Chapter 3: A Setback

Rebecca was surprised when returning from church the next morning to find Tony, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, working on her porch. He stood and walked to meet the family's car as it pulled into the drive.

"Well aren't you looking particularly beautiful in that dress today," Tony said as he was helping Rebecca out of the car. She was wearing a floral print dress that even sitting down draped well below her knees.

Rebecca started to protest then caught herself. Perhaps Tina was right and he was sincere. "Thank you Tony," she replied smiling up at him from the chair.

Twenty minutes later Rebecca had been wheeled out on the front porch while Tony continued to work. "We saw your family at church. Tina says you don't go there anymore."

"No," Tony replied, "let's just say God's plan hasn't always worked out for me. Sunday mornings are my quiet time. Besides, while everyone is in church talking about doing good things I can be out here building this ramp for my friend who needs it."

"Is it because of Tammy?" Rebecca blurted out before she could catch herself.

Tony put down the tape measure he was using and sat down on the porch. He smiled up at Rebecca and said softly, "Yes, because of Tammy. Job was a better man than I."

Rebecca bowed her head and stared into her lap. "I'm sorry Tony. I guess you don't want to talk about it."

Tony stood and walked over to Rebecca's chair. He kneeled and looked into her green eyes. "It's OK. You're right, normally I don't like to talk about it, but I will for you."

Rebecca looked up into Tony's bright blue eyes and held his gaze. "Why me, I mean why talk about it with me if you don't want to?"

Tony thought for a moment and replied. "We're friends. I know I'd like to get to know you better and learn more about you. I wouldn't be doing myself a service not talking about Tammy. She was, is, a part of who I am. What do you want to know?"

The two talked for the next hour as Tony worked. He first finished the work on the ramp then painted it to match the house with paint he found left over from when his family lived there. After packing his tools and the leftover scrap wood into the family's old work pickup Tony wheeled Rebecca inside and said his goodbyes.

Tony moved Rebecca from the car to her chair on Monday morning. As they started toward the door Tony placed a large guitar case across the arms of the wheelchair. "Hang on to that for me would you? I didn't have time to drop it by the music room before I picked you up."

"Oh, Tina said you were a musician but I forgot to ask what you played. I guess it's guitar, huh?"

"Haha, Tina said I was a musician huh? Actually I do play guitar, and I do vocals and a little piano as well. Tina on the other hand let me see. She plays flute, saxophone, keyboards, drums, guitar, and violin. That's just what she's really good at. She dabbles in just about everything else there is."

"She's that good?"

"She's that good. Maybe you will get a chance to hear both of us soon. We're working on something now."

"Oh, I can't wait! Can I take a look at this?"

"Sure, I just picked it up from the music shop this weekend. They were installing a pick-up for me."

Rebecca opened the case and peered in. "It's beautiful Tony, we had a Yamaha baby grand at my school in New Jersey. It was amazing to play. I really didn't know they made guitars too. I don't know that much about them though. I know this one is different; too many strings."

"Yamaha makes all kinds of musical instruments. Guitars and pianos are what I see most. Anyway you're right. This is a twelve string guitar. Basically it has six pairs of strings tuned an octave apart. That's not exactly right, but it's close enough. They sound very nice for chord work and strumming but hard to play if you're doing a lot of picking. I almost never play anything that doesn't use both strings in a pair as a single note. I'll show you the difference with this and a six string sometime."

Rebecca smiled up at Tony. "I'd like that. So what's a pick-up?"

"It's like a microphone inside. It lets you hook it up to an amplifier. I've been using a clip on type but they're kind of flimsy."

They had arrived at class and Tony quickly got Rebecca settled in. They had learned to do it with Tony not having to move round the desk and lifting her in. He simply planted his arm on the desk and Rebecca could grab on and swivel herself around out of the chair and into the seat. Having done that Tony parked the chair and headed off to class.

The week was going well until Wednesday when the intercom came to life late in first period. "Ms. Adams please have Tony Smith report to Mrs. Finch's room."

Tony didn't hesitate. He made his apologies to his teacher and bolted. He arrived at Mrs. Finch's class in less than a minute and knocked.

Mrs. Finch let him in the door and told him "She's complaining about one of her knees. It seems to be hurting her pretty badly."

Most of the class seemed to be engrossed in an assignment but several concerned faces looked up as Tony knelt beside Rebecca. "Hey there sunshine, what seems to be the problem?"

"M-my knee hurts Tony," Rebecca sniffled.

"Which one baby?"

"R-right one."

Tony placed his hand on her right knee and squeezed gently. Rebecca stiffened.

"Does it normally hurt to touch it like that?"

Rebecca, obviously in some pain, squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

"OK, let's get you out of here."

Tony quickly stuffed the items on Rebecca's desk into her satchel and went to get her chair. "I'm going to take her to the nurse," he told Mrs. Finch.

After pushing the chair up to Rebecca's desk he put his arm down on the desk and said softly "Swing into your chair Sweetie." Rebecca grabbed his arms and tried to pull herself around but didn't have the strength to do it. Her hands were cold and clammy on his arm.

"Here let me help you." Rebecca turned as best she could and Tony reached out to slide her into the chair. Her shirt was damp. Tony put his hand on Rebecca's forehead and confirmed what he already suspected. She was burning up. He quickly wheeled her out the doorway and down the hall to the office.

The nurse's office was right next to the main school office and it was plain to Tony the lights were out and no one was there. There was only one nurse for both the high school and the Jr. High so he decided she must be there this morning. He pushed Rebecca into the main office and addressed the woman behind the counter.