Bennett True Read online

  Bennett was staring out of the window of the hospital, while Aethel was calmly sitting in the waiting area.

  At this moment, he admired the woman, and he was surprised, how quickly she had regained her composure again. It almost seemed that the knowledge that her grandson needed her support mobilized her power with every passing day. Without any doubts, she wasn’t the old lady anymore who had laughingly strolled through the house, because all of them felt the loss of her husband very clearly. Bennett however was glad with all his heart that she had walked into the garden in order to take care of her beloved roses on the past two days, as she had used to do it before Charles’ death. But today he was nervous, he simply was afraid that Jethro possibly wouldn’t survive this surgery. Bennett knew that Doctor Fenac had informed Aethel that this surgery would pose a certain risk, but that they were running out of time and that Jethro’s condition was gradually getting worse was something the physician had merely mentioned to him.

  When Michael Fenac came along the hallway, his facial expression revealed to Bennett that Jethro was alive. Nevertheless, Bennett had the impression that the doctor was strained. The man didn’t mince matters. He explained to Aethel, as well as to him, that the surgery had gone well, but that there had been some difficulties during the transplantation. That reason would prompt them to wake the patient slowly from the artificially created coma on the following day.

  “What do you mean by difficulties?” Aethel inquired in horror, but the doctor reassured her immediately.

  “Everything is all right with your grandson, and his condition is according to circumstances. We have closed the deepest burn wounds, and we will take care of the ones which don’t need immediate treatment at a later point in time. When Jethro’s state of health is improved, only minor surgeries will be necessary.”

  The old lady immediately relaxed after this statement, whereas Bennett’s inquiring gaze was still glued to the physician. At this moment, a door was opened and Jethro was pushed in the direction of his room. Aethel’s feet carried her automatically along the hallway, and Bennett took advantage of the situation, when she was out of their earshot.

  “Towards the end of surgery, he coded,” Michael Fenac explained to him honestly, and his concern was reflected in his face. “I hope he will come out of his coma smoothly and that his physical condition will improve soon, so that we can proceed with the surgical interventions, but they mustn’t take such a long time though.”

  Bennett exhaled deeply, and he said quietly, “Thank you very much that you have kept it so generally. Charles Reddington died of a cardiac arrest.”

  Fenac nodded, he squeezed Bennett’s shoulder, and then he went over to Aethel Reddington who was standing in front of the windowpane of Jethro’s room again. He slowly followed the man, and he heard that the physician comforted the old lady, “It won’t take long until the risk of infections will have lessened. You can enter the room and visit your grandson soon, Mrs. Reddington.”

  The woman nodded gratefully, while Bennett devoutly hoped that the words of the doctor would come true.

  The Awakening

  Bennett jerked as if he had been hit by a blow, while Aethel covered her face with her hands in order to avoid seeing the happenings in the hospital room.

  As the doctors had planned, Jethro was slowly awakened from his artificial coma. Today, on the third day,, it was the first time that the man started moving, but not in the manner Bennett or Jethro’s grandmother had expected. Nobody had warned them that he would panic and try to rip off the tubes from his face. The facial expression of the severely injured person was contorted with pain, and Bennett was glad that no sounds got through to them. Otherwise he would have been worried about Aethel. He felt that the old lady reached for his arm. He lowered his face and looked at her. He was quite certain that it wasn’t easy for her to keep her balance.

  “Please come with me,” Bennett requested her, and he guided Mrs. Reddington to one of the chairs that were positioned there. He was relieved when she finally sat down, before she might topple over. The woman had turned awfully pale, and her lips trembled without interruption.

  “The poor boy;” she wailed through compressed lips, and she rummaged in her handbag for a handkerchief, because the first tears began running down on her cheeks.

  Bennett gently squeezed her shoulder in order to comfort the woman, and subsequently he approached the pane again. He spotted that a nurse bent down to Jethro and tried to reassure the man. To Bennett’s surprise, Doctor Fenac headed towards the window pane, and he heard the inquiring voice of the physician shortly afterwards, “A familiar face would be of great help, Mr. True, would you mind coming into the room, please?”

  After passing through the side door, you must pull on the clothing that is laid out ready there.”

  The butler turned around and looked at Aethel Reddington. But she shook her head, as if she had anticipated his unspoken question. “I believe I am not strong enough for that, Bennett. Not yet,” the old lady uttered in a tormented voice.

  He nodded and inhaled deeply. Then he headed towards the side door the staff always vanished behind in order to get to Jethro. His hands abruptly got clammy, and he didn’t think that it was an especially splendid idea that the man would see him of all people at first.

  Bennett reached for the green protective covers for his clothes and his shoes as well. Equipped with a surgical mask and a hood, he sent a quick prayer to heaven that Jethro wouldn’t jump out of his skin completely when he would spot him. Reluctantly, he pushed the handle of the door while he looked at his thin gloves. He wondered if the other man recognized him at all in this hooded outfit. With a lump in his throat that wanted to take his breath, Bennett True walked into the hospital room. As soon as the door quietly snapped shut, Doctor Fenac said in a muffled voice, “Thank you. We have administered a tranquilizer to the patient. He has already calmed down a bit. Obviously, he doesn’t remember anything, and he seems to be unable to cope with the situation.”

  “Oh, not only he,” the butler whispered so silently that his words didn’t reach the doctor’s ears.

  “Go and talk to him,” the physician requested him.

  Bennett was overwhelmed with a queasy feeling, and he approached the frame Jethro was lying on. His steps slowed down visibly, and Bennett had never felt so uneasy in his life.

  Helplessly, he looked at the covered body, and then his eyes reached the ones of the blond man.

  He immediately realized that the saying, that eyes are the window to the soul, hadn’t come into existence for no reason. Bennett guessed that Jethro’s expression would change any moment, but it didn’t happen. Never before, he had been conveyed so much pain and agony by mere looks.

  Tentatively, he took one step closer to the man. Bennett swallowed hard and cleared his throat. He frantically hoped that his voice would obey him.

  “Your grandmother is sitting outside, Mr. Reddington,” he explained gloomily.

  Bennett had the impression that Jethro’s eyes focused him more clearly, but his pain and his fear still prevailed.

  “I am sure she will visit you within the next few days as well. She only got a bit frightened when you tried to rip off the tubes.”

  The other one merely stared at him, because the breathing hose made an answer impossible. Bennett closed his eyes, and he didn’t know what he could say to him. There was a man in front of him with whom he had been at daggers drawn until now. He didn’t nurse a grudge or hatred against him anymore, but he solely felt compassion for him. When Bennett opened his lids again, he saw a trace of tears running down Jethro’s cheeks.

  The butler swallowed, and he lowered his gaze for a brief moment, then he drew a deep breath and he asked him in a low voice, “I am just talking about things you don’t want to hear, do you?”

  Bennett’s eyes searched the ones of the other man, and his hand automatically set in motion in order to wipe away the small trickle. He felt that Jethro slightly leaned his fac
e against his fingers.

  “Do you still remember what has happened?”

  The man minimally shook his head, but Bennett perceived it and he explained silently, “After the funeral of Charles, you got in your car. I don’t know how high your alcohol level was…the hospital called in the morning, and I was told that you had been in a car crash. The car caught fire and you were seriously injured. They had to place you in an artificial coma. Almost five weeks have passed since then.”

  Even more tears emerged in Jethro’s eyes. Bennett bent forward, so that he was closer to the face of the man. His hand ran reassuringly over his cheek, and he whispered, “Everything is all right. You are back again, and this is the only thing which is of importance, okay? You don’t have to go through it on your own. Your grandmother is feeling better, and she will be on your side.”

  Bennett hesitated briefly, and then he added, “And me, too.”

  The butler gave him a gentle smile, and he explained, “If you don’t agree to this offer, you should recover soon in order to upset me in the tried and tested way!”

  Bennett blinked at the man, so that he would be able to understand how he had meant his statement. He didn’t know which reaction it triggered inside Jethro, but his tears didn’t stop, they increased even more.

  “Jethro,” he said softly, “everything is all right, simply concentrate on regaining your health, okay? Everything else is unimportant.”

  He noticed Jethro’s indicated nod, and a load was taken off his mind, although it only was a small amount of the whole burden. His thumb gently stroked the man’s cheek, and he wiped away further traces.

  The blond man slowly closed his eyelids, and Bennett told him in a low voice, “I will be back tomorrow.”

  When he withdrew his hand, Jethro opened his eyes and looked at him fearfully. Bennett saw that the other man tried to move his arm, but at this very moment, his facial expression changed, and it reflected his enormous pain which was accompanied by a blocked pant. Bennett looked at Jethro’s fingers which were only partially covered by the sheer linen. It seemed that they the fire hadn’t harmed them. The butler looked around, and he spotted a rollable stool. On the spur of the moment, he pulled it up and he sat down. Then he covered the man’s hand with his own one.

  He stayed, until Jethro was sound asleep.

  Closeness

  Bennett opened the door, and he saw that Jethro was awake. He lifted his hand in order to greet him, and he asked, “Hi, how are…”

  “Don’t ask,” the man grumbled and cut him off.

  The butler sighed helplessly. He took off his heavy winter coat and put it carefully on a chair. Subsequently, he sank into the armchair that had been his regular seat for weeks.

  “How is grandmother?”

  “She already feels better. She has escaped the flu by the skin of her teeth. Her fever is almost gone, but she coughs still a lot, and she has to stay in bed. As it looks like, Kate became infected as well. Maybe she is lucky and she will merely come down with a cold, instead of coming down with a flu like it happened to Aethel.”

  Jethro nodded only, and he focused his attention on the window. Bennett adopted his behavior, and he also dwelled on his own thoughts.

  For the past three months, he had visited him daily, and Aethel had accompanied the butler every other day. Solely the previous two weeks the old lady hadn’t been able to visit her grandson in hospital, because she was ill in bed with the flu.

  Jethro had undergone several minor surgeries and he had weathered all of them well. But nobody had anticipated that the healing process would proceed so slowly. Doctor Fenac reassured them continuously that it was normal, because the burns had been so seriously.

  Aethel’s grandchild was still confined to his bed. However, it was a standard version in the meantime.

  After Aethel’s consultation with Jethro, Bennett had broken up the household of the blond man and taken care of that his belongings found a place in the house of his grandmother.

  The butler didn’t know how he should classify the relationship that had developed between him and Jethro. On some days it seemed to be a normal friendship, but on other days he had a feeling that the situation was quite absurd.

  After the physicians had removed the breathing hose, Jethro was perfectly able to speak again, but it was curiously enough that he talked only rarely, to him at least, whereas the conversations with his grandmother were much more spirited. On his fifth visit after they had awakened Jethro from his artificial coma, Bennett began to feel uncomfortable, because the other man didn’t talk to him at all. When he said good bye to him on this very day with the announcement that he would come back again together with Aethel two days later, Jethro woke up from his rigidity. His gaze was as equally horror-stricken as on the first day, when Bennett had bid his farewell. The man asked him in a hoarse voice if he didn’t plan to visit him on the following day. The butler shook his head, and he told him frankly that he felt certain that he would only bother him. Jethro’s reaction overwhelmed him with wonder, because the man explained to him with bleary eyes that his request would actually be too presumptuous, but he wished that Bennett’s would continue staying with him each day for a while. Jethro’s behavior confused him, but he had voiced his wish so desperately at the same time, so that Bennett nodded and appeared on the next day again.

  They rarely talked to each other, and there were times, when Jethro was too exhausted to have a conversation. It quickly had become routine that Bennett was on his side after all of the surgeries, when the other one was pushed into his room. At these moments, no words were necessary, and he took the hand of this man without being asked, because he wanted to show him that he wasn’t alone. “They want to move me to a rehab clinic in two weeks’ time,” Jethro interrupted the train of the butler’s thoughts.

  Bennett looked at him in surprise, but he didn’t have the opportunity to ask questions, because the other one continued, “I don’t want to go there. The clinic isn’t in London, but in the distance of 100 miles. I want to go home, Bennett. I simply want to go back home.”

  He heard the desperation in Jethro’s voice, and he swallowed hard. “Jethro, you know that the rehab is important. You have been here in hospital for more than four months, and Fenac has informed you that your muscles have considerably weakened. Your skin must also be treated further. They don’t send you to the rehab without a reason.”

  Jethro hesitated perceivably, and he pointed out, “It is a distance of more than 160 miles that separates me from home. And I…you actually cover a stretch of 70 miles each day in order to be here.” The man halted, and he looked out of the window again.

  Bennett wrinkled his brows, and he wondered if he had interpreted Jethro’s statement correctly. Didn’t Jethro want to go to this rehab clinic for the sole reason that he couldn’t visit him on a daily basis?

  He didn’t have the chance to ask him this question, because there was a brief knock on the door, and Michael Fenac entered the room.

  The physician greeted him cordially, and after they had talked about trivialities for a moment, the doctor came up with the topic of the day, the rehab clinic.

  “Isn’t there any other clinic which is closer to London, or is it possible to be treated at home?” Jethro asked. It was the first time he joined in their conversation.

  Fenac was stunned, and he looked at the blond man with pursed lips, “This rehab is the most important thing for me, Mr. Reddington, and it will demand a great deal of your patience. The clinic you will stay in is one of the most prestigious facilities with a very high success rate. It was sheer luck that we could find there an accommodation for you at all.”

  “All the worse that it is so far away,” Jethro pointed out, and he puffed desperately.

  “I merely can make inquiries how long the minimum stay should be in order to fall back on other options afterwards. This measure is important for you, Mr. Reddington, and it shall ensure that you will be able to move as before, somethi
ng, which simply isn’t possible now. Maybe it is realizable that you acquaint yourself with the thought that you will have visitors on weekends only for the time being, but on the other hand, you will be a self-dependent person again when you leave the clinic.”

  Fenac darted a side glance at Bennett, but the butler couldn’t read the facial expression of the man.

  Jethro simply shook his head, so that the doctor said one more time, “I will inquire about the minimum, all right?”

  Immediately after the physician had left the room, Bennett whispered in a low voice, “It is important, Jethro, really important.

  I can look for a suitable hotel for Aethel, after all. Then we could set off on Fridays and stay there for the whole weekend, even maybe a few days longer. Who knows, but Aethel may like the idea to go on a vacation for a while?”

  Jethro solely nodded, and he didn’t say anything else, but his desperation didn’t vanish from his face, despite of Bennett’s reassuring words.

  Perceptions

  “My grandson likes you very much, Bennett,” the old lady remarked softly, but actually loud enough that he could hear it.

  The butler glanced in the rearview mirror, and he saw that Aethel was directly eying him. He wasn’t sure which possible reply would be appropriate. Her eyes scrutinized him friendly, and he didn’t detect any rebukes in her voice.

  Bennett concentrated on the street again, because the first snowflakes were falling from the sky, and they required his full attention.

  Before Jethro was moved to the rehab clinic, he had frequent and long conversations with his grandmother. Bennett didn’t know what they had been talking about, but he realized that Aethel looked at him differently than before. The old lady eyed him up, when she thought he wouldn’t be aware of it, however she underestimated him profoundly, since it was his job after all, to notice everything, even when nobody talked and the people felt unobserved. Her eyes reflected thoughtfulness, amicability and from time to time, he interpreted a trace of curiosity in them.