

Sun on the Rocks – The Cuban Renegade

Smashwords Edition.

© Copyright 2014 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':

It's a breezy, easy to peel humor read for adults, specializing in the trivial pursuit. These pleasant fictional amusements with a nonchalant overtone of humor, follow 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.

You can read the summary and backstories below to follow the amusement and become familiar with some of the characters. The summary below is probably enough to follow the amusement, without having to read other ones.

The Cuban Renegade: Clarity and her contact from the Bellagio resort (see the Bellagio Wikileak), Cuban precious metals agent Cubandor, fly back to Cuba with Cubandor´s girlfriend Paige Malkem. As they fly over Cuban skies, the control tower of Havana airport forbids the landing of their plane in Cuba, due to several pending investigations in the U.S. involving Cubandor´s Bellagio account and Clarity´s involvement with the U.S. treasury bonds of Buddha Talk.

Cubandor ignores the control tower warning and heads for Cuba in his private fishing boat which picks him up off the coast of a small island in the Bahamas where he lands his learjet. When they all reach the northern island of Cayo Coco in Cuba, a group of revolutionary security guards dressed in military uniform, men known locally as Marrulleros, arrest Cubandor, Clarity and Paige in the name of a new revolution that their boss, Colonel Swarez da Silva, is carrying out in Cuba, one which he hopes, will lead him to power. All of the assets of Cubandor, including his cigar plantation and precious metals vault, Fort Ebena, have been frozen. Cubandor is labeled a renegade in Cuba, having betrayed the principles of the original revolution carried out by Castro, and Clarity, officially arrested for bringing her symbolic decryptor illegally into Cuba heads with him for a prison known as La Vista.
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 EIGHT

THE CUBAN RENEGADE

# Chapter One

On a fishing boat Near the Northern coastline of Cuba

Looking over the covered top deck of the ' _Azur Loba_ ' fishing boat of fisherman Herwis Orozco Barahona, Clarity looked closely at the paper printed out a few days earlier inside the Pink go-go learjet of sex goddess Penelope Avalon, where she had enjoyed the company of the twenty nine year old girlfriend of her recent contact at the Bellagio, Cubandor, a woman known as Cigarette, who enjoyed being naked on the plane, like her.

The paper was a brief message that Cubandor had given her after taking the learjet out of Las Vegas into the island of Grand Inagua, in the Bahamas, instead of Cuba, their genuine destination. The text was a short communication sent by the Havana control tower, denying permission to Pink go-go to land at Havana airport.

Pink go-go had been denied permission to land in Havana, because, cuban authorities had verified that several of the passengers flying on the pink plane, were being investigated by U.S. authorities. Because of the problems with flying to Cuba, Cubandor had left the plane at Matthew airport in Inagua, and they were taking a fishing boat to Cuba instead. Clarity sighed, remembering she didn´t have her passport anymore, the U.S. passport that Money Fact had briefly provided. That was slightly unsettling, but it was probably better to travel incognito to a place like Cuba, the less people knew they were going there with someone like Cubandor, a man difficult to read, the better. She saw Cubandor walking towards her, and she showed him the printout.

"What do you really do in Cuba and in a place like the Bellagio? You´re not just a gambler like you said, are you? The cuban government wouldn´t bother sending this just because of a gambler." Cubandor grabbed one of the rails on the deck, eyeing Clarity. His girlfriend Cigarette, whose real name was Paige Malkem, of Lithuanian origin, walked up the stairs of the deck and nodded permission to reveal his real professional role.

"I´m a precious metals agent for the cuban government, carrying out most delicate, or large scale, or special transactions in Cuba, transactions often involving precious metals. Come with me."

Cubandor moved towards the console of the boat, filled with gauges made by Beede Mumba, indicating temperature, fuel, speed and RPM (revolutions per minute) of the engine. He snapped open the oil gauge which pivoted on a small hinge, taking out a narrow, long, moister-proof, opaque, telescoping tube made of PVC plastic. Inside was a chart indicating the names and chemical symbols of various precious metals, along with their uses.

Clarity recognized the names of the obvious metals, gold and silver. Even platinum, she had heard before. But some of the metals were new to her, she didn´t know of them, much less that they were precious metals, rare metals, or metals in demand for some reason. These included palladium, rhodium, iridium, or ruthenium, used in various applications, like environmental catalysts, electronic components, fuel cells, jewellery, watch cases, or glass. Other applications were labelled confidential. Cubandor folded the chart inside the tube, sliding the tube inside the opening left by the open gauge.

"Why did you decide to come with us, instead of staying with your friends?"

"You said you knew about the cayman bonds of Buddha Talk."

"The bonds were stolen before Buddha Talk received them, that you know already, but they were stolen from the Federal Reserve. Somebody placed them in my safe at the Bellagio before sending them in exchange for the gold bar of Lady Fortuna."

"But that never happened," said Clarity, "you never got Lady Fortuna."

"No, the exchange which should have happened, didn´t happen. Someone has this bar today, and owes me at least one million dollars. Not withstanding the code of this bar, which is priceless."

"Who do you think wants you out of Cuba?"

"Many want my job, many more want the precious metals I trade. In fact, I´d like to make sure they´re safe, can you show me your decryptor, please?"

Clarity took her cream color symbolic decryptor found at the Bellagio Center for Somewhat Strategic Issues and pressed on the alpha key, a key that depicted the letter a of the Thai alphabet. This button, she had observed, turned on the consciousness of Evans, the symbolic computer consciousness developed at the Bellagio Center, a consciousness derived from a chess-playing machine called Crafty, a descendent of Cray Blitz, portable.

Evans had been developed with the intention of creating a machine that would make strategic decisions in simplified military operations, capable of translating languages from one to the other, able to navigate through logical deduction, and also able to bring various symbolic meanings, ancient or new, usually hidden, to the surface. The decryptor included a single bitcoin from the manufacturer, Pentatone Learning Systems, and Cubandor had tweaked the functional use of it to protect a place that he called Fort Ebena.

"The bitcoin-operated tumbler of Fort Ebena isn´t working anymore, the vault is stuck, the logic of the bitcoin which is in the decryptor has changed."

"What´s Fort Ebena?"

"The place where I store the precious metals I trade, it´s somewhere in Cuba."

"Cuba is a poor country, how do you buy all these precious metals?"

"They are given as payment in exchange for shellfish, tobacco, fruit and a few less precious metals, nickel and cobalt, which Cuba exports." Cubandor checked the workings of the bitcoin.

"It´s your decryptor, it´s preventing access to the bitcoin´s private key by engaging in a sort of written discourse on the difference between money, which is a store of value, and currency, which is medium of exchange."

"Yeah, Evans can be like that, it´s pretty sensitive about money issues, I imagine you see Fort Ebena as a store of value, a place where you would store something like gold?"

"Yes, but the metals in it are used as currency well, as payment in exchange for goods exported by Cuba."

"That may be the problem, it´s confusing Evans, there´s a money issue and a trade issue, it can´t deal with both of them. Did you tell it your real name?"

"No, I don´t like using my real name." Clarity took out his business card, which said Alfonso Heymun y Perez-Carrillo.

"If I use your real name, I´ll be able to help you," said Clarity. Paige stepped forward, taking a closer look at the business card.

"This is the name he gives to strangers he meets at the Bellagio. His real name is Armando Jouexer Vera Tafil," said Paige, "it´s a nice name, I think he should use it more often. The Jouexer family is well known in Cuba, it has a long tradition of trading, he followed the family tradition."

The captain of the fishing boat, Herwis Orozco, a man in his sixties showing dark skin seasoned for years by the tropical sun, walked up the stairs and told them they were reaching their destination in Cuba, a resort in the island of Cayo Coco called _Priotel Roystonea_ , north of the island of Cuba.

Clarity took the decryptor and turned it off. She heard the anchor of the boat hired by Cubandor hit the water. The fishing boat stopped the engines and lifted a small rowing boat from the ship´s in-floor compartment at the stern. Paige took Clarity´s hand and showed her to the boat. The good looking mixologist from the Marquee nightclub in Las Vegas boarded as well, before Cubandor, who boarded last, with two wooden oars. Clarity shared one oar with Paige and Cubandor rowed with the other towards the morning sun and the beachfront.

"So no one knows we´re in Cuba?" asked Clarity.

"Nobody, this is a tourist area, I rent a room in one of the resorts year-round, we´ll get lost among the crowd."

"And then?"

"I need to make some calls and meet some people to know what´s happening. Something changed here in Cuba while I was at the Bellagio in Vegas."

Cubandor pulled the boat to the beach and they stepped on the white sand of Cayo Coco. Before Clarity could enjoy the wonderful view of the large resort in front of her, three Cuban security officers approached them, one of them holding a metal detector, which lifted towards Cubandor. The detector, which apparently had a strong magnet, pulled out several coins from one of Cubandor´s pockets, and the guard looked closely at them. Cubandor kept looking at the bird shield of the taller guard´s shirt, noticing the words underneath: _patria y ejercicio_ , homeland and exercise.

"Marrulleros," he said, eyes darting towards his girlfriend with apprehension.

"U.S. quarters and dimes, one full U.S. dollar coin, it´s him. Havana control tower was right, he is a capitalist."

The guard lifted the detector towards Clarity, whose pocket bulged with her decryptor trying to leave her shirt pocket. The tallest guard, carrying a brown uniform with an emblem showing the national bird of Cuba, the tocororo, trogon, or guatini, took out the decryptor, intrigued by the Thai characters of Clarity´s device. He frisked all three incoming tourists, clearly looking for a particular item shown on another guard´s iphone, which looked like a yellow rectangle.

"No está, la fortuna de oro no está." Clarity gathered that they were looking for the gold minted bar known as _Lady Fortuna_ , the token of initiation previously owned or held by Buddha Talk, which pointed to the Church of the Holy Flower, a place which initiated its members, mostly affluent women, into the Eleusinian Mysteries, a variety of rituals carried out in Ancient Greece which most likely included some ceremonies that would now be called a form of sacred or divine sexuality. That part, the part of long hours of sex, which included the option of accessories for intimate use, was particularly dear to Clarity´s friends, some of whom had been lured into the enjoyments of the intimate jade egg for women, for instance.

"Señor Cubandor?" said one of the other guards.

"Yes, it´s me."

"Follow us, please, you´re under arrest, along with your two companions," said the guards pointing towards Clarity and Paige. "Colonel Swarez da Silva has ordered your arrest. All of your assets, including your properties and Fort Ebena, have been frozen in Cuba. These U.S. coins are now the property of the cuban government in the name of the new Cuban revolution, which still believes in the old revolution, which bans all type of private or capitalist property in our great republic headed by our great comandante."

"Comandante Castro?" asked Cubandor.

"You can say that, but you can also mention Comandante Swarez now," said the guard, "he´s less old than Comandante Castro and he offers a new revolution to us Marrulleros, it´s nice to change revolutions after fifty years."

# Chapter Two

Clarity and Cubandor and his girlfriend Paige, were led by the security guards of the _Priotel Roystonea_ private resort for foreign tourists into a room on the third floor. Paige opened the curtains of the balcony, overlooking the resort pool and the white Caribbean sand of the beach. It was close to midday in Cayo Coco, flocks of tourists were filling the beach, swimming in and out of the warm Caribbean waters.

"Someone from the office of the revolution will be with you shortly," said one of the guards. The door closed, locked from the outside.

"Who are these Marrulleros?" asked Clarity.

"Marrulleros are Cubans who have been recruited by Colonel Swarez as his troups, people laid off by the Ministry of Agriculture since Raúl Castro declared that one in five Cuban workers might be redundant. They don´t want to become a button-coverer or a coat-hanger maker, or a cook, and Swarez convinces them that they can work for him instead providing security. Swarez wants to overthrow Castro´s government, he senses a new era coming for Cuba, and he told Castro officials he was giving these people a job."

Cubandor checked under the pillow of his bed, looking for microphones. His mandate from the Cuban government had failed. He flipped through an official thick, eighty page report given to him by one of the guards, explaining the reasons of his arrest. Cubandor had been sent to the U.S. to negotiate the lifting of the embargo on Cuba and at the same time to sell some of the Cuban oil drilled offshore through private and state owned companies like Petronas, _Petroliam Nasional Berhad,_ the Malaysian oil and gas company ranked among Fortune Global 500 companies, the Russian _Gazpromneft_ , or _Saipem,_ the Italian oil and gas industry contractor. In exchange for the oil, Cuba would receive payment in precious metals, gold, silver or palladium, which would act as hard-currency, foreign exchange reserves for the Caribbean communist island. Clarity looked over the shoulder of Cubandor to get a closer look at the report.

"Someone told these guards we were coming," said Clarity.

"I only told one person I was coming to Cuba, and he wouldn´t..." The door of the hotel room opened and a dwarf stepped inside, wearing a vest and a black Duffield hat, an understated top hat, slightly conservative, perfect to protect dry reputations lacking adornment. He glanced at Clarity and kept looking at Paige who had taken off her top and bra, leaving her firm breasts and darker areola exposed. The nipples of Cubandor´s girlfriend hardened when she noticed the small four foot nine man walk inside the room and holding the stare on her breasts. Cubandor´s face brightened.

"Mista Jack," said Cubandor, "glad to see you here, I´m sure you can explain this mess to us, we need to get to Havana."

"Don´t you glad to see me or try to flatter me Cubandor, things have changed since we last met, I don´t work for you anymore."

The dismissal took Cubandor offguard. Mista Jack, a foreign exchange specialist and moneychanger representing the Cuban government was not a very reliable associate, Clarity sensed. She moved to a large chair near the balcony and sat down, crossing her legs, while Mista Jack placed his hat on the bed. The short emissary had been hired by Swarez to get Lady Fortuna and obtain the signature of Cubandor on the last page of the _Informe Confidencial de Comercio,_ the eighty page confidential trade report written by the Cuban Trade office acknowledging betrayal of Cubandor to the Cuban revolution.

"I´m not signing this, I want my assets back," said Cubandor.

"To get your assets, you´ll need your freedom and to get your freedom, you´ll need to sign the report first."

"But this report wants me arrested as a renegade," said Cubandor.

"You are a renegade," said Mista Jack, "along with your friends."

"Hold on," said Clarity, "I may be a U.S. renegade, but I´m not a Cuban renegade, I don´t know anything about the Cuban revolution."

"Lady, if you´re with Cubandor, you are a Cuban renegade," said Mista Jack.

"You just want my job, then," said Cubandor.

"I do," said Mista Jack, "always liked the idea of trading palladium, I also want Fort Ebena and to hire Paige as my assistant."

"Fort Ebena is closed."

"I´ll find a way to open its vault," said Mista Jack, "I´m afraid your license to trade precious metals for Cuba has been revoked."

Paige sat down besides Clarity leaving her top off, explaining to Clarity that Mista Jack had been a former aide of Cubandor, the contact who had stolen the Federal Reserve bonds, the Cayman bonds sent to Buddha Talk, from a glass case in the Fed´s New York vault. Cubandor had fired the dwarf after finding him spying from inside Paige´s closet at the Bellagio to watch Paige take her clothes off. Paige whispered to Clarity.

"He likes to watch me taking my clothes off," said Paige.

"He also likes you with your clothes off," said Clarity, noticing how Mista Jack kept walking in circles in front of the bed, staring at the breasts of Paige at every turn, as he walked past the Bellagio hostess.

"I know, I´m trying to distract him," said Paige.

Cubandor walked near the balcony, opening the window, letting the hot midday air inside the room. Mista Jack took out of his pocket a small package wrapped in newspaper wrap of a page from the _Tribuna de la Havana_ , explaining traffic changes, roadblocks and parking prohibitions, due to a trade conference and collateral activities on that day. Inside the wrap, Clarity saw what Swarez´ emissary was hiding, a gold minted bar with the effigy of Lady Fortuna on its obverse, the heads side. Lady Fortuna was roman goddess of luck, fate and fortune, as her name implied, a well-liked and sought-after goddess worshipped for many reasons, depending on the type of luck one wished or the circumstances in motion. Cubandor´s expression changed from surprised to annoyed.

"I knew you had it," said Cubandor. He was glancing at Lady Fortuna with a look of slight regret, desire and patience, all combined. He started walking towards Mista Jack, to get a closer look at the golden bar. Mista Jack stepped away the same distance, and they 'danced' like that for over a minute, until Cubandor lost patience.

"I´m short a million, you owe me a million dollars, the million you transferred out of my Bellagio account." That million was safe in Mista Jack´s account in the British Virgin Islands.

"I owe you nothing, I got the bar for you, the million dollars is my commission."

Cubandor reached for the bar, but Mista Jack stepped over the bed, out of reach.

"But you´re not giving the bar to me, and you stole treasury bonds to pay for it, the U.S. is tracking me as a result."

"Yeah, but you´re seeing the bar, it´s the view that counts. As for the bonds, the U.S. government got them back, you´ll have to make an arrangement with them. But I would worry about the contact who gave me Lady Fortuna, Buddha Talk, he´s the one short one million dollars in bonds."

The cuban government emissary grasped the gold minted bar with his left hand, rubbing his right thumb against the six digit, one letter code etched on the reverse tails side of the bar, made by LAMP, _Lingots Artisanaux Métaux Précieux_ , the world´s leading bullion brand, with prominent positions in the world´s major precious metals markets. LAMP also refined precious metals, customized coins, blanks and bullion bars for banks, financial institutions, governments and mints, and allocated or unallocated storage facilities for customers.

Mista Jack lifted his eyes, noticing Cubandor was getting too close to him. He pressed a small button on his vest and two Marrulleros came in, startled by Paige, moving in front of the Cuban emissary, who stepped away from the balcony and the bed towards the door, picking up his hat and the eighty page report lying on the bed. He pointed towards the bar and wrapped it inside the newspaper page.

"This is what Swarez wants. Are you signing the report? You´ll have an easier life here is you sign."

"No. If you have Lady Fortuna, why don´t you give it to Swarez?" asked Cubandor.

"I know what this minted bar means and where it leads, it´s a lot more precious than any other precious metal item. Anyway, I told Swarez you had it."

"Well, we don´t," said Cubandor. The dwarf smiled, opened the door and waved good bye to Clarity and Paige with his hat.

"No, that´s why you´ll all be going to _La Vista_. Count yourself lucky, it´s not as bad as _Guantanamo_."

# Chapter Three

The roast beef served by the _Priotel Roystonea_ room service crew was excellent. Clarity finished her plate and ate a piece of fruit as dessert. The door of their hotel room opened, showing the short silhouette of Mista Jack, and the man himself shortly after. The Cuban attaché walked towards Clarity.

"Swarez wants to see you, you´re spared La Vista for now," he said. Several Marrulleros took Cubandor and Paige out of the hotel room to a taxi headed for Cayo Coco airport. A few guards showed Clarity towards a blue, Jaguar limousine, labeled 'Jaguar 72'.

"You know there´s a Jaguar 73 in the Cayman islands?"

"Yeah, Jaguar series 65 through 79 are those Castro doesn´t want. He sells them elsewhere when he gets tired of them. It all goes through BVI and Buddha Talk bought 73. It´s slightly different from this one, it has a lobster shrine, this one serves mojitos."

"Where am I going, what´s La Vista?" asked Clarity.

"A high security prison near Havana for white collar criminals and low level lazy thieves, crooks, and other poor types of unemployed Cuban citizens without a reliable government job. That´s where you´re not going, for now, that´s where Cubandor and her girlfriend are going."

Clarity stepped inside the limousine with Mista Jack, welcomed by Colonel Swarez himself. Anderson Swarez da Silva was dressed in brown Marrulleros gear. Showing black hair, in his mid fifties, the Cuban high ranking military officer was unusually polite with Clarity, telling her it was an honor to have a U.S. renegade under custody in Cuba. He asked her about Lady Fortuna, and Clarity told him she knew nothing related to that name. From then on, Swarez ignored her. The Jaguar began moving forward and headed for the airport, stopping in front of a guarded gate leading to the take off and landing runway. Shortly after, a plane from the Pampering Cross landed at Cayo Coco airport, flying over the dark, blue jaguar limousine. The limousine rolled towards the airport terminal and Clarity noticed six women raising her thumb in hitchiking mode, fifty feet from the large plane. Swarez opened the back door and her friends Lanai, Taimi, Cynthia, Jenna, Flower and Montana got inside the limousine. Lanai sat down on a padded seat, looking for an arm pad.

"Good to see you Clarity, you left us behind at the Bellagio, luckily Montana took care of us."

"I didn´t leave you, you were playing Cityville on Zynga eating pastries. Cubandor´s girlfriend invited me to Pink go-go, and I decided to fly with them."

"You just wanted to sleep with Cubandor," said Cynthia.

"I didn´t sleep with him," said Clarity.

"You got a full body massage from her girlfriend though."

"That I did," said Clarity, "how do you know?"

"Pink go-go has a built-in camera, footage of your flight has been requisitioned by the Cuban government, they sent to agents from the ministry of the Interior, MININT, to Grand Inagua. Montana showed the footage to us, after she made a deal with the Cuban authorities to visit Cuba, letting them know of your flight." Clarity glanced at Montana, who was ignoring her and shaking hands with colonel Swarez while speaking on her phone to the crew of the plane which had landed them in Cayo Coco.

"Montana Sterley, S group director committee, pleased to meet you colonel."

"You´re not a director, you´ve barely done an internship in Abu Dhabi." Montana ignored Clarity.

"Who is Flower?" asked Swarez, "the one interested in sexual ecstasy?"

Flower raised her hand.

"It´s me, I love this Jaguar and the Rolls Royce emblem, the spirit of ecstasy, I´m sort of a beginner in matters of sexual ecstasy though." Swarez pushed Clarity away, towards Mista Jack, while he entertained the good looking women who had come along his way. Clarity and Mista Jack moved to area two of the limousine, which included a writing desk, an engraved sign saying 'I was in Jaguar 72', glassware to serve champagne, a wooden glass holder, pull handles, several coat hooks, and a glass partition dividing the area from area one of the limousine. Clarity placed her shoes on a blue carpet mat overlay glued to a heavy waterproof rubber backing. Mista Jack stepped on the mat as well. She tried lifting her right shoe, but it was glued to the mat. It looked as though the carpet mat hadn´t been properly installed or glued.

"Looks like we´re stuck here," he said.

"There´s glue," said Clarity.

"For customers, it´s a special glueing mat, so they don´t leave ahead of time." Mista Jack grabbed the symbolic decryptor, typing words with his thumbs.

"What are you doing?"

"Sending some emails, this device isn´t mine, it´s pretty convenient to send messages without being noticed by the _Agencia de Información_ , the information bureau here in Cuba." A loud beep from the decryptor startled both of them. Evans wasn´t allowing any incoming or outgoing emails. Mista Jack, annoyed by the loud noise coming from the decryptor, gave it to Clarity.

"You fix this, can´t stand these high pitch beeps in any device."

Clarity took the decryptor in her hands. Evans was beeping loudly because it was giving notice of an intrusion on its privacy from someone who had not been granted permission to handle the device. Clarity looked for the biometric folder of the decryptor, pressing her right thumb on part of the screen displaying a square sensor built-in as check-in password for the owner. Evans recognized the imprint of Clarity and a photo of the teleoperator appeared onscreen. The loud beep stopped. She checked the emails that Mista Jack had sent from the decryptor. Several messages included the topic of money changing, changing the currencies of a country to another. His email address had the domain .vg, abbreviation of the British Virgin Islands. Clarity could see from the messages referring to various currency transactions, that Mista Jack was a money changer from the British Virgin Islands. A notice of non payment for an electricity bill to the name of Jack Mullrey Albicromb indicated that he lived in the Jost Van Dyke island, a small three by four (miles) island named for an early Dutch settler and former pirate, whose prominent residents had included William Thornton, architect of the U.S. Capitol building, and John Lettsome, founder of the London Medical Society.

"I think it works again," she said. Mista Jack pressed a button on his arm pad.

"Listen to your friend, she´s the one who alerted us that you and Cubandor were coming to Cuba." Clarity couldn´t believe that Montana would do such a thing. She guessed that Mista Jack had wiretapped area one, without the knowledge of Swarez. She heard Montana speaking to the Cuban colonel.

"I want status in Cuba to trade precious metals," said Montana, "I´m ready to own a cigar plantation here if needed. I deserve that after having told you about the arrival of Cubandor in Cuba."

"And your friend across in area two?"

"My friend would like to stay here." Clarity fumed, listening to Montana speak.

The heiress from Colorado gave Swarez a box of Humidor cigars. Swarez opened the box and held a cigar below the halogen light box of the limousine that were attached to the mirrored ceiling panels.

"There are many cigar plantations here in Cuba. Most of them are nationalized, they´re owned by the government and managed by government officials. Only one is under private control but these cigars don´t match those of that plantation. You can´t have it I´m afraid."

"I want that one, is it for sale?"

"Fort Ebena is not for sale, no, the assets of the owner, Cubandor, have been frozen recently. You´ve got to realize Fort Ebena has a vault that holds most of Cuba´s metals backing our currency. The vault is filled with palladium, rhodium, and gold. The government uses it to pay for any special service that doesn´t fit regular channels."

"And if I found these cigars you´re looking for?"

"Assuming the cigars came from that plantation, and the box was the right box of cigars, I´d look into your license to trade precious metals," said Swarez. He lifted a glass filled with a mojito, and brought it to his lips, chewing on the mint leaf.

"Any other arrangements possible, our group, the S Group also sells oil." Swarez pressed a lever and a mirrored ceiling lowered half a foot.

"Do you like sleeping under mirrored ceilings?"

"I see, no, I use my own mirrors in Colorado." Montana stared at the colonel for a few seconds.

"Those cigars you want, you want them because they can lead you to Lady Fortuna?" Swarez frowned.

"Mmm, don´t know what you mean, never heard of that name before."

Swarez lit up a screen attached above one of the windows of the limousine, It showed a small rectangular box of fifty gram palladium combibars. The small bars, a total of fifty one gram grey color rectangles arranged in five rows of ten, were built with predetermined breaking points, allowing easy separation.

"These are from Valambel, top refiner of palladium established in Southern Switzerland, highest optical standard, best quality bullion fifty of these boxes can get you a seat at _Cuba Petroleos Oficiales_ , to arrange the import of Colorado oil, or U.S. Texas or Brent. Of course, we prefer to export our own offshore oil through agreements like the one with Venezuela´s _Petrocaraibo_. But this will be a good starting point, your particular token of good will, the Cuban government needs money, real money, our currency is in a shambles, and our economy is poor."

"Good, I´ll see what I can do, fifty boxes of palladium amount to about sixty five thousand dollars, because each box is about thirteen hundred dollars a piece. It´s not that large of an amount, but I want to do this discretely, because fifty boxes of palladium don´t go unnoticed. You know our official visit and mandate is not related to any of this, it comes from the pampering cross. They want to know what´s happening with the new inmates at la Vista, with that man known as Cubandor."

"Don´t meddle too much with the affairs of Cubandor or La Vista, the pampering cross doesn´t have much credibility or support here, and La Vista has its own rules. The new inmates are leaving now, look out the window."

Clarity lifted her feet, carrying the carpet mat with her and unsettling Mista Jack off balance, prompting him to grab a handle. She looked out the window, emulating Montana. An Aerocaribbean taxi plane was taking off from the airport, carrying Cubandor and Paige third class, to the high security prison of La Vista, which translated as ' _The View_ '. Mista Jack slid the symbolic decryptor in a pouch of his arm pad and looked at Clarity, holding a limousine handle with the other hand.

"You don´t have a passport, do you?"

# Chapter Four

"As a matter of fact I don´t," said Clarity. The carpet mat was stubbornly stuck on her shoes.

"If you don´t have a passport, you can´t leave Cuba." He handled the handle to Clarity.

"I didn´t intend to lose my passport, maybe I can get a Cuban passport, you´re certainly a good connection to do that. What do I do with the handle?"

"It´s a portable handle, you don´t have to do anything with it. You´ve imported an illegal item into Cuba, this decryptor," said Mista Jack, tapping on the arm pad.

"That was unintentional," said Clarity, "it´s a personal belonging, it´s not a real import."

"Without a passport, you´ve become illegal as well, basically a renegade who smuggles illegal items. All of this is counterrevolutionary. You can´t have a Cuban passport if you don´t agree with the revolution. It´s in the constitution."

"It´s in the constitution that I can´t have a passport?"

"No, that you´re illegal. I quote: When no other recourse is possible, that´s the case now, all citizens of Cuba, me among them, have the right to struggle through all means against anyone who tries to overthrow the political, social and economic order of the constitution."

"I like social order and I like Cuba, but I was betrayed by a friend, that´s worse than what you´re saying." Mista Jack looked through the dividing glass of Jaguar 72 to the other side, where Montana was discussing an important social matter with colonel Swarez, pointing to the ceiling of the limousine.

"It´s the political order that´s not in such an order here, I know Cubandor has something in mind and you may have something to do with it. I like your friend by the way, but she likes Swarez and she also seems to like mirrored ceilings. I know where to take you, though," said Mista Jack, "follow me please, La Vista will make a genuine Cuban out of you."

"What about my friends? I´d like to be with my friends."

"Your friends are fine, they´re going to take salsa lessons in Havana, colonel Swarez knows how to entertain women. You can choose to be with someone who came with you to Cuba other than Cubandor though. We understand group learning here in Cuba."

"There´s only one person other than Cubandor who came with me, Cigarette. Yeah, I´d like to be with Paige."

"Good, that can be arranged, let me make a phone call."

Mista Jack dialed a number and spoke briefly in Spanish. The carpet mat unglued and Mista Jack led Clarity out of the limousine towards an Aerocaribbean taxi plane. About two hours later, Clarity landed in Havana and a green converted 1951 chevy pickup truck, fresh from having been returned to Cuba after attempting to the reach the U.S. as converted raft using 55 gallon oil drums for flotation, carried her to the entrance of La Vista high security prison, one of the most feared _prisión de estado_ , a Cuban state prison.

As the truck halted, Paige was lifted into the truck by several Marrulleros, who brought into the truck a portable, unfolding metal cage on wheels, large enough to fit two people. Two soldiers unfolded the cage and prompted Clarity and Paige inside. Paige was glad to see Clarity even though their freedom of movement was not very abundant after the cage folded on them.

"Hi there, they took me out of La Vista to ensure I was going with you as you went into La Vista for the first time," said Paige, "don´t worry the prison is bigger than this." One of the soldiers closed the cage door.

"Ready for delivery."

The Marrullero had spoken to Mista Jack, who lifted his hat before he lifted himself inside the pick up area of the truck, looking at both women. Mista Jack lowered the portable warehouse cage out of the delivery truck, with Clarity and Paige inside. The cage rolled past a group of ladies dressed in white, 'ladies in white', mothers of the inmates of La Vista, who crusaded on a daily basis to the gates of the prison in protest, requesting better living conditions for those inmates, and if possible, freedom from jail, a job, and also a job the following day, without getting arrested again, if possible. Mista Jack glanced at Paige, his frown turning into a smile, rare for him.

"I know what he likes, he likes to deliver me into La Vista and watch me as I change clothes," said Paige. "Jack, my sweet honeypile with a Duffield hat, can we get preferential treatment at La Vista if I change clothes while we get delivered?"

"Yes," said Mista Jack, "but you´ll have to change into nothing."

"Nothing, no clothes?"

"No clothes."

"All right, roll us into La Vista baby, please," said Paige.

A group of four Marrulleros pushed the cage on wheels forward. As the cage rolled towards the gate of the prison, Paige took off her blouse and shoes, then her pants. Clarity undid her bra and the cage started moving more swiftly towards the entrance, with Mista Jack running more swiftly behind as well.

The gates of the prison opened and Clarity noticed a group of thirty inmates, men only, among them Cubandor, pushing a large stone made of limestone, known as the big stone, which came from a Mexican ruin, delivered to fill a hole in the wall left by an inmate who had been able to leave his cell to get to the patio of the prison. In the patio, the inmate had been caught and placed in a different cell, and after that, he hadn´t able to break through the wall again. The cage stopped in front of the limestone. Mista Jack opened the cage, letting Paige and Clarity out.

"Cubby, how are they treating you dear?" said Paige. She lifted her Coquette Sheer white ruched panties with her hand, and all inmates turned to look at her shapely naked body. Mista Jack jumped and grabbed the piece of lingerie from her hand.

"It´s a heavy stone," said Cubandor, "they´re using the Egyptian method to move stones, it´s the ' _use the many to move the heavy_ ' method."

"This is your warden, Naomi, she is unbribeable, do not try to escape from here," said Mista Jack. Naomi, an attractive lady in her fourties, overlooked Paige as the ex-mixologist started donning her clothes again, ex-panty. The girlfriend of Cubandor was unable to recover her underwear, but recovered by negotiating living conditions for herself and Clarity inside La Vista. No duties lifting the big stone, one towel for two instead of a half a towel for each, socialist school lessons three days a week instead of five, painting lessons once a week focusing on the portraits of Engels and Lenin, and phone work with international representatives of the Corruption Perceptions Index two hours a day, to lower the ranking position of Cuba from fifty eight out of one seventy six to a corruption position lower than that. Length of stay for them at La Vista was still a debatable issue and Mista Jack was firm, although it was difficult for him to be firm with Paige.

"You can´t leave," said Mista Jack.

"Leave with me," said Paige, "we´ll leave together." She turned to Clarity. "He likes to hear the word together from me, maybe he´ll think I said we´ll live together."

"Don´t confuse me, I´m not an inmate here, you´re the one living here who can leave with me," said Mista Jack.

"Good, let´s leave then," said Paige.

"No, you live here."

"I´ll deal with them," said Naomi, "they´ll learn to work here, like everyone else. The inmates are rowdy right now, they know someone has brought Lady Fortuna to the island, and they think that minted bar made with gold, means someone´s here in Cuba to free them permanently from this place."

# Chapter Five

After a socialist culture lesson explaining why Fidel Castro did not want to change the name of the _Karl Marx Theatre_ , a large auditorium in Havana formerly known as _Teatro Blanquita_ before the 1959 revolution by Castro, Naomi took Clarity personally for washing duty in the laundry area. There were two hundred seventy three towels and three hundred seventy five bedsheets to wash. The inmates of La Vista weren´t in a very good mood, because the library books had been burned on orders of Mista Jack, who wanted those in jail to focus on menial and maintenance tasks, in order to reduce the costs of maintaining la Vista to a minimum. Leisure activities like reading or learning had been curtailed or eliminated. Naomi complained about her pay and her work. She wasn´t pleased about the new assignments to the inmates, it left her with less things to manage, and she saw that she was a potential unemployment candidate, slowly being used to answer the claims and written protests of the 'ladies in white'.

Clarity could see that Naomi liked her, she liked the fact that Clarity didn´t threaten her authority. There had to be a way out of La Vista using the favor of the main warden. She lifted a pile of towels and threw it into the porthole of the Constructa washing machine, watched by Naomi who walked closer to her. Naomi wanted to know more about Lady Fortuna, she was intrigued by the elements that were depicted on the gold minted bar, the wheel of fortune, the horn of plenty or cornucopia, gold coins, and sheaves of wheat. Clarity remembered what Paige had told her about on the fishing boat.

"Fortune has many aspects associated with it, the horn of plenty represents the flow of abundance, prosperity itself. Sometimes, she comes with a rudder, I find particularly interesting the notion that you can steer fortune in the direction you may want for your life."

"No one here at La Vista can steer anything. I want to head out of this place. The ladies in white are wasting their time, and my time. Colonel Swarez is my hero," said Naomi, "I want his revolution to succeed." Clarity had an idea to leave La Vista, and it included Naomi, who was a prisoner of the jail, nearly as much as her.

"I can get you closer to Swarez," said Clarity, "Mista Jack is the key for you to attract the attention of Colonel Swarez. But you´ll need me as well so that I can help you."

"What do you mean?"

"Mista Jack has Lady Fortuna but he hasn´t told Swarez, he is the right hand, the assistant of Swarez, also the strategic advisor to Swarez. Take Mista Jack out of Swarez´ presence, make him fumble in his assigned tasks, take Lady Fortuna from him, and you´ll gain the attention of Swarez."

"But I work here, I can´t do that."

"Use me as an excuse to leave La Vista. Tell Swarez I have the key to Lady Fortuna and the book of decadence. Tell him I said the word rosebud."

Naomi Bahena´s eyes sparkled with a twinkle of hope, mixed with shrewdness, some greed, and a touch of ' _get out of my way_ ' confidence, a mental mojito made with the pragmatic reflection of someone used to scheming.

"I know the word rosebud, Mista Jack spoke to me of it once, he said it gets you out of decadence and into the delightful realm of Lady Fortuna." She began walking Clarity back to her cell.

"I know this lawyer, Clemente, he specializes in Gringo cases, americans like you who run into trouble here in Cuba. He may be able to help us. Paige stays here though," she said. One person free out of La Vista at a time, thought Clarity.

"That´s fine, me and you out of La Vista only."

The next day, Clemente Perez Henay, member of a _bufete colectivo_ , a law practice carrying his name, was invited to La Vista for a drink with Naomi and Clarity. Naomi took Clarity out of her cell and led her to her office, serving saoco, a drink made with coconut milk and sugar cane brandy, served with a straw in the same coconut providing the milk.

"Your case is delicate, no passport, association with Cubandor, and possible knowledge of Lady Fortuna eh? I don´t want Lady Fortuna, you´ll never be able to get it, I want the cigars that bring power and status in Cuba, those coming from Cubandor´s plantation."

"No one can buy, smoke or trade Monteviena cigars except Cubandor," said Naomi." Clemente sipped some coconut milk with his straw.

"He´s no longer in charge, his Monteviena cigar plantation and Fort Ebena belong to Swarez now." Clemente wanted a box of Monteviena cigars, because they held, according to him, for the owners of those cigars, the key to power and status in Cuba, all the way to Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl. They represented the spirit of the renegade in Cuba, and they opened the doors of Cuban bureaucracy and luxury goods and services, those of high level trading for Cuba, those of authority trespassing normal laws, and those of freedom of travel outside of Cuba. Those were the cigars that Montana wanted to offer Swarez, to replace Cubandor as precious metals agent in Cuba.

"Are you siding with Cubandor or Swarez?" asked Naomi, "I´m with Swarez." Clemente took his time to answer.

"It depends if Cubandor leaves La Vista and whether he can pay me in gold. I want gold from Fort Ebena, enough to get me a foreign travel visa and leave the island, enough to open a law practice in Miami." He turned to Clarity.

"Do you believe in revolution, Clarity?"

"Not particularly fond of it," she said.

"You need to find the right revolution, Castro failed his first revolution at Moncada and then found a home later in Cuba. A revolution is the only way out of Cuba for a U.S. renegade like you. No one leaves La Vista, and if you go to Swarez, no one leaves his company or his Marrulleros, those near him become one of those working for him. I´ll get you out of La Vista for a few weeks, alledging good conduct and cooperation with the revolution, with Naomi as tutor, but know you´re going to become a maid of Swarez if you start revealing information about Lady Fortuna." Clemente handed a phone number to Clarity, a number that she had to dial if something didn´t go as planned. Naomi smiled, taking the saoco coconut from Clarity before she could taste the cocktail.

"I want to know why Swarez wants Lady Fortuna, he´s looking for more than just a gold bar. And working for him is better than pulling the big stone," she said. She dialed a phone number and told her second in command, Julia, that she would be out of La Vista for a few days, to carry out some important work for colonel Swarez.

# Chapter Six

The next day, a military vehicle drove to La Vista looking for Clarity and Naomi. Two Marrulleros drove the vehicle from the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces that picked up Clarity and Naomi at the gate of La Vista, right after the midday big stone lifting duty was finished. They drove south on Avenida Maceo and Avenida Paseo to a two-storey finca built in 1950 in Havana, _Lujo Siete,_ Luxury Seven, that colonel Swarez used as residence ever since he had been promoted from lieutenant to colonel five years earlier.

They walked past a security guard towards the entrance of the residence, past the entry hall, reaching the exercise room of Swarez, a modern gymnasium that included one of Swarez´ passions, a collection of five different elliptical machines and treadmills which he used to keep in shape, meet appointments, and reflect on his next strategy to gain yet another additional inch of influence, power and gravitas in the political corridors of Havana´s bureaucratic elite.

They stepped on a moving belt horizontal escalator, a movelator with handrail, _a try-it-before-you-buy-it, feel comfortable on the movelator_ movelator. Following instructions from Mista Jack, Clarity stepped on treadmill three, leaving Naomi in treadmill four, while Swarez trained in treadmill one, and Mista Jack took his position in treadmill two.

"Colonel Swarez, such an honor," said Naomi.

"Mista Jack is my machine tester, I love treadmills and elliptical machines, I love them so much I collect them," said Swarez, "and I love them nearly as much as watching old chess games of my favorite player, Capablanca. My laptop is filled with Capablanca material." A maid named Lana wearing a see-through dress came into the appointment exercise office.

"The nuns from the pampering cross and the ladies in white are here, colonel."

"Show them in, please." Mista Jack turned on the treadmills of Clarity and Naomi, and both women started walking on them.

"Now we can talk while we exercise, a revolutionary idea," said Swarez.

A group of nuns came in on the movelator, swayed forward by the horizontal belt, past Clarity, Noemi and Mista Jack, until they reached the treadmill of Swarez, which pivoted one hundred and eighty degrees, to fac e them directly. Then, the belt slowly moved the nuns away until they reached treadmill five.

"Care for a treadmill appointment?" asked Swarez, "there is one left for the spokesperson over there, treadmill five is free."

"No thank you, we wanted to see you in the name of the inmates at La Vista, because we would like to reduce the day shift of the big stone to five hours a day instead of nine."

"Eight," said Swarez. The movelator belt moved the group of women three feet towards Swarez before stopping in front of Clarity´s treadmill.

"Six," said the nuns.

Mista Jack pressed the energy saver button of his treadmill. The movelator moved the nuns and the mothers away from him about one foot and stopped abruptly, pressing the nuns against each other, held by a few ladies in white who kept their balance.

"Eight hours and fifty four minutes," said the colonel.

"No, no, no, a maximum of seven with..."

The nuns spoke in a single voice. Swarez pressed on his virtual trainer button. The movelator belt changed gears into high speed mode and the group moved briskly on the belt away from Swarez, until everyone was out of the room and the sliding doors closed, leaving a pile of nuns and ladies in white falling from the movelator to the floor of the residence on the other side.

"Good, one more matter well administered. Let´s continue our chat with Miss Clarity Nice here."

Swarez walked off his treadmill and approached Clarity from the console of her treadmill, walking towards her, then stopping. She was walking towards the colonel as well, but couldn´t quite reach him or move away from him. She was moving and still at the same time, an odd sensation.

"Lady Fortuna has the key to delightful pleasures, pleasures for men and women that very few people ever know or understand, much less pass on to someone else. What made you one of the torch bearers?" The idea of carrying some kind of light inside her made Clarity blush. Mista Jack stopped her treadmill and Naomi´s treadmill.

"I experienced, I experienced a form of ecstasy," said Clarity, "while I was in the Bahamas with some women from the Church of the Holy Flower." Mista Jack walked towards Clarity, stopping less than a foot away from her.

"Are you an initiate?" This was new to Clarity.

"I´m not sure, I´ve been to Hexas Style and I know about the various notions of heaven, doing away with money, the roman bath in mountain goat milk, long hours of sensual massage with a woman. Working towards twenty four hours of sex, but..." Clarity felt a dash of apprehension rush through her body.

"I...I don´t like talking about any of this," she said.

"Send her back to La Vista," said Swarez. The thought of staying a prisoner at La Vista for years made her recall a conversation with Paige, which flowed casually after the nine hour private, full body massage in one the cabins of the boat owned by Herwis Orozco.

"I can explain some things about the middle channel involving rosebud."

"What is rosebud?" asked Mista Jack.

"Rosebud is the clitoris of the woman."

"No," said the Cuban attaché. A second wave of fear went through Clarity.

"It´s the anus," she said. Probably the most difficult words she had ever said. She wished she was taking salsa lessons with her friends. Mista Jack acquiesced to Swarez.

"Let´s see her rosebud," said Swarez. Clarity sensed a moment of truth similar to the one experienced in Eleuthera approaching. She took off her pants and panties, leaving her shirt on her, and bent over in front of Naomi, sensing Mista Jack walk around her, until Clarity couldn´t see him. Naomi lifted him with her arms, to level his eyes with the tushy line of Clarity. She brought him closer to Clarity´s focal center of her fear at that moment, one of the nine gates of her body. Mista Jack lifted her shirt over her back.

"Pulsating slightly, she may be transmuting into her body, the energy´s not leaving her body. She may be one of the candidates, they usually dislike talking about any of this." Swarez looked on from a distance, apparently satisfied.

"Good, I let her stay here in _Lujo Siete_ , until you figure out exactly what she can teach me or how what I can learn from her." Naomi lowered Mista Jack to the ground, and he walked around Clarity, whispering close to her face.

"Stay here in exactly that position, Naomi will get you some clothes in a few minutes, or maybe more than a few minutes, maybe in twenty minutes, but no later than in twenty eight minutes. You are a new maid for colonel Swarez, in charge of dust cleaning."

Clarity kept the position several minutes feeling an unexplainable delight, a complete sense of balance and control, despite being in an apparently hostile environment. She knew practically nothing about transmutation, other than knowing it involved some form of sexual continence, conscious understanding of her sexual function.

Her eyes met a small console that referred to the shut down features of the treadmill. Without moving her legs or hips, she brought her hand to the console and lifted it, finding some papers. One set of documents was labeled 'Capablanca games'. She leafed through them briskly, keeping in mind a few facts and numbers about Swarez´ favorite chess player. Below the documents on Capablanca was another set of papers on the treadmill itself. The treadmill she was treading had been imported into Cuba a few weeks earlier through a complex set of documentation signatures and stages, stages which included customs appraisal, reason for import, value registration, and follow on receipt of additional items. One of the additional items pending was not a treadmill, it weighed a lot more and cost a lot more than any treadmill. She looked at the name of the shipment: _Money shipment_ , _Expected delivery_ : _When the Seal of Candido is ready, at the Customs Office of Batabano_.

# Chapter Seven

During the next few days, Mista Jack inquired about the middle channel, asking Clarity about what it meant and how it related to Lady Fortuna. She knew from what Paige had said, that it stood for a channel of energy going from head down to the place where the first chakra dwelled. Mista Jack wanted additional details.

"I don´t understand, a channel of energy? Our bodies are not made of energy, they´re made of matter, flesh, bones, etc..."

"I know, that´s all I know though," said Clarity, "Lady Fortuna brings access to the middle channel of light. The body probably changes at some point, but what you have to do to feel that channel and what light this refers to, I ignore."

For the next ten days, Clarity worked as assistant to Mista Jack in the residence of Swarez. She observed the various routines of those employed at _Lujo Siete,_ and one thing caught her attention in particular. Every week, a patrol of two marrulleros carried a small bag from _Lujo Siete_ to La Vista, with documents signed by Swarez on behalf of the Cuban Judicial system. Documents signed or overseen by Swarez included prison sentences for new inmates, various work assignments for kitchen staff, orderlies and custodians, material inventory lists, a moisture indicator for the wall hole being replaced with the big stone, and the schedule for the big stone itself, explaining who was on duty to lift it that week.

Clarity donned a maid outfit and began her daily cleaning duty. She lifted a Betty Twyford ostrich feather duster and stepped towards the desk of Swarez, a U-shaped desk with a four door maplewood credenza. Swarez carried a laptop and a small printer on the desk. She turned on the computer and faced a screen requesting a password. She thought for a few minutes about the logic of Swarez. She wanted access to a computer, in a sense, she was opening a computer. She typed the words 'opening' and 'treadmill', but both were denied. She probably had a third chance before being denied access permanently. She looked at a quote etched on a rectangular plate at the far end of the desk, from José Raúl Capablanca, the son of an Army officer, born in Havana: ' _I see only one move ahead, but it is always the correct one_.' I see, thought Clarity. She typed in the word ' _ruylopez_ ', one of the favorite chess openings of Capablanca that she remembered from the treadmill dossier on the Cuban chess player. The computer screen flashed a narrow platinum bar labeled ' _acceso permitido'_ , providing access to the intricate, military computer of Swarez.

Perusing documents from a folder titled 'Cubandor', she found two files titled ' _personal letters for La Vista_ '. One commuted Cubandor´s prison sentence to freedom as a Cuban citizen, as long as he accepted to become a Marrullero, the second increased the length of the prison sentence to life in prison. She chose the former, gave it a date, and simply stated that Cubandor and her girlfriend Paige were to be set free the following day, because of their cooperation with the new revolutionary guidelines involving Cuba´s political transition after Castro, instructed by Raúl Castro himself. She added another sentence, stating that all inmates of La Vista should be set free and sent immediately to _Lujo_ Siete, where they would be trained to become Marrulleros. Finally, she opened another document with Swarez´ electronic signature and pasted it on the letter she had prepared. She printed the letter and placed it inside an envelope that she placed inside the weekly bag for La Vista. The office door opened, it was Naomi.

"I´ve got to speak to you, Swarez isn´t paying attention to me," she said.

"We´re here though, this is his residence, simply do what he likes."

"I don´t know what he likes, that´s the thing. And I don´t know the revolution that he´s planning."

"He likes treadmill maintenance, I think". Naomi walked around the desk to the chair where Clarity was standing. She noticed the laptop was lit.

"Colonel Swarez must have left it open," said Clarity. She turned the computer off and shrugged. The office door opened again and Mista Jack came in to pick up the bag of mail for La Vista.

"Do my room as well after that please," he said.

The next day, after a military drill involving Marrulleros defending the walkalator from a treacherous attack by Lujo Siete maintenance personnel coming from the far end of the moving belt, Clarity was finally able to get cleaning duty assignment to the bedroom of Swarez. Naomi led Clarity to the bedroom of the colonel, while Swarez exercised on his favorite treadmill, listening to Mista Jack explain the benefits of a new elliptical machine that would add value to an already impressive collection of treadmills.

"Mista Jack is allowing us to stay only for another week, then we have to go back to La Vista. Swarez is starting to notice me, he asked me about what I was doing at La Vista and how I got promoted as warden. There´s got to be something about what he likes here in his bedroom," said Naomi.

Clarity opened the drawer of the night table beside the bed and found a box of cigars with the word Cubandor carved in wood. She opened the cigar box, holding nine cigars labeled with the name of the plantation by Cubandor, Monteviena. One spot labeled ' _gold spot_ ', was empty.

"These are Monteviena cigars," she said, "everyone´s looking for these."

"He likes cigars, that´s for sure," said Naomi. Clarity took one of the cigars and gave it to Naomi.

"Give this to Clemente when you see him, this is what he wants," she said.

"Swarez will notice there´s a cigar missing," said Naomi.

"Tell him you like cigars and you smoked one," said Clarity, "but don´t give him the Monteviena, it´s for Clemente. I noticed not every person working here sleeps here, I´ve seen people come to this house, in the morning, maids, the gardner. How do they get here?"

"They take the bus from Havana, then use the same bus to leave at six o´clock in the evening. But you can´t leave, you know that´s the time when Mista Jack ensures every task has been carried out correctly by everyone here."

"I´m leaving this evening for Havana. Tell Mista Jack I told you I wanted to clean his room thoroughly and also wanted to take a bath in his bathtub before spending the night in a transparent gown with him. Good luck with Swarez. Be yourself, I´m sure he´ll like you as you are."

"I´d love to protect him." Clarity placed the box of cigars in place inside the drawer of the night table.

"He likes to feel protected, but you´ve got to protect him from Mista Jack, he´s up to something."

# Chapter Eight

After leaving _Lujo Siete_ on a bus, Clarity went to a hotel on the main street in Havana, _Paseo del Prado_ , saying to the concierge that she had lost her passport and needed to make a local call. She decided to call Clemente, for something big had changed. Releasing the inmates of La Vista and Cubandor, was not part of the initial agreement.

"I´ve seen the Monteviena," she said, "Naomi has it."

"Cubandor is with me, we´re leaving la Vista, you´re crazy to have done this, Swarez is going to look for you, and for me now, probably will shred Cubandor to pieces as well." She met Cubandor at a small Havana bar, decided by Clemente. The precious metals agent came on his own. All the inmates and ladies in white, had boarded military vehicles and were headed for his plantation, led by Paige, who would await further orders. Only Marrulleros were still at La Vista, thinking the convoy of inmates was headed to the residence of Swarez at _Lujo Siete_.

"Swarez is not just any officer, he is part of the military entrepreneurship elite that Castro has put in place to control the key corporations and economic industries here in Cuba. They want to avoid the Special Period, the extreme rationings that went on after the collapse of the Soviet Union years ago."

"The gold bar will give us access to Cuban politicians. We need them to change legislation on cigar exporting rules and also on currency. In fact, you can do that, while I prepare our line of defense at Monteviena." Cubandor gave a piece of paper with instructions to pass on to the politicians at the National Assembly of People´s Power.

"How will I be authorized as a politician in Cuba´s parliament? I have no clue of politics, and I barely speak Spanish."

"You want to say that you are a _civic soldier_ , bearer of the Cuban revolutionary tradition and ideology. You´ll need Lady Fortuna, that´s what Swarez is showing politicians here to let them know Castro will soon be out of power. I know where Mista Jack is, he´s in a hotel seeing one of your friends, trying to make a deal with my cigar plantation." Cubandor gave Clarity a phone with a single phone number, the number of Clemente, and a pale blue shirt with the Marrullero badge.

"In case someone doubts whether you´re part of the Revolution," said Cubandor. "Our plan is clear in your mind?"

"Yes," said Clarity.

The Conde de Villanueva was a delightful, small hotel in Old Havana located on Calle de los Mercaderes. Clarity took a taxi to the entrance. Cubandor had promised a future payment to the driver, a small share of his plantation in return for bringing Clarity to the hotel. She walked towards reception, where an old man was reading the newspaper. He raised his head and looked at Clarity.

"Are you coming for the conference with the politicians?"

"Yes," said Clarity, "I´m here to deliver some items for Mista Jack." The receptionist, a man named Manfredo who had worked in a plant for years, lifted his eyes, startled.

"You know him personally?"

"We´ve met before yes, I´m one of the personal assistants of Mista Jack and colonel Swarez." She stepped closer and lowered her voice. "Working on my Marrullero badge, I have important news regarding the revolution, the new revolution that is." Manfredo stepped away from her, unsure of Clarity´s intention.

"What is the name of the cigar today?"

"Today?"

"Yes, today, all of our rooms are smoking here, every day we change the cigar brand that we include in our rooms for the guests." Clarity thought for a few seconds and decided to use the brand of Cubandor.

"Monteviena."

Manfredo nodded. He gave Clarity a key, providing access to the room of Mista Jack, contiguous with the suite where the conference was being held.

"When you´re done, just go to our Colonial-style suite, _the San Juan y Martínez_ , and knock four times. Presenting the key I just gave you should give you access to the private conference. The future of our cigar plantations is being decided there."

"Thank you."

Clarity opened the room of Mista Jack. The plastered wall of his suite was painted white, with a balcony overlooking Mercaderes street. On the dark green bedsheets of the bed was a briefcase, half open. Clarity walked towards the briefcase and searched inside. After a few minutes, she recognized the newspaper wrap she had seen at the _Priotel Roystonea_. Carefully, she grabbed the rectangular object, unwrapped the paper and looked at Lady Fortuna. The minted gold bar was extraordinarily beautiful. She looked closer at a particular detail on the obverse, the front side of the goddess Fortuna which showed the horn of plenty. The coins coming out of the cornucopia were all different, depicting different amounts and symbols, all of them unknown to her. She wrapped the minted bar and placed it inside her pocket. Then, she lowered the lid on the briefcase and noticed the balcony door was open. She stepped towards the balcony and listened to the conversation in the next room, recognizing the voices of Mista Jack and Montana.

"I´ve been told that Lady Fortuna holds the key to immortality, I´d like to buy that bar," said Montana.

"That bar has to stay in Cuba," said Mista Jack, "it represents the new revolution that colonel Swarez has carefully prepared. Our troops, Marrulleros, are simply waiting for a signal, the new law that must be passed, regarding the cigar plantations reform to make them a part of the _Enterprise Perfection System,_ the _Sistema de Perfeccionamiento empresarial_." According to that new system, cigar plantations were to be made more market oriented and competitive in their output.

"I´m taking too many risks here, I don´t like to meddle in politics. Has Cubandor signed the sale of his plantation?"

"No, but his stay at La Vista will change that."

Clarity moved out of Mista Jack´s suite, stepping on the balcony, until she could see both Montana and Mista Jack in the adjacent room. Mista Jack was holding a gold cigar in his hand.

"This is _'gold spot'_ , a gold cigar from Cubandor´s Monteviena box of cigars. There´s a way to access Fort Ebena and open its vault using the built-in sophisticated electronic and communications equipment in this cigar. That´s how I opened the vault and took some palladium to pay for my shipment." Mista Jack´s shipment was related to the official currency in Cuba, the cuban peso. His intent was to destabilize the other official currency, the convertible peso, that could be changed into U.S. dollars, and this currency was much more valuable than the local currency.

"Swarez ignores this, he ignores the shipment is in Cuba?"

"Yes, he ignores everything, I want him out of the picture, so that you can become part of the picture in Cuba as a new _entrepreneur soldier_ loyal to the Revolution."

"Good, I´ll help you get rid of Swarez by acting as the official source of information for your shipment into Cuba, if you help me get rid of Cubandor, so that I can become a precious metals agent officially for Cuba." Mista Jack sat on the bed and took out Clarity´s decryptor, to explain the backup plan to Montana.

"This is how we´ll use the bitcoin in this decryptor if anything goes wrong."

# Chapter Nine

Clarity listened closely to the conversation between Mista Jack and Montana.

"We show to reporters from _Trabajadores_ and _Granma_ the shipment payment invoice, pointing to Cubandor´s account at the Bellagio. And point to this bitcoin and this device, a capitalist, imperialist item as the culprit of the transaction."

"This shipment is so dangerous?" asked Montana.

"It´s completely counter-revolutionary, if anyone sees this in Cuba, we´re fresh meat for La Vista. But I need it to get rid of Swarez."

"That´s why you planned the garden party, to have an alibi for us in case there is an official investigation by Castro officials or Marrulleros and Swarez."

"Yes, I´ll receive confirmation at the party that the shipment has arrived."

"I don´t understand the revolution that Swarez is planning though, the one you´re officially planning with him."

"Cubandor is the one planning a revolution in Cuba to throw out Castro, not Swarez, but Swarez wants to stop him to gain power in Cuba. Swarez wants Cubandor exposed in the National Assembly of People´s Power, in particular he wants to expose his illegal activity involving the official currency of Cuba. To stop the exposed insurgency, Castro will need the help of Swarez and our Marrulleros, who will get rid of Cubandor´s allies in the Assembly, arresting them that same day. To do all of this this, we have gained cooperation from a politician, Don Francisco, a deputy who dislikes Cubandor because he didn´t share Page with him after Paige said she didn´t want to be shared with him."

Mista Jack looked at his watch.

"Don Francisco is waiting for my signal in his car, I have to go, and then I have to go back to my room to pick up my briefcase. You stay here for another hour, then it will be safe for you to leave for the airport or _Lujo Siete_."

Clarity donned the pale blue Marrullero shirt and followed Mista Jack to the entrance of the hotel, where a black limousine was waiting. Mista Jack got inside the car for a few minutes, then left through another door. The car engine began roaring. Clarity opened the door and stepped inside the limousine, alongside don Francisco Sanchez y Joncos, assembly deputy of the National Assembly of People´s Power, elected by those who chose to name him president of the People´s Power provincial assembly of Mayabeque, Batabano municipality, with the full agreement of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, the 'eyes and ears of the Revolution'.

"Hello," said the deputy, "who are you?"

"Swarez Revolutionary Surveillance Committee," said Clarity, showing the badge with the national bird of Cuba on her shirt, "Mista Jack sends me to provide additional information on the new legislation, and also on Lady Fortuna." The deputy asked the driver to head towards the _Capitolio_ building.

"I´m going to present the information on Cubandor to the six hundred members today. After that, all of the power that this man has accumulated in Cuba, will vanish in one go. What exactly is Lady Fortuna? There is a rumor about it among many high ranking officials in the island."

Clarity explained to Don Francisco that Lady Fortuna was a particular minted bar made with gold, and the key to pleasure for men, with women, and that it would be provided by Mista Jack.

"Pleasure with women like you?"

"With women like me, but you need an additional file explaining in detail what to do to gain access to the methods." The limousine stopped in front of Cuba´s Capitol building, and Clarity stepped out, helping Don Francisco, a healthy octagenarian, walk up the stairs.

"Where is this additional file?" he asked.

"In the one of the bathrooms of the building," said Clarity, "you know Mista Jack, always the unexpected spot to hide an important item."

Clarity led Don Francisco to one of the washrooms and approached a guard in charge of security.

"The inmates of La Vista are out, many of them are from Mayabeque, home of Don Francisco. They may be looking after him, please keep him from getting out while security measures are taken."

"I need to verify this, who do you represent, I don´t see a badge."

"I´m with the Cuban neighborhood watch of one of the neighboring municipalities of Don Francisco, Bejucal, revolutionary vigilance committee." The guard called La Vista, confirming that the inmates had left and then called the number Clarity gave him, speaking several minutes to Clemente, who convinced him he was speaking to a high ranking _delegado_ of the Revolution, actively in charge of recycling, backing up the government in its fight against corruption, and practicing evacuations for hurricanes. The guard turned to Clarity.

"Go ahead, I´ll be watching Don Francisco."

Clarity hurried inside the chamber of deputies and took the spot of Don Francisco as speaker. She had never spoken in public, but breathed deeply and decided it was a good time to overcome her fear. Holding the microphone with one hand, she began her speech in Spanish praising the social welfare program of the Revolution and the collective vigilance system, where ' _everybody knows who lives in every home, what they do in that home, with whom they meet, and in what activities they are involved when they´re not in their home_.' A round of applause followed shortly after her introduction.

"Money is the cornerstone of the new _Enterprise Perfection System_ , and we must give prominence to the _civic soldier_ , letting these brave men and women of the Revolution carry out their task. To do this, Cuba needs a strong currency. We propose to establish a new currency for Cuba, the Monteviena, which will use the cigars of that plantation, real cigars, as store of value, money that is. The Monteviena plantation and real cigars will act as Central Bank for Cuba, becoming a more reliable source of confidence than mere debt, those bonds issued by the Treasury which back up the current issue of the peso, in circulation for the people of Cuba." One deputy raised his hand and asked about the role of Fort Ebena in the new monetary system.

"Fort Ebena will act as the Central Bank of the Central Bank of the Monteviena, but the deputies of the revolution, all of you, will be in charge of safekeeping the gold, platinum and palladium in Fort Ebena, the real money of Cuba. For this, we have to thank our great revolutionary mind, the man known to many as Cubandor..." A round of applause began to roar inside the building, when a guard made an announcement through the speakers.

"The inmates of La Vista have escaped and may be near this building, please stay calm and in your seats, while our security team takes care of the possible intruders."

She saw Mista Jack surrounded by Marrulleros run towards her, coming from the left door leading to the Capitol. From the right door leading to the Capitol, Clarity saw a group of inmates from La Vista, led by Cubandor, run towards the group of Marrulleros. The deputies decided it was also time to find a different place to carry out the Revolution, and a tipified situation of confusion arose inside the building. Don Francisco walked calmly towards the podium of Clarity.

"What is happening?" he asked. Clarity looked at him innocently.

"Cubandor is finished," said Clarity.

"I see, Colonel Swarez didn´t mention this place would be the starting point of his revolution against the allies of Cubandor. He did mention something for me from Fort Ebena, a few bars of gold, platinum and palladium, in exchange for exposing Cubandor´s counter-revolutionary ideas." Clarity looked around the assembly. Mista Jack was missing.

"I have the key to Fort Ebena, there is a device I need to recover first though, and it´s not here, it´s at the garden party which is taking place,..." Clarity looked at her watch.

"It´s taking place right now."

"Let´s leave using the backdoor here," said the deputy. He led Clarity towards a rear door, leading to the back of the building. Don Francisco called his chauffeur and the black limousine parked a few feet away from them.

"Good idea, I´ll explain to you the benefits of a freer flowing economy and why the Monteviena cigar plantation needs to become a micronation in Cuba."

# Chapter Ten

The garden party was being held in a classic diplomatic enclave of Havana, the embassy of Russia. The Russian embassy in Havana, built by architect Aleksandr Rochegov, was a prominent, conspicuous, notable, and unmistakable building located in Havana´s prestigious _Quinta Avenida,_ Fifth Avenue. The tall building, where Fidel Castro was known as Fido, reminiscent of a square chest, stood thirty stories tall on a site spanning almost ten acres, with various high tech devices such as old satellite dishes and dipole antennas, consisting of two equal rods extending in opposite direction from the connection to the lead-in wire, all of it surrounded by alleys of palm trees and pink hibiscus.

The party was being held to honor the _FAR, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Cuba_ , the military group responsible for overthrowing Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Clarity mingled with Don Francisco among the various British, Italian and Vietnamese diplomats roaming around, speaking with professors and intellectuals from the _Cuban Centre of Studies to improve Cuba in general_ , or with representatives from the _Centre of Study for the orderly defense of Cuba from annoying groups or people_.

"Who are these people dressed in black suits, with walkie talkies?"

"They are security hired by the Interior Ministry, MININT, and the Foreign Ministry, MINREX. Castro has ears everywhere."

"What is he hoping to find by listening?"

"Possible enemies, revolutionaries, renegades." The Russian ambassador in Havana, a man named Anatoli Karpin, who enjoyed gazing at the palm trees to see if they carried coconuts, approached Clarity.

"You speak English well. What are you doing here in Havana?"

"I am here courtesy of Don Francisco, I am a U.S. renegade." Don Francisco´s eyes sparkled and the attaché moved closer to Clarity.

"Really, what made you choose that avenue for your life?"

"It´s a long story involving U.S. bonds which I haven´t stolen per say, but which I had to use to leave a slightly uncomfortable place in the Cayman islands. Turns out those bonds belonged to the Federal Reserve." Clarity gained the approval of several Cuban politicians who were acquainted with Don Francisco. They listened closely to Clarity, who explained that a cigar-based economy and currency in Cuba could preserve the delicate balance between the ideals of the communist revolution with that of a free flowing economy. Giving a share of the cigar plantations to the people of Cuba would provide a sense of cooperative ownership to the island.

"A cigar-based economy, you mean using Cuban cigars as currency for Cuba?"

"As currency and as money, let´s not forget cigars are a store of value because they are seen by the world as having good quality. And the cigars which have most value today in Cuba are those of the Monteviena plantation, because they´re backed by the platinum and palladium of Fort Ebena. It all makes sense, Cuba will do better by having a cigar-based Central Bank and currency, Fort Ebena should be the Central Bank of Cuba. And Cuba will finally have a reliable form of money." Clarity noticed a shrub moving near her. It was Mista Jack, making his way through the alley of guests by showing a special badge from the _Revolutionary Defense Committee_ , followed by Montana.

"I´m not sure how you got out of that jail at La Vista," said Montana, "but you´re going back there. My precious metals license to trade in Cuba is at stake."

"Your precious license is annoying my freedom of movement in general," said Clarity.

Mista Jack interrupted their conversation. "The inmates of La Vista have escaped, among them Cubandor, they´ve tried to topple the National Assembly building, we may have an insurgency in our hands." He looked at the diplomats surrounding Clarity and pointed towards her. "She is the culprit." The Russian ambassador looked surprised.

"Isn´t she a U.S. renegade?" he asked.

"No, she is a Cuban renegade," said Mista Jack, "she wants to overthrow Castro with this man I spoke with you about the other day, with Cubandor. In fact, she was at La Vista a few days ago, jailed for having entered Cuba illegally without a passport, and for having imported surveillance technology without a license." Mista Jack engaged in a counter argument against Clarity´s argument in favor of a cigar-based currency. According to him, cigars should not become a currency, they should remain an export of Cuba. All cigar plantations should be nationalized, including the formerly private cigar plantation of Cubandor.

"Don´t you own one of the few licenses to export widgets and services out of Cuba, including cigars?"

"I do, I have an exclusive license to export Cuban cigars, I´m waiting for a license from the Office of Exporting items to export all cigars coming from Cuba, not just some of them."

"But you´re the head of the Office of Exporting items," said Don Francisco.

"I know, I´m waiting for the approval of Colonel Swarez, who leads the committee supervising the Office of Exporting items."

The attaché of Swarez looked at Don Francisco, recommending that he stay away from Clarity. Things were turning ugly. Mista Jack took a phone call on his iphone, which he took out of a felt pocket in his Duffield hat. The call confirmed delivery of his shipment. He called several security guards, who gathered around Clarity. Clarity glanced around, looking for an exit. She had to leave the garden party and follow Mista Jack.

# Chapter Eleven

The parking lot of the Russian embassy was filled with over one hundred cars. At the end of the line, all security cars, mostly small twenty or thirty year old ladas made in Russia awaited. One of the guards dressed in black, spoke to her.

"We have to wait for all these cars to leave, then you´re going back to La Vista."

Clarity noticed a valet in charge of valet parking. While the guards were talking among themselves, she moved towards the car of a Cuban professor, a 1950´s Buick, being brought by the valet. She thanked the employee of the Russian embassy with a kiss on the cheek and got into the driver´s seat. She lowered the window and picked up the roll of keys for all the remaining cars, from the valet, throwing them in the passenger seat. She checked the glove compartment of the car, finding identification papers of the professor, an authority on treadmills who had been personally invited to the party by Mista Jack. A tag on the car windshield acknowledged his membership of the People´s Council and his access to the Council of Ministers.

She followed the car of Mista Jack outside Havana, through the countryside of Cuba, until they reached _Ciudad El Cachar,_ a military compound where most of Swarez´ Marrulleros had been stationed, awaiting orders from Swarez himself. Clarity stopped the car on the side of the road, looking on as Mista Jack went through the gate of the compound. She took a deep breath and drove towards the gate, lowering the window, greeted by Marrullero Molina Villaverde.

" _Patria y ejercicio,"_ she said, showing her Marrullero shirt, "Profesora Marrillo Parela, I´m the new treadmill instructor of colonel Swarez." She pointed to the car tag on the windshield and the guard looked closely at it, to ensure it was valid. The guard browsed inside the car a few seconds and lifted the gate. Clarity drove slowly inside the compound and parked the car behind one of the barracks. She walked around the compound discretely, until she found the barrack of Mista Jack. She walked near one of the windows, which was open, and peered inside, seeing the aide of Swarez less than a foot from the window, his back turned on her, looking at several numbers on his cell phone. She saw Mista Jack dial a number listed as Minint, Ministry of Interior.

"Yes, the treadmills are here in Cuba, Swarez wants to distribute them to various generals and use them as store of value to back the new currency that will be printed with the new machine. No, I didn´t import the new machine in barrack three, it came with the treadmills. All the paperwork at the office of exporting items explains this, the order to import illegally came from Swarez, he´s a Cuban renegade. Swarez will be here briefly, send troops to _Ciudad El Cachar_ , you´ll pick up all the documents of Swarez insurgency here, and you can send him to La Vista along with Cubandor and the inmates. Yes, tell the members of the council of state that I will transfer the gold and palladium out of Fort Ebena in their name through BICCC, the _Banco Inter Central del Caribe y Cuba_. Yes, all of this is going to BVI, individual accounts of BICCC held at the British Virgin Islands."

Clarity turned around and saw one of the barracks labeled three, unguarded. She walked towards the barrack and opened the door to a dark room. She turned on the lights and entered a small warehouse with several large, bulky items covered in canvass.She approached the nearest shipment, and noticed a document attached to the canvass.

She looked at the document acknowledging the import by the Cuban military forces of a shipment sent by the Central Bank of Kenya from the Ruaraka banknote printing press facility which produced one hundred and fifty of the world´s leading currencies. The shipment, officially stamped as a _stationary treadmill_ , was over twenty feet long, a few feet wide and about four feet high. It was covered by a sturdy khaki green canvass. She lifted the canvass and discovered a banknote printing press with a computerized screen interface that could be used to sort notes of any orientation, denomination or issue, at speeds up to one hundred twenty thousand notes an hour, or two thousand notes a minute. She heard the churping noise of a bird near a window. She turned around and saw Mista Jack standing there, sneaking towards her. Clarity kept her composure.

"What are you going to do with this printing press that can sort notes?"

"I´m going to print bills, but of course," said Mista Jack, "and count them, then exchange those bills for all the gold, platinum and palladium of Fort Ebena. All of that is going to leave Cuba very soon, Cubandor will be stripped of his fortune, accumulated over hundreds of years by his family."

"Printing money is illegal in Cuba, I´m pretty sure of that." said Clarity, "if you´re not the Central Bank of Cuba."

"I won´t print them here, we´re bringing all of this to Monteviena and accuse Cubandor of printing illegal money."

The door of the barrack opened, and Colonel Swarez walked quickly towards the shipment.

"What is this?" he asked, "why is she here?"

"This is our passport to the riches of Fort Ebena, after Minint sees this printing press in Monteviena, Cubandor will not be able to say he wants the best for Cuba, or for the currency of Cuba. Miss Clarity Nice is not a U.S. renegade like she says she is, she will not annoy us for long, she knows La Vista is where she belongs. I believe she has something for me in fact." Mista Jack frisked Clarity and found the newspaper wrap from his briefcase. He unwrapped the item and showed the minted bar to Swarez.

"Lady Fortuna, finally" said Swarez. As the head of the Marrulleros held the gold minted bar, all thoughts of prudence left his mind. Swarez pocketed the gold bar and examined another bulky canvass beside the large printing press. It was a collection of over fifty treadmills and elliptical machines.

"What is this doing here? All of this should be at _Lujo Siete_."

"Pre-testing," said Mista Jack, "had to include them with the other shipment to get through customs bureaucracy."

"I don´t like my belongings near something illegal, don´t want to end up at La Vista accused of being a renegade by the National Council for the Defense of the island of Cuba."

A Marrullero came in announcing that Cubandor and the inmates of La Vista had reached the Monteviena plantation, which had closed its doors. Swarez tilted his neck, left and right, a sign that he was starting to feel uneasy, mostly about surveillance personnel of Castro.

"What about the scouts of Minrex and Minint, Interior and Foreign Ministries? They want to come here to get an answer as to what my Marrulleros were doing in the National Assembly replacing regular troops from the Cuban Army."

"I spoke with the vicepresident of the council of state, the secretary of the council of state and a few members, they are ready to exercise legislative initiative, and decree a general mobilization to defend the country against the aggression of Cubandor and the inmates of La Vista. Cubandor allies at the National Assembly will have to switch sides in favor of our revolution to nationalize all privately held cigar farms in Cuba. _Ciudad el Cachar_ is safe from an official inspection by Special Troops."

"And Monteviena will be mine, finally a place to grow my own cigars," said Swarez.

Mista Jack nodded and pointed to the press, explaining to Swarez that by printing banknote bills depicting the Monteviena cigar, Cubandor would be portrayed as a Cuban renegade who wanted to bypass Cuban Law issuing his own money, betraying the principles of the revolution. Swarez gave the order to a group of Marrulleros to lift the printing press into a truck. All the troups were leaving _Ciudad el Cachar_ for the Monteviena plantation of Cubandor. Mista Jack glanced at Clarity.

"What do we do with her?" he asked, "we should shred her inside the shredder of the banknote printing press." Swarez placed the canvass of the banknote press back in place, shaking some dust off it.

"We´ll use her as a Trojan horse to get inside the Monteviena plantation, it will mean less effort for our Marrulleros."

# Chapter Twelve

Clarity reached the entrance of the Monteviena cigar plantation and factory a few hours later in a military truck, surrounded by two Marrulleros assigned to her. The Monteviena factory was forty miles south of Havana, near San José de las Lajas. Following instructions from Swarez and Mista Jack, she stepped out of the truck and lowered a wooden box on wheels, carrying it with her to the entrance. Two inmates from La Vista guarded the entrance, branded with the coat of arms of Cubandor´s family, the Jouexer Vera Tafil family.

"Tell Cubandor that Clarity Nice is here," she said. She turned around to see the general aspect of things behind her. A convoy of eighty five military vehicles, trucks, jeeps, and cars, including one jaguar seventy two, were filled with exercise equipment, banknote printing machinery and Marrulleros, and honked impatiently, waiting to get inside Cubandor´s home and self-proclaimed first micronation in Cuba, the Monteviena cigar farm micronation. A few minutes later, the handsome owner of the cigar plantation, Cubandor, came walking to the entrance.

"Good, you´ve got company here," he said, glancing behind Clarity.

"The first thirty eight vehicles carry treadmills for Monteviena employees, so they can exercise after work, but Swarez ignores it. I´m bringing a Trojan horse," she said, "pointing to the wooden box, but as you can see, I don´t have much of a choice." Cubandor kept his composure.

"I see," said Cubandor, "come in, we´ll act calmly and exit the farm using the special exit. Just walk along with me, don´t run, everything´s fine."

"Well, you have to know this is a trap," said Clarity, "a whole regiment of Marrulleros is behind us, Swarez at the very end. They want control of Monteviena and ensure you´re labeled a revolutionary item here in Cuba." She pointed towards the wooden box she was carrying.

"Some sort of small fortune is also with us," she added.

"I know that small fortune, I´ve seen it before I think, in a hotel in Cayo Coco," said Cubandor. He ordered one of his foremen at the entrance of the plantation to open the doors of his _hacienda_. The large military convoy followed Clarity and Cubandor and made its way slowly through the small dirt road of the plantation, amidst large green cigar leaves, bambus, a small pit to roast pigs, and farmers hired by Cubandor, wearing old, Army fabric clothing. Clarity felt she was seeing something authentic, not part of the consumer-hungry, generic fashion of capitalism.

Clarity walked with Cubandor to the main cigar factory of the plantation where expert workers rolled over two hundred Maestro Monteviena cigars each day, in front of customers coming in from the Caribbean and other countries, using Cuban seed, two year old genuine Cuban tobacco. Monteviena cigars, shaped as Parejo, Pyramid or Presidente, came in three varieties, with a different leaf wrapper each, giving either a mild to medium flavor, a distinct taste, or rich and full flavored. She grabbed several leaves used to make the wrapper, made from the larger, lower leaves of the plant, which kept the whole cigar together. Inside the wrapper, factory workers placed the filler, made of small bunches of leaves.

"I´ve been fighting nationalization for twenty years. My family kept this private and I want to keep this a private outfit, showing that Monteviena can be a good place to work and a good place for Cuban exports."

They reached a second large open space, which housed over three hundred computers, with people, mostly inmates of La Vista, quietly studying on their own through online platforms.

"This is my revolution, the knowledge revolution, I´ve started a program to educate the inmates of La Vista and those workers of Monteviena who save enough money to live for a couple of years, so that they can study material, work, and gain professional knowledge in accounting, financial modelling, risk assessment, or computer programming. I want to raise the level of value that individuals in Cuba can deliver."

"What´s wrong with that?"

"The Cuban system revolves around state ownership. Castro understood that to keep a hold on power, he needed to control means of production and also the knowledge that people have. I disagree, people should be free to learn skills freely and they should be able to use them freely for private use. Fort Ebena backs with gold and platinum the education revolution that will bring Cuba the latest advance and skills of the new century. And Monteviena will be able to thrive as a micronation."

"In fact, it may even have its own Central Bank," said Clarity. She saw Swarez come inside the cigar factory towards him, surrounded by Naomi and several Marrulleros. Swarez ordered his Marrulleros to level the cigar-rolling desks, replacing them with large banknote printing presses and banknote counters imported from the de la Vue company. A few Marrulleros, led by some of the inmates of La Vista, entered the large education room, intrigued by the computers. Naomi, standing next to her commander, told colonel Swarez what he didn´t want to hear.

"Troops from the Cuban Revolutionary Army are coming to Monteviena colonel, they are coming to arrest you, claiming that you have set up an illegal new currency in Cuba, backed by treadmills. The news was reported in the code of a bitcoin delivered to the Central Bank of Cuba. Cuba´s Central Bank has been flooded with bitcoins as a result, creating instability for the convertible peso of Cuba. My loyalty is yours, colonel, but we need to move."

"Where is your loyalty?"

"Here, with me, my loyalty is mine, but it´s yours, it´s also with you. I´d like your loyalty as well in fact, inside my own." Naomi sighed. "I´d like to bed you," she said.

"Good, that can be arranged," said Swarez, "not here, but later."

Swarez looked around at his Marrulleros, installing hundreds of treadmills beside the banknote printing presses. This was not part of the plan, thought Swarez. It was well known among members of the Council of ministers, the Council of State and among deputies of the National Assembly, that colonel Swarez was exclusive importer and collector of treadmills in Cuba. But all of those treadmills were meant to be delivered at Cayo Coco, a prize for the best, most loyal Marrulleros to engage in exercise. With all those treadmills having wrongly been delivered to Monteviena, Swarez was becoming an accomplice of Cubandor, apparently ready to help him create a new illegal currency backed by a form of exercise acting as store of value, treadmills. The colonel saw himself lifting the big stone of La Vista, supervised by Naomi. Swarez checked his pocket, noticing that Lady Fortuna was missing.

"Where is Mista Jack, that low-head attaché has betrayed me, and has stolen Lady Fortuna from me. Cubandor, you and that woman next to you are headed back to La Vista."

Clarity looked at the wooden box on wheels she had been carrying. One of the ends was open, an opening that Mista Jack had used to move around freely amidst the confusion in the cigar factory. Clarity ran around the factory, saw a Duffield hat moving out of a desk, and caught it, right before Mista Jack disappeared inside the vault of Fort Ebena. Looking inside the felt, she found her symbolic decryptor intact. Swarez sent Naomi to the entrance of the plantation on his behalf.

"Keep official Cuban soldiers at the entrance, tell them anything that makes me innocent," said Swarez.

"As long as I don´t have to lift the big stone," said Naomi.

Clarity, Cubandor and Swarez walked to a smaller room in the back of the education room. In the far end was a large vault, closed, the entrance to Fort Ebena. Cubandor used the decryptor of Clarity to send instructions to the vault´s electronic mechanism.

"He´s changed the code of Fort Ebena, Mista Jack is inside, he´s closed the vault from the inside," said Cubandor. He sighed. "Paige is inside, counting palladium combibars, he wants to see her naked again."

"If this is a vault, he won´t get out then," said Clarity.

"It´s not that simple, there´s an exit at the other end, a security passage that I built that in case something like this ever happened.

# Chapter Thirteen

Clarity and Cubandor stood next to the vault of Fort Ebena, surrounded by a group of Marrulleros loyal to Swarez. The Marrulleros, at the entrance of Monteviena, alerted Naomi and other Marrulleros that a group of soldiers from the Cuban Revolutionary Army were headed for Monteviena, and were less than five miles away.

"We can´t fight the Cuban Army," said Naomi.

"I promised my Marrulleros homeland and exercise, not education. Print some Monteviena bills on the banknote printers, I need to get their loyalty back."

"I think they like education," said Naomi.

Swarez looked around the computerized education room. His Marrulleros were inquiring with the inmates of La Vista about the various professional designations that they were studying through Massively Offered Online Courses. Naomi walked towards various Marrulleros to get their latest opinion.

"They don´t want to fight the inmates and they don´t want the new money, they think it´s worthless, and they want access to those computers instead of the treadmills."

"I have an idea," said Cubandor, "bring boxes of Monteviena cigars to the troops of Castro to entertain them. Meanwhile, we´ll open the vault and the inmates and your Marrulleros can escape through the backdoor exit of Fort Ebena." Swarez pulled his hair.

"This revolution is a disaster, it took me years to put in place and train my Marrulleros. I didn´t train them to study, I trained them to fight."

Using the trucks which had delivered the banknote printing presses and the treadmills, eighty Marrulleros drove a new convoy holding cigars to the entrance of Monteviena, to block access temporarily to the official Cuban Army troups, already in sight at the far end of the road. The first group of revolutionary soldiers met Marrulleros offering boxes of cigars. Intrigued, the soldiers looked inside the boxes and began tasting the cigars, first the extra mild ones, then the full flavored ones. The Monteviena inspection could wait until they smoked a good Cuban cigar, with leaves coming from their homeland. If members of the Council of Ministers disagreed, they could come do the job themselves. Of course, that never happened, because they were usually at Cayo Coco on weekends.

Still, a few officers from the interior and the foreign ministry, Minint and Minrex, were actively looking for a U.S. renegade, Clarity Nice, a woman who had fled La Vista and entered the Cuban National Assembly illegally, a Cuban renegade who had disempowered the revolutionary institutions of Cuba and had created an exceptional circumstance in the island, akin to war, which could potentially impede the normal holding of rigged elections. With Cubandor and Clarity jailed in La Vista with Swarez, the Council of State would let Marrulleros and some of the inmates go free.

"Time to use the back exit of Fort Ebena," said Cubandor.

The vault of Fort Ebena was pretty impressive. Fort Ebena housed the wealth of the Jouexer Vera Tafil family, accumulated over generations, a family who traded sugar, cigars, and more recently, precious metals. In addition to storing several combibars of platinum and palladium, it held one hundred gold bars weighing about twenty seven and a half pounds each, or four hundred ounces, worth about forty eight million dollars at a market spot price of twelve hundred dollars an ounce. Behind the vault´s door, an elevator was used to transport the precious metals to basement level where there was a storage room, divided into several compartments, allocated to other wealthy families, and important deputies of the National Assembly, including Don Francisco.

"How does the vault work?" asked Clarity.

"The tumbler uses a bitcoin." He pointed to the decryptor of Clarity.

"A bitcoin which is here," said Cubandor.

"You left control of your vault to a device you don´t own?" asked Swarez, "that´s like letting your chess adversary play instead of you, while he also plays against you."

"Capablanca would never do that," added Clarity.

"Well, I had a manual access device, a gold cigar, but that´s no longer with me. The point is, no one knows how to access the vault," said Cubandor.

Clarity turned on the decryptor, hoping to get direct advice from Evans. Unfortunately, the computer consciousness was napping, unavailable. She checked the bitcoin folder in the decryptor, finding a gold cigar icon with a new application named 'gold spot', planted inside the decryptor by Mista Jack. The application did not open. _Cigar Evolution_ , said the computer screen. Remembering the readings on logic from Evans, intrigued by the message, she typed the letter R, in front of the word 'Evolution' and pressed on the cigar icon again. This time, reading the word R-evolution, the application opened, showing the Bellagio account of Cubandor in bitcoins and banking instructions of a bank account belonging to Lofty Bank in the Cayman Islands, to the name of Buddha Talk.

"You don´t want bitcoins in your account do you?" asked Clarity.

"Not really," said Cubandor, "I don´t have much confidence in the exchange rate or the currency."

"Good." She transferred one million dollars in bitcoins to the Buddha Talk account at Lofty, showing the transfer came from 'Clarity and Flower', hoping to clear her debt with Lofty Bank, as a result of the loss of the bonds to Buddha Talk. After the transfer was done, and once the public key of the encryptor´s bitcoin was next to the private key, and the private key was associated with the name of Clarity, the vault tumbler opened.

"What did you do?" asked Cubandor.

"Making money flow, instead of keeping it in one place, and ensuring this decryptor is officially mine, I´ve been working a tad too long for everyone else, without getting anything in return. I don´t want gold, but I want to know more about the meaning of Lady Fortuna. The symbolic decryptor is working on that."

They entered the vault and Clarity saw the compartments holding gold to her left, fifty compartments with a twenty seven pound gold ingot each. Swarez was mesmerized with the gold stored in the transparent glass boxes. His hand pulled on a handle attached to the compartment belonging to Don Francisco, and a trap opened below his feet. He fell ten feet on a moving paste, carrying Naomi with him.

"That´s the horn of plenty," said Cubandor, "plenty of cigar leaves being shredded to make cigars. In case someone became too greedy with the valuables here."

Clarity saw Swarez and Naomi swim amidst the cigar leaf pulp while Cubandor ensured Paige was safe. She was also naked, but she was safe, very safe, calm in fact. Clarity looked at the far end of the vault. Mista Jack was driving an electric golf cart filled with several ingots of gold and a few combibars of palladium and platinum, towards the back exit of the vault, where a road sign indicated that the _office of exporting items, Batabano branch_ , South of the island of Cuba, near the coastline, was about seventy miles away.

"I distracted him," said Paige, "most of the gold is safe, he must have used the gold cigar, 'gold spot', to get in the vault."

"The banknote printing presses were imported through Batabano," said Cubandor.

"Where is this tunnel leading?" asked Clarity.

"Out of Fort Ebena and out of the Monteviena plantation, he´s taking the road to La Julia to reach Batabano in the south, that´s the customs area for all exports in Cuba after he became involved with exports in Cuba."

# Chapter Fourteen

Mista Jack felt light without his Duffield hat. He swore to buy another in the British Virgin Islands when he returned home. He followed the signs inside the tunnel of Fort Ebena to the exit, and then took road eleven south, heading for Batabano, on the southern coast of Cuba. After a couple of hours driving the golf cart at a speed of thirty miles an hour, he parked the small vehicle in front of the Cuban customs office of Batabano, a branch he´d opened personally in case some unplanned contingency arose. He knew everyone in the office and ensured all items imported into Cuba with a value higher than two hundred convertible pesos, about two hundred dollars, in fact, exactly two hundred U.S. dollars, went through Batabano. It was now time to put in place the new procedure for exports.

"Good morning, Candido," he said.

"Good morning Jack."

"I´m getting out of Cuba today."

"I see, will you be shipping yourself out of Cuba using the new procedure?"

"Yes, along with container five seven two over there, put me down as an exercise export item that Swarez decided to offer to the British Vigin Islands."

He pointed to a wooden container five feet tall and six feet wide, storing one of the latest treadmill models that colonel Swarez had requested.

"Send me a postcard," said Candido. "Everything all right with the banknote presses?"

"Yes."

The Cuban customs employee filled out fifty three different forms issued by the Cuban customs office, ranging from requirements from the International Maritime Organization, to trade tariffs forms, customs central registry, and the final hurdle for any export out of Cuba, listing in the Customs Systems for Goods Clearance database, the pinnacle of bureaucratic excellence, achievement and initiative.

"We have to go through export procedure," said Candido.

"That´s fine, do your job, I feel like a regular citizen of Cuba."

Candido Elaya switched chairs and desks, assuming the role of a member of the committee of regulation for the ordinary activities of the revolution in Cuba.

"Have you been a good socialist during your stay in Cuba?"

"I think so," said Mista Jack.

"How socialist are you, on a scale from one to ten?"

"Pretty socialist I´d say, six or seven on a good day, sometimes very socialist, rarely not socialist, that´s when I count my money, which is rare, because I keep that in my memory or outside of Cuba, so I don´t need to count often."

"Good, we´ll say you´re a pretty good socialist, above the average in general. Go through the x-ray machine, please, if you would, we have to make sure all the items to be exported out of Cuba are in proper condition."

Mista Jack stepped on the conveyor belt that carried each item to be exported out of Cuba through an x-ray machine. He lifted along the small box carrying several ingots of gold, platinum and palladium from Fort Ebena, his only personal belonging besides Lady Fortuna, which he kept in an inside pocket of his pants. The minted bar held secrets for those who had genuine interest in understanding several not very well known or explained principles of vitality, sexual ecstasy, et. al., and with the bar in his pants, he was on his way to being one of those people.

"You´re in good condition, but you´re carrying metal," said Candido, looking through the x-ray machine. Mista Jack, emerging out of the conveyor, grabbed a gold combibar from his precious metals box and cut a square of gold, handing it to the customs agent.

"This is for you," he said. He took out 'gold spot' from his pocket and started chewing on it, as though it was a real cigar.

"Good, these aren´t items of animal or plant origin, you´re ok, ready for shipment, along with your exercise shipment. Chewing on that cigar will serve as your oral cigar export declaration, you can take it with you as well."

Clarity came running inside the customs building, towards the booth where Mista Jack was being inspected for export. While Cubandor had stayed in Fort Ebena, waiting for the orderly exit out of Monteviena plantation of La Vista inmates and Marrulleros who had decided to side with him, she had taken a taxi to Batabano, following the hunch of Cubandor.

"Stop that man, he´s a Cuban renegade, he´s flooded Cuba´s Central Bank with bitcoins." Candido looked at Clarity with a weary, amused look of indifference.

"This man is a genuine Cuban export, he´s ready to be shipped out of Cuba to the British Virgin Islands. All of the paperwork is in order."

"You´re exporting yourself out of Cuba?" Mista Jack took out the gold cigar from his mouth to speak.

"Yes, here on a tourist visa, I´m boosting export statistics for the country. My revolution work is done here."

Candido nodded, proud of having contributed to the gross domestic product of Cuba and to the revolution at the same time. Mista Jack stepped inside the treadmill container stamped with a sign from the British Virgin Islands Tourist Board, lifting along the smaller box on wheels holding precious metals from Fort Ebena. He pulled the wooden side cover of the container towards him.

Candido attached the export invoice document to the container and took a phone call. Courier service was there for pickup. Clarity saw a UPS truck park in front of the customs office. Two employees of the shipping, freight, logistics, parcel and courier service company wearing the traditional brown cap, picked up the specially tailored shipping container, with Mista Jack inside.

"This is not happening, this man can leave Cuba with precious metals, just like that?"

"We rarely export to the British Virgin Islands, this is a unique opportunity for Cuba to export exercise material. Besides, Mista Jack has been good to the canine unit, paying for six months of their food." The canine unit of the customs enforcement group of Batabano, a three dog team made of a cocker spaniel, a springer spaniel and a labrador retriever, was used to detect explosives, weapons, ammunitions, drugs, and smuggled cigars. The door of the customs office opened.

"Miss Clarity Nice?"

Clarity turned around and nodded, seeing three men dressed in black suits and ties, one of them wearing dark sunglasses, who introduced himself and the others.

"Inspectors Gomez, Florez and Lopez, MINTUR, MINREX, and MININT ministries, you´re under arrest."

Even the ministry of tourism, MINTUR, was after her now, thought Clarity. Just when she thought she was safe from MINREX and MININT.

"What for, I haven´t done anything."

"You´ve been labeled a Cuban renegade by the National Assembly of People´s Power and a loyal deputy named Don Francisco, you´re under arrest for freeing legal inmates of La Vista jail and turning them into illegal free inmates, leading an insurgency against the National Assembly building in our capital Havana, trying to pass currency reform there illegally, taking part in a local insurgency for the illegal development of private property in the cigar plantation of Monteviena, and undermining our glorious currency, the convertible peso, with a capitalist, unstable, risk bearing currency, i.e. the bitcoin and a flood of them thereof. There is a spot at La Vista waiting for you."

"I see, I may be able to do something about the bitcoins."

"There is an additional item which has gotten the attention of the Castro family, our glorious revolutionary commanders, as well as the attention of the Council of Ministers, the Council of State and and the National Defense Council for the safekeeping of gold in Cuba. I believe you have an item illegally brought into Cuba for us, an item, minted in gold, known as Lady Fortuna."

# Chapter Fifteen

"Do you have a passport, Miss Nice?"

"No, that would be a nice souvenir from Cuba, actually."

"Come with us, please," said inspector Florez. Clarity pleaded with Candido to ship her out of Cuba as well, but Candido replied that fifty three exports documents needed to be signed and approved by Cuban customs and the three inspectors surrounding her first.

"I am a traveler in transit in Cuba," said Clarity, "I should be able to leave."

"You´ve tresspassed the sovereignty of the Cuban people by trying to manipulate its National Assembly, La Vista is the proper destination for you."

Clarity began to feel uneasy, thinking she had been too bold in reaching Batabano on her own, without waiting for...

The office door opened and Cubandor stepped inside the office of Candido, followed by Paige, Montana and her friends Lanai and Flower, fresh from a salsa class in Havana the day before. Far in the distance, a military convoy carrying the inmates of La Vista and Marrulleros who had sided with Cubandor´s own particular revolution, was also approaching the office.

"This woman is with me," said Cubandor. Lopez took off his sunglasses.

"Mr. Cubandor, you are sought by Cuban authorities."

Cubandor showed the three Cuban government inspectors a document signed by all members of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, which included the seal of MININT, the ministry of Interior. It acknowledged that Cubandor was persona non grata in Cuba, allowing him three days to leave the island with his personal belongings. The document stated that Montana Sterley and a committee of Owens & Owell was replacing him as the official precious metals agent with a license to represent Cuban interests outside of Cuba, for Cuba, with the Cuban revolution principles of sovereignty, authority and equality, and also including prosperity and monetary wellbeing. Lopez read the document entirely in detail.

"You have a few days to leave Cuba," said Lopez.

"Our plane is waiting at the airport of Havana," said Montana. The Colorado oil heiress had arranged the landing of the Air Fashion Jet at Havana airport and the private fleeting of the plane for a flight to Havana.

"She´s coming as well," said Cubandor, pointing to Clarity.

"She doesn´t have a passport," said inspector Lopez.

Cubandor showed him a brand new passport issued by the micronation of the Monteviena cigar plantation.

"This is not a valid passport, Monteviena does not exist as nation, it is within Cuban territory."

"Read the small print here in the safe-conduct issued by your colleagues."

Lopez read a narrow paragraph annotated in the margin of the document, stating that the Cuban government property of the valuables stored at Fort Ebena, was conditional on preserving and acknowledging the status of Monteviena cigar plantation as a micronation, with some sovereign rights, to be determined by the Council of Ministers and the National Defense Council of Cuba.

"The passport is included as part of the safe-conduct."

"You´re barely going to avoid La Vista," said Montana.

"Let´s go," said Cubandor. He took Clarity to a military truck and got in ther driver´s seat.

"Where is Swarez?"

"With Naomi," said Flower, "very nice people, they like chess and Cuba in general." Cubandor had dropped off Swarez and Naomi on a beach front in the south coast, where Herwis Orozco would pick them up, dropping them off in one of the islands of the Caribbean.

"You´re leaving Monteviena then?"

"I´m leaving with some gold and palladium from Fort Ebena, plenty to recover. Can´t stay in Cuba, this place is led by government and bureaucrats, there´s no room to do anything."

After driving north for three hours, they reached the airport of Havana. Cubandor picked up a local newspaper as they boarded the Air Fashion Jet, which began filling with inmates from La Vista and with Marrulleros keen on beginning their adult education program in Miami, the plane´s destination. The plane lifted off and headed south east. The photo of Clarity and of Cubandor was on the cover page of the newspaper. ' _Cuban renegades Nice and Cubandor leave Cuba'_.

Below the article, which stated that Clarity, a U.S. renegade, had decided to become a Marrulleros combatant loyal to Swarez to help him gain power in Cuba by overthrowing the established Castro legacy, there was another article. The article explained that the Central Bank of Cuba was in chaos, due to a sudden flood of electronic transfers of bitcoins replacing the assets of the Central Bank, Cuban government bonds issued by the Cuban treasury. Cuban peso banknotes were issued by the Central Bank against that debt, which did not elicit much confidence either from the people of Cuba or from foreign investors. After an hour of flight, Clarity was still looking for an avenue to get back to the U.S.

"What do we do now? I can´t get back to the U.S., I´m a U.S. renegade," said Clarity, "and I don´t have a passport."

Montana checked a plane chart and asked the pilot of for their current location. They were flying near the island of Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands.

"You´re also a Cuban renegade, can´t come back to Cuba. You can be dropped off near the British Virgin Islands though, with a parachute from the Air Fashion Jet," said Montana, "or off into the caribbean sea."

"There´s nothing in the caribbean sea," said Clarity, "where are you going?"

"To the Curaçao fashion show, I have an invitation to attend from Shalia Owell."

"I´ll go with you Clarity, I feel like taking a dip in the Caribbean sea in one of the peaceful, beautiful beaches of the British Virgin Islands," said Flower.

"We´ll go with the fashion show," said Lanai. Taimi, Cynthia and Jenna nodded a resolute yes. Montana raised her finger.

"No, no, no, I´m afraid you´re not invited."

"Drop us off in Cancún, in Mexico, then," said Lanai, "we´ll catch a plane to Acapulco after a few days of rest, to board the City of Wellington, where we can work as entertainers."

"Fine, but your friend gets out now," said Montana. She turned to Clarity.

"You´re throwing me off the plane?" asked Clarity.

"You have no choice," said Montana, "I fleeted this plane, I can do what I want, made a deal with Owens & Owell."

Clarity walked with Flower to the parachute exit platform of the Air Fashion Jet. She resented how Montana was able to do deals, and how she was getting her way to a posh job and near monopoly on precious metals trading in Cuba. Before getting angry, she thought about how she had avoided lifting the big stone of La Vista, with her own ideas, through her own effort, nearly without anyone´s assistance. Not bad, she thought, looking at her new passport, self-reliance was working. It was better to be one of the new citizens of the Monteviena micronation instead of a renegade of any nation. The form of Lady Fortuna known as Fortuna Manens, more enduring, desirable, and constant, had manifested to her.

# Chapter Sixteen

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 fiction, 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 fortune is a blend of luck, boldness or intelligence, and the proportions therof.

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.

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.

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 Seventeen

**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/

