Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 22:10:07 +0100 From: Reickard Masters Subject: Caleb 5 This work is copyright protected © 2018. You may not copy or reproduce it in anyway whatsoever without the express permission of the owner. Caleb Chapter 5 Caleb left his sister in the front room while he went to answer the door. He opened it on the safety chain first and then saw that on the other side stood Jerry and Mark. "Oh, hi, hang on and I'll open the door." Caleb pushed the door closed enough to be able to release the chain and then pulled the door open. "Is there a problem?" he asked. "No. We just came by to visit our new friend." Jerry said. "Yeah, but Ronnie said he's sorry, he can't come. He has to do something with his family." Mark said. "That's nice, but I'm with my sister right now." Caleb said. "Is it a problem if we meet your sister too?" Jerry asked. "Oh, uhm, no, I guess not. Come in." Caleb invited them in. He led them through to the lounge and introduced them to Sheila. "I hope we're not interrupting something." Jerry said. "No. Caleb was just trying to persuade me to write some stories. But I'm not sure. I can't actually write myself." Sheila said. "Can't you tap it out on your computer?" Mark asked. "We don't have a computer." Caleb said. "Well what about on your mobile then?" Mark asked again. "We can't afford mobiles." Sheila said. "That's harsh!" Jerry said. "How do you do your homework and coursework assignments then?" "I have to take Sheila with me and go to the library and use theirs." Caleb said. "Oh man, that really sucks." Jerry said. "No, it's Ronnie who sucks." Mark said and then blushed as he realised what he had said in front of Sheila. "Have you seen Simon since we left him yesterday?" Caleb asked. "I phoned him last night and he just told me to `f' off and cut the call." Jerry said. "I think he's rather upset with us." "But hopefully he'll think about it and realise he brought it on himself." Mark said. "It doesn't seem likely." Jerry said and then changed the subject. "So with us messing with you on Friday did you manage to get to the library to finish your homework?" "Yeah, that must have been when you saw me pushing Sheila." Caleb said. "So I'm guessing you don't have internet here then?" Jerry asked. "We did, because we had it before the accident. But I think mum isn't paying the subscription anymore." Sheila said. "Let's see." Jerry pulled out his mobile phone, "Where's your router?" Caleb pointed to a black box nestled behind the television. Jerry went over and had a look at it and found the power switch. He turned it off and then back on and the group waited for a while as it booted up. Jerry pulled the tab off the back with the keys and passwords on it and waited to see if his phone would pick it up. A few moments later he was tapping the pass and key into his phone. "There, I've connected." "So you still have the internet. Now all you need is a laptop or something." Mark said. "Yeah well, there's no ways we can afford one of those. And we don't have a printer either." Caleb said. A hint of sadness tinged his tone. "Anyway, tell us about these stories." Jerry suggested. "I don't know ..." Sheila started. Caleb interrupted his sister, "She thought up two story lines just for the bruises on my wrist." "What are they?" Mark asked. "One was that Caleb was a soldier who had been captured and tied up with wire to be tortured for information. The other was that he had been captured by some thugs who tied him with wire so they could have some fun with him. And that's all there was." Sheila said. "That's really cool. I like the one with a gang having some fun with him." Mark said. "Well it's better than his merry-go-round story. With that lip, I'm guessing you're the one who is supposed to have grabbed him hard enough to cause the bruises as you fell off?" Sheila said. "Well it worked for me. My parents accepted the story." Mark said. "Well a cut lip is easier to explain than a couple of bruises too thin to be caused by fingers grabbing that tight." Sheila pointed out. "So this gang of thugs, what sort of fun do they have with Caleb?" Jerry asked. "Well, I hadn't thought that much detail out. I was just letting my thoughts wander." Sheila answered. "I guess a lot would depend on how long they are going to hold their captive for. If it was long term then they could make him their slave to do all the chores for them. Or maybe they'd do what you guys did to Caleb." "What we did?" Jerry asked. "Don't worry, Sheila knows what happened and how you sorted Simon out and that I'm not upset with what happened." Caleb assured the two visitors. "Only I think you should have shaved him too. I reckon Caleb would look quite cute all smooth." Sheila said, smiling. "Thanks a lot. Now they might just do that and I don't think that it was too comfortable for Simon." Caleb said. "Are you asking us to shave you?" Mark asked. "No, I'm not. How would I explain that to my mother?" Caleb almost snorted in his response. "Your mother sees you naked?" Mark asked in surprise. "Sometimes. Caleb sleeps naked and has a tendency to kick off the bed clothes in his sleep. If mum has to go in to wake him up she gets to see him with his morning wood." Sheila informed the other two. Even though they had started off being mean to Caleb, she could see from what Caleb had told her and what she had witnessed today that these two were not really gang material. She liked them and felt that they could become good friends for her brother. Something which she felt guilty about as she believed she was depriving him of a normal life because of her own needs and how he had to help her. "Geez! Why don't you just video it and then show them." Caleb complained. "So are you two gay or just fooling around?" Sheila asked. "My decision is still out. I've not had much experience with either, but what I've had, I liked. So I'm happy to keep on experimenting." Jerry said. "Well, I've only had some physical stuff with guys and I liked it, but I also like seeing naked girls and so want to try something with them before I make my mind up." Mark said. "Shit, I can't believe you've just admitted all that to someone you've only known for a couple of days and someone else you've only known for a few minutes." Caleb said. "Well, we want to be friends with you if you'll let us. Friends need to be able to trust each other. Not like Simon, we thought we could trust him, but he broke the laws he helped to make." Jerry said. "Anyway, it's a nice day outside. Do you guys want to go for a walk and we can show you where we live because we're not that far away." "You want some fresh air Sheil?" Caleb asked, turning to his sister, and using his pet name for her. "Yeah, it would be nice to get out." Sheila said. "Do you need anything done before we go?" Caleb asked her. "No, I'm good for now, thanks." Sheila replied. Jerry and Mark watched, a little in awe, at the skilful way that Caleb got Sheila covered with a light rug and then manoeuvred her chair out the door that was not really designed for wheelchair access. As they moved out onto the pavement Jerry just started going towards the right and Caleb followed pushing Sheila. For the first part of the way the pavement was quite narrow and the four of them could not fit side by side. But when the pavement widened out they moved from their single file to having Mark on one side and Jerry on the other side of Caleb pushing Sheila. Jerry spoke up first. "If we're going to see more of each other, which I hope we do, there might be a situation where we ask something that you'd rather not answer. After all we've never had a friend who was in a wheelchair before. So if we do ask something that you don't want to answer, just say so, and put it down to our ignorance." "That's very thoughtful of you Jerry, thank you." Sheila answered. They walked for about five minutes, crossing over one road, before turning right again and then followed that road for almost ten minutes before Mark said, "And that is my house." Pointing to a house across the road from where they were. Jerry stepped off the pavement to cross the road but Caleb stopped him. "We need to find a drop kerb to get the wheelchair down." "Shit! Sorry, didn't think of that. We're going to have to learn a lot of things like that now." Jerry apologised. "Don't worry about it. If you haven't had to do it before, there's no reason why you should have thought about it." Sheila told him. "Yeah, you should've seen the first time I took Sheil's out. We'd hardly got anywhere before I nearly tipped her out of the chair trying to go off the kerb." Caleb laughed. "And the second time he did tip me out. At least we learned that I can bounce." Sheila laughed. "Do you ever talk about the accident?" Mark asked. "Not really. There's not a lot to say." Sheila said. "Why?" "I'm just curious, I guess. I'd like to know what happened and how and what damage it did. If there's any chance you could get better and get out of the chair?" Mark explained. "Okay. Caleb, let me tell them. Caleb gets upset about parts of it." Sheila explained. "No, then don't tell us; we'll just have to be curious. We don't want to upset Caleb." Jerry said. "No, it's okay. I get angry more than upset and you might understand why when you hear the story." Caleb said. "My dad liked his booze at the weekend and had got quite drunk when he and mum had a real big argument. Caleb was at some sport activity and it was just dad, mum and me at home. Anyway dad told my mum that she didn't deserve us and he grabbed me and pulled me out to the car. He put me in the backseat with no seat belt on and then drove off. Anyway, he was going a bit too fast and ran a red light. There were some police near the intersection and they started to chase after us. Dad in his drunkenness thought that he would be able to outrun them and took off. He lost control on a corner and rolled the car smashing into a tree that killed him. I was thrown about a lot in the back seat and got a lot of back damage as well as several broken bones. Surprisingly my spine didn't get any major damage but where the nerves branch out from the spinal cord they got a lot of damage. My legs don't work at all and my hands and arms are not a great deal better. But all my inside bits work okay. Because dad was drunk and speeding, there's been no insurance payment so we have to struggle on our own." Sheila told them. "But don't you get some help from the social services?" Jerry asked. "What help do you mean?" Sheila asked. "Well, a carer to help you with whatever you need and allowances to cover the extra costs of being disabled." Jerry said. "I don't think we're eligible for any of that." Sheila said. "Fuck, oops sorry, that doesn't seem fair. Has your mum checked it out?" Jerry asked. "Don't worry about the language. I think it all the time." Sheila said. "I don't know what mum's checked out. All I know is that there's not much money left after we pay for the essentials." "That's really tough. How do you guys stay so cheerful when life's as shit as it is for you?" Mark asked. "Life isn't that shit, you know. We have fun together, we have food to eat most of the time and we have somewhere to sleep at night. That's more than some have." Sheila said. "Yeah, but mum has to work fucking hard to get the little money she does. That's why it's so important for me to get home from school as quickly as I can." Caleb told the other two. "And we screwed that up too. No wonder you ran so hard. I'm really sorry to have done that to you. I think we're going to have to stop our little gang plan. I don't want to put someone else in that sort of position just so we can have a bit of fun." Jerry said. "Yeah and I'm sorry for making it so hard on you, but I'm not sorry for meeting you. I'm glad we've got together a bit." Mark added. "That's true. I hope you guys feel the same about meeting us." Jerry said. "You want me to push the chair for a bit?" "Is it okay with you Sheil?" Caleb asked using his pet shortened version of her name, again. Mark and Jerry did not know it then, but this was an indication to both Caleb and Sheila that Caleb had accepted them as friends. Caleb only used his pet name in front of his mother and a few other of his mother's close friends. "Yeah, that'll give you a rest too." Sheila agreed and Jerry took over the pushing. "What school do you go to Sheila?" Mark asked. "I don't, mum home schools me because I can't do anything for myself." Sheila said. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you." Mark apologised. "You didn't embarrass me. When I first came home from hospital, I found it hard to cope with, but mum and Caleb have been great and made it much easier for me." Sheila said. "It's not Sheil's fault she's ended up like this. We never blame her and are just happy to do what we can to help her to have as best a time as she can." Caleb explained. "You guys amaze me. I think I would be kicking and screaming and making a right old nuisance of myself." Jerry said. "I felt like that at first, but it actually doesn't help anything or anyone to be like that and I got some good help while I was still in hospital. Some of the nurses were so good and talked me through some really bad times." Sheila told them. "Anyway, this is my house. You guys want to come in and get a drink before we go on?" Jerry said pulling to a halt in front of his house. "I guess we could stop for a quick drink but then we will need to start heading back home. I'll need to help Sheila with some things by then." Caleb said. "How about it Sheil? Want to go in?" Sheila agreed and they walked up the garden to the front door. There was a step up to the door but with Jerry's help they managed to get Sheila's chair up it and through the door. The entrance hall was big enough to manoeuvre the chair and so they managed to get her into the sitting room. Jerry went off to let his mum know that there were guests in the house and then make up some juice for them all. Amelia Cobb was quite surprised to see a wheel chair in the lounge as she came in to greet the guests. Jerry was handing round drinks and did the introductions. The only guest Amelia had met before was Mark. Amelia told them they were all welcome and then left them alone again; only to poke her head in again a few minutes later to tell them she was going out for a bit and ask Jerry not to leave as his sister was upstairs. Jerry had an ulterior motive for inviting his new friends in, but wanted to do some talking to others before he let on what he was thinking. The four friends were about half way through their drinks when Jerry's younger sister walked in. She had been reading in her room and had not heard the others until something made them all laugh loudly. This got her curiosity up and she went to find out what it was. "Well if it isn't the mummies boy. I never thought you'd be brave enough to come into our house." Carol said as she looked at Caleb. Caleb and Carol were in the same year at school. She like most of the pupils in their year had never cared enough to find out why Caleb always made a mad dash to get home after school. "Carol, that's so rude. Apologize to Caleb." Jerry said, very embarrassed. "Well, it's the truth isn't it? Look he can't even get a decent girlfriend, but has to go for an unvalid!" Carol shot back. "Sheila's not Caleb's girlfriend ..." Jerry started but got interrupted. "No! don't bother to explain. If she really wanted to know, she would already. Let her find out the hard way." Sheila interrupted. "I'm Sheila, by the way. Sorry, I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you." Sheila's tone was dripping with sarcasm. She had taken an instant dislike to Jerry's sister, Carol. Mainly because Carol had been horrible to Caleb, and Sheila found that really got to her. It was the first time she had come across someone being mean to Caleb and her love for her brother meant that it really riled her. Jerry looked over at Caleb and Sheila and apologised, "I'm really sorry that my sister can't be polite to our company. Carol, if you've got nothing nice to say, perhaps you'd better go back to wherever you came from." Jerry dismissed his sister. Carol, looked like she would explode. But with nothing to say that would not be thrown right back at her, she turned and left the room. She knew from the way her brother had spoken that she was not welcome and also that she had not heard the end of it. In fact it was not going to be very much later that she got the full blast of his wrath. After she had left the room, Jerry again apologised and Caleb told him not to worry about it. He admitted to Jerry that he did not like Carol and had had to put up with a lot worse comments from her at school. Sheila, changed the subject and soon they were all laughing and enjoying a bit of banter with each other, which continued until Caleb said they had to go. Mark said he would walk home with them and help to push the chair. The three of them asked Jerry to thank his mum and then left together. They had hardly got to the pavement before Jerry was banging on his sister's bedroom door.