A novelette in 20 chapters
Telling the Bees: Chapter 19
The Replacement
She had never particularly liked physical contact with strangers, and had grown self-conscious about her ageing body, its wrinkles, blotches, sags and blemishes. So Jim Barry’s suggestion of therapeutic massage was not one she had warmed to.
In the end, despair at the stiffening of her joints and the increasing severity of the muscle tremors drove her to acquiesce.
She wished that she had started much earlier.
Siân was a quiet little woman in her thirties whose delicate frame belied the strength of her hands. She had a gentle voice and calm manner which put Amélie at ease and peeled away her inhibitions about letting another woman see and touch her bare skin.
Their sessions became a weekly fixture that Amélie looked forward to immensely.
It was a disappointment, therefore, when Siân left a voicemail to inform her that she would be away all of February. No further explanation, but her voice sounded tense, worried. Some family crisis, perhaps?
Happily, she left the contact details of a colleague, Janine, who would be able to take over for the duration.
