What To Do, What To Do?

Fred had a loose pair of sweat pants that he could wear without hurting his incision. He wore these for their walks and he put them on again after his shower. He was feeling as if hanging around his apartment in just his shorts and a robe wasn’t a good idea. He also put on a clean sweat shirt that didn’t exactly go with the pants. When Myrtle arrived a while later, she noticed Fred’s choice of clothing right away, and that he’d washed his hair. She wasn’t all that sure the outfit was an improvement on the robe, but it looked as if he was trying to get better. Still, she wondered if he was rushing it.

“You took a shower?” she asked, in a bit of an admonishing tone. She carried two bags of groceries into the kitchen and began putting things away.

Fred just shrugged. “Really wanted one,” he said quietly. “My hair... my hair ... I really wanted to wash it. Scalp was itchy.”

That’s when Myrtle also noticed that something was wrong. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, Fred just seemed subdued somehow. When she glanced at him, he seemed intent on staring at his toes. Fred wasn’t sure what to do. Part of him wanted to tell her what had happened, and most of him didn’t.

The thing was, before marrying his brother, Cynthia was probably the loosest woman in town. He had no way of knowing what STDs she was carrying around. Added to that, she had married Bill, who was possibly the loosest man in town. Fred had no idea if either of them took precautions or had ever been tested. Up until this moment, it just wasn’t something it would have occurred to Fred to worry about. And it wasn’t as if he could just suddenly ask Bill out of the blue. Even if he could have, Fred wasn't at all sure he could rely on him to be truthful about such a thing. And Fred didn’t ever want to hear from Cynthia again. He had thought about this all through his shower. He was going to have to be medically tested for STDs before anything could happen with Myrtle. And he just felt so guilty.

“Are you ok, Fred? asked Myrtle.

“Oh, I’m just not feeling real well today, Myrtle,” he smiled, a little sheepishly. Perhaps if he feigned illness, it would buy him some time, he thought.

Myrtle approached him and held up her hand as if to touch his forehead, but he sort of ducked away.

“Don’t.... don’t come too close, Myrtle. I think I’m coming down with something. I don’t want you to get sick too,” he said, again smiling sheepishly.

“Oh, that’s too bad, Fred,” she said sympathetically. And yet, something didn’t seem right. Fred looked guilty. People don’t usually look guilty just for catching a virus, she thought. But she let it go. Maybe he just felt bad about it.

“Well, I brought us some lunch,” she pointed to a couple of deli sandwiches on the counter, a bottle of iced tea and some salads and gave Fred a questioning look.

The food looked good and Fred was famished. He never had gotten to his breakfast. But it just wasn’t going to work, to gobble down food after saying he didn’t feel well, he thought. “Yeah.... I don’t feel much like eating right now, Myrtle,” he lied, wondering if she’d at least leave some of the food behind for him.

“All right Fred,” she said, nodding. “I’ll just leave a sandwich here in case you feel more like it later. I’ll take the rest with me and head back home,” she said, in a slightly disappointed voice, as she put one of the sandwiches and the iced tea in his fridge, then packed the rest of the food back into a bag.

“I’m sorry, Myrtle,” said Fred in a very quiet, but sincere voice.

“Oh... it’s ok, sweety,” she comforted him, wanting to get closer to give him a little squeeze, but again, he sort of backed away. “I’ve been meaning to call my aunts and just don’t get to it,” she said. “I’ll just head for home and do that. Would you like me to make up your coffee ready to turn on first?” she asked

Fred sort of gasped. He hadn’t actually gotten as far as turning on what was already there. But he recovered quickly. “I... I didn’t use what was there, so I’m fine,” he shrugged, trying to be casual. “I didn’t feel like coffee this morning,” he lied again, feeling calmer. At least it made his story about not feeling well look more convincing, he thought.

It felt to Myrtle as if he just wanted her to go. “Ok, I’ll get going then. I’ll call you from work tomorrow to see how you are before I come over, ok?”

“Ok,” he nodded.

With that, Myrtle opened the door, gave him a little smile, and left. Something sure didn’t feel right, she thought. Fred was more the kind of guy who’d want her to baby and fuss over him if he was sick. Something just wasn’t right, she thought again. Nevertheless, she really wanted to believe he just wasn’t feeling well and wanted to sleep or something. So she headed for home.

Once there, Myrtle set her lunch out on her little table and sat down to enjoy it, making her own iced tea. It was awfully quiet, so she put on the radio while she ate. It seemed kind of strange to be eating alone, but at least the sandwich and salads were really good. She wondered if she should have left some of the salads for Fred too, but since he wasn’t feeling well.... Her thoughts drifted away with the soft rock music.

After her lunch, Myrtle did indeed call her aunts and spent longer than usual chatting with them both. She chatted for a bit about Fred, but she also wanted to talk to someone about what was happening at her job. She meant to call her aunts more often, and felt a little guilty about not keeping in touch more. After all, they had raised her from a young age, after her parents died, and her Aunt Millie had been kind enough to stay with her for a couple of days after her accident. Once Millie was satisfied that Myrtle was able to look after herself and that she was fairly well supplied with food, she had to get back to the farm. She had wanted to take Myrtle with her, but Myrtle insisted she’d be fine in her little house. She didn’t want to be a bother and she was comfy here. Millie and her sister, Mabel, no longer planted on the land. They rented it out to an organic grower. But Millie ran a greenhouse business there which supplied some nurseries in the area with young plants, as well as some restaurants with fresh herbs, so she just couldn’t be away for very long at once. Mabel had stayed home to look after the animals, and would look in on the greenhouse, but she couldn’t look after everything for any length of time.

After a lovely chat with her aunts, Myrtle curled up on the couch with her book, and tried to pick up where she left off. She didn’t bother with a fire this day, because the weather had turned much milder. In fact, it was a beautiful day out. It would have been a great day for an enjoyable walk with Fred, she thought sadly. Then she put her book down and got up. No reason she couldn’t go for a nice walk herself, she decided. Her book would be there when she got back.