Wheels of Steel, Book 1 (27 page)

She finally got out of the car and rang the bell to a small but neat house. She heard coughing that seemed to grow closer as someone evidently moved to answer. The door opened and a tall but stooped man was there. His watery grey eyes moved across her body before resting on her face. He smiled…but not to her, to himself. She almost felt like closing her sweater over her breast. She thought people called that look a leer.

“H-hello.” She finally said. “I’m from Pinnacle.”

“Yes. I was expecting you. Come in.” He was wheeling an oxygen tank and a hose ran up to his nose. She remembered those hoses from when her Daddy had been in the hospital. She stepped inside closing the door after her.

The man held out a shaky, thin hand. She shook it noting that he had a strong grip.

“I’m Fred. Fred Baker.”

“I’m Robin Mathena.”

He was staring at her. “Such pretty eyes.”

“Thank you.” He was still staring at her so she looked around his small living room. It was neat and everything seemed to have been recently cleaned.

“Let me show you to the kitchen.” He walked very slow and got out of breath easily. Once in the kitchen, he sat down in a chair that had several worn cushions on it.

“I have a cart for when I have to go out.” He caught his breath. “And I have a mask for when I get out of breath. Emphysema.” He explained.

“Do you need me to get your mask?”

“No. I’ll be okay. Just give me a minute.”

“Okay.” The kitchen was old but clean. The cabinets were metal and painted white. The appliances were sunburst gold. The counters were orange, but there was nothing out of place. After Fred caught his breath he coughed and spit phlegm into a used tissue which he stuffed back into his pants pocket.

“Will you make dinner?”

“Of course. What should I make?”

“Just soup. There’s a can of vegetable beef in the cabinet.” He took a deep breath. “Then you can make me a cheese sandwich to go along with it.”

“That’s all you want?”

He took a deep breath. “Yes I don’t eat much.”

Robin made the soup while he sat and watched her. It was really uncomfortable. She poured the hot soup into a bowl and went about preparing to make his sandwich. She searched the fridge for the cheese but it wasn’t where he said it was.

He told her to check one more time behind the Tupperware dishes of left-overs and when she finally straightened and turned to him, she saw that he had been staring at her butt. She hid a suspicious look. Was that his game? Just to pretend to search in his fridge so that he could watch her butt?! What a freaking perv!

But now she was on guard. She had to feed him the soup because his hands shook too much. His skin was liverspotted and had strange moles on them so she tried not to look at him closely; especially when she saw coarse black hair curling out of his nostrils.

After she fed him soup and made small talk, Robin did the dishes knowing that he watched her butt. She didn’t even need to turn and catch him in the act. After the dishes were washed she led him to the living room so that he could watch t.v. for an hour before bed. She thought about Miss Lucille and her Evangelist shows and missed the elderly lady. She should be comfortably in her new home at the facility. She would make a stop over there sometime this week so that the woman wouldn’t feel alone.

Fred coughed and scratched and made small talk. He seemed nice enough but she already knew that she wouldn’t like him. His eyes were always on her breasts, or her butt. She gave him an insulin shot and his other medicine that had to be taken after his last meal of the night.

At ten o’clock she asked him if he was ready for bed.

“You have to give me my bath first.”

Robin sat there with a blank look on her face. Bath? Nobody had said anything about bathing him. She distinctly remembered the message stating, feed him, administer medicine, and help him to bed…bathing him had not been included!

“Mr…I mean Fred, um you want me to help you bathe?”

“Well you can just sponge bath me. That’s what most people do.” That leer was back in his eyes and Robin felt the sweat begin to form on her brow.

She jumped up out of her chair. “Um…can you hold a sec? I just have to make a phone call. I’ll be right back.” She darted out of the house with her cell phone in hand. She had Pinnacle’s number on speed dial, which was an indication all itself that Pinnacle wasn’t a place she could trust. Mary Louise answered.

“Mary Louise! This is Robin. I’m at the patient’s house-”

“Is everything ok, Robin?”

“No, he’s okay, but everything is not okay! He wants me to give him a bath.”

“And? What’s the problem?”

What’s the problem?! “I…know nothing about bathing a patient.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Just sponge bath him. It only needs to be done every other day. He’ll tell you how to do it. Now if you run into any trouble just call us back. You’ll be okay, Robin. You have a good night, hun.” The phone went dead.

Shit. Oh shit shit shit…She did not want to do this. Calm down Robin, calm down.

She went back into the house. Fred smiled at her. “Ready?” He said as he stood.

She nodded feeling slightly sick.

Fred directed Robin to the pan that was used for his sponge bath while he went into the bedroom to undress. She ran warm water into the pan and picked up the bar of soap from the bathroom sink along with a clean wash cloth and towel.

When she returned to the bedroom, Fred was lying on the bed, and naked as a jaybird. Robin’s eyes stayed glued to the older man’s face, so while she knew that he wasn’t dressed she didn’t quite see anything from the neck down. When she got to the full size bed she quickly draped the towel across his pelvis and then she could think.

His breathing was so labored that she told him she’d get the oxygen mask.

“No. I’m okay.”

“Do you want your hair washed?”

“No.”

She sighed in relief. She dunked the wash cloth into the water, then lathered it with soap. She wrung it out and gently wiped his face and neck but when she got to his ears she almost lost it. Thick grey and black hair was sprouting from it like a primordial forest! She felt her stomach knot and she almost spewed her dinner. She had to look at something else as she dug into his ears with the soapy cloth.

When she wrung out the soap she saw that the white wash cloth was already dirty. She quickly wiped the soap from his face neck…and was tempted to leave it in his ears but gently swabbed them clean. She moved to his arms and hands and got those clean. Then she was forced to change the water. It was too dirty to continue working with. When she returned to the room with the fresh water she noted that the towel now had a tent in it.

Her face burned. There was no way she was removing the towel! Fred just stared at her, breathing heavy as she washed his narrow torso. Ewww, did all men have lots of hair surrounding their nipples? She helped him sit up so that she could wash his back and his chest touched hers. Fred sputtered and coughed and his body trembled as he tried to catch his breath. Robin quickly washed his back and got him laying down again.

He looked very tired, his eyes were only half opened and she figured it was past his bedtime. She was probably much slower at this then the others. She decided to do his legs next and saw that his towel was no longer tented. Thank god, no more erection to deal with. She quickly washed his birdlike legs and his dirty feet. The water was in dire need of another changing but she just wanted to be done with it. So she slipped off his towel very quickly and without looking at his privates she wiped at whatever the wash cloth came in contact with. By feel alone it felt like a sack filled with two withered plums and a water logged hotdog; half eaten.

She turned him onto his side and cleaned his bottom and by the time she finished he was sound asleep and snoring. She went through his drawers and found pajama bottoms. She slipped these on him, happy that he was sorta clean—he still had a strange smell. When she was done, Robin went to the bathroom and scrubbed her hands.

At home, even though it was after eleven, she went straight for the computer. All she could think about was Jason’s change of attitude and that maybe Sweetheart could discover what was wrong with him.

She signed in to Yahoo and saw that he was signed on as well.

~Hi TOP. Busy?~

~Hello. No. I’m not busy~

~How did your day go??~

~Fine, just finishing up a song to get ready for YouTube~

~A new one or that same one?~

~The same one. Would you like to hear it? It’s called Love’s End~

~I’d love to!~
Robin received a link. She played it, saving it so that she could listen to it every day and every night without having to bother Jason about it anymore!

~Did you like it, Sweetheart?~

~I loved it!~

~Can I trust you?~

~Trust me? Yes.~ She watched the screen in confusion. Why would he ask that?

~Because no one has seen this but you and me. We can’t let it leak, you know. I never show my work before it’s posted~

~No. I wouldn’t do that~

~I know. I wouldn’t have sent it to you if I didn’t trust you~ Robin smiled.

~Sweetheart?~

~Yeah TOP~

~Tell me about yourself~

Robin swallowed. ~What do you want to know?~

~What’s your real name? You know my name is Jason. What’s yours?~

Robin began to get nervous. Name name name…~Sharon~

~Hi Sharon. Nice to meet you~

~Nice to meet you Jason~

~May I see a picture of you?~

What???? ~A picture?~

~Yes.~

~I don’t have any on my computer~

~Oh? You should put some on just so you can share with people. Describe yourself to me~

Robin’s stomach began to twist. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like this at all! She thought for a moment about how she should respond. ~I have medium brown skin.~

~What color are your eyes?~

~Brown~

~You’re black, right?~

~Yeah, why?~

~I met a black girl recently with grey/green eyes.~

~Oh?~ She didn’t know what to say. This seemed wrong.

~Yes. That song I sent you. I wrote it about her~

Robin’s belly flipped again.

~Who is she? Your girlfriend?~

~Hell no, haha. She’s my Assistant~

~Oh. Why did you say Haha?~ Her face was burning.

~Because. I don’t trust her~ Robin’s mouth dropped. She felt her heart sink.

~Why do you have an Assistant that you don’t trust?~

~I don’t want an Assistant that I don’t trust~ Robin felt sick; she literally felt like she was going to throw up. ~You better get some sleep, it’s getting late. Night~

Then his little Yahoo icon went to sleep and Jason was gone.

***

The next morning, as she showered and dressed, Robin wrecked her brain for anything that she could have said or done to make him mistrustful. She had spent a very restless night of running back and forth to the bathroom. When she got to Jason’s she knew that she had dark circles under her eyes and she probably looked dumpy in sweatpants and a hoodie but she could not seem to expend the effort to put together a halfway decent outfit.

She rang the bell and he answered with a good natured greeting. “Good morning, Robin.”

“Good morning.” He wheeled out of her way so that she could come in. She hesitated and then headed to the kitchen to start the teapot going. He followed her but didn’t begin the process of making his bowl of Cheerios. He just watched her.

“Is there something you want me to do for you?” She asked.

He didn’t answer. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence he grabbed a bowl, spoon and the cereal from the cabinet. Wordlessly, he wheeled past her to the refrigerator and retrieved the milk. Then he made his cereal, picked up his newspaper and began to eat, ignoring her completely.