Monday, January 21, 2008

EDGE of PARADISE Episode 10























LUZ MARIE & LUCINDA

Antonio opens the little aluminum can that holds a Montec
hristo cigar. The prominent Cuban cigar, many have tried to copy, including Cuban cigar makers who left Cuba for Tampa and Key West in the late 19th Century. Some have come close, but like any other art form, close is not good enough, the original is master. Even today the cigar industry thrives in Cuba and the export market is brisk. It is a traditional Cuban product with world renown and this is why Antonio is pleased to be a major investor in the development of tobacco. Antonio possesses a passion for cigar making that defies logic at times. Antonio clips the perfectly rolled end of his Montechristo and rolls the cigar in his mouth. A great deal of flavor and sensation of cigar smoking is imparted to the lips. He lights the end with a bejeweled slender butane lighter. As Antonio pulls hard on the cigar he sits back in a patio chase lounge and surveys his kingdom. The sun is low in the sky and Luz Marie and Lucinda are still laying in their pool chairs enjoying what is left of the long Caribbean day. The cell phone that Antonio constantly keeps with him rings. Luz Marie and Lucinda don't even look up, it's the thirteenth time it rang today. Antonio lives on the phone. "Al-low," Antonio says as he hits the send button. "Ah - Senior Masheed, I'm glad you called, I have a request. Can we move up our plans. I would like to travel to Miami in a few days.""Yes, certainly," Masheed responds. "As a matter of fact we have had exceptional luck in acquiring aircraft." "Excellente, Commander. So I expect to see you soon." Antonio presses the end button on his phone. He walks over to the shallow end of the pool and dives under the water coming up between Luz Marie and Lucinda's pool chairs. Antonio's relationship with Luz Marie and Lucinda would be considered nothing short of incredible with almost any North American. Antonio loves the company of women, not only for the sex but for the companionship. He spent a lot of
time in Miami going to college at the University of Miami, working toward an M.B.A., which he never finished. He settled for a B.A. in Business Administration. A big factor in his education was his love life, he spent a great deal of his time pursuing American girls. Antonio discovered early on that they were predisposed to complete ownership. Their motto, my way or the highway. Being brought up in Cuba, a Latin male dominated society, Antonio couldn't stomach the gringo women's behavior and quickly found no desire to have any kind of lasting relationship with one. This didn't stop him from loving them and leaving them, however, with many a wasted day and night in the arms of a Norte Americana gringo.When Antonio returned to Cuba and later to Casas del Joven he set out to find a Cuban playmate. Antonio visited the tourist hotel bars in Havana hoping to find a girlfriend where he bought a lot of drinks and danced a lot of salsas. It wasn't until he visited his old neighborhood where he and his mother and father lived that he met Luz Marie and Lucinda. Parched from the afternoon sun Antonio stopped for a soda in a small restaurant bar near his old stomping grounds. Luz Marie and Lucinda were sitting at the bar laughing and carrying on with the girl tending bar. They were all friends from the neighborhood. They were ten years younger than Antonio so they didn't recognize him or remember him. Antonio sat at the bar and ordered a beer. The girl behind the bar was giving Luz Marie and Lucinda free sodas. Antonio found the girls charming and animated, he particularly found Luz Marie attractive so he offered them a beer. They were surprised because no one had enough money for beer. The same amount could buy a whole meal. Antonio rarely thought about the abject poverty his fellow countrymen lived under. He had lived a privileged life and now was more successful than his father ever was, even if the major portion of his money was from being a gangster in the drug trade. Antonio only thought of himself as a businessman. He was trained and schooled in business and now plied his trade. He enjoyed favor with pillars of the Government due to his father and could come and go as he pleased on a diplomatic passport provided for life by his father's friends. Luz Marie and Lucinda warmed up to Antonio after a couple of beers, moving a few bar stools closer. They talked for hours about the hardships of Havana life and the monotony of working for no pay. Antonio invited the girls to visit him at his estate for a kind of queen for a day experience. He told them not to bring anything, and he would have them back after the weekend. The girls jumped at the lifetime opportunity. They all flew back to Isle de Joven on a small charter plane, and when the girls arrived at the casa they were stunned, having difficulty believing Antonio could live in such a wonderful place. The contrast between their little run-down apartment with no hot water and this mansion was hard even for Antonio to grasp. Their reaction humbled Antonio and touched him in a way he would never forget. This emotion coupled with his raw sexual attraction to Luz Marie made for a powerful cocktail. Antonio hadn't been with a woman for months at this time due to business and working on the estate, it had been too hectic and there were just no women in his circle of confidants. Luz Marie and Lucinda were just peasant girls from his own home neighborhood, they put on no airs and could be trusted completely. They weren't jaded with success, money, and power and had a true sense of appreciation for things Antonio often took for granted. Luz Marie immediately grasped the situation though, she could tell Antonio wanted her and she saw the elements for a lucrative deal in play. Luz Marie and Lucinda were close friends for years, like sisters really, and Luz Marie was protective of Lucinda. Luz Marie went to work and by the second night at the estate had a plan. She and Lucinda intended to bed Antonio that night and make love to him so passionately he wouldn't be able to let them go.

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