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The Forest

Jim found an entrance to a heavily wooded forest, but not too wooded for the car. He parked in front of a tree-less area. We opened the doors of the Ford and climbed out. Climbing out was about as easy as walking on gelatin with only a torso. Once we got our footing, Jim pulled off his shirt, due to the fact that when it's hot, men do not wear shirts. I noticed the beads around his neck again.

"Jim, where did you get that necklace?" I asked. Jim looked down and fingered the beads.

"I'm not sure. I had a dream a few years ago. Where a lady came to me. She told me that these were love beads, passed down through an ancient culture. Every eligible man in the tribe would make a string of these beads and present it to the woman they found worthy of their love. If the woman already had a string of these beads, she was spoken for and could no longer receive any others. It was a little bit like a wedding ring, except it would never be removed. If the man caught the woman without the string on, he had the option to put her to death. The strings were feared as well as loved, usually by the same people at all times. The lady told me that this set of beads had been thrown away the moment the man had put them around her neck. She was immediately put to death. I woke up that morning with the beads around my neck."

I listened intently to Jim's story.

"Doesn't that seem a little creepy to you?" I asked.

"A little. But I'm more scared at what will happen when I take them off. I haven't since I found them. I sometimes think that the lady who appeared in my dream was the ghost of the girl who was put to death for removing them, and that, in turn, she gave them to me. Following tradition, that means that I could be put to death if I take them off. Either way, I don't plan to take them off anytime soon." he said.

"Do you really believe that?" I asked.

"More than I believe that my Dad put them around my neck and was watching a documentary while I slept." Jim joked. I gave a half-hearted chuckle and crossed in front of the car and behind Jim.

"Do you know how attractive you are?" I whispered, my chin resting on his shoulder.

"I've got an idea." he whispered back, not turning.

"Do you?"

"I attracted you, didn't I?" I was trying my best to be seductive. Jim with his shirt off was getting to my head.

"You have an extreme amount of animal magnetism." I said, slowly running my fingernail along his arm and chest.

"Do I, Regina?"

"Damn straight." Jim whirled.

"Pretty girls such as yourself shouldn't dirty your vocabulary when you're being seductive." he ordered.

"Is that a fact?" I asked, innocently.

"Very true. That sort of language is for when your seductivity has brought you what you want. Do you want to make love, Regina?" Jim asked.

"I do."

"Well, then; let's distance ourselves from the car."

"Smart plan." Jim grabbed me and kissed me passionately. We broke for air once or twice before Jim stripped me. I removed Jim's pants as he told me:

"You're very attractive as well, Regina." We rolled around in the forest for a few minutes before we collapsed from exhaustion. We laid down to regain our breath for a minute. I suddenly realised that we had forgotten something.

"Jim, please tell me you were wearing a condom for the last twenty minutes." I begged, still on my back. Jim eyes opened wide, then closed. He sighed.