The Love Song of Kali
Alexis looked at Yaami with the mixture of affection and lust that she felt for most of her long-term ex-lovers, and squeezed her thighs together as the former receptionist moved her healthy-looking baby from one enormous breast to the other. A few drops of milk beaded on the swollen dark-brown nipple, and Alexis restrained the urge to lick them off: she didn't have a lactation fetish (unlike some of her clients), but she did have a weakness for big boobs, and Yaami had needed a J-cup even before her pregnancy became obvious. "How's maternity leave treating you?" she asked.
Yaami's smile lit up her round brown face. "It's wonderful - now that this little angel's started sleeping for more than two hours at a time, without demanding to be fed. Or changed. And she'll accept a bottle from Mo, now, so I'm getting a decent amount of sleep. Well, almost. Sometimes. But it's worth it."
"Good. Let me know if you want to come back to work. Naomi's doing a great job, but I'm sure we can find you some hours, ease you back in part-time."
Yaami hesitated, then shook her head. "Thanks, but no... at least, not yet..."
"Mo doesn't want you to work?"
"I don't think he'd like me working here. Even on the desk. He's a bit conservative... he's fine in other ways," she added hastily. "He may want me to work at his practice, instead, and finish my nursing degree. And I may be able to talk him around when Indira is older -"
"Let me know if you want any help with that," Alexis purred.
"- but that's not why I'm here. A friend of mine has a problem, and I thought you might be able to help."
"What sort of problem?"
"I guess you'd call it depression."
"Post-partum?" asked Alexis, gently.
"No... post-operative, I guess. Post-cancer. She was treated for ovarian cancer, they caught it in time, gave her chemo, removed the ovary, it hadn't metastasized, physically she's okay... but emotionally..."
"Depression's a monster," said Alexis, relieved that Yaami actually was talking about a friend and not herself. "I'm not sure we have the tools to beat it."
Yaami looked up at the veve on the ceiling. "What about voodoo?"
"Voodoo only works on people who believe it, and anyway, I don't have the training. Hypnotherapy only works on people who want to be hypnotized. And we can't prescribe anti-depressants."
"Is there anything you can do? She's a beautiful woman who's stopped believing she's beautiful, just because she has a little scar and no hair."
"An ex of yours?"
"We've known each other since high school. She was the first woman I slept with. We've tried getting together again a few times since then, but it's never lasted more than a few months. None of her relationships have."
"Bi?"
"Dyke. She's not bi-phobic, she likes some men, but they don't turn her on."
Alexis nodded. The subliminals in the music she played in the clinic made nearly all people more suggestible, regardless of their gender and sexual preferences, but the combination of pheromones and aphrodisiac chemicals in the incense and perfumed oils worked best on promiscuous bisexual women. "And beautiful?"
"From the neck down, you two could pass for twins. Clones. Her face is more like mine, but not as fat, and she wears glasses."
"You're not fat," said Alexis, almost automatically. "You're voluptuous. Have you tried telling her she's still beautiful?"
"She thinks I'm just saying it out of pity. The same with her last ex, who offered to move back in when she heard about the cancer." She was silent for a moment. "Mo doesn't want me to sleep with other woman, but I think I could persuade him to make an exception for Karima, if I thought she'd say yes. He likes her, and he knows how long we've been friends. Can you do anything?"
"I can try, if you can persuade her to come here for a massage."
"I'll call her now."
***
Alexis looked Karima up and down appraisingly as she began stripping down to knickers that hid her surgical scar and hairless cunt. Yaami's description of Karima's body as near-identical to Alexis's own was remarkably accurate; she was just over an inch taller, and slightly wider across the hips, her shoulders were less muscular, her arms and legs thinner and her areolae slightly smaller, but otherwise the resemblance was uncanny. "Have you ever had a massage before?"
"Not a professional one. A friend of mine, Yaami, bought me a voucher. I think she used to work here." She handed Alexis her paperwork. "That's a lot of questions for a relaxation massage."
"Yes, and yes, I know. A lot of our clients, even if they're not after therapeutic massage, have pre-existing injuries and other conditions that it's useful for us to know about." She glanced at the forms, then at Karima's headscarf. "Chemo?"
"Yes. I'm thinking of trading the scarf in for a wig. It might stop people thinking I'm a Muslim."
"You can take it off, if you like. Or leave it on. Same with the pants: whichever is more comfortable. I'll try not to get oil on either of them."
Karima hesitated, then unwrapped the scarf, removed her glasses and stepped out of her knickers, then lay face down on the massage table. "Okay."
"This says you're thirty. You're really in great shape for your age."
