I looked at the note again.
It read, "Your sister will visit you when she finishes her shift at 22.00."
I was reading the note in a hospital bed. There were tubes attached to my arms. Although movement was difficult, I could use my hands to read my iPad or notes.
I was not seriously ill. I had been, but had made a good recovery. I had returned back to normal life, and now had just three tests to go, of which this was the first. I'd had to return to hospital for the tests. After this first one, there would follow a test in two months and the last in four months' time. For the first and second tests only, I had tubes and equipment hooked up to me solely for monitoring purposes. I wouldn't be going through the main tests until the next day, but they wanted me in overnight to get me settled. For the last test, providing everything went OK with the first two tests, they would still need me in the night before to get settled, but I wouldn't have the paraphernalia of equipment attached to me.
My room was down a corridor away from the main wards and I could just hear the crank of trolleys in the distance. It was a warm evening and I was lying outside the bedclothes. I'd been given a gown to wear that I pulled a bit further up my legs. I'd grazed my knee playing football and the grazed area had been itching from the warmth of the gown.
I thought a bit more about my sister, Nigella. I hadn't seen her for at least two years, since she left home. At twenty two, she was four years older than me. When she was younger, she was never interested in her young brother. As she got older she began to notice me more, but I just seemed to irritate her. Eventually, I was glad she'd left home as she was a right bitch to me as well as for mom and dad. I wondered why I was now being honored by a visit.
Nigella had always caused trouble for my parents. There were always rows, usually about money. Nigella never had enough. She'd borrow money from other kids against her future pocket money.
At twenty, to be more independent, she had begun a nursing diploma. She'd been lucky to get on the course as that type of hospital-based studying had tended to be phased out for degree level college-based courses. Anyway, she'd charmed the course administrators to let her through. She'd had enough of my parents and left to rent a room in the nurses' hostel, continuing to be broke most of the time.
However, one asset Nigella always possessed was her looks. Our mother was Italian and Nigella had inherited the olive skin, long dark hair, flashing black eyes and slightly thick sensual lips. Mom was distantly related to Vanessa Lawson, so she'd decided to name her own daughter after Vanessa's famous television-cook daughter. My sister even looked like a young Nigella. She had a sensational figure. Her tits were bigger than average and her ass was sculpted into a beautiful bubble butt. At 5 ft 7 in she was even the same height as her English relation, with lovely long legs. You would refer to her figure as nicely stacked, rather like a secretary in the Madmen TV drama.
Nigella used this asset for what she wanted. She was now engaged to be married in six months' time to Horace, a rather straight-laced wealthy accountant. Horace was just about OK in the looks department, but any attraction the opposite sex had for him was strongly diminished by a large beer belly. However, as one of the richest young men on the scene, he was assiduously chased by the girls of the neighborhood. Nigella had cleverly outwitted the other girls and then enticed him slowly. A friend told me that he'd overheard Nigella telling his sister that during the first six months Horace was only allowed to kiss her. This had been followed by her allowing him to feel her breasts and then on to her giving him hand relief. After a year she'd slowly introduced some oral ministration. There was no question of full sex, she said, until they were engaged.
Horace, clearly not being able to contain himself, then proposed marriage. She declared that he was the first man that she'd slept with and, knowing her ambition to bag a wealthy man, I believe that she did hold herself back for him.
After Nigella left the family home, she never came back. This seemed sad to me, but I suspect that, as with a lot of girls that clash at home with their parents, she would return to the fold later in life.
Her estrangement was not helped by our uncle. Sadly Uncle Toni, my mother's brother, died suddenly. He didn't have a lot of money, but he had paid off his mortgage and owned his house. He left his estate entirely to my mother except for two bequests for Nigella and me. He left me, his nephew Jack, the sum of $20,000 to be paid to me on my eighteenth birthday. His bequest to Nigella was a bit more complicated. Knowing her propensity for blowing money, he also left her $20,000 but stipulated it was to be paid to her on her twenty-fifth birthday or when she got married, whichever was the sooner.
Nigella was furious. She knew she wasn't good with money, but didn't want her fiancé to find out. Once she was married to him she knew she'd be financially OK. However, up to that point, Horace was a stickler for her living within her means and she knew that he would have qualms about marrying her if he thought she was careless with money. If she'd immediately had Uncle Toni's legacy, she could have spent to her hearts content, without Horace knowing that she struggled within a budget. Now she had to continue to manage on her nurse's salary.
As 22.00 approached, I wondered what she'd look like. She always had a way of looking glamorous, whatever she was wearing. Truth be told, I'd had the hots for her since I'd hit puberty. She'd been a young teenager's dream. Even though she was my sister and I hadn't seen her for two years, she was my sexual fantasy most times I masturbated.
I had heard that at the hospital Nigella always seemed to get the best shifts, having time off at Christmas etc when other nurses had more onerous duties. This, it was suggested, was because of her ability to charm the senior male staff and nursing administrators. One nurse started a rumor that she had seen Nigella appearing out from under a desk that a minute previously had been occupied by the Assistant Principal, who had appeared to be doing up his zipper as he left the room.
The last person to look in on me was the duty nurse at 21.00. As she handed me the note about my sister, she told me that, as I was not being treated until the next day, I would not be disturbed again until the morning. That is apart from my sister who, apparently as a nurse, could visit me anytime.
Eventually the door opened and in walked Nigella. Wow, she looked terrific.
If people had seen us both at that moment, they would have clearly seen that we were brother and sister. Like Nigella, I had inherited the Italian looks, olive skin, slightly thick lips and glossy black hair. However, unlike Nigella, in terms of looks, I knew I was an average guy. I was sure that I would get my share of girls in life, but not the stunners of the opposite sex that Nigella could enjoy, if she hadn't needed the security of a rich husband.
She was wearing a white nurse's uniform that looked a bit short, showing off her long nylon clad legs. The belt drew in at her waist, emphasizing her well-shaped breasts. The only part of her body assets that was hidden was her ass, as the dress didn't cling to her buttocks. Her hair was tied up and held with a clasp and topped with her nurse's cap. As you would expect with Nigella, she was wearing full makeup with shiny red lipstick.
She was wearing stiletto heels that she would have put on at the end of her shift, rather than the flat shoes which would be compulsory on shift.
With the heels, the whole uniform looked like something that would be worn on the Playboy channel, rather than a practical hospital garment, and I realized, even excepting the heels, that the hospital managers were obviously lenient towards her in respect of what she wore.
She hesitated for a moment and then walked straight over to me.
"Jack how are you?" she asked with an anxious voice, which I knew was totally contrived.
Slightly annoyed, I answered, "Nigella, you know I am OK. I've virtually had the all-clear. There are just three final tests for them to carry out."
"Nigella, what do you want?" I said, getting right to the point, preventing her saying any more polite clichés.
She looked all big eyed, "Jack, I'm here because I need your help."
I couldn't imagine what she meant. Did she want me to be a peace-maker between her and mom and dad? If so, I'd certainly give it a try.
"I have a little financial difficulty." she said plaintively.
She continued, "You know you were lucky to get your money from Uncle Toni immediately. I can't get hold of mine until I'm married. I am in a temporary financial embarrassment." She looked discomfited as she got the words out.
"Why not ask Horace?" I queried, although I already knew the answer.
"Horace wouldn't understand. He'd think I was a spendthrift. He hates profligacy. He'd think I was unsuitable for a wife. You must help me!" She finished with an anguished sigh.
"How much do you need?" I asked cautiously.
"Only two thousand dollars." she said.
She made it sound a small sum of money and, in the light of the sum of money I had received from Uncle Toni, it was.
"What's the rush?" I asked, puzzled.
"It's a payday loan." She answered with a heavy sigh.
Now I understood. I had a friend who worked in the business, so I knew how it worked. She would have left a post-dated check in the amount of the principal borrowed plus the fee. On the due maturity date, she would have the option of returning to the store to repay the loan and fee in cash, and receive the post-dated check back, or phone the lender and instruct the lender to deposit the check.
However, as Nigella's account was short on funds to cover the check, she would face a bounced check fee from her bank in addition to the costs of the loan, and the loan could incur additional fees and/or an increased interest rate as a result of her failure to pay.
The usual interest rate for such loans was on average 15 percent for a two-week period, which translates to an annual rate of 390%.
She was in a mess. I could see Horace being horrified to know she'd been to a payday lender. For the first time in many years, I was feeling sorry for her.
"OK," I said, "you can have your money. I get out of hospital on Thursday, the day after tomorrow. We can go to my bank together, transfer the cash and you will sign the appropriate document, which will ensure that the money is repaid to me the moment you receive your inheritance."
Knowing her, I intended to make damn sure that the paperwork was watertight. Although I knew she would start off with good intentions, a little extravagance could cause the good intentions to go out of the window.
Nigella looked relieved, "Oh Jack, you are a sweetie. I'm so grateful."
Feeling that she ought to extend the friendly conversation, she started looking around the room. "You seem to have everything you need."
As she said this, she started idly looking at my personal belongings on the side table. Picking up my iPad, she said playfully, "Now what kind of reading material do you like?"