The Inn of Destiny

by Gene P. Abel

  It wasn’t long before the owner came out of the kitchen to begin the demonstration. He explained how various types of candy were made and a little about his establishment. He worked as he spoke and was both informative and entertaining.

  It was clear he had a bit of the actor in him. He explained that they made new items all the time and often used popular issues for new candy shapes. One person asked if he made a Monica sucker. He said, “As a matter of fact, you will find several Clinton-related items in the showroom.” His demonstration took about twenty minutes, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. At the end of his talk, he told the audience of another enterprise his family owned in the area: a pretzel bakery where you could twist your own pretzel and they would bake it for you. Jackie and Jerry selected candy for themselves and some to take home as gifts. They decided to look for the pretzel bakery and drove off in the direction outlined on yet another brochure.

  By the time they decided to head back to the inn, in addition to their earlier stops, they had been to a cider press, an antique store, a candle factory and a stained-glass shop. Jackie also wanted to stop at a leather and boot shop they saw just before they got back to the inn. Jerry said, “Why don’t we stop there tomorrow on the way home.”

  “That sounds fine,” she agreed, and they soon found the small road that led to the inn. It was about six o’clock when they pulled into the parking lot. They locked the car, with all their treasures from the day inside, and went to their room.

  Jackie decided she wanted to take a shower before dinner, and Jerry walked to the bar. He saw Frank watching ice hockey and decided to join him.

  “Did you have a good day?” Frank asked.

  “Yes. How about you?”

  “We had a very relaxing day. The hot tub is great. I’d like to get one sometime.” They had a few drinks and waited for the girls to join them.

  It was seven thirty when Jackie came into the bar, and a few minutes later Kathy arrived. They ordered a round of drinks and began to talk about what they had done since breakfast. All agreed their first day at the Inn of Destiny had been fun. A little after eight, they decided to go to the dining room. The waiter seated them near the fireplace with the now familiar soup pots simmering over the fire. They were all hungry since they hadn’t taken the time for lunch.

  They took a few minutes going over the menu, and when the waiter saw that they looked ready to order he came to the table. Jackie decided to try the shrimp since she had a steak on Friday evening. Kathy wanted pasta and ordered the homemade ravioli. Both men decided on beef. Jerry had a porterhouse, and Frank a New York strip. They had an enjoyable meal and decided to return to the bar for an after-dinner drink.

  The inn had a comedian, who turned out to be quite good. Most of his humor was a bit off-color, but, after all, there were no children present. When he finished his act, the combo began to play. The couples listened to the music until half past twelve and then said good night. As they walked to their room Jerry wondered if Jackie had more romance in mind. They had not made love this often since their honeymoon.

  7

  Jerry’s Dream

  As they were returning to room D, Jerry decided he would take charge of the lovemaking tonight. After all, it had been Jackie’s show that morning, and he wanted to give her pleasure tonight. Jerry had visited one of those specialty shops in the mall before their trip and picked up some love lotion. He selected strawberry to flavor Jackie’s female parts. He hadn’t said anything about his purchase and thought Saturday night would be the right time to try this stuff out. Jackie had kidded about it when she saw the lotion in the store but had never purchased any.

  Jackie had also been to the mall to visit Jerry’s favorite store, Victoria’s Secret. She purchased a set consisting of a white camisole and micropanties. It’s doubtful there was a square yard of cloth in the entire outfit. When they reached their room, Jackie took a bag from the drawer and headed to the bathroom. “I’ll be right out.” Jerry wanted to know what was in the little bag. Jackie replied, “Just wait and see. I think you’ll approve.”

  In the meantime, Jerry changed into his silk PJ bottoms and lit the fire. He opened a bottle of wine, turned off the lights, and lit the oil lamp on the dresser. The combination of the fire and the oil lamp cast a romantic setting for Jackie’s entrance. Jerry took one look at Jackie’s surprise mall purchase and said, “Wow! Where did you get that?”

  “I went to your favorite store in the mall, Victoria’s Secret.”

  Jerry said, “You look better than any of their models!”

  “Well, you should know; you look at them every time we pass it. Maybe I should see if they would hire me as one of their models,” Jackie suggested.

  “I don’t think so. You may only model for me,” Jerry replied.

  Jackie’s most sensuous female assets were her breasts. It was as if her nipples wanted to break free from whatever covered them. When Jerry saw men staring at her chest, he would first want them to stop while also liking it because he knew they envied him. Jackie came over to Jerry and sat by the fireplace. She picked up her glass of wine and offered a toast: “To a great weekend!”

  “And there’s more to come!” Jerry responded.

  They began to kiss. Jackie put her finger into the wine and rubbed it on Jerry’s lips. Jerry got out the bottle of love lotion and said, “I got this to rub on certain parts of you.”

  “You didn’t. When did you get that?”

  “Well, I shop at the mall too,” was his response. Jerry removed her camisole so he could apply the lotion to her breasts. He poured the red fluid on his fingers and rubbed it over her breasts. It felt good to Jackie, and she watched him as his pleasure grew with each drop. After he had applied a liberal amount of the sweet, sticky fluid, he started to gently lick it off. Jackie didn’t know if it felt better when Jerry put it on or licked it off. Jerry said, “This tastes good. I’m glad I got the strawberry-flavored lotion.” He made several applications, reveling in the process each time. He then began to apply the lotion to her tummy and navel. Just as before, licking it off proved to be best.

  Jerry removed her micropanties so that he didn’t stain them with strawberry lotion. First, he went down to her feet and put it between her toes. He licked them clean, which drove Jackie almost to the edge. She loved to have her feet rubbed, but licking between her toes was almost more than she could stand. It was time for the pièce de résistance. Jerry stuck his finger in the bottle and began applying the lotion to her most sacred parts.

  “That feels so good,” she moaned.

  “Wait until I remove it,” Jerry said. By the time Jerry had finished with the love lotion, Jackie was to the point of no return, and Jerry proceeded to complete his performance. When they both finished, Jackie and Jerry lay on the floor for some time, their naked bodies melding as one. When they had finished, Jackie washed herself off and they got into bed. They decided to sleep in the nude and agreed to begin again whenever the urge came to either of them during the night. It wasn’t long before they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  Jerry began to dream with the sounds of the commuter train rumbling in his head. He was looking out the window of the train, watching the familiar scenery streak past. He opened the Journal and began reading. He liked his train ride and used the time to catch up on the news or do some reading for work. As he pored over the financial news, Jerry spotted an article recapping the past six months of a new company his broker had tried to get him to purchase. Jerry’s firm purchased and operated commercial properties, such as large shopping centers and major office complexes. He was the person who negotiated most of the purchase agreements.

  His deals had proven to be so successful that when his boss was promoted to CEO, Jerry took his position as head of acquisitions. Along with Jerry’s new job was a very sizable increase in salary, a larger share of the profits via stock options, and the title senior VP.
Jerry was always on the lookout for investment opportunities. Although he had large holdings in his firm, he wanted to take advantage of other lucrative opportunities as well.

  Jerry’s Warton classmate and friend David Strong was a broker on Wall Street. One of his specialties was new public offerings, known in the trade as IPOs. Dave regularly called Jerry and kept him informed of the latest IPOs that looked promising. Jerry at times was hesitant, as was the case six months ago with the new company he was reading about. Dave had tried to convince Jerry to purchase a few thousand shares, but to no avail. The bottom line was, Jerry screwed up. The company took off and was up sevenfold in six months. In addition, its growth didn’t falter, as was often the case with new offerings.

  When Jerry arrived at his office, there was a call from Dave. “I have a hot new stock for you! This is better than the one you missed in November. Did you read the article about it in the Journal?”

  “Yes, I saw it. You were right, I should have jumped in on that company,” Jerry replied.

  Dave proceeded to review Surgical Ventures with Jerry. This was a new firm that had developed the formula used for surgical glue. This material was akin to superglue but was used in place of stitches for certain applications.

  This material could be used on most cuts that didn’t exceed five inches in length and didn’t involve any sizable blood vessels. It was so simple that it had great potential. Not only was it painless and assisted in fighting germs, the material was eventually absorbed into the skin and there was no need to have the stitches removed.

  Dave said, “It’s only a matter of time and this company will be purchased by one of the large pharmaceutical companies. When that happens, the initial investors should make a killing!”

  “Send me the prospectus and I will call you,” Jerry responded.

  “You don’t have much time. I think I can get my hands on about five thousand shares for you if you are interested. The initial price is expected to be ten dollars per share,” Dave explained.

  “OK. I will call you,” Jerry said, and hung up.

  On Monday Jerry placed an order for the five thousand shares. Four months later, the price shot up to eighty dollars per share on the word that a large drug company was interested in purchasing the company. Jerry sold his shares and made over $300,000 with a $50,000 investment.

  All of a sudden, the feel of Jackie’s hand awakened Jerry. After a few minutes, she went under the covers to make sure Jerry was ready for her. She climbed on top and started to kiss Jerry. It didn’t take Jackie long to show who was the boss, as Jerry soon experienced another explosion. When he finished, Jackie hopped off and headed for the bathroom. Jackie returned to bed, and they were both soon fast asleep.

  When Jerry started to dream again it was December and the first snow of the season had just started to fall. He was watching it through his thirtieth-floor office windows when the telephone rang. It was Dave with another IPO for Jerry. “I have the best one yet,” said Dave.

  “You say that every time, Dave,” Jerry responded.

  “Do I have to remind you about the three hundred grand you made on the last stock?”

  “No, I remember,” Jerry answered.

  “The company name is Optiscan,” said Dave. “It expects to go public next week.” He explained the company had developed a system that made positive identification by scanning the iris of the eye.

  “That sounds similar to fingerprint ID systems.”

  “Yes, only far better.” Dave explained how the system worked. “The user stands from one to three feet from the cameras used for scanning. The actual scan takes about two seconds, and within another two seconds, the identification is complete. The first camera scans the person’s face to establish the location of the eyes. The second camera zooms in on the eye to capture the digital image.

  “The system uses a circular grid as a guide to develop the pattern in the iris. Every person has a different pattern, just like everyone has unique fingerprints. The grid is overlaid, and the light and dark areas are converted to a human bar code. It’s this bar code that’s used by the computer system to make the identification with the master records, which are stored in a secure database. The system uses available light, which eliminates any potential damage to the eye. It scans through eyeglasses and contact lenses. The potential applications for this system are enormous. The first group that’s talking with Optiscan is the companies that make ATM machines. Security companies, governmental agencies, and anyone that needs positive ID are potential users. This could also replace time clocks. So, what do you think?” Dave asked.

  “It does sound like the best one yet, my friend. How many shares do you think you can get and at what price?”

  “I know I can get you ten thousand shares. I expect the initial price to be fifteen dollars per share.”

  “Great. Fax the prospectus over, and I’ll call you later this afternoon,” Jerry replied. They said goodbye and hung up.

  Jerry told his assistant to bring him the fax just as soon as it arrived. In about ten minutes, the fax was on his desk. After Jerry read it, he picked up the phone to call Dave. His line was busy and the receptionist answered the call. “Do you want to hold, or shall I have Mr. Strong call you back?”

  “I’ll wait,” Jerry responded.

  In a few minutes Dave picked up and said, “Jerry, I can get you twelve thousand at fifteen dollars per share.”

  “That would be a hundred and eighty grand,” Jerry responded. “That may be a little more than I want to risk.”

  “Did you forget the three-hundred-thousand-dollar profit you made on Surgical Ventures?”

  “No, I remember. Go ahead and buy me the twelve thousand shares.”

  “I’ll call you when the deal is done. Better get your money ready,” Dave added.

  “Fine,” Jerry replied. They hung up, and Jerry went back to a potential acquisition he was reviewing.

  It was Thursday when Dave called to tell Jerry that he was the owner of twelve thousand shares of Optiscan. During the next three months, the stock took off, and by the end of March it was selling for eighty-eight dollars per share. Jerry decided to take a quick profit and told Dave to sell his twelve thousand shares. In a little over ninety days, Jerry had made almost three-quarters of a million dollars on Optiscan.

  Before Jerry knew it, his dream had shifted to the spring. It was April 14, just two days before the tax deadline. It was a pleasant day, and he was on the golf course with his boss, Barry Hagman. They were about to tee off on the seventh hole when both their cell phones started to ring.

  “That’s odd! Both phones ringing at the same time,” Jerry remarked. As it turned out, both calls were coming from different people at their office. They were informed there was a very sharp sell-off on the market that was precipitated by a potentially catastrophic problem in the Middle East. After they completed their calls, they decided to cut short their golf game and return to the office.

  By the time they arrived on the thirtieth floor, the Dow was down almost a thousand points, and the losers versus winners showed a margin of twenty to one. The problem resulted from a serious impasse between the Israelis and Palestinians over the final peace agreement. Israel refused any settlement that changed the status of Jerusalem or ended their West Bank settlements. The Palestinians insisted there be international sharing of the city as part of the final peace agreement, as well as the end of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. For almost eighteen months, the discussions had been underway with no settlement. In a last attempt to pressure the Israelis, the Palestinians convinced the moderate Arab coalition to back their demand for some change to the status of Jerusalem. When this didn’t produce the desired outcome, the Arab oil cartel threatened to withhold oil from the West until Israel changed its position.

  That brought the direst problem for the United States as well as the rest of the Western
alliance. On one hand, Israel considered Jerusalem like the US considered Washington, D.C., and no amount of pressure from the US was likely to alter their opposition. On the other hand, establishing who had ownership rights to most areas in this part of the world was impossible. The history of ownership depended on the date one chose. The other reality was that Western economies couldn’t operate without oil from the Middle East.

  This situation might be viewed by the radical factions in the Middle East as an opportunity to grab more power or territory. It had the real potential to create uncontrollable economic and military issues. The White House was in crisis mode desperately trying to find a solution to the impasse. The president put the military on alert and moved two more navy battle groups within striking distance of the Middle East. He wanted to show that the US wouldn’t allow any of the factions to take military advantage of the situation.

  Jerry decided he had better stay in New York to follow the situation. He was heavily invested in the market with small-cap and international stocks that he owned outright as well as a number of stocks he’d purchased on margin. The margin calls had already taken more than half his liquid funds. He called Jackie to explain the situation and to tell her he wouldn’t be home Thursday night.

  By the close of the market, the Dow had lost twenty-five hundred points and Jerry had lost 30 percent of his net worth in securities. To sell now would be a catastrophic loss. On the other hand, what would tomorrow bring? Friday, the market opened on the down side. By eleven o’clock, there was a story that the president may have been able to get some movement. By noon, it was clear that this wasn’t the case and the Dow fell another three thousand points. The losses were so widespread that the decision was made to suspend trading at 2:00 p.m. By this time, Jerry had suffered a 75 percent decline in the value of his portfolio because he was concentrated in companies that were impacted to a greater extent than the market overall. In addition, he was unable to cover the last margin call and was sold out on the stocks he had purchased on credit. Jerry didn’t know what to do. If only he had gotten out when they first returned to the office yesterday, his losses would be only one-third as great.