Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 10:19:58 +1200
From: prime wordsmith <primewordsmith@hotmail.com>
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.]