Chapter Eight

Mary Lim pointed to a small chair motioning for Jenny to sit there saying “I will get you started on the make-up and then I will start your bath.”

Mary Lim disappeared, coming back with a small chair, positioning it to face Jenny.  She said,
“We want to get you all cleaned up,” as she drew from her big bag an assortment of creams, tubes and small containers.

“Let’s first get the eyelashes, see if we can loosen them up a bit.”

With a deft move, and before Jenny could blink, she loosened one eyelash and then the other, moving on swiftly to Jenny’s  foundation which she wiped away gently with one of her creams, dabbing slowly.

There was mascara, lip gloss, eye shadow, foundation, some body powder next to be removed and then some eyebrow pencil markings Jenny had in place.
 
She wiped away next the lip-liner, and the neck make-up and some hair falls Jenny had in place to add length to hair at the sides.

Jenny sat quietly marveling at how much was involved.

She had done this,  of course many times in her life, but to have another person do it made her aware of how much was involved.

It was like becoming aware for first time how much of her look, her face, she put on each morning, and took off each night.

Mary Lim, sighed softly, saying, "You have a lot of work, I imagine, getting your make-up on and off each day??
Jenny nodded silently.

The ear rings came off next.

Jenny was unaware that she had left them on.  

Mary Lim put the articles in little boxes and small plastic bags she withdrew from her bag, one by one as she needed them.

She breathed softly removing now blush,  and then the moisturizer base and a special cream Jenny used to put highlights at the edge of her eyes to hide her new crow’s feet.

Mary Lim sat back and looked intently at Jenny’s face and her handiwork, motioning for Jenny to look at herself in the mirror.

“All that is now gone,” she said, “take a look and see if I have forgotten anything, jewelry, your cell  phone too has to be silenced and anything that can vibrate or ring.

While you do that I will start your bath and then we do the nails and the toe nail polishes.

Jenny obeyed realizing that this ritual was designed to take away all the things which had become part of her life for years, all the things which kept her plugged in, and tuned out so to speak--distracted.

She looked into the mirror, startled at first. She had taken her make-up off many times but Mary Lim had done a thorough job, no night cream, no night moisturizers, nothing. She was looking at her natural face for the first time in years, since her pre-teens really. It was a face she recognized but also a face she did not recognize.

Studying it, she saw a plain face,  eyebrows now at their natural height, lips not outlined, no gloss, and no shimmer, none of it. She would never let anyone see her like this. She had never gone out in public with no make-up on ever. Now she sat looking at this other Jenny.

It would take a while to get used to and she realized that she would have to wear this new face with any partner she might meet there.

Meantime Mary Lim called “Come.”

Jenny moved a Victorian Style room divider aside to see a large bathroom with a huge Roman style bathtub at its center.

Mary Lim stood there beckoning Jenny to come forward simultaneously seating herself on small stool. 

Jenny moved toward Mary Lim into the room who sat there on the stool with towels, a sponge and what Jenny took to be nail polish removers.

She said softly, “I’m going to bathe you after we do the nails and the toes.”

Chapter Nine

Mary Lim sat below Jenny who sat on the edge of the tub taking the opportunity to look at Mary Lim, whose long dark hair was truly beautiful, falling around a small face with magnificent cheek bones bordering two dark luminous eyes.

She smelled like lilacs.

Taking her hand she began applying the polish remover to Jenny's pinkie finger.

Jenny could not help but think, “This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home…”

The rhythm of Mary Lim's nail polish removal technique was hypnotizing; Jenny had done this many times herself, but another person doing it gave the experience a different cast.

Mary’s movements were deft, swift and expert-she completed each finger, wiping each nail clean with genuine skill.

But what struck Jenny was the gentleness of her touch. She held each nail softly as she worked, slightly elevating it, finger-tip to finger-tip displaying as soft a touch as Jenny had ever experienced.

Jenny allowed her eyes to close gently, feeling more and more connected to the woman as the process went on.

Her touch was a caring touch, reminding Jenny that she had not been touched with gentleness for a very long time.

It was not a sexual touch, but a caring touch; and Jenny felt herself tearing up and looking down to see Mary Lim's face looking into her eyes, her mouth slightly open, her eyes soft.

"You have stopped breathing," Mary Lim said, "you have to start practicing breathing, very important to keep breathing."

Jenny nodded.

Mary Lim went back to her work pretending not to notice, Jenny’s single tear which had fallen on her hand.

Chapter Ten

The toe and nail polish removed, Mary Lim looked up and motioned Jenny toward the "Bidet Deux."

“Ready? ” she said softly.

Jenny remembered having checked off that item on her questionnaire, as much out of curiosity as anything else.

She had used one while in Europe but had not seen one in the United States, except in hotels catering to Europeans.

She moved towards it, a beautiful one done up with a tan marble oval bath-tub sized bowl which she slipped into easily.

Mary Lim reached to adjust the Bidet nozzles. 

 “Lean back just a little more” Mary Lim was saying, 'I  just need to adjust your nozzles a bit to get the water temperature right. This is a special Bidget. It constantly drains in and out like a spa.

Jenny leaned over feeling for the double nozzle at the end of the Bidet but could not find it . Mary Lim helped her slowly adjusting the waterflow.

Holding the two nozzles in her two hands, Jenny started to bring them closer and closer to her. She started to feel the gentle flows.

When a girl she had seen her grandmother's “feminine bag" in the bath room, her mother explaining to her that women, who wanted to feel extra clean, would “douche” and press the bag creating a rush of warm water up there, “washing everything out.”

This one created a gentle flow of water; one flow in and another flow out,  indeed giving Jenny a sense of warm water rushing, swirling about and then rushing out, exiting in special vents in the side of the tub.

She relaxed, leaned back, feeling Mary Lim start the process of getting the hair-spray out of her hair and beginning the shampoo process.

In her characteristic gentle fashion Mary used low scalp massaging touches and slow gentle strokes through her hair, reminding Jenny of how her mother used to comb her hair, a childhood memory she treasured.

A mother washing or combing her daughter’s hair seemed, to Jenny, a most precious moment mother and daughter could share.

Remembering Mary’s reminder to breathe, she did just that allowing herself, to day-dream into the experience.

The Bidet seemed to wash away all the times she had made love and did not really want to make love, the times she had made love and did not feel loved after.

It was a cleansing.

The pulsating libations were ocean waves coming inside her, soothing her, washing out, making things right again.

Chapter Eleven

Mary was combing Jenny's hair and began talking in a soft soothing tone.

“You now need to start the breathing exercises, first start with slow deep breathing, inhaling deeply, letting your diaphragm become soft on the exhale.
Can I touch your diaphragm on the exhale?

Mary nodded.

“Now start the exhale, follow my comb stroke, comb stroke, deep inhale, as much air as you can take into your lungs. Take the world inside.”

“That’s it,” Mary was saying “just let it all flow inside, take in the world, as much as you want.”

“Now start the exhale, slowly, slowly, relaxed as possible, push all the air out, all of the air out, letting your diaphragm go soft, as soft as possible. No hurry.  We have all of the time in the world.”

Jenny began her exhale following Mary’s slow comb stroke, feeling the air come out of her lungs until she shuddered.

Mary reached over saying “Good but see if you can make your diaphragm be soft as possible on the next exhale.”

“Let’s do it again until you feel your diaphragm soften more and more. Exhale deeply to the point where you feel you might cough and there is the shuddering.  We want to do ten of these.”

“You might feel giddy, lightheaded," Mary was saying "or you might feel anything from anger, to laugher to wanting to cry. All this is normal.”

“It is ok, do whatever your body wants to do and notice where you feel energy flowing. Right now I want you to notice energy flowing from your diaphragm upward toward me, and downward through your center, through your legs, all the way to your toes.”

"Deep inhale," Mary was saying “deep shuddering exhale, deep inhale, deep shuddering exhale.”

Jenny did feel it, lightheaded, and then felt her body stiffen. Mary quickly said, “Don’t stiffen. Let go like you talked about in your goal chart. We want to get the energy flowing throughout the body. Inhale deeply, exhale, soft diaphragm. Let your mind wander."

Jenny was already letting her mind wander. She thought this exercise reminded her of being a baby,  a baby inside its mother floating in the Amniotic fluid.  It was a startling realization.

She floated, imagining that, in a way, she too, was just a baby, held up by water, warm and safe inside her mother.

The bidet was now making gurgling sounds, bringing her back hearing Mary Lim whisper, “Now notice where you feel tingly, face, arms, hands, eyes, thighs, notice how your body is responding. Let go and feel where your energies are and where things seemed blocked or numb. We’ll chart those spots later.”

“For now we pause for just a moment to let you catch your breath.” 

There was a silence as Mary continued her gentle stroking, Jenny’s hair splayed out behind her.

At last Mary Lim said:
“Now we want to try hyperventilating just little bit. Same deep inhale, same deep exhale, but faster, soft diaphragm again, and this time let your pelvic area move up and backward toward me, in a wave like motion, like when making love. Concentrate on letting feeling go into that area, let the water help, flowing in and out, let yourself feel how your toes feel, your breasts, your stomach. Notice how much feeling you have in that scar area, in your neck, your eyes, and your jaws. Notice everything.”

Jenny started hyperventilating with Mary Lim now taking her hand and letting it hover over the parts of her body mentioned above, saying “How does that feel, energetic, or numb, or nothing at all?”

Jenny did not look but she could feel Mary Lim’s hand as it moved to the different areas, her hand never actually touching the spot, just hovering above it. There was electricity somehow being transferred from Mary Lim’s hand to Jenny’s skin; it felt like tiny jolts of electricity.

“Keep breathing Mary Lim was saying, keep breathing no matter what.”

Jenny kept breathing feeling her body respond to Mary Lim’s fathom touches, she felt herself lift up anticipating the touch, her face, her arms, her shoulders, her scar, her stomach, her pelvic area and then it happened.

Jenny lurched wildly thrashing, crying out, crying, laughing, moving up and down, and thrashing water.

“Its ok,” Mary Lim was saying “let me know if it is too much. We can stop at any time. You ok?  Mary Lim inquired.

“Fine, Jenny said, “let’s keep going, let’s keep going, I want to feel, I want to feel this and finish it.”

Mary Lim said “Ok, I am going to touch your diaphragm, ok?"

Jenny nodded.

Mary Lim took the heel of her hand and placed it on Jenny’s diaphragm forcing the muscle to relax on Jenny’s exhales.

Strong pressure. The second one forced a tremendous exhale from Jenny and she screamed and lurched, started crying and splashing water. Her legs now lurched, out of control, her arms thrashed. It was as if she was a puppet, her body was in complete control of her, and she, Jenny unable to stop its thrashing.

The last time she felt this was long ago when the body orgasm thing happened.

Mary Lim was saying, “Ok, that was a good start Jenny. You Ok?"

Jenny, out of breath, and lightheaded starting to sob softly as Mary Lim stoked the comb through her hair over and over again.

 Link to Chapter Twelve:

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?id=59740&authorid=121255

 Recmmended Move: "Bliss"