The bright spring sunlight warmed him as he sat on the cobblestones of Monument Square, his back up against the pedestal on which Longfellow's statue rested. It was almost noon, soon the office workers would be teeming into the square with their lunches, along with tourists taking in the sights of Maine's largest city. He took the three bent playing cards from his shirt pocket and placed them down on the cobblestones. Then he closed his eyes and searched. He sent his mind forth to touch and probe the idle thoughts of the people starting to fill the square. It wasn't long until he found them. They were transparent to him, their thoughts strong, rough, colored by ignorance and prejudice. They were not from the city, they were lumberjacks, down in Portland for a day of drinking and trouble. Perfect. Come to me, he beckoned, come to me. They did. "Hey, whata ya doin'?" The biggest one asked, his beer gut exposed by his too small motorcycle T-shirt. "That some kinda game?" "Yeah, yeah it is." The red haired one answered. "Don't you 'member, Billy? We saw it when we took that load a' lumber down to New Yawk City. Them nigras were playin' it. Sumthin' three card, three card..." He looked up at them. "It's called three card monte. It's a betting game." He let the bait tangle. "Yeah, now I 'member it..." Billy said, pausing to take a swig of the beer he held wrapped in a paper bag. "How you play?" "It's easy. I have three cards, two black aces and a red queen. The queen of hearts. See? Now I turn them over and shuffle them around. All you have to do to win is to follow the red queen." He stopped shuffling. "Where is it?" They stared at the cards for a moment. "I think it's the one in the middle." Red said after a moment. He flipped the card. It was the queen of hearts. "You win." "Fuck! This is easy!" Billy laughed. "Yeah, meybe." added Red, his eyes narrowing. "But how do ya bet?" "You may bet any amount of money you want. And if you win, I'll pay you double." "Double?" "Yes." Billy fished around in the pockets of his greasy jeans. "Here's twenty. Let's go." He started to shuffle. "Ace, ace, queen. Keep your eye on the lady, sir, and win forty dollars." He stopped tossing the cards. "Pick." Billy peered at the cards. "That one, on the left." It was the ace of spades. "You lose." He said, picking up the twenty and pocketing it in one deft motion. "Would you like to try again?" Billy shook his head but Red was game. "Damn, Billy, you jest too fuckin' slow, man." Red taunted as he threw down a twenty and a ten. "You ain't foolin' me buddy. Do it." He tossed the cards again. "Pick." Red took his time. "It's...ah...ah...the middle one. The center one." He turned it over with a flick of his finger. Ace of clubs. "It's a trick." Billy snarled. "It's a trick, It's a fuckin' trick just like I told ya, Red." "There's no trick." He said evenly. Red looked around quickly then squatted down in front of him. "Lemmee tell you something, you little fuck, I think Billy's right, there's a trick here someways." Red spat, a thin trickle of tobacco juice running out of the corner of his mouth into his unkempt beard. "So I'll tell you what, you're gonna do it one more time. Fifty dollars, double or nuthin'. And you, smart ass, you throw them cards once. Just once." Red raised a gnarled fist in front of his face. "Or else..." Billy leaned down over him. "Or else we'll fuck you up." He looked from Billy to Red and back again. "Fine." "Good." Red replied, throwing down a wad of cash. "Deal." He placed the cards into their positions then slowly, ever so slowly, moved them once. As he did, his mind swiftly etched the picture he wanted them to see. He held it until both of the men looked up and into his eyes. Then he sent it forth, burning it into them. "All right, gentlemen..." He said with the faintest of smiles. "Choose." Red peered at the cards. "Center again, center!" "Turn the card." Red did so. It was the ace of spades. He swept up the money quickly, knowing, with these men, what would come next. "Fuck it, Red!" Billy growled as Red continued to stare at the card. "Let's just take the little bastard someplace and kick the shit out of him! Teach him a lesson." He had Red's measure already and he would make him the voice of reason. No, he whispered into Red. No, you're in a public place, you don't want any trouble. You're far from home, far from home, far from home... Red looked up from the cards and stared at him, his eyes widening. Then he broke off. "No, Billy, no. let's just leave it, man. Let's go." "What? No! Let me fuck him up! I want my goddam money!" Far from home, far from home, far from home... Red grabbed Billy's arm and started to pull him away. "I said let's go! I just wanna go. I hate this fuckin' city anyways, we shoulda never come down here." They were three paces away when Billy snatched the card that Red still held in his free hand, crumpled it up and threw it at him. "Don't you ever let me catch you upcountry, you cheatin' little fuck, cause I'll kill you." The card landed in his lap and as he watched the men disappear into the crowd he unfolded it. Queen of hearts. He waited for a moment to make sure that his two marks were clear of the square then stood and stretched, letting the sunlight warm his stiff legs. Which bank to use today, he wondered. It was getting too late to use one of the small branch offices in the suburbs. So today he would have to make a break with tradition and patronize one of the bank headquarters that ringed Monument Square. The glass doors of the Northern Bank made a soft whoosh sound as they opened, the result of the climate controlled atmosphere meeting the air from the outside. He stood quietly in the lobby, letting other customers pass in front of him to join the various lines. And he searched. He projected himself forward, gently touching the thoughts of the busy tellers, first one then another. Who was concentrating? Who was preoccupied? Who was...ah...yes... She was in the second cage from the wall, near the bank's large bay windows. He moved a few steps closer and watched. A square of sunlight framed her, the loose strands of blond hair from the bun atop her head creating a frizzy halo effect. Her face was pretty but ill served by her severe hairstyle. Her conservative business suit performed the same function, hiding her trim, petite body from the world under a layer of brown serge. As he watched, he probed her thoughts. Past her shyness, past a vague loneliness and uncertainty about the future, until he found what he knew would be there. The richness of her fantasy made him smile, its brutality and passion made him blush. Every player, every detail in it had been lovingly thought out. As he joined the line in front of her window he eased it from her. While he waited, he enhanced it, making it more vivid and real than life itself. The elderly woman in front of him took a long time with her business but had now finished. He stepped forward. "May I help you?" "Yes." He replied, looking up at her as he pulled the crumpled bills from his pocket. "I've got a hundred dollars here and I need some change." She counted the money."What denominations?" "Uh...ten tens, please." Her hand was reaching into the cash drawer when he forcefully returned the fantasy to her. She gasped, a tiny intimate sound shared only by the two of them. Trembling, she brought up a pile of bills and began to count. "Ten... twenty...thirty..." ...she was moisturizing herself in the steam from the shower, languidly gliding her hands over her smoothly shaven legs when he grabbed her from behind. "Not a word." The man said, his hand firmly clamped over her mouth. "Not a sound. Understand?" She nodded her assent, her heart pounding like a triphammer when she saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror. "Mark...?" He pulled away her towel. "Yeah, that's right." "Why are...why..." He brought his hands around to her breasts, kneading them, rubbing his knuckles against her nipples until they stood erect. "I've seen you watching me. I know you stand behind the curtains and watch me work out." He took her nipples and gave them a long, slow pull. "Time we got to know one another better." She shuddered. It was true. she did watch him working out with free weights in the common yard their apartments shared. He pulled her nipples again and she moaned despite herself and pressed her back up against him. Another pull. "You like that, don't you, baby?" "I...I..." "Spread your legs." She did as she was told, her feet cool on the tile floor. He buried his face in her neck kissing and licking while his hand traveled down her front. He let it fall slowly from the cleft between her small firm breasts, down her smooth, slightly rounded belly until it came to rest on her blond bush. He rubbed her therewith the heel of his hand for an instant then suddenly opened her up, pressing his heavy thumb up to her clit which he slowly began to rub back and forth. She moaned as the moisture began poring out of her, betraying her. "You're not going to call the cops, are you? "Uh...uh..." He increased the pressure with his thumb. "Are you?" "No!" she gasped. "No..." "Good." he replied, burying his face in her hair and pressing harder still. "And you'll do exactly what I tell you, right?" Her hips quivered uncontrollably as she ground herself back and forth on his hand. "Yes, yes, yes..." He held her tightly from behind. "Yeah, baby. Do your nasty dance for me. C'mon..." She was bucking now, grunting and heaving on the brink of climax when he pulled his hand away from her clit and inserted his middle finger into her. "I'm gonna give it to you, baby. But not yet. You need to be warmed up first." He pulled his slick finger out of her and brought it up to her mouth. "Lick it clean." She hesitated, caught between sensation and fear, He responded with a sharp slap across her ass. "Do it." He forced his finger into her mouth and the suddenness of the slap made her receive it. She understood what he wanted now and gave it to him, running her tongue around it, sucking and licking her juices from it. "See? You know what I mean. Good girl." He twisted her right hand behind her back and pushed her forward out of the bathroom into the dark bedroom. She stumbled on a pile of clothes there and he used her forward momentum to throw her on the bed. Whipping off his belt, he then pulled her back up into a sitting postion in front of him. "Cross your hands in front of you." She obeyed instantly. He looped her hands in the belt, drew it taut then laid her back across the bed, tying the free end of the belt to the brass headboard. He stared at her for a moment, then deliberately started to take off his clothes, teasing her with his slowness. Finally he was upon her, his hard cock barely inserted into her wetness, teasing but not taking. He brought himself upright between her legs, rubbing his cock head against her swollen clit. "Say it." The excitement and want made her strain against the belt. "What... say what?" He slapped his cock against her clit. "Say fuck me." "Ah...uh...fuck me." Slap. "Again." "Fuck me." she replied, more urgently this time. Slap. "Say please." "Please fuck me." Slap. "Louder." "Please fuck me!" Slap. "Now beg with your pussy." She did, moving her hips frantically in an effort to get at his cock. "Please fuck me, please, please!" she pleaded. "Now...hard...please...." He entered her abruptly and fully, pushing her legs back towards her shoulders. She started to shriek as he took her, setting a hard and fast rhythm and as their bodies collided violently he released her hands. She met his thrusts with her own, her nails scoring his back as he pounded into her, the small rivulets of blood mingling with their fuck sweat and coating them both. She was beyond any manner of control now, her back arched, legs spread, head thrashing from side to side with the sheer animal pleasure of it. "Yes!" she screamed, beating her fists into his sides as he plunged in and out of her. "Yes!...Yes!...Yes!...Yes!..." " ...eighty...ninty...one hundred." She finished unsteadily. He took the pile of hundred dollar bills and tucked them into his pants pocket. "Thank you." "Huh? Oh...uh...you're welcome. Have a nice day." The sun was starting its descending arc towards twilight as he trudged up Congress Street toward home. At the top of the hill he stopped at a mailbox, fishing around in his pockets for the envelope he'd prepared before he left home. It was addressed to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelity to Animals. Counting out nine hundred dollars, he stuffed the money into the envelope, licked it and dropped it into the box. It had been a challenge when he started but now this would be the last time. It was merely child's play now. Besides, his father was right. When you're almost fourteen years old, it's time to put aside children's games and prepare to take on the business of men. ==END==