South of the Boudoir, by ARthur

Chapter 1
South of the Boudoir, Part 1

Chapter Description: By ARthur

Suddenly becoming wealthy at age 33 taught Valene Hawson some real life lessons. The most important was that money couldn’t buy happiness. You could use it to place a rather substantial down payment on happiness, but it would only take you just short of your goal.

For Valene, the down payment included an apartment on the top floor of the exclusive Ocean Point Towers with a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean. She had a housekeeper come in several times a week to keep things tidy. A closet full of fabulous clothes allowed her to go in style anywhere in her PT Cruiser auto.

Her ultimate goal, however, was Rob Corboy, a physical fitness technician with the McCauley Health Club. His title belied the fact that his job was to lead group aerobics sessions. But what wasn’t to like about Rob, with muscles bulging from beneath his tank top down his arms, his lantern jaw, bright blue eyes, perfect white teeth, and short groomed pepper brown hair. Valene had wanted to get him in her arms in her boudoir since she first spotted him at the beach nearly two months before.

But Valene realized she was in no shape to pursue Rob. She knew his tastes from close observation. Rob only returned the flirts from the best-looking, toned and well-endowed women. And Valene was 30 lb. overweight with a rounded face, flabby legs and a B-cup chest. She especially knew that Rob wouldn’t settle for oranges when grapefruit was available.

’Why won’t men like Rob go for a woman with merely a good personality’, Valene thought. It was her personality that resulted in her inheriting nearly $30 million from her grandfather.

According to the will, Valene was named sole heir because her grandfather remembered how during her girlhood she frequently visited him, bringing small gifts like dandelions from neighbors’s front lawns. He remembered how she sat in his lap and listened to his stories about his adventures as a rail-riding hobo in the late 1930s, his exploits in Europe during World War II, his vacations in Latin America, even how he built from scratch his now-defunct plumbing supplies business. He especially remembered how cheerful Valene had been, and how she always tried to cheer him up.

"In that Valene Hawson was the only one of my grandchildren to regularly visit me during my retirement and seemed happy to be with me, I hearby bequeath my entire estate to her," the will he wrote in 1983 read. Who knew that the old man living on monthly Social Security checks would be worth so much? Who knew that his efforts to supplement his income with dividend checks would result from his buying IPOs from companies he thought had quaint names, like Wal-Mart, Netscape, Microsoft and Starbucks? He willed his assets to the only person who cared about him when everyone else thought he was near broke.

The executor had only one bit of advice for Valene. "With this fortune, you could become like that little girl who so captivated your grandfather; being carefree, having fun while having others perform the necessities for you," he said.

But a good personality only works with grandparents, Valene believed. She knew she would not be happy until she won and married Rob; but Rob wanted more. So Valene enrolled as a member in the McCauley Health Club, and visited several times a week to reconfigure her physical assets into a shape more pleasing to Rob. She worked very hard to thin and tone her body, but progress was extremely slow.

On one particular day, Valene was working up a sweat on the exercise bike. Covered with perspiration, she turned to the occupant of the adjacent bike, a brown-eyed brunette with Roman features who appeared to shop at the same spare tire store as Valene.

"Race you to the bakery and back," Valene challenged the woman.

"I think that’s why we’re in the shape we’re in," the woman replied, adding, "Looks like you’ve had enough."

Valene puffed furiously, then responded, "There must be a better way than this to get fit and sexy."

Later in the ladies’ locker room, the woman approached Valene smiling and offering her hand. "I don’t think I introduced myself. I’m Uxia Santos."

Valene returned the greeting, adding, "You-SHE-a. How do you spell that?"

The woman grinned more broadly, and said, "Any way you want."

This friendly exchange resulted in the two ladies joining each other over a couple cups of McCauley’s house-blend Tangerine Health Punch. At this point, Valene repeated her gripe that there must be a better way than this to get fit and sexy.

"There is a better way, a much shorter way to get fit and more youthfully beautiful," Uxia noted. "But I’ve never been able to afford it."

Valene was intrigued. "What is this way?" she inquired.

"Izumiwakai mineral water! It comes from an underground cavern in the Kuraihebi Springs area of far southern Japan. The water is supposed to have amazing and near immediate rejuvenative properties," Uxia noted, adding, "But there is a hitch. A liter of Izumiwakai mineral water costs $10,000. And it isn’t available through regular sales outlets. You have to know a friend of a friend to get it. I’ve located such a source, but cannot afford to buy any."

"What proof do you have that this water does what you say?" Valene countered skeptically. Uxia reached into her large handbag and produced a brochure and a reprint of a report supposedly from a prestigious medical school. And there it was in full color before Valene ; all the proof she’d need. The price was a bit steep, but Valene really wanted to complete the furnishing of her boudoir.

"Could you get me a bottle of this Izumiwakai water?" Valene asked, as she produced her checkbook. "I don’t know" Uxia started.

"Tell you what. You get me a bottle, and I’ll buy one for you too. You look like you can use it, just like me. Consider it my tip." Valene said, as she scrawled a check for $20,000.

"I’ll bring it to your home by morning. What is your address?" Uxia excitedly said.

"Just bring it to the health club tomorrow evening. That’ll be soon enough," Valene replied.

Uxia entered the McCauley ladies locker room the following evening with a small brown bag. Valene looked plaintively, expecting to get more for the sizable amount she had paid. Uxia handed Valene one bottle, hoisted the other, grinned at Valene and said, "Bottom’s up!"

Valene was disappointed that there was no immediate effect. She wondered if Uxia had pulled a fast one on her. She hauled her cellulite-encrusted rear to the treadmill machine and set it for 2 mph. Uxia occupied the machine next to her.

But as the two ladies began to pick up steam, the miraculous occurred. Valene could feel her body tingling from shoulder to ankle. As she trotted along the backward moving band, she could feel her exercise clothes becoming looser with two exceptions : her chest and forearms. The more she ran, the easier it got. She upped the treadmill speed to 4 mph, then 5 mph. ’I feel great!’ Valene told herself.

"You ladies have certainly made fast progress," a female employee complimented Valene and Uxia.

Off the machines, the two ladies rushed to a full-length mirror and were amazed at what they saw. Valene saw almost a stranger staring back; one with a thin, well-tone body. Her face was more angular with high cheekbones. Her waist was pencil thin. Her legs were long and curvaceous. And she now had a D-cup chest.

Uxia also had experienced a similar change. Her arms and legs had lost their flab and became shapely. Her waist had gone from 30 to 22 inches. Most remarkable, her breasts had enlarged so that they were pushing out her sports bra, giving her bottom cleavage. "We’re young and gorgeous now," she giggled.

Valene then pulled at her old exercise clothing, which now hung on her svelte frame. "This will never do," she said to Uxia, before running to the health club’s clothing store. She emerged a few minutes later wearing a form-fitting purple leotard with gold racing stripes that accentuated her every curve.

Uxia watched Valene closely as her new friend grinned in the direction of Rob. "I have life and liberty," Valene said. "But tomorrow, I begin my pursuit of happiness."