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From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} John Carter I 06-10 (mf mff mmf mm ff)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 07:10:07 -0400
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Chapters 11 - 15 will follow in a few days. I hope you
enjoy them.

Lazlo Zalezac

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com

<1st attachment, "JC06-10.txt" begin>

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.

John Carter
By
Lazlo Zalezac 
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezak, 2003

Part 1: Shield, Staff, and Compass
Chapter 6

John stood in line at the cafeteria with his tray full of food on the 
shelf in front of him. It was a standard southern cafeteria where 
you push your tray along a shelf, selecting the items that you 
wanted to eat. The person behind the counter would serve up a 
single portion. At the end of the counter, you paid for your meal 
based on what you had taken. More often than not, a person would 
select a lot more food than they could eat. John looked at his tray 
and wondered how he was going to eat everything. 

In the line ahead of him was another man who appeared to be 
about three years older than he was. He was dressed in a white 
shirt with a tie and dress pants. He looked like a normal 
businessman at dinner, but his posture reflected a sense of defeat. 
His eyes were down cast, his voice a flat monotone and his 
shoulders slumped. Listlessly, he pushed his tray along the shelf. 
At the register, he paid for his food and aimlessly walked off to 
find a table.

John watched him go. He turned to the lady at the register and 
commented, "He looks like he's had a rough day."

She shook her head, "He's like that every day; both at lunch and at 
dinner."

John nodded and paid for his meal. Stepping away from the 
register, he looked around the room. Most of the tables were 
occupied. He noticed the guy who had been in front of him at a 
table sitting alone. He walked over to the table and stopped, 
"Excuse me, do you mind if I join you? I really hate to eat alone."

The man looked up in surprise at John. He asked, "Are you talking 
to me?"

"Sure, can I join you?"

"I guess." The man arranged his tray to make a little room at the 
table for John. 

John set his tray down and extended his hand, "I'm John Carter!"

"Jack Anderson," replied the man as he shook John's hand. The 
tired look fled his eyes for a moment.

"Nice to meet you Jack. Doesn't this food look good?"

"I guess so. I eat here twice a day, so I don't really notice. Fridays 
they have fried seafood. I usually get the shrimp for lunch and the 
fish for dinner. That's pretty good," replied Jack. It had been a 
while since he had talked to someone in a social situation. He felt 
like he was babbling.

"Well, I really appreciate you letting me join you. I travel a lot 
during the summer and it really gets old eating alone."

"I know what you mean. I always eat alone." Jack wondered for a 
moment if John was gay and trying to pick him up. His doubts 
were immediately put aside as he watched John eye an attractive 
woman as she walked past their table. 

"So, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm an accountant." Jack answered expecting to hear some 
negative comment about counting beans.

"Really? You know most people don't think too highly of 
accountants, but they are the backbone of any well-run business. 
To be able to make good business decisions, you have to have 
good information. The accountant is the person you go to for that 
information. It's a tough profession." The respect in John's voice 
was real. John also knew that the average businessman didn't know 
how to ask the right questions of an accountant.

Jack stared at John in amazement. He wasn't used to getting 
understanding and respect. "Are you an accountant too?"

"No, I'm a physicist."

"Oh." Suddenly, Jack felt a little intimidated. It took him a minute 
before he recalled how his profession could impact others. He 
hadn't thought that other professions could produce the same 
conversation killing effect.

"Yeah, that's as good of a conversation killer as telling someone 
you're an accountant." John replied with a smile. He continued, 
"You know. Most women think that if you get a brainy occupation 
like ours that your sense of fun dries up. But you know what is 
worse, they think your balls fall off!"

Jack laughed and nodded his head in agreement. He didn't know 
how often he had told a woman his profession only to be greeted 
with an 'oh' and a sudden excuse to be else where. He shrugged, 
"So how are you supposed to counteract that?"

"Well, that's a tough one. Sometimes I pretend like I 
misunderstood the question."

"Huh?"

"Well, if they ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I have sex. 
Usually that gets quite a reaction. Then I act as if I realize that I 
misunderstood the question. That's when I say, oh you mean what 
do I do for a living. I tell them that I thought the question was what 
do I do to feel alive. Then I tell them that I'm a scientist."

"Does it work?"

"Oh they usually go away thinking I'm a pervert or something, but 
they do know that I haven't lost my balls." John smiled across the 
table.

Jack laughed. He shook his head in surprise. This John fellow was 
funny. He looked down at his plate and realized that he had 
finished his meal. He hadn't had such a fun time eating a meal 
since he graduated college. He observed, "I can't believe that I had 
so much fun eating a meal. Thanks for joining me."

John looked up at Jack for a minute and then stated, "I tell you 
what. I'm going to baby sit a five year old boy. Why don't you 
come along? I'm sure you'll have some fun."

Jack was about to turn him down and then thought about going 
home to his empty apartment. It sounded like a weird thing to do, 
but it was better than nothing. "Sure, I'll come along."

They left the cafeteria after John retrieved his walking stick from 
the coat rack. Jack drove them in his car to Jenny's house with 
John giving directions. John led the way up the walkway and then 
knocked on the door. Davie answered, surprised to see another 
man with John. John knelt down and tickled Davie, "How are you 
doing ace?"

Wriggling and giggling, Davie answered, "I'm okay."

John stopped his tickling and stated, "Davie, I brought my friend 
Jack over to help tonight. There were just too many Bug Eyed 
Monsters the other day. I know you are the best shot in the known 
Universe, but we need help. The problem is that I'm a bad pilot. 
Jack here, is the third best shot. Can he join our team?"

Davie looked up at Jack with a serious look on his face, "Are you 
really the third best shot in the known universe?"

Jack felt like he was towering over everyone else and knelt down. 
He had no idea what was going on, but decided to play along, "Of 
course, he wouldn't say so if it wasn't true."

Davie nodded his head quiet seriously, "Okay, he can join our team 
if it is okay with mommy."

Jenny showed up with a smile for John and then noticed Jack. 
Puzzled she asked, "Is everything okay?"

John looked up at Jenny. He broke out into a wide smile. "Oh hi. 
Jenny, this is Jack. Jack, this is Jenny."

Jack stood up and took Jenny's hand. She was the most beautiful 
woman with whom he had talked in ages. He looked very 
uncomfortable as he stood there looking at her. He finally stated, 
"John invited me to help baby sit. If that's a problem, I'll go."

Jenny examined John for a minute. She didn't really like the idea of 
two men babysitting her son. She trusted John, but decided that she 
would rush through her shopping trip. She said, "No, that's okay. I 
won't be gone long."

Jenny rushed home from her shopping trip. The chance to go 
grocery shopping without taking a five year old kid with her had 
been too tempting to resist. It hadn't been as pleasant an experience 
as she had hoped. The whole time she had worried about leaving 
her son with two grown men. It just didn't seem right. She quietly 
entered the house through the door next to the kitchen rather than 
front door of the house. She could hear giggling, laughing, and 
screaming coming from the front room. As she moved closer, she 
clearly heard John excitedly say, "There's a bug eyed monster over 
there and one over there." This was followed by two different 
voices going "zzzzzzzing". 

Puzzled she looked around the corner into the living room. The 
cushions of the couch had been removed and placed upright along 
the couch creating an enclosure. The three of them were sitting in 
the enclosure. John was making steering motions with his hands. 
On either side of him were the other two with their hands held in 
the position of pistols. All three of them were grinning like idiots. 

John shouted, "Two more coming."

Jack and Davie made the 'zzzzzing' noises again. John shouted out, 
"Jack, you only wounded yours."

Davie suggested, "You have to lead them. That way they move 
into the shot!"

"zzzzzing," shouted Jack. He looked around John and told Davie, 
"Thanks. Maybe one day I'll become the second best shot in the 
Universe!"

John shouted, "Oh no! Another dust cloud."

All three started bouncing in their seats, laughing and giggling the 
whole time. Jenny stared in amazement as the two adults played in 
the make-believe world of a five year old. She backed into the 
kitchen and unloaded the groceries. She realized that she should 
have trusted John a little more. He'd had several opportunities to 
take advantage of her and had always acted the gentleman.

After putting up all of the groceries, she made a pitcher of iced tea. 
After all the energy they were expending in the living room, she 
was sure they would be thirsty. She took a minute to relax and 
realized that it was the first time in ages that she had just sat in her 
kitchen resting. The past few days with John had been like a breath 
of fresh air. 

She got up and entered the living room. Her entrance brought utter 
silence as all three looked around guiltily at the mess they had 
made of the room. She looked around and stated in a mock stern 
voice, "What did I tell you about making a mess?"

Davie frowned and answered, "Yes mommy."

John lowered his head with an exaggerated frown. "Yes, ma'am."

Jack brought up the rear assuming a like posture. "Yes, ma'am."

John eased himself off the couch. "Davie, how about you pick up 
the tool set we use to fix the rocket ship and put it back in your 
room. Jack will put the couch together. I'll pick up the hand 
grenades over here."

Davie smiled relieved that there were at least two adults there to 
get in trouble. He agreed easily, "Okay John."

Davie bustled off with his little tool kit to put it in his room. Jack 
started putting the cushions back on the couch. John went around 
the room picking up the other toys they had used as hand grenades. 
Jenny watched with an amused smile on her face. When they were 
all done with their respective chores she asked, "You boys care for 
some iced tea?"

John turned and answered, "That sounds great."

Jack hesitated. Jenny understood and interjected, "Come on Jack, it 
won't be a problem."

Jack smiled and agreed, "That would be so wonderful."

Jenny smiled and suggested, "Let's all go in the kitchen and have 
our tea there."

They were joined by Davie who ate a Popsicle. As they sat around 
the kitchen table, the conversation centered mostly on Davie and 
the activities that would take place next time they were to watch 
over him. Davie looked a little hesitant about continuing the space 
journey. John noticed that and asked, "Is there something else that 
you would like to do next time?"

His mother couldn't teach him the one thing that he really wanted 
to know. Davie hesitated and then blurted out, "Can you teach me 
baseball?"

John frowned, "Gosh, I don't know how to play baseball. Do you 
know how, Jack?"

Jack looked at John in surprise, "Sure, I know how."

John turned to Davie, "Would it be okay if Jack taught you how to 
play baseball if it's okay with your mother?"

Davie turned to his mother excitedly, "Can he?"

Jenny looked at John in puzzlement for a minute. She couldn't 
believe that he didn't know how to play baseball. She decided that 
she would just have to trust him. "I guess it would be alright."

Davie screamed, "Yeaaa!"

Jenny smiled at seeing Davie so happy. She hated to tell him that it 
was bedtime, but he would be impossible tomorrow if he didn't get 
his rest tonight. "Well, I hate to say this buddy, but it's your 
bedtime."

Davie started to protest, but Jack interrupted, "Hey, don't you know 
that all ball players have to get plenty of rest."

Davie felt like he was being tricked but decided not to take the 
chance of being wrong. "Okay, I'll go to bed now."

Jenny went to help Davie get ready for bed. She came back and 
refilled everyone's glasses. With Davie gone, the conversation 
turned to the more adult topics of politics and the economy. Soon 
Jenny and Jack were arguing over the economic policies of the 
current president. The conversation went from that to the 
difficulties of running a business. Jack tended to view it in terms of 
return on investment while she tended to view it in terms of 
bringing in customers and making a profit on each one. 

They soon had exchanged occupations and rather than halting the 
conversation, things became a little more animated. John sat back 
and watched the other two. Jenny was full of questions about how 
to better organize her books. Jack was full of questions about how 
she ran her business. John wondered how long it would be before 
there were Soup Shoppes everywhere. 

It was soon late and they all agreed that it was time to head off to 
their respective homes. Jack was the first to leave, but had 
arranged to visit her at the Soup Shoppe to review her books. At 
the front door, he thanked John and Jenny for the best evening he 
had in ages. His sincerity was touching. Even Jenny realized just 
how lonely Jack had been over the past few years. It seemed to 
resonate with her loneliness. 

As John left, Jenny grabbed his arm. He turned and she embraced 
him. Tears were running down her face, "Thanks so much John."

"For what?"

Jenny replied, "For everything. You never pressure me, but you 
always do the right thing to make me feel better."

"You're welcome."

"Jack is a smart guy," stated Jenny.

"Yeah, he also has a good heart," replied John. He added, "He 
needs someone like Davie to remind him how to play."

Jenny was quiet for a moment. She knew John was leaving in less 
than a week and she was afraid of the day he would go. She 
realized that John had given her a gift that might help take the 
emptiness away. She still held John in a hug. She whispered, "He 
may need something more than Davie."

It wasn't until the day before John was to leave that the four of 
them were together again as a group. John had babysat Davie 
almost every night while Jack and Jenny had gone out. It had 
started with them going over her books for her store. The next 
night it was a movie. The night after that it was dinner. Saturday, 
Jack had spent the afternoon in the park with Jenny and Davie 
teaching the boy how to play Tee Ball and then spent the evening 
at the house putting together a barbecue grill.

Today they had agreed to meet for a potluck dinner. John showed 
up carrying a pot of his famous camp beans. Jack had brought over 
three huge steaks and a hamburger patty. Jenny had fixed up a 
potato salad and had a watermelon chilling on ice. Davie had 
proudly picked out the watermelon. He went around telling 
everyone that this one was orange inside rather than red. 

It was a nice family afternoon in the small backyard. The Frisbee 
flew around with Davie dropping it more often than catching it.  
John and Jenny sat in lawn chairs sipping iced tea watching Davie 
and Jack play. John turned to Jenny stating, "I don't think it gets 
any better than this."

"No, I don't think it does." She sat back and smiled. She had been 
smiling a lot lately. She added, "I feel more alive today than I have 
in ages."

Jack bounded up and eased himself into one of the lawn chairs. 
After taking a sip of iced tea, he stated, "He's wearing me out."

They all laughed as Davie came running up, sweat running down 
his face. He was breathing hard as he said, "I think I need to sit 
down for a little bit."

After things had calmed down a bit, Jack broke the comfortable 
silence that had descended upon the group. "Let's get started with 
dinner."

"Great idea. I'll set the table. John can start the fire while you get 
the steaks ready."

Davie feeling left out, pouted, "What do I do?"

Jack smiled. "You have to help me. You have the most important 
job. I need you to ask everyone how they like their steaks so I 
know how to cook them."

Davie sat up a little prouder. He enjoyed being included in the 
adult activity of preparing dinner. He enjoyed having men around 
the house and having them treat him like a man.

Everyone went off to perform their individual task. It wasn't long 
before the air was filled with the odor of cooking steaks. Davie had 
to run to everyone two and three times to make sure that he had 
their order right. The meat took its time to cook. Jack worried over 
the meat afraid to let anything burn. Soon, the table was set and 
everyone was seated around the table. 

Jack asked, "Who would like to say grace?"

John answered, "I think that Davie ought to do it!"

"Okay!" Davie smiled mischievously, "Rub a dub dub, thanks for 
the grub. Amen!"

Jack laughed aloud, "That's exactly the same one I used when I 
was your age!"

Davie replied, "Really, John taught it to me!"

Jenny playfully slapped the arms of the two men sitting on either 
side of her, "You two are incorrigible." 

The dinner went off without a hitch. Everyone took turns telling 
bad jokes. It was amazing how many knock-knock jokes Davie 
knew. The time passed and the meal was soon finished. The steaks 
were just bones. The pot of beans was empty. The potato salad had 
a small spoonful left; Davie proceeded to eat it when challenged 
that he couldn't eat any more.

Jenny cleared the table and brought some large plates. Jack carved 
the watermelon and placed the slices on the plates. Davie was so 
proud of the orange melon. While eating the melon, they discussed 
the dangers of swallowing the seeds. Davie wasn't sure if he 
believed that if he swallowed a seed, that a watermelon would 
grow in his stomach. The conversation then drifted to various ways 
to spit out the seeds. The demonstrations were halted after a stern 
warning from Jenny. All three of the males managed to look 
abashed for a whole ten seconds before the snickers broke out.

After the watermelon was finished, Davie went off to watch his 
favorite video. That left the adults sitting around the table. They 
sipped coffee and discussed what each was hoping to do in the 
future. Most of the conversation centered on John although he kept 
switching subjects away from himself. It was after about the tenth 
time that he had switched the subject, that he realized that Jack and 
Jenny were working together to get him to talk about himself. 
After that, he gave up and answered their questions.

Jenny had been waiting for the opportunity to ask the one question 
that had been bothering her, "So how did you get injured?"

John took a deep breath. "Well, I was in a convenience store when 
it got robbed. I got shot in the shoulder. The guy got caught. No 
big deal."

Jack shook his head and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a 
piece of paper and opened it up. He stated, "This article that I 
found on the web tells a very different story. The title is 'A Hero 
Came To Town.'"

Jenny looked over at Jack in surprise. "What does the article say?"

"It basically says that John saved the life of the Sheriff's daughter 
by stepping in front of a bullet meant for her. In the process, he 
knocked the man out thereby enabling his capture. It goes on to say 
that the man was a serial killer and was wanted in two states. It 
goes on to state that John gave the reward money to the families of 
the victims. Let's see, it also says that he helped bring in a second 
doctor to work in the hospital, a doctor by the name of Dr. Doug 
Wilkins. Finally, it says that he saved the life of a little boy before 
leaving town. It seems he prevented the kid from stepping in front 
of an oncoming car. There's actually a picture of him saving the 
life of the kid."

Jenny recognized the name of Dr. Doug Wilkins and knew some of 
the trouble that he had been in as a teenager. She arched her 
eyebrows and asked, "Anything else in that article?"

"It says here that John was dead for four minutes before being 
resuscitated by the doctor. Let's see ... It also says that Mr. John 
Carter was extremely modest about his actions saying that these 
things happened by accident or that anyone else would have done 
the same."

Jenny turned to Jack and stated, "You know the first day he came 
into my café, he saved the life of our old Principal."

John waved his hands, "hey, enough of this hero stuff. It's just 
plain old John Carter sitting here."

Jenny looked at the kitchen clock and remarked, "Wow, I didn't 
realize where the time went. I have to give Davie his bath and then 
tuck him into bed. Why don't you two stay here and talk for a bit? 
I'm sure that Jack has some things to say to you."

She left the room, but a minute later Davie came in. Davie threw 
his arms around John and cried, "I'm gonna miss you when you 
leave tomorrow. Do you really have to go?"

"I'm gonna miss you too, ace. I really have to go, but don't worry. 
Jack is going to be here and he has to finish teaching you how to 
play baseball. And I bet he'll be happy to be pilot then next time 
you go hunting bug eyed monsters."

"Yeah, I know. He's a nice guy."

"Now, I know you're going to grow into a great young man that 
makes your mommy very proud of you. I'll be around sometimes 
to see you, don't worry about that."

Davie held out a little box to John. "I have a going away present 
for you. Mommy and Jack helped me pick it out."

"Oh, my," said John. "This is wonderful. Let me open it right 
now!"

John unwrapped the present. Inside the box was a beautiful brass 
compass with an exquisite leather case. The compass had a cover 
to protect the glass. He opened the cover and inscribed inside were 
the simple words, 'Blessed Be.' He looked up to see Davie jumping 
up and down in excitement. He whistled, "This is beautiful. I can't 
believe it. This is the best present I've ever gotten."

"I'm so glad you like it."

"Thank you, Davie," he gave Davie a great big hug.

Jenny cleared her throat, "Bath time."

"Good bye, John."

"Good bye, Davie. May the Gods and Goddesses watch over you 
and protect you from all harm."

As Davie ran out of the room, Jack remarked, "That was an 
unusual blessing."

"I'm gonna miss the little guy."

Jack nodded and rested his elbows on the table with his hands 
laced. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his knuckles. He 
sat like that for several minutes before clearing his throat, "John, 
there's something very important I want to talk to you about."

"You can level with me."

"Well, Jenny and I had a long talk last night about our relationship. 
Anyway, it all boils down to the fact that I want to marry her."

"I hope she said yes!"

"Oh she did."

John stood up and extended his hand, "congratulations. I'm so 
happy for you both. This is great news."

Jack accepted his handshake and answered, "Thanks."

"I hope you send me an invitation to the wedding."

"Well, we want you to be the best man."

"That's great. I'll be here for you guys."

Jack resumed his thoughtful position once more. He was wrestling 
with how to say the next part. John interrupted his thoughts, "You 
can tell me straight out. I can tell you're worried about something. 
Just say it and if you say it wrong, then say it again until it comes 
out right. I won't mind."

"John, Jenny wants you to stay the night here. I would appreciate it 
if you would do this for her."

"Pardon?"

"Jenny wants to go to bed with you. It is very important to her."

"Jack, how do you feel about this?"

"You know ... at first ... well ... I'm all for it."

"You don't sound very confident."

Jack looked him straight in the eyes, "You know, until the day I 
met you I was the most unhappy man in the world. I had nothing. 
One day was like the next. I woke up. I ate cereal. I went to work. I 
went to lunch. I went back to work. I went to dinner. I went home 
and sat in the dark. Then I'd go to bed. I did that every day. My 
weekends were even worse, since I didn't even go to work. I had 
one date in ten years and that was a blind date arranged by my 
mother. It was horrible."

Jack's eyes misted, "Then one day you blew into my life. 
Suddenly, I'm about to marry the most beautiful woman I've ever 
met. She's intelligent, witty, charming, and caring. I have a kid that 
is amazing in terms of his energy, sense of fun, and potential. I 
never thought I would have that. I haven't been home in the past 
three days. I've spent them here. I love them so much that at times 
I fear my heart is going to burst."

Tears were now running down Jack's cheeks, "When I heard that 
you were leaving, I wanted to do something for you. The problem 
is that you are so self-sufficient and satisfied with what you have, 
that I have nothing to give you. My friendship? Hell, you had that 
ten minutes after you sat down at the table in the cafeteria. My 
love? That was given when we were on the couch shooting Bug 
Eyed Monsters."

Jack pulled himself together, "When Jenny told me that she wanted 
to make love with you, I realized that here was something that I 
could do. I could share with you that most intimate form of 
happiness that you brought into my life. This is the most precious 
thing that I have and to share it with you, well it would make me 
happy."

John started to reply, "I didn't..."

Jack held up a hand. "I know what you are going to say. Let me 
say a few more things to you. In a funny way, we're not doing this 
for you. We're doing it for ourselves. You see, we have this great 
need inside us to find some appropriate way to thank you. This is 
what we found and we need to give it you."

"Your modesty is nice and good. It means you do things for the 
right reasons. Yet, it also diminishes the actions that you perform. 
You see, saying that it was nothing makes something that was 
important to someone appear as though it were nothing to you. 
You cheapen the experience. You have to learn to let people say 
thank you. Accept the little gifts of gratitude that they give you and 
appreciate them. It lets them recognize that you understand how 
important the occasion was for them."

"Maybe instead of saying it was nothing, it would be better for you 
to say that you were happy to be of service to them. That you are 
happy that everything worked out for them. Turn the attention 
from yourself back to their understanding of the experience. It 
allows you to remain modest, yet it completes the experience for 
those you've helped."

John sat back in the chair and thought about what Jack had said. It 
was a revelation to him that he might be hurting people; even if it 
was unintentional. He could see how important this relationship 
was to Jack and Jenny. Jack was sitting up straight, his voice was 
active, and he laughed at bad jokes. Jenny looked years younger. 
He took a minute to choose his words carefully, "You know, I 
wander through this world basically happy with myself and those 
around me. I know I occasionally help someone. I've never given it 
a second thought; it just seems like the natural thing to do. Does 
one take pride in being able to breathe? No, you toss it off as 
nothing. Nevertheless, you gave me some great advice. One also 
has to consider just how important it is to breathe."

John took Jack's hand in both of his. He stated, "Jack, I accept the 
gift from you and Jenny. You are both great people. I am honored 
that you have chosen to share this part of your life together with 
me."

Jack stood up and shook his hand. John stood up as well. The 
handshake turned into a hug. Finally, Jack said, "Well, I better get 
going. I'll be seeing you around."

John said, "I understand. I'll be seeing you around."

At the door, Jack turned around and stated, "You know. Until I 
actually explained it to you, I didn't really understand how 
important this was to me. May God watch over you and allow no 
harm to come to you."

John watched Jack leave. He couldn't believe the luck that had led 
him to met Jack. He returned to the table and looked at the coffee 
cup. He took a large sip and swished the cold coffee around his 
mouth. Everyone knows the flavor of cold coffee held in the mouth 
too long; he felt it was one of the universal experiences.

Jenny called out to him, "John, could you come here?"


Chapter 7

Weddings are extremely stressful for the major participants. The 
bride has struggled to locate the right wedding dress, the bride's 
parents have struggled with an overly emotional bride arranging 
the event, and the groom is just nervous at losing his freedom. 
Flowers don't show up on time, dresses don't fit, the bridesmaids 
dicker, and the groom is always wrong. Someone, somewhere, 
fouls up something simple and a major catastrophe is the result. 
Tears of worry, happiness, and raw nerves dominate the 
proceedings. 

The best man has the easiest job of all the people associated with a 
wedding. He is responsible for throwing a bachelor party for the 
groom, making sure the groom shows up on time, carrying the 
ring, and making a toast at the wedding reception. In this case, the 
wedding had a ring bearer so that reduced the responsibilities by 
one. 

Bachelor parties have a wild reputation, but the one John threw for 
Jack was tame, much to the relief of the bride. The fathers of the 
bride and groom, John, Jack, and Davie spent the evening at the 
miniature golf and go-cart track. Everyone had a great time. The 
party was over by 8:30, but Jack and John spent hours afterwards 
chatting about life, love, and living the American way. They were 
early at the church and dressed in their tuxedos. The ceremony 
went off without a hitch. The ring carrier, Davie, did his part 
without flaw. 

The last remaining responsibility was to give the toast and John 
still hadn't decided what was appropriate to say. He thought back 
to his interactions with Jenny and Jack. He recalled the details of 
day he ran into Jenny and the evening he met Jack. Most telling 
was the last night of that stay.

Jenny had called him to come into her bedroom. When he entered 
the room, she was posed on the bed in a manner that she clearly 
thought was sexy. It wasn't. It looked contrived and didn't reflect 
the Jenny he knew. He slowly undressed as she watched. Her 
nervousness was quite apparent, but also it was clear that she had 
expected a little more hurry on his part. When his pants came off, 
he could tell that she was confused by the fact that he wasn't erect 
yet. He understood her confusion; she had never been with a man 
that wasn't erect before being undressed.

He had slowly climbed into the bed with her. All of his actions 
were intended to increase the tension. He slowly moved his hands 
to her body. Suddenly he tickled her and didn't let up until she was 
screaming, giggling, laughing, and thrashing on the bed. When he 
stopped, she sat up. It took her a moment to get her composure 
back. With a little irritation and lots of confusion in her voice, she 
asked, "What did you do that for?"

He answered, "Oh, I was just trying to get the Jenny that I know in 
bed with me!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are not some sort of playmate model posing for a 
centerfold. You are Jenny; a warm, fun, interesting, sexy, and 
exciting young woman."

Jenny sat there for a moment and then began to cry. John held her 
in his arms letting her get it out of her system. Sobbing she said, 
"You don't find me sexy!"

John answered, "Quite the opposite. I find you extremely sexy."

"Then why didn't you come in here and make love to me."

John answered, "I remember the time you took me into the woods. 
I was so excited that I could hardly breathe. I had no real idea what 
I was doing, I must have taken two minutes to get my cock in you. 
A minute later it was all over. It was the most amazing experience 
of life to that point in time. However, my memories about that time 
are not good."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you acted like you enjoyed it, but I have since learned that 
my performance was totally lousy. You deserved more from me."

"I wouldn't say that. It was normal."

John sighed as he realized what that meant. Her experiences in bed 
had not progressed beyond simple in-out fucking, even with Jack. 
He bent down and gently kissed her on the lips. His tongue teased 
her open mouth, running along the upper lip without entering. He 
sucked in her upper lip and then let it go. He teased her mouth until 
she was grabbing his head trying to get him to complete the kiss. 
He didn't ram his tongue into her mouth, but gently explored it, 
penetrating slowly. Her breathing deepened as a wave of sexual 
excitement rolled over her.

He kissed his way to her neck. He took it slow and easy with soft 
little touches of his lips to her skin. They were the same as caresses 
performed with his lips rather than hands. He nibbled upon her 
earlobe, gently and softly with feather light touches. He worked his 
way to her breasts; breasts that were striated with the marks of 
motherhood. He kissed the valley between them. His hands roamed 
along the length of her body with long, light, and slow caresses. He 
kissed his way up her right breast; stopping when he reached the 
aureole. He shifted to the left breast and repeated the same 
treatment. Her breathing was deeper than before. Her body moved 
sensuously under his hand.

He ran his tongue around her aureole never touching the nipple. 
First one breast, then the other, and back again to repeat the 
pattern. Her nipples were now hardened points begging to be 
touched. He firmly cupped her buttocks with his hand and then 
moved his hand so that it was caressing her inner thigh. He ran his 
hand from knee to breast, breast to breast, and then down to the 
other knee. He did not let his hand venture too close to her cunt. 
The tension had to build before he would reach that point. 

Her excitement grew. She was moaning and twisting, trying to get 
his mouth to her nipples and his hand to her cunt. She tried to 
touch herself, but he blocked her hand. He relented and circled 
each nipple with his tongue. Occasionally, he stopped and blew on 
the nipple. The warm wetness of his saliva quickly cooled under 
his breath. When she whimpered out of frustrated excitement, he 
aggressively sucked a nipple into his mouth. She screamed out in 
surprise and in pleasure. 

He started to kiss his way down her stomach. He stopped at the 
navel to slip his tongue into it and explore its depths. Her stomach 
shook, in part from the tickling sensation that his tongue created 
and the pleasure that came from having parts of her body explored 
for the first time. She gasped when he continued to work his way 
down to her cunt. Never had a man kissed her below the waist. He 
moved himself between her legs.

He slid his tongue along her skin outside her cunt lips, but not 
quite touching them. Her body began to move of its own accord. 
She wiggled trying to get attention to her cunt. Her hand slipped 
down, but he stopped it. Her hand moved up to her breasts and 
started to play with her nipples. She squeezed them much harder 
than he had, shocking herself with the strength of her desire. 

Her cunt had opened like a flower, ready to accept his attentions. 
He licked from the bottom of her cunt towards the clitoris, 
stopping just before reaching it. Her hands flew from her breasts 
and grabbed his head. She held his head and thrust her cunt up 
against his tongue. She had lost all control in her excitement. At 
the first opportunity, he sucked her clit into his mouth. At that 
point, she came and came hard. She pulled his head into her and 
wrapped her legs around his body so that he couldn't move or 
breathe. Her body jerked without control; spasms of pleasure that 
ebbed and flowed within her signaled an intense orgasm. 

She finally fell back, exhausted and satiated like never before. John 
rose from between her legs and moved to lie beside her. He held 
her tightly, allowing her to recover from her orgasm. She lay upon 
the bed, feeling safe in his arms. Little shivers ran through her 
body.  It was her first orgasm.

As John held her, her shivers changed to a quiet shaking. He felt 
moisture on his chest and knew that she was crying. He allowed 
her to cry for several minutes. He knew the answer before he asked 
the question, "Why are you crying?"

"Jack doesn't love me."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because if he did, he would have made love to me like that!"

John smiled, "The other day you were surprised that I didn't know 
how to play baseball."

Jenny wasn't sure what that had to do with Jack not loving her. "I 
don't follow."

"Well, just suppose that how well I played baseball was a measure 
of my love for Davie. I guess that would mean that I don't love 
Davie."

"No, you don't know how."

"Exactly, Jack doesn't know how to do the things that I do in bed. 
You say that means he doesn't love you. I guess it is a shame that 
he didn't have someone to teach him how to make love before he 
met you."

"You're equating making love with knowing how to play baseball," 
replied Jenny. The argument that John was constructing bothered 
her. Making love wasn't like baseball. Men were supposed to know 
how to make love. 

"Of course, all men are supposed to know how to make love. How 
stupid of me to think otherwise. Of course, all men are supposed to 
know how to play baseball. Neither of them is fully developed in a 
man unless he has had a chance to learn the proper skills. I'm 
equating knowing how to do something with being good at it and 
that not knowing also means that one is not good at it."

"I'm not sure."

"Suppose that how quickly Davie was able to learn baseball from 
me was a measure of his love for me. I guess since I don't know 
how to play baseball would mean that Davie didn't love me 
because I wouldn't be able to give him the proper coaching."

Jenny was quiet for a moment, "That isn't fair to Davie."

"I guess you don't love Jack."

"Yes, I do. That's why I'm upset," retorted Jenny indignant at the 
accusation that she didn't love him.

"Do you know what are the sensitive areas of his cock? Do you 
know how to massage his prostate gland to give him more intense 
orgasms? Do you know if he likes it when you play with his 
nipples? Do you know how much pressure he likes when you give 
him a blowjob?"

Uncertainty entered her voice, "I don't know any of those things."

"But if you loved Jack you would know them."

"That's not fair. I love Jack. I just don't know that stuff."

"Ah, you love him but you don't know how to make love to him. 
You don't know enough to coach him. I guess that means you 
aren't right for each other. Sorry."

"No!" Jenny didn't want to give up something that was so good. 
She enjoyed being with Jack. They laughed together, they talked 
about the things that lovers talk about, and he understood her every 
day needs better than she understood them at times.

Jack smiled, "I guess the only answer is that for the next few years 
of your life together, you get to learn how to make love with each 
other. You get to experiment by trying new things. If you can't 
think of new things, you can go to books and find new things to 
try. I can't think of a better future for anyone."

Jenny smiled, "It does sound like fun."

John got serious for a moment, "You have to understand that you 
and Jack will want to try things that the other won't want to try. 
Some things might even sound weird or funny to you, but you 
shouldn't judge. You really have no idea how important it may be 
the other person."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, suppose you tell Jack that you want him to do what I did to 
you. Then suppose he laughed and asked you why you want him to 
lick you down there. How would you feel?"

"I'd be hurt."

"Why would you be hurt?" asked John. He was making progress in 
getting her to understand the politics of sex. He wondered how 
many women never learned what he was teaching Jenny.

"Because I know it feels good."

"Suppose he were to ask you to wear a strap-on dildo and have you 
fuck his ass?"

"What's a strap-on dildo?"

"It is a fake cock that attaches to a harness. You wear it and it is as 
if you had a cock of your own."

Jenny broke out laughing, "You've got to be crazy. Why would he 
want that?"

"Because when you do that, you massage his prostate. That can 
give a man a very intense orgasm. How would he feel if you had 
laughed at him like you did me?"

Now that she realized that there might actually be a good reason 
why a man might want that, she realized that her response had 
been rather dismissive of his wants. Still, she couldn't help feeling 
that she'd feel stupid doing something like that. She meekly 
replied, "He'd be hurt."

"Exactly," replied John. He paused a moment for that to sink in. 
He added, "If you were to do that, he might never tell you other 
things that might make him feel real good. You always have to 
take his requests seriously. If you don't, you'll destroy his trust that 
you take his needs seriously."

"That's awful."

"Yes, it is. The two of you need to talk about this kind of stuff or 
else you will end up with a dead sex life. Once that dies, then the 
rest follows."

"What do we need to talk about?"

"Well, you might want to talk about what kind of marriage you 
want to have."

Jenny was confused and it showed. She had no idea what he meant 
by kind of marriage. She tried to puzzle it out, but couldn't make 
sense of it. Finally, she asked, "What do you mean by that? Is there 
more than one kind of marriage?"

"Do you want a marriage that is consistent with the dictates of 
society or do you want one that has a lot more freedom to adapt to 
both of your wants and needs?"

Still puzzled, she blurted out, "Aren't they the same thing?"

John laughed, "Not at all. You know, I once had a fundamentalist 
preacher explain to me that sexual relations between husband and 
wife should be performed only for creating children. Once you 
have enough children, then you should stop having sex. If you 
don't, then you are a sinner."

"Ugh, that's horrible."

"Well, there's a less restrictive kind of marriage that probably 
represents the most common framework for marriage. A man and 
woman meet each other, they get married, and then they are never 
supposed to look at any one else in a sexual way. Each partner is 
supposed to be able to fulfill all of the needs of the other by the 
simple fact that they love them."

Jenny nodded in agreement, "Isn't that what marriage is supposed 
to be?"

"Well, I would agree with you except that in my experience it 
doesn't work out that way. That's why there's a fifty percent 
divorce rate in this country. One or the other partner finds that the 
other is unable to fulfill all of their needs, so they go to someone 
else who fulfills that particular gap. The problem is, that violates 
the whole framework of the marriage and both end up feeling 
cheated."

"You sound like you don't approve of that kind of marriage."

John was quiet for a minute as he thought about how to answer her. 
"Basically, I don't. It fails to take into account the fact that no 
single person can fulfill all of the needs of the other. It seems to me 
that the successful marriage framework has to take that into 
account. It has to allow each partner to step outside the marriage to 
fulfill some need or desire that the other can't or won't fulfill 
without lying."

"Isn't that like making it okay to cheat?"

He retorted, "Isn't that what you are doing now?"

Jenny sat back in anger, "No! I'm not cheating on John. We talked 
about this!"

"Relax," answered John, "That is exactly what I meant when I said 
that the marriage framework has to take things like this into 
account to work. Jack told me that you both had a need to thank 
me and that this was the best way it could be done. That discussion 
between you and Jack is exactly what I'm driving at. You both 
choose to step outside those narrowly defined boundaries of an 
acceptable marriage because it answered a need both of you had."

He watched Jenny for her reaction. When she had relaxed a little, 
he continued, "Suppose that you want to find out what it would be 
like to have sex with two men at once. Maybe he wants to watch 
you have sex with a woman. It might even be the case that you 
want to try sex with a woman. Maybe he wants to have sex with a 
man. Maybe you want him to have sex with a man while you 
watch. Maybe he wants to eat another man's come out of your cunt 
right after you've finished fucking. The point is that there are a lot 
of maybes out there and to shut them out of your life together 
before you even have a chance to discuss them with each other 
seems to me to be wrong."  

She nodded, "You know. I've never thought about that before. I 
was always told that when you got married that your desires would 
focus only on your husband and vice versa."

"That focus is still there. If you have sex with another man or a 
woman and you do it because you both want to try it, have you 
actually stopped focusing on each other? If it is his fantasy, then 
you are doing it for his pleasure. If you both have the same fantasy, 
aren't you still focusing on each other by giving the other the 
chance to experience it? If it is your fantasy, aren't you letting him 
be a loving caring husband by letting him do this for you?"

She frowned as she struggled to make sense out of his argument. It 
went against everything that she had believed and, yet, she had just 
done it. She answered, "I'm going to have to think about this for a 
while and make up my mind."

John shook his head, "Don't make up your mind until after you and 
Jack talk. Even then, don't shut the door on this topic until you are 
both a little more confidant in your sexuality. What fantasies do 
you have?"

Jenny shrugged her shoulders, "I don't really have any."

"I would have guessed so. You've been so busy and cut off from 
other people until now that you didn't have a chance to fantasize. 
Just getting a person to share your life with was dream enough. 
When you start having sex regularly and it is fantastic, then you 
are going to start having all kinds of thoughts. You'll see an 
interesting scene in a movie and then you'll turn to him to hint that 
it was hot and you want to try it. Same thing goes for Jack. He's 
been so lonely that just being with you is more than enough. He'll 
want more after a while."

Jenny was quiet for a long time thinking about what John had said. 
Finally, she decided that she knew a flaw in this whole scheme, 
"What about jealousy?"

"Big subject. What would happen if you went to Jack and said that 
I was better in bed than him?"

"Oh, he'd be hurt!"

"What would happen if you went to Jack and said that I licked your 
pussy. Then you said that it was wild and that the whole time I was 
doing it, you kept thinking how much better it would have been if 
it had been Jack. Would he be hurt, angry, jealous, or maybe 
prompted into letting you know just how good it would be?"

"Hmm."

"And suppose he was horrible at it. Would you tell him that he was 
bad? I hope not. Wouldn't it be better if everything that he did right 
you let him know that he was doing it right? Give him positive 
feedback so that he improves. Soon he'll know how to lick you 
better than I ever can!" 

John cradled Jenny in his arms and stated softly, "You two need to 
talk. Not just once, but all the time. You need to establish your 
own boundaries and decide what is right for you. You have to 
continually reappraise things and change as you grow or else you 
will grow apart. That is real intimacy, not sex."

Jenny kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks John. You are so nice to 
me. You know just what to say and you never push. Jack and I will 
talk."

He had then told her, "Great. I have to get home. It is late and I'm 
leaving tomorrow. Let me know when you guys are ready to get 
married and I'll be here. Okay?"

"Thanks."

John had left for school the next morning. Then four days ago had 
come back to be the best man in the wedding. His second night 
here, he had thrown the bachelor party for Jack. Afterwards, Jack 
and John had talked for several hours. It seems that Jenny had 
followed his advice and talked with Jack.  He learned about this in 
a conversation that had started out very surprising with Jack 
stating, "You know that Jenny woke up the morning you left town 
very angry."

John was surprised. He had thought things were good when he left. 
He apologized, "I didn't know that. What did I do? What can I do 
to make up for it?"

Jack saw the panic on John's face and laughed, "Yes, she woke up 
and realized that you had given her the best orgasm of her life and 
that you had left before you had one!"

John smiled, "Sorry about that. I guess we talked and I forgot why 
I was there."

"That's okay, she's gonna make it up to you one day," answered 
Jack with a great big smile. He continued, "You know when she 
told me that you ate her cunt, I was shocked. I knew about that, but 
didn't know what the big deal was. I'll tell you this, I know now. 
When I saw how she reacted when I started licking and tonguing 
her, I thought to myself that this was better than an orgasm. I 
couldn't believe how much pleasure I gave to her that night."

"I guess you guys are talking to each other."

"Oh, you bet. You have no idea how much your advice has meant 
to us. We've discovered things about each other and ourselves that 
I never dreamed about. Thank you, so much."

"I'm glad you two are happy."

"I've never been happier."

The conversation continued for several hours with exchanges of 
hopes and dreams for the future. It was the first time that the two 
men had talked about such things with another man. It was proof 
that a real bond of friendship existed between them.

John decided he knew what to say in his toast. He stood and tapped 
the side of his glass with a knife making a clear ringing sound that 
captured everyone's attention. He started, "For those of you who 
don't know me, I'm John Carter. I'm the best man and it is my duty 
to give a rousing good toast to the newlyweds. Those who know 
me know that I seldom talk about myself and that I spend most of 
my time walking through the wilderness alone. I am going to break 
one of those habits for a little while today and talk about myself."

"I spend almost a third of the year hiking; I hike all summer and 
every weekend. Every morning when I wake, I restart my campfire 
from whatever coals remain from the night before. Once the fire is 
started, I wait and watch the sunrise.  It has become a ritual that I 
perform religiously." 

"I've watched the sun rise from every part of the country and under 
every weather condition possible. I want you to know that I know 
sunrises. Occasionally, I get the chance to watch a truly 
magnificent sunrise that precedes a gloriously beautiful day and I 
want to describe it to you."

"A truly great sunrise comes in stages. In the first stage, the sky is 
a dark gray that slowly lightens. The second stage is the false 
dawn. The entire eastern horizon is illuminated with brilliant 
yellows, purples, violets, and other colors too fantastic to name. 
Slowly the colors soften as we approach true dawn. The sky turns a 
glorious blue. A cold wind blows into your face as you watch the 
horizon. This wind blows exactly at the moment the sun peeks over 
the horizon and only lasts a few seconds. Even though it is cold 
and chills you to the bone, I've always considered it the morning 
kiss of the Goddess of Life."

"Now in a great dawn, you first see the dark grayness of the world 
around you. Then you watch as the darkness disappears as the light 
illuminates world. This illumination is amazing; it possesses an 
intensity and purpose that you never see any other time of the day. 
However, a line is drawn across the world. It separates that part of 
the world that is lit from that part still untouched by a ray of 
sunshine. The lit part shines with vibrant colors while the rest 
remains dark gray. That line moves down the vista around you. It 
illuminates more and more of the world. It gives you a sense of 
hope that soon you will be illuminated and shine with a brilliance 
of colors that is rare.  You want to cry because it moves you in the 
deepest part of your soul. Even the animals respond. A silence 
descends as they wait in anticipation. Finally, the sun rises 
completely and the whole world is illuminated. The birds sing, the 
squirrels chatter, and the brooks babble. Your hope has been 
fulfilled."

"Before Jenny and John met, the sky was a dark gray. Then they 
met and the sky lit up with colors of amazing hue. It was so 
beautiful that it made you want to hold your breath. The colors of 
those early days have transitioned to a vibrant blue. Today, in the 
ceremony that has just taken place, the sun has poked above the 
horizon as they have declared their love in public for the whole 
world to know. The light of their love is illuminating us and as 
they move forth into this world, they will light others. We shine as 
a result of their light. I know this. Look at Davie, he's happier than 
I've ever seen him. I heard that he hit a home run the other day in 
tee ball. Look at their parents. Have you ever seen anyone look so 
proud and happy in your whole life? The smiles in this room tell 
me that this is one of those magnificent dawns that leads to a 
wonderful day."

He turned to face the newlyweds and continued, "I want to thank 
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Anderson for allowing us to bask in their light 
on this, a most amazing day. I know they will light the world with 
their love for a long time. Here is to the happy couple. Cheers."

John looked around the room in amazement at the reaction that his 
toast had sparked. Almost everyone's eyes were moist, a few were 
crying outright. Jack and Jenny were hugging each other tightly 
overwhelmed by emotion. Finally, Jenny's parents started to clap 
and the rest of the room joined in. This was followed by the clink 
of glasses as people took a sip of the Champagne or bubbly grape 
juice as was the case for John and Davie.


Chapter 8

John sat at the desk in his laboratory mulling over a paper. This 
paper had been buried under some equipment in the corner of the 
lab. He found it last fall when he was cleaning the lab in 
preparation of setting it up for his experiments. The experiment 
described in the paper had been proven incorrect several years ago, 
but the experimental part is not what had caught his attention. 
There was a small section of the paper that suggested the reason 
for the current temperature of the planet might be due to a slow 
cold fusion process within the planet. 

He sat there thinking about that line wondering what kind of 
physical environment within the earth could support a cold fusion 
process. This, of course, was not his research project. He 
occasionally wrestled with this little problem when he could no 
longer concentrate on his real research. 

His real research required intense concentration in lining up 
mirrors, checking the beam path of the lasers, and regulating the 
flow of dye into the laser. It could take him a month of effort to set 
up a particular experiment. One moment of inattention to detail 
could set him back a whole day. 

Sometimes, he wondered whether it was worth a month of work to 
collect a day of data. It almost didn't seem reasonable, but that was 
the nature of his research. Everything needed to be perfect. The 
original laser beam was broken into eight separate beams using six 
beam splitters. The eight individual beams were individually 
amplified. They were then arranged to meet at a single point in 
space coming from eight different directions. The path lengths of 
each beam were intended to assure that all beams impinged the 
meeting point with equal phase. At that point, a droplet of a liquid 
was suspended. The experiment used a separate low-power laser to 
probe the droplet for surface deformations.  

However, today, the paper was not keeping his attention. He was 
distracted by some inner force urging him out of the lab. He tried 
to ignore it, but the urge just kept getting stronger. He knew it 
would only be a matter of time before he would give in to it. He 
checked his watch and decided that he would quit early today.  He 
stood, grabbed his walking stick and headed out of the lab. It was 
springtime and he had been in Austin since August. 

An hour later, he was roaming the Austin streets of a rather poor 
neighborhood. As he walked, he took in details of his 
surroundings. The houses were set back from the street by a mere 
ten yards with small little lawns. Some homes were well kept; the 
lawns were lush and green, the houses painted, and the curtains in 
the window washed. Freshly planted flowers lent blues, yellows, 
and reds that pleased the eye. Other homes were just the opposite; 
weeds and trash littered the yard, the paint was peeling, and 
windows were broken. Many of the houses had porches with two 
or three chairs. Usually, the chairs were occupied by elderly 
couples chatting and watching the world. John would wave to 
couples and often stopped to exchange pleasantries about the 
weather. Many of the older residents recognized him from his past 
wanderings through the neighborhood.

His passing through the neighborhood was a subject of much 
discussion among the people living there. It had been noted by 
them that his presence in the area often meant that something bad 
was going to happen, but that the worst consequences would be 
prevented. He had been in the area when people had heart attacks 
and provided medical care until an ambulance arrived. He had 
been nearby when a car accident occurred and had coordinated the 
treatment of the people involved until the authorities came. He had 
performed an emergency tracheotomy on one of the victims and 
prevented another from being moved. He had told someone else 
how and where to apply pressure to halt the bleeding of another 
victim. Two lives were saved and paralysis avoided for the other. 
Some people knew of at least six different people that he had 
saved.

Tonight, he stopped in front of a home with a couple sitting on the 
porch. He called out, "How are you feeling, Mr. Johns?"

The old black man yelled back, "Much better, thank ya. Docs put 
inna pacemaker and a sum sort a spring. I guess the ol' ticker 'ell 
keep agoin' for some time yet. Can't use the microwave to make 
ma popcorn, tho."

It always took John a moment to make sense of the old man's use 
of English and his heavy accent. He wondered if the spring Mr. 
Johns was talking about was a shunt. He answered, "Glad to hear 
that. Guess the wife is going to have to make the popcorn from 
now on!"

"Ol woman can't cook wurt a damn!" 

The woman sitting next to him elbowed him in a friendly fashion 
in the side. She mouthed, "You ol fool. No greens for you!"

"Sheet woman, thas what give me the heart tack!" he replied with a 
grin that showed more than one missing tooth.

"No biskits and gravy for yer brakfast in the mornin'!"

John was laughing at the couple. They would carry on that way all 
evening and neither one of them meant the threat or the insult. He 
remembered how worried she was when Mr. Johns had the heart 
attack last fall.

"Be good ol' woman or I won't take the vigra!"  he chuckled, "We 
all knows how much ya like my sexin' you!"

John was about to interject a quick farewell when a piercing 
scream sounded from across the street. It wasn't the kind of scream 
made by kids at play or a woman scared or angry. This was a 
scream from a man in excruciating pain. John looked around and 
saw flames through the window of the house across the street. As 
he raced towards the house, he shouted, "Call 911!"

Reaching the house, he leapt onto the porch clearing all three steps 
in a single bound. Not stopping, he kicked open the door; there was 
no time to find out if it was locked. He charged into the house. In 
the front room, a man's body lay on the floor in flames. It was clear 
that he was dead. There was a bottle of liquor on the floor next to 
him, from which pale blue flames were emerging. The source of 
the fire was centered on a chair where the man must have been 
seated. 

The flames were rapidly spreading and smoke was billowing out of 
the room. There was no way he could extinguish the fire. He heard 
a noise down the hall. He ran in the direction from which the noise 
came. Halfway down the hall, a small boy was standing in the 
doorway of a bedroom. His eyes were wide in shock and he shook 
in fear. He was frozen in indecision, unable to decide in what 
direction to run. 

John grabbed the boy and ran back the way he came. The smoke 
was so thick that it was difficult to see his way. The light on his 
walking stick came on and he thrust the lit end in front of him. He 
didn't remember turning on the light, but it helped him see through 
the smoke.

The heat was unbearable. He held the child on his left side, placing 
his body between the flames and the child. Now that the child had 
been freed from his paralysis, he started whimpering in fear. John's 
lungs burned from inhaling smoke. He reached the front door and 
raced out nearly tripping his way down the stairs. He coughed as 
his lungs tried to force out the irritating smoke. He set the child 
down on the sidewalk and took several deep breaths. Cool clean air 
displaced the smoke. 

"My sister's in there!"

John, voice rough and harsh from smoke, ordered, "You stay here 
until the police, firemen, or your mother comes!"

"Yes, sir!"

John ran back into the house. As he raced past the door into the 
living room, there was an explosion from within it. A can of air 
freshener exploded from the heat. He felt a sharp pain in his left 
leg. It stung with each step, but he continued into the back of the 
house. The smoke was so intense that he could hardly make out the 
way down the hall although he was holding the light of the walking 
stick in front of him. Fire blasted into the hallway and, as he ran 
through flames, it felt like his skin was blistering. 

Confused and unsure of the layout of the house, he realized he was 
lost. He moved away from the flames as much as he could thinking 
he would be moving to the back of the house. He heard a small 
sobbing noise from behind a closed door. He opened the door, 
entered the room, and closed it behind him as quickly as possible.

The air was filled with smoke, but it was nowhere near as bad as 
had been in the hall. He looked around the room with tearing eyes 
and didn't see anyone. He was about to leave, when he thought to 
check in the closet. Opening the closet, he searched and still found 
nothing. Frustrated, he turned to leave believing that he had 
misinterpreted the source of the noise. As he reached the door, he 
heard sobbing behind him. He turned and still did not see anyone. 
He looked under the bed finding the little girl hiding in fear. He 
gently reached in and pulled her out as he said, "Don't worry little 
girl, I'm going to get you out of here!"

Now that he had found the child, he realized that he had several 
options on getting out of the building. He could go out the back 
and was about to head that way, when it dawned on him that he 
could exit through the window. He tried to open it, but it had been 
painted shut over the years. He stepped back and broke out the 
glass with the brass tipped end of his walking stick. He ran the 
walking stick around the window frame to clear out as much glass 
as possible. Satisfied that he could exit without being cut to shreds 
by the glass he looked out the window. He saw that he had a 
considerable drop and couldn't lower the girl out the window. He 
was now faced with the task of trying to get out with the child in 
his arms.

He threw the walking stick out the window and climbed onto the 
sill while holding the little girl. She looked up at him with wide 
eyes. John whispered to her, "I'm going hold you when I jump 
down. Don't worry, your brother is waiting for you out front."

The light on his walking stick lit up the ground below him. He slid 
off the sill to the ground below, a drop of eight feet. A horrible 
pain ran through his back as he went down. A metal bracket that he 
had not noticed before had cut his back as he slid across it. 
Bending his knees to absorb the shock, he landed cleanly and 
ended in a kneeling position. He set the little girl down. When he 
tried to stand, he found that he didn't have enough strength in his 
legs. He reached out for his walking stick. It took several sweeps 
over the ground to locate it. With the stick in one hand and the 
child in the other, he leveraged his way to his feet. He staggered 
around the side of the house to the front while holding the girl's 
hand.

He gave the hand of the little girl to the boy. His voice cracking 
from the abuse of the smoke on his throat, he ordered, "Watch your 
little sister."

"Yes, sir!"

John seated himself on the ground and lay back in exhaustion. Mrs. 
Johns from across the street arrived and hugged the kids. He heard 
the sirens in the distance and knew that everything would be okay. 
The world spun and then faded away as he lost consciousness.

The world slowly came back into focus. An oxygen mask was over 
his face. He tried to speak, but his throat was too sore. He looked 
at the figure leaning over him and recognized Harry from the EMS. 
Harry saw that John was coming back and spoke, "Well, Hero. It 
looks like I'll be carting you off this time!"

John tried to speak again, but his effort was interrupted by Harry, 
"Don't worry, the kids are alright. My partner checked them out. 
The police have talked to them and given them over to the 
neighbor lady across the street. She'll watch them until the mother 
gets back."

John tried to get up and Harry pushed him down, "Not this time 
Hero. You have shrapnel in your leg, a bit of a burn, and a gash 
down your back that requires stitches. You're coming with me to 
the hospital."

John wanted to fight it, but there just wasn't enough energy left in 
him. Harry and his partner lifted John onto the gurney and rolled 
him to the ambulance. It took them half a minute to load the 
gurney into the ambulance and fasten it down. Another minute 
later they were headed to the hospital. He lay in the gurney staring 
at the ceiling of the ambulance trying to mentally construct the 
route it was taking. He felt more than a little embarrassed at being 
in this position. Harry broke the silence, "Hero, you're not going to 
believe the reception you're going to get at the hospital."

John wondered about Harry's comments. He was used to Harry 
calling him hero, although he always insisted on being called John. 
He decided to try again, but Harry interrupted him, "I know you 
want me to call you John. You aren't John to many folks; you are 
the hero. So even if you don't like it, that's what I will call you 
because that is what you are."

The ambulance pulled to a stop and the back door opened. As they 
removed the gurney, John looked around and saw a huge crowd of 
people by the door. He pulled on Harry's sleeve and managed to 
croak out, "If there's been an accident, treat the others first. I can 
wait."

Harry shouted out to the crowd, "The Hero says that if there's been 
an accident to treat the others first. Says he can wait."

His announcement was greeted with laughter. John watched with 
confusion as several people elbowed each other in that knowing 
fashion people have when they are sharing an inside joke. He saw 
one man reach into his pocket and pull out a wad of bills. He took 
one out and handed it over to the guy next to him. The money was 
greeted with a smile.

The gurney was rushed into the emergency room. He was followed 
by the crowd that had gathered at the door. When the gurney came 
to a rest, a doctor stepped forward, "So we meet at last John 
Carter."

"What?" he croaked. He was confused by the fact that the doctor 
knew his name.

The doctor bent to the task of examining the patient. A middle-
aged nurse was removing his pants using scissors to cut them off 
his body. A male nurse was inserting something in his arm, but he 
couldn't see because of the people crowded around him. A younger 
and prettier nurse stepped up with a cloth and started wiping the 
grime from his face. She stated, "John Carter! You are a legend 
around here. I wondered when we would finally get a chance to 
meet you."

"I don't understand."

The doctor rolled him over onto his side. A nurse stepped forward 
cutting away the shirt. It took the doctor a minute to examine the 
back. Satisfied he laid him back down on the gurney.

The doctor spoke up, "Okay, take Mr. Carter over to x-ray and get 
the operating room set up. The shrapnel's in there pretty deep and 
it's bleeding. The back looks bad, but it's not as bad as it looks, so 
we'll wait to suture it."

 Even as the doctor was speaking, others were lifting John off the 
ambulance gurney onto one that belonged to the hospital. In 
seconds, it was rolling down the hall. The only clothing on him 
was his underwear. He was partially covered in a blanket. It didn't 
cover his left leg. As they pulled into the x-ray room, the 
technician stated, "Welcome, John Carter. The film is loaded. Let 
me position you and you'll be out in three minutes."

John was amazed at the efficiency of the hospital. Then he 
recognized the technician as the one who had gotten the money 
from the other man. He went to look at the man's badge for his 
name, but the guy was already moving his leg into the proper 
position for the x-ray. Someone else threw a lead-lined cover over 
this chest and genitals. Everyone left the room. The x-ray machine 
made a low hum. The technician came in with another plate, slid 
the old one out, and replaced it with the new plate. He disappeared 
as quickly as he had appeared. There was another low hum from 
the x-ray machine. The technician entered the room and shouted, 
"He's ready to go."

A crowd swarmed into the room and he was just as quickly 
wheeled out. Another doctor appeared beside the gurney and 
started asking questions about the last time he ate or drank 
anything and details about allergies. John was croaking out his 
answers as fast as he could, but his throat was killing him. The 
doctor stepped away to be replaced by another nurse. John 
recognized her, "Betsy, what's going on here?"

Betsy made a double take. She was amazed. He remembered her 
name although he had met her once and that was four months ago 
during a blood drive. "You remember me?"

John smiled weakly, "Yes, you were nice to me and you do very 
important work with the blood drive."

Betsy shook her head in amazement. This guy was cute. She knew 
he was modest and never talked about his heroic deeds. She put her 
mind back on business. "I've got a unit of your blood here in case 
you need it. We saved it for you."

"I'm so glad that you're here. It's nice to see a friendly face you 
know."

Betsy was moved emotionally, even as she was pushed out of the 
way by an administrator. The woman held up a stack of papers and 
said, "Mr. Carter, I need you to sign these so the doctor can 
operate."

She patiently proceeded to explain each form. After each 
explanation, John signed the form in each place that she pointed 
out to him. As soon as they were done with the forms, the 
administrator thanked him and moved away. It was only at that 
time, John realized the forms had been fully filled out with his 
name, address, and occupation. He couldn't remember giving that 
information to them.

The doctor that had talked to him earlier returned. He fiddled with 
something in the IV and then stated, "Count backwards from 100."

John replied, "Huh?"

He woke up feeling as if he had been run over by a truck. His body 
was sore, his eyes bleary, and his thoughts muddled. He tried to 
focus his eyes, but all he could make out were indistinct shapes. 
One of the blurs moved around and bent over him. He tried to 
focus, but without luck. He closed his eyes and worked on his 
breathing. His throat was still sore.

After several minutes, he tried opening his eyes again. This time he 
was able to focus a little better. The moving shape returned. He 
took a minute to focus and saw that it was a male nurse. The nurse 
leaned over and smiled. He stated, "John Carter, I see you're 
awake. I didn't expect you to wake for another half an hour."

John stared at the man for a minute. His eyes flicked down to the 
badge. His voice was still raspy, "Robert Fish, do I know you?"

Robert laughed, "No, but I know all about you."

"How?"

"I've had thirty-two patients in here that wouldn't have made it if it 
wasn't for you. You've saved thirty-two patients in nine months. I 
know ambulance personnel that haven't done that well. You've 
saved almost one person a week. Every one of those patients talks 
about you. You're a legend around here."

He croaked out, "No, I'm just lucky."

"I heard that you would say that." The nurse reached over and 
picked up a glass of water. He held a straw to John's mouth and 
stated, "Sip a little bit. It'll help your throat."

John took a little sip and his throat felt much better. He paused for 
a minute and then took another sip. He felt his energy returning. 
Robert shook his head, "Looks like you had a rather rough time."

"Not too bad. At least this time I didn't die," he replied in a matter 
of a fact voice. He took another deep breath, "How long do I stay 
here?"

Robert heard the part about not dying this time and mentally filed 
it away. The statement was made in such a matter of fact manner 
that he didn't doubt it was true. "You'll be in recovery for another 
hour or so. We want to make sure that you are recovering properly 
from the anesthetic."

"Okay. Anyone else in here?"

"Yes, we have another patient. He's going to be wheeled out of 
here soon." He glanced at the monitor and noted John's heart rate 
and blood pressure. His vital signs were good and very stable.

John looked around and saw the other patient across the room from 
him. He was very pale and looked like he was still half-asleep. He 
hoped that he didn't look that bad. He lifted his arms and then his 
legs. Everything worked correctly, although his left leg hurt when 
he moved it. He tried to sit up, but there was a general pain through 
his back. He moved his head around working out some of the 
tension in it. Satisfied that everything was okay, he stated, "Not 
bad, not bad at all. A little pain in the leg and some general pain in 
the back. I should be as good as new in a couple of days. You guys 
do great work here."

Robert had watched him flex in amazement. This guy should be 
looking like a half-dead, pale gray version of himself. Instead, his 
skin color was good, he moved with dexterity, and was taking an 
interest in his surroundings. This guy was trying to sit up and was 
talking as if nothing had happened. He stated, "I need to check on 
the other guy. I'll get right back to you."

"No problem. Take your time," he motioned Robert to come closer 
and continued in a softer voice, "That guy isn't looking too good. 
You may want to watch him a little more closely."

"Thanks, I think I will."

Robert went over to the other patient and examined him. The 
patient was recovering nicely. He moved over to the desk and 
picked up the telephone. He chatted a minute with the 
anesthesiologist and then went back to the other patient. He kept 
glancing in John's direction.

The doctor arrived and walked over to John, "Hello. I hear you're 
awake."

John looked at the badge and caught the name, "I'm sorry that I 
didn't catch your name earlier, Dr. Melborn. I'm John Carter, but 
then I guess you know that. Things were rather hectic when I 
arrived. I must say this is a very efficiently run hospital. I don't 
think I was in here ten minutes before you guys were operating on 
me."

The doctor smiled, "Well, you are a special patient."

"There's nothing special about me."

The doctor shook his head. Almost every other day, some story 
went around the hospital about a heroic action performed by this 
guy. He asked, "Do you know who I am?"

"Sure, you're the anesthesiologist."

"What day is today?"

He glanced down at his wrist to check the time. His watch was 
gone. They had probably put it with his other stuff. The medallion, 
though, still weighed heavy on his chest. They had been unable to 
remove it. He answered, "Should be Thursday. Of course, I can't 
tell if it's after midnight, so it might be Friday. In fact, if I think it 
through it must be a little after midnight, so today is Friday."

The doctor nodded. There were additional questions that he meant 
to ask, but after hearing John reason out the day, he was satisfied 
that John had recovered his cognitive skills. He asked, "Do you 
know how you came to be here?"

"Yes, there was a house on fire and a couple of kids inside. The 
first one was easy to find and get out. The second one was hiding 
under her bed. Took a lot longer to find her."

"So you ran into a burning building twice?"

"Yes, of course. Anyone would do that, if they knew there were 
children trapped inside. I'm very sorry that I was too late to save 
the man. He was already dead when I entered the building the first 
time."

The doctor shook his head. He was about to ask how he knew that, 
but changed his mind. He imagined the kind of sight that John had 
seen in the midst of that fire. He called over to the nurse, "Call 
down and tell them that John Carter is ready to be moved."

John smiled, "I'm glad to know that. Will I be seeing you again?"

"Probably not. Anesthesiologists don't get many opportunities to 
talk with their patients. The patients tend to fall asleep."

John laughed at the joke. "I guess they do at that. You have a very 
important job to do. It's just a shame you don't get to know the 
patients better."

The doctor looked at John in surprise, "Well, I do miss the 
opportunities sometimes. Now you take care of yourself and heal 
quickly."

John smiled, "I usually heal quickly. It's been very nice meeting 
you. I hope that we have the opportunity to talk in a less sterile 
environment."

"Never heard it called that. Perhaps we will. Good bye John 
Carter." The doctor turned and left the room. 

Before the door had a chance to shut behind him, another nurse 
entered the room. She was about fifty or so and a little overweight. 
Her eyes looked kindly, but they were also tinged with a sadness 
that came from seeing too much misery. He decided that she 
needed a little more happiness in her life. She walked over to John 
and stated, "I'm here to take you away!"

John smiled. He took her hand and kissed it, "Take me away and 
do with me what you will. I'm all yours fair maiden."

She laughed. It had been years since she had been fair and even 
more years since she had been a maiden. She turned to Robert, 
"Are you sure that he's not hallucinating?"

John laughed, "No, I'm not hallucinating. I'm wounded and it's 
affected my sense of humor. All I can make are lame jokes."

"Oh, no! A punster!" The nurse shook her head as she prepared the 
gurney for the trip. Her late husband used to make puns all the 
time. She had forgotten that over the past few years. "You really 
are sick!"

He glanced at her badge, "Well, Ms. Smith, wait until we get 
moving and then I'll really get going!"

She laughed. She seldom had burn patients that were able to laugh 
and joke. He was refreshing. She smiled really sweet, like a kindly 
old grandmother, and stated, "Remind me to pick up some surgical 
tape on the way out of here. I need something to hold those jokes 
inside you where they belong."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied. As the bed rolled out of the room, he 
called back, "Hey Robert, she's gonna tape me up and do all kinds 
of kinky things to me! By the way, nice meeting you! Come visit 
me, but wait until she's done!"

A hearty laughter followed him out into the hall. She chuckled, 
"John Carter, you really are a nasty little boy. I bet I have 
grandchildren older than you. What are you, eight or nine years 
old?"

"Oh, I'm wounded," groaned John as he clutched his heart. 
Looking around, he asked, "By the way, where are you taking 
me?"

"I'm taking you down to the burn unit."

"I was burned seriously enough for there?"

"Yes. You don't think you can walk through a burning building 
without proper protection and not get burned."

"Oh, I didn't know I was that burned. No wonder I feel a little pain 
when I bend my leg. I thought it was from the shrapnel."

"A little pain?" she asked. If he had tried to bend that leg, then he 
should have been screaming in pain. She wondered if there was 
nerve damage. She'd have to report this to the doctor.

"Yeah, a little."

They arrived in the burn unit and he was wheeled into a single 
room. She lined the gurney along the bed to facilitate the transfer 
from gurney to bed. She locked the wheels and lowered the guard 
on the side next to the bed. He looked around for a moment and 
then sighed, "Home sweet home. By the way, how long will I be in 
here?"

She was about to push the attention button to get some help 
moving him into the bed, but John eased himself over. She stared 
at him for a minute, amazed at his mobility. Ms. Smith frowned, "I 
don't know. People heal at different rates."

"Okay. I can deal with that."

The nurse unlocked the wheels on the gurney and pulled it away 
from the bed. She slipped next to the bed and raised the guard on 
the bed to prevent him from falling out of it. She stated, "Let me 
move this out of our way."

"No problem. You know, I'm sure you have other patients to check 
up on and I must admit that I'm a little tired. It's been a long day," 
replied John. He looked up, "I'm sure I'll be here for a day or so. I'll 
see you tomorrow night?"

"Oh you'll see me sooner than that. I'm supposed to change your 
bandages in the morning."

"Great, I'll see you then."

The nurse left the room pushing the gurney in front of her. She 
knew that in the morning, he wouldn't think it was great that she 
was changing his bandage. He'd be hollering in pain. She knew he 
would loose that sense of humor then. She had heard of John 
Carter before. Everyone in the hospital had heard of him. She 
wondered if he would be the same after his experiences here.

John slept very soundly. The bed reminded him of sleeping on the 
ground when hiking. It was likely that he was the only patient in 
the hospital that found the bed comfortable. Despite the late hour at 
which he went to sleep, he still woke up before dawn. He looked 
out the window and was disappointed to find that it faced the 
wrong direction to watch the sunrise. 

Ms. Smith entered the room quietly. She was pushing a tray that 
held bandages and salves for the burn. She was surprised to see 
that he was awake. He smiled at her, "Good morning. I thought 
you would never get here. I was beginning to think that you'd 
found a younger man and run off with him."

"Why John Carter, you know you are the only one for me!" she 
retorted and then added, "Of course, there's that stable of young 
men I have locked in my basement at my home."

John bent his left knee up and looked at Ms. Smith. "Do you need 
any help removing the bandage?"

She looked at him in wonder. He should have been climbing the 
walls just attempting to bend his leg. She shook her head, "No 
that's okay. I'm a pro at this. Now, it will go a lot easier if you 
straighten your leg."

John straightened his leg. The bandage ran from the middle of his 
thigh to the middle of his calf. He watched as the nurse went to it 
and peeled back enough to really be able to grab it. He expected 
her to rip it off in one smooth motion. It would lead to just a 
minute of sharp pain as the hair was pulled out, but it would be less 
than trying to remove the bandage slowly. He told her, "I'm ready 
any time you are."

Ms. Smith yanked the bandage off. John jumped a little, but mostly 
in surprise. She stood there staring at him. He smiled, "That wasn't 
too bad at all. Now, let's look at the burn."

The nurse looked down at the burn. It was still there, but a 
tremendous amount of healing had already occurred. The surgical 
incision that ran through part of the burn looked like it had been 
healing a week. She nodded, "It's healing nicely. Would you 
excuse me for a minute? I forgot to bring something."

She left and returned a few minutes later. A doctor entered with 
her. He walked over to John and looked at the burn. John let him 
look for a minute. Reaching out a hand, he stated, "Hello, I'm John 
Carter."

The doctor looked up at him and automatically shook hands with 
him. He answered, "I'm Dr. Hilbert. I treated your burn yesterday 
evening."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't remember seeing you."

"You were already in the operating room," he bent down and 
looked at the burn closer. He looked at the surgical incision and 
shook his head. He stood there a moment thinking about the 
healing progress. Finally, he said, "It looks to me like it is healing 
very well."

"Great! I'm glad to hear that. I know that burns are probably the 
worst injury that a person can have. After all, the skin is the largest 
organ in the human body."

"Yes, of course."

"So can I get up and walk about today?"

"Your other doctors will have to check you out first. I'll let them 
know that if they feel you are up to it, then the burn won't be 
keeping you in bed." The doctor examined the wound again to see 
how much scarring would result. There probably wouldn't be 
enough to require any skin graphs. The small area that had been a 
third degree burn looked like new skin was forming over it. That 
was unusual.

"That is really good news," John replied. "I bet there are kids here 
that are starved for some attention. Is it alright if I go and read to 
them or something?" 

Ms. Smith turned away so that he couldn't see the tears forming in 
her eyes. This was a particularly painful subject to her. She hated 
the reactions that people had to the children. They would get their 
first glimpse and then a look of horror would spread across their 
face. It would take some time, but a few would get control over 
their expressions and try to act friendly. The kids knew better, they 
had seen the horror.

The doctor stepped back for a moment as if doubting what he was 
hearing. He decided to break the news to John gently, "Some of the 
kids have very extensive burns and some of them are pretty 
disfigured."

"They're still kids, aren't they?" asked John in puzzlement. 

"Yeah, they're still kids." 

After the doctor left the room, Ms. Smith came back to the bed and 
replaced the bandages. She was quiet and her expression suggested 
that she didn't want to talk. John respected her wish and just 
watched with interest in how she went about applying the 
bandages. When she finished with the bandages, she stated, "I'm 
going off duty now."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight."

A different doctor entered the room. This same doctor had greeted 
him at the door. John spoke up, "I didn't get a chance yesterday to 
learn your name, doctor."

"I'm Dr. Capstone," replied the doctor. He added, "It was a 
pleasure to finally meet you. I've treated many patients that you've 
helped. You've kept them from getting hurt worse than they were. I 
really appreciated the tracheotomy that you performed. It was first 
class work and definitely saved his life."

"Thanks, I just did what little I could. It was a pretty bad accident."

Dr. Capstone cleared his throat, "Well, they tell me that your 
incision is healing well. Let me check your back."

John sat up giving the doctor access to his back. The hospital gown 
didn't cover his back very well. The doctor removed the bandages 
and looked at the red line down John's back. The healing was 
phenomenal. At this rate, he would be able to take out the stitches 
in two days time. The doctor told the nurse to replace the 
bandages. 

As the doctor was about to leave, John spoke up, "Ah, Dr. 
Capstone. I have two quick questions. First, can we get rid of all 
the plumbing? Second, can I get up and walk around?"

"The answer to both questions is yes. I'll make a note on your 
chart."

Chapter 9

John wandered the hall of the burn unit carrying two books. The 
books had been delivered to him by the owner of the local 
bookstore that he visited almost daily. The owner gave him the 
books free with the promise that he would donate the rest of the 
series to the burn ward when he was able to locate them. John was 
about to protest, but the owner told him that it was a good tax 
write-off. John thanked him for his charity.

The day nurse, Nurse Betty, was at the other end of the hall and 
spotted him. She hurried to intercept him before he reached the 
children's ward. She was too late, but not late enough to see his 
reaction to the kids in the room. She was amazed to see that he 
took their appearance in stride, looking at them like normal kids. 
He burst out in a smile and stated, "Hi kids, I'm John Carter. Do 
you want to hear a story?"

He was greeted by silence as children tried to hide themselves 
from his sight. He ignored their discomfort and sat down in the one 
large chair in the room. He held up the two books, "I have Tom 
Swift and Nancy Drew. Which one would you like to hear?"

The kids slowly peeked at him. He was smiling and waiting for an 
answer. Nurse Betty entered the room. "Ah, Nurse Betty. Would 
you be so kind to introduce me to my audience?"

Nurse Betty went through the room introducing every child in 
there. With each introduction, John repeated the name, stated that 
he was pleased to meet them, and then made some comment about 
something that was special about each child. 

Sarah was holding a teddy bear and he praised the gentleness of the 
bear. Her burn covered her head and back. She had only a few 
hairs on her head and her left ear was almost totally missing. 

Jennifer had a pretty, pink nightgown. He told her it was a pretty 
color and that it was just right for her eyes. She was burned by 
grease from a pan that she had pulled off the stove. The burn ran 
down her right arm, along her right side, and partially down her 
right leg. 

Tommy had spider man pajama's and John told him that he had 
always wanted a pair just like that. Tommy had tripped and fallen 
into a campfire. His burns were mainly on his stomach and hands. 

Karla was drawing. Her burns were on both legs as though she had 
been dipped into boiling oil. She had tried to give herself a bath 
using only hot water. John asked Karla to draw him while he was 
reading because he really wanted a picture of himself drawn by 
such a talented artist.

The kids finally decided they would like to hear Nancy Drew. John 
sat down and started to read. He read with it with emotion. He 
made the characters come alive. Each character was spoken in a 
different voice. He spoke in a soft voice during the suspenseful 
parts and an excited voice during the exciting parts. The kids 
gathered around him and listened raptly. Dr. Hilbert entered the 
room and watched them for several minutes. He was there for his 
morning examination of the children, but decided to come back 
later. He didn't want to interrupt them.

When he finished the book, the kids all cheered. He was smiling 
and laughing with them. He talked to each child by name. When 
they would call him Mister Carter, he would correct them and tell 
them to call him John. Dr. Hilbert returned and asked him to leave 
the room while he did his examination. John smiled, "Sure Dr. 
Hilbert! Goodbye kids, I'll be back this afternoon and maybe we 
can play a game."

He had gone about ten steps down the hall when he heard a scream 
from the room. He raced back in to find Sarah in tears. Nurse Betty 
had just removed the bandage. John stepped up to Dr. Hilbert and 
tapped him on the shoulder, "Perhaps I can help."

Dr. Hilbert snapped, "Please leave."

"Please, I don't like to see people in pain. Allow me to help, at least 
while you are removing the bandages," John was not smiling now. 
He stared directly into the eyes of Dr. Hilbert as though daring him 
to suggest otherwise.

Sarah, sobbing stated, "Please let him stay."

Dr. Hilbert had never been so intimidated by anyone in his life. He 
wondered where this nice guy kept this side of himself.  He backed 
up and then stated, "Okay."

John knelt down next to Sarah and held her hand. Looking directly 
into her eyes, he started talking. His voice was low and calm. As 
he talked, she got a dreamy look on her face. He described hiking 
through the mountains and watching deer graze. He told about the 
time that he had spent a whole morning watching Mountain Goats 
climb up impossible cliffs. He turned to Dr. Hilbert. "Remove the 
bandages now."

Nurse Betty pulled the second bandage off and there was no sound 
from Sarah. She was listening intently to the story that John was 
telling her. The rest of the bandages were removed with the same 
lack of response by Sarah. Dr. Hilbert performed his examination 
and then Nurse Betty put new bandages on Sarah. When she was 
done, Nurse Betty stared at John as though he were some kind of 
marvelous new creature.

The other kids were examined in the same fashion. John would talk 
and their eyes would get dreamy. The bandages would be removed 
without any apparent pain. The doctor performed the examination 
and Nurse Betty would put on new bandages.

When last examination was completed, Dr. Hilbert told John, "It's 
your turn. Let's go to your room."

John smiled and waving to the kids, "Bye, I'll be back later. 
Okay?"

His departure was accompanied by many happy yells of okay. He 
walked down the hall carrying his two books. Dr. Hilbert and 
Nurse Betty followed behind whispering to each other.  Both were 
in a state of amazement at what they had just witnessed. 

When they reached the room, John jumped into bed and laid back. 
Lifting his robe out of the way, he offered, "Rip her off, Nurse 
Betty."

"There's no need. I just wanted to talk to you alone," stated the 
doctor. He thought about what he had seen in the children's burn 
ward. As he walked towards the door, he stopped and turned. In a 
voice that conveyed deep emotion he said, "I had heard you were a 
hero. You know, I never believed in heroes until today."

"Dr. Hilbert. You, Nurse Betty, Ms. Smith and the rest of the staff 
are the real heroes. Every day you go in there and help those kids. 
Me, I'm just a diversion for a day or two. You are an integral part 
of their lives and you are helping to make their life better. I wish I 
could do a fraction of what you accomplish every day," replied 
John.

Dr. Hilbert left the room. Nurse Betty stood there with tears in her 
eyes. She patted him on the shoulder, "You are an amazing man, 
John Carter."

John smiled, "I appreciate you saying that to me. It means a lot 
coming from you."

Nurse Betty stood there for a minute thinking. She finally said, "I 
would appreciate it if you would stay in here for a while. It's 
almost time for your bath and I would hate to have to hunt all over 
for you."

"Sure thing," replied John. He added, "I guess you'll be using the 
wire brush?"

"I'll use the big wire bristles, they dig in better." Nurse Betty 
laughed and left the room. When she stepped out of his room, she 
looked around the burn ward. Somehow, it had taken a new 
meaning for her. She had never felt heroic or special for what she 
did here. Yes, there were times when she felt good about what she 
did. John's words had changed something inside her. When she 
noticed Dr. Hilbert leaning against the wall wiping his eyes with 
his handkerchief, she knew that he had been changed in that same 
way.  

News of John's morning had already spread through the hospital 
like wildfire. The only visitors that these children received other 
than their own parents were staff members and only a few of them 
could do it for long. The sight of a disfigured child was often too 
heart-rending to take for long. That John had not reacted in any 
negative fashion to the children was viewed as further proof of his 
hero status.

When Nurse Betty showed up in the hospital cafeteria, she was 
immediately surrounded by others that wanted to know what John 
Carter was like. The gathering grew silent as Nurse Betty repeated 
what she had seen. She told them about his delight in meeting the 
kids. She had no trouble describing how much they liked him; she 
was convinced that Karla was madly in love with him. She told 
them about how he read the story to them. She remarked that she 
hadn't had a single call from the kids the entire morning. She 
described how she was able to remove the bandages without 
hurting the children. Her eyes were filled with tears by the time 
that she finished the story. Knowing that she had everyone's 
attention, she added, "I'm looking for someone special to give him 
a sponge bath."

A number of nurses and even a few of the women doctors glanced 
knowingly around the room. Her statement would reach the right 
ears. She added, "Well, I better get back to my station."

John relaxed in his bed thinking about what he could do to help the 
children after he was gone. Sarah's scream had really upset him. 
He decided he was going to have to train someone how to divert 
attention away from the pain. It couldn't be a person of authority as 
the authority itself prevented the technique from working. That left 
out the nurses and doctors. Yet, who else would be here all the 
time so that they would be available when needed? That was real 
question.

His thoughts were interrupted by the cleaning lady coming into the 
room to empty the trash. He smiled, "Hello, I'm John Carter. And 
who might you be?"

The woman turned and looked at him with a funny expression. 
Most new patients hardly noticed her. They were usually so caught 
up in their pain, that the world would pass them by for weeks 
before they became aware of the surroundings. Those that did 
usually complained about how they were feeling. Only a few 
would actually engage her in conversation. Usually, it took a long 
time before the patients here really saw her. She answered in a 
strong accent, "I'm the trash lady."

"Hmmm, that won't do. I can't go around calling you the trash 
lady," answered John. He added, "Maybe I should call you 
Trinidad, since that's where you're from. I'd rather call you by your 
real name though."

She laughed, "I'm Mary, nice to meet you John Carter. You could 
tell from one sentence that I was from Trinidad?"

"Nice to meet you Mary. You have a very distinctive accent. I've 
heard that people from Trinidad are good storytellers. Is that true?"

"I don't know if it's true or not, but I can spin a tale that will have 
you laughing or crying in ten minutes."

"Tell me a story about Trinidad."

Mary shrugged. The staff didn't complain when she spent a little 
extra time with the burn patients. She told a story about growing 
up in Trinidad. She told about the times when the no-see-em's 
would infest the beaches. She described how tourists would show 
up to find an empty white beach and go down to it thinking they 
were going to have all the privacy they could want. Then they 
would discover that they were sharing the beach with thousands of 
biting insects. 

John enjoyed the story tremendously. He could visualize the 
beaches easily. He asked, "You go into all of the rooms up here?"

"Every room has a trash can. So yes, I go in them all," answered 
Mary, "Why?"

"Doesn't the appearance of the patients bother you?"

"Not at all," replied Mary in her charming accent. She added, "You 
have to learn to look at them the right way. You don't look at the 
outside; you look in them. You don't get evil people here. The fire, 
she burn the evilness out of them."

"So you like the patients here?"

"Sure, most don't see me for a long time though. Then one day they 
notice the trash lady and we talk."

"Mary, you are exactly what I was looking for!" John's excitement 
was quite noticeable.

Mary held up her left hand, "See the ring. I'm married and I'm a 
good Catholic girl."

John laughed, "As tempting as you are, that is not what I meant. I 
need a storyteller with a friendly face, nice voice, and great heart. 
That is you, Mary."

Mary's face wrinkled in disbelief. She asked, "Why do you need 
that?"

John knew he had her hooked, "You've heard them scream when 
they take off the bandages?"

"Oh it breaks my heart. I have to work a different ward when they 
do that."

John knew he had the right person, "How would you like to help 
end those screams?"

John gestured her closer and then stated, "Let me demonstrate 
something to you. Then I will teach you how to do it. Once you 
learn, you will help so many people."

She reluctantly agreed. She had heard of John Carter so she didn't 
quite fear what he was going to do. John sat up on the bed so that 
he was facing her. He took her right hand in his left hand. He 
stared into her eyes and started telling a story. As he wove the 
story, she got a dreamy look on her face. He stopped talking and 
she looked at him. She asked, "You're not a bad storyteller 
yourself, but what did you want to demonstrate?"

John smiled and said, "Look at your right hand."

Mary screamed when she looked down and saw that needle 
sticking through her hand. She reached down and pulled it out. 
Glaring at him, "Why did you do that?"

John smiled and folded his hands on his lap. He waited for the 
glare to diminish a little. When she took a deep breath and looked 
like she was going to yell at him, he stated, "Did you feel it going 
in?"

Mary stepped back. She turned her head to one side and looked at 
him out of the corner of her eye. She answered, "No, I didn't."

"That's what I wanted to demonstrate. That I could put a needle 
through your hand and you wouldn't feel it. I can teach you to do 
the same thing to me. When you can do that for me, then you can 
do that for people when they get their bandages removed."

Mary sat down in the only chair in the room. She shook her head, 
"You are a tricky one. You can teach me to do that?"

"Yes. I know I can."

"Then do it. I will enjoy sticking you with the little needle."

John laughed and pulled a fresh package containing a needle from 
the drawer next to the bed. He opened the package and handed her 
the needle. He then explained the process to her. He told her the 
signs that indicated a person was in the right frame of mind. He 
told her how to incorporate into the story some little element of 
pain in the hand that she was holding and to simultaneously pinch 
the hand. 

He then told her to try it on him. The first time through, he felt the 
needle go into his hand. He stopped her and told her what she had 
done wrong. They tried it again. He felt the needle again. He 
stopped her and pointed out different mistakes. After about the 
fifth time, he could tell that she was getting upset at hurting him so 
much. He talked her into trying it one more time and that, this 
time, she was to think about how she was going to take the pain 
away from him. She wasn't to rush or hurry in any way.

This time Mary told her story and incorporated more details. Little 
things that made the story live. She took her time and kept her 
voice calm and steady. She noticed the changes in John's face, yet 
didn't break eye contact. She went through the whole process 
exactly as John had told her. She inserted the needle and then 
stopped talking. 

John looked down and smiled. She had done it. He looked up at 
her to see her smiling. He smiled, "Now, do it again and take the 
needle out."

She went through the process again. The needle was removed 
without him being aware of it. When she stopped telling her story, 
he quipped, "You need to do it again. This time, you insert the 
needle, wait a minute, and then remove the needle."

Mary looked at his hand. It looked like a pincushion. She had lost 
track of how many times she had stuck him with the needle. She 
went through the process again. This time, she stuck him and 
pulled out the needle. Still telling the story, she stuck him again 
and pulled out the needle. She stopped talking. John smiled and 
stated, "That was very good. Now we need to do it again. Only do 
it twice."

Mary smirked, "Sorry, I got carried away last time and did it twice. 
I knew you were going to ask me to do that anyway."

"Mary, I'm shocked. You've only known me an hour and you know 
me too well."

Mary nodded, "I picked up on that pretty quick."

John answered, "That's great. I'll talk to Dr. Hilbert and we'll find a 
patient for you to try it on."

Mary laughed, "Oh, I doubt that will ever happen. You're a good 
man, John Carter, but you don't know doctors."

John laughed, "Oh, I've put more than one doctor in his place. I've 
even kissed one on the lips when he was being a bastard!"

"You're a crazy man!"

"Don't worry, I'll talk to the doctor. You probably need to get on 
your rounds."

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow, John Carter."

He watched Mary leave the room. He looked at his hand and wiped 
it down with alcohol. He didn't want it to become infected. He had 
to put a bandage on the palm and the back of the hand. He shook 
his head, he had been afraid that she was never going to get the 
knack down. 

He had just laid back down on the bed when the door to the room 
opened. He looked over and saw Betsy enter the room. She was 
wearing a standard nurses outfit, white pants, a white top, and 
comfortable white shoes. With her sandy brown hair cut short, 
green eyes, and cute nose she was very attractive. He greeted her 
with genuine joy, "Hello Betsy. I've been hoping that you'd come 
by to visit me."

Betsy smiled, "I'm afraid this isn't a friendly visit."

John faked a frown, "You mean you came here to hit me and beat 
me? I'm so disappointed."

Betsy shook her head, "No, it's nothing like that. You see, the other 
nurses are busy so I've been called in to give you a sponge bath."

John looked around nervously. It wasn't that he minded getting a 
sponge bath, but Betsy was really cute and he had entertained the 
idea of dating her. He stated, "I camp a lot and know how to give 
myself a sponge bath. No need to waste your time."

Betsy smiled at his nervousness. He really was cute. She cut off his 
objections, "Hospital regulations."

He tried to find some other way to get out of the sponge bath, but 
couldn't. Reluctantly he agreed, "Okay."

Betsy went into the bathroom and filled a small tub with water. 
She came out and set the tub on the table next to the bed. Smiling 
she told him, "You need to remove the bathrobe. It's rather hard to 
wash you with you all covered up."

John stood and removed the bathrobe. He faced her because the 
hospital gown was wide open in the back. He lay down and 
watched as Betsy went about laying out the sponge and towel. 
Stepping back from her work Betsy looked around, "I'm all ready 
to start except for one little thing."

She started to remove the nurse over-shirt. John watched her a little 
confused. When she slipped it off, she laid it on the chair. Then she 
started to unbutton her shirt. She did it slowly taking her time with 
each button. John's body started to react to the show. John 
nervously cleared his throat, "Ah, what are you doing?"

Betsy smiled and unbuttoned the last button. She removed her shirt 
revealing a lacy blue bra. She answered his question, "Oh, don't 
worry. I always get so wet when I give a sponge bath. Sometimes I 
take my clothes off so that they don't get wet."

John averted his eyes. It was too late to prevent an erection though. 
Even looking the other way, just knowing that an attractive woman 
was stripping was enough to excite him. The hospital gown tented 
obscenely. Betsy giggled at his discomfort. "Hey, relax. It's just a 
sponge bath."

She bent down and removed her shoes and socks. John kept 
glancing in her direction. The way she was positioned treated him 
to a nice view of her breasts. She stood quickly and caught him 
looking at her. He quickly turned away. She took the opportunity 
to examine the tent in the gown. Her eyebrows raised at the size. 
She licked her lips. The sound of her zipper being lowered caused 
him to glance in her direction. She lowered the pants revealing 
French-cut panties that matched the lacy bra. She turned slightly 
away from him and removed the pants. Her position gave him a 
fine view of her ass. The panties displayed her assets perfectly. 
John's cock twitched at the sight.

Standing, she approached the bed. She stated, "Sit up, please."

John sat up. She reached behind him and untied the strings off his 
gown. With one deft move, she pulled the gown off him and tossed 
it aside. He blushed as his erection was revealed to her view. It 
dawned on him that this wasn't a normal sponge bath and he 
wanted to slap his forehead at his stupidity. With a giggle she 
stated, "Oh my. You must be very uncomfortable."

She reached over and grabbed a wash cloth. She dipped it in the 
tub and then wrung it out. With a very professional demeanor, she 
turned back to him and wiped his cock with the cloth. The warm 
water surprised him since he was expecting it to be cold. She 
looked at his cock and stated, "Oh my. That didn't help at all. It 
looks like I have to take more drastic measures."

She bent over slipping his cock into her mouth. John groaned at the 
wonderful sensation in his cock as her lips closed around the head. 
Her tongue quickly flicked around the head. It didn't take long for 
John to start groaning. He uttered, "I'm going to come."

He expected her to finish him off by hand, but she continued to 
suck. She took him even deeper. She deep throated him and he 
exploded. Rather than stopping immediately, she continued to suck 
his cum from his cock. Soon his cock became too sensitive and 
noting that he was now reacting with discomfort, she stopped. She 
stepped back as his cock deflated, "Now, that's much better."

John just said, "Wow, that was amazing."

Betsy smiled and shook her head. He had no idea what she had in 
mind. She started to wash the rest of his body in a fashion that was 
closer to how a nurse would normally do the task. She started at his 
feet and worked her way up his body. About halfway through, she 
stepped back and stated, "Darn, my bra is wet. Oh well, I guess I'll 
have to take it off too."

She stripped out of her bra and John openly admired her body. She 
was lithe and small breasted, but everything was firm. She leaned 
across his body to wash the far arm. The motion put her breast 
right in front of his mouth. He took a chance and kissed it. She 
only pressed her breast into him harder. He got the hint and started 
to suck on it. His other hand started to caress her body. After a 
couple of minutes, she stood up. John tried to follow her up. She 
stepped back and stated, "Oh my. My panties are wet. I have to 
take them off too."

She turned away from him and slid the panties down her legs. John 
got a very good view of her cunt. His cock was hard as a rock. 
Betsy noticed his arousal and stated, "That nasty little organ just 
won't give up. I guess even more drastic measures are required!"

Betsy climbed up on the bed and straddled him. She was careful 
not to touch any of his wounds or put pressure on his back. She 
slowly lowered herself on his cock. Her cunt was hot and wet. She 
started washing his chest in an up and down movement. This 
resulted in a rocking motion on his cock that was extremely 
satisfying to both. John started thrusting up into her. 

The sponge bath took a long time to finish, but by the time it was 
done, both of them had come. As Betsy climbed off him, she gave 
his cock one last wipe with the wash cloth. She leaned over and 
kissed him on the lips. "Thank you, John. I've wanted this for a 
long time."

"Thank you, Betsy. You are a wonderful young lady. I hope I can 
see you again in the future. Could I take you out on a date when I 
get out of here?"

"I'd love that." Betsy quickly dressed and exited the room taking 
the cart with her. John watched her leave in surprise. He was 
hoping to find out how to contact her, but she left before he had a 
chance to say good bye. 

Nurse Betty entered the room shortly after John had finished 
dressing in the new gown he found on the tray next to the bed. She 
smiled at him, "Did Betsy do a thorough job or should I ask 
another nurse to come in?"

John wondered how much Nurse Betty knew about his experience. 
He answered, "Oh, I would love to have her wash me every day."

Nurse Betty smiled, "Oh, that's not possible."

"Well, I'm sure you'll do a good job too. If you're too busy I can 
manage on my own."

Nurse Betty laughed, "Don't worry, there are another dozen 
volunteers on the list. Betsy was just so insistent that I bumped her 
up on the list."

John frowned, "I don't get it."

"You will."

John decided to drop the subject. He asked, "Can I see the doctor 
before he makes his rounds?" 

Nurse Betty nodded, "Oh, he said he was coming here before he 
was going to start. I think he wanted to know if you could go on 
his rounds with him. We were both pretty amazed by what you did 
with the kids."

John smiled, "Great. Could I also ask if you could have the 
cleaning lady, Mary, stop in here at the same time?"

Nurse Betty frowned, "Mary always works somewhere else when 
the doctor makes his rounds."

"Don't worry, I'm sure if you ask her, she'll come," replied John. 
He added, "She sure is a nice lady. Do you talk with her much?"

"Oh yes, she probably does the least work of all the cleaning ladies 
here, but the patients love her. Most of the staff won't come up 
here, so they don't ask her to work harder."

"Great," replied John. He was quiet for a moment and then asked, 
"Was there something that you needed?"

Nurse Betty slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand, 
"Well, I was wondering if you could read to the kids right after 
lunch. There are some people here that want to visit you and I told 
them that you would be available about 3:00. Would that be 
alright?"

"Who on earth would want to visit me? I told my mom and the old 
lady that I rent a room from that I was here. I told them not to 
come down here because I know they are all busy. I don't know 
anyone else."

"Well, there are about twenty people that have called. I've 
scheduled each one for about five minutes. They all work here at 
the hospital, so we've bent the visiting hour rules for them."

"They're all staff? Well, I'm happy to meet the staff. You guys are 
terrific," John agreed to meet them, not really understanding why 
the staff would want to meet him. He was just one patient among 
many.

Nurse Betty went to the door and opened it. She told him, "Lunch 
will be served in about ten minutes. When you are done, come 
down to the kids room. I'll let them know you are coming."

The nutritionist entered the room with a tray. There was a steak, 
salad, and potatoes with a glass of milk. He was about to make a 
joke about hospital food when looked at the contents. He whistled, 
"I should eat here more often. To tell the truth, I was expecting a 
bologna sandwich."

She laughed, "Hero's get the steak. We give the bologna sandwich 
to the villains."

"Well, thank you very much. You don't know how much this 
means to me. I usually only get to eat a good cut of meat once a 
week. This looks great."

"I heard you liked a good piece of meat occasionally. So John 
Carter, what I can make for dinner tonight?"

John had no idea where she could have heard that he liked meat. 
He decided he didn't want to know, "Gosh, I have no idea. Just 
give me what you make the most for the rest of the patients."

The nutritionist thought about it for a minute and then suggested, 
"How about stuffed pasta shells with a light tomato sauce and a 
nice salad on the side? Of course, you'll want garlic bread. I'll 
select an appropriate desert later."

John smiled, "That sounds perfect. By the way, may I know your 
name?"

"Sure, I'm June Anderson."

"I'm pleased to meet you June Anderson."

She smiled and inched towards the door, "Well, I better let you eat. 
I just wanted to thank you for helping my grandmother."

John wasn't sure about whom she was talking. He asked, "What did 
I do?"

"You suggested that a neighbor go in and check on her because she 
was always on the porch at that time of day. The neighbor went in 
and found that she had fallen and broken her hip. She had been on 
the floor for two hours and might have died if the neighbor hadn't 
checked."

There wasn't enough detail in the description for him to identify 
the woman. He often told neighbors to check on each other and 
more often then not there had been a problem. "Oh, I'm glad the 
neighbor went over."

She smiled, "You don't know who my grandmother is, do you?"

He frowned, "I'm not sure. I ask lots of neighbors to check on each 
other."

She nodded, "I know, we've had a lot of them in here telling the 
same story.  I just wanted to thank you. I'll be bringing your 
dinner. We'll talk some more then."

She left the room. John eyed the steak hungrily. He hadn't realized 
how hungry he was. It didn't take him too long to finish his lunch. 
He sat back for a moment enjoying the quiet and solitude. This 
much attention was at times hard to take. 

Sighing, he picked up the Tom Swift book and headed to the kids 
room. When he entered, the room was buzzing with excitement. 
Jennifer was bursting with happiness, "John, they delivered a 
whole bunch of books just before lunch. Look, there's Nancy 
Drew, Tom Swift, Curious George, and even coloring books."

"Wow, that's great. I guess we're going to have to get a book case 
to put them all in," replied John as he eyed the five boxes of books. 
The owner of the bookstore must have been busy this morning. He 
added, "Who's gonna help me put the bookcase together?"

All of the kids raised their hands and shouted, "Me."

John nodded wisely and stated, "Well, there is enough work to 
keep all of us busy. How about I read the story now and order the 
bookcase later. We can put it together tomorrow, okay?"

The kids gathered around and listened as he read the Tom Swift 
story. Jennifer and Tommy absolutely loved the story. John 
realized that both of them actually enjoyed the engineering 
component of the story the most. The adventure was just icing on 
the cake. Karla was busy working on her drawing. Sarah enjoyed 
the story for the adventure that it presented, but she had definitely 
enjoyed the Nancy Drew stories more. 

Nurse Betty had stopped by to check on his progress. When she 
saw that he was nearly done, she waited for the conclusion. As 
soon as he ended, she stated, "Okay kids. You know what time it 
is?"

Her announcement was not greeted with enthusiasm. Sullenly, 
Tommy answered, "It's nap time."

Whining like a little child, John asked, "Nurse Betty, do I have 
to?"

Nurse Betty smiled. She recognized what he was doing. In a very 
stern voice she answered, "Yes, John Carter. You have to take a 
nap now! No exceptions!"

John nodded and answered sullenly, "Yes, Nurse Betty."

He stood up to leave and then noticed Karla looking at him. He 
smiled and stepped over to her. He asked, "Did you finish the 
drawing of me? I want to hang it over my bed so that I can look at 
it while I fall asleep."

Karla beamed and then faltered. She was so afraid that he wouldn't 
like it. She slowly handed over the best drawing of him that she 
had made. In a scared, timid voice she stated, "Here it is."

John took it and looked at it. It was a nice picture, particularly for 
someone her age. The subject could have been any bearded man. 
He smiled, "This is outstanding, but you forgot something."

Karla paled, "What did I forget?"

"You forgot to sign it. I have to keep it so that when you get 
famous I'll be able to say that I own a genuine Karla picture."

Karla burst out in a grin and quickly signed her name. She handed 
it back to him and said, "I'll make another one for you if you want 
me to."

John answered, "Do you know what I would really like?"

"What?"

"I would love a picture of all you kids. Of course, that would be 
pretty tough because you'd have to include yourself in it. Can you 
do it?"

Karla nodded excitedly, "Yes I can. I'm sure I can."

"Great," he replied. He glanced at Nurse Betty and then stated in a 
stage whisper, "I better get to bed before you know who gets mad 
at me! Maybe you guys should do the same."

John left the room as the kids scrambled into their respective 
rooms. He walked down the hall enjoying the chance to move 
around tremendously. He wondered if they would get upset if he 
went for a walk around the hospital. He entered his room and sat in 
the chair. He placed the drawing on the table next to the bed. 

He called a furniture store to order a bookcase. He explained what 
he required and then requested that it be delivered to the burn unit 
in the morning. When the salesperson requested payment 
information, he realized that he didn't have a credit card with him. 
He asked if he could give the credit card number to them in the 
morning when he was able to get his wallet. The salesperson put 
him on hold telling him that he was going to have to talk to the 
owner.

The telephone was picked up by the owner of the store. John 
introduced himself and explained what he needed. The owner 
listened carefully and then stated that he didn't have to worry. They 
would donate the bookcase to the burn ward and that he would 
personally drop it off on his way home from work. He even said 
that he would assemble it, but John told him that he had plenty of 
young patients here who wanted to take part in its assembly. The 
owner understood. Before hanging up, John thanked him for his 
generosity.

After lots of thanks back and forth, the call finally ended. Glancing 
at the clock, John saw that he would have about fifteen minutes 
before the visitors arrived. He leaned back and closed his eyes. In 
less than a minute, he was sleeping soundly.

When the first visitor arrived, Nurse Betty entered the room and 
saw that John was asleep. She got out a blanket and covered him. 
She knew he would complain about not being awakened to meet 
his visitors, but the needs of his body came first. She looked down 
at the man as he slept. It was a peaceful sleep, which was rare in 
this ward. Most patients had nightmares about their experiences. 

Exiting the room, she told the people waiting that John had fallen 
asleep. Apologizing for bringing them up here needlessly, she 
agreed to schedule people at a different time. She knew this was 
important to them, but she explained that he had surgery less than 
eighteen hours ago.

Chapter 10

John woke up at 4:00 when Dr. Hilbert, Nurse Betty, and Mary 
entered the room. His back hurt from sleeping in a chair. John 
glanced at the clock and saw what time it was. He realized that he 
had missed all of the hospital staff that had come to visit him. He 
shook his head, "Nurse Betty, you should have woken me. All 
those people went out of their way to come up here and you let me 
sleep through it."

Dr. Hilbert answered, "You might be a hero, but you're not a 
superhero. Remember that. When you are tired, get some sleep. 
Your body needs sleep to heal."

"Yes sir." He recognized the validity of the advice. In a way, he 
was actually pleased that he hadn't had to deal with visitors. This 
hero worship thing was getting very old. He didn't feel like a hero, 
although he had no idea what a hero felt like. He felt bad that he 
had let down people that helped so many patients.

"Now lets get those bandages off so that I can see how you're 
doing."

Nurse Betty came over and removed the bandage. Mary stared 
open mouthed at how calmly he took the removal of the bandages. 
Dr. Hilbert stepped up and examined the burns. The healing rate on 
this guy was phenomenal.  Nurse Betty was about to replace the 
dressing, but Dr. Hilbert stopped her. "Dr. Capstone will be here in 
a minute." 

While they were waiting, John explained that he would like Mary 
to assist him in working with the patients. Dr. Hilbert was a little 
skeptical, but decided that if John requested it then there might be 
a good reason. It was then agreed that Mary would go on the 
rounds with him. Mary was extremely surprised at the ready 
agreement.

Dr. Capstone arrived and greeted them, "Hello John, how are you 
doing?"

"Hello Dr. Capstone, that's for you to decide."

He bent down and looked at the leg giving it a cursory 
examination. He immediately stood up in surprise. He bent down 
and looked at the leg again with much greater care. Dr. Hilbert was 
smiling at the expression on his face. Dr. Capstone stood and 
looked at Dr. Hilbert, "Doctor, I forgot my epidermal probe. Could 
I borrow yours?"

Dr. Hilbert understood that this was a request for a private 
conference. He answered, "Sure, come with me and I'll get it for 
you."

The two doctors left the room. John asked Nurse Betty, "Epidermal 
probe? You have to be kidding! They could have talked in front of 
me."

Nurse Betty shrugged her shoulders. She decided that no answer 
was better than making something up. This guy was scary at times 
with his insights into people and his total lack of self-interest. She 
suggested, "You never know what they talk about."

The doctors returned to the room. Dr. Capstone asked, "John, 
could you sit up so I can see your back?"

John sat up and the bandages were removed. Dr. Capstone 
examined the back very carefully. Satisfied, he said, "Nurse, you 
can bandage his back and the surgical wound. We agree that the 
burn should be exposed to air now."

Nurse Betty nodded her head and got to work. John asked, "So 
where is this famous epidermal probe?"

Both doctors looked a little embarrassed. Finally, Dr. Capstone 
stated, "Well, we were trying to decide what to do with you."

John smiled, "So is it a firing squad or death by hanging?"

"Nothing that drastic. We were considering walking the plank or 
sacrificing you to the volcano."

"I'm not a virgin so I guess it's the plank for me. Sorry guys."

"Seriously though, if you continue to heal at this rate, we won't 
need to keep you in here more than two days. We'll take out your 
stitches tomorrow afternoon and bandage your wounds. We don't 
want you to leave just in case something happens."

"Sounds good to me, Dr. Capstone," John turned and winked at 
Nurse Betty, "Does that mean I'm getting a dozen sponge baths 
over the next two days?"

Nurse Betty had the grace to blush. The doctors looked at each 
other knowingly. Finally, Dr. Hilbert responded, "Oh, I think you 
can handle three a day. You're young and resilient."

John went on the rounds with the doctor, Nurse Betty, and Mary. 
Mary had learned how to distract people from their pain very well. 
John watched her work and let Nurse Betty know when it was time 
to remove the bandage. With practice, Mary's technique became 
better. 

A very attractive black woman sat in the chair. Her posture was 
impeccable. She sat straight up in the chair, shoulders back and 
chest out. Her legs were crossed at the ankles. Her hands rested on 
her lap. She was conservatively dressed in a black dress that came 
down to the middle of her shins. It was plain, but clearly 
expensive. One thing that gave away her sadness; her eyes were 
red and puffy from crying. A knowledgeable observer would 
recognize her as dressed in mourning.

Ms. Smith, having learned the identity of the lady, had warned her 
not to hug him. She explained that he had stitches along his back 
and a hug could rip them. The woman didn't know how to act and 
sat there wondering what to do. She owed this man so much and 
had no idea how to repay him. She was lost in thought when he 
entered the room. 

"Hello, I'm John Carter. Who might you be?" asked the man as he 
extended his hand. 

The lady looked up in surprise. The man looked just like her son 
had described him. She had not believed her son. She couldn't 
believe that some white man would risk his life trying to save her 
children. She answered, "I'm Virginia Hill."

"Oh, that's a nice old fashioned kind of name. You don't meet 
many Virginia's any more. It's a shame; I'm rather partial to that 
name myself."

She smiled, "I was named after my grandmother. She was named 
after her grandmother. That woman was named after her owner."

Her statement might have intimidated some, but John followed up 
with a question, "What did she do for her owner?"

"She was freed before they put her to work. I'm sure you've heard 
of the Civil War," she answered. There was a little tension in her 
voice.

"Ah, she was most fortunate. Of course, the times after the Civil 
War were quite hard for most blacks. Their standard of living often 
went down. They had nothing and usually could only find work 
that paid less than it cost to feed their family for the day. A lot of 
them moved west to try and start a new life in the wilderness 
where color didn't matter. Most people don't know that the 
majority of cowboys were black. It wasn't John Wayne that rode 
herd on the cattle, it was Samuel Blackman."

"You know a lot about black history," she stated. "Not many 
whites know that kind of stuff."

"Well, I talk to a lot of the blacks in the neighborhoods around 
where I live. I listen to their histories. Lots to learn from people 
when you give them a chance to tell their story and you take the 
time to listen. That's why I asked the question about your great-
great-grandmother. It was another chance to learn."

"Oh," replied Virginia. She had not come here with the intention of 
discussing her family history. Her family had a rather checkered 
past. Her mother had been tough on her while growing up. Her 
mother always stressed education and if Virginia made less than an 
A in a subject, she would get beaten. Her mother always told her 
that an education was important. It always meant more money. 
Even an educated whore made more money than an ignorant whore 
did.

"Do you have a picture of her?"

"No, I used to have one, but it burned in the fire last night," she 
replied. The question reminded her of why she was here.

John nodded as he drew the correct conclusion. He asked, "It 
wouldn't happen to be the one that I was at last night?" 

"Yes, sir. It was," her voice was suddenly respectful. 

"Could you tell me the names of your wonderful children?"

"Ryhem and Shawana."

"Well, Ryhem was very polite, brave and obedient. You must be 
really proud of him."

She laughed, "Are you talking about my boy?"

"Yes, ma'am. When I set him down and told him to stay there until 
a proper authority came he told me, 'yes sir', and he stayed right 
there. He also told me about his sister still being in the house. He 
didn't panic or anything."

She laughed, "Do you know how he described what happened?"

"No. What did he say?"

"He said that he was standing there staring at the fire and didn't 
know what to do. Then a wizard walked through the flames and 
carried him out of the fire. He knew you were a wizard because 
you had a long beard, long hair, and carried a magic staff. He was 
afraid that he was going to get burnt, but you used magic to keep 
him safe."

John laughed, "Me a wizard? Wow, that's great."

"Shawana said that a skinny Santa Clause rescued her."   

"That's even better. No wonder they both cooperated so well. I 
wouldn't argue with a wizard or Santa Clause," suggested John. He 
thought about the last person in the house. He added, "I'm very 
sorry for your loss."

"He was a drunk. He caused the fire that almost killed my babies. I 
loved him, but I'm mad as hell at him."

"It's hard to carry such mixed emotions around with you." John 
didn't really know what to say. He chose the course of action that 
seemed best. He suggested, "Would you mind standing up?"

She hesitated and then stood. John stepped close to her and put his 
arms around her. He held her close. Her head rested on his 
shoulder. She gently wrapped her arms around him and started 
crying. It was as if a dam had burst. Once she started, she couldn't 
stop. She had lost her lover, her house, and her past all in one 
night. John held her and swayed slightly. The slight rocking 
motion calmed her down. 

It took a while, but she finally collected herself. She stepped back 
and sat down. John handed her the box of tissues from the table. 
She blew her nose, wiped her eyes, and tried to collect herself. Her 
makeup had run. She sniffed, "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to break 
down like that."

"No problem," replied John. He asked, "Are you feeling better?"

She stopped and thought about it for a minute and answered, "Yes, 
I do. I really do feel better. Thank you."

John nodded and suggested, "Why don't you use my bathroom and 
wash your face. I'm sure that you'll feel much better then."

Virginia smiled hesitantly and headed towards the bathroom. 
While she did her feminine magic of transforming her appearance, 
John thought about what she had experienced in the last day. He 
understood her need to be held. She returned looking and feeling 
much better. She asked, "What can I do to thank you?"

He thought about it a moment and then stated, "There is something 
that you can do for me. It is rather personal, though."

Her eyes flicked to his groin. Her estimation of this nice guy went 
down a bit. In her mind, he became just another lowly man driven 
by his sexual urges. In a slightly flat tone of voice she answered, 
"Okay, I guess."

John appeared not to notice her appearance her glance and lack of 
enthusiasm. He sat down on the edge of his bed and motioned to 
her to have a seat in the chair. He stated, "Quite simply, I would 
like to know more about you."

She frowned, as that was not the request she thought he was going 
to make. She sat down. Not knowing where to start, she asked, 
"What would you like to know?"

"What do you do for a living?"

She frowned again. She hated to admit this, "I'm an exotic dancer."

John smiled, "An artist in a very underrated art form. It is such a 
shame, too. It could be one of the most significant art forms and 
yet it isn't. It should be respected like ballet. Society tends to frown 
upon it and the people that engage in it. Even the dancers that 
engage in it look down on it. Of course, polite society is always 
embarrassed by the most basic aspects of life. Are you good at it?"

"Huh?" she was confused.

"Are you good at it?"

"Do you understand what I do?" she asked. 

"I think so. Why do you ask?"

"I give lap dances to horny men," she replied with a hardness in 
her voice that hadn't been there before. She knew that she was 
making herself look like a whore. She continued, "I'm basically 
naked and all they care about are my tits and ass. I work at the best 
club in town."

"You still haven't answered my question. Are you good at it?"

"It is easy enough work. I make a lot of money, so I guess so."

"Hmmm, I would tend to believe otherwise. You are probably a 
little above average, but not good."

Virginia sat back with her arms held tight to her chest and crossed. 
She really wondered what this guy was getting at. She asked, 
"Why do you say that?"

John shrugged and then replied, "Well, most of the time when 
something comes easily to a person, they don't have the discipline 
to become good at it. They become good enough to get by."

She replied, "It is very hard work. I have to exercise, watch my 
weight, learn new things, and practice."

John nodded, "Do you put as much work into it as a professional 
ballerina?"

Virginia shook her head, "No."

"Can you make a guy's fantasy come true while you are dancing 
for him? Can you make him forget where he is? Can you turn him 
on with just a touch?"

"You can't do those kinds of things in a lap dance."

"Sure you can," replied John. He stood up and moved over to her. 
He slowly reached out with his hand and softly brushed her lip. He 
ran his hand down to her chin and then to the back of the neck 
along her hairline. She leaned into his hand with her eyes closed. 
John stopped his action and sat back on the bed, "You see. With a 
simple touch you can transform someone away from the here and 
now."

Virginia sat there staring at John. He had transported her 
somewhere far from the hospital with just a simple touch. She 
asked, "How did you do that?"

John answered, "When was the last time that someone touched you 
like that?"

"Never."

"How long have you wanted someone to touch you like that?"

"Longer than I care to admit."

"I was able to give you something that you've always wanted and 
never had. You can do that with your dance just as easily. If you 
learn how and master it, then you'll be a good erotic dancer, 
perhaps even great."

"You talk as if being an exotic dancer is a good thing."

John lay back in the bed. He was beginning to tire. He stated, "Do 
you know the difference between a pornographic picture and an 
artistic picture of the same subject?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Well, usually in the pornographic picture it is the subject of the 
picture that is presented and that presentation is usually very crude. 
In an artistic picture, the emphasis is on quality of the picture and 
the presentation takes a huge degree of skill to achieve. There is 
the same difference between pornographic dance and an artistic 
dance."

"You're telling me that I can make a lap dance into an artistic 
dance?"

"Yes," he replied. He smiled as he looked over her and added, 
"You can dance so sexy that you can make a man come even 
without touching him. The lap dance doesn't mean you have to rub 
your cunt on his pants until he comes. No, you can sit almost 
motionless on his lap and achieve the same thing."

"So how do I learn how to do this thing?"

"I don't know," replied John. 

Virginia was startled, "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I am not a dancer. Nevertheless, if I had to become one, I would 
learn everything that there is to know about dance in all its forms. I 
would study ballet, belly dancing, folk dancing, primitive dances, 
and Bali dances. You are a smart young lady. I know that because 
you speak well, carry yourself with dignity and act civilized. I also 
believe that if you put your mind to it, you could become an 
extremely good dancer."

"You don't see me as some kind of whore?" She couldn't believe 
this guy. He actually understood her. She was used to being looked 
on as a tramp, ridiculed by people, and generally treated without 
respect. This guy was different. 

"No. Do you see yourself that way?"

"No."

"Good. It is getting late and you've got two kids that need you 
more than I."

Virginia stood and kissed him on the forehead. She smiled down at 
him, "You're a wonderful guy. I think the woman who gets you 
will be very lucky."

John laughed, "You just don't know me well enough. It would take 
a saint to live with me. I'm mean and irritable most of the time. 
You just caught me on a good day."

Virginia left feeling like the debt she owed him was greater now 
than when she had entered. She wondered how he would talk to a 
prostitute and then wondered if maybe there was a difference even 
in that profession. 

John rested for half an hour and then got up. Not used to lying 
about all day, he decided to go for a walk. He stepped out of the 
room and walked down the hall. He saw that Ms. Smith was at her 
desk. She had been treating him like some sort of special beast 
ever since she came on duty tonight. He decided to play a joke on 
her. John got down and crawled to the front of her desk so that she 
couldn't see him. He kept hidden and said, "Ms. Smith, help me. 
I've become invisible."

Ms. Smith looked up and didn't see John. For a fraction of a second 
she believed him and then caught herself. Holding back a smile, 
she looked back down at her paperwork and stated, "John, I swear 
you are eight years old. I didn't fall for that with my kids and I 
haven't fallen for that with my grandchildren. So stand up."

John stood up smiling broadly, "You're no fun at all."

Ms. Smith replied, "It looks like I'm going to have to add you to 
my collection of other bad boys in my basement. Pity too. I had 
such high hopes for you."

They both looked at each other and started laughing. John finally 
stated, "I was wanting to take a walk around the hospital and meet 
people. Is that a problem?"

"You really shouldn't walk around like that. The burn may bother 
some people."

"How about if I wear some surgical scrubs?"

Ms. Smith nodded, "Ok, give me a minute to get one for you. You 
will need to be back by bed time though."

"Yes, ma'am."

John waited until Ms. Smith arrived with the bottom half of a 
surgical scrub. John when down to his room. Dressing, he realized 
that he didn't know how comfortable they were until now. He 
headed off to explore the rest of the hospital. As he traveled, staff 
and nurses came to him and chatted. All of them were very 
interested in meeting him. Some thanked him for things he had 
done for family or friends. As John walked around meeting people, 
he realized that he had become something of a celebrity. The idea 
made him a little uneasy. 

He returned to his room emotionally drained. When he entered the 
room, he was surprised to find a man waiting for him. He took a 
deep breath and held out his hand, "Hello, I'm John Carter. Who 
might you be?"

"I might be Jeff Hunt, the staff psychologist," replied the man. He 
waited to see John's reaction.

"Okay, I guess that means you might not be Jeff Hunt."

Jeff laughed, "Touche."

"Do you mind if I lie down while we chat?"

"Please do if it would make you more comfortable."

"Thank you. It's not that I think it is appropriate to be lying down 
when dealing with a psychologist, but that I'm a little tired."

"I understand that."

"I imagine that you are here to help me work through this 
traumatic experience. So what do we do now?" asked John.

"Straight to the point. I guess you can start by answering how you 
feel about what happened," asked the doctor. 

"I don't feel traumatized."

"You don't?"

"Not at all."

Dr. Hunt sat back in the chair and looked at John. Clearly the 
young man was in some sort of denial about his experience. How 
could someone run into a burning building, encounter a dead man, 
suffer severe burns and not feel traumatized? He asked, "What 
about your wounds?"

"They aren't that bad. The doctors are going to let me out in two 
days. They say that I'm healing very quickly."

The doctor checked the chart and realized that John was correct. 
He read the initial diagnosis and then the notes added to the chart. 
He wondered about the healing rate this guy demonstrated. He 
chose a different tactic, "How about the fire?"

"Well, I'm happy that I was able to get the two kids out of the 
house."

"How about the man that died?"

"Well, I feel sorry that he died. But then, being dead isn't that 
bad." John thought about it for a moment and then added, "I guess 
I feel worse for the family because he is gone. They will miss 
him."

"You talk as if you've had experience with being dead."

"Yes."

The directness with which John replied baffled the doctor. He 
asked, "You died before?"

"Yes."

"When?"

John looked at the doctor realizing that he didn't believe him. He 
slipped the hospital gown over his shoulder and showed him the 
scar from the bullet wound, "I died when I was I shot. The doctor 
revived me and I got better."

"How long were you dead?"

"Four minutes. I know, it's not a long time. I didn't really want to 
come back, but I did."

"Are you disappointed?"

"No, actually I'm glad to be alive. There's still so much to see and 
do."

The doctor sat back and wondered what to think of this guy. If he 
was being honest, then he was about as sane a person as he had 
ever seen. They continued to talk for another hour. John fascinated 
the doctor. He answered every question the doctor asked with 
honesty and thoughtfulness. There were no attempts to evade 
difficult areas of conversation. He answered incredibly personal 
questions about life, sex, and death with complete candor. His 
philosophy of life took into account his own frailties, as well as 
those of others. He saw value in things that others looked down 
upon. Rather than ignore or demean the ugly parts of life, this guy 
tried to understand them. 

It was not that this guy was an optimist. He believed in evil and 
recognized it when he saw it. He didn't see evil as a sickness that 
could be cured or excused by the environment in which one was 
raised. He felt that mistakes could be excused to a point, but people 
that did not learn from their mistakes ultimately had to pay for the 
errors of their way. 

It was not that he was free of guilt, all humans have made mistakes 
for which they feel some responsibility. This guy was balanced in 
that he didn't feel guilty about things that others thought he should 
do, but that he was incapable of doing or that originated from their 
selfishness. If he came in second in a race and ran as fast as he 
could, then he wouldn't feel guilty for not winning. If someone 
wanted him to run to the store for them and made the request out of 
laziness, John was more than happy to decline. If he didn't do the 
right thing or didn't do it to the best of his capability, then he felt 
guilt. That was healthy. He didn't strive for perfection, but 
attempted excellence. It was a rare person that recognized the 
difference.

Their discussion was interrupted by a knock on the door. Jeff 
looked at his watch and realized that he had spent far more time 
than he had intended. John called out, "Come in."

Jeff excused himself as seven adults entered the room. They all 
crowded around John thanking him for the kindness he had shown 
their children. John accepted their thanks and explained how much 
fun he had reading to the children. He told them about the stores 
that had donated the books and the bookshelf that was coming in 
the morning. They thanked him again before leaving. John fell 
asleep almost as soon as the group left.  
<1st attachment end>


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