Puppy for Sale
by James Matthews
Chapter 33
A Date with the Needle, Not the Date I had in Mind
With Dinner done, Steven and I had retired to our bedroom. My pain killers had kicked in a while ago and I was feeling much better. A little woozy and spaced out, I was rabbiting on to Steven about Dave again and he was patiently listening.
"Has anyone ever told you, you talk some real shit when you are on those pills?"
"Ha-ha, yeah your mum actually. But listen I've not finished yet. I wanna know more about Dave."
"Mushhead, I've told you everything, you have cleaned me out in the knowledge of Dave department so give it a rest."
I tipped back on my bed laughing, before slipping off the side and falling to the floor with a thud.
"Boys, I really hope you are not fighting up there?" Susan hollered from downstairs.
"No mum, just Jensen being an ass."
"Language! Just behave up there, both of you."
"I can't believe I got half the blame for you being a bonehead, look at the state of you."
"Meeheehee hahaha, oh shit, I feel great!" I got back up on to my feet and went over to Steven's bed. "Now, I wanna know what you said to him today, yeah I remember now, I got a text, it was from him right?" I asked, poking him on the chest.
"Text, what text?"
"Dave, he sent me a text saying I like you too... hang on, I'll get my phone and show you."
I limped round his bed and pulled out my phone from under my pillow and tossed it to him. Steven picked it up and went into my messages.
"Yeah that's his number, but he didn't mention to me that he's text you."
"But you must have told him I liked him right? Cos... cos why would he send that?"
"Jesus, you sound drunk!"
"Whatever... so, what did you say?"
"Nothing really. He brought you up and I said you had the hots for him, it was just a passing comment."
"You know, if I felt normal I would probably slap you for that."
"Oh C'mon, you're glad I did though right? It got you a nice text after all."
I grinned, playfully. "I might be."
"Dunno why he didn't mention it to me though."
"What?"
"About the text... he never told me that he had sent it to you."
I rolled my eyes. "And you say I'm stupid."
"Huh?"
"Think about it Steven... he has never admitted to you, Jessie or Billy that he likes guys right?"
"No, but then I didn't expect he would, he's shy about a lot of things."
"Well then, so why would he tell you about the text? That's like admitting he is into guys after denying it all this time."
"Fuck me, it's the first thing you have said since I met you that actually makes sense."
"Ha, well you taught me everything I know. Oh and while we are on the topic of Dave, you need to remember that it is you who keeps trying to get us together, so you can't blame me if I go on about him to you."
"Yes, I've been kicking myself about that, it was a fucking mistake. It's like I am being constantly raped in both ears by you."
"Oh shut up, I'm not that bad."
Steven pulled at his hair. "Oh... you are!"
"No... no wait...no...NOOOOO!!!"
"... Jensen... JENSEN!"
"Shi...shit, fuck... Steven?"
Steven was crouched down by my bed, his hand on my arm. Just then the door to our room opened and Susan came in and switched on the light, blinding us all.
"What's happened, is everything ok in here."
"Jensen had a nightmare mum, its fine."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake everyone up."
Susan came and sat down on my bed and stroked my hair. "Aww, honey, that's ok, I'm sorry you had a bad dream... gosh you are soaked."
"Do you remember what it was about?"
"Yeah, I used to have the same dream quite often; it was Brian shooting my mum, but then he always shot me afterwards, it was weird.
I'ven't had it for ages, I thought it had gone away." I said, as a tear rolled down my face.
"Mum, you go back to bed, I'll keep an eye on Jensen," Steven said.
"Are you sure you will be ok Button? I can stay for a while if you want me to?"
"No its fine Susan, I'm sorry I woke you."
Susan gave me a gentle smile and got up from my bed. She turned out the light leaving the room back in the usual hue of Steven's lamp light. Steven got up and went to his bottom drawer and took out a towel before passing it to me. I wiped my sweaty body over with it, including my face.
"Do you need a shower?"
"I'll be fine until the morning, but do you have some spray?"
"Sure," he replied, pulling a bottle out from under his bed. I sprayed my arm pits and neck before handing the bottle back to him. "Are you gonna be ok?"
"I think so, it just freaks me out for a while after."
I turned over onto my side facing the wall and I heard Steven's bed springs creak as he got back in bed himself. There was a brief moment of silence before I heard him sigh. I could then hear him moving about again before something almost freaked me out again.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" I asked as I turned my head to see his pillow being laid half on top of mine. Without saying anything he climbed into my bed and placed his arm round my chest.
He let a long breath escape his mouth. "Try and get back to sleep, you're safe."
I pulled his arm in tight to my chest feeling indeed safer as I held on to his muscular bicep, and felt the warm air of his breath on the back of my neck.
"Thanks," I whispered, closing my eyes, trying to get my mind off the biggest erection of my life.
"You're welcome douche bag!"
Steven woke me up early to offer his services in the shower. I really did need a shower after last night's nightmare and subsequent penis leakage, so I took him up on the offer. As usual it was a rather comical event, but this time, Steven actually got in the shower with me, much to my surprise.
"Keep your eyes off my junk and get washed," he said as I eyed his morning semi. He soaped up the sponge and washed down my back while I steadied myself against the wall, before he held onto me so I could do the rest of my body. I was rock hard, it was inevitable but Steven didn't seem to be bothered by it, thank god.
"Sorry," I said as I turned in his direction giving him full view of my stiff dick.
"Just get it over with if you have to, better in here rather than messing yourself up in the bedroom."
"Are you sure?" I whispered feeling fucking horny.
Steven let go of me so he could start washing himself and I took care of my cock. I worked it hard and fast until I came up against the tiles.
"Oh gross," Steven blurted as a couple of drops fell onto his foot.
"Whoops, sorry," I replied, getting my breath back.
"Maybe I should have got out first."
I laughed and squeezed the last few drops out of my now deflating dick.
"Phew!"
"Feel better? Looks like you needed that."
"Yeah much better thanks."
"Cool, well I'll help you out and then I need to get ready for school. Here, give me your arm."
"Steven stepped out of the bath after turning the shower off and helped me out on to the floor. I sat down on the stool and started to dry myself while he went and squeezed a spot in the mirror, his ass on show to me.
"And you say I'm gross," I said, watching a spray of yellow puss hit the mirror.
"It's been brewing a while that one... fuck that stung!"
He took out some antibacterial toner out of the vanity drawer and poured some on to a cotton pad before wiping his face over with it, paying special attention to the now bleeding spot he had popped.
"You do that every day?" I asked.
"Yep, the joys of being a teenager... it's just part of my routine in the mornings now."
"Uh huh. Could you pass me my clean underwear please?" I asked as I stood up and dropped the towel to the floor. Once they were on
I wrapped the towel back round me and left Steven in the bathroom to do... well whatever he did each morning.
After I had got dressed I wandered downstairs to the smell of Bacon invading my nostrils. As I entered the kitchen I saw Susan crisping the rashers in a frying pan and surprisingly Max, who was sitting at the table in jeans and a jumper reading the morning paper.
"What are you doing here," I asked.
"Puppy I live here," Max replied, grinning at me.
"No, I mean why aren't you at work?"
"You hear that Susan, I think I've a new boss, it was nice having you for all those years."
Susan turned round and laughed. "Prepare yourself Max, I heard this one is a real slave driver."
Max Chucked. "Actually Mister, I'm here because we need to get your dressing changed and YOU have a date with the needle."
"Ooooh reeeaally?" I whined. "I thought you had forgotten about that?"
"I almost did, until Susan reminded me we are a day late in getting that bandaged redone."
"I would have taken you myself Button, but I need to see the school today about Steven. Oh, which reminds me, I'll have a chat about you enrolling."
"Is Steven in trouble?"
"Oh no, I've to do this three times a year Puppy, it's just so parents know how their children are doing as the year goes on. Steven will be taking his exams this year so it's an important time. I'll be doing the same for you as well soon I imagine."
"I see. So will I have to take exams?"
"You sure will, and I know you will do fine, Puppy, you have a keen mind. I can't wait to see what they say about your maths abilities. Hey Max, remember I was telling you about Puppy's maths brain?"
"Yeah, I remember, Susan tells me you are quite the whizz kid Puppy,"
"Not really, I just know how to do numbers, it's quite easy really."
"Oh Max he is so modest... here take this calculator and watch this." Susan handed the device to Max. "Ok, lets pick a hard one...hmm, ok what iiiisss four hundred and fifty five times twenty three?"
I looked at the ceiling and started to calculate the sum in my head. "Ok, it should be, erm... ten thousand four hundred and sixty five."
"Is he right Max?"
Max's eyes went wide as he hit the equals' button on the calculator. "Wow, that is crazy... how do you know that... and so quickly?"
I shrugged. "It's really simple, I round everything up or down or I separate the sum into two parts. So I do four hundred times twenty and then fifty five times three and then add them together. Or if it is a little smaller I just round the whole figure up and then subtract the rest."
"You've lost me... but I will say that I would have a hard time with four hundred times twenty," Max declared, sniggering.
"Multiplication really is as easy as Adding and subtracting. Division is slightly harder but I like a challenge."
"I can't wait to get you into school," Susan said, clapping her hands.
"And I can't wait to leave," Steven added, walking into the kitchen now dressed in his school uniform.
"Morning Honey, bacon and eggs or bacon sandwich?"
"Bacon and eggs please," replied Steven, sitting at the table. "Dad, why are you here?"
Max rolled his eyes. "Not you as well!"
"Your father is taking Puppy to the hospital to get his dressing changed and have a blood test. I am going to the school to see how you are doing."
"Please don't hug me if you see me, it's really embarrassing."
"Aww, don't you love mummy anymore," she teased, turning her lips down.
"Bite me!"
Susan went back to the bacon and turned off the pan before dabbing the pieces with kitchen towel to remove the grease. While they were draining she took two eggs that Annie and Clarabelle had produced and cracked them both open at once, one in each hand.
"Wow, how do you do that?"
"Years of practise" she said. "Looking after two men in the home, things need to be done fast."
"Yeah, good job we didn't get another man," Steven teased, cupping my neck, and shoving me forward. I just rolled my eyes.
Susan placed some eggs on a plate and pulled off three strips of bacon, placing the breakfast in front of Steven, who then went on to make short of it.
"You're an animal," I remarked, watching him eat the lot in a little under two minutes.
"That's what all the girls say."
"C'mon Puppy, let's leave Steven to his fantasies and head out."
"Max, the poor boy hasn't had any breakfast yet."
"Blood test?" he said, giving her a tilted head look.
"Oh, right, ok, well make sure you feed him when it's done."
"I think I can manage that, C'mon son, let's go."
Down at the hospital I sat patiently in the waiting area while Max went to see what was going on. We had been here for two hours now and I had neither my blood test done, or my dressing changed. Looking to the side of me I found a host of magazines that were very much out of date, but with complete boredom now consuming me I picked up one and flicked through the pages.
"This is a joke," Max barked. I looked up and saw him approach me.
"Still nothing?"
"They have a backlog of patients to get through but we should be seen soon I'm told, but then again they said that last-"
"Jensen Stibbings?" Came the voice of a nurse standing just outside the entrance to a room.
"At last, Max said," an irritated tone in his voice. "Does someone have to die to get seen in this place?" he berated the nurse.
"I am very sorry Sir, we have had a busy morning, thank you for your patience."
Max didn't respond, he just followed the nurse into the room and pulled out a chair for me.
"So we will be dressing your foot today yes Jensen?" The nurse asked. I nodded. "Hmm, I can see from your records this was a nasty accident involving a nail... sounds painful. So how has that pain been?"
"It's ok sometimes, but sometimes it hurts a lot."
"Ok, well you have been very brave. What I'll do is clean up the wound again and then place a special cream on it which contains a numbing agent. This will last up to a week and will also aid the healing process."
"How long until it heals so he can put a shoe back on?" Max asked.
"I won't know until I get a look at the foot. People his age are good healers so I would expect to see healing well under way. Jensen, if you could hop on to the bed for me and roll up your trouser leg?"
"Ok." I replied getting up and doing as she asked. The nurse started to unstrap my boot before removing it and looking at the bandage.
"Hmm, I can see some discolouration of the dressing which says this has been bleeding. Have you been making full use of your crutches Jensen, making sure you don't put pressure on the wound?"
"I wasn't given any, the Doctor said I needed pressure on it." The nurse looked at me strangely.
"You were not given any crutches?"
"Nope," Max interjected. "Are you now going to tell me he should have had some?"
"Well, we do recommend that pressure is put back down on the foot after a couple of weeks to aid circulation, but in the initial stages crutches really should have been used as the wound is fresh and prone to bleed if too much pressure is applied on it."
"I don't believe I'm hearing this... what kind of Doctors are you letting work here?"
"Let's not be too worried yet... Mr Chase, isn't it, right?"
"Yes."
"Let's not be too worried until I get the dressing off and see how things are doing."
The nurse's attention went from Max back to my bandage and she slowly started to unwrap it. As the layers came off I could see the dressing was becoming redder as signs of blood were clear to see. Finally the old dressing was off and the nurse pulled back the old blood stained gauze.
"Hmm, there have been signs of moderate bleeding but the wound seems to have clotted nicely now."
She took some tweezers and drenched a cotton wool swab in some clear liquid before gently wiping around the cut. As the dry blood soaked into the wool I could now see the wound a little better.
"Looks ok on the top," she commented, a concentrated tone in her voice. Shen then bent down to look at the bottom. "Ahh, now this looks a little better than I expected. Ok, let me clean this up and apply the cream. I think this should be the last dressing Mr Chase and then we can replace that with a plaster which will allow more air to get to it."
"Thanks," Said, Max, still a little annoyed.
"I see you are taking Tramadol, Jensen?"
"Yes."
"I want you to come off those now and continue with standard pain relief, continued Morphine is not good for you and I suspect that taking Tramadol is probably a little overkill now at this stage of the healing."
I just nodded and the nurse went to work on cleaning up my foot. She applied the cream she mentioned, replaced the gauze and redressed my whole foot tightly, causing me to yelp in pain a few times.
"That actually hurts," I said, huffing,
"You'll live," the nurse replied, pressing her lips together. "Would you like a lolly pop for being so brave," she added, giggling.
"Don't patronize me," I said, smiling.
"Ok, young man, you are good to go. I will have some crutches issued to you and you can be on your way.
"Thank you," Max said. "It's nice that someone around here knows what they are doing."
"Yes, I'm sorry about that Mr Chase, I'll have a chat with the Doctor and see why he felt it necessary not to issue crutches. Would you like me to call you?"
"Is there any point, it's done now, we can't go back and fix it."
"Ok, well, I'll issue some feedback and hopefully he won't make the same mistake again."
"So it was a mistake then?" Max asked.
"Well it was an unusual course of action to take with Jensen's type of injury. Without knowing the details of the initial visit I'm not sure why it was taken."
"As long as he will be ok, I don't care."
"He'll be fine Mr Chase, the lack of crutches may have added a couple of days to the healing process but nothing serious. Jensen obviously knows how to cope with it using just the support boot."
Max helped me down from the bed and we left the room as the nurse called in her next patient.
So how are you feeling? Max asked as we drove home.
"A little green from that needle, but otherwise ok. I feel better after eating that much is certain."
"Yeah, you do look a little pale... here, have a few mouthfuls of this cola, put some sugar back in your system." Max pulled a bottle out from the side pocket of the car and handed it to me. I took four healthy gulps and handed it back, pulling a face.
"God, how long has that been sitting there?"
"Dunno, a few days," he said, laughing at the look on my face.
"It's flat."
"Hmmmm, flat cola, my favourite."
"You're strange."
As we pulled into the drive way I noticed that Susan's car was gone, indicating that she was still out. Max switched off the engine and got out, before opening my door for me. He then pulled my crutches from the back seat and held them out.
"Wanna take them for a spin?" he asked.
"These are gonna take some getting used to, I almost fell over twice coming out of the hospital."
"Yes, I did catch you remember?"
"Ok," I sighed. "let's have another go."
I heaved myself out of the car and took hold of the crutches as Max steadied me. He then let go and walked to the front door and pushed it open wide, giving me maximum space, and less chance of hurting myself on the door.
"I'll put the heating on, do you want a drink?"
"After your cola? Yes please."
Max chucked and disappeared into the kitchen. I managed to close the door with ease and followed him through.
"How long do you think it will be until Dr Burrows has my results?"
"From the blood test? Hmm, dunno, Puppy, a few days I guess. But from my experience, if he doesn't call, then everything is normal."
"Better hope he doesn't then," I muttered, falling into a seat at the kitchen table and letting my crutches drop to the floor. "So will you be going back to work?"
"I'm afraid so Puppy, in about ten minutes. We have so much work at the moment and I've had to take some time off as you know. I really need to working whenever I can right now because as winter comes, things slow down a bit and so Susan and I need to have excess money in the bank to see us through the lean months. It's always been like that, which is why you see me doing such long hours. But, you'll see more of me around November time."
"I don't suppose I am helping that excess am I?"
"Puppy, why would you think that? I would work every hour God sends to make sure you are happy and here with us. And for your information having you here is not affecting anything financial. I work long hours so the four of us can have nice things... it's a want, not a need Puppy, remember that. I could do a lot less work if I chose to and we would still be fine, but I want you, Steven and Susan to have the life I never did, so don't you be going worrying about money, ok?"
"Sure, sorry. Anyway, it was none of my business, you didn't have to tell me all that."
"No secrets in this house Puppy, no secrets. That's how I've always wanted it, and I say the same to Steven as well. A good family is honest with each other otherwise trust is eroded. If you ever wanna know anything about me, I'll always give you an honest answer even if it's about the damn finances," he stated, laughing.
Max placed a drink in front of me and then announced he was going to get his work gear on. Leaving me the kitchen I stared out of the window, dreading how quiet the place was going to be when he went. This was going to be the first time I had actually been all alone in the history of my young Sixteen year life.
Wow!
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