“What about an EEG?” Gary asked.

“Wouldn’t tell much,” Andy said. “Especially with all that’s going on around him. Heck, you can get an EEG reading from a watermelon.”

“Have they called a neurologist?” Aiden asked.

“Don’t have one on call,” Andy replied. “Have to wait until tomorrow when a neurosurgeon does rounds. They’ve put in a request. Um, don’t get me wrong, but do you know this kid?”

“No,” Aiden said. “It’s just … ”

“Crap, man, you’re crying!” Andy whispered. “What … ?”

Aiden squeezed his eyes shut and then wiped the tears from his face. “Two years ago … in Iraq … I was a corpsman … a soldier nearly bled-out from wounds. I saved his life, but he had lost so much blood that he was clinically dead … for more than 15 minutes, they said later. He was a vegetable … sorry, in a vegetative state. He was so young …

“You know what I mean.” Aiden blushed.

“Yeah,” the nurse said. “First, do no harm … but, sometimes, well, sometimes, life sucks.

“Look, I’m on from 12:00 until midnight, tomorrow. This kid isn’t going anywhere for a while. He’ll be moved to ICU as soon as he’s stable. The neurosurgeon won’t do rounds until mid-afternoon, anyway, and this kid won’t be high on his list. I’ll keep an eye on him … can you come by tomorrow?”

Aiden and Gary agreed. Maybe I can get close enough then, Aiden thought.

It was nearly midnight the next day before Aiden and Gary could turn the EMT van over to their relief and look for Andy in the ER. He wasn’t there. Aiden was prepared to badger the receptionist when Andy stepped through the “staff only” door. He gestured toward a corner of the receiving area.

“Hi, guys. Okay, here’s the story. He’s in ICU. Still unconscious and the neurosurgeon won’t upgrade him from critical, not yet, anyway. No identification, and doesn’t match any local missing persons. His description has been sent out, but no one has responded, yet. Some asshole from Family Services—”

“Edgar Proctor,” Gary said.

Andy raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, that’s the name. How’d you know?”

“You said asshole,” Aiden said. He gestured for Andy to continue.

“Proctor tried to bull his way into the ICU, but Samantha … she’s the head ICU nurse … blocked him and pushed him on his ass! Really! He was sitting on the floor, legs spread apart, and would have fallen over if he’d not been propped against the wall. As it is, he hit his head on the water fountain.

“Anyway, that’s the story. We have a Johnny Doe, unconscious, critical condition. Sorry I can’t tell you more.”

Andy looked at Aiden. “I’m sorry, too, that I can’t be more optimistic, but … well, knowing how you feel … at least, thinking I know … I’d still rather tell you the truth than lie, even a little bit.”

Aiden was quiet for a moment, and then said, “Thanks, Andy. I’d rather you be truthful, too. I’d love to know that the kid’s going to be okay, but if he’s not … well, I hope you will … well, be there.

“I know that sounds weird, but …”

“Yeah, a little bit weird … a lot, actually,” Andy said. “But I’ll think on it.”

“Any chance of getting into the ICU?” Aiden asked, knowing that the answer was going to be, no.”

“Actually, no,” Andy said. “But you knew that. On the other hand … on the other hand, I can get you into the observation room.”

Ten minutes later, Andy led Aiden and Gary into a room with a large window overlooking the ICU. The room was dark. Andy explained. “One-way mirror … not that the patients in ICU are likely to notice. Your boy’s the one on the right … ” He pointed.

Aiden stared at the boy. There wasn’t much of him to see for all the equipment and tubes. As Andy had said, there was a feeding tube, although only two IVs, now. Wires from electrodes led to a machine, but Aiden knew they were only for heart monitoring, not EEG. A blood oxygen monitor was clipped to one finger; a blood pressure cuff was on his right arm.

Aiden looked at the boy’s face. Yeah, he was a redhead, all right. Someone had cleaned him up, and his hair was a halo of fire on the pillow. His skin was white, but Aiden could see a little glow in his cheeks. Physically, the boy seemed to be recovering. Aiden closed his eyes. Delta waves, still, he thought. Oh, thank you! Thank you! Theta waves! Natural sleep! He’s almost surely okay.

Who are you? The thought startled Aiden. It took only an instant for him to know that it was a thought. It took an eternity that lasted no more than two seconds to realize that the thought came from the boy.

I’m Aiden … the EMT … medic … who found you, He thought.

What came back shook Aiden to his core. Why didn’t you let me die? Why did you trap me, here? Where the heck am I, anyway?

You did that to yourself? Aiden asked. His mind held a clear image of the boy in the dirty, blackened yellow sweatsuit, and of the gashes on the boy’s arms.

Hell yes, the boy said. There was nothing else to do …

Aiden thought furiously, and then answered. I hate to disagree with you … I mean, since you’re trapped here and don’t have any say in the matter … but yes, there was something else to do.

What would you know about it? What would you know?

Aiden formed another image in his mind. These are my arms, he said. The scars whose image he sent to the boy matched those that would form on the boy’s arm when his wounds healed.

You’re lying, the boy thought.

Can’t lie talking this way, Aiden said. Try.

The boy was silent for a moment. Aiden saw a red light flash on one of the boy’s monitors, and a nurse rush to his side.

Hey, Aiden sent. Stop trying! You’re frightening the nurses. He sent an image of what he was seeing.

You’re watching me! Gettin’ your rocks off watching a cute boy suffering … oh, crap. You think I’m cute … and … you’re gay, too?

Is that why you … Aiden didn’t say it, but showed the boy, once again, the wounds in his wrists.

Yeah, the boy said. You?

Partly, Aiden said. Long story … I was responsible for turning a young man … scarcely more than a boy … a soldier … 18 years old … into a vegetable. I didn’t know him, and I was so depressed that I’d never have a chance to know him … I didn’t even know if he were gay … just hoping for it … I was feeling sorry for myself, and not him … I know that doesn’t make sense … like I said, it’s a long story.

Yeah, I got it, the boy said. All of it. This talking like this … it’s kind of scary. Did you … do you … do you know all about me, now, too?

Aiden searched his mind, and found what the boy meant. Yes, now that I looked for it … it’s there. Oh, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry your friend died … you really loved him … that’s why … oh … Jeff, I’m so sorry.

Gary nudged Aiden. “Hey, you’ve been staring at him for long enough,” he whispered. “Andy’s getting suspicious.”

Andy coughed to get their attention. “Hey, Aiden. What’s the connection? I know there is one … I mean, you’re looking at him as if he were, like, your brother or son or something.”

Aiden’s voice was flat; it had no more inflection than a computer answering machine. “His name is Jeff Evans. His boyfriend died … pancreatic cancer. Boyfriend’s name was Billy Gray. Here one day, dead a week later. Jeff felt lost and alone. He didn’t want to live without his boyfriend. He took the coward’s way out. Same as I did, once.” Aiden pushed up his sleeves and showed Andy the scars.

“Shit, man,” Andy said. “That’s so weird. You know him! Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“You want weird?” Aiden asked. “I’ll give you weird, so weird no one outside The Weekly World News would even listen to you. We just finished talking – Jeff and I did. He told me about his boyfriend. He told me his name. I don’t know what you can do with this information, but…”

“Hey, man,” Andy said. “I’m not going to rat you out. His boyfriend, you said. And you sounded like you were okay with that. Are you?”

Aiden nodded. Gary spoke. “Yeah, he is … we are.”

Andy nodded. “Me too. Come on. Tell him you’ll be back, and that we’re going to figure out what to do, next.”

Andy led the way to an empty office, and flipped on the computer. “This is the super’s office; it’s okay … she knows we use her computer when she’s not here. The only rule is not to leave coffee cup rings on her blotter or porn on the hard drive.”

A few minutes later, Andy looked up. “Got him. Lives in Sontag. At least, he attends public school, there. Won some sort of academic triathlon a few months ago. Billy Gray was a member of the team. I found Billy’s obit: pancreatic cancer. Died in this hospital less than a week ago. No missing person report on Jeff, though. What do you suppose is the problem, there?”

“Won’t know until we find his parents. You’re pretty good at this computer stuff … any chance of finding more?”

“Well, we’re the closest hospital. If he were born here … ” Andy punched keys. “Nope. Let me try vital records. The hospital link may get me where angels fear to tread and the public dare not go.”

Several minutes later, Andy looked up. “Birth certificate lists parents … ready to copy?” Aiden nodded. Andy read out names.

“Now, back to Google,” he said, and punched in the parents’ names.

“Facebook … hmm. Parents are in Belize on vacation according to this. Guys, you’ve got to keep this under your hats, okay?”

Not sure what they were being asked to do, Aiden and Gary nodded. Andy switched to an email program and typed for a couple of minutes. Then, he logged out and switched off the computer.

“Got a friend who makes a living hacking web sites … it’s okay; he’s a good guy … tests internet security for people. For me, he’ll find out everything there is to know about Jeff’s parents, including if they’re still his parents. Can’t receive the answer on this computer. He’ll send it to my own account. Come on. You owe me another cup of coffee.”

“We already owe you a lot more than that,” Aiden said.

Andy grinned. “We’ll work that out someday.”

Andy’s phone buzzed while they were in the cafeteria. He scanned the screen, punched some buttons, and then shut the phone. “They’re still his parents. Loaded … father’s an architect; mother’s an interior decorator. Both deal only with the rich and famous. Jeff lives in their show-home … yeah, they use the family home to showcase their talents. Housekeeper, gardener, cook, driver, a couple of secretaries, draftsmen, hell of a staff. My guess is that none of them is responsible for the boy, and when his parents are gone … based on their credit card records, that’s quite often … he’s on his own. Has his own bank account and debit card.

“Sounds like a case for Edgar Proctor.”

Before Andy could grin to show he was kidding, Aiden growled. “Wash your mouth out! We’ve got to figure out how to keep Jeff out of Proctor’s hands.”

Andy sobered. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“What about that deputy who adopted the kid who was kidnapped and raped?” Andy asked.

“Who? What about him?”

“I don’t know his name,” Andy said. “He’s kin to Judge Llewellyn, the family court guy, somehow. At least, he might point us in the right direction.”

Aiden and Gary shook hands with Charlie, the deputy sheriff. They’d run into one another several times in the past couple of years, usually things involving emergencies. There was nothing quite like working together to pry a kid out of a wrecked car before it caught fire to form a bond.

When Aiden told Charlie the problem, Charlie was glad to help. “We’re having dinner with my in-laws tomorrow,” he said. “After dinner, the judge always takes me to his den for port. And wants to know all about what’s going on in the sheriff’s department. I think he regrets that he left the force for law school.

“I’ll be able to work this into the conversation. Now, give me the details.”

Andy walked Aiden to the floor. “Wait here for a minute,” he said. Andy went to the nurses’ station and spoke in whispers to one of the women in white. He came back, and led Aiden to a private room. “You can stay as long as you like, unless the nurse comes in and says to leave. She’ll only do that if someone else comes on the floor. Ain’t likely. When you leave, don’t go past the nurses’ station … go the other way and down the stairs, okay?”

“Thanks, man, I owe you,” Aiden said.

“Yeah,” Andy said. “You said that before. Too bad I’ve already got a boyfriend … I could think of some ways you could pay me back.” He chuckled, and then grinned to show he really didn’t mean it.

“How about Gary and I take you and your boyfriend to dinner?” Aiden asked.

“Um … Gary didn’t tell you, did he?” Andy said.

Aiden’s eyes widened. “That … oh! I’m so glad, for both of you!”

“You’re not upset … your partner … ?” Andy asked.

“No way, man. Gary and I … we hung out for a while, had sex a couple of times. Didn’t click. And he is so shy … I was really worried for him. That settles it, I’ll take you to … Outback? It’s Gary’s favorite. We’ll call it an engagement party or something.”

Aiden sat in the darkened room, afraid to open a link to Jeff. The boy was asleep … at least, his eyes were closed and his breathing slow.

“You ever gonna say anything?” Jeff whispered.

“How long have you known I was here?” Aiden asked.

“Since you came into the ER about half an hour ago,” Jeff said. “I … I felt you. I knew it was you. Can we talk the way we did, before? This makes me tired.”

Sure, Aiden thought. How are you feeling?

Not so good … not so bad, either. Just kinda drifting. They keep me doped up, a lot.

To keep you from thinking about … you know, Aiden thought.

You can say it … trying to kill myself. No, I keep thinking. The pills don’t stop me from thinking, just make my body tired. What do you look like? It’s too dark in here to see you, even if I weren’t too tired to open my eyes.

Aiden thought. I think this is what I looked like when I washed my face this morning. He tried to capture the remembered image from his mirror.

What about the rest of you?

When I was out running, the other day, I caught someone looking at me. Here’s what she saw. Aiden sent another image.

Wow! You’re hot! Is your dick really that big?

That’s not my dick! Aiden blushed. And that’s not the image I sent you! Where did it come from?

It’s what she saw … or wanted to see … it came over with what you thought she saw. I’m sorry, but you are really hot! And if that’s not your dick, what was making the huge bulge in those tight little running shorts?

Jeff, this conversation is getting a little … no, a lot uncomfortable for me. Can’t you tell that?

Um, hum. But I’ve got nothing better to do. Do you know that they put the television on in the daytime? Do you have any idea how terrible daytime television is? I’d rather think about you … Besides, I remember the first time we talked … you thought I was cute. Don’t you remember?

Yes, Jeff. I do think you’re cute, but that’s simply a natural evolutionary response. We are programmed to think children are cute in order to protect our genes and preserve the species.

Jeff giggled. It was a real giggle, and not in his mind. Then, Aiden, you are so full of crap! You like me. I can tell. You said we couldn’t lie talking like this, so don’t try to lie. You like me. You want to have sex with me … and I really want to have sex with you. And it would be okay, really! You can tell! You can tell!

Jeff! Calm down, or the nurse is going to come in and make me leave!

Jeff’s breathing slowed, and his pulse rate dropped. Down the hall, the nurse, who had stood up, sat down again.

Aiden analyzed what he had received from Jeff, and thought about his own feelings.

Jeff, I’ve been told for so long that sex between a man and a boy was bad, evil, wrong, that I’m having a hard time understanding how you feel and, yes, how I feel.

It’s only bad when it’s not loving! Jeff thought. That’s how I look at it. It’s only bad when it’s bad, and if there’s love, it’s not bad. And I’m almost of age, anyway.

You love me, don’t you? the boy asked. His thoughts seemed wistful.

Jeff, I truly don’t know if it’s love, or … The soldier I told you about? I didn’t love him … I thought I might have loved him, if he had lived and if he had been gay and if we had managed to find that out about one another. But I couldn’t have loved him, because I never knew him!

Part of the problem, Jeff, is that he was a redhead, like you. He had freckles across his nose, like you. He had golden eyebrows, like you. He had a button nose, like you. I think he looked a lot more like you than you do, yourself. But I don’t know … I may be making that up. I may be remembering the wrong thing.

No, you’re not, Jeff thought. I see the sidebands better than you do … the stuff that comes along with your conscious thoughts. Oh, ham radio … sidebands is a ham radio thing. Anyway, I see him pretty clearly, and you’re right. I think I’ll look a lot like him in another week, when I’m eighteen.

Jeff paused. Would you give me some water, please? There’s a glass on the Mayo stand. He opened his eyes and turned his head toward Aiden.

Aiden held the cup with the flexible straw so that Jeff could sip. When Jeff had drunk, he put his hand behind Aiden’s head and pulled it down, and kissed him on the cheek. The heart monitor went up, but once again, the nurse didn’t stand up until it had gone down, again.

“Aiden? Please kiss me? Just on the cheek or forehead, but please kiss me? Just once. It doesn’t have to be a sex thing, but maybe just a friend thing?”

Aiden bent over and kissed the boy on the cheek. “Friends,” he said.

Jeff smiled, and closed his eyes. Thank you, Aiden. My parents haven’t kissed me in so long, I’ve forgotten. Billy kissed me; we were in love … Jeff felt Aiden’s concern. It’s okay, I’ve thought a lot … I’ll always love Billy a little, and I’ll probably always think of Billy when I get a kiss or do sex stuff … but I won’t try to kill myself, again.

When Jeff said sex stuff, he sent – deliberately, Aiden thought – images that went straight to Aiden’s gut … actually, to his penis, which surged and pressed uncomfortably into the starched cotton of his scrubs.

Jeff! What are you doing?

This time, the giggle was strictly in his mind. Just teasing, Jeff thought. The giggles continued, and Jeff’s I’m sorry had no truth to it. I guess you can lie … or, at least, tease … this way, he thought.

Charlie met Aiden and Gary in the coffee house. “Jeff’s birthday was three days ago. He’s eighteen. We have enough on the parents to charge them with abandonment and endangerment. They thought the staff might support them, say they were supposed to be watching the boy, but apparently the staff doesn’t think much of the parents or their child-rearing philosophy. None of them were willing to take the rap.

“The judge brought the parents in and gave them an ultimatum. They were anxious to sign paperwork that includes a very decent financial settlement … trust fund that will pay for his support through college, and some walkin’ around money along the way.

“Now, here’s the bad news. Since Jeff is eighteen, he’s run out of the foster care system – and Proctor is pissing into the wind. Despite his parents, Jeff has never had to take care of himself and he needs something more than a lawyer and an accountant to deal with all this.

“There’s only one solution. Aiden? Will you … not foster, not adopt, but take responsibility for him? It was the kid’s idea. He asked the judge. Just came out with it. Surprised the judge, but he’s okay with it. You will be named conservator. Oh, and Judge Llewellyn, he knows you and the kid are gay. Just don’t come out and say that in open court, okay?

This is another “happily ever after” story, based on records that are available (if you can crack the security) from the family court of _____ County. It all happened a couple of years ago.

The only pay our authors receive is your feedback. Write to David and let him know your thoughts! David dot Mcleod at CastleRoland dot Net.

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