Triad
By Gato Medio

Postscript: Two Letters

                                           New York City,
                                      November 15th, 2004


Dear Stan,

It's been a long time since I last heard from you. So it
was quite a surprise when I received your letter in such
a fat envelope. As it turned out when I opened it, most
of the volume came from those printed pages with the
funny characters.

I'm glad to hear that you and Cathy are getting along so
well. I wish I could say the same about Tracy and me.
Here, things are going from bad to worse. But I don't
want to bore you with my problems.

I apologize for taking so long to get back to you, but
finding someone who was able to help me wasn't as easy as
I had thought.

Yes, I have a lot of immigrants on my staff - nobody can
afford to hire regular workers anymore - but I don't
presently employ anyone who speaks Chinese. My workers
are mostly Latinos. They're not as disciplined as the
Orientals - you never know what time they'll show up for
work on Monday morning - but at least they make an effort
to speak our language.

Would you believe that right here, in the middle of what
many people consider the pillar of Western culture, we
have a whole bunch of people unable to speak a civilized
language? My experience makes me wonder whether they're
capable of speaking their own mother tongue. I'm
referring, of course, to New York's Chinatown.

I asked some of my customers there if they could help me.
(I do the laundry for many of the better restaurants in
Chinatown.) On the phone they all said it would be no
problem, they would gladly translate the stuff for me.
But when I showed them the pages, their slitty eyes
turned almost round and they said, "Solly, cannot
tlansrate rettel." So at least I knew that what you sent
me was a letter. Some of them got downright unfriendly
when I asked who might be able to translate this text for
me. "Nobody in Chinatown tlansrate this," they said, and
suggested I forget about the whole thing.

But they don't know me. I can't resist a challenge. The
only reason I didn't contract one of the professional
translation services is that you told me this wasn't
really important. You just wanted to satisfy your
curiosity about what this friend of yours is working on.

Then I remembered that this Malaysian girl I know had
told me she could read Chinese. I see her occasionally
and the next time I went I took your pages along. Well,
to tell the truth, she's a really classy hooker and I
visit her regularly. The last time I went, instead of
getting a first class blowjob, I asked her to tell me
what was written on those pages. I hope you appreciate
the sacrifice I've made for you.

Anyway, she says it's a letter, but not a real one. She
thinks it could well be an imaginary letter that is part
of a novel, but not one of the great works of world
literature you had been thinking of. According to May -
that's her name - it's more likely a piece of pulp
fiction, something involving Kung Fu fighters, secret
societies and Ninja Turtles - but maybe I'm mixing up
countries here. After having done the transcription and
having read the text a few times, I would agree with her.
This has got to be fiction. Nobody would write weird
stuff like this for real.

I gave May the pages to read. Then I asked her to
translate them aloud and I taped her. Afterwards I
transcribed the tape onto my word processor and made any
necessary adjustments. Obviously, May didn't come up with
nice, rounded sentences when she translated the text on
the fly. Her English is a bit weak in any case. Also, May
told me that the text is written in a very formal
language. "Like a letter from a bank or a government
office," she said. So I have rephrased May's mumblings
into something which looks more like a business
communication. I didn't ask May to check what I've come
up with as the final text - I wasn't prepared to forego
another blowjob for the sake of accuracy.

There are a few passages where I have doubts that May
used the right word - I've put my comments against them.
The completed translation is enclosed. I hope it tells
you what you're looking for.

Give my love to Cathy. I know she doesn't return my
feelings. Just tell her I said hello. And I sure would
love to meet that other lady you have staying at your
place! Lucky bastard!

Yours etc.

Ricky


                         =====

Inter-Departmental Communication

From: [A bunch of letters neither May nor I could make
any sense of.]

To: [ditto]

It gives us great pleasure to inform you that the
training of the two specimens mentioned in our earlier
communication is progressing extremely well and that they
will be ready for deployment within the estimated
timeframe.

As always, we have selected candidates based on a number
of criteria, one of them being a low social profile. The
two trainees are financially independent. They maintain
social contact with only a limited number of people.
There are no children and no surviving parents or other
close relatives.

Their interest in linguistics has resulted in the
publication of a dictionary which is well regarded by its
users. Although the two are in a secure financial
situation and do not depend on the income from their
book, they have published a number of revised editions to
keep its content up to date with current use.

Concerning the dictionary, we have already taken steps to
discredit its authors in the eyes of their publisher and
a large group of opinion-forming users. After the fiasco
of their talk at the annual conference of the Association
of Literary Translators it will not come as a surprise if
no further revisions to the dictionary are published.

As far as the few personal friends are concerned, a
strategy has been put in place which will result in the
distancing of these friends. Eventually, the two
candidates will be treated like social outcasts and will
be pleased to cut off any existing ties with whatever
friends and acquaintances they have.

Both individuals are physically attractive. Particularly
the female's appearance is very pleasing to the eye. What
makes these two subjects outstanding, however, is their
willingness to engage in any type of activity suggested
to them.

The male has been conditioned to remain sexually active
for prolonged periods. In training, times of up to three
hours have been achieved without artificial help. We
expect to increase this time to four hours by the end of
the preparation period. This duration can be extended by
fitting the mechanical device known as 'cock ring'. It is
however not recommended to fit this device for more than
twelve hours as this may result in lasting damage.

The female has proven even more responsive to her
conditioning than the male. She is eager to expose
herself to strangers and to allow them to use her in any
possible way. She has developed a strong desire to submit
herself to physical punishment, torture and humiliation.
It appears that severe treatment has become a
precondition to her own satisfaction. If anything, her
sexual appetite is expected to increase during the
remainder of her training period.

The two can either perform as a pair in front of an
audience or satisfy the desires of others as instructed.
In either case, they are sure to exceed all expectations
and impress even the most demanding spectators.

Because of the extraordinary quality of these specimens,
we consider it inappropriate to designate them to the
exclusive use by high-ranking officers within our
organization. This does not constitute any expression of
disrespect towards the members of the upper echelon; it
is merely an indication of the benefits the organization
as a whole could derive from the use we suggest.

We recommend strongly that the new recruits be deployed
in the services of External Affairs. As we have indicated
before, they can be provided as a token of our
appreciation to our contacts within the law enforcement
authorities to establish and maintain a positive climate,
or to other deserving individuals holding influential
positions to ensure favorable treatment of our business
interests. Their services may also be offered as a reward
to those members of the organization who show exceptional
initiative and creativity in the exercise of their
duties.

We suggest therefore, that upon completion of their
training, the two specimens be placed under the
guardianship of the Washington branch, which maintains
close liaisons with government officials. Initial
contacts in this respect have received an enthusiastic
response by the leadership of that branch. This, however,
should in no way preempt the final decision by the
Executive Committee.

The imminent deployment of these two new recruits
represents the completion of yet another successful
project by the Department for Human Supplies. [Comment:
This is where I think May has got it wrong. I told her
that this kind of department goes by the name of Human
Resources but she insists that the term used in the text
means 'supplies'. (Ricky)]

This is, therefore, an appropriate moment to return to
the subject of funding for the Department. It is usual to
point out that any budget increase has to be justified by
an increase in productivity. The activities of this
Department do not result in directly attributable
financial returns. However, the successful deployment of
these two new recruits will demonstrate once again how
valuable our activities are to the overall organization.

The suggestions above on how the recent acquisitions
might be put to use give a clear indication of how our
work benefits the organization as a whole. In some cases
it might even be argued that providing this kind of
service to external agents is the prerequisite for the
smooth and unperturbed operation of other parts of the
organization.

The identification of potential candidates requires
detailed and careful research. But even the most
painstaking investigation, the most rigorous selection
cannot prevent that, once contact has been initiated, new
facts are discovered which rule out the candidates as
unsuitable. Contacts do not always terminate as
successfully and satisfyingly as this one. Many times we
have to disengage, particularly when we discover that the
candidates maintain intensive social and professional
contacts so that their sudden disappearance would raise
suspicion.

This research activity requires a large number of highly-
skilled professionals and a large network of contacts as
well as sophisticated equipment. Once the conditioning
program has been initiated the agent who is in direct
contact with the recruits has to dedicate him or herself
completely to this task. They spend twenty-four hours a
day, seven days a week, observing and coaching. It
involves significant expenses to pay staff of such high
caliber and to keep them highly motivated and dedicated
to their assignments.

The conclusion from these deliberations is that the
Department is seriously under funded to meet the rising
demands an expanding organization places on it. There is
a real risk that the lack of funds could lead to
unacceptable shortcuts being taken during critical phases
of the operation. This might lead to slip-ups and could
expose us to the risk of undesired investigations, not
only into this department but into the activities of the
organization as a whole. For this reason, we would urge
you to reconsider the proposed funding review we
submitted with our previous communication. We are
confident that after careful consideration you will agree
that the proposed increase in funding is more than
justified.

                         The End



This concludes "Triad". I hope you enjoyed reading this
story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Readers may have noticed that the 'Postscript' is
somewhat detached from the rest of the story and contains
no narrative.

This was done with the intention of letting each reader
decide by him or herself how these two letters fit into
the story. If you prefer a happy ending, you might
imagine that Stan receives Ricky's letter with the
translation just before taking the decisive step - if
that's your idea of a happy end. As an alternative, you
might assume that the letter never reached its
destination, that it was lost or fell into the wrong
hands. You could even come up with other explanations,
variants I haven't thought of - the choice is yours.

Finally, one hopefully unnecessary comment: At one stage,
when I realized how this story was going to end, I
started to wonder if it wouldn't be irresponsible to
publish such a story at this time. Seeing that a large
proportion of my readers live in a country which is in
the clasp of paranoia and xenophobia, wouldn't I be
adding fuel to the fire? Well, the fact that you are
reading this means that I have overcome my concerns.

I doubt that there is any need for this, but let me
assure you: this is a work of fiction. All the characters
were invented by me. Everything which happens to them is
the product of my imagination. No, there isn't any
attractive female out there watching you, just waiting
for the right moment to imprison your cock and to force
you against your will to lick her hairless pussy.

                         -----

Once again, I am deeply indebted to Peter Z, my editor,
who has patiently reviewed every word and every sentence,
and has made a valuable contribution to the quality of
the finished story. So, let's all give a big hand to
Peter Z!

Now comes my usual request: please let me know what you
think of this story. I do enjoy hearing from my readers
and I have so far managed to reply to each individual e-
mail I received. I'm not just fishing for compliments, a
pat on the back, saying, 'Well done'. Tell me what you
thought was particularly enjoyable and what was not so
hot.

I will do my best to continue to bring enjoyable and
exciting stories to your monitor.

Gato Medio
