Picture Perfect Read Free Page B

don't expect me to be present at the picture’s unveiling. Viewing your naked sister immortalised on canvas isn't high on my list of priorities.”
    I grinned. “I can understand that, and we won't invite you around when the picture is finished. I don't know what Simon intends to do with it once it's over, but I'll try to ensure that you never get to see it.”
    “See that you do,” Paul warned me.
     

Chapter 4.
     
    That night I had a dream of being back in my hippie commune. In those days, I was barely twenty , new to free love, shy and totally naïve. Most of the commune were true hippies – gentle, loving and at one with Nature, but a few turned out to be opportunists – greedy, corrupt and morally vile and, as a timid newcomer, I was easy prey for them. Under the pretence of putting me in contact with a past life, a hypnotist among the group implanted false memories and persuaded me that we’d been lovers in a previous existence. I became confused and easily tricked into an abusive relationship with him. It was a sad period in my life that left deep scars on my soul. Imagine being surrounded by happy, loving people that you longed to join but couldn’t , because your world consisted of physical, sexual and spiritual humiliation from which you didn’t know how to escape. This predator had bound me to him via those implanted memories and I endured his cruelty for two whole months before I found release. A woman passing by noticed the bruises on my arms and face and took me into her home. Another six months went by before I could face intimacy again. ‘Moonbeam’, as she called herself – I never found out her true name because she refused to tell me, claiming that her new name defined her – cared for me during this time, and was kindness and patience itself. She was in her mid thirties – a classic flower child who had a succession of partners in her life, joyfully sharing herself with anyone who asked, regardless of gender. She was the most loving person I had ever met. She offered her body freely with a smile that never faded. I never heard her say a single word in anger in all the time we were together. I grew to love her and she helped me to recover from my terror of intimacy by taking me to her bed one memorable night.
    I was chopping up some vegetables when she crept up behind me and softly kissed the back of my neck.
    “What are you doing?” I told her. “ Stop that, silly! I’m trying to make dinner.”
    She laughed and spun me around. “Forget dinner for the meantime, honey,” she advised me. “I think it’s time for you to jump headfirst into a relationship again.”
    “What do you mean?” I stammered.
    “I mean that if you don’t take up with someone soon , my sweet, you’ll end up as a hermit,” she explained. “When I first took you away from that monster you were with, you were terrified of proximity with others. You wouldn’t even go shopping with me for fear of a stranger accidently touching you. You’ve recovered from that, but you’ve convinced yourself that all closeness is wrong. I want to change your mindset and restore you to the loving person I know is still hidden inside.”
    “And exactly how are you going to do that?” I asked, with a rising uneasiness.
    Her eyes sparkled as she smiled tenderly at me. “In the only way I know how, dear one,” she replied, laying a gentle hand on my arm and steering me towards her bed.
    I let myself be guided to Moonbeam’s bedroom like a sleepwalker. My mind was torn between terror and exultation. I recognised that I was a psychologically damaged individual who desperately needed fixing, but the very thought of the steps necessary to effect the cure was freaking me out. I knew the remedy, but the remedy itself made me tremble with nervousness. I tried to pull away from Moonbeam’s insistent hands, but she refused to let me go. “I won’t hurt you, sweetheart,” she coaxed. “Let me help you be yourself. I know that