Chapter 7: Married Life

When Jimmy arrives for his appointment at 9:00 the following Monday the receptionist has him initial and sign the form like every previous meeting, but then offers some disappointing news.

“Sorry, Jimmy, but Sharon is out today. Something came up over the weekend and she needed to call off sick. Instead, Reggie will be working with you on today’s exercises.”

Jimmy tried to hide the disappointment as he said, “OK, no problem.”

A few minutes later a very large man comes around the corner and calls his name, “Jimmy?”

Jimmy waves and then sees Reggie turn and walk toward the rehab room without further comment. He shrugs and tries to follow the quickly retreating technician.

The session is done in under fifty minutes and Reggie says almost nothing the whole time. He does a great job of working Jimmy over, but Jimmy leaves the center feeling a void due to Sharon’s absence.

Jimmy decides to head straight to the food bank and start early. It is a slow day so he’s really not needed. After a couple of hours he takes his leave. He gets back in his car with plans to stop at Cajun Cracks for an early dinner. Instead, he changes directions and works his way across town to visit with Ernie Sr.

He sees several spaces available in the handicapped area, but consciously avoids parking in one. Instead, he parks in a wide space just to the left of the handicapped parking and easily retrieves his crutches that are now used more as a mental assistant than physical crutch. As he works his way into the building he sees Ernie Jr.’s wife and mother exiting. They look downcast and Jimmy assumes the worst.

“Meredith, Karen” he calls out.

They see him and turn slightly to intercept his path toward the door.

“Is everything OK?” Jimmy asks.

Meredith, Ernie Sr.’s wife, studies Jimmy and then asks, without being accusatory, “How long has it been since you visited?”

Jimmy is somewhat embarrassed to answer that is has been almost six weeks since he last made the trip.

“Then, no, everything is not OK,” says Meredith. “He’s about the same as last week, but much worse than when you were last here.”

Jimmy is crestfallen that his friend has taken such a turn for the worse and he was unaware of the circumstances.

“I’m so sorry to hear. What is the situation?” Jimmy asks gently.

As Meredith starts to speak Karen peels off to the side and begins to quietly cry.

“He had another stroke. Most days, including today, he doesn’t know who we are when we visit.”

Meredith bites her lip before continuing.

“All of his numbers are going in the wrong direction. Just today the doctor said it is only a matter of time and he strongly suggested we consider palliative care going forward.”

Jimmy limped to Meredith and gave her a hug.

“Meredith, I’m so sorry. If there is anything I can do, please...”

Meredith’s cries are muffled as she buries her head into Jimmy’s shoulder. She regains a bit of composure and straightens.

“Of course. I don’t think there is much that can be done, but I appreciate the offer. More importantly, I appreciate that you are here at all.”

Jimmy smiles wanly, “Small comfort, I’m sure, but since I’m here I’ll go in and make a quick appearance.”

As he moves away from Meredith he steps up to Karen and gives her a brief hug, too.

“Same goes for you, kiddo. So sorry. Let me know if you need any help.”

Karen doesn’t do as good of a job holding it together and her quiet tears quickly turn into vocal sobbing as she turns and speeds toward the car.

Jimmy works his way into the facility and then to Ernie’s room. Meredith was right. He’s not doing well, and he looks it. Jimmy sits in a small chair next to the bed and quietly calls his name. No response. He sits there for about fifteen minutes without anything from Ernie.

He stands and pats Ernie’s hand. “Well, old man,” he starts, then doesn’t know how to finish. He pats his friend’s hand again and turns and heads out of the room as a small tear runs down his cheek.

Sharon is standing at the reception desk when Jimmy arrives for his next appointment. He pauses there just long enough to scribble his initials and signature on the required form and then they head toward the rehab room.

Jimmy starts, “I missed you on Monday.”

“I’m really sorry, but,” Sharon pauses and looks over her shoulder, “but, JT, my boyfriend, surprised me with an out of town trip. I had to tell everyone here I was sick.”

Jimmy’s eyes light up at the news. “That’s fantastic. I’m so happy to hear some good news.”

Sharon starts to ask what is wrong when Jimmy adds, “An old friend had a second stroke and is fading quickly.”

“I’m sorry, Jimmy,” says Sharon as she escorts him to the stationary bike.

“Start here. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

When she returns she sees that there is only a minute left on the timer. Jimmy is doing a fantastic job of pedaling normally. He proudly points out that he has bumped up the resistance twice since she left.

“Excellent,” says Sharon. “Now, when we last spoke you had just married Betty and indicated the rest of the story was boring, but I want to hear how you stayed married to the same woman for over fifty years.”

When the timer beeps Jimmy dismounts from the bike and follows Sharon’s nod to see that he should head to the inclined plane for squats. She sets another ten minute timer and then looks at him expectantly.

“After we got married I had saved enough money to have a down payment on a house so we both moved out of our apartments. It was a smaller house, but was a great location between our two offices.”

“Wait a sec,” Sharon says, “what about the wedding night? All this time with no hanky-panky and you’re going to skip right over the good parts?”

Jimmy’s delay is longer than any of his previous ones before telling a new chapter of his story. He is struck with an odd feeling of something like betrayal as he thinks about telling Sharon details of his love life with his wife. He also realizes he has already told her so much that no one has ever heard and this is just the next chapter. He eventually continues as he carefully picks his words.

“The good parts are good, very good between us, even though they may not necessarily seem too exciting to an outside observer.”

Sharon shows a bit of disappointment in her face. “What? No fireworks?”

Jimmy’s gaze goes bland for a moment as he reflects on the time when he first knew his wife in the bedroom.

“No, there were fireworks. Betty was a virgin when we married. Her first time was on our wedding night. I knew she was a virgin and took it very slowly. She surprised me when she said she had been practicing on her own – fingers or even the occasional vegetable.”

“No!” shrieked Sharon. “Really, a vegetable?”

Jimmy laughed, “That’s what she said, and I believed her. When we consummated the marriage she wasn’t tentative as I entered her, and there was no barrier or any blood. Instinctively, her body knew what to do and she quickly became an active partner in our lovemaking.”

Sharon is watching Jimmy as he finishes talking. His eyes have slightly glazed and he has a weak smile as he thinks about Betty.

“That’s beautiful,” says Sharon.

Jimmy then adds, “It was like that our whole lives. Even after we had known each other’s bodies for decades, we still enjoyed the act, and continued having sex until the end.”

“Until the end?” asks Sharon.

“Yeah. We didn’t know anything was wrong with Betty. She didn’t have any symptoms, wasn’t sick in the traditional sense. She died in her sleep one night. We had sex just three days before she died. It may not have been as raucous as our early years, but we were still romantic on occasion.”

By now Jimmy has finished his exercises and has moved over to have his knee iced.

As Sharon applies the ice she asks, “And was it just you and Betty? No kids?”

Jimmy sighed. “Correct, we never had kids. After we were married we assumed we would follow the American dream and have our two-point-four kids and live in the suburbs. We made it to the suburbs but without the kids.”