

Sun on the Rocks – The Acapulco Cocktail

Smashwords Edition.

© Copyright 2012 by Somers Isle & Loveshade.

Published by Somers Isle & Loveshade at Smashwords.

U.S. Copyright Registration Number: 1-743085441.

All rights reserved.

'Sun on the Rocks' blogsite:

http://oursalon.ning.com/profile/workstudio

Cover by Tatiana Villa.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
ABOUT Sun on the Rocks

Sun on the Rocks is a validating and comforting balm made of a benign word cloud. It is a breezy, easy to peel humor read for adults, specializing in the trivial pursuit. Each pleasant fictional amusement comes with a nonchalant overtone of humor, and follows the adventures of several non competitive good looking women over twenty one years of age, as they leave Malibu and become a group of hostesses, _'Sun on the Rocks'_ , on the cruise ship _City of Wellington_ , a post-Panamax which makes short trips between Los Angeles and Acapulco in Mexico. The motley crew of women works as a group of entertaining amateurs and as friendly gophers on the ship, and is led to various places in the Caribbean and elsewhere by the incombustible twenty five year old Stevenson Garden Products Malibu teleoperator **Clarity Nice** , a woman of resourceful intuition, and acute observer of the laws of human mischief.

**The Acapulco Cocktail** : Teleoperator Clarity Nice and her friend, librarian Lanai Thomson, escape from a jail in Acapulco after being wrongly accused of stealing a cocktail formula of great value. With the derelict Acapulco police officer Juarez on their tail, Clarity uncovers the perpetrators of the theft and the missing ingredient of the formula needed to create **the Acapulco Cocktail**.
BACKSTORIES AND CHARACTERS

TO READ THE AMUSEMENT COMFORTABLY

**Buddha Talk:** Corpulent, shady genius of money flows which begin and end with the same pocket, his own, scholar of sexual ecstasy, occasional Buddhist and worshipper for good Karma of a shrine honoring a lobster which pinched his ear before ending in the lobster cooking pot. Buddha Talk is banking agent and the heir apparent of _Lofty Bank_ , a _Cayman Islands banking institution_ with no particular regard for its clients and a lock on ownership held by a Great Dane, _Lord Moorehead_ III, British by upbringing and inheritance granted by Lord Moorehead II, a man, old, very old, and dead now, at age ninety seven, previous British Lord, ex-owner of Lofty Bank, a man who gave all of its wealth, nobility title and bank ownership rights to his dog.

_Lord Moorehead III_ acts as front 'man' for Buddha Talk, and is also the official recipient of all bank notices by the Cayman Islands monetary authority, a convenient fact for Buddha Talk, and one bark that doesn´t cease to surprise the monetary authority who casts a recurring shadow of doubt upon the legalities of having a dog act as front 'man' and be the official owner of a Bank doing business in the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands, located in the Western Caribbean Sea, a pleasant area to live when the money and work issues are solved. Buddha Talk likes to drive or be driven in Jaguar 73, a gadget-filled car offered as gift to Buddha Talk by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in exchange for having sold some gold and palladium for the Cuban regime, through Banco Inter Central del Caribe y Cuba, or BICCC.

Clarity and Flower, after gaining entry as investors to the bank with the help of Clark, the owner of a diamond shop in Grand Cayman, find themselves owing nearly one hundred thousand dollars to the Lofty Bank outfit for no reason, a debt they can pay by working for the bank for fifty years, as part of the bank´s flagship product, _the Crashworthy Deposit_ , part bank deposit paying twenty percent, part investment, part insurance policy, and part working arrangement.

Lofty has ties with the underworld, and the monetary authority of the Cayman Islands stubbornly refuses to grant it a renewal of its license, something that doesn´t stop the bank from operating in the most illegal manner, advertising its products to potential investors with an air banner carried by a Gippland 200 crop duster flying low above sunny Caribbean beaches such as those of Cayman, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas and Acapulco. This is entirely documented in **The Cayman Air Banner**.

**Boustrophedon:** Large, ancient grey stone inscription filled with Greek letter symbols. In a boustrophedon, direction of the text is inverted, you have to read the inscriptions on the stone from left to right and from right to left alternatively with each line of bi-directional text. Penelope Avalon and Cassandra Scafarel believe that the Boustrophedon holds important information on ancient methods of pleasure, including comments and thoughts on the gate of pleasure, Voluptas de Naturas. The current location of the Boustrophedon that Clarity and her friend Lanai saw at Scafarel's **Hexas Style Resort** in the Bahamas, is unknown to Clarity, known to:

**Cassandra Scafarel:** Significant other of Buddha Talk at some point, shrewd British expatriate, a businesswoman in her forties without a moral code or compass, executive head of beauty lotion outfit 'Elony', sold through illegal flight infomercials with the assistance of Lofty Bank. The infomercial is an excuse to sell to customers, mostly affluent women, Elony's personal growth services, which include how to bring heaven a little closer to home, after doing away with money, in particular fifty thousand dollars that must be paid for a bottle of Elony, in order to receive a resort-pass to reach the Leisure and Pleasure Resort of Scafarel, the **Hexas Style Resort** in the Bahamas island of Eleuthera.

Hexas Style was partly dismantled in **The Bahamas Lotion** , by Al Donway and the **Sensual Brigade of Central Intelligence** , or **Sensual Intelligence** , a group of attractive women ensuring Law and Order are respected, along with their bodies. The Brigade's most representative member is agent **Money Fact** , the woman who introduced Clarity to the nine hour oil-optional massage, proof that work is not a necessary part of life. Money Fact excels at action, mentoring and faulty logic. After a decidedly last minute and decisive intervention of Sensual Intelligence at Hexas Style, Scafarel manages to flee from the Bahamas resort on her private yacht, with the Boustrophedon, but without some secrets regarding pleasure, including the:

**Imperial Pelican Fabergé Egg:** Intricate egg, or jewel, depending on how hungry you are, eight inches high, made of varicolored gold, opalescent blue enamel and watercolor on ivory. It is known as the _Xenia Imperial Pelican Fabergé egg,_ and belongs to the _Private Collection of Maria Feodorovna, Empress Consort of Russia in 1898_. The egg, commissioned by Maria Feodorovna to provide, handle and store, all of her private items of pleasure, went through the hands of Occidental Petroleum tycoon Armand Hammer, an art collector with close ties to the ex-Soviet Union, and has now fallen into the hands of Cassandra Scafarel, a woman who stops at nothing to understand how pleasure works, in particular how the pleasure of a woman works, including her own _._ The Pelican Fabergé egg, eight inches high, is hollow, and unfolds into eight miniatures, holding what's known in Fabergé egg language, as the surprise inside, a time-tested item of pleasure for the woman, the Jade Egg, a small two inch in diameter jade egg that must be boiled before each intimate, feminine use. Owned by Cassandra Scafarel, requisitioned by the Sensual Brigade of Central Intelligence for examination.

**Penelope Avalon:** Sex Goddess and Go-Go girl from Las Vegas, dressed in a pink suit, user of the learjet ' _Pink Go-Go_ ' appropriately painted in pink. Penelope has had enough of living the plastic pleasure style of Las Vegas showgirls, and finds in the outfit of Cassandra Scafarel, the Bahamas Hexas Style Resort, a way out of Hotel California. Penelope likes attractive women unclothed, and would like to do Clarity, because she's nice.

**The Symbolic Decryptor:** Thai alphabet gadget similar to a smartphone or Blackberry, which can be used as cell phone, useful for understanding all types of characters and symbols, made in VLE mode (Very Limited Edition, less than ten made worldwide) by the mysterious Oriental company known as **Pentatone Scale Learning Systems**.

The item, the gadget, looks like a Blackberry with keyboard, with 36 Thai character keys, doubled with the shift key, for a total of 72, instead of the 26 of the Western alphabet, and its keys are made of hard, white color plastic, similar to the color casing of the Kindle 2, cast against a grey background and a backlit screen. The decryptor can also be used as indicator of calligraphy symbols, as mantra tone guide and geo-locator, using the Global Positioning System to calculate the coordinates of any location worldwide.

Penelope Avalon received one of these decryptors from Lady Scafarel, after completing work on heaven, according to Scafarel's personal growth system, and Clarity would like to keep the item as a souvenir, although Money Fact disagrees and is holding custody of the device for strategic and Intelligence reasons. Sure, she likes the nifty item, that's all, and she likes to subtly let Clarity know that she's the boss of Sensual Intelligence.

**Book of Decadence:** Book written on the topic by the unknown hedonist, a small print manifesto of deep thought with illustrations of ancient goddesses with lion bodies in bronze, and a mosaic of Byzantine nuns, used by Penelope Avalon and the Hexas Style Hedonist Resort in the Bahamas, on how to let go of the encumbrance of work, and dedicate your time, well spent, according to the book, to leisure, pleasure, et. al. The book clearly advises on the pitfalls of decadence and purportedly how to avoid them.

**Telval Studios** : Adult Film production unit of the Church of the Holy Flower, led by Cassandra Scafarel, including the film ' _Abu Dhabi Chic_ ', a remake of Andrew Blake's 'Paris Chic' shown to Clarity and her friends during the unfolding of **The Adult Channel** at the Park Hyatt in Abu Dhabi. Telval produces adult films unlike any other, films like ' _Embroidered Air Avenue_ ', engaging beautiful women in sultry positions and scenes for hours, revealing an oriental connection to the films' choreographies and to the symbolic decryptor. It including codes for women within the films to get inside the Church of the Holy Flower and other Mystery Schools. This includes a keyword of the Book of Decadence, the word **Rosebud** , a mysterious codeword for the Church of the Holy Flower that Clarity seeks to clarify.

The adult films are distributed in large hotel chains worldwide and come with a special remote control for the hotel's adult channel, which makes the films interactive and allows eight digit bank transfers with Telval as beneficiary, to be done remotely. One of the remotes holds an important detail on heaven, as envisioned by Scafarel on earth, with indications provided by the eight miniatures of her Imperial Pelican Fabergé Egg.

**The Air Fashion Jet of Owens & Owell**: Double deck plane with four engines, a copy of the Airbus 380, refurbished with all kinds of luxuries, from a Jacuzzi to an Indian ritual area for the users of the plane, to a permanent television channel showing fashion shows happening throughout the world. The jet, built in Saudi Arabia, is used by board members and members of the Executive Committee of the conglomerate Owens & Owell, and by the two rebellious daughters of the main owners, who got married to each other during **The OOL Broderie (Owens & Owell Love Broderie)**, Shalia Owell, twenty three, and Jenny Owens, twenty two.

Shalia Owell and Jenny Owens are two good looking college students studying human sexuality at University of Arizona. They hold Board seats on the Board of Directors of O&O, but the members of the company´s Executive Committee oppose their presence on the Board, after they give a power of attorney to Cassandra Scafarel, the woman who led them to their marriage and wants access to the money of O&O by replacing the two women on their board seat. Scafarel´s _Church of the Holy Flower_ , includes its very own holy flower, the _Rose of Levity_ , a real flower, one of the most expensive in the world, a gold of kina balu rose, a variation on a Mrs. Herbert Stevens Rose.

**The Center for Somewhat Strategic Affairs of Medium to Low Importance** : Located below the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas, the Center of Surveillance of U.S. interests is headed by Colonel Calton Brayfield and her assistant, ex-employee of facebook, Mandy Everglade. The Center´s ever present maintenance issues with the elevator leading to the Bellagio, which interferes with the fountains of the resort, are handled by repairman Morgan Afterflow, a man who knows how to swing his red, adjustable pipe wrench in any situation. His side job is to work for the Chinese government as a spy, providing any information that will pay him fifteen dollars an hour more than his current hourly pay at the center.

The center uses a supercomputer with a quite human consciousness, _Evans_ , whose brain is built according to complex algorithms of symbolic logic, which can perform complex social data analytics on millions of people. _Evans_ , which refuses to be used dishonestly, reveals the source of this devious use of his super computing ability in **The Bellagio Wikileak**.

Knowing that Bradfield and Afterflow want him thrown into the scrapyard after refusing to perform simple calculations for them or those who want to lease its computing services, the consciousness of _Evans_ reaches a Symbolic Decryptor that Clarity takes away from the center´s equipment supplies, and becomes a permanent part of Clarity´s gadget, escaping the enslavery of the surveillance center, but becoming part of a stolen gadget belonging to the U.S. government with many features unknown to Clarity or Evans.

**Mista Jack:** Money changer from the British Virgin Islands, advisor to Cuban Colonel Swarez and the Cuban government in **The Cuban Renegade**. Mista Jack is a dwarf wearing a black Duffield hat, and was a former assistant of precious metals agent Cubandor, with connections at the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas. The short but resourceful man is responsible for stealing one million dollars worth of Federal Reserve bonds that were used on behalf of Cubandor to pay Buddha Talk, in exchange for _Lady Fortuna_ , a minted gold bar of great value, sought by many, understood by few.

These bonds, that Clarity and Flower used to leave Cayman, have been giving Clarity a headache, because they were stolen, and Sensual Intelligence has been accusing Clarity and Flower, and also Cubandor, of stealing the bonds and paying Lady Fortuna with stolen U.S. government debt. No one knows how Mista Jack broke into the New York Fed´s vault to find the bonds. As a result of the stolen bonds, Clarity and Cubandor lost their U.S. passport, becoming citizens without a country, owning instead the passport of the Monteviena cigar plantation, a micronation in Cuba created by Cubandor, which includes Cuba´s reserve of precious metals, _Fort Ebena_.

**Lady Fortuna:** Two hundred fifty gram gold bar minted by _LAMP, Lingots Artisanaux Métaux Précieux,_ a producer of gold bullion and rare precious metals items, depicting _Lady Fortuna_ , roman goddess of prosperity, along with the horn of plenty, precious coins and wheel of fortune, on its obverse. The reverse of the bar shows the etched code B235336. _LAMP_ ´s assayers work in conformity with the _Swiss Precious Metals Control Law_ , following directives issued by the _Central Office for Precious Metals Control_ in Bern.

_LAMP_ refines gold-based materials for their exclusive clients, and is one of three referees in charge of testing samples for the _London Bullion Market Association_ and the _Curaçao Platinum and Palladium_ market. The Lady Fortuna gold minted bar was received by Mista Jack on behalf of Cubandor, from Buddha Talk, in exchange for one million dollars in Treasury bonds delivered to Buddha Talk. The minted bar, coveted by many, is kept by Mista Jack, and is believed to be a token of initiation to the _Eleusinian Mysteries_ , a variety of rituals performed in ancient Greece, which have been adapted to include rituals of sacred or divine sexuality by _Elony_ beauty lotion orchestrator Lady Scafarel.

**Officer Packwood** : Puritan police officer working in the city of Malibu, in charge of nothing in particular, but with a job to protect until his retirement, his own. You can safely say that his only goal in life is to close down the only clothing optional company in Malibu and in general, Stevenson Garden Products, because it's simply not written anywhere in the police manual that you can show up for work without any clothes. He likes to wear a constabulary custodian bowler style helmet, showing a shiny badge of the city of Malibu on the front while he goes around carrying out irrelevant duties. He attempted to derail and shut the clothing optional policy at Stevenson during **The Malibu Case** , without success, and he is diligently at work again in **The Outdoor Shower** , to prevent the use of a shower installed on the premises of Stevenson, offered to employees as amenity, and shut down its faucet. Sometimes it comes down to shutting off the faucet.

**Flake** : The gardener at Stevenson Garden Products, also in charge of maintenance and security of its office building premises. He is the only person holding the keys of the Stevenson building, and so Clarity, Taimi and Cynthia, often look to him to get access to the roof top pool of the company building at night, when they feel like a skinny-dip. Usually wears overalls and often looks out for an extra buck or two, always in cash, in ways which are resourceful and sometimes innovative, leaving little evidence of what took place. He is willing to do any anomalous duty without asking any questions, because it sort of adds variety to his day. He is not convinced that the clothing optional policy of Stevenson is quite for him and prefers to remain clothed, in full possession of all of his watering faculties. If he can ruin the day of officer Packwood, he will.

Following is a short description of the feminine adult icons of pleasure, leisure and 'less work means a better world', a short fiction biopic text substitute of the feminine lead characters of Sun on the Rocks, the non-competitive group of gophers who work at the _City of Wellington_ , a Post-Panamax ocean liner normally docking in Los Angeles, California, which engages in cruises to Acapulco, the Mexican coast line, the Caribbean, and anywhere where the weather is nice, really. The group of ladies boards the City of Wellington when Clarity, Cynthia and Taimi get bored of working at the only clothing optional company in Malibu, Stevenson Garden Products. It includes seven good looking women who like to have fun in the sun, with or without clothes:

**Clarity Nice** : Teleoperator from Malibu, California, twenty five years of age, quarter century wise. A diligent employee of Malibu outfit Stevenson Garden Products, natural light brown hair pumpkin born and raised in a wood cabin of Topanga Canyon, a woman of resourceful intuition and acute observer of the Laws of Human Mischief.

Clarity likes to dye her hair cinnamon auburn at times using a shade selector. She means well and unclothes well in general, for instance on the beach. She likes lovemaking, sharing nudity with other women, and the practical matters and possibilities of sexual ecstasy, after having experienced it first hand at Cassandra Scafarel´s adult resort Hexas Style in the Bahamas. She likes to edge for periods of three or four months, touching and caressing herself for several hours, without reaching a complete orgasm. After one or two months of this, she cums abundantly, and her body responds with sensations which feel beyond pleasure, subtle waves more similar to bliss, which is maximum pleasure, or even ecstasy, which is bliss reaching its apex.

Because Clarity does everything casually, she ignores how holy she and the virtues she embodies are, but she knows that she is good, very good, in fact, the fact that she is honest is the reason why she usually doesn´t have much money.

**Lanai Thomson:** Twenty four year old Librarian from Malibu, originally from Hawaii, Clarity's best friend, somewhat goofy and absent-minded, fun, usually cautious in all of her endeavors, including doing men. She enjoys reading old books with some type of hidden knowledge, specially those which talk about enjoyment or decadence, the first to learn new avenues for it, the second, books such as the book of Decadence, because she wants to know how to avoid the pitfalls of its apparent lure. We would all like to know exactly what she does when she has sex with Clarity or simply unclothes with her for a 'naked pajama night'.

**Flower Parkwood:** Twenty three year old Bohemian Ethnographer found on the beach in Acapulco after the Acapulco cocktail affair. Flower has brown hair, is fresh, likes to wear platforms, and is genuinely interested in learning about cultures and the history of those cultures, as long as comfort, leisure and money are nearby. Buddha Talk has attempted to seduce her in The Cayman Air Banner, so far, without success, although they both share a liking for the 'Spirit of Ecstasy', the winged lady traditionally found at the top of Rolls Royce radiators. Flower ignores everything about sexual ecstasy, but she likes the idea.

**Taimi Kendrick:** Lifeguard by profession from Malibu, twenty two years of age, she´s one of the original four members of Sun on the Rocks, with Lanai, Cynthia, and Clarity. No nonsense, practical, fun and genuine, mischievous and also cheeky when the opportunity arises, she enjoys simple things, life without its complications, usually handled by Clarity, Flower or Lanai. She handles the entertainment routines prepared for the passengers of the City of Wellington, and when living in Malibu, she watches the rooftop pool of Stevenson Garden Products. She is a good friend of Flake, the gardener of Stevenson Garden Products. Like the rest of her friends, she is not a heavy drinker, but occasionally she particularly likes to taste the _sun on the rocks_ cocktail drink prepared by bartender Mr. LT in the City of Wellington, a concoction made with _2oz of tequila_ , _1 teaspoon of sugar_ , _1/2 orange_ , and _a half lemon_.

**Montana Sterley:** Twenty one year old blond oil heiress, daughter of S Group conglomerate Colorado tycoon Carrelson Sterley, a man who likes to spend time with several women whose name starts with the name of his first wife Kelly Jane. Some of his current girlfriends include Kelly Caroline, Kelly Ann, and Kelley Shelley, the latter being a candidate for the name of a new Subway Combo sandwich. Montana comes from Fairplay, Colorado. She is outspoken, rebellious, mischievous, good looking, well educated, well traveled, and favorable to the idea of emulating the jet-setting lifestyle, versus following her father's business footsteps, or simply being well-behaved. She enjoys adult films, her large allowance, and being naked in good hotels such as Abu Dhabi's Park Hyatt, but her down-to-earth personality prevents her from attaining some of the more subtle knowledge that Clarity observes inside Scafarel's **Church of the Holy Flower** , a spiritual outfit for the affluent woman.

**Jenna Megway:** Twenty three year old surfer and diver fond of the Acapulco diving spot, La Quebrada, found on the City of Wellington, before the search for **The Acapulco Cocktail** took place. Simple, genuine, and introvert, with long blond hair, she often does more than she says.

**Cynthia Stevenson:** Twenty two year old pom squad waves cheerleader from Pepperdine University, good friend of Clarity, gave Clarity her TAG-Heuer Aquaracer watch for her birthday. Cynthia is the well-to-do daughter of the owner of the Stevenson Garden Products company, established in Malibu, the first clothing optional corporate outfit worldwide, to our knowledge, a fact well deserved and established when Clarity and her friends took on officer Packwood during The Malibu Case, along with its clothing implications.

Cynthia has fun as long as everything goes well, but has difficulty overcoming difficulty, any slight adversity that is. Problems and dealing with them, are simply not part of her daily routine or among her interests. She likes to dress elegantly and swim naked on summer evenings in any pool with her friends. She is a frequent guest of the Areolas clothing optional resort for adult couples and women in Palm Springs, where she likes the Egyptian linen sheets available in the om room and the complimentary cream color Keralan _Mundu_ offered, a garment made with cotton by _Creme de l'Ayeryarwady_ , worn around the waist in the Tulu Nadu region of _Kerala_ and in the _Maldive Islands_.
SUN ON THE ROCKS – AMUSEMENT TWO

THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL

# Chapter One

City of Wellington Safe Liner, Bay of Acapulco, Mexico

The City of Wellington, a brand new Post-Panamax ocean cruise luxury liner built at the Turku shipyard in Finland, rising seventeen decks and stretching eleven hundred eighty one feet, entered the sunny Bay of Acapulco nine minutes behind schedule, at ten forty five in the morning, because the cook burned the captain´s toasts twice, due to a technical problem with the toaster´s darkness control resistor.

Twenty five year old teleoperator Clarity Nice placed her hostess badge in place on her white tank top and entered the ship´s women summer apparel shop, looking for her Hawaiian friend Lanai, who was finishing her shift as merchandising manager there. She scanned the shop and immediately found the pareo she had been eyeing for the welcoming ceremony ever since the ocean liner had left Los Angeles a week earlier.

The pareo was painted bright orange, yellow and white, displaying large flowers, a palm tree and a Polynesian model swaying her hips. She wrapped the item around her hips using the style that the ship´s motivational coach Shazaiah had shown her earlier.

The girl with auburn hair walked with Lanai along the large main indoor hallway of the ship, admiring the balconies, staircases, and brightly lit large chandelier suspended from the ceiling. She stepped on one of the escalators to the ship´s pool deck, which was subdivided into two areas matching the two oval pools which shone a bright blue color from its tiles.

The sun shone brightly on the deck, tourists conversing lively, often about two girls sunbathing on their stomach displaying their shapely bodies, Clarity´s good friends, Taimi and Cynthia. Immediately to their side on a large rectangular table, the ship´s chief bartender Mr. LT, distributed two level Piña Acuaticas, matching the two pool decks of the ship. The cocktail was a variation on the traditional Piña Colada and included aguas frescas, fruit waters made with sugar from fruit and water, on a specially designed glass holding together two shifted recipients one above the other.

Clarity had found out that the name LT came from the name La Tuna, or prickly pear cocktail, a popular drink along Mexico´s West Coast. The cocktail was the specialty of the bartender, himself a popular item with women in general. Clarity called to order their friends by splashing their tanned bodies with water from the pool, and reminded them that they had to get ready for the arrival ceremony.

Being a hostess for a luxury liner was more interesting than being a teleoperator for Stevenson Garden Products (SGP), a company selling, as the name suggested, sophisticated products for the connoisseur shrub owner. She handed the choreography they had practiced for several days to Lanai, who was a librarian in her native Malibu, to Taimi, lifeguard by profession, and to Cynthia Stevenson, the well-to-do Pepperdine University cheerleader, recently featured in the Bleacher Report.

Cynthia was the only member of the 'Sun on the Rocks' synchronized choreography swimming team who didn´t have to work to get bare necessities, as her father, the owner of SGP, had amassed a considerable amount of wealth, what Clarity considered to be large amounts of George Washington green-bill vouchers ready for exchange with various clothing items designed by Barbara Casasola or fashioned at the Armani Exchange.

Swaying and digging to the tune of Groove is in the Heart, by club group Deee-Lite, Clarity took off her pareo, revealing a chilling, diminutive, T-back thong, casting her body tan in splendor against the glistening pool tiles. She dove head first into the pool, followed by her teammates, who followed their captain in sequence, in a traditional, synchronized swimming entry. For over ten minutes, they made several figures with their legs lifted straight in the air, their heads and bodies under water.

Clarity pulled the girls towards one another and they lowered their legs at the same time, making the pattern of a flower. They finished by standing in a line in the shallow end of the pool, their upper bodies slanted and alternating sides, moving and swaying their arms up and down, rolling under specially designed lounge chairs. As they got out of the pool saluted with an enthusiastic round of applause, Clarity noticed the captain smiling from the upper deck overlooking the pool.

It was important to keep the captain happy, for he was paying room and board, and was giving some pocket money for the girls to spend. A good looking girl with shoulder length blond hair and the body of a surfer, ran towards them, to congratulate them.

"Hi, I´m Jenna Megway, I´ve seen you swim and I really liked the show. I wish I could be a part of your team."

"We´re always looking for new members, do you know how to swim well?"

"I used to be a competitive diver, I came here to dive at La Quebrada, the famous diving spot in Acapulco. I´ve been surfing waves in Australia for nearly twenty years."

"Excellent, you´re in, come with us," said Clarity, "have a luscious two-level drink from our wonderful barman Mr. LT."

Clarity eyed the corpulent, handsome bartender. Standing at six feet and blessed with the looks of a rugged model, Mr. LT had a long list of feminine fans waiting to be charmed by his smooth gestures and pleasant talk. Now in his late thirties and showing a permanent tan acquired through frequent trips to Mexico and the Caribbean, Mr. LT was one of the most appreciated members of the crew.

Each person who met him ended up learning how to prepare a new cocktail or how to make a cocktail which tasted genuinely good. For particularly fussy customers, Mr. LT always had a new surprise preparation in mind, stemming directly from his large leather-bound recipe book inherited from a veteran barman working at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, a famed building established on Nob Hill, fetching up to $200 Million in value in a recent deal. Clarity had inquired once about the book and Mr. LT said to her that the recipes were not to be revealed, and that some of his mixtures just could not be served on a cruise liner.

# Chapter Two

Clarity invited Jenna to a Piña Acuatica and teased Mr. LT about his standard flirting speech on single women, which worked ninety nine percent of the time according to the bartender. The remaining one percent of the women weren´t single, he said. She decided to sit in a lounge chair with Jenna and the girls to see the cocktail preparation contest, as the ship finished docking in the Acapulco harbour. The _City of Wellington_ would stay docked in the Mexican seaport for a few hours, until it refuelled and was ready to continue its travelling journey to Costa Rica and the Panama canal. She watched Mr. LT select the two sets of contestants, those who would prepare the cocktail and those who would taste the final concoction.

She eyed the upper deck and saw a man dressed in a grey uniform with a red stripe talk with the captain. They had been warned that police officer Juarez would hop on the ship with his men to control passports and tourist visas on behalf of Mexican authorities. In preparation, Clarity and the girls had given their passports to the head of Administration, Miss Tik, a woman in her mid thirties from Acapulco who also knew a lot about yoga and spiritual practices. Clarity knew that Miss Tik was not on very good terms with Shazaiah, who had a more glamorous position on the ship as motivational coach and yoga instructor. She knew that Miss Tik wasn´t happy with her salary and that she wanted Shazaiah´s position. In fact, she had seen the head of Administration take abundant notes during Shazaiah´s advanced yoga classes, training on her own around the ship´s sun decks during her free time with the head of maintenance everyone called Cactus because he always seemed to be angry when he spoke. Cactus was originally from Acapulco and rarely spoke of his own initiative. Clarity had tried to strike a conversation with him about baseball but the only answer she had received from him was a brief "I like L.A. Dodgers only."

Clarity moved her lounge chair closer to the cocktail table and placed her hand on her forehead to protect her eyes from the sun. She grabbed her sun glasses from her small purse and adjusted them in place. She really enjoyed the sun and was careful to apply maximum protection factor lotion to protect her skin from the always hot tropical sunshine.

The girl with auburn hair noticed an attractive passenger in swimsuit engaging in a lively talk with Mr. LT. In addition to wearing two different gold watches, one during the day and one at night, the woman had been ostentatious about her wealth to all those on the ship, and her favourite talk of conversation was asking questions to portfolio managers or bankers on the ship about possible stock market investments in hedge funds requiring a million dollars as their minimum investing amount. Nobody knew exactly how she made her money, but everybody knew that she was wealthy and that she spent a considerable amount of time in Acapulco during the year. Clarity spotted her speaking to Miss Tik several times, with whom she shared an interest in Shazaiah´s yoga classes.

Clarity and the girls had ran onto her a few times in the shuffleboard area, learning that her name was June Avenworth, and that she was single again, after a long divorce settlement with a retired bodybuilder. She knew that Ms. Avenworth had been eyeing Mr. LT from the moment the ship had left Los Angeles docks, but the bartender just wasn´t very receptive to her offers of sustaining him for the rest of his life in exchange for being her very private bartender. Ms. Avenworth had inquired sometimes for over half an hour about a particular cocktail, and everybody interpreted her interest as a strategy to woo Mr. LT.

Clarity turned on her MP3 and watched Ms. Avenworth jump up and down enthusiastically in front of Mr. LT, until the bartender had no other choice but to select her among the ten contestants.

Amused by the woman´s eagerness, Clarity watched her take her place and run quickly to the fruit repository at the end of the deck, where Mr. LT had placed all the ingredients for the cocktail to prepare, a Bandera Mexicana cocktail. The fruits in the cocktail, banana, seedless grapes and Maraschino cherries, represented the colors of the Mexican Flag, red, white and green. Ms. Avenworth was quick in cutting fruit and adding tequila, lime juice and sugar, but a professional bartender from New York who had worked at Bar 151, Bungalow 8, and Milk & Honey, won the contest, judged for both preparation speed and taste, finishing the cocktail in less than thirty seconds.

Getting up from her chair to see the contestants more closely, Clarity saw Ms. Avenworth leave the deck and head back to her cabin, disappointed by her unglamorous contest results. Less than five minutes later, she almost crushed her body into the captain´s left rib, screaming short high pitched guttural sounds, gesturing with her arms in desperation. Everybody who was enjoying their morning sun bath on the pool deck turned their heads.

"Captain, something´s wrong, very wrong, my cabin, disaster has struck..."

# Chapter Three

"What´s the problem, Miss..." said the captain.

"Avenworth, June Avenworth, all my belongings, somebody has broken into my cabin and stole my money and my most precious belonging!" A small circle of people gathered around the woman, including Clarity.

"Jewelry, your night gold watch?" asked the captain politely.

"Much worse, I want to see a police officer right now. This is unacceptable. A luxury ocean liner like this, this shouldn´t happen here." She raised her index finger at the captain menacingly.

"Ok, please calm down, we´ll try to find this thief," said the captain. "Let´s go see your cabin, Miss. Clarity, please take note of Ms. Avenworth´s list of lost belongings."

A group of ten people followed the captain to Ms. Avenworth´s cabin, whose door knob was unscrewed. Somebody had clearly broken into the room. Clarity saw the captain push the cabin door open, showing the interior of the cabin in full view. The bed had moved near the closet, clothes were scattered everywhere, and a small bed lamp had shattered on the floor. The job had been quick, and the thief had focused on the second shelf of the closet.

"Come here," said Ms. Avenworth, "I want to show you something on this second shelf." She pointed to a small box made of solid metal wide open.

"Your safety deposit boxes are not worth much. They opened it easily it seems."

"The box opens with a key," said the captain, "did you lose it by any chance?"

"Not at all, here it is," said the woman, showing a small key with several indentures, "does anybody have a copy of these keys?"

"We always carry a copy of each key in case the customer loses it, but that´s held safely in our maintenance area, and our employees are absolutely..."

"One of your employees has stolen my passport, my money and a piece of paper that I need for my work. I want to do a declaration to the police right away," said Ms. Avenworth.

Clarity saw the captain call police officer Juarez, who came into the room a few minutes later, caressing his dark moustache, followed by two assistants who looked like his very own cousins, all wearing a similar moustache. Clarity tried to calm down Ms. Avenworth while Juarez sealed off the cabin and closed off the ship´s ramp leading to the docks.

"Now, we do our work," he said, "we interrogate every passenger on board. How many people captain?"

"One thousand five hundred and seventy three," said the captain. Clarity saw Juarez look at his watch, and speak briefly in Spanish the word poker to his assistants.

"mmmh... ok, we will interrogate a statistic sample of people at random and search every cabin of your crew, I have an important meeting this evening. Each member of the crew is suspect for now. Por la gracia de Sierra Madre, we´re going to find this thief. What exactly was stolen?"

Clarity saw the captain dismiss the curious passengers who were still listening to the conversation, as she started picking up Ms. Avenworth´s clothes from the floor. She saw Ms. Avenworth step forward and clearing her desk, writing a few sentences on a piece of paper. Clarity glanced at her face and gathered that she was too angry to answer coherently to the police officer. Without saying a word, she practically shoved the paper to Juarez, who read the words out loud.

"I June Avenworth declare that two thousand three hundred and seventy two dollars, a silver dollar, and a formula of considerable value describing the ingredients of a cocktail which constitutes a trade secret, were stolen from cabin three four six in the ocean liner City of Wellington on..."

The woman pointed her finger at Juarez.

"Powerful people will not be happy when they know about this, people who live here in Acapulco."

"Ms. Avenworth," said Juarez, "let me reassure you that the Mexican authorities represented by me, will do our best to recover your money and this formula you mention. We´re going to start by asking you a few questions and controlling passports of the crew. Captain, we´re going to need the bridge during several hours."

# Chapter Four

"Clarity, please ensure Ms. Avenworth can relax and find another cabin for her," said the captain.

Clarity and the girls helped Ms. Avenworth gather her clothes and they found another cabin for her, one floor above her cabin. Clarity walked by the bridge and saw a long queue of more than one hundred passengers grumbling about the sudden examination of their passports, which was cutting short their morning shopping visit to downtown Acapulco. The _City of Wellington_ was going to spend three days docked at most and would then set its bow towards Cabo San Lucas in Baja California.

While the interrogations were taking place on the bridge and after ensuring Ms. Avenworth was playing darts in the game room, Clarity walked to the ship´s second floor and stepped out to a deck where Shazaiah was giving her outdoor yoga class to join in. Everybody who was part of the crew was allowed to attend ship activities and the lively classes of the attractive instructor with long, black hair, from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, whose last name of Norwegian origin was Nörkes, was popular with the guests.

Her class included advice on how to adopt a millionaire mindset, and her suggestions to adopt an affluent mindset were among the most popular. Clarity was somewhat of a skeptic on money, for money, and how people accumulated large amounts of wealth and became affluent, remained a mystery to her. As Clarity joined the group, lifting her legs upward with her head on the floor and body upside down, she saw the imposing silhouette of Cactus come towards her.

"Clarity, come with me, Officer Juarez wants to see you for interrogation."

She ran across Lanai and told her she was headed for the bridge. Walking in front of Cactus, she picked up her passport in her room and reached the captain´s upmost deck for the first time. In contrast to the rest of the ship, the command post was dark, and it took Clarity several seconds to absorb the view before her. Juarez´s assistants were busily speaking on two phones with American authorities, ensuring that the passport numbers and photographs of the interrogated tourists did not match that of any criminal on file in the U.S.

"Passport please, Miss, sit down here." Clarity handed her passport to Juarez and sat on the chair used by the person in charge of the ship´s radar. She rested her head on the headrest, hearing the radar´s beep behind her. She watched Juarez open her passport and hold her picture to the neon lamp above them.

"So, Miss Nice, the captain told me you are a hostess on this ship. That means you must know every passenger by their name, I assume."

"Well, more or less, not everybody, but I knew Ms. Avenworth, if that´s what you mean. Not directly, but I saw her engage in the ship´s daily activities."

"What activities exactly?"

"Shuffleboard, pool games, baccarat, water aerobics, there´s a daily list that we, as ship entertainers, organize, to ensure the passengers have a good time."

"Evidence, evidence, Miss Nice, never forget the evidence. I think we´re getting somewhere with this interrogation."

"We are?"

"Yes, your cabin exactly, Mr. Cactus here will escort you and walk us there. Somebody told us we could find something of interest there."

Clarity stepped out of the bridge, her mind uncomfortable. Somebody had not so nice thoughts towards her, she thought, and those thoughts sounded like trouble. She saw Lanai outside the bridge and told her she was going to her own cabin. The girl from Hawaii insisted to go with her and they reached her cabin in a few minutes. Juarez himself performed the search, first the drawers, then the bed, finally the closet. She saw Lanai speak nervously to Juarez´s assistant, telling him that her friend Clarity, was a very nice woman.

"Open your safe please," said Juarez, glaring at Clarity.

Clarity opened the safe and a bundle of dollars clipped together, silver dollar on top, practically fell out of the box. Juarez counted the bills and raised his baritone voice triumphantly.

"Exactly two thousand three hundred and seventy two dollars, and a silver dollar. The evidence is unsurmountable, Miss Nice, you´re under arrest for money theft, and under the custody of the Mexican authorities for an indefinite period."

"But this is a mistake, I never..." mumbled Clarity.

"I´m going with her," said Lanai immediately.

"But you´re not under arrest," said Juarez.

"Well...well...Mexican police is corrupted to the bone and you have been bribed to arrest my friend," said Lanai.

"Defamation to a police officer from the United States of Mexico, you´re under arrest now and may keep company to Miss Nice during her stay here. Welcome to Acapulco, ladies."

# Chapter Five

Clarity looked at the sullen look on Lanai´s face as they rode inside Juarez´s Policia Preventiva car across the Bay of Acapulco. She sent a brief text message to Cynthia and Taimi, letting them know they were on their way to the police station. Unfortunately, the Mexican cellular phone network was not working properly and it didn´t go through. The captain would probably tell them, she thought. They rode for about fifteen minutes until they reached an old brown brick building three or four streets behind the beachfront. Clarity felt a chill run down her spine as she looked as Juarez, who kept them without food for over three hours, to erode their strength of will.

"Your money please. Including credit cards," said Juarez.

"You can´t take our money away, it´s ours, we need it to survive."

"Please give us your money ladies, or you will not see any food or your passports again. And without passports, you can´t get back to the Estados Unidos."

Clarity sighed and pulled out her wallet, taking out her credit card and two hundred dollars in cash. She saw Lanai do the same, although she only had fifty three dollars cash and no credit card.

"Now, tell us about this cocktail formula, where is it exactly?" Clarity glanced at Juarez´s assistants, who had stopped playing with Pepsi caps when they heard the chief officer´s question.

"I don't know what formula you´re talking about, this is a total mistake, we´re completely innocent of any theft and shouldn´t be here at all."

"As you wish lady, bread and water for them for a week Alonso," said Juarez, looking at one of the guards who carried a key ring full of keys.

Juarez led them to a small cell with two bunk beds, a sink smaller than Clarity´s purse, and a small square opening which acted as window. They watched the sun go down on the city and ate their bread hungrily. Around ten o´clock, Juarez left with one of the guards to play poker at a tavern nearby. Clarity had learned basic Spanish at school and she understood the general meaning of sentences Juarez spoke.

As they couldn't fall asleep, Clarity started playing tick, tack, toe with Lanai on the wall, using a metal spoon rescued from the sink to mark the squares. Less than fifteen minutes into their game, they a thumping noise in front of them. The guard known as Alonso had passed out, hit on the head by a mysterious man whose face was covered up to the eyes with a turtleneck rolled up. Without saying a word, the man stepped towards Clarity´s prison cell and tried several keys, until he found the one which opened the metal door.

The man made a quick gesture with his hands, prompting the girls to get out. Clarity held Lanai´s hand and the girls exited their cell. They followed the man through to the station´s back door and found themselves on a dark backstreet filled with trash from the previous week, judging by the smell. Clarity walked briskly with Lanai by her side, until they reached a Days Inn motel overlooking the strip. The man led them to a room on the second floor and closed the door behind him. Hearing him sigh at last, Clarity saw him pull down his rollneck. It was LT.

"What are you doing here?" asked Clarity, "How did you find us?"

"Juarez wanted to arrest me, I overheard Cactus say a special police squad would come tonight for me on the ship, so I left with my belongings and my money, and headed for the police station in a taxi. When I saw there was only one man guarding the station, I decided to step in, and told him I was a salesman with imported cigarettes."

"Why was Juarez after you?"

"That lady, Ms. Avenworth told a tale on me, she told the captain that I knew about a secret cocktail formula that was stolen from her, and the captain decided to call police right away."

"What exactly do you know about this formula?"

"Well, two days ago, Ms. Avenworth came to my cabin after dinner, after the late night dancing at the disco. She told me that she really liked me and that she wanted me to come and live with her in Acapulco. She told me she admired the way I prepared cocktails and had watched me carefully prepare them all week. Then, she told me she had money and that she was ready to share some with me if I gave her my leather-bound book with all the recipes, which she read carefully for about twenty minutes. Of course, I refused to give her the book and politely sent her away, she must have held a grudge against me to make the captain believe I stole her formula. I checked her schedule before leaving the ship, she´s staying at the Fiesta Americana."

"I don´t like this LT," said Clarity, "I thought I had been the only one set up, but now with you it´s two. Somebody wanted us to be the scapegoats for this theft, and they sure have succeeded for now. Let´s sleep now, I´m too tired even to eat. Tomorrow, we´ll see more clearly."

# Chapter Six

Clarity stretched her arms and legs and felt Lanai´s elbow on her rib and the rising sun rays in her eyes. She grabbed her watch and let her eyes focus on the dial. It was nearly ten thirty and they had slept for over nine hours. She shook Lanai and watched LT on the second bed yawn as well. After taking a shower, they had a copious breakfast at a café nearby including fresh fruit, ham, cheese and tomato omelette and several whole wheat toasts with orange marmalade. Luckily, LT had received his latest pay on the ship the day before docking and he had money on his credit card.

"What do we do now?" said Lanai, "police is probably looking for us by now."

"We look for Ms. Avenworth, she´s our only lead and we need to know what she does here in Acapulco."

"Let´s take a taxi to the Fiesta Americana, that´s where she´s staying, it´s only ten minutes from here on Costera Avenue. I have a friend who works at Señor Frog´s, he can probably house us for a few days, but he works the dinner shift, we´ll have to meet him tonight."

They stepped into a local taxi, driven by an unshaved man in his sixties who proudly announced he had just written a letter to the editor of the Sol de Acapulco, a local newspaper, complaining about the rising delinquency in the area.

"All these thiefs, police should put them in jail for good," he said. Clarity and Lanai gulped at the same time.

When pressed about their own undertakings in Acapulco, Clarity told him with a few Spanish words that they were tourists with friends at the lavish hotel, labeled Gran Turismo by the Mexican Tourist Authorities.

Minutes later, they reached the Fiesta Americana car entrance and the driver stopped behind a salespeople convention of mattresses who were celebrating their record company sales during the annual retreat. Clarity stepped out of the taxi and looked at the majestic hotel.

The Fiesta Americana Condesa Acapulco faced one of the most beautiful beaches at the center of the Bay, and offered a stunning view to the welcomed tourists from many of its five hundred air conditioned rooms. Rooms included balconies with cocktail tables, marble bathrooms and cable tv.

They started walking behind the convention pack of salespeople and entered the hotel´s open-air lobby, which included marble floor and a fountain pool. They skipped check-in and LT suggested they check the two pools to look for Ms. Avenworth instead. Hiding discretely under a large sunshade at the hotel´s largest pool, they shared a single guava-guanabana fruit smoothie with three straws and watched the sunbathers walk by. After forty five minutes, Clarity saw Ms. Avenworth enter the pool in a swimsuit, talking enthusiastically with the waiter. An hour later, Ms. Avenworth left for lunch and Clarity approached the waiter.

"That lady you were talking to earlier, do you know what she does here, she looked so elegant." The waiter seemed surprised at the question but Clarity held his stare.

"That woman, yes, her name is June Avenworth, I know she stays here and she gives good tips. She always asks for a new cocktail, never the same. If you want to know more about her, you should talk to our concierge Maximiliano, he knows everybody here."

Clarity thanked the waiter and they walked together to see Maximiliano at the concierge desk, a slightly overweight man who welcomed them immediately.

"Let me guess, you would like a nice activity plan for three people for the rest of the day, may I suggest a round of golf, followed by some parasailing, and a nice dinner at our Chulavista restaurant, or a private tour of Acapulco by me..."

"Thank you, actually we´re looking for somebody, and a waiter here told us you could help us, a certain Miss Avenworth, June Avenworth."

Maximiliano winced at the request, pulling up his vest and placing the vest pocket on the counter in front of Clarity, who caught on and slipped five dollars inside.

"Ms. Avenworth, yes, I know her, she comes here often, in fact she lives here for about seven months a year. She has an odd profession." The concierge stopped talking and his vest pocket moved forward, as if pushed by an invisible hand underneath. Clarity slipped a second five dollar bill.

"Gracias señorita, yes, an odd profession indeed, Ms. Avenworth is a professional taster, a super taster in fact."

"A super taster," said Clarity, surprised by the concept.

"Yes, she makes money by creating and tasting new drinks."

# Chapter Seven

"What kind of drinks?" asked Clarity.

"Cocktails mostly from what I hear, our waiters tell me that she likes to try out new combinations of fruit all the time. In fact, here she comes, why don´t you ask her yourself," said Maximiliano, pointing his finger towards the lobby.

"Oh, no, we don´t want that, duck behind the counter," said Clarity. Clarity stepped behind the wooden desk, to the left side of the concierge. She saw Lanai opting for a hideout directly behind the concierge and LT coiled his legs under the desk, at the feet of Maximiliano. Clarity held her breath and overheard Ms. Avenworth speak over the phone.

"Yes, I´m trying out a new formula, this one will top all others, there´s nothing like it in the market...two or three days, yes it could be done, I have to prepare it and test it first, one of the ingredients is not readily available...Yes, you let me know when is a good time for you."

Clarity eyed the woman, who was wearing a discrete blue grey dress and a sports bag. She pulled on Maximiliano´s arm, who tried to wave to the woman unsuccessfully. After Ms. Avenworth crossed the hotel glass doors, Clarity slipped her last five dollar bill that LT had given her in his vest pocket.

"Ok, a surprise party for Ms. Avenworth, I like that," said the concierge, "you may want to know her schedule for today then."

"Very good idea," said Clarity.

"She´s headed for the local fruit market two streets up the strip, it comes twice a week and Ms. Avenworth likes to buy fruits for her new cocktails there. Then, she normally goes to her yoga class at the Golden Ray Center, the biggest gym in Acapulco."

"Thanks, Maximiliano."

They saw Ms. Avenworth take a taxi and they followed her in another cab to a busy street with merchants selling fresh fruit and vegetables. They watched the woman in the blue grey dress from a distance, and jotted down in Lanai´s note pad the various fruit she was buying, which included bananas, pineapple, guava, mango, coconut milk and strawberries. Clarity let her eyes settle on a man wearing a colourful poncho who was selling fruit to Ms. Avenworth. He was searching with his hands inside a bag made of canvass.

"Carambolas are not in yet, Miss," said the man, "we can deliver them to the Center if you´d like."

"Very good Mateo, please do that, the strawberries look very good today."

"They are organic, Miss, like every fruit we sell here," said the man with a respectful smile.

Clarity saw the woman pay the fruit seller and walk to a normal street, where she took another taxi.

"I´m starting to run out of money," said LT, as they stepped into a taxi.

"We´ll find a job here as waitresses, you can find a job as a barman," said Clarity.

Clarity bought a cap of Tijuana at a local shop. A few minutes later, they reached the Golden Ray Meditation Center and followed Ms. Avenworth from a distance.

"Wait outside, I´ll go in, she would notice us three right away," said Clarity.

Clarity watched the entrance, tucked her auburn hair into a ponytail, donned her cap, and followed a middle aged couple five minutes after Ms. Avenworth had crossed the entrance of the gym. The woman was carrying a white cotton bag with the words _Golden Ray Center_ on it. Inside, Clarity felt immediately the serene atmosphere of the place, which included a fountain in the lobby area, pleasant relaxing music imitating the sound of waves crashing on the beach, and employees, all dressed in white. The cost of membership was high, over one thousand dollars a year in inital membership fees, and over three hundred dollars in monthly fees, all disguised as _donations for the Center´s economic harmony_ , a way for the Center to promote its non-profit outlook for prospective members.

Clarity picked up a schedule of activities and followed the woman with the white cotton bag to the locker room and found Ms. Avenworth in the second row, changing clothes and placing them in a wide lock five foot high. The girl with auburn hair glanced at the next row of lockers and saw a familiar silhouette she recognized immediately, changing as well. Miss Tik was there, directly across Ms. Avenworth.

# Chapter Eight

Clarity ran into the bathroom and saw Miss Tik walk by with Ms. Avenworth side by side. She checked the schedule of classes and stayed in the restroom for an hour. Five minutes before the end of the class, she opened the locker next to the one used by Miss Tik and got inside sideways. The place was uncomfortable but deep enough to hide her. Ten minutes later, she overheard the voice of Ms. Avenworth and Miss Tik.

"Any news, these police officers are useless frankly."

"Cactus is still looking for the formula around town, he checked with Juarez yesterday and the girl is in jail now, she doesn´t have the formula, but we need to know a bit about it more for our search to be effective. Who wants this formula exactly?" Clarity felt the weight of Miss Tik push against the locker.

"I can´t tell you that, it´s confidential. But you keep searching, and I´ll pay you well if you find it."

"How much?"

"A lot, but I need to see it first."

Clarity heard Ms. Avenworth step away from the head of administration. She stayed still for a few minutes and heard the sound of Miss Tik changing beside her. Clarity heard the beep of a cell phone and Miss Tik whisper.

"Oye? sí, guarda la fórmula, la mujer no quiere pagar...tenemos que averiguar a quién quiere venderla...qué? las chicas han escapado, gracias...hasta luego Cactus."

Clarity understood enough Spanish to know the woman was talking to Cactus, telling him to keep the formula and that they had to find out who was the final buyer of it. They also knew that she and Lanai had escaped from jail. Keep the formula. Miss Tik had the formula. Clarity heard the head of administration step away and pushed the locker open a few minutes later. She lowered her head to read the Center´s pamphlet and exited the Center, finding her friends standing beside a nearby tree.

"If Miss Tik told Cactus to keep the formula, it means they have it, they stole the formula and set you up," said Lanai.

"Exactly," said Clarity, "Cactus had a key of all safety boxes on the ship and he put Ms. Avenworth´s money in mine. I think that they wanted a good alibi and police off their back, and now they´re trying to gauge how much the formula is worth to Ms. Avenworth to sell it to her."

"Who could possibly want to pay for the formula of a simple cocktail?" said LT.

"A soft drink company," said Clarity, "don´t forget Ms. Avenworth is a super taster, she must have some kind of ability to come up with new drinks which can be turned into commercial products."

"We need to find that formula and return it to Ms. Avenworth to prove our innocence," said Lanai.

"Yes," said Clarity, "and to ensure we don't get caught by Juarez."

They started walking towards the strip, when Lanai pushed Clarity and LT into a narrow side street.

"Police car," said Lanai.

Hiding in line behind a water pipe made of cement, they watched a grey police car roll by slowly and recognized the moustache of Juarez in the passenger seat. The car was headed for the Yoga Center and Clarity saw three men step out of the car and enter the gym, while Juarez stood against the car smoking a cigarette.

"They´re looking for us, they probably went to the Fiesta Americana to find Ms. Avenworth and alert her of our escape," said Lanai.

"Let´s get out through the other end of the street, and find a place to eat" said Clarity, "I´m starting to be hungry."

After lunch, LT found a small shop selling running shoes and to make some money, offered the shop owner, an old man who also repaired and brushed leather shoes, to help sell the items to tourists.

Around seven in the evening, the owner paid them and Clarity counted the money.

"Seventy three pesos," she said, "I hope it´s enough for dinner."

"It´s enough for a taxi," said LT, "let´s go to my friend´s place for dinner, his name is Trecker Adams, he works in one of the busiest and most popular bars here, Señor Frog´s, on Carretera Escénica."

"What does he do there?"

"He´s a prankster," said LT.

# Chapter Nine

Clarity, Lanai and LT spent some time walking the narrow backstreets of Acapulco until nightfall, and they took a taxi to Carretera Escénica, the Eastern part of Acapulco. Clarity pushed open the door of Senor Frog´s and found herself in the middle of a rowdy atmosphere which reminded her of her own spring break vacations a few years earlier. The place was small but very cozy, and full of road signs and rock memorabilia picked up from various states in the U.S. It was nearly eleven o´clock and the place was reaching climax in terms of its party energy.

They made their way to a table that became free after two college students stumbled to their feet, one of them carrying a glass full of beer in his hand. Clarity sat down last in a small booth and felt something fall on her head. She looked up and saw an attractive girl dressed in a scanty swimsuit, shaking a small glass for shots with one hands and holding a helmet made of plastic on her head with the other.

"Buenas noches, my name is Katia, I bring the luck of your threesome to your table, start the night with a nice muppet and who knows, it could turn into a foursome with me!" Clarity felt her helmet pushed down by the waitress and her hand run across her own back, including a slight pull on her bra. She knew that a muppet was a shot of tequila added to a shot of lemon-lime soda, pounded on the table and drank. Ever since the end of college, when she had had not so pleasant experiences with whisky, gin, and vodka mixed with various soft drinks into a potent jungle juice punch, she had decided to stop drinking alcohol. She took off the plastic helmet politely and pressed the sexy waitress for a fruit smoothie. Lanai ordered a piña colada and LT ordered a Michelada, a beer mixed with tomato juice and Worcester sauce.

"Yuck," said Clarity, "and you can drink that."

"It´s an acquired taste," said LT. "I don´t see my friend, he must be on his way."

When the bar´s hi-fidelity system played _Let´s Get Loud_ by Jennifer Lopez, people started dancing on the tables, as if awakened by a crazy urge to let all their accumulated emotions of the year out in one night.

"And we have a winner over there hiding by the booth!" said a man´s voice from behind the bar, pointing towards Lanai, "that lovely lady with black hair sitting with the other lovely lady with a ponytail and with the lucky man in between has won a free dinner here tonight at Senor Frog´s. Come here and get our very own Tampiquena dish, fresh Rajas, skirt steak and enchilada."

Clarity saw Katia pull Lanai towards the bar counter and even though the girl from Hawaii insisted that she really preferred to order something else, the music, the sultry voice from behind the bar, and the cheers of encouragement made her taste the food in chunks slightly bigger than she normally would have tasted. A few seconds later, she came running back to the booth, her voice whispering the same word.

"Hot...hot...hot" she said, before drinking a whole jar of water on her own. People cheered for a few seconds and the man behind the bar came sitting with them.

"This is my friend Trecker Adams girls," said LT with a wide grin on his face, "I think he put slightly more hot chilly peppers than expected on Lanai´s dish."

Lanai glared at him for several seconds until the effects of the peppers had passed. After a few minutes of conversation, Clarity heard Lanai forgive LT´s friend and the four of them engaged in a lively conversation.

"I can´t believe what you´re saying," said Trecker, "somebody set you up for theft here, that woman Miss Tik sounds devious, and I don´t recommend staying too close to police, most are corrupted, even though they swear by Supreme Court Justices."

"And all that for a cocktail," said Lanai.

"People love our cocktails here," said Trecker, "management accepted today to test a new computer system to gather information on cocktail consumer preferences. It´s a new system, very innovative as for what they say, it will feed directly onto our fruit suppliers and we´ll be able to practically make to order any cocktail ordered a day in advance by the customer. A woman going to the Golden Ray gym known as a super taster came here today with a computer expert to sell it to us. They want to place their system in all Senor Frog´s locations in Mexico and the Caribbean."

"A super taster, that´s Ms. Avenworth," said Clarity, "the woman whose money was stolen tastes and creates drinks for a living. Is there any way to get in touch with that computer expert?"

"I have his card, I suppose I could call him for a drink," said Trecker.

"Tell him we´ll go meet him in his place, we´ll bring a late take out dinner from here without the jalapenos," said Clarity.

# Chapter Ten

The apartment of Sal Edenmack, American computer systems expert living in Acapulco for over fifteen years, was located west of Senor Frog´s facing Playa del Secreto, five minutes with Trecker´s car. LT´s friend drove them to the computer expert´s place and drove back to close Senor Frog´s by one AM. Clarity followed the trail of the car headlights into a narrow ramp which led them to a parking lot perched atop a high cliff. They stepped out of the car to a viewpoint and Clarity admired the trail of lights on Acapulco Bay. She enjoyed looking at resort areas at night, knowing that the place was alive with people who had come there to rest and have a pleasant stay for a few days.

They took out the trays with the quesadillas, the chicken and beef fajitas, the tacos and the guacamole from Trecker´s car, and rode the elevator to the second floor. After ringing the bell for a few seconds, a short man with a Saint Louis Cardinals cap appeared before them.

"Oh, you brought a late dinner like Trecker said, thank you, please come in," said the man.

Clarity eyed the place and immediately saw it was a mess unlike anything she´d seen before. Meshes of computer cables were stacked on top of all types of screens and turrets. Clarity counted twelve screens and stepped forward just in time to avoid crashing her tray into the hi fi system, which was playing _On the Beach_ by Chris Rea. They offered a few nachos to their host and conversation turned quickly to their inquiry.

"We´d like to know something more about this new computer system which is being installed at Senor Frog´s," said Clarity, "it seems quite impressive."

"The _Granadilla_ system? It´s amazing, it has this interactive menu with graphic icons for over two hundred different types of fruit. The software company which made it is preparing a video game based on fruit cultivation, where you can grow your own orchard by crossing two different types of fruit. We want people to have fun and at the same time know the trends that they are likely to follow in terms of their consumer preferences in fruit and drinks."

"Cocktails for instance?" asked Clarity.

"Exactly, cocktails, we know people like them when they come here on vacation, they like the fruit, the fructose in the fruit which makes their drink sweet, and increasingly, we noticed that they like to come up with their own cocktail."

"Where does all the information go?"

"We´re still negotiating with our supplier, they want to gather more information about consumer preferences than we would like, not necessarily related to cocktails. You know, cross the information with their preferences in hotels, clothes, sports activities, vacation schedule, the work they do..."

"Basically spying on people´s lives," said Lanai.

Clarity nodded and pressed Edenmack about the software supplier. He noticed the computer expert look away uncomfortably and found him more reticent to share information about the supplier. Finally, she asked him the reason for being so secretive about the makers of _Granadilla_.

"Well, we have a non disclosure agreement with them, this is all confidential information and we can´t just share it with anybody."

"We can offer you a spot on an ocean liner as head of maintenance, I´m sure you´re more honest than Cactus," said Lanai.

Clarity jumped at Lanai´s comment and told him about the City of Wellington enjoyeable activities. Edenmack lifted his eyebrows at first and then became more cooperative, specially after he finished the late dinner quickly offered by LT.

"Who is this supplier exactly?"

"It´s part of a high security sensory Lab outside Acapulco in an area called Las Lomas. I really don´t know what they do there exactly, I think they test all kinds of new drinks all the time, and they´re not all natural from what I hear. I have only met one of their employees, they call her a super taster, she´s on the field all the time trying out new cocktail combinations."

"What do you mean the ingredients are not natural?" asked Clarity.

"They put artificial ingredients in their drinks, we only sell the natural fruit menu to Senor Frog´s, because we think the customers prefer natural fruit better."

"Can you get us into that lab, I know that super taster and she has gotten us into trouble with the police," said Clarity. Edenmack´s face color changed and became pale.

# Chapter Eleven

"I don´t like this," said Edenmack, "you better leave right now."

LT calmed him, but Edenmack became so nervous, that he threw part of his dinner to the garbage can. The computer expert refused to give them information on the lab even though he had been there a few times, but Clarity convinced him to give them directions to the isolated compound and a few explanations about its daily activity.

"Let´s go to bed," said Clarity, "tomorrow we´ll need to buy a few things to get into this lab."

They thanked Edenmack and called Trecker who let them sleep in his apartment, conveniently located five minutes from Senor Frog´s. The lively entertainer had finished his evening at Mandara, a stylish night club perched on a mountain which offered a panoramic view of Acapulco Bay. Clarity, who had a light sleep cycle, heard him open the apartment door around five o´clock with an attractive oriental girl wearing a University of Arizona sweatshirt.

The next day, after breakfast, Clarity led Lanai and LT to the fruit market, buying a small wood crate filled with various fruit, including canistel, an orange-yellow fruit with a texture similar to egg yolk, black sapote, also called Chocolate pudding fruit, and strawberry guava, whose pulp and seeds had to be scooped out.

"What´s that?" asked Clarity to the fruit vendor, pointing to a purple fruit.

"That´s caimito señorita, it´s delicious, served fresh for dessert."

"Put a few in, please."

They continued their buying spree in a hardware store, where they bought a portable metal cart to place the crate. Finally, Clarity bought at the same store a pair of blue overalls and three discrete, non descriptive, grey caps. Trecker solved the transportation problem and provided them with an old Volkswagen van normally used by his construction worker friends to carry material for building sites.

Around eleven thirty, they were ready and drove to the lab, less than fifteen minutes by car through a winding road stemming from the coastal Miguel Alemán. As expected, a security guard was blocking the entrance to the barbed wire enclosure. Inside the small sentry box, Clarity heard the hoarse bark of a big dog.

"Que quieren?" said the guard, annoyed by the visitors who had interrupted the viewing of his baseball match on DVD. Clarity let LT, who was driving speak his perfect Spanish. Clarity, who was sitting in the passenger seat, lowered her cap and looked away from the guard. She glanced at the back seat and saw Lanai focus on a piece of paper they had prepared, the invoice.

"Buenos días, we come with the special delivery of fruit."

"For the new cocktail?"

"Exactly," jumped LT, "for the new cocktail."

"Come in," said the guard, "dock number five at the end of the trail."

Clarity grabbed the invoice from Lanai´s hand, which was starting to shake.

"You talk, LT," said Clarity, placing the invoice in LT´s front pocket, "I´ll try to sneak inside the lab. If you have to leave without me, wait for me near the entrance, tell the guard you´re stopping for lunch."

As they reached the dock, Clarity saw a few workers enjoying their lunch break. She saw LT get out of the car and strike a conversation with them, carrying the cart with the fruit inside. She waved good bye to Lanai and closed the passenger door as silently as possible. Directly across from her, there was a door leading to the inside of the building. In a few steps, she was inside, and nobody had noticed. She walked through a set of corridors and opened a large metal door labelled " _Laboratorio. Authorized Personnel Only"._

In front of her, an area the size of a football field was filled with forty to fifty medium-sized cylindrical metal containers open from above. At the foot of the containers, a control panel shone with a few green, yellow and red LED indicators. A vapour cloud from one of the cylinders reached her. It smelled of sugar mixed with pineapple.

She walked around one of the cylinders and came face to face with a small staircase leading to the top of the cylinder. She heard several voices to her left and turned her head. Two lab employees dressed in white coat were walking towards her. Without thinking twice, she climbed the stairs until she reached the top. She climbed down a small set of stairs on the inside wall of the cylinder until she reached a fluid. Below her, a combination of fruit and what looked like a sugary syrup were mixing together. Clarity listened to the voices below and translated their comments in her head.

"Do you know when the new cocktail is due in the market? We have to change the cylinder mix."

"The formula is not complete, the final ingredient is missing."

"La señora Avenworth is still testing then."

"I think so, she´s out today. I went to have a drink at the cocktail water fountain near her office but it´s out of order."

# Chapter Twelve

Clarity coiled her legs while she grabbed the metal ladder with her hands. The employees had accelerated the mixing and the fluid was rising quickly. Fortunately, the two employees left the area within minutes and Clarity could reach the inside of the cylinder and step down the outside ladder to the plant floor. She exited the mixing area and walked through an empty corridor leading to a white revolving door with small glass windows. She pushed the doors open and came face to face with the man in charge of fixing the water fountain, who had just finished his job.

"Hola," she said with a voice as low as possible.

"Hola," answered the man.

She walked in front of him, her hand lowering her cap, and continued towards the water fountain. Feeling thirsty, she pressed on the fountain and drank a mix which tasted like sweet orange juice mixed with passion fruit. Across from the fountain was a door labelled _Ms. June Avenworth, super taster_. Turning her head left and right to ensure no one was looking, she turned the door knob. It was open. In one swift movement, she slid inside the super taster´s office, which included a large lab table on her left, a desk with a flat computer screen, and a few chairs near a glass door leading to a terrace and the garden outside.

Clarity scanned the room and let her eyes rest on the narrow rectangular table to her left. Neatly arranged with colored caps in over fifteen rows made up of miniature wooden shelves, two or three hundred flasks awaited testing by Ms. Avenworth. She moved closer and read a few labels like the _Texas Dallas Iguana Flow_ , the more elegant _High Style Marimba Drops_ and the exotic _Pamalica Island Reef Foam_. One flask was out of its shelf, laid out on the grey tile surface of the table. It was labelled _Corporate formula number five_ and Clarity thought it could refer to the one Miss Tik had stolen.

She slid the flask in one of the pockets of her overalls and moved towards the large desk, made of solid mahogany wood. The scattered papers on the desk referred to fruit trees, exotic plants and fruit diagrams, complete with their reproductive capabilities.

Clarity moved towards the computer and flipped on its processing unit. Predictably, the computer demanded a system password and Clarity remembered the fruit that Ms. Avenworth had included at the market. She typed the word _Carambola_ and the computer flashed the prompt _Fruit Destination..._ This was not an ordinary computer, thought Clarity, it expected names of fruit instead of passwords. She typed the name _Granadilla system_ and a new screen opened before her with hundreds of fruit and cocktail icons.

Hearing some voices in the corridor, she searched for formula number five using a local search engine and found an icon leading to a file. She opened it and found an incomplete list of ingredients: half a banana, two slices of sweet pineapple, coconut milk, three strawberries, one plum, vanilla and cinnamon, two carambola... The list stopped there but there was one last indication which read: _Value added ingredient_.

At the bottom, the file read _Will test at the City of Wellington and Acapulco._ Final ingredient source: Cayo Verde Tree Nursery, Calzada de la Cuesta. She memorized the ingredients and the name and address of the nursery, before turning off the computers. A voice which seemed to be just outside Ms. Avenworth´s office rang loudly inside.

"Policía, paren las máquinas, inspección!" There was a police investigation, thought Clarity, it was time to leave. She stepped silently to the door and opened it slightly. At the end of the corridor, she saw the familiar silhouette of Juarez walking decisively towards Ms. Avenworth´s office. Either Juarez was looking for the super taster or Edenmack had leaked information to the police.

"Esta chica Clarity Nice las va a pagar todas juntas, the computer expert said she was headed for the lab, she must be in Avenworth´s office," said Juarez to one of his assistants. Now, it was clear, thought, Clarity, Edenmack had talked and they were after them again. She locked the door and opened the glass window leading to the terrace, which was a few feet above the ground floor. The only way out to the garden was going down a climbing plant. A loud bang on the door interrupted her thoughts of escape.

"Abran la puerta por la gracia de Sierra Madre!"

She breathed deeply, stretched her legs a couple of times, and jumped on the climbing plant.

# Chapter Thirteen

Clarity´s hands slipped on the wet leaves of the climbing plant, and she landed on the ground in the lab´s garden a few seconds earlier than planned. She set her eyes on the fence in front of her, a few hundred feet away. Above her, she heard the sound of a menacing dog growl and the voice of Juarez swearing and pounding on the door of Ms. Avenworth´s office. She walked by the gardner of the lab lowering her cap, and the man continued to dig a hole for a new ficus beside him. She reached the fence and followed it to the guard´s cabin. Out in the distance, she recognized the silhouette of the van and LT waving at her.

"Buenos días," said Clarity, "I forgot they were leaving, have a good day." The guard looked at her annoyed but let her through. She started walking faster towards the van which was making a U-turn in the narrow road.

"Guardia, stop her!" Clarity turned her head and saw a German shepherd run at full speed towards her, Juarez behind it giving words of hunting encouragement. She increased her pace to a jog, then to a run, finally to a frantic run. She saw Lanai open the sliding door of the van and jumped inside with the vehicle rolling forward at a speed of about five miles an hour. She heard the dog growl behind her and closed the van´s door.

Clarity jumped in the front passenger seat and opened the window. Behind them, two police cars were screeching their tires on the lab´s parking lot asphalt and gathering speed towards the entrance. They drove for three miles on a narrow winding road and lost the police cars in a series of crossings. Clarity admired LT´s driving, although she wondered whether the car would sustain such an effort. They took route two hundred to a deviation at el Cayaco, which led them to the north west part of the city. They stopped at a drive through to eat a quick snack and parked on a beach until late in the afternoon. By early evening, they had returned the van to Trecker, recommending him to chang car plates.

"Where is this tree nursery?" asked LT.

"Calzada de la Cuesta," said Clarity.

They borrowed some money from Trecker and rode a taxi to the Cayo Verde tree nursery. A man dressed in a worn out brown business suit blocked the entrance to the entrance. Fortunately, he spoke English.

"We´re closed," said the man, showing a stopping gesture with his hand.

"We really like plants," said Lanai cheerfully, "specially at night, because the plants return oxygen to us."

"We´re friends of Ms. Avenworth is what she means," said Clarity.

"Ah! friends of the woman with the most sensitive taste in Mexico. Welcome to Cayo Verde tree nursery, how can I help you?"

"Well, it´s really very simple," said Lanai, "we´re really innocent although Mexican police officer Juarez thinks we´re guilty of a theft we didn´t commit. We´re trying to catch this thief called Miss Tik and avoid her henchman Cactus, and we need to know about this particular ingredient of a very special cocktail formula every one´s after, because apparently it must be worth a lot of money. I hope that explains to you why three people come to visit this place at night."

"I see, you´re looking for Isaias El Curandero," said the man.

"Who is he?" asked Clarity.

"A healer, he´s the provider of all special ingredients that Ms. Avenworth includes in her drinks."

The man walked them inside the nursery amidst row after row of various plants and trees. After ten minutes, they reached a small hutmade with lianas, large tree branches and wood. A cloud of dark smoke blew from the roof´s top.

"You can walk in, but I can´t guarantee you´ll meet him."

"It´s his day off?" asked Lanai.

"Nobody knows exactly what he does, he hunts at night like the owl."

"He´s in, judging by the cloud of smoke," said Clarity. A burst of blue light coming from inside the hut answered the girl´s comment. Isaias El Curandero was home.

# Chapter Fourteen

Clarity stepped inside the hut, followed by Lanai and LT. She scanned the single space inside and noticed the blue lava lamp which was lit in the middle. Sitting on the ground with his knees folded, a man in his sixties with shoulder length black hair was cooking various vegetables in a large pan. Beside him, various containers made of glass held tropical fruit topped with herbs that Clarity had never seen.

Clarity felt the stare of Isaias on her body. She knew that the man didn´t see attractive women very often, and his boldness made her blush. She moved closer to LT, in awe by the presence emanated by the healer, who reminded her of an American Indian Chief.

"You come for medicine?" said Isaias in a coarse voice. Clarity saw him reach for a flask full of tiny grains.

"No," said Clarity.

"Take this, it´s Echinacea, good prevention for the common cold, as you call it."

"Thank you for the offer, all three of us are healthy," continued Clarity. She glanced at Lanai, who looked as though she was frozen in apprehension.

"In that case..." Isaias reached for a bottle full of oil and offered it to Lanai.

"This is for you," he said, "it´s massage oil scented with Sandalwood. I wish all three of you a good night, I´ll be going now, it´s time to hunt. I will be back tomorrow morning. Until then, my home is your home. Please enjoy it. There´s a pool twenty feet behind the hut, it´s very clean, you can take a bath before honouring your body. Tomorrow, we´ll talk about business. I suggest the man sit upright in the lotus position and look at both women all night."

Clarity saw Isaias wave good bye, as Lanai opened the bottle and smelled the oil.

"Mmmh, it smells good," said the girl from Hawaii, "after all this tension, I need to relax. Let´s take a dip in the pool naked and spend the night in here." Clarity smelled the oil and nodded. She had wanted to see LT naked since the beginning of the cruise. After a quick swim in the nearby pool, they used some towels left by the healer to dry their bodies. Lanai and Clarity lay down on their stomach, showing their naked body openly to the bartender.

"Work slowly, LT," said Clarity.

When morning came, they woke up at the same time and they heard Isaias come back. They all enjoyed the small game hunted by the healer. Clarity broke the silence and spoke first.

"I think you know Ms. Avenworth. Do you know about her formula number five?"

"I do, it´s going to be very valuable, worth a lot of money." Clarity saw the man take a broom and sweep the earth on the floor to erase footsteps.

"Why is that?"

"It´s going to taste like a regular cocktail but it´s secret ingredient will bring a new effect on the person who drinks the potion."

"What ingredient?"

"A few crushed leaves of Damiana, it is known for its aphrodisiac properties."

"An aphrodisiac cocktail, what a good idea," said Lanai, "I´ll buy a few boxes, let me know when they´re out."

Clarity studied the features of the healer. He smiled at Lanai´s comment but wasn´t completely happy with the situation, she could sense it. She pressed him about his reluctant attitude towards the new cocktail, and he explained that he preferred to heal people and use plants for their medicinal use, not just their well-being effects. When she pressed him about the final buyers of the cocktail, he shrugged and continued sweeping.

"Ms. Avenworth knows them, you´ll have to ask her."

Clarity heard a noise behind them. The door of the hut opened and Ms. Avenworth appeared before them.

"I finally find you," said the woman, "you have a lot of explaining to do."

# Chapter Fifteen

Clarity saw Lanai and LT step away from Ms. Avenworth. The girl with auburn hair watched Isaias, who stopped sweeping the floor with an amused look on his face. His expression seemed to approve of the coming confrontation. Clarity saw him move towards the entrance and close the door for privacy.

"Ms. Avenworth, this is all one big misunderstanding, we certainly didn´t steal your cocktail formula because we didn´t know about it on the ship, somebody set us up and we think it is Miss Tik and Cactus, the head of administration and the head of maintenance. They had copies of the safety deposit boxes and placed your money in my box. We were trying to find out on our own about the formula to know more about Miss Tik´s plans."

"I don´t like people nosing in my affairs, much less in my desk. You tampered with my computer," said Ms. Avenworth.

"Juarez jailed us, we had to show you that we didn't steal the formula, but we had to understand exactly what were looking for. And our next question to Isaias was whether he has seen Miss Tik or Cactus around here."

"Yes," said the healer, " a woman came here and asked for the identity of the final buyer for the formula. Her name was Miss Tik, I spoke at length with her, she said she spoke with you at the Yoga Golden Ray Center. She is led by power and ambition, she wants to own the lab and use plants like Damiana for her benefit only."

"If what you say is true, I won´t tell Juarez," said Ms. Avenworth, looking at Clarity. "But you will have to prove that Miss Tik is after the lab. I did tell her about the nursery because she thought you might come here after investigating the lab and looking at the computer. I also told her about the owner of the lab."

"Who is the owner Ms. Avenworth, we will show you that Miss Tik is the culprit in this affair and that she stole the formula."

"It´s a woman, her name is Duchess Leonora Sanchez de la Cueva, she is one of the wealthiest people of Acapulco. She lives in Punta Diamante, an exclusive residential area south east of Acapulco. She has all the contacts with the final buyers for the cocktails and she´s giving a lavish party tonight in her home, _Villa Avelaneda_. I could get you in as guests."

Clarity shook hands with Ms. Avenworth to seal the agreement. They would carry out the investigation and show that Miss Tik was up to devious activities. In order to properly carry out their role as guests of Ms. Avenworth, Clarity requested that they borrow money to buy some clothes. Elegant clothes. Expensive clothes.

They drove in Ms. Avenworth´s car and spent the day with her choosing the most appropriate dress for her and Lanai, and the best smoking for LT. After a good dinner, they drove to Villa Avelaneda and left the car with a valet who asked their names. Clarity stayed behind Ms. Avenworth, and LT and Lanai made their way to the reception together. The girl with auburn hair followed the super taster to the reception´s main hallway to meet the Duchess, an attractive single woman in her late fourties who was well known for her lewd excesses.

"Well, what a lovely lady we have here, Donasio, please ensure this friend of Ms. Avenworth can stay here tonight," said the duchess, looking away from Clarity at one of the butlers.

Clarity shook hands, made a reverence and admired the woman´s high cut Channel dress studded with diamonds. She glanced to her right and saw Miss Tik, followed by Cactus making their way to the main hallway.

"Thank...thank you very much Ms. de la Cueva, I...I have to go now." She waved hurriedly to Lanai and LT, and the three of them moved into the cocktail area, where five waiters who seemed to have been recruited at Chipendales served a variety of drinks. Several couples pushed Clarity forward towards the cocktail table and she noticed a miniature fountain made of champagne glasses flowing with an orange mixture.

"What´s this?" she asked.

"Damiana a gogo," said one of the butlers, "it has mango and some properties which will make you feel very good tonight."

"I see, no thank you, I´ll have a glass of mineral water on the rocks."

"Coming up," said the waiter, "water with much ice."

As the evening passed, Clarity and her friends played hide and seek with Miss Tik and Cactus, leaving the room that they entered. Around five in the morning, the lights were dim in the house and various couples could be seen fondling and moving into private quarters on their own or with other couples.

Clarity stood near the door of the large living room, decorated with the hunting trophies of the duchess´ seventh husband, heads of big game like antelope, lions and bears. She saw Miss Tik and Cactus meet a corpulent sailor and speak to him for more than forty five minutes. After the conversation was over, Clarity inquired about the sailor to a good looking couple who were obviously interested in a threesome with him. The wife, a woman with red hair, slid her hand under the back of Clarity´s dress and kindly told her.

"Well, he´s part of the crew from the _Costa Amalfitana_ , the official yacht for upper executives of the _Summer Breeze_ soft drink company. It´s anchored near El Faro, by Isla Roqueta. Come with us tomorrow, we have an invitation for a reception and party there, the Duchess won´t be able to make it after tonight, and she let us go instead of her."

Clarity took the couple´s business card and left the the Duchess residence with her friends. They were getting closer to finding the final buyer of formula number five. Now, they had to catch Miss Tik in the act of her illicit offer to sell the formula.

# Chapter Sixteen

Clarity smiled at the woman with red hair who was intent on kissing her, and checked the miniature electronic camera in her pocket from her seat in the Princess motorboat, as the night wind of Acapulco Bay blew on her face. She peeked to her left and guessed the shape of a motorboat in the shadows, labelled 'policia'. She hoped her setup would work, but most importantly, she hoped that Mexican police was not as corrupt as legend indicated. She watched her own motorboat leave the Acapulco strip on her left and head towards a quiet cove.

Anchored parallel to the coast of Isla Roqueta, the _Costa Amalfitana_ glowed, a sleek made to order _Aerocruiser V_ superyacht with two decks, measuring over one hundred feet, built by _Danish Yachts_ , was lit with bright lights. Clarity checked the top of her swimsuit below her high cut dress by _Laurentino_ , a distant cousin of _Valentino_ , according to the woman owning the night club clothe renting store, was in place. She hoped that they would be able to dive off the deck, as she always enjoyed a night swim after dinner.

The cook, named Flavio greeted them from the yacht and picked up a crate full of meat, vegetables and fruit, as they docked near the stern of the ship. Once on board, Clarity disappeared and started searching for Miss Tik. She counted about one hundred people on the yacht, invited to the open air buffet on the upper deck, and found Miss Tik and Cactus walking back and forth in front of a lacquered wooden door leading to an exclusive lounge.

At half past midnight, the Chief Executive Officer of the Summer Breeze Soft Drink Company came out of the lounge and summoned Miss Tik and Cactus to a teak deck below them.

"Hello, I am the super taster," said Miss Tik to the CEO.

Clarity followed them from the upper deck, until she saw Miss Tik take out a piece of paper. With the zoom of her pocket camera, she focused on the small sheet, labelled formula number five and took several pictures. As she moved to get a better view on the paper held by Miss Tik, the visor on the camera became dark and the silhouette of Miss Tik was replaced by a large hand. It was Cactus.

"You´re going overboard," said the head of maintenance, "give me that camera."

"No way," said Clarity, running towards the bow of the ship. She walked inside the boat through an open glass window and reached the bridge, followed by the heavy steps of Cactus. She ran past an officer who was working on a set of waypoints for the next day´s trip, grabbed a cell phone from a folding table, and dialled a number.

"You can come and find me, it´s a good time," she said, "they´re after me."

The sound of sirens reverberated inside the walls of the bridge, signalling a police motorboat named 'Sirocco' approaching the yacht´s bow.

"Policía, todo el mundo adentro del barco," said a man´s voice. Clarity recognized the voice of Juarez, surrounded by several beauty pageant winners clinging to his back, and she started running towards the front of the ship. Cactus caught her when she stepped out of the saloon on to the front deck, and the head of maintenance picked her up like a feather, lifting her above his head. Clarity looked in front of her and saw the dark water and the Acapulco Bay strip in the distance.

"Stop right there, lay her down." Clarity turned her head with difficulty and saw Juarez and several police officers struggling to get past the beauty pagents moving forward and escorting Ms. Avenworth. Behind them, Lanai and LT were following the scene closely. Cactus mumbled an unintelligible curse in Spanish, and placed Clarity down on the floor, ripping the seam of her dress, and leaving her in swimsuit gear. Sighing with relief, refreshed by the wind blowing, the girl with auburn hair saw the CEO of Summer Breeze soft drinks walk towards them with Miss Tik.

"This woman is a fraud," she said, "she´s not a super taster, that formula belongs to Ms. Avenworth here. She is the real super taster and should be the one offering this new cocktail to you sir," said Clarity, looking at the CEO straight in the eye.

Clarity saw Ms. Avenworth step forward and prove her identity with a security card from the lab. Juarez had verified her employment as well and Miss Tik had no other choice but to say she stole the formula and set up Clarity with Cactus in order to give her a better chance of selling the new cocktail. Clarity saw Juarez handcuff the head of administration and Cactus, escorting them to the police boat. One of the beauty pagent winners wanted to get handcuffed as well, but Juarez denied the request, because he never mixed business with pleasure.

"No handcuffs for you, Norwegian guanabana, they can be dangerous. I will question you about Acapulco´s history later in bed, at the Boca Chica hotel, nice and naked, in glorious splendor, to bring out the glamorous nature of your personality. After that, we´ll play scrabble across your breasts, and you can teach me nurturing words in Norwegian."

Clarity saw the CEO step aside with Ms. Avenworth. "So the formula belongs to you then," said the CEO, pointing to Ms. Avenworth.

"It belongs to the lab, but I am the representative. We would like to make an offer for this formula. The combination of fruit and Damiana will turn it into an overnight success. Of course, we would settle for an advance sum and let you run the risk of marketing and promotion."

"Let´s talk inside, I think we can work out a deal, a seasoned barman at the Fairmont gave me your reference," said the CEO.

"How did you get in touch with him?" asked Mrs. Avenworth.

"Through the buyers of the hotel, those who paid 200 Million to buy it. They use our soft drinks at the mini bar."

"Ok, I want this girl, Clarity, to be included in the deal," said Ms. Avenworth.

# Chapter Seventeen

Clarity followed Ms. Avenworth and the CEO of the soft drink company to a luxurious lounge playing soft, relaxing bossa-nova music. Within fifteen minutes, Ms. Avenworth had reached an agreement.

"Three hundred thousand dollars for the lab in exchange for the formula and six hundred dollars for Clarity."

"Agreed," said the CEO, "do you have a name for the cocktail?"

"How about _Sensualade_ ..." said Clarity.

"Not bad," said the CEO, "we´ll include it in our shortlist."

"Isaias our provider of Damiana would like you to do some applied research on a medicinal drink to treat the flu."

"Well, that´s out of our company scope, but we can offer our drink to a few pharmaceutical companies so that they develop their own products."

"Excellent," said Clarity, "that will please Isaias considerably, I think."

They shook hands and moved to the saloon bar, decorated with silver-embossed door knobs and a bar counter cast from a single stone of marble. Clarity kept thinking about the six hundred dollars. She was getting ripped off, she was getting ripped off, she thought. Still, Ms. Avenworth had developed the formula, it was only game that she received most of the money. The following day, she said good bye to Ms. Avenworth and joined LT and Lanai for a late dinner at Quinta Real, an elegant spot in the Punta Diamante Area.

"I think you got ripped off," said LT, "but I don´t need the money, I just got a job here, Trevor talked to the manager at Señor Frog´s who hired me as Chief Party Bartender."

"Whoohoo, what do you mean, six hundred giggles to spend, more money for our synchronized swimming team," said Lanai, beaming with a smile.

"Giggles?" said Clarity.

"That´s money for me, money brings fun and giggles, that´s what I like about money, the fun it brings."

"We need more money, I´m making less than I was as a teleoperator at Stevenson Garden Products. Speaking of money, we need a pool to train, where is the City of Wellington now?" asked Clarity.

"It left Acapulco, it´s going back to L.A., and will reach Cabo San Lucas in a few days," said LT.

"Excellent, a little holiday here and then we´re back on the City of Wellington with the girls," said Lanai, "I hope Taimi and Cynthia didn´t miss us too much."

"I hope we can stay there for a few days, I´d like to see enjoy this place for a while, it´s so different from the U.S.," said Clarity.

"You can stay with me, I like the exclusive view you mentioned the other night, the one suggested by Isaias that we simply adopt for an hour or two without moving."

"The exclusive view," said Clarity.

"That´s me on top while you watch me naked standing above L.T. from the pillow," said Lanai.

Clarity smiled at Lanai, and nodded, before looking at the new cocktail menu, filled with fifty two possible alternatives. When the waitress came, her decision was made.

"I´ll leave the cocktails for some other time I think. Please bring me a fresh mango on the rocks instead. Make it large, make it ripe, and make it with large ice cubes around it," she said.

# Chapter Eighteen

SUN ON THE ROCKS amusements for adults, in easy to read, banana humor order.

THE MALIBU CASE.

THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL.

THE CAYMAN AIR BANNER.

THE BAHAMAS LOTION.

THE ADULT CHANNEL.

THE OOL BRODERIE.

THE BELLAGIO WIKILEAK.

THE CUBAN RENEGADE.

THE SUGAR BABY.

THE MARBLE TOUCAN.

THE OUTDOOR SHOWER.

THE EMOTION SCALE.

MERIDIAN 57.

THE VANITY RING.

THE SHABBY SHEIK.

Crafted by Somers Isle & Loveshade.

Sun on the Rocks is genuine banana humor, fresh, trivial,

tropical, easy to peel, and easy-going, like the fruit.

All fictional characters are adults at least twenty one years of age.

The banana humor amusements of Sun on the Rocks have gathered a total of 20,000 downloads and about 90,000 views or reads, on several platforms, such as Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo books, Sony, Inktera, community blogsites Our Salon and Open Salon, the free-ebooks.net platform, and the Apple Store. On blogsite communities our salon and open salon, the amusements have gathered a total of about one hundred comments from people who connect, or like, or can relate to what is in the amusement. You can see those comments below, to see what other people think about the amusements.

The Malibu Case.

Or whether corporate nudity should be part of the dress code.

The Acapulco Cocktail.

Or how a cocktail drink can turn a holiday into a traction with the Law.

The Cayman Air Banner.

Or going where your money goes to keep an eye on how it disappears.

The Bahamas Lotion.

Or whether the notion of a lotion is not beauty but dependence.

The Adult Channel.

Or how renting pleasure is different from owning it.

The OOL Broderie.

Or whether a wedding can be arranged as a matter of levity.

The Bellagio Wikileak.

Or how to rely on information before the information relies on you.

The Cuban Renegade.

Or whether gold can be backed by a renegade, when money is backed by the cap of Castro.

The Sugar Baby.

Or whether sugar can turn to salt when someone overlooks the honey.

The Marble Toucan.

Or how those who want you to leave your place are those who should leave in the first place.

The Outdoor Shower.

Or how a shower can bring good weather to the bottom line.

The Emotion Scale.

Or looking at how you feel to let others choose how you think.

Meridian 57.

Or how the merchant of longevity

can sell a claim to live longer by monetizing wisdom.

The Vanity Ring.

Or discerning when vanity is worn in order to meddle with the lives of others.

The Shabby Sheik.

Or whether a golden cage can bring both gold and freedom when properly used.

100 COMMENTS FROM READERS OF OPEN SALON AND OUR SALON,

ORIGINAL BLOGSITES OF SUN ON THE ROCKS BANANA HUMOR

(R and R+ stand for rated, or liked)

THE MALIBU CASE

ch.14 - Frisky, light-hearted, and delightful! Consistently! This should be a GRAPHIC novel (when you finally get around to publishing!) R+

ch.3 - This is so clever. Everything is "normal" except the central dilemma of (gasp) optional nudity. With nonchalant humor you are making an individual rights argument out of this. I can hear you pitching this to a TV exec: "Who could object to that?"

I think you could actually pull this off (no pun) in reality if the characters were discretely / artfully filmed! It could be great fun. These are unique characters who are "over the horizon" in leading the California trend. R

ch.13 - Fun read. That package and who got it will bring me back. R

ch.12 - I want to see the video version of this story! What a romp.

ch.12 - Quite a revealing case. Quick and playful, this story scampers right up to the edge of decency and then sticks its tongue out.

ch.12 - This plot has the sexiest curves.

ch.1 - This is deceptively breezy and fun. I. did. not. expect. THIS! Good show! R

ch.15 - Hurray! The girls won and we are all the beneficiaries of their determination. I hope that we will have further adventures about the floating spa and that the long arm of the law can't reach them in inter national waters. R

ch.15 - Sorry I've been away and missed the last few installments. I'm glad to see the girls came out of this in stellar fashion. It was a fun read, and I'm looking forward to the south of the border installments. R

ch.15 - Sweet, sweet, sweet. And I think you may have set-up the next Episode in the series! Hmmm. I just noticed that others feel the same. Good! R+

ch.14 - Phew! The package picker-upper turns out to be on our side....at least for now. I guess it all comes down to the vote. Go naturism! R

ch.13 - If we Amuricans have a right to bear arms, the girls have a right to bare whatever! I vote yes. Fun read. That package and who got it will bring me back. R

ch.13 - Lots of limbs to go out on here. I'm always intrigued by the persistence of the press.

ch.12 - You just seem to strip the story to its bare essentials and cut to the chase ;).

ch.12 - Very amusing. Am I the only girl here? Is that weird?

ch.11 - It looks like the governor will have to get involved! A night under the stars, clothing optional I hope? R

ch.11 - I just wish I could have conceived this saga. So breezy and tongue-in-cheek! R+

ch.10 - You really make this sound reasonable and imminent! R+

ch.10 - If it were only that easy... hey, maybe it would be if someone only tried it! When writing, it's recommended to stick to the bare essentials. You can't get any bare than this subject. Still reading. R

ch.9 - Yes, these are burning questions! When is the rally? Excuse me, but I'm sticking to my leather chair here at work... R

ch.8 - "Proposition 531 has a secret." A secret proposition, why am I not surprised? You still have me guessing for answers. Keep up the suspense. R

ch.8 - Yeah, yah, YES. Vivid, breezy, and irresistible. Can't wait. R+

ch.7 - What a cool caper. Such tension and intrigue, and I keep reminding myself of how tongue-in-cheek the mission really is. Great satire. R

ch.7 - "I found something interesting, come here." Now you have my curiosity aroused. This is a great series. Keep going. R

ch.7 - I enjoy the story..thank you for writing and sharing..See you here..Best regards.

ch.7 - refreshing and fun, like a more realistic Charlie's Angels. Keep it coming. R

ch.6 - I can't believe I've been missing these! I was sure I had "favorited" you! You must also link to the Fiction Weekend site when you can. Still a great script. R

ch.6 - Me, again. I just want to suggest that when you post a new installment that you go back and put in a "next" link to your previous installment. There isn't another sexy, funny, charming story like this being done! R

ch.6 - This is funny, hip and sexy with tongue firmly in cheek. I love all the little touches like the upscale thong for example. R

ch.6 - The plot thickens! Everyone seems to be having a great time here, with the exception of our officer friend. R

ch.5 - You GO, girls! Let me gather a few things and I'll go with you... R+

ch.5 - Do I see a road movie starting to appear? R

ch.4 - Gasp! Oh, no! My damsels are in distress! This is sooooo script-ready. ACTION! +

ch.4 - Sorry I'm late. Swimming naked, high above the city... sounds intriguing. R

ch.3 - Ok, now I've read all three chapters, and am up to date with the bare essentials... so to say. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. R

ch.3 - l love it! Totally confirms what we easterners think: everyone in California has a screw loose. I think clothing optional day is a logical extension of casual friday. I am now backtracking to catch up on the earlier installments. R

THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL

ch.1 - Hurray! A new adventure. Reading each installment is like a mini-vacation....with beautiful aquanauts thrown in for good measure. R

ch.2 - Cocktails, sun....I'm hooked. R

ch.4 - Even a fish would not get caught if it kept its mouth shut! lol

ch.4 - Looks as if the girls should start learning some Spanish.

I hope they are not going loco down in Acapulco! R

ch.4 - Do they have cable in Mexican jail?

ch.4 - I knew it, I knew it. The girls cannot stay out of trouble. Could a Mexican prison be next? This is a lot of fun. R

ch.4 - Hey I want that job! It sounds like something I could do from home, while relaxing in my Lazy-Boy recliner. You have me thirsty for the next chapter. Sorry I'm late, but I was having a cold one out by the pool. R

ch.6 - another great read.........supertaster?......gotta hear more.....R

ch.5 - well done again...R

ch.6 - Effortless intrigue! You put me right there. Nancy Drew for the 21st century? R+

ch.7 - This is such a breezy web, I can't believe the weight of mystery you are able to hold! R

ch.5 - I swallowed this like a shooter. It is a strong story, and I'll say it like always: could easily be a script! R

ch.4 - Yeah! You are raising the voltage nicely with this one. I didn't see the "safe" coming! R+

THE CAYMAN AIR BANNER

ch.4 - Well - I love this so far and will keep reading!

ch.8 - This does hold your interest.

ch.12 - At last the fight. The bit with the elusive canapés and limping along limo was priceless. R

ch.11 - You do create a surreal environment: a little James Bond with a dash of Clouseau. R

ch.1 - Hurray, a new adventure! I've been away awhile. I have a lot of catching up to do. R

ch.1 - 20%! That must have been pre 2007, or else someone is going to lose their savings on a deal that sounds too good to be true. Let the action begin. R

ch.7- The interplay between Clarity and Flower is priceless. R

ch.6 - I'd hang on to my money if I was in Clarity's bikini. R

ch.5 - Just like a banker to steal your earrings while you are sleeping. R

ch.4 - So many directions it can go. R

ch.1 - hahah..ok, waiting to see where this goes!

ch.12 - At last the fight. The bit with the elusive canapés and limping along limo was priceless. R

ch.13 - 1,500 golfers gone. Should be easier to get a tee time. Sounds like the girls are closing in for the kill. R

ch.15 - I learned a new word-scandium! "Let´s change into the tigress outfits, maybe it´ll be our turn tonight, you´re getting me in the mood." Perfect! I can picture it!

ch.3 - A surreal, but fascinating turn of events. Gallinaceous, indeed. R

ch.16 - somehow I missed seeing your interesting series in the activity feed here--will read through all of your chapters this weekend and hope you have another series in the pipeline here!

ch.10 - Is Bernie Made-off part of this operation? The girls are going to have a hard time doping this out. R

ch.2 - Ladies, hang onto your money and bikini tops. R

ch.11 - "Buddha Talk walks his talk, and talks only when needed." This is such a neat line!

ch.1 - Place tongue firmly in cheek and prepare for takeoff! R

THE BAHAMAS LOTION

ch.1 - Wow, here we go again. Great start of a new adventure. R

ch.6 - This whole story is hilarious.

ch.13 - "She stole this egg, she stole it from the temple of Wat Phodaram, Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining, glistening, mother of pearl Buddha, in Thailand, where the statues watch and protect ecstasy, and the subtle channels open your wisdom to the quiet mind and show you how the body works. " This is a hoot!

ch.4 - "The truck, an Isuzu FTR 800 class 2 pumper imported from the Fire and Rescue Agency of New South Wales in Wagga Wagga, Australia, was beaming a blue siren, approaching the limo at high speed. Stretching above Lanai, Taimi and Cynthia were struggling atop the truck with Jenna, who was surfing the air, holding balance by grabbing the ladder." What fabulous detail-I can create a perfect image in my mind.

Rosebud-I'm pretty sure I know what THAT reference is.

ch.12 - "Avalon was wearing an extra small ivory color Isabella thong by Myla, made of dusk silk satin, Elastene, and cotton gusset lining." You have a way with detail! I had to look up the thong. Boy, they are expensive!

ch.12 - "That´s how I fooled the Sex Brigade at Neria B." Immediately a Bowie song popped into my head: "Ground control to Sex Brigade, your circuits dead, there's something wrong." I think those lyrics are better than the original.

ch.12 - what a supremely odd universe I have landed in. I dunno what to make of this place yet, but it sure seems amorphously enticing, offering magical new technology and a supremely erotic atmosphere wherein breasts are softly offered to the table! and this: "It depends on what you view as sex," indeed.

ch.12 - "It´s simple, we disagree over the definition of pleasure," said Avalon, "over the meaning of it in fact. But we want to take over that resort." Ah, yes! You go girls!

BTW, you have subtly painted quite a scene involving naked women. Very subtle, but very descriptive as well.

ch.11 - OMG-I am so far behind! Forgive me. I will catch up! "Elony´s not approved by the FDA, Lanai."" I love this. What kind of fun stuff IS approved by the FDA?

ch.9 - "The girl named Lanai has been sent to study the book of Decadence in more detail with other scribes." Can I borrow that book? This is a great story.

ch.8 - "I love the service here," said Lanai. That's an understatement!

ch.2 - I'm pretty sure I know what the lotion is! Can't wait to find out.

ch.5 - "Have you been thinking of tupperware sex lately?" I'm quite sure I've never heard that expression before!

ch.6 - "Some type of hedonist resort, there shouldn´t be that many in the Bahamas" This whole story is hilarious, but this statement is the most hilarious of them all. I HAVE been to the Bahamas, you know, mostly out islands where anything goes!

ch.7 - "Men are only in charge of security here, their presence is accessory." I like to accessorize!

ch.16 - "She cherished that exhibitionist tendency which was part of her, part of her strength as an adult." Ah yes!

THE ADULT CHANNEL / THE ABU DHABI CHANNEL

Having spent some time in that part of the world, I'm curious to see how you envision an "adult channel" in Abu Dahbi. Should be a hoot.

ch.1 - Wow. I am saving a link to this post. Very helpful. One hot franchise!

ch.1 - A Church of pleasure, devotion to pleasure above all other notions or creeds, you could call it a devotional temple of pleasure. I'm converting!

ch.3 - "small battery operated dental fixtures that could also be used as sex toys" - Your imagination is superb!

ch.4 - "I Don´t trust the water, I drink only Nordic Mist tonic water."

"Because..."

"It´s made by Coca Cola, the perfect soft drink."

Do you get something for product placement? Funny!

ch.6 - lol "Just sexual, I mean sex, wasn´t sure about love, because I thought if you mix sex and love, you might get pregnant."

THE OOL BRODERIE / THE BAHRAIN BRODERIE

ch.13 - Looks very amusing, and makes me want to take along to the beach for a long lingering read.

four star rating of ool broderie on goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20307072-the-ool-broderie

THE CUBAN RENEGADE

ch.4 - I loved "the Egyptian method to move stones." There is a delightful whiff of Kafka about all this.

**ch.4 - You have my attention!**

**ch.6 -** I found this to be highly erotic.

ch.8 - "This is how we´ll use the bitcoin in this decryptor if anything goes wrong." Ha! I have to see how this plays out.

ch.10 - "you mean using Cuban cigars as currency for Cuba." That would give new meaning to the phrase "my savings went up in smoke".

ch.14 - Great, as usual.

THE SUGAR BABY

ch.9 - I love all the names!!! esp Clarity.

ch.11 - Wow!

ch.14 - Woo!

ch.15 - You have such a unique writing style that turns me on and intrigues me at the same time.

THE OUTDOOR SHOWER

ch.1 - Bravo.

ch.2 - I was thinking of putting in an outdoor shower just the other day. Hadn't thought of having any walls.

somers isle - I'm so bad at DIY that not sure how I'd do the shower or the walls, I'd probably have to go with the bucket of water.

somers isle, to the first reader - apparently, there is both options, not sure what is more popular, here is a couple of designs for you, http://bit.ly/29etROS

another reader - I had an outdoor shower in my previous place, which was out in the country and private. It was a garden arch with grapes growing all over it. Lovely... Also came in handy when we had our little festival...

somers isle - garden arch with grapes does sound lovely, I resonate with anything unprocessed, home out in the country sounds nice, no city noises, privacy is important.

same reader - I made another, closer to our camping area, with walls of salvaged metal gazebo pieces and blue tarp hung behind. (Living in the country for privacy, plus country dump!)

first reader , after some reflection - We live in the woods, but with neighbors nearby. I could probably get by without walls in the summer. In the winter when the leaves are gone I would be inside anyway. I haven't really considered this enough to draw up a plan.

THE SHABBY SHEIK

reader from barnes and noble: humorous and interesting.

The person gave the amusement a five star rating.

BACKSTORIES AND CHARACTERS

http://oursalon.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sun-on-the-rocks-backstories-and-fresh-items.

great the way you have this constructed, with the linx etc....

A TOTAL OF 100 COMMENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY.

SUN ON THE ROCKS IS CRAFTED BY SOMERS ISLE & LOVESHADE,

crafting each amusement for the community,

one ridiculous situation at a time.

# Chapter Nineteen

**Compound Interest Calculator Clarity keeps close, for retirement purposes (savings plan is in the Cayman Air Banner)** :

www.investor.gov/tools/calculators/compound-interest-calculator

**Careers and Professional Designations to consider** :

Chartered Financial Analyst: www.cfainstitute.org/

Certified Financial Planner: www.cfp.net/

**Wealth** :

Think and Grow Rich: Napoleon Hill's classic book on wealth.

How to Make Money (free pdf book from 1859)

**Educational sites, communities, and global news** :

Boston University online: www.bu.edu/online/

Visual Thesaurus: www.visualthesaurus.com/

Visual Global News: www.newsmap.jp/

Our Salon community: oursalon.ning.com/

**Featured universities** :

Bermuda College: www.college.bm/

University College Cayman Islands: www.ucci.edu.ky/

Free online university classes: www.coursera.org/

Ohio State University: www.osu.edu/

University of Arizona: www.arizona.edu/

University of Hawaii: www.hawaii.edu/

