Chapter 5: Moving On

When Jimmy arrives for his next appointment he is still using his crutches, but now he is putting a little weight on his knee as he half walks, half crutches, his way into the building.

“Look at you,” exclaims the receptionist. “Before long you’ll be good as new.”

“I don’t know that I can get back to being that good, but I hope to quickly get back to being self-sufficiently mobile,” replies Jimmy.

Sharon is waiting with the wheelchair but moves it to the corner.

“It looks like you’re doing great and won’t need that any more. Let’s get you started on the next phase of your rehab.”

Jimmy slowly follows Sharon along the well-known path to his torture chamber. Sharon puts him on the bike again to get things loosened up and then retreats to a closet to retrieve some stretch cords and other props for his new exercises.

Sharon looks at the timer and sees he still has six minutes on the bike.

“So, Bina disappears and you ultimately marry Betty, but you said that she was not the next chapter?”

Jimmy nods, eager to continue with the story he has never told anyone.

“Yes, I was devastated when Bina disappeared. She was my soul-mate. She was there after my parents were killed. She was there every week. I hated the research she was doing, but she was committed to changing the focus of her research when she joined my department.”

“For two months I was out with the volunteers searching anywhere that Bina may have gone after leaving her car. I was also at the police station regularly. Shrentic tolerated my incessant questioning, but I really wore thin Lane’s patience.”

Jimmy chuckled at the memory of Lane’s exasperation when he would see him coming through the doors of the squad room.

“When the police and FBI finally called it a cold-case and the searching stopped, I was lost. I did the only thing I knew. I put all of my time into my research. I would spend upwards of a hundred hours a week in the physics building.”

Sharon nodded her understanding.

“Career-wise it was great. I continued to expand on my theory which was gaining acceptance throughout the physics community as the best explanation of what was being observed with so many physical experiments. I wrote the bulk of a half-dozen papers that would ultimately be published and secure my work as the cornerstone that would spawn countless projects at universities around the world.”

Sharon was again astounded at how well-known and respected around the world this man with a bum knee was when he was in his prime.

“But at some point you had to stop working so much,” said Sharon.

“It was spring time. The chair was hosting a department-wide picnic at the property he just bought near the lake. He convinced me that I needed to go and socialize. We had several new faculty that had started in the fall and with my isolation I barely knew their names.”

“The picnic was as picnics go. Plenty of hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, lots of drinks, various outdoor games, and a few tables set up under a tent for those inclined to play pinochle or bridge. I had a quick bite to eat and greeted a few of the fellow professors. I was ready to make my getaway when I was stopped by a graduate student.”

A first-year graduate student working with one of the new professors had spotted Jimmy. She approached him with her hand outstretched.

“Excuse me, are you Dr. Gaylord?”

Jimmy extended his own arm and shook the proffered hand as he nodded.

“It’s so great to meet you. My name is Stacy. I work with Dr. Hobbins and I have been reading a lot of your work. I’m thinking I want to do a project for my thesis based on your idea that fusion may be a viable energy alternative if we can find a way to contain the immense heat. Basically, if you are correct, I should be able to use materials that will obviously not contain a fusion reaction, but based on your latest equation, I should be able to test various components and see a linear progression until the temps reach the Gaylord Point, at which time there should be an inflection followed by an exponential progression.”

Jimmy was impressed. That was a solid idea for a tenured professor; coming from a first-year student was a real surprise.

“That’s a great idea. Feel free to stop by if you have any questions.”

“Oh, that would be fantastic,” Stacy gushed.

“If it’s not too much, can we chat for a little bit right now?”

Jimmy said he was going to be a party pooper and head back to the department.

“Really,” Stacy squeaked. “Could I get a ride from you? I came with Dr. Hobbins and he’s been playing cards for hours. I don’t think he’ll be ready to leave any time soon.”

Jimmy considers her request and then says, “Sure, go give him a heads up so he’s not looking for you later.”

Stacy runs off toward the tables as Jimmy finds the department chair and offers his thanks to the host and begs off any further participation in the festivities.

Stacy finds Jimmy as he loiters on the front porch.

“I’m ready,” she says, “thanks again for giving me a ride.”

As they ride toward campus Stacy nervously explains her idea for a thesis. When they get closer she suddenly asks, “Can you turn here and let me run into my apartment for my notes?”

Jimmy does as instructed and is led to a five-story apartment building on the edge of campus.

“Do you want to escort me?”

Jimmy exits the car and falls in beside Stacy as they approach the building. He says, “How do you like this complex? There are some bad rumors circulating.”

Stacy shrugged. “It can get loud with the parties. That’s probably the source of the rumors. The cops have been called a few times since I’ve lived here, but I haven’t personally seen anything outside the lines.”

Jimmy watched as Stacy gave her report and felt like she may have seen, or done, more than what she was admitting, but there was no reason to push any further.

They traipse up to the third floor and as they approach a door near the end of the hallway Stacy digs a key out of her purse. She opens the door and waves an arm for Jimmy to enter.

He finds her apartment to be not that unlike his apartment from graduate school. Clean, but furnished with a hodge-podge of affordable second-hand furniture. He also realizes that his days in such a place were not that many years in his past.

Stacy leaves him in the living room as she retreats to the bedroom to collect the notes in her briefcase. When she returns she finds Jimmy looking at pictures on a bookshelf.

“Those are from our family vacation to Mexico City after I graduated college and my sister graduated high school. We’re four years apart in age.”

As Jimmy turned to face Stacy he didn’t realize she had come up behind him to also look at the photo. His elbow connected with the bag she was carrying causing the shoulder strap to unfasten. The top zipper was unfastened as well and the notes within spewed out of the bag in a spectacular arc covering half of the living room floor.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see, are you OK?” Jimmy starts to stammer.

Stacy laughs. “Yes, I’m fine. All you got was the bag.”

They both kneel to start collecting the notes when Stacy slips on a sheet of paper. She tries to recover by spinning and reaching for the couch, but instead she only succeeds in grabbing Jimmy’s sports coat and turning him around. The two fall as one into a heap in the center of the mess.

Stacy’s face is just inches over Jimmy’s face. Without thinking she lowers her lips and engages him in a tentative kiss. Something clicked in Jimmy. It had been months since he had any human-to-human contact, let alone intimate contact with a woman, and now with a beautiful, nubile student kissing him he did what came naturally.

Jimmy returned the kiss. He also moved them into a seated position as his hands started to explore under Stacy’s shirt. She could feel him get hard, but before he could continue she rolls off his lap and sits next to him leaning against the couch, panting.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think we should do this, especially if you are going to be on my committee.”

Jimmy throws caution to the wind as his libido had been re-awoken.

“I won’t tell if you don’t tell,” he responds.

Stacy grins wickedly and stands. She reaches out her hand to help Jimmy up and then leads him to her bedroom.

Sharon gasps, “So you start doing it with a graduate student?”

Jimmy says, “Not one of my proudest moments, but it’s probably what I needed at the time. I knew it wouldn’t last, but it got me back in the saddle, so to speak.”