I did feel a little better for going afterwards even though I hardly spoketo anyone as I knew they must all know by now who I was and deliberatelyleft...me alone. Then finally with one last long unhappy look around theempty room full of Christmas wrappers, streamers and empty wine bottlesheaded straight for the nearest pub.I seem to remember leaving sometime after 11 definitely very drunk andsoon soaked to the skin in the driving rain, too content to just wanderthe cold dark streets alone which. We didn’t have the perfect marriage, in fact, it was far from it. For thirty-five years, we tried to make it work. In my younger days, I used to go out with the guys and leave Mary at home with the kids. Once both kids started school, she said she was going to find a job and ‘do her own thing’. We argued a lot about her working, but she didn’t listen to me. Sex always seemed to be on the back burner for a lot of our marriage. I will admit I was immature and flirted with a lot of women, usually. Meeting minimal resistance, Jake accepted that for willingness if not compliance to keep going. He began caressing Stacey's left leg, higher and higher up her thighs. It was crossed over her right one, and Jake gently but firmly moved his hand to her knee and pulled her leg apart, lowering what little defense Stacey had. "Don't be shy, spread them apart a little more for me." Stacey bit her lip. It was too late to turn back now. She obeyed Jake's command and allowed her self to slouch down. “I once saw a girl strapped to a wooden wheel. The guards turned the wheel so that she was dunked in a pond, and they left her there for a long time. I understood that some girls could be revived after such punishment, but she could not be. She died before our eyes, and all because she took too long to respond to a guest’s wishes. There is no authority here. Any of us can meet Allah on the whim of a guest, a guard, or the Claw.”“Barbaric damn people.”“As you say.”The door swung open. Brigit.