Gazman and Allie Ch. 01

As we walked out, Allie took my hand, and it took all my willpower not to shake her hand off.

I forced a smile.

"How was the massage?", I asked as any husband would do.

"Oh," she replied "quite good - just a normal massage. One new thing I've never seen before was a back stretcher - you sort of kneel on this machine, and as you lean forward, it pulls you by the arms and stretches your spine. It's like traction, and I could feel my spine popping as it stretched me. It was wonderful."

At least a grain of truth, I thought, but no mention of being stark naked when getting stretched.

"Nothing special about the massage itself then?"

"No - just the normal back and leg massage ..."

I pretended to wipe something from her cheek with my thumb.

"What's that?" she asked, but blushed deeply.

"I don't know; just a little spittle or something" I responded, pretending to wipe my hand on my trouser leg. Allie turned her away from me and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, examining it to see if she could see anything.

Guilty as sin, I thought to myself.

We walked back to the entrance of the mall, realizing that there wouldn't be time for a drink before heading back to the ship. After the airconditioned coolness of the mall, the heat and humidity hit us face on as we searched for transport.

In the taxi on the way back to the cruise terminal, we were both quiet. I realized that Allie did not ask me what I did in my hour alone. She was looking out the window, away from me, probably thinking about her recent experience.

I decided to give her one last chance to come clean.

"Is there nothing more that you want to share about your massage experience?"

"No," she lied "why do you ask?" She tried to hide her guilty look. Not succeeding, I thought to myself.

"I'm sorry. It's just that ... one hears a lot of stories about Thailand, and getting a free massage just sounds too good to be true."

"Oh no," she lied again "nothing funny happened, I promised - it was just a normal massage".

Why promise?

"Was it as good as my massages?" I prompted.

"No; it was just ... uhhm ... different, I guess?"

"I think I should give you a massage, and then you can compare" I suggested.

"OK", she said, not with much enthusiasm, but probably very aware that it would look suspicious if she refused my offer, especially after my prodding.

The outline of plan was slowly taking shape in my head.