Niles Takes a Trip...and Then a Tumble
Part 4 : Amazing Grace, How Sweet Thou Art...
First there was a bright light.
A very bright light.
It seemed like it was boring directly into his brain.
Niles let out a soft moan as he automatically reached up to shield his eyes.
His hand touched something moist on his forehead.
"A cloth," he reasoned through the haze. "Maybe if I just pull it down over my eyes, that damn light will go away!"
He fumbled about trying to get a grip on the material, but his fingers
weren't responding to his needs. He felt numb all over, right down to his fingertips, and every joint in his body ached with an intense pain. He soon abandoned his efforts to catch the slippery cloth and just closed his eyes again.
"I'll just lie here and die," he decided. "Mom and Dad will eventually wonder what happened to me. There will be a police investigation. They'll find out that I was beaten to death and robbed in some seedy back street in Vegas and they'll cluck their tongues wondering why I ever was so foolish to go there. They'll warn Frasier never to be so stupid and he will assure them that he wouldn't ever behave that way. At least then my dull, meaningless life will have served a purpose."
With that comforting thought, he finally surrendered to the overwhelming
agony in his limbs and drifted back into a torpid state of suffering....
"Are you feeling a bit better, now?"
A female voice floated above him like a songbird caught in a breeze.
"Don't say anything, just squeeze my finger once, if you can, for a 'yes',"
she encouraged.
Niles felt a soft hand slip under his. He made a mild attempt to communicate in this fashion.
"Good! Now don't open your eyes until I adjust the drapes."
With those words his angel of mercy quickly darkened the room to a more
acceptable level and returned back to his side. He felt the slight pressure of her body indent the cushion on which he lay.
"Now, slowly try opening your eyes," she coaxed. "That's it!"
Niles blinked and focused his eyes. He blinked again. There before him was Brisbane's lovely assistant.
"All right," he thought. "I am either hallucinating, insane or dead! Those
are my only options!"
She smiled at him. She wasn't dressed in her stage costume and her face was freshly scrubbed of makeup, but there was no doubt, it was her.
"I must be dead!" Niles rationalized. "I wouldn't be able to consider this so
calmly if I were insane. And she wouldn't be so clear, if I were having a
hallucination, would she? But maybe she just seems so real because I
am insane! Oh dear! Now I'm not sure..."
She reached out and patted his cheek reassuringly. Niles flinched slightly
as her hand contacted his face. His eyes opened wider. His eyebrows arched tensely, as he glanced nervously around the room, searching for more clues that would indicate evidence of a certain level of reality to him.
"If I'm dead, why doesn't everything seem more transcendental?" he
speculated. "Why does this look like just another cheap hotel room? Is this
what heaven is really like? Good God! I never thought it would be this
shabby!"
"Don't look so worried. You're O.K. now. It was a bit touch and go for a
while, but I think you'll pull through all right. Do you want something
to drink? Some juice? Or water?" she offered.
Niles gulped the dry air.
"Are you... Trixie... from the Brisbane Show?" he finally said in a barely
audible tone.
She chuckled quietly. "Well, that is my stage name. My real name is
Grace... Grace Barton. You must be famished!"
And with that she rose and headed for the kitchenette.
"Grace..." Niles mused to himself. "That name suits you."
"I haven't got a wide selection, but would you like some soup? There's
chicken noodle or vegetable. Which will it be?"
"Vegetable, please, if that is all right?" Niles politely answered.
"I must not be dead," he thought. "Heaven would at least serve
Bouillabaisse."
"Of course it's all right," Grace answered. "May I call you Niles?"
Shocked at the sound of his own name coming from her lips, Niles just stared at her as she came back in the living room.
"Is there something wrong?" she said anxiously. "You're not going to be ill,
are you?"
"H...h...how did you know my name?" he faltered.
"Those thugs who stole your money, left your wallet behind," she explained. "I was coming out of the cafe after getting a late night bite to eat and I saw them. I thought they might be harassing an injured coyote or some other animal that wandered in from the desert. I hate it when somebody picks on a poor defenseless animal, so I just started hollering at them. I must have scared them off - cowards! I didn't realize what they were actually up to, until I got right up to you and then it hit me why they had taken off so suddenly. I just bundled you into the first cab I could flag down and brought you back here, to the Desert Inn. I guess I should have informed the police, but my main concern was getting you to someplace safe to tend to your wounds. What with caring for you, and getting some rest myself, I haven't really had even time to think about telling anyone
you are here. Is there someone I should contact? I don't think there is much of a chance of catching the muggers. I didn't get any sort of a look at them at all. Do you think you could identify them?"
"No" admitted Niles. "I am here in Vegas on my own, so no one will be looking for me. And I don't think I could identify them, unfortunately. It was pretty dark, and to tell the truth and I was so scared my eyes were shut most of the time anyway! "
"You poor thing!" she sympathized. "It was three against one.
You were very lucky you weren't hurt worse."
"Yeah," Niles sighed. "I feel really lucky."
He winced and looked up ruefully.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Thank you for everything you
have done." He glanced into her eyes. "I...I...I probably would have died without your help! How come you didn't just call an ambulance?"
She returned his look with one of great ardor.
"I...I'm not exactly sure, really. I guess you just looked like someone who needed a little more personal touch than could be found in a Vegas hospital. There was something about you... something that seemed to call for *extra* loving care and attention..." she trailed off, her eyes caressing his reclining form.
There was an electrifying pause in their conversation.
Niles suddenly felt very awkward. He became acutely aware that this was
the same woman that he had lusted after not too long ago. Those feelings were sublimated in the pain and terror of last night's attack, but they weren't gone - just merely tucked away for a while. But the nuance of her words and the look on her face brought back those sensations with a rush. He felt a surge of carnal cravings engulf his body, much to his immediate chagrin. He averted his eyes from hers and slowly strained to sit up on the couch so the growing stiffness in his groin wasn't quite so obvious. The last thing he wanted her thinking was that he was some kind of invalid sex maniac!
Niles did note that Grace, also had a rather flushed look about her.
"I had better get that soup!" she said quickly and hurried off to plug the kettle in.
"Grace?" Niles called out, trying to put things back on a more even plane. "Where... where is my shirt?"
"Here," she replied coming back around the corner of the doorway. "I had to wash it to get the bloodstains out. And I had to get a closer look at your body."
Niles suddenly felt all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
He blushed, covered his chest with the scratchy hotel blanket and
shifted about uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry, Niles. I didn't mean to embarrass you," she stuttered. "I only
meant that you had some rather large bruises in you chest area... and
what with all that blood coming out of your mouth, I wanted to make sure that nothing was broken, or that you hadn't punctured a lung."
"Of course, thanks again," he mumbled. "...umm, you seem to know quite a bit about first aid," he added quickly, hoping to steer the conversation away from anything of an intimate nature. Everything he said seemed to carry a sexual innuendo.
"Well I was studying to be a nurse, but my funds ran dry," she stated. "I
took the job with Arty Brisbane because it was more money than I could ever make back home."
Niles was gingerly slipping into his shirt as she chatted. He paused.
"Where is home?" he asked, cocking his head slightly to one side.
"Badaxe, Michigan." she said proudly, with a toss of her auburn locks. "And
you are from Seattle, I understand."
"No secrets to be kept from someone who has gone through your
wallet, are there?" he opinioned.
"I hope you don't think that I was being too forward," her face turning rubicund. "It's just that living on the road with the show has made me much more bold. You have to grow up fast when you are touring from town to town all the time. I guess you could say I have experienced a lot of life in my 23 years!"
The kettle whistled a shriek and Grace left to make the soup for her
patient. She shouted back at him from the other room as she spoke.
"I'm going back to college to finish up, just as soon as I save up enough dough. I met up with Arty last year when his show came to Detroit on tour. I was introduced to him after a performance through some friends, and he convinced me to join his troupe for the adventure and the money. I am really quite lucky that I met up with him. In a business filled with users and losers, Arty has been like a father to me. He looks after all of us like a family. He's an o.k. guy really."
Niles felt a pang of envy. Grace had courage, the courage to take a risk
in life, which he never had. She was only three years older than him and
yet seemed so much more worldly and self-assured. Maybe she has had
a real boyfriend too? Maybe several?
"I wonder if she had ever..." He shook his head in self-loathing and chastised himself. "Stop it! Must everything come back to sex!?!?! Concentrate on what she is saying!!"
"I once worked part-time in a vet's office, so helping out with the chimps
wasn't that far-fetched. I have always had a way with wild things," she said, as she rounded the corner with a cup of steaming soup. "Wild things and wounded creatures..."
He looked up and saw that she was smiling at his clumsy attempt to button his shirt, even though he could barely sit up straight. Was that a smile of attraction, or did she just feel sorry for him with his inept struggle to clothe himself?
"Here, let me help," she proffered, looking into his cobalt eyes. Niles suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. Was he just another "wounded creature" or was there something more to her intense look? He desperately hoped for the latter and gave himself over to her gentle touch.
She smoothly guided his hands to his side and finished the buttons with a
flourish. Her touch was warm against his pale flesh. He was positive that he felt her fingers linger longer on his body than they had to, before she spoke.
"There! All ready to eat now, aren't you!"
"I seem to be unable to stop thanking you." Niles said with mild
abashment.
"Well you are going to have to stop soon because I have to get ready and
go to work, " she teased. "In another hour, Arty Brisbane's Amazing Apes go on to perform one more sold out show at the Desert Inn and their performance will wait for no man - including Niles Crane!!"
Niles started to laugh but pulled up short when the pain in his head
overtook him.
"Ooooh! That hurts!" he cried. "Don't make me laugh, Grace, please!"
"Sorry, Niles!" she joked. "Here, maybe I should kiss it to make it better!"
She leaned forward and playfully grazed his forehead with her lips. Niles
felt her sweet breath on his skin and collapsed back into the cushions. Was this a "come on"? He closed his eyes and decided to take a chance and tell her how attracted he was to her.
"Grace...Grace...I... I, " he couldn't make the words come out.
"Niles," she pulled back slightly as she spoke and looked at him with
compassion, "Are you all right? I didn't lean into you too hard, did I?"
"No, no not at all!" he gasped. "I...I...I just feel a little dizzy, that's
all." Niles sighed. What was it about women in general, and this woman in particular, that turned him into such an inept buffoon? Was it his total inexperience with the fairer sex that made him so "tongue-tied"? If he didn't find a way to speak to women someday soon he'd never even go out on a date, let alone find someone to love!!
"You poor boy! I still haven't fed you. When is the last time you ate?" she
queried.
"Boy!" the word rang in his ears. Not "man" - "boy"! The spell was broken.
She was acting like a nurse and a caregiver, but not a lover. Niles' head began to ache.
"Yesterday, about noon, I think," Niles said with a disappointed tinge.
"Here's your soup. Do you want some crackers? I can make some tea as well."
She sounded all too matronly as she backed off and slowly stood up.
"All right," he said compliantly. "Tea would be just fine."
Niles forced the hot soup down his throat. It felt good. He didn't realize
how hungry he actually was until he tasted the food. His hands were
shaking so violently that he had to use both of them to steady the cup.
Was it a result of nerves or starvation?
"I'm probably still in shock," he thought, as he greedily finished off the
steaming broth.
"The tea is on its way." Grace paused a bit before continuing, "Niles, are you feeling a bit stronger?"
He nodded silently and set the empty soup cup down.
"Good, good." she said hastily. Her mood suddenly changed and Niles got the feeling he wouldn't like what was coming next.
"Niles," she said with a definite tone of caution in her voice, "Niles, I have to go to work soon and there is something that I have to show you before I do. I... I have a mirror here and I want you to take a look at yourself."
Niles reached out instinctively, but stopped when he realized what she was
implying. He shut his eyes. His head began to pound again. It felt like it could split wide open all of a sudden.
"I didn't want you discovering this when you were by yourself. It's much easier if you have someone to talk to when you first see the results of what those thugs did to you last night."
"How bad is it?" he asked with a sickened tone. "I wasn't exactly God's
gift to women to begin with, you know."
It was a weak attempt at some humour. Grace smiled half-heartedly.
"It's not too bad," she said gently, "And it will heal nicely if you don't
scratch the sores. It's just that it might be a bit of a shock when you
first see the damage they did."
She handed him the mirror.
"Niles," she cautioned, "Remember, it just happened last night and there still has to be time for the swelling to go down. Please... please, don't be too upset!"
Niles swallowed hard and opened his eyes. He closed them again and sunk back into the pillows.
"I look... like... like Frankenstein's m...mon... ster," he said bitterly.
His mouth was very bruised and his lower lip was about twice its normal
size. There was a large cut under one of his eyes and an equal sized
purple and red coloured splotch on the opposite cheek. Niles lifted his
blond hair off his forehead to reveal a two inch raw sore there as well.
A tear rolled involuntarily out of his eye and down the side of his
battered face. Grace reached out and brushed it away.
"Please," Niles pouted, as he pushed her hand aside. "P...please, don't t...touch me!"
He turned his face into the pillow. He felt so ugly and repulsive.
Why would any woman be interested in him... especially now?
"Niles, don't..." Grace whispered. "It's just temporary. We'll apply some
more ice and in a couple of days, the swelling will go down and you'll be
your old self. You'll see."
"My old self!" Niles scoffed, more to himself than to Grace, "My old self,
but with the added attraction of scars! That ought to make me the most popular guy in Seattle, right along side of the troll who lives under the bridge."
"I'm so sorry Niles," Grace said her voice filled with compassion. "Please, please believe me when I say that it will be all right!! I wish I could stay with you longer, but it is almost 1:30 and I'm going to have to go to work soon. Tell you what I'll do - I'll make up an ice bag for your face and I'll give you a couple of sleeping pills to relax you, all right?"
"Uh?" Niles said distractedly as he picked up the mirror again to make sure
it wasn't a dream. It wasn't. It was more like a nightmare - that monstrosity in the mirror really was him!
"You'll feel much better if you get some rest, I'm sure." Grace anxiously continued, taking the mirror gently out of his hands. "All you need is sleep and some ice to reduce the swelling. Once that happens, you'll be in a more positive frame of mind. It just looks bad because you're tired and
still feeling sore. It will be much better in a couple of hours, trust me."
"All right, what ever you say..." Niles was almost in a stupor as he closed
his eyes wearily.
Grace quickly got two sleeping capsules and a cup of hot tea. Niles took them with an air of resigned melancholy and then curled up in a ball, wrapping the blanket around his aching body. Grace filled a plastic bag with ice cubes, covered it in a towel and pressed it gently on the side of his face.
"Niles, lie back and get some rest," she implored. "I'll be back in a couple of
hours to check on you. You'll feel better. I know you will, all right?"
He didn't reply.
"Niles?" Grace sounded truly worried. "Niles, are you asleep?"
The crushing despondency in his soul made it impossible for him to answer.
Grace reached out and stroked his hair tenderly. She leaned carefully over and kissed the top of his head.
Niles felt so dejected that he couldn't move.
"It's probably just a gesture of pure pity," he thought gloomily.
As she got up to leave Niles opened his eyes again. He blinked back some tears and stared at her retreating form. He could see a fretful look on her face in the half-light of the room as she gathered her things to leave. The last two things he remembered clearly before drifting off, was seeing the silhouette of Grace in the muted hallway light and hearing a heavy sigh escape from her lips, as she closed the door. Then the darkness engulfed him.
End of Part 4
To be continued...
Part 4 : Amazing Grace, How Sweet Thou Art...
First there was a bright light.
A very bright light.
It seemed like it was boring directly into his brain.
Niles let out a soft moan as he automatically reached up to shield his eyes.
His hand touched something moist on his forehead.
"A cloth," he reasoned through the haze. "Maybe if I just pull it down over my eyes, that damn light will go away!"
He fumbled about trying to get a grip on the material, but his fingers
weren't responding to his needs. He felt numb all over, right down to his fingertips, and every joint in his body ached with an intense pain. He soon abandoned his efforts to catch the slippery cloth and just closed his eyes again.
"I'll just lie here and die," he decided. "Mom and Dad will eventually wonder what happened to me. There will be a police investigation. They'll find out that I was beaten to death and robbed in some seedy back street in Vegas and they'll cluck their tongues wondering why I ever was so foolish to go there. They'll warn Frasier never to be so stupid and he will assure them that he wouldn't ever behave that way. At least then my dull, meaningless life will have served a purpose."
With that comforting thought, he finally surrendered to the overwhelming
agony in his limbs and drifted back into a torpid state of suffering....
"Are you feeling a bit better, now?"
A female voice floated above him like a songbird caught in a breeze.
"Don't say anything, just squeeze my finger once, if you can, for a 'yes',"
she encouraged.
Niles felt a soft hand slip under his. He made a mild attempt to communicate in this fashion.
"Good! Now don't open your eyes until I adjust the drapes."
With those words his angel of mercy quickly darkened the room to a more
acceptable level and returned back to his side. He felt the slight pressure of her body indent the cushion on which he lay.
"Now, slowly try opening your eyes," she coaxed. "That's it!"
Niles blinked and focused his eyes. He blinked again. There before him was Brisbane's lovely assistant.
"All right," he thought. "I am either hallucinating, insane or dead! Those
are my only options!"
She smiled at him. She wasn't dressed in her stage costume and her face was freshly scrubbed of makeup, but there was no doubt, it was her.
"I must be dead!" Niles rationalized. "I wouldn't be able to consider this so
calmly if I were insane. And she wouldn't be so clear, if I were having a
hallucination, would she? But maybe she just seems so real because I
am insane! Oh dear! Now I'm not sure..."
She reached out and patted his cheek reassuringly. Niles flinched slightly
as her hand contacted his face. His eyes opened wider. His eyebrows arched tensely, as he glanced nervously around the room, searching for more clues that would indicate evidence of a certain level of reality to him.
"If I'm dead, why doesn't everything seem more transcendental?" he
speculated. "Why does this look like just another cheap hotel room? Is this
what heaven is really like? Good God! I never thought it would be this
shabby!"
"Don't look so worried. You're O.K. now. It was a bit touch and go for a
while, but I think you'll pull through all right. Do you want something
to drink? Some juice? Or water?" she offered.
Niles gulped the dry air.
"Are you... Trixie... from the Brisbane Show?" he finally said in a barely
audible tone.
She chuckled quietly. "Well, that is my stage name. My real name is
Grace... Grace Barton. You must be famished!"
And with that she rose and headed for the kitchenette.
"Grace..." Niles mused to himself. "That name suits you."
"I haven't got a wide selection, but would you like some soup? There's
chicken noodle or vegetable. Which will it be?"
"Vegetable, please, if that is all right?" Niles politely answered.
"I must not be dead," he thought. "Heaven would at least serve
Bouillabaisse."
"Of course it's all right," Grace answered. "May I call you Niles?"
Shocked at the sound of his own name coming from her lips, Niles just stared at her as she came back in the living room.
"Is there something wrong?" she said anxiously. "You're not going to be ill,
are you?"
"H...h...how did you know my name?" he faltered.
"Those thugs who stole your money, left your wallet behind," she explained. "I was coming out of the cafe after getting a late night bite to eat and I saw them. I thought they might be harassing an injured coyote or some other animal that wandered in from the desert. I hate it when somebody picks on a poor defenseless animal, so I just started hollering at them. I must have scared them off - cowards! I didn't realize what they were actually up to, until I got right up to you and then it hit me why they had taken off so suddenly. I just bundled you into the first cab I could flag down and brought you back here, to the Desert Inn. I guess I should have informed the police, but my main concern was getting you to someplace safe to tend to your wounds. What with caring for you, and getting some rest myself, I haven't really had even time to think about telling anyone
you are here. Is there someone I should contact? I don't think there is much of a chance of catching the muggers. I didn't get any sort of a look at them at all. Do you think you could identify them?"
"No" admitted Niles. "I am here in Vegas on my own, so no one will be looking for me. And I don't think I could identify them, unfortunately. It was pretty dark, and to tell the truth and I was so scared my eyes were shut most of the time anyway! "
"You poor thing!" she sympathized. "It was three against one.
You were very lucky you weren't hurt worse."
"Yeah," Niles sighed. "I feel really lucky."
He winced and looked up ruefully.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Thank you for everything you
have done." He glanced into her eyes. "I...I...I probably would have died without your help! How come you didn't just call an ambulance?"
She returned his look with one of great ardor.
"I...I'm not exactly sure, really. I guess you just looked like someone who needed a little more personal touch than could be found in a Vegas hospital. There was something about you... something that seemed to call for *extra* loving care and attention..." she trailed off, her eyes caressing his reclining form.
There was an electrifying pause in their conversation.
Niles suddenly felt very awkward. He became acutely aware that this was
the same woman that he had lusted after not too long ago. Those feelings were sublimated in the pain and terror of last night's attack, but they weren't gone - just merely tucked away for a while. But the nuance of her words and the look on her face brought back those sensations with a rush. He felt a surge of carnal cravings engulf his body, much to his immediate chagrin. He averted his eyes from hers and slowly strained to sit up on the couch so the growing stiffness in his groin wasn't quite so obvious. The last thing he wanted her thinking was that he was some kind of invalid sex maniac!
Niles did note that Grace, also had a rather flushed look about her.
"I had better get that soup!" she said quickly and hurried off to plug the kettle in.
"Grace?" Niles called out, trying to put things back on a more even plane. "Where... where is my shirt?"
"Here," she replied coming back around the corner of the doorway. "I had to wash it to get the bloodstains out. And I had to get a closer look at your body."
Niles suddenly felt all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
He blushed, covered his chest with the scratchy hotel blanket and
shifted about uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry, Niles. I didn't mean to embarrass you," she stuttered. "I only
meant that you had some rather large bruises in you chest area... and
what with all that blood coming out of your mouth, I wanted to make sure that nothing was broken, or that you hadn't punctured a lung."
"Of course, thanks again," he mumbled. "...umm, you seem to know quite a bit about first aid," he added quickly, hoping to steer the conversation away from anything of an intimate nature. Everything he said seemed to carry a sexual innuendo.
"Well I was studying to be a nurse, but my funds ran dry," she stated. "I
took the job with Arty Brisbane because it was more money than I could ever make back home."
Niles was gingerly slipping into his shirt as she chatted. He paused.
"Where is home?" he asked, cocking his head slightly to one side.
"Badaxe, Michigan." she said proudly, with a toss of her auburn locks. "And
you are from Seattle, I understand."
"No secrets to be kept from someone who has gone through your
wallet, are there?" he opinioned.
"I hope you don't think that I was being too forward," her face turning rubicund. "It's just that living on the road with the show has made me much more bold. You have to grow up fast when you are touring from town to town all the time. I guess you could say I have experienced a lot of life in my 23 years!"
The kettle whistled a shriek and Grace left to make the soup for her
patient. She shouted back at him from the other room as she spoke.
"I'm going back to college to finish up, just as soon as I save up enough dough. I met up with Arty last year when his show came to Detroit on tour. I was introduced to him after a performance through some friends, and he convinced me to join his troupe for the adventure and the money. I am really quite lucky that I met up with him. In a business filled with users and losers, Arty has been like a father to me. He looks after all of us like a family. He's an o.k. guy really."
Niles felt a pang of envy. Grace had courage, the courage to take a risk
in life, which he never had. She was only three years older than him and
yet seemed so much more worldly and self-assured. Maybe she has had
a real boyfriend too? Maybe several?
"I wonder if she had ever..." He shook his head in self-loathing and chastised himself. "Stop it! Must everything come back to sex!?!?! Concentrate on what she is saying!!"
"I once worked part-time in a vet's office, so helping out with the chimps
wasn't that far-fetched. I have always had a way with wild things," she said, as she rounded the corner with a cup of steaming soup. "Wild things and wounded creatures..."
He looked up and saw that she was smiling at his clumsy attempt to button his shirt, even though he could barely sit up straight. Was that a smile of attraction, or did she just feel sorry for him with his inept struggle to clothe himself?
"Here, let me help," she proffered, looking into his cobalt eyes. Niles suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. Was he just another "wounded creature" or was there something more to her intense look? He desperately hoped for the latter and gave himself over to her gentle touch.
She smoothly guided his hands to his side and finished the buttons with a
flourish. Her touch was warm against his pale flesh. He was positive that he felt her fingers linger longer on his body than they had to, before she spoke.
"There! All ready to eat now, aren't you!"
"I seem to be unable to stop thanking you." Niles said with mild
abashment.
"Well you are going to have to stop soon because I have to get ready and
go to work, " she teased. "In another hour, Arty Brisbane's Amazing Apes go on to perform one more sold out show at the Desert Inn and their performance will wait for no man - including Niles Crane!!"
Niles started to laugh but pulled up short when the pain in his head
overtook him.
"Ooooh! That hurts!" he cried. "Don't make me laugh, Grace, please!"
"Sorry, Niles!" she joked. "Here, maybe I should kiss it to make it better!"
She leaned forward and playfully grazed his forehead with her lips. Niles
felt her sweet breath on his skin and collapsed back into the cushions. Was this a "come on"? He closed his eyes and decided to take a chance and tell her how attracted he was to her.
"Grace...Grace...I... I, " he couldn't make the words come out.
"Niles," she pulled back slightly as she spoke and looked at him with
compassion, "Are you all right? I didn't lean into you too hard, did I?"
"No, no not at all!" he gasped. "I...I...I just feel a little dizzy, that's
all." Niles sighed. What was it about women in general, and this woman in particular, that turned him into such an inept buffoon? Was it his total inexperience with the fairer sex that made him so "tongue-tied"? If he didn't find a way to speak to women someday soon he'd never even go out on a date, let alone find someone to love!!
"You poor boy! I still haven't fed you. When is the last time you ate?" she
queried.
"Boy!" the word rang in his ears. Not "man" - "boy"! The spell was broken.
She was acting like a nurse and a caregiver, but not a lover. Niles' head began to ache.
"Yesterday, about noon, I think," Niles said with a disappointed tinge.
"Here's your soup. Do you want some crackers? I can make some tea as well."
She sounded all too matronly as she backed off and slowly stood up.
"All right," he said compliantly. "Tea would be just fine."
Niles forced the hot soup down his throat. It felt good. He didn't realize
how hungry he actually was until he tasted the food. His hands were
shaking so violently that he had to use both of them to steady the cup.
Was it a result of nerves or starvation?
"I'm probably still in shock," he thought, as he greedily finished off the
steaming broth.
"The tea is on its way." Grace paused a bit before continuing, "Niles, are you feeling a bit stronger?"
He nodded silently and set the empty soup cup down.
"Good, good." she said hastily. Her mood suddenly changed and Niles got the feeling he wouldn't like what was coming next.
"Niles," she said with a definite tone of caution in her voice, "Niles, I have to go to work soon and there is something that I have to show you before I do. I... I have a mirror here and I want you to take a look at yourself."
Niles reached out instinctively, but stopped when he realized what she was
implying. He shut his eyes. His head began to pound again. It felt like it could split wide open all of a sudden.
"I didn't want you discovering this when you were by yourself. It's much easier if you have someone to talk to when you first see the results of what those thugs did to you last night."
"How bad is it?" he asked with a sickened tone. "I wasn't exactly God's
gift to women to begin with, you know."
It was a weak attempt at some humour. Grace smiled half-heartedly.
"It's not too bad," she said gently, "And it will heal nicely if you don't
scratch the sores. It's just that it might be a bit of a shock when you
first see the damage they did."
She handed him the mirror.
"Niles," she cautioned, "Remember, it just happened last night and there still has to be time for the swelling to go down. Please... please, don't be too upset!"
Niles swallowed hard and opened his eyes. He closed them again and sunk back into the pillows.
"I look... like... like Frankenstein's m...mon... ster," he said bitterly.
His mouth was very bruised and his lower lip was about twice its normal
size. There was a large cut under one of his eyes and an equal sized
purple and red coloured splotch on the opposite cheek. Niles lifted his
blond hair off his forehead to reveal a two inch raw sore there as well.
A tear rolled involuntarily out of his eye and down the side of his
battered face. Grace reached out and brushed it away.
"Please," Niles pouted, as he pushed her hand aside. "P...please, don't t...touch me!"
He turned his face into the pillow. He felt so ugly and repulsive.
Why would any woman be interested in him... especially now?
"Niles, don't..." Grace whispered. "It's just temporary. We'll apply some
more ice and in a couple of days, the swelling will go down and you'll be
your old self. You'll see."
"My old self!" Niles scoffed, more to himself than to Grace, "My old self,
but with the added attraction of scars! That ought to make me the most popular guy in Seattle, right along side of the troll who lives under the bridge."
"I'm so sorry Niles," Grace said her voice filled with compassion. "Please, please believe me when I say that it will be all right!! I wish I could stay with you longer, but it is almost 1:30 and I'm going to have to go to work soon. Tell you what I'll do - I'll make up an ice bag for your face and I'll give you a couple of sleeping pills to relax you, all right?"
"Uh?" Niles said distractedly as he picked up the mirror again to make sure
it wasn't a dream. It wasn't. It was more like a nightmare - that monstrosity in the mirror really was him!
"You'll feel much better if you get some rest, I'm sure." Grace anxiously continued, taking the mirror gently out of his hands. "All you need is sleep and some ice to reduce the swelling. Once that happens, you'll be in a more positive frame of mind. It just looks bad because you're tired and
still feeling sore. It will be much better in a couple of hours, trust me."
"All right, what ever you say..." Niles was almost in a stupor as he closed
his eyes wearily.
Grace quickly got two sleeping capsules and a cup of hot tea. Niles took them with an air of resigned melancholy and then curled up in a ball, wrapping the blanket around his aching body. Grace filled a plastic bag with ice cubes, covered it in a towel and pressed it gently on the side of his face.
"Niles, lie back and get some rest," she implored. "I'll be back in a couple of
hours to check on you. You'll feel better. I know you will, all right?"
He didn't reply.
"Niles?" Grace sounded truly worried. "Niles, are you asleep?"
The crushing despondency in his soul made it impossible for him to answer.
Grace reached out and stroked his hair tenderly. She leaned carefully over and kissed the top of his head.
Niles felt so dejected that he couldn't move.
"It's probably just a gesture of pure pity," he thought gloomily.
As she got up to leave Niles opened his eyes again. He blinked back some tears and stared at her retreating form. He could see a fretful look on her face in the half-light of the room as she gathered her things to leave. The last two things he remembered clearly before drifting off, was seeing the silhouette of Grace in the muted hallway light and hearing a heavy sigh escape from her lips, as she closed the door. Then the darkness engulfed him.
End of Part 4
To be continued...