Chapter 4

The next day, when Mai Li tried to get Bobby up, he said he’d get up, but he didn’t. When she went back and nagged at him, he again said he’d get up and get dressed. Twenty minutes later his head was still buried under the covers.

Thinking he was trying to push her buttons in retaliation for what she’d said, the day before, she simply had breakfast and then went to see about getting him a laptop. Pre-Covid the store she went to would have been open around 8:30. It was as “post” as Covid was apparently ever going to get, and the sign on the store said it opened at 11:00. She wasn’t willing to wait for an hour and a half, so she drove back home to find Bobby still in bed. He wasn’t asleep, though, so she went and got her alarm clock and brought it to his room. She plugged it in and set it for one minute in the future and set it down on his dresser top, which was as far away from the bed as she could put it. Then she stood, arms crossed, and waited.

Her alarm was obnoxious because it was an old clock. Somewhere along in the nineties clock manufacturers started making their alarms all chirpy and relatively quiet. Perhaps it was because people complained that an alarm clock in one room woke up the whole house, or that they could hear their neighbor’s clock go off in the apartment next door. For whatever reason, modern alarms were polite. They started off very softly, and then got progressively louder for those people who tried to ignore the offending device and keep sleeping. But they never got really loud. Mai Li had bought her alarm clock at Goodwill, and it was an old school one that had been in some closet or box for a decade or two. She called it her zombie alarm clock because it would wake the dead.

When she thought things were about to get loud, she put her fingers in her ears. There was no reaction from the bed when the alarm started its annoying shriek. Fifteen seconds later his head came out from under the covers. He stared at her. She walked out of the room.

She only moved far enough to get out of his field of vision and when she saw his boxer-clad body cross the room she went back in. He couldn’t figure out how to make the alarm stop, so he just unplugged it.

“Good!” said Mai Li in the sudden silence. “You’re up! Get dressed. You need to eat breakfast so we can go look for a new laptop for you.”

He dragged his heels, but that didn’t hurt anything. They got to the store at 11:30 and talked to a manager about his situation. There was nothing in the policy handbook that said a customer could be billed for a product and still remove it from the store. There was no one in the store, in fact, who had the capability to send anyone a bill for a purchase. All purchases had to be made either with cash or credit card.

They still looked at computers, and Mai Li wrote down information on several of them to talk to Ted about.

When they got home, Bobby opened a can of Chef Boyardee for himself and ignored Mai Li.

“That’s not good nutrition, Bobby,” she said.

“It’s what I’m going to eat,” he replied.

After lunch Mai Li called Ted and told him about her experience at the computer store.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said.

Mai Li was surprised when Bobby was willing to do some studying on the math and science modules in his GED program. He had no questions for her, however, so she didn’t need to hang around him.

She sat in a chair and read for two hours until he got up and said he was going to take a nap.

The next few days were similar in the sense that, while Bobby did what Mai Li asked him to, he was never eager to do so and never expressed any happiness or joy. Mai Li had thought this would pass, that eventually he’d forget about her thoughtless comment and forgive her. He was either too hurt or too stubborn, though. The only bright spot in the week was when Ted called and said he’d gotten approval to establish a credit card in Bobby’s name. They still had to have prior approval to use it, and then they’d have to pick it up, buy whatever, and then return it to Ted, but at least they’d have a way to buy things like the computer.

“It will take a couple of weeks for the bank to issue the card,” said Ted. “Can you get by until then?”

“I guess so,” said Mai Li. “He can keep using my computer until then.”

It was because the computer did belong to Mai Li that she was able to go in and look to see how much Bobby was getting done on his GED work. What she found was that he wasn’t getting very much done. He might be sitting at the computer for two hours at a time, but he wasn’t getting two hours of work done.

Things just weren’t getting any better.

Because Mai Li lived with them, she was always there when Vicky wasn’t at work. For the first week all Vicky wanted to do was sleep, but with the weight of also taking care of Bobby while she worked two jobs lifted, she became less exhausted than she’d been before Mai Li came. That gave her time to talk to Bobby’s physical therapist. Their relationship was a comfortable one from the start. Vicky trusted the younger woman completely, and Mai Li knew that Vicky would have walked through fire for her son. Having someone there to watch over Bobby had been an immense relief to his mother, and she’d finally been able to get the rest she so desperately needed.

Having recuperated, somewhat, though, Vicky noticed the tension in the house since Mai Li’s and Bobby’s relationship had taken the hit. And the surprisingly candid conversation Mai Li had had, concerning Bobby’s erections and how the girl was worried he had a crush on her, was not repeated. Vicky knew the male of the species didn’t just stop reacting to women, and she sensed things weren’t going well. Mai Li didn’t say anything to her about it, though, and it was easier to pretend things were okay. After almost a week of observing that neither of her housemates were bubbly anymore, she finally brought it up.

“What’s going on with you and Bobby?” she asked. “Both of you are acting like your best friend died.”

Mai Li had been tempted to talk to Vicky about what had happened, but she didn’t want to burden the woman with things like that. Vicky had plenty on her plate already and Mai Li was only supposed to be there to do physical therapy and tend to Bobby if he had a seizure. The opening Vicky made, though, let her vent some of her frustration.

“I made a stupid comment and it ruined everything,” she blurted.

“What kind of stupid comment?” asked Vicky.

“He told me how he felt about me and I basically shut him down like he was a jerk coming on to me at a party.”

“Men do so poorly with rejection,” sighed Vicky.

“I didn’t mean to reject him,” moaned Mai Li. “He said he wished I had a boyfriend and was unavailable and I told him I was unavailable to him. It came out all wrong. I shouldn’t have even said that at all. Ever since then he won’t look at me or talk to me. He does what I tell him to, but his heart isn’t in it. He just goes through the motions and that’s not going to make him get better. I screwed up everything and now nothing works!”

“Calm down,” said Vicky, reaching to touch Mai Li’s hand. “It’s probably not as bad as you think.”

“It is as bad as I think,” groaned Mai Li. “It’s been four days since I hurt his feelings and he’s still in a funk. Attitude is the most important part of any physical therapy. The patient has to want to get better or nothing you do will achieve the best result. I killed his desire to work at it. You might as well find someone else to take over his care!”

“You keep trying to get me to fire you,” said Vicky. “I am not inclined to do that, though, so we’re going to have to find a way to get him back on track.”

“I’ve tried,” sighed the young woman. “I try to be upbeat and friendly, but he won’t even look at me. It’s worse than when I first got here!”

“What about the problem you mentioned?” asked Vicky. “Does he still get erections?”

Mai Li blinked. She hadn’t paid any attention to that, recently.

“I don’t know,” she said, hesitantly. “He won’t let me touch him,” said Mai Li. “He says he doesn’t need a massage. For the last few days, if he was doing crunches and I was holding his feet, he did all of them with his eyes closed!”

“I’ll talk to him,” said Vicky.

“You can’t,” groaned Mai Li. “He’ll be too embarrassed about it.”

“I’m his mother!” snapped Vicky. “Whether he’s embarrassed or not, this has to be dealt with. Don’t tell me how to deal with my son!”

“I’m sorry,” groaned Mai Li. “See? I say the wrong things. I’m just not the right person for this job.”

“Oh, give it a break,” said Vicky. “This isn’t the end of the world. Boys get rejected and he needs to learn how to deal with that. He’ll never be able to function in the real world if he can’t recover from a woman simply saying no. And you need to learn that a woman can say no and expect a man to respect that.”

Mai Li remained silent. She felt miserable, but at the same time, Vicky’s support was a real shot in the arm, even if it had been painfully delivered.

“There’s no time like the present,” said Vicky. “I don’t have to go to work for two more hours. Why don’t you go do something for yourself. Go shopping. That always makes me feel better. I’ll go find my son and see if I can beat some sense into him.”

“Don’t beat him,” moaned Mai Li.

“I didn’t mean it literally,” said Vicky. “Just go somewhere and get away from the situation for a while. You need a break, too, now and then. Take a break, Mai Li.”

“Okay.”

“Good. How’s it coming on the therapy pool thing?”

“I filled out a form online and they’ll put us on a swing they’re doing through Kansas in two or three weeks,” said Mai Li. “I suspect they’ll call us with an exact day and time. Ted seems to think it will clear all the hurdles as long as it really is a therapy pool but we won’t know until the representative is here to answer all his questions.”

“Okay. You go buy something nice for yourself and I’ll see why my son is acting like an idiot.”

“Please be gentle with him,” said Mai Li.

“Are you gentle with him?” Vicky raised one eyebrow. “When you do your therapy, do you take it easy on him?”

“Well ... no,” said Mai Li.

“Then why should I take it easy on him when I do my kind of therapy?”

Bobby was in his room, lying on his bed. An open book lay on his chest, but he hadn’t read more than a few paragraphs of it before laying it down.

He was miserable, but not for the reasons his mother or Mai Li might have assumed. He was miserable because he knew he was being an ass towards Mai Li. He couldn’t help it, and that was what bothered him the most.

He hadn’t been able to control his erections, and now he couldn’t control his surliness. It was as if she pushed every button he had and he felt this compulsion to try to disconnect all those buttons from working. He knew Mai Li was trying to make amends for what she’d said, but every time she made an overture his depression made him resist. He knew he was being an asshole. That he couldn’t stop being an asshole was what fed his depression the most.

He hated the world ... again. What made that so bad was that he remembered not hating the world, the first few days Mai Li was with them. She had brightened his life immeasurably. But his own lack of control over his libido had ruined all that.

His life just sucked. And it wasn’t going to get any better.

There was a knock at his door and his mother came in.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice light.

“I was reading,” he said.

“Why’d you stop?”

“It isn’t very interesting,” he said.

“So what is interesting?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What gets you excited? What do you wish you could be doing right now?”

“I don’t know,” he said, suddenly sullen.

“Mai Li tells me she broke your heart,” said Vicky.

Bobby blinked.

“Is that true?” asked his mother.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he grunted.

“Of course you don’t,” she said. “It’s uncomfortable to talk about that kind of thing. But we’re going to talk about it. So give. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” he muttered.

“So, what you’re telling me is that she’s out there, all broken up about hurting your feelings, and as far as you’re concerned nothing happened? Everything is hunky dory? Is that right? She’s distraught for no good reason?”

“She’s not distraught,” said Bobby, compulsively.

“She almost cried when we talked,” commented Vicky, calmly. “I had to send her shopping to give her an emotional break.”

“What?” Bobby was confused.

“She likes you, Bobby. She wants to help you but you’re resisting.”

“She doesn’t like me,” argued Bobby.

Vicky sighed and went to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Look. She told me about how you got ... um ... excited when she worked with you. She understood that was just a normal reaction from a young man in your situation. What you need to understand is that while it’s completely normal to react to a good looking woman that way, that doesn’t mean anything is going to happen. You can’t expect to have sex with every babe you happen to run into in life. It just doesn’t work that way.”

“Mom!” groaned Bobby.

“Yes. I am your mother, and this is a conversation we never got to have. I should have had it with you when you were thirteen or so, but I was too chicken. Then I almost lost you and I’ll be damned if I lose you again just because you got a crush on a very nice young woman and she didn’t respond to it the way you wanted her to. Mai Li likes you and she wants to help you. That’s a real gift, Bobby. You can’t turn up your nose at a gift like that.”

“But she said...”

“I know what she said,” barked Vicky. “She said she was unavailable to you. What she meant was that she’s not going to date you. She’s not here to be your girlfriend. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care how you feel. If anything, you should have been thankful for her honesty. She was kind enough to let you know your fantasies were just that – fantasies. As you go out into the world you’ll find out how rare it is for someone to be honest about how they feel. Usually you have to wonder and guess what someone is really thinking. All she did was tell you nothing sexual was going to happen, Baby. And you should have known that in the first place. She’s here to be your physical therapist, not your girlfriend. Come on. You knew that already ... didn’t you?”

Bobby blinked. What she’d said buffeted him. Just as he hadn’t been expecting to have the conversations with Mai Li that he’d had, he hadn’t expected his mother to be so forthcoming in the way she had been. He’d felt a muted elation that he could talk to Mai Li the way they had. Now he felt that same muted elation that his mother would be so willing to say the things she’d just said.

He still felt embarrassment, though.

“I can’t control myself!” he blurted.

“Of course you can,” said Vicky. “You just have to want to.”

“I can’t just stop them from happening,” he groaned.

“You mean the erections?” She shrugged. “Okay, yes, that part of your system will often work on autopilot. Mai Li knows that and she says it doesn’t bother her. I believe her. All she said was that you won’t get to use one of those with her. She didn’t mean that you have to stop and never get excited again when she’s working with you. That’s not what she said and it’s not what she meant. You can get all the boners you want to around her and she’ll be fine with it.”

“Okay, but I can’t do anything about them!” whined Bobby.

“She said you tried that in the shower and it caused a seizure,” said Vicky.

“Is there anything you two don’t talk about?” groaned Bobby, covering his eyes with both hands.

“Of course not,” said Vicky. “I’m your mother and she’s your physical therapist. Nothing is out of bounds for us. We both care about you and anything that is an impediment to your improvement is on the list for us to try to get rid of.”

“I can’t get rid of ... those,” moaned Bobby.

“I get it,” said Vicky. “I can see how that could make things tense for you, even if it doesn’t bother Mai Li. I’ll talk to her about it. Maybe there’s something that can be done.”

“You can’t just talk to her about me getting hardons,” groaned Bobby.

“I don’t see why not,” said Vicky, reaching to pat his thigh. “You get them because of her, right?”

“Ohhhh, man,” groaned Bobby, still covering his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Vicky. “We’ll think of something.”

“Ohhh, man,” groaned Bobby again.

Vicky left him alone and spent an hour just luxuriating in the fact that she didn’t have to be anywhere or do anything for an hour. Mai Li hadn’t returned by the time she had to get ready to go to work, so she tapped on Bobby’s door again. When she went in, he was in exactly the same position he’d been in before. The book was still on his chest, not being read.

“I have to go. Mai Li’s not back, yet. Do what she asks you to do and stop feeling like nobody loves you,” she said.

“That’s not how I feel,” Bobby objected.

“Good. Then start talking to Mai Li again. She needs your cooperation for all this to work. Deal?”

“All right,” he sighed.

“Good. And if you get excited, just remember it’s okay. You don’t need to be embarrassed about it. Let her give you massages. Maybe she’ll relax you enough that that part of you will relax, too.”

“Yeah, when pigs fly,” muttered Bobby.

“And study for your GED. She says you don’t do your work.”

“Okay!” he barked. “I hear you! Go to work!”

“I love you,” she said, blowing him a kiss.

“I love you, too,” he said, feeling his heart expand in his chest.

After she closed the door he lay there, continuing to think about what he’d been thinking about ever since she’d “interrupted” him the first time.

He really was lucky. Yes, he’d been unlucky enough to be hit by that car, but he was lucky that the medical system had saved his life, and lucky that there had been the money for his treatment while he was in the coma. He was lucky his mom had hung in there for him, even after his father abandoned them. And he was lucky that Mai Li was there, and that she was patient with him even when he acted like an asshole.

All things considered, he was extraordinarily lucky.

He sat up and put the book down. He left his room to find the house empty. His mom was already gone to work and, apparently, Mai Li was still out shopping.

He went to the kitchen to see what he could cook up for a meal.

Mai Li went to the mall, for lack of any other idea. She wandered the long hallways, which were surprisingly bare of customers. It being Sunday she expected more people to be out, shopping.

She saw a store called Just For Her, and looked at the display of clothing in the window. On impulse she went in and was greeted by a smiling woman, about her own age.

“Hi. I’m Eve. How can we make your life better today?”

“I have no idea,” sighed Mai Li.

“Well, let’s find you something to make you feel better,” said Eve, who recognized a depressed woman when she saw one. She saw lots of them and she felt like it was her personal mission to help ease someone’s melancholy. She didn’t see her job as just a saleswoman. For her it was a chance to create a little joy in a sometimes harsh world.

Eve walked in a circle around Mai Li, her critical eye sizing up the young woman’s physique and appearance.

“You look athletic,” she said. “I can think of some things that might make you feel feminine while still being a strong woman.”

Mai Li was wearing a blue denim work shirt over khaki cargo shorts. Her underwear consisted of white, cotton panties and a sturdy sports bra. She didn’t feel very feminine, at the moment.

“I’m a physical therapist,” she said.

“Well, then, something both feminine and tasteful,” said Eve. “How do you feel about skirts?”

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