Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 10:19:58 +1200 From: prime wordsmith Subject: Swansea-Bridge-03 The body allowed itself to be carried over to the stools where I placed it on the high stool. I sat on the low stool before him and selected a lychee from the fruit dish next to us. I peeled it, split it, removed the seed and rubbed one half over his lips. He licked his lips and I waited for the resulting facial expression. Good. Another first. And he seemed to be quite fascinated by this too. I moved the half up to his lips which parted to accept it. I popped it in and watched the expression. Wonderful. He chewed on it delicately and seemed to like it. Certainly beats dying I hoped. I peeled some more, popped the other half in, split the rest and removed the seeds. Enough to keep us going for a while. I dropped a few large washcloths in the hot water and a couple of medium ones in the warm. I rinsed his legs with the warm ones and observed he was still shivering. I squeezed out the hot ones, draped them on each shoulder and popped in another half lychee. While the shivering was subsiding I dropped another two large cloths in the hot water and plunged a couple of small ones in the tepid water. With these I rinsed his feet. They were quite dirty so I ladled some tepid water over the feet and dumped the used washcloths in the spare bucket. A fresh tepid cloth and some soap were applied to the feet until they were close to clean. Another half lychee got popped in. The torso was next with ladles of warm water poured over it. The hot washcloths on the shoulders were replaced with the others in the bucket and the used ones returned to the hot bucket for rewarming. Warm wash cloths were used to fairly quickly rinse the front of the torso. I then moved around to ladle and rinse the back. Still no peep from the body. But another lychee half was accepted. I recycled the hot cloths on the shoulders, wet another cloth with warm water and filled the largest ladle with warm water. His eyes got covered with the warm cloth and I carefully ladled warm water over his head. This was somewhat difficult. I had the ladle in one hand and was using the other hand to hold the cloth over his eyes while pushing back on his forehead to stop water running into his eyes. He wasn't resisting me so his head was being pushed backwards. I had to brace the back of his head with my chest. Needless to say my bathing robe got wet with the next ladle pour and I had to remove it. The sleeves were getting wet anyway. I popped in another lychee. Wearing no bathing robe made it easier to splash water around more liberally. I used a yellow peach shampoo to wash his hair, successfully avoiding getting any in his eyes. A light liquid amber soap was ideal for his face. I had to bend down and peer around while doing this. He gently blew into my face. Ah. Initiative on his part. Progress, it seemed. Time to pop another lychee. Sandalwood soap was appropriate for his chest plus a change of the shoulder pads. I then moved around to the front so as to wash his back. A star anise soap seemed best for that job. Ah yes, well ... he must know what's next on the agenda. There didn't seem to be any resistance, so I took the little stool around behind him and sat on that. Lychee time again. Chinese jasmine seemed best, especially as I had it in liquid form. I soaped up his stomach moving lower and wondering whether the next move would be unwelcome. Wonder of wonders. He moved his legs further apart. That could only be a signal to proceed. I followed the faintest trace of colour south from the umbilicus. After washing, it sparkled as I rinsed it. What would the patch down lower look like? I washed the hips and outer thighs and then along the thigh folds. Rinse off, and the legs spread a little further. Ok. I couldn't wash the feathering. There wasn't any. But I could wash the down which would later grow into feathers. Not that I could imagine the feathers ever becoming hard or dense or fully covering him. Time to pop another lychee. The stork had brought some lucky mother a very beautiful cygnet. I wondered whether she truly appreciated it. I did. When a nestling feels the movement of an approaching adult it stretches its neck and lifts its head. As my hand encircled his nest, the head lifted in greeting. This brought to mind an adult bird feeding its young – mouth open wide so the young could put its head completely inside. It would have been the other way round if he had put his head in my mouth. Nourishment would have passed from young head to adult mouth. Such are dreams. The Chinese Jasmine soap slipped so perfectly over and around the upstretched head. And the two eggs nestling beside the raised hatchling were fondly soaped up too. So smooth, so silky, so sleek, so superb. It was an ethereal flight to the heavenly isle. A blissful journey into the celestial realm. The red emperor once more was raised upon his throne, winking his all unseeing eye to his only present subject. I was held enthralled. My hand gently stroked his majesty. The celestial one lifted himself even higher. And the body shivered. I changed the shoulder pads for renewed hot ones. The water was cooling down and he needed to be kept warm. Shifting to the horseshoe stool I sat in the middle and draped the body over my legs. His legs extended over one end of the horseshoe and I positioned his arms under his forehead on the other end of the stool. Time to play in the sand dunes. A choice of soaps was now difficult. I paused for a moment to consider. The body squirmed a little, getting more comfortable I realised. Myrrh fit for a king. Yes it had to be. I only had this in solid form. It requires more rubbing to obtain a lather, but I didn't see that as a disadvantage for this application. Round and round the dunes slowly rising higher. Surmounting the crest. Then back down the sides of the dunes and around the base. Ah the vale of joy. This didn't appear to need much cleaning. But you can never be too careful can you. The body seemed to appreciate the carefulness, so I ensured the washing was as thorough as any prince could demand. More squirming. Not to get more comfortable this time. There seemed to be almost a minor earthquake. The roof of the little temple in the valley was quivering. How entrancing. Was the roof in danger of collapsing? Would the inner temple be exposed to above? The master of the temple could not be ready to receive a visitor at this early time so I progressed to the tops of the thighs to complete the link. More shivering. Time for the drying room. I had switched it on when we first entered the bathing room. Now I stood up with the body in my arms. He immediately wrapped his arms around my neck. It reminded me of that time I had a young sea otter draped around my neck. I was so astounded then that such a young water creature could be so trusting of me, whom it had never met before. And draped around my neck while still damp, it was yet so warm. I was transported. And so was the body. Into the drying room. [ If you would like this story to continue please email me, Yoshi Torriati, at primewordsmith@hotmail.com Positive comments are always welcome. Many thanks to David Spencer for editorial assistance and advice on English usage.]