The doctor took one look at him on the crutches and said, “Progress, indeed.”
“Progress on many levels,” he said and explained about the email.
“So, will you do it?”
“I’m not sure,” he said.
The doctor just stared at him, then slowly leaned forward. “You want to explain?”
“Because I’m not sure I’m ready,” he said. “Although I’m better, I don’t want to have some stupid deal where I fall off the stage or where I can’t sit on the chair and my back seizes up, or you know? It wasn’t so bad, but then Shane chose today to take away my wheelchair permanently,” he confessed.
The doctor, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth, sat back. “Ah, so you lost something that was part of yourself. Something that made you feel secure, so now everything else in the future looks scary, doesn’t it?”
He frowned at the shrink. “Surely it can’t be that simple, can it?”
“Life is often that simple,” he said. “And it makes sense, if you think about it. You were just getting really comfortable, but you also knew you had the wheelchair to fall back on.”
“I can go buy my own wheelchair,” he said, staring out the window.
“You can,” he said, “and maybe that’s what you need to do. Buy it and just keep it there as a reminder that, when things get bad, you can sit down and use it.”
“Most people don’t like their wheelchair,” he said. “So what’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” he said, “but change is threatening for you. It always has been. So, if you need to hang on to that wheelchair a little bit longer, than you hang on to it.”
He nodded slowly. “Not sure Shane will let me.”
“I’ll have a talk with Shane,” the doc said. “If you want it, you can have it. Just let me know.”
Chapter 17
Something was going on that Jessica wasn’t too sure about. Lance seemed excited and ready to tell her something and then had backed off several times. She went up to Dani on Thursday and asked, “Do you know what’s going on with Lance?”
Dani looked up at her, surprised. “What do you mean by going on?”
She frowned and said, “He seems really excited about something, yet he won’t tell me what it is.”
“Maybe you’ll have to wait for him to share it then,” she said.
“I hate waiting,” she said, “and, during all the time that I’m waiting, it always seems like I’m looking at the negative side of life instead of the positive.”
“So then patience in this instance is a good thing,” Dani said gently. “And you can do whatever you want to do, but it’s up to him to tell you when he’s ready.”
Jessica started to nod and then looked at her and asked, “Do you know?”
Dani grinned. “I know something’s going on. I don’t know what it is you’re talking about in particular though.”
With that, Jessica had to be satisfied, and she headed off.
As she headed down the hallway, Shane called out to her, “I’m going into town and maybe to the blues club just to get away for a bit. Do you want to come? I think a group of us are going,” he said.
“You know what? That would be nice,” she said. “Music tonight and then potentially again tomorrow night with Lance.”
“We’ll miss him when he’s gone,” Shane said. “A couple more weeks and he’s likely to have his strings cut.”
“He’s sure come a long way, and that’s what we want for everybody,” she said warmly. But, in her heart of hearts, she also knew that she would be lonely as heck without him. And that’s not what she wanted. But she was willing to do whatever she needed to do in order to help him fly. “So what time are you going?”
“Well, it’ll start around seven-thirty, I think,” he said. “So we should be there by six-thirty or seven to be sure we get seats.”
“Good enough,” she said.
“We’ll take the van after dinner.”
“Okay, that sounds good. Thank you for asking me.”
As it was, baked sea bass was served for dinner, so she thoroughly enjoyed her meal, and then she found a group of about eight of them gathered and ready to go. They got into one of the big Hathaway vans and headed into town.
“We don’t usually get this many people to go,” she said.
He looked at her, smiled, and said, “No, we don’t. But that’s all right. Sometimes we have special events for everybody.” The drive into town went by quickly, and, in another five minutes, they were at the blues club. As they drove in to the parking lot, she was amazed.
“Just think, it’s only a quarter to seven, and the place is packed.” Then she cried out, “Oh, look. Another group from Hathaway House is here.”
“Yeah, I heard that,” Shane said, then hopped out, opened the panel door, and everybody climbed out.
“Now we have to get seats,” she said.
He nodded. “Hopefully it won’t be that bad.” As they walked into the dusky atmosphere, already some music was playing up front. He grabbed her arm and pointed to a bunch of tables roped off in the back. “It’s full enough now that we might go in there.” Another Hathaway House employee was back there too, so they all sat down together.
Jessica smiled. “Gosh, it’s too bad Lance isn’t here,” she said. “This would be perfect for him to see how this place works and all.”
“Yeah,” Shane said, as waitresses came around, and they all ordered drinks. As she sat here talking to another nurse, one of the announcers stepped onto the stage.
“Have we got a treat for you tonight, guys. He’s new to our blues club, but he certainly isn’t new to the blues scene. We knew his name many, many years ago, but we never had a chance to bring him in. His life took several
