Curing the Uncommon Man-Cold

by J. L. Salter

  Jason followed her down the short hallway and carefully helped her into bed.

  “Ow!” She reached down toward her right leg. “Cramp!”

  “Where?” Jason hurriedly sat on the bed beside her and pulled her leg straight. Then he placed her right ankle on his left shoulder and began massaging her calf. “Here?”

  She groaned. “Yeah. Oh. Ow. Ow. Oh.” She lay back on the bed. “Sometimes when I… ow… can’t move my arch, it cramps up to my calf. Ow! Hurts like the devil.”

  “Need some potassium. I’ll buy you some bananas tomorrow.” Jason continued kneading her muscle with strong and assertive hands. After a while he slowed his rhythm. “Still hurt?”

  “No. It’s okay now, I think. Thanks.”

  He gently lowered her leg to the bed but his hand remained under her calf. Amanda figured it seemed so natural there, Jason might not even realize he was still touching her. “Well, into the foot box.” There was disappointment in his voice. He helped guide her legs even though she didn’t really need the assistance. Jason leaned way down near her knees and peered into the box. “That ought to be enough room in case you need to move around a bit.” Her nightdress had ridden up her thighs and he stared for a moment before discreetly pulling down the hem. “Uh, if you get another cramp, just call out. I’m only 42 inches across that hall.”

  “You’ve been a terrific help today, Jason. Thanks.”

  As he adjusted her pillows, he leaned way over her face and it seemed — for a moment — they might kiss. She certainly wanted to. Jason looked deeply into her partly-closed eyes and surely could see her desire. His face moved slightly closer and, at the last second, his lips shifted to her forehead instead. “Doctor can’t kiss injured patient.”

  She realized she was hungry for a real kiss… and more. Who was this new Jason who suddenly seemed so desirable? Whoever he was, he’d stirred up yearning in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. This was a very different man leaning over her pillows. She wanted to explore and discover the new world of Jason.

  “Good night, Amanda.”

  What a time for Jason to develop restraint! Blistered butt-rash!

  Chapter 25

  August 23 (Sunday)

  Amanda slept restlessly, in and out of light slumber. She kept thinking about the caring, new Jason who had emerged from the ashes of selfish, man-cold Jason.

  Yesterday. Despite all of Jason’s clumsy attempts to help, their incredibly embarrassing grocery experience, and the awkwardness of her shower — Amanda wished that seemingly endless Saturday had never ended.

  Whatever was presently going on, she wanted more of it. Had Jason changed? She thought so. What if Christine was correct that the changes really had occurred mainly in Amanda’s own mind? Doubtful. Whichever individual had transformed — or if, perhaps, both had done so — the results were fantastically positive. Amanda saw him differently, yes. But Jason had shown alternate sides of himself which had never been viewed before. At least not by Amanda.

  Jason’s own mother seemed unaware of such positive potential in her son. Could everything about this new Jason be attributed to his concern over Amanda’s injuries and his eagerness to assist? Not likely. Relatively minor injuries are insufficient motivation for a grown man to shift so abruptly and significantly. What had been the genesis of Jason’s caring attention, tenderness, and befuddled-but-sincere help around the apartment?

  Amanda didn’t know. Jason wasn’t likely to explain, either, because he probably couldn’t discern it himself. As far as she comprehended, Jason didn’t do all that much thinking, especially not introspectively. So this change (whatever had happened) had to be the result of an instinctive shift, related to baseline emotions rather than mental analysis.

  But what? Which emotion? To answer love was corny and not completely believable… yet it had to involve Jason’s reawakened awareness of his affection for her. If instinct, what type? Surely not nurturing — men don’t possess those genes. Not as far as Amanda had heard, anyway.

  Protectiveness? Perhaps.

  ———

  The lighted digital clock indicated 3:16 a.m. when Amanda woke suddenly.

  She climbed out of bed and hobbled toward the bathroom without getting her crutches. It wasn’t very far and there were furnishings and walls to hold onto. The room was pitch black except for the clock display. Normally the edge of the window shade would reveal a sliver of illumination from the security light in the parking lot. Maybe that bulb was out; she’d have to call about it in the morning.

  The dim display was enough to orient her; if she got up from the left side of her bed and the clock was presently behind her, then the bathroom was straight ahead. What happened to her boot? She couldn’t feel the hard plank sole. Had she removed it during her previous restlessness? Don’t remember taking it off.

  But something else seemed unusual. It was as though someone had rearranged her few pieces of bedroom furniture. In the dark, those furnishings seemed to shrink back from her grasp. It felt like there was additional space in the room — a greater distance between her bed and the sides of the bathroom and closet. As though someone had relocated those walls.

  Things were very different when Amanda was in the dark.

  There are people who move forward into blackness simply because they can’t be bothered to flip a switch only a few feet away. But there are times people stumble in the dark because no light is available. Amanda couldn’t locate the light and didn’t understand why.

  She took two tentative steps, placing very little weight on her unbooted right heel. She reached with her left hand for the chair between her bed and dresser, but didn’t find it. One more tentative step and she nearly lost her balance. Surely the dresser was just over there. No dresser. She turned to her right, where she should encounter the antique highboy which stood against the closet wall, right next to a light switch.

  Her arms moved in front and beside her as she took two more short, limping steps. Nothing! Empty space. How strange for her room’s dimensions to be so distorted merely by the absence of light. Her window had to be straight ahead, because she’d turned that direction after losing contact with the foot of the bed.

  She pivoted to the right again. Best to head back to her bed and start over. A lamp was not far from her pillow. Another short, halting step. Hands out in front and to the sides… aimed low to find the bed’s footboard. Nothing!

  Amanda was becoming frightened. She took another short step and bumped her fractured toes against something. She yelped in pain, then stood in that spot and trembled. Tears flowed as she called out the name of the person she knew would rescue her: “Jason! Jason!”

  Amanda awoke with his name still in her throat, and abruptly sat up in her bed.

  Jason burst into her room and switched on the ceiling light. “What’s wrong?” He looked around like he’d expected to find a lurking panther. “You okay?” He landed on the edge of her bed and hugged Amanda tightly. Portions of her nightdress were soaked with sweat and she shivered. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  Amanda couldn’t form the words, but she now realized it had been a dream. With the room light on she could clearly see the chair, dressers, and walls were all in their proper alignment. Her tears soon stopped but her heart kept pounding under the thin cotton gown. “Dream… nightmare, I guess. Dark… couldn’t get oriented. Things weren’t where they belonged. Lost in my own room.” She hugged him tighter and shuddered again.

  “You’re okay, Amanda. Everything’s all right.” Jason looked around as much as he could without turning his head, which was nearly fused to the top of Amanda’s. “I’m here. It’s okay.”

  Yes, it was okay. Partly because it had only been a dream, but mostly because Jason was there to comfort her.

  He hugged her very tightly and then released. “Let me up for a minute and I’ll be right back.”

  She was reluctant to loosen her intense grasp, but Amanda nodded and noisily inhaled the contents of her
sinuses. Where’d the tissue box go? With large eyes, she watched him closely.

  Jason went to her closet, turned on its lone bulb, and closed that door about three-quarters of the way. Then he turned off the overhead light and returned to her bed. “Scoot over a bit and I’ll lie here with you for a minute.”

  Had she heard those words prior to Friday evening, Amanda would have assumed it was a clumsy maneuver to generate some comfort sex, but she knew the new Jason wouldn’t take advantage of a situation like this. And that was the key she’d been searching for: she could trust this new Jason! Imagine!

  He lay on top of the covers next to her and put his right arm under her neck. “Everything’s okay, Amanda.”

  She melted into his right side and rubbed her tears onto his tee-shirt. With her head on his upper chest, she slowly relaxed and her heart stopped pounding.

  After about ten minutes, Jason was sound asleep.

  Amanda, however, was wide awake.

  For another fifteen minutes, she tried to fall asleep, but couldn’t. With considerable difficulty, she extracted her feet from the cardboard foot box and slid out of her bed’s right side. With the light from the closet, she easily located her crutches and left slipper. She used the hall bathroom and then hobbled to the kitchen.

  It was just now 3:10 a.m., several minutes before the time featured in her dream.

  When sleep is elusive, there are always household chores needing attention. Amanda rescued the top rack dishes from Jason’s indiscriminate tossing to the dishwasher’s bottom section. Next, she sat at the table and segregated all of Jason’s snacks and treats. Then she merged the few new actual groceries with those from Christine’s large bag, which Margaret had unloaded, and put sticky notes on each sorted clump. With more sticky notes, she numbered each cabinet door which held foodstuffs.

  Jason had good intentions, but his help was littered with four tiresome words: “Where does this go?”

  Yawns finally overcame her nervous energy and Amanda fell asleep on the couch.

  * * * *

  Jason arose before Amanda and it took him a moment to realize he was in her bed. Hmm. He rewound those scenes from early, early morning. Oh, yeah. Bad dream and Amanda couldn’t sleep. So where is she now? He checked the guestroom. No. Then the living room. Yes, curled up on the couch and looking a bit chilly. He found a large beach towel in the hall closet and draped it over her trunk and upper legs.

  After a brief visit to the bathroom, he dressed, sat at the only clear spot on the dining table, and opened the borrowed laptop. Jason logged on to his e-mail account and strained for the right words to transmit to the beautiful woman dozing a few feet away. It took him ten minutes to write three sentences.

  Though Christine had pulled down her blog, the parallel sites were still up and running. Jason located the serial he wanted, and then scrolled down to a section he remembered from Wednesday. He carefully transcribed it on a piece of tablet paper from the cupboard behind the table. He folded that page and tucked it in his back pocket.

  Once again seeing his names — real and fabricated — in cyberspace was a reminder that he still had no idea how several bloggers had learned the true identities represented by those pseudonyms. Then it dawned on him that the bogus maids, carpet cleaners, insect sprayers, and cable guy — plus whoever else Christine had involved in the bizarre caper — would have told someone about their participation in a secret scheme. Perhaps each had told several someones. Nothing makes tongues wag faster than a juicy secret. Even his own mother had seemingly been aware of the blog, though she hadn’t admitted it outright. Kevin had known all about it and he was about as discreet as a billboard. Even Kevin’s friend Bill had been in on it. By that point, Jason figured probably 20 per cent of Verdeville knew at least something of the bizarre drama of Marty and Missy.

  Jason went out to the front stoop and let the rising sun shine on his face. It was already very bright and he had to close his eyes tightly.

  He’d gotten up earlier than normal because a lot was on his mind, which was rather unusual — Jason’s mind was typically uncluttered territory. But his entire view of Amanda had changed dramatically in the past four days.

  On Wednesday, their relationship had gone into the toilet when he’d seen Internet proof that Amanda had deliberately conspired to make him miserable over those previous nine days. But Friday, when he’d learned of her injuries, he’d almost forgotten all about his own deprivations and wanted only to be with Amanda to help her.

  Then yesterday. What was that all about? All of her tantalizing and… whatever? Since they’d begun sleeping together after the Halloween party last year, they’d had sex reasonably often; in fact, whenever they got physical it almost always turned into sex. But last night he’d been physically all over her, yet it didn’t lead to anything… except his own pent-up frustration. Revving the engine so much without being able to pop his clutch was very unsatisfying. Yet, there was something about all their contact which gave him a warm feeling. Not just the warmth in his loins, but something deeper. Maybe warmth in his heart?

  Jason couldn’t be certain, but he might have just felt tenderness for the first time since grade school, when he’d gotten his own tiny puppy. Boys weren’t taught a lot about tenderness; it was off the approved curriculum. But whatever they’d done last night had actually felt good. Of course it would have felt a whole lot better if sex had followed it. Danged Hypocritical Oath! Being her temporary doctor was the pits.

  Good thing Amanda was not inside his head right now, because she’d once said he had that oath confused with something else. Nah.

  He went back inside the apartment quietly in case Amanda was still asleep, but she was no longer on the couch so she’d probably gone to her bedroom.

  Actually she’d washed her hair in the kitchen sink, where the shampoo bottle remained open on the counter. With hair still damp, she appeared in the hallway a short time later. The morning sun shone through the front window and backlit her shapely figure in the pinkish cotton gown.

  My, my, my. What a vision! And so early in the morning. Jason had to blink.

  She hobbled over to the couch, where Jason sat with the remote in his hand and the television not yet on. She leaned way over and kissed his cheek. “Thanks again for all your help last night. I hope it wasn’t too hard on you.” In that position, her nightdress fell forward enough that Jason could see a considerable portion of her breasts. She obviously knew it and smiled slyly.

  “If you don’t get some clothes on, it’s going to be hard on you!” Jason didn’t know how much more teasing he could stand.

  “Hey, let’s skip all this meal preparation business here and just hit a drive-through.” Amanda hadn’t even sat down yet. “Sound okay?”

  “Uh, sure. Any particular place?” Jason was always ready to eat, and any drive-through would have better coffee than he’d made yesterday.

  “You pick one out while I shuck this nightgown and put on some street clothes.” She hobbled on her crutches down the hallway.

  Jason heard lavatory water running and several drawers opening. Amanda soon emerged wearing basically the same items as the day before, but different colors: khaki shorts and light blue tee-shirt. On her left foot was a sneaker. “Ready?”

  “Uh, I need my wallet and keys, and some shoes.”

  ———

  Amanda touched his lips with her fingertip. “Go ahead and brush your teeth while you’re moving around. Makes the food taste better.”

  Jason complied and emerged from the hall bathroom with a boyish grin. He’d even combed his hair.

  Amanda threw her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth deeply. One of the crutches fell to the floor. Who is this guy? And how had he turned Amanda into a high school girl again? She realized she had a different appetite than could be satisfied at a drive-through window. Amanda was hungry for this new Jason. The one who tenderly looked after her, bashfully dried her naked body, and then went outside to cool down. The
person who’d comforted her after the bad dream. The man who’d exhibited restraint for possibly the first time since she’d known him. Tenderness plus restraint. Wow!

  Jason broke the kiss. “What’s that for?” He was out of breath.

  “That’s the kiss you stiffed me on last night. Bet you thought I’d forgotten.” She smiled. “So, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

  On the way to his pickup, Jason listed half a dozen fast-food places with good breakfast menus. His well-known favorite would have been the Shuney’s buffet, but Amanda couldn’t handle that venue on crutches, so it would have to wait. For now, they settled on the drive-through of the nearest Golden Arches.

  After receiving their order, Jason drove slightly over a mile southeast of old downtown, to Verdeville’s City Park. It was about 9:00 a.m. and relatively deserted. He parked near a large oak tree and they set up their fare at a concrete picnic table with a few leaves and acorns scattered about its stained and chipped surface.

  Amanda was getting better at exiting and entering his truck with the crutches. She’d be an old hand at it by the time her toes healed.

  The acorns probably reminded Jason of “allshitz” coffee, because he thumped them, one by one, with his middle finger. Each flew several feet away from their sturdy table.

  With little conversation, they finished their breakfast sandwiches and fried potato cakes. Jason had purchased a third large coffee which he then divided between both empty cups. As they sipped their refilled coffee, a slightly dusty minivan drove up and parked about 60 feet away. First to exit were a girl and her younger brother; both raced to the nearby swing set. Then Dad from the driver’s side and Mom from the other front seat. Mom was obviously pregnant and even from that distance she seemed radiant.

  Amanda looked on with longing. She wondered if she’d ever have a minivan and three kids. And she wondered what kind of father Jason might eventually be.

  ———

  Jason also watched the family, but his attention focused on the mother with beautiful legs. He’d never really looked closely at pregnant women before. It was an instinct mechanism: pregnant women were off limits and out of season. Ignore. But he noticed this one, even from 60 feet away — she was lovely.