The legendary Black Lotus was rumored to be a cure-all.....but many have died in the attempt to find it...
"I didn't say that....there's many experimental treatments being tested right now...there could be a breakthrough any day now...."
"And if there's no breakthrough? How long...."
"Maybe a year....maybe a little more...."
"And...."
"The closer you get to the end the pain will grow much more intense...we have medications that can alleviate some of that but I'm afraid it will not be a peaceful end for you..."
I left the office with my head spinning....it couldn't be true...it just couldn't...
But this was the third doctor to confirm the diagnosis....three in a row....we have a winner...
There had to be a way....I had to survive this....I wasn't ready.....
They all told me about the terrible pain....and I had already started to feel the first of it over the past few weeks....I had some pills and so far they were doing the job....
I sat at the kitchen table staring at nothing....lost in my thoughts....maybe it was meant to be...maybe it was serendipity....but my eyes fell on the medical magazine I had purchased to research my condition....
There was a series on medical myths....that's when I first learned of the Black Lotus!!!
The article concluded that it was doubtful that any such thing existed but there had been some documented miraculous cures that people swore were due to treatment with the Black Lotus.....
Over the next weeks I contacted the author of the article and got all the information he had...he offered to accompany me if I wanted to launch an expedition to search for the Lotus....
Money has never been an issue for me....I had more than I would ever need...thanks to my father...he had passed that down to me...he'd also passed down his chronically poor health...he had died young and my mother...overcome with grief...had taken her own life leaving me alone...a poor little rich boy raised by guardians and servants....
I organized and outfitted an expedition and in early March of last year we set off on the trail of The Black Lotus!!!
We followed many trails and many clues....we lost several men of our group to accidents, illnesses and hostile indigenous tribes....but I knew we were getting closer...I could feel it in my bones!!!
The pain from my condition was getting worse and the pills were only taking the edge off of the worst of it when we had a breakthrough....
We had come upon the village quite by accident....and luckily they spoke a dialect that one of our guides understood!!!
They were shocked by my condition, I had to be carried on a litter most of the last few days as my body writhed in pain.
When it was explained to them that my only chance was to be treated with the Black Lotus they just stared at me and left us standing there alone....
When they returned they were different....grim-faced and armed...they told us that they held the secret of the sacred Black Lotus and we would not be allowed to leave....
They were serious and they massacred everyone as I lay on the ground screaming in shock and pain....
I passed out from the pain during the bloodshed and was honestly surprised to wake up at all....I was laid out on a mat on the floor of a hut.....the air was filled with a strong fragrance unlike any I've ever encountered.
Strangely, I felt no pain...for the first time in many months I felt no pain at all....
But I also felt different...strange....as if my body had somehow shifted its weight....and soon I found out why....I was a woman!!!
My scream had the high-pitched shriek of a woman's voice...not the voice I had when I had arrived here....how long ago I didn't know....
My scream brought several men into the hut with me....and when they spoke...somehow I understood them....
"The Black Lotus has blessed you outsider....you are now a goddess for us to worship!"
"But how....why...."
Suddenly I realized I was naked and that their eyes were on me!!!! I covered myself with my arms as best as I could....causing the men to chuckle!!!
"The Black Lotus has made you whole Goddess...it has cured your body....it has seen what was needed and it has acted on you as it does on any who seek its treatment!!!"
"But why...."
"In time you will understand Goddess...rest for now...."
They left me in the semi-darkness to think....
I was a woman!!!
But the pain was gone....
I was cured!!!
I should be rejoicing....but I was a woman!!!
It was that very night that the first man came....
I had expected brutality but instead he was so gentle....and he gave me pleasure instead of taking his....I didn't understand why but my new female body seemed to respond on its own...it felt wonderful!!!
Over the next several nights more men had come...
Then more than one at a time and I had become a wanton slut!!!!
Then it was the women of the village....they would come after the men left and they would clean me and massage me....and then they too would give me pleasures like I had never known!!!
I must have died and gone to heaven....I was in an almost constant state of bliss!!!
Then came the night that they all came together....all the men, all the women...even the children gathered around me....
The men stepped forward and one after another they made me moan and groan in pleasure...
Then the women came forward and did the same....
Thankfully the children stayed away!!!
The women took a hold of my limbs and laid me back....I squirmed a bit and they held me tighter!!!
The chief stepped forward...
"Goddess, the time has come....the Black Lotus has granted you joy and pleasure....but you were a dead man when you first came to us....only a few more days and your spirit would walk away into the jungle to live with the others....now it is time for you to fulfill your destiny!!!"
That was when I saw the dagger poised to strike and I heard the first gunfire....
"And that my friend is how I'm still able to tell you this tale!!!"
"Surely you can't expect us to believe this fantastic story...how can we believe that you're Mr. Rich?"
I smoothed out my dress and sipped my tea as I took in the shocked faces all around me!!!
"Gentlemen....I don't give a damn if you believe me or not....I'm young and healthy and publishers are offering me huge sums for the rights to my story..."
