02.19.08

Mel walked dispiritedly back through the VISOR center's double doors. She'd just said her final goodbye to Auggie, and watched him drive away, and she wasn't sure what to do with herself at the moment. She considered crying, and then berated herself for being an idiot. She trudged back to the supervisor's quarters to clean and pack up before the next shift came on.

Auggie's mom and stepdad had shown up a little after 8AM and Mel wasn't surprised to see that they appeared well-to-do. Auggie had talked a bit about them, including the fact that his stepdad, Alan, was a long-time Illinois state senator. Mel had gotten pretty animated when Auggie had accidentally revealed the fact that Alan was friendly with the current hotshot presidential candidate from his home state, but he'd refused to go into any further detail about it. He'd rolled his eyes at her excitement and changed the subject. Annoyingly. He had pretty strenuously avoided talk of his privileged upbringing, and Mel figured it was because of the dismissive way she'd reacted when he'd named his hometown the first night they'd really talked.

Alan Cole was straight out of central casting. He wore casual clothes, a button down and jeans, but Mel could see that they were the expensive kind. She remembered that Auggie had mentioned that Alan, even before his successful political career, had come from money. With a head of dignified white hair, he stood at least 6'4". His imposing height was counter-pointed by his wife's petite stature. This tiny lady had five kids? Five boys? Mel found herself thinking in amazement. But that wasn't the only way in which Jan Anderson-Cole surprised Mel; she was expecting dark hair and eyes like Auggie's, but apparently he favored his father. Jan had very blonde hair and wide blue eyes and even well into what Mel was sure were her sixties, she was a beautiful woman. It wasn't until she spoke that Mel picked up the resemblance between her and her youngest son; they shared a lexicon of gestures and facial expressions.

Mel had assumed she would feel uncomfortable around their type, but both of them radiated the same warmth and charisma that Auggie did. They were both also quite funny, and Mel understood where Auggie got his sense of humor. Alan and Jan had been gracious and attentive as she'd led them through a customary 2-hour orientation to Auggie's new life and habits; it wasn't just the trainees at the center who needed to learn a new way of doing things. Auggie had seemed uncomfortable throughout the process, and Mel definitely understood that. Nothing quite so welcome or awkward as reintroducing yourself to your family and old friends after what he and she had lived through. Coming back to the people who knew you before the injury was bittersweet that way.

Reaching into the closet of the little room, she pulled out her small duffel and opened it to begin putting her few overnight supplies back into it. As she unzipped it, however, something yellow at the bottom of the bag caught her eye. It was a Post-It, and it was attached to her iPod. It said simply, in what she recognized as Seth's blocky handwriting, "PLAY."

She removed the note and unraveled the earbuds, not allowing herself to hope it was what she wanted it to be. When she pressed play on the voice memo that was highlighted on the screen, Auggie's familiar baritone filled her ears and she let out a short, happy laugh.

"Okay, is it recording? You're sure?"

Mel could hear Seth's affirmative whisper faintly in the background.

"All right, give me a minute, okay?"

Again, she could hear Seth's murmured assent and then a door open and close.

"Hey, Mel," Auggie spoke into the microphone, and Mel beamed as she felt happy tears form in her eyes. "Here's the thing: You are incredibly annoying, and stubborn, and ornery as hell. So, basically, the girl version of me...assuming you're as easy on the eyes as I hear you are, that is." She snorted at the compliment he'd just given to himself.

Then he whispered, and Mel felt herself illogically leaning in to make sure she caught every word: "I think Seth has a crush on you, by the way, if you're wondering where I'm getting my intel," he shared with a chuckle. She shook her head at mention of the 20-something community college student. Seth was very sweet, but nope.

"Anyway, I don't really know what to say here, but I was too afraid to try to write a note, and I couldn't leave without telling you - " He stopped to clear his throat, and emotion filled his voice when he started speaking again. "I couldn't leave without telling you how much I appreciated you hanging with me. I know I wasn't always easy to be around these past two weeks, but I don't know what I would have done if you'd given up on me. So," he cleared his throat again, "thanks for that." Almost as if it was an afterthought, he appended, "You know when you just know that someone is doing what they're supposed to be doing in life? Well, you're doing it, Mel."

Mel was touched by his words, more than he could have guessed she would be when he spoke them. "All right, movin' on," he declared, and she could hear a shift to lighter things. "If Seth did this right, and he better have, since I'm tipping him handsomely for it, you should have a bag under your bed. Go ahead, get it. I'll wait on the line since, uh, I have no idea how to press pause," he laughed.

She listened to him breathe while she scrambled onto the floor to peer under the bed. Sure enough, there was a brown paper bag, which she hadn't quite gotten when Auggie's deep voice once again rumbled out of her earbuds. "I got you a couple things. Going away gifts, I guess you'd call 'em. First bag should be labeled with a one," he advised and Mel finally snagged the sack and dug out the bag with a Sharpie'd "1" on it. "Open it," he commanded, and Mel did.

She leaned back against the desk with the bag in her lap. Her brow furrowed as she pulled out a bottle of talcum powder. Was not expecting that. She waited for Auggie to explain. "As much as I've appreciated your 'early warning system,' that squeak can't be good for the hardware. I did some research in the computer lab when you weren't looking - at least I think you weren't looking - and they say baby powder is good for that." It took Mel a moment, but then she realized there was something else in the bag. When she pulled out the other object, she understood immediately and threw her head back and laughed. The second item was a pair of Spectra socks, which protected the inner mechanism of a prosthetic foot from damage from the carbon structures surrounding it. They were also crucial for preventing the foot from squeaking. Mel knew hers needed to be replaced, but hadn't had the time to order a new pair yet. They were generally only available through a prosthetist, and Mel found herself wondering how Auggie had obtained them. "As for the socks, I got a friend," he explained, reading her mind. "What? You think you're the only amputee I know? I was in the Army when you were practically in high school," he scoffed. "However, since I can't have you sneaking up on me after you fix that foot, I got you something else, too."

Mel smiled at the idea of seeing him again and dug deeper into the sack. She pulled out a small bag labeled "2."

"If you can't figure out that the next bag is marked with a two, well, then I just don't know what to tell you," he joked. "Open it," he instructed again.

Mel pulled it out and gasped. It was a bottle of her perfume. A big bottle. And it was not cheap stuff.

"Don't ask me how I knew. That's a blind man secret," he intoned fake-seriously, and she rolled her eyes. She distinctly remembered Seth asking her 5 days earlier what the name of her perfume was. She'd thought it was an odd question, but now of course it made sense.

"Okay, gotta go," he said gruffly, and Mel heard the emotion underneath his words. "Seth! Come turn this thing off," he hollered. She heard a door open, and then footsteps, and then rustling, and then nothing. The recording was over. She sat for a long time staring at the iPod. Then she slowly put it back into her duffel, along with her gifts. Before she put the perfume in, however, she opened the box and pulled the bottle out. She spritzed a bit onto her wrist and smiled as she inhaled what she thought of as her signature scent.

She loved this stuff. Not too girly, not too floral. A little spicy, but still feminine. Kinda like me, she thought with a smile. She smirked as she put it back in the box; it wasn't actually particularly citrus-y, despite its name:

Jo Malone Grapefruit.