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- 06/05/2024
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Manny Needs a Nanny - 14. The Visit and A Lesson In Tolerance
Rocky ran into the house. He saw Sandy first.
"Where's Bass?"
"I'm not sure, maybe his room."
Rocky hit the stairs two at a time up to Bass' room. He knocked, but there was no answer. While he was upstairs, he changed his shirt. He'd have to mention it to Linda, maybe she knew some trick to get the blood out. Rocky's next choice was the study. He knocked and opened the door. His search was successful this time.
"Hi Bass."
"Hey Rocky. I've been reading up on arm transplants and how to deal with people who have lost a limb. I didn't do a very good job with Manny this morning."
Rocky went in and sat down, "What happened?"
"I was trying to let him know that things were going to be alright, but all I did was get him mad at me. He kicked me out. I'm hoping his session with the psychiatrist this morning helped. I'm not going to be able to handle getting sent away again."
"What did you do wrong?"
"I guess, the biggest thing was I should have let him drive the conversation. I pushed too hard, I guess, with the ‘it's only a speed bump' or ‘a temporary setback.' That one set him off like a rocket. The best things are to listen and try to understand his feelings. He's going to be angry, and frustrated. Just let him work through it at his own pace."
"What about the transplants?"
"I guess, the biggest thing there, is, like any other, it's going to take time to find a match. They can't just slap any arm on him and expect it to work."
"Yeah, I saw there's a whole mess of things that need to be considered. Hopefully, it won't take too long. Do you think it'll be okay to go see him?"
"Yeah. I think so, seeing you will be good for him."
"Ready when you are."
Bass and Rocky headed out to Bass' car, and on to the hospital.
"Oh, Bass, I made a few new friends in school today."
"I told you; you'd do fine."
"It's probably only because I beat up the eighth-grade bully, though."
Shocked, "You what!?"
"It was self-defense, and I didn't even get in trouble for it."
"Yet."
"Yeah, maybe. Anyway, he shoved my head into my locker door, then caught me off-guard and yanked me to the floor. I landed on my nose; it bled like crazy. Anyway, I gave him his own bloody nose with an Oi Zuki. After school, he and another kid tried to jump me. I gave the second kid a forearm smash. Then I chin-punched Bruce—the one who shoved me. After that, he charged me, so I sidestepped and tripped him. He landed on his face."
"You'd better hope the school didn't phone Manny. He may not be happy to see you."
"Oh, sh…"
Bass looked sharply at Rocky, truncating his cuss.
"Oh, no. If he got mad at you for saying what you did, I don't know what he'll do to me."
"I don't know either, but I doubt, it will be anything good."
"Can we turn around and go back home?"
"No. You'll face the music and take your punishment like a man."
"I hope, they didn't call him."
Bass agreed, “For your sake, me neither. But I wouldn’t count on it.”
They were quiet the rest of the way to the hospital. When they walked into Manny's room, Rocky knew he was in trouble within the first few seconds.
Rocky tried the cheerful approach, "Hi Manny, how are you feeling?"
Manny ignored Rocky's question, instead asking Bass, "Did he already tell you, or are we going to have to coax it out of him?"
"He told me. Although, I can't be sure that he told me everything."
"Rocky, would you like to share anything before I tell you what your principal said?"
Rocky was a deer caught in the headlights, "Um, I left out that Bruce may have bit his tongue once or twice."
"And?"
"And? I think, that was everything."
"That's right, you got on your bus; you missed the conclusion. You broke Bart Packer's nose. We'll be paying a couple doctor's bills. You'd better pray, they don't sue for anything more."
"Some teacher told us to get on our buses. But like I told Bass, it was self-defense."
"Mr. Delber will be conducting an investigation. You'd better hope, that's what he finds. It still won't avoid our responsibility for the doctor bills."
"Who is Mr. Delber?"
"The principal."
"Oh."
"I'm going to delay your punishment until I hear what he determines."
"Don't you believe me?"
"I want to. If I didn't suspect that was the case, you'd be hearing part of it right now. But I don't want to hand out a punishment more severe than appropriate. But you will apologize to those boys."
"What? They started it!"
"That is probably true, but your nose isn't broken, nor do you have a truncated tongue and a deviated septum. The severity of the injuries you inflicted, dictates that you will at least do that."
"Okay. If I have to. Can we go back to how you're doing? I don't mean physically, that's kind of obvious."
"Better. I met with the hospital's staff psychiatrist twice today. I owe you an apology, Bass. I overreacted."
"I'm sorry, too. I guess, I pushed you too hard for where you were at in your acceptance of the situation."
"Do I have to leave, so you can kiss and make up?"
"What do you think, Bass. We force him to watch as part of his punishment?"
Rocky was panicking, "Oh, God. No. Please. Anything but that."
Bass grinned, "We may damage him emotionally, Manny. We'd better wait."
Relieved, Rocky added, "Thank you, thank you."
Manny and Bass laughed.
"So, does that mean, you're feeling better about it?"
"’Better’ probably isn't accurate, Rocky. But like Bass implied, I'm accepting it more."
"When you get out of the hospital, we need to go see Mr. James. I can tell him a lot about arm transplants. If we can afford it, you should do it."
"I spoke with Dr. Ko today as well. I'll be evaluated by a transplant committee. It's always possible that I won't be an acceptable candidate. He doesn't see a problem, physically, because he consulted hand and arm transplant specialists before the amputation, so everything will be fine there. But there's a big mental piece too."
"You'll be fine there too, I bet."
"Okay, why don't you go to the lounge for a few minutes, I do want to talk to Manny about something."
"My punishment?"
"No. Nothing about you."
"Okay. I'll wait until Bass comes to get me this time, in case it's more than just talking."
Bass spoke up, "Rocky, really?"
"Yeah, okay, sorry. I won't tease you about kissing or whatever, anymore."
"Thanks. I'll come get you in a few and you can say ‘goodbye’ then."
"K."
Rocky left.
"I think I'm going to be here for quite a few more days, Bass. Everything going okay on the home front?"
"Yeah. Obviously, we're all upset about what happened to you, but we're holding down the fort."
"Good. I'm glad, I don't have to worry about anything else."
"Yeah, about that."
"Uh oh. That didn't sound good."
"I think, you know why I couldn't tell you this morning, but while you were in surgery yesterday, I headed over to Charlie's to wait."
"Okay. Doesn't sound too bad yet."
"Those friends of Wally's, the guy that shot you, showed up."
"Um, now it's starting to sound bad. What else?"
"Well, they were looking for you, but Taylor told them to leave. They weren't having any of that. One of them slapped Taylor."
"You didn't kill him, did you?"
"Of course not. Maybe broke his nose."
"That's not so bad."
"And both of the other guys' two hands. Although one broke one of his own hands, hitting me."
"I'm hearing more than just broke."
"Yeah. Crushed is probably more like it. It wouldn't surprise me if they had a visit here themselves."
"I'm sure they deserved it. I hope nothing comes from it. But I’ll have to postpone your punishment until I’m home and healed a little."
"I doubt it. After slapping Taylor, I can't believe, they'd make any noise. And I’m looking forward to whatever punishment you might hand out."
Manny laughed, "I hope, you're right. Your size could count against you if they do. And I may get very mouthy with that punishment."
"Yeah, but I've been in similar situations before, I'll be alright."
"Meaning the fight, or my punishment? Hehe. I'll chase you nicer this time. I'm going to need some pain medication and it makes me a little loopy. Why don't you go get Rocky, so he can say ‘goodbye’."
"Can I kiss you ‘goodbye’?"
"Yeah. No hard feelings about this morning?"
"Nope. None at all."
"Good. My lips await."
Their goodbye kiss was shorter than the previous one. Bass could tell, Manny really was in pain. He went to get Rocky; they said ‘goodbye’ and went home. Things settled down to a melancholy routine at the Tanner household. School, however, was another story.
***********************************
Priscilla worked Monday night and had heard the news that Manny was losing his fingers. So far, nobody at the bar had gotten an update, so she decided it was time to check in with Manny before her shift started at eight on Tuesday. She arrived at six-thirty, which she felt would leave her enough time to spend with Manny before heading to the bar. She tried to hide her shock when she walked into his room.
After a gasp escaped her lips, "Hi Manny."
Manny already had two sessions with Dr. Fillson, so he was in a much better mood than when Bass was there in the morning.
"Hi Priscilla. How are you handling things?"
"To be honest, it's been tough. I heard the shots but didn't see the results until I peeked around the bar before I hung up with the police. Good thing, I peeked. The EMTs getting to you fast enough probably made a big difference."
"It did. Thank you. Obviously, my life will change, but I still have it. Bass told me that, if the EMTs didn't get there as fast, I may have bled to death."
"I'm sure, by now, you know, that guy Wally was killed."
"Yes, Bass mentioned that, and the solo customer."
"Well, you did a wonderful job with Wally, I'll see his brains splattered on the door forever."
"Oh, geez. I'm sorry, you had to see that."
"I'm dealing with it. I had an appointment with a therapist to talk about it yesterday. I'll go back for a few more visits, but it helped."
"Yeah. Even though, he's focused mostly on the loss of my arm, the staff psychiatrist here has spent a lot of time helping me deal with killing someone. Obviously, that's not something that sits too well with me, but it happened, and I’m going to have to live with it. So, he’s helping me there as well."
"Well, keep in mind that you wouldn't have lost the arm if it weren't for him."
"Yeah, doctor Fillson has me more focused on it being self-defense, but the vengeance factor can't be ignored. You were shocked when you walked in. Was the arm a surprise?"
"It was. Last we'd heard, you were losing a couple fingers. I'm so sorry, that happened."
"Don't be—it's not like you had anything to do with it. But the doctor told me that during the surgery, they kept finding more and more dead or dying parts of my hand, and with the one muscle being useless, I'd have a better chance at full functionality after a transplant with the higher amputation."
"Transplant?"
"Yes, I'm on the waiting list for an arm transplant."
"Wow, I never knew, they could do that."
"Neither did I, until Rocky mentioned it and found out that it was possible."
"Wow, medical science has come a long way."
"You're not kidding. It may take a while, and if it happens, it'll mean a lot of physical therapy, but at least I have a chance of living a full life."
"Well, I hope, it can happen soon."
"Probably not. With my height being above average, and therefore longer arms, finding a suitable donor will be harder than if I was about six inches shorter. But knowing it's possible, helps. Obviously being right-handed makes a big difference too. I'll be able to function better than if I lost the right one."
"That's true. Well, I guess, you can expect more visitors from the bar when I tell them that news. Good luck with the wait. It's too bad, Wally was short. It'd be ironic if his arm was compatible."
Manny laughed, "Yeah, but my new arm might want to shoot people."
Priscilla laughed as well, “So, how is everything going with Rocky, anyway?”
Manny shrugged, “As well as can be expected. A little trouble at school to deal with, but I suppose that’s normal for a teenager. I remember not being a little angel at that age myself.”
She nodded, "I can believe that. Okay, well, I’m working tonight, I'll come see you again. Good night."
"Night."
***********************************
Thursday
Rocky hung out with his new friends for lunch Wednesday and Thursday. They told him, the principal asked them what happened with Bruce and Bart. Those of them that saw one or both altercations, shared what they saw. This was confirmed by other eyewitness accounts. Rocky escaped any punishment more severe than detention the following Tuesday through Thursday. He also received a stern warning that further fights would be dealt with more harshly. The possibility for that occurred at lunchtime on Thursday, when Bruce happened past their table.
"Oh, man. I can't beweive, I was beaten by a fwuit."
Rocky didn't like the accusation, "I'm not a fwuit, Bwuce."
Bruce glared at him, "Den why are you at de fag tabew?"
"I don't see any fags here. Just a few friends and a jackass."
"I guess, you don't know youw fwiends vewy weww, yet."
"Just fuck off unless you want more of your tongue gone."
"You guys had bettew teww him. If he's not a fwuit, he may not want to hang out wid any."
Bruce walked away and sat at a table with Pecker and some other kids.
"What an ass. He hates me so much; he has to pick on you guys."
Bobby Panner looked nervous, "Um, Rocky?"
"Yeah?"
"Paul and I are gay. We're not boyfriends or anything. Mark and Steve are cool about it, because we've all known each other for years. But Bruce wasn't that far off."
Rocky just looked at each of his new friends, thoughts racing through his mind about how he was going to take the news.
Paul spoke up, "We'll understand if you don't want to hang out with us because of that. But we really wish, you will still want to."
Rocky was thinking, 'And I thought, I'd have to worry about this if I went to the boarding school.'
"Um. I guess it's okay. I mean, you two don't, like, try to convince Mark and Steve to do anything with you, do you?"
Bobby answered, "No, of course not. We know, they're into girls. Like I said, we've been friends forever, we'd never make them do anything, they wouldn't want to."
"But I haven't been a friend forever, just three days."
Paul kept his piece of the conversation going with a giggle, "True, but you could kick the shit out of us easily if we did try anything. We'd be stupid to risk that. No matter how cute you are."
"Ewwww." "Gag me." Mark and Steve made their feelings about that statement quite plain.
"Well, you'll have to give me some time to get used to it. I've only ever met one fa… gay kid before. But um. I do know a couple gay men that are pretty cool."
Bobby jumped back in, "Yeah, we'll give you time to see, we're not going to try anything with you. How do you know two gay men?"
"Um. I don't know if I want to share that yet. Maybe after we hang out some more."
"That's cool. We won't push you. But you gotta know, Paul and I are gonna be really curious."
"I get it."
The bell rang, ending their lunch period. Rocky had a bit of difficulty concentrating on his classes the rest of the day. When he got on the bus, he explained to Kenny that he needed to talk to Steve about something, so would sit with him part of the way home.
"Come over later?"
"Sure, Kenny."
After parking it next to Steve, "So, they're okay, really? They don't try anything with you and Mark?"
"Well, when we first found out, Mark and I were a little worried, too, like you are. But no, other than the occasional semi-serious comment about their being willing to 'help us out' if we wanted them to, nothing has happened. But to be perfectly honest, and you can't tell anybody… Promise?"
"I promise."
"I did let Bobby jerk me off once. Just to see what it would be like to have someone do it to me."
"Did you like it?"
"Yes and no. It felt really good, but I was also kind of weirded out about it."
"I guess, I can see that. A week ago, Sunday, my guardian had a party for his co-workers, one of their kids was gay. Or I think, he was. He was checking out my ass too long. I felt weirded out, too."
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure they've both taken looks, at Mark and my fronts and backs. But I guess, I can't blame them. If there was a naked girl near me, I'd be looking."
"He he. Yeah. I almost had that chance during that party. Manny, my guardian, his boss has a daughter that looked awesome in her bathing suit. I was tempted to peek into the cabana while she was changing."
"You have a guardian? What happened to your parents?"
"They died in a car crash."
"Oh, wow. I'm sorry, man."
"Thanks. I feel bad about it lots of times, but sometimes, I like my current situation more."
"Hmmm. I'd like to hear more, but this is my stop. Maybe you can come over sometime, or I can come to your house."
"Yeah, that'd be cool. I'll ask if I can go there tomorrow. Check with your parents and let me know."
"Cool. See you later."
Kenny came back to sit with Rocky, but Rocky was lost in thought about having two gay friends, until Kenny snapped him out of it.
"So, come over after dinner?"
"Yeah, Kenny. I'll be there."
Next up - "The Homecoming"
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