Maria knew him as Bernd, but his real name was Malcolm. Maria was staying with her friend Sally for a few weeks while she was in New York. Maria and Sally were about the same age, 17, and while Maria was athletically built and outgoing, sally was thinner, and shy, with long auburn hair.
Maria was enjoying her stay with her friend and her father. Maria's own father was not in New York, but Florida, where he had a job washing dishes in a small but busy restaurant. It paid for Maria's tennis lessons, as she aspired to be a professional tennis player one day, and the academy where she was enrolled was expensive. Sallys father had a good job in the city where he worked for a large bank, and Sally never lacked for money. If she was going out for the evening, he would often ask her, especially if she had friends staying "Do you need any Doh Ray Me (meaning money)?" but Sally would say no. She always had plenty.
This evening Maria was away with some of her other friends. Some weeks before Sally's father, whose name was Frank had met for a brief conversation with one of his friends at the Lodge. "How would you like to fill in for me on the 14th", he said. The meaning was obvious to both of them. John would spend the evening at Frank's house, being him in every respect while Frank was eleswhere. "Sally will be there. You'll be alone together. She won't give you any trouble, I'll make sure of that". The two men smiled, with perfect understanding. They ended the conversation with a secret handshake.
Sally appeared in the doorway. She was dressed as though she was going out for the evening, and Frank was holding a large crystal square cut glass with a generous slug of whiskey in it. The ice tinkled as he set it down on the small table in front of the sofa. He picked up the bottle and held it over the other glass on the table. "Have a drink," he offered Sally. "No thanks," she replied, still standing in the doorway, half hiding, her long gren dress hanging loosley and swaying as she moved. She was a very attractive woman, he thought, despite her tender years. He poured a drink for her and held it out for her. She had no idea that teh man in front of her wasn't her father, Frank. If there had been more light she may have noticed that while Frank's eyes were blue, this man, who looked like her father, and was dressed in his clothes, had hazel coloured eyes, but she wasn't thinking about his eyes at this moment. She was almost in tears, because she had had several quite explicit warnings in the last two weeks with some unpleasant strangers, and she had no doubt of that on this night she was going to have sex with him. Shee had been asked if she understood it, and that the consequences if she refused would be severe, for her and her close friends, who were completely in the dark about this. She understood the danger if she tried to communicate any of this to them, and the consequences of any leak, no matter how innocent it may appear.
Earlier that afternoon Sally had visited he dentist, Diane, and had had her teeth cleaned. Her mouth still felt fresh. Earlier in the month she had seen her doctor, and they had discussed birth control. She was now on the pill. Claire had been very helpful.
Frank lay on the sofa, or suite, as he called it, with his pants on the floor. Sally lay on top of him.
