Then They Came for Me_ A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival - Maziar Bahari [111]
“Sir, she’s an older married woman from the Philippines,” I answered.
“Filipino?!” he asked with interest. “So you’re telling me that all the news about women from Thailand doing those dirty things is false?”
“I said the Philippines, not Thailand,” I corrected.
“Same thing,” he sneered. “I’m sure you know all about Thailand as well. I know your kind.”
Paola and I had spent three weeks in Thailand and Cambodia in March 2009, and I had a number of photographs of us there together, which by now he’d surely seen. There seemed to be no doubt in Rosewater’s mind that we had traveled to Southeast Asia for perverse sexual pleasures. “Why did you go to Thailand?” he asked.
I was going to explain that Thailand was a transit stop to Cambodia, but I had been through days of beatings, and my body ached. I was also tired of these very personal questions. At that moment, I had an idea: maybe it was time to give him what he wanted, in a tactical move to distract him from my personal life.
“I’m ashamed to say why, sir,” I answered quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a really personal and shameful thing to say.”
Rosewater’s interest was clearly aroused. He came closer to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “You can tell me anything you want, Maziar,” he said, his voice soft and gentle. “This is just between us.” He took the paper from my desk and crumpled it into a ball. “You don’t even have to write it down.”
I bowed my head and, somehow, found the ability to cry on cue. “But, sir, it’s a shameful thing to say.”
“What is?”
“I like sexual massages.”
He was quiet for a few moments, but I could hear him breathing heavily. “What do you mean?” he asked, his voice faint.
“Well, sir. As you know, I suffer from terrible migraines. Often, when I reach orgasm, my head throbs. So while in Thailand, I would get an Asian …” I paused. “Masseuse …”—I drew it out—“… to relax me.”
“Go on.”
I went into the lurid imaginary details. Of how the young, toned Thai masseuse would take off my shirt. Of how she would put oil on my body and start rubbing me, beginning at my shoulders. Of how she would move her way down.
“Without her clothes on?” he interrupted.
I hadn’t thought of that detail. “Yes, sir, it’s shameful. They always begin the session by removing their clothes. First her top. Then her panties. When she is totally naked, she rubs her body with herbal oil. It smells so good.”
“Like what?”
“It’s hard to explain. You’d have to be there in the room to understand it. The smell I like best reminds me of tropical forests in the morning after a long rainy night. You can just forget all your problems by inhaling the fresh air.” Rosewater was hooked. He wasn’t saying a word. I have to admit, I was enjoying my made-up story as well. “Before she climbs on top of you to begin the massage, you can smell the herbs. The smell relaxes you right away.”
Rosewater sighed quietly. I knew that with my story, I was torturing this miserable man, who spent all his time in dark cells beating and torturing innocent people. That gave me such pleasure.
Chapter Sixteen
“What do you think of my performance, Mazi?” Rosewater asked a few days later. From the sound of his voice I could sense that he was sitting in front of me. He had done this only a handful of times, and always when he had questions that contained at least a trace of truth. I guessed that he wanted to study my reactions in order to find out whether or not I was lying.
“I’m sorry sir, I don’t understand. What do you mean by ‘performance’?”
“I mean, do you think I’m a good interrogator?”
You’re a bloody psychopath, I thought. “Well, you certainly have made me confess things that I have never confessed to anyone in my life,” I answered.
“Example?”
“My shameful acts in Thailand, which I had to explain the other day.”
“But there are many things that you haven’t confessed, Mazi.”
“Sir, if I haven’t confessed things, it means that I didn’t want to lie to you,” I said. “I think your beatings extract the truth from me. The beatings hurt, but I feel better because of them.