There's an airport in Oakland, and wherever there's an airport, you can be sure to find a scattering of seedy "Adult DVD" stores. A relic from the days when getting your kink on involved buying and watching videos. It was truly a miracle that any of these had persisted until the advent of the Internet.

We parked in front of one. Suddenly, Oren faced me. His eyes met evenly.

With, "I like to play," he began his declaration. But I tend to play it safe. This is a shop that I've visited before. It's shady, but not too dangerous. There isn't a backstage live performance, and there also aren't any...