“You’ll see,” she said. She stepped behind him, told him to lean forward, and to put his hands behind his back. He complied, trying to catch sight of her over his shoulder. With some difficulty with her cast, Pia managed to tie his hands, but not too well. She wanted him to be able to free himself but only after some effort. She then returned to face him and pushed him back into the chair. “I said you’ll see. But I was lying.” Pia slipped the blindfold over Berman’s head. She then popped all the snaps on the front of Berman’s shirt, exposing his chest and his admirably flat abdomen. “Is this what you like?” She ran her hand down the contours in front of him stopping at his belt. She gave his belt a tug.

Berman groaned and shifted in his seat.

“What I’m trying to do here,” Pia explained, “is give you a good premonition of what it is going to be like when I fully recover. I told you I have broken bones, so unfortunately we’ll have to wait for the real thing, won’t we.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t want to wait!”

Pia got the camera and, standing directly in front of Berman, made sure it was in focus. She then reached out, pulled off the blindfold, and snapped a rapid series of photos of his face with his eyes thrown completely open in surprise.

“What the hell!” he shouted.

“Perfect,” Pia said. “These will go well with my wildflowers.”

“I told you I don’t like having my picture taken,” he said.

“You said you didn’t like cameras,” Pia corrected him. Quickly she replaced the blindfold before Berman knew what was happening. He shook his head violently in an attempt to get rid of it.

“Hey. Take this thing off!”

“Sorry,” Pia said. She took another picture of Berman with the blindfold in place, and then quickly retrieved her clothes and the camera lens cover.

“What are you doing now?” Berman demanded as he struggled to free his hands.

“You have to wait for next time. I want to be fully healthy. And in case you are interested, I wanted to have a few photos in my possession just so you don’t hold all the cards, Mr. Berman. I assure you that they are for my use only.”

Berman struggled to his feet and then buried his head in the chair in an attempt to dislodge the blindfold.