Hometown Kelly and the Gizmo Team

by Sharon L Reddy

  He drove up the drive in the "super-size" van he'd bought for two hundred dollars cash the morning previous. It still had the name of the market that had used it for ten years on the side. It didn't have the same engine or transmission in it as it had the day before. He was a bit short on sleep, but he expected to get a nap in ten or fifteen hours. He expected to be caught, but he didn't intend to make it easy and the implant would be gone. He walked in the back door and told the man in the kitchen he was the first one who could get there to help with the patient.

  "I didn't realize anyone was coming."

  "He doesn't clean himself or watch his own monitors. I usually fix my own lunch."

  "There's nothing here to fix."

  "Then I need to get something. I'm going to locate my patient then head for a mini-mart. I left the back drive open for deliveries. I'm parked out front. All right if I use that door?"

  "Who are you supposed to report to?"

  "I didn't get a name. They may not have been sure who'd be here. I was given a card for the gate and a case history when I was hired. I'm also ahead of schedule. I wanted to see this place, but patient comes first and missing lunch makes me grumpy. No one should be looking for me for a few minutes at least, if anyone does. I got the impression this wasn't a well-planned move."

  "The layer of dust on things agrees with you."

  Loren Demus watched the big young man walk through the kitchen door and smiled. He headed for the basement with a flashlight in his hand. Check everything meant everything to him and it was a nice distance from the monitors for the next few minutes. A friend had told him he should be, if a big young man showed up at the door. He'd also told him he didn't want to know anything else.

  Jim looked in the room where Keller had been. The bed was empty and unmade and wires dangled from holes in the wall where monitoring equipment had been mounted. He almost got caught by the ambulance attendants coming down the hall. He went the direction they'd come from and finally found Keller on a gurney in a small stuffy room. He grabbed the unit from the cart beside him, tossed it on top of him, picked him up and 'ran' for the door. He was very angry. He might also have less time than he thought. He didn't know someone had already arranged a bit more than he expected.

  A woman was at that moment explaining there was no record of a request for a nurse to that address. A few moments later a physician confirmed he'd told his nurse to employ one. She confirmed she'd told his receptionist to employ one. The receptionist confirmed she'd left a message in the temporary employment firm's voice mail. The message was finally found. The service would have someone there in the morning. Martin Fuller sighed and relaxed when he found someone who would send a person to the house, as soon as they found someone who could "read a monitor."

  He left a message for the house and grounds maintenance supervisor that someone would be coming. He was pleased with that title. He'd come up with it and saved a great deal by paying one person a bit more full-time and two part-time employees a great deal less to scrub toilets and do hand mowing and edging on the lawns. Mr. Amunson had told him he was pleased with the restructure of the caretaking staff on the estate. He was a good boss.

  Martin was pleased he'd been able to straighten out the mess for him. The political fundraiser he was attending that night was important. His boss would have headed for the estate to watch monitors himself if he hadn't found someone. It was because he was that kind of man that his voice and presence at the fundraiser were truly needed.

  Loren Demus listened to the message and smiled. Room monitors were down. The computer reported a slight power drop on the system. One looked for such things immediately, not after the lights went out or the fire was put out. It was his job. The big young man had impressed him as probably being exceptionally good at his too.

  Jim gently laid Keller on his stomach on his kitchen table. The kitchen gleamed and it was as sterile as he could make it. He started the IV drip, knelt in front of Keller and gently lifted his head so he could see him.

  "It hurts me every time I see your muscles knot. I know it's too hard. I'm no surgeon, but I had plans to be. I also had a gizmo wizard as a sidekick for six years. I figure that ups my chance of getting that implant out of you. That's where we're going. Everyone knows she absolutely hates my guts. Her dad and I are the only ones who know she still loves me too. The scar makes me real mad, but maybe there had to be one left that showed. I'll know when the anesthetic takes effect, Keller. Bitsy is going to think it's hilarious that I tossed all my careful plans out the window when I fell in love with a man. Are your grades in microbiology better than mine Keller? Yes, I see you in there. I told you the pain would end when the mandibular surgery healed. I didn't lie. I just didn't know I was going to have to end it. Fight, Keller. Fight to stay alive. I love you. I'm not sure I could forgive myself if I killed you trying to rescue you."

  He felt himself going to sleep. Awakening was always painful, but this time he wanted it. He had a goal. He'd never had one before. It wasn't stay alive. It was tell the man with the gentle hands and voice he was right. His grades in microbiology were better. That was a much more difficult goal. Of course, staying alive was the first step.

  Jim couldn't do anything but cut the filaments leading into and out of the unit beneath the skin on Keller's back. He couldn't take them out, but wasn't really worried about them. He didn't know what they were, except made of non-toxic material. It only took him about four minutes in all. He'd practiced the removal of the implant in his mind and tying stitches physically. He sat beside Keller and wept in relief when he suddenly knew he was awake.

  "Anesthetic is always a gamble, Keller. I didn't have any equipment used to better the odds, but I just couldn't do it without it. You're about to lay on a couch and watch TV for the first time. I've got a plastic sheet and a couple thick blankets on it so don't worry about it. No cameras, Keller. No monitors, servants, security guards or the money it takes for them. I gave thirty-day notice I'm moving and paid a month's rent, so we're going to be pretty cash short. I've been working for a temporary agency, but that's not full-time."

  Jim gently rolled Keller into his arms and carried him into the living room. He arranged him in the position he liked, when he was laying on his stomach watching TV. He'd played enough football to have found one he liked to 'baby' about every part of his body at one time or another. He adjusted pillows, turned on the TV, then squatted down and grinned at him.

  "Wait'll you see what else is on television besides Sesame Street, sitcoms and college classes. The trustees didn't subscribe to any adults-only channels. You were eighteen yesterday, Keller. Your birthday present is a dirty movie or two. It's traditional. Expect bad acting and lousy plots. It's visual stimulation and reality does not intrude. Since you're not expecting artistic quality, it's a nice surprise when you get it instead of a disappointment you don't. Most people make love with someone they really like a couple times a week, though the adventure of discovering someone special and a new relationship definitely increases the frequency. I wanted to just talk to you so much, Keller, but I was trying to get them to run tests I know would show you're aware of what transpires around you and was being extremely professional for the camera. I have to paint the van and modify the interior of an RV enough it'll fit in it. We don't want me to do too good a job on the inside. Bitsy needs an excuse to rebuild it for your comfort and deserves to get to yell at me and call me an idiot while she does it. I'll look in on you often, but I have to leave you alone. Keller, you're a very well-endowed man. That has no real relevance to anything and being smug about it is expected and acceptable as long as you remember it doesn't."

  He wasn't confused by that statement. He hadn't been confused since the man had come into the room where the attendants had left him and picked him up, but he certainly wished he'd tell him his damned name! It was the only one of the staffs' names he'd never heard and it had been driving him crazy for three years. He suddenly noticed what his eyes were seeing.
/>   Jim walked into the living room to see if Keller needed fresh blankets. He sat down in front of him and laughed until he cried. He had the proof he needed. He reached over and picked up the phone.

  "I'm calling a psychiatrist. I couldn't afford to do it if I was a patient. She's retired or she might decide I should be. Good. This time I hoped I'd get a message machine. Doctor, the test results are in. He got a hard-on watching a porno movie. Tell them to leave us alone. He's in the care of the professional who knew he was aware. I'm the best for the job period. Something was wrong with that implant, the procedure, the doctor, the clinic or something. If it hadn't been, you'd be getting this message in two months. I removed it. I've got an idea for some gizmos to make his life more pleasant. You can't see much of the world laying on your back and one side or the other doesn't widen horizons greatly. Tell them to leave us alone. I'll tell the judge, the jury and the press exactly how many times he had surgery without anesthesia. Oh, if he does need good help fast, they'll get the medical bill. I have his identification. It was taped to his chest. Tell Mr. Amunson I love Keller and we both know he always did his best for him. Tell the rest to be glad he's the only one whose effort counts. I won't call again, but I'll take him in for a checkup some place every so often and send them the report and the bill if they don't try to find us. I'm going to put him in the front seat of a van and show him America. Thank you, Dr. Hoskins. Good-by. That's the plan, Keller. It's a lot looser than any others I ever made. It's also the first one that didn't have people calling me 'Doctor' as its final goal. I didn't give it up for you. I discovered it was no longer important to me and pitched it as impractical, under the circumstances."

  Keller wanted to tell him he did feel smug. He wanted to tell him about the funny movie in another language with words at the bottom of the screen. He wished he'd been able to read what people had been saying around him for two months. Most of all, he wished he knew his damn name!

  Jim smiled and began cleaning the garage. The practice he'd put in on everything from masking to using an airbrush had paid off. The oversize van wasn't a work of art, but it looked good and not like it had been done in about six hours total. He checked on Keller. He was asleep. He checked the time and dashed out. He could do it in eleven minutes if he moved fast. He jumped in his car and delivered it and the painting equipment to the custom shop, that had accepted the car in trade for the interior they pulled out of an RV, a rebuilt engine and transmission and rent of the equipment for "awhile." The trade had been reasonable. The car was a sixty-six Mustang and he'd done all the mechanical work on it. They'd make more than the cost of a new sprayer and airbrush when they finished the body work and painting it. He caught a city bus home.

  Keller awoke and saw the man was laying in the floor beside the couch. He smelled rather strong, but he didn't mind it at all. He knew the smell was because he'd been working very hard and he'd probably been too tired to even take a bath. It surprised him a great deal when he sat up and smiled.

  "Good morning. I've got a rig on the toilet to hold you on it. I'll take a fast shower, then we'll see if gravity worked, or you need some assistance. I've currently got some baby food, but there's a blender in the van. Keller, you ought to be laying in a puddle and you're not. I want to think you have some control over your bladder, but it's not likely. If gravity and muscle massage don't work, I'm going to have to catheterize you. If you bleed, I have to take you to a doctor, but I do know one who won't mention I did unless directly asked and she's unlikely to be questioned. The van's done except for removing the masking. Now, this is the same equipment used by other people who don't have motor control over their bodies. This piece will keep you from spraying the cabinets over there. Think about relaxing, Keller. Another patient I worked with shouldn't have been able to use the toilet like she did, but she hated 'wearing diapers.' She put herself on a precise schedule and did it. We won't do that. We'll eat when we're hungry, drink when we're thirsty and guess at when you'll need to use the toilet. Keller, you're not my patient any longer. That ended when they handed me a termination slip the morning after they took you to that clinic. Maybe you know they took you over there two weeks early because the clinic offered a discount 'now.' If they hadn't, I'd have gotten you out before it happened. Our psychiatrist had a judge working on it. Oh, Dr. Hoskins knows where we're going and will check up on us. She knows who Gizmo is and I told her that's where we were going when I said I had ideas for the van. Gizmo, Bitsy, is the girl everyone thought I was going to marry. I'm including myself. When I figured out it was going to take me about fifteen years to get into medical school, I said good-by. It wouldn't have been that long, but I didn't expect to be able to take seventy percent of my undergraduate classes by extension while I was working. Yes! Good old gravity. You are going to like baby food. I like baby food. I'm going to put tiny chunks of Lifesavers and SweeTarts on your tongue to melt. No one knows what you can do, Keller. No one has ever looked to find out why you have no motor control. No one knew you were there. My arms around you is my therapy for my nightmares, Keller. So, want to be called Nate?"

  He was suddenly very surprised. He did want to be called something else, but it wasn't Nate. Surprise was too small for what he felt when the man stepped out of the shower, dried off and continued the 'conversation.' He was surprised he thought of it in that way too.

  "I don't think Nate really suits you. It probably makes you feel good to hear your name used to you. Sounds odd, but that's because most people hear their names most often when they're talked to, not talked about, but I still feel like... I've got it. It's what all your real friends would have called you. Yes, you're stuck with Kelly. It's the right name for who you are. It's important to me that people I introduce you to know who to look for in your eyes, Kelly. Uh, huh, I like it. Let me see if you do. Oh, I think that's a definite yes I see in your eyes. If I'm wrong, you're going to have to figure out a way to thump me and tell me to call you something else. Kelly, I have hope. You are as healthy as most young people your age who don't have your physical problem. That's downright odd. You are that way because you're very rich, but I don't think that's enough. Some of it is you, Kelly. Why don't you have control over your body? Or do you have control over some of it, but don't know how to increase it? Or if it can be. I want to take you for the most advanced tests to find out, but I won't. You've been a patient too long. Now you're a friend who needs some assistance. Your medical care is regular checkups and fast help if you need it. I don't expect you to, unless I do something stupid and get you hurt. Hey, I have fallen with a person in my arms before. I made sure I ended up on the bottom, but we both knew how stupid not wiping my shoes well had been. Wet shoes and tile floors do not a safe carry make."

  He was stunned. The man had found the name he wanted to be called and his approval in his eyes. He had hope? 'Kelly' wanted to tell him how nice it felt when he rested his head on his shoulder while he cleaned him. He didn't like being wet and hated being "dirty." Had he 'held it' and relaxed on the toilet, or had gravity just been all that was needed? He liked sitting on the toilet. It was the first time he ever had. He was very surprised when the man just put him over his shoulder to carry him. He knew it.

  "This is called a fireman's carry. It's not usually used to carry patients because it's a 'sack of potatoes' carry, but I used it to carry a very heavy woman for about three months. She didn't mind at all and she got lighter as time passed. You're getting carried this way because hurting your back to pick you up in the usual way is silly. I'm going to turn on cartoons for you while I sleep some more. I'm not alert enough to drive. I don't take chances with other people's lives. I'm taking one with yours, Kelly. I'm doing it for you because I'm sure you would want it. It's why I didn't yell for a stop of the surgeries. I would have if the surgeon who did your jaw hadn't yelled 'not without anesthesia.' Fate smiled on us, Kelly. I found exactly the vehicle we needed in the weekly paper that's full of buy, sell and trade ads. It said, 'good body and tires, two hundre
d dollars.' I yelled yes over the phone. I had the right engine and transmission for it in the garage. It had the name of a market on the side. It was the perfect 'getaway' vehicle."

  Kelly was working on his awe at the moment. The man was naked and looked like the ones on the TV commercials for bodybuilding equipment, except he was a great deal bigger. He began to be sure there was something very unusual about him when he talked to him again.

  "I lift weights so I can lift people. You can't get this kind of muscle because it takes working against resistance. That thing was too strong. My guess is it didn't start that way, but I don't know. I couldn't figure out what the tiny filaments attached to it were made of. I'm sure they were sure the material was non-toxic, Kelly. It was intended to be permanent with easy access to the control unit when necessary. That might have been the only question Mr. Amunson knew to ask, but I'm sure he asked it. I don't know where the filaments lead. You'll like this. I cut them loose with a soldering iron. I had a nice new tip and I'm good with one. Sst and loose. I'd probably have been working hours if I'd tried to cut them. I thought of the iron because they reminded me of synthetic material thread and I've used that iron to keep a pulled thread on a sweater from becoming a hole. Uh, oh, phone. I've got a number tracer on it in case someone needs me, but expects me to recognize a voice and I don't. Gizmo! Hang on. I'm putting you on speaker so Kelly can hear."

  "What the hell do you mean you're coming here?!"

  "Now who else would I go to when I really need gizmos? How much brief did you get?"

  "Dr. Hoskins briefed my dad. I figured it would be faster to get it from you than wait for him to stop laughing."