Invisible Touch

Invisible Touch

Chapter 13 ~ Playing House

At long last they arrived in New England. It had been a long trip and Ernie felt bad that he hadn't been able to do any of the driving. But even if he could be assured of clear vision the entire way, he had never gotten his drivers' license. As it was, they listened to the radio most of the time and this gave Ernie foggy waves of color and hazy images of strangers. He rarely had any idea who these visions referred to, and this type of dream bothered him less and less.

They would be staying a while at a Red Roof Inn in Woburn, not far from their final destination. They chose to do their house hunting in person rather than over the phone with a broker or worse, through Internet services that rented apartments sight unseen. This particular motel was chosen for its secure parking lot where their small yellow moving van could be parked without being stolen or broken into.

Kim was tired after the last leg of their journey. They had broken up the trip from Wisconsin over several days, but still, it was exhausting for her and Ernie suggested they turn in for the night and begin their new life in Boston tomorrow.

It was 5:00 in the morning the next day when they found themselves wide awake. Ernie removed Kim's car from the trailer they had used to tow it, and they set out in search of coffee and some breakfast.

A whole array of apartment guides and used car magazines stood next to the rack of tourist attraction brochures. Ernie selected from the latter category a few that looked interesting. They were seated in a booth in the non-smoking section.

Ernie scanned one of the brochures as their waitress poured some coffee.

"Thank you," Kim said to the waitress.

"Did you know they give tours of Fenway Pahhk," Ernie said, practicing a mock accent.

Kim shushed him. "Shh, don't say that -- they really talk like that around here," she said with a smile.

Ernie chuckled. He had grown up with the Brewers, but he had been to a couple of Cubs games at Wrigley Field, that beautiful old gem of a ball park on the north side of Chicago. He thought about how neat it would be to see a game at Fenway, but then thought about the crowds. It might be worth it, he thought.

Another brochure had a picture of a witch on the front. Kim picked it up and looked it over. Salem had plenty of tourist attractions to memorialize the witch trials, but this seemed a little gruesome for her taste.

"Here's one you ought to like," Ernie teased as he handed Kim the third brochure.

"Ooohh, outlet mall," she said, and then lowered her voice. "In tax free Tilton, New Hampshuh!"

That made Ernie laugh. Boston was the cradle of American liberty. New Hampshire was that famous proving ground for Presidential candidates. But they sure talked funny in these pahhhts!

"Once we get settled in, I'd love to play tourist for a while. We've got all summer to..." she started to say. "Well, I've got all summer. I don't suppose you get paid until you start working, though, huh?"

"Well, that's true. But to tell you the truth, you know how my grandfather is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Well, he already advanced me my first year's salary in advance."

"That was sure nice of him!" Kim said.

"Yup," Ernie replied, and reached for his wallet. "And it will come in handy for paying the tip for breakfast," he added.

He laid a dollar bill on the table.

Kim looked puzzled. "Huh?"

"One dollar per year," he said. That's what the board offered me for pay. I know, I know. I should have held out for twice that, and then we could afford this cup of coffee here. But I..."

"A dollar a year," Kim laughed. She was waiting for the punch line.

"Don't worry about money," he said. "I sure don't have to. Mrs. Appleton set me up with a modest trust fund when she set up this charity. She hoped it would allow me to get the charity up and running without having to worry about my own finances."

"Ohhh," Kim said. "Well that's nice. Really nice!"

They had never talked about money before. It hadn't ever really mattered before. They had just agreed to split their expenses in Boston, and she was planning to get a part time job. Was.

"And maybe now's a good time to tell you something else," Ernie began saying. "This thing about you working part time to pay your half of the bills. I've been thinking, and I don't want you to do that. I never thought this was appropriate to talk about before, but I've got plenty of money to live on. You're going to have your hands full with law school. No, that's a full time job right there."

"Are you serious?" she said. "That is so generous, Ernie. I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"We'll see about that," he said. "I just want you to make the most of your education."

"You are a gem, Ernie. An absolute gem."

He had a big smile on his face as he ate his pancakes.

They had been warned, Kim remembered. Don't bother with the car. You're not going to want to drive in Boston. These people were insane, Kim and Ernie realized. They had these circular streets called "rotaries" with streets going in and out of them. Drivers would just jump right into the swirling traffic as it went round and round.

"It's a wonder there aren't piles of dead bodies lying about the streets," Ernie said. Kim did her best to follow what appeared to be completely unwritten rules about getting into the flow of traffic in the rotary. The cars already on the rotary had the right of way, according to all of the yield signs, but the incoming drivers would just sail right in, hardly even looking at what was happening around them.

They felt lucky to be alive, and followed the directions they'd been given for getting to Harvard Square. They looked for a garage, but the picking were pretty slim.

"Can't pahhhk heahhh," came a voice outside the car as they pulled up to a curb.

Kim rolled down the window.

"Fiahhh lane," the man said, pointing to the sign. Try over theahhh."

The man was pointing down the road.

"Thank you," Kim said.

She rolled up the window and they both laughed.

"Well, I guess everybody was right," Kim said.

"What do you mean?" Ernie said.

"Not to bother with the cahhh," she said. "Around heahhh they must just ride the 'T'."

The "T". The subway. And crowds of people. Great, Ernie thought. Maybe he'd need a second job to pay for all the taxis he would be hiring.

"Harvard Law School," said the sign the saw as they drove down Massachusetts Avenue or "Mass Ave" as they would learn to call it.

"Well here it is," Ernie said. "The center of the universe."

"For now," Kim replied.

"This would be easier on foot," Ernie said.

He cringed at the thought, but crowds were something he was going to have to deal with for a while.

"That's for sure," Kim agreed.

They were about to give up and drive back to the motel when Ernie noticed a "for rent" sign in the window of a nearby apartment building. He pointed it out to Kim.

Kim pulled up to the curb just long enough for Ernie to get out of the car and get close enough to see the phone number on the sign. He ran back to the car as traffic started to accumulate behind the car.

"Sorry," Kim said to the other cars. "Did you get it?" she asked Ernie.

He was already dialing is cell phone.

"Yes, I'm calling about the apartment for rent," he said into the phone.

"A brick building on Massachusetts..." he said.

"By North Hall," he repeated. He looked around. "Yes, that's the one."

"Does that include utilities?" he asked.

"Yes, we'd love to see it," he said. "Now? We are in the neighborhood, but parking is a bit of a..."

"Take a right here," he said quickly to Kim.

"We just turned onto that street," he said into the phone. He listened for the rest of the instructions.

"Great, we'll be there in just a minute or so!"

He repeated the directions to Kim. Another right, then there was a garage under the building. The landlord told them which numbered space to use. She would be waiting for them there.

"Well that didn't take long," the woman said. She appeared to be about fifty years old.

"We were driving by when we called you," Ernie said.

"No, I mean I put that sign up about a half hour ago. Usually it takes a whole hour to rent an apartment in this building."

Must be fate, Kim thought.

"This is the parking space for the apartment," she said. She looked at the two of them. "Just one," she added. "I guess one of you will have to find some other..."

"I don't drive," Ernie told her.

"Well, that's perfect then!" she said. "Let's go see the place."

The apartment was on the third floor, they already knew. They went up a set of stairs. The building appeared to be quite an antique, but the stairway had just been rebuild and could have come from a brand new building.

"The hardwood has been redone recently," she told them. And the previous tenant had the kitchen and bath renovated, oh, about ten years ago. The fireplace works, but be sure to have the chimney cleaned every fall."

They continued their tour. The apartment was nice and big, had a bath and a half. There was a laundry room in the basement, she had shown them, but a stacking set of appliances had been installed in a closet next to the powder room.

"The bedrooms are both the same size, so you can choose which one you want to use," she said, assuming they would be sharing. Ernie made a note of which one he liked better, but would let Kim choose first.

The apartment was beautiful, but then it wasn't cheap. But it was close to where they wanted to be.

"This is perfect," Kim whispered to Ernie.

"I heard that dear," the landlord teased. "And so I'll have to raise the rent since you like the place so much."

They all laughed.

"It really is perfect," Ernie said. "We'll take it."

There were details to be ironed out, I's to be dotted and T's to be crossed. Ernie had brought cash to pay for the deposits, so once the papers were signed, everything was official. She handed him the keys.

"Now there's no moving on Sundays," she told them. "I should have told you that before. But the place is yours."

A second night under the Red Roof would be a minor inconvenience. They had a beautiful home where they would be spending the next three years.

They loved playing house together. All summer long they shared the cooking, cleaning, laundry. Kim did most of the decorating, and Ernie had never realized before what exceptional taste she had. The furniture was an eclectic mix of things they had both brought along with them. But it was nice and comfortable, plenty functional.

By the time classes were about to start, Ernie decided to make an announcement.

"I'm taking over the housework," he told Kim. "The cleaning, the laundry, the cooking."

She sat in stunned silence. A smile came over her face.

"You're going to have your hands full with your classes and all that. I don't want you to have to worry about all this stuff."

"I don't know what to say," she said.

"You don't have to say anything. I don't mind, really. I want to do it."

"That's really sweet, Ernie," she told him.

It would be a labor of love. Their relationship had moved beyond the "just friends" stage from an emotional point of view, and now in their living situation. There was no physical relationship, and how could there be, Ernie thought.

Maybe this arrangement was a good thing. He knew that his situation (was it an affliction? he wondered) could be stressful on their relationship. He didn't really know what she was thinking, but Ernie was wishing that marriage was a possibility. She was his soul mate, his best friend. He couldn't imagine life with anybody else. He wondered whether she felt the same way. Time would tell, wouldn't it. And if they could survive this experiment, maybe they'd take it further.

An old office building down the street was an ideal location for Ernie to set up shop for the Appleton Trust. The price was right -- most businesses were looking for space with all of the modern conveniences, but that wouldn't be terribly important.

Location was important. He could spend a fortune on taxis if he had to commute any distance. The bus was a great way to get around town, but there was so much jostling among the crowds, he just couldn't bear it. He avoided touching people as much as he could to avoid the dreams they brought. This was ideal, an office Ernie could walk to.

But the hand shaking, there was no way to avoid that. It was a part of doing business, he knew, but spying on somebody's future was not, and he hated that. He had to shake hands with the manager of the office building, and in the dream that followed Ernie saw him making a call to check on his references. This was something new, he realized. Ernie wasn't able to see his own future, but for the first time he was part of somebody else's.

This was one of the reasons he couldn't have any kind of physical relationship with Kim. For one thing, he really didn't want to violate her privacy. But on the other hand, he was afraid of what he might see that included himself. It was one thing to see what the future held for somebody else, but it would be creepy, he knew, to see his own future.

Kim's first semester was going extremely well. Her grades were excellent and she thanked Ernie for making it all possible.

"I owe it all to you, Ernie," she told him.

"Oh puhhleeze," he replied. "Your incredible talents, that's what has gotten you here and that's the key to what you've achieved so far. I'm happy to do whatever I can to help, but you have to know it's all you, kid."

Their conversation was interrupted by a phone call from Ernie's grandfather.

"Well is she OK?" he asked.

Kim looked worried and Ernie mouthed, "Gramma broke her hip. She'll be OK."

"What about you, Grampa, do you need any help?" he asked.

Ernie listened for a while, and a look of frustration showed on his face.

"You're right, you are in good hands," he said. "But I'm going to come home anyway," Ernie told his grandfather.

After hanging up he explained to Kim that his grandmother would be fine, that the medical care had been excellent. His rational side could just let the facility staff take care of everything, he explained, but he just felt that he ought to be there.

"You should go," Kim told him. "Don't worry about me, I won't fall apart while you're gone."

He booked a flight for the next day, returning two days later.

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