“Oh, Asher,” she said. “Believe me. I honestly didn’t want to. I said to Michael: Asher’s been so nice to me. And he’s had all sorts of trouble. With his wife and all, I said. And I didn’t even know then exactly how humiliating it must have been for you, I mean in that silly trunk and all. I really hesitated. But Michael said we weren’t going to do anything bad. I mean, blackmail you, or break into your suite while you were drinking a martini out of my white boots or anything gruesome like that. It was just that Michael said it was well like you know: the dogs? With the you know: bells? I mean, an experiment, you know? Oh, Asher, darling. Please don’t look like that. I’m the sorriest. But really I am. I’m just so stupid that’s all it is. I mean Michael can coax me into anything I mean well he just knows I’m coaxable. Michael said he was going to give you the money back. I swear. The thing was I should have my head examined leaving it here with Michael that’s all. I should have kept the money with me. But I was afraid I mean carrying all that money around with me in my purse I mean what if my mother saw it? Of course I wasn’t so sure Michael was doing it just to be you know scientific. Or even well you know doing it Asher because you’re oh God so square. I mean what I really thought was Michael was jealous. Get that. I mean that’s what I told myself when I said yes all right I’ll do it. I thought Michael was jealous because you were trying to get me into the hay. Now, Asher. Of course you were. Oh, I mean you didn’t try to jiu-jitsu me but, admit it, you were, darling.

“Well. I just might. Now. To teach that little rat a lesson. Buying himself a kimono. And just like yours. And after he promised me, too.

“Oh, Asher.” She was looking at me. “It’s not that terrible. I’ll get the rest of your money back.”

“It isn’t the money,” I said.

“But Michael promised me,” she repeated. “What else could I do?”

“You could have said no, Aurora,” I said softly.

But I understood. She really couldn’t have said no. A joke: the pail of water over the transom, the trick cigar: it didn’t involve anything criminal. They hadn’t really gotten to that yet. That was when the joke darkened. She couldn’t have said no. I imagined her giggling. I imagined it appealing to her, finally. It would be fun to try. Just to see. Whether I would, or not. Whether she could, or not. It was just a little bit wicked. It was just a little bit nasty. It had just the slightest edge of cruelty to it. It would be fun. I understood. She couldn’t have said no.

I got up. It would, of course, have to take place with her in a nightgown. That clung or folded itself to her. I felt as though hospital orderlies had just released me from a strait jacket. As though, on my arms and chest, if I looked, I’d find the marks of straps.