… Until he mentioned money.

Lots of money. That caused Mimi to put her finger to her pouty lip and reconsider. Was this manna from heaven?

It didn't take much for John Dobkins to sweet-talk Mimi into posing the next afternoon. But what he failed to mention (and with reason) was that he was a photographer of nudes, employed by a men's slick magazine.

Next day found Mimi charged with energy. Hair freshly washed and brushed to gleaming, she rode her ten-speed bicycle to the university farms for her appointment with Mr. Dobkins at the horse stables, empty on Sunday afternoon except for the on-call vet.

Mr. Dobkins, a fair-skinned, not-too bad looking man for forty-five was setting up his tripod in the horse barn when Mimi came panting in, cheeks flushed from the five mile ride from her dormitory on campus. He'd told her not to get dressed up, that Levi's and a farmish-looking midriff tie top was fine… perfect, in fact, for the bucolic image he wanted to capture. Still, Mimi felt a little silly about posing in front of a camera dressed like a farm girl.

"Hi!" she greeted, finding him in the empty stall at the eastern corner of the barn where piles of loose sweet-smelling hay were stacked. Behind Pansy, Dapper, Saul, and Carrie swished their tails fending off the bee-sized horseflies. Pushing her hair back behind her ear, she took time to stroke Pansy's nose. "Beautiful, isn't she?"

"… Huh? Yeah…" Mr. Dobkins was obviously more concerned about staging the shot than the condition of the horses, loaded the camera with film.

When he was finished, he turned to watch Mimi for a slight moment as she examined amateurishly the incision on Pansy's right flank, drawing in a hissing breath at the sight of the coagulated crust of blood. "You ready?"