Following in Sextile's footsteps, I paid a visit to Agaya at Boss Mansion on Rama 4 Road. Sextile's reports were not encouraging, so I considered myself forewarned.
Here's what happened:
Six masseur boys had their photos in an album. Having indicated to the captain that I was looking for skill in massage, he recommended Mah - “professional massage” he said. Looks quite presentable too.
So, OK, “Let’s have Mah,” I said. And then the fun began. He looked high and low for Mah in the premises but was nowhere to be found. Mah must be outside, then. (And the captain didn’t know?).
Telephone contact was then made. “Where are you?” asked the captain. Some conversation followed and after the call, the captain assured me Mah would be back in 5 minutes.
Then a tall, long-haired guy emerged from the bowels of the shop. “You want him?” asked the captain.
“But haven’t we already asked Mah to return?” I said, perplexed. “Is he coming back?”
“Yes, he come,” replied the captain.
“So how can we just pick someone else? We’ve just promised Mah, have we not?” I just couldn’t understand the cavalier way in which promises can be broken. In any case, this guy was much too tall and thin for me. His long, unkempt hair - and the fact that he looked somewhat dopey - was no selling point either.
Or was the captain not entirely sure whether Mah would be coming back at all? Sometimes, it is hard to tell how truthful people are when they’re trying to sell you something. I pressed him. He was absolutely sure, he said.
So we waited. Then he showed up.
“He OK? Can?” the captain asked, as he put his arms on the guy’s shoulders.
“Yes,” I said.
Then followed a conversation between the two which I didn’t understand but from the tone of voice, it sound like “but this…” and “but that.” Nonetheless, they seemed to resolve whatever issue it was between them and the boy brought me a glass of water.
And then sat down with me on the sofa. Which I thought rather strange. They don’t usually do that.
Even though he spoke some English, it was a while before I realised that he wasn’t Mah. (I had wondered why he looked rather different from the photo face-wise, though physique-wise, was very similar. But then photos have been known to be deceptive.).
“My name Ei,” he said finally. “Actually, today I free day.”
So what’s he doing here? And is he going to be my masseur or not? I looked quizzically at the captain, not for the first time. To that, his response was, “He professional massage too.” Like he expected me to change my mind.
But Ei seemed to think he wasn’t expected to work on his day off. Evidently, what I thought had been resolved in their conversation was not quite resolved. It turned out that he lived on premises, so that even on his day off, he was just hanging around. The captain however thought he should be available for my choosing too.
Finally, I had to grab the captain and tell him firmly that I would wait for Mah. I do not go around breaking promises. If somebody has dropped whatever he was doing to return to the shop just for me, I would not want to disappoint him. The captain then called Mah again and this time reported that he’d be here within 2 minutes.
To be continued....
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