Chapter 4

As time passed, Shadow and Ginger had become comfortable with each other. Shadow told Ginger about growing up in a household under the watchful eye of an over protective mother. Ginger talked about how she had left home and found that the only way to make enough money to live on was by dancing. Shadow had never thought about how women entered the adult entertainment industry.

The days had settled into a nice rhythm. Breakfast, morning workout, lunch, afternoon errands, dinner; and then quiet evenings together. These marked the passage of the day. The different afternoon errands marked the week as he rotated between laundry, vacuuming, mowing the lawn, dusting, shopping, and gardening. Sundays he was free in the afternoon.

He learned how to cook dishes other than stew, but they both admitted that he didn’t have what it took to be a chef. However, with time his cooking had improved and neither of them died of food poisoning. There were a few dishes that they couldn’t finish and those became the subjects of easy jokes.

The longer that Shadow lived with Ginger, the less concerned she became about covering herself when he was around. It seemed like every day he caught glimpses of her breasts or panties. Every day after her after-workout shower, he used the excuse of cleaning the bathroom to spend thirty minutes in the bathroom to relieving himself of the erection that watching her workout produced. Masturbating when he took his shower in the evening also helped keep him from doing anything that would upset her.

Ginger seemed oblivious to the tensions that raged through Shadow. She was too busy dealing with tensions of her own. At night, she would lie in bed rubbing herself to get rid of some the tension that raged through her. As far as she was concerned, Shadow was a fantasy come true. She wondered how many women could possibly find a man that would take such good care of her.

As time went by, the sexual tension in the air became thick enough to cut with a knife. Their conversations became longer and more intimate. The silences became less threatening. Neither one was willing to give into their individual urge. Shadow because he was completely clueless about how Ginger felt about him. Ginger was unwilling because she was unable to see the effect that she was having on Shadow.

Shadow waited as Ginger went about the business of getting ready for her appointment. He had set out a nice outfit for her to wear to the doctor’s office. She was in her room behind closed doors getting dressed. Shadow’s imagination worked overtime as he imagined what she looked like while she prepared. Her gorgeous legs, full breasts, and womanly shape were firmly etched into his mind. He sighed, but kept his thoughts to himself. There was no sense letting her know that he was a pervert at this late stage.

When she opened the bedroom door, he raced over to it and took her hand. As always, he said, “Let me lead you to your chair.”

“I’d prefer to sit on the sofa with you today,” replied Ginger. There was a nervous tremor to her voice that let him know how worried she was about the appointment.

“Okay, Ginger,” replied the ugly man. Both of them knew that at this point, it was unnecessary for him to lead her around the room. She could navigate the room without any problem, but they went through the motion anyway. He led her over to the sofa and waited until she sat down.

She patted the seat beside him and begged, “Sit here and hold me.”

Once Shadow sat down beside her, she turned and settled against his chest. Not knowing what else to do with his hands, he put his arms around her. Unconsciously, he pulled her tight against his chest, as though afraid of losing her forever. In the tone of voice that one would use to calm down a skittish horse, he said, “Everything will be all right.”

She settled against his chest feeling protected. For the first time in her life, she felt safe. That it had come in the form of being held by a man, surprised her. The fact was that she had never expected to fall in love with a man. Her mother and stepfather had killed all desire to find someone to love. Being beaten by her mother for not sexually satisfying her stepfather made it virtually impossible to hand her heart over to anyone.

After living with Shadow for almost three months, she had come to love him. Loving him had crept up on her and she couldn’t quite pinpoint when it had happened. She knew the stages that her feelings for him had passed. At first, she was terrified of living with a stranger while blind. After a while, she found herself trusting him to take care of the problems associated with being blind. As time went by, she realized that he hadn’t made any unwanted advances upon her. That’s when she realized that she could trust him to take care of the real her - the person inside the body. It was about that time when she realized she loved him.

She sighed and said, “I’m so worried about the doctor’s appointment. What if I can’t see ever again?”

The question tore Shadow apart. He had come to have very strong feelings for Ginger and feared what would happen when she had her sight back. As strong as his fears were, there was no way that he would ever wish that she would remain blind. He hugged her and answered, “I’ll take care of you.”

“You would, wouldn’t you?”

As her head rested against his chest, the smell of her scented soap tickled his nostrils. He inhaled enjoying the scent and tried to etch it into his memory, so that he would be able to recall it even after years had passed.

Tears ran down his face as he answered, “For as long as you needed me.”

She cleared her throat and asked, “I know that you must have been tempted, but why didn’t you ever try anything with me?”

“It wouldn’t have been right to have such beauty marred by my ugliness,” answered Shadow.

He felt like his chest was about to explode at admitting his feelings for her. He felt her body tense as he gave his answer. From the expression on her face, he knew what she was going to say.

“I love...” she started, but was cut off when he put a finger against her mouth.

“Don’t say it,” he interrupted.

“Why?”

“You haven’t seen me, yet. You don’t know what kind of horrible monster I am,” he answered.

It hurt her to hear him talk about his appearance in that manner. He was a good man and deserved happiness. She replied, “Promise me that you’ll be here when I get back.”

That was the one promise that Shadow wouldn’t make. He was spared from answering when there was a knock on the door.

He sighed in relief and said, “That’ll be Harry.”

She shifted so that Shadow could get up and answer the door. He rose and paused to look down upon her. Her face was positioned as though she were looking at him. Her vulnerability touched him, but he didn’t know what to do. An additional knock forced him to turn his attention to the door.

He answered the door and said, “Come on in, Harry.”

Harry looked at Shadow taking in the streaks left on his cheeks by tears. Rather than comment, he looked over at Ginger. She looked just as upset as Shadow. Raising an eyebrow, he looked from one to the other.

In a cheerful voice, he said, “Today is the day.”

Shadow, forcing as much cheerfulness into his voice as possible, said, “Yes. She gets her sight back, today.”

Reaching down, Harry took Ginger’s hand and said, “We had better get going.”

With a weak nervous smile, Ginger nodded her head. As Harry led her to the door, she paused and, in more of a question that a statement, said, “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Sure,” answered Shadow after an uncomfortable pause. He glided over to her and hugged her. As he pulled back, he said, “I love you, Ginger.”

Shadow put a hand on the Druid’s arm. Harry turned and looked at Shadow in surprise. In a serious voice, Shadow said, “Take care of her.”

“Of course,” answered the Druid. He smiled felling extraordinarily pleased that his plan for the two of them to bond over the months together had worked. It was with a light step that he led Ginger to the roach coach.

Shadow watched from the window as the roach coach pulled up to the curb. Holding his breath, he waited to see if Ginger had her sight back. He was so nervous that he was close to pissing himself, but his hands didn’t drop the pack with his clothes in it. He clutched it even tighter when the door of the vehicle opened.

Ginger stepped out of the truck and, after taking a few steps to the middle of the yard, turned to wait for Harry. As she waited, she raised her arms and spun in place with her head thrown back as she watched the sky turn overhear. It was a genuine display of joy at having her sight back. She smiled and said something to the Druid, but Shadow couldn’t hear over the pounding in his ears. He didn’t need to hear to know that she had gotten her sight back. Feeling like the lowest form of life on earth, he fled out the back door and disappeared into the alleyway.

Harry and Ginger stepped into the house talking about how wonderful it was to see the world once again. She looked around to find Shadow, but there was no sign that he was there. She ran from room to room seeking him, but he wasn’t there. Her face fell as she realized that he had left. Turning to Harry, she held out her arms as she broke down and cried. Harry stepped up to her and gathered her into his arms. He rocked her and rubbed her back while singing a soft song to ease the hurt. They had talked about the likelihood of him running off, but she had denied that it was a possibility.

Shadow waited until dark before climbing out of a manhole at the end of an alley. A liquor store was less than a hundred yards away and the street was nearly deserted. All that he wanted was to reach the liquor store, purchase a bottle of the strongest rot gut whiskey that he could afford, and drink himself into oblivion. He had been doing that a lot lately, driven by his self-loathing. He hated himself for having run out on Ginger. He knew that it had hurt her, but couldn’t believe that it was anything compared to how much it had hurt him to leave. Just thinking about it brought tears to his eyes.

Someone stepped out of one of the stores and headed in his direction. He pulled back into the alley to wait for the lone pedestrian to pass. He waited five minutes but no one passed by.

Giving up, he stepped out onto the sidewalk and promptly doubled over when he was hit in the stomach. As his breath left his lungs, he collapsed to his knees. From the ground, he stared up at the face of the man that had hit him.

“What?” asked Shadow as he struggled to recover his breath. The shock at getting ambushed prevented him from saying more. Harry stood in front of Shadow, leaning on his shepherd’s staff while watching him struggle.

Happy Harry was anything but happy at the moment. He glowered at the prostrate figure at his feet and answered, “You made her cry on what should have been a very happy day for her.”

Bitter at the hand dealt him by fate, Shadow answered, “Better that she cry than realize what she had shared her house with all of this time.”

The sound of the slap echoed through the empty street. Harry shouted, “You hurt her!”

Shadow stared at the Druid. The happy-go-lucky little man was gone, replaced by a force of nature that wouldn’t be denied. Feeling the emptiness of his words, he shouted back, “I had to.”

Grabbing the ugly man by the back of his shirt, Harry said, “It’s time for the ugly man to disappear.”

“Huh?”

At a gesture from Harry, three men stepped out of a doorway and grabbed Shadow. He struggled, but accomplished nothing. They manhandled him to the roach coach and threw him in the back. Climbing in, they held him down as Harry sat in the driver’s seat.

Turning to look at his passengers over his shoulder, Harry shouted, “Hold on folks. This thing rocks hard enough as it rolls down the road to deserve admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”

Terrified at what was going to happen to him, Shadow struggled. His efforts were ineffectual as the three powerful men held him down without difficulty. He recognized them from the streets and knew that Harry had helped them in the past. They owed Harry and would do anything to help him.

Desperate, he said, “He’s going to kill me.”

The biggest man grunted and replied, “He said it was time for the ugly man to disappear. If Harry says you have to disappear, then I’ll help him make you disappear. I might not like it, but I’ll do it. Now shut up.”

A hood was put over his head blocking out the view. The rest of the trip was made in darkness. Shadow lay, curled into a ball, on the floor of the roach coach. Shaking uncontrollably, he cried like a baby as he thought about what he had done to deserve this treatment. His tears were driven by the knowledge that he had hurt a beautiful woman who he loved.

Half an hour after being thrown into the roach coach, hands dragged him out of the back of the vehicle and set him on his feet. He was roughly led away. With the hood over his head, there was no way for him to know where he was being taken. The destination didn’t matter to him nor was he worried about what he would find when he reached it. He felt like he deserved whatever was going to happen to him.

Shadow was pushed roughly to his knees and the hood removed from his head. Looking up, he found that he was staring at another green robed Druid. The man stared down at him and then looked up.

The Druid asked, “What’s going on Harry?”

“This man has been going around harming people because he feels ugly,” answered Harry. He glared down at Shadow as he said, “That’s got to stop. The ugly man has to go.”