Chapter 20

Alan went to the side of Charlie's bed. "Charlie, you need to wake up now." Charlie did not move. "Charlie wake up, you need to eat something and take your medication before I can let you sleep."

Charlie cracked open an eye. "Dad, I'm really tired now. Why do I need to get up?"

"One is so that you can eat something, two, you need to take the medication and three, you need to get changed from those clothes. They're dirty. Here I brought your crutches for you."

Charlie rolled over and covered his eyes with his arm. "Dad, I ate a sandwich at the hospital. Just bring the medication and some clothes and I can take care of that right here.

"Charlie, you need to come out and eat something more filling. You are filty and need to clean up."

"You know it is a proven fact that sleep is the best way to heal an ailing body. If I could just sleep, I will no doubt wake up feeling much better. The bed may be dirty from my clothes but I probably wouldn't need the pain medication if you just let me sleep."

"Humor me Charlie. You'll sleep better clean with a full stomach."

Charlie groaned and sat up. He swung his left leg off the bed, picked up his right leg and put it next to his other leg. He took a crutch in each arm and he stood up. As Charlie hobbled from the bedroom, Alan followed close behind.

"When they reached the dining room table, Charlie eased his body into the chair that Don had pulled out for him. He smiled his gratitude. "Okay, I'm here Dad, let's eat because I feel like I'll fall asleep sitting here."

Alan brought out a roast beef sandwich and soup. Don offered to blend a smoothie and Charlie said that he just wanted water. Alan set a soup and a sandwich for he and Don and they joined Charlie eating. Alan was looking for answers now.

"So tell us about it Charlie, what happened out there?"

"I was running, my legs stiffened up on me and I fell. That pretty much is the story."

"It's the pretty much part that I am interested in Charlie. Director Thompkins said you have been doing this running for three weeks. Why today Charlie? Why did your legs give out now?"

"Dad, I may have overdone it a little last night and then I think I forgot the cool downs to loosen up the muscles. I don't remember now, but the course was a rougher one than I have been running and when I ran down one slope, I hit the bottom too hard."

"Then you were lucky. It sounds like the damage could have been much worse."

"That's what the doctor said too."

"Why have you decided that running is right for you now Charlie? I know this is not a requirement."

"Running relaxes me like nothing ever has before. I wish I had known years ago how well it helps me mentally."

"Crossword puzzles would be safer."

"Dad, when we're done, would you please run me a hot tub of water. The doctor says a hot soak in the tub will help with the pain. I don't want to take the pain meds unless I need them. I'll just stay off the leg as much as I can today and see how that goes."

"Sure Charlie, but don't fight the pain either, if you need them, take them."

"I will Dad. Right now I just want a muscle relaxer and the hot tub though."

Alan went to run the hot tub of water, Don cleared the table and when he got back to the dining room, he had the bottle of muscle relaxers with him. Charlie took one and drank some water. "Thanks."

"I'm sorry Charlie if all that extra running was because of the talk we had."

"Don, it wasn't your fault, I have to learn not to overdo it. I think I enjoy it too much, but I did learn from that mistake. Like the doctor and Dad both said, I was very lucky that the damage was not permanent. I would hate to give up running now. I just discovered how well it works for me.

I think that hike is out for us this weekend though. If you want we could go to the NSA baseball game Saturday. They're playing against the IRS and apparently the IRS is one tough team to beat. It should be fun to see."

"Sounds good Buddy, we can make a day of it and I'll make sure you are sitting as much as possible."

Alan came out to say the hot tub was ready. He offered his help.

"No, I'm good Dad, I'll call if I need help. Charlie look the offered crutch and leaned on it while his father assisted him to his feet.

"Don't get your stitches wet in there."

Charlie got to the bathroom okay on his own. He thought it would be best to sit on the side of the tub to remove his clothes since he would not have to get back up from there. While trying to get his clothes off, he lost his balance and ended up in the tub. He hit his head off the wall. 'Well that worked out well', except the only parts not in the tub were Charlie's legs and those legs still had sweat pants on them.

There was a knock on the door. "Charlie are you okay, did you fall?"

"I'm just fine Dad" Charlie yelled back through the closed door.

Charlie scooted himself toward the back of the tub. He reached up and lifted his right leg into the water. His left leg worked on command and he was feeling pretty proud of himself for having made it into the tub without too much trouble and no outside help. Charlie lowered himself more into the water and from there was able to slide off his clothes, except his right sock and he decided that one will just have to stay until he got done. Charlie threw the sopping wet clothes on the floor. He then laid back and enjoyed his soak.

He quickly discovered that getting out was much easier than getting in there. Using the soap dish as leverage on one side and the side of the tub on the other he was able to pull himself up to a near standing position. Once up, he needed something to hold onto to take the weight off his right leg so that he could put his good leg out first. Charlie reached up for the shower curtain rod. He held on to it and eased his left leg over the tub and then the rod gave way. Charlie fell forward and used his left leg to brace the fall as the rod came crashing down. Charlie congratulated himself on actually getting out of the tub and be still standing. He eased his right leg down. He was not too far away from a wall. He knew he could hop that far on his left leg. Charlie noticed the sopping wet sweats were in his path. He stepped to the side of them and his left foot slipped on the water that was all around the sweats. Luckily when he went down he landed on his butt.

"Charlie, are you okay?" Came the frantic yell outside of the door.

"Still fine Dad."

Charlie reached behind him for the towel and used it to dry himself off. He looked back at the towel rack and wondered if it would hold his weight any better than the curtain rod had. He put the towel around his middle as best he could.

"Dad" he yelled.

"Yeah Charlie?"

"Think you could help me get back on my feet?"

The door opened immediately and Alan came in. Charlie was clutching the towel around his waist and Alan went behind him. He was just about ready to grab him at the armpits and stand him up. "Charlie, you stay right where you are until I can get this floor dried off. You could fall you know."

"Yeah Dad, I know. Thanks."

Alan grabbed a few more towels and used them to clean the water off the floor. He took the curtain and the rob and tossed them into the tub. He picked up the wet sweat pants and boxers and one sock and tossed them in the sick. More floor drying. He got behind Charlie and hoisted him up by his armpits. Once standing, Charlie secured the towel better at his waist and while leaning just on his left leg reached for the security of the wall.

"Stay right where you are and I'll go get you some clean clothes."

"Thanks."

Alan returned a minute later with the clothes. Charlie only needed minimal assistance getting dressed. When he was ready, Alan handed him his crutches. "Think you can sleep for a while longer?"

"I could sleep for a week Dad."

Charlie hobbled into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. Again using his hands he lifted and put his right leg on the bed. The left leg followed on its own. He laid back and fell asleep quickly.

After Alan put the bathroom shower curtain rod back up and cleaned up the bathroom, he went looking for Don. He found him looking out the window, deep in thought. Alan was growing concerned about him. Don had talked very little today.

"Did he finally admit that he needed some help in there?"

"Yeah but he fought it as long as he could. I didn't go far enough away from the door that I missed that he fell getting in and getting out of there."

"He has a stubborn streak doesn't he?"

"Very much like his older brother. The only difference is that Charlie will give in and asks for that help when he knows he's had enough." After a minute he asked Don. "What are you thinking son?"

"I'm thinking it may have been a bad idea for me to come here. I should have waited."

"Wait a minute Don, how can you say that? You've barely made an attempt. You're no quitter Donnie."

"Megan warned me to be careful. She told me not to force Charlie's hand. Wait, she told me, just wait Charlie will come back when he's ready. And last night he pretty much said the same thing to me. He told me he's not ready for this yet."

"Tell me something Donnie, what makes Megan the expert on your brother? I don't care how much she knows about Charlie or how much you've told her. Megan has not known Charlie all of his life, she doesn't know him well enough to know what his reaction would be; she does not know the bond that Charlie has always felt with you."

"Let me ask you something. Why did you want to come here so badly that you were dishonest and sneaky to do it? Why did you give up a week's vacation to spend most of your time in an apartment in Washington DC with your father? Did you do it to hurt Charlie?" Don shook his head. Alan continued "No, you did it because you care about Charlie. You did it because you were following your heart, your gut instincts that told you that you needed to fix this now. Let me tell you something that Megan does not know. Even if Charlie is not ready to face this, to face you and talk over the problem, Charlie knows that he is important enough in your life for you to try everything that you could and that counts for something. So Don, when it comes to your family, never let outsiders control your actions or thoughts. You've got to follow your heart."

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Don took a beer and went to the roof to be alone for a while. He needed to think about Charlie, about what else he could possibly say and he had to face the fact that his brother may not want things to be the way they were before; That Charlie may not even want to come home when the project was finished.

He arrived back at the apartment just as dinner was nearly ready and his dad sent him to wake Charlie.

"Charlie, time to wake up." Charlie did not move. "Hey Buddy, up and on your feet, your father requests you join us at the dinner table." Only a very small reaction. Charlie scrunched up his face and shifted slightly. Don got on Charlie's right side and leaned onto the bed. " Ch…ar…..lie" he whispered right into Charlie's ear. Then he backed up and off the bed. "CHARLIE!" He yelled.

The reaction was immediate. Charlie's eyes popped open, they were huge and he was scanning the room for the threat that he was sure was ready to pounce. His left leg fell to the floor and Charlie looked ready for flight, but Don was prepared and was holding Charlie's right leg to the bed so that he did not do any more damage to the injured limb.

Charlie leaned up on his elbows. Don was looking at his brother with an amused smile on his face. Charlie was panting like he had just finished a marathon. He looked at Don in disbelief. "What?" came his irritated response. "What do you want?"

"I came to invite you to dine with your father and brother in your own dining room. Interested?"

"Don did you and Dad somehow miss what the rest of the world considers common knowledge? SLEEP is very important with people who are mending. Now, go away and both of you leave me alone or I'm going to call and tell Bob that I need a bodyguard."

"I'm guessing that's a no?"

"Yes, brother mine, that is a no. Close the door on your way out."

Don turned and started to walk toward the door. "Okay, but you don't sound very sure. I'll let Dad know that you are considering the invitation." A pillow hit Don in the back of the head.

Don went to the dining room, he was unaware that his father had heard and seen the entire encounter between Charlie and himself. He had gone to offer assistance in case there was resistance from his youngest. But Alan played it out so that he could see where Don would go with this.

"Where's your brother?"

"He woke up pretty grouchy Dad, maybe we better give him a few minutes and then you can try to get him in here."

"Did you tell him I made tacos? You know how he likes tacos."

"No, I forgot to mention what was on the menu, but I'm sure if you go in there and tell him he would be only to happy to join us."

"Donnie, I need to get the rice on the table. I'll get that and grab you a beer while you let Charlie know what he'll be missing if he doesn't join us."

"You know Dad, tacos always taste better the next day, maybe you can just save some of those for his lunch tomorrow."

"Let me put this another way Don. I want Charlie here at this table for dinner. Now would be a good time. In case you haven't thought about it, Charlie probably will have problems sleeping tonight if we just let him sleep through. Do you have any idea how annoying crutches and a sleepless invalid can be when you're trying to sleep in a confined space like this one? Consider getting your brother to this table like you would consider a new case at work."

"I'm the boss Dad, I can delegate."

"Chicken. Okay you get the rice on the table and I will get the grouchy professor out here."

Alan softly opened the bedroom door. He was being cautious in case of flying missiles. "Charlie?" he said softly from the doorway. "Charlie, dinner's ready." Alan had been creeping to the bedside. He reached out and shook Charlie's left leg. "Charlie, wake up."

Charlie opened his eyes and squinted at his dad. "What?" came an annoyed response.

"Time to wake up. We're getting ready to sit down to dinner."

"I think I explained in some detail to Don that I'm not hungry."

"I know you did Charlie, but Don didn't tell you that we're having tacos."

"They make great leftovers Dad, save me some for tomorrow." Charlie said as he turned over onto his side.

"Charles Edward Eppes, you get your butt out of that bed now."

Charlie sat up slowly. His dad was waiting with the crutches and to assist him to his feet. Charlie was mumbling under his breath and Alan could not miss the part that mentioned 'Sunday can just not get here fast enough for me.'

Charlie hobbled out of the bedroom with his dad following close behind.

Don had held Charlie's chair for him and then set the crutches out of the way. He had to admit that Charlie looked tired. He wanted to ask if Charlie had gotten any sleep at all last night but decided that may be a touchy subject now. Don assisted Charlie in making his tacos since Charlie was lacking in motivation.

"Thanks."

"No problem Buddy."

Charlie picked up and attempted to eat one of the tacos that his brother had prepared. He really wasn't feeling very hungry though and could not eat more than a few bites.

He asked for assistance and Don got his crutches and helped Charlie over to the couch. He got his requested laptop and then Don went to finish his dinner.

Charlie attempted to work on the program for over an hour and he could feel his eyelids start to get heavy. Don and his dad had finished cleaning the kitchen and were now sitting in the same room watching a baseball game.

"Look guys, I'm really tired. Anyone have any objections of me going to bed?"

Don shook his head and Alan stood to his feet to help Charlie. He held up the crutches.

"You sure there're no objections? I might not be so nice if I get woke up again before dawn."

"No one will bother you the rest of the night Charlie. Let me help you get to bed."

They stopped at the bathroom, Alan got Charlie another muscle relaxer and then he assisted Charlie into his sweatpants. Charlie was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Alan softly closed the door and went back to the chair he had been sitting in. "He's out already."

"I'm surprised he made it as long as he did, he must not have gotten very much sleep last night. I didn't hear him come back into the apartment."

"I'll just let him sleep in tomorrow if he needs it."

"Dad, I know you came out here to spend time with Charlie, but do you have any objection if he and I spend the day together on Saturday? We had already discussed an alternative to the hiking that he can't do now and I'm hoping he'll be ready to talk to me."

"I don't have any objections at all to that, you just be sure he doesn't forget himself and put weight on that leg."

"I'll take care of him Dad, I promise."

"I know you will Donnie."