Close To Home IV

Chapter 7

“Justin, it’s time to go shopping.”

“Huh?”

Brian leaned over Justin as he slept in their bed.  “Time to get up.”

“Why?”

“So we can go grocery shopping.”

Justin’s eyes finally flew open.  “What the fuck?”

“You said last night that we needed to get up and go grocery shopping because we have no food,” Brian explained.

“What time is it?” Justin asked, rolling onto his back and rubbing his eyes.

“Almost ten.”

“Ten?”

“Yes, you know when the big hand’s on the twelve and the little…”

“Shut up!” Justin ordered.

“You were the one who wanted to go grocery shopping,” Brian said throwing up his hands in mock dismissal.  He turned his chair as if to leave.

“Hold it, mister!” Justin ordered.  “And you were going to cook.  Is this your way of getting out of it, waking me up at the crack of dawn?”

“Ten in the morning is not the crack of dawn,” Brian informed him.

“Are you serious?  Is it really ten a.m.?”

“It’s really ten a.m.”

“How long have you been up?”

“Long enough to do my exercises.”

“And I didn’t hear you,” Justin grinned.

“Isn’t that one of the reasons we moved here?” Brian asked smugly.

“I seem to remember that had something to do with it.”

“I see your foul temper, even when you’re awakened in such a sweet manner, hasn’t improved with the change of location.”

“I wasn’t that bad, was I?” Justin asked sheepishly.

“I’ve seen worse.”

“You have?  When?”

“When I’d fall asleep and wake up with a trick who didn’t know enough to just shut up and leave.  A few got right testy when I woke them up and told them to get out.”

“And I bet you did it oh so gently,” Justin chuckled.

“Probably not.  I don’t remember.”

“I slept really well in our new bed in our new house,” Justin said as he gave a luxurious stretch.

“I know.

 

“How about you?”

“I never sleep all that well,” Brian said.

“You don’t like the bed?”

“I need to get used to it.”

“Or I could wear you out before we go to sleep.”

“I thought you did,” Brian smirked.

“I could do better.”

“Were you always an overachiever?” Brian asked with a grin.

Justin nodded.  “I guess I should get up.”

“It was your idea.”

“Okay, okay, I’m going to take a quick shower and I’ll be right out.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Brian wheeled himself out to the kitchen.  He knew Justin would be a few minutes, so he decided to go outside.  He went out through the laundry room and down the short ramp, heading for the back yard.  The pool had been closed up since it was fall, but the weather was quite warm for the time of year.  Brian thought he would enjoy the pool next spring when the weather was warm once again.  He looked around at the fall flowers that were blooming.  They needed to hire a gardener or gardening service that would look after the lawn, the gardens and snowplowing in the winter.  Brian was not looking forward to winter.  Winter always made it so much more difficult for him to get around.

“Hi, Mister Brian,” a little voice said from behind the fence.

“Is that you, Dougie?” Brian asked.  “I can’t see you.”

“Here I am,” Dougie said, his head appearing over the top of the high fence.

“What are you standing on?” Brian asked wondering if Dougie was in some precarious position.

“I’m standing on a lawn chair.”

“Is it safe?’

“I think so.”

“Why didn’t you just come over?” Brian asked.

“My mom said I’m not supposed to bother you and Mister Justin.”

“She did?” Brian asked with a frown.  “I don’t exactly mind if you bother me.”

Dougie smiled making all the freckles in his cheeks bunch up around his eyes.  “You don’t?”

“You could tell your mother that.”

“I will.”

“Maybe we’ll see you later.  Justin and I are going shopping.”

“Okay,” Dougie said.  “I’ll tell my mom.  Bye, Mister Brian.”

Dougie’s head disappeared behind the fence.  Brian imagined him racing into the house to tell his mother he wasn’t bothering the neighbors.  Brian was sure they’d have a visit from Dougie when they got back from the grocery store.

“Here you are,” Justin said from behind him.  “I couldn’t find you.”

“Just having a look around, and having a conversation with Dougie.”

“Oh, great conversationalist, is he?” Justin grinned.  “Where is the little tyke?”

“Gone inside to tell his mother that he’s not bothering us when he comes over here.”

Justin’s smile grew wider.  “Did you tell him that?”

“Something to that effect.”

“Ready to go shopping?”

“If we must.”

“We must,” Justin replied as they headed for the front of the house. 

They had left the car out on the street all night, having forgotten to pull it into the driveway after everybody left.  Brian got himself into the driver’s seat and his chair stored in the back seat.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Brian asked as he started the engine.

“Kind of.”

“I wonder if the stores are wheelchair accessible around here?” Brian asked as he pulled away from the curb.

“Shit!  I never thought of that.”

“I always think of it,” Brian stated.

“There’s a shopping area a couple of blocks over that way,” Justin said pointing.  “Let’s go see what they have to offer.”

Brian nodded and headed in that direction.  They pulled into the lot in front of a Giant Eagle store. 

“Does this look okay?” Justin asked.

“I don’t know until we try to go inside.” Brian replied fishing his chair out of the backseat.  They headed for the entrance.  “The curb has been cut down here, probably for the grocery carts,” Brian said as he rolled up the ramp.

“It could be for wheelchair access too,” Justin suggested.

“Not bloody likely.”

“Well, at least you can get in.”  The doors opened automatically as they approached.  “I’ll get a cart.”

“You do that, Sunshine,” Brian said as he proceeded into the store.

The aisles were wide and inviting.  No obstacles blocked Brian’s way.  Everything seemed to be as it should be.

“This place seems okay,” Justin said.

“So far so good.”

They began filling their cart using the list that they had drawn up the night before.  Brian was going to make chicken in the oven, so that was the first thing they needed.  They gradually gathered the other items, under the watchful eyes of other customers.  Justin began to realize how hard it must be for Brian.  When people didn’t know him, they stared at his wheelchair, like that’s all he was, not a human being, just a wheelchair.

“You feel it too,” Brian said after a while.

“What?”

“Their eyes on us … on me.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s get the rest of what we need and get the fuck out of here,” Brian said.

“Right.  We still need milk.”

“Dairy, that way,” Brian said pointing to a sign hanging from the ceiling.

They got milk and a couple of cartons of juice. 

“I want some bread,” Justin said.

“Bakery,” Brian said pointing to another sign.  They headed in that direction.  Justin looked longingly at cakes and cookies as they went by them towards the wall of bread.  “Go ahead and get something sweet,” Brian said with a sigh.

“But it’s not good for you.”

“I don’t have to eat it.”

“True.  I’ll just be a minute.”  Justin walked over to the bakery counter.

“Darn,” a voice said beside Brian.  He turned to look.  He saw an elderly woman leaning on a cane and holding the side of her grocery cart.  She was trying to bend over to pick up a loaf of bread that she had dropped.

“Can I help you?” Brian asked as he wheeled over and scooped up the loaf, handing it to her.

“Thank you, young man,” the woman said.  “It’s not so easy for me to bend over anymore.”

“No problem,” Brian replied.  “From down here it’s easy to pick things up.”

“I haven’t seen you around here before,” she said.  “Are you new to the neighborhood?”

“Yes, we moved in yesterday.”

“How nice.  Is your wife with you?”

“I’m right here,” Justin said with a smile as he joined them carrying a pink bakery box.

“This is my little woman,” Brian said giving Justin’s ass a pinch.

“Behave yourself,” Justin ordered as he yelped and tried to escape Brian’s nipping fingers.  “You’ll have to forgive Brian.  He’s not noted for his manners.”

“He has very good manners.  He picked up my bread when I dropped it,” the woman told them.

“I’m proud of you, honey,” Justin said with a smile.

“You’re…” the woman began, eyeing them quizzically.

“Gay, a couple, fags,” Brian supplied.  “All of the above.”

“Oh, of course,” the old lady replied.  Brian waited for her shock and anger at their lifestyle.  “Pleased to meet you.  I’m Mary Pemberton.  I live a block that way,” she said pointing in the same direction as their house.  “It’s getting harder and harder to walk that block to the store, but they say you have to keep moving.”

“That’s true,” Justin agreed.  “I’m Justin Taylor and this is Brian Kinney.”

“Nice meeting you, and welcome to the neighborhood,” Mary told them as she started to push her cart along the aisle.

“Um … Mary,” Brian said.  “We’re just about done here, and we seem to live in the same direction as you.  Would you like a ride to your house?”

“Oh my, I wasn’t hinting…”

“I didn’t think you were, but if you’d like a ride, the offer stands,” Brian stated.

“Well yes, thank you very much.  I need to get a couple more things.”

“Go ahead,” Justin said.  “We’ll meet you out front.”

“Thank you both very much.”

“No problem,” Justin said as he watched Mary go slowly down the aisle.  “That was very sweet of you,” Justin said squeezing Brian’s shoulder.  “Why did you make that offer?”

“Let’s just say I know how hard it is to get around.”

Justin nodded in understanding.  “Since we’ll have to wait a few minutes for Mary, why don’t we get some other groceries?”

Brian started down the aisle towards produce.  Justin followed with a big grin on his face.

Finally they were finished and approached the checkout.  They could see Mary at another checkout a little farther down.  She waved and smiled at them.  Justin loaded their groceries onto the moving belt as the girl checked them through.  Brian had trouble getting his wheelchair through the narrow aisle of the checkout.  There wasn’t much room for his hands to turn the wheels.

“Sorry about that, mister,” the checkout girl said.  “We don’t get many handica… people in wheelchairs in here.  It’s easier to get through if someone pushes you.”

“Maybe you should have checkouts wide enough so that’s not necessary,” Brian said testily.  “I’m sure there are people who don’t have someone to push their chair for them.”

“I’d be happy to do it for you,” she said trying to be positive.

“That won’t be necessary,” Brian told her.  “As you can see, I got through.”

“I’ll, um, just finish checking you out,” she said uncertainly.  When everything had been rung through and bagged, Brian took out his credit card and handed it to the girl.  She quickly processed it and handed his card and receipt to him.  “Thank you for shopping at Giant Eagle.  I hope the narrow checkouts won’t prevent you from shopping here again.”

“Thanks,” Justin said while Brian put away his credit card.  They made their way outside.  “That checkout girl was very nice.”

“They should give her a fucking raise considering how well she handled me.”

Justin laughed as he loaded their groceries into the trunk of the car.  Mary soon came along with her cart.  She was leaning heavily on it.  Justin placed her groceries into the trunk as well, making sure to keep them separate from theirs.  Mary got into the back seat and Brian drove them to her house following her directions.

“This was awfully nice of you two,” Mary said as she got herself out of the car.  “I really appreciate the ride.”

“You’re welcome,” Justin said, holding her two small bags of groceries.  “Your bundle buggy is in the trunk.  I’ll carry these in for you.”

“Thank you so much, and thank you, Mr. Kinney.”

“Call me Brian,” Brian replied from where he sat behind the wheel of the car.

“Thank you, Brian.”

Justin walked up to the front door with Mary.  “I’ll bring these into your kitchen, if you’d like,” he volunteered.

“Thank you, Justin,” Mary said as she unlocked the front door.  She made her way through to the kitchen.

Justin noticed that the house was homey, but also spotlessly clean.  He set the bags of groceries on the counter.

“I can’t thank you and Brian enough.  I was really dreading that walk home.”

“You’re welcome.  I can show myself out.”

“Justin, would you and Brian come to tea next Saturday?  I’d love to treat you to some of my baking in repayment for your kindness.”

“That’s not necessary,” Justin told her.

“I’d really enjoy your company.”

“I’ll talk to Brian about it.”

“My number’s in the phone book.”

“Okay, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks.”

Justin made his way back outside.  He wasn’t sure how Brian was going to react to their invitation to tea with Mary, but he supposed he’d have to tell him at some point.

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