I cried out only to feel a washcloth jammed into my mouth effectively silencing me! Try as I might, I couldn't move from my stretched out position, At the same time, I soft large hand slid down my back until it reach my buttocks and then another hand – likely from the same person – spread my ass cheeks wide. Just as the tension was easing, I felt a hand pressing firming between my shoulder blades holding me against the wall. After a six-hour flight and craning my neck over a book for almost three hours, I was really tense. I turned on two showers next to each other and, leaning into the wall with my legs spread wide, let the hot water beat down on my tight tired shoulder and neck muscles.
There must have been several men showering since the room was so full of steam I could see no one, just the low murmur of deep voices. There were no enclosures just a huge room with wide wooden benches down the centre and showerheads protruding at four-foot intervals all around the room. I arrived to hear water running and I stepped into the changing room to hang my robe in a locker and walked into the large tiled shower room. I donned my robe and grabbed my towel and soap (wasn't sure of what they supplied) and followed the signs directing me to the showers. In fact, they were one floor down near the pool. I had checked at the desk on check in and found that there were no restrictions on shower time since those facilities were well distanced from the sleeping area.
Before I realized, I glanced at my watch and it was already past 1:00 am. There was a padded easy chair, fairly comfortable, in the corner so, after unpacking my one suitcase, I sat to read a book and eat. It was late in the evening and I just made it into the Y cafeteria before it closed and grabbed a sandwich and drink to take to my room. In any case, I checked in – the rates are still a reasonable $15.00 per night – and found my room. There was none of what I had feared might be homosexual advances in the showers – perhaps since that many years ago, the city was filled with bathhouses and steam rooms where such ‘meetings' went on. Of course, all the washrooms and showers were communal and down the hall but for what was then $7:00 per night, you couldn't go wrong. I had stayed there many years before and it was quite pleasant - a tiny room with a single but comfortable bed and a small dresser.
As upsetting as this was, there was little I could do but being a bit strapped for cash, I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel for two weeks so I opted for the YMCA. I have been out of town on an extended project and returned to my home city of Regina in hopes that my new apartment would be ready to move into it was at least two weeks from completion.