Chapter 12

Pain affects different people differently. Some people can have horrible wounds and feel nothing. Others can have a minor scratch and be in agony. However, most people react to pain by being irritable. Dr. Hayes was definitely a person that gets irritable when in pain. The trip from Los Angeles to the Carter Clan home had definitely pushed the man to his limits. He was ready to burst by the time he was rolled into the infirmary. Doctor Leonard from the hospital nodded to Kelly. She jabbed a needle in Dr. Hayes’ ass and within a few seconds, he was asleep.

Kelly sat back and smiled at the rest of the family. She asked Ed, “How did you ever survive the trip?”

Shaking his head, Ed joked, “I threatened him with physical harm.”

John, knowing that Ed wouldn’t do that, laughed as he said, “Right.”

Happy to have Ed home again, Kelly wrapped herself around him and kissed him. Ed’s hands came up and caressed her intimately. Mrs. Hayes looked a little embarrassed, but didn’t look away. John wondered how she’d react to a naked Sarah walking around all day long. It took some time, but Kelly finally released Ed. The two men hugged like long lost friends.

Looking around the room, John said, “Hey, Kelly. Why don’t you take Ed and welcome our husband home properly?”

The two of them smiled and left the room. Kelly was sashaying, definitely exaggerating the motion of her hips for John’s benefit. The silence was broken by Mrs. Hayes assertion, “She is definitely going to welcome him home, big time.”

“Wait until it’s Ling’s turn.”

“I’ve already heard that. So did half the people in the hotel.” She realized what she had said and then blushed. Ling laughed while John looked on in amusement.

“Sarah will be down in a minute to watch Dr. Hayes,” John said, “Dr. Leonard, any special instructions we should follow?”

“No, just keep him in here for a few days. Feed him when he’s hungry. If you’re strong enough to help him get to the bathroom, then he won’t need to use the bedpan. When you do move him, make sure that he has the neck brace on. When he’s ready, I’ll make sure that he gets a wheel chair.”

The instructions were simple enough. John nodded and said, “Okay, we’ll do that.”

The arrival of Sarah in her naked glory caused a little ripple in the calm atmosphere of the clinic. The doctor looked very surprised while a blushing Mrs. Hayes hid her mouth behind a hand. John and Ling didn’t even react to her presence other than to nod in her direction. John said, “Sarah, you get first shift to watch over him. He’s going to be asleep for several hours so don’t disturb him.”

“Sure thing, John.” Sitting down in the chair, she started to read a book. She crossed her legs and swung the upper one. She was oblivious to the looks she was getting from the doctor and Beth’s mother.

John thanked the doctor for coming. The doctor informed them that he would be coming by every evening on his way home from work to check on the patient. After a few words with Ling, the doctor followed her out of the house. John turned to Mrs. Hayes saying, “Let me take you to your room.”

She asked, “Isn’t it the same one I was in before?”

“No, we are setting you up here in the back of the house. You’ll be closer to your husband.” John was going to tell her more, but decided that she would just have to discover what life in the back of the house was like for herself. John led her to the room adjacent to the clinic. He had her put her hand on the hand plate. The door opened for her. He went into the room and turned on the light. He said, “This was Beth’s room. It’s yours to use until your house is finished.”

When she started to cry, John held her tightly and moved with a slightly rocking motion like one uses when comforting an infant. She cried for a long time, but John didn’t worry. He knew that it was really the first time that she had to release her grief over her daughter’s death. When she finally pulled herself together, she said, “You must consider me to be a foolish old woman.”

“Not at all. You’re a mother that loved her daughter very much.” John replied. He smiled down at her face. He wiped away her tears with the sleeve of his robe. She sniffed and looked around the room. John said, “I’ll leave you alone for a while to settle in. I’m sure it will be rough for you and you don’t need clumsy old me hanging around. If you need anything, pick up the telephone and dial 1111. That will get you to Cathy and she can help you in any way that you need. Okay?”

“Yes. Thanks a lot, John, for everything you’ve done for us.” She smiled at him fondly. She added, “Ed has been absolutely wonderful. My husband likes him now and finally understands what Beth saw in him.”

John said, “We’ve done very little. I’m glad that Dr. Hayes has learned to appreciate Ed.”

John left the room and went to the informal living room. Leroy was seated there watching the television. There was some nature show about animal life in the desert on the television and Leroy was glued to the set.

John, Kelly, and Ling had found Leroy at the site of an accident. His car had been hit by a drunk driver and he had a broken arm. There was a woman in another car and Leroy had been busy trying to break the window on the locked door. The woman had been bleeding and Leroy wouldn’t let them treat him until they had taken care of the woman. John had liked the black man right from that moment. They had brought him home while he recovered from his injuries.

John smiled and went to the pool room. He removed his robe and dove into the pool. He started swimming laps, taking an easy pace and enjoying the motion of his body as it slid through the water. The repetitive act of swimming allowed his mind to swim through waters of a different kind. One of the things his mind worked on was Ed’s possible reaction to Leroy. Ed had never said anything racist in his company, but there was a lot of difference between treating people as equals in a social situation and doing so in a private situation.

His mental swim was interrupted by the sound of someone sitting in a chair by the pool. He stopped at the shallow end and stood up to see who had come in the room. Leroy asked, “What were you thinking about?”

It was hard for him to put his thoughts into words. He answered, “Ed’s home.”

His white teeth showed as Leroy smiled. “I heard all of the excitement. There was a special on desert life on the television. Since that is my doctoral research area, I thought I would watch it. I figured it would be best if I stayed out of the way.”

“I appreciate that. We were moving Beth’s father into the clinic and his wife into Beth’s room. It was a rather traumatic experience for them both.”

“I can understand that.” Leroy sat there for a moment before adding, “You are worried about Ed, aren’t you?”

John smiled and said, “It’s hard to say how he’ll react to having a long term visitor. Of course, you don’t know everything that goes on here. I’m sure you have some questions.”

Shaking his head, Leroy said, “Do I ever have some questions!”

“Ask away.”

Leroy said, “I guess you and Ed have sexual relations. Am I right?”

“Yes, we do.”

Frowning, he asked, “Are you expecting me to have sexual relations with you?”

John laughed as he answered, “You are a guest here. You can ask anyone you want if they are interested in sleeping with you. There is only one rule: ‘no’ means ‘no.’ If anyone asks you to do something you aren’t comfortable doing, just say ‘no.’”

“You’re serious about that, aren’t you?”

“You better believe it. If someone says ‘no’ and gets pushed into something they don’t like, they’ll be up on rape charges before they know what’s hit them.” John’s serious tone of voice emphasized the seriousness of his statement.

Leroy thought about it. He commented, “You don’t know how much that makes me feel better about being here.”

This revelation surprised John and he asked, “Why?”

“Well, I was afraid that you had invited me here only to have sex with me.”

“Why would you think that?”

Leroy licked his lips nervously. He said, “Well, the first night I was here, a woman and man came here to have sex, but they aren’t part of your family. It was like you expected them to go to your room with you.”

John blushed as he thought back to that night. He answered, “Actually they came here to have sex with us. We didn’t ask them to come here, they wanted to do it to thank us for all of our help. It’s very embarrassing to be faced with a room full of women demanding to go to bed with you.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize that the desire was on their part.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about us taking advantage of you.”

Afraid of how his question would be received, he tried to think of a nice way to ask it. He finally blurted out, “Why did you take me in?”

“At the accident, you were more concerned about the woman in the car than you were for yourself. We knew that the accident left you stuck in the middle of nowhere so we invited you in. If you had been begging to be helped before her, we’d have helped you there and then left you at the hospital.”

“I only did what was right.”

John laughed as he said, “You were injured. The most selfish part of person can come out at that time. It’s sad, but true.”

Leroy asked, “So why all this importance about Ed talking to me? I don’t understand.”

“He will ask you some questions. If he likes your answers, you can stay.”

“What will he ask me?” Leroy was shocked that one person had that much influence. He couldn’t believe that John would rely that much on the word of a single person.

John answered, “I have no idea. I wouldn’t worry, though.”

Leroy got a lump in his throat as he realized that if Ed desired it, he could end up on the street in front of the house with nothing. He asked, “You wouldn’t?”

“Nope. I wouldn’t. Ed’s a good guy.”

“Why thank you, John,” Ed said in an amused tone of voice. He smiled as he stripped and jumped into the pool. Coming up, he turned to Leroy and said, “You must be Leroy. I’m Ed.”

“Right. Nice to meet you, Ed,” replied Leroy nervously.

Ed laughed as he took in the man’s expression. He said, “You’re scared to death of meeting me. I bet you’re afraid you’ll end up on the street when I say I don’t like you. Right?”

“Right,” Leroy said with a little resignation. He added, “I hope you’ll let me call a cab first, though.”

Both of the men in the pool laughed at his answer. Ed splashed John and made a mock mean face. Ed said, “That’s for making me out to be some sort of ogre. So, how do you like it here in our home?”

“I like it a lot. It’s very peaceful. Everyone is calm and tranquil. I almost feel like I’m in a monastery.”

John laughed and retorted, “A monastery with naked people walking around and having sex all of the time.”

“Sounds like a bordello to me,” Ed said. He looked over at Leroy and added, “I heard that you haven’t been in bed with anyone since you got here. You must be horny as hell by now.”

“A little.” He was actually extremely horny, having to go to his room and jack off several times a day. Watching Sarah walk around naked was driving him crazy.

Despite the slight dissonance from the understatement, Ed laughed and said, “I’d say a lot. I’m sure that Cathy or Sarah would be interested. You might ask them.”

Leroy was rather taken aback by the statement. “Does that mean I can stay?”

Looking at Leroy, Ed asked, “You wouldn’t want to hurt us, would you?”

A puzzled look flashed across Leroy’s face. He said, “Of course not.”

Ed shrugged and asked, “You aren’t in financial difficulty such that you’d sell us out, are you?”

Indignant, Leroy bluntly said, “No, I wouldn’t sell you out.”

“So you can’t imagine a scenario in which you’d do us any harm.”

“Right.”

A good-natured laugh rolled out of Ed as he splashed John. John sputtered, “What was that for?”

“You’ve got yourself a hiking partner.”