Three-Legged Race

She pushed the wheelchair back into Brent and Kirk's room.

'Hi,' Amy said to Brent. 'I couldn't take off without saying good night.'

'Night,' Brent said and smiled. 'Have a good time.'

'We will,' Amy said. 'It doesn't feel right without you, though. This is one of the few nights all three of us haven't been together since you got here three weeks ago. Well, we won't be gone long.'

'See you later,' Kirk said. 'Stay cool.'

Amy and Kirk left the room and turned down the hall out of view.

All of a sudden Brent felt empty. Loneliness was something he had never minded before. He smiled over letting this one evening without Kirk and Amy get to him.

He reached over to his bedside cabinet and took out his watercolor pad and his brushes. He opened the pad to the painting he was working on. It was a picture of Amy, Kirk and himself. The painting was going fairly well, although he found it hard to paint a self-portrait even with a mirror handy.

I just can't walk out of here in a day or two and not leave anything behind, he had thought. He was going to give the picture to Amy. He was afraid it might seem too funny and sentimental to do one for Kirk. Maybe I'll do one at home and mail it to him later, Brent thought. Anyway, he hoped to get this one done in time.

The picture showed the three of them in muted colors. They were held together by a tangle of greenery and the swirling brown of Amy's hair. Brent liked the effect, and the likenesses were pretty good. He hadn't wanted to show it to Kirk and Amy until he left. He had been working on it in secret.

Maybe I can finish it tonight before they get back, he thought. Then I'll keep it tucked away until I have to leave.

He dipped the brush in water and began to paint.

Amy pushed Kirk's wheelchair to the elevator. The doors opened and they went inside. There were two people standing against the back wall, one of them a resident in his white uniform.

'It sure is good to see Johnny looking better,' Kirk said. 'It looks like he'll be back at the swim club in another week or so.'

'I hope so,' replied Amy. 'It's so good to see color back in his cheeks. That operation must not have been much fun, I'll tell you that.'

'A brain transplant,' Kirk said to the resident.

The resident smiled at them.

They left the elevator on the ground floor and maneuvered casually to the main exit. Out the front doors they went, and down the hospital driveway to the street.

'God, I don't believe it,' Kirk shouted. 'We're free at last!' He spun his chair around three times.

The hospital was just a block from the center of town. The night air was warm and smelled delicious. Amy pushed Kirk along the sidewalk. He spun the wheels of the chair to help out. They passed the old houses around the hospital grounds that had been converted into doctors' offices. They passed a school and a library and a small park.

The light from the streetlamps sifted through the leaves of the overhanging trees and made small pools on the sidewalk. The air was soft, and dust particles drifted in the lamplight. Fireflies blinked and glittered above their heads. Moths fluttered and clustered about the streetlights. Amy's shoes made soft tapping sounds on the pavement. Kirk's wheelchair hummed in the summer air.

When they reached the main intersection of the suburban town, they wheeled left down the shopping street. Just half a block away was a movie theater. It generally showed art films and catered to the two colleges nearby.

The marquee said: The Ravished.

'It's not what I might have chosen if I'd had the choice,' Kirk said.

'I don't care a bit. A movie's a movie and I'm starved for one. Besides, Time said it was great. It's the only one in wheeling distance, so to speak.'

'What's it about?' Kirk asked.

'I don't know. It's foreign.'

'Just my luck. Let's go.'

They arrived at the box office and Kirk paid the three dollars apiece for the tickets out of the money his father had left him.

'What's the deal?' he asked the ticket seller who sat in her glass booth snapping her gum. 'Is the popcorn gold or something?'

The movie had already started.

'You can't be too picky when you're escaping,' Amy said. 'We can sit through the beginning later if we want. It's freezing in here. Why do they always have the air conditioning down to below thirty in movie theaters in the summer?'

'Would you like some popcorn or candy?' Kirk asked.

'Oh, I'd love some. I haven't tasted popcorn in weeks. Make mine with butter if you don't mind.'

'Right,' Kirk said. He wheeled himself to the refreshment stand. The woman behind the counter was immense. The maroon blazer didn't help.

'Two popcorns,' he said. 'Lots of butter. Pretend you're a cow.'

The woman snorted, and scooped the popcorn into the tall wax-covered cups with a practiced hand. She splashed butter across the top and handed them to Kirk without saying a word.

Kirk paid for the popcorn, and he and Amy pushed through the lobby doors into the theater itself. The darkness and the cool air flooded over them. The screen flickered with colored images, pastels and greens.

Amy and Kirk went down the aisle. About halfway down, Amy asked, 'How's this?'

'Fine.'

Amy sat in the seat next to the aisle. Kirk parked the wheelchair next to her and put the brake on. They began to munch on their popcorn.

The movie was a love story. Kirk enjoyed the parts where the girl took off her clothes. Amy cried at the end, when the girl was hit by a train in slow motion.

They moved out into the warm summer night among the crowd of quietly talking moviegoers. They remained outside the movie theater until the street emptied. There were very few cars. The sidewalk was deserted.

'That was a lovely movie,' Amy said.

'Yeah. It was okay. A little mushy for my taste, and you needed a speed-reading course to keep up with the subtitles.'

'I'm glad we came.'

'So am I.'

'I hope we can get back to the hospital without being caught, though,' Amy said.

'It would probably be safer to wait until later, when things really slow down there, after lights-out. Want something to eat?'

'Sure. While we're on the loose, we might as well take advantage of all that the outside world has to offer. I wonder what Brent is doing?'

'He's fine. Probably reading.'

'I wish he could have come.'

'Yeah,' Kirk said.

They started down the sidewalk to the right. Three stores down was a small restaurant called La CrИperie.

'How about here?' Kirk asked.

'Wonderful. I love crИpes.'

'I'd rather have a Gino's Giant, but what can you do?'

'You've got no couth, Kirk. You'll like it.'

They went into the restaurant. It was almost empty. Kirk wheeled up to a table for two and Amy sat down. A waitress came with menus and quickly left. Kirk lit a cigarette.

They both looked over the menu.