Anna looked into her drink despondently. As she considered her life, long to her mind but short to most, she wondered how she had the ability to consistently meet the wrong sort of men. As a young girl she had been taller than all the girls and most of the boys her age. Gawky, awkward looking, she played the role of tomboy extremely well. When she played softball with the boys she could hit as well as most and throw better than any girl. But when the game would end and she'd want to go off with the boys and do whatever boys did the chided her and chased her away.
Anna had wanted to have her hair cut short like a boy's but her mother wouldn't have it saying "that's not how a young lady acts." Her family was so proper and polite it often maddened her. She resisted most efforts to get her to wear dresses preferring jeans. Though she liked dolls toy trucks and when an uncle had taught her about fishing it had almost become an obsession. That had been her Uncle Henry who when she was twelve lay dying from emphysema from having smoked cigarettes his entire life. Though he seemed old to her at the time he was 49. The vision of him being attached to an oxygen tank and his labored breathing stayed with her and when the other girls were trying out cigarettes she found no such desire. When he died she had just turned 13 and she cried for days on end and something in her life seemed forever changed.
She was certain things would change where boys were concerned when as a young teen her hips and breasts filled out and she ceased to grow though at five feet ten inches she was still taller than all of the other girls a good number of boys. She didn't play softball any longer but was a stand out athlete on the girl's track team. Secretly she saw herself as an Olympic swimmer but most high schools back then didn't have swimming pools and she was afraid to ask her parent's help.
She also actively hunted out pretty dresses and allowed her auburn hair to grow long. She no longer wanted to be one of the guys. She remembered blushing when one day an aunt commented on how beautiful she was and how her being busty would make it difficult for her to keep the boys at arm's length. She thought to herself she'd never want to keep a boy that far away.
She never turned down a boy who asked her out on a date in her years of high school but somehow she always seemed to attract the boys who were more interested in groping her breasts and her reaction was always the same. She'd slap their face. Most of the boys reacted in shock and quickly ended their date but a few called her names such as cock tease or worse. She'd gain a reputation as being cold and more than once overheard someone referring to her as the "ice queen." By the time she was a senior no one was asking her out any longer and when the time came for the prom she was pushed into taking a cousin who her mother had said was such a nice boy though extremely shy. But he wasn't nearly so shy as her mother had said and barely an hour into the prom she found herself abandoned by him for another girl who had come with a group of girlfriends. Anna was back home by eleven crying on her bed lamenting to her mother how horrible all boys were.
In the fall she went to a large university where she was able to lose herself in the large number of students. Anna, though not shy, was reclusive during these years. Those people who knew her described her as friendly. Her closest friend was her roommate of all four years, Georgia, who she did everything with. After their freshman year living in the college dorm they had found a small apartment near the campus. Georgia always had some guy doing her bidding and though she offered on numerous occasions to set her up Anna had always politely declined claiming an upcoming exam needed her attention, which was frequently true, or that she had a track practice to go to, also usually true. College did afford her the opportunity to try out for the swim team however she quickly found that her upper body strength, though excellent, was not nearly enough to propel her through the water in a competitive time. Her coach had pushed her to try out for the dive team but she, disappointed in herself, declined.
Anna directed her social frustrations at her studies and for wont of a single test she had scored "only" a B+ on having been extremely hung over she would have graduated with a 4.0 average.
But now as her mind came back from that day not so many years ago she thought she heard someone speaking to her. She had been sitting at the bar of a club that mainly attracted young people. She was usually able to ignore or put people off enough that they left her alone and this was much to her liking. But then she heard the voice again, "May I buy you a drink."
As though rising from a stupor she switched her focus from the almost empty wine glass in front of her to the man who had spoken to her on her right. She looked at him with an annoyed look that usual chased away anyone who intruded into her privacy. She guessed the man to be about ten years older than she, well dressed and relatively attractive looking. She thought that to be a bit of an improvement over paunchy guys who had clearly removed their wedding rings to hit on unsuspecting women though Anna considered herself wise in such ways.
When the look she gave him did not deter him she hoped her silence would. "You are such a pretty lady I felt I needed to tell you and buy you a drink before I have to run out into the night."
He seemed nice enough and she saw no telltale of the missing wedding band and he was leaving soon anyway so she decided to relent. "Thank you," Anna said softly.
The bartender happened to be right there when she had said this and the man asked him to "give the lady another glass of what she's drinking."
It was a very busy evening and she could see in the bar tender's face that he had no idea of when she'd had so she quickly said, "Chablis."
The man introduced himself as Richard. At first Anna felt disappointed in herself because he showed no signs of leaving and now she had broken her rule of not talking to men she didn't know. Still, he had a certain way about him, a quiet self-assuredness as well as being somewhat assertive. The small talk revealed he to be Ivy educated, a lawyer and never married. He was 35 and exactly ten years her elder as she had suspected. His politeness helped Anna release her old prejudices regarding men and enjoy her conversation with this man.
After they had talked for nearly an hour he asked if she "wanted to get out of here." She did and they quickly departed. He led her out of the bar and to his new BMW 740 that was parked on the street not for from the bar.
When they were in the car Anna closed her eyes as she felt a bit tired but also because she had become aware that she was a little more intoxicated than she had thought. She thought she was being foolish in allowing this man she didn't know take her in his car but then she thought how polite he'd been and how comfortable she'd felt with him. As certain as she was she'd only closed her eyes for a few seconds as she opened her eyes she saw him pull up and stop in front of a house in a neighborhood she was unfamiliar with. The house was large and Victorian and the neighborhood extremely prosperous looking.
Still she asked, "Where are we?"
"This is my house," he replied softly.
"And I suppose you expect me to go in and look at your etchings," she said sarcastically.
"Not mine but you did express an interest in seeing my Cézanne."
Anna had no memory of saying such a thing but she did love the impressionists so she thought she must have said it. "But I thought we agreed to do this some other time," she lied.
"No," he replied drawing out the no, "but since we're here we may as well and it'll only take a minute. It's in the library."
Anna was briefly impressed with the fact he had a library in his house and somewhere in that thought she found herself getting out of the car and accompanying him inside. After he unlocked the front door Richard to her gently but firmly by the small of her back and directed her into an adjoining room. The room was indeed a library and there were several paintings adorning the wall. He excused himself while Anna gazed upon the books and paintings. She found the Cézanne and was staring at it when he re-entered the room. As he stood beside her he handed her a glass of wine.
"Oh I can't," Anna replied very apologetically, "I've had too much already."
"But I insist," Richard replied firmly, "this is one of my best wines and you must taste it." There was a look in his eyes that somehow didn't allow her the luxury of declining again and she took the wine and sipped it.
"It's wonderful," she said be honestly taken in by is luxurious taste.
They talked briefly about the Cezanne and the other paintings and then about his large collection of books. He then invited her to sit in his living room to finish her drink. Anna graciously declined but again he gave her a look that didn't allow her to decline a second time. But as soon as she was seated in the living room Richard refilled her glass and when she protested he responded that once opened such wine must be finished. She felt there was probably some truth to this and where she did love its taste she didn't resist further.
Anna didn't remember falling asleep or passing out, whichever it had been. But as she slowly returned to consciousness she had the feeling of being disoriented. The room was unfamiliar and she couldn't remember where she was. She closed her eyes briefly and told herself that this had happened before and she need only shake the cobwebs from her mind and she'd find herself in her bed. But as she opened her eyes again the room about her was still unfamiliar. As she went to roll over on her side she was suddenly aware that she could not move. She twisted her head first left to see her wrist bound to the headboard and then to her right and saw the same thing. It was then she also noted her legs spread and equally as immobile as her arms.
Fear seized her as she struggled against her restrains. Then she heard a slightly familiar voice say, "Good morning. You fell asleep and I took the liberty of making you comfortable."
The voice came from the foot of the bed and as Anna lifted her head at first she didn't recognize the man talking to her and then a name came to her, Richard. Suddenly the memories of the previous evening came flooding into her head and with it the pain of the hangover she was now feeling.
"What do you think you're doing!" She yelled with all the outrage she felt. "Get me out of these things now!"
Anna's confidence in her anger quickly evaporated as Richard in an unnervingly calm voice replied, "I think not."
"What do you think you're doing?" She yelled at him when her mind could not grasp anything else to say.
