7
I look at Eve and ask the only question I have. Why?
We decide, sometimes it is all three, sometimes you and Jana and sometimes, you and me. Jana tells me, it is my night with you. You know what else she says?
No... but I know you are about to tell me.
Oh, Gordon. She tell me, to make you love me. I ask her how I do that.
Eve has paused with a small frown on her face. I look at her intensely and do not understand what I see. What did she tell you Eve?
She say, not to do what she do. I should give you all you want, anything you want and stay by you all the time. She say, yes you, Gordon, you decide you love her but, she just lucky. She say, she see what you do when someone else come into your life. You not leave the one you love. So this is what I should do. Gordon, who else you want?
No one. No one, Eve.
Yes, that what I think. I think maybe you fuck a girl but you not really want her. I right?
Yes. You are very right.
So how I make you love me?
Just keep on being you.
But maybe that will take a long time! Gordon, I want to hear you tell me. I want to hear, 'I love you, Eve!'
What if you find out I am a bad man?
You are not!
How can you be sure?
I know.
Really? You know what I am thinking of doing with your sub-managers?
Yes, you are going to make them make love to me. You are going to change their lives so much that they see themselves as part of a special group. You are also going to fuck each of them. You are going to make them have sex with each other. You are going to have them live together.
How did you come up with that?
Am I correct?
Maybe. How did you come up with that?
I find on your laptop, you have a link to an article about forming, fault tolerant, female problem solving groups. It says, men can't be used because of natural need to compete. Women normally fail because of perceived jealousy and submerged feelings of inadequacy. But with females, sexual love as a group has an effect of removing fears and canceling our jealousy. But that there must be both a male and female leader to provide focus to the group.
OK, you read it. What do you think about it?
I think you will have some problems with it.
Good, explain the problems.
Filipinas will normally refuse girl-girl sex. Filipinas are church and family oriented and this will pull them out of that. Filipinas want a husband so that they can have children.
OK, why are you here, Eve?
Because I love you. You know that!
Yes, but, you are a Filipina and those reasons you list should also apply to you.
Ah, yes that is true. But I do want children. You know that.
OK but what about the other things?
I do the sex with Jana to be close to you. Oh... that why you will have sex with them?
Yes but go on, because I can't be a real boyfriend to them and we would be pulling them away from their families. Isn't that true of you?
Because being with you and working like we do is like having a super job as an OFW1 without leaving the Philippines! Oh! I see!
What do you see?
It will be the same for the other girls and you are the one who controls the ability to do this OFW in the Philippines thing. They need you to get in and to stay in. They need me to do the thing that you have let them in to do. Is that it?
Yes, that is what I have been thinking about, ever since you and I connected.
If that is true, and I know it is, then I am very, very important to you. You would not do this with anyone you did not completely trust. It would be crazy to do this with someone you did not just love but have complete faith in. So why haven't you told me that!
Because I did not know how you would think of me when I instituted the plan. You might call me a monster. You might call me evil and hate me. You might refuse to do this and end everything.
Am I doing any of those things?
Are you?
No! You are an idiot sometimes. This is what we are doing. Your only problem is what you do with Jonathan and his wife when it comes to the accounting module. If the other side of the company is in competition with mine, we will have a problem. Oh! NO! Did you really think we were going to gift me to Jonathan at the end? … Oh shit! You did! Yes! That is what you were going to do! When did you change your mind? I know you change it... when? When you change your mind?
After the first night.
Good answer! If you say anything else, I hit you. So what we do now?
I don't know. I am trying to figure out how to keep Jonathan, and his wife, a level removed from the actual modules.
I don't think they will agree.
With what you told me about the wife, I think it might be a problem. We will see. That will not be a problem for a while and maybe I can figure out a way to finesse it.
OK, so tell me what I want to hear. I know you already love me. Now tell me.
I take Eve in my arms and kiss her. She pulls her head back after a few minutes of sweet, intense and committed kissing and says, Tell me.
I pull her down until her mouth is touching my rod, and push into her mouth. She gives me serviceable head for about ten minutes. I have not come close to cumming when she pulls her head back and says, Tell me.
I pull her back up, put her on her knees and enter her cunt from the back. I maul a breast and her clit at the same time, bring her in a matter of minutes to a major orgasm. She cries out, Oh God, Gordon, Yes! And after she comes off the high of the moment she says, Tell me!
I pull out of her cunt, my rod dripping with her juices. My fingers, scoop up more of them and smear her ass. I place my rod on her rosebud and without much ceremony I push in, fingering her cunt as I continue to fuck her ass. I pound her without mercy. Her cunt spills more liquid and as I feel her body tense, I dump my load in her rear. Eve screams something totally unintelligible. I squeeze her nipple and she cums again and leaning in over her ear, I whisper, I love you, Eve.
Eve collapses beneath me. She is sobbing. She rolls over, wraps her arms and legs around me, kisses me with a wet face, slobbering these messy kisses, puts her head next to mine, ear to ear, and says in a small quiet voice, I am yours for life, Gordon. I am yours, just as much as Jana is yours. Fuck anyone you want. Make me fuck any female you need fucked. I don't care. I do that for you. I am yours and I love you for ever and ever. And then Eve is quiet. She snuggles next to me, a total wet mess and we go to sleep.
§ § §
I wake up to Jana sitting on the bed and kissing me. Why?
You make Eve a very happy girl. I am happy. So now it is permanent?
Yes. She is here forever.
Gordon, it is the three of us and no more?
Ah, I see. Yes, no more additions to our home.
The maids. If I get maids, will you fuck them?
I laugh and Jana hits me playfully before telling me, I thought so!
Hey, I'm a man. Fucking is not falling in love!
So says the man who falls in love with both women he fucks!
Eve was special.
Ha! They are all 'special.' Idiot! What am I going to do with you?
Love me?
Oh you! Get dressed. Breakfast is ready.
Eve is humming as she serves me my breakfast. Gordon, do I get a choice on who gets hired for the other modules?
Yes, sure.
Good, I have some ideas. By the way, I think Cynthia emailed Jana because I get a CC of the email Cynthia sends to her. You want to see?
Should I?
Yes I think so.
Dear Jana,
This is a very awkward email for me to write. The only time we met, I don't think you were very fond of me. As I assume you are aware, I am working with Gordon and his assistant Everly on a project for Bayan Na.
If I know one thing for sure, it is that you are the number one person in Gordon's life. That is something I have known for a very long time. I also have come to learn that Eve is very fond of Gordon and I have been concerned about all of you. Eve seems to be a very nice person and Gordon is of course always a gentleman.
I had emailed Eve hoping to learn news of how things were, hoping that nothing bad would happen between you and Gordon. In answer to that email, she sent me your address and a request I address any questions to you.
Jana, are you OK?
Sincerely
Cynthia Ramos
Well, that is an interesting email! I wonder how Jana will handle it. Uh, maybe I need to check my own email. I log off Eve's account and bring up mine. There are three emails from Cynthia.
Dear Gordon,
I haven't heard anything from you or Eve. Is all OK?
Cynthia
That was the first one from yesterday morning. Last night the next one was sent.
Gordon!
I got an email from Eve telling me to contact your wife. My god, what is going on?
Cynthia.
This last one just arrived minutes ago.
Dear Gordon,
I just received the following email from your wife. Goddamnit, you have to call me!
Cynthia
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Dear Cynthia,
You are right. When we met, you frightened me. I have not wanted Gordon to have anything to do with you. When I recently told Gordon that I didn't trust your intentions, he told me that I was reading you wrong. Maybe that is true. I believe I was wrong to be afraid of you. I have learned that nothing and no one will ever come between Gordon and me.
We may allow others into our life but, Gordon will never allow anyone to injure us.
I and Gordon have chosen to bring Eve into our life. That was my choice. Gordon had told Eve she was not welcome. I asked Gordon to change his mind. Before he did that, he made Eve admit that he had never told her he loved her, had told her she could not live with him and must not have a child by him. He made her admit that he had told her he loved me and would never leave me for any reason. He made her say these things in front of me.
I told him that I had heard all I needed to hear. I know he is mine. But Eve needed to join us. She has and I am happy for it. I hope this answers your question.
Jana Jameson
I show this email to Eve and she just smiles before saying, Skype?
Get Jana.
Eve asks Jana to join us, which elicits a 'why?' I show her the email and mention that Eve suggests Skype. Jana offers a quiet yes2. There is no assurance that Cynthia will be available but, we all cluster around the computer as Skype tries to make the connection.
Once again the delay between the initial expression and the one of recognition can be beyond humorous. The first is Cynthia looking serious and concerned and then there is Cynthia seeing all three of us smiling.
So am I to understand that all is OK and I am being just a nosy neighbor?
Cynthia, I am fully aware it has been based on the most genuinely decent of motivations but, at this point, yeh, there is little we want to say other than that we are OK and there is nothing to worry about.
Good. I am happy to hear that. Jana, does that mean I am welcome to visit?
Hala, Eve! OK, yes.
Good! You never know! Gordon, I do have some business details to discuss with Eve. Is that OK?
Well, it is Eve's time off from work but, I guess we are on odd and flexible hours these days. Is it OK with you Eve?
Yes this is fine but, maybe you should be involved too.
Jana says goodbye to Cynthia and returns to the tasks she had been attending to when we called for her. I step back and start playing Tetris on my phone out of camera view. They really don't need me. Cynthia is asking if we can deploy the server any time soon. Eve is confused as to why, as there are so many changes that need to be made.
Eve, sweetie, yes, Bill of Lading forms are wrong. Reports are not in the proper layout, order forms are wrong... but inventory is inventory. Yes your measures are in kilos and cm's but we have been supporting that all over the world for years! The fact that you have a mix of measurements, imperial, fractional, and metric, is also not new. Our inventory back-end supports that. The reporting, form building and interfaces with other modules, needs data, your data. For us to get rolling, we want to get your server up with some of our code. How soon can we do it?
Mitch told Gordon and me, that we will have the server next Wednesday. I contacted Mitch about the Cisco ASA. She had to contact Jonathan and he had to contact PLDT. I don't know what it is about but, it doesn't sound like something that will happen fast. Do you need the Cisco ASA to connect to the server?
Ugh, yes. Is Gordon there? Yes. Gordon, are you listening?
I pause the game and get on camera. The company does not have a static IP connection and I gather Mitch said what PLDT is doing violates every concept of network security that can be described in under twenty thousand words. PLDT is what Mitch calls the loop. Bayan Na needs to order a loop with static IP. She said something about a DMZ and a back-end LAN. I suspect Eve is right, unless we jump in and push things, this might take a while. I will see what we can do on Monday but, I might need this Mitch with us as it is not anything I am familiar with.
Who's this Mitch?
She works for some mysterious guy named Jake. Some of my contacts in the States know him, and I guess one or two of yours might know him as well. I gather he supported the data centers in some of your client companies until he came to the Philippines.
Uh-uh, OK, shoot me some references and I will check it out. If he is really high powered, we may want him to jump in to this.
I don't think you'll get him. He says he has handed the business to two others, this Mitch being one of the two.
OK, I'll check him out anyway. I like to know who is in my sandbox. Gordon, you will like the Cisco device too.
How so?
Do you really like hanging out in an office to all hours of the night?
Really? I will be able to connect from here and do my work?
Yes, frequently.
Cool. OK, I'll get on it on Monday. Nothing else I can do today.
Maybe and maybe not. If this 'Jake' is the kind of guy who supported data centers in the States, he has the home phone of every engineer in the local phone company in his contact list. Reach out to him, please.
Cynthia this is the Philippines, not downtown in a major US city. Things don't work that way here.
Bet me. Try it and tell me how it works.
OK, you need anything else?
Yes. As soon as we get the basic module in and working, I want you to deploy the receiving and dispatching module and the orders processing module. You are going to add staff supervisors for that, right?
Yes we will add staff. How soon after we get the first module in do I add them?
We will want to test it for a few days, then we need to have front desk staff run the barcodes on the sales floor, when things are sold and move out the door. We will run that on a single connection for now, just to pull things out of inventory when they do leave. So a small PC with a bar code scanner hooked up to the server LAN is all you need. Your Mitch should be able to do that in a day or two. Have Eve's staff start assigning barcodes to the type of things that do not have UPC on them. Scan the items that do have a UPC and create the table of items you sell. Once we have that being built, start adding in your current inventory, adding UPC and putting on stickers to items as needed. While she is doing that, we need the receiving and dispatching folks doing the same thing. So I think you can see why I need them added ASAP.
Yeh, you need me to get them ready to go in ten days.
Yes! Perfect.
So we are not generating any invoices yet, we are just building the comings and goings of inventory.
Right. We will do those pieces after we have something to work with.
OK. For me, we always came in to a company after the initial inventory system was in place and the job was conversion. Here we start with a clean slate.
Yes. And, Gordon, I know Jana told me to stay out of it and that Eve is standing right there but, honestly working with you is like being on a roller coaster. So, I have to ask. Are you going to seduce every young thing who you hire?
Eve puts her face right in front of mine, sticks her tongue out at Cynthia and then says with some bravado, Oh, not Gordon. No! It will be Gordon and me, and the answer to that is, absolutely. Wanna see how we do it?!
I am looking at the back of Eve's head and I hear Cynthia scream, Gordon! What the fuck is going on there?
Nice mouth, Cynthia. If you ask a question like that, you will get an answer like that.
So what you are telling me is, that Eve is saying, that it is none of my business?
Well, you can certainly take it to mean that.
You two are impossible! OK, see you for now but, please try to hurry things up. My folks are really excited about moving forward.
Sounds good. I'll email you when I get something to report. In the meantime, no news is good news.
Geesh... OK bye.
The connection closes. I text Mitch.
Is there anything we can do to speed up the PLDT connection with static IP, San Jose is going nuts.
I email Cynthia the names of companies that I gather Jake had something to do with. Five minutes later a text comes in,
Can someone let a PLDT tech into the building at 1PM?
I look at the text and just can't believe my eyes. I guess we are going to the office. I email Cynthia, Jake's Mitch packs heat. We may be getting our connection today. We are heading to the office in a little over two hours.
I get an email back,
OK. Figures. These folks live in a world very different from the one we inhabit.
Two hours later, a light lunch demolished, as I am about to shut down the laptop, I get an email from Cynthia.
Going to bed now but thought you'd like to know... this Jake is a real rock star but not in data centers... he knows about that and ran his own but, his thing is the IP side. There are tales of what this guy did with connectivity that I am told are legend. Word is that he's retired, whereabouts unknown. You say he's there?
I answer her,
Yeh, he's here but doesn't really want to be found. Weird. A friend warned me away from contacting him socially.
We get to the office and see a PLDT truck sitting there. The guy has a big smile on his face, and this is Sunday. It makes no sense. He says that when Mitch needs something, he's happy to help. Anyway, he runs some wire, gets tone and says that he will finish the work as far as he can. Tomorrow the main office guys will have to do their stuff. We should be connected by the end of the day tomorrow.
Eve and I are home by 3:45PM. Jana is busy making a meal. Eve is texting with friends. I am reading the Sunday paper, which I have not had time to read yet. This all seems so OK and normal. On the surface it is. Below the surface there are so many things at play that it is anything but that. Eve and I have to train a number of people to do some simple tasks in the next two weeks. We have to hire two managers and work towards training them. I have put a lot of faith in the performance of some data people who I do not know, and have a very weird back story, even if a lot of it is good. I do not know with whom I will be sleeping tonight but, I really hope it is Jana.
§ § §
1 - Overseas Foreign Worker.
2 - Eyebrows up twice.
§ § §