From The Heart by Kristina Ortiz - HTML preview

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157

 

 

 

“What, and win me over? You don‘t have to. You already did that when you first talked to me last night.”

 

“That‘s sweet, Mr. Smiley.”

“No, son, sweet is what you‘re doing for me.”

 

Just a few minutes later, Constantine finished bathing Mr. Smiley. Mr. Smiley was clean, rinsed, and fresh. Constantine dried Mr. Smiley with a big towel and then carried him out of the bathtub and put him back in the wheelchair.

 

“Thank God my assistant wasn‘t human. A human man would‘ve broken his back after doing this just ten times, or even less. I am one heavy dude.”

 

“Mr. Smiley, you‘re not heavy to me. In fact, you‘re a feather to me, and no, I‘m not exaggerating.”

 

Mr. Smiley wheeled himself out of the bathroom and followed Constantine to his bedroom. “That‘s what I‘m saying, thank God. You know how much I weigh, son? I weigh 175 pounds.”

 

“I could carry someone or something that weighs one thousand tons, and it wouldn‘t be a problem for me, easy.”

 

“1000 tons, you said?”

 

“Yes, and even more. God has blessed me and others like me with unlimited physical strength.” Constantine went to Mr. Smiley‘s walk-in closet. “What do you want to wear today?”

 

“I would wear any long-sleeved shirt with buttons and long pants. Just pick out what you think looks best on me. You know that better than I do.”

 

Constantine picked out a red long-sleeved shirt and a red pair of long pants. It looked like an outfit. Then, he placed everything on the bed, and withdrew some boxers from the bedroom chest. In less than fifteen minutes, Constantine helped Mr. Smiley get dressed, garment by garment. By now, it was half past seven. “By the way,” Constantine said as they got out of the room, “I love it when you call me your son. My parents passed away.”

 

“Marlon told me, and you know what? I never had children. I couldn‘t.”

 

“Then I‘d love to be your son.” The two men shared a big hug and continued their way on to the dining room. Mr. Smiley accommodated his chair in a place of the dining room where there was no dining room chair. “What would you like for breakfast today?”

 

“I would like lots of scrambled eggs with lots of bacon and lots of sausage, and toast, orange juice, and coffee on the side, please. I didn‘t think you would make me breakfast, though.”

 

“Of course I will,” said Constantine and walked to the living room. “You can have all the scrambled eggs or omelets you want all throughout this month because I bought you hundreds of eggs.”

 

“…Hundreds?”

 

“Yep,” said Constantine. By this time, he was already preparing all the eggs he needed for Mr. Smiley‘s breakfast this morning, a whole pack of twelve eggs. Constantine had gotten Mr. Smiley over three hundred eggs, and fortunately, Mr. Smiley‘s refrigerator had enough room for all of them, and many other things. Mr. Smiley had the biggest and most modern refrigerator available on the market. It was beautiful, too. Constantine started scrambling the eggs. “You like them with or without salt?”

 

“…Without.”

“Ok.”