a number of years ago, my bestest friend in all the world told me that one of her friends wanted to meet me. As I'm never one to refuse a request from a beautiful Korean lady, I accepted this invitation and agreed to make the trip to Boston when my friend and her boyfriend went up to visit.
Now, something weird happened along the way. I don't quite know what, or why, but by the time I got there, said Korean lady was no longer all that interested in meeting me, and had picked up a boyfriend mere days before. So here I was, stranger in a strange land, with three people who didn't want to be bothered with me. (Korean lady: newly-involved, best friend: monopolized by jealous boyfriend, boyfriend: jealous and hostile)
As if that weren't funny enough, the Fates decided I needed insomnia to round off my experience. I couldn't sleep for three days straight.
Now, this is where the fun part comes in. My makeshift bed was laid out perpendicular to the Korean gal's (I'll call her Myung) own, with the foot of my bed touching the pillow end of hers. For some bizarre reason, she was sleeping *backwards*; feet on pillow, head at the other end.
Saturday night, around 3am, I decided that my trip was not to be a total loss.
Sitting as close to the edge of my bed as possible, without looking like I was doing so, I reached over and gave one of her exposed soles the single-finger, toe-to-heel treatment. She jerked in her sleep and shifted her feet under the pillow. I waited a few moments until she was still, moved the pillow away, and did it again.
She kicked again, but otherwise didn't move. I gave her toes a stroke.
This time, she woke up with a start. I, of course, was back in "position". She looked around confused, then said to me, "was I sleeping?"
"I would assume so, you were snoring."
She went back to sleep, but I didn't risk it again. I eventually told my best friend I'd tickled Myung's feet that weekend, but to this day, Myung has no idea... and I consider the secret sufficient payback for her dismissal.