Judy's Misadventures

I feared that when I next returned to work that there would be rumors going around about those of us who had attended the Norman party. But, not a word. I also expected Gorrig, Dalman and Tony to be more aggressive than ever but they seemed to become more respectful. In some ways that was more unsettling than when they glared at my body and made frequent off color remarks.

I don't know if it was the new propriety or something else and I did not even consciously realize it at the time, but I started dressing a little more sexy. It's not like I began wearing a bikini to work or a see-through blouse. I just seemed to feel more comfortable in a tighter sweater or with another button undone or wearing one of my shorter skirts that I normally saved for the weekend. I was not inviting sexual assault. I don't really know what I was doing.

After a week or so, Dalman asked if I'd heard from the guy in Dubai. I said I hadn't and he suggested maybe I should try another route. "You've done too much work on this story to just let it drop because your message to one guy was sent to his spam filter."

I was pretty sure I had gotten all the information I could from the chef in Veracruz. I called my mother, Gloria, again. She said she really could not tell me more and asked me why I'd not called Harpin. I said that I was not comfortable with Harpin, to which she said that she'd call him. She called back later to say that she had been considering a trip to Taritarat herself, that Harpin was coming to her house on Wednesday morning at 10 and I should join them.

I was surprised to see Mrs. Smith with Harpin and even more surprised to see Cate at Gloria's house Wednesday. Mrs. Smith was extremely well dressed and smart as always. Cate did not look good. Her lip was swollen, she had a bandage on her cheek and a black eye. She did not want to talk. Gloria explained, "Cate has had a very bad week. One of her ex-boyfriends hit her and said he'd kill her if she didn't leave the guys she was living with and come back to him. The five guys she was living with and servicing as a housemaid and sex toy say they will protect her from her ex-boyfriend but she can't leave the house because they don't want to have to organize a bodyguard service. The cut and swollen lip are not from her ex-boyfriend but from one of the guys in the house who thought she'd taken too long to give him the blowjob he asked her for. Cate sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night and hitchhiked to my house but can't leave the house as she now has six guys after her." Gloria said that she thought that she and Cate should get out of the country until things cool off. "Someone has already shot into our house." She added that she has always wanted to go back to Taritarat.

Harpin was more guarded in his stares at my body than in my prior meeting with him and wore a suit. I asked him how he knew my mother and what his continuing contact was with Taritarat.

"Gloria and I met in the 1980s." Looking at Gloria, he added, "We were intimate, although to be honest, the number of people intimate with Gloria was large." Gloria showed not the least sense of embarrassment and seemed proud. "Unlike Gloria and many others, I did not flee in 1987. The area where the communes were outside the city was taken by the Nubimbi and Wallee forces but the resistance stiffened as they got closer to the two cities.

The rich men in the cities, unwilling to fight themselves, hired top-notch mercenaries. After the central government won a couple battles, the Wallee started fighting with the Nubimbi again and it became clear that it was safe to stay in Glaessov.

Since then, I have been dividing my time between Glaessov and the U.S. I run an import business arranging mainly shipments of medical equipment from the West to Taritarat. I also contact certain people on behalf of the Government of Taritarat, which is once again stable."

"You now think it is safe to visit?" Gloria asked. Harpin replied, "About 1995, the three factions agreed to a sort of truce that pretended that strict religious law controlled everywhere but placed enforcement of the law in the hand of local officials who everyone knew would not enforce it and who have not enforced as long as the required bribes are paid. These bribes if handled properly, are not too expensive, less than a $1000."

"But would one be crazy to leave the coastal cities?" I asked. "No, even visiting the interior can be safe although I'm not sure why anyone would want to go. It's a bunch of dirty villages and primitive towns where about the only thing modern is the automatic weapons that are everywhere. The Wallee and Nubimbi are still more or less at war with each other even though they have decided to tolerate the cities as long as they don't have to pay any taxes. They receive outside visits from dealers in tobacco, opium and weapons and certain government officials travel about the country to oversee maintaining some roads and provide what medical care that there is outside the cities. I have no reason to leave the coast but I know weapons dealers who go there often. For a woman to go there, she'd have to claim she was visiting a close relative and go with a brother. With a few small bribes, the Wallee or Nubimbi town mayor would look the other way. They are religious but like to have nice things in their dirty houses."

"We certainly don't want to go to the interior, but we want to go to Glaessov or Lbirne soon," Gloria said. I said that I would have to think about it because I needed to take a photographer and perhaps others and needed to make sure that the magazine would pay the necessary expenses, including the necessary bribes. Mrs. Smith said that she'd read some of my articles and yawned.

Harpin gave me a card as to how to reach him in Lbirne and an address in Lbirne where he was sure that Gloria and Cate could be accommodated. They planned to leave for Taritarat via Dubai in two days after Gloria made arrangements for Ted to manage the house for however long they were gone. I drove Gloria and Cate to the airport in the dead of night where they were met by Mr. Harpin.

The sense of sexual propriety at work abruptly ended a few days later.

It was a hot humid day in Florida. I wore a cotton print sleeveless party dress held up by straps connected by snaps. It was not real short, about three inches above the knees. It was tight around the breasts so that I did not have to wear a bra on such a hot day. I noticed when I put it on that one could see distinctly when my nipples became erect. That should not happen on such a hot day.

I don't think it was the office air conditioning that got me into trouble although I was rather chilly for a while. At the end of the day, though, Dalman asked me to come into his office. His shirt was open when I he opened the door and he instantly closed the door and locked it as the last of the staff working in the area went home. With a controlled anger, Dalman said, "Judy, I have watched you give yourself to two guys in Mexico and one at Roger Norman's house before you were led off by Norman and Gorrig. Although plainly a complete slut, you have not given me as much as a blowjob. Now you appear once again in the office dressed to jiggle your tits on some dance floor before going home with some stud to get your brains fucked out. You should be naked, punished and fucked starting this minute. Strip yourself completely immediately."

I was paralyzed again with indecision and confusion about my own desires and life. I did not do what Dalman asked. I did not resist what Dalman asked. I just lifted my arms together as though I was wearing cuffs attached to the ceiling of his office, closed my eyes with my head turned downward and stood perfectly still except for my heavy breathing.

I did not have to wait long for him to unsnap my top and pull down my dress. He pinched both of my nipples enough to force my eyes open in shock and pain. After he barked out, "take off your thong unless you want me to cut it off," I did as told. He began gently scratching my nipples with his fingernails. This caused the nipples to become erect and my mind to cloud further. This ended when he pitched each nipple suddenly with vigor. I almost jumped a foot before settling down for whatever would come.

Dalman produced a whip from his desk like those I'd seen before and started by giving me four furious slashes across my breasts. "I have so longed to whip your titties whore, I never see such boobs, without wanting to whip them. I can't help myself. But fear not, I would not mar such breasts for a million dollars." He then proceeded to whip my breasts, stomach and thighs and stripped down to a leather vest himself.

"Spread your legs whore," Dalman said. I did so although I knew something painful would follow. A half dozen swats were applied directly to my Brazilian trimmed pussy. He forced me face up onto his desk lengthwise and told me again to spread my legs. I trembled for what would happen next. It was three of his fingers forced up my vagina. "Your cunt is quite wet, now you get what you need." His large cock followed. After a slow start, I felt I was being obliterated by the pounding of his crotch against my vulva, the movement of his body, the vibrations against my clit and the scraping of his penis against the inside of my vagina. I came once before Dalman worked me up diligently to another peak. He shouted, "Oh take this glorious offering bitch," and discharged. I followed with an orgasm with strong contractions that might have speeded my impregnation were I not chemically prepared against that. Barely a half hour later, Dalman was again pounding my pussy only this time it took him twice as long to deliver his offering to my eager quim.

Having missed the boat to leave with my mother and sister by six days, I finally got a response from Morice from Dubai, "Thank you for your message. I am sorry I could not respond earlier but there is no Internet in Taritarat. It is possible to visit Taritarat if you are there on business in Glaessov or Lbirne or if you are there to see close relatives. If you have no such relatives, that should not be a problem as long as the customary fees are paid to the authorities in Glaessov and Lbirne upon request. I have been able to facilitate many people traveling to or from Taritarat and would be glad to help you. Let me know when you would like to meet in Dubai." H. Morice. A phone number was provided.

I forwarded the email to Tony Monk, Julie and John Dalman and suggested we discuss. It was quickly decided to call Morice and see what he'd charge to get us into Taritarat, how much we needed to pay the relevant authorities, whether he could put us in touch with the supposedly unique restaurants in Glaessov and Lbirne. Arrangements were also made to get me into the interior tribal region briefly so I could report on that before I saw the sights of the coastal cities.

So, we found a time that Morice was likely to be awake and called him. His charge of $10,000 seemed reasonable and another $20,000 for bribes was within reach. Tony would accompany me into the interior supposedly as my brother and take pictures discreetly. Dalman would go with Julie to try out these reportedly wonderful restaurants in pleasure spots known to few.

We swiftly made arrangements to fly to Dubai. We met Hussan Morice who introduced us to his business partner, Khalid, who would help lead me and Tony into the interior of Taritarat, We met in Morice's large office or library behind a door labeled only Import-Export Inc. It was clear that Morice must be a scholar of some sort. The office was full of books in many languages. Between the shelves of books were reproductions or maybe originals of 19th Century French Orientalist paintings of slave auctions and slaves featuring nude pale women inspected by leering men. I'm sure when they were painted they were intended to be titillating to European colonialists. They scared me.

When I asked Morice what he imported and exported, he just said, "very valuable cargo" and changed the subject. Khalid looked to be a very tough customer, tall, dark, tattooed and brawny with a black moustache and even a scar on his cheek seemingly placed there to complete the look.

We were told what to tell the authorities and how to pay them off when the time came. It was mentioned that we could not bring Western newspapers, liquor or other contraband into the country. We made plans to visit the interior to learn a bit about the life of the fundamentalists of Taritarat.

The four-hour boat trip to Glaessov gave cause and time for thought. Julie and I wore an abaya over western clothing as we had been told to do. The trip began with everyone going to Taritarat having to undergo a physical inspection by doctors or nurses who worked in a little room on board. There were blood samples and samples of other fluids put in bottles. The nurse who met with me explained that Taritarat was very careful that communicable diseases not be brought into the country and that by taking samples on board they could begin testing even before the ship arrived. This cut down on the amount of time that passengers would have to wait in quarantine before being allowed to enter the country.

The make up of the passengers was about what to expect given what I had been told. There were perhaps 30 guys from around the world who looked very much like sex tourists to me. There was our party of four and also there were 5 mysterious woman wearing burkas that covered everything but their eyes and who even had their arms inside their robes. During the boat trip I noticed that several of these women were ushered into the pilot's cabin that was off limits to passengers.

Along with the passengers, there were a bunch of boxes of Turkish cigarettes and unlabeled crates and boxes.

After the medical exam, there was a little chat among our party but nothing really to discuss. Mainly I looked at the coast along which we sailed and thought about what I was doing. It did not seem smart. I had interviewed a few people whose stories confirmed each other, but I was counting on a few shady strangers to get me through a place that was very foreign and beyond the help of anyone in the U.S. The only people who even knew where I was going were in the boat with me plus my mother and sister who were probably in Taritarat. I had not even told my brother about this. Who knows what Dalman had told people at work as to where we were going?

My life had been listless and going nowhere. Was I trying to kill myself? I thought about various female literary characters I'd read about in college who killed themselves over love. I did not feel like Dido, Juliet, Amalia or one of the others. I did not have any romantic death wish. It was more of a wish to take a foolish risk. It would lead to some sort of change. The result was outside my control but I did not want control anymore. I wanted change almost whatever it was, even if it meant putting myself in the hands of unreliable strangers.

The last half hour of the ride, we filled out forms. Below the question that asked for the circumstances of my entering Taritarat, I wrote as instructed, "I have close personal relatives in Taritarat." It was what I had been told was the only thing that a woman could write in that space if she wanted to get into the country. Julie wrote the same thing.

When we arrived in Glaessov, no one really cared about out passports. Our things were searched. Julie and I learned that birth control pills were contraband and our pills were confiscated. We comforted each other that we should be home before it mattered even in the unlikely event we had sex in the few days we planned to be in Taritarat. After hours of waiting in a reception area, we were told that we passed all the medical tests. I watched Julie and Dalman get into a car for downtown Glaessov to see the sights and visit the supposedly fabulous restaurants that Julie would write about. I got in a large van with Tony, Khalid, Morice, a few boxes of cigarettes and six unlabeled crates.

"You did not express a preference," Morice said, "so we are going to see the Wallee, probably the more civilized of the two groups in the interior. You can't visit both groups on the same trip because the frontier between the Wallee and the Nubimbi is a war zone."

Morice asked Tony if he could drive. Khalid rode in the front passenger seat armed with numerous automatic weapons. Morice rode in the back with me. He had an Uzi. "We don't expect to use any of these weapons, of course. The Wallee know that if they allow traders to be attacked that no one will come to trade with them. There is a small danger, though, that we will be attacked by Nubimbi raiders in Wallee territory. The weapons would give us a good chance of holding them off long enough for Wallee fighters to rescue us and our cargo. If you were taken, naturally, you would become one of some Nubimbi tribesman's wives.

There was long drive through land that was gradually becoming dryer and more hilly. Morice filled the time by telling me more about the interior. He said that both the Nubimbi and the Wallee are very strict in their views of marriage. Women taken in adultery are stoned to death. Men found to have committed adultery are sent alone to attack the other tribe and die bravely in battle. Fortunately, few are charged with adultery but that is probably because it really doesn't happen often.

"Life is hard for everyone. Food is mainly camel and goat meat and camel and goat milk. The men die young in fighting. Their main joys are tobacco, opium, killing and the simple brutal sex they have with their wives. The women die in childbirth although the central government sends out some doctors and other medical care. The women take care of children and their homes. If they have joys, they are very brief. But you want to see their towns and their lives so you will."

After five or six hours on poor roads, the van stopped in the largest mud and sand town we'd driven through. Khalid, Tony and I ventured to get out of the van and look around while Morice had a friendly and animated conversation with a number of men who were sitting in the main square smoking pipes. Khalid, who spoke no English, apparently did not speak whatever language was being spoken in the square either. Morice gave an explanation in some language to Khalid before turning to us.

"As planned, we have made arrangements to trade our cigarettes, guns and opium for goat cheese and bags of rare plants that produce spices used in the coastal cities and exported. For a bit of chewing tobacco, the mayor has agreed to allow us to visit the house of the mayor's son and see his wives. No pictures will be taken of the wives and we must not attempt to communicate with them or with any child. This will be easy as you can't speak the language.

We walked around and saw the town such as it was. Dirty men, mangy camels, goats and a few women outside the houses bringing back clothing or jugs of water from the oasis was about all there was to see. There was a temple with strange religious symbols. Tony took some pictures discretely with a small camera. Morice saw this and said it was okay. "People in the interior don't really care about publicity because they know no one is going to want to come here and disturb them if they see the place. Just no pictures of the women."

The mayor led us into one of the larger houses. It had one man, two adult women and maybe nine children of various ages running around. The women were short and dark from the sun. Had they been ladies of luxury of New York or Paris, one would guess from their faces that they were in their 40s but I am sure they were much younger than that. The only modern objects in the house were two AK-47s hung on the back of the front door. Morice said that we were going into the only other room and the man would show you how he had sex with his wife. I expressed surprise that they would put on such a display. Morice explained that sex was officially done to make children and worship god. There was nothing wrong with showing it as long as it did not arouse impure thoughts in another man in the town.