"I see," he said knowingly.

He was standing in front of her then, a drink in each hand. "Here we are, Ann. This will make you feel much better. Take a joint also, it helps this time of day."

Arm's red tipped fingers grasped the sweating glass, filled with ice and orange juice and the small cigarette on the table. Tilting her head she took a deep swallow and grimaced at the taste of alcohol polluting her fresh orange juice but the marijuana cigarette made her feel better. "It's a habit of mine, too," Mike said, his eyes studying the sensuous outline of her mouth and the way the smoke curled out of its soft-rimmed opening.

With a deliberate movement, he sat down on the couch beside her, patting her nylon-covered knee in mock affection. Then, sensing her almost simultaneous recoil from his unwanted touch, he withdrew his hand and smiled.

"You are a friend of Trudy's, is that correct?" His eyes refused to leave the red outline of her lips.

Ann felt a knot in her stomach, tightening mercilessly into a ball that kept growing, feeding on her fear and confusion. It had been eons ago since any man had actually made a pass at her, or was it since she'd let him?

He leaned back on the sofa and studied her proudly postured profile over the rim of his glass. "Tell me a little about yourself, Ann. How long have you been rooming with Trudy?" And then, as if to shroud his questioning probings with ignorance, said, "I don't know the girl personally myself, but. I have friends who are well acquainted."

"A… about three years now," stammered Ann, now fully aware that something was astir as his stubby fingers reached for the pale blue Wedgwood vase and offered her a marijuana cigarette. "Oh, no thank you," she politely refused, "not when I'm already halfway there from the alcohol."

"Do you mind?" He lit one of the oily looking cigarettes. "I find it excellent for sex." He lifted his busy eyebrows and his dark eyes looked right through her. "Do you enjoy sex, Ann?" And seeing her nervous response as she wrung her trembling fingers about the glass, continued his probings. "How about a stag film? Have you ever seen one?"