Page 11 of Grumpy

He couldn’t think straight. What time of year was it? Did she need help putting up or taking down her Christmas lights? Kelly was Jewish, but she loved the festivities of Christmas and decorated her house with winter lights, snowmen, and reindeer. But it wasn’t winter yet…was it? Grumpy needed to get one of the prospects to salt her sidewalk and driveway.

Pirate raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know what’s going through your head right now, man, but I promise you, Kelly’s fine. She’s back at work and comes here to see your crispy ass before or after her shifts.”

“Crispy?” came from the doorway. “More like deep fried.”

A figure moved into Grumpy’s limited line of sight. Bear. The burly man had recently started getting some gray streaks in his russet hair and beard. Every one of them was due to his ol’ lady, Tessa, or his two daughters, Maggie and Julia. Practically a giant at six-six, Bear was tender-hearted and jovial until someone threatened his family.

Grumpy just barely raised his middle finger, not having the energy to spell out F-U again. Fuck, he did not want to go back to sleep just yet. Where was Kelly? He wanted to see her before he faded back into oblivion. He could handle the pain a bit longer if it meant getting to see her.

“We might have to rename him ‘Burning Man’,” Bear continued, smiling down at Grumpy.

“I was thinking Cyclops. You know, because of…” Pirate covered his left eye with his hand. “Oh, maybe Keys could make him a bionic eye. Then he’d be like RoboCop or Inspector Gadget.”

“Too bad they didn’t have to chop off any of his fingers,” Bear chuckled. “We could have given him Edward Scissorhands hands.”

“Boys!” Grumpy flinched at the sharp tone of his mother’s voice as Bear and Pirate jumped like children caught being naughty. “My son is injured and does not need your sass right now.” Grumpy felt something on his left and wondered if his mom was fucking fluffing his pillow in front of his club brothers. “Now, scoot. He needs rest and relaxation.”

“Sorry, Mrs. Bell,” Bear and Pirate murmured before scampering from the room like they weren’t grown-ass men with children of their own.

Grumpy groaned. He’d rather have his brothers in the room coming up with alternate road names for him than his mother’s relentless pampering. But it wasn’t like he could explain that. She didn’t know ASL, and she continued to place the notepad the nurses had given him just out of his reach. But after what he’d just gone through, how could he tell his mother that her brand of smothering and love was not what he wanted or needed? Margery was the definition of a helicopter mom, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love him. In fact, it was the opposite. And Grumpy had nearly died. He couldn’t really hold her need to pamper him against her.

“That’s better.” His mom came around the right side of his bed. “Peace and quiet. Just what my boy needs. I spoke with the hospital administration. They’re going to add a bed in here for me. Now that you’re awake more and more, I don’t feel right leaving you at night. I didn’t want one of those silly kid cots, either. At my age, could you imagine? So they’re going to bring in another hospital bed for me. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but we’ll make it work. That waitress friend of yours, Kelly, tried to get rid of all these flowers, but I told her ‘nonsense’. They brighten up the place, don’t they?”

Grumpy closed his eye. He hoped if his mom thought he was asleep or going to sleep that she’d stop talking. He did not like how his mom referred to Kelly as “that waitress”. Like that didn’t make her good enough to be his friend. Wouldn’t his mom be surprised when she discovered Grumpy wanted Kelly as more than just a friend?

“Sorry, I didn’t realize he was sleeping.”

Grumpy popped his eye open. He must have faded some during his mom’s ramblings.

His mom looked up from her knitting. She wasn’t any good, and Grumpy suspected she did it only to draw attention to herself. “Yes, he fell right to sleep. Why don’t you come back tomorrow?”

Grumpy couldn’t see Kelly, but he knew that was who was in the doorway. He grunted to get his mom’s attention. He didn’t want Kelly to leave.

Unfortunately, his mom misunderstood the sound and immediately stood up, hovering over him. “What is it, baby? Are you in pain? I’ll call the doctor.” She took the remote and hit the button to summon the nurse. To Kelly, his mom said, “I think it’s best if you come back tomorrow.”

Grumpy let out a groan.

* * *

If Kelly did return the next day, Grumpy slept through it. And the next day. His brothers rotated sitting with him, but his mom was quick to kick them out when she returned. At least Grumpy’s brothers put something interesting on television. His mom liked watching soap operas with so much ridiculous added drama Grumpy found himself wishing for a more serious TBI just so he didn’t have to continue listening to it.

He was getting stronger. The doctors were talking about moving him to a rehab unit to start physical therapy. His memory was also getting better. He couldn’t recall the explosion itself, but he did remember walking into the bar and the anticipation of getting to see Kelly socially outside of the diner. He vaguely recalled a kiss, though he wasn’t entirely sure if that was real or a fantasy. He’d spent a lot of nights making love to her in his mind. But if he’d finally asked her out, there was a good chance he’d kissed her, too.

There was a knock to his left. Grumpy did not like not being able to see the doorway, but it was low on his priority list right now. Even if someone came in with sinister intentions, what the hell could he do about it? He wasn’t moving any time soon. He couldn’t even piss on his own.

His mom put down her knitting. Grumpy was pretty sure she’d been working on the same scarf for the past five years. “Yes?”

“Hi, Margery. Is he awake?”

Grumpy perked up. Kelly was back! His brothers kept saying she was fine, that she was going back to work and still stopping by, but Grumpy did not like not being able to see her.

His mom glanced down at him, frowning when she saw his eye open. “Yes, but they just gave him something.”

Grumpy’s single eye narrowed at her. They adjusted his medications to lower doses. They didn’t want him sleeping or sedated as much, and his mom was very aware of that fact.

“Would you mind giving us a minute? I’d like to speak with him alone.”

Grumpy didn’t like the sadness he could hear in Kelly’s voice. Had something happened? Was it her mom? Her grandma? Crap, what was the name she used for her grandma? Grumpy had picked up on several Yiddish phrases from Kelly over the years, but seemed to be blanking on every single one of them now.