After oversleeping, I awoke to a completely full drainage balloon. I knew I could probably change it myself, but Mandy would have been disappointed. I made my way down the hallway to Mandy's room to wake her up. She had left her door open, probably so she could hear me if I needed her. From her doorway I started gently calling her, "Mandy... Mandy...Mandy!" She was always a sound sleeper. I walked in towards the end of her bed to give her foot a shake. I noticed that she was only half covered by her comforter and, as I walked around her bed, I could see that her legs and butt were outside the covers. She was laying on her right side face down with her left leg pulled up slightly. She was wearing a light grey pair of loose boxer-type sleeping shorts that had wedged their way up her butt crack in the chaos of her sleep. It was a view of my step-sister that I had never had.
I gave my head a shake and flipped the covers over her legs before grabbing her toe and giving it a shake. "Mandy!" I said.
"What?" she asked, getting her faculties together.
"My balloon thingy is completely full, we slept in and forgot to change it," I said.
"Okay," she said, stretching her arms above her head. "Just give me a minute and I'll come and take care of it."
I heard her get up and go to the bathroom. I short while later I heard the toilet flush and she came in to my room in her night coat.
"Jeeze, you weren't kidding," she said looking at the pouch of puss that was resting on my belly. She got the kit of supplies out, disconnected me and got the new balloon all hooked up.
It was an otherwise normal Sunday. We hung out, watched football, called Mom, and ate fish tacos. After dinner we curled up on opposite ends of the couch as we always did when we watched TV together.
"Home care is coming in the morning," she reminded me.
"Right," I said.
"You'll let me watch right?" Mandy asked.
"Yeah, I guess it will be fine. I imagine she's just going to change the pouch and make sure everything is working properly," I said.
"And what makes you so sure the nurse will be a 'she'?" Mandy questioned.
"Uh," I stammered. "I guess you got me there," I laughed.
"It probably will be though," Mandy said. "Nursing school is like 80% women."
"Wow," I said. "If I had known that stat I would have tried to get into nursing school," I joked.
Mandy gave me a punch in the arm, "You still wouldn't get laid!" she laughed.
"Guess the competition for single guys in school is pretty fierce then?" I asked.
"Yeah," Mandy said sounding disappointed. "It is no sausage fest, that's for sure!"
After doing some quick math in my head I said, "I guess the Doctors must have a bevy of single young nurses to work with when you all finally graduate to the hospitals?"
"I think you are probably right," she said. "It's kinda strange. I am in college, but not really dating because of the ratio factor and also the study time factor. Not really getting the whole party experience that the movies portray."
"You seem to be going out a lot more now on the weekends though?" I quizzed.
"Yeah, but it's just out for drinks with the girls from school. To be honest with you, that's another reason I appreciate this opportunity to take care of you. I'm getting some experience with different anatomy," she said, letting her statement linger.
"Oh..." I said somewhat taken back by her honesty. I wasn't sure how experienced Mandy had been with guys, but I wasn't expecting her to tell me. No twenty year old guy would ever openly admit to such a thing. "Sorry, I don't mean to sound so shocked, I just assumed you had been with..."
"Nope!" she cut me off. "Matt and I had our hand down each other's pants once but that was as far as that went before I broke up with him."
"Glad to hear it," I said. "That guy was a loser."
"Yeah," Mandy agreed.
After a bit of an awkward silence, I let Mandy know I was heading for bed.
"Do you need anything?" she asked.
"Nah, I'm fine for tonight." I said. "Probably try a shower again tomorrow, if you're around?"
"I don't have class until the afternoon," she said.
"Cool," I said.
I took my pills and hit the bed.
Mandy woke me up the next morning shortly after 8am. "Hey, the nurse should be here soon. You better get yourself together," she said.
I got up and went to the washroom, brushed my teeth and gave my armpits a quick scrub by the sink. In the back of my mind I was hoping that Kelly might be the one paying me a visit. Mandy had said that the home care nurses are a private company, separate from the hospital staff, so seeing Kelly this morning was unlikely.
The door bell rang and I heard Mandy greet and invite the nurse into the house. "He's in here," she said.
Mandy was followed into the room by a tall, middle-aged black nurse. "Hello Marcus," she said with a thick Caribbean accent. "My name is Janet, I'm here for your home care visit."
"Hello Janet," I said.
Janet began emptying some supplies from a small duffle.
"Where do you want to set up?" I asked.
"Stay comfortable," she said. "Right here will be fine."
"Is there anything I can get you?" Mandy asked Janet.