A Gift from the Butt

We left the building quickly. It was a downhill slope so Joe ran ahead as I brought my chair up to the fastest speed possible. Rain made us both want to get in the car as dry as possible. We had a long drive ahead, through what we knew would be crushing traffic, and the idea of sitting for all that time in wet clothes was not appealing. I got round to the drivers side of the car, took off the footrests and handed them to Joe and then transferred from wheelchair to car as quickly as I could.

Once in the car, Joe brought the wheelchair round to the passenger door behind the driver's seat and then folded up the chair and lifted it in. Once in I caught hold of it and help bring it in the rest of the way. Joe jumped in. He was a little wetter than I was but we'd both managed to work quickly and get out of the rain without getting soaked. We chatted for the first hour and then fell fairly quiet commenting mostly on the rain and the driving conditions. The quiet was broken several times when Joe burst into loud condemnations of other drivers, their manner and their parentage.

Our route took us out of one city and right through the downtown core or another. We crawled for a long time both of us, who will be sixty this year, thirsty but now, with the traffic, glad of the decision we both made of not having a pop or iced tea along the way. Just outside the second city the traffic began to ease, the rain began to slow down.

About five miles from our hotel, arriving much later than we thought we would. The rain had virtually stopped. We were pleased for that anyways. Joe went and checked in, I waiting in the car. The hotel is a big one with several entrance points. We always want to go in the door that makes for the shorted trip to the room. I have to push myself there, Joe's got to bring luggage, it makes sense. Joe got the chair out of the car and came over to my side. Then he did something odd, he sat down in my chair! He doesn't do that.

After I got out and in the room he said, "Did you notice me sit down in your chair?" I told him I had noticed and wondered why. He said, "Well, I opened the chair up and saw that it was still soaking wet from when we got in. I guess when I rolled it around from your side to the other side it collected a fair bit of rain." He said this as if this was enough explanation. I wasn't following, "And ...?" I asked. "And," he said, "I thought I'd get in and let my butt dry up the chair for you so you didn't get wet when you sat in it."

And, I ask you dear readers, who needs flowers?