Talia was a slave to her insomnia. It ruled her days and tormented her nights. When she was working, she was exhausted and irritable. When she was at home in bed, she tossed and turned, hopeless and helpless. Night after night she would do everything the sleep books advised, to no avail. She avoided heavy foods, she kept her bedroom for just sleeping. She didn't get up when sleep didn't come, she didn't engage in mental exercises. Nothing helped. When the insomnia was bad enough, she'd down an Ambien and pass out, but her doctor was wary about that prescription, and Talia was afraid of addiction. So, drugs were always a last resort. Talia felt doomed and depressed. Part of her was just ready to give up.

When she walked through the door on Friday, she didn't see the note from the delivery people in her stack of mail. Instead, she threw her bag down, wandered into her living room, sat on her couch and cried. She'd almost been fired that day. Her boss had called her into his cubicle and had one of those talks with her. She had known what was coming even before he talked to her. She'd been down this road before. They all, all her bosses, had said the same things.

"Your productivity is falling off, Talia."

"The average time per support call is rising."

"Your presentation is not suitable to a place of business."

"Customers are complaining about your answers and demeanor."

"Is there something wrong, a problem at home, Talia?"

She knew that it was just a matter of time. Thankfully, telephone support jobs were easy to come by, and she was dramatically overqualified. She resigned herself to finding herself out of work once again. This job had only lasted six months. Shorter than ever before.

Talia cried herself out. She sniffed her reddened nose, wiped her tired and bloodshot eyes, and pressed play on the answering machine.

"Talia, this is Scott. Listen babe, I know it's shitty to break up with a phone message, but I just can't deal with coming over. I really like you and all, but it's been three months. We don't have sex, we don't go out, and you never, ever want to do anything. I just can't put up with it any more. I want a life, okay? Call me if you ever get it together, maybe we can go out for a beer."

Scott's message didn't provoke even a single new tear. She'd known it was coming. She lay back on the couch and looked at her mail. Mixed in with the bills, the junk mail, the card from the dentist, and the postcard from her mom on vacation in Ixtapa, was a delivery receipt from the package company. There was a scribble at the bottom.

"Left with neighbor in 16B"

Mr Gonzales had signed for it, apparently. Talia couldn't imagine what the package was, and entertained herself by imagining that she'd gotten some surprise in the mail as she walked down the hall to Mr. Gonzales's apartment. She rang his bell.

Ancient Mr. Gonzales opened the door a crack and peered out at her. Recognizing Talia, he closed the door, removed the chain and smiled at her as he opened the door wide. His loving, seamed face was always so happy to see her, see anyone. She went in, greeting him.

"Hola, Mr. Gonzales, how are you today?"

"Ah! Pretty senorita Talia! You've picked a bad time to come! My wife is here, the demon. She must not know we are lovers!" He cackled in delight.

"Oh dear, my poor Alberto, whatever shall we do?"

From the other room a warm but thin contralto voice chimed in.

"Madre de Dios! Now, after all these years, I find out you have lovers, Alberto ... Please bring me the kitchen knife so I can kill you, si?"

They all laughed. Mr. and Mrs. Gonzales delighted in this kind of play.

"Package for you Talia. It came today." He grinned at her and pointed to the big package on his dining room table. "From one of your men? Does he perhaps send you vino? None of them are worthy of you, you know this, si? If I were younger, I would send the demon away and become your lover."

She walked over to the table and examined the package. It was from "Meditation Expressions" in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She sighed.

"No such luck, Mr. Gonzales." She leaned down and kissed him on the left cheek. "My last boyfriend just broke up with me over voice mail. And this thing is just some clock that's supposed to help me sleep."

Alberto's lined face drooped, and his watery eyes lost their humor. "These men are loco en cabesa. They hurt you. I am sorry. Is it still the sleep? Still it is muy malo?"

"Yes, I still don't sleep." She paused and then forced a smile. "But look here, I have this new clock that will fix all that, it will help me sleep, and everything will be alright. The magazine said so."

He smiled and patted her on the shoulder as she walked to the door carrying the surprisingly heavy package. "I hope this is so, bonita Talia."

She smiled at him, called a greeting to Mrs. Gonzales and retreated to her apartment. Behind her the sound of Placido Domingo singing began to fill the hallway. Talia knew that Mr. Gonzales always played opera when he was sad.

She returned to her apartment, closed the door and chained it behind her, and set the package down on her living room table. The package contained a meditation and relaxation clock. She'd seen it in one of her new age spirituality magazines. The quarter page advertisement had caught her attention with its mention of being effective in helping sufferers of insomnia. It had said that the clock would. "Eliminate all tension and create a deep mind body connection."

She'd torn the ad out and stuck it to her fridge a couple of months back. Then a few weeks ago she'd gotten on the Internet and run a search on the company and the clock. She'd seen some glowing endorsements, and no warnings from the Better Business Bureau, so she'd gone to the web site and ordered it. It had been very expensive, $599 for a clock. She was willing to try anything.

Talia unpacked the box. There were several components inside, and the instruction book was thick for a simple meditation clock. First she had to plug it in. That had to happen in her bedroom. Then she had to put a wireless speaker in her bathroom. Another speaker went in her living room. The clock had to be positioned so it faced her bed.

Next she had to press a bunch of buttons to indicate her sex, her age, her height, and her weight. Finally, exasperatingly, she had to enter her postal code. As she read the manual and performed these steps, the booklet explained that the clock was now tuned to her natural body rhythms, her location, the season of the year, and more. Once it was completely set up, the large LCD on the front of the device lit up, but it only displayed a simple message of "Pattern 1".

"This thing probably predicts when I bleed." She sighed. It seemed more and more to her like yet another useless gimmick. She'd gotten her hopes up before. Nothing ever worked.

She watched TV until midnight and went to bed. She was surprised to hear a soft white noise coming from the clock. It wasn't a simple static, the sound was more like the crash of surf. Yet she also noticed that there were other things going on in the white noise, more complicated patterns. It was quiet, a low noise, almost not noticeable. She lay down and tried to sleep.

Talia tossed and turned for hours. One AM came and went. The dim light from the clock later indicated Two AM. She lay in the darkness, awake.

Talia suddenly awoke at eight. She'd slept! The clock was making a tiny chiming noise. It was a pretty sound. As it got louder, she got up and pressed the off button for the alarm. Talia laughed out loud with happiness. She'd gotten five or six straight hours of sleep! Her whole mood lifted. She smiled in the bathroom as she showered.

Her day passed quickly. She made breakfast, ran some errands, came back, looked for work on line, and then ran back out to meet a girlfriend for lunch. After lunch she polished up her resume, fussing over how to hide or gloss over a six month stint. She went shopping for groceries. Later in the day she made a spur of the moment decision to get her hair cut.

When evening came, she rented a movie, got Afghan take out, and settled in to watch Meg Ryan drive Tom Hanks crazy for two hours. She cried at the ending. At eleven exactly, a beautiful chiming noise came from the clock's wireless speaker in her living room. At eleven fifteen it chimed twice.

Talia laughed. "The damned thing is telling me to go to bed."

She brushed her teeth, used the toilet, and headed to bed. At eleven thirty, the clock chimed three times and the white noise pattern started again. Talia lay in the darkness for a long time, resting, hoping for sleep. Some time after one, she began to lightly doze.

At eight AM, Talia woke to that beautiful, resonant chiming. She awoke rested, refreshed, and happy. When she saw the time, and discovered that she had slept for seven hours, she cried. Relief coursed over her like a gentle rain on a child's face. She got up and padded over to the clock. She leaned over it and kissed the wood grain case.

"You're a miracle."

Her Sunday passed in a blur of energy. She cleaned house, straightened her closets, scrubbed the toilets.

At noon the clock chimed a beautiful pattern. She grabbed the owners manual and figured out that it was recommending that she take a break for meditation. She sat down in her darkened bedroom, composed herself, and quietly listened to the complicated, rhythmic white noise sounds coming out of the clock. When the clock chimed again, it was twelve thirty and she felt refreshed.

Later she headed out and went shopping. She'd need some new clothes for work, regardless of whether or not she had to get a new job. Standing in the dressing room at Macy's, she looked herself over. She was twenty seven years old. Talia was fit, in a thin pale goth girl kind of way. Her red hair, recently cut, piled out over her shoulders in a wave of crimson which highlighted and accented her pretty green eyes.

Her figure was trim and spare. Long legs gave way to small hips over an almost flat tummy and pretty 'B' cup breasts. She smiled at herself, amused that she was spending time on her appearance. She agonized over a couple of skirt and blouse purchases and apologized to the shop girl. Grabbing her hard fought victory purchases, she headed home.

Talia got home in time to make dinner for herself at six and settled in for the evening. The clock chimed for meditation again at eight. She set her alarm for six the next morning, and the clock chimed her bed time at ten PM. Talia went to bed eagerly that night, laying down with a smile on her face, listening to the rhythmic, hypnotic pattern coming from the clock. She was asleep by ten fifteen.

Talia's eyes flew open at exactly six AM as the clock chimed a single time. She laughed as she looked at the time and threw herself out of bed. She'd slept almost eight straight hours.

As she showered, getting ready for work, Talia noticed that she was slightly horny. There was a slight tingle to her body, and her pussy was a tiny bit wet. She turned the temperature up slightly, took the shower head down from the rod, and ran it over her belly and mound. Her pussy responded immediately with a surprisingly powerful tingle of sexual heat and she could feel herself getting wetter.

"God, will wonders never cease. Talia has a sex drive!" She said to herself. She smiled as she slowly masturbated in the shower. A thrill of glee ran through her when she came, rubbing her clit under the shower nozzle. She laughed out loud.

Work was a wonder. She arrived on time, and clocked in on time. Her co-workers were stunned to see her dressed up in clean black slacks and a white blouse. Topping it off, Talia flew through her day and her workload with a smile and a kind word for everyone. At lunch she chatted with her cubicle partner Margaret.

"What happened, Talia? You seem so different, happy. Did you get laid or something?"

"No, better."

"What? Better than sex?"

"You bet, lots better!"

"Yeah, what?"

"Sleep!"

"Huh?"

"Midge, I'm sleeping! I got eight hours last night, eight whole hours straight. I didn't even wake up once. NOT ONCE!" Talia laughed.

Margaret laughed with her and hugged her. They chatted over lunch and Margaret smiled to herself to see her friend so happy.

The rest of that week had a delightful pattern for Talia. Each night she trotted off to sleep as soon as her alarm called for her. She found herself falling easily asleep each night, and each night she fell asleep more quickly. Each night her sleep was deeper than the night before, each morning she awoke more rested and with greater enthusiasm for her day. By Friday everyone in the office had noticed, and her boss even complimented her on taking his advice and 'coaching' to heart. Talia just chuckled.

The week was so wonderful for her in fact that by Thursday, she was running home on her lunch hour to spend time meditating with the clock. She was back home each night before eight so she could meditate again.

Talia tore into her weekend with an energy she hadn't felt in years. On Saturday morning she awoke at seven sharp. The clock hadn't even chimed and she was already out of bed. She was in and out of the shower in a flash, only taking time to spend a minute masturbating. With her new found energy and enthusiasm, she was able to masturbate to climax in just two minutes. She was delighted with this new found level of responsiveness. By seven thirty she was out the door and on her way shopping. She waited at the mall entrance for it to open at eight, and she was the first customer through the doors.

Talia whizzed through her shopping. She ran into Mervyns, Penny's, Macy's and Sears at a trot. She picked up a cute black leather mini-skirt that was on sale, a delicious pair of 4" pumps with spike heels, a shimmery peach blouse that was just one hint too sheer, and several new cosmetics. But her most serious shopping of the day was at Fredericks and Victoria's Secret.

Laughing in delight, Talia threw caution to the wind and acquired a sheer black teddy, several lacy bras, fishnet stockings, six pairs of thongs, and most daringly, a peek-a-boo and crotchless set in white lace. Holding up this last purchase, she paused for just a moment and hesitated.

"What in the world am I doing buying crotchless butterfly panties?"

The tiny frown that formed as she thought this over just slowly faded away as Talia lost the thread of that thought. A bright, sunny smile quickly formed.

"Oh poo! Who cares, it's a treat just for me!"

The tired shop-girl smiled wanly at the sight of Talia talking to herself.

"Sure," The clerk thought to herself, "Crotchless panties and sequined thongs ... just for you, a treat. Sure."

As Talia walked through the Fredericks, she glanced in the shop mirror and was surprised when she looked herself over.

"Oh god, I'm positively emaciated. Bony even. No wonder it was so easy for Scott to break up with me, no sex and I have bony hips." She glanced at the clerk.

"I have got to put some meat on and get in better shape if I'm ever gonna keep a boyfriend!"

"Uh, yes maam. Really though, you're pretty just as you are. You know, in a cool kinda way."

"Oh please, you're just saying that. I know what men like ... men like boobs and butts. And I don't have either."

Cindy the clerk smiled at Talia and refrained from calling her an idiot.

On the way home from the mall, Talia drove straight to the fitness center and joined up. She went for the whole package including the pool, and because of the special they were running, just for this week only, she pre-paid for a whole year. She dashed home just in time to hear the first gong calling her to noon meditation. She fell to her knees in her bedroom and in seconds her mind was empty and peace washed over her like a tide. She didn't give a second thought to the nearly nine hundred dollars she had dumped on clothes and her fitness program. She never even noticed that the front of the clock now read "Pattern 2".

Over the next two months, Talia's regime took on a completely rigid and defined schedule. Each morning she was up at six AM, even on the weekends. She got to the gym by six-twenty, and worked out hard for forty five minutes. She showered at the gym and masturbated on her way into work. At work before eight, she ate a healthy snack at her desk, and hammered her way through her support calls like a woman possessed. She was back home by noon for meditation, ate lunch in her car on the way back where she masturbated again, and was back at her desk by one. She finished her work day at five and was home preparing dinner by six. At eight she meditated again and was in bed by ten on the dot. By the end of the second month, she had worked cleaning the apartment every day and an hour of dance class into her schedule. Her energy seemed boundless.

Other than her unwavering masturbation schedule, she had no interest in sex. In fact, she'd never even called Scott back since he'd dumped her.

In the third month, the clock silently flickered over to read "Pattern 3". That morning, when Talia arose from her delightfully sensuous sleep, she took a brief moment to turn the lights on and stretch. She stripped off the jog bra and flannel bottoms she slept in and stood naked in front of the clock. With a sigh of pure hedonistic delight, she stretched her arms out and very slowly turned in a complete circle, reveling in the joy of the morning. A tiny snap-click sound came from the clock several times as she stretched.

After a moment, the clock did something it had never done before. It emitted a tiny shrill squeal, and the LCD face went blank. Talia looked at it in sudden panic. The LCD cleared and now read.

"Error — 134 Consult manual"

With a shriek, Talia raced to her kitchen and dug through her odds and ends drawer until she raced back with the manual in hand. Flipping through the manual, she found 'Error 134' in the back. It read:

"This advanced meditation and relaxation unit's internal programming

has expired. If this condition is allowed to continue, its attunement

to your body's rhythms will drift out of sync."

"Your meditation and relaxation unit is unable to detect a dial tone,

it is unable to dial out for updated programming.

This could be from one of several causes. Please verify that a working

phone line is attached to the back of the unit. If the line is working,

please call our toll free customer support unit at 1-800-555-3498"

Talia broke out in a cold sweat. She reached around behind the clock and investigated. Sure enough, there was a phone jack there, but she had never hooked it up. She dashed to the phone, called in late to work, and made a mad dash to the local Radio Shack. She picked up a phone splitter and an extension cord and broke several speed limit laws on the way home. Once safely back in her apartment, she worked feverishly to get the clock all hooked up correctly. After a false start or two from her anxiousness, she got the clock hooked up to the phone line. Reading the manual, she pressed the 'continue' button on the back and waited.

After a minute, the LCD display cleared and went back to reading "Pattern 3". Talia sighed in vast relief. Her precious link to sleep and a life that worked was functioning again. The after effects of the adrenaline left her feeling shaky and nervous. She puttered around until noon and waited for the meditation cycle to begin.

Precisely at noon, the clock face cleared again and this time there was no chime. The white noise sound began, but with subtle differences. A non-descript male voice spoke from the unit.

"Nudity is conducive to meditation free of restraint."

Talia looked at the clock in puzzlement.

The white noise stopped.

She was suddenly gripped with a sense of panic again.

"Nudity is conducive to meditation free of restraint."

A long moment passed in which Talia tried to understand what was happening. This had never occurred before. The panic in her gut was rising, fighting her resistance to what the clock had said.

"Nudity is conducive to meditation free of restraint. This meditation cycle is canceled. Your next meditation cycle is in eight hours."

She lurched back from the clock in terror. Her routine was broken, and she was going to miss her meditation period. Her skin began to crawl and her gut churned. Suddenly she was nauseous and made a run to the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet in time and vomited up her breakfast. She held onto the cool porcelain of the toilet, feeling sick and abandoned. Some time later she was able to call into work and let them know she was ill.

She read the instruction manual through, front to back, several times. There was nothing in there about what to do to get it to give her a meditation period. When she called the company telephone support line, no human being answered. She was forced to navigate a complex voice mail tree, hoping to find her answer in the 'Common Questions' section. After a minute, she heard a response that chilled her.

"Thank you for calling Meditation Expressions," It began, "If your support concern is about missing a meditation session, there is no way to reset the unit to provide an extra session. We advise you to wait for the next scheduled session. If this answer does not apply to your question, press nine to return..." The voice droned on.

She slammed the receiver down, and crawled into bed. She waited in sick fear for the rest of the day. Her schedule ruined, she did nothing, laying in bed shivering.

At eight PM on the dot, the white noise began.

"Nudity is conducive to meditation free of restraint."

Talia stripped her clothes off in a blur and dropped naked into her meditation posture. The moment she assumed the position, the clock chimed. As the chime died away, peace and relief poured through her. Her meditation cycle began. As she sat meditating, silent tears of gratitude made their way down her cheeks. That night, her sleep was deep, and her dreams were erotic, but she didn't remember them.

The next day at work, she talked with Margaret about what had happened.

"I'm worried about my clock, Midge."

"You love that thing, Talia, you act like it's saved your life. I've told you before I think that whole meditation thing is weird. Eastern stuff, you know?"

"But you know I've always been into that. It's not the meditation. It's like the clock is pushing me or leading me somewhere. It's kind of scary."

"So get rid of it, buy something else. Buy another kind of meditation thing. You know, like one of those chiming clocks that look like a pyramid or something."

Talia's stomach lurched a tiny bit as she considered that option.

"Just the thought of that makes me sick, I can't turn off my clock. I'd go back to no sleep, to the insomnia," She lowered her head, silent tears glistening unshed in her eyes. "I can't ever live that way again. I just can't."

Margaret looked at her friend and smiled. "Oh honey." She patted Talia's hand gently. "I know you can't. I'm sure that the clock is programmed just right. It's done nothing but good for you so far. I'll bet everything will be fine."

"Do you really think so?"

Margaret only smiled and patted Talia's hand.

As time passed, Talia's nights became increasingly erotic. Her dreams became intense and sexual. She never really remembered much from them, except for brief flashes of bodies intertwined, and an arousing sense of perversion. Her dreams led her to masturbate more often, and her orgasms were becoming more intense.

At the same time as this was happening, other things were progressing as well. Talia was now considered a top performer at work. She routinely got the weekly and monthly performance bonuses. Her customer satisfaction ratings were so high that the bonuses were sometimes substantial.

She now meditated in the nude, slept in the nude, and increasingly was nude at all times at home. She'd taken a renewed interest in her appearance and grooming. For a long time, her only living expenses had been her car, apartment and gym membership. Now Talia began to spend money.

Halfway through her first year with the clock, Talia began to get a manicure and pedicure every two weeks like clockwork. She made her hair appointments months in advance so she could be certain it would happen on the 15^th of each month exactly.

On the 15^th of June, just over six months from when the clock made an appearance in her life, she arrived for her appointment at 'Fashionsense and Myrrh', her beauty parlor. As always, the owner Mrs. Myrrh, whose first name was a closely held secret, sat behind the appointments desk doing the books as Talia checked in.

"Ah, back right on time as always, Talia?"

"I do try to be prompt, Mrs. Myrrh."

"Honey, your version of prompt is kind of scary. You walk through that door exactly, and I do mean exactly, five minutes early each time. I could use more customers like you. And employees, god knows."

They both laughed.

Instead of heading for the chairs to wait for her appointment as usual, Talia hesitated. She looked at Mrs. Myrrh shyly.

"Yes, sweety?"

"Umm, can I ask you a private question?"

"Sure Talia, what?"

Talia leaned over the counter and spoke quietly. "I think I'm kind of hairy, you know?"

"What, your legs?"

"Uh, no. Down there, you know?"

"Oh. Heh. Are you asking me for a Brazilian, Talia?"

"A Brazilian?"

"All the hair, all of it ... gone. Zzzzip."

Talia paused in thought. "Yes, yes that's exactly what I want!" She smiled in delight. "Why haven't I thought of this before? Could I get it done permanently? You know, like with a laser or something?"

"Well, we don't do the laser thing, that's at a doctor. I do know a good place to go though. It can be expensive. We do electrolysis here, takes longer and hurts a bit more, but you have light red hair, it'll do a better job for you."

Talia smiled. "Oh, I don't care if it hurts, let's do it. Lets do it now! Can we start right away?"

"Sure I suppose, how much do you want done?"

"All of it ... everything ... everything from my lips down."

Mrs. Myrrh unwrapped a lolly-pop and looked at Talia with a grin. "Which lips, dear?"

Talia blushed a deep red. "Both."

Talia delighted in her new found attention to her appearance. There was something profoundly, deeply satisfying about seeing herself nude and hairless. She began to buy beauty magazines and read up on all the latest trends.

Every weekend for two months she spent twelve hours getting hair removed. At the same time, she decided on the spur of the moment to get collagen injected into her outer labia. All the latest magazines said it would give her privates that 'pouty' look that men wanted. For some unexplainable reason, Talia had no interest in men, but was utterly consumed by a concern for what men liked.

Flipping through her magazines one day while the cosmetician worked on her electrolysis, she spotted an advertisement for a breast enlargement clinic. The moment she saw the ad, a thrill of delight ran through her. Someplace deep inside, something went 'click' and settled into place. She decided in an instant to have bigger breasts. She just knew that bigger breasts would lead to deeper sleep and more relaxation.

She searched the Internet, read magazines, called friends of friends seeking out who would be just the right surgeon. When she found the doctor she wanted, it turned out that her clinic was in San Diego.

She instantly got online and ordered the travel version of her clock. Once it arrived, she carefully followed the instruction manual to synchronize the two units. For some reason, this involved connecting the two with a cable and letting the travel unit get updated from her main unit. It was all too technical for her to follow.

Talia booked a consultation appointment without hesitating for a second and bought her plane tickets. She made sure she had time off work and flew down to see the doctor on a Friday morning.

When her appointment came, she was so excited she giggled in glee as she sat down with the doctor.

"Oh Doctor, I'm so excited."

"Call me Michelle, Talia."

"Michelle, I can't wait."

"Why do you want breast enlargement, Talia?"

"Well, because I hate my tiny boobs. I want beautiful big boobs. I feel so much like something is missing every time I look in the mirror. I just know I would be more at peace if I looked right."

"Talia, stand up and come over here please." The doctor opened a cabinet with full-length mirrors on both doors and in the back. "Tell me what you see when you look at yourself."

Talia stood for a moment, looking at herself. She didn't see the immaculately dressed hair-do, the tasteful but tight choker of pearls, the precise and detailed eye shadow, false eyelashes, carefully applied lipstick or the pretty rhinestone earrings. She didn't notice the tight and flattering sheer black belly blouse that hinted at the lacy and racy black bra underneath. She didn't pay attention to her tight and firm tummy or her oh-so-painfully sculpted abdominals.