No words can do justice to a place like the Excelsior Arms, where every form of humanity is represented. It is a microcosm of our society. Some of us possess kinks. Others just try to get through each day. Some of us are doing both, not always understanding the differences.
"Owwwww!"
Karen Johnson's teenage daughter stuck her head around the door frame of the bedroom. "You okay, mom?" she asked.
Karen groaned. "Yes, it just still hurts a lot." She used her hands to pull her taped and bandaged leg into a more comfortable position and fell back against her pillows.
"Well, duh," Gwen said, chuckling a little. "You just had your knee replaced. Did you think you'd be out dancing after six days?"
"I suppose not. I know... I'm a wimp," she answered.
She rolled her eyes. 'Kids! Must be nice to be eighteen, when nothing hurts!'
Karen looked at Gwen, who was watching her from the doorway. "It's just... I don't know how you all even got me up here. I can't..."
Gwen interrupted her. "Mom, we're heading out. Do you need anything before we go?"
"Just a water, please."
Gwen disappeared for a few moments, then leaned around the door frame long enough to toss a bottled water onto the bed. "You know, you
can
try to walk a little. Just don't go splat on the floor, so we have to drag you out to the curb, okay?" She came into the room long enough to kiss her mother on the cheek.
"Dad will be a little late getting home. Robbie's already at the bus stop outside. He says to have a nice day." She laughed.
"Sure he does."
She listened to Gwen go down the hall and out the door. And then it was quiet. Karen turned on the TV, then turned it off again. 'God, is it supposed to hurt this much?' she asked herself, knowing the answer. 'Of course it is. Buck up, sweetie!'
It would be another 7 1/2 hours before Sam or the kids were home again. Karen reached for another oxy pill, knowing she probably shouldn't take one so soon. But her knee throbbed, and she hadn't even begun therapy. That was set for this morning. Karen groaned, dreading the OT person showing, but she knew it was inevitable. She'd been prescribed 30 pills, but 22 were gone already. She'd need the rest after they put her through her paces, however they planned to do it.
Her tummy ached. She felt like she had an ulcer. "I shouldn't take these on an empty stomach," she said aloud. But the kitchen seemed a long way away, even with the walker they'd provided her.
"Whatever." The water helped wash the pill down, and the pain seemed to subside within a couple of minutes. She was dozing when the front bell rang.
"Yes?" she called out, knowing who it probably was. It was nine o'clock, a glance at the alarm clock showed. Right on time. 'Just my luck,' she thought.
"Second floor, apartment 2F. Come on up!" she shouted, after he identified himself as the therapist.
To her surprise, he was young and attractive. He introduced himself as Mark, though she forgot his name immediately, more interested in what he looked like than what he was named. He carried a contraption that he set on the bed, and an armload of papers in a folder.
"These are your forms," he instructed. "If you'll sign the top one, I"ll get the machine set up, so we can get your leg moving." He moved quickly to the end of the bed, where he slid thick fleece coverings out of their wrappings and onto the machine. He waited for her to sign, then carefully lifted her leg by the calf and slid the gizmo under it, nestling her knee over the top of the padding.
Karen realized he could see up the bottom of her nightie, but he didn't seem to be looking. 'Probably not much to be interested in with a 38 year old,' she thought. Still, she pulled the nightie down over her exposed panties as best she could. If he noticed, he didn't say anything. He made some adjustments and then turned on the machine, which slowly raised her leg and brought her knee back nearly to her chest. Karen moaned in pain at the first revolution, but Mark told her it only got better, and to stick with it.
"Easy for you to say," she grimaced, as her leg was once again raised methodically. At the apex, she felt especially vulnerable, and a glance down revealed her labia, silhouetted through her panties, were lewdly on display. Mark's eyes, she saw, were now focused on that spot. 'Oh, god,' she thought. She was horny a lot lately, having watched a lot of porn on her laptop the last few days, whenever her family was off to school or work. This didn't help. At all. 'Maybe I should have requested an older woman as a therapist,' she thought, and dismissed the idea. This guy was handsome; besides, she kept herself neat down there. The tingle in her groin was quickly becoming apparent.
"I'm sorry. What was your name again?" she asked, embarrassed but always direct.
He smiled. "I'm Mark," he repeated for her benefit. "Now, that's better, isn't it?"
Karen drew her eyes up to the ceiling, groaning as the machine stretched her leg out straight. "Easy for you to say," she repeated. "By the way, how do I get more of those magic pain pills?" She was already jonesing for one.
Mark shook his head and turned to look into her eyes. "Those come from your doctor," he told her. "You aren't out already, are you?"
Karen told him no, she was just wondering. "But just in case, you know," she concluded. Then she added, "I might have given some to my aunt, who is in a lot of pain." It was a lie and it was lame, and she suspected he saw through it immediately.
"Let me see your bottle," he said, and reached for the prescription bottle on the bedside table before she could stop him. There were six pills left. He set it back and looked at her, then grinned.
