“Where were you?”  Blue asked “If you’re not going to let me have a key you need to open the door right away when I knock.”

“Sorry,” Ela apologized. “I was jet lagged and needed a nap, I didn’t hear you.  Come in.”  She pointedly did not offer to give him a key.

Blue entered Ela’s home.  It was a 19th century Levantine house, not a mansion but rather grand for a 24 year old on her own.  Most 24 year olds in Izmir were still living with their parents.  Ela had inherited the house from her grandfather when he passed away.  Her father was annoyed in principle at being passed over but he didn’t really want the house.  It was a wreck.  Before Ela’s birth, her great-grandmother had died unexpectedly and left no will.  This set off a squabble among her five children over what to do about the Levantine house.  They might have reached an agreement to sell it if not for the return of Ela’s long absent great-grandfather, who wished to live in the home himself.  The house was already in need of serious repairs at that time and nobody wanted to put any money into it while its status was uncertain.  The end result being that the house went unused and neglected for decades.  To say that Ela inherited a house would be generous actually—she inherited a shell.

Even the inheritance of that shell was incomplete.  While Ela’s grandfather had no living siblings at the time of his death there were plenty of uncles, aunts, cousins and second cousins who still could lay at least a partial claim to the home.  Ela considered going around and buying them all out.  However she knew she could never get everyone to accept a fair price for their fraction of the claim.  The payoff would be small from being bought out but if they held on there was always a chance they could have the whole house to themselves one day.   Or the plot of land the wreck stood on anyway.  Faced with an irreconcilable dispute Ela decided the best course of action would be to simply ignore the competing claims.  She set about having the wreck restored to livable conditions on her own.  There was some grumbling among the family but with no one else able to come up with an alternative solution to the house problem Ela was largely allowed to go about handling it as she liked.  Certainly no one else wanted to pay for the extensive renovation.  Along the way of repairing the place Ela acquired piles of official papers listing her as the sole owner and resident while no one else had any documentation related to the house worth mentioning.

Since it would have been almost as expensive to build a new house as to restore the Levantine house, Ela needed to take out a loan to get the work done.  With her only source of income being smuggling cosmetics for Black, no bank would ever give her a loan.  Luckily Ela was able to find a co-signer, Blue.

Blue was as big as a door.  Tall and at 50 years old he still retained much of his strength from his rugby days.  It was clear where his name came from: his eyes.  If Ela’s new acquaintance Red had eyes the color of the sky then Blue had eyes the color of the sea.  He was an Irish man who had come to Izmir 15 years ago to set up a private language school with his newly wed Turkish wife.  The language school became a great success and its reputation allowed Blue to charge a premium price.  The marriage meanwhile had not gone as well; they were now entering the ninth year of seemingly never ending divorce process. 

“Were you able to get it?”  Blue asked.

“Do you mean this?”  Ela asked with a smile.  She pulled a premium bottle of whiskey out of a duty free shopping bag.  It was several grades above what Black drank and Black drank a fine whiskey.  At the beginning of their agreement Blue was annoyed at Ela being occasionally unavailable due to her trips to Germany.  His attitude softened when he realized she could get items for him as well.  Besides whiskey she also brought him pork products which were hard to find in Turkey.  

“Excellent.”  Blue commented.  Ela poured them each a glass, straight.  She had once put a single ice cube in her own glass but Blue was offended at the corruption of the drink.  “To your return.”  Blue raised his glass.  They always toasted her in one way or another.  Ela clinked her glass against his and they drank.  When they first started their arrangement Ela would respond to Blue’s toast to her with a toast to him.  He told her not to do this anymore.  He felt there should only be one toast per drink—adding more toasts diluted the significance of the original.  Blue sat down on the overstuffed couch.  “Now, have you learned anything new for me?”

“I have.”  Ela sat her drink down.  “Give me a moment and I’ll return to tell you.”  Ela scampered to her bedroom.  Ela came back just two minutes later with her make up fixed up and wearing a long silken blue robe.  Ela stood before Blue and pronounced “The Secret”  And then she began to spin around in circles.  The bottom of her robe lifted to reveal legs as smooth as the robe itself.  She held out her arms and looked as though she might take flight.  As she spun Ela cried out:

The secret that should not be blown

Not one of thy nation must know;

You may padlock the gate of a town,

But never the mouth of a foe.

Ela said the poem a second, louder time, before she collapsed with a flourish at Blue’s feet and buried her head in his lap.  It was partly showmanship and partly genuine dizziness.  Blue reached down and with a single finger tilted her chin up.  “Would you like me to recite another piece?”  She asked breathlessly.

“No,” Blue answered, “I want this.”  With that Blue stood, picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.  It was less a romantic gesture than it was a show of domination.  Once there he yanked off her robe to reveal her petite bronze body.  She performed oral sex on him, he did not reciprocate.  He never did, they were not there for her pleasure.  Then he entered her.  Because he was so much greater in size than she he could easily move her around to any position he desired; he used her like a doll.  Though Blue never did anything specifically to enhance Ela’s own enjoyment of their sexual encounter, he was so committed to fully enjoying himself that Ela tended to find pleasure in the act anyway.  The idea that she liked being used only turned Blue on more.  When he came he did so inside of her and without warning; you don’t ask a doll for permission.

They laid there in bed until the earth came back under their feet.  Ela went to make them coffee.  When she came back Blue was getting dressed.

“You don’t have to go, you know.”  Ela offered.  “I could make us dinner.”

Blue quickly drank his coffee.  “That sounds great, but I don’t have time today.  A lot of work to do, we’re creating new ads to put up around town before the school year starts.”

“If you’re looking for someone who can design your ads, you found her.”

Blue looked at her confused for a moment, then his face darkened.  “Oh, um, no.  Don’t take this the wrong way, I know you’ve got training doing that sort of thing, and I’m sure you could do a great job.  However I think that might complicate our relationship.”

“You could tell your employees you met me at the gym,” Ela said with a grin “isn’t that where you say you are going when you come here?”

“Please, drop it.”  Blue requested.  So she did.

Ela walked Blue to the door, she remained undressed.  She gave him a goodbye kiss before he left.  Blue didn’t do anything as crude as leaving money on the nightstand.  The monthly mortgage payment on the Levantine house would automatically be withdrawn from his bank account.