Sin Rooms chapter 18 Astronomy

Date: Some time in 2002
 
 
BRITISH AIRWAYS FLIGHT 27 TO HONG KONG WILL BE DELAYED FOR ANOTHER TWO HOURS. WE ARE SORRY FOR THIS INCONVENIENCE….
 
I had already been inconvenienced for two hours and a half, two more wasn’t going to make a difference. Traveling as much I did, being inconvenienced was part of the job. I resigned to the inevitable and went down from the business lounge to the main terminal to walk off my legs. They were starting to get numb sitting in that chair for hours. I also wanted to buy some magazines, maybe a book or two, to read on that long voyage from London to Hong Kong.  
 
I loved to read. I still do. My mother used to call me a book worm since I was a child. Once I read an entire encyclopedia in two months. Well, it was a children encyclopedia. Still I did read all thirty 200 page volumes from cover to cover. That was when encyclopedias used to be printed on paper, which many might not even remember.
 
I was browsing the shelves at the airport bookstore when I came upon a title that grabbed my attention. It was:
 
“The Complete Idiot's Guide to Astronomy by Christopher De Pree”
 
I flipped through the pages admiring the pictures of planets, star clusters and constellations. I’ve always prided myself on being a science kind of guy. My training in engineering and management gave me some of that. However I’ve always had the impression that astronomy was way over my pay grade. All those technical jargons were light years beyond me. So I gave up on learning about the stars a long time ago. However once you look into a telescope there was no turning back. Suddenly memories of that night at that observatory with her holding my hand, telling me about the moon and the constellations, jolted my senses a little. Well, according to Mr Christopher De Pree, if an idiot can understand this stuff, maybe I had a chance. So I decided to buy his book. Of course I read it more than four times by the time I finished my business trip to Hong Kong. However, every page I turned reminded me of the time at that observatory in Sussex, England more than ten years ago. That was the time I visited Windmill and spent an unforgettable night observing the stars with her. By the time I returned home from China I was hooked. I had to buy myself one of those small telescopes and thus began my new hobby as an amateur astronomer. Of course I sucked at it. I barely knew how to use that telescope let alone read those stupid star maps. What kind of a sadist writes a complete idiots guide to astronomy? Doesn’t he know astronomy was not meant for us. I was going to have a talk with that De Pree fellow and tell him what I thought of his book!
 
However, I wasn’t giving up. If an idiot can do it so can I. One night as I was trying to make that damn telescope work I stumbled upon a star that was not on any of the maps in Mr De Pree’s book. It wasn’t supposed to be there. I slewed the telescope to point to it and I almost had a heart attack. Right there in the middle of that eye piece was one of the most amazing sight I had ever seen. I was looking at the planet Saturn with its glorious rings right there in front of my eyes. I could not believe it. I never realized I could even see Saturn with such a small telescope. I must have shouted my surprise at two in the morning waking up my neighbor’s dog and a few others in the street. I ran to the house to tell Claire what I just witnessed. I had to tell someone and my wife was the closest thing I had to someone.  
 
“Wake up,” I shock her, “WAKE UP,” I shouted. “You’ve got to see this…”
 
Running down with me to the backyard she almost stumbled thinking there was an emergency of some kind, or something had happened to one of the kids.
 
“What?”, Claire asked “WHAT IS IT ?” She shouted.
 
“Look,” I replied, “look at this,” I pointed to the telescope and asked her to put her eye on the eye piece and see what I had just seen. So she did.
 
She took a quick peek then she slapped my arm so hard I thought she wanted to tear it off. “You woke me up in the middle of the damn night to SHOW ME THIS… !?!?”
 
“IT’S SATURN” I cried out… It’s Saturn for heavens sake… seriously, I almost cried that night.
 
Claire looked at me like she really wanted me dead. “You’re an idiot…” she blurted out, swirling so fast she almost knocked down the telescope before storming back to the house.
 
Claire and I have never seen eye to eye when it came to astronomy. She always seemed to want to gouge my eyes out whenever I brought out the subject or that telescope. I guess she didn’t like it. I gave up on her liking it a long time ago. She has her own and I have mine. Since that night astronomy had become mine, and Mr Christopher De Pree, the author of “The Complete Idiot's Guide to Astronomy” became my mentor for many months that year. However I did not realize that Christopher wasn’t the culprit here. It was her. It had always been her, and I could not get her off of my mind every time I flipped through that guide.
 
“I need to change my flight connection,” I asked the British Airways employee. “I’m not feeling well. I can’t board the next plane. I think I have a fever.” That was a few months later on one of my many return flights from China transiting again through the U.K. I don’t know why I decided to do that on that trip. I must have snapped from all that astronomy stuff.
 
The airline staff tried their best to accommodate my request to change my connecting flight in Heathrow airport in order to stay in London for a few days until I could recover from this sudden illness. They didn’t want me to die on the plane. They even gave me two nights for free in a hotel close to the airport. I love British Airways. They are always nice, especially when you pay first class. However, I felt sorry for having to lie my way into spending a couple of unscheduled nights in London at their expense. That astronomy book was to blame. Still, I felt like an idiot.
 
Walking in Oxford street brought many memories. The shoving, the crowded streets, the rain drizzling on my head. Well, those weren’t the most memorable, but still, I felt alive. It had been more than seven years since I walked those streets. I kept thinking to myself, “Why the hell was I walking on those streets?" Unconsciously at the end of that day I came to stand at the entrance of the apartment where Danielle used to live. I rang the buzzer and was surprised when someone let me in. “Is Danielle here?” I asked the lady who opened the door and she replied, “I’m sorry. I think you have the wrong apartment.”  
 
I should have known Danielle wasn’t living there anymore when I called her. “The number you are calling is not in service,” was the reply I kept getting. Who was I kidding?!? It had been more than seven years. She must have moved on long ago.
 
That night I could not sleep. I blamed jet lag for my miserable state of mind. It was eleven at night and I had forgotten to bring a book to read. I had picked up all the brochures and magazines I could find from the hotel lobby in order to pass the time as I lay awake in my room. There weren’t many. The only other books I managed to find in the room were the Bible and the yellow pages. The bible I had read many times before. I guess the yellow pages was all I got to pass the time. For those who don’t know what yellow pages are, it is a telephone directory. Oh yes… it’s a telephone directory of local businesses organized by categories. And yes… the yellow pages used to be printed on yellow pages, thus the name of the book I found myself reading at eleven at night. How stupid was that? I guess fate can be stupid as well. Suddenly I came upon the escort agencies section of the yellow pages. And yes… there used to be lots of those in that yellow pages for the London West End. I never knew that.  
 
“Elegance Escort Agency… Discover luxury…an elite London escort agency offering exceptional services…. Indulge in unforgettable experiences…24/7…”
 
That couldn’t be it!? Could it!? Suddenly I remembered the name. “Elegance”. Danielle told me about Elegance a few times. I had even seen their brochure in her apartment once. That was a long time ago. She couldn’t still be working there? Could she?
 
“Hi,” and that’s how it all started. “Is Danielle still working with you?” I asked the lady who answered the call at the Elegance escort agency at eleven o’clock at night.  
 
“O hello Sir,” she tried to answer. “Unfortunately we do not have anyone working with us by that name.” And my hopes were dashed to a million pieces again. “However we have a great many ladies who are available tonight. What is your preference?”
 
My preference knocked on the door of my hotel room an hour later. She was an English  brunette from a town south of Liverpool, or so she claimed. She had a great figure, beautiful smile and blue eyes. I asked for green, well, I guess you can’t have everything you ask for. She said her name was Jennie, or so she claimed. I let her into the room, offered her a drink from the minibar and we exchanged pleasantries until she finally said, “let’s get the payment settled before we start, shall we?” I already had the £150  pounds ready which was a great amount of cash back then. Elegance was not cheap. They did say they were an elite bunch. “Can I also call the agency to let them know I’m here?” The final formality of an elite escort agency before their unforgettable experience begins.
 
To tell the truth this was the first time I had ever called for such unforgettable experience. Even though the two women whom I had unforgettable experiences with in my life were in the unforgettable experience business, however I have never paid for such service in my life. Not to them, not to anyone. I was as nervous doing this as any guy doing this for the first time. I don’t know why I let that lady on the phone coerce me into it. I just found myself saying yes when all I wanted was to know if Danielle was still working at their agency. Yup. That astronomy for idiots book was messing with my mind.
 
As I said, Jennie, or whatever her name is, which most probably was not, was a very beautiful lady. She was also a very experienced lady which made it all the more relaxing and easy to get me to take my clothes off and spend that hour with her in bed. She knew how to make me lie on my back and shower me with kisses until I was relaxed enough to do the same. She even let me lick her nipples and play with those amazing tits of hers, pretending she was moaning and breathing heavily with every touch. At the end she tore open the packet of condom slipped it on my hard cock which she made hard with her hands and a little licking on the tip. She never put it fully into her mouth, as much as I wanted her to. When I was ready and fully protected she slipped on top of me and guided my cock into her pussy. I just relaxed and let her do her job. She didn’t disappoint. It didn’t take me long to flood that sack of condom. As I said, she was a professional. She scrambled to remove the evidence and wipe clean what she made me do. Then she finally relaxed next to me on the bed. We did all that in less than thirty minutes. I still had another half hour to go. As I said, she was a professional.
 
“So, how long have you been working at this agency?” Having a beautiful naked woman lying next to you for half an hour you have to have something stupid to say. So this was what I could come up with.
 
Her head was on my shoulder, her hand relaxing on my chest, caressing my skin to make me relax, seeing how nervous I was when we started our session. “O, I’ve been woking of Elegance for almost three years now. They are a good agency,” Jennie said. “I’m studying for my chemistry major here in London…” and she didn’t stop. I don’t how much of what she told me was the true, most probably wasn’t, but who was I to judge. “Is this your first time using an escort agency?” She finally asked after exhausting all her arsenal of small talk.
 
“As a matter of fact it is,” I replied. “And no it is not. Well, that’s another story,” I added. “However I wasn’t planning to. I was just looking for an old friend of mine who used to be working for Elegance. Her name is Danielle, Danielle Philips. I don’t know if you knew her or not?” Of course I didn’t expect she would.
 
“O, I do,” Jennie replied. “As a matter of fact she still does.”
 
“WHAT?!” I jumped of the bed shouting. “But they told me she doesn’t…”
 
“I’m sorry,” Jennie reacted. “Maybe I should not have said anything. I’m sorry.” She just stood up and went to the bathroom to freshen up and put on her clothes to leave. “I hope you don’t tell them I told you so?” That was the last thing she said before leaving my hotel room.
 
Now this has changed everything…. Damn I hate astronomy.