Rick's heart felt as if it was beating right against his breastbone. He took the paper from the door, snapping it off the piece of tape that held it against the glass. The smell of incense again wafted through the crack in the door, and enveloped him as he pushed his way inside.
On the store's walls were shelves with pillar candles on three tiers, each of them different shapes, sizes and at different stages of melting. The candlelight blazed the small room with light that shifted, flickered and moved like angels against a mirror. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Rick noticed a space in the far corner of the room where there were no candles, but a doorway draped shut by a maroon velvet curtain. "Have you found anything you like, Rick?" chimed a voice from behind the curtain.
"I... um... who are you?" Rick asked.
From behind the curtain stepped a woman, petite, Asian, with short cropped hair. She wore a black crepe skirt and a thin violet, somewhat iridescent blouse that clung to her torso, outlining breasts that swelled only slightly from her chest. The skirt seemed to hang from her hips, holding on to each leg as she walked toward him. The candlelight played along her face, casting shadows here, then there. She could have been in her thirties, maybe even her fifties, Rick thought. It was hard enough to tell the age of Asian women under normal circumstances, let alone these. "My name's Sun Li," she said. Her voice was gentle, almost a whisper, but sweet, lyrical, like wind chimes. "You might want to look over at the display case over here," she pointed to a small, waist-high showcase along a wall near the right-rear of the store. "I think you'll find what you need, there."
What I needed, Rick thought, was a two hour porn video and some Wet. Being stood-up by Melissa this morning was a far gone memory, and a far gone cry from what was happening now. Now he was inside some strange store that seemed to appear overnight. Now he was peering through candles and garments hung from the ceiling, to make his way toward a blue-glass case near the back of the store. Rick wondered about the rice-paper Kama Sutra murals that adorned the walls, moving three-dimensionally in the candlelight.
Sun Li followed behind Rick, and slipped in front of him to position herself behind the case. She reached inside, and removed one of the shelves, placing it on top of the case. On the shelf sat stones of various sizes and colors. Of those that caught Rick's eye, there were a dark grey stone set as a pendant, an octagonal sand stone with a Yin/Yang symbol set in the center, and a rose quartz stone that almost resembled a woman's genitalia.
"Try the one you like, Rick." said Sun Li.
"Wait," replied Rick. "How do you know me?"
"Women know all men who are frustrated the way you are, Rick. It's in the way you walk, the way you smell. Some women are attracted to this frustration, for it offers them the gratification they want without the involvement of a relationship."
"Whoa. Are you saying that women are dogs, too?" Rick asked.
Sun Li continued, barely noticing his question. "Some women are repulsed by this. They perceive this frustration as a sort of desperation. Desperation is poor aphrodisiac."
"No shit. But you haven't answered my question".
