DAY THIRTY THREE

Jeff Duvall was on the way to therapy for his daily session.  He had never used crutches before.  The previous session was nearly totally dedicated to teaching him to use them.  He finished the therapy session and was in the wheelchair when they brought in Juanita Lopez.  He waved to her and asked her room number.  She replied 1337.  Jeff said thanks and the orderly took him back to his room.  On the way back he looked for room 1337.  It was four doors down the hall from his room.  Both were private rooms.  He looked at the clock, 9:38 AM.  If Juanita was there about an hour she would be back about 10:40.  He asked the nurse to allow him to sit in the wheelchair and keep his crutches.  She smiled and nodded.  He wheeled over and turned on the TV and watched it till about 10:35. 

Jeff turned off the TV and wheeled out into the hall.  As he wheeled toward Juanita’s door she came out of the room on a wheelchair.  Without any verbal communication they pulled the chairs right to right sides and kissed.  It was their first kiss.  He motioned toward her room.  She nodded, turned her chair and headed toward it with him behind her.  As they entered she turned toward him and they parked right to right again and held each other. 

Jeff was the first to talk, “I have been so stupid.  You have done everything that was proper to get my attention since we started riding together.  I ignored you as a woman until we were shot.  Sitting there on the pavement I realized that if you hadn’t come over to help me you would still have two legs.”

“Probably not.  I saw the muzzle flash. I know where he was and he could have hit me where I was.  He had a clear shot from either side of the car.  You don’t have to take any blame.  I just expected he would take off.”

“OK, but I want you to know this.  If you want a guy with two legs I will understand and walk away, well you know, I’ll leave.”

“I was going to tell you the same thing.”

“Well I want you, one legged, or whatever.”

“Me too.”

“Let’s try something.”

“What?”

He pulled out his crutches and got to a standing position.  “Can you stand up?”

“Sure, I sprained an ankle about 5 years ago.  I’m pretty good with these.”  She slid the crutches in front of her and pushed herself to a standing position.  “Just stand still, I’ll come to you.”  She made several short crutch steps, pivoted and then made two more steps to him.  She threw her arms around him and pressed her mouth to his.  They were still in that position when the nurse came in about 4 minutes later. 

“Ahem.”

They separated and nearly fell at the noise.  “We can have none of that.”  Then she laughed.  “If you have to do that again let me know.  I’ll make sure you have someone to help you in case you need them and we’ll shut the door for you.”

Both of them were very red.  Juanita got out the first response, “Sorry, we didn’t want to…”

“No problem.  But for now when you are out of bed we need to be with you so you don’t fall.  It looks like you two have both fallen, for each other.”

Jeff chimed in, “I assure you, we weren’t doing this in the police car.  This is the first time.”

“You two sure learn fast.  Just be careful and have us help you so you don’t fall. I don’t care what you do as long as both of you agree and you don’t get hurt.”

With that Jeff pulled her to himself and they kissed again. 

If you wish to read more of this novel click on the link below.  It is the first chapter and it contains links to the other chapters. 

The Night Sniper Chapter One: On the Beat

The Night Sniper: Ch. 018 The Shooting Aftermath

The Night Sniper: Ch. 020 Samantha Keys Rolls Snake Eyes