As Jack and I headed toward the park, I thought back on my use of the magical tickets that I had found. So far, I had used five of them on three people: my step-sister Meredith (Merry), my best friend Jack, and his bitchy sister Patrice.

In the case of Merry and Patrice, I had used the magical powers to study their naked bodies, and in the case of Patrice, to learn about the wonders of sex.

I had also learned that the tickets were indeed magical. There was no way that Merry or Patrice would have willingly participated in the acts that we had done together. I found myself quite consumed with the consequences of these tickets.

It's difficult to believe in the existence of magic. I mean, it's a great fantasy and the stories are, well, magical. But to be confronted with actual Magic in the form of those "lucky tickets" was now causing some major doubts to exist in my mind.

For one thing, my family wasn't all that religious. I never grew up with the idea of an all-powerful omnipresent "God" figure. But these tickets made me now actually consider if religion wasn't just a bunch of people deluding themselves. What if there really was a God? What if he had put those tickets where I could find them as a test?

And if it wasn't God, then what was the nature of the Magic contained in them?

Jack noticed that I was unusually quiet. "What's up, Jim? You look like you're miles away."

I looked at my friend. "Just thinkin'."

"'Bout what?" he asked.

"Things," I answered noncommittally.

We got to the Jack-in-the-Box and ordered our burgers and fries. We got them to go, and headed from the restaurant to the park.

On the way to the park, we ate our burgers, and Jack and I started shooting the shit. The tickets were pushed from the front of my mind as we started talking as teenage boys tended to do.

At the park, I got the Frisbee out of my duffel, and I saw the roll of tickets again. I consciously put them out of my mind, and Jack and I spent a couple of hours throwing the disc around, practicing a few throws and catches that Jack had read about in his book.

The girls we had seen the other day were in the park, and both Jack and I were aware of them. Once again, neither one of us approached the girls. However, I started thinking about what would happen if I were to offer them one of my "lucky tickets." The memory of Patrice sucking my dick was still fresh in my mind. However, I couldn't think of any way to do this without getting Jack curious about my tickets.

Jack noticed that my concentration had started to wander, especially when an easy shot aimed to me hit me in the head. He jogged over to where I was, and asked me what was up. "Those girls are over there again. They're definitely watching us," I told him.

He made a sidelong glance at them and nodded to me. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

"You said you wanted to say 'Hi' to the taller one yesterday," I reminded him.

"Nah," he said dismissively. "I'm trying to get the overhand shot perfect."

"Ahh," I nodded.

I wasn't too far from my duffel bag, and walked over to it and ripped off a ticket. "Here, take this."

Jack looked at me curiously, but took the ticket. "You have one wish," he intoned.

"I wish that nothing that happens when you are with me today will seem out of the ordinary."

"Your wish is my command."

Now that Jack was taken care of, I needed to figure out how to make a move on the two girls.

After a few moments thought, I figured that the best way would be a direct move. "Come with me," I instructed Jack.

I led Jack over to the picnic table where the two girls were sitting.

The two girls saw us approach, and both of them made like they were talking to each other, pretending that they didn't notice that we were walking toward them.

It occurred to me that they were about as shy as Jack and I were. Who would have thought that?

Jack looked nervous as he noticed where we were headed, but he stayed with me.

After my session with Patrice, I felt a lot more confident around girls than I had ever felt before. The intimate knowledge of the ecstasy that could be experienced with a cute member of the opposite sex was a big help with this, I guess.

"Hello," I said, forcing the girls to acknowledge us for the first time.

"Hi," said the tall one, a bit shyly.

"I'm Jim, and this is my friend Jack. I think you may have noticed us playing Frisbee over there before," I said, pointing to the field where Jack and I had walked over from.

The smaller one reddened a little and said nothing. The taller one said, "Um... yeah. Were you the guys?"

It wasn't the greatest opening, but at least one of them was talking to me.

"Yeah. We noticed you sitting here," I said. "Do you like to play Frisbee?"

I had figured that this might be a way to bring them out. Our Frisbee was in the duffel that I was carrying, as well as my lucky tickets.

"My brother plays it. I don't throw it very well. It always curves," said the tall one.

I noticed that neither one had introduced themselves.

I reached into my duffel bag, as if getting the Frisbee, but I pulled off two tickets. "Here," I said to both of the girls. "Take a ticket."

"You have one wish," the two girls intoned as they both took a ticket from my hand at the exact same time.

Jack didn't react as if this was unusual; he said nothing.

I looked around to see if anybody else was watching us. I said in a quieter voice, "I wish that the two of you would fall madly in love with Jack and me. You will want to do anything that we ask you."

"Your wish is my command," the two girls intoned.

"So, what are your names?" I asked, as if the entire ticket episode hadn't even happened.

"I'm Marla," said the tall one. "And this is my friend Doreen."

I bowed. "Pleased to meet you, Marla." I reached for her hand, and she extended it to me. I placed a tiny kiss upon it.

Marla's expression immediately warmed to me.

Jack was standing around with a goofy expression on his face. I nudged him, and he didn't do anything. I nudged him again, and he turned to look at me. "Introduce yourself to Doreen," I said to him in a fierce whisper.

Jack reddened and said, "Hello, Doreen. I'm Jack."

Doreen looked at him and her eyes got wider. "Um... Hello," she said dumbly.

"Jack and I are going back to play some more Frisbee. If you are interested in joining us, just come over," I said.

I still had Marla's hand in mine, and I touched my lips to it again in farewell.

Marla simply sighed as I kissed her hand.

I turned and pulled Jack with me back to the field.

"Wow," Jack said once we were away from the girls' table. "I didn't know you could talk to girls."

"I figured it couldn't hurt to try. If they're interested, they'll come over. If not, what have we lost?" I asked him.

Jack thought for a moment and then smiled. "You know... you're right!"

I put the duffel back down on the ground and pulled out the Frisbee. I did an easy thumb flip to Jack who was just a couple of feet away. Jack backed up and flipped it back to me. In a minute or so, we were about forty or fifty feet from one another, practicing our throws and catches once again.

I glanced occasionally to where the two girls were sitting. They were talking to one another, occasionally glancing in our direction. I distinctly saw Marla point directly at me to Doreen. I smiled.

After about ten minutes, the two girls got up from their table. They slowly walked over to where Jack and I were throwing the disc back and forth.

When Marla reached me, she asked, "Could you show me how you throw it? You seem quite good with the Frisbee."

"Certainly," I answered, expertly catching a slow floater that Jack had lobbed over to me.

I handed the disc to Marla, and asked her to throw it at me. She wasn't too far away, but she threw it a bit too hard. I strained to reach it, but it was just over where my fingers could reach it, and it fell to the ground.

I ran to the disc. I showed her how to hold the disc straighter... the Frisbee flew straighter when you didn't angle the disc down.

I was over by my duffel, and reached in and found another Frisbee, and threw it back to Jack. Jack realized that I was giving Marla a lesson. He looked at Doreen, probably considering whether she wanted a lesson as well.

I threw the Frisbee back to Marla. Despite the fact that it was thrown perfectly toward her, she panicked as it got near her and it flew a few feet beyond her.

Marla and I spent about ten minutes playing an awkward game of "catch." Her throws were pretty awful, and she only managed to catch the disc once, usually getting all antsy at the last second as the disc approached her.

I walked over to where Marla was, and placed myself behind her to show her the correct way to throw a Frisbee. I took her right hand in mine, and pulled it toward her left side. As I did so, my arm rubbed against her breasts. I continued to show her how I kept the disc parallel to the ground. From the wind-up, I had her throw it, making sure that the disc followed her body.

I saw that Marla was embarrassed by the familiarity of my touching her. I chuckled to myself.

"Looks like you need some more practice. Do you have a Frisbee at home?" I asked her.

"My... um... brother has one, I think," Marla answered.

"Ask him if you can practice. Try throwing it at the side of your house, trying to make sure it doesn't curve on you."

Marla simply nodded.

I looked at Jack and Doreen. She seemed a little better than Marla at throwing.

I pointed to a stand of trees on the other side of the field to Marla. "It looks shady over there. Let's sit down for a bit."

Marla looked like she wanted to say "No," but my wish that she do anything we asked overwhelmed that instinct. She looked over at her friend, uncertainly.

"Let's leave Jack and Doreen alone. They seem to be doing fine. Let's go."

Marla simply nodded, and escorted me toward the copse of trees. I knew the park pretty well. There was an old weeping willow about a hundred yards past those trees where it was rumored that some guys had made out with girls. Of course, most kids my age didn't really know what "making out" really was. I grinned to myself that Marla was about to find out today.

Once we got to the trees, I found a nice shady place, and sat down, patting the ground next to me for Marla to join me.

She did, silently.

After a minute of awkward silence, I decided to break the ice. "So... I don't recall seeing you in school. Do you live around here?"

"No," Marla answered nervously. "I'm visiting Doreen--she's my cousin."

"Ahh," I said. "So where are you from?"

"Orange County, California," Marla answered.

The state California pricked a memory from something that Patrice had said earlier that day. Oh, yeah... her "boyfriend" Donny had moved there a year or so ago. I idly wondered if Marla knew Donny. It was a silly thought.

I simply nodded. "So, do you like the weather here?"

Marla shrugged. "Not too different during the summer," she replied.

I didn't know what to say next. The weather was about the extent of the small talk that I knew. Apparently, it was the same with Marla.

After a couple of minutes, though, Marla shifted closer to me. I believe it was my wish that she fall "madly in love" that was doing it. I wondered how she would react if our conversation went a bit more personal.

"So..." I said. "Do you have any, like... boyfriends... back where you live?"

Marla looked at me. Her eyes were a bit glassy. "Not... not really..." she answered. "How about you?"

"Well, no real girl friends right now," I said. I thought of Patrice. She wasn't a girl friend at all, even though she was the one person that I had had at least some sexual experience with... just that day, in fact!

"I think you're cute," Marla said. She reddened after saying this, apparently embarrassed at how forward she was.

"You look cute, too," I said. I could see how she could feel embarrassed. I was getting a bit tongue-tied as well.

Marla shifted even closer to me. Her left side was now completely in contact with my right side.

I reached over and put her hand in mine. I could have sworn that she almost swooned as I did so.

"So, what do you do for fun in California?" I asked her.

"Oh... the usual things, I guess. Go on picnics. You know."

Her body was now rubbing against mine. I don't believe that Marla realized what she was doing.

I slowly turned my head to where I knew the weeping willow tree was. I motioned it to her, and Marla used to opportunity to squeeze even closer to me.

"You see that tree?" I asked her.

"Um, hmmm?" she said, looking at it.

"You can actually walk inside it. It's like having a tree house."

"Really?" Marla said, her voice having a bit of a far-away tone to it.

"Yeah," I said, starting to get up. "Let me show you."

Marla looked disappointed that I broke off the contact between our two bodies. She took my offered hand and got up on her feet and reluctantly followed me toward the willow tree.

As I got there, I moved aside a couple of the branches, and bowed as if I were holding open a door for her. She looked at me curiously, and after a bit of hesitation, she entered inside.

I followed her inside the weeping willow, letting the branches close behind me. There was nobody else inside, thank goodness. It was dark, although the sunlight filtered in from slight gaps between the leaves.

"It's kind of private in here," I said.

Marla nodded dumbly.

I figured it was time to make my move. I walked over to where Marla was standing, and moved my hands to her waist.

She looked up at me, not knowing what my exact intentions were.

"I think you're beautiful," I whispered to her, and pulled her body closer to mine.

Marla closed her eyes and had her lips puckered for a kiss as I pulled her towards me. I took this as a go-ahead signal, and our lips met.

Marla wrapped her arms around my neck. I touched my tongue to her lips and they parted willingly.

I was reminded of the kiss that Patrice had given me--unwillingly--earlier that day. Marla's kiss was just as passionate as Patrice's, which was a bit startling to me, since Patrice's instruction had been to give me the sexiest kiss she could. It seemed that Marla, despite being younger than Patrice, was an accomplished kisser.

I wondered what else the tall girl was accomplished at.

After a minute or two, we broke off the kiss. Marla's breathing was quite heavy; she seemed pretty much infatuated with me.

I looked at Marla in the dim light inside the willow tree.

She was tall, about five feet, nine inches tall... about an inch or two shorter than I was. She had dark brown hair that reached a little below her shoulders. She was wearing a white sun-dress with tiny little flowers on it, which covered her breasts.

In the past two days, I had seen the breasts of two girls. My step-sister Meredith's, who was just entering puberty, and Patrice's, whose breasts were small by just about any standards. Marla's breasts, on the other hand, were bigger than either, although there were by no means huge.

Marla's breasts were quite noticeable underneath her sun dress, and I ached to touch them.

Remembering that Marla had to obey anything I said, I told her, "Let me touch them," looking at her breasts.

Marla reddened a bit, and simply nodded.

I reached out, and cupped my hands around her breasts. I could feel the warm skin beneath her dress. After a couple of seconds, I was startled to realize that she wasn't wearing any bra that I could detect.

My thumbs were touching her nipples, which were hard. I moved them and this elicited a quiet moan from Marla.

My erection was bringing itself to my attention as well, and I whispered to Marla to touch me "down there."

Marla knew what I was talking about, and she seemed to know her way around male genitalia as well. She caressed me, feeling my hardness through my pants. My cock reacted by getting harder.

My mind was running in circles. My cock certainly remembered the amazing sensations of Patrice sucking on it just a few hours before. It seemed ready for another go.

One thing that bothered me was that my penis had never undergone such a rigorous torture before. Prior to yesterday, I may have beat off maybe two or three times a week. I had now exceeded my weekly "dose" for almost two weeks in less than a twenty-four hour period. I had whacked off three times yesterday (once in the bathroom, and twice while looking at my step-sister's nude body), and Patrice brought me to two orgasms earlier that day. Was there a limit to the number of times that it could shoot off? What would happen if I hit or exceeded that limit?

Marla's fondling of my genitalia brought my mind back to the present. My cock didn't seem worried about being overused. Quite to the contrary, it seemed quite raring to go.

I continued to rub Marla's breasts while she fondled me in return. I considered moving my hand down to her crotch, remembering how Patrice had reacted when I had done that to her earlier.

And once again, my mind drifted. Was what I was doing moral? How would I like it if it was me that was being manipulated into wanting to have sex--possibly against my will.

I rationalized that Marla had probably done this sort of thing before due to the enthusiastic way she was kissing me and fondling me. But, her feelings of lust for me weren't real. I mean, I caused her to fall "madly in love" with me.

And... what was the upshot of that? Was I ready to have a girl "madly in love" with me? Would she want to be my steady girlfriend, even after she went back to California? I thought the lucky ticket couldn't last more than a day, but she hadn't turned down my request to fall madly in love with me, and I hadn't given that request a time limit! What would happen?

I became aware that Marla was tugging my zipper down. She reached through the opening and touched my cock through my jockey shorts. My mind, which had been having second thoughts, shifted to what she was doing to me.

It seemed to me that Marla had just expanded our groping another step when she unzipped my pants. I took that as an OK for me to at least touch her underwear as well. I wasn't entirely sure how her sun dress worked; I didn't know if there was a zipper, a catch, or even a some sort of tie at the top. And if I tried to remove her sun-dress, she'd have to move her hands. That was something that my dick would have no part of; it wanted her hand where it was doing exactly what it was doing without interruption.

I then got the idea to lift up the bottom of her dress. From there, I should be able to touch her panties. This seemed like a good idea to me, and I moved my right hand from her breast downward. I briefly touched her hand that was fondling my cock.

I looked at her face as I moved my hand lower to the bottom of her dress, which stopped at about mid-thigh. Her eyes were closed, and there was a beautiful smile on her face.

I reached the hem of her dress, and cupped my hand upward. In a few short seconds, I finally felt her cotton panties at the bottom of her crotch.

Marla gasped as I touched her. This reminded me how Merry's breath skipped when I touched her the previous night, and how Patrice reacted when I touched her naked crotch. This seemed to be a common reaction with girls.

I smiled to myself as I moved my fingers outward, rubbing the bottom of her panties.

Marla's panties were a bit moist, and it took me a few seconds to locate her "clittie" (as Patrice had called it). I rubbed it the same way that I had rubbed Patrice's (except that I was rubbing Marla's through her panties). Marla's breathing started getting faster.

I kissed Marla again. She moaned a bit as she kissed me back. Our mouths were open, tongues swirling against each other's. Marla started rubbing me harder in response, which signaled to me to do the same to her.

Once again, I felt that stirring in my balls that told me that an orgasm was imminent. I didn't want to shoot into my jockeys, so I pulled my crotch away from her hand.

Marla's hand tried to follow my crotch, but I moved it quick enough to dislodge it from the zipper hole in my pants.

"Is there something wrong?" Marla asked me as she pulled away from my kiss.

"Not really, Marla. But if you keep that up..."

"Oh," she breathed. She closed her eyes again. She was now moving her crotch in time with my fingers rubbing her.

"Marla?"

"Hmmm?"

"Could you... you know...?"

Marla opened her eyes again. She had a questioning look in her eyes. "What?"

"Would you... like... suck me?" I finally managed to ask.

I saw a bit of uncertainty in her eyes, which melted. Marla simply nodded, and moved her eyes down my body to my crotch.

She started to bend down, and I realized that I had another request. "Marla? Could you... first... take off that dress? I'd love to see your body."

Marla's face looked up toward mine. Again, a look of uncertainty flashed for a second before she nodded.

I watched the statuesque Marla move away from my fingers, which had still been fondling her crotch. She moved her hands to the hem of her dress, and pulled the dress over her head in a single fluid motion.

Marla stood before me, wearing only her white cotton panties and a pair of sandals. I finally got a look at her breasts.

Her breasts were as big as I had thought. Unlike the other two pairs of breasts that I had seen, Marla's aureoles were practically nonexistent. Her large white breasts seemed to come to a single point at her nipples.

Marla saw me staring at her, and she blushed a bit. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, allowing me to look at her mostly nude body.

I was curious about her crotch, and was about to ask her to take off her panties when she interrupted my thoughts.

"Do you still want me to... you know... suck you?" she asked.

My cock jumped to attention and said, "YES! YES! YES!" It was an offer that I couldn't refuse. "Um... OK," I said, dumbly.

Marla smiled at me, and bent down and unbuttoned the button on my jeans. She pulled them down with a little difficulty. Somehow, my jockeys went down with my jeans. My dick bounced up as it was freed. Marla looked at it, still smiling, and then up at my face.

I watched the tall girl kneel in front of me, taking my shaft in her right hand. She jacked it with a practiced motion that told me that she had done that before. My cock had a clear fluid at the tip--something I had never seen before.

I watched her mouth open up, and she bent her head towards my cock. I felt her lips close around the top of my cock, and after a second or two, felt her tongue flick at the tip.

Marla's hands continued their up and down motion, and her head bobbed as well. I could feel the suction of her mouth on my cock. Oh, YES! YES! YES! I was in heaven!

I reached over to her breasts, and fondled one of them with my left hand. Her breast was firm and warm in my hand.

Marla moaned, which sounded like a hum to me, sending vibrations all the way down to my balls. I don't know if she had done this in reaction to my fondling her breast, or as an oral sex technique, but it provided the immediate result of my seed starting its upward rush through my cock and into her mouth.

Marla's hands continued jacking me, and I could see her cheeks swell with the first spurt of my love juice. My balls contracted again, and a second stream started its ascent.

I watched in amazement as Marla swallowed my first spurt, only to have the second one inflate her cheeks again. A third eruption, not as large as any of the others, followed soon afterwards, and she swallowed that as well.

She continued to stroke and suck, well after I had started shooting. I finally pulled my cock out of her mouth.

"Marla... that felt wonderful!" I gushed.

Marla looked at me with a bit of embarrassment. "I... uh..."

I waited to hear what she was going to say.

"Um... I only did that once before," she told me.

"Oh?"

"Last year, before school went out. I... uh..."

"You did that with a boy?" I prodded.

"Um... yeah. My boyfriend," Marla said. She shook her head. "He, um... told all his friends afterwards. I had promised myself that I would never... you know..."

"But you did it with me," I said.

"Yeah. Well, it's like... I mean... I'm like in love with you. I mean... I hardly know you... I don't know why I even went into this bush with you!"

"You love me?" I asked, knowing that her feelings were all caused by the ticket.

"I don't know. I mean, I saw you yesterday. I thought you were cute. And then, today. When you came over to our table..."

I nodded, wondering what she was feeling like.

"Well, you and your friend were nice, but a bit younger than I had originally thought," she said, once again embarrassed.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Sixteen."

"I'll be sixteen in a few weeks," I said defensively.

Marla didn't respond immediately. She seemed to think a bit and then said, "But then, when you asked our names, you seemed... I don't know... a bit different. Both of you. Like I was seeing you for the first time..."

"And you came in here and wanted to make out with me?" I asked.

"Uh..." Marla said, closing her eyes and trying to remember why she had come. "Oh, god. You're not going to tell your friend. I mean... if Doreen finds out... or Aunt Gin...!"

"Marla, I won't tell anybody," I said, soothingly.

Marla looked at me, wanting to believe me. "I... I can trust you, I think. I mean, if you told me to run away with you and marry you, I just might do it!"

I smiled to myself, knowing how true that was. "You seem to have fallen for me. This doesn't happen every day."

"I've never felt like this... Jim. Never before."

I realized now that she was head over heels in love with me. She, a girl from California, no less! This was starting to get a bit complicated.

"Marla, why don't you put your dress back on," I said.

Marla looked up with me with a fearful look. "You don't love me?"

Oh, shit. Here it comes. All I wanted was a simple blow job and I was now fucking up the life of a nice girl.

Marla was putting on her dress slowly, and I could hear sniffles coming from behind the dress. SHIT!

I looked around, and was glad that I had brought my duffel bag with me. I turned around and fished through it, pulling a ticket off the roll.

"Here, take this," I said after Marla had her dress back on.

"You have one wish," she intoned.

Thank god the tickets still work, I thought.

"Marla. You are no longer in love with me. You enjoyed making out with me. You don't have any fear that I will tell Doreen or your Aunt. We are just friends that had a little bit of fun. You don't feel guilty."

I hoped that this would clear up the problem.

"Your wish is my command," she intoned.

Marla had a blank look on her face for a few seconds, and then shook her head. A smile came to her face.

"Wow. I feel better!"

I smiled at her. Thank goodness. I better watch out next time.

Marla looked at me, searching my face for something. After a few seconds, she said, "I don't know why I was worried before. This was actually fun!"

I chuckled. "I certainly enjoyed it."

Marla said, "I never thought of doing something like this with just an acquaintance. I might do something like this more often!"

Uh, oh. I looked at her and said, "You might want to make sure you really want to do something like this before you do it with just any person. Remember your boyfriend last year."

Marla nodded. "You're right."

"We might want to get back to Jack and Doreen. They might be kind of worried about us."

I led the way out of the willow tree, and walked back towards the field where we had left Jack and Doreen. They weren't there.

I realized that Jack might be in a dangerous situation, with Doreen getting all gooey and mushy in love with him... and he might get heartbroken if Doreen fell completely out of love with him tomorrow.

"Where are they?" I asked Marla.

Marla looked around, and quickly found the pair. They were sitting at the picnic table where we had met the girls before. They were busy kissing each other.

Whew. At least, it didn't seem that it had gotten as far as it had with Marla and me. But I felt that I needed to reprogram Doreen like I did Marla.

And that left me with a quandary: How would I give a ticket to Doreen without Marla getting suspicious? I wasn't worried about Jack's reaction, since he was programmed to think nothing was out of the ordinary with me. But Marla was a different story. I couldn't just give Doreen a ticket and not have Marla get suspicious.

I then remembered that Marla was still under my command to do everything that I said. "Marla, I want you to sit here, and ignore everything I do until I return."

"OK, Jim," she said conversationally.

I walked over to the picnic table, still carrying my duffel bag. Jack and Doreen were still deep into a kiss.

"Hiya, guys," I said.

Doreen and Jack turned toward my voice. At first, they seemed embarrassed that I had caught the two of them kissing.

I looked at Jack. He seemed confused as to what was going on, but shrugged as if this was an every day occurrence. "Jack," I told him. "I'm doing this as a favor to you and Doreen."

Jack simply nodded.

Doreen said, "Huh?" Not understanding what was going on.

I turned to Doreen and said, "Doreen, you and Jack are just good friends. You no longer feel that you are madly in love with him, but you will want to remain friends with him. Maybe one day, you might decide you love him, but that will be your own decision. You are simply having fun, kissing Jack. OK?"

"Of course," Doreen said, still under the order to obey Jack and myself.

I pulled out a ticket from the roll in my bag and said, "Doreen, have a ticket."

But she took my proffered ticket. "You have one wish," she intoned.

"You are no longer under the influence to obey Jack," I said.

"Your wish is my command," she intoned.

"Far out," Jack said.

"Huh," Doreen said.

"Jack said that he thinks you're far out," I told Doreen.

Jack simply nodded in agreement with me.

"Oh," Doreen said. She turned back to Jack and smiled. "I like you, Jack. I don't remember kissing a guy just for being a friend before, but you seem different."

"I liked kissing you, too," Jack said.

I left the two of them to go back to Marla.

I felt through my pockets and I had a couple of dollars left from lunch. "Marla, do you think Doreen would mind if I took you to an ice cream parlor? We'd only be gone a half hour or so."

Marla looked at her watch and said, "We have some time. Aunt Ginny said she'd pick us up at four thirty."

"Cool," I said.

Marla and me walked up to where Doreen and Jack were now talking at the picnic table. They saw us approach.

"Hiya, Marla. Where did you guys go?" Doreen asked.

"Jim took me for a walk," Marla said cryptically. "He also offered to take me for some ice cream."

Jack looked at me and smiled. "Hey, Jim. You mind if Doreen and me tag along?" He looked at Doreen and said, "That is, if Doreen doesn't mind?"

"I don't mind," Doreen smiled.

"Let's all go," I said.

I had originally wanted to spend some more time alone with Marla, mostly to make sure that I hadn't managed to somehow fuck up her mind. Having Doreen around would also be helpful, I decided.

We got up and went to Martha's, a local ice cream shop near the park.

The four of us ordered ice cream, and we sat at a table discussing things of little consequence.

I noticed that it was getting close to four thirty, and I reminded the two girls that they needed to be picked up. They agreed and we walked back to the park.

Doreen's mother was waiting for them as we walked into the parking lot. She looked with some apprehensiveness at Jack and me.

Marla introduced us. "Aunt Gin, this is Jack and Jim. Doreen and I saw them yesterday, and they just invited us for some ice cream."

Aunt Gin didn't seem too pleased. "I hope you didn't spoil your supper," she said, giving us the eye.

"Aw, mom. Please!" said Doreen with mock theatrics.

This caused Jack and me to laugh, and Doreen's mother's face soon lost its unfriendliness. "Well... I guess it's all right. I was just worried where you were."

Doreen leaned into the car window and kissed her mother. "Sorry, mom. We'll try not to worry you any more."

Marla and Doreen got into the car, and they both waved as Doreen's mother pulled away.

After the car was out of sight, I pulled the roll of tickets out of my duffel and offered one to Jack.

"You have one wish."

"Jack, you will forget all about the tickets today. You can remember whatever you want about today, except for the tickets. OK?"

"Your wish is my command."

I felt guilty manipulating Jack like this, but I didn't want the secret of my lucky tickets to get out. I had a lot of thinking to do about these tickets, what they represented, and the obligations that seemed to go with them.