"But the Almighty Lord hath struck him and hath delivered him into the hands of a woman" – The Vulgate, Judith, xvi. 7
Chapter 1
It was a beautiful autumn afternoon in Fredericksburg, VA. The leaves were starting to change color and fall, but it had only just begun so there was still quite a bit of green foliage still on the trees. It was chilly out, but not quite cold.
A young woman was walking by the park with a leash & coffee in one hand, and was digging through her purse with the other. She almost tripped on the uneven sidewalk. As she tried to catch herself and keep from spilling her coffee, her brindle Bugg (a 1st generation pug & Boston terrier mix) took off. "Oh, come on." She mumbled, calling and chasing after her young puppy. The dog ran through the park as fast as its little legs would carry it.
A young man was sitting on a low concrete barrier, reading an old, cracked, leather bound book, seemingly skimming the pages. Next to him was a young teenager, who was playing chess by himself. The dog jumped on the lap of the young man. He jumped from the shock and fell backwards off the barrier, with the dog landing safely on his chest and his book landing on the other side of the barrier. The teen watched the scene play out, flabbergasted. "Shame on you, Reed," the woman said exasperated when she ran up.
The man looked confused, holding his hands up, either in defense or not wanting to touch the dog. "Ex… excuse me? Your uh, your dog just came up to me."
"Oh, no. I'm sorry. I was talking to him," she said, nodding to her dog and placing her coffee on the barrier. She picked the book up and held her hand out to help him up. He apprehensively accepted, holding the dog with his free hand. When he set the dog down on the barrier she handed his book back to him. "I'm really sorry about that. He just got away from me." She took the leash again as her puppy finished off what was left of her coffee.
As she looked on disappointedly at the little dog in a sweater, the young man now had the chance to really notice her. She wasn't striking in the traditional sense, but she had this quirky and charming air about her. She had her brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her green eyes sparkled behind her tortoise retro-styled glasses. She stood in classic black pumps, her fishnet stockings climbed up her legs to her black pencil skirt, her fitted tweed blazer with leather elbow patches hid a black screened tee. He fidgeted as he gave her a once over. Finally he blurted out, "H...hi. I'm, uh, D-Dr. Spencer Reid. Y-Y-You, um, um, Spencer. You don't have to call me doctor."
She snapped back to reality and smiled. "Amanda Karlsson. Oh, you probably wanted to get back to your reading. Sorry," she said, throwing the now empty cup away. She picked up her dog, "Thank you, Reed, now I'm going to have to get more coffee." She looked at Spencer and smiled, "Enjoy your Balzac, Spencer. It's a really good one."
Spencer looked at the front cover his book. When he looked back up she was walking away. Spencer wasn't really a social person, he much rather would spend his time with his nose buried in a book or working. So, it came to a shock to him when he jumped over the barrier to catch up to her. "You've read Balzac?"
She stopped and turned to him. "Yeah, not my favorite 19th century writer but he's up there. Only behind Poe & Sacher-Masoch, really. Though, I read the translated Balzac and not the original French. I just knew what the title was in French, beyond that I'm lost."
"I don't think I ever met anyone that's read Sacher-Masoch. Especially since 'Venus In Furs' is his only work in English."
"Well, it's the only novel I've read of his, but my copy also had some of his letters and I read 'the Confessions of Wanda Sacher-Masoch' by one of his former wives. 'Venus' is maybe my favorite book. I find it disturbing & I'd never want a relationship like that, masochist and all, but there are some things he's said that are quite… well, romantic."
