part one ... X. SNAKES + LADDERS ... page 63

"Angelique has chosen to paint my portrait; a process which has required me to pose during four separate sessions so far. I am being depicted as 'The Hanged Man' from the Tarot. I am required to lay on my back, stretched out on a mattress on the floor, with my arms behind my back, and my left leg tucked behind my right ~ naked except for a small triangular piece of white cloth just covering my genitals. Angelique had told me; "I usually depict my subjects completely naked, I feel this gives the figure a sense of an innocence and purity." I have to modestly admit that during the last session my thoughts were not so innocent or pure. She had turned up the heat to make it warm for me to pose in the attic. It was a little bit too warm. Angelique was wearing jeans and a thin t-shirt, and her beautiful breasts were clearly visible through the perspiration saturated material of her shirt. Gradually the triangular cloth covering me began to rise. I began to sit up to adjust the material, but Angelique commanded me to lay still. "Don't worry, this sometimes happens in art, it's natural." The situation made me realize that I need a woman in my life."