I was hunkered down in the van and had no idea how long the drive to
We made many turns and there was lots of traffic noise before we came to a complete stop. I peeked out from under the tarp and decided to make my presence known to Basim. I walked out of the back of the van just as Basim had exited the front and almost ran right into him.
“Dr. Fairview! What are you doing here! I thought I heard Ernst tell you quite clearly that it was not safe for you to come.”
“Ernst does not own me Basim. I have come to save Mr. Butterfly. Let us go in and do that. By the way, I thought I told you to call me Sue.”
“Well Sue, I guess that now that you have come all this way, there is no talking you out of coming in and staying in the van instead.”
“Nope!”
He just looked down at the ground and shook his head. “My ass is grass if one hair on your head is harmed. You realize that don’t you?”
“It’s a risk you are going to have to take, big guy! I’ll keep my head low if any shooting breaks out.”
“Oh, there won’t be any shooting. It is all muscle with these guys. It is bad karma to bring guns into any such dealings. Just follow my lead.” With that, case and money in hand, Basim led the way up the stairs to the entrance of the very grand 3 storey, turreted stone house that looked to me more like a fortress. He knocked on the solid wood door and we waited. The door creaked open and an old servant answered.
“My name is Basim. I represent my Master Ernst Cullen whose two guests were taken here yesterday morning by force. He wishes to buy them back for a generous amount.”
The servant gestured towards me and said “Who is she?”
“Another of my Master’s guests, Dr. Sue Fairview, who is also a colleague of the two men you are holding.”
“Do come in.”
Then the servant retreated into the house and we followed him. I had visions of us never being seen again, but I went in anyhow.
“My Master has been quite occupied this morning, but I will check his schedule for this afternoon and see if he can arrange a meeting with you. Please, make yourselves at comfortable.”
We were shown into what can only be described as a ‘harem’ parlor. The room part of a turret and thus was round, had windows spaced pretty close together where it was not attached to the building. All the way around the room there were white gauzy silk curtains. There were no chairs, but caged birds fluttered and sang around the room. Embroidered pillows and bolsters covered the floor along with Egyptian carpets. Basim gracefully sank into a cross legged sitting position. So did I.
“So, how long do you think the Master will keep us waiting?”, I asked.
“As long as he can.”, replied Basim.
“I hate to wait.”
“Well, then why don’t we tell each other about ourselves? That will make the time fly by.”
“That’s a great idea Basim. You start.”
“I was born in
His eyes lit up as he spoke about his job. I enjoyed hearing him tell me about it so much I let him go on and on about it. Then it was my turn and I told him what I loved about working for the foundation. It really passed the time and we got closer while talking.
In no time, the servant of Akbar had returned and told us that his master would be in shortly. I checked my watch and two hours had passed.
About 20 minutes later, Akbar himself entered the room with his naked brawny slaves around him. Basim and I stood, but when we saw everyone frowning, we quickly got back down on the ground. The servant announced “It is customary to bow to Akbar when he enters a room.”
So that is precisely what we did, as much as it burned my grits to do so. We lay prostrate on the ground to this odious man. Then we sat up to begin the negotiation. Basim started.
“Pardon, but we understand that yesterday evening you accidentally took two of my master’s guests to be your slaves without knowing they were already claimed.”
“I see. These would be who? And what is your master’s claim on them?”
“A Mr. Butterfly who had traveled here from
“I see. I agree with your master’s claim on Mr. Butterfly, but not on Dr. Castagno. It seems to me that the EES has claim to him.”
“Dr. Castagno was staying with Mr. Cullen prior to their departure to the house where you found them.”
“No, no! I will not argue with you, a servant! Do not anger me or I will not negotiate on anyone.” He stamped his foot like a little boy to emphasize his point.
I cut in. “Will you hear from me? I am Dr. Sue Fairview and I will represent the EES since they are not here. May I bid for Dr. Castagno’s freedom?”
“Absolutely not! You are only a woman!” Then he spat. “You should be in purdah. You are an American whore. I would have you thrown out, but I show my guests more respect than that.”
I swallowed really hard not to react to being called a whore. It was merely a cultural difference and not personal, moreover, it would hardly be constructive to rise to the bait of defending my sex in this situation. So, I said nothing. It was not looking good for Roble. There must be some reason he didn’t want to let Roble go. I wondered if Basim had come to the same conclusion too.
“Fine Sir, fine. Let us just negotiate on Mr. Butterfly then.”, said Basim.
Over time, the negotiations were worked out and we ended up paying an absurd and usurious amount to get the young explorer back. Then Akbar took the money and left, giving assurances that Mr. Butterfly would be delivered forthwith.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the harem, the opium had worn off and Roble was in excruciating pain. He was moaning loudly and asking for more opium. Mr. Butterfly was trying to get him a pipe. Thankfully there was one and it was prepared and brought to Roble who sucked on it like he would die if he didn’t. Roble’s pain was quickly numbed and again his eyes glazed over and he lay back on the pillows comforted by the drugs. The young explorer just held him and thought that he needed medical attention and soon or he would become an opium addict. His worst fear was that Roble would get an infection and die.
One of the brawny slaves entered the room and pointed at the young explorer and said “You. Come with me.”
Mr. Butterfly had no idea what was going on, so he gave Roble a kiss and went with the slave. They walked down the hall and then down another flight of stairs to the ground level. They entered a room and he was thrown to the floor before he could see what was in the room. When he looked up he first saw Sue.
“Oh my god! Sue! You’ve come for me! Thank god!”
He rushed forward to hug me and almost knocked me over. Of course he was completely naked, but it was not the first time I had rescued him in this condition.
“Are you okay Mr. Butterfly? I was so worried.”
“Yes, I am fine. But Roble isn’t. We must get him out. Is he coming?”
I looked down at the floor and shook my head. “I’m so sorry, but Akbar wouldn’t hear of even negotiating for him.”
“We absolutely must get him out. He is injured and needs medical attention.”
“Shhh, That explains a lot. We will. But it will take some time. We will explain outside. Um, do you have any clothes?”
Basim piped up. “I have some in my van outside.”
“Thanks. Let’s get out of here.”
Then we left together as hastily as we could.
I really loved the birding part of the class. He was an expert birder. We all bought Roger Tory Petersen Field Guide to Eastern Birds in addition to our ornithology text book. We were provided with binoculars and brought the guide books and binoculars with us on our field trips. We were required to keep life lists of all the birds we saw beginning with those we saw on our class trips. I was so excited! This opened a whole new world for me.
We departed really early in the morning, before the sun was even up. Dr. Fågelson would drive like a madman with his window open listening for birds. Meanwhile, it was bitterly cold and the frozen air was coming into the van. But he would see a bird on a wire and screech the van to a halt, or hear a bird call and veer off dangerously off the road and set off out the door at a run, expecting us all to follow, or miss out on the sighting. If you missed out, you would miss out on seeing something that might be tested later. But most importantly to me, you missed out on a life experience, on seeing something you had never seen before, and might never see again. Didn’t everyone see how precious this man was? How inspiring he was? What a genius he was? How could they not? I just wanted to be inspired by him. But, not everyone saw him as I did. I got to run after him to see the woodcock, the wood thrush, the rufus sided towhee, the kingbird, the ruby crowned kinglet, the indigo bunting, the meadow lark, the killdeer, the snow geese, the blue bird, the cedar waxwing and so many more.
I sat right behind him in the van, questioning him about the birds we might see. One day we were talking about large predatory birds. I asked him what kinds of those birds we could expect in our area. His answer was “Well, we do see some kestrels and lots of red tail hawks. Rarely you will see an eagle. But, hey, wait! There is one right now!!! Pull over! Stop the van!”
We screeched to a halt and off he ran across the frozen corn field with me following at his heels. He jumped over the mounded rows that were frozen solid, and hard as rocks. I looked up and saw a huge bird sunning its wings high up in a tree in the first rays of morning light. Bur Dr. Fågelson still wasn’t close as he wanted to be. He ran down a little gully while looking up through his binoculars and fell headlong into a small partly frozen stream. Unfazed, he got up and kept running up the other side of the gully. He assembled the class on the other side in a corn field. We all had a really great view of the golden eagle there.
He told us how rare a sighting this eagle was in this area. Then he talked about what the eagle eats and how it lives and so forth. I just listened and stared at the eagle though my binoculars. I was amazed. It was a day I will never forget. God, I loved that class. I would have aced it, but a big part of the final was memorizing bird calls. To me, all ducks and sparrows sound alike. So, I only got a B. Oh well. So it goes.
At the end of that week of seeing the eagle, Zach came to Cayuga to visit me. I couldn’t wait to show him off to my suitemates. They were duly impressed. We hugged each other good and hard and I took the time to really feel all those muscles I had missed so much. We kissed in our suite lobby and as he forced his tongue into my mouth, my knees gave out and he lifted me into his arms and carried me into my room. He kicked the door shut after us. I could see my suite mates happy faces as we left; they were probably thinking it was so romantic and it was. He gently laid me on the bed and proceeded to undress me.
Oh god I wanted him to fuck me so bad. I helped him with my buttons and zippers, and his and in no time we were naked. He was making those grumbling growling noises as he kissed my body and sucked on my breasts that he mounded with his hands. I writhed on the bed with expectation. Quickly he donned a condom and we began to make love. He lifted my hips clear off the bed again and I just never could get enough of that feeling. He was so fucking strong to be able to lift me while fucking me. It was such a turn on. I felt like I was totally under his power; it was so easy for him to do. It was as if I weighed nothing. Then of course I had a great view of his meaty chest during sex, which was totally hot, plus seeing his handsome face as he pounded his cock into me until he shot his load. God, sex with him was wonderful.
Afterwards, I had time to really look at his body. He was beautiful everywhere. Since he was from
We continued to see each other through the spring. Zach became my bodybuilder boyfriend and I was thrilled.
The young explorer and Roble were dragged down the hallway by the brawny slaves and down a flight of stairs to an enormous room filled with naked men. They could both smell a sickly sweet odor. Some of the men were having sex, but many were still asleep. The room itself was decorated like a throne room in glorious silks of turquoise and white, embroidered with gold. Apparently this was an orgy room. The young explorer and Roble were pushed roughly to the marble floor by the brawny slaves that escorted them there. Some of the orgy participants began to make their way towards the two new men. Roble and the young explorer just looked at each other and smiled. This couldn’t be too bad, now could it?
But then, all got quiet and the sex stopped pretty much dead in its tracks as the brawny slaves guarded a very important person into the room. All eyes and bodies turned to bow to him. He walked to the throne importantly and stood there wrapped in a throw. He was large, black and ominous. His voice was booming as he said “I am Akbar. You are my new slaves. Bow before me!”
Akbar, Master of the Harem at Bubastis
With that, then Akbar descended from the dais that the throne was on, and walked around his two new slaves, assessing them. He nudged them with his toe, as if testing a new tire. “Roll over.”, he commanded them. So Roble and the young explorer did.
“Stop! Don’t hurt him!” Then the young explorer quickly got to his feet and began to rush towards Roble. But he didn’t get far before the brawny slaves grabbed his arms again to restrain him. So he kicked at them and bit at them. More slaves came over and grabbed his legs. A wooden dowel was shoved into his mouth and he was tied up in no time flat. Roble had struggled too, but was tied with each wrist in a leather strap bent forwards over a padded platform. His legs were spread and chained down to the ground.
Akbar came forward and said, “You may want to consider smoking some opium before.” Then he dropped his robe and exposed his huge beer can cock, hard and ready to go. “I don’t want to have to gag you. Trust me, you will scream. It will be far more pleasurable with the opium.” An opium pipe was quickly produced. “Do you want the opium pipe?”
The pipe was held to Roble’s lips and Roble inhaled deeply. After a few breaths of it, his eyes glazed over and he was in another world. His head sagged listlessly and his hands hung from their ties like a dead man’s. Akbar stepped forward and grabbed Roble’s hips and unceremoniously began to assault him violently with his dick in an attempt to penetrate him.
Mr. Butterfly felt faint. He couldn’t watch his friend being raped. But, he had to. Tears came involuntarily out of his eyes. It was all so horrible.
As Akbar continued to ram his cock into Roble mercilessly, there was a trickle of blood coming from Roble’s anus. But, Akbar continued as if nothing was wrong. Now, Akbar was grunting much like a pig with every thrust and jerking Roble’s body like a rag doll. Then, Akbar began slapping Roble’s butt, as if he wasn’t punishing him enough. Finally, Akbar roared when he came and pushed Roble away from himself like dead meat.
“I am done with this one. Take him away. I will have the other tomorrow.” Then, completely naked and with his crotch still covered with Roble’s blood, Akbar strode out of the room. Roble just hung there, like a carcass.
One of the brawny slaves untied the young explorer, who then rushed over to untie Roble. He undid Roble’s hands and Roble flopped down on the padded ledge. Then he undid Roble’s feet and helped Roble lie down on the floor.
“Oh my god, Roble, I am so sorry. I tried to stop them, but there were too many.”
Roble was just so out of it from the opium, he couldn’t even make eye contact. The young explorer got up to look for some towels and water to see to Roble’s wounds. There was a large bath nearby and he found what he needed. None of the other men in the room offered to help. They were pretty much drugged zombies who continued the orgy as soon as the show ended.
With a damp towel, he wiped the blood off of Roble’s rear end and hoped the internal injuries weren’t so bad that they wouldn’t heal on their own. Then he offered Roble some water to drink and got him to sip a little bit. What was going to happen when the drugs wore off? How much pain would he be in then? Mr. Butterfly cradled Roble in his arms to comfort him and kept repeating how sorry he was.
Mr. Butterfly thought, by now, someone had to have noticed that they were missing. But how could they be found and when would help arrive? He began to despair.
Photo credits:
Roble & Brawny slave: Brawny Stud
Akbar: So Slowly
Even though the ruins were not that far, only about half a mile, it was going to get pretty hot out, so we drove the van. We all piled in and got there in no time flat. Carlos had his guide stick with a little feather on the end as many of the local guides had.
We paid the $10 fee to enter the park and first there were the colorful macaws that guard the entrance. Carlos warned us that they bite and not to get too close. As I recall, they were pretty noisy.
We entered the
Here are two of the stelae we saw:
Note how deep the carvings are, some of them are so deep that they are almost three dimensional. This is one of the most striking and unique things about this Mayan site at
This large stone head was used as an altar:
Here is a photograph of Altar Q which was built in 776 AD by the 16th ruler, King Yax Pac:
Altar Q is significant because it depicts all of the Maya rulers of Copan, from the very first, Yax Kuk Mo in 426 AD to the 16th all seated in full length. The first ruler is handing the scepter of power to the final or 16th ruler, above. Carlos pointed out that the amazing thing is that that is when the Maya empire ended with the 16th ruler. So it was as if they knew it would end then.
Then we saw the hieroglyphic stairway, which was protected from rain by a tarp. It was built by the 15th ruler, Smoke Shell and is believed to be a lineage tree.
Next was the
We also saw the tunnels, which cost extra, but it was so freaking hot out and it was cool and refreshing down there. Here is what we saw:
Then we climbed the pyramids and climbed everything in sight. I had my umbrella cum parasol out to shade me from the unrelenting sun. This cemetery is what you see if you climbed the main pyramid and looked over the other side away from the Grand Plaza:
Carlos asked if anyone had a red one lempira bill and I pulled one out and we compared it to the view and it was identical:
Here is the same view, but a bit to the leftt:
See the tree and the ball court, then the bill has the other side of the ball court and the hieroglyphic stair.
So we sat there on top of this pyramid and Sean and I looked at each other and we both felt that this was one of those rare architectural places of power, where by scale and design, something special had been achieved that made the viewer experience profound and memorable. I can only compare it to other places where I have felt it. For example, Saint Peter's Square in Rome made me feel that way. Somehow the power of that place is both overwhelming and uplifting at the same time. The power at Copan, was just uplifting, kind of like a high. But, to be honest, I didn't feel it until I climbed up on top of the pyramid. So, if you ever get the chance it is worth the visit.
The photos with black frames are from:
http://www.eveandersson.com/honduras/copan
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Courage, strength, fortitude. Power not arrested in the act of judgement, but passing on to further action, sometimes obstinacy.
This is a card of courage and energy. It represents both the Lion's hot, roaring energy, and the Maiden's steadfast will. The innocent Maiden is unafraid, undaunted, and indomitable. In some cards she opens the lion's mouth, in others she shuts it. Either way, she proves that inner strength is more powerful than raw physical strength. That forces can be controlled and used to score a victory is very close to the message of the Chariot, which might be why, in some decks, it is Justice that is card 8 instead of Strength. With strength you can control not only the situation, but yourself. It is a card about anger and impulse management, about creative answers, leadership and maintaining one's personal honor. It can also stand for a steadfast friend.
