Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The cabana boy


Admit it. We all have secret fantasies. In these moments, we stretch beyond our fears and limitations. We become the person we always knew we could be.

Successful. Brazen. Powerful. Rich. Seductive. Unblemished.

In private inner thoughts, our potential unfolds without boundaries.

Let’s consider Molly, a woman whose marriage is on the rocks. A woman who has always felt inferior to bustier types. A woman who needs reassurance that someone loves her unconditionally. A woman who needs an escape from reality.

Molly might have this dream:

Gentle waves lapped the pristine white sand. The sun warmed my bronzed skin as a muscular cabana boy walked toward me carrying a tray of umbrella-topped drinks. He was much too young for me, but he seemed riveted by my svelte body, his dark brown eyes boring into me with animal-like fascination.

I flushed under his rapt attention. He caressed my cheeks with long languid stokes, and my heart rejoiced. His breath came faster and faster, and it thrilled me that he was so attentive to my every desire.

There was something familiar about his scent. I inhaled deeply, freeing all the pent-up tension in my lungs, straining toward his heat. My eyelids drifted shut with pleasure at his repeated caress.

+++
We are all cheering for Molly, right? She’s inhabiting a world where everything is exactly as she wishes. A world where good things come to her by virtue of her existence.

Her rich fantasy of a cabana boy who worships her body with his eyes and hands is likely a near universal ideal among women of a certain age. Having a fantasy like this, particularly in light of a horrible mess in real life, provides an escape into a world where happiness reigns supreme.

However, Molly’s liaison with the cabana boy is in question. Read on:

Something hard, cold, and wet touched my face. I startled awake, surfacing from my cocoon of sleep. I shoved the object away, blinking against the blinding sunlight filling my bedroom. As my brain booted up from dream mode, I was filled with a sense of profound loss.

I wanted to be back on that tropical island with my handsome cabana boy.

“Five more minutes,” I murmured, scrunching my eyes closed and burrowing into my fluffy comforter. The heavy object rolled up to my nose with a thud.

My eyelids popped open at the unexpected impact. Goldie’s slobbery rock lay on my pillow. I groaned and then shoved the rock away, blinking against the bright sunshine. I squinted over at the clock. Seven.


By now you may have guessed Molly is a character in a book and that the snips above are excerpts from Murder in the Buff. The book is a campy, offbeat mystery in which her father is accused of murdering a nudist.

Molly’s dream of adoration by her cabana boy, in this case, her son’s golden lab, link back to her deep-seated feelings of betrayal. Those play into her fears of physical inadequacy, giving a double wallop to this flawed character.

In addition, she’s blindsided by the entire situation. Molly’s a woman in jeopardy of falling apart at the seams.

I wrote her that way because so many times in life, women get caught up in a double boiler of balancing career and family. We know we aren’t keeping all the juggling balls in the air. We can’t. It’s physically impossible. But we try it anyway.

Molly gets a happy ending, but she has to work for it. She has to process her feelings and learn to trust her reactions again. She has to decide what she wants and then she has to go out and get it.

In finding herself again, Molly becomes empowered. Gosh, we could all use a bit more of that!

Maggie Toussaint


Murder in the Buff e-book buy links:

10 comments:

  1. Holy moly, Maggie....that didn't take a whole lot of imagination. Your book sounds really good also! Congratulations

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Penny,

    Thanks for stopping in to comment. Murder in the Buff is one of those blended romances and mysteries, and it appeals to fans of both genres. I hope you will click over to my site and learn more about it.

    Maggie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, Maggie, I just wish I could remember what a FANTASY WAS!!!! LOL I find that I'm really not writing so much of that anymore in my own stories as I did before. But I know what you're talking about here. I think I'm just tired and overwhelmed right now...I'm hoping that one of these days in the not-too-distant future I WILL recall those kinds of things once more! LOL
    Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cheryl,

      I hear you, sister. Sometimes there's so much life going on, we don't have time for daydreams. I mourn those times. We need dreams and daydreams, or at least I do!

      Thanks for the visit!

      Maggie

      Delete
  4. A friend gave me a Hawaiian shirt decorated with cabana boys who are wearing not too much. I save it for special occassions. I enjoyed your post. I met you at a Mystery Writers meeting in Denver, and I read your novel No Second Chance, and really enjoyed the horse-y setting. Now I need to check out your island mystery!
    Cathy Dilts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cathy,

      I'm thrilled that you picked up No Second Chance and even happier that you loved the horsey setting. You were the lady with the horse shirt, right?

      I know you'll get a big kick out of Death, Island Style as well as Murder in the Buff.

      Thanks for checking out my blog! Maggie

      Delete
  5. Wonderful post, Maggie. You really got readers involved with Molly and her romantic dream. We all need some of that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jacqueline! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I'm wishing for a great daydream right about now...
      Maggie

      Delete
  6. Fun post Maggie. :) Love the dream sequence. ^5

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the visit, Diana. A gal's gotta have her dreams, doesn't she?

      Delete

Thank you for visiting Mudpies, the blog for Maggie Toussaint, Rigel Carson, and Valona Jones