It was a warm Friday night, the second night of the annual Jackson County Fair. The place was packed for this annual weekend event. The fair smelled of fresh popcorn, corndogs, and caramel apples. The lines at the food trucks were long for cinnamon elephant ears and tacos and grilled cheese and house beer. The longest line was for blue and pink cotton candy.
Fairgoers also waited in line for cotton candy, both for new and nostalgic rides. Overhead, colorful lights spinning on the rides cast bright beams into the night sky, and speakers blared the latest hard rock music into nowhere and everywhere. Excited people clapped their tickets in their hands as foodies loaded up for the best seats on the rides.
Once aboard, the girls screamed wildly as the Tilt-A-Whirl tossed them around. The little ones screamed and burst into tears as the Drop Tower yanked them skyward more than they could bear. The teenagers covered up their hidden fears and swallowed their growing nausea as they tried to cope with the spinning pressure of Graviton and the Turbo Force swing.
This year, however, there was a new exhibit. At the top of it was a silly caricature of a man and a woman pushing their pursed lips together. In large letters, it called itself the “Love Machine.”
There were two sturdy aluminum staircases. They were side by side at ground level, but a few steps up, the stairs parted and diverged. At the bottom of the stairs stood a thin man in a tuxedo with tails that reached the ground and a big hat. He called out to passersby, urging them to try The Love Machine. “When was the last time he said ‘I love you’ and meant it?” he would ask. “It’s been a while, I can tell. Just look at him. Ladies, let The Love Machine do its magic!”
Most of the couples didn’t recognize him. Some pretended he wasn’t there. The men, especially, moved quickly, but he caught the attention of three young couples. The girls paused briefly. There was plenty of time.
“Ladies, how much do these guys love you?” he asked. “Do they just say ‘I love you’ or do they mean it?”
The girls looked at the man in particular, and then at their lovers.
He took his hat off his head and bowed.
“These guys need to learn to express their love, ladies! Men don’t know how. They can’t. They've never been taught, so let The Love Machine teach them. Every one of them.”
“These guys won't say those three magic words in front of the other guys.”
“Hey, you, in the cap. Tell her you love your beautiful girlfriend,” he urged.
Louie muttered to Martha, “I love you.”
The man looked at Martha. “Did you hear him? I didn't.” He turned to Louie. “Son, love doesn't mumble. Ladies, a man who mumbles his love doesn't really love you. He needs to know how to speak, speak it loud and clear. He needs The Love Machine! Let it work its magic. Just two tickets. Yes, two tickets and you'll have a new man in a few minutes.”
The girls were looking at their lovers. No one had signed up for The Love Machine.
“Listen, ladies, I’ll give you your tickets back with two more if he doesn’t come back a new man—a new man in love. My word is my bond.” He made a cross over his chest.
Then he held out his hat, waiting for the tickets.
“For me?” Martha asked Louie.
Louie scoffed. “We won’t have enough tickets for the Ferris Wheel if we do this.”
“The Love Machine will change your relationship, ladies. A giant wheel won’t do anything for the two of you. Just two tickets.”
Louie tossed two into the black hat with restraint.
The two walked towards the two staircases next to each other.
Before they started, the man told them to say, “I love you.”
“We’ll compare this to how The Love Machine changes him.”
Dramatically, Louie said, “I love you, my one and only.”
“Oh, he tries, he tries hard, but he still needs The Love Machine.”
Martha and Louie started walking up the stairs together. Then the stairs turned. Their backs were to each other, as the staircase led to opposite ends of The Love Machine.
Martha and Louie opened the doors simultaneously. They each stepped inside and disappeared.
Martha found herself in a room surrounded by mirrors. There were cute props for the love party.
She was standing in front of the camera in the room, holding up the various words about love and forever wishes.
Louie entered a dark room. No mirrors. A dim, dim light bulb came on, lighting the room in an eerie orange glow. Beneath the light was a hole in the wall that was waist-high. It was lined with gray duct tape. He was confused. He ran his finger along the edge of the hole. Then he noticed, scrawled in black, the word “Coc.”
So he tapped softly, as if unsure that The Love Machine was, in fact, a scary ride.
A hand reached through the hole. A female hand. Its thin finger, tipped with a dark nail, pulled him forward. The fingers then unzipped his pants. A breathy voice told him to shove his cock through the hole.
He was confused, surprised, even embarrassed. Still, the finger wooed him. It pulled out his penis. The hand excited his erection. The fingers ran up and down the length and then pulled him into the black hole. Immediately, Louie felt heat and a slippery wetness cover his cock. With the heat and wetness, a suction pressure surrounded him, wicked and obvious. The vacuum cleaner strung his cock and released it. The suction tightened around him again, pulling again. His body flowed as the heat of a sauna surrounded his cock. He quickly felt the first pangs of orgasm.
Fingers squeezed his length roughly and a tongue squirmed right against the tip of his throbbing head.
“Yes, yes,” he growled the simple words.
He winced, tried to hold on a moment longer, then gave in. It exploded somewhere beyond the black hole.
He pulled out his deflated cock. He was flushed, but he was satisfied. He tucked it into his pants and zipped it up. He realized what had happened. It hadn’t been a scary trip to the county fair. Quite the opposite.
He yanked the door open.
“Martha!” he shouted when he saw her emerge from her room. “Martha, I love you!”
Then he looked at the people below him, including the two other couples.
“I love her! I always will! I want everyone to hear. Martha, I love you!”
On the bottom step, he held her close to him. “You’re amazing. I don’t want anyone else, hear me. No one!”
He hugged her tightly.
“What happened?” Lily asked. “How did she—”
The two guys were also surprised, though skeptical.
“I have two tickets,” Lily said. “Come in.”
She tossed the tickets into the hat. Lily looked over her shoulder as Liam stepped into the room that had transformed Louie.
Liam closed the door behind him and the dim light came on. He saw the black hole, the duct tape, and the word “Knock.”
So he knocked and out came a dark-skinned hand with French-tipped nails. The thick finger pulled him forward. The fingers unzipped his pants and opened the muscle of his boxers. The palm pressed against his already hard cock. Lusciously slowly, the fingers grabbed the length and dragged it up the wall. He felt the rub of a broad, rough tongue. It was like a big cat licking him. He felt a splash of warm sage and then a shameless consumption of his cock.
“My God! Oh, damn!” he cried.
The screams and heavy panting made his lips and tongue move more forcefully. He punched the wall.
Quickly, he reached the tip. The first load of cum shot out, followed by two more of my own clumps.
His tongue licked at its tip like a cat's.
He heard lips smacking beyond the black hole.
The dark finger appeared through the hole once more. She pulled him closer and silently encouraged him to lean toward her. She aimed directly at his mouth. She saw it covered in a glimmering slip in the dim light. As she was close, the finger reached out and touched his lips. He leaned forward and put the entire finger in his mouth, slurping the slip.
The front door unlocked. He stepped outside.
"I'm a new man! Completely new. Let the world know that I love Lily. Lily is mine. I will take care of her and treat her like a queen. My queen! I love you, Lily!”
Lily met him at the bottom of the stairs. She kissed him on the lips. The two held hands, Lily resting her head on her new man’s shoulder.
Kaleo and Hannah were not interested.
“Hannah, you already know I love you. I could shout from up there. But I wrote you poetry and I took you to picnics and I listened to you when you had bad days.”
“I know. You actually gave me this promise ring.” Hannah boldly held out her hand, delicately bending her wrist.
The small jewel enclosed in a band caught the light from a walk and sparkled.
Kaleo looked deep into Hannah’s eyes and said romantically in his native Hawaiian, “Ka’u aloha hocoka, baby.”
Hannah hugged him tightly. “Mau loa.”
The man in the tuxedo respectfully put on his top hat. He smiled.
“Sometimes, The Love Machine can’t do it any better.”
The three couples walked on.
And the man began to talk to other couples who were passing by.
“Ladies, ladies, your boys need to learn how to express love! Men don’t know how. They can’t. They’ve never been taught. Let The Love Machine teach your man.”