She opened her eyes and looked at the figure of her lover, standing, dejected in front of her. She gave him a weak smile and mouthed the words:"Thank ...ou."Of course. The sharp blades that replaced the blunt ones had been ordered by Manu. He also recommended that she take it up her ass. The pain would be more, both at the first, brutal, insertion, and each time she rose up, to breathe. But also, the sharp blades would cut, each time, deeply into her ass, tearing open the blood vessels that. She was sitting alone at the end of the bar, absent-mindedly running her finger around the rim of her drink. She appeared to be deep in thought. I made my way to the bar and seated myself a few stools down from this mystery woman, noting that she looked up in interest as I sat. I momentarily ignored her as I ordered a drink, a Bloody Mary, of course. Sipping my drink, I studied her quickly, up close for the first time. Shorter dirty-blonde hair, petite, smaller breasts, dressed casually in. There followed a strange feeling of dislocation, as if the universe had been turned sideways and passed through a funhouse mirror. The world on the other side looked different. Jackson thought one of his eyes might be playing up, but a hand over each revealed both were working fine.Which was more than could be said for the world around him. Three slabs of coloured concrete floated in the centre of the room. They formed three floors, each separated by a height of around seven feet. Nothing. I left Tiny to his treasure hunt, going to find Sue and tell her I wanted to check on progress across the street. I found her working with a couple of ladies, showing them her patterns. Sue wanted to use some leftover material in order to develop the piece work process, so they were busily cutting out patterns and laying them out on huge tables to view the garment spread out.Back at the shop, my nerves settled down. All those people on the edge of having almost lost their jobs had me a wreck. I.