I should have expected the massage attempt. I should have mentally prepared my poor, drug-enhanced mind for what was about to happen, but I couldn't. Simply turning my back to him, body language sending my message loud and clear, he obviously didn't receive it. As soon as I felt his hand squeeze the side of my stomach, I bolted to the bathroom to compose myself and trip on the floor tiles for the next hour or so.
As my time on the beach lengthened, and as it happens in the traveling world, the friends I had been spending time with slowly dwindled down to none, and were replaced with new ones. I didn't feel the need to spread the joke of the Tortoise - he had been made fun of behind his back enough. Slowly but surely, through the expansion of my beach social circle, I began spending time in groups with Michael. He would join the table I was sitting at, come over to massage a friend or two I laid with at the beach, organize volley ball games in the afternoons, and would come to almost every one of my yoga classes. Sure, seeing him in small, spandex shorts in table top position (pose requires the crotch to be thrust upwards, neatly wrapping his package even tighter) wasn't a pretty sight, but I began to see the charm of this man. This massure.
He always had a smile on his face. Always a story to tell. Every new person to arrive on the beach would have their Mayan Astral Sign worked out for them at some point or another thanks to Mike. We became aquaintances. Then finally one day that gap was bridged, as he read my new friend S her Mayan sign, a hand was placed on my calf and he started to gently massage. At first I flinched - a knee jerk reaction - but once I realized how DAMN good at it he was, what a strong healing energy he was, I simply gave in and enjoyed. It was one of the best decisions I made on that beach in the whole 2 months I was there. After all, as I got to know him better I realized he was on that beach to heal himself, too. Grow from the computer nerd with absolutely zero confidence or social skills to the shining weirdo in the pink hat who everyone happily lets massage away their pains.
One day before I left we were at the same dinner table, and I was a little drunk, sharing my fondest memories of everyone in attendance. When I got to Mike I laughed.
As my time on the beach lengthened, and as it happens in the traveling world, the friends I had been spending time with slowly dwindled down to none, and were replaced with new ones. I didn't feel the need to spread the joke of the Tortoise - he had been made fun of behind his back enough. Slowly but surely, through the expansion of my beach social circle, I began spending time in groups with Michael. He would join the table I was sitting at, come over to massage a friend or two I laid with at the beach, organize volley ball games in the afternoons, and would come to almost every one of my yoga classes. Sure, seeing him in small, spandex shorts in table top position (pose requires the crotch to be thrust upwards, neatly wrapping his package even tighter) wasn't a pretty sight, but I began to see the charm of this man. This massure.
He always had a smile on his face. Always a story to tell. Every new person to arrive on the beach would have their Mayan Astral Sign worked out for them at some point or another thanks to Mike. We became aquaintances. Then finally one day that gap was bridged, as he read my new friend S her Mayan sign, a hand was placed on my calf and he started to gently massage. At first I flinched - a knee jerk reaction - but once I realized how DAMN good at it he was, what a strong healing energy he was, I simply gave in and enjoyed. It was one of the best decisions I made on that beach in the whole 2 months I was there. After all, as I got to know him better I realized he was on that beach to heal himself, too. Grow from the computer nerd with absolutely zero confidence or social skills to the shining weirdo in the pink hat who everyone happily lets massage away their pains.
One day before I left we were at the same dinner table, and I was a little drunk, sharing my fondest memories of everyone in attendance. When I got to Mike I laughed.
