Kimberly - profile of a flake

I have an ongoing CL ad that I run in the talent gig section to attract new wrestling talent. The wording varies slightly from time to time but in general it goes something like this:

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Athletic Female

Looking for attractive and fit woman 18-30 to demo wrestling holds on me 1 - 2 times/month. Learn as you earn. Easy work, not sexual. Email pic and contact info including tel# if interested. Prefer over 5'5".

Pay:$50/hr

************************************

So that's it. The thing about CL ads is that you never really know what kind of person will respond to the ad. This unpredictability contrasts somewhat with posting ads in audition sites such as casting360.com or saccasting.com. Usually, the women who register with those sites tend to be looking for modeling or acting work and have experience. This isn't to say that those women who respond from those audition sites are not flaky but the percentage is lower. 

Regardless of who responds, I try my hardest to give them as much information as possible prior to them ever meeting me. I do that because I know full well that this type of gig is not the kind that one usually comes across. Most of the ads in the talent gig section recruit women for adult type work, whether it is nude modeling, working for an escort agency, making a porn movie or satisfying the cravings of a sex starved male looking for a friends with benefits arrangement. The women who respond to those ads are not confused about what they are getting into so there is really no need to elaborate too much in the ad. On the other hand, putting a guy in wrestling holds fall into a murky, gray area that seems to confound and puzzle people and in turn raise suspicion. To set people straight, I do two things. First, I send them to my new talent page on my website:

www.mixedwrestlingmatches.com/new-talent

Anyone who reads that page will have a thorough understanding of what this is all about. There would be no question in someone's mind about what they would be getting into.

But that's not enough as far as I am concerned. So I send them to my YouTube channel which has actual videos I have done with other wrestlers:

www.youtube.com/c/mixedwrestlingmatchesvideos

Armed with this information, no one could have any illusions about what I am doing here and so I make it a point to give out this information to all respondents. And so I did the same with one recent applicant by the name of Kimberly:

Kimberly

No last name but I am used to that. Typically, if someone responds to my ad via email and does not include a phone number or picture, it means they are just testing the waters and aren't really interested or are a little frightened. In Kimberly's case, she responded via text, included a picture and described herself:

12/4/2017
(916) 473-3596
I am responding to your Craigslist ad for an athletic female.
I am 5'9'', 160 lbs, and interested in the job
My name is Kimberly

Well, that's a pretty good start. Straight and to the point. No questions about the gig, though. Doesn't matter to me as I provide the information regardless:

Hi Kimberly. Thanks for responding.
I am going to give you a couple links to check out.
The video shoots are optional. If you are only interested in just learning that holds, that's fine as well. 
This is my new talent page on my website:
http://www.mixedwrestlingmatches.com/new-talent
This is my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/c/mixedwrestlingmatchesvideos
So just text back "still interested" or "no longer interested" after reviewing the links. Thanks. - David

I figure I would just give her a choice since I really have no interest in chasing people down to find out if they are still interested or not. Surprisingly, a few minutes later I got my answer:

Still interested

That was a pretty quick response and to be honest, looking back I should have been suspicious of her intentions at that point. This was going way too smoothly and some of that suspicion found its way to my response:

That's great! Tbh, quite a few people get scared off so you are already part of an exclusive club, lol. Ok, so I know this is short notice but I am training someone else this Thursday @ 9 AM. If you are available at that time, that would be a great opportunity to learn together with someone like yourself and you can get a little x-mas money early. I am heading down to L.A. this weekend but the following Sunday the 17th I have some time. Lmk what works best for you.

I figured the remaining issue was the date and time but it turns out she was stuck on the pay. Not that I wasn't paying her enough but that I was paying her at all.

Sounds good to me. 
Just to be clear, you are paying me $50 for the lesson correct?

At this point, I figured that was all that she was hung up on, so I was ready to set a date with google calendar and voice my preferences for payment options:

Yes, that is correct. I like to pay electronically with Paypal or Google Wallet but if you don't have that set up, I can just give you cash.
I need your email address so I can send you over a google invite that has all my address info, etc.

As it turns out, she never provided her email which is not a big deal since some people hardly use email anymore. I was ok with texting. A couple days later I was ready to offer her a date and time:

12/6/2017
Hi, I was planning to go to L.A. this weekend but most of L.A. is on fire right now so my trip is cancelled. I can make Sunday @10 AM available for you if you like.

This seemed acceptable to her and she responded positively. We hadn't actually spoke so I think she also wanted me to assure me that she was real:

Sounds good
Can you text me the address please?
You can call and voice verify if you would like

I don't recall anyone ever offering this type of reassurance but the fact that she did seemed reassuring in and of itself and washed away any previous flags that were nagging me.

Sure. Here it is: (my address here)
I will call you sometime on Saturday to voice verify.
No jewelry or anything that can poke or hurt and gym clothes are fine.

She seemed genuinely excited or at least interested in doing this and meeting me:

Ok. I am excited and looking forward to your phone call

On Saturday the 9th of December I called her sometime in the late afternoon. She answered and we had a pleasant conversation. She asked if it was going to be video taped and I told her no, it wasn't. And then once again she asked me about the pay, wanting to know if I was paying her, not her paying me, claiming things sometimes get lost in the translation in the ads. Hmm, that seemed kind of strange. Perhaps she thought she was going to pay me to teach her? Whatever, in any case I assured her that I was paying her. Then she said something that no one else has ever said to me: "I'm very punctual, David." "Sounds good." I responded, wondering where that statement came from. I hung up and confirmed via text that the date and time would be Sunday @ 10 AM.

Sunday at 10 AM rolls around and everything was all set. House cleaned, mats set up, cash in envelope all ready. 10:05 AM and no sign of her. I have a system I setup for people who either show up late or don't show up at all. I wait until 10 minutes have passed and send out a text. It must be 10 minutes, not one minute sooner or later:

Hi, are you on your way?

No response. Once 10 minutes go by and there is no communication, that usually means that the person is not coming. Another 5 minutes go by so I decide to make one last ditch effort to reach her, this time by phone. This conversation is probably the most bizarre interaction I have ever had with someone over the phone. At 10:17 AM, I dial the number and it rings a few times. Finally, she answers in a groggy, sleepy voice:

Kimberly: Hello?

Me: Hi, Kimberly this is David. What happened? We made a date for 10 AM.

No response. The phone was still connected. She hadn't hung on me but hadn't responded either. It was just dead silence. I waited for an answer but still nothing but dead silence. Finally, I decided to call out to her.

Me: Hello? Hello? Are you there? Anyone there?

Still nothing. This was futile so I hung up. Had she actually overslept and completely forgotten? This pissed me off even though it really shouldn't have since it is really her loss, not mine. But nevertheless, I am having the last word so I sent her one last text a few hours later:

I am not sure what happened with you today but you could have at least texted me to lmk you weren't coming.

The moral of this story is to always be a little skeptical of responses from CL ads. Not sure what else I could have done to prevent this from happening. Sometimes there are just things that happen that are beyond my control. Best I can do is laugh at this kind of behavior and move on.

Nila

Chapter 1

I hadn't had sex in a while and the pressure was building. What to do? Go online of course. There are many sites to choose from but the most popular is Backpage, aka BP. Even after the paid escort section was taken down due to a federal lawsuit, there is still a personnel section that all the providers have shifted over to.

After much searching, I finally landed on this girl named Nila. Her profile said she was 20 years old and originally from the island of Fiji which seemed exotic to me. I decided to take a chance with her so I started chatting with her via text and she sent me another picture of herself. She is tall at 5'9", with a thin athletic build.

For a long time I have imagined what it would be like to combine the wrestling holds and sex. It has always been a real thrill to have an attractive girl wrap her legs around my neck and squeeze. What would it be like to mix it up with some sex? Would Nila be willing to do it with me? I texted her pictures of some holds and without hesitation she agreed to do it.

After many delays and rescheduling, she came over on the morning of November 6, 2017. I was so excited I could barely sleep the night before. I had a good feeling about her based on the language she used when she texted me and how eager she was to accommodate my wishes.

She finally arrived after getting lost driving around my neighborhood. This happened despite me giving her my exact address along with directions. I had to stand outside on my driveway and then wave my hand wildly at her while she was parked not more than 30 feet away and notify her on the phone that I was standing there. Navigation is obviously not her strong point. She got out of her car and smiled at me while she bounded over like a nimble gazelle. Other than some acne on her face, she looked like the picture but with a darker complexion and wearing a sporty looking outfit according to my instructions. Once inside and after taking care of business, we didn't waste any time. I showed her to my room, stripped down to my underwear and then asked her to take off her tights. Her legs were long and well toned. She sat down next to me and I asked if she was ready and she nodded eagerly. So with her just wearing underwear and a top, I showed her some holds. She lay down on me with my head between her thighs and giggled as she locked her ankles together and started to squeeze. She was a little hesitant at first but then began applying more pressure with my encouragement. She giggled again as she started to squeeze harder, telling me that she played track and field in high school. Finally I had to tell her to let up because I didn't want to pass out. By that time the adrenaline was flowing and I felt pretty horny. She wriggled out of her underwear and then straddled me. I started caressing and kissing her breasts. She wasn't big by any means but well rounded and perky. I sucked on her nipples and she immediately got hard. I then fingered her pussy and was surprised when I felt her become wet after only a couple seconds. It was a good thing, though that I just fingered her and didn't go down to the Y for a date which I will explain further on.

There was a little delay as I tried to put on a condom. It just didn't want to go on. Finally I turned it over and tried again, this time with success. I then guided my restless, engorged dick inside her. Nila moaned slightly as she lowered herself on me and began moving up and down on me in a rhythmic upbeat tempo. I told her to slow down a bit because I wanted the experience to last. She slowed down and that allowed me to control myself. I moaned with pleasure as I felt the inner muscles of her vagina softly pull and caress my dick. The feeling was absolutely exquisite and it felt even better because it seemed like Nila was enjoying herself as well. "Your dick feels so good." she whispered in my ear and that made me even harder. After a few minutes, I could feel that I was getting close to the point of no return. We picked up the pace and I exploded inside her while holding her tightly.

I pulled the condom off and ran naked into the bathroom to grab some toilet paper. I wiped myself and got dressed. As I wiped myself dry, I couldn't help but notice an unpleasant odor coming from my dick. Hmm, that didn't seem right. I filed that thought away as we walked to the door, exchanged hugs and said good bye.

Back to the routine. It was time to go to work. I quickly got dressed and jumped in the car but before I even put the keys in the ignition, I noticed that odor again. WTF? It was coming through my pants! The odor resembled tuna fish that has been sitting out on the table for a little too long. I jumped out of the car, ran over to the mud sink in the garage and stripped down. The smell was now overpowering. I washed and bathed my dick with lots of soapy water and finally the odor reluctantly went away. 

When I arrived at work, I needed to go to the bathroom really bad. I felt a burning sensation as the pee came out. "Uh oh," I thought to myself. Could I have contracted an STD? I immediately did some googling and sure enough there is an STD called Trichomoniasis which is a common bacterial infection transmitted through sexual contact and one of the symptoms in women is a fishy smell in their vagina. Fortunately, it is also easily treatable. I immediately made an appointment to get tested so I am going tomorrow. Stay tuned for chapter 2.😁

Chapter 2

The next morning I headed over to the doctor's office and got myself tested. The results starting coming in by the same afternoon. Relief replaced anxiety as test after test came back negative. Now that I was in the clear, I still felt obligated to tell Nila about my experience and suggest she get tested herself. But how to tell her? For over an hour I agonized over how to tell her without hurting her feelings. But finally I realized that it is impossible to sugar coat something like this so I settled on telling her outright without holding back:

Me: 

"Hi Nila, I thought it would be important for you to know that after we had sex, I noticed an odor like rotten fish on my penis. I looked it up online and it says that you might have some kind of bacterial infection. You might want to go to the doctor to have it checked out." https://youngwomenshealth.org/2014/03/12/my-vagina-has-a-funny-fishy-smell-what-is-it

Nila:

Omg okay I️ am so sorry😭 I️ already made an appt to see my OBGYN and get tested and see what that smell is from. I️'m always clean and safe I promise. Thanks for letting me know! And please let me know when you want to see me next! I️ hope this doesn’t get in the way for u to not see me.

So that wasn't so bad! All that worry over nothing. Time to move on to another adventure and another story to tell.😊

Chapter 3

I was right. Nila did have a bacterial infection. She went to the doctor and he put her on antibiotics. She texted me a few days ago letting me know that she was good now and that sealed the deal. I wanted to do this again for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that I wanted this experience to be a winner that will be memorable in only positive ways. Yes, the first time felt good of course but the rotten fish smell kind of offset the warm glow that I felt right after we finished.

We made a date for her to come over again today, 11/19/2017. I finally had the house to myself by the late afternoon and that shipment of blue pills arrived sometime last week. I'm pretty good in bed but I wanted to up my game. The dosage was 100 mg, but I did my research and it turns out that plenty of guys have good results with only half that dosage. I am a lightweight when it comes to alcohol and marijuana so I figured better go with a smaller dose just to test it out. I took it about an hour and a half before she arrived and waited to see if I felt any differently. About a half hour before she arrived, I felt my face flush, like I had poked my head into a hot sauna and had just come out to cool off only I wasn't cooling off. I drank more tea and couldn't sit still. I paced the living room waiting, imagining, building up an entire erotic movie in my head and felt my dick throb every once in a while, completely out of nowhere, without any warning.

She texted me that she had arrived and I immediately felt an adrenaline rush as the anticipation of seeing her caused my heart to race. I flung open the front door and stepped out just as she came around the corner. She looked really nice, once again wearing a sporty type outfit. We hugged and headed back to my room. Suddenly, I had an idea. What if added some marijuana to the mix? Now's the time to try it and so I asked Nila. She told me that she had smoked some marijuana on the way over and that she was a big pot head. She helped me pack the small pipe I have and then we shared it for about 3 puffs. I was feeling good and oh so fucking horny at that moment. I led her back into the room and it was time to have some fun.

I wanted her to wrap her legs around me again. We did the same holds again, starting with the rear head scissors. She scooted herself down so my head was between the uppermost part of her thighs, the strongest place to be. I gave her the go ahead and this time she squeezed harder than before. At first it felt pretty good but as the squeezing continued, I started to feel light headed and little scared so I told her to stop. The next hold was the side head scissors. I had her trap my arm while she had me in a figure four head scissors. I tried getting up but she had me pinned. Finally I surrendered. The last hold was the rear figure four head scissors. I guided her left leg to hook around her right ankle. As soon as she had it locked in, she was able to grab her left ankle and pull. Immediately, I felt an incredible pressure. I couldn't take much, the pressure was so intense. I tapped her leg a few times to let go and then it was time to switch gears.

I clumsily yanked her panties off and began kissing her stomach and breasts. Her nipples were already hard. I then moved town to her pussy and began licking around the edges. I then zeroed in on her clit. Over the next 1/2 hour, my tongue was buried deep inside her, licking and sucking while she pulled my face towards her. I tried to pull away but she pulled me back in. She was so wet, she was gushing her juice all over my face and onto the blanket below. She moaned in ecstasy as my tongue moved quickly over and around the nub of her clit. She moaned loudly and suddenly wrapped her legs around my head, squeezing me really hard while she cupped her hands around my neck and pinned me against her. She started to rub herself up and down on my face as I tongued her, quickening the pace. I tried to pull myself out but she just held me more tightly. Finally, I nodded to her that I was ready and she released me from her grip. I turned over and she gave me the condom to put on. This time, it went on the right way. I was really hard. She straddled herself over me and I guided myself in her. We rhythmically thrust ourselves at each other as the pressure slowly built up. After about 10 minutes, I could feel myself getting ready to explode. The pace quickened and the explosion arrived. I was in heaven.

This was memorable, a home run from beginning to end.

Casey Dream - 10/14/2017

I really became attached to Casey while she was living here in Sacramento. I didn't see her that much but the times I did were always fun and enjoyable. We spent enough time together where I felt that she really gets me. I am not hard to read in general but still she picked up enough to know how I react to things and what makes me tick. Of course she is an awesome wrestler and to be honest, I have accepted the fact that she can beat me at wrestling. But beyond that, she is just a really decent person. She has always made me feel comfortable being more open than I usually am. And just as importantly, she has provided me emotional comfort during some challenging times.

Happy as a clam

Now that she has left the area, I feel this sense of anxiety that I didn't expect I would feel. I prepared myself for her departure as best as I could. I went to her farewell party and had lunch with her, soaking up the precious moments we shared together and then shortly thereafter she was gone. I knew that she was not going to be that far away once she settled down. After all, L.A. is a semi-frequent destination of mine and I know that at anytime I can text her or even video chat,  but still, physical presence is so much better.

But I digress here. The purpose of this blog post is to relate a dream I had about Casey last night. I usually don't remember much about my dreams when I wake up in the morning, but somehow this dream stood out in my mind. I remember driving my car and arriving at someone's house, no one I recognized but that didn't seem to bother me as opened the door and entered on my own accord. It was a mixture of people I knew as well as many I didn't. I remember seeing Stephan and Jay and some other people from the Mastermind group. There was a lot of pot smoking, drinking and game playing going on  just your average party. I sat down at this large dining table and spotted Casey out of the corner of my eye sitting across from me. She was smiling and enjoying herself. It was crowded in the room but there was some space next to her. I felt so excited at seeing her that I forgot everything else that was going on - loud beer drinking, laughing, joke telling, etc. I made my way over to her and sat down next to her. I had all these things I was excited to tell her about and just as I started talking, she jumped up without any warning and sat down, no lay down across from me on some kind of sofa. I wondered wtf is going on? I called out to her but she was in her own world staring up at the ceiling, looking around and humming some tune. It was as if I suddenly became invisible. I got up and looked around, feeling out of place and awkward being in that room. I quickly exited through the front door and ran down the stairs to the street. At this point, the dream faded and I then woke up.

What does this all mean? I don't really know. I think I just miss her a lot.

Rent a Whip - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

This is the continuation of my previous post about Marshawnda Blackwell, that lazy sloth of a person who had no intention of paying me for the Ford Fusion I bought to help her out.

Marshawnda

Marshawnda was so lazy and lacked any drive or interest in working and improving her financial situation that I actually stepped in to try and help her find a job. I scoured the ads on Craigslist and other job sites and by accident came upon an ad that was soliciting car owners to lease their cars. I had vaguely heard about renting one's car out for a fee to the public but didn't know how the whole process worked.

Frankly, I was feeling very stuck with my arrangement with Marshawnda. I really didn't know how I was going to get the car back from her since I couldn't imagine her giving it up voluntarily. I wanted to try something different but I wasn't sure I was ready to just hand over my car to some other company or person. I called the number in the ad and spoke to Mae Schmidt, the owner of  a company called Rent a Whip. The name sounds a little kinky but that didn't bother me in the least. The whole concept actually sounded pretty good. Rent a Whip would maintain the car, keep it insured and lease it from me for a weekly fee.

I was a little wary about handing over the Ford Fusion to this company after my 5 1/2 month ordeal with Marshawnda so I needed to find some way to test them out. That weekend I stopped by the warehouse and saw the minivan just sitting there taking up space that I need for wrestling shoots.

Mae Schmidt

I suddenly came up with a splendid idea. I could take the minivan home, free up some space in the warehouse and then lease the van to this company. Could it be done? Oh yes. I called Mae that Saturday and she said they already had someone who wanted to rent the minivan. What? "Are you kidding?" I asked. Mae assured me that the demand was very strong. In fact, it was so strong she told me that they are desperate for more vehicles to add to their fleet. I wondered how they could be doing such good business and that is when she revealed how the company came into existence and the niche market they seem to have found. It turns out that Mae herself had bad credit and as anyone trying to rent a car from a traditional rent a car company can tell you, it isn't easy to rent a car when you have damaged credit. Car rental companies typically require a functioning credit card with a down payment to be reversed or adjusted at the end of the car rental. For many people with challenged credit, that requirement is a nearly impossible hurdle to overcome. From Mae's personal experience, she thought that there must be others who had the money but not the credit to rent a car and so Rent a Whip was born. Originally operating out of San Diego, Mae and her husband Andrew moved up to Sacramento in January of 2017 to be closer to their relatives and move the company operations here as well.

Andrew Schmidt

Without hesitation, I took the van over to their office in Carmichael. Andrew was there to meet me. He drew up a contract and printed it out but the quality of the print was terrible. I signed and had him email me the text of the contract. On the spot he gave me payment for a one day rental with a weekly rental of $160 guaranteed over the term of the contract which we set at 2 months.

I was a little uncomfortable coming into their office every week to pick up cash so I asked Mae if they could pay me via Google Wallet or Paypal and she said no problem. I also told Mae about the Ford Fusion and my situation with Marshawnda. She assured me that Rent a Whip would arrange to recover the car for me at their expense. This was literally music to my ears since I had no clue how to confiscate the car from Marshawnda. Mae also offered to pay me $250/week rental fee which would cover all of Marshawnda's debt and pay off the auto loan in a little over a year. How could I refuse?

The next day I gave Mae my copy of the car keys to the Ford along with key information about Marshawnda, including her address in Cool, CA and pictures of her. That weekend I was down in Fresno with Pumpkin for the California state taekwondo championship so I couldn't be present when the car was confiscated. I coordinated with Mae and the repo guy she hired by setting a trap for Marwhawnda. I led her to believe I was still in Sacramento when I told her that it was time for her to give the car back to me. I knew in my mind that it was not going to be so easy and as I predicted, Marshawnda missed the agreed upon location of Starbucks on the corner of Fulton and Marconi. All of this drama was being played out in text messages between Mae and me while I was in Fresno. Finally, late Friday night I received a text from Mae that they had recovered the car. What a relief!

I was so grateful that my car had been recovered, I let out a humongous sigh of relief and quietly celebrated by eating a giant bowl of spicy Vietnamese Pho at a hole in the wall restaurant outside of downtown Fresno. I had visions of receiving a weekly payment of $410 every Saturday for the foreseeable future. How desirable such an arrangement would be!

[Inner Voice]
"Bad David! Naive David! How could you think life would go so smoothly? Don't you know about the law of life's train crashes? It doesn't make any difference how much good karma you spread in this world, you need to go through 10 train wrecks to arrive at a one pleasant stop along the way." [Casey Crupper Words of Wisdom Chapter 2]

Ok, so I ignored my inner voice. But after 5 1/2 months of a grueling slog through the swamps of Marshawnda Blackwell, I really needed to feel optimistic that the money was just going to roll in on a German train schedule, every Saturday at 6 PM. But nope, that wasn't going to be the case as I would soon find out.

I made an appointment for the Sunday after I returned from Fresno to inspect the car and sign the paperwork for the lease agreement. When I arrived, the first order of business was to inspect the car. Thankfully, the car looked just fine, except for a cigarette burn in the back seat upholstery. I also noticed a new tire installed on the right front passenger side. Apparently, Marwhawnda decided to leave a parting gift by slashing one of the tires just before the heavily tattooed repo man grabbed the keys and took the car away from her.

Being the detailed oriented, anal person that I am, the thought of having to sign a contract printed so that only 1/3 of the words are actually readable was patently unacceptable to me. The day before, I spent hours redoing the leasing contracts for both the minivan and the Ford Fusion, putting the whole thing in Google Docs. I even brought my laptop just to show them how its done. Mae fumbled a little bit but seemed to get the hang of it after I guided her on how to upload a document into DocHub for electronic signature. So all is good so far. I got my 2nd payment on the minivan plus a one day rental fee for the Fusion in cash.

The next Saturday I was expecting the payment for both cars through Paypal but there was some problem with Mae's credit card and the bank had put some kind of hold on her account. Ok, that was somewhat believable though not anything I ever experienced. In hindsight, this trivial glitch represented the calm before the storm that was about to arrive that evening.

Sometime Saturday evening, I received a text from Mae telling me that her son Justin had slipped in the bathroom and hit his head on the toilet, creating a large gash on the side of his head. She even showed me a picture of the side of Justin's head.

She told me that she had to immediately rushed him to Sutter Roseville to evaluate him for a concussion. By the next day, she informed me that the hospital had him moved to Oakland Children's Hospital. I knew at this point that his condition must be serious because Mae told me that he was having having seizures.

Throughout the early part of the week, I kept in contact with Mae, hoping for some good news, that it was just a concussion. I had already looked up brain injuries to the head and it didn't look good. There is an artery that runs along the side of the head that is vulnerable to head trauma. There is a medical term called epidural hematoma which refers to hemorrhage of the brain. The good news was that when this medical condition is detected early and treated immediately, the recovery rate is 96%.

I didn't receive much news from Mae both Tuesday, April 10th and Wednesday the 11th and I didn't want to bother her knowing she must be focused on her son. But by Thursday, I decided to contact her again in the morning via text and she unexpectedly called me back telling me in a frantic voice that the doctors just whisked Justin away into the operating room without telling her much. I could tell that she was very upset from the uncertainty. I tried to calm her down and told her to please get back to me when she could.

That afternoon, I took Sammy for a walk along the American River Parkway. I knew in my mind that things were looking pretty bad and I began to contemplate the worst case scenario. "What if the boy dies?" I thought to myself. I knew that Mae was the driving force behind Rent a Whip and I wasn't sure how she would react if Justin died but I knew that if that was the case, it would represent a major setback for the operation of Rent a Whip and by association a big blow to this carefully arranged plan of mine to get a nice weekly income. I couldn't imagine Andrew taking over the business because Mae told me herself that he was just a courier for the company, someone Mae used to run errands but not run a business. And he certainly wasn't very tech savvy as he struggled to use Paypal to send me a payment.

I tried to remain positive the rest of the afternoon until I received a text at about 4 PM from Mae's phone number but it wasn't Mae. It was her mom, Claire sending out a text blast to Mae's contacts informing everyone that Justin passed away at 1:27 PM.

"I hope this mass message reaches everyone in my daughters contacts ok because I am not sure who is who. But thank you all for your thoughts and prayers but I'm sad to announce that Justin passed away at 1:27 this afternoon. We are beyond words at this point and my daughter and her husband Andrew ask for prayer at this most difficult time. Please message or call me for anything, when service time and date becomes available all will be welcome to attend, Claire."

"Oh no!" I thought to myself as I read the text over and over again. This was the worst case scenario. I tried to imagine how Mae was doing and what was going on. The next day, I received a text from Mae:

"David it's Mae, my son passed away yesterday and I am a complete mess right now! Thank you for your condolences, we would love to have you at the services if it wouldn't be asking too much. I'm still in Oakland I have to wait until tomorrow for the social worker to have me sign paperwork for releasing my son's body...oh god I can't believe he is just a body now :'( to the Sacramento coroner. I have funeral costs that I have been told are astronomical now and was not expecting this at all. He had a blood clot that broke within his brain and he hemorrhaged and the doctors could not stop it in time and it took him. I'm so lost right now and haven't even informed my other children."

On Saturday the 15th of April, I received a text from Andrew as the weight of the tragedy began to sink in:

"Hey David it's Andrew I was just about to message you, Mae has been a wreck, and the kids inconsolable. We have to meet up with a funeral director on Wednesday and I think Mae is going to lose it. The social worker was great but I felt like I was in the twilight zone and just zoned out and Mae just about passed out from the pain of it all. We are a mess and I spoke in private to the worker this is going to be almost 10 grand if we bury him and 3 to 4 for cremation. I haven't even brought it up to her but I guess her mom is going to try to handle that part. I'm just barely hanging on myself. Happy Easter though to your family I hope you're in a better state than we are."

Any mother who just lost her son would be devastated and I could only imagine the grief and pain this woman was feeling. As the new week progressed, I kept in contact with Andrew as he relayed Mae's deteriorating depression. She began to talk about wanting to be with her son. I told Andrew that kind of talk must be taken very seriously and that she may need outside intervention. I also gave him the number to the National Suicide Hotline.

On Saturday, I reached out to Andrew again and the news wasn't good. Mae had been admitted into the Napa State Mental hospital and was self-inducing vomiting in an apparent desire to starve herself to death. They medical personnel had to put her in a suicide suit so she wouldn't hurt herself and she was just not very responsive. At this point, I had that sinking feeling that she may never fully recover from this tragedy.

Though I knew things were about as grim as they could be, I had resolved to do whatever I can to help them keep the business going. I made it clear to Andrew that I am willing to help out any way I can to make sure the business doesn't go under but I know that I may not be able to do much with Mae in the condition that she is in.

Such is life. I really wanted to turn the bitter lemon of my ordeal with Marshwanda into a refreshing glass of lemonade but it looks like that is not going to happen anytime soon. I think I have a few more train wrecks ahead of me.😟

The Story of Marshawnda

I never regret being generous to people. I only regret not reacting quickly enough when they take advantage of me. And (sigh), such is the case with Marshawnda. I kept hoping in the back of my mind that she would somehow turn her life around. There is a letter that I wrote to her that I posted on this blog but it does not tell the whole story. This whole ordeal started back in September of 2016.

Marshawnda Blackwell

I had posted a casting call for female wrestlers in a number of different places, including Craigslist, ExploreTalent and Casting360. Marshawnda contacted me through Casting360. I actually interviewed her at The Olive Garden across from the Arden Mall. She presented herself as an aspiring model but someone who was most definitely struggling financially. She was studying to be a social worker and taking online courses in pursuit of a two year degree. I found out that she was also living out of her car  and recently arrived here in Sacramento from Minnesota via her boyfriend who just dumped her here and then disappeared.

I have not spent much time with people who live on the edge like this and honestly felt sorry for her plight. I thought I could help her get on her feet and seeing how diligent she was about studying, I felt that helping her out with a car would enable her to find a job. I justified doing something like this by imagining the worst case scenario. If she couldn't pay me back, I would just take the car back from her and keep it for myself.

In the middle of October, we checked out cars together at Harrold Ford on Howe Ave near Arden. There was a particular car she liked - a 2011 Ford Fusion SEL. Suddenly in a split second I decided to buy the car and rent it to her with the understanding that she would pay me back once she found a job.

So much for plans. As it became painfully clear, Marshawnda was either striking out and not finding any meaningful employment or she was just plain lazy. I began to suspect the latter. She kept insisting that it must be because people don't like to hire black people but that argument only goes so far. There are plenty of people of color who are working and I see them everyday with my own eyes.

By this time, I knew that Marshawnda was a habitual liar. The problem then became how to get the car back from her. However I knew that if I took the car there was no chance at all of getting anything from her. My thinking was that at least if she had the car, I had some leverage over her. In February, she finally paid me for one month by borrowing from her friend, but not until I had threatened to confiscate the car from her.

By this time, I was getting tired of her ambivalence and laziness. I decided that I would make one last attempt to help her find a job so she could pay me back. I started searching Craigslist for any part time jobs and that is when I found Rent a Whip.

This story continues in the next blog posting titled "Rent a Whip"