The Stone Of Lao Tzu free porn video

Part 2 shot off on several tangents. I struggled with all my might to keep them in line, but it felt like I was a herding cats. -Armond The Stone of Lao Tzu Parts 1 and 2 By Armond "In the opening and closing the gates of heaven, Cannot he do so as a female bird?" -Lao Tzu Part 1 As Raquel hurriedly drove to Sarah's apartment, she tried to make sense of what Sarah had said - about Stephen being in some kind of serious trouble and needing her help. The fact that Sarah had called her at all worried her, because she and Sarah did not particularly like each other. In fact, they only tolerated being around one another because of their mutual friendship with Stephen. She wasn't sure exactly where the root of the problem between them lay. When Sarah had called and said that Stephen was in some sort of trouble and to come over immediately, Raquel had immediately tried Stephen's home and cell phone numbers, but couldn't get anything other than his voice message. When she had arrived she saw Stephen's jean jacket draped over a chair in the hallway of the apartment, the same jacket he had been wearing early when Stephen had told her that tonight was 'the' night. Raquel was not sure where the root of the tension lay between them, for there didn't seem to be areas of their lives that were in competition. Sarah was in her early thirties, had already received a Ph.D. with honors in archaeology and was a rising star in her profession. A true success story - young and highly intelligent, Sarah was also physically arresting: 5' 9", lean, fit legs, well- built chest and a attractive face with blue eyes framed by auburn curly hair, and she had caught the eye of many of her professors. Sarah had recently gained almost movie star acclaim for her stunning discovery of the burial chamber of Emperor Qin. Sarah had spent the better part of two years in China at the site, and it had been hailed as a find that rivaled digs in Egypt. And it brought monetary rewards as well - the major networks were intrigued with this 'female Indiana Jones'. Interviews, book offers, and when she returned to the University, she was offered the chair of the Archaeology Department. Raquel, on the other hand, was even taller than Sarah: she had just turned twenty-five last week, stood 6' even (when flat-footed - Raquel was still not sure where that part of her genes came from), her hazel eyes and olive skin showed her Latin-American heritage, and she had the muscles and body fat of a gazelle. She was lead singer in a local rock band, and to supplement her income she also was a wedding singer. Her singing style had been compared to that of complimentary blend of classical and salsa, and her continued vocal training seem to have positioned her on the cusp of a break-through in the music industry. It was through music that she had met Stephen several years ago. She was in a panic because her piano accompanist for a singing engagement at a Jewish funeral had come down with the flu and she had to thrash about looking for a last- minute replacement. A friend had recommended a guitar player, and while she had some misgivings (she had never worked with a guitar player at a wedding before) she was desperate and gave Stephen a call. She had a fleeting since of doom when she meet him for the first time at the funeral parlor - he was a good four inches taller than she, and together they seemed a humorous oddity - a towering Spanish-white couple surrounded by diminutive elderly grandmothers and grandfathers. But for some reason they clicked together, his simple guitar style seemed to nicely complement her spicy-soulful voice. They became instant friends, and had remained that way, even surviving the crush that Stephen had developed for her, and the gentle way that she had turned him down. Stephen, the link between these two very different women, had fallen hard for Sarah when while he was writing a two part piece for "The Atlantic" on her discovery. Stephen day job was that of freelance writer. He was a writer of considerable talent, and was regularly offered top positions in major newspapers and magazines. Stephen, however, seemed completely uninterested in wealth, and would work only long enough to fund several months of his passion, intense guitar work. Unfortunately, his guitar talent, while good, did not match his talent for writing. Then, when he began the interview with Sarah, he found himself becoming more and more attracted to this mysterious woman. From his interview with others involved in the dig, he had learned that Sarah had almost been killed at one point. The dig had been co-chaired by Sarah and another, Dr. Reginald Barnes, and apparently some kind of power struggle had arisen between them. It came to a head when Sarah had wished to continue with the excavation of an antechamber near the 'Emperor's Hall' section of the dig and Dr. Barnes had ordered the men to move on. She had refused to leave the chamber, and - here the information was unclear - somehow the entrance to the chamber had collapsed leaving her trapped on the other side. There was even a suggestion that Dr. Barnes was responsible for the collapse. When rescue efforts failed, Sarah was given up for dead, until miraculously, in utter darkness for two days, she found and followed a hidden passageway through the heart of the burial complex to the surface. It was in that passageway that she had found the true burial chamber of the Emperor of the first dynasty, Emperor Qin, complete with artifacts inestimable worth. Hence the Indiana Jones label. The Chinese Government immediately assumed control of the dig, but they had allowed Sarah to continue work as an advisor. Mysteriously, Dr. Barnes disappeared from the dig at this time, and has not been heard from since. Raquel thought that it was this story more than anything else that was behind Stephen's infatuation - a real life mystery and the woman who had lived it. Sarah had hinted cryptically to Stephen that there was indeed, far more to the story than had been told to the public at large. Raquel suspected that it was this air of mystery that attached to Sarah intrigued and excited Stephen. As to Sarah's interest in Stephen, well, that was fairly obvious - he was tall, athletic, ruggedly handsome, very intelligent and artistic. What woman wouldn't be attracted that (who except Raquel, she thought). The only person that seemed to be unaware of Stephen's charms was Stephen himself. Raquel was relieved to finally arrive at Sarah's apartment complex, and she literally bounded up the stairs to her apartment. Sarah let her in quickly enough, but a quick scan of the room failed to show any sort of trouble, there was no sign of Stephen, and Raquel noticed the expression that Sarah's face bore a slightly twisted...smile? "I'm still a little fuzzy on why you called me over here in the middle of the night. You said it was an emergency and involved Stephen, but he doesn't seem to be here, unless he is in your bedroom," Raquel nodded towards the closed door at the end of the hallway. "Stephen is not in the bedroom... not... exactly, anyway," Sarah answered, giving Raquel the same half smile as when Raquel had first arrived at Sarah's apartment. Raquel did not know Sarah well enough to read it though. The smile seemed at once guilty and vindictive. "Fine, Sarah, it's three a.m. and I've got a voice lesson early in the morning, so if you don't mind, I'll be going now. If Stephen is really in trouble and if you are ready to stop playing games, give me a call." Sarah stood from her chair, and pointed something towards Raquel that she had kept concealed. It was a handgun. "You are more to blame for this than I, and so you are going to stay here until I'm ready for you to leave." "Are you mad? Put that down!" "Sit down, Raquel, and I'll tell you exactly what is going on, you're in for quite a show!" "Where the hell is Stephen...?" Sarah pointed the revolver directly at Raquel's head and cocked the trigger; Raquel noted that Sarah's hand was very steady. "Sit DOWN! I've already killed once tonight, maybe, so doing it again won't be hard at all, especially if it means killing you." Sarah practically screamed, and motioned the gun towards the white couch across directly across from her. As Raquel sat down, her eyes fixed to Sarah, she felt a growing horror in her stomach that Stephen lay dead in the bedroom and that she was next. She cursed herself for blithely walking into this mess. "Why are you doing this? What has happened to make you act like this?" she said, as calmly and softly as she could. "Oh, that's good. You know damn well what I'm talking about. I expect you waited about a minute after I left for Xi'an again to begin to get your hooks into him. You are why he cheated on me; you have to bear responsibility for the consequences. If you had left him alone, nothing would have happened to him." Raquel shook her head incredulously as it dawned on her that Sarah was seething with jealousy over her friendship with Stephen. And there seemed to be a kind of imbalance... a madness... in her eyes? "Exactly WHAT has happened, Sarah?" Sarah continued her diatribe, both ignoring Raquel's question and seemingly rationalizing something at the same time. "Don't bother denying it, I know all about your rendezvous, your late nights out... Your oh so cute trip to the Vaghaun's Jewelry." "We are only friends, Sarah, I could never..." "You could have at least had the decency to have attempt to try to hide your affair. You made it far too easy for my investigator to earn his fee." "You paid someone to follow us? You are sick. But surely your investigator told you that Stephen and I were only friends, that we could never..." "Pick up the envelope next to you" "What?" "The manila envelope on the stand, open it. Open it up and tell me again how you and Stephen are 'just friends'" Raquel opened the envelope and pulled a photo out. It showed Stephen placing an engagement ring on her finger. "Didn't Stephen explain this to you when you showed it to him?" "How big a fool do you take me for? You both must have had lots of laughs about me, hmm? How were you planning to end it? Were you after money from me, or were you just trying to publicly humiliate me?" "You are an idiot! That ring was for you. Stephen didn't want to screw up the proposal and he was practicing." "Oh, he was practicing! Now that is truly excellent! And I believe you, too!" "Sarah, I don't love Stephen in any way other than as a friend. I...don't even like men. If...you private detective followed me around at night then he would have seen some of the bars that I..." "Ooooh, now you're a lesbian too! This gets better and better!" "I can prove this... the ring... he brought it over tonight...its in his coat pocket," Raquel nodded towards the jean jacket on the chair, "look at the engraving on the inside." Sarah paused for a moment to consider, then, "I'm not in the mood to play more games with you. Whatever you're trying pull won't work. Get up!" Sarah waved the gun, Raquel stood, fearing what might happen next. "Oh, don't worry, dear, I'm not going to shoot you unless you force me. But there is something I want you to see before you leave, and then I want you to take something with you to remember tonight by. Walk over to the television." Raquel walked across the living room to the entertainment area. Sarah followed. Sarah picked up a remote that was lying on the couch and clicked the screen on. "I've forwarded it to the good bit." Raquel tried to make sense of the scene. Stephen slumped over at the dining table, a glass of wine still in his hand. "What's wrong with him? Is he...?" "Dead? Noooo! Although he might wish it were so. The wine was drugged. But quit talking and watch, this next part will really knock your socks off" Raquel and Sarah next watched the image of Sarah flash onto the screen, and walk over next to Stephen. She lifted his arm and let it drop. Seemingly satisfied, she removed the wine glass and moved from camera view. Several seconds later she reappeared, wearing thick rubber gloves and holding what looked like a smooth black stone. She paused, as if debating some action, and then opened Stephen's hand. She placed the stone in it and closed his fingers around it, and then stepped back. Raquel watched the scene for what seemed to be a minute, and nothing happened. She looked questioningly at Sarah. "Give it another moment, dear." As Raquel watched again, she noticed a changed, a brief rippling effect in Stephen, and then - he was not Stephen. A woman now sat in the chair where Stephen had been, slumped over the table and wearing his cloths. Which looked comical, because she was much smaller than Stephen had been, and so the clothes seemed to fit the young woman like clown clothes. Raquel saw that the woman's face was gorgeous - flawless olive skin, red full lips and luxurious black hair, shiny, and black as night. Sarah paused the video. Raquel blinked, trying to make sense of it. "Is this a joke? You and Stephen seem to have gone to a lot of trouble for this stunt, but there's nothing funny about it. Stephen? You can come out now," she yelled. "No, it's no joke, at least not to him...or I should say, her. Here, let me show you that bit again. I had to run it several times myself, it was so good." Sarah rewound the tape and played it again. As Raquel watched it again, it actually seemed to her that Stephen changed into the girl. "What... is this all about? Why are you showing me some special effects video? Why the trick photography? " "No trick at all! You've just witnessed a miracle! Ah, they have eyes but they cannot see. Tsch tsch. Remember the stone you saw me place in his hand? It is something very special that I picked up at the Xi'an dig. I inventoried all of the artifacts we found except that one. That one I kept a secret. It is in fact the Stone of Lao Tzu. Think of it! Lao Tzu himself held that stone and infused it with its... particular power." Raquel looked at Sarah blankly. The name meant nothing to her. "Lao Tzu - the founder of Taoism? The mystical figure of ancient China, equal in stature to Christ himself? And this stone, proves he existed historically...think of it!" Sarah expounded, more to herself than to Raquel. "Tao-ism? Like, um, yin yang?" Raquel asked. Sarah was visibly deflated by Raquel's lack of knowledge. "That stone may be the single greatest archaeological find in history. It has power, that - well, you saw yourself what it can do. I'm sitting on the greatest discovery known to..." Sarah shook her head in disgust before continuing. "I have shown the existence of the stone to two people only - the other is dead, I think, and you, you have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about. The attention I received from the Xi'an dig would be as nothing to the fame that would be mine if I were to announce this find. But... I don't want to have this sitting in a museum gathering dust. You've seen the power it possesses! I have used it only once before, and then it happened so quickly that I didn't get a chance to see it actually work. Truly amazing! I've been dying to try it out again, but until now, I haven't had the opportunity. Ah poor Stephen. His betrayal gave me all the reason I needed." Raquel watched as this fit of megalomania, that was all she could categorize it as, played itself out. Finally, Sarah sighed as if suddenly tired, or spent. Then she raised the gun again and again pointed it at Raquel. "I am quite ready for you and 'she' to leave, now." "What?" "I want you two out of here. Out of my sight. Now. Stephen is in the bedroom, get her and get out of here." Dazed, Raquel walked down the hall to the bedroom. She didn't know whether to believe any of this...insanity. At Sarah's insistence she opened the door, half expecting Stephen to be waiting to yell 'surprise' on the other side. Instead, she saw a figure lying unconscious on the bed. It was the dark-haired woman. "Get her up, pick her up, drag her, get a cattle prod for all I care...just leave." Raquel wasn't sure if she believed any of this...story, but whoever this person was needed to be out of this madwoman's house. Raquel shook the woman to see if she would wake. The woman's eyes flicked half open - Raquel saw that they were emerald green. "Ra- Raquel?" The woman slurred. "What is wrong with her?" "It seems that some liquid chloral hydrate mixed in with red wine has been quite effective. You saw, not even a twitch, even during the transformation. She has no idea she is even a she yet. Pity Stephen couldn't have been conscious to get the full impact, but I couldn't risk it...he was such a big fellow I didn't see how I could control him if he panicked Now though, it looks like she couldn't be more than 5' 1 or 2. Simply amazing!" "I don't know who she is, but I'm not about to leave anyone here with you." She shook the woman. "Stand up! Let's get out of here." She grabbed the woman's legs, swung them to the floor, and put her arm over the woman's shoulders and under her arm. "Up we go!" The woman was light and Raquel did not have much trouble getting her to stand. "Wher rr going?" "To my place so you can sleep this off." She started down the hallway, at first dragging more than walking the young woman. Gradually, the woman started to make more effective attempts to move her legs. "Feel so strange Raquelll... who chopped off my legggs?" Then the woman stopped abruptly. "Um, can't go...um yet...haven't asked herrr" "Asked her what?" then it dawned on Raquel what the woman was referring to, "if by some freak of nature you are Stephen, then I'd have to say that based on the events of tonight, the answer is a definite no." She looked once more at Sarah who had been following the two to the door. "You know, Sarah, you definitely need some mental help. I'm not sure who to call first, the police or the men in the white coats." "Who'd believe you? I'm afraid if you were to make any calls, the only person you'd end up having committed is you." "Stephen is missing. And the last place he visited is here. The police might find that interesting" "Only you know that. You'll have a hard time proving it to the police. I'm a respected professor at the university; you're a nightclub singer. Good luck! Anyway, you going to have your hands full over the days, because you've got Stephen there with you." "Wherever he is, he'll want his ring back. He couldn't afford it to begin with, and now..." "Its time for you two to permanently exit from my life, dear. Justice has been served, god this was so goood!! You'll hear from me if and when I choose to call you. Do not try to call me or see me, and do not let her call me, or I'll get a restraining order, and I'll sue you both until you truly do die." Sarah ushered the two out the door with a final wave of her gun. "Need ta lie down, Raq, head spinning..." "Good luck you love birds!" Sarah practically sang, as she slammed the door in Raquel's face. Raquel looked for a long moment at green-eyed woman that was in her arms. The woman was extremely intoxicated, completely bewildered, and yet, even in this condition she was without a doubt the most exotic and stunningly beautiful creature Raquel had ever seen. It was absurd to think that this person was somehow Stephen. At that she sighed, and as the two stumbled down the apartment complex stairs to her car, she wondered how a night that had started out so normally could have turned so bizarre. She had just left a madwoman who was convinced she had a stone with some sort of "mojo" in it that could change people, her best friend was missing, and she was in a car with a strange drunk woman. How could things possibly get any worse? "Raq...think I'm gonna barff." Great, just great! Raquel thought. Part 2 The lushness of the landscape was so enchanting that it took Stephen some time to consider that it might be a dream. The path he walked followed the banks of a wide crystal- blue river that meandered through a steep canyon valley. The valley walls were covered with deep green bamboos - and the valley greens and river blues were merged together by the mist that rose from the river in wispy swirls. In the distances ahead fantastic peaks rose straight like trees in a forest. The way was awash with exotic sounds - as the squabble of parakeets blended with songs of crickets and tree frogs to create a calming serenade. The scent of jasmine surrounded him as he breathed, and looking down he saw that the bright yellow blossoms lining the path. The scene reminded Stephen of the waters and mountains of Guilin in China - his freelance writing assignments had taken him to many remote parts of the world - only here the power and delicacy of the colors, sounds and fragrances combined to produce a heightened feeling of clarity, serenity and...'otherworldliness' he thought. It was this thought that first caused him to question: 'this is a dream?' Stephen found that he was compelled to move forward along the way, and soon he spied what looked to be a temple or monastery that was built into the sheer face of a cliff. He reckoned that it would take several hours to climb to it, but, with a sound like the crashing a waves filled his ears, and a shimmering and blurring of the landscape, he found himself on a craggy path just below the temple. 'This is a dream...right?' he barely thought, and accepted as dreamers do, the occurrence of the impossible as matter of fact in a dream. The temple had been built into overhanging the rocky cliff face using the natural hollows and outcrops for support. The seemingly countless buildings of the temple were square shaped pagodas with upward-curving blood red-tiled roofs and faced with slabs of pure white colored glazed tile. Stephen heard a flapping noise as he entered the temple, which he quickly realized were a multitude of rainbow-hued prayer flags, fluttering in the wind. He also now heard the soft tinkling and clanging of hundreds, no thousands, of wind chimes waving in the same breeze. Stephen wandered among many halls and pavilions, and found himself standing in front of the largest of the buildings. The ceiling and walls of the hall were dotted in bright sunny yellow, and in the center was a massive gray stone dais or platform. Facing him was an ancient looking man seated cross-legged style, with eyes closed in meditation. Stephen realized that the man was the first person he had seen since he came to this place, although he now could faintly hear a low droning of chants - Tibetan like - but could not make out their origin. The man was older than old, with white hair, eye brows and long flowing beard. He wore a turban like hood that covered his head that was the same ancient white color. Stephen took a step towards the man, and as he did, a massive school of yellow butterflies, which had been resting on the walls and ceiling, swirled around the room and then out of the temple entrance. At this, the man's eyes slowly opened, mesmerizing Stephen with their deep sparkling emerald green. The man spoke it seemed, although Stephen was unsure that he saw the man's lips move: "Know the white, yet keep to the black: be a pattern for the world. Know the male, yet keep to the female: receive the world in your arms." Stephen had no idea what that meant, but figured that, at the least it was an opportunity to ask where the hell this place was: "I'm sorry to disturb you...um, sir...but I think I'm lost...could you tell me where I am?" The man chuckled and answered "You awake to find yourself in a dark wood, where the right road is lost and gone, eh?" 'Great a riddle dream!' he thought. Stephen decided to be more direct: "Excuse me...sir? Would you tell me who are you, where I am, and why in God's name am I here?" "I will answer your last question first, your first question last, and your middle question in the middle." The man said, with a mischievous grin. "...um...okay, I guess" Stephen stammered, as he tried to work it through in his mind. 'Dream thinking was so hard!' was all he could manage to think. "Okay, you ready? Here goes: you have touched the stone, or rather, it has touched you, I am called old fellow or old baby, you preference, and you are in a place that is more real than any you have ever been, though you think it to be a dream." Stephen sighed in exasperation, and but valiantly tried again. "Okay...old fellow...what..." Stephen tried vainly to martial rational thought..."I don't remember touching any sort of special rock or stone lately. Or any wild mushrooms or Cheshire cats for that matter - certainly nothing that would have brought me here. So what..." another exasperated confused sigh "what ARE you talking about? What is this 'touching the stone' business?" The old man clapped his hands in glee. "It was one of my best pranks! One of my top pupils had come so close to knowing the Way, yet couldn't take the final step. For perhaps the millionth time I had told Lo P'eng to join the black with the white to embrace the one - to marry the male with the female to return to his true primal Self - but here was Lo P'eng whining again, that it he could never know black because he was white, nor know the female because he was male. The fellow was insufferable and I'd had enough - I'm mean, the joy and bliss of the Way was literally staring him in the face and he was so thick headed that he couldn't grasp it. I threw up my hands and told him I could better teach a rock than he. Lo P'eng was most frustrated and insulted by this, so he grabbed a rock that was at his feet and tossed it to me, or rather at me, and rather forcefully, I might add, saying "then teach this rock the Tao, Old Man, so that I may be instructed be it, because I have had enough of you." An enormously funny thought occurred to me and I took the rock and gave it a particular ability that would instantly and completely change his perspective. If I may humbly engage in shameless immodesty, it was a stroke of brilliance! Hehe! And I said, "See Lo P'eng, the rock has already learned the lesson that you have not mastered for years and is ready to instruct you, merely pick it up to begin your instruction" and I set the stone down in front of him. It was so great!" The old man was literally hopping about with excitement. He was angry and his pride was hurt, and so he didn't pick it up for a while. He circled it and circled it, but I knew that his curiosity and thirst to know the Way would get the better of him and finally he reached down and picked up the stone. Hehehehe! The old man was twirling about like a whirling dervish. He stopped for a moment to continue the story: "The expression on Lo P'eng's was priceless as the stone imparted its 'teaching'. Now, Lo P'eng was of course exceedingly angry at first, but once the changes were accepted and the new perspective fully appreciated, she found the Way easily and lived in joy and bliss." Stephen had found the tale interesting enough and had been swept up in the man's infectious exuberance, but was completely perplexed by its message. "But how did the stone change his perspective so much that it helped Lo P'eng to find enlightenment? What kind of a change would do that? So quickly? And... I don't understand...didn't you say 'she' instead of 'he' just then?" "Ah, but you will understand, for you have touched it also." "Look, what specifically does that mean, old man, for me? What are you saying?" Stephen nearly shouted, frustrated at the obliqueness of the man's - and the dream's - message. "It means you have same opportunity as Lo P'eng to find illumination, and that I have another thick-headed pupil. Be at ease, my daughter, you will come here again, and we will visit more then..." "What? Wait..." Stephen said, as the temple scene began to fade out swiftly, and the waking world reasserted itself "What?" Stephen's first thought upon awaking was how strange the dream was, even as it fragmented and memory of it completely dropped away from his conscious mind. Stephen's second thought was that he needed to take a long long piss, and his third thought was trying to figure out why long silky hair seemed to be dangling in front of eyes when he wore his hair nearly Marine short... --- "And so the morning begins just where last night ended... badly," Raquel thought groggily as she stumbled out of bed, still dressed from the night before. A scream had caused her eyes to spring open, and then an enormous crash had sent her springing from her bed to see what had happened. Her eccentric Aunt Esmarelda had warned that her future held interesting and magical times, but since she held no religious or spiritual beliefs, and considered her fortune-teller Aunt to be only a loveable quack, she had never given the warnings a second thought. "Until last night" she thought, as she stumbled down the hallway towards her bathroom door to see if that was where the noises had come from. "Murrda! Hijo de puta! What are you doing?" Raquel roared as she surveyed the damage - her large bathroom mirror lay in thousands of shards on the tiled floor; her make-up table chair also lay broken on the floor, apparently where it landed after hitting the mirror. Huddled in the corner of the room was the strange arresting young woman from last night, dressed only in an oversized white tee shirt, legs pulled closely to her chest. Raquel made herself take a deep breath to calm down, if she didn't she feared she might strangle her then and there, regardless of how delicious she looked. "Vivito y coleando, I see, or rather, alive and throwing. Did we want to do some redecorating this morning?" The girl blinked, her glazed expression softening. "Look, I... I know you must be pissed, Raq, you only slide into Spanish when you're armed for bear...I'll pay for the mirror...I'm sorry. It's just that...the mirror was lying to me...I couldn't believe what I thought I saw, and I kind of went crazy." "Oh? The mirror was lying? You think it was showing you too fat or something, mi pich?n?" The girl blinked in confusion "What? No...stop pulling my chain, Raq. I... things are all screwed or I'm messed up or something..." Her voice trailed off, then picked up suddenly and a little too brightly: "but I think I figured it out. We must have gone to a hypnotist last night, right? And I guess I volunteered or something and it was like, 'when you wake up, you will think that you are in the body of a woman,' and there is a word or something that you will say and then I will see my real self," she said, looking hopefully to Raquel. "... or something like that." The girl extended her right hand before her face. "Its so weird! My brain thinks, 'hand move' and this strange tiny hand moves! Isn't that creepy, Raq? The funny thing is, I don't remember going to any nightclub or anything. All I can remember is going to Sarah's last night and then...nothing. So go ahead, Raq, say the trigger word or whatever it is!" "First, stop calling me Raq - I allow only my close friends to call me so. I certainly don't know you, although getting to know you might be fun. Second, I know nothing of any ridiculous hypnotist or club, dear. I did 'rescue' you from Sarah's last night. She concocted some bizarre joke about changing a friend of mine into a woman, and I see that you are persisting in keeping up this farce. So why don't you get dressed and get your pretty little butt out of here before I call the police?" A frantic look passed over the woman's face. "Raq! Why are you acting like this? Please help me! I'm not think... right in the head... am I on drugs or something?" A manic look had crept into the woman's face as she struggled to her feet. Raquel gawked openly as she saw that the woman was naked below the oversized tee shirt, could not help but admire the smooth shapely dark olive colored legs, and felt slightly cheated that the shirt covered as much as it did. The woman became aware of where Raquel's gaze rested; she stared down at herself briefly, and then slumped against the wall with a stricken look on her face. "You see this too, " she fiddled in front of her crotch with a hand, as if she were holding an invisible cock, "you see what is missing? And these?" She cupped her full breasts with her hands and looked down at them. Raquel obligingly directed her gaze there - she guessed the girl must be a 32 C or D size; it was hard to tell through the oversized shirt. The girl pawed her breasts roughly. "These actually feel real! This all seems real! And I feel so small!" She shook her head, "I need a doctor, Raq, fast." She paused a moment as she feverishly tried to make sense of it. "Maybe...maybe you're on drugs too? Maybe it's some kind of mass hypnosis or something? We gotta get to a hospital or psycho ward ...please Raq, don't just stand there staring at me like I was some kind of a freak, DO SOMETHING..." Raquel was at a loss - she couldn't believe the girl's story, she couldn't! It was just plain not possible! But the girl didn't seem to be acting either; she genuinely appeared to believe that she was Stephen. Maybe something had been done by Sarah to mess this girl up. She certainly looked shell-shocked. What a sick woman Sarah was! She couldn't believe that Stephen was going to marry that puta. Stephen! Mustn't forget him! Raquel realized that she still hadn't heard from him! She would phone his place to see if he had turned up, and if he hadn't, she would call the police to report him missing. But this whole thing was so nutso! "What was Stephen's number again?" she said to herself more than to anyone. The girl automatically rattled off a series of numbers and then said "But I'm telling you, no one will be home because I'm here!" Fury flashed in Raquel's eyes: she had had enough of this charade. "You persist in telling me you are Stephen? Fine, fine, that fiction is easily exposed, mi pich?n." She paused, thinking of a test. "AH! That's it! I have it! Stephen once thought he was in love with me, and I let him know that we could never be more than friends, because I had no... ninguna pasi?n para los hombres... no passion for the men." She watched the girl closely to see her reaction to this, often women became uneasy at this admission. Since the girl simply nodded as if she already knew this, she continued, "Only he would remember what I said. So tell me, dear, if you are Stephen" she could barely say this seriously, "what did I say to... uh, you? Word for word, how did I phrase it?" The girl was silent for a moment, and Raquel assumed and hoped that this meant she must finally drop the pretense, but instead the girl answered: "That was over three years ago, Raq...I can't remember exactly...word for word..." Raquel was startled that the girl knew as much, but decided it was simply a lucky guess, and continued: "Stephen would know, and so you are not he, I think. You are just a girl, que es m?s loco que una cabra." She twirled her finger in a circle next to her head. "You do need lots of help." The girl ignored her, closing her eyes tightly in concentration. "I remember it some, it was an oddball sort of saying. You said... cada something, cada berico, berica or something...a ... su...a su...what was it..." the girl finally shook her head in defeat when she could summon up no further words. "It was three years ago Raquel!" Raquel's chest constricted - impossibly, the girl had gotten close enough; "cada perico a su estaca, cada changa a su mecate" she mumbled as she found she was struggled to catch her breathe. She managed the follow-up: "And I said it meant...?" The girl's face brightened at this, her recollection of it much clearer: "You said that it meant 'each parrot on its perch, and each monkey on its rope'. I remember thinking what a funny thing to hear when you are in love with someone and they are telling you that they don't have any passionate love for you. But you said that what it really meant was 'each to our own' - though you loved me greatly as a friend, we could never be lovers." Suddenly Raquel felt nauseous, lightheaded. That was exactly what she had said to Stephen, and she had spoken of it to no other. How was this possible? She gathered her thoughts as best she could and quickly replayed the entire scene from Sarah's place, no longer dismissing it as some sick special effects trick. Now for the first time, she considered it as a possibility. And now it was she that needed to lean against the wall for support, her eyes wide with shock. "So, so now you believe that it's me? You've just got to, Raq, and get me to someone that can help... undo this," the girl motioned to her body with the sweep of a hand. "I... I believe..." She paused, "I believe that something more is going on here than I originally thought. Some kind of... and I can't believe I am even going to say this... I'm an atheist for Christ's sake... some kind of magic seems to have happened? I'm out of my element here...I...I really think that I need to call Esmarelda and... speak to her. She knows about such things..." "Your crazy aunt? The one that smokes cigars and then looks into the smoke to see the future? Are you serious? Do I look like I need some gypsy fortune-teller? You told me that she thinks she talks to dead people!" The girl stood up straight now, shaking in anger. "Look at me! LOOK AT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME! I need real help, right now, Raq, from packs of real medical doctors and... and... herds of clinical psychologists or psychiatrists or something." Raquel paused and almost asked how the woman knew about Esmarelda, but finally gave a frustrated shrug. "Let us see what Esmarelda can do. Yes, this is all loco and you are loco and I must be loco too, but she deals in craziness such as this, supernatural craziness, so maybe she will have a bead on it. And you look very healthy to me; you do not look like you're in danger of dropping dead..." 'Though you do look drop dead beautiful,' she thought as she paused to take another long admiring look at the young woman. It was very hard for her to not just stare open-mouthed: a lean, smooth sensuous deeply Mediterranean colored body that wouldn't quit, hair black as midnight, framing a face that reminded her of Angelina Jolie - full pouted red lips, black long eye-lashes and perfect rounded nose. And those eyes, those big emerald green eyes! They actually seemed to sparkle. "Sooooo" she said, letting her breath slowly out, "let's try to sort this out a little first before we charge off to the world with a story like this. I'm not really up for spending time in a padded cell right now. Let's go sit in the living room and sensibly think this through...unless you need to use the bathroom first? I assume you originally came in here for a purpose other than smashing my mirror? And I could use a moment in here after you finish..." The girl calmed. "Okay. You're right. That makes sense; there has to be some logical explanation...let's do that." She paused then, struggling with something internally difficulty. "And I do need to... go... pretty bad, but I'm not sure...I'm missing what I normally would use...and I'm not sure how to...I...don't know how to..." the girl pointed at the toilet and then looked helplessly to Raquel for advice. Raquel tried to work through what the woman was stammering about now. "You don't know how to what?" she said impatiently. It dawned on her - "to piss? Dios mios! It is not something that is hard to do or that I can teach you. Al mal paso darle prisa, mi pich?n. You'll figure it out, just sit and pee!" "Fine, whatever it was that you just said. Get out and I will. And why do you keep calling me pich?n? What does that mean?" "Its slang for, um, hot babe." Raquel said, quickly backing out the bathroom door when she realized the girl was frantically looking for something to throw at her. Just before she closed the door, she asked sweetly "You'll be okay if I leave you alone for a moment? You won't break something else?" "Only your nose or..." Raquel shut the door quickly. --- Later, Raquel had made a long phone fervent call to her aunt - in Spanish, to spare the young woman further anxiety - explaining as best she could what she thought had happened to Stephen and begging for her Aunt's help. Then she came into the living room with some mugs of hot coffee. Earlier, after a brief internal debate in which her conscience had gotten the better of it, she had given the woman a long white terrycloth bathrobe to cover up with and now the girl sat on the couch with her legs tucked under the robe so that no part of her body was exposed. Raquel sat down next to the girl, took a long sip from her own coffee mug, internally wished that it was tequila instead, and asked, "now, tell me all that you remember from last night?" The young woman thought for a moment. "I remember getting to Sarah's around ten, and wanting to spring it all on her then and there. You know how excited I was to be popping the question." Raquel found herself nodding, as it somehow seemed to be getting easier to believe that this small exotic creature may indeed have recently been her towering male best friend. "But she insisted that we have a glass of wine first. Which was okay with me, because I was really nervous, you know." Raquel nodded again; Stephen had practically peed in his pants in anticipation of the evening. "We sat down at the dinner table, made some small talk, I don't remember about what, and then," she paused, "and then I felt really really tired all of a sudden and," she paused again, "and I woke up here on your couch. Like this. How did I get here? What on earth could have happened to cause this?" Raquel shook her head sadly and retold the events of the previous evening as she remembered them, watching as the poor woman's face showed increasing alarm. "She thought that you and I were lovers? Drugged my wine? Pulled a gun on you?" The woman incredulously shook her head. "I...can't believe that...I just can't..." "What did you ever see in that puta?" "Puta? What does that mean?" "Sorry, it means prostitute, whore." "I...She' not a..." she looked down at herself again, shook her head in disbelief, and continued, softly now. " She was exciting, there was danger about her but also at times she seemed vulnerable as if someone had deeply hurt her. She never said she loved me in so many words, but I thought that once I asked her to marry me she would truly let me in to her heart. I thought I knew her. I thought I loved her! Wanted to marry her, FOR LIFE." Her eyes glistened with tears as she struggled to maintain control, contending with emotions that were far stronger than she had ever felt. Love lost, betrayal...and a sort of... incomprehensible supernatural rape of her body and soul...the impact of it crashed upon her all at once, and she bit her lower lip until it began to bleed to fight back the tears. She balled her hands into fists and began to punch the couch. "I... will... not...cry. I never cry...Never! I know people say I'm some sort of 'new age' guy for having passion for my music and writing, but you know I'm not into touchy-feely bullshit. The riskier the assignment the more I loved it. You're still mad at me for almost getting frost-bite doing that Sherpa piece at Everest last year" 'That's true' Raquel thought and nodded, 'Stephen could have really screwed up his guitar career.' Tears were now shimmering in her eyes, magnifying the spellbinding effect of the emerald green. Raquel took the girl's hand and gently caressed it. "So why am I...why am I like this? What in the world could do THIS? You said Sarah..." "Did this to you? Ah, my sweet, she showed me a videotape of exactly how she said she did it. I honestly didn't believe it was more than a scam of some kind, a twisted candid camera joke or something. It wasn't like there was a lot of flashing lights or smoke or anything - she touched some kind of... a black stone... to Stephen's... your... hand and then" She snapped her fingers, "he became you." A stunned expression crossed the woman's face; she looked as if she had seen a ghost. "A stone?" A picture arose from deep within her - a vision of an old man in a beautiful temple. Something about a story of a student and a stone. She shook her head as if clearing out cobwebs "What kind of stone?" "She called it the stone of, it was a Chinese name... it started with Lao..." "Lao Tzu? The Taoist Lao Tzu" "Yes, that was it! She said this Chinese philosopher guy held the stone in his hand and gave it the power to do this ... thing, change Stephen into... into you..." The vision clarified - a temple set in a cliff over looking a beautiful green river valley. "I've heard this story... where have I heard this..." She fought to remember, "There were yellow butterflies and a white haired old man, I think, told me... that I had been touched by a stone... I...where did I" For a moment she almost remembered the dream in full, but then it frustratingly slipped away like water through fingers. She looked up again at Raquel as the memory of the vision eluded her. "Why did this happen? Things like this can't happen. I've been all over the world! I've interviewed rebel generals and death row criminals and desert holy men and...and these things JUST DON'T HAPPEN!" she was silent for a moment as she struggled to put into words the impossible feelings she was experiencing. "This can be undone right? If it can be done it can be undone!" She began to fume: "How can somebody do this? What right did she have to do this? How can something change me so that I'm not me but this?" She slapped herself in the face, hard. "See, I felt that, but its not my face! I'm still me aren't I? Aren't I?" She grabbed Raquel's arms and started to shake her. "Did she kill me? Is that what has been done? Is it like being murdered?" She let go of Raquel's arms and grabbed roughly at her own breasts. "These are not mine! This is not me," she shouted. As her ranting became increasingly violent Raquel realized the woman was quickly moving from denial to anger. If this had been a therapy session then perhaps some kind of a breakthrough might have been close, but this was her living room and Raquel worried that she might have to physically wrestle the woman if the anger grew into uncontrolled rage. Raquel tensed for action - years of guerilla warfare training learned from growing up with five older brothers quickly came into play. Luckily, her doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of Aunt Esmarelda and the tension of the moment was broken. The door sprang open, and a short gray-haired Latino woman burst into the room - wearing an enormous floppy brown and severely weathered Stetson hat on her head, and dressed in black cowboy boots and a yellow-flowered dress that must have been taken straight from the sixties. Behind her in the doorway stood two black trash bags that she had apparently dragged with her. "Hola, Raquel, I have come to the rescue with gifts and treats!" Raquel silently thanked the powers that be - and she was now admitting to herself that perhaps there were such powers - for the timely diversion. "Hola, mi t?a, what are these garbage bags you have brought? You paid for this stuff I hope." Raquel said, as she sprang to the door to give her aunt a hug and kiss. "Ah! What I must suffer," she said as she entered the room, living room, leaving the bags to Raquel to take to the kitchen. "...and you must be..." "Stephen. I am Stephen." Esmarelda walked over to the girl sat on the couch, took her face in her hands, and stared deeply into her eyes. Then she grasped the girls hands and examined them. Finally she whispered "dios mios!" and crossed her self. Raquel had returned from the kitchen and approached her aunt cautiously. "Is she really Stephen?" "No. She is not a 'Stephen.' There is definitely nothing Stephen-ish about her, Raquel." "But I AM Stephen, you've got to believe me!" the girl wailed. "I did not say I did not believe you, only that you are not Stephen, now." "I...don't understand, aunt." Raquel said. "I will speak freely to you about matters that you have asked me not to speak of in the past, Raquel. I was an embarrassment to you, I think, but now it seems you will be more inclined to listen." Raquel hung her head in embarrassment. "It is true, I was embarrassed to have my friends hear such talk. I was immature and stupid mi t?a, please forgive me." "Ah, do not be too hard on yourself, dearest, the gift I was born with and the things I see and do are not easily accepted these days. You are forgiven. So. Your great great uncle Miguel was from Ixtlan and was a powerful nagual that could change his form on occasion. I myself witnessed him change from man to hawk one day. But even though he had turned into a noble hawk, I could still sense the man's body inside the hawk's. I had been trained well by my abuela Agata, and so I could still see the 'Miguel' in the hawk. You see - with shapeshifting magic, even though the body looks like something else, it still remembers its true form, for the shapeshifter must return to that form eventually." She sighed when she saw the looks of absolute incomprehension on the faces of the two women. "This is very hard to explain to one who has not had the training. Anyway, the point is I thought I would see something like this from your friend here, to see the 'Stephen' in the girl but instead I see nothing of the kind." She quickly grasped the girl's hands and opened them palms up. "Also, look at her hands. You will see that her lifeline shows that she has absolutely no past - she was, if you will forgive an old woman's poor joke..." Esmarelda suppressed a giggle, "she was born yesterday." "That's crazy, this all sounds so crazy, Esmarelda." Raquel answered, unable to overcome her disbelief. "Again I would remind you that you are the one that called me with this 'crazy' story about a friend that was turned into a girl. I am simply telling you that I can find no magic that I am familiar with at work here. Yet it is equally clear that something amazing and extraordinary has happened - I almost need gafas de sol..." "Sunglasses" Raquel translated for the young woman. "Yes, sorry, I almost needed the sunglasses... to be able to look at her aura" Esmarelda traced the girl's head with her fingers to show where she saw the aura. 'So what I can tell you is this - a deep deep magic has been worked here, the deepest I have ever seen. It is mystical I think, like a miracle of blessed Mary." Esmarelda crossed herself again. "There is some greater purpose at work here, I think. It may be that this girl has your Stephen's soul, but she definitely has nothing of his body. This girl ..."she paused, and then turned to look directly at the girl, "by the way, what should I call you, little one? 'This girl' will not do." "Call me Stephen." "No, 'Stephen' will not do either, because as I said, you are not a 'Stephen' at all, my sweet." "What if we call you Stephanie? That's a pretty close name." Raquel interjected, trying to compromise. "No! Absolutely not! That is just plain stupid. My name is Stephen! Everything else has may have been taken from me, but you can't take my name!" "But no my dear! You simply are not a Stephen, little one," Esmarelda soothed. You may think that you are, because your soul was in the body of a Stephen, but you are definitely not one now! You are, in fact the most beautiful living thing I've come across - what a sight you are! I could look at you all day." Esmarelda thought a moment then clapped her hands. "And that is what I will call you, then - Mira, because I like to look upon you. There. It is done. You are Mira" "My name is Stephen! That is the only name I will ever answer to!" she said angrily. "Ah, see! You are so beautiful even when you are mad! How lucky you are. Your eyes could melt a stone statue. You are indeed Mira por mi parte." And that was all the discussion Esmarelda seemed to allow. "And I bet that my Raquel has not given you a scrape of food? I have brought un peque?o desayuno for you. It is not permitted that we discuss the workings of magic on an empty stomach." And with that Esmarelda marched into the kitchen. "She's a loon Raq! A freakin' raving loon! How will she be able to help? She's a nut case." The girl whispered loudly to Raquel. "Maybe so, but today we are all crazy, no? So play along so that we can try to sort out what can be done. And I like the name Mira too. Calling you Stephen..." her eyes lingered again upon the young woman's mesmerizing face, "seems na?ve at the moment." Raquel knelt down in front of the girl and gently caressed her face. "You are so beautiful to look at. I can't take my eyes off you. So I will call you Mira too." "My name is Stephen," she said, but held Raquel's hand pressed to her face. "Also, I have brought clothes for you to wear - Raquel said that she did not have any clothes in your size." Esmarelda called out from the kitchen. "Clothes? What clothes?" "I had Esmarelda stop by Victoria's Secret on her way over," Raquel whispered. "You're... joking right? Please tell me..." Raquel burst into laughter. "If I didn't already believe that you had been Stephen, I do now... only he would be so gullible. She borrowed a skirt and blouse from my cousin ?ngela who is about your size. The bra, underwear and sandals are from that ritzy and very sexy store known as WalMart. Now go get dressed so we can at eat breakfast. Esmarelda is very serious - she won't speak of this further until we have eaten." The girl gave her a dubious look, "A skirt? Why not just a pair of jeans?" "Because you really must try jeans on to know if they will fit, while a skirt's fit is more... um forgiving. If you don't want to wear it, then we can certainly go shopping - but then, what would you wear to the store, my bathrobe?" The girl tried to think of an articulate response, but with an exasperated nod, she grabbed the clothes, and headed to Raquel's bedroom to dress. "Let me know if you need any help...Mira" Raquel called after her. "Its Stephen!" was the reply that came back, just before Raquel heard the door slam. "Perhaps you should go lend the poor thing a hand, Raquel, she is very lost and scared right now and everything is new to her." Esmarelda suggested. "Hmmm. I should mi t?a; perhaps I may get lucky and see her en cueros?" Raquel answered with a grin and bounded after the girl. "See her naked? I said help, not molest the girl!" And shook her head in disapproval and amusement. Since the preparation of the breakfast was nearly finished and she had this moment alone, Esmarelda sat down at the kitchen table and pulled a fat Cuban cigar from one of the black bags she had brought. It was clear the girl was the focal point of immense energies, and such things did not happen without design. She needed knowledge. She needed to know what was and what would be. She ran the cigar under her nose and took a long breath. Esmarelda had found that smoke for her caused the trance-work to come quicker. She lit the cigar with the strike of a match and began puffing smoke in great clouds, letting the familiar husky smell carry her across the border of the physical reality into the other. As she fully entered the trance state, images began to fly before her - she saw dark flames of conflict and threat and saw the image a stranger in flight, a woman carrying something that blazed with light. The woman was hunted by a twisted beast and a strange dark jaguar, a nagual. The she saw the girl Mira lying still on the ground maybe dead, maybe not dead, Raquel at her side crying. Then - the dark flames instantly vanished - and she saw Mira walking along a river in a strange fertile green valley, surrounded by swirling yellow butterflies. The images faded. When she revived from the trance state, Esmarelda tried to make sense of it. Something dark and powerful was coming to them very soon and Mira was maybe the key? Esmarelda did not know what the outcome was to be, or what the image of beautiful valley meant. But she did know with certainty that she had to be ready to face the dark jaguar, the sorcerer, as best she could - so she pulled a small faded black denim bag from one of the sacks and began to arrange her power fetishes. --- Sarah started as a bullet shattered her driver's side view mirror. She looked in her rear-view mirror again to see the hideous figure driving the car behind her aim a pistol at her out of the car window. She could barely make out the second figure in the passenger seat - it looked - somehow - shrouded in darkness. She groaned. If a 'worst day in the history of the world' contest was held, Sarah reckoned her day today would be in the running. Being chased and shot at by a creature that used to be an accredited archeologist and a Chinese shaman was not perhaps the way she would have chosen to see the day go if she had been asked. She recalled how her day had come to this crisis - her morning, which had started flat out bad and had gone straight to hell from there. Curiosity had finally gotten the better of her and she looked in Stephen jacket for the engagement ring that Raquel had told her about. She found it - a simple but elegant gold engagement ring with a beautiful one and a half diamond. She read the inscription: "to Sarah my love, always" Sarah had brooded over it for sometime, spinning the ring around and around on her little finger. 'It meant nothing. Less than nothing. Part of their plan.' She thought in disgust. But still, she could at least call her investigator and ask him to confirm a couple of questions. The number was programmed in her speed dial. She hesitated, then pressed the button. "Five Star Detective Agency" "Halstrom Wolfe, please" She rolled her eyes every time she said his name - where did they come up with these names? "Just a moment, please" A moment later, "Halstrom Wolfe here, what can I do for you?" "Hi Halstrom, this is Sarah. I'm glad I caught you in the office. Have a moment?" "Yeah, sure. How did it go last night? Did your surprise for Stephen and Raquel work as you planned?" "Yup. But Stephen was more surprised this morning, I'm sure." "I'm sorry, I don't follow..." "Never mind, long story" 'if he only knew the half of it,' she thought. "But listen, I have a couple of follow-up questions for the." "Fire away." "Excellent. First. Yesterday Raquel denied having and affair with Stephen. She said that if you had really been following her you would have found that she was, uh, how should I say this, not sexually oriented towards Stephen. I don't expect there was any truth to that, was there?" After a long pause, "just cause the babe likes women don't mean she don't like men too." "I see. Did you see her with other women? Hal? You don't mind if I call you Hal, do you?" "I followed her a couple of times after her band had played, an she went to a some bars that dykes go yeah, but I figured you weren't interested in that, so I stopped following her when she wasn't with Stephen." "Hmmm. Interesting. I paid you, what, well in excess of ten thousand dollars to determine if my fianc? is cheating on me with another woman and you can't be bothered to tell me that the woman is gay? Is that about right, Hal?" "Well, you saw the pictures of them together, they looked pretty cozy ya know, and you weren't just hav'in me tail um for my fee. There was the other thing too." "Yes. The other matter. We'll get to that in a moment. Let me just conclude this matter first. Raquel said that the pictures with the engagement ring were taken after they had gone to the jeweler. Did you happen to ask the jeweler for whom Stephen intended the ring? Did you ask if Stephen had requested an inscription? I'm told it is rather common. I would have thought that that would have been interesting information for a private detective to determine. I'm just curious. It's something I would surely ask if I were in your position, but you are the expert investigator here." Another pause. "Uh, no. I thought it was pretty clear who the ring was for, they was plan'in to get married, I figured." "I see. That's what you figured. Interesting." Sonofabitch! Raquel had been telling the truth! Stephen not only was not cheating on her, but had been going to ask her to marry him! How could she have been so stupid! Shit! And how had she relied on this complete idiot for information that she had used to justify destroying Stephen's life. Shitshitshit. ' She had to admit now that she had never really loved Stephen - that was pretty obvious...nobody transforms the man they love into a woman if they truly loved him... well, actually, nobody did that because nobody could do that, except her - she didn't suppose that there were many of these special stones laying about - But the point was that if everyone had the power to transform people's gender, they probably wouldn't do it to the people they love...but still, it had been so fascinating to watch Stephen change...so amazing..." 'WHAT AM I SAYING? This is completely insane! Raquel was right, I have gone 'round the bin...' she sighed 'Okay. Deep breath. I'll make it right with Stephen somehow. Let me at least see if this moron has done any better in finding more out about the whereabouts of Reg, before I arrange to have him slowly killed, or perhaps...' "Now. The other matter, Halle. You don't mind if I call you Halle do you?" "Well, yeah I do mind, it's kind of feminine sounding. Let's just stick to Hal." "Okay, Hal it is," she paused, then added "for now. So tell me about the other job. Any news to convey, I really would like to know if you've found out anything about Professor Barnes' whereabouts." "Yeah, I know it's been a while since you asked me to look into that - and I've been mean'in to call you. It took some time, but I was finally able to talk to the that man - uh...Zif, Zif," "Zhifu Sima, the man my contact at the Chinese Consulate's office recommended. I was told me off the record that he is quite good at finding missing persons, and that his English was passable too." "Yeah, That's him I can never say that first name right. Anyway, I made contact with him. He was kind of evasive at first about doing what you told me to tell him..." "That's because the occupation of 'private detective' is not really legal in China. If you worked there you would have to call yourself something like Information Consultation, and you would have to be very careful about the way you gathered information - privacy is very important in China." "Really? I couldn't be a private detective there? That's unconstitutional!" "I'm quite impressed Hal, you're a scholar of the consti