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Out of the Woods ©2020 by Gamin Paramour Comments are incredibly welcome, and I intend to answer everyone.(ail)
1) This is fiction: complete, utter bullshit made up by yours truly. Never happened, and nobody depicted ever drew breath on planet Earth.
2) Stay safe. Don"t break the law.
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Previously: Two street kids saved Andy"s ass.
Chapter 9 Tuesday, January 19, 1988
2:27 pm The voice on the phone was insufferably superior, like royalty addressing the rabble from a castle parapet. "The five thousand dollar figure would be acceptable," it said, "provided the merchandise was in pristine condition, and of course assuming I find it attractive in all the usual ways."
Arrogant son of a bitch, Johnny thought. But then five-grand-a-throw players can pretty much make up their own rules.
"Let me understand completely," Johnny said. "We"re talking about showroom-new equipment. Untouched by human hands."
"Precisely," the voice said. "For that price I must be the first."
"Well, I gotta tell you, Mr. Green, I have some pretty low-mileage items in stock but nothing completely untouched. I mean, getting touched is sort of their purpose in life. And if you"re talking about snatching something off the street I"m afraid you have the wrong guy."
"You are correct, Mr. Brown," the voice said icily. "If that were the case I would not be speaking to you at all, and I certainly wouldn"t be discussing four-figure prices. I wish to deal with professionals, and I tolerate no complications."
Johnny rolled his eyes. "Well, you see Mr. Green that"s where the problem comes in, because by definition a professional is someone who"s been touched before."
"Allow me to spell this out in language even you will understand," Green said. "When I say "pristine condition" I am referring to a specific service. Your job is to provide me with a professional who has not yet practiced his trade in that particular way. I shall be the first to experience that though others may have partaken of other services already. Is that clear enough for you Mr. Brown and any federal agents who may be listening in?"
Federal agents, Johnny harrumphed in his head. Who is this jaggoff to think the feds are interested in his little perversion? He already hated the guy after less than two minutes on the phone, with all his hokey Mr. Green and Mr. Brown stuff.
"Yes, I believe I understand, Mr. Green," Johnny said evenly, bottling up his temper for the sake of the bucks this rich asshole could mean to him. Besides, why should he give a shit? This guy wants to play the Eurotrash villain of a 007 movie at five grand a pop, why the hell not?
"So you will deliver the merchandise when I arrive in Chicago on the 9th of February?"
"I"ll begin a talent search immediately," Johnny said. "I guarantee to find something you"ll be pleased with. And, as I"m sure our mutual acquaintance has told you, in Chicago my guarantee is as good as gold."
"Considering the recent gold market, Mr. Brown, I"m hoping for considerably better." The line immediately went dead.
Johnny stabbed the off button and threw the handset angrily onto the bed. The problem with cordless phones is they"re hard to slam. He tensed as the phone bounced near the edge of the mattress then thankfully settled without falling to the floor. He"d paid three hundred bucks just last week for this fancy, high-security digital phone that couldn"t be eavesdropped on like the old analog ones, and he"d have been truly pissed to have broken it already.
"Asshole," he mumbled as he picked up the phone again and stepped from the privacy of his office/bedroom into the long hallway. If he had broken the phone it would have been that fucker Green"s fault. Johnny was still grumbling when he reached the large, open living room.
It was one of those old-fashioned north side apartments, the entire top floor of an ancient six-flat, with worn, wide-slatted oak floors, ornately carved woodwork around the doors and windows, and cozy, comfortable steam heat that made the glass frost up on the inside when the weather got really cold. Johnny thought it was a great old place, even though he"d had to replace the sixty-year-old wiring before he could run his coffee maker and microwave at the same time.
Originally it was two of those old-fashioned north side apartments with arches knocked through the walls to connect them into one huge suite. This was more for security than comfort, for having the whole floor allowed him to seal it off with a steel door at the second floor landing, monitored by a surveillance camera. He even had a perimeter alarm on the fire escape. After that stretch he did in juvie when he was sixteen Johnny vowed no one would ever sneak up on him again and in nearly twenty years no one had. Ten years back he"d bought this building, hand-picked tenants who, for a hefty break on the rent, could be trusted to ignore the comings and goings of a dozen boys, and established the huge apartment as his home and business headquarters.
Boysex Central.
The decor was rather spare but reflected taste well beyond Johnny"s street-kid beginnings. This good taste came mostly from his wallet; that is, Johnny had followed the advice of salespeople and decorators. He didn"t know much about furnishings, art or antiques, but he knew what he liked and he knew when he was being bullshitted. The result was an eclectic mix of the functional and the stylish for which he was pretty sure he didn"t ridiculously overpay. The spare look was deliberate. When you have eight or ten boys in the house at any given time you go pretty lightly on the breakables and you put most of the best pieces on the walls and on high shelves. This gave the place a clean, uncluttered look that Johnny decided he liked.
Two kids lounged on one of two black leather sofas, half-watching some TV game show while eating chips and drinking Cokes. Actually Steve"s was a Diet Coke as he was concerned about having put on three or four pounds of pudge in the last few months. Johnny knew it was only the very early stages of puberty catching up to the twelve-year-old and the boy was putting on a tiny bit of a belly and a cute little pair of boobs.
Steve had always had a Pillsbury Doughboy softness to him that allowed him to wear it pretty well so Johnny wasn"t worried from a business standpoint. There were several customers who liked a little meat on a boy"s bones, and besides, Steve still had that captivating round face and ice blue eyes that really roped "em in. The boy would start to get truly pubescent in another few months but it wasn"t like the Kenny situation because Steve was only a part-timer who lived in the neighborhood. He represented little of Johnny"s business and cost almost nothing in upkeep, just a bag of chips here, a Diet Coke there. When Steve"s time came to depart Johnny"s bank account wouldn"t notice the difference.
"Oh, good strategy, Steve," Johnny said. "Diet Coke to wash down a hundred thousand calories worth of potato chips!" His annoyance at the rich prick on the phone was fading already. Johnny really did enjoy his boys.
Steve grinned at Johnny"s taunt right along with the other boy, the beautiful Enrique. Johnny couldn"t get over the luster of that small Mexican sakarya escort boy"s olive skin and the intense loveliness of his dark brown doe eyes. It was hard to look at anything else when those eyes were in the room, except of course for that world-class butt. He truly hoped Enrique would not be like most of the Latino kids he had known, who matured so early they had mustaches before they were twelve.
Johnny felt himself getting excited for the ten-year-old, remembering the last time he took the boy for an early afternoon romp in the king size bed. Couldn"t afford that today, unfortunately. Enrique had an early date with one of his best regulars, a guy who wasn"t about to pay two hundred bucks for sloppy seconds. No, that perfect butt had to remain perfect a few hours hence so Johnny just sighed and found himself eyeing cute, soft, smiling Steve. What the hell, he was in the mood now. Why not?
"So are you watching anything interesting?" Johnny asked, plopping down on the sofa intimately close to Steve and giving the boy"s round thigh an affectionate squeeze. The smile he got in return said they were instantly on the same wavelength.
"It"s kinda boring, actually," Steve said in his husky, unchanged voice. The boy cocked his head at Johnny in his trademark "sexy look", a shock of his light brown hair falling over one eye. Every boy, even the very youngest, seemed to naturally discover his own personal come-hither look, and Steve had his down pat.
Of course the protocol of being one of Johnny"s boys dictated that Steve really couldn"t say no, but this look went way beyond that to an emphatic yes. Johnny didn"t flatter himself that it was totally due to his own hunky sex appeal. He knew some of it was a power game among the boys, for there were definite advantages to being in Johnny"s favor. Still, he fancied at least part of it was the fact that he was damn good in bed.
"Well, I can think of more interesting ways to spend the time," Johnny said, and pulled the eager boy to him, brushing his lips across one ephemerally soft cheek and on to that full, tender boy mouth. Steve returned the kiss with equal passion, the anticipation shining in his clear blue eyes. Steve was a big talker, quick with fag insults for the other boys and horn-dog comments about women worthy of the burliest construction worker, but once in the sack he went for cock like a San Francisco queen.
The kid lived in a closet with a glass door.
Johnny could see out of the corner of his eye Enrique grinning, watching them and knowing what would happen next. He decided to do Steve right there on the couch, letting the beautiful young boy watch if it made him happy. If he couldn"t make love to Enrique he could at least give him a show, and it might even have the side benefit of revving the boy up for an even better session with that afternoon"s lucky customer. Even in a lip-lock with a more-than-willing boy Johnny never completely forgot about business.
He rolled onto his back and pulled Steve onto him, the boy"s erection stabbing against his abdomen. It seemed bigger than last time, and it probably should be since he hadn"t made it with Steve in a couple of months. He hoped it wasn"t fuzzing up already, for he didn"t want the end to come quite so soon with this sweet, eager boy. They kissed long and deep, their tongues swirling together, Johnny tracing the points of the boy"s smooth teeth.
"Mmm," Johnny said, a twinkle in his green eyes. "Sour cream and onion. Good chips." Steve giggled, offering Johnny another deep taste.
The boy"s ninety-five pounds pressed deliciously down on Johnny. He groped between their bodies and found the solid four-incher, making the boy jump a little and giggle through their pressed lips. It wasn"t really much bigger than he remembered after all, but if Craftsman could make a carbide drill that hard it"d last forever.
The boy rocked against him, grinding insistently against his palm and moaning with a little more passion than he could possibly have worked up so soon. It broke Johnny"s mood a bit to know Steve was playing it up too big but he cut the kid some slack. It"s hard to turn off that bullshit you do when you"re tricking, those "Oh, God you"re the best!" exclamations that the hawks seem to eat up but the boys laugh about among themselves. Johnny didn"t like being treated like a trick but Steve was obviously very turned on beneath it all, and so he put the thought aside, grabbed the boy"s gelatinous buns with both hands and began to get back into it.
A shadow fell across his face, and Johnny thought Enrique had come around for a closer look, but when he opened one eye his mood instantly chilled for there stood Barry. The twelve-year-old"s stare was like a green laser and if looks could kill Steve would have been batting his ice blue eyes at St. Peter. Johnny"s temper rose in his chest. He"d had just about enough jealousy shit from that kid.
"What"re you lookin" at?!"
Barry was abashed and looked down at the floor. "Nuthin"," he mumbled, pouting, but immediately turned back and locked his angry eyes on the other boy, who wore the satisfied smile of the victor.
"Why don"t you mind your own business?" Steve said.
Johnny fixed Steve with a look. "Both of you can just chill out," he said. "I ain"t the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jacks."
Jealousy between the boys was always a factor, and most of the time it served Johnny"s purpose as one more tool to maintain his control. He couldn"t let them get away with any possessiveness crap, though. They belonged to him, not the other way around.
"I didn"t mean anything, Johnny," Steve said, backpedaling like crazy. "I"m just glad to be with you, that"s all."
"Yeah?" Johnny smiled wickedly. "How glad are you?"
A relieved smile appeared on Steve"s face and he said, "Let me show you."
"But Johnny...!" Barry exclaimed.
"But what?" Johnny shot a glare at the boy that dared him to say a word. "You know, Barry, you"re the newest kid around here and you act like you run the fuckin" place. Well I got news for you, Barry Boy, you don"t run nothin" but your mouth. I decide what I do and who I do it with, you got that?"
The boy backed away. "Sure, Johnny, sure."
"You know what else I think, Barry? I think you"ve been sleeping in my bed too damn long, that"s what I think."
"Johnny, no!" the boy cried, tears springing to his dark eyes.
"Just "cause I"ve let you stay for three months you think you"ve got some kind of squatter"s rights or some goddamn thing."
"Please, Johnny, don"t kick me out." Tears flowed freely down Barry"s lank cheeks. "I"ll be good, I promise. I"ll do whatever you want, anytime you want. Just please, let me stay with you!"
This was a fairly meaningless promise since the boy already did whatever Johnny wanted, whenever he wanted. They all did. Barry tried to strike his own sexy pose, but it just didn"t work with his face screwed up in anguish and his eyes pouring tears.
"I don"t know..." Johnny said, indifferent to the boy"s pleas. "Maybe Enrique would like to move back in with me for a while. What do you think, Ricky? Does that sound like fun?"
Enrique clearly didn"t want to get into the middle of it but he had no choice and said, "Sure, Johnny. Sounds great."
"Please, Johnny, I"ll do it so good for you, samsun escort I swear!"
Johnny stared at Barry, mulling it over, all the while stroking Steve"s silky hair as the boy nuzzled his neck and gently ground against his body. What would be better, to keep an admittedly fine little fuck like Barry in his bed a little while longer or put him in his place, knock him down a peg?
The kid was great in the sack, though for some reason the hawks didn"t seem especially impressed. He wasn"t beautiful by any means, with rather severe features for a child: a sharply pointed nose, ears too small for his head, and jaggedly sharp canine teeth. Not ugly certainly, just not anything you"d look at twice if you spotted him in a crowd. His body was OK but no more than that. Barry was a normal, typical, dark-haired twelve-year-old of some Slavic descent with a slightly too-skinny ass and a fairly long, reed-thin prick.
Still, what Barry lacked in gifts from nature he more than made up for in enthusiasm. He was absolutely wild in bed, attacking Johnny"s cock like he was starved for it and squirming in rapture at Johnny"s every touch of his young body. And the kid just lived to be drilled, begging for it ever deeper and harder and faster.
At first he thought the boy would be a gold mine once the hawks got a load of him but it hadn"t worked out that way so far. He was rarely asked for by name and in fact one customer had specifically asked that Barry not be sent to him a second time. Johnny had thought they"d be fighting over that hot little keester and ravenous mouth and Johnny never called it wrong. Apparently, though, the only one Barry got that excited for was Johnny, while with the customers he was passable but nothing special. He did all right, made his money like everybody else, but at times like this Johnny really wondered if keeping Barry around was worth the hassle.
"You have to get over this shit, Barry," he finally said. "You"ve got no fucking claim on me, you understand? You start acting like one of the boys instead of some little fucking prince or maybe you"re not just out of my bed, maybe you"re all the way out. The street"s out there waiting for you, man, just like before you came here."
There was a crowd of boys gathered around by then, at least six of them in a circle, enjoying Barry"s humiliation. He cried openly, a rare sight among these street-toughened runaways. Maybe they felt like it sometimes but most of them would rather die than act like a kid. Some of the onlookers scoffed and jeered, others just watched the live-action soap opera.
"So what"s it gonna be, Barry?" Johnny"s nuzzling with Steve was a strangely defiant gesture. "You gonna act right or take the consequences?"
"I"ll act right, Johnny," he said. "I"ll act right. Just let me stay, OK?" Barry looked at Johnny in total submission, the convicted prisoner awaiting sentence. He wasn"t breathing as far as Johnny could see.
"I won"t put you on the street just yet," Johnny said, the Emperor giving the thumbs up for now. "But get out of my sight for a while before I change my mind."
The boy stared blankly while these words sunk in, big tears rolling down and dripping to his shirt. He started to slink away then turned back with a sudden thought. "Where should I move my stuff to?" He punctuated this with a loud sniff-back of snot.
Johnny thought for a second. The boy was devastated, knocked down a lot more than one peg. Maybe tossing him a doggie-treat would help him see that all he had to do was act like Johnny wanted him to act and things could be great. "Tell you what," he said, smiling. "You stay in my room one more night and we"ll talk about your attitude."
The boy"s eyes went wide. "You mean it, Johnny? I can stay?"
"Only if you clean up your act and quit getting crazy on me. But for tonight, at least, yeah."
"Oh, Johnny!" Barry cried, and ran to the two forms sprawled on the couch, smothering the man"s face in kisses and even planting one on Steve, who grimaced but kept quiet. Johnny shoved Barry away hard, almost landing him on his ass
"This is the kind of crap I"m talking about, Barry!" he yelled, and was about to launch into further invective when the door buzzer suddenly sounded. Everyone froze, even the rejected Barry, for this was not a sound normally heard in the apartment. There simply was no such thing as an unexpected visitor. The boys all had keys, Johnny"s friends and associates always called first, and the chickenhawks didn"t know where Johnny and his boys lived. They never tricked on the premises, strictly outcall.
"Hit channel 99," Johnny ordered, and Enrique grabbed up the TV remote and touched the buttons. A softly focused black and white image filled the screen, the second floor landing of the old building. The camera looked down from a high angle on Kenny and Mark flanking a third, smaller boy, who looked around and fidgeted. Johnny couldn"t see the boy well but something looked familiar, the dirty down vest perhaps. Whatever, he now knew what was going on.
Kenny was a smart boy. He"d pressed the buzzer instead of using his key to give Johnny a little warning; thirty seconds to swing into the proper attitude. It was all Johnny would need.
"OK, offa me," Johnny said, and roughly shoved Steve away.
"Hey...!" Steve blurted, but instantly thought better of it and shut up, though he didn"t look pleased, especially when Barry shot him a smirk.
"All right, we have a new fish coming up." Johnny quickly counted his troops and mentally noted who was out and would need to be briefed before coming into contact with the new boy. "Nobody says anything about tricking until I bring it up, got it?" Boys all around nodded their heads in acknowledgment.
Johnny stepped to the intercom, its high-tech design wildly out of place in the old-fashioned plaster wall. "Hello," he called cheerily. "Who is it, please?"
Kenny"s alto came through the speaker, "Kenny and Mark, with a friend."
"Hi, come on up." Johnny pressed the door release. "OK, scatter, you guys! It looks real fucking natural for ten boys to be standing around waiting for the door to open. Robby, Danny, take half these guys next door for a while. You can wander back later to scope him out. The rest of you make like you"re watching TV. Put something on, and turn the sound up, Enrique." The boys obeyed without question and a moment later a soft knock came at the door.
Johnny paused so as not to appear too anxious. On TV was an old episode of The Munsters, the one where Grandpa invents a potion that turns Eddie into a super athlete. Johnny almost wished he had time to watch the show. He"d always been hot for Eddie Munster and this episode had him in little track shorts and a tight T-shirt. Oh, well, he thought, that"s why God gave us VCRs. He stepped to the door and pulled it open.
Johnny"s grin flashed wide for just an instant as he recognized the owner of the dirty down vest. He regained his outward cool by force of will but inside he was double-pumping his fist and shouting yes!
It was the kid from the bus station, the one fucking Booker had made him lose. He had imagined that this boy was destined for greatness and now he was sure of it. Why else would Fate have dropped him right in Johnny"s lap? It was like the Thanksgiving turkey flying in through ankara sarışın escort the window and landing in the roasting pan. The kid was meant to be here. And though Kenny didn"t realize it he had done Johnny one last great service before hitting the road. He had brought Johnny his own replacement.
"Andy," Kenny said loud enough for everyone to hear, "this is my friend Johnny."
The man grinned and offered his hand, and the boy shook it uncertainly. His small hand was cold and chapped and his delightful round cheeks and small, cute ears appeared to be half frozen as well. With his roughened lips and filthy clothes it was obvious he had spent the four days since the bus station out on the street.
"Nice to meet you, Andy," Johnny said. "Come on in and get warm."
"Thank you, sir," Andy said.
Johnny ushered the boy into the room. "Never mind that "sir" stuff," he said. "You can call me what all the boys around here do..."
"Yeah -- Dickhead!" Kenny said, and got a big laugh. Andy shot a horrified look to the man but when Johnny displayed a tolerant half-grin the new boy allowed himself a wary smile.
"OK for you, wise guy," Johnny said and pulled Kenny against him in an affectionate-looking hug, Kenny"s back against his chest and one of Johnny"s muscular arms across the boy"s thin torso. He gave Kenny"s chest a couple of fond pats with his open palm and, in sudden decision, bent and kissed him quickly on the neck.
He watched Andy"s reaction and saw surprise in the boy"s eyes but something else, too, and he thought he knew what. Like a lot of others who had never known such a thing before Andy wanted to believe in a man who has such affection for boys. A stand-in for the father who never gave a shit, no doubt. This suited Johnny"s purposes ideally. He would simply be what Andy wanted him to be.
Johnny dropped his arm and Kenny stepped away, somewhat reluctantly he noted, and he thought he saw a flash of longing in the boy"s gray eyes. Johnny sometimes missed the way it used to be, too. Kenny was the only boy who had ever stayed with him so long, the only one who hadn"t one day disappeared from his life just as casually as he had appeared. These boys were like stray cats who kept coming around for the saucers of milk Johnny offered until one day they either wandered away to some seductive back fence or fell under the wheels of a passing car.
All but Kenny. If the other boys were strays, Kenny was a pet. In a business where a year is a respectable career Kenny had been there five, and was a shining star at that.
Was Johnny noted wryly, as in past tense. Used up. Costing him money now. A cat that was ready for the tennis racket factory.
Over the years Johnny had shit-canned dozens of boys who got too old for the game. So why did he feel so lousy about it this time? Johnny drove the thought from his mind. Only saps get their emotions tied up in business, and he was no sap.
"We kind of promised Andy he could get a hot shower and some clean clothes," Kenny said.
"Of course," Johnny said. "He could use them." He grinned at the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder, noting the strength underneath the vest"s padding. Andy looked up and smiled.
"I"ll bet some of my clothes would fit," Mark said.
"Or some of my old ones," Steve added. "I can bring them over."
"Thanks, you guys," Andy said sheepishly, grinning at the boys.
Kenny appeared hesitant to bring up the next point. "We also kind of promised he could spend the night, you know, to have one good night"s sleep at least."
Johnny put on his best "appalled" face, and said with exaggerated incredulity, "You mean Andy has nowhere to sleep tonight? He"s homeless?"
"He"s been sleepin" in doorways," Mark said, "and up on a rooftop once, right Andy?"
The new boy was red-faced, evidently embarrassed to admit the predicament he"d allowed himself to get into. "Yeah," he said softly, staring at the floor.
"Well, Andy," Johnny said, the false sincerity fairly dripping from him, "you have a place to sleep now. Tonight, tomorrow...however many nights you need. No friend of mine is going to sleep in any doorway if I can help it."
That "friend of mine" bit usually gets them, he thought. It flatters a boy to be considered worthy of a grownup"s friendship.
"Hey, Andy, great!" Kenny grinned, clapping an arm around Andy"s shoulder and giving a squeeze. "Thanks a million, Johnny!"
"Yes, thank you, sir...I mean Johnny!"
"That"s more like it," the man said. "Now meet some of the guys. This is James," he said, indicating a toothpick of an eleven-year-old with shoulder-length fiery red hair and a gap between his front teeth that ought to have a sign, "No passing in tunnel." The hawks seemed to love him, though, no doubt because of the junior kielbasa he carried around in his pants. James and Andy shared a nod and a smile.
"Next to him is Daryl, a major nut case," Johnny continued, getting a chuckle from all, including the short, dishwater blond boy with the large birthmark on his neck. Johnny always called it his vampire"s kiss. Daryl was embarrassed by it but only one hawk had ever said he was turned off.
"This is Barry," Johnny said, skipping right past the boy, "and over here is Eric." Johnny smiled to himself as he noticed that Andy and Eric had virtually identical long brown hair, the exact same shade and almost exactly the same style. That was really all the similarity there was between the boys but Johnny had been asked many times if he could provide twin brothers and he thought these two might be close enough to pass. He"d never buy it himself, but then hawks often believe what they want to believe to support the fantasy. All you have to do is meet them half way.
"And finally Steve and Enrique." He didn"t miss Barry"s jealous glare at Andy, but fortunately Andy did.
Andy looked around incredulously. "Do all these kids live here with you?"
"Almost," Johnny said. "Steve here lives with his mom, but the others do, and some more you haven"t met yet."
"Gosh," Andy said. "You must really like kids." Mark and Kenny shared a glance and almost broke up laughing.
"You could say that, yeah," Johnny said. "Now how about that hot shower? Mark, would you show Andy the bathroom and get him something to put on?"
"Sure. This way, Andy."
Kenny started to follow, but Johnny stopped him with a touch on the arm. Kenny"s gaze tracked the two smaller boys all the way out of the living room.
"OK, what"s up with this kid?"
"We found him in an alley, diggin" in dumpsters," Kenny shrugged. "He"s from someplace in Missouri. His father beat the shit out of him and his mother split. I don"t know much more than that."
"So he just ran away four days ago? Never been on the street before?"
"Yeah, four days. How did you know that?"
"I saw him at the bus station that night," Johnny said, "but I didn"t have a chance to pick him up. You"re sure he"s never been on the game or anything, right? Never been with a guy?"
"Him?" Kenny laughed. "Not a chance. Mark said something about Angelo liking boys and Andy didn"t have a clue."
"That"s good," Johnny said. "That"s very good." Johnny was busy enjoying an image of a beautiful naked Andy, his sweet round ass the color of twenty-four carat gold.

Next time: Hangin" with the boys.
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