A week passed, and James began to get the feel for his new job. It made him sad to see how isolated Logan lived, though. He promised himself that he would do something to make the blind young man's life better. There had to be a way.
James came into the lobby of the apartment building and walked over to the mailroom. As he passed a small table, he noticed a stack of bright orange flyers next to the usual pot of plastic flowers. "Pie Event this Thursday." James picked one up and carried it with Logan's mail.
"Loooogan! Helloooo!" he called out as he stepped inside the apartment. He placed a plastic bag on the counter.
"Hey James," Logan answered from the kitchen. He was attempting to get some water from the faucet.
"You doing okay?" James asked.
"Uh huh. How are you? Weather nice outside?"
"Oh wow, yeah it sure is. Want me to open a window?"
"That would be cool."
James walked over to the far end of the apartment and slid open one of the windows. It was a calm, early autumn day. The sun was bright and the trees were starting to change color.
"Sleep well?" James asked.
"Not really," Logan answered. He finished the glass of water and left it in the sink, and then he followed the wall to the living room, where he plopped onto the sofa. "I'm having a terrible time staying asleep lately."
"That's no good," said James. He left the window and joined Logan on the sofa. "I found something interesting, though."
"Oh yeah?" Logan tried to look at where James was and he smiled. "What's that?"
"A 'Pie Event' that the apartment management is hosting tomorrow. They're gonna have a bunch of pies, and everyone is invited to come down and have some."
"Oh…"
"What?" James asked with a little laugh.
"Wh…why did you mention that? They do it every year."
"Ever gone?"
Logan became quiet and closed up. He looked sad, maybe even frightened.
"Logan?"
"No, I haven't gone," he said quickly.
"Want to?"
"James, you know I haven't left the apartment in 10 years."
"Not even the lobby? It's not outside outside. Just down the elevator and…"
"I don't know."
"Hey, come on, no pressure," James said calmly. He scooted a little closer to Logan. "But think about it…all the smells and tastes that you could experience!"
Logan sighed and slumped against James's arm. James immediately sucked in a tight breath of air. It was the first time that Logan had really touched him on purpose, and it felt nice. Logan was obviously starting to open up and feel comfortable around his aid.
"I'll think about it," said the blind boy.
"Good. Think about it a lot, okay?"
"Mh…"
"Well anyways, I brought something kind of fun and different." James gently pushed Logan away from his arm (even though he didn't want to) and went to the plastic bag he had brought in earlier.
"What is it?" Logan asked.
"Come to the kitchen, you'll see."
Logan teetered his way over to the room where James now was and stood in the threshold. "What is it?" he asked again.
"Come here." James held out his hand for Logan to grab onto, which he did, and he pulled him to the kitchen counter. There, the helper pulled a bunch of different food out of the bag and laid them upon the surface. He took a few mixing bowls from a cupboard and put them in front of Logan. "Thought I would try making something different for dinner," said James.
"Like what?" Logan asked cautiously.
"Liiiiike a salad. Aaaaand how about a frozen lasagna?"
The taller young man popped the frozen dish from its box and stuck it in the microwave. He set it to several minutes and went back to where Logan stood. "But I want you to help me."
"Ohh, haha…how?" Logan asked.
"You said you like to do small things to make you feel useful, right?"
"Right…"
"Well, let's try this. Here." James took a knife from a drawer and held it gently in his hand. "Of course, I'll do all the chopping. First I'll cut up a cucumber." Bat bat bat bat. He made many round slices of the cool vegetable and set them aside. Logan inhaled the smell deeply.
"Now how about a bell pepper?" James said cheerily. He cut it long ways and then into small square. Shop shop shop shop.
"It smells so good!" Logan exclaimed. "Very watery and fresh."
"Uh huh," James agreed. "Now I'm going to grate a carrot." Shrint-shrunt shrint-shrunt. "And a few tomatoes. They're not real big, so I'll just cut 'em into quarters. They're squishy." Slirp slirp slirp.
"Of course, can't forget the lettuce!" James added. He smiled real big and cut up a large head of lettuce. Kachrit kachrit.
"You're a talented cook," said Logan. James rolled his eyes.
"Only kinda," he said coyly. "But you're gonna help, and you'll be just as good, okay? Here…"
Logan acted a little embarrassed about this, mostly because he thought he wouldn't do a very good job. He lacked the self-confidence to dive headfirst. James put a stainless steel bowl in front of Logan and filled it with the chopped up vegetables. Then he took another, smaller mixing bowl and put in some vinegar and oil. He also chopped a piece of garlic real fine and put it inside as well.
"Put your hands on here," James said, handing the small bowl to Logan. The blind boy took it gently, carefully, and held it with both hands.
"Now what?" Logan asked.
"Pour it into the bigger bowl," James instructed. "Just pour it right on."
"Ummm okay. Like this?" Logan giggled and tipped the side of the small bowl right over top of the big one. The dressing dribbled over the vegetables. "It makes such a great sound!"
"Uh, I guess," James said. "But it's easy, you know?"
"It is!" Logan exclaimed. "Is it empty?"
"Yeah, here I'll take it."
Logan handed the small bowl back to James. The taller guy now took a big spoon and held it out to Logan. "Okay, take this," he said.
Logan reached his hand out to take the spoon, but his fingers landed on James's hand instead.
"Uh, the spoon," James said, his face turning red. Logan's soft fingers touched the back of his hand so tender and sweetly.
"Right," Logan confirmed. He slowly slid his hand down James's until he found the spoon.
"So just mix it all up now," James said quickly. He wondered if Logan had done that on purpose. How could he have? Well, it wouldn't have been that difficult. Hmm…James really wondered.
"Like this?" Logan asked as he attempted to toss the salad. He did an alright job.
"Yeah! That's great! Just like that!" James cheered. "Okay, that's good! Now let's check the lasagna."
"I don't think I'd be any good at that," Logan said sadly.
"It only requires one person," James said. He opened up the microwave and pulled out the cheesy dish. He stuck a fork into it and tested its heat. "Yep! Perfect. You wanna go sit down at the counter?"
"Okay!" Logan smiled sweetly and made his careful way over to the other side of the counter top. He plopped down on one of the benches and waited patiently for James to bring dinner. "James, it smells great."
"It's just frozen lasagna, silly. I didn't bake it or nothing."
"Yeah but still. Thank you. I like this a lot. You're sweet."
James smiled as he carried two plates full of food over to the counter. He sat beside Logan and handed him a fork. "Got everything?" he asked.
"Mhmm! Thank you!" Logan said. He stuck out his tongue and looked super adorable. James wanted to hug him, but that would probably be too forward.
"Thank you for helping me," James said.
"Ohh, it was…haha…nothing…"
"So how's the word processor?" James asked.
"Good!" Logan answered. He put a big bite of lasagna into his mouth and chewed. "I've been keeping a journal, like I always wanted."
"Awesome. I knew you'd put it to good use."
"Uh huh! But what I really want to do is write stories."
"What kind of stories?"
"Fairy tales. Is that silly?"
"No, why would it be?" Even though it didn't matter, James kept his eyes focused on Logan as they talked. Although his eyes were milky and weird looking, the rest of Logan was, well, beautiful. At least that's how James felt. He had a gorgeous face, body, and soul. He wanted to give him everything to make him happy.
"I dunno. My mom used to read me fairy tales, and they took me to great places. I guess…oh…this sounds funny, but I guess I've spent a lot of my life living in those places."
"Logan," James said softly. He pushed his empty plate away. "That's beautiful."
"You think so?" Logan asked cutely. James put a hand onto the blind boy's shoulder.
"You never really grew up," James said. "You still have the heart of a child."
"Is that bad?"
"No."
