The Life As A Prisoner Part 1

Chapter 162

The Life As A Prisoner

Part 1

 

Once dinner was over, with no surprises of me and Jared falling asleep or passing out at the table like last night. Coach moved us out to the pool area, letting Jake and Adam clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher; while Dotty, Mom, and Dad, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Vincent, made themselves comfortable sitting on the lawn furniture, watching Jake's father join the boys and his son Billy in the pool.

I envied my two brothers Jason and Jonathan, as well as the Vincent boys and Billy watching them, play in the pool with Jake's and Billy’s Dad as well as all my other friends like Stan, Charily and Ron as well as their sisters lest not forget Bishop Sake and his two boys and daughter. You could say the gang was all here, well mostly the ones from Highland.

I knew they were being nice about wearing a swimsuit only because of Coach Brady being here. The fact that he knew that we were nudist, didn’t bother him, and he told our families that at the table tonight; stated that; ‘a man's home is his castle.” Yet he wasn’t going to share himself in that way, nor was he going to interfere with our beliefs. Mostly because he was shy when it comes to his own nudity around pretty woman, so he says. Mom said he had nothing to be embarrassed about just because he was aroused. Stating they would consider that as a compliment, causing him to blush.

In any case, Mom had asked the boys to wear a bathing suit so it wouldn’t embarrass our guest. No one complained about being asked to do so, and Coach Brady didn’t tell them not too for his benefit, while he went down the hall and changed into his bathing suit. So after we had worked in the small gym that had weights, and a set of parallel bars including a gym mat to prevent Jared and me from injuring ourselves if we fall, that we could work out in the pool as well. the grownups were there to see what Jared and I would be doing during the day when we weren’t laying around the house, getting fat and lazy.

Coach walked me to the parallel bars explaining to them the exercises he wanted us to do. He even had a chart made to show our progress, and where he would like us to be by Friday. When he’ll come back and evaluate us. After I had repeated the same exercises I had done in gym class only falling a couple of times but didn’t pass out this time, because he made damn sure I didn’t push myself as I had earlier. He had Jared do the same exercises as he moved me over to the weights that Dad had taken from home. Normally that would have been easy to lift five pounds or more, but I tell you it was if it was a hundred pounds as weak as I was; only being able to do ten reps on each arm doing arm curls and leg presses.

After we had finished our gym exercises, he had Mom get us ready for the pool exercises, giving her part of her wish of ripping my clothes off, even though she ended up pulling down my bathing suit either on purpose or by accident. She didn’t apologize as she pulled them back up. I knew if Coach wasn’t here she wouldn’t have bothered putting them back on or bothered dressing me and Jared in the first place other than a robe for dinner. And coach didn’t act like it was a big deal considering we were guys and being naked in front of each other meant nothing to us. Proving wants more that Jared and I didn’t get aroused just by looking at each other naked. It would take a lot more than that to get us aroused.

Unlike the rest of us Coach Brady wasn’t perfectly groomed when it comes to hair on the chest or his back or legs, but neither did it bother us or him when we saw it. We only keep ourselves groomed to avoid getting hair in our mouths when we are stimulating each other, to prevent getting sick from it. Coach had Jared and I walk back and forth across the pool where it was waist deep and then had us work our arms and legs either by doing knee bends, kicking our legs and feet or pretending to ride a bike, as we float back and forth on large long noodle flotation devices. Then we would sit or kneel or stand to lift water weights for about 5 minute’s each or until we couldn’t do it anymore.

Once we had enough he told us and our parents that he wanted us to do these exercises 3 times a day minim. And had left us to dry off and change back into his dry clothes. Then saying goodnight to us all, thanking us for dinner. Telling us it was better than the TV dinner he was planning to eat tonight. Stating he lives alone, know that his wife had died of lung cancer and his children were married and have children of their own. 

I didn’t think he was old enough to be a grandfather. Mom said anytime he wants a home-cooked meal all he has to do is come over. Jezzy and Dotty said the same thing stating it was the least they could do for helping our boys. He said. “I all be sure to take you up on that offer,” and walked out the door and went home.

Dad asked Jared and me if we had enough, I shook my head and said. “Just one more set Dad,”

Dad said. “Absolutely not!” Hearing us breathing hard.

Mom said. “How about having a nice long hot bath instead then well put you, boys, too bed after I give you each a massage to help you sleep?” What I really wanted was to lick every inch of Adam and Jake, but that didn’t’ seem to be in the cards right now. So I nodded and Jared did too, having Adam and Jake dry us off and bring us down to the tub while Jake’s Mom prepared our remedy. 

Jared was lucky because he didn’t get the green smelly one since Gloria didn’t whip the living tar out of him like she did to me and didn’t have open wounds that needed attention as I did.  Yet if I was to go back and choose between that or violating Jared; I would still make the same choice regardless of the outcome.

Once inside the tub with the other boys who would normally be my charges. Mom gave me something to relax me and Jared, a small dosage of Valium which is used to help relax your muscles. By the time Mom and Dotty had bathed us boys, the Valium was beginning to take effect. Making it harder to work my body from the tub too the wheelchair Mom said. “Next time we will give to you after your bath. I didn’t’ think it would affect you so quickly.”

Jared and I were more asleep than awake by the time Mom and Dotty gave us each a massage and me the remedy for my back and legs where the whip had struck over and over again. The green smelly stuff is called the green monster, for the reasons: One it is green, two its smells, and three it fixes anything that monster like Gloria could do to you.

I envied Jared because he didn’t have to have this one on him as often because the smell was enough to make you gag worst then the smell of rotten eggs or sulfur. Yet if it wasn’t for the smell, it did its job feeling tingle and massage my muscles as it combined with the cloud remedy and the hot towels.

It was four hours later when Mom and Dad woke me; Jared was still out cold as Dad helped me to the tub letting Jared sleep. Again I envied him not having to be bathed a second time since he didn’t have the green monster on his back. I cringed seeing the dirty towels as Mom put them directly in the hamper. Mom frowned hearing me cough and my teeth chattering just a little. I saw the worry on her face as she placed her hand on my forehead. I told her I was fine and just a little everyday cold. What I didn’t tell her was how I really felt, because I didn’t want her and Dad to worry about me or play nursemaid instead of going to work to help support our family such as it is.

I felt like the world around me was underwater as my teeth chattered. The moment I sat up it took great effort not to fall right back down, I still didn’t feel like a million bucks, in fact, I felt worse then I did the day before. Mom and Dad had to practically pull me out of bed and almost carry me to the tub. I drew the line in the sand and said. “I can do it, just give me a minute,” only to fall on my knees. Mom and Dad tried to help me, but I shrug them off me. Mom ordered me to lye back down on the bed and covered me with the blanket and reached for the thermometer and placed in my mouth

Mom frowned that I was still running a slight temperature that it was 101 and climbing; I knew I was because my skin felt hot but I felt cold as my teeth chattered. Yet what concerned her was my cough and how horse I was. The moment I moved and or sat up I begin coughing in heavy sprits as my teeth chattered because of the fever and the cold I was feeling. My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.

I told Mom I was fine and would be after I nice hot bath. She didn’t believe me so climbed out of bed and started for the door, only to fall on my knees because of the weakness and the dizziness, the cough only made things worst throwing me off balance. It if wasn’t for Dad being there I doubted I would have been able to get off the floor or even make it to the tub.

Yet I was right the moment I was nice and toasty in the tub, my teeth stopped chattering but the cough remained persistent, but it was manageable. So Mom and Dad let go for now and put me back to bed with the cloud remedy and the green monster on my back. It took everything I had as clenched my teeth and smile so Mom and Dad would leave me alone.

Dad kissed me goodnight and told me to be good, and that he would check on me and Jared throughout the day. Mom also had to go to work and I knew we couldn’t all stay here indefinitely. Yet right now I couldn’t think about it, because I was useless to help anyone. Not even Dotty could be here every day of the week. It was the cough and the fever that concerned me.

I didn’t ask Jeff what I should do about it or Mom and Dad, already knowing the answer. It was up to me to make the hard choices, one of them was I didn’t have the luxury of lying in bed all day. I needed to find some way to pull my weight, sick or not, lack of energy, lack of strength and feeling dizzy and coughing wasn’t going to stop me. I needed to find a way to overcome these difficulties even if it made me sicker or in the end it killed me. In any case, I would go down fighting. Besides I wasn’t afraid of death or dying after facing it so many times that we have become best friends. More so after spending the whole day with Gloria as she tortured me and tried to kill me.

I question if my father is afraid of dying knowing without a doubt if there is hell or heaven afterward. That he would be spending eternity in hell.  Then again I questioned if I might be joining him for all the things I have done regardless if I had been taught to do them. Providing if I really believed in God which is questionable, the only reason I really believe there might be because of Jeff. And if there was a God that means there is hell and heaven. 

I didn’t sleep as sound the second time with the Valium wearing off and coughing as my teeth chattered uncontrollably, and with my mind calculating the many possibilities on what I could do or get away with. Even when I heard the house waking up and people walking past our door wishing everyone good morning as our fathers went to work as the smells of freshly cooked bacon and sausages and french toast made their way down to our bedroom making my stomach growl with hunger.

I had already decided that today I was going to push myself harder than I ever had before as I waited for the bedroom door to open watching the clock on my nightstand tick, away as the sounds faded into complete silence. It was then the door opened seeing Mom and Dotty enter the room that said show time. I didn’t pretend I was sleeping. How could I with this annoying cough or as my teeth chatter endlessly?

I simply smiled and said good morning, which was almost a whisper. And sat up moving my legs and arms that felt like lead weights; planted my feet firmly on the floor letting the damp towels fall off me as I stood up coughing my lungs out and holding my jaw shut to keep my teeth from chattering; until the cough took over causing me to fall back on the bed.

Mom watched me stumble asking me if I needed any help. I said. “No, just give me second,” and made my way to the door; only to fall on my knees once more. Mom tried to help me up, but I growled that I could do it. She stepped back as I used doorknob and the frame to help me back to my feet, and made my way down the hall using the wall as my only support. I cringed seeing the green like hand-prints and shoulder marks I had left behind.

Hearing Dotty say “Karen he needs to go to the doctor, he’s getting worse, not better.”

Mom said. “And tell them what Dotty, once they see those marks and cuts on his body. They’ll call his caseworker in heartbeat.”

Dotty said. “They will anyway if you don’t take him, besides it, not your fault it’s Gloria's. You have sworn statement and the tapes to prove it.”

Mom said. “Let's see how it goes if he gets any worse will take him, but not until then.”

Mom tried to help, but I just denied her telling her I can do it. I knew I looked like death warmed over as the sweat dripped off my face and my breathing became hard and rugged as if I had run 25 laps around the Gym, but only walking 30 feet from my room to the tub. Falling twice more before I actually made it to the tub that was waiting for me, but I made it under my own power as I fell to stone like seat. Breathing hard, coughing even more as my teeth refused to stop chattering.

The moment I sat down trying to control the cough and my teeth. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back letting the warm water and jets soothe my aching muscles, while I waited for Jared to join me. I listened to Mom telling Jared no as he argued with her and Dotty wanting to do like wises, but in the end, he won by also stumbling into the tub taking a seat beside me.

Mom and Dotty were just about to remove their robes so they could bathe us until I told them that I would bathe Jared and he could bathe me. Mom said no, and I compromised said she could help if we needed it, but only if we needed it. I knew she knew that I was pushing myself and I knew she didn’t like it. 

Yet I had already made my decision that I wasn’t going to be helpless anymore, even if it took everything I had inside me, even if I fell a hundred times or passed out cold. Even if it killed me, no one can say I didn’t least try. Mom and Dotty sat across from me and watched me bathe Jared, like had millions of times before. True I did most of it sitting or leaning against the long pole railing that helped you in and out of the tub, but I didn’t without their help.

Jared too did like wises showing them if I could do it so could he. Mom grumbling how stubborn we were being, but she didn’t interfere, instead, she let us do it. Once we were dressed in another pair of comfortable scrubs and a nice pair of warm socks. Mom didn’t give us a choice if wanted to walk or ride in the wheelchair, considering the kitchen was more then 30 feet and we had just barely made that with great difficulty.

Once we were at the table Mom took our stats (blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature.) Frowning because mine was still 101 and climbing slightly, I knew it was because how my teeth chattered even though my skin was hot I felt like I was ice cold. Jared, however, was normal or slightly above, but his teeth weren’t chattering like mine was and he wasn’t coughing like I was or sounded if had a frog in his throat.

Mom told me even if I wasn’t going to school due to how tired and weak I was. This would have kept me home. I didn’t argue the point, knowing she would have, even though I had gone to school sick many times before when I was living at home, when my parents simply didn’t care, how sick I was. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to stay home just so my mother could play nursemaid. I question if she was still the same way regardless if she had turned over a new leaf.

Yet I knew when I lived with the Fry’s or the Steeds even the Downing’s. They too would have kept me home from school just like Mom would and is doing. I loved her for it and I hated her for it because showed me how much she cares and loved me. Yet it also showed my weakness that a simple fever and a bad cold could make me so useless and pathetic.

Right now I couldn’t let it. I needed to find some way to prove that wasn’t useless and pathetic and I didn’t need a nursemaid. So I chattered and coughed telling Mom that Jared and I will be just fine on our own and she could call and check on us throughout the day.

I saw the hurt in her eyes as if I didn’t want her. I grabbed her hand as she placed a warm blanket around me and kissed it, telling her “I love you Mom, but I really don’t see the need for you to take off work when Jared and I will be in bed most of the day. And besides Dotty will be here keeping an eye on us until Mrs. Vincent gets off work, and our nurses will be here besides off on to make sure we exercise.” Mom knew I was right hearing her give a heavy sigh. Warning me if it got any worst she was taking me to the doctor the moment she came home.

She kissed me on the head and said she loves me, but if I think for one minute I was not going to spend the day in bed. I could think again as she tans my very cute butt for pushing myself too hard when there was no need to. I crossed my fingers and said. “I promise to be good as gold.”  I knew it was a lie, because I and planned on doing just that, she would have known that almost instantly if I was naked and not clothed and covered with two blankets. I just wanted her to go and do what she needs to do to help take care of us. Mom gave me a hard stare that said she meant every word, but it did get her out of the house so she could go to work.

Once she had I felt better, as I planned my next move, calculating each of my steps to and from the pool, too and from the couch and too and from my bedroom. Jared said as smiled at me the moment Dotty busied herself in the kitchen fixing our breakfast. “You have no intention of being good today?”

I gave him a silly grin and said as I coughed. “Nope, not a chance in hell,” and wrapped the blanket tighter around me. Once breakfast was over, I put my plan into action. I waited until Dotty pushed us into the living room as we waited for our nurses to show up. Once she had turned on the TV and started down the hall to put the wash into the dryer. It was my chance to prove that I wasn’t completely worthless.

I started by asking Jared if he would feel more comfortable on the couch, having him ask me what I was planning to do. I said. “Clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher for starters.” He gave me a silly grin said he could make to the couch on his own. I nodded and helped him out of his wheelchair even though it almost caused me to fall with him on top of me. Once he made it to the couch I took the blanket that had fallen off me and wrapped it around Jared; then started for the kitchen table. Even though it was quite difficult to walk straight because of the fever and the cough throwing me off balance as it hinders me a little and the weakness I was feeling from being poisoned and the stress Gloria had put me through, I made it to my destination; barely.

By the time I had made the third trip Dotty came back and asked. “What in the hell are you doing boy out of your wheelchair?”

I said as I coughed doubling over using the counter to hold me up. “Helping you with the dishes, what does it look like I am doing?” Placing the last of them inside and starting the dishwasher. Dotty tsked at me and I smiled and walked around her stumbling catching myself on the edge of the counter.

I shook my head trying to clear the dizziness, but I made back to the couch and sat next to Jared. Dotty came over and placed the thermometer in my mouth as she listened to me cough and my teeth chatter. Then pulled it out reading it stating it was 102 and climbing, she said. “Jared if he moves one inch from that couch you smack him and call me. I calling the doctor before we end up in the hospital.”

I grabbed her hand telling her. “Please don’t, I’ll be fine.”

She said. “No boy, I won’t have you dying on my watch,” watching Sparky and Jake's dog jump onto the couch next to Jared.