Chapter 2

“Easy, I’ve got you,” said Kelly, easing the other man down to sit on one of the steps.

“Unh, and who’s got you? I outweigh you by at least twenty pounds,” Simon replied. His breathing was slightly fast and breathy.

“I’m a lot stronger than I look,” said Kelly. Simon squinted at Kelly, as if he were attempting to judge the truth of the statement. “Should I call 911? No offense, but you look like shit.” Kelly gazed at the film of sweat slicking the other man’s face.

“I’ll be fine. I just need to get home and take some stuff to knock back the pain and get some sleep. Fuck…”

“What?”

“I’m not sure I’m going to be able to drive.” Simon rested his head on the heel of his hand.

“My car’s parked out back in the deck. I was being a lazy fool and decided I didn’t want to drive the mile from my apartment, especially with it being this cold. I’ll give you a lift home. Last thing I need is to hear you wrapped your car around a light pole trying to get home.”

“Thanks…” Simon replied slowly. Kelly pulled the professor’s free arm over his shoulders and wrapped an arm around Simon’s waist, hauling him back to his feet. They made their way the rest of the way down to the ground floor and out into the parking lot.

Kelly unlocked an old white Toyota Camry, and Simon sank heavily into the passenger seat, head lying back against the seat. Once the backpack was settled at Simon’s feet, Kelly circled around to get in the driver’s seat.

“You’re going to have to give me some directions,” said Kelly.

“Oh…yeah, guess so. Head over toward the Seventh Street shopping center. Take the first right after that, um…it’s called Thomas Johnson Drive.”

“Got it.” Kelly pulled out of the parking lot and went in the indicated direction. He glanced at Simon as he turned the car onto Thomas Johnson Drive.

“Fourth left, there’s a batch of townhouses. Mine’s 3321,” said Simon. Kelly noted his tone was a tense mutter through clenched teeth. It took another couple of minutes to find the right house number. As Kelly turned off the engine, Simon was slowly dragging himself up out of the car seat. Backpack dangling from his hand, Simon stumbled up the two stairs to the door. Kelly followed a step behind.

After three unsuccessful attempts to stick his key in the lock, Kelly took the keys from Simon’s hand and unlocked it himself. A hand at the professor’s back, Kelly guided the other man inside, and flipped on a light switch beside the door. A small table lamp popped on and illuminated the living room of the townhouse. Every wall of the room was covered with heavily-laden bookshelves. In the center of the room was a long, beige sofa and a coffee table.

Simon let the backpack fall to the floor and headed for the staircase. Kelly tagged along behind because the professor’s coordination seemed to be getting even worse. Crashing down the stairs wouldn’t help the situation. In a bathroom on the upper floor, Simon grabbed a prescription bottle from the sink top and gulped down a couple of capsules. Belatedly, Kelly realized the other man had never turned on the light. Although Kelly’s own night vision was spectacular, he suspected Simon’s relatively certain grope for the plastic vial was habit-based. The professor stood with both arms braced against the edge of the sink, his breathing a slow pant.

“I think you said something about sleep being the last part of the solution to the headache,” prompted Kelly.

“Um, yeah. Thanks for driving me.” Simon shuffled toward the opposite end of the hall. A double bed occupied one corner of the room and he sagged onto it and lay down, one arm flung over his eyes.

Kelly hesitated. Maybe he should take Simon’s shoes off and look for a blanket to cover the man up. He gently gripped Simon’s ankle and pulled off one shoe, then the other, depositing them at the foot of the bed. The professor made a faint noise that might have been agreement with the action. Kelly scanned the room, and spied a comforter lying somewhat haphazardly folded on the floor in front of another set of well-loaded bookshelves. He scooped it up and spread it over Simon.

Wandering back downstairs, he paused in the living room. All those books he and Simon discussed during odd hours and lab and fencing practice? It would seem the professor probably owned every one. Curiosity prompted Kelly to linger, eyes scanning the spines of row after row of books. One section was chemistry, but the rest seemed to be all fantasy and science fiction of one form or another. Kelly thought written words were easier to decipher than people, especially humans.