It was yet again the morning of another day, with the cool breeze blowing past as the sun rose in the horizon.
Aaron had gotten to work with regards to the new idea that came to him after returning from seeing the chieftain — the massage parlour idea.
"Yeah, that's more like it!" Aaron breathed, clapping dirt off his hands.
He looked at what he had just constructed and erected in front of the Love Clinic — a signpost — and was satisfied with how it now looked after two trials of making it and trying to figure out the exact spot to fix it into.
The sign was a small rectangular white board that was attached to a longer, slim, cuboidal plank of wood, about some centimetres above half a metre.
Upon the board were two large fancily fonted words that read: 'DIVINE TOUCH'.
It was calligraphed in legible black letters for all to see and understand with just one glance at the board and underneath these boldened words were smaller words that needed a closer view to see.
'for some extra star shillings'.
One would notice the bolder words first and also the smaller ones, but as they were not as bold as the 'DIVINE TOUCH', they would need to inch closer to see what it read and that was what Aaron wanted — the attention.
Aaron admired the sign a bit more before turning to Elsa who had been standing beside him.
"What do you think?" he asked, dusting his hands further.
Elsa shrugged and then rubbed her chin while carefull studying the signpost as if looking out for errors but as she couldn't find one, "It's good, master. I don't see any problems with it," she finally concluded.
"That's fine then," Aaron answered back, before climbing the stairs that led into the clinic. "Now we wait for clients."
Aaron freshened up and so did Elsa as they prepared to resume the day's business. As usual, Aaron had a flock of clients since he was still reaping the good effects of his popularity in Bambara village.
"Please, can you help with my cough?" an elderly woman complained, coughing immediately after her request and rubbing her chest to calm the pain.
"Yes, of course. That's not a problem," Aaron replied, standing to go and mix some potions for her.
"That would be a thousand star shillings though."
The aged woman smiled and opened the small bag she carried and took out the exact amount that Aaron charged and handed it over before Aaron gave her the potion for her sickness.
"A teaspoonful of it in the morning as well as in the afternoon and night for the next fifteen days."
Elated, she bowed to Aaron while slowly tottering her way out of his office for another client to enter.
The next client came in, walking past the old woman and allowing her to walk through the door before shutting it.
"Sorry about that," the client apologized as he took enough minutes to annoy a person waiting.
"Have a seat," Aaron said, pointing to one of the two chairs opposite him. "What is the matter?"
"I've been having a burning sensation down there whenever I want to pee."
Aaron raised his eyebrows.
"Whenever you want to or whenever you actually pee?" he probed deeper.
"Whenever I pee, sorry," the client answered more correctly.
Aaron chuckled and clicked his tongue. "Let me guess, you've been doing a lot of things and are quite active, yeah?"
The client's face flushed with embarrassment when Aaron hit it cock on.
"But don't worry, my friend," Aaron declared, rising from his chair and walking around the table.
Aaron patted the client's shoulder, spurring him into looking up.
"Your case is a spot of bother," Aaron said, "just 8550 star shillings."
The client gulped, about to protest. "But—"
"Well, if you're not interested..." Aaron replied, taking an intentional look at the door of his office.
The client also turned to look at the door. He couldn't go back since Aaron was guaranteed to cure him. He sighed knowing he had no other options and agreed to Aaron's price.
"Okay."
Aaron chucked. "I will give you one free piece of advice along with your treatment."
The client's eyes lit up in anticipation of a free service, little did he know that it was not as magnanimous as he had imagined it in his mind. Aaron offered him a simple advice that would also help a great deal if he used it.
"Drink a lot of water, my friend."
.
.
.
The day went on as such with Aaron and Elsa consulting. Aaron handled the more complex cases while Elsa saw the ones with the milder conditions and in an event where Elsa met a complicated case, she didn't hesitate to send the person to see Aaron.
They did the same the very next day and the day after that.
Up to the fourth day since Aaron put up that signpost, none of their clients indicated any interest in receiving the divine touch of Aaron Winters. At best, they would look at the sign and look around them while thinking about it.
Aaron didn't expect the male clients to respond to it. He knew it would be bizarre for them to allow him massage their bodies, even he cringed as he thought about it.
It was the female clientele that he watched out for.
Occasionally, he would see a few of them struggling to make the decision, while staring at his signpost, and realised that his anticipated obstacle was in play — these women were afraid of what people would think or what their partners would do.
The tenth day since erecting the sign and no one had come to request for a massage.
Aaron and Elsa continued to run their clinic the way they routinely did without any trouble but this particular day brought less clients than usual, barely half of what they usually worked with.
The time for work elapsed and they were rounding up to leave when a stranger came upon the clinic.
"Hello," the stranger greeted with a raspy voice, shocking Elsa to the marrow as she was the first to meet her.
Elsa unconsciously stepped away from her in her defense while glancing up. In Elsa's defense, this person was taller than her and exuded an intimidating presence.
She had a dark skin and long grey hair with a floral headband tied around her forehead. The leather coat she wore was unbuttoned throughout and allowed to flail about, revealing the red bra that kept her breasts from popping out.
She looked down at Elsa and greeted again, "Hello?"
Elsa realised herself immediately. "S-Sorry," she apologized, "Wel-Welcome to the Love—"
The stranger laughed out loud, amused by how nervy Elsa was.
"Calm down, kid," she said to Elsa. "I don't bite... maybe."
"What's the matter, Elsa?" Aaron's voice came into the conversation as he stepped out of his office to meet Elsa and the female stranger.
"Oh?" he breathed, "If you're here for consultation, sorry but we are closed."
Aaron turned to lock his door when the stranger revealed what she had come for, causing a wide smile to appeared on Aaron's face with his back turned to her.
"I'm here for the so-called Divine Touch."
"Finally!" Aaron exclaimed inwardly, turning to face the client.
"But I have one question though," the woman said, her hands placed on her waist and her breasts bouncing up and down.
Aaron's narrowed his eyes and with a blank face, he replied, "What is that?"
The woman vibrantly pointed to herself with her left thumb, tilted her head and grinned in a dramatic way.
"Do I get a happy ending?"