Money Grab

"But they are so cute," Malina objected. "Can we not take just one home?"

"Why?" Davis asked. "Do you think their mother is cute?"

"No, she is very dirty. She is not at all cute."

"They are going to grow up and look just like her. We're going to kill and eat all the males. We'll have a Hawaiian pig roast when they get the right size."

Malina still wanted to pet one, but the thought of a pig roast consoled her somewhat.

"Will you wear a grass skirt, Davis?" Calley teased him.

"I don't know how to make a grass skirt," he laughed. "If you make me one I'll wear it. But you both have to wear one, too. And, you have to wear one of those flower necklaces and nothing else but the grass skirt. I hear the Hawaiian women dress like that, and you have to do one of those dances."

Malina's eyes sparkled with excitement. "I would love to wear a grass skirt. Can you make them Calley?"

"I might, but did you hear all the other stuff? I'm not doing one of those dances with my boobs hanging out. Besides, Davis is a sick man; he can't handle all the excitement."

"Tontería, it is absurd. Of course we will dance. This would please Mr. Davis, and I like to make him happy. Has he not made you happy Calley? You said so yourself. It is the least we can do."

"I obviously didn't know what I was saying," he laughed. "I won't wear a grass skirt. You girls can't make me and I just said that because I knew you wouldn't do it. My fever must be coming back and I was temporarily deranged. I should have known better. Thank you Malina for wanting to make me happy, but I'm not wearing a grass skirt."

"We will see. You are weak and Calley and I can easily overpower you. When will we have the pig roast?"

"Some of the older pigs are just about ready. Let's feed them corn for two weeks and then we'll do it. But I warn you that I'm armed and I will shoot you if you try to put a grass skirt on me."

"Ha, we will catch you asleep and restrain you. Then we will keep you tied up in the grass skirt and do the dance and you won't be able to touch."

"You are a devious little girl, Malina. Okay, I'll wear the skirt. Please don't tie me up."

She laughed. "It was a joke, Mr. Davis. I would never tie you up; unless you wanted me to." She looked at him speculatively. "Would you like to tie me up?

"Malina! You're shameless!" Calley burst out.

They all laughed hysterically and the pigs, startled by the outburst, ran into the woods.

****

The bouncer on the door of Wild Cherries recognized Matuszi and waved him in. A heavy bass beat filled the club and a young girl was humping a pole on the stage. Johnson was seated at a table in the back and two huge bodyguards stood behind him against the wall. One of them stepped forward and patted Matuszi down. He found the .357 and took it. He stepped back and Matuszi stepped forward.

"Matuszi," Johnson indicated a seat, "how's business?"

"Not so good. Evans bought it two days ago. I barely got away. I'm planning to change that."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I have a business proposition for you; a 40 million dollar proposition."

"What kind of dollars?"

"40 million in gold and silver. I'm talking dollars back in 2000. Maybe another 10 million in gems, art, liquor and supplies."

"Who do we have to kill?"

"One man. His name is Davis Rade and he's a prepper. He was a baseball player back in the day; a hell of a baseball player. He made millions in salary and endorsements. He didn't spend a dime of it till he retired. Then he bought a ranch and started prepping. He turned most of that money into land, gold and silver, precious gems, art and a mountain of supplies."

"So why do I need you? Why don't I just knock him off myself and keep it all?"

"You don't know where he's at. I do. He'll be a tough nut to crack and you need me. You know I'm a sniper. You find me a good rifle and I'll take him out and we move in. We split 50/50."

"Expenses come out of your half," Johnson said. "I pick the team and you pay them."

"Deal. When can you be ready?"

"Give me two weeks. Bastards downtown are trying to muscle in down south. I deal with them and I'm ready to move. Where's this Rade at."

"West and south. I tell you when we're on the road."

"Where's all that trust, Matuszi?"

"Oh, I trust you. I'm just keeping one hand on the wheel."

****

Davis had the girls building an addition on the wall. "I had always planned to get around to this, but now that there are three of us, we can man it right."

"What are we building?" Calley asked.

"A guardhouse," he told her. "I've got a heavy machine gun and a rocket launcher. I'd like to build a platform so we could fire down if we need to. The machine gun I've got would make us nearly invincible if we could get it up there and make a mount for it. I can make a shield and only a lucky shot could get us."

He was using the walking heel some, and he could get around short distances fairly well. The girls loaded timbers, lumber and tools onto the trailer and pulled it up at the site. They dug four deep holes, Davis dragged up four telephone poles with his small tractor, and they used the tractor loader to raise them into place. They mixed concrete and filled the holes around the poles with rock and cement. Davis built an internal structure with lumber and stairs, turning at two landings, leading to a ten foot square platform at the top. The girls mixed mortar in Davis' small mixer and Davis laid blocks up the sides of the structure as high as he could reach.

He sent Malina to a shed for scaffolding and he helped them assemble it. "I can't climb that, girls; you watched me, do you think you can lay the blocks the rest of the way."

They felt like they could and they proved it by finishing the tower. Davis handed up long iron rods and they inserted the rods every two feet into the holes in the blocks. Davis mixed concrete and they carried it up in buckets and poured in into the holes, filling the blocks with concrete.

The tower had a wall around the edge, three feet high, and openings in the blocks at both sides and one facing the driveway. They drove Davis to the bunker to get the guns and he took them on a tour, explaining what was in each box or crate.

He punched in a code and a heavy steel vault door opened.

"This is the treasury for the state of Rade, De la Vega and Nebrija. You know the combination. It's the same as the safe in the house."

The room was lined with shelves and steel boxes lined the shelves. He opened one and the girls looked inside. It was filled with gold coins. He took two out and handed one to each girl.

"It is beautiful. What is it?" Malina asked.

"It's a one ounce American Eagle bullion coin. You couldn't get gold coins for years. In the late eighties, they started minting them again. I started buying 15 years ago."

"Are all these boxes full of gold?" Calley asked. "No wonder you didn't want mine. You can still have it if you want it, Davis."

"No, but you can store it down here if you want to. I don't need your money, Calley. It's yours and you should keep it. It's like Malina said, all I need is for you to be my friend. I know you are, and no, they aren't all filled with gold."

"May I keep this one?" Malina asked.

"Of course. Take a handful if you want."

"No, I only want this one. What is in the other boxes?"

"Take a look," he led them to the next section.

He opened another box and took out two silver coins. "These are 2 ounce silver coins from Provident Metals. You can keep that one too, Malina."

"How much money do you have Davis?" Calley asked.

"There's 40 million here in gold and silver. Come here, you'll both like this."

He led them to a group of a dozen large wooden chests. He opened the lid of one and the girls gasped. Shelves, lined with burgundy felt, were attached to the lid and jewelry lined the shelves. There were a dozen cloth bags in the bottom of the chest. The jewelry was gold and rubies glinted in the settings. He opened the string and the bag was full of rubies. He selected a pendent with a stone as large as the end of her finger and he lifted Calley's hair and fastened it around her neck. It hung in the deep valley between her breasts and the red glow, contrasted with her tawny skin, seemed alive with her heartbeat. He lifted her chin and she looked into his eyes. He tasted her lips and they became alive against his. He pulled away and her face was flushed.

"That's for you," he told her. "I'll bet diamonds would look good on you, too."

"Oh no, Davis, I can't take this. It's too expensive."

"Too expensive for what? It makes me happy to be able to give you things. Malina likes to make me happy. Do you like to make me happy?"

"Yes, but look at this. It's too much, Davis."

"Too much for what? You need to learn how to let people be nice to you Calley. Just say, 'thank you, Davis.'"

"Thank you, Davis," she whispered.

"It's my pleasure. I want to make you happy, too, Calley."

He took Malina's hand and led her to a chest three places down. He opened the lid and took out three pieces. They were white gold, set with large sapphires. He fastened a necklace with a huge blue stone on a fine chain around her neck and took the gold hoops out of her ears. He put sapphire and diamond studs in her ears. "For your blue eyes," he said.

She lifted her lips, eyes closed expectantly and she was too cute to resist. He tasted the full lips and she put her arms around his neck and responded with a passion that surprised him.

She danced away and showed Calley. "Are they not beautiful, Calley? I like your ruby, too." She reached out and ran a finger over it.

"You can wear any of this stuff you want," Davis told them. "Just don't lose it. It's worth a king's ransom."

"No, how could we lose such beautiful things. We must wear them only on special occasions. Perhaps when we do the dance in the grass skirts Calley?"

"No, flowers only," Davis laughed. "We didn't come down here for this. I just wanted to show you everything. Let's go to the gun room. But if you need anything down here, use it. It's yours."

They unpacked the big Browning M2 and wiped off the oil. The girls carried the heavy gun out to the Ranger and made several more trips for ammunition. Davis had welded up a mount and they attached it with a pin.

They built a roof and Davis declared that the job was finished. The girls had been feeding the pigs corn and they had selected one that Davis thought would be just the size to roast. They used the back hoe attachment for the tractor to dig a pit. The girls were learning to run it and they took turns digging. The soil was better along the creek, not so sandy and containing more clay, so they dug there. They filled the pit with pecan wood and set it on fire. It burned all night and in the morning they filled it again. While it burned down to coals they drove to the feeder and found the pig they wanted.

"Do one of you want to shoot him?" Davis asked them.

Calley did not, but Malina was excited at the opportunity. They positioned themselves and when the pig came back she shot him between the eyes. Davis hobbled quickly to it and cut its jugular. Blood spurted out and the pig soon quit kicking. They drug it to a tree with the Ranger, used a block and tackle to raise it off the ground and Davis eviscerated it.

They saved the organs and fat in buckets and they loaded it into the Ranger and took it to the house. The girls got burlap sacks, put them in the spring and weighted them down with rocks. They put the fat in five gallon buckets with lids and put them in the freezer to render into lard later. Davis washed the pig carefully and removed the loins through an incision in the skin. He got potatoes and whole onions and carrots. He inserted the loins and the organs, along with the vegetables and many cloves of garlic and spices into the body cavity and sewed it shut with butcher's twine.

The girls were fascinated with the process and watched closely, running errands and keeping busy.

"I'm sorry we don't have any fresh pineapple," he told them. "Should we try canned pineapple?"

They wanted to try the canned so he opened the pig up a little and they poured three cans inside and rubbed the skin with the juice.

"We need banana leaves," he told them.

"We have none," Malina told him. "What will we do?"

"Yes, we do have some. In the southwest corner of the greenhouse are two banana trees. Bring me about 30 leaves."

"I didn't know we had a banana tree," Calley said.

"Sorry, I should have taken you through the greenhouse. I'm always forgetting you don't know what we have. The bananas aren't ready to eat yet so I just never mentioned it. Bring the leaves and we'll get this bad boy in the ground."

They ran away to get the leaves and when they returned they wrapped the pig in the banana leaves. He sent them after the wet burlap, they wrapped the pig tightly and Calley sewed it together. They wrapped the whole thing in chicken wire and Davis attached a piece of chain to the wire. They loaded it in the Ranger and took the pig to the fire pit. Davis threw a piece of sheet metal on the coals and they swung the pig into the pit with the tractor.

The girls put a larger piece of tin over the top and Davis covered it with dirt. The oven in the earth was done.

"What shall we do now?" Malina asked.

"Now we wait," he said.

"How long will we wait?"

"We'll wait eight hours; long enough for it to steam and then roast."

Davis had a picnic table in the back yard. They dragged it over onto the back patio where he had a large, circular fire pit. They filled the fire pit with cedar and Davis got a redwood sofa out of a shed and put big fluffy cushions on it. He brought out matching tables and put them in front of the sofa.

The girls brought out yellow dishes and a cooler with two bottles of the cabernet Davis recommended. They got stemware and Davis brought another picnic table and covered it with butcher paper. They brought out a yellow tablecloth and finally as the sun began to set, Davis declared that the pig was done.

They removed the burlap wrapped pig from the pit using the front end loader on the tractor to lift it with the chain and put it on the picnic table. Davis cut off the wire, unwrapped the burlap and discarded it. It was charred nearly through in many places. The banana leaves were also charred and a wonderful fragrance of roasted pork filled the courtyard. Davis lit the cedar in the fire pit, the flames leaped and played on the walls and the sweet smell of burning cedar filled the air as the flames crackled. He opened the pig and removed the cuts he had put inside. He put two loins on a platter and carved. The girls had disappeared. He filled their plates with the roasted pork, potatoes, carrots and an onion. He opened the wine and poured three glasses. He heard the patio door slide open and the sound of female voices. They came outside and he saw that they had donned the grass skirts. Each girl had a brightly colored lei around her neck, a garland of the same flowers in her hair and nothing else. Their hair hung down nearly to their navels and glimpses of bare flesh flashed as they walked.

Calley had a third grass skirt in her hand and they walked up and stood in front of him. He couldn't move.

"Close your mouth Davis," Calley laughed. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Time for your end of the bargain." She held the grass skirt and a safety pin out toward him.

He swallowed twice, his mouth was dry and he had trouble speaking.

"Sweet Jesus! You two are gorgeous. You look like you just walked off a beach in Honolulu. I never thought you'd do it Calley. I knew Malina would, but look at you."

He took the skirt and examined it. There was a waistband of cloth and the grass was sewn to the waistband. It looked like the leaves of big bluestem that grew around his ranch. The skirt wrapped around and the waistband could be pinned together.

He took it, wrapped it around his waist and Malina helped him pull his t-shirt over his head while Calley pinned his skirt. It reached halfway down to his knees and his green shorts hung out from underneath.

"That looks very unauthentic," Calley told him. "Lose the shorts."

"I can't," he said, "You'll have to help me."

She pulled his shorts off and helped him get them over the cast, leaving him in boxers.

They sat down and begin to eat. They ate with their fingers and the juices ran down their chins. They dried them with yellow checked hand towels and the girls declared that they had never eaten anything so delicious. When they had eaten all they could hold they cleaned up and carried the remains of the pig into the cooler for storage until tomorrow.

They went back to the fire and Davis refilled their wine glasses and the girls led him to the sofa and seated him in the center. Calley went into the house and came back with an iPod dock. Sounds of Santana's Change Your Evil Ways filled the air and the two women moved close to Davis and with the fire at their back they raised their arms over their heads and began to sway. Malina slipped her lei down around her waist and Calley threw back her hair.

Her breasts were magnificent. They stood out high and proud, not a centimeter of sag in spite of their weight. Her nipples were small and capped large brown areola that formed small, elevated cones on the tip of each big breast. Her waist was very narrow and her hips flared dramatically into the waistband of the grass skirt. They elevated from side to side as she moved and swayed to the music.

Malina was a study in contrasts. Her breasts were perfectly shaped inverted cones and she was very slender yet sensual at the same time. She had the same swell of hip but in miniature. Her honey golden skin glistened in the fire light and he could tell that they had both oiled themselves. Malina's tiny brown nipples were obviously erect with excitement and her golden hair caressed them sensuously. They faced each other and danced closer, their nipples touching and rubbing. They kissed as they continued to sway and Davis could hardly sit still.

The song came to an end and they ran to him. They sat beside him and sipped their wine, snuggling into his sides. He stroked their oily shoulders and arms, skin silky smooth under his fingers and breasts warm against his chest. He wrapped his arms around them and pulled them close.

Calley looked up at him. "Did you like your dance, Davis?"

"It was the most erotic thing I could ever imagine."

"Were we not beautiful?" Malina asked.

"Gorgeous! You were amazing," he told her.

She took his hand and slid it down to one pert breast. "You may touch me if you like," she looked up at him with a drop of wine on her lower lip. He kissed it away and cupped the breast in his hand. He stroked the hard nipple with his thumb and she shuddered with pleasure.

He slid his hand lower on Calley's shoulder and looked at her. She nodded her assent and he tested the weight of one big breast in his hand. He squeezed gently and the resilient flesh gave and overflowed his hand. He claimed her lips and rolled Malina's little nipple between his thumb and finger. She moaned and took his arm from around her shoulder, pulling his hand down across her breasts. He caressed her firm belly, lost in Calley's lips, and his fingers dipped into the indention of her small navel. They moved lower still, stroking her lower belly above the skirt and she moaned again. Calley moved and pulled his head to one breast and her breath caught as he captured the nipple. He pulled with his lips and she threw her head back and her moan joined Malina's.

A branch exploded in the fire and they started. They laughed and the erotic spell was broken. They leaned back into the cushions and put their feet up. Davis toyed with their nipples and twined his fingers in their hair and they talked in low voices and drank wine until the fire died away.