NEEDLE

"There was some sort of business with a rubber strap and I felt a thunk deep in my arm. Then she was hitting my clenched fist: tapping it with her knuckles and then wiggling her finger in the center of my palm to loosen it. It felt so much like an odd, stubborn sort of fingering that I laughed. I sucked in air. I had been holding my breath.

When I left my head felt light and loose, and my thigh muscles burned. I felt like I had run a marathon. Naked."