She was back in a few minutes with a sandwich, made with Janet’s good homemade bread and thick slices of roast beef, pickle and onion. It tasted better than any food I’d ever eaten before, and I washed it down with fresh milk. Annalee even brought me a slice of lemon pound cake for dessert. Then she sat down in a chair in the corner and watched me eat every bite.
“You don’t have to stay and watch me eat, Annalee. Don’t you have studies, or kids to watch or somethin’?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Never!” I declared. “I just feel bad for eatin’ in front of you.”
“Don’t,” she said. “We had lunch hours ago, and I’m not hungry. But I need to make sure you don’t strangle on the food or something. And help you if you need to get to the bathroom.”
That put me right off my feed. No way was I gonna let her come into the bathroom with me. But, I wasn’t sure how I was gonna manage otherwise.
“Uh, Annalee, I don’t think…”
“Oh, silly me. Of course you don’t want me in the bathroom. You let me know when you need to go and I’ll go get Russ. He’ll know what to do.”
That wasn’t much better. First I’d have to come out and tell her I needed to piss, plain as day, and then I’d have to let Russ help me do it. No way. I’d bust my bladder before I’d do that. I set my jaw.
“We’ll see. Thanks for the lunch, Annalee, it was good,” I said.
“You’re welcome, honey. Do you want me to stay and talk to you, or read or something?”
I was stuck on ‘honey’, and didn’t hear her question, only the question mark floatin’ in the air. “What?” I asked.
“Do you want me to stay and talk to you, or read or something.” This time there was no question mark, but I understood.
“That’s nice of you Annalee, uh, sweetheart, but I think I’ll just watch TV or somethin’. You must have other things to do.”
I didn’t know it was possible for a girl to look happy and disappointed at the same time, but Annalee did. Her eyes started sparklin’ when I said ‘sweetheart’, but I could tell she wanted to stay. I needed to figure out what just happened, though. She never called me ‘honey’ before, and I never called her ‘sweetheart’, but it felt kinda natural on my tongue.
“Okay, hon. You ring if you need me, but just once, got it?”
“Yes’m, I got it. And thanks again for lunch.”
She walked out kinda slow, and I thought about callin’ her back, tellin’ her what would make me feel real good was some of her kisses. But, I didn’t. I had some thinkin’ to do.
If I was gonna be laid up in this bed for at least six weeks, I needed some stuff. A way to get myself up and to the bathroom, for one. Somethin’ to do besides watchin’ TV and talkin’ to Annalee. Or kissin’ her, though that might be one thing to take up a bunch of time. I needed to figure out if I’d be ready to rodeo next spring, and if so, how to save up for my first entry fee if I couldn’t work for four months.
I started out thinkin’ about Abo, and how was he gonna get any exercise with me not ridin’ him. I didn’t want him gettin’ no bad habits from other riders, ‘cause I had him trained to neck-rein and listen to my voice instead of direct-reining like most of the others did. But I reckoned Uncle Hank could keep him in line. So, that was one problem solved, except I didn’t know how I’d get word to Hank that I wanted him to do it.
Then my leg got to hurtin’ somethin’ bad, so I took one of the pills the doc gave me, and started thinkin’ on how to earn money for the entry fees. Next thing I knew, I was wakin’ up again. Damn, those pills was dangerous! Next time Annalee come in, I was gonna ask her to cut ‘em in half for me or somethin’. It was pitch dark outside the windows, and I was hungry again, but first I was gonna need some help gettin’ to the bathroom. I thought about it a while. Could I maybe roll off the bed and crawl in there by myself? I rolled over and looked down at the floor. Nope, probly not a good idea. It was further down there than any bed I’d ever been in before. If I rung my bell, Annalee’d come, but dammit, I didn’t want to have to tell her. On the other hand, pissin’ myself and the bed wasn’t an option either. I finally settled on the lesser of the two evils and rung the bell, just once.
In no time, Annalee came rushin’ in, her little girl in her arms.
“Hi there, Tali,” I said. She looked at me with her big round blue eyes, just like her mom’s, and busted into tears. “What? Annalee, what’d I do?”
She was bouncin’ Tali and sayin’ “Shh, shh, it’s okay, it’s just Cody.” To me, she said, “I think seeing you with that brace on scared her.”
“Aw, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be silly. I should have thought of it. What did you need, honey?”
Hearin’ her call me honey was just about as sweet as honey itself. But, I had a powerful need, and it was gettin’ worse. “Uh, Anna…I mean sweetheart, I’m afraid I’m gonna hafta get some help to get in the bathroom.”
“Oh! Of course. Wait here, I’ll go get Russ.”
“Okay. You might wanta tell him to make it snappy.”
“Sure, Cody. Hang on.”
She was gone in a flash, and in a minute or two, here come Russ. “I hear you need some help.” He was kinda grinnin’ but tryin’ not to.
“Rub it in, boss, but I cain’t get outta this bed by myself, and doc said I wasn’t supposed to put weight on this leg. I’m not sure I can even see over this neck brace to point my willy right.”
Russ busted up laughin’ at that one. Tell the truth, I was laughin’ too, but the situation wasn’t really funny. I didn’t want nobody else’s hand on it but Annalee’s, and not for that.
“Let’s see what we can do,” Russ said. He helped me sit up and sorta roll off the bed, my right leg stickin’ out in front all useless, and then he put my right arm around his shoulders and told me to hop on the other leg while he propped me up on that side. It wasn’t the easiest way to get someplace, but we managed to get in the bathroom.
“Best suggestion I’ve got is you sit down to piss,” Russ said.
“Aw, boss, like a girl?” I could see that I was gonna be completely humiliated by the time this was over, but he was right. Unless I wanted him to stand there and hold me up, and likely point my dick in the right direction, too, I was gonna hafta sit down. Even worse, he was gonna hafta hold me up until I could get my clothes pulled down. I could feel the burn creepin’ up my neck, but Russ was pretty good about it.
“Hey, you got enough there to entertain any girl in creation,” he said when I pulled my britches down. I was pretty sure he was just tryin’ to cheer me up, but trust me, what was there got a lot smaller when he said it. That violated the unspoken rule that you didn’t look at another hombre’s dick in the bathroom. If I hadn’t known he was a real man, because of Miss Charity and little Kitty, I’d have punched him one, needin’ help or not.
He left the room then, sayin’ “I’ll be right outside when you’re done.”
It took me awhile, knowin’ he was outside waitin’. This wasn’t gonna work long-term. I had to figure out a different way.
When I finished, Russ helped me back over to the bed and into it, and said, “I’ll have Annalee bring you some dinner.”
“Boss,” I said, “I’m grateful and all, but we’ve gotta figure out a better way to do that.”
“I know, Cody,” he said, and I could tell he was serious. “I’m working on it.”
“And Boss? Would you mind if Uncle Hank come in to talk to me?”
“No, Cody, I don’t mind. Would you like it if some of the hands came in and played cards with you or something sometime?”
“That’d be real nice, thanks.”
Hank come in a few minutes later. “The boss said you wanted to see me?”
“Yessir. I was wonderin’ if you’d mind givin’ Abogado some exercise now and then, until I can do it. I don’t trust none of the others to do it right.”
Hank got a pleased look
on his face, like I’d give him a compliment, which, come to think of it, I had. “Sure, son, I can do that. You got everything you need here?”
“Everything except a way to get to the bathroom on my own. It was damned humiliatin’ when the boss helped me this afternoon.”
“You want me to help you now?”
“I guess so. Still humiliatin’ though.”
“Don’t worry, son, sooner or later, you’ll end up wipin’ my old ass unless I go and get myself killed before I get too old to do it myself.” That thought cheered me up enough that I didn’t even mind when he saw I was gonna hafta sit down again. Well, not much anyway.
Hank visited a while longer after I was done, and then the boss and Miss Charity come in to see if I was comfortable. They’d told a few of my friends that they could come and see me, cheer me up some, on Friday. I looked forward to that. Finally, everyone left, and I thought I should probly get some shut-eye, even though I wasn’t sleepy because of sleepin’ most of the day.
A few minutes later, Annalee came in, this time totin’ my dinner instead of Tali. I asked her where the kids was.
“It’s past their bedtime,” she said. “I put them down right after I got Russ for you. Did everything work out okay?” I knew what she was askin’, but I didn’t feel like talkin’ about it, so I just shrugged my shoulders, wishin’ I hadn’t when it shifted the neck brace. Damn, this was gonna take some gettin’ used to.
“Cody,” Annalee said while I tucked into my dinner, “what are you planning to do about exercising Abo? And have you thought about whether you’ll go ahead and try to enter any calf-roping events next spring?”
“I thought I’d ask Hank to keep Abo exercised.”
“Oh. I wanted to tell you I’d be glad to ride him for you if you want.”
“That’s real nice, Annalee. But it’s real easy to let a ropin’ horse get bad habits. If you was a more experienced rider, that’d be good, but, I’m gonna ask Uncle Hank to keep him rode and exercised.”
“Oh. That’s okay. But I’ll see if Hank wants me to groom him and all,” she said. I reached for her hand.
“You’re just about the sweetest thing since wild clover honey,” I said, rubbin’ my finger over the soft spot between her thumb and finger. That made her happy, I could tell, because her face lit up with the prettiest smile.
“Do you think it would hurt you if I climbed up and sat with you awhile?” she said.
“I don’t care if it does, long as you kiss me awhile, too,” I answered, pushing my empty plate away.
She climbed up in that big ol’ bed with me and snuggled in under my arm on my good side, and said, “I don’t know how we’re going to kiss much with that thing on your neck.”
I offered to take it off, but she wouldn’t hear about it. “No, you’re supposed to keep it on. I’ll figure it out.” Next thing I knew, she threw one leg over and sat across my hips, leaned on the headboard with one arm on each side of my head, and started to kiss me like nobody’s business. I got my arms around her and was gettin’ good and worked up, when she said, “Oh! What’s that? Cody Wayne, you’re a bad boy,” but she was gigglin’. With her sittin’ right there, my johnson was gettin’ into the act, and for once I didn’t have on no tight jeans. I was in some flannel pajama bottoms that Russ had got for me when he found out I’d be in bed for a while. Usually I slept in my skivvies, but with people needin’ to come in and see to my care, he thought pajamas would be a better idea. I couldn’t help what was happenin’ in my pants…Annalee was a hot armful.
“Sorry,” I said, still kissin’ her every time she came in range.
She climbed off of me, though, and I was disappointed, but I didn’t let her know it.
Friday, some of the guys stayed after dinner to set with me a spell. We couldn’t figure out how we was gonna play cards, because by the time they brought in three or four more chairs, there wasn’t no room for a table, even if I coulda sat at it. So, we just jawed awhile, talkin’ about the horses, mostly. I asked ‘em if any of ‘em had seen what happened when Abo throwed me.
Miguel said, “I’m not sure, but something spooked him. He shied, and you shifted with him, and then he just stopped hard, and you went sailin’ over his head.”
Bill spoke up then and said, “I think it was a snake went through the corral.”
Miguel said, “Did you see a snake, Bill?”
“Naw, I just think that’s what it was.”
“Then shut your flap and keep your opinion to yourself. No need gettin’ anybody worked up over snakes in the corrals.”
Truth be told, it wouldn’t be all that unusual for a snake to try to cut across the corral. Bull snakes, rattlers, plain ol’ garter snakes, you name it, it was around here close. But they didn’t usually like to move much in the fall, because it was gettin’ too cool for ‘em. We’d be more likely to find ‘em out in the pastures somewhere, layin’ on a rock that was still warm from the sun. No horse liked a snake, so it coulda been. Even though Miguel made out like it was nothin’, I’d bet that anyone usin’ that corral from now on would walk a good ways around it checkin’.
What was more important was if there was snakes around the yard, the boss needed to warn the girls, so they would watch their kids real close when they played outside. I’d be sure to tell Annalee next time I saw her.
Miguel said, “You know, that woulda been funny if you hadn’t hit your head on the fencepost.”
“Funny, huh,” I said. “It’d be funny if it was you sittin’ helpless in this bed.” I wished I’d left that last part off. I didn’t want any of my friends to be hurt, not really. It was just hard layin’ here helpless, that’s all.
It was good to have my friends settin’ with me, though, tryin’ to keep me laughin’ and tellin’ me what was goin’ on outside this room. I’d only been here two days, and I could already tell it was gonna be miserable layin’ in this bed for six weeks. What I’d do if it was longer, I didn’t know. Shoot myself, probly.
The worst part was, I couldn’t take no shower or bath for awhile. Instead, Annalee would give me a sponge bath, and that was about the most awkward thing you ever saw. It was worse than havin’ Russ help me in the bathroom, because he at least didn’t have to handle me. She was all serious and actin’ like a nurse, but still. When it come time for her to wash my balls and willy, havin’ her hands there like to have kilt me. I had to think about stuff like the crud that come out of Abo’s feet to keep from gettin’ hard. It was bad enough she had to see my privates at all when she wasn’t ready to have sex yet, and she sure didn’t need to see it jumpin’ up for her. By Friday, she’d only give me one sponge bath, but that was enough to last me the rest of my life if I didn’t get to smellin’ like a bull.
I mighta known that sooner or later one of the boys would ask me about stuff like that.
“Hey, Cody, how is it havin’ your girl take care of you? Pretty nice, huh?” That was from Stud. We called him that because he liked to brag about all the girls he’d nailed in school and whenever he went to town. None of us believed a word of it. He was probly a virgin, truth be told.
“Sometimes it’s nice, but sometimes it’s damned uncomfortable, no shit,” I said, thinkin’ about that sponge bath. I was due for another one tomorrow, and I was dreadin’ it.
“What, you mean when the boss has to carry you in to do your business?” Bill asked. That got a laugh all around, except for me. That was no jokin’ matter.
“Yeah, that’s what I mean, and thanks for bringin’ that up,” I said. No way was I gonna tell ‘em that Annalee give me a sponge bath. Not only would that make ‘em even worse, but I’d have to find a way to beat the shit out of any of ‘em that thought it was cute to make a smart-ass remark about my girl.
~~~
Next mornin’ when Annalee brung my breakfast, I asked her if she and the others had ever seen any snakes around.
“No, I don’t think so, why?” she asked.
“Aw, Bill thought may
be it was a snake spooked Abo.”
She got a faraway look in her eyes and said, real slow, “No, I don’t think we’ve ever seen a snake. And I don’t remember seeing one that night.”
“It coulda been a little bitty thing. Abo’s scared of ‘em, most horses are. You might not’ve seen it. But you be sure you watch good when you’ve got the kids outside. Most of the snakes around here would just run off, but a rattler might strike.”
She shuddered and said, “I’ll watch out good, Cody. Thanks. I’m sorry I can’t stay for a minute, but I’m watching the kids in the playroom with Amber this morning. You go ahead and call me if you need anything, and I’ll be right in. But I’m afraid your bath is going to have to wait until afternoon if you don’t mind.”
Naw, I didn’t mind. I didn’t want it at all, but I reckoned I’d be stinkin’ up the room somethin’ terrible if I didn’t let her do it. After she left the room, I looked down as much as I could, and told my dick to behave itself when she come back. Then I watched TV for awhile.
I still hadn’t figured out what I was gonna do about rodeo fees. I couldn’t ask the boss to pay me while I was laid up, though he’d told me not to worry about earnin’ my keep or feed for Abo. At least I was done with payin’ for Abo, and had some money saved up for tack. Then it hit me, if the boss would loan me some tack, I could use that money for the first rodeo fee. After that, maybe I’d have some prize money to pay for the next one and get my own tack. I’d ask him next time he come in to help me.
Annalee come back with my lunch some later, and stayed to talk while I ate it since the kids was takin’ their naps. Then it was time for my bath, and I squared up to take it like a man. This time she talked about the kids all the time she washed me, so it weren’t so bad. I didn’t even have to think about Abo’s feet. Then she helped me into some clean clothes, and asked if there was anything else she could do for me while she was there.
“Yeah, sweetheart. Do you think you could get Russ back in here to help me in the bathroom? My bladder’s about to bust again.”
“Would you like me to help you? It’s not like I haven’t seen it before, now,” she giggled, and then blushed.
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