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| Part 4 |
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| I spent the afternoon puttering. I washed and dried his jeans. I had somereading to do for work. I kept expecting him to rouse himself. From timeto time I would walk down the hallway to the bedroom and stop just outsidethe door, listening, to see if he was still breathing. My sister says shedoes that with her kids. Evening came and I made myself another sandwich. I had concluded that hewas simply exhausted by the ordeal of the last few days, and that he wasgoing to sleep through till morning. I had also concluded that I was goingto be sleeping on the couch. I had imagined that he would sleep on thesofa-bed in the living room when I first offered him a place to stay. Ihadn't thought about giving up my room. But now it seemed just as easy forme to sleep on the couch. In fact, I convinced myself, it would make iteasier for me to come and go in the morning without waking him. Tonightsomehow it didn't seem worth pulling out the sofa-bed mattress, and Igrabbed a sheet from the linen closet to cover the cushions on the couch. Iwas tucking in the sheet when I heard the bedroom door open. Red appearedin the hallway, swinging on his crutches, wearing just his undershorts and acrumpled T-shirt. His jockey shorts were full of what could only be ahalf-hard post-nap full-bladder semi-erect cock. He had a big grin on hisface. His self-consciousness seemed to have evaporated with his sleep."What the hell are you doing?" he bellowed, and for the very first time Iheard some Texas in his voice. "Hey sleepy-head. I thought we might have lost you in there." "What are you doing putting sheets on the couch?" "I thought I might go to sleep. You're not the only one who gets tired atthe end of the day around here." "You're not sleeping on the couch in your own house." "I don't mind, really. It is a comfortable couch. And that way I won'twake you when I get up to go to work." "Tomorrow's Sunday." "Well I'll have to work on Monday." "I won't allow you to sleep out here." "Well it's not practical for you to sleep out here. You'll actually be inmy way out here." What was my point? What was I trying to argue? Why wasI arguing with this half-naked man in my living room? "Shut-up. I have to take a piss. I thought you might want to supervisethis time so I don't kill myself in the process." He turned and headed forthe bathroom. Did he really expect me to follow him in there? "Red?" "What are you waiting for, man? I really gotta go and it seems I can't betrusted to do this on my own." I followed him, tentatively. "Listen just let me lean on you. I need one hand to handle this here fellaand I need to lean on you with the other for balance so I don't land my assback on the floor like I did this afternoon." I stood there, acting as his anchor, while he pissed, long and loud andhard. "You know Red, you could sit down and take care of this on your own." "A girl sits down to pee. A man stands up." He hopped and fumbled as hetried to maneuver himself back into his underwear and flush the toilet. Isteadied him, holding his elbow. "Thank-you kindly." "Anytime." "You know," he said, on our way out of the bathroom, "we could both sleep inyour bed, if you want." I was dumb-founded. Was my big injured Red askingme to sleep with him? "My brothers and I shared beds all the time, growingup. At Christmas we still share beds." My heart sank. Sharing a bed asbrothers. I knew that it was too much to hope for to think this beautifulcaptive man that had just fallen into my life might also share my sexualpersuasion. "Sure. I mean, if you think you could sleep, with your leg and all, and menext to you. I really don't mind the couch." "Shit, I'll take the couch." "No, you're right. We can try sharing this bed. I think in your conditionyou should be in a bed." "My condition, shit. I broke my fucking ankle, I'm not pregnant. Not yetanyways." I went back to the hospital the morning after the accident to get my truck.I had called my motor club service number, and they were sending someone tomeet me in the parking lot with jumper cables. All the way up the hill Idebated whether or not I should try to look in on Red. I didn't even knowhis last name. I wasn't a friend or a relative and I didn't know if theywould even tell me what room he was in. When I opened the truck I saw hisboot still sitting on the floor. I decided I at least had to try and returnhis boot, and the boot gave me a relatively plausible reason for inquiringinto his whereabouts within the hospital. Once we'd jumped my truck I drove around for a while to charge my battery,and to work up the courage to walk into the hospital and find out whatthey'd done with Red. In the hospital bed he looked smaller than I had remembered. He was proppedup with pillows behind his back and he was wearing one of those awfulhospital gowns that look like a smock. His injured ankle appeared to beswaddled in white cotton gauzy bandages, but I didn't see a cast. It waselevated, and looked like it was secured in place so that he couldn't freelymove about. He was turned away from the door, watching the television whenI came in. He didn't see me standing there, foolishly holding his hikingboot. It occurred to me, too late, that I should have brought him somethingbesides the boot, but I didn't know what. I was actually steppingbackwards, out of the room, convinced that this visit was a mistake and thatI should have just left his boot with the nurse, when he turned and saw me.There was a moment on non-recognition, and then his face lit up. "Hey," he said, smiling. "Hey. I brought your boot. I thought, you know, you'll need it." I wasstumbling over my words. "Thanks." "How are you?" "Really? Terrible. But they say I'll make it." He smiled again. It was awhole new face. Last night his face had been beautiful in a haunting andeerie way, his jaw muscles sculpted and tense, the pain etched in thecreases of his grimace. Today his face was beautiful in a whole differentway. His smile was broad, and warm, and his relaxed jaw was inviting. Drynow, his red hair was curlier, and bushier, short still but less severe. "Listen," he said, serious all of the sudden. "I want to thank you for allof your help last night. You really came to my rescue. I don't think I wasvery dignified." "I did what anybody would have done. You seemed like you were in pretty badshape." I wasn't comfortable being anybody's hero. "How bad is it?" "Pretty bad I guess. It's a compound fracture. I broke both the tibia andthe fibula, just above my ankle. I must have twisted as I fell. It'sbroken clean through but there is a spiral fracture. They couldn't set itwithout surgery. They had to put a pin in to hold the bones together. Andthere's a fair amount of soft tissue damage. Walking on it was not a goodidea. They said I'm lucky I didn't sever a nerve or a major blood vessel.I also ruptured a ligament, which they had to re-attach. The doctor toldme that was actually why it was so painful." "How long are you going to be laid up?" "They can't cast it until the swelling goes down a bit. They are going totry to tomorrow, if they can, at least temporarily, so they can dischargeme. I'm supposed to be non-weight bearing for two months, and then awalking cast for at least another two months after that, and maybe longer.They want me to start some rehab as soon as the pain abates a bit, to helpreduce the recovery time. It doesn't look like I'll be hiking for a while." "I'm sorry." He was looking awfully forlorn. "What are you going to dowhen they discharge you? Do you have somewhere to stay?" "I don't really know." He looked sheepish. "I haven't really thought itthrough. I don't know anyone here in Vermont. I don't know if I cantravel. I'm not going to be able to drive, at least not my car. It's aCivic with a standard transmission." "You could, I mean, if you really don't have anywhere to stay, I have someroom. You'd be welcome, I mean, I have an apartment not very far from thehospital. There is an elevator..." Impulsively, without thinking it through, all of the sudden I found that Ihad offered him both a place to stay and an earnest effort to retrieve hiscar from the mountain parking lot where it still sat. To my surprise hetook me up on both offers, and suddenly my quick visit to return his boothad become something very different, something bigger and bolder than I haddone in a long time. |
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