Felicity Ch. 38

As soon as Norma got me back in bed I was asleep.

Again I felt a kiss.

I awoke when my dinner was wheeled in. When I removed the cover I was very happy to see it was a taco salad from Taco Chimes, my favorite. I had demolished half of it before I had to force myself to stop; I was already more than full, my stomach had shrunk. I was not too surprised since I had shrunk. I had lost more than twenty pounds.

I allowed the orderly to take it away even though I had first decided to eat the rest later.

Then I wondered how anyone would know that particular taco salad was my favorite. I had always eaten it as take out at home.

"Norma," I thought. She had been in my home and probably saw the debris in the trash.

After dinner the doctor came in and said, "I have signed your release papers effective tomorrow. No one will read them until the morning and it will be a Saturday so most reporters will not be aware you were released until you are gone. They will be searching in Chicago first since that was where you lived before your stint in the marines.

You have three women coming to get you at nine tonight and take you to an undisclosed location until you have recovered. They will pick you up at the emergency room exit. I have left prescription scripts for you with the women if you need them but I doubt you will.

Rina is my wife by the way and she will know if you need me.

Her sisters will smother you with care, enjoy it.

It has been an honor for me to be your doctor. Good luck."

He hugged me and walked out.

His words had made me blush; I apparently was a hero to him too.

I also now understood why Rina kissed him, she was Mrs. Pierce

At eight forty-five Norma came to my room with a wheelchair. We left the floor amid an altercation between the station nurses and a young woman that looked suspiciously like Norma.

I was in an SUV before anyone noticed us and as soon as the girl arguing with the nurses got in we drove south for a while. I tried to stay awake but dozed off until the car began to slow for a freeway exit. I was in Norma's arms. We drove west through woods for five or ten minutes then took a left into the town. It was after ten thirty when we stopped in the carport of a nice patio home.

I was going to ask who lived there when I noticed I did. All my stuff was there. My aquarium had been replaced with a larger one but my fish were in it. My furniture was new but it was nearly identical to what I had. Except my apartment had been furnished by Ikea; my new townhome had apparently been furnished by an upscale store.

My standard bed had become a king bed but my linens were nearly identical to the ones I had, only softer.

My stuff in the bathroom was the same only everything was new. Two things were different, I had no razor and I had an electric beard trimmer.

I was speechless.

Norma said, "This place and everything in it is yours courtesy of five local admirers. You have a study in this house and it has over a thousand pieces of mail for you to answer. Take your time on that.

The one that drove us here is my sister Carmen, she is a musician. This is our baby sister Ollie for Olga. She runs the town's only limo service. Tomorrow I will take you to meet our big sister at her restaurant and have lunch.

Everyone we introduce to you in this town will know exactly who you are but will keep it a secret. Everyone you meet will hope you will stay."

"We have to go," Carmen said and kissed my lips then Ollie kissed my lips then both kissed Norma's lips and left. Norma stayed.

"I am your companion nurse until you can handle life on your own. Would you like a snack before bed?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

She smiled and wheeled me to the kitchen table then took out a box from the refrigerator and put it in the microwave; which I noticed was bigger than the one I had. So were the refrigerator, and the stove, and the dishwasher. I had a food processor and an electric grill that I did not have before.

We shared a delicious shrimp linguini from my old plates and shared one beer.

I was very tired and she wheeled me to bed and pulled my gown off and handed me gym shorts. I saw her glance at my cock but I didn't think anything about it since I was sure she had seen me naked before and my dick was still in a coma anyway.

She began to apply a cream to my scars.

"This stuff is to reduce stretch marks and scars after childbirth. Your scars from the bullet wounds are a lot better than they were three weeks ago but the one in your shoulder is likely too old to be helped but I have been applying the stuff to it too.

I'm sure Dr. Pierce told you that the bullets just barely missed any vital organs although tissue damage was extensive. Besides nicking your aorta the bullets also went through a lung and nicked a rib

He apparently had to do a lot of repairs. Ask Rina if you are curious, she was in the operating room with him, she is his surgical nurse.

When done with the cream Norma tucked me in. Her good night kiss may have been the best kiss I had ever had.

It felt very familiar.

I slept like a baby.

The following morning I peed, brushed my teeth then put on a t-shirt. It was all starting to feel familiar until I got to the kitchen and saw a gorgeous woman fixing breakfast for me.

Norma had scrambled an egg and mixed it with rice, black beans and sausage in a tortilla bowl for me. It was delicious.

I had walked to the kitchen but after breakfast she put me in the wheelchair and wheeled me to my patio. She said, "You will need to fill this space up. I will take you to a couple patios for you to look at and give you ideas. The local nursery has given you a nice gift certificate."

She rolled me back inside and showed me my second bedroom where she was staying. It had a standard bed and a bathroom with a small shower. Everything in there was new.

I looked into my study and noticed a brand new iMac, modem, and printer. I saw a memory stick next to the keyboard. Someone had copied what my old Mac had and it was ready to upload to the new one, which like everything else was bigger than the one I had.

I was glad that I had always deleted the porn sites after I was done.

There was a new cell phone on a charger next to the Mac.

"Dr. Pierce and Rina and I are the only contact numbers in your phone."

"Where is my old phone?"

"In your apartment. All your stuff will be moved to storage on February first."

The only three things I had on the wall in my apartment were there, my high school and college diplomas and my certificate as a marine medic. Someone had placed my Marine Corps ribbons and my purple heart in a shadow box and that had been added to my walls. My commendation certificates had been framed and hung up too.

I still didn't feel like a hero.

A photo of me and my class taken at the Museum of Natural Science had also been framed and added to the wall. The lady paleontologist was standing with us.

"The lady in the picture has a lot of friends in town and has daughter that lives here," Norma said.

Small world I thought. I also thought the boxes full of letters were going to take a while.

Norma said, "You will need to compose several thank you notes for us to run off and send to these people. We assumed you would want to read them first."

I nodded yes then said, "I need new clothes, all I have is too big now."

"We don't have much selection on that in this town. There is a Cube-Mart ten miles away that I can go to. I will need to check your size before I go but I did bring a measuring tape. I'll go get it."

She measured me and I worried I would get an erection when she measured my inseam but my dick only twitched although that was better than I thought it could do.

She took my debit card out of my wallet and told me to go back to bed and left.

I had lots of new clothes when I woke up.

Norma sent me to the shower and walked into my bathroom just after I put boxers on. She sat me on the commode cover and trimmed my hair; which was now the longest it had ever been in my life. When she was done it was the second longest my hair had ever been. She brushed it straight back then traded places with me and trimmed by beard.

I still did not recognize myself with the beard and long hair. The large bump on my forehead was gone and I was happy not to see it. The beard now concealed most of the other damage. I was now just another ugly but neatly bearded man. I was happy to meet him.

I had slacks, a polo shirt and my moccasins and matching socks laid out for me. I got dressed as Norma went to her shower and I waited for her in my living room.

When she rejoined me she wore nice khaki shorts and a colorful blouse with sandals. I remembered it was still January but weather that day on the Texas coast was a perfect brilliant sunlight with a temperature of seventy-seven. It already felt like spring.

We went downtown and she dropped me off at the entrance to a Puerto Rican restaurant. Carmen had been waiting for me and helped me walk in.

Her older sister came out from behind the counter and embraced me as she kissed my lips.

"Hi, I'm the big sister, Pepita. Welcome."

"Thank you. I feel welcome."

"Your empanadillas and arroz con habichuelas are coming out soon."

I knew arroz was rice but had no idea what the last thing was until I got the plate, they were red beans. I was advised to mix the two together.

We went to the back patio that had apparently been reserved for us. Ollie and Pepita's husband were there. Ollie kissed my lips and the husband kissed my cheek then hurried to the kitchen. I thought I saw a tear fall.

Carmen introduced me to her partner that was also outside. Her name was Nancy. She looked like someone I should know but could not pin that down. Nancy seemed to be very happy to meet me and kissed me on the lips.

Rina and Dr. Pierce came in to the adoration of all. Both were kissed on the lips. Rina kissed me on the lips. Dr. Pierce hugged me.

Two tall redheaded older women came in also to the adoration of all. Norma introduced me as JB. My first and middle names are James Bradley but no one had ever called me JB, most called me James.

I saw both women nod at Norma with smiles then kissed me on the lips.

Two dark haired somewhat younger women walked in to the adoration of all. They were Martina and Paloma and I was introduced to them as JB by the redhead called Wendy.

Martina kissed me and said, "Welcome to our town."

Paloma said, "Let me see what you look like," and began running her fingers over my face. Norma nodded at me, apparently Paloma was blind but I had not seen any sign of that.

Eventually she said, "El es el mas feo en el Mundo," then gave me the most lascivious kiss I had ever received in my life. It awoke all the parts of my body that were still slumbering.

Everyone laughed then kissed Paloma.

Norma explained, "She said you are the ugliest guy in the world."

Apparently I was the only one there that did not know Spanish. I decided I needed to fix that.

Three tall and a short blonde came in to the adoration of all. One tall blonde that also looked familiar to me was introduced as Ruthie. I could not place where I had seen her before either. She introduced me to her husband Sean and he gave me a strong handshake and part hug. He really was happy to meet me.

Two looked like sisters but were introduced as partners. They were Jana and Inga.

The short blonde owned the bakery at the end of the block, her name was Sally. A short brunette soon joined her, her name was Petra.

A lady named Bunny and her daughter came in. The daughters boyfriend just barely stopped himself from hugging me.

All the women kissed me and everyone else on the lips.

Soon everyone was talking to everyone and would jump into the middle of all the conservations as we ripped into at least a hundred empanadillas. Many had fried plantains, tostones from green fruit and dulces from ripe fruit I learned. I liked both. Many had some mofongo that was smushed plantain. I was still undecided about that when we left.

Everyone encouraged me to taste whatever they had.

I pigged out on the empanadillas.

Several more people joined us including a guy in a Coast Guard uniform who was Paloma's husband, and Martina's husband, a CPA, both were convinced they were meeting their hero. I felt a bit uncomfortable with that.

A deaf girl named Jeanie came in and I was happy I had learned sign language, so was she and everyone else.

All there hugged and kissed Norma often for some reason.

Suddenly there were a lot of short redheads there and the already loud place became raucous. Two of the short redheads sat on the laps of the two tall redheads, the others sat on the laps of the blondes. One called Clara was introduced as the provider of the chicken soup. I kissed her cheek after I learned that.

She said, "You missed," and kissed my lips.

Her partner had a British accent.

Slowly people began to leave after kissing everyone goodbye including me. After fifteen minutes Norma and I were the only ones left other than Pepita and some tourists.

Norma asked me if I needed a nap and I was disappointed to say yes. She went to get the car and Pepita kissed me goodbye.

Norma gave me a short tour of the town and I asked, "Where is my car?"

She said, "It is still on the school parking lot. They thought it would be safer there than in the apartment parking lot. Ollie will be driving it down today. She went to the city with Rina. She will take it to our Toyota dealer where they will check it out. You are not permitted to drive for six weeks but you will note this is an easy town to drive in.

Most of the people you met today work somewhere downtown or on this boulevard. Mo, the taller redhead is the superintendent of schools. You have a job here when you want it.

All of those people know exactly who you are. All would have treated you exactly the same even if they had not, well except for Sean and the other husbands. You really are a hero to them.

Carmen's partner Nancy and Sean's wife Ruthie are big stars but you may have noticed no one cut them any slack; they are simply part of the gang.

Did Paloma give you an erection when she kissed you? She does that to most men and a few women."

"Yes she did. Where do you want to go for our date?"

"Bolero. It is near the end of the boulevard. We have to wait until you can dance though."

"That may be a while. Pick some place I can take you to tomorrow."

"OK, I will give it some thought. Do you need the wheelchair?"

"No, I can make it to my bed. I will need a kiss before I can get to sleep."

She giggled, tucked me in bed and gave me the best kiss anyone had given me in my life.

When I awoke I found a very pretty and mildly pregnant brunette in the living room.

"Hi JB, I'm Andrea. I live towards the end of the block. Norma and my daughter are outside waving at my husband so he will know where we are. He may bring my neighbors over too.

You will be happy to know that in this neighborhood no one is normal and everyone is as fine a person as you would ever meet, as long as you don't mind lesbians."

"The ones I met at lunch were fine and everyone loves them so I certainly don't mind."

A very adorable little girl marched in and said, "Hi, I'm Susan."

"Hi Susan, I'm JB. Happy to meet you. Now, what did you do with Norma?"

"I'm right here you bully" Norma said.

I worried about that for a second until I noticed she had said it with a big grin.

I was happy to see she made no connection between me and her ex.

Susan was immediately on my lap with her fingers in my beard.

A man followed Norma in and Susan said, "Daddy, why don't you grow a beard?"

"Because it makes me look like a kung fu movie bad guy. Glad to meet you JB."

Another couple came in and we soon had a crowd. Norma called a number and we had a fabulous mostly Mexican food buffet brought to our house by our neighbor Janie and her daughter. Her husband and the other men there all seemed to be very pleased to meet me.

Janie brought the best hot dogs I had ever eaten.

We had a fine time until the children fell asleep so everyone went home.

"Everyone likes your sense of humor. They would like you even if you were not a hero."

"No one mentioned the incident today."

"Everyone knows you would be embarrassed to talk about it and no one you have met wishes to embarrass anyone."

"I like it here. Do you really think that I could get a teaching job in this town?"

"Yes, easily. Go take a shower."

"Yes Ma'am."

I took a long hot shower and went to the kitchen for a beer.

She was there studying.

"Do you have a licensing test coming up?"

"No. I quit my job right after you were wounded and have gone back to school to be a nurse. There is a college ten miles away that offers associate degrees and I only need one more semester to graduate."

"How are you financing it? Do you need money?"

"No, thanks. My sisters are financing it and your insurance company is paying me to stay here."

My face may have shown my disappointment at hearing that, I had thought she was with me because she wanted to be.

She smiled and said, "The company offered me the job but I had already planned to stay with you until you no longer needed help. The only difference is I will get paid to stay with you until the end of March. If you need help longer I will stay longer."

I said thanks.

I did a quick mental inventory about her. I knew I was madly in love with her but understood she did not love me. She obviously did like me but most of that was from thinking of me as a hero.

I decided to treat her as a barracks roommate.

One that gave me erections as she applied the cream on my scars.

Norma smiled when she saw them.

Paloma apparently did have magical powers.

I offered to help her study and she accepted. Each evening we would go over her lessons and I would explain what she did not understand.

I did get kisses often; most were thank you kisses although some of the kisses were for no reason at all.

I got an erection every time she kissed me. She pretended not to notice.

I worked my way through the mail and sent back every check with my thanks but could not send back cashiers checks or cash since most did not give me a clue as to the identity of the sender.

One letter was from the news lady. She thanked me for saving her son. She told me that her son had already figured out I had saved his life, a thought process that he had difficulty with. She thought he had turned a corner in his development because of me.

Her letter went on about how I would always be a hero to her family and understood they could never reward me enough. There was a check for $9,999.99 in the envelope, the highest amount that would not immediately trigger an IRS inquiry.

"Why are you crying?" Norma asked.

"The letter from the news lady. Tell me about the women's shelter."

"Well, it is a project of the MacDuff and Cartwright families, nearly all the redheaded women in town are MacDuff's. Two of the blondes you met are Cartwright's. The police refer any woman they fear for her life to it if there is no place else for them to go and be safe.

Its location is secret except to law enforcement. I was shocked to learn that I was in this town but security is so tight it took that long before I knew where I was. I called Rina who was desperately searching for me and she immediately told Pepita who came to get me and took me to her house.

When the rest of my sisters learned I was here they put me in an apartment next to Ollie and tended to me day and night until I was well. None of them have ever said I told you so although they were right about the bastard.

I owe my life to the shelter and so do many other women most of which have stayed in town. I now volunteer there myself."