by Nia Arthurs
I shook my head. He tipped his head thoughtfully to the side. “Okay, well I guess I’ll just go then. So that you can rest.”
I nodded my agreement and with one last surveying look at me, Archie left bumping into the dresser near the door on his way out. I returned to my seat on the couch and flung a hand over my eyes. I’d forgotten to switch off the light after Archie left. The saddest part was I truly could not find the energy to get up and take it off. Feeling miserable and stuffy nosed and wondering if the seven dwarves were ‘hi-hoing’ it up in my cranium, I tried to sleep. I closed my eyes but not ten minutes later, they burst open. I heard someone shuffling around in here. Fearing that the rat had somehow bitten on radioactive cheese and had grown to the size of a man, I shot up and glanced wildly around.
“Whoa, calm down, Susan,” Archie directed.
“Archie, what are you doing in here?”
He looked sheepish and set the grocery bags that were in his hand on the ground, “I brought you some stuff.”
I glanced from him to the locked door and back. Could the man walk through walls now?
“Oh,” he grinned, “I swiped your keys from the bowl by the door so I wouldn’t disturb you when I came back. By the way, you should really find another place to store those.”
If I had been fully healthy and not on the point of death, I would have chided him for breaking and entering. The way I was feeling right now, however, I had only one last dying request,
“Okay, could you take off the light?”
He smirked and did as I asked, erupting the apartment into sweet, sweet darkness. I settled back on the sofa with relief and listened to the news reporter drone on about another murder. Soon she’d be reporting my death.
“After a horrible, no-good, very bad day, Susan Bevans settled into her apartment sofa and gave up the ghost. She will be missed by her family and friends.”
“Hey,” Archie’s voice disturbed my fantasy death report, “where do you keep your salt?”
“The first drawer on the left,” I called weakly.
I heard Archie tinkering around in the darkness before he stepped back into the living room. The T.V. caused his shadow to loom over me.
“What?” I said, miserably.
“Gargle this,” he thrust a cup toward me. I wrinkled my nose and rejected the offering.
“Come on, Vegan,” he insisted, “It’s good for you.”
Hesitantly I accepted the cup, sat up, gargled and then spit it back into the cup.
“That was gross,” I croaked. “What was it?”
“Salt and warm water along with a little bit of honey. It helps with a sore throat. Feel a bit better?”
I nodded. It did help the scratch in my throat.
“Apart from rest, the only thing that will help if you have a headache is a pain reliever pill. Do you want one?”
“Yes please,” I restrained myself from begging.
Archie quickly padded back to the kitchen to retrieve the package of pills and put one into my hand along with a glass of orange juice. I bit down on the pill because I am a loser when it comes to taking drugs and drained the glass.
“Thank you,” I acknowledged, closing my eyes again.
“Sure thing, Vegan.”
Just as I was about to sleep I remembered the rat.
“Archie?”
“Yeah,”
“Could you do one more thing for me?”
“Anything.”
“Could you kill Jerry?”
“What?” his gasp of outrage was sort of comedic.
“The mouse, I meant kill the mouse. I was thinking of Tom and Jerry that time.” I explained, “He’s in my bedroom and he’s terrorizing me. Could you kill him please?”
Archie shrugged, “Okay.”
“And make sure that he’s dead. I need to see it dead.”
I heard him chuckle, “I get the picture, Susan. One dead rat coming right up.”
“Have I mentioned that I love you,” I said tiredly, settling back into the sofa for some much needed rest.
“I love you too, Vegan.” Archie replied quietly and stepped toward my bedroom.
I slept for nearly two hours, secure in the knowledge that Archie was here and confident that he would take care of me. I’m a heavy sleeper and can sleep through almost anything, except Archie’s kiss… and when someone takes off the television. I can sense when it’s off and the silence is louder than an alarm clock or a physical shoulder shake. Sometime during the night, Archie clicked the T.V. off and I shot up like a rocket.
“Hey,” I protested.
I heard Archie’s voice in the total darkness, “Wow that worked.”
I trained my eyes to where I’d heard his voice. “Why’d you do that?”
“I was just leaving and I didn’t want it to stay on all night.”
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and continued to search for him as I listened to his voice.
“Did you take care of… the thing?” I asked.
“It’s dead.” He said somberly.
“Thank you so much, Archie. I really appreciate it.”
“It was easy to do, especially since you trapped it in your room. There were only so many places it could hide.”
“How did you find it?”
“I went out and bought a mouse trap.” He admitted.
I cringed, “Is there mouse blood on my floor?”
He laughed softly, “No, Vegan. I used a glue pad.”
“Oh.” I pondered his statement, “you didn’t kill it.”
He sighed, “I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”
A smile crept across my face, “it’s okay. It’s who you are.”
“Good night, Susan.” I heard his footsteps fading as he carefully made his way to the door.
“Hey, Archie?”
“Yes, Susan,” he returned patiently.
“If I wasn’t infected with an icky virus right now, I’d kiss you.”
Laughing softly, Archie replied, “If you were feeling better, I’d let you.”
Archie locked the door behind him. I celebrated Jerry’s return to his true home in the wild by padding the way to my bedroom and sleeping in my own bed. As I melted into the soft mattress, Pastor Stanley words about love echoed in the shadows of my mind.
“When you love something, you value it. And when you value something, you care for it. To care means to anticipate a need and meet it.”
Whether or not Archie cared for me as a friend or more, I’d never experienced this kind of love from a man before. I could take care of myself. I’d beat anyone in the chukka if they doubted that. But somehow, being the center of someone’s concern was the best medicine of all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The next day, I begged off of work and school. I could not fathom even picking myself up and walking through that door, much less functioning at school or at work today in any capacity. I texted Persia to inform her that I wouldn’t be coming to our library study session and then shot a text to Mia asking for a day off to recuperate. My generous boss texted an enthusiastic ‘okay’ and ‘hope you get better soon’. I received no reply from Persia. After careful consideration, I sent Archie a very formal and brotherly message to offset the flirty and impetuous comments I’d made last night under the influence of pain relievers. Archie responded immediately,
ARCHIE: NO PROB. U TAKING A DAY OFF?
SUSAN: YES. I PLAN TO SLEEP ALL DAY
Archie sent a smiley face in reply and I set the phone down on my dresser. My reply to Archie had not been a lie. Apart from blowing my nose and peeing, I spent the morning cooped up in my bed trying to sleep off the virus wreaking havoc on my immune system. Though the noon hour came and went, my appetite had pretty much disappeared. I knew I needed to eat so my body could have the energy to fight but there was nothing much in my cupboards to eat anyway. I desperately needed to go grocery shopping.
Plus… my kitchen was so far away.
A few hours later, I was onc
e more relieving myself in the bathroom when I heard a knock on the door. My head throbbing like a bass speaker at a rock concert, I padded toward the front door and opened it. It was Archie again.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Hi, what’s up?” he asked.
“Oh you know, just reminiscing on the days when I could actually breathe and beating myself up for not appreciating them more.” I stepped aside so that he could pass through. “Did you come from court?”
He was dressed in a long sleeved white button-down shirt, black slacks and brown loafers. His hair was actually combed and his scruff was lower than the usual beard.
“Yeah, I made a few stops on the way before I came here.” He indicated the plastic bags in his hands.
“What’s that?”
“I brought you some soup from Mrs. Bowman’s. I know Melody likes to buy from there.”
“Melody likes food in general.” I joked. “But thanks. That was very thoughtful of you.”
He nodded and then stepped in front of me and felt my forehead. His hand was cool to the touch and I closed my eyes, enjoying the contact.
“The fever is down, but you still feel a bit warm.”
I stepped back and tried to calm the thudding of my heart which seemed to be beating erratically. I was sicker than I’d thought.
“I feel better today than I did last night.”
He carried the food into the kitchen and took them out of the bags, “I’m glad to hear that. Do you want chicken or beef?”
“Beef,” I replied and sat down at the small dinner table to feast. My appetite returned with ferocity when I spooned the healthy broth into my mouth. I did my best to tame the beast and eat with care, since my throat hurt to swallow.
“Were you at court for the complicated case we were talking about the other night?” I asked him a few minutes into the meal.
“I was.” He nodded.
“You decided to take the case,” I pointed out.
“Yeah,” he put the spoon down and looked into my eyes as he explained, “I was so obsessed with criticizing my client that I didn’t stop to think that maybe it’s not my place to judge.”
“What do you mean?”
He resumed his meal and ate a bit before further explaining, “My family’s been practicing law for generations and during my college years, I almost decided to go into …”
“Wait let me guess, the exterminating business.”
He laughed, “No. That’s a good one.” We chuckled, “Actually,” Archie continued, “I wanted to be a social worker.”
My eyebrows arched, “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“So why choose law?”
“Because,” he said seriously, “a lot of the kids that grow up within the system get mixed up in bad company and some of them get really bad deals because they’re poor and can’t afford a lawyer.”
“So…?” I prompted.
“So, the basis of law is the idea that there is a representative on each side. The jury looks at the case from both angles before they make up their mind. But that only works if both sides are represented. If I refuse a case because I don’t like someone or because I don’t believe in their claim of innocence, I’m just like that public defender who puts no effort into the fairness of representing some punk kid who got a tough break. If everyone thought that way then some people wouldn’t have a defense at all. That would be a severe miscarriage of justice.”
I blinked at him, “I had no idea you were this passionate.”
He grinned, “I’ve been learning a thing or two about passing off my own judgments as though they were law.”
My eyes widened and I hacked all over myself before I could express my excitement, “Me too. Seriously, it’s like a theme in my life right now. There’s this girl that I’m sort of tutoring/studying with. Her name is Persia and she is this really obnoxious creature. But I wrote her off as some rich girl with time and money to waste. You know, like those people who study law as some sort of status for their ego. But she’s really serious about doing her best and I felt bad for assuming that she was a slacker.”
Archie grinned, “That’s strange. A woman’s intuition is one of the most applauded senses. Maybe you didn’t get one.”
“Ha-ha,” I said dryly. “You suck.”
“Is that your intuition talking or…” Archie joked.
I shook my head at his cheeriness. “I’m glad that you’re so happy right now. I really am. You’re just lucky you came in here with food.”
He cleared his bowl and washed his spoon and cup in the sink, “You’re welcome, Vegan.”
“You heading out now?” I questioned when I saw him reach for his keys.
He nodded, “I have to get back to the office. More trademarks for me.”
“Okay,” I folded my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, “Thanks for lunch.”
“No problem. By the way, Mia told Melody you weren’t feeling well. She’ll be by a bit later. Thought I should give you a heads-up.”
I smiled, a visit from Melody sounded great. “Sure.”
He gazed at me with a strange look in his eyes and tapped his key against his palm.
“Okay.” He said and then after a few more moments of the strange staring contest, he turned toward the door, “See you later.”
“Bye,” I called as he closed the door gently behind him.
After lunch, I decided to take a nap. Unfortunately for me, my body refused to give in to sleep. Sighing heavily, I moved my army of tissue papers, Vix Vapor Rub and my trusty water bottle to the sofa in the living room. I plopped unceremoniously on the cushions and surfed the channels. After flipping through a pile of day time talk shows, I settled on a soap opera. When I was younger, my babysitter used to watch “The Young and The Horny”. She faithfully turned the channel to that show every afternoon.
At first, I watched the soap opera and scoffed. This was so unrealistic. Why was everyone so gorgeous and dramatic and related to each other? But as one episode flowed into another, I found myself enthralled.
“No Juan. Don’t kiss Jennifer. You’ll ruin everything!” I cried, three hours later as the devilishly handsome Juan leaned in to smooch the innocent maid. “Noooo!” Cecilia, Juan’s wife, walked in on them.
“Susan!” I heard heavy knocks on my door and jumped. Melody was here! Quickly, I tossed all my wadded, cold-fused tissues into the garbage can that I’d transplanted from the bathroom, stood to my feet and turned off the set.
“Coming!” I called. I strode to the door and greeted my friend. “Hey girl!”
“Hi,” She reached to embrace me and then froze, “I hope you don’t mind if we skip that part.”
I grinned. “I don’t mind at all.”
She waddled into the room, her baby bump a little more noticeable today.
She gazed at my face and quipped, “You look like a million bucks…”
“Aw thank you,” I began, but was interrupted as she continued,
“… got thrown into the streets and people had to trample you to get to it.”
I narrowed my eyes at my friend. “Thank you?”
She stepped closer, “Are you- Susan, are you not wearing a bra?”
Rolling my eyes, I led her to the sofa and sat down. “Some time between the lack of breathing and the runny nose and the killer headache, I lit a bonfire outside and burned all my bras.”
Melody grinned, “That was oddly chilling.” She swatted my leg, “I was just asking because Mrs. Bethel told Mia that Archie was over here again last night. He left pretty late too.”
“Where has Mrs. Bethel been hiding while she’s been spying on me?” I wondered.
Chuckling, Melody admitted, “She did the same thing to Mia when she was dating Peyton. It’s like a rite of passage in here. It means she likes you.”
“I’d prefer it if my friends came over for dinner or something. The spying is kind of weird.”
Melody shrugged,
; “How have you been with everything?” I asked.
“ I’m doing great. The baby’s doing great.”
The pained smile on my friend’s face was a dead-giveaway that this was only a part of the story.
“Spit it out, Mama. What’s going on?”
She bit on her bottom lip and then admitted, “Spencer’s not so good.”
“Why?”
Melody paused, trying to find the right words, “He’s been a bit… okay, he’s annoying the crap out of me.”
I laughed, “What, why? That man loves you.”
“I know. I know. And I love him too. But I’m not made of glass! I feel like he’s watching me so hard I can’t even pee without him checking up on me. I mean, the doctors told me to take it easy… they didn’t doom me to bed rest. I’m trying to be understanding with Spencer. I get why I needed to take my maternity leave early and I get that I need to sleep more but he’s driving me mad! I’m like this close to exploding all over his over-protective behind!” Melody held up her index finger and thumb only inches apart.
“Wow, remind me to never get married.”
Melody chuckled knowingly, “Oh trust me. Something tells me that marriage isn’t too far off in your future.”
“Well, thank you for that prediction, Madame Melody.”
She punched my arm, “Seriously, though,” I brought the topic back to her, “You should probably tell Spencer how you feel. I’m sure he’d back off if you agreed to some sort of compromise.”
“I don’t know,” Melody rubbed her belly, “When I was in the hospital, it really messed him up. He felt so out of control and I think he’s just trying to get that control back. I don’t want to complain. He’s already worried enough.”
I nodded, “Maybe you’re right. What do I know about marriage and relationships?”
Melody’s eyes brightened at my direction in conversation, “Speaking of relationships, tell me everything about you and Archie. Has he said the ‘l’ word yet? Have you?”
“Whoa, whoa. Slow your roll there, mama. Archie and I are just friends.”
Melody arched an eyebrow and pursed her lips in disbelief, “And I’m not fat.”
“You’re not that big,” I pointed out.
“If you can’t be honest with me, Susan, at least be honest with yourself. You like him as more than a friend.”