Chalkboard February

Bare Detectives: Judy's Missing Boyfriend

Excerpt (Subject To Change Until Freeze Frame)

This morning Roger reclined naked in bed and thought back to when he was sixteen. It was at that age, for the first time, he felt a sexual attraction toward another man. That attraction was toward Stewart Duddley. He thought about how he and Stewart and some other young men played football together in the park which was different than playing in High School under the supervision of a coach.

Laying on silk sheets,Roger fondled his cock as he thought about Stewart. He thought, "God, I had such a crush on Stewart Duddley and before we moved he didn't even like me. He thought I was a know it all." Roger moaned, "I was just trying to make conversation but he always seemed to take my words the wrong way."

Stewart was similar to Roger in many ways. Stewart was six feet and five inches tall. Roger wore his hair moderate length to long while Stewart generally wore his brown hair in more of a flat top though his hair at times curled when a bit longer. His eyes were green and Roger thought they were very sexy.

Roger considered how his parents were poor back in those days. His mom had sold her business and patents and now they were rich. Roger wondered if Stewart would look at him differently now, if he knew he were rich.

Roger played with his own balls. "Stewart probably isn't even gay. And I don't want people to know that I am gay. Even if I were to try to meet him again, what could I say to him?" He thought back to when they were much younger and played together at his grandfather's antique store and a neighboring junkyard. Roger couldn't put his finger on exactly when things changed with Stewart but they had changed even before he had moved with his mom. Still he hadn't thought they had changed so much that Roger would not even want to stay in contact with him.

Roger thought back to tackling the great quarterback Stewart Duddley. He remembered the feel of Stewart in his arms and how their faces touched and their lips touched. He thought Stewart might have returned something of a kiss but it wasn't like a real kiss. Roger thought the touching of their lips might all have been just accidental but it felt like they had almost kissed. It might have been that almost kiss that freaked Stewart out.

Roger's cellphone rang. He looked at the id which read Selby James. "Who is Selby James?" Roger answered his phone. "Hello. Who is this?"

There was a nervous voice on the other end. "I put my number in your phone about a month ago while you were talking to Jack Minx. I don't think you even knew when I did it. You might have. Did you?"

"No. So you know Jack Minx?"

"Yeah. Jack and I go back. I am not a regular member of his band but I write some of their songs and help them get gigs and stuff. If they ever hit big time I will be dumped but until then I call myself their manager. I also manage a few other bands."

Roger began to pump his now rock hard cock. "That is cool. Please don't be offended but I can't place who you might be."

"I am not offended. I will send you a picture, a selfie."

Roger looked at the picture. He sort of remembered who Selby was but the club had been dark and he wasn't really sure. Looking at the picture and truly seeing Selby for the first time Roger wanted to scream, "Fuck, hell, you are sexy." Silently, he pounded his cock hard as he looked at the picture of the blonde haired, blue eyed, doll face of a hunk.

Selby asked, "Well, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Jack said you aren't seeing anyone. I thought you and I might hookup."

"Hookup?" Looking at the picture Roger imagined those pretty lips of Selby wrapped around his cock. Roger lied, "I am not gay."

"Oh, but you were at a gay club."

"I saw in Creative Loafing that the Jack Minx Offs were going to be playing at the club. I thought that was Jack's band from when I lived in Hearthville and so I was at the club to see the band."

Selby said, "You didn't have a woman with you. Most straight men are afraid to go into a gay bar without having their girlfriend with them. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Roger clicked the button to disconnect. "Who the hell does he think he is? Asking me questions like I am a liar?" Yes, he was lying but that was besides the point.

Roger's phone began to ring. He saw that it was Selby calling again. "Fuck." Roger didn't answer the phone. Naked, with his cock still fully erect, Roger walked over to his closet. He pulled a sex doll out out of the closet that looked like a woman. He threw the sex doll on the floor and jumped on top of it. He giggled as he began to hump his cock in and out of the fake vagina until he shot his load of cum. Then he cleaned himself and the doll up. He got some clothes together and then stepped into the shower.

He finished his shower and as he was getting dressed his phone again began to ring. He answered it, "I am not interested. Please stop calling me."

"Son, who do you think I am?"

"Oh, sorry dad. I thought you were a girl."

"So you've got a girl calling you?"

"Yeah. She wants me to go mountain climbing with her." Lying about his sex life seemed easy enough to Roger. "You know that isn't going to happen."

"I was just calling to make sure you haven't forgotten that you are supposed to meet with the coach at the Hearthville College tomorrow."

"I am not sure that I want to get on the team there. I am not even sure I want to go to college there."

"Son! Your grandfather was so looking forward to you returning to Hearthville and so was I. You know I am leaving Savannah and moving back to Hearthville to help him run the antique shop and also help take care of your Aunt Rachel."

"I know but mom would rather I go to Georgia State and the truth is that it might be better suited to me."

"So should I call the coach and tell him that you've changed your mind."

"I don't know. I'd actually thought the meeting was next week. I thought I had time to decide. I guess I could meet with him but let him know that I am not certain what I want to do. What do you think?"

"I know the coach. We can delay the meeting a couple of weeks. It will not hurt your chances. He really does want to get you on the football team."

"Okay. Love you dad."

"Love you also. No pressure. Bye."

Roger disconnected. He flipped back to the picture of Selby. He pressed the button to dial the number. Selby answered but didn't say anything. "This is Roger Ogelby. You called me earlier and my phone died."

Selby said, "I am glad you called me back. Sorry that I sounded like I don't know what. I shouldn't have pressed you like that. With most people I am still in the closet so I should have known better. My behavior toward you was totally unacceptable. Whether you are straight or just pretending to be straight, that is cool."

Roger changed the subject. "So do you live in Atlanta or like Jack Minx do you live in Hearthville?"

"I am in Atlanta a good bit but I live out of a Hotel when I am here. I have a small place in Hearthville that I call home."

"I've been thinking about going to college in Hearthville but I can't decide."

Selby asked, "How old are you?"

"I am nineteen. I am old enough."

"Old enough for what?"

Roger ignored the question and there was a moment of silence.

Selby did not press his attempt at humor though he had hoped Roger would reply with an answer of something sexual. Selby cleared his throat. "Anyway, I am twenty-five. I didn't realize I was so much older but I should have known. Jack is nineteen. Jack said you lived in Hearthville until you were sixteen. That should have clued me in at the club, but the way you talked about music and movies made you sound older."

"I love old movies and music. I guess I get that from my grandfather. He owns the Gravedig Antique Store that is near the Gravedig Junk Yard. My grandfather still lives in Hearthville and my father is moving back there from Savannah to help my grandfather in the antique store and to help with some other family matters."

"Oh yeah, I know the place. Off and on I date Sally Smith whose father owns the Junkyard. We were going to get married at one point but for obvious reasons I backed out. She now knows I am gay but we still go out some."

"I remember Sally. When I was a lot younger Sally and her brother Sam were friends with Victor and Stewart and Judy Duddley. I played with them some but then the Duddley family had some kind of fight with the Smith family. So then later I only saw the Duddley kids when they would come to play football in the park."

"Sometimes I think Victor totally hates me cause he thinks I've done Sally wrong. If he happens to be with Sally's brother Sam when I pick Sally up, there are times he totally gives me the evil eye. He thinks I am stopping her from moving on and maybe I am. Maybe he is right. I don't mean to say he is always unfriendly to me. Sometimes he hangs out with Sally and me and he can be a hoot."

"What about Stewart Duddley? Do you know him?"

"Of course I know of him but I doubt he knows me from Adam. Unlike Victor he never hangs out over at the junkyard but still he is one of those people that pretty much everyone in town knows about. I know he was a High School football star. He was a hell of a good football player at Hearthville High until he hurt his leg. Up until he hurt his leg everyone thought he would become a college football star and then go pro." Selby thought a second. "Jack told me that you are a good football player."

"Pretty good. I hate to hear that Stewart hurt his leg. I hadn't heard about that. I thought for sure he would someday go pro."

"Yeah, Victor went from constantly bad talking his brother to now I think he is worried about him. So to change the subject, do you think there is any chance you and I might can hookup. I am not asking for a serious relationship. I mainly just want to fuck. Here is a picture of my nine inch cock."

Roger looked at the picture. "Wow. Nice. But I don't know. I've got to go to Hearthville for a meeting tomorrow. That is if my father has not already cancelled it Maybe some other time?" Stewart heard the phone click. "He hung up on me. Oh well." Stewart called his father back and told him that he would be in Hearthville to meet with the coach around mid-day Friday as they had planned.

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Promotional Excerpt from Bare Detectives: Judy's Missing Boyfriend

Lawrence Ogleby went to see his sister Rachel Ogleby Ramsey who was being kept at the Hearthville Sanitarium. He always hated the feeling when the big iron gates opened and he drove his car through those gates and the gates closed. Lawrence wasn't exactly sure what had sent his sister over the edge. He now knew that she'd had a drug problem and he guessed that was most of it, but her nervous breakdown happened at the time of his daughter's death.

The day of his daughter Jossette's funeral they had found Rachel with a rope around her neck and hanging in Jossette's closet. They had got her cut down in time but there was damage done. Some doctors said there was brain damage while other doctors said her entire problem was psychological. Lawrence held on to the hope that his sister's problem was some kind of psychosis and that somehow, someday she would return to them the person she had once been.

Lawrence parked his car and walked to the front of the building. He had come often enough so that he no longer had to show any identification unless there was some new guard on duty. Old Clyde Smith was on duty this day. Clyde started to wave him on with a friendly hello but then called him back.

Clyde yelled, "Lawrence, come back here a second."

With a smile Lawrence turned. Clyde sometimes liked to mention some item he'd found at a yard sale since Clyde knew he was in the antique business. Lawrence had bought a few nice items from Clyde. Lawrence asked, "Do you have anything good to sell to me?"

Clyde shook his head. "The last yard sales I've gone to have just had junk or thought their good items were gold. No. I wanted to ask you about Steed. He normally comes here on the days I am on duty and I haven't seen him. I asked the nurses and they said he hasn't been to see his mom in over a couple of weeks. Is he okay?"

Lawrence felt ashamed. He had not checked on his nephew or asked him out for lunch in over a month. "I guess. I've been busy with moving and all and I have not talked to him lately."

Clyde said, "Well, I am not sure how to tell you this. Some people consider these subjects kind of peculiar."

"What?"

"Well, one night I was working kind of late. This place gets kind of spooky at night and so it could have been my imagination." Clyde hesitated. "Ah hell, I don't need to tell you this. Just make a point to check on your nephew and make sure that he is okay."

"What were you going to say?"

"I was sitting at my desk in the lobby and I was reading some things on my e-tablet." Clyde pulled out his e-tablet. "I love these electronic devices."

Lawrence nodded. "Yeah, I love playing games on mine when I am bored. Please continue with what you want to tell me."

Clyde cleared his throat as he put his e-tablet back away. "Like I said, I was sitting at my desk and reading. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was just for a second and I saw the image of Steed fade into nothing. There was nothing there. Chills ran up my spine."

Lawrence was not sure what to say to that. He pulled out his cellphone and started trying to call Steed. All he could get was voice mail. Lawrence called his father to see if his father had talked to Steed lately. He hadn't. Lawrence knew that Steed was dating Judy Duddley but he had no idea what her number was. Lawrence had traded phone numbers with Victor while they were at the diner and so he called her brother Victor.

"Victor, this is Lawrence. Are you busy?"

"Hey Lawrence. No, I am just tinkering and trying to figure out why my mustang will not crank."

"Have you seen my nephew Steed Ramsey lately?"

"Steed is your nephew. I didn't realize. But to your question, no. I do know Judy has been worried because he quit his job at the garage by e-mail and he didn't even pick up his last pay check. She and Howard from the garage talked to Officer Bare and he saw no reason to investigate."

"Shouldn't Officer Bare had thought to touch base with me or my father."

"I am so sorry. I didn't realize Steed is related to you all. If I had known I most certainly would have checked to see if you all knew where Steed is. Judy has been driving herself crazy over not being able to reach Steed by phone or anything. She text him. She leaves voice messages. He hasn't contacted her."

Lawrence began to tremble as he looked at Clyde. Clyde saw he was about to fall and he caught him. Clyde took the phone and told Victor they would call him back in a minute. Clyde helped Lawrence inside to Clyde's desk and helped him to sit down in a chair. Clyde asked, "Are you ready to call back?"

Lawrence said, "Yes, though I've learned enough to be very, very, worried."

Clyde said, "I figured but hoped I was just being silly and maybe, maybe..."

Lawrence took his phone back and called Victor back. "It is me, Lawrence, again."

Victor asked, "What happened?"

"I am at the sanitarium to visit my sister Rachel and the guard told me enough to start getting worried and then talking to you I got weak in the knees. See, he hasn't been to see his mother as he had been doing and that is very unusual."

Victor said, "I know from your father about Rachel being there. Jossette and I used to go places with Rachel and so yeah, I know Rachel but I had no idea that Steed is her son or Pappy's grandson."

Lawrence said, "Steed was pretty much raised by his father in Atlanta. He didn't move to Hearthville until he felt his mother needed him."

"God. I wish I had been more kind to him. I had no idea. Of course I always act like I hate whoever Judy is dating. He would come over to eat with us but he never talked about his family. I had no idea that Rachel is his mother. You say he hasn't been there or doing anything to check on how she is doing."

"No, and he had been. He may have been raised by his father but he loves his mother very much. He had been coming here several times a week and trying to help her get better. The doctors thought his visits were helping her. If there were anyway he could still be visiting her, I am sure he would. The guard, Clyde here, thought he saw Steed's ghost."

Victor fell back against the car. "Oh my God. I hope he was wrong about seeing Steed's ghost. Look, my opinion of Officer Daniel Bare and his boss Captain Rodney Stewart is that they are totally incompetent fuckers. If you are agreed I am going to call Sally Smith and see if we can work out some kind agreement to get her cousin Johnny Bare to begin investigating. I pray to God that they will be able to find Steed alive."

"Okay. I am basically broke right now but I am sure Terence and Roger will agree to what you are saying and pay any required retainers to hire the Bare Detective Agency."

Clyde said, "Yeah, they will get to the bottom of what happened to Steed. They are good."

Lawrence said, "Well Victor, I can see why my daughter loved you. Thank you for talking to me. I've got to visit my sister Rachel. I can't tell her what is going on with Steed missing. I have to get myself together. Bye."

"Bye."

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2/19/2014
Signet Jewelers LTD to buy Zale Corporation

Signet Jewelers Ltd on Wednesday said it would buy smaller rival Zale Corp for about $690 million in a deal that would strengthen its hold on the U.S. specialty jewelry sector and let it tap new markets.

Zale History

The company began in 1924 in Wichita Falls, Texas, when Morris (M. B.) Zale, William Zale, and Ben Lipshy opened the first Zales Jewelers store. As a marketing strategy, the Zale brothers instituted a credit plan whereby customers could pay "a penny down and a dollar a week," making jewelry and other merchandise affordable for the average working American. The success of this credit policy led to the company expanding to a total of 12 stores in Oklahoma and Texas by 1942. Zales Jewelers moved its headquarters from Wichita Falls to Dallas, TX in 1946.

Key stats and ratios for Zales

Q4 (Oct '13) 2013

Net profit margin -7.53% 0.53%
Operating margin -6.08% 1.86%
EBITD margin - 3.61%
Return on average assets -8.74% 0.85%
Return on average equity -64.75% 5.50%
Employees 11,900

Signet Jewelers Limited (Ratner Group 1949-1993 then Signet Group plc to September 2008) is the world's largest specialty retail jeweller. The Bermuda-domiciled, British headquartered company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. The group focuses on the middle mass jewelry segment and has number one positions in both the U.S. and UK specialty jewelry markets. Certain brands (Jared in the U.S. and Ernest Jones/Leslie Davis in the UK) are targeted at the upper middle market.

Signet operated 1,933 specialty retail jewelry stores at January 2, 2010; these included 1,379 stores in the U.S. where the group trades as Kay Jewelers, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry and under the following regional names: JB Robinson Jewelers, Marks & Morgan Jewelers, Belden Jewelers, Osterman Jewelers, Shaw's Jewelers, Weisfield's Jewelers, LeRoy's Jewelers, Rogers Jewelers, Goodman Jewelers, and Friedlander's Jewelers. Kay Jewelers is the national flagship mall store brand and Jared is the national off-mall superstore brand. The regional stores are all mall-based. All of the U.S. stores of all brands are operated under the subsidiary company Sterling Jewelers, Inc., which is wholly owned by Signet Jewelers. At that date Signet also operated 554 stores in the UK, where the group trades as H. Samuel, Ernest Jones and Leslie Davis.

Key stats and ratios for US Signet

Q4 (Nov '13) 2013

Net profit margin 4.36% 9.04%
Operating margin 6.69% 14.07%
EBITD margin - 12.56%
Return on average assets 3.65% 9.82%
Return on average equity 5.66% 15.62%
Employees 17,877

General State of the US Jewelry Business

Opinion: Is Signet buying Zales good or bad for the economy, workers, consumers and such? To be honest, I don't think it really matters much. As long as independent jewelers are not shut out from buying the supplies they need at affordable prices, there should be no harm. It is a competitive market and will remain a competitive market no matter what the big players do.

Jewelry and Fashion is kind of like tech, in that some of the best innovation & design comes from the small players and as long as the big players understand they need the small businesses to help develop and drive the market, it should be okay.

I realize this is contrary to my normal opinion. I generally scream bloody murder about buy outs and mergers. Regardless, as long as the small players can constantly develop new business models & build new business and develop new intellectual property to be bought by larger businesses, maybe that is not a bad thing. As long as small players are not shut out & killed by the big business, maybe the buyout's are the best way for the large players to feed the small players who are best able to develop new product and new business strategies.

Off subject but just something I've been thinking about. Maybe from day one an entrepreneur should work to develop their business with the full hope they can flip it to either a larger business or maybe another small business and then start over again. If the skills of a business person is such that they are better at starting businesses than the drudgery of day to day operations then maybe the business should be looked at like any other product that is being built to be sold. Maybe the worse thing a business person can do is look at their business as their baby that they can't stand to put up for sale. "I'd rather close it down rather than let anyone else buy it."

Ghoultown "Drink With The Living Dead"

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Chuck's Erotic Stories: Monsters And Other Scary Lovers

Excerpt:

Story One

{This Story is Fiction.}

The Plumber’s Apprentice I: The Magic Act
by Charles T. Peters jr.

My name is Tommy Toole. Yeah, I know that sounds like a name I use for doing porn. My friends like to make fun of my name and sometimes they hum porn music when I enter a room but honest, I have never done porn. I am a plumber. Well, I am trying to be a plumber. I am still in the apprentice phase of my career. I work for Rock Davis. He is as bad ass as his name sounds. Despite my boss acting all bossy, I generally like working with Rock though. I don’t have to censor what I say around him. Still, that bossing does sometimes get on my last nerve. Do this. Do that. Like I am trying to eat my sandwich and he does that to me, barking orders at me, while I am trying to eat. When I tell him I am trying to eat he points to his crotch and tells me to eat this. It makes me so mad. I confess I have a fantasy of sticking a fork in his crotch.

I get to meet all sorts of different people as Rock and I go into different homes to work on plumbing. Rock and I get a call to go out to this really swanky mansion type place. Not really. It is a doublewide on about fifty acres of rural land but still nice by my standards. It is owned by this really sexy couple. I'd guess they, the Bowers, are in their twenties. His name is Johnny and her name is Betty and when I laid eyes on them I had to think of something besides them to stop from getting an erection. Work is usually enough of a bad thought to make me go limp in the dick department.

So Rock and I are in the kitchen working on plumbing stuff. Well I am mainly holding the flashlight and looking pretty. Johnny and Betty are in the living room sprawled on the couch. Last we looked in on them they were just in their underwear, and watching television. Fucking sexy. Betty has the biggest breast I've ever seen. Rock and I hear noises coming from the living room.

In this real high voice Betty is screaming, "Yes, yes, yes."

In a gruff, masculine, voice Johnny is moaning, "Fuck yeah, ride me. Bounce in my lap like a beach ball. Fuck yeah."

Rock and I can't help but peep in on them. Now they are totally naked and Betty is sitting on Johnny's lap. She is bouncing and her huge tits are fucking amazing as they jiggle around. Johnny's huge cock is going in and out of her pussy like a now you see it and now you don't magic act. While watching them fuck my dick gets so hard it feels like it is going to bust out of my pants. Not that I think either will happen but I can’t decide who I would like to fuck more, Johnny or Betty.

I feel Rock's breath in my ear. I think he is about to get fresh with me. But no. His words are those words that are sure to cause me to lose my erection. "Back to work."

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