Chapter 25
House came too and scrubbed his hands over his face, looked to his left and the bed was empty "hmmph" was all he said and he felt an unwelcome feeling come across him, maybe she had run like the wind after realising what she had said. But then he heard a noise from outside and his mood lightened slightly.
He took his time getting himself up, mind you it always took longer these days he was getting old. Grabbed his cane and limped to the living room. Tammy was sitting on the couch watching Sunday morning tv. "Hey" she said "coffee's ready in the kitchen if you want some" not moving from the spot she was in.
"hhhmmmm" was all she got in response. House went to the bathroom and relieved himself, took some meds out of the cabinet, mmm he really should sort these out, he didn't need them all now and some of them were probably out of date. He closed the cabinet door "later" he said to himself. He got himself a cup of coffee and sat at the dining room table, him and people first thing in the morning really wasn't a good combination until he had atleast had some coffee.
No sooner had he started to drink his coffee, Tammy appeared "So are we going to the tech shop today to get me a new ipod"
"Sure" he said flatly
"Have I upset you, Gerry?"
"No"
"uuh ok I see, you need some time and space to wake up before communicating" she said with a smile on her face "Ok, I'll be on the couch whenever you're ready" turned around and went back to the living room.
Half an hour later House was ready to greet the world, well to see Tammy atleast. They went into town to the Tech Shop, House had also decided he wanted to buy himself a new laptop and an internet dongle, he needed more to keep him amused and he was missing his porn.
Tammy sat on a chair in the shop while House was getting his Mac laptop sorted out and set up.
"So do you do Laptops that can be used by the blind" Said House to the sales assistant
"Yeah, there are laptops for the blind, they have brail keyboards and special programmes to speak to them"
"Do you have any here?"
"No, but we can order one in - Mac do a good one, it would take about 10 days to come in. If you also decide what else you want on it then we can set it up for you"
"Ok, can you order one, put i-tunes on it and there might be some other stuff she might want later, can you add to it when it comes to it.?"
"Yeah we can do that"
"Ok cool, I'll pay for it now, can it be delivered to the shop as I might be away when it comes in."
"No problem, just leave a contact number"
They wrote everything up and he took his laptop and her ipod and they left the shop.
"It's time for lunch" He stated
"Come on then lets go" Said Tammy
They sat in the diner discussing music and his new laptop.
"Hey I've been thinking about a new job for you" Said House quite seriously
"OK What's tha?t" She said inquisitively
"A Massage Therapist" He stated
"haha - you're funny" she said sarcastically
"No, I'm being serious, I don't mean like a hooker you idiot, I mean like a Sports Injury Massage Therapist. Some hospitals have them as part of the Physical Therapy Departments and some people have private clinics" He said with a little chuckle
"oh sorry, I thought you were being sarcastic. But how would I go about learning that?" she said a little sheepishly
"I don't know, but you have great hands and your massage is about the best I've had - and I've had many. You obviously know about oils too, I'll look on the internet when we get home"
"Actually that does sound like something I could do. That is definitely food for thought. mmmm, oh when is it that you and James are going away?"
"mmm - not sure - I think it's not this Wednesday but the one after. Why?"
"I'm going to away on Friday for a few days so I'm not sure that I'll see you before you go"
"Where are you going?"
"Back to school - kind of" She chuckled
"Riighttt!"
"I am - I'm going to stay with my friend and he is going to re-learn me how to live again"
"HE!"
"Yes HE is! We became close friends on my first day of blind school and we've stayed friends ever since"
"Why did you bond so well on your first day - who helped who?" He said curiously
"You don't miss much do you? He helped me actually. He made me laugh and took away some embarrassment" She said and could feel the colour come up to her cheeks.
"Oh do tell me more!"
She was silent for a few minutes "come on it can't be that bad!" Said House trying to gee her up.
"Ok, I took a cab to school, it had been snowing for a week, I got out of the cab and stood on the pavement, he kind of knocked into me"
"Kind of?"
"Well it was both of us really, I stepped away from the cab and into his pathway - I wasn't using a cane or anything then - didn't think I needed to. He was but it was too late he knocked into me too. So we started talking, realised we were heading in the same direction so walked together. Half way up the pathway to the school I slipped on some ice and he kept on walking and talking to himself, he suddenly realised that I wasn't beside him and called out for me, I was by now on the floor soaking wet and in tears. He was nearer the door so he shouted for someone to come and help me - he thought I was hurt. He came back to me and started mocking me while they were helping me up. I cut my knee and that was one of the many tumbles I have taken" She said smiling
House was by now laughing "So who helped you up?"
"The Principal! not that I knew that at the time, I had to go in and change my clothes, the jeans I wore were miles too big- it's a good job the students were all blind" She said laughing
"Then I was so flustered I went into the wrong classroom - I went into a Sex Ed class where they were practising putting Johnnies on Bananas. I found Ben again at lunch time and just wanted to die and had no intention of coming back the next day"
"But you obviously did?"
"Yeah he told me that I had got all the embarrassing things out of the way in one day and that atleast no-one could see the colour of my face or the trousers I was wearing" She said laughing again
"How do you do that?"
"What?"
"Laugh like that?"
"I never used to - until I met Ben, he just had such a different outlook on things, he made me come alive again really, if I hadn't have met him I think I would have stayed at home living with my sisters and never gone out again"
"So where does he live now?"
"New York - he's married to an Actor who is in a Broadway Show and he teaches"
"Cool" Said House relaxing slightly in the notion that he was gay and married "How long was you planning on going for"
"I was originally thinking a week, but I'm not sure I can handle New York for a week on my own. I'll just play it by ear - see how I feel. Although I might be able to catch up with my sister while I'm there, that would be nice. I'm going on Friday night Kyle is taking me once he finishes work."
"I think it will be good for you. You want to make a move so that we can load you ipod"
"yeah sure I'll just go pay the bill"
They made themselves comfy on the couch, House did a search first regarding the Massage Therapy, he found a couple of websites that would be a good source of information, so he wrote them down and emailed them to her.
"Go to the book store and ask them to get you on these websites, there is loads of information about what you need and what classes are on offer. I have emailed them to you as well in case that's easier"
"Thanks"
Then he logged onto her itunes account, they sat together sampling music, all kinds of music from Blues to Beach Boys to Rihanna and Eminem.
"Here take this" Said House abruptly giving his laptop to Tammy and getting up rather quickly, grabbed his cane and started walking to the kitchen.
Tammy thought he had gone to get a drink but when he didn't come back 10 minutes later she made her way out to the kitchen.
He was pacing around the kitchen table.
"Hey you ok?"
"Does it look like it!" He snapped back
"I wouldn't know, but you don't sound too good"
House ignored her and continued to pace.
"Is there anything I can do - like massage it for you?"
"NO! I'm fine!"
"You're obviously not! What about pain meds have you taken some?"
"No I haven't - they're not in pocket and walking to the bathroom is not on my list of to do's right now!" He said through gritted teeth.
"Ok, I'll go get them"
Tammy went off to the bathroom to retrieve House's pain meds. She opened the cupboard and felt around for the medication. She pulled out all the boxes and one bottle, she read through their names as they all had them in brail on the boxes and put some of them back. Then she took the remaining boxes and the bottle with her, reading the rest of it on route so that she would know which one to give him when he asked.
She was half way between the kitchen and bathroom when one of the boxes that she was reading also had the name in brail on it, which was unusual, then she found another one as well. But the names were different.
She was very confused by the time she got to the kitchen.
"So Who's Gregory House then?" she said with tears in her eyes.
"What?" Said House not really registering what she said.
"I said who is Gregory House?" She shouted. "There is one pharmacy chain that now routinely puts the person's name on the box in Brail, the drug companies have to now put the name of the drug in brail on all boxes but the pharmacies don't have to. Every time I get a prescription I have to ask for it to be done. But one pharmacy company does do it. And you have 2 different names on the same medication. We have Gregory House and Gerry Schu-whatever-that-name-is !"
House stayed quiet he genuinely didn't know what to say
"It's you isn't it! You're Gregory House" She was now shouting and in tears
He was still silent
"I knew it! I've heard James call you House over the phone - it all makes sense" She chucked all the medication on the table and turned away and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Said House concerned at how upset she was
"Home - as far away from whoever you are as possible!"
"Wait!"
House went after her - he didn't want her wandering around, "Hey come back here and wait!"
"I'm not coming anywhere near you, now leave me alone" She stayed where she was and within a few minutes a car pulled up and she got in and they drove off.
House went back into the house, he did need to take some pain meds. He saw the collection that she had thrown on the table, sure enough there was a label with his name on it, he didn't even realise they did that. One must have been an old one from Princeton, he should have cleared them out when he had thought of it that morning. He looked at the orange bottle on the table as well, that also had his name on it - but not in Brail, it still had some Vicodin in it. He sat on a chair rubbing his leg trying to decide what to take, he opened the bottle of Vicodin and took 2 out, he thumbed them around on the table for a little and then he took them in his fingers and popped them in his mouth and dry swallowed them.
What did it matter now anyway it was all over !...