Ralph and the Pixie

These were pushed into a corner of the apartment, to a place where a large, hinged box sat upon the floor. To his surprise, the second girl lifted the front of the hinged box, and pushed, sliding it into the wall, exposing the bronze bathtub which lay inside the box.

‘I’ll be damned,’ he muttered, as the two girls quickly filled the tub, and then stood patiently, watching him expectantly.

‘Um, that’s all right,’ he told them, finally realizing their intent, ‘I can wash myself.’

Abruptly, they exchanged a startled look.

‘How have we offended you?’ the second girl asked him abashed.

He wrestled with himself a moment, then realized something; that he felt about these young women as he would around nurses, that this was how he should feel. Feeling as though such an act came perfectly naturally to him, he doffed his clothes before the two women, and stepped into the bath.

To his further relief, they went to work on him, immediately and professionally.

After washing his hair, the first girl began tending to the wound on his neck. He stared when she brought out a tray from somewhere, complete with thread, bottles of unknown substances, and strange-looking crescent-shaped objects, shaped almost like animal claws with holes in the wider end, most of which were very small, narrow, and paper-thin. She dabbed something on his neck which made it feel tingly-warm; then, strangely, there seemed to be no feeling at all. She then selected one of the crescent-shaped objects, threaded it, and to his shock, began sewing up the gash on his neck. He flinched at first, anticipating pain, but there was none. He began to relax, to let her do her job.