This started a long time past, at a friend’s house in High School. It was late at night, we were young, David’s parents were gone and we were very drunk. Everything began with a pin toy. A bunch of pins held in a frame that retained the impression of anything pressed against them. The kind of thing that executives have on their desk to show that they are whimsical, but not too whimsical. They’re trademarked under the name “Pinscreen.”
The toy was on the desk of his father’s office when Anne found it. She became obsessed with it. Hands, Face, ears. She loved making impressions in the cold steel pins. I think they felt new and exciting against her skin. Anne escalated from her own skin to mine and eventually to David. She started with his hands, but moves up to his ears, then his face. He was obviously uncomfortable, not with the attention, but with how to handle the attention. David didn’t have a girlfriend. He’d never had a girlfriend. Having Anne this close, focusing on him, touching him, was leaving him flustered. He kept looking over at me for guidance. I was happy to just watch things unfold.