Chapter Eight

Michael had earned his Chocolate Swirl Orgasm.

Clarissa pulled up her car across the street from a former insurance agency office with its branding removed, but the ghost-like outline of the company name was still readable where dirt and sun-faded paint had created a stencil effect above the entrance. Some of the decals had been chipped away from the large glass window, hastily and incompletely, with several of the letters remaining from ‘Auto. Home. Life’. Most telling was the movement of a few people in and out of the retail space, as if transactions were taking place inside.

Nothing visibly promoted ‘Doctor Delight’, but the right vibe was present for a discreet, pop-up operation.

“Now what?” Clarissa asked.

“I’m going in,” said Aaron.

“I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

Aaron wasn’t going to get into an argument with her. He nodded and reached for the door handle. “Let’s go.”

Aaron and Clarissa crossed Sepulveda Boulevard.

They entered the storefront. In the back of the room, a fat man with a white beard sat behind a long desk, talking to a Hispanic man – presumably a customer – who stood before him. They spoke in low, private tones. Another man sat in a wooden chair alongside the desk, turned to face both the fat man and his customer. His appearance indicated a security presence – bald, menacing eyes, a short-sleeve black shirt that placed his cannonball biceps on display, and tattoos of dragons and flames erupting across his skin and reaching up into his thick neck.

He immediately locked his eyes on Aaron and Clarissa, holding up his hand. “Wait. Right there.”

Aaron and Clarissa stood obediently across the room from the desk, allowing the customer interaction to finish in private.

While waiting, Aaron looked around the office. It still contained framed posters on the wall depicting the activity of an insurance agent: pictures of smiling people shaking hands; smiling people leaning over paperwork in some kind of meaningful conversation; smiling parents with a teenager, a proud young driver, holding up a set of car keys. It was a lot of smiling.

The scenes felt quaint and nostalgic. These days, fewer people owned cars and those who did traveled less. The increased obsession with virtual worlds and placing assets in ‘the cloud’ had reduced the accumulation of physical possessions to insure. The main thing people cared about in their homes was the comfort of the pod rooms where they could zone out on chipfeeds.

And if people needed insurance for anything, they would just order it up online without the bother of stepping outdoors to see an agent in an office.

Doctor Delight, however, still required a physical location to reprogram Dynamica’s handheld devices to connect with his own offerings and subscription services. It didn’t take long, but a physical hack was required.

After the Hispanic customer left, the fat man waved Aaron and Clarissa forward. As they approached his desk, he said, “How may I help you?”

“Are you Doctor Delight?”

The fat man exchanged a glance with the muscular presence to his right. Then he told Aaron, “I asked you a question. I guide the conversation here. That’s how it works. Let’s try this again. How may I help you?”

Aaron felt his mouth going dry as sweat tickled his skin. “I – I’m here because I require an antidote.”

“I don’t understand the statement.”

“The Eternal Heaven Loop.”

The fat man’s eyes lit up for a brief moment, just enough to confirm to Aaron that this man, indeed, was the fabled Doctor Delight. After a measured silence, he said, “We don’t sell antidotes to anything.”

Aaron reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, printed photograph of Wendy. He held it out to show him. “You sold one of your products to this woman.”

Doctor Delight shrugged. “Maybe. I really can’t remember. We have a lot of clients.”

“I know you did. It doesn’t matter if you remember.”

“Please get to the point. We’re very busy here.”

Aaron’s heart pounded. Real adrenaline pumped through his veins. He let everything spill out.

“You sold my wife, Wendy, the Eternal Heaven Loop, eight months ago. She’s in a coma. I can’t – nobody can break her out of this coma. I honestly don’t think she meant to—”

“Okay,” said Doctor Delight. “Let me stop you right there. If a customer made a purchase, and a customer used that purchase, and you are not that customer, I don’t understand why we’re having this conversation.”

“Sell me the antidote. I’ll pay anything you want.”

“That’s not how it works. There is no antidote. That would defeat the purpose. It would take away the pleasures people paid good money for.”

“God damn it!” Aaron lost his temper. “You infected my wife. You ended her life for three hundred dollars.”

Doctor Delight made a sour face, as if he had just tasted something bitter. “No, no.” He shook his head. “She’s in a better place of her choosing.”

“That’s bullshit. You sold her an illegal feed to her chip.”

“Nothing here is illegal. We’re a small boutique, perhaps unconventional, but we serve a niche market that our customers want and ask for.”

“You murdered my wife. I will report you to the authorities.”

The tattooed man observing the conversation stood up straight now and stared hard into Aaron’s face.

Clarissa, who had been silent, spoke up. “Don’t you care about the lives you impact? You’re just a disgusting leech profiting off other people’s miseries.”

“Yes, they often come to me because they are miserable,” Doctor Delight said. “They come to me to improve their quality of life.” He eyed Aaron. “Obviously your wife was not satisfied. Maybe you’re to blame, not me, for the path she chose. She wanted out. I provide people with the tools they ask for. How they use those tools is up to them. What does it matter to you anyway?” He gestured to Clarissa. “It looks like you’ve found your new fuck buddy.”

“A what?” Clarissa said. “I’m not his—”

“You’re a fucking murderer!” exploded Aaron. “I will sue you. I will shut you down. I will bring this to an end. I will mess you up.”

Doctor Delight nodded in a sarcastic rhythm to Aaron’s words. “Yeah. Sure. Fine.” Then he leaned forward and said, “Go ahead. I’ve been there before. I have my team of lawyers. You can’t stop me. Technology moves faster than laws and regulation. This is the wild wild West. All they can do is slap my wrist. If they kick me out of here, I’ll find another abandoned store. There are plenty of them. Listen, I know you’re upset. I get it. Both of you look like you’re losing your shit, so let me help. I can offer you a happier lifestyle. I have chipfeeds that can get to the root of your problems. You don’t have to live this way. I can sell you a better mood. Are you familiar with our new product, Mellow Sunrise? It’s like waking up to a brand-new day.”

“I don’t believe this,” Aaron said. His voice cracked in defeat. He turned to Clarissa. “Let’s just go.”

“Before you leave,” Doctor Delight said, “would you like a free calendar?” He held up a twelve-month picture calendar branded with the name of the insurance company that previously owned the office. The calendar was several years old, obviously something left behind when the insurance agent moved out. It was a final, sarcastic stab at Aaron’s trauma.

And he lost it.

Aaron lunged at Doctor Delight. He heard Clarissa scream. And then the lights went out.

Minutes later, Aaron woke up to find himself dazed and bloody on the floor. Clarissa was on the floor beside him with a hand over one eye, muttering, “Motherfucker.”

The muscular tattooed man stood over both of them. He had pounded them to the ground in a fast, fierce beating. Aaron felt blood coming out of his nose and a split in his lip. Clarissa had a black eye.

For the first time since they entered the office, the tattooed man spoke. “You have thirty seconds to leave under your own free will. Or I will remove you, and this time I won’t be so gentle.”

Aaron spit blood on the floor and rose to his feet, still seeing stars.

Clarissa said nothing, touching her face tenderly.

The two of them left the office without a word, as Doctor Delight and his henchman stared after them.

On the sidewalk, back in the daylight, Clarissa shouted, “What the fuck!” She tried to shake away her stinging pain.

“He hit you too?”

“I was trying to push him away from you!”

“Why’d you do that?”

“Oh shut up.” She was clearly angry at the entire scenario, including being mad at him for provoking the attack.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron said. He started to reach for her face. “Are you okay?”

She swatted his hand away. “Let’s just get out of here.”

* * *

Aaron could not sleep that night. Alone in his bedroom, with the door shut to avoid his roommates, he stewed in the dark. He revisited every nasty, sarcastic word that Doctor Delight had hit him with, jabs even more painful than the knockout punches thrown by his bodyguard.

The sleazy fat pig had insulted Wendy, humiliated him and made him look weak and foolish in front of Clarissa.

Aaron clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and channeled every ounce of his fury into plotting his revenge.

He didn’t own a gun. But he did have resources that could serve as weapons. He mapped out a plan and obsessed over its steps in a nonstop loop. It gave him some comfort, but not enough to sleep. He witnessed the sunrise through the open curtains of his window. A new day with a new beginning awaited. He was ready to create some closure.

Aaron drove his lawn maintenance truck through the silent streets of L.A. as dawn released a golden glow. He returned to the former insurance office and parked across the street. He wore a baseball cap and large dark sunglasses to obscure his identity. He drank coffee and ate from a brown paper bag of fruit.

And he waited.

And waited.

One hour became two became four.

Finally, around eleven a.m., two men approached the storefront and unlocked the door to start a new day of business. It was short, fat, wobbly Doctor Delight and his tall, muscular bodybuilder friend. They were a comedy of contrasts, although Aaron wasn’t laughing.

After the duo slipped inside, Aaron knew he had to act fast before the first customers of the day arrived to complicate things.

Aaron jumped out of the driver’s seat, circled to the back of his truck and unlocked it. He chose his method of attack.

The next eight minutes were a blur of rage that later stuck with him like a movie scene he had viewed but not actually participated in. Demons took over his brain. He felt raw and physical and justified.

“You again!”

Those were the words to greet him, and then a loud roar drowned out any further dialogue. Aaron launched his most powerful gas hedge trimmer, the one that could sever the thickest of branches. In a lightning-fast lunge, wielding the tool with years of expertise, he disabled the henchman first, applying the blade to his throat before he could get his hands on Aaron. The green dragon tattoo on the henchman’s neck started breathing fire – a wet, red spray – and the henchman’s hands no longer had time for Aaron because they were required to clutch a gaping wound to stop the rush of bleeding.

Doctor Delight, while slow and obese, was still an immediate threat. He was fishing in a desk drawer for a firearm. Aaron kept his finger on the trigger of the hedge trimmer and stuffed it as hard as he could into the soft belly of the man who ended Wendy’s natural life.

Doctor Delight screamed and Aaron had a tough time pulling the blade back out, tugging hard and exposing a twisted mass of intestines to the open air.

The bodybuilder sputtered and gurgled, clutching his neck as blood escaped between his fingers. Even in this sorry state, he continued to stagger toward Aaron in an attempt to fight him. He removed one of his hands from his bloody throat and reached out for Aaron. He only furthered his own problems when Aaron neatly severed four fingers, leaving only a thumb.

The henchman let out a loud, high-pitched squeal that no longer fitted his hulking macho presence. The loss of the majority of one hand did not help his efforts to stop the persistent flow of blood from his neck. Quickly succumbing to dizziness, he fell to the floor with a big crash, knocking over a coat rack.

With both of his enemies dropped to the ground and seriously incapacitated, Aaron turned off the hedge trimmer.

In the abrupt moment of silence, Doctor Delight began to beg.

“Please….”

He was on the floor in a pool of his own blood, desperately reaching for something that was just out of his grasp.

His chip controller.

Aaron stared down at him.

Doctor Delight looked up from the ground. “Please…hand it to me….”

Aaron didn’t move.

“Please…I’m dying…. I just want to make my final minutes…less painful. Can you…. Can you set it to Bliss…or…or…the Eternal Heaven Loop?”

Aaron stepped over to the handheld chip controller. Doctor Delight looked hopeful, but only for a moment. Aaron kicked the device away. “You’re not getting eternal heaven,” he said. “I’m afraid you’re going to that other place.”

Doctor Delight had barely enough energy to groan out his response. The bodyguard was no longer conscious; without a grip around his wound he was practically floating in his own blood.

Aaron dropped the hedge trimmer to the floor.

He left the office. He quickly went to his truck, got something out and returned to the two men one last time.

Aaron emptied a red gasoline can around their bodies. He generously soaked the walls and the furniture. He wished somebody had done this before him, before his wife made her fatal purchase, before so many others had to suffer. Nothing could be done to erase the past. But at least now, with the toss of a match, he could protect the future.

* * *

Aaron drove far away from the blaze. He traveled for miles until the tears overwhelmed his eyes and he had to pull over.

He cried for Wendy. He cried over the savage, impulsive violence that had consumed him. He felt ashamed, when he wanted to feel relief.

It took him a long time to notice the horrible irony of a billboard facing him from down the road. It promoted Dynamica with big, happy smiles from a loving young couple, cheek to cheek, with bold words surrounding them:

Stressed Out? Get the Stress Out!

New from Dynamica: STAY CALM.

The ultimate in emotional well-being. Temper control at your fingertips.

Then, at the bottom, a tagline:

Choose Peace.