Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Series Title: Highbury Tales By: Alexander Sunshine Episode 6: Bill Jager

   ****************************************

   The very next night, Brian came home late from the college campus with a
book he was eager to share with Alice.  After a long day of working in the
bookstore and cleaning the house, Alice was reclining herself on a sofa in
the sitting-room to relax when he returned home.

   "Alice!" he said excitedly.  "You must see this book I found in the
library, it is about practical magic."

   "Oh really?  You found such a book in the school's own library?  I'm
surprised."

   "I am as well, I did not expect to find anything there, but I decided to
look anyway." Brian sat down next to her a procured a thick tome from his
book-bag.  He paused for a moment thoughtfully and then asked: "Is Rupbert
asleep?"

   "Yes, I think so.  I think he did not get enough sleep the other night
and so he's making up for it today."

   "Do you think we ought to keep our studies a secret from Rupbert?" Brian
asked.

   She thought that was a fair question.  "I don't know, what do you
think?" Alice countered.

   He sat back, leaning back against the couch, and then, after a moment,
straightened again.  "I think, better safe than sorry.  Most people react
to this kind of study with ridicule or fear, or even anger.  I suppose
neither of us has known him for long enough to make a prediction, but
you've known him for longer."

   "I agree, I think it is best to not bring it up to him if it is not
necessary.  In general he has shown himself to be a very
conventional-minded bloke, although he has on more than one occasion
admitted that he sees himself as being more open-minded than most people.
When it comes to subjects of the metaphysical or occult nature, religion or
magic and so forth, he seems blithely ignorant and uninterested.  So it is
hard to say how he would react to the subject if confronted with the
reality of it directly." Alice folded her arms together and regarded Brian
carefully.  She cautiously admitted: "No offense, but I find your peers to
be stuffy and boring people, overly concerned with propriety and stricken
with guilt at the thought of expressing any kind of individuality."

   "I take no offense, that is practically the defining feature of us rich
Kingslanders." he chuckled self-consciously.

   "Rupbert seems not very different than most," Alice continued, "but
still, there is something about him.  It is as if I see that he has more
potential than most people, to change and grow."

   Brian smiled uncomfortably.  There was something he was hesistant to
say, Alice could tell.  "That is, again, a most astute observation!  About
Rupbert that is..."

   "What do you mean?"

   "I- I just mean exactly what I said.  I mean, I agree with what you
said."

   She decided to let him off the hook, and went on: "I suppose I went off
on a tangent there.  My point is, it is hard to tell what he would do, how
he would react."

   "Overall though, your description does not sound discouraging.  Perhaps
you should ask him.  Haven't you ever discussed the night at the
cathedral?"

   "No, not with any depth.  He seems to have done his best to push the
incident out of his mind.  That is no suprise however, anyone should; he
did go through quite an ordeal that night."

   "You should talk to him, bring up the subject gently." he said
encouragingly.

   "I'll do that sometime.  For now, let's read together in your bedroom,
where we would have some privacy."

   "My bedroom?  Are you sure you want to work in there?"

   "Yes, definitely." Alice said.  She was discouraged by his priggishness
about it, but decided to feign blindness to it: "Don't worry," she said. 
"No matter how messy your room is it won't be anything I haven't seen
before."

   He smiled and the two of them went upstairs and to his room.  As Alice
entered his bedroom, she found it ironic how perfectly neat the place was.
Nothing was sitting about, even his desk was perfectly clear and clean. 
There were no dirty socks and under-wear lying on the floor, as young men
usually had in their own bedrooms.  Alice hopped up onto his neatly-made
bed and sat up leaning against the head-board.  Brian chivalrously sat in a
chair half-way across the room.

   "This looks like a great book." he said.  "I found it at the library the
theology department at the college has.  I am so surprised to find a book
like this at all, anywhere.  You see, many books on magic are written in
code, or special terminology for confusing the reader if the book should
fall into the wrong hands.  There is even blatant misinformation sometimes,
this kind of thing is called 'blinds'.  This book looks different though,
it promised out-right to not have such 'blinds'."

   "Yes, I've heard of blinds.  That's just one of the things that puts me
off of studying the subject at all."

   "I thought this part was very interesting and elucidating..." He flipped
through some of the pages.  "Here it is..." he read aloud to her:

   "Synchronicity.  A synchronicity is a meaningful coincidence.

   "As the practitioner becomes more experienced and aware of all of the
magic in the world, he will note more and more synchronicities even as he
goes about his everyday activities that have nothing to do with his magical
practice.  Happily, the practitioner will notice that even the things he
wishes for idly while day-dreaming or ruminating will practically fall in
his lap, without having performed any ritual or other conscious application
of magic.  However, not all of the side effects are happy.  The
practitioner also finds that his increased awareness expedites the karmic
rewards and punishments for his deeds."

   "Oh, that is indeed interesting." Alice said.  "It sounds like the fact
that despite being born on different continents, we managed to meet each
other in this life is a synchronocity."

   "Exactly!  That is exactly what I thought when I first read this.  But
we don't take part in groups or rituals or anything like that...  but we
have the awareness.  I think the awareness is the most important part."

   Alice smiled mischievously.  "But still...  coming together to study
like this, I think this is only the beginning of the synchronicities we are
bound to experience."

   Brian smiled back.  "Spooky!  Especially the part about karmic rewards
and punishments..."

   ***********************************

   When Alice woke up the next morning, as she lay in bed next to Rupbert,
she thought of how she could broach the subject of magic to him.  She did
not think it was wise to start out with mention of the incident at the
cathedral, for that was such a negative experience.  But that seemed to be
the most natural way: to relate it to events that personally affected them.
She could mention how perhaps she had caused Brian appear.  Instantly she
realized that would be a terrible idea: telling him that she had wished for
a new man because she felt unsatisfied with him.  Whether she had actually
caused him to arrive was still dubious in her mind in any case.

   At this point of indecisiveness, her mind began to wander.

   "What a socially inept bunch we are," she thought.  "I am a lowly,
cynical maid, unassimilated and with no desire to assimilate into this
turgid culture.  Rupee was just a bookish old fuddy-duddy before he became
a social pariah, and Brian is just hopelessly dorky.  Maybe, if I wish for
another man, he will appear again.  This time, I will wish for a man that
is dynamic and exciting.  I want a man who can be unreserved and fun to be
around...  A man that isn't always saying he's sorry and trying to be
perfectly polite all the time.  I want a man who can be downright mean -
well, not to me, but other people sometimes.  A man that will bring
adventure into my life...  A man that will set my heart on fire."

   Alice looked over to Rupbert and he still seemed to be sleeping.  He lay
on his back and his chest moved up and down as he breathed loudly.  She
drew closer to him and put her hand down his pajama-pants and groped at his
crotch.  His penis was flaccid, and so she moved down underneath the
blankets, and tugging the front of pants down, massaged his manly sack,
salty from his night-time sweat, with her tongue and soon his pecker sprang
to life.

   She moved back up and then he made a sound and turned to her: "Mmm,
Alice." he said.  He put his arms around her and pressed her close as he
kissed her sleepily.

   She tried to pull his pants down, but it was difficult with him almost
crushing her in his arms.  Nevertheless with some effort she managed to
pull away and maneuver his pants down.  She climbed on top of him and
guided his prick into her complementary area.  He gazed up at her dreamily
and cupped her breasts as she bounced back and forth.  As she felt her
climax coming, she tried to think of the man she wanted again.  "Dynamic...
interesting...  exciting...  Not like Rupbert or Brian...  oh...  what
else...  set my heart...  on fire..."

   Before she could even wonder if it had worked, they both heard the
door-bell ring.  In spite of her intent, Alice was genuinely shocked to
hear the door-bell.  She decided she would remain skeptical that her
experiment had worked until she saw this new man with her own two eyes.

   Once again, in a scene that was rather familiar, the two of them went
down the stairs and Rupbert answered the door.  Meanwhile, Alice went over
to the dining room where she could watch the front door from an oblique
angle, and where Brian was sitting and eating a breakfast-muffin.

   Rupbert opened the door and apparently recognized the man who stood at
his door-step.  "Bill!  Bill Jager!  I am so happy to see you.  You had
told me you were moving here, but when I looked for you some time ago, I
could not find you." The two of them spoke for some moments, but Alice
could not hear them very well.  She strained to look at the man though, who
kept moving into and out of view as he stood at the door-step.

   When Alice could see Bill clearly, she felt relieved that he did not
seem to be the one who would fulfill her requirements.  He was a man around
Rupberts age, he looked a little older, but perhaps he was only more
worn-out.  The first thing one would notice about him is that he was an
intimidating figure: very tall, lean, and strong-looking.  The next thing
one would notice, if not first, were his eyes.  He had large blue eyes
which looked haunted and ghoulish.  However, the rest of his face added to
that impression as well: He had a long age and sun-worn face with severe
cheek-bones, a narrow but projective nose, and a tall, sloping fore-head.
He wore a suit, but that suit looked worn and dirty, the collar of his
shirt dark with sweat-stains.  What a creepy-looking man, Alice thought.

   "What a creepy-looking man!" Brian said quietly.

   Alice looked at him and smiled, "that's exactly what I was thinking! 
Word for word!"

   At that moment Rupbert and Bill came into the dining room, where Alice
and Brian stood about, suddenly perfectly quiet.

   "Brian, Alice, meet my friend Bill Jager."

   "Hello," he said, shaking Alice's hand and then Brian's.

   "Hello, nice to meet you," Brian said unconvincingly.

   "Hello," said Alice.

   "Brian is my nephew," said Rupbert, "who has been staying here for a few
weeks, and Alice is my housekeeper."

   "Well, I have to go to class.  Nice meeting you...  Mr.  Jager." Brian
said perfunctorily.

   From the look in Bill's eyes, Alice got the impression that he wanted to
talk to Rupbert in privacy, and so she excused herself.  She walked Brian
out the front door.

   When they were outside Brian looked at her and sighed.  "Did you see
that big suitcase he was carrying?  First you moved in, and then I did, and
now it looks like this guy is moving in too.  At this rate, we ought to
just put up sign and say we're running a hostel".

   Alice turned to him and looked into his eyes quizzically.  She thought
his pessimism was out-of-character for him.  She did not give it much
thought, but hurried over closer to the dining room, where she could hear
the men conversing, out of sight.

   In the dining room, the two men sat and caught up with each other.  "Oh
well.  Those were good times.  I have to make our conversation here make a
serious turn, though." the man said.  When he spoke he sounded tired.  He
had a deep, textured voice with a more working-class accent than Alice
would expect an acquaintance of Rupbert's to have.  "I've run into some
money troubles, and now I need a place to stay.  So, Rupbert.  I'm just
gunna come out with it: I need a favor."

   "What is it?  I would glad to help my friend."

   "I need you to lend me some money.  Just a little something to get me
back on my feet.  Something to buy me some time to think about what I'm
going to do next, time to find a job or something."

   "Don't worry, it's no trouble at all, I can do that for you."

   "Great, great!  Hearing you say that, I'm happier than a mutt with two
maypoles."

   "I have a big house here, and it is just the three of us.  I insist that
you stay here."

   "Oh, no, Rupee, I am not asking to be an imposition here on your
home-life.  Downtown there is a motel where I have a mate who said he'd
give me a discount on a room."

   "No, I absolutely insist you stay here.  No friend of mine is staying in
some bug-eaten motel downtown!"

   "Well, all right, if you want me to..."

   ****************************************

   And that is how Bill came to live in the Greenleaf mansion.  For the
first few days he was very mysterious.  He seemed to spend all of his time
sleeping or doing something else alone in his bedroom when he was home. 
But some days he would go out and come home, never mentioning where he was
going or for how long.  He never joined the other three for their meals,
and usually slept through breakfast anyway.  Alice figured he suffered from
some invisible health problem that made him lethargic.  Even though he kept
to himself, Brian seemed to thoroughly dislike Bill.  When they were in the
same room together Brian had a subtle look on his face as if he could smell
something rotten in the room.  Rupbert was concerned about Bill's reclusive
manner but decided for the time being to let him have his solitude and
privacy if that was what he wanted.

   But then one morning Bill ventured to have breakfast with the three of
them.  He had come home very late the previous night, (or early that
morning, to be more accurate,) yet he seemed unusually cheerful and
energetic that day.  Brian was discussing his professors at the university
when he sat down with them.

   "So you're a college boy, eh?" Bill asked.

   "Yes..."

   "So, what are you studying?"

   "Theology." he answered concisely, and then took a bite of his
surgically-cut breakfast.

   "Theology?" he said derisively.  "Why would anyone want to study
theology?  There's no money in that."

   "I always thought I could write about the subject, publish articles.  Or
I could become a theology professor myself." Brian said defensively. 
"Beside, there's more to life than money, and spirituality is nutritious to
the soul, that is what I always say." he added, trying to lighten the
conversation.

   "Bah!  Let me tell you, my boy, all religion is just a crutch for the
feeble-minded." as Bill continued to speak, his tone and manner
transitioned from didactic back to derisive: "First it just started out
with the cavemen who did not understand why the the sun rises...  why the
seasons change...  all that stuff...  and just like most blokes today,
instead of admitting they had no idea, they made up some crazy story about
it.  Now people just keep the stories around so that they don't have to
face the dark truth that we're all going to die someday and return to
nothingness.  Worms will eat at our bodies until we are just dust again."

   "Excuse me sir, Bill..." Brian sputtered.  "With all due respect... 
you...  are mistaken."

   Alice and Rupbert eyed each other uneasily.  The situation was very
tense and uncomfortable, with no promise of improvement.

   Bill put on a cocky grin: "I'm wrong?  Tell me how I'm wrong."

   "Where do I even begin?  How can I?  Have you ever even studied
theology? Have you ever read a single book, a single article on the
subject?" Brian's voice was strained.

   "No," Bill scoffed.  "But why should I?  Religion as a subject is
inherently wrong.  We are supposed to accept ideas on unquestioned faith.
That's plain stupid."

   "No, religions are absolutely not about accepting ideas on 'unquestioned
faith', that is a common, but ignorant misconception -and I'll tell you
what is plain stupid: it is a man having such a strong opinion about a
subject he apparently knows less than nothing about!"

   Rupbert sighed audibly.  He tried to smile.  "All right you two...  this
is why it is not polite to discuss politics or religion at the
dining-table. Intellectuals and philosophers have debated the subject for
thousands of years, clearly there are no easy answers.  I'm sorry to impose
on your conversation, but obviously this subject needs to be dropped, I
think you two should just agree to disagree."

   There was a tense silence for a few minutes.  Brian seemed more pleased
than Bill at his uncle's judicial decree.  Bill shifted uneasily, he looked
very eager to get the last word in.

   "Hey, Brian.  What's wrong with you anyway?" he said.

   "What!" Brian said, his eyes darting back and forth from Bill, to the
table, to Alice, and to his uncle.

   "Why are you cutting up your food like that and eating so slowly?"

   "That's just...  that's just the way I like to do it." Brian said, he
twitched as he did his best to keep his temper.

   At that point, Alice felt sorry she had ever been so annoyed by Brian
and his table-manner.

   "I know..." Bill snapped his fingers, "you are like that character in
the play, I forget the name, about the Doctor who falls in love with the
governess.  The guy who always had to have everything perfectly clean, and
who would have to count the number of bricks in the walkway...  I forget
what they call that...  compulsive-something.  You have that, don't you?"

   "Excuse me," Brian said.  He wiped his mouth with his napkin decisively,
put it down, and strode out of the dining-room.

   *************************************

   As time went on, in her solitary moments Alice kept thinking about the
mystery of Bill.  He seemed to have two distinct modes of operation: quiet,
brooding and reclusive, and other times seemed cheerful and sociable, but
at the same time inconsiderate, uncouth, even mean.  Despite his erratic
behaviour, Alice was avoidant of judging him.  She did not like how he had
spoken to Brian, but she dismissed what he said with the old adage,
"Nobody's perfect".  Alice wondered what had happened in his past.

   She thought of him more and more until she saw him in a new light.  One
evening, it hit her all of a sudden, she realized that Bill was sexy.  What
a strange affect he had on her, she thought.  He had a kind of
attractiveness that was sneaky and unexpected: at first he seemed weird,
but then, not realizing what was happening, she found herself utterly
smitten all of a sudden.  He had such muscular arms and she longed to feel
them around her.  He had such a sexy voice and she longed to hear him utter
dirty (not sweet) nothings to her.  Alice realized, finally, that he was
indeed the man she had summoned.  Her sex-magic had worked.

   She went to her bedroom and sat at the edge of her bed.  She could
barely hear Bill moving about in his own bedroom next-door.  "Right now is
as good a time as any!" she thought.  She stood up and went in front of the
mirror in her bedroom.  She studied her reflection and wondered if Bill
thought she was attractive.  After all of this time, he must have formed an
opinion already, she thought.  She wondered if he liked Vindhyan women in
general.

   She undid the braid in her hair and ran her fingers throught its thick,
black length.  She arranged some of her hair in front of her shoulders. 
She adjusted her shirt and moistened her lips.  "Perhaps I can go in there
wearing a camisole...  no, that would be too much - or too little, rather."
She unbuttoned the first two buttons of her shirt.

   She hurried downstairs to the kitchen and looked for some left-over
desserts.  She put them on a tray, and then went back upstairs.  She
finally approached his bedroom-door and after a moment's hesitation, dared
to knock at it gently.

   "Come in," Bill said, his voice muted by the walls and the door between
them.

   She opened the door and greeted him with a smile.  "Good evening, Mr. 
Jager, I-"

   "I would prefer that you call me 'Bill', just 'Bill'," he said casually.
However, his voice naturally had a powerful force to it.

   "Excuse me...  Bill...  I just came up here to offer you some cake."

   "Just leave it on the table." he said, without even looking in her
direction.

   Alice was almost put-off by his stand-offish demeanor, but nevertheless
she kept on: She moved closer to him.  She saw that he was carving a piece
of wood into a lion.  "Wow, you surely are a talented sculptor." she said.

   "Thanks."

   "Where did you learn to sculpt like that?  Did someone teach you?"

   "No."

   She bent over the table, giving him a fair view down her shirt, with the
premise of looking closer at a different lion sculpture.  That one was
finished, and it was different, but they both depicted a lion poised to
attack.  "If you don't want any cake, perhaps there's something else I can
get, or do for you," she said suggestively.

   Bill stared down her shirt in a most relaxed, unabashed and unconcealed
manner.  "I'm sure you have all kinds of delightful treats in your
kitchen...  but I'm not really in the mood right now." he said.

   "Oh...  all right." she said contritely.  She hurried out of the room,
feeling like a complete fool.

   **************************************************

   Later that night, Alice noticed that Bill had mysteriously slipped out
of the house.  Alice thought he must be spending time at the local pubs. 
But if what he wanted was company, why was he so antisocial around them? 
Alice felt herself sink as the idea entered her mind that perhaps he
thought the lot of them were no fun to be around, and that to him, she was
just "one of them".

   Soon Brian came home and and the two of them chatted idly for a long
while.  Eventually their conversation was interrupted when the front door
slammed shut and the raucous laughter of Bill and two young women filled
the house.

   When they walked by the sitting-room, Alice stared at them.  The women
looked to be about her age or younger, one of them blonde, the other with
hair an unnaturally bold shade of red.  It was difficult to tell their
ages, and they looked similar, as they both wore the same very heavy
makeup: Blood-red lipstick, darkly-lined eyes and brows, skin powdered
white with rouge on the cheeks.  They both wore tight, blue, low-cut
dresses that exposed protuberant, alabaster cleavage.

   "Good evening," Bill said to Alice and Brian.  "These are my two new
friends, Maude and Jenny", he said, indicating towards the red-head and
then blonde, respectively.  He glanced at her and the three of them walked
past with no further acknowledgement.

   "Those girls look like prostitutes," Alice mused cattily when they were
out of ear-shot.

   Brian began a laugh.  "Yes...  because they *are* prostitutes!"

   "Oh..." Then she felt great dread as she saw that instead of staying
downstairs, perhaps in the sitting-room or the dining-room to socialize,
they went upstairs.

   After they went up, Alice excused herself from Brian's company and
noiselessly went by the bottom of the stairs and listened as a door opened
and shut behind them, muffling their banter and laughter.  She slowly and
anxiously dared to go up and could see and hear that they did indeed go
into his bedroom.  She rushed into her own bedroom.  Lying in bed seemed
comforting, but she easily realized that she could hear much of what was
going on in the next room.  Despite her anguish, she considered her
situation thoughtfully.  Was Bill really the man she had summoned
magically? She thought of how in story-books, using magic always had such
negative consequences.  She had always assumed that was for the express
purpose of making people fear the occult, but for the first time she
considered that perhaps that was in fact the reality of magic.

   Meanwhile, next-door, Bill sat back on his own bed.  "Kiss each other,"
he said.

   They both grinned at him and then turned to each other.  The lips of the
two women met, and they kissed slowly but heatedly.  Bill could see their
tongues as they continued to caress each other.

   "Take off your clothes."

   The two harlots slowly and gracefully undressed each other until they
were both perfectly naked.  They both went over to the bed and sat by his
side.  Bill kissed both of them, gently nibbled at their pale necks, and
probed at their hot mouths with his tongue, one, and then the other, and
then back to the first one.

   "Touch each other." Bill said.

   They both ran their hands up and down each others bodies.  Maude cupped
at her companions's pale breasts and flicked her tongue across her pink,
delicate-looking nipples.  Jenny threw her head back and said, "Mmmmm..."
Bill took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply and Maude continued
to play with her breasts.  Bill blindly groped at them both.  He shifted
his position and nuzzled at Maude's breasts.

   Bill undid his pants and pulled out his cock, which was hard and ready.
"Blow me."

   The two girls obeyed and he said nothing else but sat back motionlessly.
They both kneeled before him.  Jenny held his penis while Maude kissed and
licked at it as if it were a lollipop.  Jenny soon joined in, but gently
stimulated his manly sack.

   "Oh...  yeah..." Bill moaned.  "Suck my cock," he whispered.  He grabbed
Maude by the hair and directed his prick deep into her mouth.  She bobbed
her head up and down, her exclamations muffled by his cock.  Jenny pushed
her away and then took her turn blowing him.

   Bill stood up and directed the girls to get onto the bed, face down,
bent over the side of the bed, both of them side-by-side.  Standing behind
them, he put his fingers into both of them, one hand for each of them. 
They both moan "ooooh" as he worked his fingers into and out of them
slowly.

   "Oh, please, fuck me," Maude said.

   Bill was happy to fullfill her request, and he penetrated her too
quickly, the end of his cock slipping away from her at first.  Then he
entered her and pounded into her as he continued to frig at Jenny.  Then he
switched, guiding his throbbing shaft, already slick and wet into Jenny. 
Then, again, he switched back to pounding at Maude.

   Jenny got off of the bed and as Bill continued to thrust in and out, she
eagerly began to lick about where his body met Maude's.  She tongued at his
balls, and the opening of her cunt, and also at her ass-hole.

   He thrust into her hard and fast.  Soon, the bed had made its way closer
to the wall, and the headboard began to bang loudly against it.

   "Oh...  yeah...  I'm going to come soon!" the red-head cried.

   Bill stepped up the pace of his fucking and soon she began moaning
inarticulately.

   When all of this was over, Alice still sat wide-awake in bed.  She
ruefully wondered if Brian had felt exactly like this.  Then to her
despair, she heard the noises in the next room start up again as Bill moved
on to satisfying Jenny.

   ***********************
   Next Episode: Linda Barton's Revenge