Bernadette Wolowitz opened the laptop on the kitchen table and logged on to a zoom link. Her husband, Howard, was training for his mission to go up to the International Space Station. He was located in Houston and whenever possible they would chat on a nightly basis.

Howard’s face popped up on the screen.

“Hey Bernadette, how are you?”

“Hi Howard, listen honey there is something I need to talk to you about”

“Sure Bernie, what’s up?”

Bernadette took a long breath before continuing. This was going to be hard to say but she had no alternative. They had been remodeling the house and the bills had started to pile up. Once the work was done they still owed the builder over eight thousand dollars and they didn’t have the money to pay him. However the builder had come up with a unique solution and that was what Bernadette was about to discuss with her husband.

“We still owe the builder over eight thousand dollars”

“I know Bernie, you don’t have to remind me”

“Well he has threatened to sue us if we don’t find the money. He has given us an

alternative though”

“Well that sounds promising, What is it?”

Bernadette took a large swallow from the glass of wine on the table, there was no going back now.

“He wants to have sex with me while you watch on camera”

“What??? ... have sex ... with you? while I watch? Bernie, what the hell?”

‘It’s that or he takes us to court and we lose everything Howard”

For a long time Howard just stared at his wife, thoughts raging through his head. if the builder took them to court they would lose the house, possibly go bankrupt and have to find somewhere else to live. The other option was to watch his wife have sex with another man as he watched from another state.

“Do we have a choice Bernie?”

“I ... I ... no Howie, I dont think we do”

“When is this supposed to happen?”

A man appeared at Bernadette’s shoulder, He was a black man in his early forties. By the way his T shirt fitted his body he looked extremely well muscled.