The Veteran

by Bobby Michaels

  He slowly released his hold on me, allowing me to right myself from bending over the rails on the side of the bed. He closed his eyes and lay back on the bed but one hand still grasped my shirt, almost as if he needed the contact with another human being. I don’t know why I did it – it was without conscious thought – but I reached up and covered his large hand with my smaller one, gently holding his hand against my chest.

  He laid there, his eyes closed as his breathing slowed down. Finally, I could feel the tension go out of his body as the grip of his fingers loosened on my shirt. He opened his eyes and saw my hand holding his against me. He looked up at me questioningly and I let go so he could take his hand back.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice in a rough growl.

  “I brought you what you asked for.” Bending over, I retrieved the bag of clothing from where I’d dropped it and set it on the bed.

  He stared at the bag and then at me. I reached inside and brought out the T-shirts and then the shorts along with the slippers. His eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas when he saw what I had brought him. Without any modesty about it, he stripped off the hospital gown and pulled on one of the huge T-shirts.

  This did two things. First of all, it exposed most of his body to my vision for the first time, including his groin. Now, it is not true that just because a guy is tall and built large in body frame that he is necessarily going to be equally endowed in his manhood. However, in this case, Ty’s endowment more than equaled, if not exceeded, any estimate I might have made. Even soft, it was at least ten inches long, as well as thick and uncut, with a large amount of skin covering the head and beyond. While I couldn’t claim to have had all that much experience sexually, I’d seen my fair share of cocks in the high school locker room and in my college dorm. I’d even seen a few porn films but never had I seen a cock as big as the one between Ty’s legs.

  The second thing stripping off his hospital gown did was to open his crotch to the air. My nose was instantly tantalized by that musky, warm scent of a man’s sweaty groin – a scent that had intrigued me all through high school in the locker rooms. A scent that caused a rapid movement of blood into my own cock. It was all I could do to keep myself under control given the intimacy of the situation. Of course, I didn’t think that Ty thought of it as intimate. After all, I was just another guy. I was sure that, to a Marine, even an ex-Marine, this was a fairly common situation. From what Todd had told me, there was no such thing as modesty in the barracks.

  Ty looked up at me and I saw him smile for the very first time. If I thought his body and his manhood were stunning, his smile was devastating. While I had known he was handsome, when he smiled his face became like that of a young god. He was simply the most beautiful male I had ever seen in my life.

  He grabbed a pair of the shorts and then stopped. I could see him trying to figure out how he was going to get them on. Of course he couldn’t, given the cast and all.

  “Uhh…could you…could you help me with these?” He looked up at me in obvious embarrassment at having to ask for help. I could see exactly why he was such a difficult patient. I could also agree with Kathleen that a lot of it came from the loss of his sense of autonomy. Unfortunately, because of the enforced disability, Ty was going to have to learn some difficult lessons about seeking help from others.

  I went to the foot of the bed and gently managed to lift the cast from the pillow where it was resting. I slipped the shorts over the cast and then helped him get his other leg into the shorts as well. This gave me a view straight up his groin so now I had not only the vision of his large cock but his rather hefty set of balls as well. I also noticed while it didn’t look like it had been trimmed or thinned in any way, Ty didn’t have a lot of pubic hair. Not that he looked boyish or anything, it was just sparse.

  Working together, Ty and I managed to get him dressed in the shorts as well as the T-shirt. He then lay back on the bed, giving me a look of deep suspicion.

  “Why did you get these for me?”

  “Because I told you I would. And because you needed them.”

  He looked at me for a long moment, seeming to decide if there was any hidden agenda beyond what I told him. He obviously couldn’t find one because his face lost its suspicious mien and relaxed into almost a smile.

  “Uhh…well…thanks.” This was said with what was apparently some difficulty.

  “You’re very welcome.” I gave him a smile.

  “Do you treat all your patients this way?”

  “I try to.”

  “Tell me about your brother. The one that was a Marine.”

  “He was the most wonderful person and the very best brother anyone could hope to have. He was loyal, dependable and courageous. He didn’t have a prejudiced bone in his body. He treated everyone with respect unless they showed themselves not to be worthy of it. He didn’t care what other people thought of him. He was his own man. All that mattered to him was what he believed about himself. I loved him and I miss him very much.”

  At that point, I was standing beside Ty’s bed, my hand on the railing. The pain of Todd’s loss shot through me and I found myself with my head bowed and tears silently streaming down my face. It took a moment for me to realize it but I felt a warm strong hand covering mine. I opened my eyes and looked, and it was Ty’s hand, gently holding mine. I looked up and blinked back the tears. I stood there looking at him. His dark eyes were like obsidian lasers, boring into mine. I again had the feeling he could look through my eyes down into my very soul. I was uncomfortable with his penetrating stare. I didn’t want him knowing about me – especially not the fact that I found him devastatingly attractive.

  With a great effort of will, I got myself under control. I gently pulled my hand from his. He let go of my hand, but I thought I could almost detect a strong reluctance to do so. I didn’t look at him, but I could again hear his deep, gravely voice.

  “I wish I had someone to care about me that way.”

  “You have to let people have a chance to care about you rather than growling at them.”

  I don’t know where I got the courage to say this, even though I spoke barely above a whisper. Ty looked at me and I could see that what I had said had pierced some of that extensive armoring that he locked himself inside.

  “But when you give them the chance, they either hurt you or they die.”

  “Somebody can’t help dying. As to hurting you, it happens but not necessarily on purpose. Most people hurt others more out of ignorance than meanness.”

  “Yeah. There are a lot of ignorant motherfuckers out there. There were a lot in the Corps as well.”

  “Todd loved the Marine Corps. He loved the discipline and the camaraderie of his fellow Marines. I never saw him happier. I think he intended to spend his life in the Corps.”

  “Yeah. A lot of us did.” This was said with quiet bitterness.

  “What happened? Why did you leave?”

  “Trust me, it wasn’t my idea. Maybe sometime, when I’ve known you longer and better, I’ll tell you about it. I’m tired now. I need more sleep.”

  And, just like that, whatever trust and openness there was between us was gone and the walls Ty erected around himself were back in place.

  “I’ll let you rest then. Just one thing…if there’s anything that you need, just let me know, okay?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.” And with this, Ty rolled partially over so that his face was turned away from me.

  I stood there a moment just admiring the broad muscular back that was turned toward me and then I quietly turned and left.

  Chapter Four

  “We’ve got to find a place for him. He’s able to ambulate with the crutches so he is not in need of in-patient care any longer. More importantly, he continues to resist any conformity to hospital discipline. I think the best thing for him, both psychologically as well as medically, is to be out of a clinical atmosphere.”

  Kathleen and I were once again sitting at the conference t
able in her office sharing coffee and sweet rolls. I knew what she was saying was right. I’d already come to the same conclusion. However, my search for someplace to house Ty had been a total failure. Even our Adult Living Facilities, where we paid for housing, were all full. There was only one option I could see for housing Ty but I was afraid to bring it up to Kathleen. I wasn’t sure if it was ethical or not.

  “I can’t think of any place for him to go.” I could hear the exasperation in Kathleen’s voice, something I very rarely heard from her.

  “Uhh…I can think of one.” I more mumbled this than said it outright.

  “Where?”

  “Well…I was thinking…what if I took him home with me? I have three bedrooms in my townhouse and…well…”

  Before I could even finish, Kathleen was grinning like the Cheshire Cat and nodding in agreement.

  “That would be the perfect solution. It gets him out of here but, at the same time, you could make sure that he continues to get to his physical therapy and counseling sessions. Not to mention the fact that you wouldn’t be all alone. I think it could work out very well.”

  To say I was shocked by her reaction to my suggestion was an understatement. It was almost as if it was the solution she herself had come up with and was only waiting for me to figure it out.

  “Well, of course, there is one fly in the ointment,” I cautioned.

  “And what is that?”

  “We have to get Mr. Gunther to agree to it.”

  “I would say if you use your power of persuasion, you shouldn’t have any difficulties with Mr. Gunther.”

  As I rode up the elevator to the third floor, I was exceedingly doubtful of Kathleen’s assessment of my powers of persuasion – especially where Ty was concerned. Basically, he was the type of man who made his own way in life and wasn’t at all interested in what other people thought or wanted. In some ways he was like Todd in that. However, where he differed was sometimes I think Ty was more than willing to cut off his nose to spite his face – that sometimes just out of a sense of perversity, Ty would refuse to go along with something that was good for him just because someone else wanted him to.

  I walked into the ward which now, after a few weeks, had almost all the beds filled. I saw the privacy curtain drawn around Ty’s bed, just as it was all the time. That was one thing I could offer him that the hospital and no shelter or adult living facility could – privacy. This was the one thing Ty seemed to prize most highly and I decided that this was the argument I would use if I had to.

  Over the weeks that Ty had been my patient, he had gradually seemed to calm down around me. He’d stopped growling at me, for the most part, though he still wouldn’t give me any information about his growing up years before he became a Marine, his time in the Corps, or why he was discharged.

  I stood outside the privacy curtain and said quietly, “Ty, are you awake? Can I talk to you?”

  “Yeah. I’m awake.”

  I walked around the end of the curtain and saw he was sitting up in bed, wearing one of the T-shirts and a pair of the shorts I had bought him.

  “Ty,” I began. “I just had a talk with my supervisor. You’re no longer incapacitated enough to need to be in the hospital. You’re able to get around on your crutches quite well and, to be honest, we need the bed.”

  “So what are you all going to do with me? Send me to some goddamned shelter? Or put me out on the fuckin’ street?”

  “Neither one. We tried to find a placement for you and there just aren’t any. All of the shelters and the adult living facilities are full. What I came to offer you is someplace much better than any of those and much better than a hospital. A place where you’ll have privacy and it will be comfortable for you. It’s close to the hospital so your physical therapy can continue as well as your other therapy.”

  “And just where is this place?”

  “It’s just a couple of blocks from the hospital.”

  “So what kind of place is it? Some kind of shelter or something?”

  I held my breath and then slowly and quietly said, “No. It’s my townhouse.”

  Ty looked at me strangely.

  “Why would you do that? Why would you offer to let me live in your house?”

  “Because…well…you need someplace to stay while you recuperate and you were a Marine, just like my brother.”

  “No, I wasn’t. Your brother died a Marine. He didn’t get thrown out of the Corps.”

  Ty said this with great bitterness and then turned his face away from me. It was, however, the first time he’d admitted he’d been thrown out of the Marine Corps.

  “The surgeon says the scars on your legs reminded him of shrapnel wounds he treated in Vietnam. You were injured, weren’t you? You were in either Iraq or Afghanistan and you were injured.”

  He turned back and looked at me.

  “Yeah? So what.”

  “I’ll bet you won medals, too, didn’t you? At least a Purple Heart.”

  “They don’t mean nothin’. The Marine Corps still ended up tossing me out like last week’s garbage – medals or no medals!”

  “Well, I don’t think you’re ‘last week’s garbage.’ I think you’re a very brave and gallant man who maybe made a mistake but who is still worth giving a chance to get back on your feet and go on with your life!”

  “You just fuckin’ won’t give up, will you?”

  It was like all of my frustration over Ty’s bullheadedness over the last few weeks just exploded out of me and I suddenly found myself screaming at him in anger.

  “NO! I WON’T! I WON’T GIVE UP ON YOU AND I WON’T LET YOU GIVE UP, EITHER!”

  Ty just sat there looking at me in shock. Slowly, however a grin appeared.

  “Well, so you do have a temper. I thought they bred that out of you in Social Work school.”

  “No! They don’t!”

  I stood there glaring at him, angrier now because he’d gotten to me and I’d lost my professional “cool,” something I’d never done with a patient before. Ty, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased with himself at first but then his grin turned into a sheepish one.

  “Okay. I figure you’ve got every right to yell at me. I’m being an ungrateful shit-head. You’ve been nothing but good to me and I’ve been nothing but a pain in the ass. And now you’re being nice enough to offer me a place to live in your own house and rather than say thank you, I’m bustin’ your chops. If you’re crazy enough to want me, I’ll be more than happy not to be sleeping under a bridge or in a doorway.”

  “Good, then get yourself ready. You’re getting out of here just as soon as I can arrange your discharge.”

  With that, I turned on my heels and left, not wanting to give Ty any time for second thoughts on the matter. I went back downstairs to Kathleen’s office and let her know that I had gotten Ty’s agreement to moving to my townhouse. Kathleen was, to say the least, ecstatic at the news and congratulated me heartily on my success. I reminded her I’d only gotten him to agree to be released to my home. Time would only tell if he’d stay.

  I tracked down the surgeon and got him to sign the discharge papers for Ty then went to the hospital pharmacy and got the prescriptions, a pain killer and a sleeping pill, that the doctor ordered. I then went to the Security Office where patients’ personal effects and valuables were stored. The small bag and the olive-drab jacket they handed me were all there was. I took them with me and returned to the third floor.

  “Are you ready?” I asked him.

  “You don’t know how ready I am to get out of here. Is that my stuff?” Ty indicated the bag and jacket I was carrying.

  “Yes, this is all there was in the Security office.”

  “Yeah, my other stuff is gone by now. There wasn’t much, just some clothes. I couldn’t wear them with the cast, anyway.”

  “We can get you more clothes. That’s not a problem. I’ve also got your prescriptions the surgeon ordered. One is a pain pill; the other is a sleeping pill.”
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  “I don’t really need those. I haven’t been taking either one of them.”

  “Well, it’s better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them.”

  “Yes, Mother.”

  Ty grinned at me. I was so taken by surprise at his making a joke and the beauty of him when he smiled that I just stood there a moment, lost in the golden aura of him. I knew there was a reason I wanted him to go home with me and I knew it was something that was both foolish and impossible. I found myself falling in love with this sometimes gruff, sometimes angry, sometimes brave and altogether beautiful male. A love I felt he could never return but I didn’t care. Or, at least, that’s what I told myself.

  “You’re going to need your jacket. It’s unusually cold for the beginning of April. I’ll get transportation up here to wheel you down in a wheelchair while I go and get my car.”

  I turned to go when I heard his voice behind me.

  “Tim…”

  I turned and suddenly was no longer looking at his face. He had gotten out of bed and was leaning on his crutches, which put him at least five or six inches above me. I was instead looking at this strong, muscular chest. I had to look up to look into his eyes.

  “Thank you. There’s only been one other guy in my whole life who’s really cared about me and he’s dead. I don’t know what I did to deserve you but I want you to know that I really am grateful, even if I don’t act like it most of the time.”

  “You should thank my boss, Kathleen Cannon, for that. She was the one who asked me to take on your case because you’d made such trouble for everybody. She hoped that someone younger would get along better with you. I guess she was right, as usual.”

  “Yeah. She was.”

  Again I was bathed in the glow of one of his brilliant smiles. And just like I was suddenly blinded by the glare, I completely forgot for a moment where I was going and what I was doing. Finally it dawned on me that I was just staring into his face and was supposed to be getting transport for him and getting my car out of the employee garage.