step up and do something as audacious as that. That's one of the real ways in which SpaceX has changed the game: They have sort of stepped forward with these audacious visions. And then NASA has kind of come in and bought. When SpaceX created Starship, NASA wasn't interested. NASA wasn't a customer. And now, look, they're giving them $3 billion to land on the Moon twice. I think if you had a big enough vision to do that, then you could get NASA to come on board. The problem is, if you're a publicly traded company — it's really hard for a company other than SpaceX or Blue Origin, which have these well-endowed founders — it's really hard to convince your board of directors to go along with something like that.How many space stations will there be in orbit by the end of this decade?It's just all fluid. So the International Space Station comes down in 2030. That's down. China's Space Station is still flying, I think, Tiangong. And Russia is talking about a space station, but I don't think there's any way they have a replacement up by then. So then the question becomes, there are four different companies trying to build commercial space stations for NASA. And again, NASA has given them some money for development, but they're not paying for the stations. They ultimately want to be customers on them. And of those four, one is Blue Origin led by them, one is Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin, another is Axiom Space, and then a fourth is Northrop Grumman. I would put the over-under at one-and-a-half of those. And I think NASA is very happy if one was demonstrative functionable by 2030.The skeptics will say, “Okay, so what are we going to do in those space stations? Some science?” How satisfying is the answer, “We don't know what we're going to do; we have to get there and figure it out — who knew what the internet was going to look like in 1990 versus what it looks like today”?I think you've got to build it and see if people will come. NASA is going to continue to do scientific research, human research, astronauts living in space for long durations. But then you've got to see how much interest there is in sports or filming movies or holidays or from other countries like UAE who want to have their own astronauts up there doing research or from private astronauts. For about two years now, we've had the capability to put astronauts in a low-Earth orbit on private space missions. SpaceX has that capability. There's been some interest, but there hasn't been an overwhelming amount of interest. And so the jury is very much out on commercial potential. And I think the only real way to answer that question is when someone figures out how to make money by having people living and working and doing things in space, then that market explodes. And until that happens, it's very tenuous.Is the window for Mars colonization closing?I am very excited about the notion of going to Mars and humans permanently living on Mars. Is that a 2030s thing? A 2040s, a 2070s thing?The way I would look at it is, that kind of thing is never happening without the private sector, because there is no reason at all, no good reason, for NASA to send people to Mars. The amount of science that can be done by rovers at one-100th the cost without having to worry about safety issues. The rovers can do a lot of science. They can't do it all. There are some things humans can do better and faster, but it's just not worth it to send people there. Maybe if it's like a US-China-Russia-Japan pan-worldwide mission to promote peace and go to Mars. I could see something like that. But there's just no good reason for NASA to send humans to Mars.They will talk about it. They will say, “We're going to the Moon and Mars.” But NASA's not going to Mars before 2050, and probably not by then. So then the question becomes, is SpaceX sincere about going to Mars? Yes. Do they have the wherewithal to work together with NASA to send human missions to Mars? Not right now. But if Starlink, this internet from space, is a successful business — and there are some signs that it will be, and some signs that, no, they have a long way to go — but if that is a success, then the plan is for SpaceX to use that money to help finance Starship and take steps to building some kind of settlement on Mars. And I think if SpaceX can build a credible transportation system to Mars, then NASA comes along for those first couple of missions because there are lots of reasons for them to want to go. And there are lots of reasons for SpaceX to want NASA to go. Most notably, probably, just it clears the regulatory hurdles away for them. If it's going to happen before 2050, it would be a public-private partnership with SpaceX leading the way in terms of the vision.It's sort of amazing how much of this seems to depend on the interest and will of one person: Elon Musk.It's true. If you look at the space industry today, SpaceX dominates it. They launched more rockets than all the other companies in the United States by like a factor of three, two or three. They equaled China in terms of launch output. They're one of three entities in the world that has the capability to put humans into orbit. They operate more satellites than any company or country in the world. They're building the world's largest and most powerful rocket. They are kind of at the forefront of all these areas. And they're the ones pushing and pushing. If you take SpaceX out of the equation, then NASA's Moon program looks an awful lot like Apollo, which was not sustainable. A lot of it does hinge on the success of SpaceX and their ability to push and pull this commercial space flight initiative forward. And hopefully, by lowering the cost of access to space, you can find ways to make money in space, which in turn fuels more commercial space flight activity.Have you watched the TV show For All Mankind?I have, yes.Do you enjoy that television program?Yeah. It's an interesting take on the future that's really well done.I think Elon Musk may have said that at that SpaceX event where they showed that fantastic video, which I've used about 30 times in my newsletter, where he said the window is open but it might not be open forever, to do what we're doing. Do you think he's wrong? Do you think it is permanently open because of the advances, because of declining costs, because of the geopolitical competition from China and from other nations? Is the space window open, and it's going to just stay open?I don't know if it's going to stay open. He's concerned that it won't stay open. And one of the reasons that he would've cited a couple years ago is this era of cheap money ending. And that era of cheap money has ended. This is going to have a profound impact on a lot of the commercial space companies that have started up over the last five to 10 years. A lot of those are not going to survive the next few years. Congress is talking about holding budgets flat, and that probably may impair space flight activity as well. That's one area of, is this funding opportunity window going to be open long enough for it to happen? And he's also worried about existential threats to humanity. Whether any of those really come up in the next five to 10 years or 50 years, I don't know. But we're a little closer to nuclear war than we were 12 months ago.If there's an accident, another Challenger or another Columbia, do you think we're into this enough and there's been enough progress that we'll push forward? Or will we retreat?It's a great question. I think about that a lot because if, God forbid, something happens with the Crew Dragon spacecraft or the Falcon 9 rocket with people on board and NASAs astronauts die, that really would bring out the critics of SpaceX who have been awfully quiet in the last few years. Think about it, the only way we're getting to space right now with people is on the Falcon 9 rocket. And imagine if we'd had these last 10 months or 11 months of tensions with Russian and still had to rely on them to get our people into space. A lot of the critics of SpaceX have kind of shut up because it's clear that they have done such a service for this country.But if they have some major accent, then all those questions come again. He is reckless. Elon self-sabotages himself a lot in that regard. The way he acts on Twitter sometimes is pretty unserious. And officials at the DOD and NASA see that. That would embolden critics to say, “Hey, wait a minute. Why are we giving SpaceX all this money if they're not acting responsibly?” And especially if the accident was caused by some negligent act on SpaceX, trying to move too fast or save money or something like that. I don't think an accident like that will happen. NASA and SpaceX work very diligently to ensure it doesn't happen. But I do think that would be a setback, whether it would be an absolute killer, I don't think so, because I suspect NASA would stand by SpaceX regardless. They're very good about that when their contractors have an accident. NASA sort of stands by them and goes through the accident investigation and so forth. But if you put people's lives at risk, then that may change. It's a great question, and I hope we don't have to find an answer to it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

Join Eric, @TimAndrewsHere, @Autopritts, @JaredYamamoto, @EnglishNick, and Greg as they chat about westification, echo leads, The World Cup, and much more! “Brought to you by Findlay Roofing”

Who would have guessed that hand writing a note to 500 prospects would be a highly successful marketing campaign? Our guest, Rick Elmore, did! Founder and CEO of Simply Noted, Rick joins our host, Chris Beall, today to discuss his career path from college, to professional NFL football player, to a job in medical device sales and marketing, to a startup company now in its fourth year. It was the success of his handwritten-notes campaign that encouraged Rick to found his own business, offering this same service — now automated — to help individuals and companies utilize the personal touch of what looks like a handwritten note to reach out to their customers. Rick and Chris talk about the open rate of these notes versus the open rate of cold — or even warm — emails. You'll want to hear it with your own ears on this Market Dominance Guys' episode, “Duly and Simply Noted.” About Our Guest Rick Elmore is the founder and CEO of Simply Noted in Tempe, Arizona. Simply Noted is a company that utilizes software and robotic technology to create personalized handwritten notes for its 300,000 monthly users.

NASCAR's Ross Chastain stunned the motorsport world last weekend, as he took the decision to nail the throttle and deliberately drove into the SAFER barrier to ride his way around outside, at a 50mph overspeed than anyone else. Duly setting a new lap record and hitting 5G from the force. It was a wild, last gasp move that guaranteed his place at Phoenix this weekend. We're joined by Nick Degroot to analyse the reaction from NASCAR, and whether we'll see that move again.

Valóban szükségszerű-e a tömeges digitalizáció? Miért fizetős a Filmio? Mikor lesz Budapesten Filmmúzeum? Az őszi Partizán filmhét keretében vendégünk volt Ráduly György, a Nemzeti Filmintézet Filmarchívumának igazgatója, akit az archívum tevékenységi köreiről, a digitalizációt és az analóg filmet övező szakmai vitákról, valamint saját szerepfelfogásáról, a közintézményi státuszból adódó felelősségekről kérdezett Gulyás Márton.Támogasd te is a Partizán munkáját!https://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/fundraising/partizan/Iratkozz fel a Partizán hírlevelére:https://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/partizan-feliratkozasHol találsz meg minket?Youtube-on: https://www.youtube.com/c/Partiz%C3%A1nm%C3%A9diaFacebookon: https://facebook.com/partizanpolitika/Facebook-csoportunkban: https://www.facebook.com/groups/partizantarsalgoInstagramon: https://www.instagram.com/partizanpolitika/Vágatlan videók, extra tartalmak:Legyél a patronálónk, hogy hozzáférj a vágatlan adásokhoz és extra tartalmainkhoz: https://www.patreon.com/partizanpolitikaPayPal-on keresztül is várjuk az adományodat, e-mail címünk: partizanalapitvany@gmail.comEgyszeri vagy rendszeres banki átutalással is segíthetsz! Ehhez a legfontosabb adatok:Név: Partizán AlapítványSzámlaszám: 16200106-11669030-00000000Közlemény: TámogatásHa külföldről utalnál, nemzetközi számlaszámunk/IBAN (International Bank Account Number): HU68 1620 0106 1166 9030 0000 0000BIC/SWIFT-kód: HBWEHUHB

Ronjon Paul, MD, Chair of the Duly Spine Surgery Department at Duly Health and Care, joined the podcast to talk about practice growth, technology and value-based care.

Ronjon Paul, MD, Chair of the Duly Spine Surgery Department at Duly Health and Care, joined the podcast to talk about practice growth, technology and value-based care.

Dr. Paul Merrick, Co-Chairman and Chief Physician Executive of Duly Health, joined the podcast to talk about the evolving role of independent physician groups, transition to value-based care and Duly's future growth.

Lem and Fanshaw roll into a little town just in time to stop an unjust hanging... but can they find out who truly deserves the rope?   Written and Produced by Julie Hoverson Cast List Lemuel Roberts / Deadeye Kid -  J. Spyder Isaacson Clarence Fanshaw  -  J. Hoverson Sheriff Mortimer - Rick Lewis Larkey Collins - J.D. Lloyd Harp Fowler - Molly Tollefson Maddy Fowler - Krystal Baker Lute Fowler - Gene Thorkildsen Amity Fowler - Kris Keppeler Meg Pickens - Julia Lorraine Rafe Jenkins - Reynaud LeBoeuf Kentucky Pete - Sidney Williams (Fear On Demand) Jeb - Robyn Paterson (Kung Fu Action Theatre) Gabby, dead drunk - Sean Connor Harmonica music by Jere Canote (Canote.com) Other Music:  Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com) Editing and Sound:   Julie Hoverson Cover Design:  Brett Coulstock Cover Photo:  Lauren Burbank (courtesy of Stock Xchange.com) "What kind of a place is it? Why it's a mountain pass in late spring, can't you tell...?" ******************************************************************** A HANGING AT PICKENS ROCK Cast: [credits/olivia] Lemuel Roberts, the Deadeye kid Clarence Fanshaw Lute Fowler, accused murderer Harp Fowler, 11 Madrigal "Maddy" Fowler, 7 Amity Fowler, dead mother Rafe Jenkins, victim Sheriff Mortimer Larky Collins, henchman Meg Pickens, Rafe's fiancee Kentucky Pete, Gambler Gabby, town drunk OLIVIA     Did you have any trouble finding it?  What do you mean, what kind of a place is it?  Why, it's a mountain pass in late spring, can't you tell?  1_ARRIVING MUSIC SOUND    EARLY MORNING NOISE, WOODS, TWO HORSES AMBLING FANSHAW    So many things I miss - out in the wilderness like this. LEMUEL    What?  You got air and water.  Freedom.  What else you need? FANSHAW    [longing] Tea.  LEMUEL    There's tea all over.  But you cain't even-- FANSHAW    It's not the drink itself, it's the act - the ceremony, if you will, of taking tea.  Tea and crumpets.  LEMUEL    What on god's green earth is a crumpet? FANSHAW    It's a... a... rather like a muffin, but more... refined.  LEMUEL    So you want boiled leaves and a refined muffin?  Next town we roll into, I'll make sure and rustle y'up some. FANSHAW    You don't understand.  Tea is a symbol.  Sitting down to tea with someone - it represents refinement.  Civilization. SOUND    CREAK OF SIGN HUNG FROM TREE LEMUEL    Speakin o' civilization-- FANSHAW    [sarcastic]  Ah.  Yes.  I'm certain any town out here will be chock-a-block with tea and crumpets. LEMUEL    "Pickens Rock".  Makes me think of... FANSHAW    Slim pickings? LEMUEL    [agreeing] I reckon. 2  TOWN MUSIC SOUND    SLOW HOOFBEATS ON HARDPACK.  SLIGHT ECHO, EMPTINESS FANSHAW    Slim pickings, indeed.  No one appears to be in residence. LEMUEL    Don't look abandoned, though.  Ev'thing's shut up tight.  Mebbe there's a county fair or sumpin? FANSHAW    Possible, yes.  Oh, there's someone-- LEMUEL    Sir? GABBY    [drunk and confused]  Whaa-a-at? LEMUEL    I'm shore sorry to bother you, feller, but-- GABBY    h-h-hh- who are you? LEMUEL    --where is ev'body? GABBY    They's a-a-a-all just gone off to the hangin.  Who a-a-are y'all? LEMUEL    Which way?  [prompting] To the hangin'? GABBY    Follow the rud, as you're goin.  At the fork, take a-a-a-a left.  You'll hear 'em by then.  They's mighty worked up. FANSHAW    Lemuel, what are you thinking? LEMUEL    Tell me, old feller - who they fixing to set dancin? GABBY    Nice boy, thaa-a-at Lute Fowler.  Never woulda pegged him for a-a-a drygulcher. LEMUEL    Figgers.  We never end up nowhere, but they's an emergency awaitin us.  Come on.  [clicks to the horses] SOUND    HOOVES TAKE OFF FANSHAW    [calling back] Thank you very much! GABBY    [calling] D-d-d-ont mention it! 3  CROWD MUSIC SOUND    ANGRY CROWD SOUND    HOOVES APPROACH LEMUEL    Whoa, there. SOUND     HORSES PULL UP SHORT.  CROWD     QUIETS, THEN BUZZ STARTS FANSHAW    I can't wait to hear this. LEMUEL    [through gritted teeth] Shut up.  [voice raised]  I hear there's fixin to be a hangin? CROWD    BUZZ SHERIFF    [off, yelling]  Who's askin? LEMUEL    Y'ever hear of the Texas Rangers? CROWD    BUZZ!!!!! SOUND    PEOPLE MOVE, FEET APPROACH SHERIFF    [Coming on, suppressed fury, trying to be civil]  Well, now.  This is strictly local business.  We don't need no help.  But I do thank you for looking in on us. LEMUEL     That feller on the horse?  He's your - uh - SHERIFF    Duly tried and convicted murderer. LEMUEL    Lucky town, to have a judge handy. CROWD    BUZZ of MISGIVING LARKY    Well, we don't-- SHERIFF    Put a bit in it, Larky.  We didn't need no judge, ranger.  We got ourselves a confession. LUTE    [yelling, very hoarse] I never did-- [gulp as noose is tightened] HARP and MADDY    [scream and cry] LEMUEL    Funny.  That sounds like a denial t'me.  You do realize that without a judgment from a legal court o' law, this ain't no execution, it's a murder. CROWD    BUZZ, STARTING TO FALL APART. FANSHAW    Is it?  SHERIFF    I'm the law in this here town, friend.  I don't take kindly to you walkin in here and trying to cause a commotion. LEMUEL    I ain't tryin to do nothin of the sort, Sheriff.  I just don't want to see a lawman like yerself let hisself get swept up by a mob and, uh-- FANSHAW    --be forced to condone an injustice? LEMUEL    --be forced to condone an injustice.  I know how tetchy a mob can be, and I cain't rightly blame you for not wantin a try and face 'em down - but with me at your side, I reckon we could stand. SHERIFF    [furious, but trying to stay jovial]  Well, now.  I guess I'll thank you very kindly, and..... [long breath, calming self, then turns away to call out]  Good people!  As I have long maintained, we must wait for the proper authority to conduct this properly.  We'll keep Lute Fowler locked up in jail until the circuit judge comes through next month - just as we shoulda done from the start.  [back]  Larky, go get that - gentlemen - down and back to the jail. LEMUEL    That's right big of you, Sheriff.  Now I'd be mighty honored to help you with any little thing you might need, seeing as I'm in town for a while. SHERIFF    For a while?  How long? LEMUEL    Don' rightly know.  Depends on how long it takes me to find what I'm looking for. SHERIFF    What's that? LEMUEL    'fficial business.  Caint go into it. SHERIFF    Very well, then.  I've got to get back to town, see this varmint locked up tight.  [grits teeth]  Again.  SOUND    FOOTSTEPS STOMP AWAY FANSHAW    A Ranger?  You've never--? LEMUEL    Never said I was - just ast if they'd heered of 'em. FANSHAW    What happens when they demand to see your credentials?  I somehow think that things are not so different over here -  impersonating an official is bound to get you into hot water. LEMUEL    I'll cross that bridge when I get there-- HARP    Mister? LEMUEL    What?  Oh, hello l'il pardner.  Didn't I see you standin up front--? HARP    You saved my pa, din't you? MADDY    [yes] Uh-huh! LEMUEL    Now, I just saw that justice is done proper-like.  If he's proven guilty, then he deserves-- HARP    He din't do none of this. MADDY    [no] Uh-uh. LEMUEL    Do either of you gotta name? [teasing] or any manners? HARP    Sorry, sir.  We's just real upset, y'unnerstand?  I'm Harp Fowler, and this is my little sister Maddy - Madrigal. LEMUEL    Well, I tell you what, Harp.  And Maddy.  I promise I will look into the case.  That's all.  If your pa's innocent, then I'll find it out.  All right? HARP    I reckon.  Well, if you need any help or anything, you can find me at the Lazy H ranch, up Blackbird Gulch.  I can shoot a gun! LEMUEL    I'll keep that in mind.  Y'all get on now. FANSHAW    [musing] Harp, Lute, and Madrigal?  What would they have named the next child? MADDY    Viola if twas a girl.  Fortay for a boy.  That's what mama always says. HARP    [annoyed] Oh, c'mon. SOUND    SMALL FEET WALK AWAY FANSHAW    [shocked] I... say. LEMUEL    What? FANSHAW    That child - the little girl.  She's...  she spoke to me.  She heard me. LEMUEL    [sorry for the kid] Damn.  4  SCENE OF THE CRIME MUSIC SOUND    FEET ON ROUGH GROUND LARKY    Just about here, I spect.  LEMUEL    Thankee kindly. LARKY    Whatchoo specting a find?  Lute kilt the Jenkins boy nigh on a week ago, and it's rained since. RAFE    Hello?  You lookin fer me? LEMUEL    Jest tryin to get a feel fer whut happened.  [beat] I kin find my own way back to town. LARKY    I'd be right pleased to get a chance to observe a real Ranger at work.  I won't make no bother.  LEMUEL    [reluctant]  Fine. RAFE    Hey, I'm over here. FANSHAW    [whisper] Keep him busy.  I'll see what I can find out. LEMUEL    [thinks, then] Where'd you say you thought the shooter was? RAFE    Shooter?  What shooter? LARKY    Up thissaway. SOUND    FOOTSTEPS OFF RAFE    [calling] Hey!  Fellers! FANSHAW    Hold on there. RAFE    What you want?  FANSHAW    My apologies sir, but I'm afraid I have some rather bad news for you.  RAFE    Why you talk like that? FANSHAW     There's no kind way to say this.  [sigh]  I'm afraid you are dead. RAFE    Dead?  What're you, then, an ayngel? FANSHAW    Oh!  No.  We - that gentleman over there and I - are trying to find out what happened to you. RAFE    How come he ain't askin me hisself? FANSHAW    Well, he would - but that fellow with the colorful name "Larky" would probably find it odd. RAFE    I... guess I see.  Tsch.  Dunno what I can tell you - I guess I really didn't even ... yet... FANSHAW    Realize that you're dead?  It's not uncommon, I fear. 5  OUTHOUSE MUSIC SOUND    WOODEN DOOR SWINGS SHUT LEMUEL    [quiet]  Where in hell are you, Fanshaw? FANSHAW    [shocked, muffled] Lemuel!  Don't you prefer some privacy? LEMUEL    [quiet] Consarn it, ya ninny.  That Larky is on me like a tick on a tinhorn.  I figgured this is the only way to get out from under him. FANSHAW    Well, I hope it's a two-seater.  [coming on]  Rafe didn't see anything - he was ambushed.  Shot in the back. LEMUEL    I got sumpin more important.  This. SOUND    SOMETHING PULLED OUT OF A POCKET FANSHAW    A badge? LEMUEL    A ranger's badge, and I surely didn't whittle it myself.  Someone slipped it inta my pocket.  I'm thinkin it musta been in that crowd at the hangin - only time anyone but Larky's been near enough.  Don't reckon you saw nothin'? FANSHAW    Terribly sorry, but no.  No one that stood out. LEMUEL    Seems the coach line here sees enough traffic that there's more'n a few strangers in town.  I couldn't poke much more'n that. FANSHAW    But who could have given that to you, and why? LEMUEL    How's this fer a guess - there's a ranger, here in town, and he don't want no one to know who he is. FANSHAW    But to give his badge away? LEMUEL    I'm figgurin he 'preciated my stoppin the hangin and dint want them fellers to find out I weren't no ranger and start the whole thing up again.  Jest acause he's hidin out don't mean he thinks we don't need no ranger in town. FANSHAW    [slight exasperatd sigh] Perhaps if you could get away from this Larky fellow, the real ranger would make himself known to you. LEMUEL    I'll see what I can do. 6  BRIGHT AND EARLY MUSIC SOUND    WINDOW SLIDES UP, CIGARETTE LIT AMBIANCE    EARLY MORNING NOISES LEMUEL    [blows out a long breath] SOUND    SOFT RAPPING AT THE DOOR SOUND    CHAIR SQUEAKS, A COUPLE OF BARE FOOTSTEPS, A GUN SNATCHED UP OFF A TABLE LEMUEL    [quiet] Yup? HARP    [whispered through door]  I needs to talk to you, Ranger. LEMUEL    [not quite being funny] You strapped? MADDY    [muffled giggle, through door] HARP    Shh.  [very serious]  Nope.  I come peaceable.  LEMUEL    All right then.  Come on. SOUND    DOOR OPENS CAREFULLY AND QUIETLY, SMALL FOOTSTEPS ENTER, DOOR SHUTS AMITY    Thank you kindly, sir. LEMUEL    [a bit surprised] Um.  Y'all have a seat? SOUND    CREAK OF WOOD HARP    You rangers see a lot of strange stuff, dontcha? LEMUEL    Strange how? HARP    My sister is a might tetched. MADDY    I ain't. HARP    She ain't rightly crazy, just thinks she sees folks as has gone and passed away.  MADDY    Where's your friend? LEMUEL    He- he'll be-- HARP     [to Maddy] Oh, hush.  Men're talkin' here. AMITY    They grow up so fast. LEMUEL    One thing rangers always do, fella, is get to the point.  You can't shock me, so come on. HARP    My sister says our dead momma is following us around to look after us [clears his throat as he tries to avoid breaking into tears] while our pa is in the hoosegow.  AMITY    I really tried to teach them to speak better, sir.  HARP    Maddy also says-- MADDY    There he is! FANSHAW    Is... this a party? LEMUEL    Ah, hell.  [comes to a decision]  Look, I'm gonna tell you the whole truth, but you can't let no one else hear this.  Swear? HARP    On my mama's grave. MADDY    That's not fair - she's right here. AMITY    It's all right, sweetheart.  You promise too. MADDY    All right, I promise too. LEMUEL    We gotta talk quiet.  Make sure no one hears. HARP    [avid]  All right! LEMUEL    I ain't never told no one alive what I'm about to tell you, and I can offer you proof, afore you go off thinkin I'm foolin wit'cha, here. HARP    I'ud never think you'us foolin. LEMUEL    Firstly, I ain't a real ranger.  It was the only thing I could think of t'say t'stop the hangin.  See, I'm being plumb truthful here, now. HARP    [hopes dashed] Not a ranger? LEMUEL    Sorry, son, I'm just plain Lemuel Roberts - retired gunslinger.  FANSHAW    He used to be the Deadeye Kid. MADDY    You were the Deadeye Kid? HARP    How you know that? LEMUEL    My pal Fanshaw just told her. HARP    Who?  What's agoin on? LEMUEL    Lissen t'me, your sister aint tetched a'tall. She's ... like me.  Whether it's a blessin or a curse, we both see and hear "them as has passed on". HARP    'Zat mean our mama's truly here? LEMUEL    Is your mother a tall woman with big hands, a long plain face and a real sweet smile? HARP    [suddenly a small child] Momma? AMITY    I'm always with them both.  But Maddy will have to be the one to speak fer me. LEMUEL    Ma'am.  I spect you know there's a reason you're here? AMITY    Doesn't everyone remain after their clay has returned to dust? LEMUEL    I reckon the world would be an awful crowded place if t'were the case.  I found it's mostly just them with unfinished business that stay tethered.  AMITY    And my business--? FANSHAW    If I ain't mistaken, ma'am, they's sittin right here. AMITY    [laughs]  You're a very perceptive man. MADDY    [yes] Uh-huh! HARP    [sniffles, then gets down to brass tacks] So my sister ain't crazy.  Well, that's right fine, but howzit gonna help clear our pa? AMITY    He didn't do it, you know.  I was with him all night, as I always am, but I doubt I could be very credible as a witness. LEMUEL    [mildly amused] No, ma'am.  Spect not.  Harp, from everything I've heard, your pa's innocent, but I'm better off trying to find out who done it than trying to prove he din't.  What you know that I might not'a heard yet? HARP    Well, Rafe was dry-gulched around dusk, six days back.  My dad was at home.  LEMUEL    Why'ud the sheriff think your pa'ud done it? HARP    He wooden! MADDY    They's all sayin pa kilt Rafe cause Rafe assid--  assud-- AMITY    Accidentally. MADDY    Assidentally kilt our ma.  His cart run her down when he lost control o' his team.  AMITY    It was an accident, and Maddy and I have assured Lute of that, best we could.  Even if I didn't already know where he was all night long, he would never have hurt that poor boy. HARP    I believe Maddy.  And... and [almost breaking up] ma. LEMUEL    [sincere] Faith is a grand thing, son.  Don't you never lose it. HARP    Faith ain't gonna hep save our pa.  What can we do to hep you? LEMUEL    Is there anyone else in town might have a grudge against this fella Rafe? HARP    Nope.  He'us a nice feller.  His folks got the big spread up to the plateau. LEMUEL    Any other kin likely to get money if'n he died? HARP    I don't rightly know - reckon his folks are well off, and he got him four brothers, but they're all regular church-going folks - none'a them'ud do that. AMITY    [whispering] tell them about Meg. MADDY    Rafe was courting Meg Pickens.  Her folks own half the town.  [whispering] I saw 'em kissin once. HARP    Ew.  LEMUEL    And someone shot this poor feller, who everyone liked, in the back. 7  MEG MUSIC AMBIANCE    BUSY WESTERN STREET SOUND    BOOTS ON WOODEN SIDEWALK LEMUEL      [talking low] Looks like I need to scout the road out of town, figger out where they plan their ambuscade. FANSHAW     Ambuscade?  I'm impressed. LEMUEL    Pshaw.  I was thinkin-- MEG    [challenging]  Are you the Ranger? LEMUEL    [sigh] I spect I'm the one you're lookin fer.  And you are? FANSHAW    She appears to be in mourning - did Rafe have any sisters? MEG    I'm Meg Pickens, and you're the one who stopped the hanging of the ki-yote who killed my ...  [breaking a bit]  my beau. FANSHAW    Ah, the sweetheart. LEMUEL    You so sure Lute'us the right man?  I hate to orphan no children without being dead certain. MEG    Everyone knows he did it - he blamed Rafe for the accident that took his Amity! LEMUEL    Lute's children said he never spoke a harsh word agin the boy. MEG    Of course they'ud say that. LEMUEL    Now, miss, I won't never say that children ain't known to lie from time to time, but they don't, if y'understand, always know what lies t'tell.  MEG    I don't take your point--. LEMUEL    If'n I ast them if their pa killed the man, shore they'd say no, cause even if'n it was true, they'd know that was the right lie to tell.  But I ast if their pa ever had harsh words agin your feller, and they said no - he was powerful torn up over their ma's passin, and was angry the boy lost control, but he never said it were no one's fault but providence. MEG    [softening] He never did? FANSHAW    Nottingham approacheth. LEMUEL    Eh? FANSHAW    My apologies - the sheriff. SOUND    BOOTS ON WOOD SHERIFF    [coming on] Ah, Ranger.  [smarm] Meg, my dearest girl.  You know I have nothing but sympathy for your loss. FANSHAW    Nothing?  The old letcher, he's practically salivating. MEG    Thank you kindly, sheriff Mortimer. SHERIFF    Can't you call me Henry? FANSHAW    It's rather like a wolf and a lamb. MEG    [disturbed] It really isn't appropriate, Sheriff.  I -- I just have... so much respect for your office. LEMUEL    I was just explaining to [slight emphasis] Miss Pickens here that I am just as het to see Rafe Jenkins' killer hung as anyone, but the law allows every man a proper trial, and you and I both, we're sworn to that law. SHERIFF    [nearly a growl] O'course.  Nothin's more important than the law. LEMUEL    Yep. MADDY    [off]  Psst. FANSHAW    What?  Oh.  I'll see what she wants. SHERIFF    Whuzzat?  Oh, the brat-- [grinds out] little Fowler child. MEG    I do feel sorry fer her.  If her father's a murderer and all. SHERIFF    If?  [anger rising] If?  A'course he's a murderer.  I wooden'a put him away if'n he weren't! SOUND    LITTLE FEET RUN AWAY MEG    [gasp, afraid] Sir!  Sheriff!  I understand you feel strongly about this-- SHERIFF    I'm shore sorry to let you see me in a pet like that.  [deep breath]  Last thing I'd ever want to do is show you the rough edge of my temper, Meg. LEMUEL    Sheriff, I'll take my leave, if'n you don't mind.  [goodbye] Miss Pickens. SOUND    BOOTS ON WOOD FANSHAW    You shouldn't leave her alone with him. LEMUEL    I wooden if they'us inside, but there's folks out and about here.  FANSHAW    That look in his eye - I would swear he's barely human. LEMUEL    Ayep.  You thinkin we just mighta seen the start of all this ruckus? FANSHAW    The sheriff?  You think he--?  Over the girl--?  Oh.  That is a sticky wicket, indeed. 8  SALOON MUSIC AMBIANCE    SALOON SOUND    BOOTS APPROACH MEN AT TABLE SHERIFF    Gimme three. SOUND    CARDS BEING DEALT KENTUCKY     And you? LARKY    Nothin' - no, wait.  Uh, one. SOUND    CARDS LEMUEL    Sorry, I thought this was dinner. SHERIFF    Will be shortly, Ranger.  Care to sit in for a coupla hands? LEMUEL    Don't mind if I do.  SOUND    SCRAPE OF CHAIR KENTUCKY    We'll just finish here first.  Won't be long.  Call? SHERIFF    Three tens. LARKY    Damn. SOUND    CARDS TOSSED DOWN OTHER MEN    [grumbling] SOUND    MORE CARDS, COINS, ETC. SHERIFF    And you, Kentucky? KENTUCKY    [sucks his teeth, then] Weeellll.  I've got two Jacks. SHERIFF    [chuckles avariciously] KENTUCKY    And three queens. SOUND    CARDS LAID DOWN SLOW AND TRIUMPHANT SHERIFF    What?  LEMUEL    I believe that makes a full house. SHERIFF    [furious!]  Cheater!  Sharp! KENTUCKY    I did not--! SOUND    TABLE FLIPS, CARDS, MONEY, GLASSES, FALL TO FLOOR SHERIFF    We don't hold with cheatin in this here town! KENTUCKY    I assure you-- SOUND    PUNCH, THEN A GRAB, and a SWING THAT MISSES LEMUEL    Sheriff, I reckon you need ta calm down.  SHERIFF    [spluttering]  That bastard--! LEMUEL    Larky, take your boss here and get him a shotta whiskey - I'll search this feller, and if he's holdin out, well then I'll arrest him. LARKY    [trying to be brave, but frightened] C'mon boss. LEMUEL    Up you come.  [grunts as he helps K up] KENTUCKY    [groans]  I think he broke my nose. LEMUEL     [amused] Musta been a good pot. KENTUCKY    Not more than ten dollars.  [long juicy sniff, grunt of pain]  You that ranger? LEMUEL    That's got around, eh? KENTUCKY    Hard not to, town like this.  I assure you, sir, I was not cheating.  Frankly, it's hardly necessary against players who... well, aren't particularly skilled. SOUND    RUSTLE OF CLOTHING LEMUEL    I'll check your sleeves and pockets anyway, just so's they don't think you're talkin your way past me. KENTUCKY    I appreciate that. SOUND    RUSTLING OF CLOTHING, PAT ON THE BACK LEMUEL    Well, that's it - nothin.  Now I'll go see if the Sheriff's still colicky.  I'm thinkin you should get while the gettin's good.  SOUND    DRINK POURED, GULPED [SHER], GLASS SLAMMED DOWN ON BAR LARKY    Boss!  He's comin. SHERIFF    [slurry drunk] I'm gon kill him.  Ranger or not, he'll still bleed red. LARKY    Shh.  Only works if he don' know it's comin.  [up] Ranger!  You let him go? SHERIFF    What? SOUND    SCUFFLE AS SHERIFF TURNS FROM THE BAR AND ALMOST FALLS LEMUEL    He wasn't holdin.  I convinced him to take his stake and go.  You'n yer men can go and collect your own - it's all still there on the floor. FANSHAW    Lem, that sheriff person is making no secret of his plans to assassinate you. LEMUEL    [accepting] Mm.  [up to the men] I'm thinkin I'll grab some grub and turn in - even rangers can only take so much excitement in a day. SHERIFF    [dark] Reckon so.  SOUND    FOOTSTEPS AWAY LARKY    Not in the hotel, boss.  SHERIFF    [snarls] How dare you? LARKY    Sir, I mean - woodenit be better to get him on his way outta town?  Then everyone'll know he was fine when he left - won't blame you - I mean, us.  SHERIFF    [grunt] FANSHAW    Despicable blackguards. 9  SHERIFF'S OFFICE MUSIC AMBIANCE      WESTERN STREET, MORNING SOUND    FOOTSTEPS ON WOODEN SIDEWALK, SOUND     SECOND PAIR OF FOOTSTEPS TROT UP LARKY    [coming on, puffing a bit]  Hey, ranger! LEMUEL    [muttered] Ah hell. LARKY     You headin to Sheriff's office?  Me too.  Messenger just come in, said the circuit judge'll be here two-three days at the outside.  Good news eh?  Lute can have his trial, then I reckon the town can have its hangin. LEMUEL    [muttered] Consarn it. LARKY    Whassat? LEMUEL    Come on. MUSIC SOUND    DOOR OPENS, WALK INTO OFFICE LARKY     Hey Jeb!  Sheriff in? JEB    Uh, no - he's off to look on on Meg Pickens.  He said he's worried cause her folks are away. FANSHAW    Oh, that's not good.  That young lady will be defenseless. LEMUEL    [snort of agreement, trying hard not to sound anxious]  How long ago did he leave?  We might could catch him up? JEB    Oh, round half hour ago, but I figgered he'd stop home to, uh, spruce hisself up a bit.  He's plumb sweet on that li'l lady. LARKY     That he is. LEMUEL    Larky, you kin show me how to head him off? LARKY     Cain't it wait til tomorra?  I sorely doubt that this would be a good time t'interupt him.  LEMUEL    I - I found sumpin he needs to see.  It'd prove Lute's case. LARKY     Hmm.  Sheriff'll be happy to hear that.  Make the judge's job real easy. LEMUEL    [level but forced] Get me to him. A1  RIDING OUT MUSIC SOUND    HOOFBEATS, TROTTING LARKY     He ain't gon' thank you, and he ain't gon' be best pleased with me, neither. LEMUEL    I don't care a whit for whether he's pleased or not.  Whoa! SOUND    HORSES PULL UP LARKY     What? LEMUEL    Whassat? LARKY     Where? LEMUEL    [irritated] Over there.  Lean this way.  See?  SOUND    THUMP ON HEAD LARKY     augh! SOUND    BODY SLOWLY LOWERED OFF HORSE TO GROUND, CRUNCHES ON GRASS LEMUEL    Cain't have you behind me Larky, old hoss.  FANSHAW    Leveled the playing field, I see.  You should take his horse - in case he recovers quickly. LEMUEL    Thick skull like that, he jest might. A2  SHOWDOWN_1 MUSIC SOUND    HOOVES, WALKING SOUND    HOOVES APPROACH QUICKLY LEMUEL    [coming on]  Sheriff! SHERIFF    What the blue blazes?  You?  What in hell do you want? SOUND    SECOND PAIR OF HOOVES SLOWS LEMUEL    Lute Fowler's escaped! SHERIFF    What! SOUND    HORSE REINS UP, SECOND HORSE REINS TOO SHERIFF    That sheep-loving son of a bitch!  I knew he'd try somethin. LEMUEL    I figgured this'd be worth trackin you down for.  I got a hunch tells me where he might go, as well. SHERIFF    Really?  LEMUEL    You and me, we can take him down. SHERIFF    [evil realization]  You and me?  Ye-e-e-es. MUSIC SOUND    HORSES SLOW, THEN STOP LEMUEL    We'll have to leave the horses.  Cain't let him hear us. SHERIFF    [sly] Course not. SOUND    CREAKS AS THEY DISMOUNT SHERIFF    Show the way. LEMUEL    Stay here fr'a minute. SOUND    RUNS OFF THROUGH BUSHES SHERIFF    [fading off] Whatever you say, [dangerous] ranger. FANSHAW    Maddy told me of a big rock just over that rise.  Quickly now - you'll want cover.  He's rather agitated. LEMUEL    [snort]  SOUND    BUSHWHACKING STOPS LEMUEL    [calling]  Lute?  Lute Fowler? SHERIFF    [off, deliberately calling weakly] He there? You hear him? SOUND    STEALTHY MOVING THROUGH BUSHES LEMUEL    Shh! FANSHAW    He's closing on you.  He moves awfully quietly for a big man. SHERIFF    [almost a whisper, trying to sound farther away than he is]  Ranger? FANSHAW    Are you going to shoot him? LEMUEL    I - No. FANSHAW    What? SOUND    MOVEMENT STOPS, THEN SUDDEN NOISE AS LEM TURNS TO FACE THE SHERIFF LEMUEL    Y'coverin me, or fixin to shoot me in the back, Sheriff? SHERIFF    [tries to laugh it off] Lute's a desperate man.  Surprised you're still in leather. LEMUEL    Lute ain't here.  It's jest you and me. SHERIFF    Eh?  If you're plannin to plant me, boy, you shoulda thought twice.  Only gun to hand right now is mine. SOUND    TWO STEPS FORWARD LEMUEL    [calm and even] I see that.  And I know you can shoot a man in the back.  But that - uh - shake t'yer hand says maybe you cain't look me in the face and do it. SHERIFF    I can do anything I please.  No one'll even ask once you're gone. LEMUEL    Oh, there's a couple.  You think any ranger'd be fool enough to come out here without a man t'watch his back? SHERIFF    What I've seen from you, I ain't much impressed with rangers. LEMUEL    Huh.  Well you gonna shoot me or what? SHERIFF    I... will.  You gonna give me a reason? LEMUEL    Nope.  I'm figgurin you'll show yellow til you get riled 'nuff.  So I don' plan to rile you none. SHERIFF    [flash of anger] Yellow? LEMUEL    Rafe'us unarmed, barely old enough t'shave, and still you hadta shoot him in the back.  That says yellow louder than-- SHERIFF    [screaming]  Yellow!  I'm the damn sheriff!  The Sheriff I tell you! HARP    [screams from off]  Sheriff! SOUND    GUNSHOT GOES WILD SOUND    BODY HITS GROUND, ROLLS A BIT FANSHAW    Lemuel?  Lemuel? SOUND    GUNSHOT FROM FAR AWAY SHERIFF    Argh! A3 SHOWDOWN 2 LEMUEL    [spitting gravel, annoyed]  I'm fine. SOUND    BODY HITS GROUND FANSHAW    But that shot? LEMUEL    Well I was biting dirt, so I din't rightly see. HARP    Ranger!  Get up!  He's a-coming! SOUND    SLOW FOOSTEPS ACROSS HARD GROUND SOUND    SCUFFLE AS LEM TURNS TO FACE NEWCOMER LEMUEL    Well.  You do have a thick skull, don'tcha? SOUND    A COUPLE MORE SLOW STEPS, THEN LARKY    [chuckles, then sounding a lot less stupid and rough than before]  Good thing too.  You pack a wallop. FANSHAW    The sheriff is still breathing. LEMUEL    What happens now? LARKY    You hit the ground pretty hard.  Need a hand up?  LEMUEL    [beat] I - I'm a mite confused now. LARKY    I think you have something of mine. LEMUEL    What? SOUND    RUNNING FEET APPROACH HARP    You stop right there, Larky!  SOUND    COCKING OF HAMMER ON GUN LEMUEL    [getting it] I - I think it's all right Harp.  Slowly now, let that hammer down. HARP    But he's one o' them that railroaded my pa! LARKY    I'm truly not-- LEMUEL    Harp, don't be loco.  He's the one goes with this-- SOUND    SOMETHING PULLED OUT OF POCKET LEMUEL    Ain't you, Ranger Larky? A4 RANGER MUSIC AMBIANCE    BACK IN THE HOTEL LARKY    You understand why I couldn't do anything - if I came forward, I would have wasted months of work, getting myself next to the Sheriff.  But-- LEMUEL    I still don't see-- LARKY    Hold on!  I swear to you, though, I would not have let Lute Fowler get hung just to keep my cover.  You came in at the nick of time. LEMUEL    Reckon we're even now.  LARKY    Reckon we are.  So where you off to? LEMUEL    Spect I don' know no more 'bout that than you do.  I jest... drift.  LARKY    Ever consider takin up the star? LEMUEL    [surprised] Me?  A ranger?  I don' think so. LARKY    And why not?  Takes grit, and you have that by the cartload. LEMUEL    I don't reckon I'd take to havin t'answer t'anyone.  LARKY    [chuckles] None o'us do.  But it ain't so bad when it means you got someone at yer back.  [long beat]  You'll let me know if'n you change yer mind? LEMUEL    You'll be the first. A5 TEA  MUSIC SOUND     PACKING THINGS INTO A RUCKSACK AS LEM TALKS LEMUEL    Now you don' forget-- MADDY    I don't never talk to no one in public less'n my brother talks to 'em first. LEMUEL    Yup.  And? MADDY    And if anyone catches me talkin to myself, I says I'm tryin to recall my lessons, and not that I's talking to dead folks. LEMUEL    That'll take you far.  You be careful, now. AMITY    Don't forget what you brought. LEMUEL    And what's 'at? MADDY    [remembering] Oh!  [grunt as she moves something heavy] SOUND    BASKET SET ON TABLE, CHAIR SQUEAKS LEMUEL    What... is it? MADDY    You sit on down, now.  Where's Mr. Fanshaw? SOUND    CHAIR SQUEAKS LEMUEL    [calling] Fanshaw! FANSHAW    [off, coming on] Eh?  What? SOUND    THINGS BEING TAKEN OUT OF THE BASKET AND SET ON THE TABLE MADDY    You sit rightchere. AMITY    [promptin] On my left. MADDY    [importantly] On my left. FANSHAW    [slowly realizing] Oh! LEMUEL    What? MADDY    Mama, you'll have a seat on my right? AMITY     Thank you kindly. SOUND    CLATTER OF PORCELAIN LEMUEL    Will someone please explain? MADDY    Would you like one lump or two, Mr. Lemuel? AMITY    [prompting] Mr. Roberts. MADDY    Mr. Roberts. LEMUEL    One lump of what?  I hate to tell you, child, but them plates and bowls is all empty. FANSHAW    [prompting] That's not the point, Lem.  Say One lump, no milk. LEMUEL    I ain't sayin-- aw, heck.  One lump no milk. SOUND    RATTLE OF PORCELAIN, CHING OF METAL ON CUP MADDY    And you, Mr. Fanshaw? FANSHAW    Oh, I would simply adore two lumps, and just the slightest bit of milk.  And are these biscuits? MADDY    No.  They's cookies.  I made 'em my self. FANSHAW    Well, they look delicious.  May I? MADDY    [giggles] You go on ahead now.  They's plenty where that come from. LEMUEL    But there ain't--  What is it?  What is all this folderol? FANSHAW    Why Lem, it's -- tea! MUSIC END

Link to the musicA hymn to St. John the Baptist, written by Paul the Deacon in the 8th century. You may never have heard of this hymn, unless you've studied music history or theory, as it's not particularly well-known or popular, but it is actually extraordinarily influential. In this episode, you'll learn about the origin of SOLFEGE, which of course culminated in 1956, when Rogers and Hammerstein composed the most important piece of music ever written; Do, a Deer. Enjoy!Link to full lyrics (all 13 verses)For thy spirit, holy John, to chastenLips sin-polluted, fettered tongues to loosen;So by thy children might thy deeds of wonderMeetly be chanted.Lo! a swift herald, from the skies descending,Bears to thy father promise of thy greatness;How he shall name thee, what thy future story,Duly revealing.Scarcely believing message so transcendent,Him for a season power of speech forsaketh, Till, at thy wondrous birth, again returnethVoice to the voiceless.The heavenly citizens celebrate you with lauds, one God and at once triune; we also come imploring forgiveness; spare us among the redeemed.Thou, in thy mother's womb all darkly cradled, Knewest thy Monarch, biding in His chamber, Whence the two parents, through their children's merits, Mysteries uttered.Praise to the Father, to the Son begotten,And to the Spirit, equal power. possessing,One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages,Ever resoundeth. Amen.Ut queant laxis resonare fibris mira gestorum famuli tuorum, solve polluti labiis reatum, sancte Joannes.Nuntius celso veniens Olympo, te patri magnum fore nasciturum, nomen, et vitae seriem gerendae, ordine promit.Ille promissi dubius superniper didit promptae modulos loquelae; sed reformasti genitus peremptae organa vocis.Laudibus cives celebrant supernite, Deus simplex pariterque trine; supplices ac nos veniam precamur: parce redemptis.Ventris obstruso recubans cubili, senseras Regem thalamo manentem: hinc parens, nati, meritis, uterque, abdita pandit.Sit decus Patri, genitaeque proliet tibi, compare utriusque virtus, Spiritus semper, Deus unus, omni Temporis aevo. Amen.

Dr. Ronjon Paul, Chair of the Spine Department at Duly Health and Care, joined the podcast to talk about ASCs, payer trends and spine technologies on the horizon.

This week, Michelle has on friend, actress & certified movie star Julia Stiles, who delves into memories from their favorite college bar, hot firefighters at the dry cleaners, childhood fears, Julia's secret obsession, an idea for a car wash rom-com, the odds of Julia doing an OnlyFans, and much much, more! Plus, Michelle and her sidekick Dan sound off about bad date etiquette, a woman with a truly diabolical mother-in-law, and what Michelle thinks you absolutely need to be watching RIGHT NOW.FOLLOW MICHELLE:https://twitter.com/michcollhttps://www.instagram.com/michcoll/Produced by Tracy SorenTheme song by Gabe LopezArtwork by Ben WisemanMIDNIGHT SNACK IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST:https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/midnight-snack