Woody
After my call with a guy named Todd, I had an interview set up for the next day. I was supposed to meet him at his office downtown. I guess he was some kind of lawyer. I gathered up enough change to ride the bus downtown and found the address that Todd had given me.
The lady sitting at the big desk in the center of the lobby smiled as I approached her. She asked, “can I help you?”
I nodded, “I have a meeting with Todd.”
She looked me up and down, “ok, can I tell Todd who is waiting to see him?”
I said, “Woody… um I mean Cyrus Woodson.” I feel my face heat up as she dialed her phone.
She relayed the message and said, “please have a seat, Todd will be with you in just a minute.”
While I waited, I thought, I have never had a real job interview. Was this really even a real job? I mean the ad was for a caretaker while this guy recuperated. Would the job end when he was better. Shit, was I going to have to wipe this guy’s ass? What if this guy was 90 years old, what was I getting myself into? Was I even qualified to do this? Would they even want to hire me? I was actually surprised when I was given an interview. As my mind continued to race, a man approached me with his hand out. I shook his hand as he said, “Cyrus, I’m Todd. It’s nice to meet you, follow me, we will talk in my office.”
I said, “thanks, if you don’t mind, I prefer Woody.”
He nodded, “sure, no problem.” As we entered his office, I saw a desk on one side and a table on the other. There was another man already seated at the table. Todd said, “please have a seat. This is um… my colleague, Jack.”
I nodded hello as I took my seat, I noticed that Jack closed a file folder as I approached the table. I’m not sure, but I thought I saw a picture of myself before he closed the file.
Todd and Jack were seated on one side of the table as I was on the other. Todd smiled and said, “well Woody, we’ll keep this informal. I should probably start by telling you a little bit about what the job is all about. About a month ago, my brother-in-law, Harlan, by the way he prefers Harley, was in a bad car accident. Both arms and both legs were broken, as well as a couple of ribs. Right now, he has his eyes bandaged, the doctors had to remove glass fragments, we have no idea how his vision will be affected. He has a doctor’s appointment today, hopefully some of the casts will start to come off. As of right now, he is in a wheelchair and needs help getting in and out of bed, fixing his meals, those kinds of things. Is that something you think you can handle?”
I shrugged, “honestly, I don’t have that much experience, but I am willing to try.”
Todd nodded, “yeah, I understand that, I have looked at your work history. I have to be honest with you too, Harley is a little… um, shall we say hard to get along with. The last two caregivers we had asked their agencies to be reassigned. We think that maybe, another male would be better suited to handle Harley. Right now, he is feeling a little sorry for himself, and if we hire you, we will give you permission to be just as hard on him, as he will probably be on you.”
As Todd was giving me more details on the job, his phone rang. He looked at the screen and said, “I’m sorry, I need to take this, it’s my wife, I may have more to tell you after she tells me how the doctor visit went.”
He walked away from the table, “hey Heather, how did it go?” He sighed, “shit, yeah that changes things a bit. No, I am talking to him right now. Yeah, I will. I’ll call you back as soon as we are done.”
Todd sat back down, “well, the good news it is, Harley got the casts off his hands today. The bad news is, he did not regain his sight. They will be doing a few more tests, but it appears his optic nerves were damaged too much.”
I sighed, damn, did I really want to get involved with this. If this Harley guy was hard to get along with before, what is he going to be like if he is now blind?
Todd said, “they also changed the cast on his legs to walking casts, he can walk with a walker, but the doctor said he should slowly work into that, he should continue to use the wheelchair for a while.”
He continued to fill me in on all the duties that would be expected of me. I was relieved when he told me that I wouldn’t have to wipe Harley’s ass since he got the use of his hands back today. I decided I could handle helping him get dressed, keeping the house clean and cooking his meals. Cooking might be the hardest task, most of the cooking I did growing up was just making sandwiches for myself. I guess I could make grilled cheese and those boxes of mac and cheese.
Todd said, “in addition to the salary that I told you about, you will have your own bedroom. I will give you a credit card to buy groceries and anything else that Harley needs. You can purchase things that you need as well, but I will want receipts, and your personal items will be deducted from your paycheck.”
The pay they were offering was more than I had ever made before. I guess I could learn to cook for that kind of money.
After he had finished talking, Todd looked at me and asked, “well Woody, what do you think?”
I took a deep breath, “I think I can do all of that, like I said, I don’t have much experience.”
He nodded, “yeah, I know. We mostly just need someone to watch Harley. He is very independent, and bull headed, he probably won’t accept too much help.”
I said, “I am willing to give it a try.”
Todd looked at Jack, who still had not uttered a word. Jack gave him a slight nod. Todd turned back to me, and asked, “when can you start?”
I stuttered, “I guess anytime.”
I gave him the details of my living situation, he said, “if you want, I can take you to get your belongings and then I’ll take you to meet Harley right now.”
Ten minutes later, I was taking my first ride in a Lexus. A quick stop to gather the few clothes that I owned and my only real possession, a play station, we were soon in one of the better areas of the city. We pulled into the driveway of a nice house, it wasn’t the fanciest one in the neighborhood but it was the nicest house I had ever been to. We parked right next to an Escalade that was already sitting in the driveway.
I followed Todd inside, he yelled, “hey Harley, it’s Todd.”
The first thing I noticed was the beautiful hardwood floors that extended from the entry to a dining room on the right and what looked like a formal living room on the left. There was real artwork on the walls, not just some framed posters. We continued straight ahead into more of a family room, it had several chairs and a large TV on the wall. I could see the kitchen off to the left and a hall that I assumed led to bedrooms on the right.
I saw a man sitting in a wheelchair in front of a table with a laptop. The man said, “pause.” The sound that was coming from the laptop stopped. As we got closer, Todd said, “so, how are you doing?”
The man turned the chair toward us, he growled, “how the hell do you think I’m doing?”
A women walked in from the kitchen, she said, “he’s still in a pissy mood.”
She walked to me and held out her hand with a smile, she said, “hi, I’m Heather, Harley’s sister and Todd’s wife. You must be Woody.”
I smiled, “yes, nice to meet you, Heather.”
Todd said, “Harley, this is Woody, he’s going to be helping you out for a while.”
I said, “hi Harley.”
He turned to the sound of my voice, “are you sure you want to help an asshole like me, I’m sure Todd has warned you that I can be a prick.”
I got my first good look at Harley, damn it, why did he have to be so gorgeous? His wavey auburn hair shined as the sunlight filtered in from the windows. His muscular chest and arms were straining the tight t-shirt he was wearing. He was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, so I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew that they would be just as beautiful as the rest of him.
I remembered that Todd had given me permission to give Harley as hard of a time as he was giving me, I said, “yeah, he warned me, but don’t worry, I have dealt with a few dozen asshole boyfriends that mom brought home while I was growing up, I think I can handle you.”
Todd and Heather both stifled a laugh. Heather patted my shoulder, “I like you, keep it up.” She continued, “follow me, I’ll show you around the kitchen, I have dinner started for you guys.”
Heather showed me around the kitchen, it was well equipped and there were several utensils and small appliances that I had no idea what they were. Oh well, I can always google them to find what they were used for, just fake until you make it, right? I have a feeling that I will be using Google a lot over the next few weeks.
She said, “you can feed Harley here at the kitchen table, he and Sam used to use the dining room more, they liked to entertain a lot.”
I asked, “Sam?”
Heather nodded, “he was Harley’s boyfriend, they were to be married. He was killed in the accident.”
Did she just say boyfriend? This job just became more interesting, I was really going to have to control myself, it certainly wouldn’t be proper for me to think about the man I was hired to take care of in a sexual way.
I said, “I’m sorry to hear that, I guess Harley has several good reasons to be in a bad mood.”
She nodded, “yes, it had been hard for him, but you handled him very well. Don’t be afraid to give him little jabs like that. To be honest, I think he likes it, we grew up that way.”
I grinned, “I’ll try to remember that.”
She smiled, “you can help me set the table, dinner is just about ready. Todd and I will eat with you guys tonight, to sort of help you break the ice. The plates are in that cupboard and the silverware is in that drawer.”
After we ate, Heather showed me how to use the dishwasher. I had never been around one, I always had to wash dishes by hand, maybe this was going to be easier than I thought. We finished in the kitchen and joined Todd and Harley in the family room. Heather then gave me a quick tour of the rest of the house, ending in the room that would be my bedroom. Other than the formal living and dining room that I noticed when I first entered the house, there was a third bedroom, another room that Harley used for a home office and a main bathroom. I was glad that both my bedroom and Harley’s each had their own ensuite bathroom.
Heather and Todd filled me in on all the other duties I was expected to complete, mostly cleaning and dusting. Heather told me that Harley now spent most of his time in the family room on his laptop, the kitchen to eat and his bedroom, cleaning wasn’t going to be a big chore. After a few more bits of advice, Todd and Heather were headed out the door. I walked back to the family room, Harley and I were now alone for the first time.
Harley
My mood improved only slightly as the casts were cut from my hands. My hands were a bit stiff, the doctor gave me a couple of rubber balls to squeeze so I could regain my strength. I continued to squeeze them as they changed the casts on my legs and the doctor gave me instructions on how to walk in the new casts.
I was squeezing those balls even tighter when the eye specialist walked into the room. I held my breath as he removed the last two pads that were covering my eyes. I finally exhaled when he told me to open my eyes.
He asked, “what do you see?”
I shook my head, “nothing, I don’t see a damn thing.”
He asked, “what do you mean, is it dark, do see any shadows?”
I sighed, “it’s nothing, it’s not dark, it’s not light, it’s just nothing.”
They did some more tests, I don’t know, some scans or something. I just know what he told me before he removed those bandages, that my vision would not likely improve, and I couldn’t see a damn thing.
I didn’t hear another word anyone said for the rest of the appointment. It wasn’t until Heather was driving me back home and she told me that Todd had hired another caretaker for me that I had anything to say.
I said, “what’s the point, if I was a damn dog, you would put me down.”
She said, “just stop it Harley, you are not a dog, and we will not put you down. I know this is hard on you, but there are lot of people living a full life without their vision. It’s going to take some work to get used to it, that’s why we are getting you some help. You need to be nice to him, he only wants to help you.”
I scoffed, “so you hired a tough guy to handle me, just because I chased the other ladies off.”
Heather sighed, “just give him a chance Harley.”
Now Heather and Todd have brought this stranger into my house to take care of me. At least the others they brought in were only here during the day. I could get a little peace and quiet after they left. Damn, they were always hanging over me, asking me, how was I doing, did I need anything, could they bring me something. God, it was annoying. And not one of them knew how to cook anything edible. Shit, Sam was an amazing cook, he could make anything taste like it came from the fanciest restaurant. I miss him so much. I heard Todd and Heather leave and the door lock after it was closed. Then footsteps coming back into the room.
Woody asked, “is there anything I can do for you?”
I sighed, “yeah, just leave me the hell alone.”
Woody said, “I see Todd was right about you. Fine, I’ll leave you the hell alone. I’m going to my room to unpack. Just yell if you want act like an adult or if you need my help.”
He walked past me and headed down the hall. Who the hell does this guy think he is. I’m paying him to treat me like this, I’m sure I’m paying him more than he is worth. I resumed listening to my podcasts, not really paying attention, I was still thinking about the day’s events. What the hell did I do to deserve this, first, I lose the only man I ever loved, and now my sight. This had to be some kind of nightmare. I’m not sure how long I sat there feeling sorry for myself. I heard Woody walk back into the room.
He said, “I’m going to get a bottle of water, can I bring you anything?”
I said, “yeah, bring me a beer. It should be on the bottom shelf of the fridge, on the right side.”
I heard him leave and a few seconds later he returned. I heard him open the beer.
He said, “here you go, the bottle is to the right of your laptop, at 2 o’clock.” Heather must have told him that whenever he sat anything in front of me, to tell me where it was based on a clock. The doctor had told us it was a good system for those who had lost their sight.
I sighed, “thank you.”
He said, “you’re welcome.”
I asked, “do you want a beer?” I heard him open a bottle of water. Over the last few weeks, I have been learning the sounds of a lot of things.
Woody said, “no thank you, I don’t drink.”
I was trying to judge his age by the sound of his voice. He sounded young, but I wasn’t sure how young. I asked, “what’s the matter, aren’t you old enough?”
I heard him chuckle, “yes, I am old enough, I’m 22. I just don’t drink.”
I asked, “why not, can’t handle your booze?”
He said, “I don’t know, I have never had more than a drink or two. I guess I don’t like the taste.”
I pressed on, “well, maybe you just haven’t tried the right drink, you ever tried whiskey or rum?”
I heard him sigh, “no, I haven’t. I saw what alcohol did to my mom, I have no desire to go down that same path.”
I suddenly regretted my line of questioning, I said, “sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
He said, “it’s ok. You didn’t know.”
I asked, “where is your mom now?”
Woody was silent for a bit, then said, “I don’t know, I sort of left home when I was 16. I haven’t seen her since.”
I asked, “what about your father, do you have any siblings?”
He again paused before he answered, “I don’t think my father knows I exist, and I don’t have any brothers or sisters.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes, I was thinking about all of this new information. My life sucked right now, but I couldn't imagine being on my own at 16 and not having anyone.
Woody broke the silence, “so what about you? I know about Heather and Todd, do you have any other family? How old are you?”
I took a drink of my beer, “I turned 32 on my last birthday and nope, no other siblings. My parents both have passed, dad three years ago, mom, a little over a year ago.”
He said, “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged, “it’s all part of life I guess.”
I drank the last of my beer, I said, “I could probably use a shower, I guess I will need your help.”
I heard Woody stand and walk toward me, he said, “ok, tell me what you want me to do.”
I chuckled, “the first step would be getting me to my bathroom.”
I felt the chair rolling down the hall to my room. As we got to the bathroom off my bedroom, Woody said, “Heather told me that you had walking casts on your legs, can you stand up?”
I said, “yeah, but you will have to help me, I will need to you to hold me up.”
Woody said, “I’ll pull your shirt off, then I will stand you up, OK?”
I nodded as he pulled my shirt over my head. He wrapped his arms around me and helped me to my feet. He said, “support yourself by putting your hands on my shoulders and I will help you off with your shorts.”
I reached out and couldn’t find him, he took my hands and lowered them to his shoulders.
I laughed, “what the hell are you, a dwarf?”
He sighed, “no, I’m just short.”
I was still chuckling as I felt him yank my underwear down and pull them over my casts. There it was, I was completely exposed to yet another stranger.
He asked, “can you get your casts wet?”
I shook my head, “no, there are two cast covers the doctor gave me next to the shower, you’ll have to put those on first.”
I few minutes later, Woody had the shower running and was guiding me under the water. I had one hand holding the grab bar that Todd recently installed, and the other on Woody’s shoulder, I noticed he had taken his shirt off. I said, “I have to hang on, so I don’t fall. I’m afraid you are going to have to wash me.”
I felt the washcloth being rubbed across my chest and arms. I suddenly started to panic when my cock started to tingle. Oh God, please don’t let me get a hardon.
To be Continued…
