’ ‘Of course,’ said Julius, smiling broadly. ‘There are thirty-six other paid performers. You might have seen some of them when you came in.�... ‘Yes, we met one young couple,’ Shari said. ‘They seemed to be back for at least a second or third time.’ ‘Quite. The folks performing in the ceremony get two grand a day, for the three full days until sunrise Monday morning. The lady from Chicago gets twenty thousand for the weekend. Plus of course they’re in these magnificent hills for the weekend and. I was already half way through my first coffee before she came out. I said “Hey, did you sleep well?” “Slept like a log” she said “How about you?” “I slept well. But I had a lot on my mind. Are you feeling OK? You seemed a bit …”She said “Yeah, I know. I was on fire, wasn’t I? I never felt that way before… ever!” I said “I think I forgot to mention that herb ‘Switch Sorrell’, was known by the Native Americans to be an aphrodisiac, but I didn’t think anything of it! You know, I’ve had. “How much longer will you be? This is taking too long.”“Do you want a clean pool or not?” He didn’t turn or look up at her.“I’m burning up.” She moved in closer, leaning down to look over his shoulder. “You really need to hurry up. I’m in need of relief.”Brandon sighed. He turned as he tried to straighten up and found himself mere inches from the damp red triangle of her thong− just as she had planned. That close he’d be able to smell her musky scent−just as she had planned. He’d be able to see. We went in and sat on the tatami mats facing each other in seiza. Sensei was disturbed that I had had to resort to violence. Even though he taught the sword, it was to be a last resort. He spoke with me for some time, reminding me that it is the sword that gives life not the sword that gives death that is important.After a time, he had me demonstrate what I had done. It had all happened so quickly, that I had difficulty actually remembering all of it. I went through it several times for him as.