One to Die For Ch. 02

Heart attacks are a pain in the ass. Well, not exactly, but still, they get in the way of things and I really didn't have time for one.

No matter, a person doesn't get to choose, so I got a short stay in the hospital. They told me it wasn't really a heart attack though, "just" a blocked main artery.

After installing a couple of those culverts they call stents inside me and then a couple of days poking me to try and figure out why I wasn't dead, they more or less kicked me out along with warnings to never do anything ever again.

The cardiologist looked to be about 16 to me, he told me no drinking, no smoking, no excess exertion, no food that tastes good and to take it easy in the sex department.

That last part made me almost choke, hell, I am 65 and my wife passed years ago. "Easy" with the sex?

I would have a chat with my right hand.

I can't say it was all unpleasant, though. Nora, my favorite nurse saw to that nicely. To say I was startled the way she just wrapped her hand around me and took care of things would be an understatement. I had heard rumors about things like that but I didn't believe any of them.

Well, now I did.

My son and his wife dropped me off at my house after picking me up at my release. They took turns scolding me with no mercy for nearly an hour as we drove.

"No chopping wood, take your pills, rest up, do this, do that!" More of the same from all directions.

Yep, talk about a pain in the ass! I know, they are my kids, and they don't want me to kick the bucket quite yet.

It didn't help at all that Lisa, the youngest grandaughter got into the act from the back seat.

"You should try Yoga, Grandpa. It really helps to relax, I learned that in school. Plus maybe get a massage or something?"

Hell, she is only 10 years old, what kind of a damned school does she go to, anyway?

Marti, the 13 year old just sat there being surly like all 13 year old girls. A relief, actually.

Her purple hair and black stocking cap didn't do much for me either. At least there were no rings in her nose or eyebrows or anywhere else...yet. Not any I knew about anyway.

The truth is I was hearing it all but not hearing it if you know what I mean. I was thinking of Nora, my nurse. I had her phone number tucked securely in my shirt pocket.

My first impression of Nora was a nice looking older woman. Yes, I know that is silly since I am older. She turned out to be 48, I would have guessed around 35-40 or so.

Then as I lay there and she simply took ahold of my dick to help me take a whiz since I was lying on my back under orders not to move? Something about the vein in my groin might open up and I could bleed to death if I moved?

Try that sometime, take a leak with some gal you don't know holding onto your dick.

Swell. It really had been quite a few years since anyone had touched me, not since my wife passed on. Nora then really got my attention when she reached down and stroked me a few times to help her get the damned catheter in.

I wasn't too sure that was necessary but she was the nurse, what could I say?

Then a couple of days later during a bed bath she had spotted my discomfort and relieved it like that was a normal thing. I decided that to her it was.

I think it took her all of 15 seconds. She seemed to know exactly what to do and how to do it.

It sure got my attention though. The second time she did that, just before I was released was way more. That one was for fun and no doubt at all about that.

That is what I was thinking, anyway.

My kind of woman for sure. I lay there with my thoughts and realized just how lonely I was. No wife, the kids grown and off to their lives, all that was left was me and the work. I really don't mind work at all, but coming home afterwards to a good soft woman is tough to top.

I wiped a tear from my eye thinking about that, glad there was no one in my room right then.

Later I mustered up my courage and I asked Nora for a date, that was completely out of character for me, plus I was some 4 decades out of practice.

With Nora, it was easy. I had noticed that, too. With her everything was easy, we had chatted like long time friends for hours. I told her about my nice ranch, how it was tough living alone. I talked about my plans to clear even more fields, the crops I wanted to plant and harvest. She sat and listened, then she told me about living in an apartment in the city, and how she thought I was lucky to be strong and in reasonably good shape with property.

I was actually enjoying it enough that I was mildly saddened when they told me it was time to go. My kids met me at the exit and they loaded me in their van, acting like they thought I would fall down any second.

Hell, there was nothing wrong with my legs. I had created quite a fuss when the intern showed up with the wheelchair, but he refused to budge. Still, it took Nora to come in to get me in the damned thing, by then I would have done anything she asked.

My son's wife Stefanie laid out the pills ordered by the Doctor in a little container, one section for each day of the week. Then she carefully placed the thing right in front of my coffee pot where I couldn't miss them.

"I will call you to remind you." Stef said, patting me on the shoulder as I sat in my big leather chair.

No..don't..call..me....I thought, gritting my teeth.

Hell, I might be 65 but I am not old and I am not infirm, I could take care of myself.

I wanted them to leave, let me be, so I could go check on my chainsaw. The last I had seen of that was it flying through the air, almost brand new and it had cost me $295.00, it was a damn good one.

Finally, mercifully, they loaded up the now running around screaming kids and left after a bunch of hugs and more orders. I sat down again in my big soft chair, planning out all the work I wanted to get done.

And promptly went to sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night hungry. So I went to the fridge, sliced off some paper thin slices of cheese, found a chunk of Turkey ham and sat back down to eat.

I woke up again to the sound of my Coffee pot going off, 6 AM like always. I went in to get a cup, there sat those damned pills. I went to dump out the little tray and three of the lids popped open. Pills everywhere. Now I didn't know which one or how many of each.

I looked at the calender, it was Saturday. So I opened up the next Wednesday tab, took those and made a note on the calender that Saturday meant Wednesday. That would work, no way in hell was I going to call Stef or my son.

With a steaming cup in my hand, I went out to my garage to check on my chainsaw. I rolled the chain, it was free and even looked to be still straight. I found my saw file and touched up the teeth a bit.

Then I looked at the pile of wood, it was every which way, so I started pulling it out and stacking it neatly. I finally got that done, glanced at my watch. It was now 11 in the morning.

I went back inside and cracked two eggs, fried them and sat down to eat. Still hungry, I found a tin of chili, dumped that in a bowl and hit the buttons on my microwave. It took me a half dozen tries, the stupid thing doesn't have a dial. Instead it's push start, set the time, push another button for how much power, then push again. Push push push push...good grief! Just hell. I finally set it for 10 minutes wide open and looked at my watch, one minute should do it.

I was thinking about calling Nora but now I was thinking that would be silly. No way was a lady like that really interested in an old man like me. Just then my phone rang.

"Good Morning, Honey!" Nora's voice sang out.

"I am just calling to check on you."

"I'm fine, just having some breakfast." I answered, managing to pull the phone base off the desk onto the floor. I retrieved that and sat down in my chair. I was wondering why a nurse from the hospital would be calling me to check on.....?

OH!

Hey, maybe she really was interested? I had almost decided that I was kidding myself about that.

I don't know any other way to explain easy conversation with someone other than to just say it. Talking to Nora was like talking with someone I had known for years. It was as easy as it had been with my Marty. Finally she let me go but not before we had set a date for the following Tuesday evening.

"I get off at 8 PM, remember?"

Then I heard the "DING!"

OHOH.

"Just a minute!" I ran into the kitchen, looked at the beans and the bowl. No point in worrying about them now, I just shut the door.

Damn microwaves.

I went back to the phone.

"OK, great! I will pick you up there." I told her.

"What were you doing?"

"Cooking some chili."

"In the microwave, right?" Her voice was laughing.

"Yea. How did you know?"

"I heard the ding, and I know about men that live alone."

I busied myself cleaning up my house. Men living by themselves aren't fancy about things like dust and carpets and stuff that somehow becomes piles. I carried out a good two month's worth of newspapers, stacked all of my magazines neatly. I even dusted all of the shelves and did some of the laundry, changed the bed which didn't need it since it hadn't even been a month yet. There was some more laundry in the hamper, I put my foot in there and pushed to add some room, planning to get to that later.

Or maybe just go buy some new clothes instead.

Then I went out to my garage and got my putty knife and cleaned up the microwave as best as I could but it was still a mess. So I unplugged it and took it outside, got out my power buffer and sprayed some liquid soap on the mess.

The buffer actually worked pretty good, I washed it out with my garden hose and left it to dry out.

There. I was all ready, just in case. Now it was Sunday night. I know what I was thinking. I was thinking about maybe....sex?

Finally Tuesday night arrived, my pickup truck was washed and shined as best as I could considering what I did to it on a daily basis. I even had one of those little smelly trees hanging from the rear view mirror, it smelled like Lavender.

Well, sort of.

Nora came out right on time, spotted me and headed my way with a big smile. She was wearing a simple flowery pullover dress, the first time I had ever seen her in anything but a nurse's smock.

She looked pretty good to me, the dress hugged her frame nicely, showing off the fact that she was fairly heavy in the bust and had a firm looking set of legs.

Another nurse was walking with her, they gave each other a hug, the other gal looked at me with a grin and waved. I recognized her as the one that sat outside my room at the nurse's station watching the monitors.

She looked..well...naughty? Her skirt was too short, legs bare and the top was thin, her breasts moved all over the place under there as she walked. It was obvious that there was no bra.

Not that I was watching her or anything like that.

I got out and held the door for Nora, she managed to get one leg on the running board and pull herself up and into my rig. I had the old Ford lifted a good six inches to clear stumps and things on my place, plus the double oversize tires put her up in the air a bit.

I hadn't even thought about that part, Nora was about 5'2".

"Sorry about the rig." I told her, suddenly embarrassed.

"I don't own a car, no need on my ranch."

"It's OK, I made it." She laughed.

Off we went to the best restaurant in town. They even had a parking attendent, the look on his face when we pulled up was priceless. He stepped over and reached up to open the door, his head level with her waist. I saw Nora tuck the hem of her skirt tightly between her legs and then roll her knees out, then struggle to get down and still protect her modesty.

I decided right then to go buy a car if we kept dating.

Dinner was wonderful, our conversation was still easy. Afterwards we went to have a drink in the bar, she accepted one glass of wine. I drank coffee, wanting a whisky but I was being on my best behavior.

Then I made my mistake. They say that assumption is the first step up the ladder to a screwup, I guess that is true. Since Nora as my nurse had relieved me not once but twice, I assumed sex was a normal next step.

I went into my best out of practice seduction mode, dropped a few hints, then asked her if she would like to go back to my place.

"I really don't know you that well, Dan. It's time for you to take me home now."

She didn't look really angry but her expression was enough to bring me to a stop.

"Oh, ok." I blushed.

"I thought your car was at the hospital?"

"No, my roommate has it."

"Roommate?"

"Yes, I share an apartment with one of the other nurses, we also share the car since we are on the same shift."

"OK. Hey I am sorry about rushing...uhh...things, I just assumed that...."

"It's all right. I understand and I know about you men. Some things really are meant to be helpful. It doesn't mean anything."

Then she flashed that pretty sweet smile which made me feel a little better.

So I just nodded. We got into my truck and I drove her to her apartment. I opened the door and politely looked away as she climbed down and out.

We said our good nights, I got a peck on the cheek and I drove home.

My house smelled funny as I walked in, I realized it was just clean, the smell of chemicals and sprays. Even the smell of my Dog wasn't noticeable, he was laying on the carpet right where he was when I left. I prodded him awake, he struggled up and went outside, then was back in minutes, curling up in the exact same spot.

I poured myself a whisky, picked up a cigar and sat down in my chair. I didn't light the cigar, the Doctor had given me such a lecture about that I didn't want to hear any more of it.

He didn't say anything about the whisky though.

Then I thought the hell with it, lit the cigar. I took just one puff and set it in the tray, one puff wouldn't hurt me.

I was thinking of how I was just a damned old fool as I fell asleep in my chair. I dreamed one of those vivid dreams folks sometimes have, my Marty leaning down to kiss me, then fading away as Nora took her place.

The next day I was up on the back side of my place clearing out more brush. The blackberry vines were the worst, I reached in and clipped them as short as I could, then used my pitchfork to roll some out. I loaded them on my truck and took them to a big burn pile. I spent most of the day doing that, getting back to my house just before dark.

I made myself a sandwich, then spotted those damned pills sitting there. I had no idea of when I had last taken them. I decided I must not need them because it had already been a couple of days and I wasn't dead yet. But there was a little folder beside my chair so I picked that up and read it as I ate my sandwich.

I decided maybe I had better take the damned pills. I swear, the flyer had the words, "clots" and "death" in every other sentence.

I went back into my kitchen, figured out which one was which. I had just managed to get them all sorted out, took a dose when the phone rang again.

"Good evening!" Nora's voice sounded bright and cheerful. I had figured that she might have thought I was just a jerk.

"Hi." I felt a little sheepish, my suggestion of the night before had not gone over well.

"I just wanted you to know I am not mad at you, it's just that I really wasn't ready for....you know."

"I know. I was just being an old fool."

"No, you aren't a fool, and you certainly aren't old. At least you don't look or act old." Her voice took on a teasing tone.

"Does that mean you might...like to go out with me again?"

"Well, that is why I called you. Janet and I would like you to come on over for dinner, how about tomorrow night?"

"Janet?"

"That's my roommate. She is having a friend over and I thought...."

"Sure, I would love to."

"OK, come by at 6 PM, it's our day off."

"OK." We hung up, I looked around at my now reasonably tidy house and went on in to bed.

It feel cool and crisp, I realized it had been days since I slept in it. With my lifestyle, if I felt like sleeping I just did, it didn't matter where.

I was out almost instantly. I woke up around 5 AM like always, pushed the button to rush the Coffee and decided to go online. I had an old computor sitting against the wall, it was normally weeks between bothering to turn it on.

The lights on the wireless modem were lit which meant I actually did have a connection, at least for awhile anyway.

I read the news, that all sounded the same as always, so I clicked on a story website I had found months earlier. I liked it, some of them were pretty good, naughty of course.

I typed in "Nurse" into the search and up came hundreds of them. I started reading, not sure what I was looking for. Then I found one that sounded familiar.

In fact, it sounded very familiar. It was about an older man that had some heart troubles, and the nurse had been overly familar with him once it was obvious he would recover.

Just like what had happened to me. I checked the list from the same writer, there was a few dozen stories, all similar in scope. None of them involved actual intercourse, but they all had the same drift. The story was from the nurse's point of view and she obviously liked taking care of her clients very well.

I must have read 20 of them, then I decided to write my own story. So I created a user ID, and laboriously wrote about my own experience at the hospital. After it was finished, I read and reread it. Then thinking it was not very sexy, I decided to delete it.

Oh, what the hell, I thought, hitting the "submit" button instead. I shut down the system after taking a side trip to look at some photos of women laying around on the beach. That got boring quickly so I quit and went in to watch TV.

Some actress pretending to be a judge was yapping away so much the people trying to have their case heard couldn't get a word in edgewise. Every time they would ask to speak the judge would yell at them and tell them they couldn't.

I turned that off before I heard her decision. Then I headed out to my fields to work on some brush.

I was thinking about how boring my life had become, wondering if meeting Nora might be a change for the better?

I was back at my house by 3 PM, so I showered and shaved, found some clean slacks and a shirt. Now it was 4 PM so I sat down to kill some time. I sure seemed to be way ahead of everything lately.

Finally the clock read 5:30 so I went out and got into my old truck and made the short drive over to Nora's apartment. She answered the door wearing a mildly short skirt and matching top, both a soft baby blue.

Again, she looked just great to me. She introduced me to Janet, the other nurse I remembered from the hospital. Janet had on a halter top and jeans, her midriff bare. There was a tiny little ring in her navel, too. She was younger than Nora by quite a bit, about 30 or so.

There was a tall slender man sitting on the couch, he got up and shook my hand. Nora introduced him as Stan.

"Hi, Stan, I'm Dan. Boy if we get yelled at we will both be looking around, huh?" I wisecracked.

The guy just got a confused expression on his face. I decided he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

Dinner was uneventful, we chatted about everything under the Sun. Nora once again was easy to converse with, Janet was more bubbly and Stan was a bit of a stick in the mud. He didn't say much and he didn't talk much.

Later he went into the kitchen to help Nora with the dishes which I thought was odd. That left me and Janet alone in the living room. She brought me a soda and plopped down beside me on the couch.

"So you like Nora, huh?" She smiled. The way she was sitting with her knees folded under her put her a bit too close to me.

"Uhh...Yea, I really do like Nora."