Secrets 2: Looking Through Different Eyes - 44. Chapter 44 S2

Chapter 44 – The Nightmare is Over

Devin learned new exercise routines at each session and diligently repeated them at home. His dedication led to him showing significant improvement by the end of the week.

On Saturday morning, I took him to the hospital for another MRI. He was very chipper on the way in, a mood that I hoped would continue after we met with the doctor. As soon as he was led away to be scanned, I waited patiently until he returned.

When I saw him walking along the corridor on his way back from the MRI later, he had a huge grin on his face.

“What are you smiling about?” I challenged, since I knew he wouldn’t have been told anything about the results of the scan yet.

“The technicians said they were shocked that I wasn’t wearing the shoulder immobilizer any longer. And when I told them this might be the last time I’ll be coming here for another MRI, they said they didn’t remember anyone else healing as quickly from a similar injury as I had.”

“Let’s hope this really is your last MRI, but now we have some time to kill before your doctor’s appointment. Do you want to go back to the house or to the diner again?”

“Neither! Let’s park near the doctor’s office and just walk around for awhile until it’s time for my appointment.”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

“Yes! It won’t be a problem because it hasn’t snowed in a few days and the sidewalks all appear to be clear, so there’s no need to worry about me slipping and falling. I’ll also make sure to avoid anyone else that’s walking around so they won’t bump into me.”

I gave in and we walked around for about thirty minutes, and then we walked to the doctor’s office so Devin could check in for his next appointment. We sat in the waiting area until a nurse called his name and led us to the doctor’s office.

“Devin, your MRI looks very good and it doesn’t appear that the physical therapy has had any negative effects on your shoulder, so how do you feel after your first week of sessions”

“I feel great, because the exercises the therapist had me do were really easy.”

“That’s to make certain that while the therapist is attempting to help you restore a full range of motion to your injured shoulder that she does it gradually so it doesn’t damage your shoulder further. I take it that you didn’t have any problems without the shoulder immobilizer.”

“No, none at all.”

“Well, since you were so eager to get out of the immobilizer in the first place and might say anything so you won’t have to wear it again, I’m going to ask for a second opinion.” We both waited for the doctor to call another doctor so he could confer with him about this, but instead he merely turned toward me. “Do you agree with what Devin just told me?” he asked while staring directly into my eyes.

“Yes, I do. He didn’t appear to have any problems at all without it and he’s slept better as well.”

“Ok, then you may continue going without it and I’ll schedule your next appointment for three weeks from today. I’ll also arrange for you to have another MRI before you come to see me, just to be certain that everything still looks all right. That will make it so your next appointment is exactly one month since you’ve been out of the immobilizer and two months since you were injured.”

“Super! I’ll see you again in three weeks then, doc,” Devin replied quickly, “but does this mean that I can start going to my classes and driving again?”

“Let’s hold off on those things until your next appointment and hopefully the weather will be a little better by then as well. I’ll make my final decision about those activities at that time, but be sure to call me immediately if you start experiencing any problems.”

Devin was so ecstatic that he wouldn’t have to return for three weeks for his next appointment that he didn’t argue with the doctor about not being able to drive or go to his classes, which surprised me. But since I wasn’t about to ruin Devin’s good mood, we left the office and walked back to the SUV so we could return to the house. I was eager to take advantage of having the rest of the weekend to catch up on my studying,

I did that for the rest of the day, and as soon as I closed my book, we went upstairs to get ready for bed. After using the toilet and brushing our teeth, we climbed into bed, and then Devin began kissing me. We did this every night, but this time Devin continue well past the normal amount of time we would do it, and then he moved down to play with my nipples. After doing that for a short time, he kissed his way down my chest, and when he reached my midsection, he slid off my underwear and took my penis into his mouth.

“Are you sure we should be doing this? I don’t want you to get to the point where you can’t stop.”

“I’m fine and I want to make love to you tonight. I’ve waited far too long to be able to do this again.”

“Ok, if you’re sure.”

I was glad that he wanted to do this, since it had been too long since the last time we’d been able to make love, but Devin was being more physically aggressive than I’d ever seen him before.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take it a little easier?”

“I’m positive. I’ve been waiting far too long to be able to do this again, so I’m giving it everything I’ve got.”

“And it’s probably obvious that I’ve missed doing this as well, and even though I don’t want to risk hurting you again, I’ll follow your lead.”

“Trust me when I say you don’t have to worry about hurting me. I’m definitely not fragile, so just go with the flow and I know we’ll both enjoy it.”

He was right and we did. It was the most fulfilling and satisfying session that we’ve ever had. I know I say that a lot, but it was true and he proved that he was up to the task.

Now that I didn’t have to take Devin for any more MRIs or to any doctor’s appointments for a while, it seemed as if everything was back to normal for me. Ok, I’ll admit that there was one exception. Since we didn’t go to the dog park every morning, we ended up making love during that time, as well as at night, and we considered the extra sessions as making up time for the past few weeks.

Anyway, everything else stayed basically the same. I still went to the dining hall three times a day to pick up our meals and then we’d eat together at the house. And even though I now also had to drive Devin to his therapy sessions three times a week, that was offset by the fact that we weren’t going to the dog park on a daily basis. Then again, maybe it wasn’t actually offset, since we were using that time for addition sessions making love.

During Devin’s next physical therapy session, the exercises were more difficult than the week before so the therapist would be able to evaluate if Devin was making progress or having difficulty. At the third session of the week, the therapist told Devin the exercises would be even more difficult than the previous two sessions, because he seemed to be doing so well with the other exercises. When that session ended, I expected that we were going to set the times for the following week’s sessions, but the physical therapist had something she wanted to say to Devin first.

“When you were referred to me, I was under the impression that you’d sustained a fairly serious injury. But since I began working with you, I’ve been amazed that you’ve progressed through the various levels of exercises much faster than I’d expected.”

“Does that mean I don’t have to come back here again?”

“No, it merely means that you might not need the full four months of therapy sessions that that the doctor had recommended. In fact, I was surprised that he only recommended four months of therapy, because that was shorter than the six months of therapy that most people with your type of injury would require.”

“So, how long do you think it will take before you release me then?” he immediately followed, while staring at her intently.

“We’ll still have to take it carefully so we don’t put too much strain on your injured shoulder. However, if you continue doing as well as you’ve done during the first two weeks, then you may only need to come here for another six weeks of sessions. That will make it two months in total.”

Devin looked crestfallen when he heard her response. I believed he was hoping that she’d release him immediately or at least after one more week, not six more weeks. Even though he quickly lifted his head again and was doing his best to hide his disappointment, it only worked with his therapist. I, on the other hand, could read the subtle signs in his body language that gave him away.

We then worked with the therapist to set his appointments for the following week, which I was hoping would be the same as the previous twos weeks. The therapist quickly explained, however, that one of her other patients had already taken those time slots, because he had a temporary conflict with using the previously scheduled times again. As soon as we’d agreed to new appointment times, Devin and I thanked her before heading out to the SUV.

“Damn it! I wanted to argue with her that I didn’t needed another six weeks of therapy, but I remembered that I promised you I would go by whatever she said and wouldn’t try to talk her into rushing things.”

“I’m glad you didn’t forget about that and kept your word, but think about it,” I challenged as I waited to start the engine, since I knew this might take a while. “You’re still doing this much faster than the doctor had told us at the beginning. If you remember, he said it would take you six to twelve weeks just to heal, but you did it in four weeks. And then he said you’d need six months of physical therapy before you regained full mobility in that shoulder, but then he changed it to four months. Now, your physical therapist has just told you that you might only need two months in total, so that should make you happy.”

“It does, kinda, but I still know I could have done it in a month or less.”

“That may be, but then you might also be placing yourself under a microscope with your doctor and his colleagues. If they learned how drastically you’ve been able to reduce both your healing and recovery time, they might want to discover how you were able to accomplish that incredible feat. They might even think it could be something they might be able to use with their other patients. If they think that, they may want to study you further to learn how you did it, and that might expose your family’s secret and place all of them, including me, in jeopardy.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t thinking about it that way before, and I might have even done it if you hadn’t been playing Jiminy Cricket to my Pinocchio, since I wanted to become a real, fully functioning boy again.”

“Cute analogy, but you’re already a real boy, Pinocchio, and you’ll be able to drive and go to class soon enough.”

“Yeah, yeah, but until then I’m still a damaged boy. I just wish that Geppetto wasn’t moving so slowly to repair me and that he expects me to be happy about it, but I want to do it a lot faster.”

“And who are you calling Geppetto? Me?”

“No, but there are two Geppettos, the doctor and my therapist.”

“They’re only doing what they think is best for you.”

“If you say so,” he replied, “but they don’t understand what I’m capable of doing.”

“No they don’t, and I don’t believe you really want them to find that out either.”

After I said this, he unexpectedly stopped speaking altogether, and I wasn’t sure why, but I couldn’t continue to wait around to find out. I finally started the engine, but then I waited a little longer to see if he’d continue arguing with me.

“Maybe if the therapist says I’m totally healed after just a couple more sessions then the doctor will say that I don’t have to make any more appointments after I go to my next appointment.”

“Don’t go getting ahead of yourself by thinking that way or trying to rush the situation in you mind again. Let’s just wait and see how your sessions go next week. Ok?”

“Yeah, ok,” he agreed, but it didn’t sound as if his heart was in it.

However, now that Devin had temporarily vented his disappointment, I started to drive back to the house. Devin was quiet for the rest of the trip, and down deep I was hoping he was thinking about how much faster the process was going than what we’d first been told, but I had to let him work it out for himself. He never said another word all the way back until we were getting out of the SUV, because that’s when he saw Louella Haskins walking up the street and looking in our direction.

“Battleship at seven o’clock,” he whispered using military terminology to alert me.

“Just don’t start anything,” I urged as she moved closer.

”I want you boys to relay a message for me. I need you to tell Jacob McCaskill that he has to get someone to prune the trees that run along the property line between our two homes. Several large branches have fallen into my yard recently, due to the heavy snow and high winds. I wouldn’t be surprised if you discovered the same problem on your side of the fence.”

“Ok, I’ll give him the message,” I replied.

“And possibly he could have his caretaker come over in the spring and clean up the mess in my yard for me, because I don’t have the equipment or the ability to take care of those branches by myself. And will you also make sure that he has someone prune the trees of dead and dying branches so this doesn’t happen again?”

“Sure, I can do that too.”

“Why don’t you just hop on your broom and do it yourself,” Devin spat out before he turned and headed toward the front door.

“Why I never!” she bristled with her eyes opened wide in shock.

“Don’t mind him,” I quickly interjected. “He’s had a very bad morning and you happened to approached him at the wrong time. I’ll be sure to tell Jacob those things for you, or I might just mention it to the caretaker the next time I see him. Possibly he’ll be able to take care of the problems on his own.”

“Thank you and I’m glad at least one of you is reasonable,” she said as she toddled back to her house.

I knew it wouldn’t do any good to tell Devin that he shouldn’t continue doing things like that and aggravating her further, because I’ve tried to reason with him before without much success. Even Pops had told him to stop doing those things, at least nothing she could definitely attribute to us, because he’ll still have to put up with Louella long after we’ve graduated.

Unfortunately, this time Devin’s response had been the result of his hopes being shattered by what he’d been told earlier, and Louella had unknowingly got in the line of fire. Hell, Devin might even be upset with me, since I’d warned him not to pressure the doctor or therapist into concluding that he was healed, but I was merely trying to do what was best for the family, not just for Devin.

He was quieter than normal for the rest of the day as well, as he wallowed in self-pity. He continued doing this while we were eating our meals, as well as afterward, so I used some of that time to catch up on my studying. He was also quiet when we were getting ready for bed, and after we went through our nightly rituals, we each got into bed on our own side and we didn’t cuddle or spoon – he merely laid on his side until he fell asleep.

Fortunately, Devin had released some of his anger by the time we woke up on Sunday and he actually started talking again. He didn’t say anything about his injury, the doctor, or the therapist; and he didn’t even seem upset with me either. In fact, we got through the rest of the day, and this time when we went to bed he placed his head on my shoulder with his arm across my belly as he fell asleep.

The following two weeks of physical therapy sessions went without any problems. In fact, he was being very cooperative and completed each of the assigned tasks without complaint.

“I’m amazed that I’m about to say this,” the therapist said once the final session of the second week had ended, “but I don’t see any reason why you need to continue these sessions any longer. I’ve had you do all of the most difficult exercises that I would normally use with any patients who’d suffered an injury such as the one you’d endured and you’ve handled each one very well. Since there’s nothing more I feel that I can do for you, I’m going to release you. I’ll email your doctor and inform him that you’ve gone through therapy with flying colors.”

“Thank you! I really appreciate everything you did for me.”

“You’re welcome, but you did most of it on your own.”

Devin was walking on air as we made our way out to the SUV and slid into our seats. As soon as the doors were closed, he spoke.

“Maybe now that the therapist says I don’t need any more sessions, the doctor will say that I’m totally healed and can go back to my normal routine.”

“That’s possible, but don’t get ahead of the situation or yourself again. Let’s just wait and see what the doctor has to say after he looks at the results of your MRI scan.”

The next morning, he was like a little kid bouncing in his chair as we ate breakfast. He didn’t say much, though, probably because he knew I’d just tell him to wait and see how things go instead of trying to mentally predict what’s going to happen.

When we arrived at the hospital, I gave him a kiss and wished him good luck before he walked down the corridor to have his next MRI, and then I sat down to wait.

When I saw him walking up the corridor toward me later, I expected to see him with a huge grin on his face, but I was mistaken. His lips weren’t even curled in a slight grin.

“What’s the matter? Is something wrong?” I asked.

“The technicians said they were surprised to see me again, since the last time I was there I’d told them I probably wouldn’t have to come back for another MRI.”

“I hope you told them it was only because the doctor was being extra cautious.”

“No, I just told them that I hoped this would definitely be the very last time that I’d be there to get scanned, but now I’m worried the doctor is going to say that I have to do this again in another couple of weeks.”

“Only if he finds something on your MRI, but that isn’t going to happen. I have a feeling that you probably made sure of it.”

“Yeah, maybe I did. It’s just that the technicians comment kinda made me feel bad because I realized we were wasting another Saturday morning and I shouldn’t have had to be doing this again.”

“Don’t think that way. Cheer up and be positive, because it’s almost over. So, what do you want to do now, since we have some time to kill before your doctor’s appointment?”

“Let’s go to the diner for a hot chocolate and maybe an ice cream sundae.”

I thought the combination sounded a bit strange, a hot drink together with a cold dessert was a little weird, but I wasn’t about to argue with him. Besides, it might help to improve his mood, so that’s what we did.

Even though I thought his suggestion had been a bit unusual, it turned out to actually be quite enjoyable, and by the time we finished, Devin seemed to be his old self again. He even had a slight grin on his face as we headed over to the doctor’s office to see what he had to say. We had to wait a short time until Devin’s name was called, and then we were led back to the doctor’s office.

“Devin, I’m pleased to report that the MRI looks very good,” the doctor said as soon as we were seated, “and the therapy sessions don’t appear to have had any adverse or detrimental effects on the healing process. Not only that, but your therapist sent me an email notifying me that she has released you as her patient, and I concur. I’m going to release you as well.”

“Does that mean I can go to my classes and start driving again?”

“Yes, you may start doing everything as you normally would, and I wish you the very best of luck with your studies.”

“Uh, I have a question for you before I leave. I didn’t want to say anything before, but what if I start having problems with the plates that you used when you fixed me up. Could you take them out again if that happens?”

“Yes, that would certainly be possible, but it would have to be a very extreme problem to remove them before 12, or preferably 24 months have passed first. Why are you asking this question? Are you having a problem with them?”

“I don’t know for sure, but sometimes I feel a burning sensation in those areas. It’s not too bad right now, but I was just worried that it might get worse.”

“If it does, just call and set up an appointment and I’ll check it out for you. It may only be a temporary condition as you body gets used to them being there, but let me know if the problem gets worse.”

“Ok, I will.”

Devin seemed to be more upbeat, now that he had been officially released by the doctor. He was smiling and had a bounce in his step as we left the doctor’s office.

“See, I told you not to worry.”

“I know, and I’m glad you were able to make me see I was being silly. It’s just that a few nights’ ago I had a dream that the doctor was going to schedule me to have another MRI.”

“You thought the doctor was going to release you when we saw him the last time, and then this time you thought he was going to schedule you for another MRI. It seems that you got them mixed up and in the wrong order.”

“Yeah, I guess I did, and now I can do everything normally again, so I want to drive back to the house.”

“That’s fine with me, and it’s your SUV anyway, so if you have an accident and can’t use it any longer, you won’t be able to blame it on me.”

“Don’t worry; I’m not going to have an accident. It’s only been a couple of months since I drove last, not a couple of years or decades. It’s just that it will feel good to get behind the wheel again.”

He was in a great mood all the way back to the house, but once we were inside his mood suddenly changed.

“Is something wrong?”

“Kinda. I just thought about our summer plans with Gramps and Pops and realized I might have a problem. I know I’ll still be able to go with all of you, but I’m just worried that there might be times when we’ll be required to transition into smaller animals and I won’t be able to do it because of the plates in my shoulder.”

“If that happens, then we’ll just figure out a way that you’ll be able to do something else instead.”

“I just hope it won’t become a problem, because it looks like the plates the doctor used are going to be in me for a year or two.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to work around any situations like that.”

“I fuckin’ hope so.”

“Hey, I didn’t notice it before, but it’s almost time for lunch, so do you want to drive there or walk?”

“Since we’ve still got the handicap sticker, let’s drive.”

“Ok, and when we get to the dining hall there are two handicap spots out in front, so just park in one of those.”

A few people saw us get out of the SUV, but no one confronted us about not appearing as if we had a handicap, so we went inside. As we were making our way through the line, we both thanked the staff for helping us out while Devin was recovering, and then we got our lunch and sat down at one of the tables. Before long, some of Devin’s classmates spotted him and came over to chat.

“Hey, Devin, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing much better now, although the doctor suggested that I should drive to the dining hall and to my classes, since we told him it wasn’t exactly a short walk from the house to the campus.”

“I’m sure you’ll have to do some walking.”

“Yes, but not too much, because there are handicap spots near each of the building where I have my classes.”

“It’s probably a smart move that you’ll be driving, seeing it’s only mid-March and there’s probably another few weeks of snow and ice to deal with.”

“We thought the same thing.”

“I guess that means I’ll be seeing you in class again.”

“Yes, I’ll be going to all of my classes starting on Monday. I’m sure it will be a relief to the professors, because they’ll no longer have to send me videos of each class session.”

“Great! And it’s nice to see you again.”

A little while after we arrived back at the house, Devin called his dad to tell him the good news, but since Pa didn’t answer again, Devin left another voicemail.

“Hey, Dad, it’s just me and nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been released by the physical therapist and the doctor, so now I can start doing everything for myself again. I even talked Mac into letting me drive back to the house after we left the doctor’s office, because I was just so damn excited that I was finally able to drive again. You can call me back tomorrow afternoon if you have any questions or just want to talk about how I’m doing. Tell Mom I said hi.”

When he finished leaving his message, he turned to speak with me.

“Does this mean we can also go to the dog park tomorrow?”

“Possibly, but you should probably try transitioning here at the house first, to see if you can do it and discover if it feels ok. We don’t want Bear to come up limping at the dog park.”

“Why would that make any difference?”

“It would appear a little suspicious, especially since I told Preston and some of the others at the dog park that my roommate had recently suffered a major injury and had to be operated on. If they see Bear limping too, they might begin to wonder how likely it would be for Bear and my roommate to suffer similar injuries at the same time.”

“They wouldn’t look similar, since I injured my shoulder and I’m not limping.”

“But your shoulder injury caused you to lose the use of your left arm, and since Bear doesn’t have arms, losing the use of or limping on one of his front legs would look suspicious. For that reason, I think it would be wise to make certain you’ll be able to accommodate the various metal plates first, before we make a decision about going to the dog park.”

“Ok, I can do that,” he replied, and then he started to take off his clothes.

“Don’t do that down here. Do it upstairs later, and you’d better run up and down the hallway as well, to make sure it feels all right.”

“But it would be better to do it down here, where I’d have more room to run around.”

“No, that’s a bad idea. You can’t take the chance that anyone else will be able to see what you’re doing.”

“Why would anyone see me if I did it down here?”

“Did you forget that the front door is mostly glass, as is the storm door at this time of year? I think it would be wise to make sure that no one accidentally sees you doing this, because we don’t want anyone asking questions or causing problems for us.”

“Oh, ok, I don’t have a problem with doing that then.”

Devin drove us up to the dining hall later so we could eat super, and once again more of his classmates came over to speak with him. They were students that we hadn’t run into before, and after chatting with them briefly, we finished eating and headed back to the house for the night.

When we got there, Devin immediately asked a question. “Should I go upstairs now to see if I can transition into Bear?”

“You can if you want, or you can wait until we’re getting ready for bed. That way you won’t have to get undressed now, transition, redress, and then have to get undressed again later when we’re getting ready to turn in for the night.”

“Ok, I’ll wait then. I just want to make sure we can go to the dog park tomorrow.”

“I know, and we’ll find out soon enough.”

We hit the books until it was time to go to bed, and then Devin undressed quickly and began to transition into Bear. He took much longer than usual to complete the transition, and then when he transitioned back I asked a question.

“Were you having problems transitioning into Bear?”

“Not actually a problem. I was just trying to find the best way to move my collarbone with the hardware on it to one of the longer ribs. The shoulder blade wasn’t a problem, and it’s on Bear’s left side too, and the other plate is on one of the longer ribs on the left side of his rib cage.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to run with those in you?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it won’t be a problem, but I’ll soon find out.”

After saying this, he walked out of the bedroom and continued down the shorter section of the hallway. After reaching the end of the hallway, he turned around and spoke. “That felt ok, so now I’ll see if I’m able to run without any problems”

“Just be careful. We don’t want you to reinjure yourself again.”

“I know and I’ll be very careful.” He then ran down the length of the hallway, stopped and turned around, and then he raced down the length of the hallway again.

“How did that feel?” I asked.

“It felt good, so it looks like I’ll be able to go to the dog park in the morning.”

Since he was satisfied that he’d be able to do this without any problems, we went through our nightly rituals before getting into bed. After we finished making love, I spooned behind him, with my arm across his chest, as we fell asleep.

When we woke up in the morning, we made a quick trip to the dining hall for breakfast first, and as soon as we finished eating, we made our way to the dog park. I drove slowly and took a longer route to the dog park in order to make sure Devin had plenty of time to transition.

As I was pulling into a parking space, I noticed that we had already gained Preston and Bailey’s attention. They were watching as we got out of the SUV and met us at the gate as we entered. Bailey’s tail was wagging like it was trapped in a blender on high speed.

“Damn, it’s nice to see you again,” Preston greeted me. “I take it that your roommate is doing better?”

“Yes, the doctor took him out of the shoulder harness, so he can do things on his own again, but he just has to be careful.”

“That’s good, and you must have immediately arranged to start picking Bear up again.”

“Yes, I called Bear’s owner as soon as my roommate was told he could start doing things for himself, and Bear’s owner sounded pleased that I’d be able to take him here again.”

“Did you find out what he did while you were playing nursemaid to your roommate?”

“No, he didn’t offer and I didn’t ask. He just sounded pleased that I was able to take over again.”

Rather than Bear and Bailey running around, I noticed Bailey was still sniffing Bear. “I wonder what’s up with that pair,” Preston stated.

“She must smell something different about Bear. Maybe she smells the person that had replaced me, or maybe he used a different shampoo than what I used on Bear.”

“Yeah, that’s probably it then.”

Shortly after we discussed the situation, Bear took off running and Bailey followed closely behind. They ran around for a while first, and then Bear headed to the obstacle course at the far end of the dog park. Once they were there, Bear led Bailey through all of the various stations.

After they did that for a while, Bear took off running as he played “Catch Me If You Can” with Bailey. He dodged and feinted going one way before going in the opposite direction, and he did that several times before stopping. I believe Devin was merely testing out his ability with the hardware in Bear’s body.

Eventually, Preston said he had to leave, so I called Bear in so Bailey would follow him. Otherwise, I knew Preston would have a difficult time getting her to leave. He still had difficulty picking her up, since she obviously knew what that meant, but eventually he got ahold of her and carried her out to his car.

“Will we see you here tomorrow?” Preston yelled from halfway across the parking lot.

“Yep, we’re back to our normal schedule now.”

“Great! I can call the doggy psychiatrist and cancel the rest of Bailey’s sessions,” he joked, and then they got in the car and drove away.

Bear ran around a little on his own, and then he came over to me and barked, to let me know he was ready to leave. We both got in the SUV and I drove back to the house.