Cliches

"Hi Betsy."

She pulled her head back and looked into his pretty blue eyes. She kissed him, and he kissed her back. Suddenly, the realization of their circumstance came crashing down on her. She quickly dressed and rang the call button frantically. The nurse came running in just as Betsy unlocked the door. Then began a flurry of activity, with the nurse calling the doctor on call, Betsy frantically trying to clean Tom's sex up, medical staff responding, stories told and questions asked. Betsy called Tom's father, and out of compassion Cindy. She deserved to know Tom had finally revived, and was not going to die soon. Betsy remained with the psychiatry intern at Tom's request as Tom was examined and interviewed.

"You know, as much as we know, there is no telling what motivates the human mind. It looks like he was traumatized so badly that day, his conscious self shut down to protect him from the pain of the situation. He is quite lucid now, and remembers every detail of his condition. He says he can cite the name of every book you read him, and to prove it, told me the names of what youo were reading every Christmas day. He showed her the list, and her hands went to her mouth. She cried hard, as she never would have guessed that simple chapter a day act of love would have an impact. He looked forward to you coming and reading. He said all his wife did was cry, his dad was uncomfortable, other visitors had no idea what to talk about. When you climbed up on him and began to make love, his body told his brain it was time to wake up. His brain had worked through the events of six years ago, and had made a sense of it all. Mentally, he could go home today, but we'll need to keep him around to help his body regain strength. Lying in one position for six years doesn't do much for your muscle tome! You are now very special to him, handle him carefully."

The intern stopped at the door.

"You know, " he said, "I may be out of place saying so, and if I am I hope you won't take it the wrong way. Your actions tonight were not exactly ethical, which is an understatement. They proved to be the key to waking the patient up, but there are all kinds of questions of consent and risk that you are going to hear in the next couple of days. So I thought I'd just take a moment to enjoy the lighter side of the irony in what you did. You know that old expression about fucking someone to death? Seems like you just fucked someone back to life!"

She did smile at that, and went back in to visit Tom.

Five years later Tom sat in his easy chair, as he heard the familiar clack clack clack of high heels on the front porch. Cindy walked right in the front door without knocking, after all she was home. Tom got up to greet her with a quick kiss, and said "Good let's eat."

He sat next to his wife as little Tommy, Steve, Matt, Gary, and Sue scrambled to their places at the table. Cindy sat on at the other end of the table with her little boy Eddie, named for Tom's dad. Betsy set the platter of burgers and hot dogs in the center of the picnic table on the deck, and gave Tom a kiss as she sat down. Little Tommy offered grace.

"Thank you for this good food that we like to eat, and for this nice home we get to live in. Than you for Mommy, Daddy ad my brothers and sister. Thank you for Aunt Cindy and my cousin Eddie. Thank you for all our friends and relatives and all your blessings. A...."

As usual he stretched out the Amen for a table grace, waiting for Aunt Cindy to pus into the grace with a petition of her own.

"....and thank you" Cindy said as if on cue "for wonderful people who I love so much, who let me live in the beautiful apartment over the garage and invite us for dinner every Sunday, for letting me be such a part of a wonderful family I don't deserve."

Cindy didn't begrudge Tom a divorce, and not only accommodated his finding his freedom, but helped him in his physical rehabilitation. It was the least she could do, after causing him to lose six years of his life. In return, he and Betsy had given her the apartment rent free, with the stipulation she continue to work diligently keeping the gardens beautiful. As the children came, she willingly helped Betsy around the house, and became such a big part of their life they began to pay her a stipend enabling her to quit her night job. She was then able to be a better mother for Eddie as he grew older.

She didn't live with them, but she was a part of their every day life. She ceased to date, having soured on men after Rob left her coldly. Sex no longer had appeal for her, and she could never imagine making love to a ma other than Tom, who now was beyond her reach in Betsy's arms. She wasn't bitter, she balmed no one but herself. She was actually very happy in her life, close to the man she loved, knowing he had found a good woman to love in the wake of her own betrayal. Betsy became her best friend again. She had nothing to hold a grudge for, as she viewed Tom as a trade up.

In the end, history did repeat itself. When Tom's mom left, his dad ripped down the walls of his house. He and Tom had rebuilt the house with painstaking care, until they had something beautiful and stronger than the original. When Cindy had left, Tom had torn down the walls of his mind, and worked carefully over six years to build it into something better and stronger. History does repeat, good guys do win, and often there is a silver lining.