Chapter 32

“Aren’t you going to do it for me?”

“You have two good arms. I have only one good arm, and my right hand isn’t all that useful right now.”

He brushed his teeth, and I gave him the water glass, saying, “Now rinse and spit.”

He followed my instructions, and I kissed him again, this time more deeply. “Much better,” I said. We sat in silence for a while, holding hands.

“Babe,” Charles said.

“Yes?”

“I think I can use that bedpan now.”

“Let me go find an orderly,” I said, and I went down to the nurse’s station. An aide looked up at me from her desk. “Help you?”

“Yes, my friend Mr. Barnett needs to use the bedpan, and he needs an orderly.”

“I’ll send someone down in just a minute,” she said.

I thanked her and returned to the room. A few minutes later, John came in, and Charles said, “Don’t you ever get to go home?”

“Once in a while,” John said. “Right now I’m pulling a double shift for the overtime. What’s up?”