Karen was walking through the narrow streets of the Souk alone. Her husband Paul had decided not to go on the shore excursion today from their cruise, he felt he had done enough walking around and wanted a quiet morning relaxing.
Karen was 53 years old and was not a stunning beauty she was rather a plain Jane with an average figure that, although had not quite succumbed to the ravages of time, was filling out a little.
She felt her hips and thighs were getting a tad fuller, but because she only had small breasts they had remained quite pert and uplifted, something she was glad of as if she had had large breasts they would probably be a little southbound by now.
She was five foot tall exactly and had brown shoulder length hair that was naturally slightly curly to the point it looked like it had been done in a very loose perm.
She had been married to Paul since she was 19 years old and he was the only man she had ever been with, which she saw as only natural,
"Why would a woman want to sleep with lots of men when she had the one she loved?"
Their lovemaking, confined to the marital bed at bedtime, was satisfying but uninspiring, which was how is done between married loving couples she thought and she needed nothing else.
She followed the escorted group through the streets but found she was becoming tired of the monotonous lecture about its history, and every time she tried to take a photo there was groups of tourists in every shot.
Karen was very naive and not very streetwise at all, she decided she would slink away from the group and do her own thing, after all she knew the meeting point and time to catch the coaches back to the ship and didn't need babysitting by the pushy reps every minute of the day.
To anyone who knew her this would be a very strange act for her to take, as she had always been a timid and submissive type of person. Paul was the much stronger person of the two and although not aggressive or abusive, was very much the dominant partner and made all the decisions.
Karen had simply become used to being led in all aspects of her life, so to make her mind up to leave the reps (who she would normally have followed unquestioningly) to do her own thing was totally out of character.
Yousef had a problem, his two grandsons and his best friends son, had got to an age where they were troublesome. They were now showing signs of restlessness and rebellion. Yousef knew from experience what was the root cause of this problem, simply that they were rampantly horny young men, in the prime of their lives.
His problem (and theirs) was that in the society they lived that young girls were forbidden from even being in the presence of a male un-chaperoned, let alone there being any chance of a sexual encounter. One night while sitting with his friends round the hookah he had been stupid and boasted to all, that
"He had contacts and that he was the man that could fix this problem."
"I can help rid these boys of their virginity, after all a man should go to his wedding bed with some experience to take to his virgin wife."
He knew he had to somehow back up this boasting and overcome this dilemma but did not know how.
Until now
The answer to his prayers was walking towards him, she was seemingly lost in herself concentrating on her camera and the pictures she was taking to realize she had drifted off the main tourist streets and was now in the middle of the maze of tiny alleys in the residential area of the town.
Karen was walking down the narrow passageway looking for snapshots of the real town as opposed to the boring, beach, and town. bar, photos people usually bring home. She wore a pretty light yellow pastel summer dress, a sun hat and shoes with heels.
Although the shoes were not anywhere near being stilettos, she thought they were a little high for walking a shore tour excursion in, but Paul liked her to make an effort now and again with her appearance, so she had done, only for him to decide not to come anyway! typical.
The western lady walked further and further into the maze of streets, Yousef watched and waited trying to be sure of the course of action he was sure he must now make. His grandsons were sat in the courtyard lazing and being of no use to anyone, something had to happen to raise this bunch from their frustration and malaise.
It was then that Karen decided she had seen enough ethnic culture for one day and decided to either rejoin the group or make her way to the meeting point. That's when her troubles really started, she tried to re-trace her steps but every corner she turned was just another empty narrow alley. After about 15 minutes of this she realized she was lost.
The alluring sight of a western woman with her 'pretty dress and hat' and the sound of Karen's heels on the stone cobbles made Yousef's mind up for him. He approached the lady
"Excuse me madam, can I help you? you look a little lost."
Karen was a little wary of being approached by a strange man, but could hardly tell him to go away; if she missed the coach back to the ship it would create all sorts of problems.
"Yes I'm afraid I am a little, could you please tell me how to get back to the square? that is where we are to meet up."
"It would please me if I could be of any assistance madam." said Yousef "Follow me and I will lead you to the place you need to be."
Karen was a little unsure, but what was her choice? he seemed a friendly man so she decided to follow him.
Yousef led her through a few streets and alleyways to the courtyard he knew so well.
"We just take a shortcut through these doors and you are there." he said.
Karen felt relief,
"How stupid to go off on my own." she thought, "But never mind it's over now."
They passed through two large wooden doors into a closed courtyard, still open to the sky, but totally enclosed by walls. Three boys were lounging around in old rickety chairs and they all looked in unison at the woman and man as they entered.
"Where is this?"
Karen said and turned round as started to say he must had taken a wrong turn, when she saw the doors being closed and locked with a bar across the two.
Instantly Karen felt herself being approached by these boys and felt uneasy.
"Look here."
Was all she managed to say before Yousef spoke the words which would shock her entire life.
"Listen lady, you simply have two choices, you submit to these boys and you live or you still end up submitting to these boys and die, the choice is yours."
