CLOSING HIS EYES, he’s facing up the stainless shower head as the hot water was pouring on his forehead, splattering over his face... While the warm liquid was instantaneously running down his naked body, he could feel that the pleasant temperature was deeply soothing and relaxing his stiff muscles.
What a day, he thought!
Rogelio and his office-mate spent the whole day in a piggery farm today implementing, for the first time, the respiratory disease control program that he himself designed. It was an accomplishment; fortunately successful to make his boss happy!
This job was one of his treasures, perhaps the most valuable. He undoubtedly loved this work, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t mind the offensive odour that goes with his field assignments. The potent, piercing, foul gas wafting around the pig farm earlier seemed to have meticulously penetrated the fabric of his company shirt. The killer stench nearly suffocated him while he was driving back to the city and had obviously traveled with him up to his freshly made-up hotel room.
SO NOW IN THIS immaculate shower cubicle, he’d started lathering his skin and scalp to wash off the smell that stuck like a scum on his epidermis. Then he turned around to completely rinse off, and to enjoy the jetting hot water as it worked like a mini massage on his neck, shoulders and back.
Ten minutes had gone by and the steam had started to build up in this luxurious bathroom. The glass shower door was fogging up so he could only see a hazy reflection of his perfectly sculpted physique on the mirrored panel across. He turned the shower knob off, and reached for the thick and fluffy, white bath towel hanging nearby.
Rogelio dabbed two handfuls of a clean towel on his cheeks, indeliberately inhaling a hint of a disinfectant from the soft fabric. Instantly, his mobile phone beeped.
'Are you coming? We’re expecting you at the BBQ House. 301 Gouger St.' It was an SMS from a friend.
He ignored the message to entertain his thoughts. Fully refreshed, he could only wish that a hot shower could also wash all his worries away.
.
