Sarah

Aces Full

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Sarah
Aces Full
__________

A Novel

By

Penelope Boyce

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 Sarah Aces Full
Copyright 2011 by EB Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without
written permission from the author.

ISBN (?????????????????????)

Printed in USA by ???????????

Cover Photo By: (?????????)

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 Dedication

To Liz and Syd

For the inspiration

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 Table of Contents

Title Page ............................................................................... 1

Credits Page ........................................................................... 2
Dedication ............................................................................. 3
Table of Contents .................................................................. 4
Foreword ............................................................................. 5
Introduction ......................................................................... 6
Chapter 1: The Hole .............................................................. 7
Chapter 2: Learning to Play ................................................ 21
Chapter 3: Sharpening the Blade ........................................ 37
Chapter 4: Gwens Mom .................................................... 45
Chapter 5: Gwens Dad ...................................................... 53
Chapter 6: Vegas ................................................................ 63
Chapter 7: The One ............................................................ 89
Chapter 8: The Shop ......................................................... 103
Chapter 9: On-line Poker and Mr. Wolf ........................... 119
Chapter 10: Finding Susan ............................................... 137
Chapter 11: The Incident . ................................. 155
Chapter 12: Chasing the Rat ... ...................... 177
Chapter 13: Saving Grace ................................................. 207
Chapter 14: A New Beginning ......................................... 217

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 Foreword

The story is about how a young woman

becomes a hi gh stakes professional poker player .
She first learns poker with the nei ghbor kids,
evol ving into street poker, and then lear ning hi gh
stakes poker through a mentor friend . It starts in her
mi d -teens and goes through to her earl y adulthood
along with al l the tribulations of the game, of
growing up, of getting into trouble, finding love, and
finding a vocation . Some of the themes addressed in
the text are; poker play, on -line poker play, lesbian
homosexuality, gay marriage, rape, self -defense
shooting, spousal physical abuse, sensual and sexual
experiences, abductions, and detective
investi gations .

The author hopes you will enj oy reading it as

much as she did writing it , and hopes you will take,
at least, some small part of it to apply to your life in
a way that will enhance and enli ghten it.

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 Introduction

Sarahs ability to read people and situations

became her most val uable asset . She could play
poker with the best, help sequester a Rat, and have
love f or someone she had n ot yet met. Foll ow her on
her adventures growing up, from a foolish teenager ,
to an inspired adult, experiencing life in ways she
hoped no one else would ever have to.

The following stor y is set in the Unit ed

States, from Boston to Los Angeles, and i s purel y
fictitious. Any like nesses to real people, places, or
situations are purely coincidental and/or accidental,
and neither ill will, nor ill sentiment, is int ended in
any way.

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 Chapter 1
The Hole

What makes someone shy? Is it the same stuff

that makes someone outgoing, but with the opposite
effect. Is it some kind of genetic potion gone wrong
or j ust the result of st uff that happens to you as you
grow up? On the other hand, is it both ? Sarah was
about to push that envelope to its edges, in an
attempt to di vert away from her a ll the conditions
and traits that got her to this point.
Sarah was a shy kid, not too tall for her age,
maybe a bit Husky . You know, Husky, not fat,
not slim, a bit chunki er than average . Sarah had an
average appearance, not bad looking, but desired to
be sli m, fit, athletic looking, and beautiful . It
bothered her to no end . You know, teenagers are
extremel y critical of themsel ves anyway, are they
not? However , Sarah felt like twice as ugl y as
ever yone else. She was not ugl y, by any means, but
she was not happy with herself, to an extreme . She
could not seem to do anything about it . Nothing
wor ked. Diets, exercise, makeovers, nothing would
wor k, not even falsie breast pads . She would gain
wei ght on a diet . She would try exercise, on the

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machine in the basement . That onl y added bul k by
changing fat into muscle.
Her older sister Linda was all of what makes
someone popular, and more . She was ver y beautiful,
slim, athletic, outgoing, popular, and beautiful in her
eyes, but no Sarah did not have IT as she did.
Ever ything happened for her, love, life, luxury, you
name it.
She was the quintessential Prom Queen ,
ever yones little girl . The boys were all over her,
and she loved it . She was sli m, blond and athletic,
built like a brick shit hou se too, so the sayi ng goes.
Just the way they all like it, ri ght ? Ei ghteen years
old with 36Cs, narrow waist, long slender legs,
beautiful long blond hair that cascaded halfway
down her back in long straight locks of loveliness .
Sarah thought,
Why not me too?

The boys could not get enough of Linda, some

girls too. Sarah would gi ggle to herself about it
when she noticed some of them bumping and
rubbing, pats and rubs on the back, the twirling of
her long blond locks, some flirting. Linda dismissed
all that action. She was in denial about that, Sarah
thought.

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 The lead cheerleader for the football, and
basketball teams could do no wrong, ri ght.
Well?. Right? She could do no wrong, even
when Sarah would tr y to sabotage her. One day she
planted some of her dads condoms in a pocket of a
pair of her dirty j eans in the laundr y hamper,
because she knew her mom would check the pockets
before washing them, when she got home from the
afternoon Tea with the nei ghborhood women . Sarah
laughed to herself, at t he thought of it,
Tee Hee .
But, no!.
Rats,
She said to herself, as Linda came home after
cheerleader practice, instead of seeing Sam, her new
boyfriend. Apparently, he had a dentist appoint ment
or something, and Li nda found them firs t, because
she went looking for her j eans, where she thought
she mi ght find the note that Sam wrote to her in
school yesterday, and was afraid their mom mi ght
find it and get the wrong idea about Sams
intentions, (LOL) but instead she found the condoms .
That little rat! she yelled . The onl y thi ng Sarah
could hear was,
Linda could do no wr ong.
She yelled again, for her, at the top of her voice,

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 SARAH! l ooking all around the
house, not finding her
WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? .......
I NEED TO TALK T O YOU!.
Sarah hid in the tool shed until dinnerti me . She sat
down at the table and looked across at Linda with a
frown on her face as if to say,
Lucky You, and
You Fucking Bitch.

Linda j ust sat there eating her dinner,

occasionally looki ng up at Sarah, with eyes or ire .
Sarah thought If looks could kill daggers would
have been flying out of her eyes towards her . But all
Sarah needed to do is hold up a shovel and these
daggers would j ust bounce right off, fall on the
floor, and dissol ve i nto dust, because she had found
the note, and held it out so only Linda could see it .
The daggers turned into bullets, and would not stop
firing until they parted to there rooms after dinner .
All Linda did was open Sarahs bedroom door, tossed
the condoms into her r oom, saying,
These are yours now, I dont need them .
Sam has plent y.

Sarah was j ust short, dumpy, and light . A bit

of a tomboy, too . She liked doing all the t hings the

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boys did. Not into dolls, pink dresses and white
patent leather shoe s like Linda was . At four teen, she
was fi ve foot four inches tall and 150 pounds heavy,
as she would put it, with a light complexion and
freckles. Oh, how she hated the freckl es . She
wanted to be sli m, athletic and beautiful too . Sarah
would not admit it, but she had a ver y pretty face,
and hid the weight very well . The breasts were j ust
starting to show, but the boys eyes would bulge out
at Gwens, her neighbor friend, or Lindas, as she
thought to herself,
Short changed again.

If it was anyt hing at all, it mi ght have been

being born towards the end of July, in the summer of
1982. Sarah will always remember the way her
mother complained about it . Ever y year she pointed
out how much the heat and humidit y bothered her,
and how horrible the pregnanc y was, how sick she
was, always in pain, and uncomfortable . Sarah
always felt that her mother blamed her for it, and
was proceeding to make sure Sarah would never
forget it. It was, probably the worst ti me of year for
a pregnancy in its last trimester, b ut it manifested
itself as one of her most si gnificant excavation
devices.

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 Sarahs mother was not happy with her life,
and made sure ever yone around her was as unhappy
and as uncomfortable as she was . Bitch about this,
bitch about that, Sarah ! You fucking bitch get over
here, so I can whack you. She would say that ever y
time, especiall y ever y July and August . Sarah was
so happy when September rolled around and the heat
and humidit y abated and allowed the cool er dryer
autumn air to roll in . What was worse was how she
talked about her beaut iful baby girl Linda, and what
a good little baby gi rl she was . She could do no
wrong, and Sarah coul d do no right.
Maybe it is j ust looks, luck, charisma, aur a,
and genes, which makes some people popular,
lovable, gor geous, and can do no wrong.
.... IS IT NOT? .......... It seemed an
unobtainable goal, to her, and it affected her all her
life. As hard as she tr ied the more she did, t he more
she got herself into trouble, and fell deeper into,
THE HOLE, so t o speak, deeper and deeper,
incident after incident . Ever y ti me she tried to get
out of the hole someone would push her r ight back
in, and toss in a shovel along with the command,
DIG.
Self -esteem was an el usive and sensitive thi ng
for Sarah, almost non -existent. Seems some people
are more susceptible to the erosion of it, or merel y

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j ust the presence of it, in the first place, because
they do not know how to deal with it.
It was the si mple little things, which happen
at awkward moments . The kinds of th ings, which
would send The Others into belly rolling laughter,
ridicule, or even despi se . Disaster would str ike over
a si mple overexcited moment and a stutter, or an
unintentional misplaced thing like a wet spot on her
j eans, or sticking your tongue on a cold metal fence
post in January. It was disastrous . If you put that
same wet spot on Lady Gagas, or Madonnas j eans
and ever yone would want one.
You know who all The Others are..
Right?......... It is all t hose kids and people you grow
up with, who can, seemingl y, do no wrong . They
carry shovels around with them so you can have
something to di g your hole a bit deeper with ever y
time you have an incident . Sarah felt they followed
her around, j ust waiting in the shadows for
something to happen to h er. You know whom I
mean. You.Yes its You . ITS ALL OF YOU,
or so it seemed to Sar ah.

Sarah fielded a ground ball once while playi ng

softball with the kids who hung -out by the school
playground. She was the last one picked, always
was, but that did not faze her . She woul d always

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show up with the ball and bat and a couple of gloves
and with those got a game going . She was
deter mined to play well this time and acquire some
fill for THE HOLE . Maybe next ti me they would
pick her first.
She made the third out of the inning by
touching first base, after fielding the ground ball,
which meant they wer e up to bat, so she tossed the
ball onto the ground towards the pitchers mound as
she returned to their bench, for the other teams
pitcher to pick up f or the next inning, when WHAM !
The shovel hit her square in the face . SMACK !
POW ! WHACK ! The base runner, squealing li ke a
stuck pi g, yelled,
SHE DROPPED THE BALL
Much worse, ever yone on her team had t o agree
because no one had seen her toss it . All they saw
was the ball on the gr ound . Well, for Sarah, that was
it. Her hole had j ust become so deep it seemed to be
bottomless. By the time she hit the bottom of the pit
she had ended the game, taking her ball, bat, and
gloves with her as she wal ked a way, never to play
ball with them again.
A si mple stutter, in an excited moment would
be j ust one more thing that spelled disaster for
Sarah.

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 W-W -W-ow D-D-D -i d you S -S-See that! I
got an A on that Engli sh test!
At least five kids would start rolling on the floor
laughing uncontrollably, kicking shovels over to her
two at a ti me.
Boys, or rather, the lack of them, were always
an issue, for Sarah and her parents, ri ght? You know
what I am saying . No way are boys ever going to get
into her pants, as if they were saving it for
themsel ves or somethi ng, but Linda OMG she could
get away with anyt hing . Even though boys never
called for Sarah, and never stopped by to see her,
they hardl y ever even looked at or talked to her at
school. After a while her paren ts though she mi ght
be gay, homosexual, lesbian, whatever you want to
call it. She was not though, never felt that way, it
was way off the radar screen . There was no need to
worr y about that, ri ght? On the other hand, the boy
next door was two years you nger than Sarah was, but
they all had no idea . He was so familiar, and they
grew up together, not hing to worr y about there , or so
they all thought.
Sarahs parents j ust wanted to do the Ri ght
Thing Nothing Sarah ever did was ri ght , though .
She wanted boys to take interest in her . The ball
game disasters, the l ooks, the body was not quite
right, boys? No way, her parents thought, Oh Boy!

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Even if she could get a boy to call or stop by, the
third degree would have been a disaster, horrible
consequences , if word ever got out about it . OMG, it
would spell the end of life on Earth . Ever ything
would blow up in a Matter Anti -Matter implosion
. or so Sarah thought, so then she proceeded to
make sure that did not happen.
Sarah was a good kid growing up . She helped
around the house . Her room was a mess, though, but
it was her mess and she knew exactl y where
ever ything was, and could find it immediately when
needed. There is nothing wrong with that, right ?
Mom and Dad did not think so, though . You know,
all those fights over the years about pick -up this,
pick-up that put away this, clean -up that. It was ad
infinitum, and extremely unbearable to Sarah.
Parents carry shovels too, the bi g ones, t he
ones that move a lot of dirt, hydraulic excavators .
They are the biggest ones of all, which move tons of
dirt on each scoop . We all dig holes for ourselves
from ti me to ti me, but hers mostly had help from
others, who were mor e than willing to hand a shovel
down to her, if hers breaks or gets lost, or she g ets
to thinking she doesn t need them anymore, and most
of all they enj oyed hel ping her di g deeper . However ,
for Sarah it was mor e like always . To her, it was
incessantly insidious, and unendingl y dreadf ul.

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 Another ball game, with a different group of
kids, called by friends of a friend at another nearby
school, she encountered a few more Shovel
Carrying sons of bitches that made this game
another horrible disaster for her . She was playing
well getting hits, scor ing r uns, catching the ball, and
makin g outs . What else do you need to do, right?
She was playing short fielder, monst er man,
longstop , whatever you want to call it . It was j ust a
way to get ten players on the field . It was li ke
having two short stops, only you play a bit deeper
between first and second, someti mes swappi ng places
with the shortstop depending on the hitter . What
happened was a batter smacked a low hot liner, ri ght
at Sarah. She made t he split second decision to step
back and field the ball off one bounce to be sure she
held the batter to j ust one base . It would have been
risky to step closer, in order to try to catch it before
hitting the ground, but no, SLAM ! The shovel hit
her right in the mi ddl e of her back . OUCH! OUCH!
OUCH! Two of the outfielders started harassin g her
about how she could have caught that ball before it
hit the ground, and t hat she should not be playing,
and that she is tr ying t o blow the game for them, and
they were not even fr om her school . This continued
for the remainder of t he game, and it ir ritated her to

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no end. Sarah thought to herself that these guys
must be from Mars or somewhere alien . Her
decision to field the ball rather than catch it did not
seem to go over well with the rest of her team either .
It was a ver y si milar situation, to before where she
didnt get the support of the others on her team,
regarding how she kept the runner to fi rst base,
rather than risk missi ng the ball altogether and the
runner making second or even third . Chunk!.....
Chunk!..... Chunk! THE HOLE gets deeper.
What was incredibly ironic, to Sarah, about
this incident is that, one of the players that were
harassing her , near the end of the game, tried to field
a long deep fl y ball . He stepped up towards the
oncoming ball, deter mi ned to catch this one, t o end
the game, . and as the ball flew, way
out into the outfield, laughing to herself,
it looked as if he mi ght not catch it .
It was true, he did not catch it, it sailed ri ght over
his head, off the field, and into the woods, he had
grossl y misj udged it . By the ti me he found it, the
hitter and two base runners had made it to home
plate, winning the game by one run . No one blamed
hi m or ridiculed hi m f or that . Rather, it was, Good
try and Well getem next ti me . Sarah went home
that night chuckling to herself all ni ght l ong with

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tears in her eyes, and the sound of Chunking in the
backgr ound.
Sarah had many of incidents like these . Each
one of them drove the excavation so deep, i t seemed
to her, at the ti me, that it was approach ing the point
of no return . The point of no return, you know,
when an airplane is crossing the ocean and they get
half way to their dest ination, and it becomes closer
to continue than turn around and go back, if there is
a problem with the plane . Well, Sarah had a
problem, and she did not know whether to continue
or turn around . Turn around and go back could mean
a lot of different thi ngs, but Sarah thought going
forward mi ght become futile, no longer worth the
effort, but, Returning to what?, Sara h thought ?
She had nothing to ret urn to, li ke in the Steven King
novel, The Langoliers . Ever ything out there
behind her was being chewed up by the Langoliers .
There was nothing to go forward with either .
Ever ything in front of her was so covered by d irt and
made invisible by years of hole di gging . However ,
she thought about it some,
There must be someone out there for me, j ust
for me, or at least, someone who wouldnt
mi nd helping me fill The Hole.

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 Time ticks slower, when you are young, and
things seem to take sooo long to happen, and it
seemed she would never get anywhere from there .
You remember .......... You know........... You
remember how long it seemed to take getting through
Hi gh School . Seemed like it was never ending, and
the light at the end of the tunnel would burn out
before you got there . Nevertheless, going back was
not the answer for Sarah . Maybe going for ward was,
at least trying it one more t i me, shoveling t he dirt to
one side. It mi ght reveal The One for her . So
there was the answer . It was full steam ahead,
straight ahead, tr ying to tunnel out of THE HOLE,
from below . After all, she had plent y of shovels.

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 Chapter 2
Learning to Play

Sarah turned away from physical games li ke

Baseball Softball, Soccer, and Tennis, Gol f, OMG !
Golf? NO! Talk about embarrassing incidents . She
turned towards games of mindful thought, where she
could excel, because she was ver y smart, li ke Chess,
Poker, and other card games . Spades, Hearts,
Solitaire, were among the challenges of sk ill and
luck that she turned to in order to see if it would
help acquire some fi ll to build a ramp to help her
get out of THE HOLE.
You remembe r when you were in grade school,
dont you? Well, in the sixth grade Sarah took the
standard IQ test that a ll kids take, it helped the
teachers at that time to place them in the Middle
School Classes and st art a college and car eer plan .
The next day the Pri ncipal called her mom saying
Sarah needed to take the test again . Her
mom thought to herself , she must have j ust had a bad
day. Sarah did not do well with grades in school .
Her report cards were always full of Cs and Ds and
an occasional B was cause for celebration, fireworks,
parties, and shovels . It was much later that Sarah

21
realized that they wa nted to retest because they
could not believe how high her score was . Sarah
scored 135, somewhere between Engineers and
Rocket Scientists, but not j ust once, twice, to their
disorderly surprise . They still j ust could not believe
it, so they did not, they never told her what her score
was, and there was no explanation of the additional
test. They were probably j ust covering themsel ves
because of their own inadequacies, for not being
good enough educator s to moti vate such a student .
That did not matter to Sarah, she knew she was not
dumb, they were the dumb ones, and she needed them
much less then they were in need of Sarahs ire.
Sarah was smart, j ust not motivated, and how
thirteen and fourteen year old kids entertain
themsel ves is intrigui ng, at ti mes, is it not? As far
as Sarah was concerned, it became exceedingl y
intriguing. She lear ned poker with the kids next
door, Harold and Gwendol yn. Gwen was her age;
Harry was a year or two younger . It did not take
long for the game to get much more interesti ng than
j ust poker. It was kind of boring, at first, not totally
understanding the complexities of the game, but the
idea of taking your cl othes off in front of someone
other than your mother or doctor became intensely
intriguing and interest ing to Sarah, Gwen too, Harr y
especially. What twel ve or thirteen year old

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heterosexual boy would not be ? Oh, my God Harr y
was in heaven . Two naked or at least partially naked
girls right there in front of him, after hand over hand
of intentionally lost poker hands so that the clothes
would come off sooner . It was low hand wins . Strip
Poker quickl y became the game of choice between
them. When the parents are at work was li ke the old
saying about the cat and mice . When the cat is
away the mice will play, and the se mice played, and
they loved it . FILL. FILL FILL. away.
The hor mones were raging, but waiting,
waiting in the shadows for j ust the right moment to
burst open the doors of adolescence, allowing the
incarnation of lust and the pleasures of it, lett ing it
loose to the world at j ust the right moment , as if it
had never happened before.
Occasionall y, Gwen would have Sarah over
for a sleepover . Al ways on a Saturday night, and
would sleep -in until the parents left for church,
Sunday morning . They woul d then run ar ound the
house after each hand with a bit less clothes on,
eventuall y they were all naked, doing all kinds of
things naked around the house . Poor Harr y, he used
to get boners so hard it looked like it was going to
burst. Sarah would laugh aloud at the site of it . She
would grab it and pull on it, teasing him, repeatedly.
That would drive hi m crazy, because she would not

23
get hi m off, and she l oved that . She would take hi m
to the edge, but would stop before he came . He
would end up back und er the covers whacki ng it off,
spanking the monkey, playing with Mary Pal m, Gwen
and Sarah laughing out loud the whole time .
FILL. FILL FILL
The Strip Poker lasted for a while, but kids
start growing up around that age and that kind of
stuff started to get too serious and too close to real
sex. Besides that, Gwens mother caught them and
they could not see each other for a month . She
wal ked in on them one day . It was ver y
embarrassing, Tee Hee, Sarah said to herself,
though. There they al l wer e, naked as a J bird on the
living room floor wit h ver y stunned looks on their
faces. Harr y was especially embarrassed, with his
big bone, and embar rassment written in red tones
head to foot. Each tone lighter as it wor ked down to
his feet, but ther e was no mistaking the
embarrassment on hi m, it was li ke a giant red neon
sign blinking in the night sky,
HARRYS GOT A BONER AND HIS MOM
CAUGHT HIM WITH HIS HAND ON IT.

Sarah was not nearly as stunned as Gwens

mother. She looked at them all, up and down, and
all over. Sarah thought she mi ght have even enj oyed

24
it a bit. She had looked especially close and long at
her. After all, she had seen Gwen and Harry naked
before. Nothing new there, other than Harrys bone,
but that did not seem to interest her a s much as
Sarah, a young girl starting to bud, beginning to
become shapel y and appealing . Gwen s mother
could do nothing to follow through with , right?
Sarah now was thinking, Could THIS be for me?
Sarah did not let on how much she enj oyed it, at
first. It mi ght leave the wrong i mpression, at least
for now. Sarah would develop plans f or Gwens
mother, and Gwens mother thought about plans for
her too. They j ust needed some ti me to figur e out all
the details. FILL . FILL FILL. away.
Beyond t his encounter, Sarah found some ki ds
to play real poker wi th, for money . MONEY ! Oh
my God, Sarahs thoughts ran to heaven here too,
even though she knew that gambling was a sore spot
with Mom and Dad.
It was in her blood she thought, nothing I can
do about it. Her moms brother, Sarahs uncle, was a
gambler, and was arrested and prosecuted for
embezzlement of funds from the business where he
wor ked. He was their Bookkeeper, and knew how to
do it, and it wor ked, for a while, but that sort of
thing catches up with you eventually . He could not
pay it back because he had gambled it all away. He

25
spent several years in j ail for that . As soon as he got
out, he got a j ob at Burger Buddy and started having
poker games in his living room, late at night, which
attracted attention with all the cars and commotion it
would cause. He start ed out with one table, and then
another. Soon his li vi ng room was full . The Count y
Sheriff and State police raided them . It was not j ust
one table anymore . It was six tables s et -up in his
living room. He had wor ked up to havi ng poker
tables open ever y night . The tables were not always
full, but this ni ght every seat was full . There were
nearly fort y arrests that night . She never vi sited him
in j ail, but he probably played p oker in j ail too,
when they let them. For cigarettes, she guessed, and
she said to her -self, Its in my blood too.
She would go over to other kids houses and
play poker while their parents were at wor k, away on
vacation, or off for a weekend . They pla yed fi ve -
card draw for the most part . Seven and five -card
stud, occasionally. Someti mes it was five -card stud
with onl y the last card down . It was dealers choice .
At the time, Texas Holdem was not popul ar yet, so
it was not even on the radar screen f or them. Sarah
would do OK, someti mes, but mostl y lost.
With experience, her game progressed and t he
limits grew. Penny-ante became di mes, then
quarters, dollars, and t hen fives, tens and twenties.

26
 One day she got invol ved in a game of Gut s .
It is like the five -card stud with the last card down,
except it is where you get all fi ve cards str aight up.
No skills, what so ever, invol ved here, j ust shear gut
wrenching luck, or not . Sarah was not concerned
about the or not part, she j ust wanted to win .
Twenty bucks a shot, and there were five playing
including Sarah . All guys, except her, the only girl,
but no one seemed to notice, as usual . She was j ust
one of the guys . Short hair, dirt y j eans, tee shirt,
ball cap, you know ? Like most, any guy fro m Maine
to California.
She was sixteen then, and these guys were
mostl y seniors in hi gh school, seventeen, eighteen,
or older. Sarah knew several of them fr om other
tables, but the other t wo were new to her . She was
apprehensi ve about going too far, and loosing all her
money, but could not resist the opportunity, the
temptation, and the adrenaline rush of winni ng THE
BIG HAND . These guys were not inter ested in
Sarah, j ust her money . She onl y had twent y -fi ve on
her, from her part -time after school j ob, the
afternoon cashier at the local grocer y store . She
thought about it and decided she was going to win
the first hand, then more, and eventuall y take all the
others money and then run, and run fast, as fast as

27
her husky little legs could, because she kn ew she
would have to.
Therefore, she went for it and she did it ! She
won the first hand, with a pair of aces.
Wow! she thought,
This is great.
Now she had $105 . The success of that hand hooked
Sarah. There was no going back now . She had to
have it all. Shear gut s, all luck, and her luck did not
betray her.
Lets do it again, she thought.
OK, I m in, She sai d.
Sarah lost the next one with onl y Jack hi gh.
Oh well, I ve still got $85 . Lets go again,
for all of my cash! She exclai med.
She thought, Oh my God, now what have I done .
If they say yes, and I win, I ve got to be ready to run
and pick-up the winnings as I do, and run faster than
I ever have before, before they realize what j ust
happened. She thought about what mi ght happe n,
but said to her -self, Ill have to deal with the next
day consequences later . Maybe they will have
cooled down by then.
They were playing in one of the boys second
floor apartment . She was sitting close to the entry
door. Sarah thought of it as t he exit door . It was
not open, but it was not locked either . They were

28
expecting more player s and left it unlocked so they
did not have to get up to let them in . Good for me ,
she thought, easier to get out in my escape . They all
agreed, ALL IN . Sarahs $85 was the shortest
stack, so to speak. You know what they say about
Short Stack Power . Sarah felt the sur ge of power
as the dealer dealt the cards. Her adrenaline was
flowing full tilt . It was difficult to hide it, but it did
not matter here. No skill and cunning needed . No
hiding feelings, looks, gestures, those minuscule
things that would gi ve away your hand, j ust gut
wrenching luck. First card was a King, second, a
seven, third, another King . Sarahs heart was
pounding heavil y now, felt like it was going to
explode. With the fourth card came another King .
Three Kings, ever yone gasped, because one of
another players hand had two aces with one card to
go. His card would come up first, Sarahs next . She
thought she mi ght have it won, b ut if the dealer dealt
another ace, it would beat her three Kings . There
was a pause by t he dealer to let ever yone
contemplate the outcome, but it was inevitable, and
the fifth cards were ready for revelation . If she was
going to get out of there it woul d take a mi racle, or
so she thought . Here they came one at a ti me . Two
aces became three, and her heart almost stopped in
severe despair, but t he residual adrenaline kept it

29
going. Her card was next . Oh My God here it
comes. It is another seven, FULL HOUSE! Kings
full of sevens . She had won, and in a split second,
before anyone could react, she grabbed as much of
the cash as she could and headed for the door . Just
as she did, the door opened . Two more players
arrived to play poker . What Luck! She thought as
she pushed them aside as she ran out the door, down
the stairs, out to the street and into her car . She
sped away before anyone realized what happened .
Several of them ran after her with the rest of her
cash, but she was gone.
The next day the two boys that she knew, at
the poker table last ni ght, were waiting for her at the
store where she worked after school . They knew she
wor ked there and needed to talk to her . She got
nervous, and worried, but she knew them and they
were OK, so she a pproached them.
One of them said,
What the hell was that all about, last night ?
Why would you do that ? We followed you out
the door, but you drove away without the r est
of your winnings.
Sarah, blushing now, did not know what to say.
Well..I j ust thought there was going to
be trouble You know?

30
They asked, in unison, in a tone of un -believe -
ability,
Why? You ve caused trouble by doing that !
It was a lot of money, and I didnt know
them, the other t wo, and the ones at the door,
I was afraid.
Those guys got angr y because of t he
commotion you caused . They were afraid the
neighbors would complain and tell their
parents. Well, here is the rest of your money .
Dont do that again.
They got into their car and drove away . Just then,
Sarah realized that they had j ust gi ven her another
shovel, Chunk ! Chunk! Chunk!
After wor k before she headed out the door f or
home, she asked the manager if it would be OK to
leave an envelope of hers in the store safe . He
asked,
Why?
Sarah thought for a few seconds and said,
Its a surprise f or my mothers birthday,
which is tomorrow, and I didnt want her to
find it before then.
He said,
OK
And off she went . She had never had that
much money at one time and was afraid of losing it,

31
or something. Moreover, she could not bring it
home. What if they found it, she thought . The
questions would come.
Where did you get this?
Or,
Whats this for?
OMG she thought , they would think I was
gambling, or something.
Sarah headed out the door towards h er car . It
was parked around back, to not to take the customer
parking spaces up front . As she approached her car,
she saw t wo guys sitt ing in the back seat of the car
next to hers . She did not think much of it at the
time, and did not connect the dots until it was too
late. As soon as she got into her car she remembered
seeing them at the Apart ment last night, you know,
the two guys coming i n the door . No sooner than she
made that recognition, someone sitting in the back
seat reached forward and grabb ed her face. One
hand was over her mouth and the other over her eyes,
pinning her to the headrest . The keys dropped to the
floor, where they woul d later find them later, to start
the car, as she reached up to grab those hands over
her face but could not remove them, he was j ust too
strong for her . She figured these were the other two
from last night, but did not know for sure . Then the
other one came around into the front seat pushing her

32
over towards the passenger side while the other
sequestered her t here. She was struggling and trying
to scream, but to no avail . By this ti me a third
j umped in on the passenger side and restrained her
legs with his, partially sitting on top of her as they
drove away. The fourth in the other car followed
them. Oh my god t hey are going to kill me, she
thought to herself . The adrenaline rush was
over whel ming, but not enough to overcome the
restraint. They drove somewhere, but she could not
see. The road got bumpy so Sarah thought it mi ght
be the road j ust out of town down by the river . Oh,
my god she thought, they are going to drown me and
sink me to the bottom of the river for the fish to eat .
However , they did not, at least not yet , she thought
to herself. They stopped after what seemed about a
mile down the bump y road. They dragged her out of
the car and onto the ground . Sarah could see them
now. Yes, they are the ones from last ni ght . One of
them spoke up . She thought he was the one that
lived there, in that apartment . He said,
I m in bi g trouble becaus e of you.
You are in trouble b ecause of me?
She said in a questioning whi mper of a whisper . She
could hardl y tal k, because of her heavy breathing,
brought on by the adrenaline glands now pumping
copious amounts into her blood stream.

33
 Yah, You, runnin g out like that and causing
all that commotion the neighbors talked to my
parents and my old man knocked me to the
floor and pinned me t here . I was humiliated
in front of Jimmy, over there, who was wi th
me at the ti me . My old man made me tell hi m
ever ything. Now I have lost my j ob at his
garage for six months, so I want the money
from last night to make up for it . Hand it
over.
I dont still have it,
Sarah squeaked out.
Where is it then wel l go get it.
I gave it to my dad t o help pay the rent a nd
bills, sorry.
Well then well have to take it out on you in
other ways . Drag her to the hood of the car
face down and hold her ar ms
They all had their turn raping her, then left her lying
on the ground in a heap of sobbing emotional mess,
but not without a warning of an encore perfor mance
of what j ust happened, if she told anyone about this .
They drove off in thei r car , into the ni ght, as she lay
there curled up in a ball, thinking about what to do .
She could hear , off in the distance what seemed l ike
the sound of shovel s di gging, Chunk ! Chunk!
Chunk!

34
 She managed to get back into the car and
headed home, the whole time thinking that carrying a
big stick mi ght help keep that from happeni ng again.
The next day she purchased a used 44 Magnum
double action revol ver, with a four and a quarter
inch barrel. It is easy, even for someone li ke Sarah .
She knew a guy who wor ked at a nearby Car Wash .
She had played poker with him several ti mes . Bill
could get anything, for anyone . Just for the asking.
It was a challenge f or hi m, and he loved a good
challenge. She did not know what she wanted or
needed. She left it up to hi m. The next day when
she saw the piece she said
Wow! Thats a great looking gun, got any
bullets?
Billy said,
Of course, it wo uldnt be much good without
them, now would it.
He had also acquired a full box of the 44s at the
same ti me, from the seller . She headed out to the
gravel pits, where she would set -up a tar get range .
Others would use thi s spot for target practice too .
There were spent shells all over the place . Mostly
shotgun shells, because you do not reload them,
some 22-caliber ri m -f ire, occasionally a few lar ger
caliber center -fire shells from those people who do
not reload. In addition, littering the area were r usty

35
old tin cans with mega holes shot through, leaky old
buckets, Swiss cheesed LP tanks, shredded paper
targets, clay pi geon shards, and an occasional intact
clay pi geon that was missed and did not br eak when
it hit the ground . She found a few of these along
with some partially br oken ones, and stood them up
on top of a log at the base of the gravel bank, took
10 steps back, and star ted shooting.
Woe! This could bl ow a hole clean through
someone.
She said to herself , Well, What a mess that would
make.
Oh Yah, Sarah was learning to play poker OK,
but she had a long way to go to full y understanding
the game and its ultimate consequences . This last
game told her you need to remain cool, have
confidence, and know who youre playing against, at
all costs, and leave t he game peacefull y with your
winnings, if they let you.
The ver y next ni ght she took the 44 locked
and loaded, strapped the piece on, in its holster,
under her j acket, and headed off to another poker
game.

36
 Chapter 3
Sharpening the Blade

The tables were getting bi gger , and better , f or

Sarah. The more she played the better she got . She
was not winning a lot, but enough to continue
without breaking the bank, You Know. Breaking
the Bank? Where ever yone takes all thei r money
out of the ba nk and they have no money to l end, and
the bank fails . Breaking the Bank, could also be
construed as Smashing the Porcelain Pi ggy for
more cash. It was not j ust the cards . Anyone can
play the cards, and maybe get lucky, sometimes . No,
she was learning to pl ay the players . This way you
increase your odds of winning . By as much as you
can see the others hands, in their faces, their
posture, and their inflections, ad infinitum It was
all right there for her to take in.
To Sarah it was like sharpeni ng a blade. As if
getting ready to plunge it deep into someones gut,
who had j ust bet the far m, so to speak, on just a pair
of aces, or less, or let us say, on a King hi gh bluff .
It was wor king on t he others, who have had less
experience than she did, i n playing poker, where she
learned how to read them like a book . She got good

37
at reading their faces, and their movements . The
better players can hi de their hands well, but most
people do not play enough to know any better . Li ke
the look of excitement a nd the rush to place a bet on
their Aces over Kings . Sarah would gi ggle t o herself
when that happened . She would fold her pair of
Jacks, thinking what an ass . She could see t he words
written on their faces, high two pair, at least,
maybe more. She co uld tell if it was a bluff too,
someti mes, when ther e was a check before the draw
and a two -card draw, along with a si zable, sheepish,
and slow to come bet after the draw, accompanied by
a slight frown . She knew her three fours were good .
Someti mes a goo d pl ayer will fake this action, and
have three queens or better, but if you know the
player by previous encounters, or by reputation or
lack of one, your odds of being right get better, and
Sarah was getting better. Hi gher stakes games were
becoming Sarahs games of choice, with bett er, more
experienced players.
Poker talk was another of Sarahs tools toward
success at the table . She was getting good at
distractions, by tal king about things other t han poker
during the hands . Some players got upset with her
because of it, but she l iked that too, because that was
a distraction in and of itself. She would engage
other players with small talk . She would talk about

38
the weather, her visit to the Mall , or somet hing li ke
that. Some of the more distractive tal k, she found,
was of a sexual nature . Not j ust talking about it but
also actually suggest ing a sexual encounter . She
would pri me the player next to her with some
flirtation, and touching. Some of these guys would
fall for it and if she could get a hand under the table
to fondle the dragon as the bids went ar ound the
table, pulling her hand back to receive the draw or
make a bet. She was very good at doing it, carefully,
and slowl y, without attracting too much att ention of
the other players . However, some of them knew,
from having been through the experience . She would
look up at them while doing it, and they had a hard
time keeping from smiling, or breaking out in
laughter. They would have to look down and away
trying not to gi ve it away, to anyone wh o did not
know what was happening . Sarah would smile back
at them, but they would look away before t hey saw .
She was enj oying this distraction . What usually
happened was the player getting the hand would
carefully get up from the table after folding his
hand. Sarah would t hen make sure she had a good
hand when appl ying t he coup de gras, so to speak .
They would go off to the restroom or ba throom to
finish the j ob . They would much their cards and
Sarah would collect the pot . She did this with Harr y

39
one day, poor Harr y, she thought, when she had his
out of his pants, and did not stop in ti me . She was
good at taking it to the point of no return and
stopping j ust before it came . Ar guments stil l happen
from ti me to ti me whether or not she did it on
purpose or not, only Sarah knows for sure, and she is
not telling. He got so excited he stood up and
ej aculated all over the table, cards, and chips . He
turned several shades of red, of which Sarah had
never seen before, as ever yone who knew what was
happening were rolli ng on the floor laughing li ke
there was no tomorrow, taking several shovels back
from her and gi ving t hem to Harr y . Ever yone else
was disgusted and left the table.
Besides causing trouble, Sarah had to learn
how to avoid trouble too . It mostl y invol ved
knowing the temper ament and reactions, of the
players at her table . How they handled certain
circumstances, as well as avoidance of certain tables
and poker rooms.
Sarah needed knowledge of li mits and well-
timed folds. Folds became i mportant in order to
avoid some circumstances . Once in a awhile
someone would get so annoyed at loosing the
previous hand that they over bet the next, and Sarah
could sense that now and had the experience to know
fold if she didnt have a good hand . Sometimes she

40
would fold even though she thought she could win
the hand, because if she did not, she knew what the
consequences would be. Fists would fly, and
mayhem would lead t o a bounce out the door, not
only for the perpetrator but for anyone involved in
the hand, for j ust being there and possibl y
instigating the incident.
One day Sarah was about to be set -up for more
trouble, it was a late night table and only a few
players there . Ever yone else had left for the night,
and Sarah was a bit apprehensi ve about stayin g to
play, but the call of the chips and the money was too
much for her to resist.
After all, she was getting ver y good at this.
She gave up her cashier j ob, because she was
winning enough to help with the bills at home and
then some . She bought a car, and there -by did not
need to borrow Moms or Dads any more . She j ust
told them that they gave her a raise and moved her to
the next town over, and did not need it anymore .
They believed her for the short term, but time would
soon tell on Sarah, now would it not? Always did,
and always will, nothi ng she could do about it.
The night wore on and her stacks were not
growing anyways near as fast as she had hoped . The
two guys she wa s pl aying were prett y good . Her
reputation was growing too and they had heard of her

41
and had to see for t hemsel ves how good she was .
She had to admit that she did not know these guys
ver y well, but she was learning, as they played, hand
after hand. Her confi dence was gr owing, with time,
but ti me was ticking away, and with ti me, her stacks
grew, and it suddenl y became a bit too fast, she
thought. One of them was mucking a bit too often
for her comfort . She started winning, hand upon
hand, without any si gns what so ever, and when she
started to realize that this should not be happening.
OMG Sarah thought . I am in trouble again . These
guys are not here j ust to play poker, she said to
herself, j ust as one of them got up and pushed her
back in her chair, sending them both crashing to the
floor as he j umped on her, the way a dog hum ps your
leg. He pulled her pants down as she struggled to
get out from under hi m, but his friend helped.
Before he could have his way with her, she pulled
out the 44 and blast ed a hole bi g enough to push
your hand through his chest . He was done with, an d
she knew the other guy would be on his way out the
door before she coul d fire again, running away as
fast as he could . She was relieved that to see his
sorry butt moving away at nearl y the speed of light.
At the Police Station Sarah thought that t his
was it. The bi g house, the pen, the hole, the pits,
was it for her, for the rest of her life . The detective

42
interrogated her for only about an hour, probabl y
going over the details ten times over . There was not
much to say reall y,
I j ust blasted him whi le on top of me on the
floor. I was afraid for my life,
She kept telling them, balling it out, repeatedly.

All this is over penny anti poker?

The detective kept saying . Nevertheless, Sarah
insisted,
This wasnt about poker . I was al most raped
and was in fear of my life.

The other suspect ran. Jumped the coop, got away,

AWOL, could not be f ound, anywhere . The detective
told Sarahs parents,
Looks to me like self -defense, but whered
she get the 44?
They said,
I dont know
Al most in unison they both responded,
Much less, until now we didnt know why
she would even need it . Thank God that she
had it, though,
Her mother said,
She could be dead, not hi m, I suppose.
The detective said,

43
 Well, were going to release her to your
custody, keep her close at hand until you hear
from us. We will need to hold on to the 44
until we can end this case . Unless and until
we find the other person, this case is fai rly
cut, and dried. To be filed away as Self
Defense.

Mom and Dad had tri ed to understand, all the

way home, but when they got there, the shit would
hit the fan. What a mess Sarah thought . All that
shit all over the walls, floor and ceiling, j ust like the
guy I j ust blasted . I am going to have to dig another
huge hole to get away from this one, and Mom and
Dad would be more t han glad to gi ve her more and
larger shovels to do it with too.

44
 Chapter 4
Gwens Mom

Sarah had put thoughts of Jeanie in the back

of her mind. Needing to move away from poker a bit
brought her back to the fr ont. She needed a
vacation, a holiday, a respite, j ust some time off,
like any j ob, as if put ting a gaping hole in someone
was not enough to make you quit that j ob . It was
getting virtuall y too hot to handle . She tried chess,
but somehow chess with Gwen and Harr y did not
seem to have the same appeal to Sarah . She was way
beyond kids games too . Saying to herself that, with
what has happened t o her recently, she definitely
cannot take a step back.
The lack of adrenaline has withdrawal
symptoms. It was not so much, any physical
symptoms, but the worse kind, the thoughts and
memories and her i magination, fantasies, night mares,
night -pleasures. Night -pleasures, you know, the
dreams you have that when you wake -up and you
wish you had not awoke . She loved the one where
she had found herself walking naked in a public
shopping mall and everyone was watching her as she
wal ked, and looked back and smiled, and they smiled

45
back at you, because t hey li ked what they saw . After
all, in the dream she was having fun doi ng it, or
rather, dreaming it.
Funny thing about dreams, you onl y remember
them if you think about them ri ght away after waking
up. It is some sort of temporary memor y that is
replaced up by something else and you f orget all
about it in seconds, i f you do not do something to
make the conscious mind remember it . Sarah
wondered how many dreams had she dreamt and
forgotten. How many dreams came, went, and never
entered conscious thought . They say you need to
wake -up as you are dreaming, in order to re member
it, and make a mental or physical note of it before
remembering it later . How many ni ght -pleasures
had there been? Many never make it to the surface.
OMG, she thought, how many ni ght mares too?
She was tired of dreaming about Gwen s
mom, so she turned her thoughts towards her . Gwen
was OK, but her mom really got Sarahs attention . It
must have been the way she looked at her, that time
they got caught. Gett ing to know her better was not
going to be ea s y. She so desperately wanted her she
could taste it . It was the taste of desire, not j ust
curiosity, as she thought about the cat . You know,
the cat, which was killed by something less then
desire.

46
 They would visit each other on occasions, like
holidays, Friday ni ght cocktails with the ne ighbors,
cookouts, weddings, etcetera, but always wi th whole
families around . It would be odd to be seen with her
without anyone else around, Sarah thought, so it
would have to wait for a while . It would wait until
the moment was ri ght , and this whole th ing seemed
right to Sarah, to pur sue her, and beyond . She saw
the looks and felt the brushes of her hand as she
passed. The soft hand running over the shoulder or
down the ar m she wanted it too . She knew, because
Sarah would do the same things, feeling the power of
Carnal Knowledge in a passing of the hand over
the buttocks after a hug, the way you do it when you
know no one else can see it . Just a gentile rub , as
you drop your hands after a hug . It woul d arouse
Sarah, and hoped Jeanie would too. She thought so,
by the look in her eyes after such encounter s.
Playing poker with her would not be the way
to her heart . It mi ght have been to Sarah, had
circumstances been reversed . Say if, Jeanie wanted
to play strip poker, or something . Nevertheless,
Sarah did not see that situation headed her way
anyti me soon. Sar ah figured Jeanie was still
scheming on some other approach.
She would have to pursue Jeanie in order to
acquire her love, she thought to herself, or it j ust

47
wont happen, and it wasnt goi ng to happen while
j ust thinking about it, after all, life really isnt what
happens to you whil e youre busy maki ng other
plans, right? It is what you do, for the better, or for
the worse of it, at least as far as those who do not
have IT . Which one was coming to Sarah and
Jeanie? Was it for the b etter or for the worse? It
would have been anyones guess.
Sarah would fantasi ze about playing strip
poker with her, ending up on the living room floor in
front of a blazing fireplace . They would be totally
naked making love for hours and hours . Sar ah would
always wake up from this dream, to find something
burning on the stove, or something falling out of her
hand hitting her foot, causing pain, somet hing that
j olted her back into reality. and she would g o
about what she was doing with dampness between
her thighs.
Loving her would be the easy part . Turning
Jeanies lust for her into love would be the
challenge, but Sarah did finally come up with a plan
for this, that was sure to wor k, or so she thought.
Sarah knew that every Wednesday Jeanie
would be at home, alone, but how would she get in
there without someone possibl y seei ng her?
Ever yones house was so close to each other and
people were coming and going all the ti me, and old

48
man Phillsum had not hing better to do than watch all
the comings and goings up and down the street, all
day long li ke a securit y camera . All I would have to
do, she reasoned, is get a disguise . If I could find
j ust the right dress, shoes, hat, book bag, sunglasses,
I could look li ke one of those women that come by to
study the Bible with you, over a cup of tea, in the
afternoon. Yes, that was it, Sarah exclaimed . She
was off to the depart ment store to do some shopping.
Later that afternoon she got all dolled up .
She went heav y on the make -up and put the entire
new outfit on. She was sure this woul d get her
through the door, undetected, at least, not as Sarah .
She had parked her car in the garage, which was
attached to the house, so she could get out of the
house relativel y u ndet ected, at least not det ected as
the Bible Lady. She hid the sunglasses and hat
beside her on the seat until far enough away and
around the corner . Then she par ked the car in an out
of the way spot near the grocer y store and proceeded
to wal k back up the street to Jeanies house . She
was getting excited . This could wor k, ri ght ?
It wor ked, or so it seemed, and it is hard to
describe Jeanies surprised look at Sarahs
appearance. It was one of surprise , and it quickl y
changed to delight . Jeanie thought, what an
ingenious plan, to herself as Sarah walked through

49
the door, and she qui ckl y looked up and down the
street to see who saw, if anyone . Mr. Phillsum, j ust
across the street, caught that look on her face,
peeking from behind his window curtain . Hmmmm,
he thought, wonder who that is and what thats all
about he said to himself . I know all t he Bible
toting women around here. Never saw that one
before, even though he onl y saw Sarah from behind.
Sarah had some explaining to do, she thought
to herself, as Jeanie l ed her by the hand thr ough the
living room to the downstairs hall to the spare
bedroom. Sarah was caught by surprise at how
quickl y the clothes fl ew off her as hers were now
being removed. Jeanie had beautiful long blond hair,
when she l et it down, 40ish not too sli m, a bit husky
like Sarah, but as horny as a bull after a cow in heat,
as horny as a bull after a cow, in heat or not . Sarah
had never seen her naked before and now she was in
heaven, as Jeanies hands, lips, and body touched her
in j ust the right ways and places . Sarah was finally
in a good place and felt like she could stay ri ght
there for eternity, and hoped Jeanie would feel the
same way, as tears rolled down her cheek, because
she knew this woul d not last. How could it,
repeatedly, in her head, while enj oying the war m
embrace of a new found love.

50
 Now what would they do . Ever ything has
changed for them. What have we done ? They said,
almost in unison to each other, while looking at each
other as Sarah stood in the doorwa y, about to face
the Gauntlet on the other side of the door . The
Nei ghbors ! You know, The Nei ghbors . Sarah
thought to herself. Maybe this ti me ever ything will
wor k out for the best . Of course, Sarah knew that it
would not, as tears began to well up agai n in her
eyes. Sarah thought to herself, we ve lingered way
too long, and said,
I ve got to go, Rob will be home soon . There
will be trouble if he sees us together.
Just as Sarah was about to open the front door and
go, Jeanies husband Rob came t hrough the side door
from the garage and looked through the Kitchen
towards the front door to see the surprised looks on
their faces.
Whats wrong?
He asked as he approached,
Wow Sarah, you look like youre dressed for
church or something. Hope no one died and
youre on your way to a funeral.
Oh!.... yes!
She blurted out.

51
 I have an Uncle in j ail . He was stabbed with
a homemade knife f or winning at a poker
game. See ya,
She said, as she bolted out the door, without her hat
on to cover her fac e. Mr. Phillsum now recognized
her. He went to his garage to get a shovel, but Sarah
was gone by the ti me he reached the curb.

52
 Chapter 5
Gwens Dad

Now and then Sarah t hought about the day she

and Jeanie got together and so did Rob . He now
wanted her too, after Jeanie confessed about their
encounter, and spilled her guts, all over the place,
with all the details, word for word, leaving nothing
to the i magination, fil ling in all the blanks . Jeanie
was so shameful about it, that it would have turned
Sarahs stomach inside out, if she had been there to
hear it. He had suspected something odd when there
was no news report about a stabbing at the Count y
Jail, and nothing in the Obituaries.
It was the strip poker part, which intrigued
hi m the most , at first, but then, he had also heard
about Harr ys dilemmas, and wanted to see if the
boner part was true . Even the poker table part
interested hi m. Was she that good?
After gi ving up poker for a while, she was
able to get her j ob back at the store . They f el t sorry
for her after all that she had been through . They felt
it would be good to help keep her from the poker . It
was prett y much a full time j ob, now that she had
graduated hi gh school . Not to mention that she

53
promised not to get into any more troubl e over
poker. Laugh out loud.
One day Rob stopped by the store to pick -up
some beer, and told her, as he was checking out, that
he was having a poker party later that night and that
she should stop by to play . He said.
No money invol ved, j ust free chip s and beer,
with a little fun on the side
She did not know what he meant by that but told
hi m,
Ill think about it, maybe later after wor k
No way, she thought to herself, No way.
Sarah was leaving for home when the thought
crossed her mind, Maybe it wouldnt hurt to play
for j ust a short while, a couple of hands, after all it
was free chips, and what could go wrong, Ri ght?
She knew better, but was in denial . It was in her
blood, and could not resist. That little devil on her
right shoulder tal ked her into it ever y ti me . All the
way there, she kept thinking, What kind of trouble
am I going to get into this time? It could be a lot of
fun finding out , besides, Jeanie mi ght be there . She
was not sure what would happen, but what was about
to happen could not have happened any ot her way,
and would ulti matel y prove to be no fun at all.
It was a bit strange t o Sarah, that there were
no cars parked in front of Rob and Jeanies house

54
that night. She thought that maybe they were j ust a
few local neighbors who must have wal ked over .
She also noticed their garage door was open and onl y
his car was there . How odd, she thought . It was
Saturday, and maybe Jeanie had gone to visit her
mother or something, she thought, and Harr y was out
with the guys, maybe. She let herself in knocking as
she entered, to announce her arrival, peering around
the edge of the door she saw, to her surprise sitting
at the kitchen table, both Rob and Harry . OMG, she
thought. I cannot play poker with Harr y . I will be
distracted all night thinking about histor y, laughing
to her -self as she sat down . Rob had tried to get
Harry out of the house but to no avail . He had made
the mistake of telling hi m about the poker game and
that Sarah mi ght be here for it . No way is Harry
goin g to miss this one.
It did not take long, j ust a few hands, for the
conversation to come around to Harr y and his
dilemmas. Rob saying, I wish I could have been
there to see that . Trying to change the subj ect
Sarah asked,
Wheres Jeanie, Rob?
He Hemmed and Hawwed a bit and said,
Off to see her mom f or the weekend . Har ry
looked away and down at the floor . Sarah could read
his face like a book, something was up, and it was

55
not j ust poker . Harr y knew if he stayed he would
have to say somethin g eventuall y, but he did not
want to be there when she figured it all out.
Whats wrong Harr y?
She queried, but he di d not say anything and j ust got
up and left the room without a word . A few seconds
later, they heard the front door close . He left the
two of them there alone . Sarah was getting nervous
now. She had felt that tension before . Just seconds
before she hit the floor and blew that guys guts out .
She was not packing toni ght, but she now had the
feeling as if she wished she were . She had to ask
about Jeanie . What had really happened ? Was she
really at her mothers, or somewhere else ? It was
difficult for her to hold this man account able for
something that really was not any of her business or
responsibility. Or was it? Frozen by his st are, she
unable to speak, gagged by the adrenaline and heavy
heartbeat. He continued to stare at her as he dealt
the cards, saying,
One hand, wi nner chooses t he
consequences.
She nodded yes, and picked up her cards . They were
playing fi ve -card draw, apparently, because that is
what was dealt . Once the cards were dealt, he said,
Were playing Guts no draw, what ve you
got?

56
Sarah looked at her cards and said,
Ill tell you what .. If I have t he
winning hand then you promise to tell me t he
truth about where Jeanie is.
Rob looked down at his cards and thought for a
moment, looked up and said,
Youre a smart girl, what do you think t he
truth is?
And
You look worried, concerned, and ready to
bolt out the door . Why so ner vous?

Sarah could not break her eyes away from hi s stare it

was so intense . She knew all was not a ll right with
Jeanie, but could only i magine what mi ght have
happened. Her thoughts went to their encounter and
maybe would lead to something horrible . Her eyes
filled with tears and no longer could focus on his .
He reached acr oss the table to wipe the t ears from
her cheek and said,
I can tell how much you care for her . Thats
why youre here, ri ght ?
Sarah had thought of it, and it was true, or at least
partially. Jeanie was still on her mind, a lot in fact .
She could not forget how well she felt for that short
time they had together . He went on to say that,
Jeanie had left him, and probabl y will not be back.

57
Sarahs head was down now contemplating what t o
do now, but when he said that, her eyes looked up at
hi m with an expressi on of extreme concer n as she
realized that he had hurt her, not j ust emotionally
but physicall y as wel l . Jeanie would not have left
for good without sayi ng good-bye. He sensed that
Sarah now knew the truth and had to say no more .
Sarah also knew now that it was because of their
encounter that day, and up until now had felt no
remorse about it.
How badl y hurt is she?
Sarah squeaked out, but he was no longer i n a mood
to talk. He j ust loo ked down at the table without
acknowledging her question . She looked at her
cards. They were al l hearts, queen hi gh, and laid
them on the table and said,
I win.
Sarah j ust got up and left, and went looking for
Harry.
Harry was not to be found that night.
Probabl y found a bed for the night with one of the
guys. Harr y did not have a girl friend, at least as far
as she knew . She thought that he had feelings for
her, but that was not mutual, or at least not in the
same way. Not love, that is, it was o nl y inf atuation .
The feelings you get out of the closeness . However ,
the honesty, the inability to hold anything back, the

58
willingness to submit t o the close personal scrutiny,
that which you onl y get from a loved one, from a
lover, and from the mutual a doration. Harry would
have to wait for that, f or now.
Days passed before t heir paths would cross
again. Her emotions had not quelled though . Her
feelings for Jeanie ran deep, as she wondered how
she felt about the two of them . Harr y came into the
store, not to shop, but to see her . She asked for a
break so they could talk, and went outside f or a few
mi nutes. He said his father told hi m about the poker
game the other night, and that the outcome was
different than he had hoped.
He told me about wantin g to do the strip
poker and all .
Sarahs eyes bul ged nearly out of her head, and
yelled,
He wanted to do what ?
Harry taking a step back so that the wor ds mi ght
miss his ears as they whooshed by, Sarah said,
That little shit
Then Harry said,
Good tr y, missed again.
That fucking bastard!
Whoosh! Smack! Found its mar k this ti me.

59
 OMG! Shhhh, someone mi ght hear you, and
get the wrong idea . I m j ust here to let you
know where mom is . She asked for you.
That got Sarahs attention.
She wants to tal k to you about what
happened.
Sarah apologi zed.
I m sorr y, this is all j ust so confusing .
Where is she?
Shes at her sisters place . Heres a map and
address. Its not too far away.
The next day Sarah t old her boss she needed
the day off to visit a friend in the hospital over in
the next count y. He said,
Ok, well cover for you,
Off she went . When she got there, and it was not too
hard to find, Jeanies sister Pam met her at the door ,
who was not at all pleased that anyone was at the
door, much less asking for Jeanie.
May I see Jeannie?
Jeanies not available for callers, go away
She slammed the door in her face . Jeanie was
looking out the window at who was at the door and
told Pam,
Go back out there and ask her in.
Pam looke d at her as if she had two heads or
something, but let Sarah in despite her obj ections .

60
Standing j ust inside the doorway Sarah could see
why Pam was so cauti ous about letting anyone in to
see Jeanie.
Oh my god Jeanie what has he done to you?
Sarah sobbed, wanting to hold her but not sure of
what she could touch . Jeanie had two black eyes and
a split lip with stitches, and who knows what else
was black, blue, and stitched under her clothes .
Sarah held back from hugging or touching her in any
way, afraid to cause any more pain.
Can we go somewher e where we can tal k?
Sarah asked . Jeanie grabbed her hand and led her
down the hall to her bedroom, which was Pams
guest room. Sarah notice a bit of a li mp as she
wal ked, and thought t hat cannot be ver y go od. The
door closed and Sarah asked,
Can I hug you?
Jeanie said,
You better,
They hugged and kissed for at least ten minutes, they
then sat down and j ust looked at each other l ike there
was no tomorrow, with tears rolling and eyes
reddening. It was as i f someone had collected all the
shovels gi ven to Sarah over the years, and was
dumped on top of her , all at once. It was not easy to
see the pain in Jeanies eyes . It was not j ust the
hitting. It was the powerful feelings of failure in her

61
life that brought both of them to this point in time .
Jeanie said she felt enough pain for t went y people,
but that it was from her own mistakes and not j ust
their encounter that day. She was l ying, and wanted
to spare the pain for Sarah . It was true, and it
brought all of her pai n to the surface . Sar ah knew
better anyways, but thought Jeanie would feel better
if she went along wit h it and said she understood .
They j ust sat there for the longest ti me j ust looking
deeply into each other s eyes thinking, Why?
Jeanies sister brought them lunch . Jeanie
would carefull y sip a mil kshake through a straw
around the split lip, but having trouble keeping it all
in her mouth as she swallowed . They laughed a bit
about it, as Sarah gnawed on an Italian sub . Jeanie
told her that shes staying here for a bit, at least long
enough to recover, but from that point on she did not
know. Sarah left Jeanie not knowing if she would
ever see her again, which brought anger and despise
towards Rob to the surface . Sarah could hardl y bare
the pain she felt for Jeanie . All the way home, the
trucks towing the excavators followed her and
started digging right outside her bedroom window
and would not stop to let her sleep at all that night.

62
 Chapter 6
Vegas

Mr. Phillsum was shocked at h earing about his

long ti me friend and neighbors predicament . He felt
bad for Jeanie, but was friends more with Rob then
her. He knew Sarah was a good friend of the famil y,
and stopped by the store to ask her over for tea some
afternoon, to tal k to her a bout the Bible . They both
knew he did not want to talk about the Bible, and
Sarah figured it was about Jeanie, so she sai d,
Yes, I m off tomor row and would be by
around 2:00 PM, with a Bible.

Ever since he saw her all dressed -up going to

see Jeanie that day, he developed an interest in her .
He did not know why , exactly, but he did know of
her. He knew she played poker, because he did too .
Their paths never crossed at a table, but ot hers who
he played had played at her tables . Sarah had a good
reputation for being a good poker player, not to
mention good with a 44 too . However, Sarah had not
heard much about Tom. He was quiet and kept to
hi mself for the most part . She knew he was good,

63
but had no idea j ust how good, and was about to find
out, first hand.
Next day, sure enough, 2:00PM rolled around,
and there she was at his door . Brave little soul, he
thought to hi mself as she entered . Sarah was old
enough, and was not worried about what the
neighbors would think anymore, especially since she
was seeing the Security Camera hi mself . She
knew she could take care of herself, in any case.
Sarah was surprised t o see a ver y nice poker
table in the den j ust off Toms living room . Oval
shaped African mahogany with green felt, and places
for up to ni ne players at once . It had a dealers seat
with slots and spaces for chips and car ds. Sarah
could only i magine what it mi ght be like, but she had
seen pictures of tables in Vegas, and this one was as
nice as or nicer than t hat.
Want to play?
He asked, noticing the gleam in her eyes as she
entered the den, and placed her hand on the
cushioned ri m of the t able.
Wow!
She said,
This is nice . It must have cost a fortune.
Turning to look into his eyes, to see if it was true or
not.

64
 Good girl, you ve got good eyes for the finer
things in life.
Yes, of course, sill y!
She exclai med, as she sat down in one of the
matching seats, with green leather uphol stery, to
match the table felt color and the mahogany wood.
Very comfortable, you could play all ni ght at
a table like this.
Thats the idea,
He said in a serious tone . With that, Sarah
wondered, j ust how good of a player is he?

Sarah knew she was about to find out, as he

opened a fresh pack of cards and spread them out on
the table to shuf fle them up, getting ready to deal the
first hand.
How much you got on you?
He asked.
Well, I dont nor mally carry much j ust out
and about, but I suspected something was up
so I brought $10,000 with me today.
Thatll be enough to get started . If you are
really going to learn poker, it has to be real .
No play money here.
Sarah thought to herself, $10K j ust to get started ?
How much more woul d I need? However , she was
afraid to ask.

65
 Go ahead, ask
He said.
How much more are we tal king abo ut here?
She asked sheepishl y.
Dont worr y too much about that, lets just
get started and see how it goes . Ever been to
Vegas?
Vegas? No, maybe I will someday.
Youll need to learn Texas Holdem,
someti mes referred to as Flop poker . You
ever played it?
No, but why do I feel like I m about to be
taught
Its the same as all other poker hands . You
make the best hand you can from youre t wo
pocket cards, which are dealt face down and
only you see them, and three out of the five
communit y cards on t he table that get dealt in
three phases . We call the first three cards the
Flop. The next card is called the Turn
and then the fifth card is called the River
and you make bets as each phase is dealt .
Not too difficult, I guess, huh?
OK then, lets go
They played for several hours, j ust getting used to
the Texas Holdem for mat . Sarah was down several
Gs but she was feeling good about the play.

66
 Not too bad f or a beginner she sai d .
Beginner?
Tom squawked.
A beginner would h ave been out of chips
after j ust three hands . Youre doing j ust
fine.

All the concepts are the same . The only thi ng

is the communit y cards, which ever yone plays . It is
j ust a different format of play . You j ust need to
keep in mi nd that if there are t hree Jacks on the
table, that everyone still in the hand has three Jacks
too. If you have pocket nines, you would have Jacks
full of nines, a Full House, and if there is a ten on
the River and another player has a ten in his pocket ,
and then he wins with Jacks full of Tens . Kicker
cards become i mportant too . Say you have a King in
your pocket, another player mi ght have an Ace, but
if no one has a pair to make Full House or an Ace or
the last Jack, three Jacks with a King kicker wins .
You can tell someti mes by the betting, unl ess there
is a bluff, but that is Poker, it is a gamble. The trick
is to be ri ght more times than wrong, and hope
someone else wagers against your Ri ght Stuff .
Sarah knew a lot about poker with the guys, and then
some, including some of the Other Guys .
However , this seemed to her a different class of

67
Poker, a step -up, less of the street type, more of the
refined educated t ype.
Sarah would find her self back at Phillsums
often. He really was a great person, even though he
was old enough to be her grandfather . She would
come to think of hi m as a great friend, but not as a
potential lover . He thought of her as a great protg,
who could go far in this game, and perhaps her good
fortune mi ght bring him some too . As far as he wa s
concerned, she needed to know about Odds and
figuring Outs etcetera . Nevertheless, that would be a
challenge for her . Poker to her was more of an art, a
feeling for it, the reading of players, having the
experience of thousands of hands of the t ype tha t you
get i mprinted on your brain, as to how often
something comes up or not . To her it was not
strictly the math . It was an art; it was creative card,
player, and chip maneuvering . She would get a
laugh ever y ti me she beat a player by calling his bet
and getting a third King on the draw, or River , to
beat his three Jacks . You had no business making
that call, it was a stupid call, and you shoul dnt have
won that hand . Teee Heee Heee she went all the
way to the bank. Granted someti mes this did not
wor k, but she was good at it, or j ust lucky, or
something, because she won more than she lost .
There had to be something there . Sarah understood

68
the concept of fi guri ng the odds, and maybe with
time, she could remember some of the rules, but her
mi nd did not wor k li ke a calculator or a computer,
instantly whi zzing up the answers with mini mal
input, as some player s can . She never had enough
time to do it in her head, at the table, while others
were waiting, and get ting i mpatient . All she knew
was that it was not the math, which allowed her to
win.
Playing heads -up with j ust Tom was not good
enough. Heads -up is j ust two players against each
other. It plays different . The more players the more
potential there is for over cards against you, or vice
versa. Tom began asking some of his other poker
buddies over to help . First one, then two, he slowly
increased the number s of players to help point out
the subtle differences and nuances of the play, and
help her to i mprove how to play them.

This day Tom a sked,

Sarah, you still packing that 44?
Why? You worried or something?
Well? ...... Yes or no?
No, OK ? ..Dont feel the need, especially
here
Good
Tom said.

69
I ve gotten over the street game mentality,
with the boys, who would be men . My ai m is
a bit hi gher these days . Id like to put those
days behind me, and let the Langoliers eat
them all up.
The Langoliers?
Yah, you know, the Steven King novel about
time Munchers? They made a bad B movie
out of it several years ago too, I thin k.
Do you still have it?
The 44? Noooo, too dangerous, and scary .
Besides, I wont be i n those kinds of games
any more . RIGHT?
Right Baby! You ar e too good to fi ght wi th
the Time Munchers . Come to Vegas with
me My Pretty.
Vegas? Reall y? I dont know. Do you thi nk
I should? Is it too soon?
Have no doubts Sarah, because, if you do you
will fail. WE will fail. No, its not too
soon. Believe me. There are many fools
there, seemingl y will ing to part with their
money j ust like snappi ng a whip, and you are
good enough to rake i t all in from them . Go
pack your bags, Ill get the airline tickets and
well be off as soon as we can.

70
 It was the next morning, Januar y 12, whi ch
was a cloudy cold wi nter day in Boston, at Logan
International . Wind blowing out of the nort h, and a
threat of snow in the air . Sarah was glad to leave
that behind in Boston . She was looki ng forward to
sunny skies and war mer temperatures, of which there
was plent y of in Vegas . Los Vegas, a dusty little
town in the middle of the desert in southern Nevada,
who would have ever thought they would come to
this.
She looked out the window, as the plane l ifted
off the ground . She thought about ever ything that
she has been through, and could not shake the
feeling of unce rtainty. It was the lack of carnal
knowledge, of an adventure yet to unfold . At the
same ti me she felt the confidence that comes from
experience and that she had something bett er than a
44 under her j acket, and was looki ng forward to
pulling that tri gger .
Well Sarah, how does it feel to be on your
way to the gambling capitol of the world?
Oh My God Tom, what have you gotten me
into?
No second thoughts now . Thats enough of
that.

71
 I know, j ust teasing, we are going to ki ll
them, all of them. Theyll be j umping from
the rooftops by the dozen, RIGHT?
Thats my little girl

Check-in was a whiz, the service i mpeccable,

and THE ROOM It was a double suite with
bedrooms and baths on each side of a li vi ng room ,
with a kitchenette the size of most Bosto n apart ment
kitchens. There was plush carpeting, mar ble tiled
baths, and cherr y woodwor k and paneling on the
walls, wainscoting up to about three feet above the
floor. Floor to ceiling drapes obscured the view, but
when drawn open revealed one of the mos t stunning
views on earth . Looking out at the Vegas strip fully
lighted at ni ght from the twenty -third floor of the
Las Vegas Western Hemisphere Hotel and Resort .
Truly has to be one of the great wonders of the
world.
Sarah said to Tom,
Good thing the Hoover dam is close by
generating enough power to keep all those
lights burning out there, in a city that never
sleeps, Sin City 24/7/ 365
Never mi nd that,
Tom said, in a disgust ed voice.
You need to concentrate on Poker

72
 OH! That. Yes, back to reality.
Do I need to pull the drapes closed again?
No, I can handle that . What is next, Some
Heads -up? Just you and me, to war m -up wi th
before we head down?
No, lets j ust go down. However, we should
get some dinner, and talk a little about
strategy, then hit the t ables.

With that, they wer e off to the restaurant

where they ordered dinner and talked about where
they would start and what their goals were . Toms
thoughts were to play the $100/$200 dollar
Small/Lar ge blind tabl es first, with $10K o r $12K to
start with, in order to get the $100K stakes for the
Private tables upstairs, behind closed doors, where
the big money was . Sarahs thoughts went t o the 44,
Why did I get rid of it? However, the reality was
that she really did not need it . RIGHT? After all,
Tom always says, What you dont know wont hurt
you. So theres no reason to be apprehensive,
because luck and skill are on your side, right? She
would repeat in her head, Luck and skills are on my
side and I j ust need to win a l ittle bit more than I
loose. The rest would fall into place, and she kne w
when the ti me is right to plunge the blade . The
proverbial blade, plunged deep into some rich mans

73
guts, then she could sit back and watch his chips
bleed all over, over to her side of the table .
They pondered which 100/200 table to sit at .
Tom suggested watching a few to see which one
mi ght suit them the best . The ones with a lot of
chips and bad calls would do ver y nicel y tonight .
One table had a couple of guys trading chips back
and forth willy -nill y with little thought about what
they were doing, so Tom said, This is the one, you
sit, Ill watch. Sarah sat and placed her chips on
the table. It seemed to her that her $10K would be
short, compared to some of the others . Although,
she thought, That will change quickl y.
She started out slowly, folding to any bet,
unless she had somet hing reall y worth bet ting on,
like three queens or better . However, her cards were
coming in pretty col d and she was folding most
ever y hand. She was waiting and watching, though .
Learning about how t he others were playing . Tom
could see her face fr om the other side of the table,
trying to keep under cover, but watched from the
sideline and could al most hear Sarahs mind click, at
the registration of each bit of infor mation . Tom
thought, This wont take long. It did not, Sarah
started winning, and the stacks grew . The others
were fretting, sweati ng, wringing their hands, and
folding. Thousands of dollars in chips sliding across

74
the table, almost on their own, as if they knew they
were Sarahs in the first place . WOW Sarah
thought to herself, I can do this. Her confidence
grew, with each successful hand, over and over again
until each and ever y stack of theirs was hers, or
nearly so . Some woul d get up from the tabl e before
all was lost, realizing it was futile to continue, th ey
would like to have stayed to regain their chips, but
at some point we all come to a realization that we
should not go for war d, risking it all, lest the devil
prosper, and they saw Sarah as the devi l . The
writing was in bi g letters on the wall, invisible to
most, but to some, who were percepti ve enough, it
said,
GET OUT BEFORE ITS TOO LATE.

It was ti me now to look for their next mark .

Tom knew of several potential sources of games, but
they were sketchy at best . Tom needed some time to
think about it, make some calls, get some leads, and
develop a reputation perhaps . That mi ght help . For
example, they could move up to a private table at
$1000/$2000 Sma ll/Large blinds . That would get the
towns attention, if Sarah could win there.
Lets rest for now, my prett y . Well hit the
big tables tomorrow. Tom said, as off they went to

75
get a good ni ghts sleep, getting ready for the next
days adventure.
The sun rose over Vegas, the next morni ng,
again, without a wisp of a cloud anywhere, as usual .
The air was dry there . All moisture rung out of the
air as it rose and j ourneyed up and over the Sierra
Nevada Range, and settles down over the desert as if
to say, I m thirsty. Gi ve me all your water.
Most people go from air -conditioned comfort
of home to air -condit ioned comfort of thei r cars to
air -conditioned comfort of their workplace, casino,
or shopping mall . The heat of the sun and the
dryness of the air can be nefarious, if you are not
prepared. Of course, around the pool and at the
outdoor bar, you are never far away from the
satiation of thirst or seclusion from the heat . Sarah
wondered what it would be li ke to be left out there
somewhere, alone wit hout water or shade . Hope I
never have to find out.
Tom slept late that morning, as Sarah order ed
breakfast. The room service was as i mpeccable as
the concier ge was . Ever ything you need and more .
Sarah liked Vegas . She said to herself,
Gotta get her e more often
As she devoured the Eggs Benedict, melon chunks,
and various berries, that accompanied the eggs . Tom
awoke and said

76
 Ahhh, wake up and smell the coffee
And
Hey, where are my eggs ?
Sarah pointed to the ot her end of the table and said,
Under that sil ver ser ving lid.
Great, I love this stuf f, good choice.
After breakfast, they headed down to the fl oor
to find the hi gh stakes tables.
Not many people her e, Sarah said.
Too early for the hi gh rollers, well tr y again
later
Tom said, as he headed for the car rental off ice .
Were headed for a f riends house j ust out of
town in the foothills, out near Las Vegas
Lake, in Waterton . I called him before we left
and hes expecting us . Larry is another player
I met several visits ago a nd to whom of whi ch
I lost a lot of money. Were still friends
though. He said call next time youre in town
and Ill gi ve you a chance to win it back .
Nice guy, huh?
Ill say. Is it a nice place?
Its among the best around here.
They headed to wards a palatial residence on a
hillside overlooking a golf course and Lake Las
Vegas beyond . Sarah could not help but be a bit
apprehensi ve . She could not help but feel she was

77
about to embar k on another unknown colossal
adventure, leading to disaster agai n, somehow, and
could not get Stranded in The Desert out of her
mi nd.
They pulled into Larrys dri veway, headed for
front door, and were met there by his gi rlfriend,
Candy. She was dressed for the pool, weari ng onl y a
bikini bottom, and a ti ny one at t hat. Sarah thought,
Why even bother wit h that?
Hi, come on in, hes expecting you.
Sarah could not get her eyes off her boob j ob . The
skin was so tightl y str etched it looked li ke you could
bounce a quarter off them and have trouble catching
it, because it would bounce ri ght back at you as fast
as it was thrown . Tom could not take his eyes off
them because of how big they were . There was no
bounce to them at all, when she wal ked, though .
However , Sarah coul d not help but notice the way
she wal ked. It was as if to say,
Theyre here so please look at them.

Larry was sitting in a lounge chair next to the

pool, enj oying the br ight sunny Vegas day . Sarah
thought, Theyre sun worshipers, all of them, with
golden brown tans, blond hair, and sungl asses,
spending all day by the pool, and all night

78
gambling. He stood up to greet us, shaking Toms
hand saying,
Good to see you again, glad you could make
it all the way out here, and who mi ght this
pretty one be?
Sarah thought he was j ust being kin d, but stuck her
hand out and said,
I m Sarah, Toms little girl poker player.
Oh, I see. Tom? Youre training another
one?
Tom had not mentioned anyone else to her and she
thought, Oh, Oh, where is this going to go?
Sarah looked over to Tom, se arching for a clue . He
diverted his eyes from hers and thought for a
moment and said,
I hadnt told Sarah about that yet, Larr y . I
was waiting for j ust the right moment, but t he
cat is out of the bag now . Sorr y Sarah, Ill
tell you later, maybe.
Sarah wondered why maybe? However, f igured it
was a sore spot with him and would let it go for now .
Larry said,
Believe it or not I heard about your poker
table last night . I have friends ever ywhere,
who tell me ever ything. You are good, arent
you little girl?

79
Sarah blushing now l ooked up directly into his eyes
to see if he was telling the truth or j ust fishing for
infor mation. She was surprised to see that he was
speaking seriousl y and truthfully . Maybe I am that
good, or was it j ust his ploy to see how she would
react. Either way, Sarahs read on hi m was right .
He was serious about her ability, and she got the
feeling he wanted t o find out first hand . The
reputation was growi ng, Toms thoughts went to
playing poker, and Sarahs went to filling The
Hole.
The three of them sat down at a pool area
table. It is one of those outdoor glass tables out on a
stone patio with a freestanding canvas pati o canopy
for shade. Sarah thought to herself, Hmmmm
couldnt tease the dragon under this table . Larr y
asked,
Ever yone comf y here?
As he opened a new deck of cards and spr ead them
for shuffling, and Candy brought out the chips case .
Tom nodded in the af firmati ve, and Sarah gave the
thumbs up. Larr y interj ected by pointing out that
he felt like it was two against one, and said,
You guys mind if I call Ralph, a buddy of
mi ne to sit in, to even the sides?
If you must,

80
Tom squawked . Ralph lived next door so it did not
take long, sat right down and they were off and
running as Candy star ted d ealing the cards . Candy
had been a dealer at some tables in one of the
downtown casinos, and she knew what she was
doing. She was ver y professional, and accomplished
at it. Sarah thought, how handy, he a li ve -i n dealer,
and a maj or distraction at a pool side table in Vegas .
OMG Sarah thought, Tom does not stand a chance .
They started low with 100/200 blinds, j ust to get
war med up. They qui ckl y moved to 500/1000, then
1000/2000. No one of them was winning more than
the others, it was pretty even, win o ne, loose a
couple. Sarah deci ded to become a bit more
aggressi ve in order to liven things up, break
something loose, and get something going, for the
better or worse, j ust something . She started raising
on a pair of aces, or fours over twos, and l ow thr ee
of a kind, j ust to upset the balance a bit, and not be
too predictable . It seemed to be wor king. She
would win a bit on those but mostl y lost to better
hands, but now they were not so sure about what she
was playing. She was also watching Larr y and R alph
closely for si gnals, signs, breathing changes, eye
twitches, anything. Larry was smoki ng a ci gar, and
she noticed he would pick it up and puff deeply
ever y ti me he hit a good hand . She thought it must

81
be an unconscious reaction on his part, because he
was ver y consistent wi th that action . It is funny how
we all, at one time or another , do things
unconsciousl y while doing something else, or
thinking about somet hing . It was odd to Sarah,
though, that this person was so lax in discipline at
the level they are playing at . Maybe he j ust thought
these people are amateurs or something and was too
sure of himself, and was not concerned about
screwing up. The next hand was being dealt .
Sarah watched closely . The pocket cards were dealt,
then the flop. Sarah had the Ace and King of
Spades, and the flop revealed a Two of Spades, a
Five of Hearts and a Five of Spades . Sarah looked
straight ahead at the table, the flop cards, and did
not register a puff on the cigar, but he placed a 20K
bet on the Fi ves, she thought he mi ght have a Two,
or an Ace kicker, but probabl y not anot her Fi ve .
Therefore, she called the bet, the other two folded .
Candy dealt the Turn card, and it was a Ten of
Spades. Larry checked, without any added sign of
any kind. Sarah, of cour se now had an Ace hi gh
Flush, but she j ust stared straight ahead at t he table
and the cards, and checked to the Ri ver card . She
knew if she bet there was a chance he would fold .
Sarah thought that if she were going to win t his hand
and win it bi g, he wou ld have to bet first and bet bi g .

82
There it came, the bi g puff on the ci gar, as t he Ri ver
card was dealt, and it was a Six of Diamonds . She
had the flush. What did he have , was the question .
Sarah suspected it was one of the other two Fi ves
and that a s izable bet would be made, and sure
enough, here it came $50K . With that, the pot was
now at $93K . Sarah, hesitating a few seconds not
wanting to make it seem she was too anxious to take
the hand, said, ALL IN . She had $75K and pushed
it out to the mid dl e of the table, Larry called
immediatel y and she f lopped her pockets, ACE/King
of Spades, he mucked his, too ashamed to show what
he had. There was nearly $300K in that pot, and
Sarah was nearl y beside herself, but hid the emotion
well. It is neither good nor polite to gloat in front of
someone who j ust lost $150K in one hand.
Well Tom, she is good . Where did you find
this one?
Tom was not telling, but felt that Larry had been
more than accommodating and thanked him for his
hospitality, but that he and Sarah needed to catch
their flight back to Boston . Tom stuffed his brief
case with the winnings and headed for the door as
Larry said,
Wait. Double or nothing on one hand of
Guts, fi ve cards strait -up, no betting.
Sarah said,

83
 Sure, why not
As Tom was turning several shades of red over the
thought of it, but gave her the go ahead, despite his
reservations. Sarah said,
Candy, go ahead deal, but t his is bet ween
you and me Larr y
OK, you and me . Go ahead Candy.
The cards came one at a t ime. First, an Ace for
Sarah, then a Ten for Larry, the adrenaline starts to
flow now, bi g stakes here . Next cards a Jack for
Sarah and a Seven for Larry, not looking good for
Larry, Tom thought, but Sarah was not out of the
woods yet . Third cards were another Ace f or Sarah
and another Ten for Larry . Heating up now, it could
be anyones hand now . Fourth cards were a Five for
Sarah and a Two for Larry . That is Aces against
Tens, the final cards would tell the tale for this day,
big stakes for a bi g han d at poker, in Vegas, Duh !
Like that never happens, RIGHT Well here it is,
right in front of Sar ah, it was happening, but she
could not believe it . It was too much, too big . The
adrenaline must have been too much for her as she
passed out, fell to the floor, as the last cards were
dealt, another Ace for her and a Queen for Larry . It
took a while for her to regain consciousness . She
dreamed of the desert with the vultures circling,
waiting, to devour her dehydrated body once she

84
died. Sarah could not comprehend what had
happened for a few mi nutes . Once it sunk in, she
looked at Tom and sai d,
I did it, didnt I?
You sure did sweetie
Off they went, back t o Boston with a pile of cash .
OMG she thought, Now what?

They headed back to the hotel . They needed

to recover from the intensity of the days activities,
Sarah particularly . They would head up to their
room and call room service, for dinner, and then the
plan was to, after diner, get some sleep and head out
to the airport first thing in the morning. T he room
service waitress arrived, and Sarah could not help
but notice how beautiful this woman was . She was
not too tall, maybe f ive foot five, long bl ond hair
tied back in a ponytail, for the ser vice Sarah
thought. She had a slim build, size 6 or 7.
She said,
Hello, my name is Susan, and Ill be waiting
on you this evening . Here is your order, and
if you need anything, or something isnt to
your li king, Ill be right back here in seconds,
j ust ask for Susan.
Sarah followed her to the doo r to gi ve her a tip, and
had to comment to her about her beaut y . Susan

85
grabbed her ar m, pul ling her to the corridor, and
whispered into her ear,
Larry told me about you . I dont usual ly
wait on rooms, but I had to meet you . He
showed me the video of y our game today.
Sarah said.
That little rat
Noooo, dont get the wrong idea . I loved
what I saw and want to get to know you
better.
Sarah wanted that too, so she said,
Come back for the cart when were done, I ll
call down for you, and Ill leave my phone
number at home on it . Were headed back to
Boston tomorrow . Call me.
Tom asked,
What was that all about?
Something about seei ng me play last night at
the tables, I think she li kes me, or
something.
Tom thought that t hat was a bit unusua l, but
dismissed it, because it was probabl y nothing . They
ate their dinner and headed for their bedrooms for
the night. However, not before they talked about the
split. They both agreed that 50/50 was fair.
Sarah had trouble sleeping that ni ght, becau se
there was no sound of digging, no excavators

86
outside, and not a shovel in sight, j ust the gentle
sound of the wind whooshing by outside, around a
corner of the building, like a lar ge dump truck filling
a hole.

87
88
 Chapter 7
The One

The next day Sarah f ou nd herself at home at

her parents house . It was j ust outside Boston, north
shore area, a short commute to Boston, if you
wor ked there, and many did . It was what they called
a bedroom communit y, full of people supporting the
big cit y machine, who mi grate back and for th ever y
day and come home t o sleep the night, and go back
the next day, all over again, over and over again, day
in and night out . Some were ni ght in and day out,
but it was the same thi ng, the changi ng of the guard.
On the plane ride back, Sarah had made the
decision to look for an apart ment in Bost on . She
decided also, that she needed to rent verses buy, at
this point. Perhaps somewhere, where she could find
a Lease to Buy arr angement, where the rent gets
applied to the purchase price, or mort gage payments,
if she decides to buy. She said to herself,
Tomorrow, thats what Ill do, go looki ng for a
place in Boston.
Places directly in Boston, such as Beacon
Hill, or Back Bay, or North End, mi ght pr ove to be
quite expensi ve, even Charle stown, j ust outside

89
Boston across the river harbor, at the old
Charlestown Navy Base . This was a great location
for Sarah. She thought it would be perfect, for her,
if she could find the j ust right seller . She had her
eye on the condomini ums built in the 90s out on
one of the old Navy Piers, which has a great view of
downtown Boston across the harbor . They also
looked over towards Old Ironsides, the historic Navy
Sailing Ship, that is at dock there . They gi ve tours
of the ship daily, and anyone touri ng Boston has to
go there to see a bit of our USA History . Ever y
sunset they fire a canon off the stern of this grand
old vessel, as if to si gnal,
All is alright, and another successful day in
the life our grand old country.

They also fire it at 8:00 AM to si gnif y the start

of another day, and to signif y they are still on watch
for those who would har m us.
Yes, this would be the place for Sarah, if she
could pull it off . After all, she could bluff the pants
off Vegas clowns in broad dayli ght for every one to
see.
When Sarah got home that night, there was a
message on her telephone answering system . It was
Susan. The message said,

90
 I m going to be in town at the Har vard Vista
Hotel in Cambridge, on the Charles out near
Har vard Uni versity. Ill gi ve you a call with
my room number when I get there . Hope to
see you next week.
Sarah thought, wow, she is not wasting any ti me .
Sarah thought she would wait until she called, verses
calling back before she leaves, not to gi ve the
impression she is over enthusiastic about her visit .
Slow progress is bet ter than j umping all in and
finding the water freezing cold . She woul d let the
fires war m the waters first, j ust like in a poker game.
Sarah found the condomi nium she was looki ng
for. It was one of the uppe r two floor townhouses,
about half way out t he pier . Its a two story unit
townhouse t ype set -up with bedrooms upstairs and
living areas downstair s . It was one of the units that
had roof terraces , and even a small plunge pool/hot
tub on the upper roof th at faced the downtown
skyline. The rent will be steep but she had to have
it. Tom Phillsum and she will need a high -class
place to groom pr ospective hi gh stakes poker
players, and this place was perfect, for that . Susan
will be impressed too, she thou ght as she was
moving in. Susan might be The One for me . I
must make a good i mpression on her . She thought,
as she fell asleep to the sounds of the city in the

91
backgr ound, that ni ght, for the first time in her new
home.

Susan arrived late one aftern oon, that next week, and
found her way to the Har vard Vista Hot el on the
Charles. The taxi driver knew exactly where to go .
He said.
Been there many ti mes, lickady split,
However , across Boston from Logan International
would prove to be a night mare . Ever try going
through the tunnels and through the Bi g Di g and
get to the other side , much less, attempt Memorial
Drive at rush hour ? Susan was getting a f irst hand
dose of Boston traffic, and did not like it, it was
nowhere as little as Sarah liked it , but that is Boston,
take it or leave it, and Susan felt li ke leavi ng it that
day.
This is nothing li ke Vegas.

All those or ganicall y oriented hi ghways, like tree

roots ending up nowhere in particular with no way
back. There are no east/west, north/so uth, grids
here. It seemed to her like they followed the Goat
paths to and from the pastures . Going ar ound the
woods where the wolves li ved . But the wol ves
would devour you, ever y ti me someone got lost in
the never ending matr ix of Boston streets, while the

92
roads meandered, seemingl y, hi ggltey piggltey
around the cit y as if t o confuse you, not assist you,
in getting to where you needed to go . Man, you got
to know where you are going, if you dont youll
find yourself out in Medford on Interstate Route 9 3
headed north towards New Hampshire, with no place
to turn around, as if to say, Get the fuck out of
here, we dont want you here, if you dont know
where the fuck youre going.
Susan got to the Har vard Vista Ok, but was
none too happy about how long i t took, and she paid
the taxi bill and left a tip, but she was pissed . Sarah
had called the hotel before Susan got there and had a
bouquet of flowers pl aced on the bed, so she would
see them as she enter ed the room . It was t wo dozen
Red Roses, with Babie s Breath flower s as an
adornment, and a car d that si mpl y read,
To Susan", "Welcome to Boston, Love
Sarah.
Susan started to cr y, and said to herself,
How thoughtful
And,
That makes up for the hassle of getting here
And,
Thanks Sarah.
She then cal led down to the Concier ge to see if they
would bring up a vase to put them i n, as she

93
unpacked and looked for the phone number to call
Sarah.
Sarah was not there when Susan called . She
was calling Sarahs home number, and had no idea
she had j ust moved, s o she left a message saying,
Hi Sarah, thanks for the flowers, ver y sweet
of you. Call me, I m i n room 954.
Susan wondered, is she ever home ? However , Sarah
this time was out looking for more furniture to fill
out the Townhouse . Sarah would call hom e often for
her messages, and would eventuall y pick up and
listen to Susans message.
It was a great room. It had a huge single ki ng
size bed, a large cable TV and a desk and chair with
internet connection for your computer, along with a
huge cushy easy chai r and ottoman, not to mention
the ceramic tile lined bathroom with gol d faucet
fittings. But best of all was the lar ge sliding glass
door to the roof top patio that looked out over the
Charles Ri ver basin with a, to die for, view of
downtown Boston s Back Bay and Beacon Hill .
From there you can see all the way from the Bunker
Hill Monument to t he start of the Fenway and
beyond. Susan thought,
What a super mar vel ous spot . It was wor th
all the trouble to get here.

94
As she leaned on the railing si pping a Mart ini on a
bright, sunny, cal m, not too cold January day.
Sarah had finally picked up her messages and
headed over to Cambr idge . When she got there, she
called up to her room And Susan suggested to meet
at the roof top sky -room restaurant on the top floor
of the hotel . Sarah headed for the elevators where
she noticed a man sitting in a lobby chair seemingl y
reading a newspaper . It seemed a bit odd i n that he
was looking over the paper as if sur veying the area
for something, or looking for someo ne in particular,
and had not yet found his mar k . Could not be me he
was looking for . He would have seen me already.
Could have been looking for anyone, she thought,
and said to herself,
Be careful, you dont really know her.
It was true. Sarah left Las Vegas with a lar ge sum of
money, and began to understand why Mr. Phillsum
monitored the street so closely.
Sarah met Susan at the restaurant . Susan was
seated at a table by the window that had nearly a
360-degree view of Boston and some of the subur bs.
Al most all the tables had a si milar view as the floor
to ceiling windows ran al most all the way around the
entire room, with the exception of the elevator and
lobby areas at the far side away from the downtown

95
view. The kitchen was below and out of v iew from
there.
The two of them sat there, j ust looking at each
other, for a few minutes . Each wondering how to
start the conversation, when Sarah spoke up and
said,
Wow, you came all this way j ust to see me.
No, I came here to get to know you bet t er.
I feel li ke a teenager again with a puppy love
crush on you.
Sarah, blushing now, at the look of ador ation in
Susans eyes, and didnt know what to say, except
that,
I know what youre feeling . I felt the same
way when I first saw you, bringing in t hat
dinner cart, back in Vegas.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
No, I dont, not really, but maybe something
akin to it perhaps . I think its more l ike
infatuation, fascination, or passion, at first,
and love develops from your relations hip af ter
that. Kind of like a seed planted in the
ground. If it likes the soil its been planted
in, it will grow well, and produce flowers, and
fruit, and large healthy seeds, and gi ve off a
good healthy, happy, appearance . If not, the
plant mi ght j us t wither and die, or j ust get

96
 along li ving a painful, slow life, not so happy,
and not so healthy looking.
I guess I would agree with that . The
difference is that the seed doesnt get to
choose the soil its planted in.
Yes, and if it could, it woul d choose the soil
that has an appealing out ward appearance
wouldnt it?
Your visit to Vegas blew you to me like a
seed in the wind . Now I want you to grow and
prosper through your roots in the soil I have
to offer.
Sarah j ust smiled and said,
Lets hope for some r ain.

On her way out of the hotel, Sarah was

approached by the gentleman she obser ved on her
way into the Hotel, who was hiding behind the
newspaper obser ving or rather monitor ing the
comings and goings of the Lobby . He now seemed to
want to talk to her . Apparently, he had foll owed her
to the restaurant and had seen her with Susan . He
asked,
Can we tal k?
He looked around the Lobby one more ti me, as if he
was seriousl y in danger of being found by someone

97
with a grudge against hi m or s omething, Sarah
thought to herself.
He said,
Theres a bar downstairs at the bottom level
of the court yard, woul d you please j oin me.
Apprehensi vel y, Sarah nodded, yes, and followed .
They found an out of the way booth in the back and
he started to sa y something but he stopped and
looked around one last ti me before continuing.
Larry sent a guy to watch over Susan.
Susan? Why?
Shes his daughter
Oh my, No wonder she had access to the
video
Video?
Never mind, thats not important . But why
are you telling me this?
I m j ust here to warn her to stay out of sight
for the near future
Why are you so concerned about Susan?
I m her brother, and our dad, Larry, is a
control freak and needs us to be under his
thumb ever y minute
OMG what kind of t rouble am I getting into
this time

98
 This has happened before . I think hell lose
interest if he cant find her right away . You
got a place to hide out for a few weeks?
I do Good, dont tell me where . If I know,
I mi ght spill the beans , if cornered . Just get
her out of here before his g oons find her .
They will take her back to Vegas if they do .
Ill take care of things here, j ust get me t he
room key, and Ill check out, while you get
her out of here.
OK but I need some time and I ll be back in
an hour or so.
Sarah thought that her Bible Lady disguise mi ght
wor k here too . They both could get dressed up and
wal k out of the Hot el without a second look . It
would be easy, all they had to do is just wal k
through the Lobby asking the d esk cler k if it is OK
to leave a few Bibl e Study magazines on a few
Lobby tables . On one of the tables, Sarah left
something a bit more than a magazine . Ken was
watching and Sarah noticed it, and with that, Susan
and Sarah were off, and apparentl y incogn ito.

Over the next few months in Sarahs new

apart ment, these t wo would get to know each other
quite well, sharing everything, ever y minute of ever y
day and ni ght, leaving nothing to each others

99
imagi nation. For some people this is a difficult
thing to do, someti mes . The sharing of t houghts,
desires, fantasies, your body, are among the most
intimate and difficult to let go of, as they might drag
you over the edge of the cliff as you release the
thoughts and words and things into the air for
someone else to hear , comprehend, and caress . It
comes from the fear of rej ection, or disapproval, but
these two had ever ything out there on the table for
inspection, and they f ound that there was nothing out
there that could fall between them that would splash
the muck of dar kness, woe, or fear onto them.
All this sharing of thoughts and desires, their
beings, their souls, their hearts and breasts, brought
Susan so close to Sarah and Sarah to Susan t hat they
were becoming one, inseparable by anything or
anyone, or a ny wor ds. It was not a difficult
struggle, at all, li ke many heterosexual couples, who
have a physical attraction to one another . It is the
mental part of the relationship, which tears them
apart. Just look at the divorce rate these days . It is
more prevalent than not . How many ti mes have you
heard Oh, it wont l ast, they are too different, or
too young, or too something . It is differences of
opinions, or the abject dismissal of desires and
ideas. Those things and actions that manifest
themsel ves, in a variety of ways, into ever yday life

100
between couples, that ultimatel y dri ves them apart .
Many couples have differences, but manage to cope
with them. Some see their differences as strength of
their relationship, enabling them to be mor e sapient
with ever yday issues and stresses, because the other
may have better solutions to problems or a better
idea as to how to cr eate pleasant feelings, or j ust
plain cook a better meal . Nevertheless, what Susan
and Sarah found, though this period, is that the two
of them had no differences of thought, or opinions .
Of the type that really matter, not j ust what to have
for breakfast, you know. Sarah pondered the last
few weeks and concl uded that she and Jeanie were
j ust infatuated with each other, and that love was
beginning to happen, between her and Susan.
They shared the same sexual desires for the
most part. Some fun games and fun toys made the
sex more enj oyable . It was, for them, less about
procreation, for obvious reasons, but not like most
people, respondin g to hormonal induced desires, but
more tr ying to create pleasure for the one you love,
and in return recei ve the same . Susan, however,
introduced Sarah to a side of sex that included
something less than j ust pleasure . Sarah recalled
some of her encounte rs with several S . O. Bs, but
this was different . Some pain and restraint was
invol ved but of the kind that was not inj urious but

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whose purpose was to enhance the pleasure, which
she knew she would encounter, afterwards, having
the effect of magnif ying h er or gasms by numbers
incalculable. It was the sensual experiences and
stimulation taken from one extreme to the other,
without the nor mal f eeling of being in control . It
was being done to her, but at her insistence, and she
knew, once started t here was no stopping. She
extremel y enj oyed the fact that these sensations were
happening to her whi le not being in contr ol . She
trusted Susan and knew she would do the ri ght things
at the right ti mes and that would play a lar ge role in
the magnification process, and at the same ti me she
was learning how to reciprocate the pleasures for
Susan.
In Sarahs mind, Susan became The One f or
her, and The Hole now seems to be finally filled,
and maybe j ust a bit of fill left over, for
emer gencies.

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 Chapter 8
The Shop

Sarah did not need to wor k but she found a j ob

as a cashier at a consignment shop downtown
Boston. She had lots of time between poker games
and needed something to do . Susan on the other
hand, enj oyed j ust staying at home, being domestic
and taking ca re of Sarah. Sarah could take the ferr y
across the harbor from the Navy Yard to Boston
Landing, over by the Boston Hilton Hotel . The shop
was j ust a short walk from there, it was perfect, no
need to drive the proverbial Streets of Boston .
She found the shop owners to be ver y nice . Sarah
had shopped there for some off price designer
clothes, at 50 cents on the dollar . Some were never
worn, some worn once, but impeccable quality at a
great price, and great service . You could do worse;
say buying somet hing at Mall -Mart or somet hing.
The shop owner, Janna, would greet her every
time she entered the shop . She was soooo nice that
Sarah would think of that shop ever y time she
wanted to buy some nice clothes , not to mention the
nice touch on the shoulder o r accidental rub of the
ar m, or bump on the butt . Sarah thought she was

103
looking for sex with a woman . Sarah recognized the
signs, as well as the signs for poker . Sar ah knew,
and J anna knew. Maybe it was the way t heir eyes
met, with the look of familiar ity, and congeniality,
but Sarah was not biting at that hook . Janna sensed
that Sarah knew and l et it go, thinking that shell be
back anyway, maybe I can get her to wor k here and
satisfy some of our good customers . Janna was good
at that. Helping them tr y on their dresses and pant
suits, offering suggestions and accessories to
complete their outfits . Janna was good at selling
clothes, the way Sarah was good at poker, and Sarah
recogni zed that in her . Sarah was totally into Susan,
but that does not mea n that life stops at Susan . This
was an opportunit y f or Sarah to get inter ested in
something other than poker, which had been a source
of trouble, al most all the way through to Vegas, and
even at that, there were and still are some
tribulations.
Several well to do Ladies were regul ar
customers of Jannas . They j ust loved her and the
attention she gave them when they shopped there,
not to mention the use of the Nose. The Nose
would dri ve these women crazy . Janna would have
them wait until the shop w as empt y of other
customers and made sure the cler k at the desk
warned her when someone entered the shop . The

104
Nose was a sex toy that had a vibrating Nose, and
a rotating tongue, that would dri ve any woman to
ecstasy in minutes . They would ask wher e ca n you
buy one of those, and Janna would say, they do not
make them any more you have to come here t o use it .
I keep it char ged up, j ust for you, and they would
come back ti me after time, for a new outfit, whether
they needed one or not . Janna laughed to herself, all
the way to the bank. Sarah thought to herself, when
Janna told her of this, that wow Sounds li ke a ver y
Inti mate Kiss.
Mary was a partner with Janna, not j ust with
the shop, but they li ved together and shared intimacy
at home with each ot her ever y ni ght . They tal ked
about the Gas Fireplace and bearskin rug and sex for
hours in front of the fireplace . Sarah was familiar
with sex for hours wi th Susan and could relate with
Janna and Mary about how they must feel about each
other. Janna sai d, Sarah, you ve got a j ob for life,
that is if you want it . Sarah wanted it, but could
not commit to forever . After all is said, and done .
Sarah would r emember the Vegas clowns.
There would be encounters at the shop with
customers expecting f ull serv ice, from ti me to ti me,
when Janna was not t here. They had sever al shops
and moved bet ween them when needed . They would
be ver y disappointed that Janna was not there and

105
asked if Sarah would be willing to administer the
Nose. She would remar k to them how great it was,
and how Janna had explained to her that she wanted
to be the onl y one f or you . Truth was she really
preferred not to get invol ved with it . After all, it is
probabl y il legal, and could be busted for it . Sarah
was beyond the troubl e days and wanted to stay away
from it, but she also wanted to stay in the shop too,
and hoped there would be no trouble over the denial.
Sarah pondered,
What was that?
OMG! Not again! Chunk!

One day, another one of Jannas satisfied

repeat customers came into the shop and approached
her, opened her shoulder bag to show Janna a
Nose. This caught Janna by surprise, she had to
laugh, and laughing out loud, she said,
You found one
From now on Ill br ing my own, no telling
where yours has been .
With big smiles on their faces, they headed off to the
fitting rooms, which were set -up with hard walls and
full doors gi ving them the ultimate in privacy . Janna
grabbed a dress along the way, off a rack, to gi ve the
impression of legitimacy, in case someone was
watching, while saying,

106
 I think youll li ke thi s one.

Sarah had wor ked with cash registers, and

UPC scanners, hand held tag scanners for product
ordering, and the li ke, but never had much t o do with
computers. She had some word processing classes in
school, and knew how to email and browse the
internet, but not on a scale that was available to her
at the shop. These days preschoolers have access to
computers either at home and/or at school, but until
now, it was in the background for her . They used the
computer for ever ythi ng, from inventor y control, to
pricing, to consi gnment contracting, to on -line bill
payments, entertainment games, bookkeeping, tax
payments, licensing, on and on and on again.
This is where Sarah first learned of on -li ne
poker sites, but she was not quite ready to approach
that subj ect j ust yet . She needed to know more about
the basics of computer ownership and operation .
Most people j ust go buy a computer, plug i t in and
away they go, and that is how they are design ed to
wor k. They tr y to make the use of them totally
transparent, through user friendliness, ease of
operation, something f or ever yone, etcetera, but it is
an illusion. Ever ythi ng is j ust fine until something
unordinar y or unusual happens . Sar ah had
remembered seeing Bill Gates unveiling a new

107
operating system soft ware package, where on trying
to boot the computer, it crashed, locked up, wouldnt
boot, on a live pri metime TV show . She knew, from
seeing j ust this one li ttle bit, that all the hype was
j ust that, hype, and that there was more to computers
than j ust plugging them in and turning them on .
Sarah had witnessed some crashes where a days
worth of infor mation was lost, where, for whatever
cause, a bad bit of infor mation rendered the
computer syste m temporaril y un -usable, thereby
loosing some infor mat ion.
First rule of thumb for computer use is, Save
Often. That is, to save the files you are working on
while they develop, on a regular basis . Many people
save their file at the end, when done, or where you
are at the end of the day. That way you have the file
or at least a good portion of it on the hard drive,
available for use on r eboot, not lost in its entirety
to the vast cavernous vacuum of cyberspace, because
it resided solely in the tempor ar y random access
memor y. The second rule of computer use is,
Always save your work before getting up from the
computer, to get something or do something else
even for j ust a minut e . You cannot expect to find
the computer in the state of co ndition you left it.
Stuff happens, particularly when you are not looking,
like someone else sits down to do somet hing and

108
closes your file without saving it, to spite the
warning message or, a power spike induced crash, or
some other thing that is done to it that co mpromises
the file you were working on . There is always
something. The second ti me you enter the
infor mation always seems to go faster than the first
time . Sarah always t hought that it was because of
the familiarity of having done it once or twice
before.
Third rule of computer ownership is to Back -
up your wor k, often . You should do, or schedule, a
daily back up, on a remote dri ve/di sk/storage
medium that is away from the origin as far as
possible to avoid loosing both from the same cause .
In addition, at least once a month do a total back up
of your entire system . More often if you can, and
have the space and f acility to do it, because you
never know what mi ght happen . Sarah had seen
hardware problems, where central processors and
motherboards burn up from excessi ve heat because a
cooling fan failed, or a hard drive had a mechanical
failure, or developed bad spots on the di sk itself
rendering it and the system useless.
Fourth rule is, Keep the equipment in good
condition, and update old out of dat e systems on a
regular basis, often . Computers are general ly out of
date as soon as you buy them, and she thought that at

109
least once a year would be a good thing to do, at
least evaluate the state and condition of software as
well as the hardware . This all depends on what it
has been subj ect to and how much use it has seen.
She was learning that any things that are electronic
and mechanical are vulnerable to the gremli ns hiding
on the underside, j ust waiting for you to look the
other way. They come packaged with the product
from the factory, and remain totally invisi ble until
you least expect them, and to manifest themselves as
problems, such as crashes and burnings.
Sarah was getting to know computers . So
good, that Janna had her train any new employee on
what they needed to know . Janna also made her
responsible to start developing a web site for the
Shops. At first it did not need to be much, j ust
enough for anyone to get some basic inf or mation
about who they are and where to find us . They hired
a web site development company to assist them to do
this. They would ulti mately show them how to make
updates and have blog pages where they could gi ve
special event infor mation or inventor y updates, or
where customers could leave feedback on their
buying experiences.
At this point Sarah had purchased a comput er
for home. She decided on a portable format, in a
desktop replacement notebook/laptop format .

110
Sarahs pri mar y interest was in the internet, and
internet based programs . It is here, that she would
encounter on -line games and things, whi ch would
lead her to the on -line gambling sites , where you can
gamble your life away right at home over the
internet. Sarah didnt think of it that way, but she
would stay away from it for the ti me being, thinking
it mi ght present a whole new set of troubles, that she
was tr ying to get away from . However, she kept
hearing the sound of Cha Ching in the background
ever y ti me she sat down at the computer and looked
at the small red icon in the far corner of her
Windows desktop screen . The icon is symbolistic of
the characters on a set of playing cards . It is a red
spade in the shape of an inverted heart with a white
star in the middle.

Janna and Mar y became good friends wi th

Sarah and Susan . They would go out to din ner, go to
ball games, and go t o the beach . All the kind of
stuff good friends do together . Sarah has fond
memories of the ti mes they all would get together at
her place for dinner . They would all cook
something, never telling the others what it was goi ng
to be. It was really potluck. Someti mes they would
all bring an entre, but never did they all bring j ust
dessert. Someti mes two desserts and once three, but

111
Sarah was cooking homemade pi zza and had enough
for all. Usuall y after dinner, they would h ave a few
after dinner drinks, along with several hours or so
talking about metaphysics . Then each couple would
head for their respective bedrooms . Sarah had two,
and Janna and Mary would stay in her guest room,
and head for home, or the shop, the next m orning. It
was an easy commute, over to the next pier, hop on
the ferry, and at wor k in 20 minutes or less.
During the summer, t hey all would take thr ee
or four day long escapes to Cape Cod . They would
rent a house on the beach, along the narrow strip o f
land between North Truro and Provincetown . It was
the upper floor of a two -unit house ri ght on the
beach, on the bay side . The water was war mer and
calmer on this side, but they would adventure out to
the outer beaches from The Meadows to Herring
Cove, past Race Point . Someti mes hi king the
breakwater and beach at the southwest end of the
bay, j ust south of Provincetown, over to Sandy Point,
this is the ver y, ver y, outer tip of Cape Cod . The
whale watching boats, fishing boats, and f erries to
and from Boston would pass by j ust off the point of
the beach, and they would wave to the passengers,
while listening to the tour guide on the public
address system. They would occasionall y hear the
tour guide say,

112
 Oh! Look over there, theres a school of
flyin g fish,
Or,
Oh! Look over there theres a pod of
Porpoise
Usuall y at this point, they are j ust describing places
of interest on the outer Cape . They would comb the
beach for seashells and sea glass . Once Sar ah found
a chunk of clear, or rather, wh ite frosted glass, at
this point. It was as big as a golf ball . Probably the
remnants of a cr ystal decanter stopper and handle,
Sarah thought . It is unusual to find such a large
piece, particularly where she found it . For some
reason, usuall y the sea g lass is about the same size
as the particles of sand or gravel in which you find
them. That is to say that, if the gravel is about one
half inch in diameter the sea glass you find there is
also about one half inch in diameter . This one Sarah
found it in a stretch of course sand . She figured
someone else found it in a gravel patch and dropped
it in the sand, where it was buried, and reappeared
j ust in time for Sar ah to find it . They kept a
collection of sea glass in glass bottles and j ars, back
at the apart ment, and at the shop.
The sand in parts of t he Cape come s and go es
all the ti me. A coastal stor m can move tons of sand
hundreds of yar ds down the beach refor mi ng and

113
reshaping the beach in a different shape than
yesterday, as it has done for millenn iums of time
gone by. The sand probably ori ginated somewhere
in the mountains of Ver mont and New Yor k, washed
down to the sea by the Hudson and Connecticut
rivers, pushed east by stor ms and the gul f stream
waters, for ming Long Island, the Cape Isl ands an d
the Cape itself . Sarah did not care much about
where it came from, she j ust knew she li ked where it
was, at this point in time . It was the war m summer
breezes moderated by the ocean water, which helped
keep the air temperat ure down . Much cooler than
inland, but war m enough to be comfortable all day at
the beach. Occasionally they would encounter j ust
the right combination of weather elements that would
make the day on the beach among some of the most
memorable that Sarah would ever be able to think of .
Sarah was not too sure of the exact number s . Maybe
it differs from per son to person. Generally, she
would tell people, if the air temperature was between
75 and 80 degrees, the sun is out or its j ust lightl y
hazy, so that you can still feel its war mth, the
humidit y is above 90 percent, the wind is at about 10
to 15 miles per hour , and you were naked to the
wind, it would feel like twent y hands gently
caressing your body all over . There are many
stretches of beach on the Cape where youll find

114
ver y few if any others around, and on days like that
they would hi ke out a mile or two from anywhere
and enj oy a great day, totall y naked . They found
that nude sunbathing, and outdoor acti vities, act like
an aphrodisiac, hei ght ening the desires, and drives,
for sex, and sensitizes nerve endings gi ving you a
greater appreciation for life afterwards . These
women had trouble waiting until they got back to
their rented house . They would find a private spot in
the dunes, or set up a windbreak pri vacy screen or
pile up driftwood to hide from view of passers by,
and have sex and extr aordinary or gasms, gi ving each
other pleasures way beyond nor mal, and memories to
match.
They would tal k about trips like that f or
weeks after, at home and at the shop . Once, Mar y
was explaining about the Breeze Phenomenon to
one of their regulars, one of the well to do woman
shoppers, who frequented the shop at least once or
twice a month. Rhetta was fortyish, with long dark
hair. Very pretty, slim, well dressed, with an under -
sexed husband. She said she had to go try i t, but she
would have to tal k her husband into it . Mary said,
I m sure he wont mi nd one bit, j ust tell him youll
do anything he asks . Next ti me she was in the shop
she grabbed Marys ar m and dragged her away from
a customer, thanking her profusely, and tel ling her

115
how much they enj oyed the day, and cannot wait to
do it again.
Sarah was happy wit h the way things were
going. So much so, she became skeptical about how
much longer this would last . She and Susan wher e
so much in love and so many ti mes before,
something would happen to end her st ream of
nor malcy, interrupted by shovel carr ying S .O.Bs.
They had tal ked about getting married, but the
mainstream of public opinion over the issue was not
all there yet . Sarah never understood the desire for
homosexual couples to get married, anyway . Most
heterosexual couples get married for a stack of
reasons, but Sarah fel t that the foremost reason was
to gi ve their commit ment to each other in front of
God, so that they c onfor med to the teachings of the
bible and could love each other and be together
forever, in life and after, spiritually . Janna and
Mary had talked about getting married . They had no
plans, but were thinki ng about it . Sarah would ask
them Why? and wou ld point out the teachings of
the Bible, that say marriage is to be between a man
and a woman, onl y, and that it is a sin to do it any
other way. There are ways to solve the
social/political equality issues without being
married. Sarah felt that this was solely an emotional
issue with some Homosexuals, not a practi cal one .

116
Well, I j ust want to be married, and thats all there
is to it said in a tone and inflection onl y a ver y
feminine homosexual man can say it, Sar ah would
imagi ne while contemplating t he issue. Every ti me
those words edged there way into her thoughts, she
felt like going outside on the sidewalk and finding
someone li ke that and gi ving them a knee in the
crotch, followed by t he words, Grow up, will ya .
She had no reser vati ons about l etting people know
how she feels about the issue, but she never really
intended to follow through with the knee thing, it
j ust irritated her to think of it, and used that
anecdote to describe her feelings, short of actually
doing it. No Marriage would n ot be something
Sarah and Susan would be doing anyti me soon, but
Sarah loved the sound of the whooshing gravel . It
was music to her ears.

117
118
 Chapter 9
On-line Poker and Mr. Wolf

Between poker games with Tom and some of

his acquaintances, Sarah started play ing poker on -
line. You remember , The little red icon . She had
downloaded the program and installed it, out of
curiosity. Sarah found it to be a good way to
practice. It was li ke honing the edge, sharpening the
blade, so to say, on unsuspecting, inexp erienced
players, even some of the more experienced players .
She played the free chip tables, where they start you
out with $1000 in what they call Play Money
Chips. With her first 1,000, she started
accumulating play chi ps . She never had to go back
to get more. They j ust kept adding up and her stacks
grew. At first they grew to ar ound 150 ,000, but
when she started playi ng the 100/200 small and lar ge
bind holdem tables , or the larger buy -in Sit and
Go tournaments, she was able to accumulat e enough
chips to stay somewhere between 12 and 20 Million.
Some of the 100/200 blind tables play as if the
blinds are 40,000, which is the maxi mum buy -in for
those tables. They would post bids of at least that
amount pre -flop. The players each always seemed to

119
have 100s of thousands of chips and some 1,000,000
plus, with 30 people on the waiting list to get on one
of these tables. There was no tangible value in the
play money chips . T hey are j ust a way to measure
how good you are, and/or how lucky you ar e, o r not.
There was no or not for Sarah.
She would toss some chips to a few on -li ne
players that she bef riended, at the tables, even
though they give you more if you run out . However ,
at the larger stakes t ables you need a ton of chips
j ust to get in, so she would help some up and coming
players to get there . Besides that, she li ked playing
with them. They were someone familiar to chat with
while playing. Sometimes creating distractions, as
Sarah does at the real tables, except you cannot
reach under t he table for real, j ust talk about it . On
the other hand, maybe she tossed chips j ust so she
could win them back . Therefore, there is value to
the Play Money chips, you j ust cannot go to the store
and spend them.
Practice makes perfect, Ri ght ? Sarah wo uld
ultimatel y learn how much it would take to know
how vulnerable she was . Tom called Sarah, one
bright spring morning with news of a pr ospective
adversar y. He was a ver y rich CEO of an
international banking fir m, Wolf International
Banking Corporation . Mr. Frederick D. Wol f was his

120
name. Tom knew hi m by reputation through some
guys he had played poker with in Vegas, and had
acquired his number t hrough his banks web site . It
was a protracted process, but all he had to do is say,
I have $1,000,000 bu rning a hole in my pants
pocket, and needed to talk about the
circumstances under which it mi ght become
his,
Saying onl y,
Aces Full, to his Executive Assistant.

It took onl y about five minute s to get a call

back from hi m.
Tom had expected t hey were one of those
fronts for illegiti mate Off Shore accounts for tax
evasion purposes and money laundering for the mob
and drug cartels . However, those were j ust rumors .
Tom told Sarah under no circumstances, what so
ever, should that be a topic of convers ation. Sarah
thought to herself,
Oh, by the way, how much money did you
launder for the mob last year?
She laughed at the image of herself in cement
overshoes and heavy chains wrapped around her as
she was sinking to the bottom of the bay.
Laugh out loud Tom. What kind of idiot do
you think I am?

121
 I m j ust making sure, My Prett y . It s
scheduled for next Friday, 8:00PM . Be ready
with ever ything set up and ready to go and
itll be $500K each with $1K/$2K blinds, f or
draw poker.
Sarah thought,
Oh good, I love draw poker.

For these games, Sarah would convert her

bedroom into a game room. It was on the top floor
of the building, with a deck off it facing the Boston
skyline across the ri ver and Boston Harbor . She had
one of those beds that fo lds up into the wall and
disappears into a nicely done wood paneled wall .
Tom had ordered anot her Poker Table set, like his at
home for playing her e . It was stored in t he spare
bedroom where there was another fold up bed . The
sun will have set by 8:00 a nd the office lights in the
towers that overlook the city 24/7/365 woul d light up
the buildings . Sometimes the li ghts in the rooms of
the buildings were set up to spell words and phrases,
like Happy New Year or Give Blood or Rita
Marry Me? Sarah hoped she never would see the
words Di g Sarah and Chunk lit up for the whole
town to see.
Sarah thought itd be ironic that the CEO of a
multi -national bank would be sitting literally right

122
under the noses of some of the large banki ng fir ms
and businesse s that he has dealings wit h, while
gambling their money away . Sarah was recalling
how she tossed chips to players at the on -line tables,
and suspected Tom would toss his $500K her way
and sit back and let her do the work . She made sure
Janna and Mary woul d not interrupt their game, by
telling them,
Susan and I are having a financial advisor
over to tal k about retir ement invest ments.
Sarah did not want them to know how well she was
doing by playing poker . They suspected there was
more to her stor y than she had let on about it . How
does a store clerk, computer wi zard , afford the place
she lives in? They t hought inheritance, maybe, but
had no idea.
Susan would be the dealer . She could show
hi m her Certificate of Training she earned in order to
deal in Vegas. She also still had a valid and up to
date Casino ID card . Tom would tell him he had
hired her and had her flown here from Vegas, j ust for
tonight, if he asks . If he knew her and Sarah were
partners in life , he might think there was more than
j ust flesh up her sleeve.
Sarah was looking forward to the ni ghts
adventure. She was war ming up with the on -line
tables, thinking about how to read the on line

123
players. It is difficult at times . There are no faces
there. You could find no twitches, move ments, or
actions, of any kind that mi ght gi ve clues , as to what
cards they were holdi ng . Sarah did notice several
clues though, or actions that perhaps mi ght tell a
story in the development of a hand . Like how
quickl y you place a bet, or how slow . How many
cards you discard, and how long it takes you to
decide. Passing of time on -line can be deceptive,
with the electronic delays over the web caused by
bad or slow connections, but for the most part Sarah
could see patterns over ti me, looking for anythin g
she could find . All anyone needs is some sort of
tiny little edge, in order to win more chips t han you
are losing. She learned to look beyond the Avatars
and into the brains of the players, without them even
knowing it. All they could do is j ust sit t here and
scratch there heads wondering,
Howd she do that?
Not that the on -line players could hear what she said,
but she would tell them,
Just pay attention to whats happeni ng,
instead of j ust what cards you have in your
hand.
It is not Rocket Sc ience, it is perception, wit h a little
bit of luck painted on by the cards, and at times, it
seemed Sarah was very, ver y, lucky . Someti mes

124
players would show how good of a hand they had, or
how bad it was, after she folded to a large bet . It
was as if to wipe it in her face by saying
HA, HA, HA I bluffed you
Or,
HA, HA, HA you are a looser
However , all the ti me, Sarah was watching, gaining
an edge, registering the infor mation, to use next
time, to clean hi m or her out of all their chips .
Sarah had learned a long ti me ago that you never
gi ve your opponents any more infor mation than is
absolutely necessar y. To Sarah, it was like Neo in
the Matrix movies, where they could read all the
actions and infor mati on in the Matrix by watching
the cascading t ext and numbers . It was all right
there for the taking, and she took it. She pl anned to
try the Real Money tables, but ri ght now, she had a
real, Real Money table to deal with . Sarah knew that
the stakes are different once you put real money into
the mix. It changes your perspective . Something
more tangible is at stake, particularly when it comes
to $1Million.

Tom had left word with the Security Guard

that a Mr. Frederick D. Wolf would be by to visit
later that night . Mr. Wolf arrived exactly at the
stroke of 8:00 PM. Sarah could hear the chime of the

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antique Seth Thomas clock on the mantle over the
Fireplace, at the same time he Knocked on her door .
Susan had purchased it at an estate auction f or Sarah,
to commemorate their first anniversar y . Tom greeted
hi m at the door with a large grin on his face,
C mon in, I m Tom and this is Sarah.
And,
Nice to make your acquaintance,
He said, as he shook their hands , and was offered a
seat in the living room.
Nice view,
He said, looki ng out at the Bo ston skyline.
Great location, I could keep an eye on a
bunch of my customer s and investors,
He laughed about the thought of it . Sarah f elt as if
the thought of it made hi m a bit uneasy, a bit
vulnerable, a tar get maybe . However, the distance
across the bay and up from the water assured
rigorous anonymit y f or all in her Apart ment . The
security guard at the entrance mi ght be anot her story
though, and unbeknownst to Sarah and T om, Mr.
Wolf had a personal guard of his own j ust outside
the entrance door a nd another in his car j ust outside,
monitoring, all the comi ng and goings.
Susan had gone over to see a neighbor friend
for a few minutes, to enhance the illusion, and make
her entrance after Mr. Wolf had arrived . Precisely at

126
8:05 she knocked on the door , and entered, with a
huge smile and said,
Hello my name is Susan, and I m your deal er
for the ni ght . How ar e you all?
In a ver y bubbl y schoolgirl kind of way.
Were all j ust fine
Tom interj ected,
Right this way upstairs, Ill show you to t he
table.
That left Sarah and Fred alone for a bit, in the living
room. They looked at each other as if to measure
and sur vey the opponent, as if to try to find
something to take advantage of, they were looking
for something that mi ght gi ve an advantage to o ne of
them, one way or the other . Not much ther e, Sarah
thought as he changed the conversation.
How do you think the Red Sox would do t his
season?
Sarah thought, Thats it, hes a sports nut maybe .
Hes from New Yor k, and a Yankees fan, no doubt.
Sarah said,
Well.I dont know, not into sports all that
much, what do you think?
Fred piped back,
Yankees will beat the pants off them I m
sure, as usual.

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Sarah could not help but think of the Vegas clowns,
as he said that, and thought, Hes n o Vegas clown, I
need to be careful . Tom entered the room saying,
Its all set, anyti me you guys are ready.
With that they all retired to the game room, up the
stairs to the front room, where Fred said,
The view gets better the higher you go
doesnt it?
Even better on the roof top patio where t he
pool is,
Oh, you have your own pool here huh ? How
nice, lets play poker.
Susan looked ner vous, and she was, but Fred looked
at her and said,
Its OK honey, ever ythings going to be fine,
j ust deal the cards.
Susan tried to say something about how big the
stakes are here but was frozen by the fear of the
unknown and what mi ght be happening, all she could
say is,
Very well, here we go.
She had been in high stakes games before but was
never as close to the players as she is with Sarah and
Tom. She then said,
Good luck all
She started dealing the first hand when Tom said,

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 Wait, Fred do you mind if I sit out, and gi ve
Sarah here my chips and let you t wo pl ay
heads up? It will be fairer for you, one
against one instead of two against one.
Sure, why not, she seems to be a nice sweet
girl, and wont be too angr y when I take all
her chips.
He was s miling li ke the Cheshire cat in Alice and
Wonderland, as if he had already won them. Sarah
said to herself, Wow another one for me . He was
being too opti mistic, and over confident, Oh, how
disappointed hes going to be.

The game started, it progressed slowl y . They

each were testing the waters, checking each other out
like two gladiators circ ling around each other,
swords in the air, shields up, waiting for the j ust the
right moment, or finding j ust the right chink in the
ar mor, in order to gain an advantage over his
opponent. Hand after hand, trading chips back and
forth, but Sarah noticed s he was loosing just a bit
more than winning. More like j ust the odds of the
cards. If you go st rictly by the odds t hen each
player eventual l y will equal out, with some wins and
losses along the way, but eventuall y equal ing out,
like water seeking its own level when upset in some
way. It slashes back and forth but eventual ly settles

129
down and levels out . This was unusual for her, but
she was not getting anything from Mr. Wolf . So
Sarah turned to an earlier conversation and said,
Mr. Wolf, I think the S ox are going to beat
the pants off the Yankees this year, not t he
other way around.
He did not even look from his cards to cat ch
the look in her eyes and j ust said,
Good tr y Missy, but that wont wor k . But
j ust call me Fred, no need to be so for mal.
Sarah did not say anything more, j ust looked up at
Susan and mouthed,
I m fucked.
Susan j ust winked her left eye at her, which was
away from Wolf, and mouthed,
Noooo, (not yet, i mplied) .
Tom, on the other hand saw all this, stood off to one
to side, and looked at Sarah with a stern frown, as if
to say,
Just do it.
Sarah knew this look and wondered,
How would Tom do this?
She decided to be a bit more aggressi ve, and start
betting a bit heavier, and pushing smaller pairs to
see if she could break something loose . In Heads
Up, the cards are a bit less about odds and more
like luck. Smaller hands have a better chance of

130
winning because there are not six players at once,
leaving the odds of someone havi ng a better hand
higher, than j ust one other hand out there, competing
for the pot. Sarah tried playing a few bluffs too, li ke
a bet five ti mes the blind with King hi gh, j ust to see
the expression on his face when he called and saw
the cards or when Sarah mucked them . She was
trying to set hi m up, for the All In hand, getting
hi m used to the bluffs, upping the bets, and fooling
hi m, when the hand was right . She even bluffed by
using Pat hands with nothing to be Pat about . He
called one, and had a surprised look on his face,
Sarah thought,
I ve got hi m.
A few hands later, Susan dealt her a straight
flush, five to nine in hearts . What a pretty hand,
she thought as she sai d,
Check
On the lar ge blind aft er he called on the small blind .
He drew two car ds, and she said,
Ill play th ese,
Fred did not look sur prised at this, but Sar ah could
not help but wonder , Was the time ri ght? Tom was
watching from one side, so not to make it seem like
he was looking at anyones cards, and it was killing
hi m, What does she have? It was Freds bet. He

131
fired $50,000 in chips into the pot, and as Susan was
stacking them, Sarah said,
All In
The pot would be nearly two million doll ars if he
calls. Sarah thought that she may have bet too
quickl y for his comf ort, gi ving the i mpression of
over eagerness, but he also mi ght take it as a part of
her strategy to bluff a poor hand . What could he
have, Sarah thought . Did he make the four th of his
three of a kind? It is hard enough to fold three of a
kind on a lar ge bet, Impossible to fold on f o ur. She
hoped he thought she was onl y dealt a straight or a
flush, or was bluffing . A strait flush coul d be the
last thing on his mi nd . Being dealt a straight flush
before the draw? T he odds are phenomenal . He
said,
I call.
Even the sounds of the city in the background seem
to have abated at those words coming out of his
mouth. He laid his cards down first, he had four
Aces. Sar ah had done it . She had j ust
won $2 Million on one hand. She laid t he cards
down on the table and ever yone but Fr ed burst into
tears at the relief of the tension of that moment .
Fred j ust slumped back in his chair, looked out the
window and said,
Well, I tried guys.

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 $1 Million did not mat ter too much to Fred . It
was chump change to him . Well.Maybe not j ust
chump change but when it comes to billions it
seemed a small amount to him . What matter ed more
was that he lost . The few thousand he had left was
j ust about enough to post one more blind, and after
that last hand who could play another . It was li ke
the end of a football game where the winni ng team
grounds the ball to l et the clock run out with ten
seconds left . Sarah had j ust grounded the ball to win
this game.
Life had j ust dealt Sarah another bit of
success, at least as being the best poker player
anyone has seen in recent times, or so Tom thought .
What would be next, a game for $10 Million? Tom
would shuffle this thought to the rear for now,
because that would mean panting a few more Vegas
Clowns to get the buy in money . Mr. Wolf, however,
was no Vegas clown, and what was about t o happen
would set Sarah s life back a few years.
Sarah and Tom were about to celebrate their
extraordinary win, but were still a bit shocked about
what j ust happened, and they had no idea t hat Wolf
had an arrangement with Lar ry. Wolf owed Larry a
lot of money and was in the process of using hi m to
abduct Susan, in exchange for a lar ge sum of money
to which was to be deducted from what he owed

133
Larry. Wolf must have had some sort of signal to his
guys down stairs . Just after the loosing hand, they
moved into the entr yway where the Security Guard
let them by as if nothing was out of line, as if he
knew they were legitimate, or as if they lived there
and he knew them well . By the time they got to
Sarahs door Wolf had his arm around Susans neck
and a knife pointed at her heart from j ust below the
rib cage ,
Let them in or Ill do it
He said in ver y morti fying tones . Tom opened the
door and his guys came in and grabbed Susan and
headed out the door with her, as Sarah, and T om
were dumbfounded and nearl y frozen by what was
happening. Wolf demanded his money back as well
as theirs. While stuffing the three cashiers checks
into his pocket he onl y offered a meager explanation,
saying,
I m Larr ys banker,
He then headed to the door when he turned and said,
If you tr y to follow us you will fail and
youll never find her again.
As they exited the apart ment and the building a
moment later, Sarah went to the balcony, i n time to
see Susan being stuff ed into their car and scr eamed
at the top of her lungs,
SUSAN...

134
As it echoed across the harbor, she could only watch
as they drove away, and in sever despair they
dissolved from si ght by the tears in her eyes, and the
sound of gravel whooshing out of The Hole was
deafening to Sarah .

135
136
 Chapter 10
Finding Susan

Sarah and Tom were in shock about Susan .

Tom was pacing back and forth, thinking about Larry
and Ken. Sarah thinking to herself, We need to find
her as soon as we can . Who knows what that SOB
will do to her, or w here he mi ght take her? Tom
asked,
Tell me more about Ken
I dont know much, we j ust talked for a
mi nute that one day Do you think the hot el
mi ght be able to help?
They mi ght have security camera tapes and
credit card infor mation?
Well, its a place to start.
I know some guys in Vegas . Ill try and
track them down to see if they know
anything.
Tom was on the phone within minutes, with his little
black book, making some phone calls, to some of his
friends in Las Vegas.
Have you seen Ken, or Larry, know of
anyone who has?

137
All he could get was something that sounded like a
shrug over the telephone,
Sorry man, havent seen nor heard a thing .
As a matter of fact I think his place is all
closed up, no one there.
Tom did not realize it at the time but the empt y
house was a clue that he would overlook for now .
After three or four cal ls like this one, he gave up for
the night. Sarah said,
Get some sleep . Thi s is going to take some
time . Well do better in the mor ning . Take
the spare bedroom. I ll be OK out here on the
couch.
She said that knowing there was no way she was
going to sleep that ni ght at all , not knowing where
Susan was or what t hey were doing to her . She
suspected they were keeping her out of public view,
perhaps a pr ivate plane headed somewhere towards
wherever Larry was . Sarah did not understand his
need to dominate his offspring like this . Sarahs
parents were glad to see her out of the house. It is
not that they did not love her. They wanted a bit of
their former lives back. It was ti me for this baby
bird to fly the nest . The wind was up that night
blowing in from the east, off the harbor and had the
smell of rain in the ai r . The whooshing noi se made
it sound so familiar.

138
 The next morning Sarah called the hot el, to
see if they could help at all . Just a frame or two of
video showing Kens face would gi ve them
something to go by . They told her,
Well were sorry but we recycle the security
tapes, and looks li ke the bill was paid for in
cash. Oh, wait! When someone other than the
person who registered the room pays for it,
they photograph them j ust in case somethi ng
is amiss. There is a special camera , that s
behind the concierge desk. Its a digit al
camera and the i mage s reside on a hard dri ve
in the office, behind the front desk. You are
welcome to come by and view the files, j ust
ask for Jen.
Great, thanks so much, Ill be over short ly,
I m Sarah.
Sarah turned to Tom and said,
Get dressed were going across town to t he
hotel in Cambridge . I think were in luck, at
the ver y least they mi ght have a photo we
could use to help find Ken.

Sarah could not get there fast enough, but t he

Boston traffic someti mes seems never to abate . Even
if there is no traffic and you make a wrong turn you
could end up further away from your destination than

139
when you started, because by the ti me you find a
place to turn around, if you can even find one, you
are way away and swearing like a drunken sailor .
Sarah believed that road rage ori ginated ri ght here in
Boston. This ti me Sar ah made all the ri ght t urns and
found the hotel with neither tribulations nor four
letter words.
Jen brought Sarah and Tom to a PC in t he
office and found the photo folder where that days
recordings where stored . It looked to Sarah t hat they
had photographed everyone that day . Thumbnails
page after page, but she found that they were
organi zed by and named by the ti me each were
recorded and they exit ed the hotel around 9:00PM or
so. There they were . A set of them taken a few
seconds apart , for the time he was at the desk. There
were photos from each side, a front shot, even a rear
view. Sarah had them copy several of the files onto
her memor y card so she could plug it into her
computer for enhancements and cropping, t o form a
set of mug shot s for some Vegas bound posters.
Sarah had photos of Susan but not Larry, but
anyone who knew Susan and Ken would know Larr y
too, she thought . They packed a few bags and were
off to Vegas later that day . They tal ked about where
to hand out the post ers and where to post them.

140
Sarah thought that they should start in Larrys
neighborhood. Tom said,
I think its a plan.
Ever y telephone pole with -in a mile of his place had
a poster saying
HAVE YOU SEEN THESE TWO PEOPLE
IF SO CALL ( 666) -555-4321.
It was all they had to go on . The phone number was
Sarahs cell phone . She made sure she had coverage
out here, it was a national plan but she checked it
out anyway, j ust to be sure . That afternoon she got a
call,
Hello, this is Sarah
Hello, this is Lt . Jones from the Watert on
Police Depart ment, j ust calling to see what s
up.
Sarah hit the speaker phone so Tom could hear the
conversation,
I m a ver y close fr iend of Susans . You
could say lovers and partners in life . I
havent been able to locate he r and this was
the onl y way I could think of to find her . Her
fathers place is all locked up and seems to be
abandoned, at least closed down for a while.
Larrys a good friend of mine, but he only
left word that they were going to be out of

141
 town for a few weeks or so, and could I keep
an eye on his place once in a while.
Do you know of any places they mi ght
possibly have gone?
I cant say for sure, but they have a place in
San Diego out near Torres Pines, and a place
out on the beach on Paradise Island in Nassau .
Other than that, I cant help you. Make sure
you remove the posters before you leave,
Thanks.
Thank you, we will.
Sarah looked at Tom and Tom looked at Sarah and in
unison said,
Paradise Island

Sarah went on -line to find a sate llite view of

the Island. She found several prospects for where to
start looking, when they get to Nassau . The plan
was to rent a r un about and investi gate by sea,
because the places they were interested in were
accessible onl y by boat . These places l oo ked to
Sarah like they would afford the residents a bit more
remote security and privacy . Each of these places
had their own piers and boat slips, mini -marinas in
some cases . There werent many, but the ones they
were interested in wer e on the western en d where the
island narrows to nearly nothing where t he boat

142
landings and back yar ds are on the bay side facing
Nassau, and their front yards were ri ght on t he beach
on the ocean side.
They approached one pier where they saw
someone tending a boat there, as king hi m,
Do you know a Larr y Clifford?
Why yes, but haven t seen hi m or his fami ly
for weeks now. I havent seen any acti vity,
what so ever , over there, the next pier over.
OK, Thanks, He told us to stop by someti me
when we were down here . Guess we missed
them this time . We saw that there was no boat
there and wanted to ask you if you had seen
them. Have a good day.
Alright then, you too.

They headed back t o Nassau so that they

would not bring attention to themsel ves by heading
directly to their place . They planned to return later,
after dark, to see if they could gl ean some
infor mation about where they mi ght be.
They approached the pier in the dar k, several
hours after sunset to assure as much darkness as
possible. They then t urned their running li ghts off a
short distance out across the bay . They idled the
motor in order to be as quiet as possible on their
approach. When they got there, they tied t heir boat

143
up to the dock and headed up to the house . It was
dark, and the moon was not up yet, but there was
enough residual li ght from the nei ghbors and the
adj acent resorts that they could find their way . All
the doors were locked and all the windows were
closed and locked as well, except for one . It was
one in the back, storage room, whi ch had a door to
the house if they could get in thought the window . It
was small, but big enough to get through with some
effort.
Sarah figured that Larry and Candy were
trying to exert tough love onto Susan, for her
departure to the other side, homosexu ality. Susan
did not think of it as the other side j ust an
alternate way of thinki ng about life . Yes, it is true it
is an aberration of nat ure . However, gi ven the state
of society and politics in the USA, there i s a hi gh
level of toleration and accept ance for all things
abnor mal these days . Sarah believed that nature
deals a different hand to each individual, and with
the hand dealt to you, you do what you can to make
yourself as happy as you can.
The demarcations bet ween genders were not
clear at all to her. Sarah believes that t here are
many segments of bei ng female or male . That is to
say that some people are ver y male, or ver y female .
However , many people fall between the lines as

144
mostl y male, or somewhat male, or hardl y male, or
not at all mal e even though they possess a penis .
There are some women that look more li ke men then
most men, and there are some men that look more
like women then most women . Just look around .
They are ever ywhere . It has become a fact of life.
Sarah did not see the need for the Marriage
equality, but certainl y saw the reality of the genetic
diversit y facing us . Some are dri ven by t he genes .
Some are dri ven by t he SOBs that cloud our minds
beyond reconciliation . Make no mistake, Sarah
loved Susan, and was in the process of proving that
she would die for her i f necessary.
Once inside they looked around and did not
find much of anything anywhere, except Sarah
noticed a computer in a room that looked like a
residential type office, with a desk and file cabinets
and a computer with an internet connection . Sarah
did not care if it was connected or not but was
interested in the browsing histor y, which would be in
the system if someone had not deleted it . She
pushed the power button and it whirred up and
booted to a Wi ndows desktop and she f ound the
Internet browser and punched the History button, and
what she was about to see would gi ve her incredibly
high hopes to finding Susan . In the history, she
found a web site called freindlybayresort .com It

145
was a resort on Ca t Island, which is about 100 miles
southeast of Nassau . It resides on the leeward side
of the Island, which offered calmer waters and grand
crescent shaped beaches . It is one of the Out
Islands so called by Bahamians . They are the lesser
developed Isl ands that have few amenities outside of
the resorts that reside there . There have been many
improvements over t he years but they ar e still a
throw back to years gone by . Surprisingl y t he native
inhabitants are mostl y far mers, not fisher men, but
Conch fishing is prevalent but not the mainstay .
They grow i mmacul ate vegetables in the worst
looking gardens one could i magine They would carve
out of the j ungle li ke vegetation, plots of gardens,
dig a hole in the li mestone laden soil, add some soil
and fertilizer, mainl y composted Bat guano from the
caves, and plant tomatoes, and other common garden
vegetables and would eek out an existence.
Sarah had found them she was sure . Before
she left, she rebooted to a DOS prompt and typed
FDISK hit Enter and left . She looked up the
link when they got back to their hotel room. They
had villas, cabanas, and hotel rooms . She suspected
that they had rented one of the larger vill as, with
three or four bedr ooms, because of the entourage that
followed them ever ywhere, from securit y to other
relatives. She made a reservation for the next day in

146
one of the two -bedroom villas right on the beach . It
is called The Beach House . Sarah found this name
to be a bit unusual as they were all beach houses .
None of which were m ore than 30 yards f rom the
open beach with beach sand ri ght up to their patios
and porches. This one was right next to the main
lodge, where the concierge , kitchen, and dining
rooms were. The larger Villas were further up the
beach to the other side of t he main building. Sarah
and Tom would try to be as inconspicuous as
possible. These people know them and would
recogni ze them, as soon as they saw them, so they
needed to be careful . It would be a chall enge for
Sarah, what kind of disguise could she com e up with
for here.
Before they left Nassau to head for Cat Island,
they both headed for the mar ket place down by the
Cruise ships . There she would buy a very wide
brimmed hat and sunglasses the size of Carol
Channings eyes, to cover as much of her face as
possible. Tom said he would j ust stay near the bar
in the house and let her investi gate the ot hers . He
was not as young as he used to be . Like all of us,
time ticks and the candle wicks eventuall y burn out
into a tiny pile of wax that has little val ue other than
the memories you leave behind , with the ones you
love, or the ones that despise you. Tom felt Sarahs

147
love for hi m, and he loved her, but for her i t was li ke
the grandfather she never had . For hi m it was li ke
the wife he never had, but he would have to settle for
like the daughter he never had .
They arrived on Cat Island in a one plus four
seat two engi ne Beechcraft Baron, capable of flying
from Nassau, New Pr ovidence to New Bi ght, on Cat
Island in about 30 minutes . Believe it or not but
New Bi ght Airport is an International Airport
capable of flying direct from the USA or any other
country, j ust that some planes cant l and there
because the runway is too short . You also had to
arrange ahead of ti me to ensure the cust oms and
immi gration officials were there to meet you .
Getting there was no problem for the Beechcraft
Baron. It is desi gned for this type of flying where it
is always a good idea to have two engines , when
flying pri maril y over water . If one engine stalls the
other one will get you to a place you can land safely,
not drop you into the water to fend off the sharks
while no one comes to rescue you .
They were greeted war ml y by the hotel staff
and shown to their beach house . No check in
necessary, things wer e ver y relaxed and B ahamian
style, slow, cordial, and wonderful . It is a great
place to unwind and do nothing if that is what you
wanted, Sarah thought . However, there was plenty

148
of adventure too, if you were up for it, ever ything
from, to die for snor keling to Bone fishing in the
mangrove swamps and creeks . They had Sunfish
sailing rigs, kayaks, and canoes . They would even
rent you a runabout outboard motor boat to explore
the secluded cays, bays and beaches around the
island. Thats not what were here for, Sarah said
to Tom in a stern voice, but he knew why t hey were
there, as they tal ked about what to do . Sarah thought
she should j ust walk t he beach by each of t he Villas
and see what she coul d see . She would j ust take in
the sights, as a vacationer would.
She wal ked in the direction of the Villas
where she suspected they were staying . The first one
seemed to be unoccupied, but they could have j ust
been away for the day. The second one surprised
Sarah. Oh my God, i ts Susan, sitting right there on
the patio j ust outside the Villa . Sarah had to
reserve herself lest gi ve away her presence . It
proved to be one of the most diff icult things she ever
had to do. She turned away and continued her wal k
down the beach as if nothing had happened . She
decided that she h ad to continue at least several
hundred yards as to not draw attention to her . It was
the most difficult two hundred yards out and back
she ever had to wal k. Her knees where weakened by
the adrenaline and she hoped it was not so bad to be

149
noticeable. She nearly tripped and fell right in front
of the Villa, right in front of Susan, but she knew
she had to keep going and avoid notice by anyone.
Tom!
She blurted out,
Shes here!
Out of breathe from the adrenaline.
Oh Sarah, we ve done it, we found her.
They hugged for minutes it seemed to Sarah . Tom
knew how much she loved Susan and felt like a
loving father, or grandfather to her . He was 40 years
older then she was, and no way would they ever be
lovers. This is as close as he would ever get to
Sarah, and he regretted not having met someone like
her before it was too late . Tom had never married .
Never found the one for hi m . Sarah fi gured that is
why he was such a crotchety old man.
Sarah schemed that night on how to retrieve
her, get her out of there, and away from here . She
felt they mi ght feel safe here and be a bit lax about
security. After all, who would think to look for her
on one of the Out Islands of the Bahamas?
Sarah could not sleep that night . She kept
going over it and over it aga in in her head,
I need to j ust walk down the beach past their
Villa and sit and sunbathe, and wade in the
water.

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She hoped that Susan was free to walk the beach on
her own, being lax about securit y . After all, how
would she be able to leave the island , without help ?
They were not thinking about help were they ? Sarah
would reserve tickets on ever y flight out that day,
j ust in case she could intercept her on a walk down
the beach. Her plan was to have a car ready on the
back dri veway j ust over the beachhead through the
mangroves behind several of the beach houses down
where she would be sitting . Tom would be there
with a car ready to head to the airport, which was
j ust a short distance away.
The next morning, about 9:00 AM she headed
out. This was e arly for most, especially here,
ever ything was so laid back that nothing was hurried
or so important that it needed immediate attention .
However , she felt the over whel ming need to be there
for Susan. She made sure Tom would be in position
as soon as she arrived at her spot . She did not see
anyone while wal king by the Villa, nor by the dining
room, where they ser ve a continental style breakfast .
You could order up anything you wanted ahead of
time, if you placed the order the ni ght before, but
most j ust partake of the usual . She was not there,
none of them were . She thought maybe t hey were
still sleeping or making their own breakfast, or
something. She j ust wal ked and sat . She brought

151
two lar ge beach towel s, one to sit on and one to dr y
off after goin g into the water . It wor ked as a
headrest until it got wet . There were so few people
on the beach she felt comfortable enough to go
topless, after all, not too much there to get up about
anyway, she thought to herself, but Susan would
recogni ze her i mmed iately, would she not?
Most days there are sunny war m and dry,
almost arid, li ke a desert . The afternoon sun would
puff up some ther mal generated cumuloni mbus
clouds and a brief shower caused by them would j ust
cool you off a bit, and the sun would be ri ght back
out, wor king hard to evaporate more water, starting
the process all over again.
About an hour passed, and Sarah looked
towards the Villa, and saw someone wal king in her
direction. There had been several others pass ing by
and back again, but this one came from the Villa,
rather than from the resort . Sarah looked away
suspecting someone mi ght be watching. As she
approached, Sarah saw that it was Susan . She was
wal king with her head down , hands in her pockets,
and kicking the sand as she went . As she approached
Sarahs heart pounded, pounding out the words I
love you Susan . Just as she was about to pass, head
still down, Sarah said,
Just keep wal king, and dont look at me.

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Susan stopped without looking towards Sarah and
said,
Sarah?
Just keep wal king!
She did, but before she was out of hearing range,
Sarah said,
On your way back follow me into the
mangrove and well get out of here.
Susan kept wal king and the tears in her eyes made it
hard for her to see where she was going, but no way
was she going to miss this opportunity to escape the
Larry. Apparentl y, no one noticed the momentar y
hesitation next to Sar ah, and on her way back , Sarah
had left the beach and hoped Susan could follow her
tacks into the mangrove where they would me et up
with Tom and head for the airport.
As the plane was lifting off the runway Sarah
looked down to see a car pull up onto the r unway as
they flew away. All Sarah could think of, as she laid
her head back onto the headrest, looking over
towards Susan, was t he i mage of that car thumping
down into the bottom of a rather large hol e, with a
smile on her face and Susan by her side, clutching
hands as if welded together forever.

153
154
 Chapter 11
The Incident

Sarah and Tom had to approach t he

Condominium associati on with a complaint about
security. They had a legiti mate complaint, but with
no proof of any wrongdoing, it was difficult for them
to do anything. Apparently, someone messed with
the tapes and there was no record for that date . All
they could do is register the complaint and if they
get more complaints about other issues then they
mi ght be able to do something . They assur ed Sarah
that their complaint would remain anonymous . The
security guard will not know about her complaint,
and that she should feel safe about living here .
Safe, here? Sarah questioned to her self, and
thought, I m going to have to think about whats
safe or not. She knew Susan did not feel safe, and
that bothered her. She thought of the 44, but also of,
How would that have he lped in her abduction ?
Probabl y not. For the near future they were all
staying at Toms place, because he was sure they did
not know his address . Larry had never been there
and he was sure he had never told hi m . He had only
mentioned Boston.

155
 Sarah would click on the little red icon often .
On-line poker cant be too much trouble can it?
she would say to herself every ti me she went there .
She spent ti me learning the chat box and texting
abbreviations, by making friends with some of the
regular player s, becoming a regular herself.
Sarahs Avatar was a photo of herself, or part
of one that she had cropped and si zed to fit . It was
her hand, holding fi ve playing cards, as if playing
poker, holding fi ve aces . Her Players name was
Sarah543, which was foll owed by several players,
and Sarah would follow them . Part of the program
allowed players to find other players and would
display which table or tournament they were playing
at and you could go and watch the tourney, or j oin
them if there was an open seat , at the open ring
tables.
Sarah li ked the five card draw tables with t he
low buy-in. She would select the mini mum number
of chips necessary to sit . She liked turning 300
chips into1200, over a period of an hour or so .
Someti mes that would happen in a matter of minutes
with the right player s at the table . The regular
players would call them Bingo players, because
they floated lar ge bet s on the table with poor hands
hoping to get lucky against another Bingo player,
like in real Bingo the player yells, Bingo! when

156
they hit the ri ght number on their card .. Usuall y
when they got lucky l ike that they would t ake their
chips and run, or would loose them to a good hand
and then run as well, and quite often would continue,
if they still had chips, with bad bets until all their
chips were gone . Someti mes they call ed these
players ATM machines, seemingl y j ust gi vi ng there
chips away hoping to get lucky . However, Sarah
would fold to large bets like that . She would wait to
get a good hand and would check to t he Bingo
player, and raise his bet after having checked .
Ninet y percent, of the ti me, a Bingo player would
call or even re -raise, with little or no hand at all,
looking for a fold and the pot, and all the regulars
would text on the chat line LOL, which, f or those of
you that do not know stands for Laughing Out
Loud.
Sarah was learning many other texti ng
abbreviations, such as:
ty thank you
vm ver y much
wb welcome back
thx thanks
yw you are welcome
LMAO Laughing My Ass Off
IMFAO Laughing My Fucking Ass O ff
brb be right back or bath r oom break

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 gt mu good to meet you
u2 you too
nh nice hand
vnh ver y nice hand
g1 good one
g3 good three of a kind
nstr8 nice straight
The list goes on but these are the ones Sarah used
the most.
They would describe feelings or a ctions by
typing out descriptive words with -in par entheses,
such as:
(Smiling)
(Crying)
(Sobbing)
(Rolling)
(Blushing)
Etcetera
Al most anything goes here, as long as it is not on the
list of forbidden words.
Forbidden words are mostl y al l those four
letter words your mot her never let you say without
getting a bar of soap pushed into your mouth . The
program censors out any of those words and
substitutes an asterisk in the place of each letter
typed . Sarah would occasionally see player s p ut an
underscore in between each letter, such as,

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B_i_t_c_h or spell it Bich and it would escape
the programs censor r outine . It seemed to Sarah that
they could have progr ammed those into it also, but
wondered how long t hose players would be able to
maintain the pri vilege of Chat . Occasionally Sarah
would encounter a regular player who would not
respond to a greeting or comment . Someti mes
another player who knew the silent one and would
relay the fact that the silent one had lost his chat
privilege o ver an incident with some other player or
players, where words were spoken in abusi ve or lurid
language. This would lead to suspension for a
period; say a week t o start, a month for a second
violation and per manent for a third . Sarah would
wonder how man y players at the tables had their chat
suspended per manentl y but could not tell you. Quite
often, she would comment to a player and get no
response at all, and she could not tell if they could
not or would not .
English is the only language allowed, in or der
to be fair to all players, and they can choose to set
the language that the chat shows up as, whi ch is why
she could not understand why some players still,
chatted in Spanish, Ger man, Italian, or other . This
also could be grounds for chat suspension , Sarah
suspected. If a player did not know Spanish then

159
they could discuss how to play the hand without the
other players knowing what was being said.
Chat acquaintances someti mes would become
Chat friends, or buddies, and seek each other out
ever y ti me t hey played . It was fun for Sarah . There
were conversations and laughs, j ust like as if they
were good friends around a real table, playing poker
for fun, much li ke friends in real life.
Sarah began to wonder, though . How real or
how unreal someone coul d be in this situation . You
have seen the warnings on the TV ads where some
15-year -old girl thinks she is chatting with another
15-year -old girl, but it is a fifty-year -ol d chubby
bald man sitting at his computer hoping to lure her
into his clutches . Anything and ever ythi ng could
develop into a problem, as Sarah has come to learn,
the hard way. She wondered about Sydney and
Ashley, seemingl y a lesbian couple much like she
and Susan. They shar ed a lot of common gr ound and
the chat seemed so real to Sara h, but she recognized
that synchroni zation of perception and reality is an
illusion. Their Avatars were of beautiful women in
their twenties or thirties, Sarah thought, but they can
get those photos al most anywhere these days . They
were ver y fuzzy and bl urry when she exami ned them
closely, reali zing that they could belong to some

160
fashion models phot os somewhere forei gn to the
player displaying it.
The chat would be about most anything people
talk about nor mally . They would chat about the
weather, wor k, r elati onship issues, what t hey were
doing that day, flirting, teasing, poker hands, and
etcetera.
Sarah always thought that it was unusual to
see only one of the two of them at a time at the
tables. When they first started chatting they were
friends living apart, but soon Ashley said Sydney
asked her to move in with her . Ok, she thought, that
mi ght explain it . They onl y have one computer and
only one player can be on -line at anyone ti me . Sarah
would go on -line searching for Antique shops like
the one they were describing as their business . She
was afraid to ask the name and they were not gi ving
it out either, afraid that they would feel like I
wanted too much inf or mation, the same way Sarah
felt about hers . Like many things, Sarah felt it was
probabl y too good to be true, but the curiosity was
gnawing at her ankles like a bad little Yorkshire
Terrier, that j ust would not stop or go away.
One day Sydney was chatting about how far
away they li ved from each other and woul dnt it be
nice if we got together for real someday . Sarah was
non-committal, and the conversation changed to

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something else . Sarah was being cautious, and
wanted to stay friends . Ashley had flashed her email
address on the chat l ine one day . Sarah wrote it
down, but was hesitant to res pond. It would be a
scary step, even though it was as anonymous as the
poker site, maybe j ust one layer less public, but
What could it hurt, she thought . That was the
beginning, of the end. She was hooked and wanted
more, even though she knew it wasn t right, at least
not 100% sure . How could you or anyone be sure? I
will be cautious, take things slow, and see what
happens. Susan did not like any of this at all, and
told Sarah to drop it and get onto something else .
Sarah would agree, but there was still that little
devil on her ri ght shoulder saying, Just do it.

Sydney was not Sydney at all . He was a 28 -

year -old sli m ratty looking guy who j ust really did
not know who he was . He was one of those whose
hair in front would not stay on top and was
constantly sweeping it back on top with his hand to
get it out of his eyes . It was dar k brown gr easy, but
strait. He hated to cut it short because it would
stand strait up like short quills on an excited
Porcupine.
He was also Ashley, and a bunch of oth ers
Sarah did not know about . She someti mes suspected

162
that others mi ght be but could not verif y i t, or did
not want Syd and Ash to think she was snooping .
She did not know it at the time but he wor ked for the
Antique shop, not the owner , whose characters he
portrayed, and drove the deliver y and pick -up truck,
as well as do some repair and maintenance wor k
around the shop . It was a part time j ob, but he spent
all his time there when away from his computer . He
too loved poker, but ever y ti me he played wi th real
money, he lost often, and would loose more than
win, and quite often could onl y play the Fr ee Chips
Play Money tables.

His name was Richie, short for Richard . He

hated Richie, but everyone called hi m that . He
thought they liked it because Ri chie the Rat
sounded good to them, and seemed to fit, and they
would call hi m that because he was so humorless,
and withdrawn, seemi ngl y hiding in the shadows li ke
a rat. He had a large nose and a slim face . The kids,
when he was in school, first nickna med him that,
they seemed to think it made hi m look li ke a rat, and
it stuck with hi m ever since . He could not seem to
shake it, and he would think, I will get even with
them some day, all of them.
His mother was an abusive Lesbian, a Diesel
Dyke, with a butch haircut, tattoos, strappy tee shirt,

163
loose j eans with holes in the knees, and built more
like a man than a woman . She drove one of those
large Diesel tractor -trailer rigs, hauling loads back
and forth between LA and NY and ever ywhere in
between. She would be gone for days, weeks
someti mes. He fi gured she got pregnant, with him,
by some guy pretending to be a woman, j ust to
demean her and her life style . He would i magine the
surprise on her face when she saw it . He would
chuckle to hi mself, s he deser ved it . Maybe it was
j ust a mean fucker trucker, he j ust did not know
because she had never talked about it . He would
also try to i magine what a last tri mester pregnant
Diesel Dyke looked li ke, but that was an i mage too
difficult for him to vis ualize.
Richie was glad to be living at home alone
now. He suspected she was either dead or living
with some woman that found her attractive, or j ust
liked her truck.
Richie was looking for attractive female
lesbians. He could never score with a woman of
either persuasion, so he felt he would have t o turn to
deception, entrapment , and abduction, in order to
fulfill the desires that drove hi m . What better place
than the internet . He could chat and play poker at
the same ti me . He was in heaven . He woul d have to
come up with a clever lure to be successful, though .

164
He knew Sarah had a partner and was very happy
with Susan, but he also knew, or suspected by their
chats, that she was drawn to other lesbian couples,
because of her chats about Janna and Mar y. Syd and
Ash were wor king har d to make the meeting become
a reality.
They would chat about how much wor k there
was at the shop and how it is hard to find help , and
this and that about opening another shop, or how
they li ved so far apart that they probab ly never
would be able to meet each other . They were
wor king inch by inch to get Sarah to suggest a
meeting.
One day Sarah suggested, Why dont you
come to Boston for a vacation, Ill show you the
town and maybe a side trip to the Cape . I ve got a
condo apart ment j ust across the harbor from
downtown, itll be fun? To her surprise , Syd
accepted the invitation saying,
Ill have to clear it with Ash, but I m sure
she will be excited to go.
The next day the first chat was to confirm t he
get together . They were closing their shops and
coming next week. Sarah suggested meeting first in
a public place, and suggested where . It would be at
the Lucky 7 Restaurant in Charlestown, f or lunch
at noon on Wednesday. It is located j ust over the

165
railroad tracks and elevated transit between
Cambridge and Charl estown, j ust beyond Interstate
93 highway, and in view of the Bunker Hill
Monument.
Richie made sure he was there well before
noon, so he could try to deter mine which car was
Sarahs. Sarah had emailed hi m (Syd) saying she
would leave word wi th the Maitre d, j ust ask for
Sarah. He had arri ved several days in advance and
had acquired an ol d wrecker truck and had it
repainted at the Jiffy Paint Job place . The paint was
almost still wet . He was good at pa inting letters,
and as he was lettering the si gn on the doors, he
thought he should do this for a living . His plan was
to disable Sarahs car by pulling several spark plug
wires, coming to her rescue by towing her car to a
repair shop, having her ride bes ide hi m in t he truck,
drop her car, and stuff her into his rental car and
head for California . He took some license plates
from a vehicle that looked like it was abandoned on
the street near where he bought the truck . They were
out of date, but at least they would suffice for now,
because it was going to be on the road for a few
hours at best . He had also rented a car and it was
waiting in the par king lot a few blocks away, out of
the main public view. He had paid the Maitr e d $50
to tip him off when s he was seated, asking hi m to

166
wave out the front door . He explained she was a
good friend and he wanted to make an
impressionable entrance, and to surprise her with a
wonderful gift . Richie was paying attention to who
drove up and got out of which car, th ose who mi ght
be Sarah. He kne w as soon as he saw her, though .
She was right on ti me . Just at the stroke of noon .
She was alone and headed for the restaurant . Sure
enough a minute or t wo passed and the wave from
the Matre d. He proceeded to go over to her car,
and using his door lock tool opened the car door and
popped the hood wher e he pulled several spark plug
wires so that the engi ne would run ver y rough if at
all, on onl y two cylinders, when she came back out
to start her car . In the meanti me, he moved the
wrecker, dri ving around the block and then waiting
for a space to open up a bit closer, so he could see
Sarah and her car from the truck.
She waited nearl y an hour and a half, and
apologized to the waiter and the Maitre d, on her
way out, she said she had left them a tip for their
trouble. As she was wal king away the Maitre d
said,
Wait, miss, there was a guy here a f ew
mi nutes before you ar rived . He gave me $50
to wave out the door when you arrived . He
said, he wanted to wait for you t o be seated,

167
 so he could make an entrance of some sort,
and surprise you with a gift.
Sarahs face showed a look of surprise that the
Maitre d wasnt expecting, as she said,
What? Thats odd, very odd, I was expecti ng
two women. . I m ver y confus ed now, but
thanks for the infor mation,
She handed hi m another $20 thanking for his
concern.
She was looking around the parking lot for
someone, but was not sure who or j ust what . She
spotted the newly pai nted old wreaker truck and a
ratty looking drive r, but could not be sure he was the
one. She decided to wal k in a direction away from
her car to see if he would look or do somethi ng about
it. As she turned to the right, she looked over
toward hi m and he looked up, ri ght at her, and she
now knew he was the one that was here for her . She
froze for a second not knowing what to do now, as he
started the engine in his truck and pulled out of his
parking space . Susan ran back to the restaurant,
through the door and looked out the window, j ust in
time to see hi m and t he truck race out the driveway,
turn without stopping almost causing an accident, as
he drove away at high speed , high speed for an old
beat -up truck with a new paint j ob.

168
 Sarah turned to tell the Maitre d to call the
police as she explained about what j ust happen. He
said,
I saw that truck, and you running back over
here and I have the phone in my hand.
After he made the call , he sat her down at a
nearby empt y table and got her a cup of coff ee
and a muffin.
Wow! He said, do you think he was aft er
you?
Yes, I do. I ve had these chat buddies f or
months now and decided to meet . I thought I
was meeting two women, not a rat faced idiot,
who would tr y to abduct me . I m such a
fool.
Not to worr y honey, hes gone now.
Guess my curi osit y got the better of me.

The police arrived to investi gate . First it was

a nearby patrol car fol lowed shortl y thereaft er by the
on duty Detective from the nearby Station . Sarah
j ust told the story as it happened with all the details
about the inter net chatting and emails . Detective
Henney said,
Youre lucky. That was a close one . If you
hadnt tipped and spoken to the Maitre d and
waiter you would have gotten to your car and

169
 been in his truck headed for who knows
where. Lets go look at your car. Chances
are he did something to disable it, and would
have been ri ght ther e to help you start it,
rather, well, something else for sure.
They headed out to the car . Detecti ve Henney said
Dont touch anything . There mi ght be
evidence in or on it . Well have to get a CSI
team over here ASAP, I think theyre on t he
way anyway, if the di spatchers are doing their
j ob.
By then many other Police vehicles and Patrolmen
were there and started to cordon off the area around
her car with that yellow plas tic tape that says Cri me
Scene Do Not Cross on it . As they got int o his car,
He said
Follow me . We should let the CSI team look
for the evidence .

On the way there, Sarah phoned Susan about

what happened and asked her to come to the station
to be with her through the ordeal . Susan sai d,
Oh! Sarah ! I told you to drop all that Ill
be right over baby. Hang in there . I l ove
you.
I love you too.

170
 Susan would do anyt hing for Sarah, and of
course, Susan knew f irsthand what Sarah would do
for her, thankful that Police Station comf ort was all
she needed to do, this time.

At the station Henney said,

I need to file a detailed report . In the
meanti me Phil over t here has radioed in an
APB to find the truck.
Detective Henney was ver y nice, he lpful and patient
about all the details, leaving the r oom for only a few
mi nutes to check on Sarahs history . As he returned
to the conference room where they were recording all
the details, he mentioned to her about some of her
previous encounters with S OBs,
You are no stranger to adversity, are you,
little one?
Well, no. She said. Trouble finds me .
Right Susan?
Susan there now, sitti ng by her side saying,
Oh sweetie, it doesn t find you, you find i t
all on your own, darling.
Henney chuc kled a bit and said,
You two are a couple arent you?
Sarah j ust cocked her head a bit and nodded and
said,
Yah, but not for long, huh?

171
With that, they all started laughing as Sar ah broke
out into a huge smile and hugged Susan, thankful to
be there right then.
One of the patrol men opened the door and
said,
We think we found the truck, but no si gn of
anyone, looks li ke its been abandoned.
Care to go look at it t o see if its the one?
Sure, lets go.
Susan and Sarah got into the back of Det ective
Henneys police car, he drove and a patrol officer sat
up front. The truck was parked out behi nd a gas
station out off of Rutherford Ave. right near the
intersection of US 1 and I -93, where you could find
an on ramp to get onto I -93 South and head t o j ust
about anywhere from there.

As soon as they got there, Sarah said,

Thats it, no doubts what so ever .
OK Sarah, well put up the cri me scene
barrier and wait for the CSI to finish up down
at the restaurant and head up here.
It onl y took a few mi nutes to put up the barrier, but
the CSI team, took a few more minutes to get there .
They onl y had Sarahs car, the front door, and onl y a
bit of the front desk area of the restaurant to cover,
but they exami ned it all trying to find something .

172
The restaurant went quickl y . There were so many
people in and out of there before they could do
anything there that anything would be lost for
evidence purposes . T here was not much on the car
either, except they found the two unplugged spar k
plug wires. They j ust said,
Must have worn gloves to cover the finger
prints,
They could not come up with any other material
evidence either , no obj ects, or threads, or anything
out of the ordinary, other than some torn rubber on
the window seal where he had j i mmied the door lock.
They went to wor k on the truck and Henney
and the girls went back to the station . There they
j ust made sure Sarah had covered ever ything that she
could tell them about what they needed to complete
their initial report . Chief ONeal poked his head
around the edge of the door to introduce himself and
tell Sarah,
Glad youre still wi th us honey, and dont
fret too much, I m sur e hes fled the area, but
if we come up with anything well be in
touch.
Sarah thanked hi m, and he was off . He was
probabl y busy sol ving other cases, Sarah thought,
as they stood up and headed for the exit, turning to

173
thank Henney and asked hi m to thank all invol ved
for her.
The next day Sarah got a call about somethi ng
they found in the truck. It was a solitary fi ngerprint,
and it was fresh . Apparently, he missed it in his
hurry to wipe it down and get out of town . This
print is from a guy who has been investigated before .
They never found any evidence to prove anything,
but it was relati ve to the disappearance of another
young lady, si milar age looks and circumstances to
this incident, but she had never been found . Her
name was Tami Wilder, from Seattle Washington .
His name is Richard F. Bellhausen, fr om 19B
Westwood Dri ve East Pomona California . This is an
address from two years ago, no telling if its current
or not. By the number, Sarah thought that it is
probabl y an apartment in a duplex or triplex type
house. At the sound of his name Sarah though,
Richie the Rat.
Sarah would ponder the thought of go i ng
there, to see what she could find out about this guy .
She was sure he was no longer there, at that address
but it mi ght lead to some clues as to his current
place of residence . She wondered if ther e was or
could be another victim who was not as lucky as she
was. To spite the little devil on her shoulder, Sarah

174
fell asleep that ni ght to what sounded li ke a little
chipmunk chirping out the words, Di g, Sarah, Di g.

175
176
 Chapter 12
Chasing the Rat

Sarahs and Susans fl ight into LAX would be

pretty uneventful. The first thing they would do is
rent a car and dri ve t o East Pomona . It was a war m
early fall day, sunny, hazy as usual, Santa Anna
wind blowing the temperatures up the scale . As
usual, there was 100% traffic . It would t ake nearl y
two hours th at day to go a little over 45 mil es. That
is averaging j ust about 22.5 miles per hour on
elevated li mited access multi -lane super highways .
They got on I-105 west and would try to head north
on I-605 up to I-10 and head west over to East
Pomona . Sarah thought that this was not as bad as
going from Lynnfield to Braintree on I -95 south on
the old Route 128 loop during rush hour, but was
sure glad to have the A/C wor king overti me in the
heat. The traffic on the Boston route 128 loop would
go from bumper to bumper traffic at 75 MPH to
bumper -to-bumper tr affic at a standstill at a
moments notice. You really had to pay attention
otherwise, you became the meat in the mi ddle of a
metal sandwich, literally. The j aws of life chew on
metal sandwiches there quite often. Even if you

177
manage to stop in ti me, you onl y flow at the rate of 1
or 2 MPH. You can wal k faster than that . This
would go on for miles until you pass the accident or
breakdown, or the intersection at I-93, or j ust the
Inch Wor m Effect . You know, The Inch Wor m
Effect, its where the traffic is moving al ong well,
but the highway is near or at its maxi mum capacity
and someone slows down for some oddbal l reason,
like oh look there s a sale on bananas at the
super mar ket . Idiot s! What happens i s all the
traffic for a mile or so slows down allowing cars to
accordion up into a bunch . It is much li ke bananas,
and it takes a while for them to spread out again, but
because there is a continuous line of traffic, the
compression zone of cars remai ns until the traffic
density di minishes enough to eli mi nate the
compression zone . This can go on and on for miles
and miles, 75 MPH to 2 MPH to 75 MPH to 2 MPH,
repeatedly. Its no wonder so many people need hair
transplants in the Boston area . This cont inues as
long as there is enough traffic and idiots t hat slow
down too much for the traffic to handle.
When they got there they found the house
vacant and for sale . The driveway leads to an
outback apart ment, which they assumed was where
he had lived. The house was locked up and shades
drawn, so they would need to call and schedule a

178
showing by the Realtor . Perhaps they could ask the
current owners if he had left a forwarding address .
Susan suggested contacting the police regar ding their
investi gations of hi m several years previous . Sarah
said,
Well have to contact the Realtor anyway, to
get into this place . There mi ght be somethi ng
inside that mi ght gi ve us a clue, saving us t he
hassle of contacting the police, raising red
flags and causing a comm otion and all, you
know?

The Realtor was more than glad to meet them

there that afternoon, and would be ri ght by with the
keys . It was a short distance from the office and she
had no other appoint ments that day . Sarah had them
start their tour of the house in the rear apartment .
Megan, the realtor, was a bit curious as to why, but
Sarah explained,
We like the pri vacy back here and woul d
possibly consider renting the front apart ment
out to someone . Were only planning to be
here a week at a time eve r y few months or so,
and j ust needing a pl ace to crash for a few
nights at a ti me . That way we can rent the
maj ority of the house reducing our over head.
What kind of business are you in?

179
 I m a professional poker player.
Oh my, that must be a ver y interest ing
profession.
You have no idea, honey.
Sarah said, in a sarcastic voice, looking at Susan as
she did. Susan half smiled and half frowned as
Megan led them out back to the rear entrance and
unlocked the door.
Go ahead look around, Ill g o open up t he
front of the house and let some fresh air in.
It was j ust a small two-room apart ment, with a
Living/dining/ kitchen combination and a bedroom
with a full bath . There was a room all the way back
off the bedroom that seemed a bit odd to Sarah . It
was like a wal k -in closet without windows, shelves,
or clothes racks or closet poles . It was j ust a small
eight foot by ei ght -f oot room. It offered security as
well as seclusion from the world . The house was one
story with ei ght -inch thick brick and stucco exterior
walls, wood framed r oof and plaster ceilings, with
the terracotta roof tiles and a concrete slab on grade
floor with the 12 x 12 Spanish tiles . It was pretty
typical Souther n California Spanish St yle . However ,
the room intri gued Sarah . Susan dismissed it as j ust
a closet and said,
Lets get out of here . Its hot and dust y in
here.

180
Sarah j ust stood there looking at this room
wondering if this was, or some other room li ke it
going to be her destination, and was there some other
poor young woman al ready there, but if he came to
Boston looki ng for another there may not be, unless
hes always thinking ahead and looking for new
victi ms for his pleasure . Sarah asked Megan about
the owners,
Are they available to ask questions?
Like what? I may be able to answer them f or
you, but if not I can ask for you.
Great, then, ask t hem if they have a
forwarding address of the person or persons
who lived here last . Id j ust like to get their
opinion of the place.
Ok, but they moved to Port land or
somewhere near there up in Oregon, about a
year ago. Ill need to go to the office and
look it up and call you later with it.
Heres my card with my number on it, well
be at the Sheraton, but thats my cell phone
number.
All her card had on i t was her name, Sarah, the
phrase, Aces Full and her number, (666)-555-
4321, all center j ustified in italic Garamond font.
Youll get us anywhere the signal finds us,
thanks.

181
 OK, see you two later, Tootles.
Turning to Susan, Sar ah said,
I saw a restaurant back by the hi ghway . I m
hungr y how about you?
OK, but nothing much for me thanks, coff ee
and half a bran muffin for me, maybe.
We can wait there for the call about t he
forwarding address . What do you think about
finding a valid forwar ding address?
Not good. I think he moved out because of
the investi gation, last time, and hightailed it
to some other place to hide someone fr om
view, that is, if hes hiding someone.
I cant say I disagree, Susan, but I m hopi ng
to find something, making this tr ip
worthwhile.
You and me both

Megan called, j ust as Sarah was finishing her

burgers and fries, Sarah picked up her phone and
answered,
Hello, this is Sarah.
Hi Sarah, Well, I contacted the Mrs. And she
said there was nothing left be hind. One
evening they came home and ever ything was
gone.

182
 Do they remember the date, or did any
neighbors see a truck or moving van?
No, but, I remember a news story at the time
the police were investi gating where a nei ghbor
mentioned something about seeing an
unmar ked truck in the driveway but, that was
all I remember about it . Maybe the police
have a written report, or someone who
remembers.
OK then, thanks for your trouble, well be in
touch.
Can I show you two any other places?
Not today, Ill call tomorrow, OK?
OK, bye.

Sarahs thoughts went to Tami . What

possibly could have happened to her ? Is she still
alive, sequestered in a closet, cellar, or some other
hole in the ground? She could not get it out of her
mi nd, neither the thoughts, What could have
happened to me? Turning to Susan and sayi ng,
I think we should go to the police to see if
they have any infor mation that mi ght be able
to help us.
I sure hope we dont open up a Can of
Wor ms.

183
Ever y time Sarah hear d that phras e she would think,
Why would anyone ever want to can wor ms ? Much
less, open it? Sarah would di g for wor ms and night
crawlers for fishing, but why ? Go to a store and buy
a can of preser ved Wor ms ? When you can j ust go
out back and di g for them for fr ee. Well, yes ! Of
Course ! You gotta dig for them.

Richie the Rat was no stranger to abducting

young women. There had been several before Tami .
All of which had been murdered due to narrow
escape investi gations . None of which have been
found yet. All of them murdered in order to make
the move to a new location . They would be chopped
up into pieces, placed in plastic trash bags, and
disposed of in a remote section of woods of the
Sierra Nevada Range on some lonel y back r oad up a
mountain pass . Oh My God ! Sarah thought, Who
mi ght be found within his grasp next.
The police were not very helpful either . Their
investi gation was comprised of a ver y poor
eyewitnesss description and a poor police artists
rendering of his likeness . There were several
discrepancies. For example, his age, hei ght, eye
color, and wei ght, not to mention the clothes and
shoes that he had been wearing that he had burned a
long ti me ago. His greatest defense was how the

184
accusation had an err or in it . It was about the ti me
of day he was seen near the abduction site . This
error gave hi m an alibi, or at least the impr ession of
one. How could they pursue hi m with evidence that
weak? They would have to arrest hundreds of people
with noses li ke that . About the onl y thing that was
close was the description of the shape of his nose,
which was not enough to hold hi m, gi ven all the
disinformation that was in his favor . As a result, a
search warrant for his apartment was out of the
question.
Sarah sat down and read the investigati o n
reports, with a heavy eye on any details of Richie
that was confirmed and accurate . One thing that was
interesting to her was his travel to Ever green Hills
California. One person who recogni zed hi m , from a
wanted poster mug shot rendering, li ves in Eve r green
Hills. He actually helped him fix a flat tire on his
car, on the roadside, on route 155, someti mes called
The Evans Road, out near Ever green Hil ls . She
suspected the area j ust to the north of there along
Forest Route 23S16 could have been his dest ination.
It is an area in the southern reaches of the Sequoia
National Forest, that l ooked to be a remote section of
woods with logging and j eep access roads that comb
the woods around there . Sarah could never explain
why she had the abili ty to put assoc iations together

185
like that. It was a long shot, but everything
surrounding all this is a long shot, and Sarah was
trying to get something into focus before it is too
late again for some poor unsuspecting young woman,
like she was for a few hours one day n ot too long
ago. Sarahs power of perception had gui ded her,
carefully, with much consideration, and trepidation,
up to now, and she was not dismissing this
perception, this time . She has never really been
good at dismissing any of them, and now was no t i me
for Sarah to begin . Reasoning, anal ysis, drawing
conclusions from disparate infor mation, was Sarahs
forte. It is what made her good at reading poker
players, or finding Susan, or j ust reading peoples
intensions before they acted on them . She was j ust
good at evaluating situations in general, and was in
the process of proving it again.
Sarah and Susan drove out the Evans Road
j ust to see if anything would slap them i n the face
about where Richie t he Rat mi ght have gone to do
who knows what to how many girls. As t hey were
approaching Ever green Hills, Susan said,
Maybe he moved here or somewhere near by
Nah, hes probabl y still in the LA area close
to where the shop is . I j ust dont know where
that is. But its something we can focus on if
this lead goes nowhere.

186
 Good point Sarah, but do you know how
many shops li ke that t here are?
I know..I looked at the phonebook back at
the hotel before we left . In the LA area
theres maybe hundreds.

First, they headed f or the center of town,

which was j ust off the Evans Road . Ever green Hills
is j ust a very small rural town . There was nothing
too much out of the ordinary there, other than how
small it was . They then headed out towards Forest
Route 23S16 . Sarah attempted to turn right onto it,
also known as Ever gr een Hills Drive, tr ying to head
north to see what they could see out there . Wow,
this is a Jeep trail . Good thing we rented a four
wheel drive ORV . Looks like it is mostl y an ATV
road, but its manageable. Sarah had never been off
road before but thought, This Jeep Wrangler
Mountain is great. In 4WD mode, she felt confident
to traverse the rough spots in the road . She would
j ust take it slow and easy and to her surprise right up
and over, or through a hole with no trouble at all .
The road was not all too bad but was easil y passable
with it. Sarah knew she would not be doing any rock
crawling any ti me soon but a mountain road like this
she could handle . Soon after the turn they drove
under some long distance power transmission lines ,

187
and a little further they passed by a residence . Sarah
said to Susan, Thats funny, no power or t elephone
lines extend up here, must be on solar or wind
power, cell phones, and radios. Sarah had never
considered living off the grid before and thought
they must be heart y souls, to be so independent, off
on their own like that . However, she could
understand why someone mi ght want that for
themsel ves. This place, however, was not too
remote, as to be total ly detached from soci ety, but
Sarah would think about what it mi ght be like to live
somewhere where it takes hours by seaplane to get to
with nothing but woods and mountain ranges between
you and ci vilization . She thought about mentioning
it to Susan but stopped before doing so, thinking,
She would have a fit if I suggested that .
Nevertheless, she would do it for me, and end up not
liking it and would not be happy at all.
They rode up and over a ridge and down along
a valley beside a dr y brook bed, when t hey came
upon a woods road that crossed their path. One side
went up the mountain ridge to their right and the
other up the ridge they j ust came down off of. Sarah
asked Susan,
Which way?
Sarah, you know whi ch way you want to go .
You dont need me to muddy the waters . But,

188
 since you asked, I think you want to go to the
right up the hi gher ridge than we j ust came
down off of, RIGHT?
RightYou know me well dont you.
Some day youll tell me why, but for now
j ust keep your eyes on the road and keep it
slow and steady.

What is Intuition, particularly Womens

Intuition? Is it guesswor k, and luck, intel ligence?
Is it j ust feelings, inner voices or brain nudges, a
sixth sense? Sarah t rusted her intuition, and was
following a lead on a road that goes nowhere .
Bumps left, ruts ri ght, as t hey went up and over and
through as they climbed the slope looking for
something that they had no idea of what it was .
They were in low r ange now progressing slowl y,
having to remove some small tree falls along the
way, and Sarah was noticing that only a few ATVs
have been up this way recentl y, but other t han that,
the onl y si gns of life were of the wildlife . They got
near to the top, j ust a few hundred yards short of the
top of the ridge . The road seemed to end at a cul -de-
sac with a narrow ATV trail o ff to the left, which
lead to a small clearing. They left the Jeep and
headed towards the clearing . Sarah, appr ehensive
now, wal ked slowly, taking in anything and

189
ever ything, not being sure what mi ght be i mportant .
She was also thinking about the 44, an d the
possibility of a bear encounter . American Black
Bears are known to inhabit this area, usuall y gi vi ng
people a wide birth, but someti mes not . Just as she
was thinking about bear attacks, the i mage of a bear
dragging her into the woods came to mi nd . She
turned to Susan and said,
What if he had come up here with a body or
even killed her right here, built a campfi re
and cooked something for dinner, or had a
bear attractant scent, and let the bear drag her
off into the woods for dinner, and the coyot es
finished off the bones.
Oh my god Sarah, what an awfull y gruesome
thought, but would they eat ever y last piece of
a body?
I dont know, but I m hoping not.
Hey! Look over there, its remnants of a
campfire.
Good eye Susan, lets take a closer l ook
Sarah thought it woul d be difficult to know or find
anything of value here at the campfire pit, but it
confir med to her about the notion of the campfire -
cooking lure for the bear . At least it was possible,
but may have been j ust a hunter or some hike rs
camped for the ni ght.

190
 Its getting late, we should head back and
come back tomorrow and look around the area
out into the woods to see if we can find any
remains.
Oh God, I hope we dont.
Susan si ghed.
Awe, come on, buck it up . We need this .
OK, lets get out of here.

On the way there and the way back out they

encountered not one other vehicle or hiker or anyone
at all, and Sarah thought that such a remote place
like this fits her theory and hoped they had j ust
found the spot, or at l east one of them.
When they got back to town, they found a
General Store that had a Restaurant, and a couple of
Cabins for rent . Sarah said,
Well this is j ust perfect . Ever ything we need
right in one spot . Lets get a cabin and comeback
for dinner and see what we can get for supplies at
the General Store.
What do we need at t he store?
Just a few things to help us look for stuff in
the woods
Like what for example?

191
 Well if you must know, I think we mi ght
need to protect ourselves from a bear, or
bears, mo untain lions, wol ves, coyotes
No Sarah ! No guns ! Please!
Well, Ill see, but will you let me at least
look?
Noooooo!
Sarah would look to spite Susans obj ections . The
cabins, Sarah sur mised, were for out of state hunters
who come in during hunti ng season for a few days or
a week. They were a small twelve foot by sixteen
foot single room wit h a wood stove, a cold water
sink, a couple of bunk beds and a toilet in a closet at
the far end. Sarah started a fire to warm t he place
up a bit and they bo th headed back to the store, for
Sarah to check out the guns, and Susan to keep her
from buying one . When they got ther e, Sarah
spotted a ver y nice l ooking 45 long colt revol ver
with a 6-i nch barrel and six round capacity . She
asked,
How much?
$350, ammo and holster will be extra
OK Ill take it
Oh no you wont Susan interj ected.
You two together?
Yes we are, and Susan there, is going to keep
to her self, arent you?

192
Sarah looked at her wi th a stern frown and head nod.
You got a valid Calif ornia Dri vers license?
Well.AhhhNo . Do I need one?
Yes mam, in California you need to be a
resident.
Oh, I didnt know that.
What do you need it f or?
Were hiking up in the woods and thought we
should have some bear protection.
Thats a good idea but I m afraid I cant sell
this to you. I can offer you an alternati ve.
Whats that?
Hire me as a guide and Ill make sure no bear
eats you.
How much do you charge for a day?
Susan was looking quite happy over the news
about California Gun L aw.
Whats your name ? Mine is Fred.
Sarah
Holding out his hand, he said,
Glad to meet you t wo Sarah and . what was
your name again?
Susan. Glad to meet you too, Fred.
Well, I usuall y get $300 a day for hunting,
but for bear guard, I ll make it $2 50 j ust for
you two pretty women.
Susan batting her eyelashes at hi m sayi ng,

193
 Well, you should know were a couple and
men dont appeal to us.
Oh, thats OK . My wife doesnt let me screw
around with strange women anyways . Isnt
that right, Hun?
Looking towards the waitress in the restaurant who
looked over towards hi m, turning and cocking her
head to one side saying,
Thats right DEAR.
In a ver y sarcastic tone and smile, she turned back to
setting tables.
OK, its a deal . Got anything good f o r
dinner?

At first light, the next day they met at the

restaurant for breakfast and Fred was there j ust about
ready to go. He had a few pieces of equipment that
mi ght be handy to have in the woods . He had about
a hundred feet of thr ee quarter inch brai ded nylon
rope, a tow chain, a large hand winch with about a
twent y foot reach with stainless steel aircr aft cable,
a small chain saw, a two foot square piece of three
quarter inch thick marine grade pl ywood, a bottle
j ack, a folding shovel , and a small to ol box with a
variet y of hand tools.

194
 I always carr y these things when four
wheeling. You never know when or where
you mi ght get stuck out there.
Looks like you ve been there and done that
before. Susan replied.
Too many ti mes, and hope not to again . If
you dont bring this stuff then you will get
stuck for sure . Youre lucky you didnt
yesterday.
Susan turned to look at Sarah, but Sarah j ust looked
towards the dining r oom as if she had not heard
anything and said,
Anyone for breakfast ?

After a feast of eggs, bacon, bagels, muffins,

j uices, coffee, and fresh melon wedges, they were off
again into the woods retracing their path from the
day before. Fred said as they approached the cul -de-
sac at the end of the si de road,
Wow you guys are really lucky you didnt
get stuck out here . This is a rough trail.
Its the Jeep
Sarah said.
Yah Ri ght.
Its true anyone can do this . This is my fi rst
time four wheeling.
Fred j ust looked at Susan and said,

195
 She always like this?
Annoying isnt it?
Wow
On the way there, Sarah had explained why they
were here and what they were looking for . They had
no idea whether or not they would find anything
today or not, but they were there and ready to go,
bears and all.
No sooner than they started up the t rail to the
clearing, they spooked an approaching bear cub,
which turned and ran up the hill away from them and
up a nearby tree.
Careful
Fred whispered.
Mama may be close by. Hope were not in -
between her and her cub.
Over there. Sarah pointed off to their left .
Fred whispered,
Were not quite in line with the cub, but the
cubs up the tree and were not too far from it .
She mi ght think we ve cornered cubby and
become alar med. Lets j ust back up slowly
keeping your front towards her.
Fred no w had his 50 caliber S&W out and ready to
fire. Momma Bear continued towards the tr ee cubby
was up and groaned as if to signal, OK to come
down. Cubby did and they both headed north along

196
the ridge eventuall y disappearing from si ght though
the trees and brush.
Wow that was close, glad you were here
Fred.
Thats what I get pai d for, j ust another days
wor k.
Yah, Ri ght ! Like all you do ever y day is
ward off Bears.
Yah, I know, but j ust gi ve me a little credit
will ya?
OK so we know theres bear s around . That
should take care of some doubts . Bears eat
people someti mes, ri ght?
Right.
Lets start looking around for bone
fragments. Thats probabl y all thats left to
find.
They started to spread out, looking ar ound for
anything out of the or d inary, anything that stood out
of place, or extraordinary. They could not seem to
find anything, spreadi ng out further and further from
the campsite, in ever expanding circles.
Lets not get too far separated
Susan said.
I dont want to be too far a way from Fred if
the bears come back.

197
 Why dont we break for lunch ? Its
nerly11:00AM and its been nearl y fi ve hours
since breakfast, and I m getting hungr y.
They broke for lunch, Fred saying,
Remember where you are so you can start up
again after lunch.

After not finding anything all morning Sar ah

began to wonder if this was the right spot . They had
covered a lot of ground and were becomi ng a bit
more familiar with it and its patterns. Some of t he
elements she consider ed were; the terrain t hat is the
slope the type of soil, the rocks and boulders . Then
there was the vegetat ion . The way the sl ope faces
the sun, or not how t all the trees can grow before a
wind will topple them to the ground . She noticed the
way the fauna create paths through and around trees
and shrubs, and someti mes creates a worn path,
slight depressions in the ground, and where only
short ground cover t ype plants gr ow due to the
pounding of hooves and paws, folding them down, as
if they were looking f or someone li ke her t o foll ow
them helping her to find whats shes looking for .
Sarah was looking and learning, someti mes following
the smallest of trails, consisting of j ust a f ew small
footprints in the sand, placed there by some small
mammal, li ke a mouse or small squirrel . It was the

198
larger ani mals that she was looki ng for, like the
bears they encountered earlier . Maybe even Mama
Bear was one that mi ght have helped devour some of
his victi ms. Sarah started searching i n a more
organic pattern verses j ust in circles around the ir
starting point . She was beginning to see the patterns
that mi ght lead to something and began f ollowing
them, instead of wasting ti me in areas that mi ght not
yield results.
A bit later that day, Sarah found some bones
piled randoml y j ust off a game tra il she was
following. They looked li ke they were weathered
and old but not too old . It was a couple of what she
would call leg or ar m bones with a few smaller
unidentifiable fragments . Sarah mar ked the spot
with some flagging t ape she had purchased at t he
general store, and went to find Fred, t ying a mar ker
ever y twent y or thirty yards, so she could find her
way back to that spot . Perhaps he could identify the
bones. She did not want to disturb them in case they
were human, thus contaminating the evide nce .
Sarahs adrenaline was flowing now at the thought
that she mi ght have found what she was looking for,
plus she was running to find Fred and Susan, and by
the ti me she found Fred, she could onl y huff and puff
and point to the flagged trail . Fred understood and
started out that way t o see what she had f ound, as

199
Sarah waved to Susan, in view now as she saw Sarah
running towards Fred from a lower elevation down
slope. Susan had been trying to stay withi n si ght of
Fred anyways, fearing being lost in the woods or
eaten by a bear . Fred said,
Sure enough
Human bones?
Yep, I think you ve done it Sarah.
All Sarah could do is start weeping at the thought of
what had happened here . Her visions were becoming
a reality and it was beginning to over whel m her .
Susan had caught up and was now hugging Sarah , as
the bottom dropped out from under her feet. It was
if she was standing on a trap door that opened and
she was falling out of control like Alice . You Know,
Alice in Wonderland in pursuit of the little white
rabbit, tumbling down the rabbit hole . At f irst, she
j ust dropped to her knees, Susan holding fast to one
ar m, and then she slumped to the ground as her
consciousness waned from realit y into a bri ght white
light at the end of a long dar k tunnel . It had her in a
trance that she could not break . All she could do is
follow the tunnel towards the light . She was
compelled by an unknown force , unabl e to do
anything else . The human mi nd is a complex and
funny thing someti mes, making wild interpretation s
of stuff that they see or experience in some way .

200
Such as, Alien Abductions, Near Death Visions, and
Baptist Revi val Meetings where the preacher heals
mortal illnesses by a touch of his hand as if to
transfer the power of Jesus through his body . Stuff
like this happens ever y day to someone, somewhere,
and what we make of it is usually mult i -faceted
misunderstandings of the facts . Granted there is no
physical evidence of such things, j ust the highl y
emotional ramblings of people that experience them .
Sarah woke up from this dream with a splash of
water from Freds water bottle and some smelling
salts from his first -aide pack.
Oh my, what j ust happened?
You fainted or somet hing.
Susan said.
What I saw I thought I had died or
something.
What did you see?
Just a bright white light, at the end of a long
dark tunnel . I couldnt do anything except
stare at it and wal k towards it
Oh my God Sarah, I m glad you managed to
come back to us.
Oh dont be silly Susan . It was j ust an
overdose of adre naline. Ill be OK in a few
mi nutes, j ust gi ve me some room to stand up.

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 They mar ked a trail all the way back to t he
road, where the Jeep was par ked, and were about to
head back towards the highway, when Fred made a
call to Margaret, his wife, to look u p Jims number .
He was the Forest Ranger assi gned to this area . He
wanted to call with the location, and get them up
there as well as the State Police . They were elevated
enough to get recept ion over the other ridge j ust
west of their location.
Hello, Jim Morris here.
Hello, Jim, this is Fred, I m up j ust off
Forest Route 23S16, about a mile in and a half
mile up towards Evergreen Ridge . Weve
found something up here you need to see .
You should alert the State Police too . I think
theyll be ver y in terested in what we ve
found.
What is it Fred, theyre going to want to
know. They wont go out there without
knowing?
You think this is a secure enough phone
connection.
Well its not exactly like the old days wi th
radios now is it Fred?
No, you got a point We found what I think
are human remains . Just a few bones, but
enough to know they are not ani mal bones.

202
 Oh my God, Fred, Stay there and make sure
no one gets in there before we get there . I ll
be out there as soon as I can . Meanwhile I ll
make the call.

Sarah was glad they brought enough food for

several days, j ust in case they got stuck . She felt
like she could eat a cow after all that hiking and
adrenaline. While they were waiting, Sarah thought
that maybe the Forest Ser vice had a re cord of a
Campfire Per mit . After all, it seemed li ke ever y
other tree around here had a si gn saying ,
Campfire Per mit Required.

After they had all gi ven their statements and

were told they could l eave, Sarah asked Ranger Ji m,
Do you guys keep r ecords of old Campfire
Per mits?
Yes, we do? Why?
If I can gi ve you an approxi mate date can we
look through to see if we can find someone,
perhaps the killer hi mself?
You bet , great idea ! You, little girl should
do this for a living. Your story is quite
compelling. I ve never seen someone focus
on facts, traces of infor mation, and intuition
like you j ust did for this find.

203
 Well, thanks for the compli ment , but thats a
story for another ti me . For now its the
Campfire Per mit.
Follow me back to the st ation, and well find
it
Back at the station, t hey had a room fi lled with all
kinds of infor mation . They kept this kind of
infor mation for seven years, j ust in case an
investi gation li ke this one mi ght benefit someone
later. Sarah had the approxi mate da te of the
investi gation, which was j ust about two years ago
last August . They wer e filed chronologicall y but had
a cross reference list alphabetically by the name of
the applicant . All they had to do is look up Richard
Bellhausen, and there it was . They had f ound it, but
it had his old address on it from East Pomona . It
also had a license plate number, a current California
registration, number 7654321 . Homerun ever yone
in the room heard as Sarah yelled it out.
All we have to do is get you guys to r un t he
number to see if he still has it, along with a
new address.
Will do. Lets head over to my desk, and Ill
make the call.

With that call, leading to Richie the Rats new

address, the California State Police reopened several

204
missing persons cases , including Tamis, because the
DNA testing of the bones Sarah found would match
a DNA test of a hair sample from Tamis hair brush
at home. Sarah had been hoping it was not Tamis.
She had never known her but grew close to her
during her discoveries . Getting to know her without
having met her and almost experiencing what she
did, because of a rotten little rat . The State Forensic
teams would scour t he woods in that ar ea where
Tamis bones were found, finding three more sets of
remains, all attributed to The Rat.
They would ulti matel y find and search his new
apart ment and make an arrest, based upon the
Campfire Per mit and t esting of the bones dating the
death to about the time he was there, and the witness
who saw another person in his car that day who he
helped change his flat tire . He now would identify
that person as Tami f rom a photograph supplied by
her parents. Sarah and Susan headed for LA, at the
invitation of the Cal ifornia State Po lice Detective
Barry Whit more, for the search of the Rats
apart ment. They would ultimatel y find nothing
unusual, at his apartment, but Sarah had a ver y
uneasy feeling about that . She could not shake the
idea that there mi ght be someone else, and they
would need to find her soon . Left unattended she
would not li ve long. They all had an uneasy feeling,

205
Especially Sarah . The interrogations were going
nowhere and the uneasy feelings were leading to
paranoia and anxiety. They needed to do something
but nothing came to anyones mind that day . Sarah
could not sleep that night due to the little Devil on
her right shoulder again, squawking like a Parrot,
Di g Sarah Di g.

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 Chapter 13
Saving Grace

The ver y next morning Sarah woke up in her

hotel room to the sun rising over the eastern hills
overlooki ng San Ber nardino . The hotel offered a
continental style br eakfast in the lobby ev er y
morning starting at 7:00 AM. Sarah went down to
get some coffee and pastries for her and Susan, and
would bring them up to the room. Susan was still
sleeping soundl y, but knew she would b e up soon.
While down in the lobby she noticed that , some of
the furniture looked old but well preser ved and ver y
tasteful. Sarahs mind went to the Antique Shop
where the Rat wor ked.
Oh my God
Sarah yelled out, as the five people in the Lobby
turned to see what she was concer ned about.
Oh!......I m sorr y, I j ust had an epiphany.
Ever yone si ghed, in relief that there was not a rat in
one of the pastries or something . Sarah ran back to
their room to wake Susan and phone Whit more about
it, trying not to spill t he coffee on the way.
Susan ! Wake up; were going to his shop
where he wor ked

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 Cant it wait until I wake up?
No! I m calling Whitmore now, to meet us
there.
She explained about her concern, but all he could say
was,
Weve searched the shop and found nothing .
Another team searched it while we were at his
apart ment.
I ve got to go there to see for myself . Will
you meet me there?
Itll take me a while, I m not dressed yet, but
Ill be there as soon as I can.
Sarah could not get going soon enough,
Susan ! Hurr y, hurry, hurry

The shop was across t own from their hotel and

Sarah was too anxious for the traffic . She was
beside herself knee deep in four letter words as they
drove . They got t here eventually, to spite the
insistence of the traffic to the contrary . It was one
of those one stor y st orefronts on one of t hose six
lane main avenues thr ough Los Angeles, built in the
late fifties or early sixties but was in a thirties Art
Deco style. The rear half was two stories, whe re the
offices and special showroom were located . This
showroom was for the older ver y good condition
expensi ve pieces in a bit higher -class showroom for

208
the more demanding customers . The buildings in the
area were all slab -on-grade t ype constructi on, wi th
no basements, usually. This building was no
exception to that rule, or so it seemed during the
first search of the pl ace . Sarah arri ved fi rst . The
store was open by t hen and she had to get ri ght
inside and start looking around to see it for herself
and begin assi milati ng infor mation . Whitmore
arrived a few minutes later and said,
Hope you havent disturbed any potential
evidence yet?
No! Not yet,
Said in a ver y sarcastic tone.
What took you so long?
I got here as quick as I could
Theres not much out here . What about out
back in the storage area?
They didnt find anyt hing there either.
Upstairs?
Nothing
Sarah stood at the entrance to the storage area j ust
looking, looking for something, the smallest of
clues. However, she was finding nothing.
This place looks to be about fifty years old
or so.
Someone said it was built in 1958.
Back in the Cold War days, huh?

209
 Thats about right, the post McCarthy days.
I ve heard that many people built bomb
shelters during that time didn t they? You
remember that movie Blast from the Past?
Yes, ver y well
Their attention turned to the floor slab in the storage
area. There were many old pieces of furniture and
artwork, such as paintings and sculptures . There was
one large furniture pi ece that caught Sarah s eye . It
was a rather lar ge piece in not ver y good condition .
Nevertheless, the mar ks on the floor indicated it has
been moved recentl y and many ti mes at that . The
shop owner said that that piece has been here for
many years, ne ver finding a potential new home,
probabl y since its condition would require extensive
and expensi ve restoration, and would then only be a
restoration effecting its ultimate value . It was a
large sideboard piece with upper and lower cabinets
and a count er top over the base cabinets, for serving
a dinner in a large fancy dining room in a large
fancy old house.
What do you say? Shall we move it to see
what mi ght be the reason for the scratches on
the floor? Sarah questioned.
The shop owner, Sarah, and Whit more, began
moving the piece to one side and found what looked
to be a hatchway in the floor . It was concrete much

210
like a bank vault door . It had what looked like a
cast iron frame and door edge, with a recessed
handle that turned to latch and unlat ch the hatch. It
was a circular door about the size of a city sewer
manhole, j ust big enough for a person to pass
through easil y. Sarah was getting increasingl y
apprehensi ve now, as to what they would find on the
other side of that hatch . Whitmore notic ed that it
did not have any apparent locking mechanism, at
least from the outside, but suspected that it might
lock onl y from the inside . Whit more proceeded to
unlatch the door by t urning the handle to the left .
Lefty Loosey, Ri ght y Tight y, Sarah thoug ht, as he
turned the handle . It was something she remembered
that her father would always say when dri ving and
removing screws and bolts and felt that same logic
would appl y here too, which it did . Sarah would
enter first slowly, looking for a li ght swi t ch. She
was not prepared for what she was about to see as
she flipped that switch . All Sarah could do is hold
her hand over her mouth to muffle her screams as the
over whel ming emotions welled up from so deep
down with -in her soul as if she was face to fa ce with
the Devil hi mself . What she saw was a naked young
woman sitting on the floor of the shelter, hands
overhead chained to the wall . Sarah quickl y
recovered from the initial emotions to rush to the

211
side of this poor weakened young woman, whose
faculties and well -bei ng were dulled by mistreatment
and malnutrition, maybe even dehydration .
Whitmore followed in behind Sarah with as shocked
a look on his face as Sarahs.
My God Sarah, you saved her.
Whats your name Sweetie? Sarah asked.
Mmmm my nnnn name is Gggg Gracie. She
said in an extremel y weak and emotional t ones, as
tears rolled down her cheeks and cr ying in the face
of salvation from the devil incarnate.
Oh my God honey, ever ythings going to be
alright. Whit more, call an ambulance . We
caught hi m honey, its all over . Youre goi ng
home.
Grace was chained at the wrists , to a rebar in
a recess in the concrete wall, Sarah thought for
lifting the pre -cast concrete shelter unit into place,
perhaps. The chains were long enough f or her to
reach whatever food and water was left for her by
her captor if she stood up to reach a near by shelf .
They also allowed her to sit on the floor, but that
was about all she could do . Sarah asked the shop
owner to get a blanket or clothing to cover Gracies
naked body, and some tools to remove the chains .
He quickl y brought a blanket and said,

212
 Oh my God, that wicked little weasel
Richie.
I think well need a bolt cutter in order to
cut the padlocks from the cuffs.
Hes a Rat Richie the Rat.
Sarah said with extraordinary ire . The E.M.T. had
arrived in j ust a few minutes, and amongst their
tools, they found some bolt cutters and wer e able to
cut off the pad locks and release Gracie f rom the
grasp of the Devil, and get her on the way to the
hospital.

Gracie was recovering ver y well . She was

j ust a bit malnourished and not too dehydr ated, but
they kept her for fi ve days to be sure there were no
complications . For t he first few days, the CSP let
her reconcile with her relatives . It had been for
about six months . Luckil y, she had had an intra -
uterine contraceptive device i mplanted so that she
could be sure of not becoming pregnant unti l at least
after graduating college . She was looki ng forward to
completing her studies, but would have to cope with
being a year behind where she would have been . It
would take some ti me for her to get over this
incident.
The physical healing would be easy, but she
feared that the emotional scares woul d last a

213
lifetime. After al l, she had been abducted,
physically and emotionally restrained and secluded.
Sarah visited her ever yday at the hospital, and
Gracie had asked her t o come home with her after the
Hospital released her . Sarah agreed readily . Gracie
was thankful for her efforts . She would ultimatel y
love her for her compassion and caring for someone
that she had never even met before . Gracie
suspected that there was more about Sarah than j ust
her uncanny ability t o sniff out rats and wanted to
get to know that side of her better . Gracie knew
about Susan and their relationship from
conversations at the hospital, but it was not about
that kind of relationship . Their relationship would
develop into one of like two sisters, or very good
friends.
Sarah followed her home . Susan stayed at
Toms place still worried about The Larr y . Grace
and her famil y were f rom a small town j ust outside
of Denver Colorado . They lived in a modest three -
bedroom house in a suburb, where she was the onl y
child. Gracie was j ust a little over twenty years old .
Now, after all that h ad happened, she felt like she
was approaching forty -fi ve. Sarah would help her
with her emotional suf ferings, as she needed to grow
beyond what had happened to her . It was the
perverted sex, the rest raints, the pain, not meant in a

214
manner conduci ve to l ove, but one of hate and
disgor gement of suff ering. Gracie felt safe with
Sarah around, and would prove to be tremendousl y
helpful in her emoti onal recover y . They would
spend ever y day together for the next month, telling
Sarah about her experiences with The Rat. She
explained where her i nterest in poker came from and
started playing on -li ne, and how her chat with
another, seemingl y similar person led to a meeting in
Denver at a restaurant . As soon as she mentioned
that part of the story, Sarah broke down i n tears .
She had not yet explained to Gracie about how close
of a call she had with the same Rat, and that that
was how she got involved in finding hi m and saving
her.
Gracie would be forever thankful to Sarah and
Susan, for letting Sar ah spend t he time with her and
away from Susan . It helped her to come back to her
family and friends, and gave her a level of
understanding that even someone as astute as Sarah
could get dragged into the same situation . This was
ver y i mportant to her, as it showed her how evil
intensions can fool anyone under the right
conditions, and would help her continue with the rest
of her life. Gracie looked forward to comi ng to
Boston to visit, but it would be a year at least before

215
she would venture out again feeling she had enough
control of her life to f eel secure.
When Sarah got home, Susan showed her some
correspondence and phone call notes from Whitmore
at the CSP. They were offering her a j ob, or a
consulting contract for special investigations .
Ever yone there was so i mpressed by her abilities that
they had to have her, and she could name her price,
she was that good in their eyes . Sarah and Susan
would ponder the idea for a while before making a
decision. Sarah knew Susan was not comfortable
here in Charlestown a nd figured she would welcome
a change, keeping Larry on his toes, if he had
anything left for her after their last encounter . Not
even the sound of gr avel whooshing, keeping The
Hole full would keep her and Susan from sleeping
well anyti me soon.

216
 Chapter 14
A New Beginning

Whitmore was pressing Sarah to come back to

California and Sarah was considering it, but Toms
health had taken a turn for the worst while they were
in California . He was holding back from saying
anything but could not hide the fact t hat he was
heading for the hospit al . He had an inoperable brain
tumor, a Glioblastoma in an advanced stage. He
had been having headaches for over year and
dismissed them as many things, such as lack of
sleep, bad eating habits and too much vitami n J .
You know, Johnny, Jack and Jim, do you not ? They
wanted to try radiation and chemotherapy at a level
that needed constant supervision in the hospital .
After a while, it became obvious that it was not
responding well to t reatments . It was t he ver y
malignant t ype with roots much li ke tree root s . They
had spread into the brain tissues, in a very sensitive
location. Removal was not an option because the
removal process would more than likel y leave hi m
brain dead, or j ust p lain dead.
Sarah called Whitmor e to see if they would
gi ve her some additional ti me to consider their offer,

217
due to the circumstances surrounding her current
crisis. Without hesitation, he said that she could
have as much ti me as she needed . Their offer had no
expiration date, j ust ca ses that needed her abilities .
She felt their pain, but hers right now needed
quelling.
Sarah would stay by Toms side as long as it
would take. They sent Tom home to make his last
days as comf ortable as possible in a familiar
environment, gi ving friend s and relative s easier
access in his last days . He did not have many close
friends or relatives . Sarah and Susan were j ust about
it. They had become close these last few years in
their adventures together in poker games, finding,
and protecting Susan . So close they became as close
as famil y. Tom was like the great old Uncle or
Grandfather that Sarah never had, and it would have
taken a bulldozer to get her away from his side
during this ordeal . He had taught her ever ything he
knew about the bi g stake s poker games, and gave her
the confidence to foll ow through with it, and all that
would remain with her until she dies . Tom spoke
ver y seldom, and when he did it was, this needed to
be done or that needed to go to so and so. It was
like a businesspe rson shutting down a shop that had
j ust gone bankrupt and foreclosed on . Sarah was
quite emotional at this point but did not want to

218
appear overl y so, out of respect for his feelings and
love for hi m. He did not want anyone to f ret about
his passing. He woul d tell people, lifes to o short
to worr y about me, but near the end, he asked
Sarah,
Do you remember what you did to Harr y, all
those years ago? You know, under the table?
Yes Tom, of course, how could I for get?
Ever since I first heard that story, I ve
fantasized about how much I would have liked
to have been Harr y on that day.
Sarah had a difficult time holding her emotions back,
but at that moment she broke down, unable to hide it
any longer, and started crying, leaning over, holding
his hand and laying her head on his shoulder, tears
rolling, saying,
I wish it had been you too
Sarah knew he did not have many loves i n his life
and his feelings for her under different
circumstances would have been more towar ds lovers ,
not j ust good friends . She too regretted the
differences in their ages and differences in
circumstances, and wished they could have been
lovers as well.
Those words would be Toms last, as t he
tumor, winning the battle, took his ability to hear
and speak, as he drift ed off i nto a comma, never to

219
awake again. Sarah imagined he dreamed of better
times and circumstances and hoped those dreams
would leave hi m happy for eternity . Sarah j ust
whispered in his ear,
I love you Tom, hope to see you soon.

Sarah and Susan would be moving to southern

California, where it never rains, as the song goes .
She would take the j ob with CSP as a consultant on a
case -by-case basis. Where she hoped she could help
return stolen souls to their rightful owners . The
Rat had stolen too many. Sarah woul d try to
regain Tamis but purchasing the house in East
Pomona that they looked at while trying to save her .
Sarah and Susan turned that small room, where she
suspected she was hel d, into a Memorial dedicated to
Tami. They walled in the interio r door and added an
exterior door for access by anyone who cared to
come and tr y to reconcile the crime, hoping to return
Tamis soul to its correct and deserving owner .
Tamis relatives brought items of hers to
commemorate her life and her love . It was more for
those living in memory of her than anyt hing, but
Sarah could not help but feel good about doi ng it . It
helped her and hoped it would help others to rise
above the morass of humanit y that would do
something li ke that to another person . Sarah had the

220
following statement cast into a bronze plaque, which
she mounted on the wall in Tamis room right under
a photographic portrait supplied by her parents,
which says,
There is much love out there for you, even
though from people you have not yet met, be cause
some of them care about you, and can only do so
much, as they tr y to do it all.

Sarah would return to Vegas occasionally,

remembering the good old days, bluffing t he pants
off of a Vegas clown . She would win every ti me,
leaving the table with more than when she sat down .
She could play poker, and she could sniff out a rat
from 2500 miles away, bringing them t o j ustice
ever y ti me. The State of California and many people
around the countr y would be forever in her debt for
the good she would do for them. All anyone has to
do is, in her words:
Just look around, pay attention to what
youre looking at and the answers j ust pop
right out at you.
At the ver y least, that is what Sarah woul d say to
anyone who would ask, particularly when t hat little
devil on her ri ght shoulder would squawk out the
words,
Di g Sarah Di g

221
 Sarah hoped that someday she would be able
to smash that damned little devil, and be done with
hi m forever, but reali ty would ulti matel y prove that
The Hole is one that you can never totally fill in,
all you can do is manage how deep it gets.

222