In Sickness and Health
I shiver with the ague under the thin blanket as Kelly B. climbs into
the canopy bed with me and I feel the warmth and smoothness of her
flannel pajamas against me. Despite the terrible fever, we are in her all
too cozy bedroom in her parent’s house in Shreveport, where we are
shooting a documentary. As we talk about the shoot in the dark, I doubt
her husband would approve of the one-bed situation, but I am too sick
for the cold floor and she would also rather not give up her bed.
At a lull in the conversation I am shocked as she casually puts an
arm across my chest and nestles against me, “I hope we’re together
forever…as production partners, I mean.”
She is not embarrassed.
Certainly, Kelly is a girl to die for, so sweet and beautiful and smart.
And I certainly thought we got along well together. At the moment I was
too miserably ill to consider adultery, so, though the attention is divine,
so with a million regrets I ask about her baby, Willie.
“Yea, I better check on him again before we sleep.” And she is back
out of the bed and the lights are on.
I decide to struggle out of bed also to urinate---and, once up,
immediately decide I am too weak to make it there. A sink in the corner
looks inviting (If I could manage before her return), but it is full of soapy
water. Beside, I think of the embarrassment if I dribbled on my boxers---
Boxers!
In my illness I had been put to bed in my underwear. Quickly I spot
my khaki shorts and pull them on as I hear her footsteps on the stairs.
“What are you doing?” she smiles slyly upon entering, “You can’t
sleep in those uncomfortable things.”
“Well, I can’t share a bed with you in my underwear.”
“Why not?”
“Ah, you know…” I picture her embracing me again and a stray
erection poking its head out of the opening, “Eh…It…Might pop out…”
She smiles again and leads me to the bed, “I’ve seen one or two of
those before---“ She tucks me in and then follows herself , snuggling
against me in reassurance, ”In, fact, I saw Willie’s not two minutes ago.”
“Mine’s a little…eh, bigger then Willie’s…”
She giggles and shifts her position under the blankets---
deliberately, I suspect, brushing against it…
