Mike was in his forties, a widower with two daughters, who now had their own homes, financially comfortable and semi-retired, doing some computer consulting work from home. On this day he was just relaxing at home. He had a rare day where he had no appointments and nothing that needed doing around the house. That's when Suzy dropped around to see him.
Suzy and her sister, Mel, were friends of his daughters. Mike had recently bumped into them when he was taking some photos of Mel's new house as a favour to his daughter. He'd also taken a couple of nice portrait shots of Mel, which he'd printed for her. Suzy was blonde and attractive, 22 and with what Mike considered to be "a pretty decent set of knockers".
Suzy was quite distraught and not far from tears and she started to explain her problem as soon as she was in the house. The words came flooding out and it wasn't long before the tears joined them. Mike could hear her babbling on and repeating herself, with terms like "not my fault", "George is to blame", "money", "prison", "police", "lawyers", "brothers" and "nasty friends". Finally, he thought he had a good grasp on the situation.
"All right," he said, seating her at the kitchen table while he made coffee. "Let me see if I've got the story right. George is your ex-boyfriend. He got arrested after you broke up and is facing a couple of years inside. He told the police to hand his personal property over to you to hold until he could sort out something more permanent. Right so far?" At her nod he continued, "You put his things in a self storage unit and they're still there, except for $1,500 you were supposed to put in the bank. That you 'accidentally' spent?" Another nod plus a guilty look, and Mike continued. "Now George has contacted you and asked you to pay the money to his solicitors, as they want some cash up front before they continue with his case, and you haven't got it. The solicitors informed George that unless the money was received by Friday they'd be dropping his case. George let you know that the money will be with the solicitors by Friday or he would be displeased." Mike noted that Suzy had paled at that.
"George's brother is now out of jail and came to see you yesterday with a couple of his friends. They explained to you just why George's money will be with the solicitors by Friday and some pretty nasty consequences to you if it's not."
Suzy was crying again now. She didn't have the money, she couldn't get a bank loan, she had nothing she could sell and his brother and his friends were going to kill her or put her in hospital at least. She really needed Mike's help.
Mike was quietly furious. "So to recap, you stole $1,500 from a known thug and you want me to pay it back for you." Suzy said nothing and looked at the floor. Mike glared at her for a moment but he could not just toss her to the wolves and still look at himself in the mirror. That would not, he decided, stop him from telling her what an idiot she'd been, and he proceeded to do so, at some length.
"It's patently obvious I can't just give you the money or you would probably spend it and come back full of apologies and ask for more. Let me know the name of the solicitor's and I'll arrange for a bank cheque for you to give them. Have you given any thought about how you'll pay me back? I thought not," he said on receiving a blank look. "The thought of paying me back has apparently never entered your mind."
"But, Mike, you can afford it a lot more than I can," he heard her say. "If you like I'll let you take some topless pictures of me. That'll make up for it."
Furious with her and not trusting himself to speak for the moment Mike turned away from her. Looking at her in the mirror on the opposite wall he was further incensed to see her smirking in triumph, practically dancing with glee. So! She stole $1,500 and got caught and expected him to bail her out so that she got away scot free, no lesson learnt. Not on his watch she bloody wouldn't. He turned back to her, a smile on his face, watching as her face changed to a look of humble respect and gratitude. She really was an amazing actress.
"I think you'll agree that it wouldn't be right for you to just walk away from this incident without really learning something, now would it?" he said.
"Oh, I've learnt something, I assure you," Suzy hastily said. "I'll never be this silly again."
"Maybe, maybe not," mused Mike. "I'll feel a lot happy after giving you a little negative reinforcement to help make the lesson really sink home."
"What do you mean by negative reinforcement?" queried Suzy, suddenly feeling a lot less confident and a lot more nervous. She'd thought Mike an easy touch and he was helping her out but what did he mean to do now?
"It's really quite simple," said Mike. "Come along and I'll show you." Before Suzy could protest Mike had ushered her out of the kitchen and into the master bedroom.