Monkey Business

Noisy Welcome

Avoiding any sudden moves, Leo leans to the side and cranes his neck to peer inside the building, trying to see if there are more baboons behind these.

The baboons fan out in a semi-circle around Ghishu and Leo, snarling and screaming and waving their arms (Leo notes that all of them are male - a fact that becomes obvious to Ghishu as well once he gets a look at the dangly bits on the back).  A single baboon, larger than the others and solid black from nose to tail, stalks forward a couple of paces, but stops just outside the reach of Ghishu's swing.  He rises up on his hind legs and waves his arms in a threatening manner, exposing large, yellowed fangs in a nasty looking grimace, all the while making growling, hooting noises.

Ghishu stops his swings and slowly lowers the chair leg to the side of his body, always keeping eye contact with the beast in front of him prepared for everything.  "Leo," he says quietly, trying not to upset the baboons any further. "Do you see anyone behind them? Anyone we can talk to before we get shredded into small bits?"

"HEY!" screams a female voice from inside the building, "QUIT FUCKING AROUND!"  As one the baboons turn and regard the door of the building solemnly, only the leader pausing to give Ghishu a look indicating clearly the creature's feeling that there is unfinished business between them.

Stomping out the front door of the building is a young woman of perhaps 25 years, with blonde hair and a fair complexion.  She is wearing heavy combat boots, fatigue pants, a black tee shirt, and a thick front-and-back ballistic cloth vest that hangs down to mid thigh.  A jaunty black policeman's cap is perched on her head, and a badge (which seems to be vaguely shaped like the face of a baboon) is pinned on the vest.  She also has a large truncheon stuffed into her belt at one side and a pair of handcuffs at the other.  A pair of black leather gloves completes the ensemble.

She stops, puts her hands on her hips, and glares at the world in general, and at Ghishu, Leo, and the baboons in specific.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ASSHOLES DOIN' TA' MY FUCKING BABOONS?" she yells.

Ghishu expresses a sigh of relief at the image of the young woman, but doesn't let his guard down.  Keeping an eye on the baboon leader, he half turns to face the woman and speaks in a raised voice.  "My name is Ghishu and I was sent by the Deadly Temptations agency for a security officer job opening that you have here."

Leo eyes the baboons and the blonde with wariness.  He raises his hand carefully to wave in slow-motion, mindful of the monkeys' reactions.  "Hi," he salutes.  "My name is Leo and I'm just along as Ghishu's friend.  Don't mind me."

The woman looks Ghishu up and down, then issues a single contemptuous snort of disapproval.  "GUARD!" she yells in a commanding voice.  The baboons immediately become alert and begin looking around, scanning the street.

"STAY!"  the woman yells, then looks at Ghishu and Leo.  "If you want a job, then stop fucking around and move your asses inside.  You think I have all day to wet nurse you?"

Still watching the baboons warily Ghishu drops the broken chair leg to the ground, and he and Leo walk into the building.
 

Max

The interior of the building is every bit as decrepit as one would expect from looking at it from the outside.  The building was once some sort of apartment complex, or possibly a residential hotel, but it was pretty well gutted by a fire.  Most of the interior is blackened and charred, there are holes in the ceiling, and the remains of burned timbers, furniture, and appointments have been piled up in one corner.

Atop the soot and grime has been added several layers of graffiti, including many words that modesty forbids mentioning (like "fuck", "shit", and "asshole"...  oops!), along with crude drawings of people having sex with other people and people having sex with baboons.  Along the back wall the words "DOG FACES" have been spray painted with authority (and a bit of imagination) in letters fully two feet tall.

There are several mattresses scattered about, and some obviously scrounged furniture as well.  One portion of the ground floor has been made into a crude kitchen.  The occasional whisky bottle floats like a flagship amid a veritable sea of beer cans and bottles, and Styrofoam take-out containers - many of which still contain food.  Gnawed chicken bones, rinds of various varieties of fruit, and piles of baboon shit complete the interior decoration.  The place smells like a cross between a garbage dump and a solid waste treatment plant - only worse.  There are perhaps a half dozen individuals sitting around or sleeping on the mattresses, dressed similarly to the woman.

Towards the far end of the building, where the front desk used to be, someone has run some electrical and telephone wires.  Behind the remains of the front desk sits a young man in leathers and chains, with a policeman's cap on his head.  He looks up as Ghishu and Leo enter.

"What the fuck do you want?" he snarls.

"Hey Max, chill," the woman replies.  "Got one for the cage here."  She points at Ghishu.

At the words "the cage" Max's demeanor changes - he looks Ghishu up and down with an appraising eye.  Others in the room, also take interest, some even going so far as to
wake up their sleeping pals.

"Four to one against," Max says after a moment.  "Two to one that he's baboon shit by morning."

"I'll put twenty on that," says the woman, pulling out a wad of cash.

"Me too!" yells one of the others.

"He looks kinda wiry," says a third, "I'll put up twenty that if it drops in the crapper he takes at least one with him!"

"I'll cover you!" says a fourth.

Betting continues fast and heavy as Max back at Ghishu.

"So," he says pleasantly, "you want to join the Dog Faces, eh?"  He waves a hand in the general direction of the betting.  Ghishu and Leo both notice that  he is missing three fingers from his right hand.

As the seconds stretch on, Max raises an eyebrow.  "Well?" he says at last, "What the hell's the matter?  Baboon rip your fucking tongue out and eat it?  Say something!"

Ghishu registers a partially confused partially shocked look at all the commotion that started to build over some sort of a test that he's probably about to take.  Looking at Leo for suggestions, he is brought back to reality by Max's question.

"Oh. Sorry.  Yes," he finally says, "I mean I want to join the Dog Faces.  That was your question, right?  My name is Ghishu and I was sent here by the Deadly Temptations agency".  Looking again on the betting frenzy that's going on around the couple, he asks Max: "It looks like the odds are against me on this 'cage' thing.  Just what is it exactly that I'm about to do?"

Max leans back in his chair, and his voice goes silky smooth.

"Its really quite simple," he says.  "There's a two part test involved in joining.  Part one - the cage.  Up on the second floor is where we house the baboons who aren't in training, and aren't out patrolling.  They're in a big cage.  You go into the cage and you sit there for fifteen minutes.  No fuss, no muss.  You don't have to fuck around with the baboons, you don't have to show us what a great big time animal trainer you are.  You can leave any time just by asking, as long as you can make it to the door.  If you stay in for fifteen minutes without getting torn into tiny pieces by the baboons, you go on to part two of the test - you go up to the fifth floor and see Molly.  Molly is the boss.  If the baboons like you, and Molly likes you, then you get the job.  If Molly doesn't like you you don't get the job.  If the baboons don't like you then unless you are pretty quick asking to get out of the cage you are baboon chow."

Max smiles a crooked and rather evil smile.  "Are we clear?" he asks.

"Can I have a word with my friend here?" Ghishu asks politely.  He then takes Leo to the corner, placing his hand around Leo's shoulder trying to create some sort of secluded environment so that the two can talk undisturbed.  He speaks in a low voice, hoping that no one will hear.  "What do you say, Leo?  You said you have some experience with animals - is any of it with baboons?  Can you give me some pointers?"

Leo glances warily over his shoulder, taking in the Dog Faces' unfriendly grins.  "Well, not really," he whispers back.  "I never had to work directly with animals, and normally I'd say just avoid threatening moves.  On the other hand, in this case you might be better off identifying the leader, the alpha male, and taking him out of combat immediately in the hopes the others will submit.  The best animal handlers I've seen essentially adopted their animals' social rules: lions, monkeys, dogs, whatever."

He pauses uneasily, then hunches even closer to Ghishu's ear.  "I can try to help in two ways.  Sometimes I get... intuitions about the way people feel, their reactions.  Maybe I can anticipate on these baboons and give you a warning, although I guess if they all pile up on you you won't need my warning.

"The other thing I can do...  I could get in the cage with you.  Maybe I can help by throwing juggling balls at them, or distract them.  But if we make it out of there, I'll tell you, I don't want the job!"  He smiles wryly.

"Thanks for the offer to join me, but I think this is something that I must do on my own", Ghishu says to Leo, "If things will go well then I'll be OK, but if they don't I doubt that your being there will do anything else than only get you hurt too."

"On the other hand", he continues, "I will appreciate any of those intuitions you might get on those baboons. I have to decide whether I'm going to go into that cage with an aggressive attitude or a repressed one, and your talent might be of use in helping me make the decision."

Turning back to Max he says "OK. Let's go to the cage".

Max gets up from behind the desk, and leads the way to a rickety, beat up, and obviously unsafe elevator, followed by several of the thugs.

"Back off!" snarls Max at the thugs.  "You'll find out how it goes in a bit.  I'm not gonna let you assholes piss off the baboons and get another poor shithead ripped to shreds just so you can take me for $20.00."

"Aaaaaawwwwwwww," is the general response.

Max eyes Leo.  "You looking for a job too?  Cuz if you aren't you stay down here with the other yahoos."

Leo cocks his head sideways, absently scratching his back by reaching over his shoulder with a spindly arm.  "Uh, I don't have the skills to work security, let alone beat up baboons," he confesses.  "But couldn't you let me go with Ghishu?  I'm sure not going to do anything to or with the baboons, I don't have any skills with handling animals either, and I sure don't want to get them angry.  But Ghishu is my friend, and if he's about to be torn apart by monkeys, I think he shouldn't have to face it alone.  Can't I just watch, as moral support?"

Max glances at the waiting thugs.  "They don't go, you don't go." he says simply.  "For all I know you're going to piss off the baboons yourself because your 'buddy' here slept with your girlfriend on the sly.  Or maybe you have some weird shiv that will calm the baboons down so your buddy gets the job, only when he's out on the street you and your shiv aren't going to be there, and his pack will rip him apart and then we'll have to hunt them all down and recapture them."

He turns to Ghishu.  "Hop in," he says simply.

"Well, Leo", Ghishu says with an obviously disappointed voice before departing from his friend to enter the elevator look-alike, "it looks like I'll have to do this on my own."

"Give 'em hell!" Leo calls after him.  A circus artist knows better than to wish luck...  He makes a fair show of unconcern until Ghishu disappears, then his shoulders sag a bit and a look of worry spreads over his face.  The elevator doors close, and Leo is left standing on the ground floor.

Left with the happy crew inhabiting the downstairs pig sty, Leo tries to act unconcerned for a few minutes, then starts fidgetting.  He glances repeatedly at his pocket watch (a cheap pocket watch, but the only one he has).   The exploration of his pockets also reveals a multitude of small objects he starts fiddling nervously with, including aki bags, small rubber balls, a bright copper whistle, and a five foot length of thin metal string.

Juggling some of these objects (Leo can't resist juggling them after a minute or so) attracts some mild attention from the Dog Faces lying about, but most of them are too blasted to really care.
 
 

The Cage

"No hair," he remarks conversationally.  "That's good.  Sometimes the baboons, they get lice."

The elevator doors open onto the second floor.  While it is apparent that the floor once had a large number of rooms or small apartments in it, most of the interior walls have now been knocked out.  Portions of the floor have been repaired and reinforced, and a large cage dominates the empty space.  Lit by harsh floodlights, the place smells overwhelmingly of caged animals.

The inside of the cage looks like a seedy zoo exhibit built by a drunk.  There are logs, a school jungle gym, a trough of water, empty beer cans, husks of food, and piles of baboon shit all over the inside, and roaming around the interior are around 25 baboons, mostly males.  They initially eye Ghishu and Max with some interest, but noticing that neither is carrying anything obviously foodlike, they almost immediately go back to doing baboon stuff and ignore their distant cousins.

Max pulls out a large key and unlocks the door.  He points to a large, wall mounted clock.  "Fifteen minutes, starting now," he says.

Ghishu inhales deeply and repeats after Max: "Fifteen minutes."  He then walks past the opened door and into the cage, hearing the door closing behind him.  Taking a step or two inside, he studies the new surrounding while keeping a watchful eye of the other inhabitants of the cage.  He is trying to establish a confident pose by staying calm, but not a threatening one.

When the cage door opens the baboons begin to show interest again, hoping for treats.  When Ghishu fails to produce any, they ignore him once again.

Since the baboons show no hostile intentions for a minute or two, he goes and climbs one of the logs to sit there.

This provokes immediate response.  Standing by the door is one thing, wandering out into the cage proper is something entirely different.  Instances of "display behavior" (hooting, howling, rising on hind limbs, baring teeth, etc.) rise rapidly as Ghishu heads for the log, and by the time he gets there the walls are echoing with the sounds of pissed off baboons. Nevertheless, despite a couple of false charges (charges that stop short of actually reaching him, which probably scare the hell out of him but are just another form of display behavior) Ghishu is able to reach the log and sit down on it.

The sitting part proves to be another mistake - baboons are afraid of big things, and prey on small things.  Within seconds, the troop has Ghishu surrounded, and the larger males are pacing back and forth a few feet in front of him, snarling, rearing up on their hind legs, screaming, and intermittently urinating and defecating.  The smaller males (which are still pretty big) form a chorus of screaming, howling, altogether nasty looking creatures behind the big males, and Ghishu is quite certain that they await only the charge of the first baboon big enough to try to take him down to come raging in like a furry mob and take him apart.  Only the few females hang back.

Ghishu notes once again that baboons have fangs big enough to bite through a human wrist with ease, and wonders what his sensei would think if he could see him now.

By the time Ghishu realizes his mistakes, it is too late.  He stares down at the horde of baboons getting ready to tear him apart, and a strange, yet familiar, sensation of fear overwhelms him.  At that moment his well exercised martial disciplines kicks in.  The rush of adrenaline is felt throughout his body as his mind clears of the unnecessary emotions that engulfed him a moment ago.  He races over the last conversation he had with Leo just prior to entering the elevator:

"...you might be better off identifying the leader, the alpha male, and taking him out of combat immediately in the hopes the others will submit.  The best animal handlers I've seen essentially adopted their animals' social rules: lions, monkeys, dogs, whatever."

Ghishu raises to his feet and stands on the log, making sure that he is balanced enough to react to any move the baboons might make.  He takes off his belt, holding it in his right hand close to his body, not showing it off as a weapon not to provoke the baboons any further.

Scanning the baboons carefully, he is looking for the 'alpha male' Leo was talking about, the leader, the one that will probably jump him first.

In point of fact, there appear to be not one, but four "alpha males" pacing back and forth around Ghishu¹, shrieking and howling and baring their dagger-like canines in his general direction.  As they continue to display dominance behavior, their false charges start getting closer, and their antics more exaggerated.  Ghishu is on the point of whapping the next one to come close with his belt, when a rather odd event occurs.

One of the smaller male baboons, which has been hanging back somewhat and making less noise than the others (and which, consequently, has been all but ignored by Ghishu, who has had more important things to do with his time and concentration at the moment than pay attention to small baboons who are not about to eviscerate him) makes an odd sort of chuffing noise followed by several low-pitched hoots.  The effect, while not blatant, is obvious to Ghishu himself, as the four "alpha males" back off by a couple of feet, though they continue to act aggressively and to howl and growl in a most ferocious manner, baring their teeth and waggling their genitals at Ghishu in an unseemly baboon manner.

The smaller baboon hops down off the log on which it had been observing the proceedings and makes its way through the crowd until it is near the inner edge of the larger circle - still further away than the four biggest males, but closer than the rest of the baboons.  It peers curiously at Ghishu, scruntching up its face and squinting.

The expression is so familiar that it almost causes Ghishu to laugh.  He saw the same expression on an old teacher of his all the time.  The man was seriously nearsighted, and would squint in exactly the same manner at things when he didn't have his glasses on.

Although it's not enough to make him calm down, the turn of events does give Ghishu an opportunity to take another breath and shift his mind to little more optimistic thoughts.  He then takes another look at the small baboon and starts to wonder.  Could it be?  Master Akisawa passed away a couple of years ago, but surely this can't be...

"Nah..." he eventually utters silently to himself disposing of this insane idea.

The squinty -eyed baboon suddenly bounces up into the air with a blood curdling scream, picks up a nearby piece of wood, and hurls it at Ghishu (who barely manages to get up his arms in time to block it).

As if on cue the other baboons begin to scream and gesticulate once again.

Ghishu realizes once again the severity of the situation and takes a peek at the clock on the wall.  Fifteen minutes?  I'll be lucky just to leave this place in one piece.  He quickly searches for the area with the least baboons and makes a jump in that direction, landing with a quick roll back to stand on his feet.  He then starts to run in the direction of the exit using his belt to parry any baboon attack aimed at him.

The baboons follow, still shrieking.  One group heads in the direction of the door to the cage the instant that Ghishu starts to move, with the obvious intent of cutting him off.

Damned smart, these baboons!

Noting the baboons that are running to block his way to the gate, Ghishu quickly weighs the situation.

On one hand, he can stop and make a stand, in which way he'll have to face the baboons that are chasing him. What will happen next is that a couple of minutes later the baboons that ran towards the door will probably realize that he's not about to come there, and join their brethren in their attempt to shred him to pieces. Not good.

On the other hand, he can run around the cage and try to make the baboons follow him around in hope that he'll outrun all of them. But there are 25 baboons and ten minutes to go. He'll probably end up exhausted and the baboons will find it much easier to shred him to pieces. The ending of this scenario sounds very familiar to the previous one. This is not good either.

So this leaves him the only option that gives him the illusion that he'll make it out alive - keep running towards the door and try to throw any baboons that block his way out of it.  But in order for this plan to work he'll need something more effective than his belt as a weapon - a wooden pole would be very nice to have right now, but a branch of about 1 - 1.5 meters long would also be nice.  On his way to the gate, he tries to look around for anything that would serve as a weapon and would even make a small detour in order to acquire it.

As Ghishu heads towards the entrance, the expression on his face suddenly turns from fear into confusion.  Absentmindedly his running pace is slowing down to a walk as he is getting closer to the gate, obviously troubled by something.

After a few seconds being lost within himself, he snaps out of it.  Making sure he is still holding his belt in his hand, he is putting his guard back up, only he is so calm that it almost seems inappropriate for the situation.

The baboons continue to screech and posture, and a large group has now gathered near the entrance/exit.  The squinty baboon hurries over to where Ghishu was previously, picks up the piece of wood, and hurls it at him once again, eliciting even more extreme hostile behavior from the baboons who, their fang baring and arm waving notwithstanding, come no closer.

Seeing the little baboon pick up the piece of wood again and throwing it back at him, Ghishu realizes that all he is doing is trying to form some sort of social interaction. With an elegant move, Ghishu catches the small wooden stick with his left hand and throws it back in the direction of the baboon in a slow arched throw aimed to miss the baboon by one or two meters.

Ghishu snags the stick out of the air with a graceful move and prepares to huck it back in the direction of the squinty baboon, but pauses a moment when he notices that the stick seems a little rougher than would be expected.  Ignoring (with some effort) the screamings and gyrations of the baboons around him, he takes a second to examine the stick.

Carved on the surface in crude letters are the words.  "HELP US!  NO TELL!"

Ghishu takes another look at the clock on the wall, but the time that's left for him to stay in the cage is of minor interest to him.  Seven minutes left.  Using the opportunity he is trying to catch Max in the corner of his eye and see if he noticed anything suspicious, or if he is minding his own business while Ghishu is presumably fighting for his life.  Max is reading a porno magazine.

Not taking too long, he turns his face back to the cage and the jungle atmosphere that surrounds him.  He makes eye contact with the little baboon and nods slightly, letting him know that the message got through.

Quickly looking around the cage he searches for a corner that offers cover from Max's view and throws the piece of wood over there.  He then starts running towards that corner in hope that the little one will follow.

Tragically there is no corner that offers the kind of cover that Ghishu wants.  He hucks the stick in a direction that he hopes will offer the most cover, then heads in that direction, but the squinty-eyed baboon doesn't follow.  His compatriots continue to scream and shriek.

Ghishu fleetingly reflects that although this baboon is smaller than the others, it is still pretty good sized.

Realizing that the smaller baboon doesn't follow him, Ghishu stops and turns around eyeing him questioningly. After a few seconds pass and there's no reaction, Ghishu yells at the baboon with a voice that is barely audible with all the shrieking going on, but enough to note that he is saying something "Hey, Squinty, come over here!". In order to make the message clear he accompanies his call with the universal hand gesture of signaling someone to follow.

The squinty-eyed baboon starts at Ghishu's statement, and glances fearfully in the direction of Max, then winces.  Then he screams at the top of his lungs, reaches around behind him, dumps a load into his hand, and hurls it at Ghishu!  Within seconds the others follow suit, and the hapless martial artist is being bombarded by a rain of fecal material from all directions!

From over by the exit, Max lowers his porno magazine.  "I told you not to get fancy," he yells over the screams and howling of the baboons.  "Stupid Burger."

Ghishu once again has to learn the virtue of patience the hard way.  He just stands there accepting his smelly and messy doom with a dumb I-messed-up-again expression on his face.  Waiting for everything calms down, Ghishu unsuccessfully tries to clean himself up using a leafy stick he picks up for that purpose.

The main difficulty is that it doesn't calm down.  Those that miss with their first salvos move around to pick up the debris and hurl it again, and others collect what dung had been previously deposited, along with food rinds, sticks, the occasional sqeaky toy, etc. to hurl in Ghishu's general direction.

Fortunately, this behavior does not lead to any sort of focused violence or mayhem against Ghishu.

At the end of the fifteen minutes, Max stands up, goes over to one corner, and unrolls what appears to be a fire hose from a bracket on the wall.  He then directs a high pressure stream at the various baboons, driving them back into one corner of the cage furthest from the door.  He also dowses Ghishu, knocking the poor martial artist from his feet but getting a large portion of the goo off of him in the process.  He then switches off the hose, returns it to its brackets, and opens the door.

"Come on," he says gruffly.  "Molly will want to see you."

Ghishu raises himself to a sitting position, fully dripping from the shower he had just been given. Still wearing the frustrated look he had when he was under bombardment, he looks down on himself and sighs deeply.

After Max opened the door, Ghishu gets up and walks outside, putting his belt on on the way.  When he gets out of the cage he says to Max: "OK.  Let's go meet Molly."

Max actually eyes Ghishu with a bit of respect.  "You took that pretty good," he says appreciatively.  "Usually, most folks that get caught in a shit storm like that freak out.  Just a little bit, maybe, but that's all those hairy bastards need.  You'd lost your concentration, they would have been all over you in a blink, and there wouldn't have been enough left of you to soak up with blotter paper.  When ya work with baboons, thats the first thing ya gotta remember - never, NEVER let 'em think yer weak.  I hear that back in Africa if a group o' baboons runs inta something they can't handle - like a lion or something - the stronger ones will grab one of the weaker ones and throw it ta' the lion while the other ones run.  Cold blooded bastards, them baboons."  Something in the way Max says that gives Ghishu the impression that he is somehow impressed by such behavior.

Ghishu is not as excited about the vicious nature of baboons as Max is, but listens anyway and puts on a sympathetic smile and nod. He then says: "Well, they didn't throw anyone at me so I guess I wasn't intimidating enough".  Seeing the expression on Max's face, he realizes that his attempt to make a humor failed miserably, and resumes his previous task of trying to clean what remains of the baboons excrements off his clothes.
 

Good Golly, Miss Molly!

As the elevator continues to wheeze upwards (some estimate of its relative speed can be garnered from the fact that Max can say so much while it is passing the third floor) it comes to the fourth floor.  Max comments, "Do not ever get off on the fourth floor unless Molly tells you to.  Some of the guy will try to pull one over on you by telling you to go up there for something, but don't fall for it.  Fuck around on the fourth floor and Molly will have your heart on a plate.  Literally.  I've worked here since the beginning, and I ain't NEVER been on the fourth floor.  Not interested in going neither.  Just ain't worth it."

At last the creaking and wheezing of the elevator stops, and the doors slide open.  Ghishu's immediate impression is one of sybaritic opulence.  Whoever decorated this place likes her comforts, and has enough money to see to it that she is surrounded by them.  Of all the building, this is the only floor that has been completely remodeled since whatever disaster first gutted it.  The walls are painted in soothing beige colors, and Persian carpets, pillows, and rugs festoon the floor.  There is african tribal art scattered around on the walls, and as knick knacks on tables and shelves.  There are also numerous potted plants, and a large sky light and bay windows give the place an airy feel.  Also unlike the remainder of the building it doesn't stink of baboon shit, although several big male baboons are in evidence.  They glance in Ghishu's direction without any real interest, show off their fangs (more, Ghishu gets the opinion, because they feel they ought to than for any rancor on their part), and go back to playing their little baboon games.

Out from one of the side rooms steps a woman, perhaps thirty years old, with black hair and a medium complexion.  As she exits she is tying the belt of a beautifully embroidered silk robe around her waist.  She is followed out of the room by two large male baboons.  Ghishu notices, with a bit of a start, that both baboons are sporting humongous erections.

Molly looks first at Max, then at Ghishu.  One eyebrow raises slightly.  Max says quickly, "just come on down when you're through," and closes he elevator doors (perhaps the elevator will even make it to the ground floor by the time the interview is over!).

Molly wordlessly indicates a small dinette set, made of some sort of dark wood, over near the bay window, and moves to sit there.  Her two baboon companions follow her.

"Tell me about yourself," she says, a slight lilt in her voice suggesting francophonic origins.

Ghishu follows Molly to the table and sits opposite to her.  He looks nervously at the two baboons accompanying her, but then decides that they are of no threat to him at the moment and give Molly his full attention.

"Ms. Molly -" he starts.

"Just Molly is fine," Molly replies.

"My name is Ghishu and I came to Al Amarja a few days ago.  I am currently looking for a job and was forwarded here by the Deadly Temptations agency."  He then pauses not sure what exactly Molly wants to hear about him.  "You see, I was looking for a job that would best fit my skills - and those would be martial arts and gardening.  Since gardening tends to be a little boring, I decided to go with the former.  I've been practicing martial arts ever since I remember myself, growing up in a monastery in Japan.  And from what I understand about your business here, and by judging from this neighborhood, it looks like you can use someone with this kind of training."

"Oh", he continues after a slight pause, "and it seems like I can get along with the baboons. After all I'm in one piece sitting in front of you after spending 15 minutes in their cage.  We had our differences, but I think we eventually came to an understanding", he says with a smile, trying to make yet another attempt at humor.

Molly smiles slightly.  She reaches out a hand and begins petting one of her baboons.

"I see," she says after a moment.  "Well...  let me tell you a bit about the job.  You are on duty eight hours a day, five days a week.  Four hours a day are spent walking your beat, and four hours are spent here at the Jungle on call in case anyone needs you.  You will be working swing shift, 4:00 pm to midnight, with your beat time running 8:00 pm to midnight.

"The Dog Faces make their cash in two ways - first by charging locals for protection services, and second by providing protection for every drug dealer and lab in Four Points.  We have an exclusive contract, and if we find out about people operating on our turf without our permission, we feed them to the baboons - that's policy, no exceptions.  You make a percentage cut of the money you collect from dealers and manufacturers - it starts out at 1% and can go up as high as 5%.  We also have an understanding with the Gutz & Glory clinic here in Four Points that you get treated there for free.  So do the baboons.  Aside from that you make a certain bonus for responding to emergencies.  Aside from that you can intervene in troublesome situations here in Four Points at your discretion, but 50% of any fine or salvage comes back to me, and if you screw me out of even one dollar and I find out about it we feed you to the baboons one piece at a time."

She reaches down and begins gently stroking the penis of one of the baboons, which closes its eyes and makes quiet grunting noises.

"You in or not?" she asks.

Ghishu tries hard to restrain the disgust he is experiencing at Molly's patting of the Baboon's genitals.  Thinking to himself that this is not the ideal job he'd like to do, he decides to go for it after all, since there's obviously not much else he can do on this strange island. And, besides, those baboons need him for something. He might as well stay here for a while and see what it is.

"I think I can handle this gig, Molly," he answers her question.  "By the way, do I get a day or two off during the weekend? And what about accommodation? Can I get one of the apartments on the third floor? And can my friend stay with me?"

"The apartments are $250.00 a month, with no utilities provided.  You may have one person live in."  Molly glances from Ghishu to the baboon and back again.

"Does this bother you?" she asks.

Ghishu blushes at the question, like a little child caught doing something wrong.  "Well... you might say it disturbs me a little.  But what you do with the baboons is your own business."  He turns his face down and then back at Molly.  "Why do you ask?  Does it matter if it bothers me?  You don't seem like a person that would care what anyone thinks of this."

Molly's hand begins to move a little faster.  "It's really quite simple.  Those who are unduly bothered by my behavior are more likely to screw me over."  Molly seems to be getting a bit distracted.  "You know, I've had to have three applicants who passed the baboon test torn to shreds up here, just because they couldn't deal with this."  Molly's other hand reaches within her robe, between her legs.  She closes her eyes and sighs, then looks at Ghishu again.

"Do you want to watch him fuck me?" she asks.

Ghishu sits back in his chair, obviously trying to pretend that he is OK with the situation while he is not.  Entering some sort of meditative state, he looks at the scene with a blank expression.  "If you want me to, I can watch you fuck.  You see, I grew up in the monastery, and although there was strict discipline there, some of the monks found 'inventive' ways to satisfy their sexual needs."

"Hmmmmmm..." says Mollie, closing her eyes.  "Well, I really don't care if you watch or not.  You've got the job, you start tomorrow.  Stay or go."

Ghishu just sits in the chair staring at Molly and the baboon engage in their sexual act.  Her words pass right through him.  It's like although he is physically there, his mind is obviously elsewhere.

After a few minutes, he suddenly remembers that Leo is waiting below.  "Leo," he mutters to himself as he gets up.  "I'm sorry, Molly, but my friend is waiting for me downstairs.  I'll talk to Max for any arrangements that need to be done".

He turns away from Molly and walks towards the elevator.  As he is waiting for he elevator to arrive his mind wanders in thoughts.  "This place may be too much for me.  It's too strange.  Too perverted.  It's one thing to get used to the hectic western life style, but it's a whole different thing to get used to this place."

As the elevator arrives, he enters it and pushes the button to get him to the first floor (or entrance).  As the door closes behind him, blocking away the obscene happenings of Molly and the baboons, he allows his now stiff body to relax a little.  But just a little.

To Be Continued...