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Isaiah Jones vs the Sea (A 21st Century Odyssey) “A Faustian Deal with the White Devil: Hvergelmir” “

by the Joey Cloudy.

Isaiah Jones versus the Sea (A 21st Century Odyssey)

Chapter 26 A Faustian Deal with the White Devil: Hvergelmir

“Am I the one that you love

Am I the one,

Am I the one that you think of

don’t you make me feel crazy,

if I break down and cry

Just tell me that you love me baby

Even if it is a lie..

Am I the One?!”

-Beth Heart ‘Am I the One’

“Kore kara minna de mechakucha odotte. Sawagou, sawagou”.

-Missy Elliott

A zinc white silk infinity scarf gently framed her caramel face in light while the lanky Afro Cuban teen Beatrix Ovejero Torres stood holding court on the SS Asmodeus flybridge half surrounded by a throng of ivory clad men and women that comprised the yachts international guest list for the evenings white only soirée aboard the enormous jet-black catamaran anchored a quarter mile off the coast of the Florida Keys. In the distance Mara watched the lights of Key West flickering beneath the soft illuminations of a waxing humpback moon high in the eastern sky since sunset. The head lights of distant traffic fiberglass bodies of electric automobiles traversing Overseas Highway 1 in silence twinkling in the darkness stabbing the night with twin blades of light as the music of the azure waves caressing the carbon fiber hull accompanies the sound of La Mer” (The Sea) – Claude Debussy [Note 5] plays on the ships’ sound system.

Her attention returned as it always did to Beatrix, the cornrow-wearing 5-foot-11 Afro-Cuban teen, as she held the group enthralled with her ebon beauty and acidic wit, regaling them with stories of her evening with the gangly seafaring recluse Isaiah Leonardo Jones. Mara watched knowing that her best friend could have been reading the ingredients to a box of cornflakes and they all would have stood there listening hanging on her every word as if she were a new age messiah, she held them enthralled with the Sirens power in her voice and the staggering beauty of her nubile visage.

Savanah took the opportunity to talk to Mara alone. The towering 6-foot platinum blonde Norwegian chief stewardess sidled up next to the 5-foot-5 Cuban teen and hooked her arm into hers. “Come, walk with me.” Mara let Savanah escort her away from the stern, where most of the people were gathered, talking to her and Beatrix about the viral video with Isaiah Jones, they posted last weekend. The women made their way to a quieter part of the deck near the bow, where they would be alone.

The gigantic nearly 100 foot carbon fiber, solar powered sailing catamaran Asmodeus teakwood deck was so high above the surface of the sea, 11 feet, there was no trampoline near the bow, but rather a large tanning deck an area built very much like a vintage 1970s style sunken den suspended between the twin ebony hulls, with built in cushioned benches surrounding a coffee table all of which could be lowered into the deck when not being used. As they traveled towards the foredeck, Mara sensed they were being followed and knew without looking back that it was Savanah’s personal assistant, the little Parisian brunette Kiko. As soon as the two women sat down beside each other on one of the cushioned benches, Kiko refilled their glasses with French 77. After pouring their drinks, the tiny half-French, half-Japanese woman placed the Riedel Tyrol crystal wine decanter on the table before she returned aft to rejoin Beatrix with the rest of the party guests.

“I see you are the muscle, and she is the brain, but I notice that you are the strategist. I imagine you must be an excellent chess player. After all, you are the one who decided to arrive at the golden hour, correct?” Savanah inquired.

“It’s an old trick I learned studying cinematographers of classic films I like. Mara replied, feeling the effects of the booze now on her third drink. Vittorio Storaro’s “Charlie don’t surf” and Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez slowly rising out of the water in ‘Apocalypse Now’ moves me every time. These people were masters of light and dark. Everything was in the lens, and even when it wasn’t, it was sublime. The plastic bag dancing in the wind, Conrad Hall’s work on ‘American Beauty’, and the way he used the dark was inspired. The Big Lebowski is one of the funniest movies the Cohen brothers ever made, but no one appreciates the cinematography of Roger Deakins’ compositions throughout the film. Watch the I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in scene. It’s a Rashomon effect inside of a Matryoshka of brilliantly executed techniques. Beatrix is so beautiful, it takes no skill to photograph her.”

“You are too modest, child, Savannah argued, giving her knee a friendly squeeze. I have been in this business nearly 2 decades and I can assure you that what you do is more than the mark of a professional but the eye of a great artist, you made sure our girl arrived, and all eyes turned to our Beatrix in the golden light of the magic hour, that is the sign of a resourceful mind at work. I have seen your photographs of her online. You have a painter’s eye, Magnifique.” Savanah said sincerely as they gazed out across the teakwood deck at the darkening azure waters of the Caribbean.

“We are nothing but beach bums with nice tits.” Mara giggled between sips of her sweet sparkling beverage. “We have been best friends since we were little kids. When I first met her, we were both hanging out at that old 1980s actresses’ cafe near the marina, looking for something to do, and I told her my aunt had a sailboat. She asked if she could see it, so I took her to the docks just to look at it. We are only kids, but she is tall and strong.

Everything on the Tomcat 6.2, the little 20-foot catamaran, is powered with a single outboard, but I don’t know how to sail, and neither does she; still, we managed to motor out of the marina without incident. She hoisted the main, and that was the first boat we ever stole. We were 2 of the luckiest little brats to ever sail. We did everything wrong, but we never hit anyone or capsized the boat. Beatrix is fearless out there at the helm of any sailing vessel. By the time we were teenagers my tits came in early, Beatrix says it’s because of all the hormones in the factory grown foods especially chickens, brings on early puberty breast and pubic hair ect…she reads medical journals filled obscure articles like the New England Journal of Medicine, so I don’t doubt her, the fact is she’s prettier than me, taller than me, and smarter than me.

I am stronger than she is, have bigger tits than she does and even though we are both Cuban I look white. So, I know exactly what I bring to the table as far as our relationship goes, all the women in my family are all well-endowed with big guns like these D cups here; Mara grinned proudly glancing down at her ample bosoms, no one cares how old you really are when you have a pair of these, all they see is a pretty girl with big tits. We learned early how to show off the goods and hang out near the docks, and soon we were getting invited aboard the yacht bros’ boats. Stupid frat boys thought they were going to get us high or drunk enough to suck and fuck but all we ever did was sail their daddy’s boats all over the place.

They went home alone and jacked off.

Savanah laughed, so you are from a rich family now that you are living with your aunt Giselle?

Mara looked up from the cushioned bench where she sat next to Savanah near the bow; they could both see the tall, lithe, radiant figure of Beatrix on the flybridge, half surrounded by the adoring throng of party guests. Even the other girls were more captivated by her than jealous. She sipped the crystal flute half filled with French 77 Maras, free hand gently caressing their host’s inner thigh as she spoke.

“No, my mom is a domestic in Miami, too poor to take care of me. When I was 3, she sent me here to stay with her sister while she was living in a shelter after Hurricane Wilma wiped out the trailer park we were living in back in 2005. My aunt Giselle is a decade older than my mom, and she is the rich one; I am not. She lets me live with her because I am blood. Giselle is great, she makes sure I have everything I need, and I make sure Beatrix has everything she needs when I use the credit cards she leaves with me I shop for both Beatrix and me; clothes, school supplies, laptops, notebooks, she knows I am shopping for us both and she doesn’t care.

She even bought me a state-of-the-art gaming pc and a huge flat screen TV to use as a monitor in my bedroom, and I don’t even play video games. She paid for my car. Sure, it’s as old as me, but it’s paid for. Mi Tía abuela tolerates me in her house because I am family, but I am not stupid; she wants me to get out as soon as possible after graduation. She loves me, but she let me know that if she wanted kids, she would not have had 2 abortions and gotten her tubes tied.

These days she only dates well hung body building black guys in their early 20s, big muscles, lots of tattoos, you know the type, she likes playing the Latina MILF while she winters in Florida now that she is retired. Giselle has a condo in Manhattan with a view of Central Park, which she shares with a wealthy black woman investment banker, her longtime lover. She only flies to Florida for the winter, otherwise it’s just me and Xiaolian: Little Lotus, the Chinese nanny/housekeeper.”

“Does she know that you are in love with her?” Savanah asked as she gently caressed her cheek with the back of her hand.

“Of course she does, Beatrix is my best friend, I tell her everything. Mara replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. She’s like you; everyone that comes within 6 feet of her falls in love. She says that it’s not how you look but pheromones or some more nerdy shit I don’t really understand.’’

Savanah reached over, placing a long, slender arm across her shoulders.

“I understand,” she said as they both looked up at Beatrix on at the guest hovering around Beatrix standing near the rail up on the fly deck. I was once in love with a beautiful black woman myself, first 2 years at uni. It was after the scandal when my name was still mud, and no one would hire me, fearing the stain on my image after it was discovered my uncle was a pedophile would tarnish their brand. It was as if I were in the middle of the Devils triangle getting double fucked for something I never had any control over.

I started modeling when I was 7, landed an international clothing outlet catalogue immediately, and was a millionaire by the time I was 11. After it was discovered that the man who was my photographer, agent, my uncle Mangus, had stolen all my money, the investigators auditing him for tax fraud and embezzlement during their investigation found the tens of thousands of photographs he had secretly taken over the years. The day her brother was convicted, my mother hung herself with an orange colored heavy duty electrical cord. I did nothing wrong; I was a victim, still, no modeling agency wanted anything to do with me anymore after the story of his crimes hit the papers.

My career was over; I was never going back home.

“You can never go back to the village.”

[Note 2] I had next to nothing left in the bank, but I still had a scholarship, so I decided to study business and law and attend Cambridge. While I was a student, I met my first lover, a beautiful Eritrean girl named Kedija. She was pre-med, an aspiring pediatrician, and we met at a retro-rave one night while I was in London slinging drinks. The DJ is blasting Missy Elliot’s ‘Work It’, the sexiest woman in the UK saunters up to my bar and orders a 4 Loco, my knickers hit the floor with a splash, it was love at first sight, mate. I was dirt poor, working as a bartender at underground clubs part-time, eating Rameen Noodle and sardines every day before it was cool because I was fucking broke, Savanah paused sighed wistfully as she continued, maybe the 2 happiest years of my life.

We would travel from the university to London to party every minute we were not in class. I don’t drive, so we would all pile into her new red Vauxhall Corsa we all called Roxy, track number 1 Golden Earrings Greatest Hits ‘Radar Love’ [Note 4] and it was “Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat. Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat. Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat.” Dance all night at the hottest clubs in the city; Fabric, Plastic People, Shoreditch, Tramp, Camden Town, Soho, Brixton, MoS (Ministry of Sound), East End Warehouses, partying like maniacs for 2 years, best time ever. So much Molly, so much coke, so much nitrous, so much DMT, so much absinthe and ether, soooo much seX. She sighed nostalgically. Good times.”

“So, Mara asked, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face, what happened, where is she now?”

“I left the UK for a fortnight over the winter break, got offered modeling work for the first time in 3 years of course I took the job, I was 6 inches taller, bobbed head full of black number 1, they had me do a photo shoot in the south pacific islands Bora Bora, French Polynesia, Fiji. Then the Victoria’s Secret Aquatic Angels show with Maroon 5 lip sinking ‘Moves Like Jagger’ so fucking cringe I know right. But the job ended up jump-starting my modeling career. When I came back to Cambridge after Christmas break, Kedija had moved out of our flat. Left a note saying she went to the States to be with her fiancée. I never even knew she was engaged or dated blokes. She is a doctor now, lives in LA, a right proper pediatrician with a kid of her own.

Mara leaned over and hugged Savanah. “I’m so sorry. “Oye, lamento que tu amorcito te haya hecho daño.” (“Hey, I’m sorry your sweetheart hurt you.”)

“The two of you are a good team, but I tell you all this because I do not want you to get your heart broken. Savanah offered sagely wiping the tears from her face, for fuck’s sake find a girlfriend, have fun, get proper shagged. Work with Beatrix, but do not delude yourself into thinking she is ever going to feel for you the way you feel about her. Understand?”

“Yeah, Mara said barely audible. I understand.”

“That’s a lie, but in 10 years, when you are my age, you will.” Savanah slurred. “You are going to have to learn to get along with my little Kiko.”

“I kinda’ sorta’ hate her, I don’t know why,” Mara said, giggling.

“I know, I have eyes, but I tell you she is fantastique, Savannah boasted, the absolute best at whatever she does. Without a doubt, the best PA I have ever had. Pity really, I hate to give her up, but I will need my best by your side when I cannot be there. Matagi Tagiai, the large Samoan fellow in the sarong back there, will be your team’s driver and personal security. I never send my girls out without muscle. Since we are going to be business partners, which is as serious as a marriage, I will tell you a secret,” she whispered loudly, her Norwegian accent thickening drunkenly between sips of the sparkling concoction. My middle name is not really Nicola, I changed it to be more like my hero Nichelle Nichols, the black woman who played Lt. Nyota Uhura on the original Star Trek. I just love her; she is my idol.” The towering, blue-eyed blonde confessed.

“What was it originally?” Mara slurred.

“HVERGELMIR!” Savanah shouted. Before both women collapsed into each other’s arms, roaring with drunken laughter.

“If we are going to work together, the two of you will have to shut down your company, Black Lotus, immediately and completely disavow any connection to it in the future. Savanah said, returning to the business at hand. Before we can do anything together, you need to get this sorted. Understand that you can never touch the money in that account ever.”

“Why would I walk away from nearly a million dollars of my own money that we bust our asses earning over the last five years,” Mara asked, thinking this was a joke of some sort.

“Do you know what a dye pack is?” Savanah asked.

“Sure, a glitter bomb from hell; a paint grenade that sprays indelible ink all over the cash and the robbers when they open the stolen money bag. Our money is not stolen.” Mara replied impudently.

“But it is contaminated. Savanah said solemnly. I will tell you this: go to your lawyers in person, not over the phone or online, and ask them if what I say is true. Because you used fake IDs to say you two were 18 when you were actually only 13, and you have been using the internet and the phone for sexting, you can both be charged with distributing child pornography, wire fraud, and a laundry list of other related charges.

I knew your IDs were fake as Hollywood tits, that is why I never spoke to either of you before you were 18 for real, now that money is a ticking time bomb ready to blow up in your faces if you go near it. So, before we go into business together, the two of you are going to meet with my IT cybersecurity guy, and he is going to collect each and every one of your devices. Every phone, tablet, iPad, and PC that you, clever Trevor’s own will be wiped, and he will dispose of them; after you close the accounts on your Only Fans and any other NSFW sites you two have created. If anyone ever asks, you two have never heard of a company named Black Lotus. If you agree to our terms, as a show of good faith I will give you each an additional 50k signing bonus on top of our original deal.”

Mara was stunned. “But we were so careful we left nothing to chance.”

Savanah exhaled a long sigh. “It does not change the fact that each and every message you typed or sexually explicit conversation you had with an adult was in fact a crime and every man you communicated with has now committed statutory rape at the very least, even with you two lying about your ages it does not absolve these men and women of criminal liability. The two of you have put hundreds, possibly thousands of people’s reputations and freedom at risk with this little illegal phone sex operation of yours, and the forged documents is a whole other can of worms.

The entire operation hangs over your heads as well as your patron’s necks like the sword of Damocles, should anyone else discover what you two have done and disclose the information to the authorities. I graduated top of my class and am licensed to practice law in 7 countries. I would not bullshit you about this, and there is no need to get your nickers in a twist, after all I am willing to cover a percentage of your losses once you come to work for me so long as we are agreed that Black Lotus never existed.

I have a contact in Cuba that handles this sort of rubbish, but the Albinos’ services do not come cheap. He will insist on a payout of only 25 cents on the dollar to manage your risk. I suggest you take it. It’s better than prison, and it is better than trying to live your life as a convicted sex offender after spending decades in a jail cell. It’s better than nothing.

Look, I know that neither of you intended to hurt or endanger anyone; you were just a couple of very poor kids trying to make some money, and you succeeded brilliantly, but now it is over. What you two managed to accomplish is nothing short of extraordinary; that is why I look forward to working with you in the future. But as good as you are you were also lucky, you did not get caught, and no one got hurt.

Remember, Epstein was their friend for decades, he never snitched, and you see how things worked out for him in the end…. I know this is quite a lot to take in, so talk to Beatrix in private, and the two of you talk to your counselor in person. Understood?”

Mara managed to mumble a barely audible “Yes.” As she stared out into the darkness at the flickering lights of Key West feeling her soul slowly sinking into the sea. Savanah refilled her drink from the carafe, “Check and Mate.”

Mara stood walking on wobbly legs, made her way to the edge of the bow, leaned over the chromed railings, and projectile vomited into the darkness.

“You can never go back to the village.”

Who are the seven demons?

Binsfeld’s classification;

Lucifer: pride.

Mammon: greed.

Asmodeus: lust.

Leviathan: envy.

Beelzebub: gluttony.

Satan: wrath.

Belphegor: sloth.

[Note 2] Octavio Paz

[Note 3] -The Killers ‘All the Things I’ve Done’

When there’s nowhere else to run

Is there room for one more son, one more son

If you can hold on

If you can hold on

Hold on

I wanna stand up, I wanna let go

You know, you know, no, you don’t, you don’t

I wanna shine on in the hearts of men

I wanna mean it from the back of my broken hand

Another head aches, another heart breaks

I’m so much older than I can take

And my affection, well, it comes and goes

I need direction to perfection, no no no no

Help me out, yeah

You know you gotta help me out, yeah

Oh, don’t you put me on the back burner

You know you gotta help me out, yeah

And when there’s nowhere else to run

Is there room for one more son

These changes ain’t changing me

The gold-hearted boy I used to be

Yeah, you know you gotta help me out, yeah

Oh, don’t you put me on the back burner

You know you gotta help me out, yeah

You’re gonna bring yourself down, yeah

You’re gonna bring yourself down, yeah

You’re gonna bring yourself down

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

I got soul but I’m not a soldier

Time and truth and hearts

Yeah, you know you gotta help me out, yeah

Oh, don’t you put me on the back burner

You know you gotta help me out, yeah

You’re gonna bring yourself down, yeah

You’re gonna bring yourself down, yeah

Oh, don’t you put me on the back burner

You’re gonna bring yourself down, yeah

You’re gonna bring yourself down

Over and in, last call for sin

While everyone’s lost, the battle is won

With all these things that I’ve done

All these things that I’ve done

Time, truth and hearts

If you can hold on

If you can hold on

[Note 4] -Golden Earring ‘Radar Love’

I’ve been drivin’ all night, my hands wet on the wheel

There’s a voice in my head that drives my heel

It’s my baby callin’, sayin’, “I need you here”

And it’s a half past four and I’m shiftin’ gear

When she is lonely and the longing gets too much

She sends a cable, coming in from above

Don’t need no phone at all

We’ve got a thing that’s called radar love

We’ve got a wave in the air

Radar love

The radio’s playin’ some forgotten song

Brenda Lee’s “Coming On Strong”

The road has got me hypnotized

And I’m speedin’ into a nude sunrise

When I get lonely and I’m sure I’ve had enough

She sends her comfort coming in from above

We don’t need no letter at all

We’ve got a thing tthat’s called a radar love

We’ve got a line in the sky

Radar love

No more speed, I’m almost there

Gotta keep cool, now gotta take care

Last car to pass, here I go

And the line of cars go down real slow, woah

And the radio played that forgotten song

Brenda Lee’s “Coming On Strong”

And the newsman sang his same song

Oh, one more radar lover gone

When I get lonely and I’m sure I’ve had enough

She sends her comfort coming in from above

We don’t need no letter at all

We’ve got a thing that’s called radar love

We’ve got a line in the sky

We’ve got a thing that’s called radar love

We’ve got a thing that’s called

Radar love

[Note 5]

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) wrote this composition of ‘three symphonic sketches’ between 1903 and 1905. Upon its premiere in Paris in October 1905, it was not well-received, provoking confusion and dismay among both audience and critics. But after performances in the United States and Britain, it was performed again in Paris in 1908, and then quickly became one of Debussy’s most famous and admired orchestral works. Along with Debussy’s ‘Nocturnes,’ ‘La mer’ exemplifies musical Impressionism and serves as a transition between the Romantic and modern eras. Bernard Haitink began his conducting career with Netherlands Radio: he became chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 1957. Later he was principal conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and held this position for 27 years. Today he is patron of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Honorary Conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Bernard Haitink has also been Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Chief Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is an honorary member of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and since 2019, the Vienna Philharmonic. He has received numerous prizes and awards, including the Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award.

[Note 6]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major, K. 495

-About the author

JD Cloudy’s poetry has disappeared in the literary journals; Fatfizz, Mad Swirl, Texas Beat Anthology, Danse Macabre, Du Jour, and Death List Five. He has won no literary awards, entered no slam competitions, and never completed college. He lives to write in Dallas, Tx.