The Temptations of Babylon 4 


Part III


The curtains had been opened and sunlight poured in
through the windows. I stretched and opened my eyes
and then bolted upright. It was a disoriented moment,
looking down at the whole of San Francisco. It quickly
came back to me. Less than 24 hours ago I was just a
poor working smuck. Now, I was living the high life. 

It's funny, but when you imagine winning the lottery,
you imagine all of your worries disappear. Well, they
don't, they just change. I was already starting to
worry about things. How would I manage the money? Whom
should I trust? What to do about Christine? Was she a
gold digger? I rolled out of bed and went about my
morning ablutions. Shaved and showered, I found some
clothing in the box sent over the day before. Nothing
is as comfortable as old Levis. 

I wandered out to the kitchen and stopped short. A
beautiful oriental woman was bustling around. She saw
me and smiled. "Good morning."

"Ah, good morning," I said. "Are you Saeyong?"

She bowed and said, "I am Saeyong. I am most happy to
be of service."

I half-assed bowed back. What do I know of bowing? She
smiled and asked, "Would you like breakfast?"

"Sounds good." She turned and quickly started throwing
together a breakfast. I watched her, fascinated. I had
grown up with some Japanese families in our
neighborhood. Well, not really Japanese. They had all
been born here and were as American as the rest of us
immigrants. And, of course, Stanford was pretty
diverse. But I'd never been around a woman like
Saeyong before. She was tiny. And she moved
differently. I can't quite describe it and I realize I
probably sound like a redneck myself, but just the way
she moved seemed Oriental. I shook my head and said to
myself, don't be a doofus. But the thought was there. 

She had an omelet started when she turned to me and
asked, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. Perfectly." I paused and then asked, "I like
your accent. Where are you from?"

She looked startled and then looked away. She picked
up the pan and then clunked it back down. There was
something about that pan that made me realize I had
screwed up. I asked. "Did the pan do something to make
you mad?"

She turned toward me with her hands on her hips. Then
her face softened and in a very controlled way she
said, without a trace of accent, "It is okay. You
wouldn't know. But Jack always used to tease me about
my accent. I have worked very hard to speak without
one. But when I get lazy, I fall back into bad
habits."

"No, no," I said. "I liked it."

With the accent, "So, I can be your rittle Oriental
slave girl."

"That's not what I meant."

She laughed, and again with out the accent said, "It's
okay. That's what I am, your little Oriental slave
girl. You would like a slave girl wouldn't you?"

Whoops, first thing in the morning and I was about to
carry some wood. She had that same quality as
Christine - she could put sex into her voice and let
you know it. I didn't know what to say. She smiled, I
think well aware of the effect she had just created.
She turned back to the stove. "Denver omelet okay?"

I swallowed and answered, "Sure."

She glanced my way and smiled again. How is it that a
woman can throw a guy for a loop so quickly? 

"In answer to your question, I'm Korean. Go have a
seat. Breakfast will be just a second." 

I did as told. From the kitchen I heard, "Coffee?"

"Black," I said.

 In a minute Saeyong appeared with plates, juice and
coffee on a tray. She set them out and sat across from
me.

"This looks delicious," I said. And it did. I dug in
and the taste matched the appearance. She watched me
shovel for a minute as she took a few bites of hers. I
started to feel a little self-conscious as I had half
the plate empty and she'd only eaten a few bites. I
wiped my mouth and explained, "Big family." She raised
her eyebrows. "In my family, if you didn't want to
lose your food you ate it quickly."

"Oh," she said.

I made a deliberate effort to slow down. "This is
wonderful."

"Thank you."

"Why did Uncle Jack tease you about your accent? I
like it," I said.

She finished a bite and sat back. "He wasn't being
mean. Jack wanted us to improve ourselves. Did
Christine tell you about the schools?"

"She said all of you have massage training and cooking
school."

Saeyong nodded. "Jack also paid for any college any of
us want to attend, tuition, books, everything. He was
a big believer in education. Many times he said, he
wouldn't have been worth a dime if it wasn't for
college. So when I started my program, he pushed me to
be able to present a professional image." She paused
and took another bite. "I'm working on a business
degree and Jack said I needed to be able to fit the
mold. Not that he believed in fitting the mold as a
person, but in business you need to. He hired a woman
to help me learn to speak without an accent. I'll
finish my MBA next year. And when I start to
interview, I won't have an accent to overcome."

"You're leaving next year?"

She looked wistful and then serious, "Yes, I think so.
Seven years is enough. So you'll have to hire a new
girl." She smiled and said, "You'll enjoy the
interview process."

This made me wonder, but I wasn't sure exactly what I
should be wondering. I had to wonder what I should be
wondering. I wonder why women are so confusing. I
asked her instead, "So where did you meet Uncle Jack?"

"I was working at Golden Empire Massage and he came in
one day."

"Christine said you were all trained in massage," I
offered helpfully.

Saeyong giggled, "Yes, massage."

"Massage. Oh, like a massage parlor?" picturing a
dirty scary place.

In her accent, "Yes, massage parlor." Her eyes
twinkled. In consternation I searched for something to
say. She asked, "You look bad. What are you thinking?"

"I mean, well, those places are dirty and the women
there are..." I stopped just that one moment too late.
You know, that _Ah Shit_ moment when you know you just
fucked up but it's too late.

Sweetly, she asked, "Those women are what?"

"I didn't mean you. But the women in those places..."

"I was the woman in _those places._ Have you been to
one?" she asked vehemently.

"Uncle Jack took me to the Market Street Cinema," I
answered.

"Ah. That's a dirty place. The place I worked was a
nice place. Very clean, very nice. We gave the men
table showers before the massage," she said with hands
on hips.

"I'm sorry. I thought when you said massage parlor you
meant like sex," I said.

"You don't like sex?" she asked. 

"Well, yes..." I started. 

She interrupted, "So, nothing's wrong with sex. Of
course there is sex. Sex is everywhere. Some guys just
want hand release, some oral, some want full but
always it is a clean place."

"Did you do bare?" remembering what Jack had said at
the Cinema.

Hotly, she answered, "No. I told you, clean, safe
place. Always covered. The girls that worked there
were nice girls. They all came from Korea or China and
had no other way to work here. Most were sending their
money home or they were saving to go home and start a
business. This was no ugly place." She got up from the
table and walked over to the window. Shit, I thought
Oriental women were supposed to be subservient to
their men.

I watched her outlined against the bright morning sky,
dark shiny hair, and arms crossed, looking out at San
Francisco. And I tried to understand. She was a
beautiful woman. She was also obviously quite
intelligent and was finishing an MBA on top of being a
trained chef and God knows what else. How could she
work in a massage parlor selling sex? I didn't have an
answer. I looked at Saeyong and could tell she was
hurt. To myself, _Boy, you fucked this conversation
up._

I stood, walked over to Saeyong and looked out the
window with her, watching out of the corner of my eye.
She tightened her arms across her chest. I waited.
After a minute she shifted a little and finally
uncrossed her arms. "This is all really new to me," I
said.

"No reason to be rude," she said.

"I apologize for that. I didn't intend to be rude. I
just never met a woman who sold sex before."

She stared as me then burst into laughter. "Oh, you
silly Americans. You are so funny. Women always sell
sex. You've never been around women who didn't sell
sex. Come here." She strode off to the library. I
followed to see her sitting at a computer. A picture
flashed up on the screen. "This was a favorite of
Jack's." The picture was titled, _World's Oldest
Remote._ On the left, a woman's legs were closed. On
the right, a black velvet box was open with a big
diamond in it and the legs were now open. I burst into
laughter.

"That's funny," I said through laughter.

"Jack loved this picture. He sent it to everyone."

I nodded and then realized what she was trying to get
me to see. Turning serious I said, "I bet he did. I do
apologize for the way I said, well everything."

She patted my hand, "I forgive you. Me, I'm just being
honest. Most women kid themselves. How many women
`punish' their men by withholding sex? Isn't that an
exchange for sex? You do what I want or you don't get
sex. Selling is an exchange too. Maybe it's roses, or
candy, or getting the guy to write you a term paper,
or a diamond ring but it's an exchange. Exchange is
selling. Cash is wrong, but everything else is okay."
Saeyong eyed me for a moment and then said, "Men chase
and women relent in exchange for something. It is
biology. It's true for animals, including man-animals.
Females always get something from the male for sex.
Enough for today." 

Turning to the computer she said, "This is your
computer." She pointed to a chair and I pulled it
over. "Jack ran a T1 into the building. The five of us
share it. Believe me, you won't notice if anyone else
is using it. This thing is quick." She pulled up a
browser window and started clicking around. Every page
loaded in a flash. I had an Internet connection at
work that I thought was fast but it paled compared to
this. "We have dynamic IP's." I had no idea what that
meant but she obviously knew. A few more clicks, every
page loading in a flash. This was going to be fun.
"You want to try?"

I nodded and we switched chairs. I felt like I was
driving a Ferrari. I went straight to ESPN. It was
baseball season. I hardly noticed Saeyong get up as I
poured through the sports news. 

Time flies as they say. Saeyong appeared at my elbow.
"You go to the adult sites?"

"What? No. I don't know anything about them," I
answered.

"Just go to Jack's. He's got them all bookmarked," she
said.

"Really?" I asked.

She gave me a look, a look like a retarded child gets
I think, grabbed the mouse, pulled down the favorites
menu and clicked on the first one. Up popped a
warning. Adult stories, only enter here if you are an
adult and similar things. I glanced at Saeyong from
the corner of my eye. For some reason, the idea of
browsing an erotic site with her standing there was
intimidating. I shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

"Go on," she said. 

I entered and found the author page. I was bewildered
by all of the choices. "What do you want to see?"

She smiled indulgently. "You embarrassed? Want me to
go?"

"No." A pause, then, "Well, maybe a little
embarrassed." 

"Ah, go ahead. I read all the good stories," she said.

"You did?"

"You don't think I read English?" she asked.

"Quit it. You know that isn't what I meant," I told
her. 

She laughed, "You easy to make fun. Here, I like this
author." She clicked on one and another page appeared.

I clicked on a story and started reading. It quickly
got to the good part, the sex. It was about a runaway
who is mistaken for a hooker. She decides to play the
part since she needs the money. They wind up in a
motel room. The sex was graphic and hot. 

"Like that one, huh?" she asked. She was looking at
the bulge in my pants.

I laughed, "I guess."

She pulled me up from the chair and started dragging
me to the bedroom. "Come on, that was a good story. I
haven't had sex in too long. I'm horny."

She pulled me over to the bed. "Get undressed," she
said. I pulled off my clothes as she did the same. She
lay back on the bed and looked up at me.

Oh my God she was beautiful. I finished pulling off my
clothes and got on the bed next to her. "What you
like?" she asked.

"I don't know," I confessed.

"C'mon. I know you screw Christine last night," she
said.

"Yes, we did. But I don't know much," I said quietly.

"You like that, what you do last night?" she asked.

"Yes," I said and then wondered, are the girls telling
each other things? That was a bit disquieting to think
about. Then I had no more time to think. Saeyong had
rolled over and had my cock in her hand. Her mouth
found it and she swallowed it. Her head started
bobbing on my cock as her hand stroked it in time. I
tried to remember how Christine made me wait but it
was difficult. The feelings Saeyong was creating on my
cock were driving me wild. My balls were drawn up and
I was thinking I was getting close when suddenly, she
stopped. I groaned from the cessation of pleasure. She
squeezed the base of my cock and the slight pain
caused my impending orgasm to retreat. Then she
climbed over my loins, lined up my cock with her pussy
and sat on it. It looked so huge going up into her
tiny body. I couldn't believe she could take it. She
started moving on my cock, moaning as she rubbed her
clitoris against the shaft. Her pussy was working my
cock even as she slid up and down its length. I was
working on holding back, grateful to Christine that
she had me do it. I would have cum twice already and
be missing the incredible sensations Saeyong was
creating with her pussy.

She opened her eyes and looked at me, "You like?"

"Oh God yes."

"You like to do from behind?" she asked me.

I wasn't exactly sure what she meant, but I was going
to do anything she wanted, just as long as she
continued fucking me. "Sure."

She pulled off my cock and knelt on the bed next to
me. Her ass was high in the air. "C'mon baby, fuck
me." 

I got behind her and lined up my cock with her pussy.
I had to spread my legs to get level with her she was
so small. My cock slid in to her hot wet pussy. I
grabbed her hips, so small, and watched my cock
sliding into her pussy, my cock glistening with her
juices. Her ass was tiny, her waist was tiny. It was
like I was fucking a little China Doll. I plowed into
her as she moaned and grabbed at the bed. "Yes, baby.
Fuck my pussy. Fuck my pussy. You so hot, baby." Her
pussy was milking my cock as it plunged into her and
the way she was moaning and her dirty talking was
driving me crazy. "Oh baby. I want you to fuck me on
top. Please, baby." I stopped as she lay on the bed
pulling her pussy off my cock. She rolled over on her
back, spread her legs and pulled her knees up splaying
her pussy wide open before me. "C'mon baby. Fuck me
hard," she said. 

I lay between her legs as she led my cock to her
pussy. It slid in deep. She moaned as I filled her.
"Oh yes, baby. Fuck me, fuck me hard." She was so
small below me I felt like I could lift her with one
hand and fuck her. Her dirty urgings were driving me
on. The stark contrast between the innocent doll looks
and her lusty language heightened the intense pleasure
of fucking her. I started fucking her hard. "Oh yes,
baby. Yes. Yes. Fuck me. Fuck me hard." Her hips were
meeting every thrust and she tirelessly fucked back at
me. I felt it building, the irresistible urge in my
balls. "Yes," she moaned loudly. "Fuck me, baby. Fuck
me, fuck me," like a chant. I came hard. I could feel
every muscle in my body quiver as my balls emptied
themselves into her tight grasping pussy. I could feel
her pussy flooding with my cum as I slowed and finally
stopped. Her pussy milked my cock a last time as I
collapsed. Saeyong gentled me as she rolled out from
under me. "I be right back, baby," she said.

She was back in a minute with a hot towel and gently
cleaned my cock which was coated with our cum. "You're
a good fuck. I like it." She continued cleaning my
cock. "Big cock too," she smiled. "I like a man with a
big cock." She kissed the tip and then went back into
the bath.

When she returned, she cuddled up next to me and we
lazed for a while in the bed. I started to notice it
must be close to lunch time. I leaned over and took a
gentle bite of her arm.

"Hmm, was that sex or food? Knowing a man it's food,"
she said.

"Food? It's been so long since I had food I don't know
what it is," I said.

"Okay. You probably need energy after that. I fix you
something." She rolled out of bed. "You want to eat in
the garden or here?"

"Let's eat in the living room looking out over all of
San Francisco," I said.

She smiled, "Sounds good." She turned and headed for
the kitchen saying, "Don't get dressed. Come as you
are," as she left.

I lay back and thought about how lucky I was. The sex
with Saeyong was incredible and so different than
anything I had experienced before. She was a lusty
little thing. 

In a while I heard Saeyong from the other room, "Lunch
is ready."

She had laid out a picnic in the room. A cloth was on
the floor right by the windows looking out toward the
ocean. She had put out crackers, cheese, olives,
bread, meat, and some cookies. There was also a bottle
of wine with two crystal glasses gleaming in the
sunlight. It was quite a spread. "Wow."

She smiled, "Have a seat."

I looked out the window. We were awfully high but... "Do
you suppose anyone can see?"

She rose up on her knees, backed her butt up to the
window and shook it. "If they can, I give them a good
show," and she rolled onto her side laughing.

I joined her. She was right. What was there to be
worried about? 

We spent the lunch talking mostly about my upbringing.
Saeyong knew about the family but not about recent
events. I asked about Korea and she told me about
growing up in Seoul. Some of it was familiar, fights
with your parents and the angst of school but some was
very different. Fermented cabbage, yuck. I hoped she
didn't cook like that here.

The wine mellowed us both. She cleaned up the picnic
and moved to the couch, sipping wine and talking.

I heard the buzzer. Saeyong got up and went to answer
it. "It's Jerry," she called from the other room.
"He's bringing something up." 

I heard the elevator bell and some talking in the
other room. A minute later Saeyong appeared holding a
large envelope. She was wearing a robe so I guess the
girls weren't giving Jerry a show. She handed me the
envelope, went back out to the entrance. The envelope
was from Sharp. I tore it open as Saeyong reappeared,
nude and beautiful. She sat down next to me as I
pulled a stack of paper from the envelope. It was an
inventory of my apartment.

I leafed through it and noticed it had everything down
to half used pencils and mismatched spoons. There were
two columns, keep, sell. Saeyong curled up next to me,
her tits pressing into my side so she could see the
list as well. That was a little distracting.

I started in on the list: Shirt, short sleeve, blue. I
checked Keep. Spoons, metal, 4. I looked at Saeyong.
She shook her head. I checked Sell. We made our way
through the whole list. There wasn't much I decided to
keep. I didn't need my old furniture. I sure as hell
didn't need my poor tortured pots and pans. After I
had cooked in them they were probably ruined forever.

When we got to the end Saeyong patted my arm, "Good
choices." Of course, since she had made a bunch of the
choices for me. Women always think you're smart when
you do what they tell you to do.

The list had burned up much of the afternoon. "Maybe
we have an early dinner," she suggested. 

"Sure."

She headed off to the kitchen. I threw the list on the
counter and followed her. She donned an apron; her
cute little ass was showing. I patted it as she went
by and she wiggled it for me smiling over her
shoulder. She was fun to be with.

Dinner was stir fry. She started rice in a cooker. I
watched as she put a wok on the burner. She used a
cleaver to chop up a whole bunch of things. She lined
up little piles of stuff, chicken, cashews and
veggies, and just seemed to throw things into the wok.
In no time the dinner was ready. She piled it over the
rice and had me carry the plates to the table. She
followed me to the table with a fruity Gewurztraminer.
We chowed down and it was delicious.

After dinner I was feeling languid but mentally
energized. I could get used to this life, having a
beautiful woman taking care of all of my needs and
wants. I watched as Saeyong cleaned up the table and
kitchen, wiggling her bare butt at me when I stared.
She was smiling when I looked up. 

I thought about the sex. It had been fun. But
shouldn't sex be more than fun? 

When everything was cleaned up she came out of the
kitchen, dressed again. "Do you need anything?"

I smiled. "Nope. I feel like everything is just
right."

She smiled. "Then I'll leave you alone." She walked
over and kissed me, turned and went down the stairs to
the girl's floor. The sun was low on the horizon. I
watched it a while sipping on the last of the wine in
my glass. 

I retired to the bedroom. There was a book prominently
in the middle of the bed. I hadn't put it there. I
went over and picked it up opening it to the front
page. Uncle Jack had written on it, "I've marked some
passages. Now you be a good boy and read them! Uncle
Jack."

I laughed. Just like him. But it sobered me as well. I
set the book down and thought about him. I had mixed
emotions. Uncle Jack was a curmudgeon, no doubt about
it. But he was also a genuine man who helped me to
become my own man. I missed him.

It turned out he was also a rich man, with a little
bit of a perverse taste in women who had just made me
a rich man. I was living a dream. No, I was living a
fantasy. This was beyond dreams. 

I smiled and shed a few tears. Not too many. Uncle
Jack would not have wanted too many. Live life was his
motto. Don't cry over spilt anything. Clean it up and
get on with it. I leaned back in bed, opened the book
to the first marked passage and got on with it.

_Job: A Comedy of Justice_ is a very strange book. I
started reading a passage in which Alex, the
protagonist, who is from a parallel universe in which
America is a fundamentalist theocracy, travels through
a bunch of alternative Americas, winds up in Heaven
after the Rapture, but has lost the love of his life.
Heaven turns out to be a Kafkaesque bureaucracy. He
decides to join her, the love of his life, even if
that means Hell. Hell turns out to be an okay place -
kind of like earth. There the Devil, a right honorable
fellow, agrees to help him find his lost wife. The
book is a parody, treating the Bible as literal truth
and thereby exposing the absolute impossibility of it
being `The Truth.'

The book caught me. I turned back to the beginning and
started reading. As I read I saw the correlations to
my own situation. I felt like Alex, the poor boy from
a Fundamentalist universe, suddenly caught in a
different Universe where the locals all skinny dip and
the women all wear see through clothing without a hint
of suffering from modesty. I had come from that
fundamentalist universe and was dropped into this
parallel universe, Jack's world.

In the end pages, there was another note from Uncle
Jack. 

"Does that Universe sound familiar? Which universe is
the `right' one? Question, boy! Question what you were
taught. Why has the Church fought so hard against
pleasure? Why do they oppose anything that smacks of
physical enjoyment, especially sexual enjoyment?
Think!"

It was late when I set the book on the end table and
turned out the lights. I walked over to the windows
and looked out at San Francisco. The lights flashed,
cars crawled along the streets and the stars above
twinkled in the night sky. It was a beautiful scene. I
went back to the bed, crawled under the blanket and
was asleep.