Chapter 7

True to his word, Jonathan had turned up trumps with a pair of specially modified contacts. To make sure that they were right for him, Jesse had had an eye test and a couple of lessons on how to insert contacts as he had never worn them before. Unlike Steve, Jesse did not have a 'touching the eye' issue and he was very quickly able to put the contacts in correctly.

"I don't want Mark to know about this, Jonathan," he insisted.

"Any reason why not?" Jonathan asked, "This is an amazing thing you are doing, Jesse. You should be proud of it."

"I'm not doing anything special," Jesse replied.

Leaning back in his chair, when Jonathan spoke it was in a tone of genuine admiration, "Jesse, you are doing something which very few people would contemplate, let alone follow through on. Most would simply pick up a book; check out the Internet but as for going the extra mile that you are…. Jess, I think you are quite unique."

For a long while, Jesse was unable to speak, he wasn't sure that any sound would

be able to get past the lump which had formed in his throat. Swallowing convulsively in order to dislodge it, he spoke softly, "That's generous of you, Jonathan, but I honestly don't see that I'm anything special."

Realising that Jesse was serious, Jonathan decided to slightly change tack.

"So what do you plan to do whilst you're wearing the contacts?"

"Just everyday things," Jesse replied, "Housework, cooking, a little shopping. Things that I would normally do on my day off."

"Will you do me a favour, Jess?" Jonathan asked, "Let me know how it goes?"

"Sure thing," Jesse answered and standing up, he continued, "Promise you won't tell Mark?"

"If that's what you want," Jonathan replied.

"I do. Thanks." Jesse slipped the small box containing the contacts into his pocket and left the office. A few minutes later he arrived in the ER and quietly got on with his shift.

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 Jesse held his right eye open with the forefinger and thumb of his left hand, whilst balanced on the identical finger on his right hand was a contact lens which he carefully placed over his iris. Blinking rapidly to clear his watering eye, Jesse picked up the other lens and repeated the operation. Looking up into the mirror Jesse was shocked at what he saw. From his research, he knew that his vision was going to be blurry, but he hadn't been prepared for how far that blurriness would extend.

"Whoah!" he exclaimed.

Turning away from the mirror, Jesse moved forward gingerly and immediately uttered a loud curse as his left shin came into sharp contact with something hard.

"Dammit!" he yelled, tilting his head onto one side to find the cause of his pain.

Once the throbbing subsided, Jesse again walked forward although a little more cautiously this time. He made his way through the lounge into his kitchen and by the time he reached there, Jesse had come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, he was going to be covered in bruises. It had not occurred to him, even though he had seen Steve's apartment, to move his furniture around.

Deciding that a coffee was what he needed right now, Jesse reached out for the jug from his percolator intending to fill it with water.  Unfortunately, the contacts caused his depth perception to be out of whack and the glass jug hit the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. Once again, Jesse cursed. This was going to be harder than he had anticipated. Mentally he squared his shoulders, if Steve was going to be living this every day of his life then he, Jesse, could deal with it for a few hours.

By the time he had cleared up the shards of the broken jug and managed to make himself a coffee in a mug, Jesse was feeling exhausted. He decided to sit down and watch the morning news on the television, a task which he found exceptionally difficult for the centre of the screen was hazy causing him to have to turn his head to one side to see the picture. After a few minutes of turning his head from one side to the other, Jesse became fed up and decided that he would go out. Standing up, he made his way slowly back into his bedroom for his jacket and shoes. Eventually reaching his front door, Jesse automatically put out a hand to grab his car keys. Halfway there he realised what he was doing and pulled his hand back with a grimace. He'd forgotten that he wouldn't be able to drive. Okay, he thought to himself, let's see what public transportation is like nowadays.

It occurred to Jesse, on his slow progress along the sidewalk to the nearest bus stop, that Steve had had many months to adjust to his failing eyesight whilst he had gone from perfect eyesight to almost legally blind in as many seconds as it took to say it. He had also failed to think through to the necessity of having a stick to help him find his way.  Finally reaching the bus stop, Jesse found himself peering closely at the timetable attached to the pole. The next bus which would take him near enough to the shopping mall was due to arrive in ten minutes, so he stood back up and prepared himself for a wait.

It was only a couple of minutes later when he heard a bus slowing to draw up at the stop. Jesse looked up at the number but was unable to read what it said. Feeling someone coming up to his shoulder to pass him, Jesse said, "Excuse me. Can you tell me what number this bus is please?"

A female voice answered, "It's the A9"

That wasn't the number Jesse needed and he stood back a little and was wondering how he was going to know when the correct bus came along when he heard a voice coming from the vicinity of his elbow.

"What number bus is it that you need?"

Jesse turned in the direction of the voice and saw a vague outline which only reached his chest. The voice sounded young and Jesse concluded that it belonged to a teenager.

"I need the B12 going to the Lakeside Mall," Jesse replied.

"Me too," the voice answered, "I'll tell you when it arrives."

"Thank you," Jesse replied, "What's your name, by the way?"

"Andrew Wilshire," the young man replied, "but my friends call me Andy. What's yours?"

"Jesse."

"Can I ask you a question?" Andy continued.

"Fire away," Jesse answered.

"Are you blind?"

"No, I'm not," Jesse answered.

"Then what is the matter with you?"

Jesse smiled, "I have got special contacts in so that I can see what it is like to have a vision problem."

Even though he couldn't see Andy clearly, Jesse could feel the frown on his face and waited for the next question.

"Are you doing it for a bet?" Andy asked.

"No," Jesse responded, "a very good friend of mine has a sight problem and I wanted to find out what it was like for him."

"Wow! You must like this guy a lot." Andy was mightily impressed.

"Yeah, I do," Jesse answered, "Him and his dad are the nearest thing I have to family."

"Don't you have parents of your own?"

Jesse smiled, "Actually I do, but that is another story, Andy."

Not understanding what Jesse meant, Andy merely smiled.

As the bus pulled to a stop a few minutes later, Andy said, "Can I help you onto the bus, Jesse?"

"That is very kind of you," Jesse replied and Andy gently took his elbow, before guiding him up the steps onto the bus.

By the time they reached the Lakeside Mall stop, Andy and Jesse were well on their way to being great friends. On finding out that Jesse was a doctor Andy, who had ambitions in that direction himself, plied him with question after question. He was only silenced when Jesse promised that he would arrange for a tour of Community General.

"Do you need some help around the Mall?" Andy asked as they alighted from the bus sometime later.

The question took Jesse a moment to answer. There was a part of him that felt he ought to do it on his own, but there was another part which said that if he had someone to guide him around he would have some idea of how Steve would feel.

But there was a question he needed to ask Andy first.

"Are you sure your Mom won't mind you doing this? After all, I am a perfect stranger."

"I don't have a Mom," Andy confided, "and since she died, my dad drinks a lot so he doesn't notice too much what I do."

Making a mental note to see what he could do for Andy, Jesse held out his arm again and the two of them began their trek around the mall.

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Sitting in one on the many ice cream parlours later that day, Jesse and Andy happily shared a large banana split with all the trimmings.

"So how long are you planning to wear those things, Jesse?" Andy asked.

"Just for today," he answered.

"Does your friend know what you are doing?" Andy persisted.

Jesse smiled to himself, for today he had discovered for himself what it was like to be on the receiving end of a constant barrage of questions. He was beginning to understand why Mark and Steve sometimes became a little irritated by him.

"No, he doesn't," Jesse answered, "and I am not sure whether I will tell him. Today was for me to find out what Steve will experience so that I can understand it a little better."

"What do you think he will say if he found out?"

"Ah," answered Jesse slowly and thoughtfully, "that will very much depend upon his mood at the time."

"Is he a bad tempered person?" Andy asked.

"No," Jesse replied, "it's just that Steve is a very proud man and doesn't always know how to accept help."

"Like my dad." Andy replied, with a maturity beyond his years.

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Having returned home, with Andy in tow, Jesse took out the contacts with a feeling of great relief. He walked back out of his bathroom feeling a little disorientated at having his full vision again to find Andy standing out on his deck looking out over the ocean.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, "What a terrific view. How long have you lived here?"

"Nearly two years," Jesse answered, moving back into the lounge, "I guess I'd better get you home."

Reluctantly, Andy left the view and followed Jesse out to his car.

As they were driving Jesse said, "Now, I want you to tell your dad about today and say that I will be giving him a call in a few days to arrange the tour that I promised you."

"He won't much care," Andy responded.

"Maybe not," Jesse replied, "but the fact remains that he is your father and he needs to know that I am not an axe murderer."

"Yeah, okay, whatever," Andy said, a complete lack of conviction in his voice.

Pulling up outside Andy's apartment block, Jesse watched as his new young friend jumped out of the car and ran into the building. As Andy disappeared through the doors Jesse smiled to himself. It's funny, he thought, how a day starts out one way and ends in another. He had a feeling that he was going to be seeing a lot of Andy and that was something he was more than happy with. Still, whatever else happened he'd had a glimpse of what Steve would be dealing with for the rest of his life and that was more important to him than anything else.

A/N I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to review this story so far.  They have been a great encouragement to me. I just wanted to say that the remainder of the story may be a little delayed as I have a couple of exams coming up in the next month and I need to concentrate on those. For those who know me – hooray for Heathcliff!! And for those who don't – I promise I AM sane!!