The Spa Resort is the novel that I’ve been working on this year. It is the story of a middle aged, shy, businessman who quits his job to become a massage therapist. He gets a job at a large five star spa resort. Clients come there for just a few hours, or up to a whole week. They get pampered, fed, entertained, and beautified. The problem is that the man has struggled with his shyness most of his life – and now he works mostly with females, and most of his clients are females. I am considering turning this into a series of three novels with the same central character and expanded settings. Below you will find a draft of a few chapters of the novel. More to follow.
The Spa Resort
Chapter One
‘You can massage anywhere,’ said the woman on my massage table. I had just been standing behind her head. She caught me off guard.
I said, ‘Pardon me.’ She smiled and once again said, ‘I just want you to know that you can massage anywhere you like.’ I thanked her, kept my palms gently pressed to her scalp and tried to center myself. I always start like this. I clear my head of all thoughts, try to focus on the inner beauty of my client trustingly laying before me, then begin their massage with care.
I am a man though. I have done literally thousands of massages since becoming a licensed massage therapist. So I am thinking to myself, is this an instruction from her, or an invitation? My rational mind says that she is a seasoned client who knows it is awkward for a male therapist massaging a woman. Touch too close to certain body parts, stroke too sensually, and the woman may think you’re coming on to her. Of course there are always a few body parts that are off limits. I’m sure she knows that. So she means I can massage her thighs, stomach, and buttocks. That she’s not concerned at all about me working on those private parts of her body. Thank you very much for clarifying that Miss Client.
But, the tone of her voice. Maybe I was just listening with my male macho ears instead of my professional ears? But it did sound like she had a flirting sound, and adventuresome sound to her voice. I mean, I know some liberal women who like trying out new and exotic sexual experiences.
This woman is about 40 years old, blond hair, fair skinned, with an average body. She seemed confident in the brief conversation that we had when I met her in our spa lounge. Not nervous at all. She touched my arm twice as we shared that brief bit of small talk. I have never been sure how I’m perceived by women. Sometimes I think I could be attractive. I have thick dark brown wavy hair, a broad chest, blue eyes, and occasionally someone says I look like so and so from some movie. At other times, it seems to me like so many women don’t even notice me. Like I’m invisible. I have always been shy, but hopeful.
In the end, I take a deep breath and imagine that I’m a proper English butler. Someone who is discreet, ethical and who always does the right thing. I give her a good massage, hopefully one of the better ones she’s received. But I decide not to massage her everywhere. A therapist could lose their job, their license for that sort of thing. Why, just last year one of the best male massage therapists was fired from Michelangelo’s Spa Resort for touching a woman’s privates. He’ll never get another job as a massage therapist anywhere now. All it takes is one wrong move.
Chapter 4
As Daniel walks along the upstairs hallway towards his massage room he notices an unusually large spider, like a mini-tarantula. It’s just on the outside of the window at the end of the hallway. It’s made this enormous lace web covering the whole window. It’s like something out of a science fiction movie. A few of the other employees stop by and they all watch the spider eating flies and other insect type victims. By mid-morning the spider has sort of become Mario’s adopted mascot. Julia says that she thinks it’s a relative of Pat, our manager. Daniel told Ann that Mario’s was providing a free lunch to all the employees today, compliments of our new chef, Spider-man. Others are sneaking up behind people and lightly moving their fingers about in a person’s hair as if they were a spider crawling on them. Lots of subdued screams are heard all morning. Sometimes the simplest thing can make the day fun, make it feel good to be with other people and laughing.
~~~~~
It’s late morning now and black clouds have darkened the skies. There was a terrible storm: lightening, high winds and a boat load of lashing rain pounding down on the roof of Mario’s. For some it’s an event. Something they will talk about when they get home. ‘Boy you should have seen the storm that hit earlier today.’ And they will go on with all the dramatic details. A natural weather event has brought new life to their monotonous day. The storm only lasts for about a half hour. Now the sun is back, but the spa has lost all its electricity. They’re not certain how long the spa will be without power. Sometimes these bad weather outages last all day. Pat tells them to keep providing services. She tells clients who want to wait for the electricity to return, that we can’t guarantee them a time slot later on. It’s all about money to Pat. Run the most clients through the spa for the least amount of expense. ‘Keep those clients rolling through.’ So after a bit of grumbling the employees start taking clients in for services. Someone went over to the Mario’s restaurant and came back with dozens of candles. Daniel takes one, puts it in a glass cup, lights it in his room then goes off for his next massage.
He comes back with a 58 year old woman named Karen. She is a bit pudgy with a plain face. He thinks that she could’ve once been a nice looking woman. One of those attractive women who age catches up to without being kind. He brings her into the room and apologizes for the lack of light. She says that it’s fine. That the flickering candle added atmosphere to the room. She doesn’t say what kind of atmosphere. But by the tone of her voice He knows she means romantic, though just in a teasing way.
When he touches her to massage her scalp, she starts breathing heavily right away. There is no music since the power is still out. He can hear Karen move her feet against the sheet she’s laying on. The barely audible raw rubbing sound of his hands against her scalp drifts upwards into the room. Undisturbed shared silence between two people can be truly special. As he massages her he thinks of how precious those times were when he rocked his baby sons in his arms late at night trying to get them to fall asleep. So it is with this woman: The feelings of intimacy, while sharing loving kindness through touch.
He has to be especially careful as he moves around the massage table. In his small room with its high ceiling all sounds are amplified. The floors in these rooms are the original wood planks and are over 100 years old. And they are noisy. Nothing like a good squeak that sounds like a clown’s horn to spoil the relaxing atmosphere of a massage. He knows which parts of the floorboards are bad . So he steps over and around them as he works. It looks like he is playing a game of Twister.
He is by her side working on her shoulder with her arm just off the table in front of him. She lightly wraps it around his waist and pulls him closer. Many other women have done the same thing to him. It’s an emotional response to want to be close to someone who’s touching you so intimately. When he’s finished with her shoulder, he gently slips out of her grasp and goes down to massage her feet and legs. He always takes that sort of touch as a compliment not an invitation.
Half way through the massage he asks Karen to turn over onto her stomach. She looks up and tells him he is a Greek God. He tells her that’s the best compliment he’s received in some time and thanks her. During the rest of the massage she sighs a lot. Her breathing races at times. And she makes some ‘hmmm good’ sounds like you would when you’re eating your favorite ice cream.
Near the end of her hour long massage, he gently glides his fingertips up and down her back to soothe her. Then he stands by her side and lays his one palm at the top of her back and the other palm at her lower back. He just stays there making a final connection with her for about 10 seconds.
When he tells her the massage is over she starts to cry. The crying turns into deep sobs. She keeps trying to apologize but can’t seem to stop. He lays his hands back on her and asks if there is anything he can do for her. After a bit she’s able to stop crying. She tells him that she’s been taking care of several people and under a lot of stress. She says the past hour is the first time she’d felt cared for in a long time. He doesn’t say anything to her at first. He just lets the silence speak the right words. Then he tells her that’s it’s been an honor to share this time with her. After she is back in her robe and he’s walking her to the main lounge area they say goodbye. She awkwardly gives Daniel a little hug. Then she turns away looking down at the carpet and moves to take a seat with the other clients. Later he runs into Pat at the front desk. She tells him that Karen told her he was ‘the best’.