Blind Faith

The next two weeks flew by quickly.Dr. Fields is officially retiring and I will be taking over from him, which means he has a lot to wrap up and I have a lot to learn.While doing much the same thing, I had to adapt to different colleagues, different personalities, different settings, and different processes than in my last job.

I often work late, and every day when I get home I take Missy for a long walk.This gave me a chance to get acquainted with the new surroundings, to try out new routes every night, and gave me time to relax after work.

Every few days, Mark, my best friend in Hartford, called me, or I called him, to exchange the latest news.Nothing interesting news happened in my hometown, ever.The same people, the same circle, the same bad.But I miss him a lot.

Mark is bisexual.His motto is: All comers are welcome.To put it bluntly, he can sleep with anything that moves.He really is, except with me.We met on an introduction a few years ago when we were introduced by a mutual friend who thought we were a good match.And we hit it off, but not the kind of lovers.

I told him I wasn't the one night stand type and he laughed and said he would never go to the trouble of sleeping with someone.In fact, the time-consuming and laborious in his mouth refers to the second or third date.I was amused by his relentless candor, and even though we weren't the right couple, we had a lot in common and hit it off right away.

Four years on, we've reached the level of intimacy that we've never known between friends except in bed.

"How's it going?" Mark asked me one night.

I sighed on the phone, "It's all good."

"No regrets?"

It's not the first time he asked me that. "No."

"Is there any prospect of development in terms of relationship?" he asked.I could hear the smile in his voice.

My mind jumped straight to Isaac Branigan, which surprised me. "Nothing," I evaded. "Maybe."

"Hmmm—" he hummed, and I knew his interest was piqued, "explain what 'nothing' and 'maybe' are."

Sighing again, I admitted, "There was a receptionist and assistant at work trying to flirt with me."

"Wow," Mark replied, "is he cute?"

"That's a girl."

Mark laughed, "I understand what 'nothing' is."

I laughed too, "Yeah, I think so."

"So there's no handsome guy to hook up with our new veterinarian?"

I didn't want to talk to him at first, but I always knew everything about him.I took a deep breath and said, "Actually, there is one..."

"and then?"

"And what?" I asked him. "He's beautiful, yes, but he's so arrogant."

"So ask him out," Mark whispered in a tone that took me for a fool, "and fucked him until he couldn't be arrogant anymore."

I laughed on the phone, "You are really good at talking."

Mark also laughed, "So how about this pretty arrogant man?"

Even though he couldn't see it, I shrugged: "I don't know. I'm not even sure if he's gay. I mean, he doesn't mention a girlfriend, and he doesn't have pictures of his girlfriend in his house that might suggest it." "

"Have you been to his house?"

I smiled and said, "I do home visits."

"what are you doing?"

I laughed again and said, "Home, family, out, clinic. You know, just like the older generation."

This time it was Mark's turn to smile. "My God, I see you didn't move to Boston, you moved to the 20s."

I grinned, "Yes, Dr. Fields is super old-fashioned."

"So, after he retires, will you continue to do home visits?" Mark asked me. "When will he retire?"

"He'll be retiring by the end of the week." I leaned back on the couch, put my feet on the coffee table, and scratched behind Missy's ear, "I guess I'll just keep doing home rounds, anyway. There were only a few clients. Isaac was one of them."

"Isaac?"

"That beautiful arrogant man," I told him.And I deliberately hid from him the fact that Isaac was blind.Although I don't know why I did it, I really didn't say it.

"So when's the next visit?" he asked pointedly.

"This weekend." I replied.

"Then ask him out."

"It's not that simple."

"Yes, it's that simple."

Everything is easy for Mark.I sighed, and then he understood that I wanted to end the argument.So he changed the subject: "Okay, tell me about that vet's assistant who's also a receptionist, whatever she does, is she cute?"

I snorted, "How can I judge a girl?" I shook my head, "I guess she should be very attractive as a girl."

"How old is she?"

"My God, enough is enough, Mark." I laughed out loud on the phone.

"What's the matter?" he defended himself. "When I come over next month, I think I'll have some options."

He helped me move here before and planned to give me a month or so to settle in before he came over for a weekend getaway. "You must not shoot at the people I see every day when I work, otherwise I will have to apologize for your behavior every day."

Mark yelled on the phone: "I'm hurt."

I laughed: "I'm serious."

He smiled, "Does Isaac have any sisters or brothers?"

"Hey, you're really enough," I exclaimed. "I won't let you go."

Mark laughed very loudly on the phone.Then he said he wanted to know the details of my next doctor's visit to Isaac's house, that he missed my downcast face, and hung up the phone quickly.

I sat on the couch and smiled at the busy tone while Missy nearly fell asleep next to me.Of all my time in Hartford, Mark is the one thing I miss the most.

***

My second visit to Isaac's house didn't go as I had planned.I had absolutely no intention of asking him out when I went there, but it just happened.

It was on a Thursday because Isaac was working late and it was getting dark by the time I arrived.He and Hannah got home 10 minutes before I arrived.Isaac was in a good mood and even smiled at me when I walked in the door.

He was on his phone, and he was still on the phone, so he went to another room to give himself a little privacy.I pat Brady as hello, and I look up to see Hannah smiling at me.

She pointed to the room Isaac had just entered, and whispered, "I have to lower my voice, because he has a good ear, which means I think he likes you."

Before I could respond to that, or think about what she meant, Isaac walked into the room. "Excuse me," he said, putting his phone in his pocket, "just need to sort out the details of next week's work."

I'm almost thankful that he can't see me, because I'm still staring at his sister dumbfounded.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Hannah giggled, and I snapped back to myself, "Well, of course, very good."

Isaac turned to me. "Did she say something to you?"

Oh My God.

Isaac is blind, yes, but he doesn't miss a single detail.

Facing me directly, he said, "Silences, pauses in conversation .

Hannah rolled her eyes and changed the subject: "Isaac, I'm going to get the laundry done now, okay?" And she left us alone.

I then examined Brady, as Dr. Fields had told me, and asked a few questions about his diet and behavior, which Isaac seemed pleased with.I noticed he was wearing another slim-fit suit much like the one he had worn last time, and I was a little curious about where he worked.Now that the evening was going so well, I decided to ask him a few questions.

"Okay, it's my turn," I said.

"What's your turn?" He asked softly with some hesitation.

"It's my turn to ask you twenty questions."

Isaac sighed, and after a few seconds, he agreed with a frown: "Okay."

"Are you sure?" I asked him, "I won't ask if you don't want to answer."

"Does that count in your twenty questions?"

"No," I replied, "can I start?"

"My God, Carter, that's two questions! You only have eighteen left to ask."

I laughed and started asking, "Well, where do you work?"

"Hawkins School for the Blind."

"How long have you been working there?"

"I used to go to school there," he explained. "Now I work there."

"what are you doing?"

"I teach English and I serve on the council."

"Are all the students you teach blind?"

"In a sense yes."

"That's great," I said to him.He turned to me so quickly that I realized I might have misunderstood, "No, I mean your work is great, not that it's great that students are blind."

"Oh." He said softly.

Damn.Ok, next question. "How do you manage to move around your house? You move around as if you can see."

He almost smiles: "I know where everything is. I can draw a map of the whole house in my head."

"Amazing."

He said with a half-smile: "This is not a problem."

I found myself smiling at him too, "So how do you shop for clothes? I mean, you're always impeccably dressed and...and..."

"And what?" He caught up with me, "Does everything fit right?"

I laughed. "Um, yeah. So you just call Bloomingdale's and order their new collection every season?"

Isaac suppressed a smile: "Hannah."

"Hannah what?"

"Hannah orders clothes for me. She knows what I like and what suits me."

"Well, I don't mean to be so blunt, but how do you know what's right for you?"

Isaac smiled, then shrugged indifferently: "I don't know. I can tell the type and quality of the fabric by touching it. As for the color... or what is written on it, I don't know."

"Your clothes will have printing?"

Isaac nodded: "A few years ago, I made Hannah angry a few times, so she took revenge on me."

"How did you get revenge on you?"

"Uh, looks like I wore Sesame Street and Disney to school."

I looked at Isaac, "Really, Isaac? Is she really doing this to you?"

Isaac nodded, "That's right. And I didn't know anything about it until I went to school and someone told me I was wearing this 'Big Bird' T-shirt that was so yellow they all thought it was hot, by the way Say, they only have ten percent vision." Then he added, "She hasn't done that in years. Well, at least not as far as I know."

I laughed out loud in disbelief, and then laughed even louder because it was so ridiculous.

Isaac glared at me. "That's not funny."

"That's really funny," I told him. "Did she do anything else to get back at you?"

Isaac sighed. "She also puts broccoli on my plate and doesn't tell me."

"Is this bad?"

"Anything that tastes like broccoli sucks," he said, wrinkling his nose.

I laughed again, and he just shook his head and smiled, "You're really not good at asking twenty questions, Carter. You've used nineteen of them, but you haven't actually asked me any real questions at all."

"Hey, come on!" I said, "We're chatting! It's not fair!"

He smiled a victor. "You only have one question left, Carter. Hope you can think of a good one."

I have many things to ask.I want to know about Rose, the guide dog he had before Brady.I want to know what he usually does for leisure and entertainment, and whether he has a girlfriend or a boyfriend.I had no idea if he was gay, but then I realized that even if he wasn't, I'd still like to know more about him.So I asked him a very different question from what I had envisioned.

"Are you free this Saturday?"