Chapter 26: “L” for Love, “L” for Lost

Saturday, October 27, 2012 6pm

Jesse and Kirsten were both a bundle of nerves as they checked into the hotel. For Kirsten, this was the culmination of all her hopes and all her fears. She desperately didn’t want to disappoint Jesse, and Jesse was equally concerned that he made this important moment right for Kirsten. She had willed herself to overcome her fears. She wanted this to be as special as Jesse did.

The dinner was very nice, but it was obvious the two of them had their minds on something else. They retired to their room just after eight o’clock and turned on the television. There was nothing on that interested the two of them as they sat together on the sofa. Almost by telepathy, they decided to get ready for bed. Kirsten went first, followed by Jesse. He took the comforter off the bed and turned down the blanket and top sheet.

Kirsten was some time in the bathroom, while Jesse was stripped to his shorts and in bed waiting for her arrival. At last, she emerged, wearing a slinky, dark blue, sleeveless nightshirt that came to mid thigh. Jesse smiled at her in appreciation. She couldn’t have looked more seductive if she’d tried.

“I like your outfit,” he said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Thank you. I chose it especially for tonight,” she smiled in return.

Jesse had plans for an extended foreplay to make sure Kirsten was ready for him. That plan lasted less than ten minutes. Using his mouth and fingers, he prepared her for what was to come, patiently waiting until he felt she was prepared. Kirsten was impatient, however, wanting Jesse to begin their joining sooner than he expected. And she wasn’t passive about it either. She reacted strongly to his foreplay and rose to meet his every move.

“Now, Jesse, please,” she said in a hushed voice. “I am ready.”

Jesse once again reminded himself that she was completely inexperienced at making love and he willed himself to slow down and be very careful with her. It was the right thing to do, but Kirsten wasn’t playing along with his plan. Fortunately, birth control pills allowed both Jesse and her a complete experience. She was demonstrating some urgency, grasping his erection and rising up to meet him. It was awkward, but Jesse understood she was anxious to begin. Once again, another carefully crafted plan was discarded.

He entered her slowly and steadily, finding neither resistance nor any sign of discomfort on Kirsten’s part. He continued until he was fully engulfed, resting there for a moment to allow her to get used to the feeling of him inside her. Again, Kirsten began to move in response, instinctively using her hips and rising to attempt to take more of him, her hands now on his butt, urging him deeper.

He tried to take it slow and steadily, but Kirsten kept pushing him to more and faster.

“Ya, ya, ya, ya,” she cried softly as he moved steadily into her. “Oooo ... ya, ya,” she continued her approval.

Whatever demons Kirsten had harboured, they had been pushed aside. She was giving herself freely to a very surprised but delighted Jesse.

Sometime later, they lay side by side, damp with perspiration and temporarily spent.

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

She smiled sleepily at him. “Ya.” Shortly afterward she drifted off to sleep. Jesse wasn’t long after her. His careful planning may not have gone the way he hoped, but he had to admit, the result was wonderful. She reacted spontaneously to his attentions. Their entire evening had been one of mutual pleasure.

They made love once more in the morning, this time with Kirsten on top.

“I want to do this much more, Jesse,” she smiled as she kissed him. “I love you, Jesse,” she said with a kiss.

“And I love you, Kirsten. I think I have since I first met you.”

Monday, October 29, 2012 12pm

Jesse was whistling a tune as he entered Norwood Books. It had been a weekend to remember. He and Kirsten had made love for the first time. It was better than he had imagined or even hoped for. In some unexpected way, it was even better than when he was with Candice. Whatever her past fears were, they weren’t present on Saturday evening or Sunday morning. He had wanted that evening to be a fond memory for both of them, and she assured him that he had succeeded.

There were no secrets. Kirsten had told her mother what they planned and received her hesitant approval. Anika worried whether her daughter was really ready for an intimate relationship with anyone. She consulted with Eve, only to find that Jesse had told her what the two young lovers had decided. Eve was confident that both of them knew what they were doing and didn’t want to conduct their affair in secret. That was a relief for Anika. She did not, however, tell Tomas everything, only that she was staying overnight with a ‘friend.’

“You’re in a good mood this afternoon,” Grant smiled.

“Yeah, I am,” Jesse admitted. “I had a great weekend.”

“Oh, and I suppose that included a certain Miss Gustafson,” he probed.

“Well, you suppose correctly,” Jesse replied, revealing no more.

“It’s good to have happy employees,” Grant said, turning back to his paperwork.

Jesse knew he was going to have to talk to Grant about his time at the bookstore. He had begun to develop plans for the future and, since money was no longer a deciding factor, he would continue on at the store as long as Grant was willing to have him, but he wanted to cut back on his hours. His priorities were changing. His education was a priority, and his relationship with Kirsten was a priority. He hoped Grant would be willing to return to the alternate afternoon system that he had employed when Jesse first went to work for him.

The discussion was short.

“I’ve been expecting this, Jesse, ever since you knew you would be attending university full time. I was wondering if you could make three afternoons at the usual time?” Grant asked as they chatted late that afternoon.

“I hope so, Grant. It will depend on my courses, so until I have a schedule, I won’t know for sure. As soon as I do, we should sit down and plan something out that works for you.”

“Okay, that’s sensible. I have a couple of résumés that look like good candidates, so I don’t expect I’ll have a problem filling in for the time you won’t be here.”

“This is a great place to work, Grant. I’m really grateful you took a chance on me and gave me a job.”

“It wasn’t much of a chance ... besides, how was I going to turn down Mrs. Coultard?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, she is tough to say no to,” Jesse agreed.

Friday, November 9, 2012 6:30pm

“Are you alright, Jesse? You look very pale,” Eve said as he arrived back at the apartment.

“I don’t feel too good, Eve,” Jesse admitted. “I’ve got a headache and I’m going to skip dinner, take a couple of aspirin and go to bed. Maybe I’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Good idea. I’ll make sure Mica doesn’t bother you. I hope you’ll be feeling better in the morning,” she said with a warm smile.

Jesse undressed and climbed into bed. It took a while for the aspirins to take effect, but at length he dozed off.

Wednesday, July 12, 1961 8:15 am

“Ah, there you are, Mr. Peterson. You’re waking up finally,” the nurse smiled.

Jesse gradually gained some focus and looked around him. “Where am I?”

“Just where you’ve been for the last ten days, in the hospital. Your doctor should be along shortly.”

There was something terribly wrong with this scene, Jesse realized. This was not Coast Central Hospital, but something a good deal older.

“I want to see Doctor Mikeska,” he said.

“Doctor Mikeska? I don’t know of anyone by that name here. Doctor Phelps is your family doctor,” she said, consulting the clip board on the end of the bed. “Doctor Curtis is the attending physician. He’ll be here momentarily.”

“I don’t know any doctor by that name,” Jesse protested. “What day is this?”

“It’s Tuesday, July 12^th,” she answered, still absorbed in checking his vital signs.

“That’s not possible. It was November when I got sick,” he said desperately. How did I get here?”

“Your parents brought you in, as I understand it. I wasn’t on duty at the time,” she announced, moving to leave the room.

“Wait! Don’t go. What year is this?” Jesse asked with a feeling of foreboding.

“What year? It’s 1961 of course. You really have lost your bearings, haven’t you,” she said with a shake of her head before disappearing into the hallway.

“Oh, God,” Jesse moaned to himself. “It’s happening again. Now I’m back where I started. Was this all some kind of bad dream? Did I just imagine Eve and Kirsten and all that? Am I going crazy?” he wondered once again.

He lay there in a state of turmoil as a thousand thoughts rushed through his mind. It couldn’t have been a dream. It was too real ... too continuous. “I touched and felt things. Making love to Kirsten and Candice wasn’t imaginary. It was real,” he thought to himself. “What now? What comes next?”

The answer was not long in arriving. A doctor entered the room, a stethoscope hanging from his neck. He was no one Jesse knew.

“Hello, Mr. Peterson,” he said with a friendly smile. “I’m glad to see you awake at last. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know,” Jesse answered honestly. “I’m confused. I don’t know this hospital and I don’t know you. Why am I here?”

“You were brought in by your parents when they were unable to wake you one morning. We’ve been trying to figure out just what was wrong with you, but so far, we haven’t discovered the cause. You are a very unusual case.”

“Yeah, that’s me all right, a very unusual case,” Jesse said sourly. “When am I getting out of here?”

“As soon as we determine you’re fit to go back home. It will be a couple of days yet, I suspect,” he said, consulting the chart the nurse had kept.

“Do you think you can stay awake for a while?” he asked.

“Yeah ... why not. I’m okay now. I don’t know what was wrong, but I feel okay now.”

“Well, we’ll be the judge of that,” the doctor smiled, “but I’m pleased you’re feeling alert. We may get you up for some walking this afternoon. I want to see how your motor skills are after being unconscious for so long.”

“Why don’t we try it now?” Jesse suggested.

The doctor seemed to ponder the question for a moment, then shook his head. “You have a catheter in your penis. We’ll have to remove that first. We’ll just leave it for now and come back this afternoon and see how you are. You may be dizzy standing at first. I don’t want you to have a fall and hurt yourself.”

“Are my parents here? Do they know I’m awake now?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have the nurse get someone to call them to let them know,” he promised. “In the meantime, relax and we’ll see you this afternoon.”

Jesse collapsed back on the pillow, frustrated that he couldn’t leave the hospital yet, equally frustrated that the somewhat painful catheter was not being removed. And he was hungry. He had no illusions about what the hospital would serve for lunch, but he hoped they realized he’d want to be on the list for whatever it turned out to be.

His mind drifted back to where he’d been. Seventeen months in another world. A modern, more populated, more violent world than he had come from. No, it was not a dream. Desktop and laptop computers were not a dream. The cars he drove were not a dream. Grant’s bookstore was not a dream. It all happened to him, but why? For a brief while he’d been rich. And now all of it was gone and he was left with only memories.

Wasn’t that ironic? It was all he had from his former life as well. He’d lost his parents and all his friends and relatives. He’d had to adapt to a world he didn’t understand, or even comprehend. And yet, with Eve’s help, he did adapt ... and cope. She was right. Humans are an adaptable species. Now ... now he was back in the ‘old world’ as he thought of it. Gone were all the wonderful new toys that the twenty-first century had presented him with. Gone were Eve and Mica and Kirsten and Mrs. Coultard and Grant and so many others he had become friendly with. And he knew he would miss them a great deal.