Invisible Touch

Invisible Touch

Chapter 14 ~ The Village

Ernie had been feeling twinges of guilt ever since he had moved to Boston. But his grandparents had been right -- there was no point in him staying home just to be near them. They had all of the services of a hospital in their assisted care facility. Medical care and anything else they might need were available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That didn't matter to Ernie, though. His grandparents had always been there for him, and if there was ever a time when they needed him, he wanted to make sure he could be there for them.

Air travel made that possible, of course, and always had, as far as a twenty three year old was concerned. Ernie's flight landed just before noon central time and he hired an airport shuttle taxi to take him to Chalet Village. It should only take a half hour to get there, he knew.

Ernie called Kim's cell phone to let her know he had arrived safely. He quickly did the time zone calculation and concluded that she was at class right now.

"Hi there, Kim," he said to the voice mail system. "I just got in and I'm on the way to the Village. I'll call you tonight and let you know what the situation is."

Ernie had been sitting in the window seat of his flight and hoped it wouldn't be full. He should have known better than to sit near the front of the plane, though, as that end would fill up first. A man in a business suit approached Ernie's row and stowed his jacket.

"Sorry, gents," he said to Ernie and the man on the aisle. Looks like I'm the lucky guy in 6B. "Sixby," Ernie joked to himself. That's a funny name.

He traveled a lot on business, he told Ernie after introducing himself. He sold repair equipment for fixing communications systems, and was on his way to close a big deal. Ernie had the airline magazine in his hands, and Sixby took out today's Wall Street Journal. Each would spend most of his time reading during the flight.

Ernie loved flying, loved everything about it, except for the other passengers, of course. This was interesting, he thought, just before Mr. Sixby's elbow bumped his own. If Ernie were to have a dream about this man before they reached their destination, he would know something about a stranger's future while that person was still sitting nearby.

But they continued bumping elbows, as seatmates always do, all the way to Milwaukee. Ernie wondered if this prevented him from having a dream about this man during the flight. There were others, just foggy waves of colors -- and people in the airport, and who knows where else. But nothing about Mr. Sixby. It was curious, this whole dream thing, and Ernie wished he could understand more about it and how and why it happened.

Now that he and Sixby had parted company, things were different, Ernie surmised in the back of the taxi. His vision began to blur a bit, a sensation to which he had become well accustomed. There was nothing to do now but sit back and watch.

It was a green dream, and Ernie might have guessed that it would be from the way Sixby was dressed. There was money in this man's past and present, so why shouldn't there be more of it in his future. But the money wasn't from the business deal, Ernie saw. It was from the stock market. Ernie could see the man looking at figures on a screen. Quite a portfolio this man had, Ernie noticed. And that one stock -- wow, that's quite a jump! How interesting, Ernie thought as he watched the show.

Ernie's vision cleared just as the car pulled up to the gate at Chalet Village. The driver motioned to the guard that Ernie would speak to him from the back seat.

"Ernie Maxwell," he said and held up his passport. Without a driver's license, it was just about the only type of ID available. His state issued non-driver identification card looked too much like a fake.

"Welcome, Mr. Maxwell," the guard said officially. "Will you be heading to the residence or to the medical building directly?"

How efficient, Ernie thought. "Wherever my grandfather is," Ernie said.

"He left word that he would be with Mrs. Maxwell at the medical building. If you'd like to go there, I can see that your luggage is delivered to the residence."

Wow, Ernie thought. Some service! "Thank you, that would be great," he told the guard.

A uniformed assistant took the small suitcase from the trunk of the car and placed it on the back of a golf cart. He placed a tag on the bag and handed Ernie a stub torn from it.

"Just in case," the young attendant said with a smile. The guy had to be about his own age, Ernie thought.

The attendant noticed Ernie reaching for his wallet.

"No, thank you, sir," he said. That won't be at all necessary."

Ernie thanked both men and the driver proceeded through the gate which had already been opened for them. The guard had given him directions while the luggage was being taken care of.

When they arrived at the medical building, Ernie paid the driver and got out of the taxi. He was now standing next to what looked like a regular city hospital facility, but it was inside of this gated condominium complex. It was like its own little city, Ernie thought. He was surprised that it didn't have its own airport. And then he saw the helicopter take off from the roof, ferrying a patient to a facility nearby.

"Amazing," he said to himself.

Ernie went inside and was greeted by a receptionist.

"Ernie Maxwell," he said. "I'm here to see Betty Maxwell."

With a few clicks on her keyboard, the receptionist had the information she needed. She took a plastic card from a small stack on the desk and slid it through a device which beeped as the card passed through. She told Ernie the room number and gave him directions to the elevator and where to go when he reached her floor.

"This is your key card," she told him. "You'll need it for access to the elevator and to Mrs. Maxwell's room."

Fancy place, Ernie thought.

Ernie swiped his key card through the slot next to his grandmother's door. A beep and a green light told him he could enter.

"Ernie!" his grandmother said.

She looked good, Ernie thought. A little tired, but she'd been through an ordeal this past couple of days.

"How are you, Gramma?" Ernie said and gave her a hug.

And then there was a hug for his grandfather, who was sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"Oh, she's fine," John told Ernie. "Recovering nicely. She'll be in a wheelchair a while, but this whole campus is designed for that, after all."

Ernie nodded. What a place, he thought.

"Kim says to feel better soon," Ernie told his grandmother.

"She's a sweet girl, that Kim," Betty replied.

"She's a keeper, Ernie," his grandfather said with a smile. "Don't let her get away!"

Ernie smiled a big smile and nodded in agreement.

"I got the best one," John said, looking at his wife. "It sure is lucky you were able to find the second best girl in the world."

"Oh, you sweet talker," his grandmother replied to her husband.

Still as happy as ever, Ernie was glad to see. And doing so well in their eighties, he was very glad to see. His grandmother had just turned 81. His grandfather would be 84 in a few months.

"Kim's great. She's definitely the one," he told them. "It's just a matter of letting her find her way in her profession. I don't want her to feel tied down until she's done with law school."

"And then tie her down," his grandfather remarked. "Tight. Double knot."

"Oh John, stop," his grandmother said with a sigh. To Ernie she said, "you two seem like a great couple. You seem so happy together, and I'm so happy for you both."

Ernie smiled that big smile again. "Thank you, we are. We sure are."

There was a knock at the door and a chime from the keycard device.

"Come on in," John said. "The door's... automatic."

"What are you still doing here," a nurse teased Betty. "Out, out with you!"

The nurse flipped through some notes on a clipboard she was carrying. She took some vital signs and was satisfied with the results.

"What am I thinking," she added. "You're not going anywhere!"

The nurse took a small device from her pocket. It looked just like a blackberry, except that it was white and had a tiny nub of an antenna sticking out of it. She punched a few buttons. Then she looked at Ernie and whistled a little tune.

Another knock at the door and another chime from the keycard device. The door opened and a wheelchair magically rolled in. It was followed by the orderly who had pushed it toward the nurse.

"This is just to get you downstairs, Mrs. Maxwell," he said. "Your chair has been programmed and is waiting for you."

"Gadgets," the nurse said. "You could have left a half hour ago if it wasn't for these darned gadgets."

They all headed for the elevator and went downstairs to where Betty's chair was waiting.

"This wheel chair," John explained to Ernie as they walked, "it knows where it is at all times. You tell it you want to go to the dining hall. OK, you have to push a button. What is wrong with you people, you can't talk to the wheelchair? And it can get around obstacles. It stops in crowds of people. Thing is amazing. Amazing!"

"It's got a built in lift," the orderly told Betty. "But you won't be using that, Mrs. Maxwell. Not for a while. Somebody will be available to help you into bed and your bath and toilet. Just press this button here."

"Oh, how am I going to remember all this?" Betty sighed.

All of the buttons were labeled, she was glad to see.

"Now, Mr. Maxwell, this chair acts like a Roman chariot. You'll stand right back here."

John chuckled, but had already fallen for the bait. Behind the chair was nothing but floor, he saw.

"Made you look," the orderly teased. "Well, you folks can get on your way. The dinner special is trout, but I'm told there is still some actual food available in the dining hall."

This guy was some kind of comedian, Ernie thought. What a great place for his grandparents to live and a wonderful bunch of people taking care of them.

"Thank you very much," Betty said to the nurse and the orderly.

"Don't come back and see us again," the orderly joked. "Unless it's social call, that is."

Ernie smiled. Some kind of comedian.

It was a little early for dinner, but Ernie's stomach was telling him it was an hour later, anyway. And the trout was delicious.

"This is some place you guys have here," Ernie said.

"A prison, I tell you," his grandfather teased.

"Oh, John," Betty said.

"This place is like a dream. Like a cruise ship, I told you before. They take care of everything. And it's all paid for. Oh, it was expensive, that's for sure. But we don't drop another nickel into this place. Not a penny. And did you see the sign out front, 'no tipping'?"

"Well, no, I didn't see a sign, but..." Ernie started to say.

"This place is way too classy for a sign," John said, "but that's their policy. Everybody is well paid, and they're very happy. You see how the employees treat the residents here, well the company treats the employees well, too. It's a flipping utopia, I'm telling you."

"We love it here," Betty added. "The people are wonderful -- the staff and the other residents. Wonderful."

"So, my boy, how long can you stay?"

"A couple days," Ernie replied, "if that's OK with you."

"As long as you want," his grandmother told him.

"Even longer," his grandfather teased.

Betty used her chair's joystick to navigate her way home. John and Ernie followed close behind. She did want to try the door opener. "Click," she heard as she pressed that button, and the door opened right up.

"Ho-ly cow," Ernie said when he got inside. "Nice place!"

"Thank you, it is quite adequate," his grandfather joked. "And look at this, the refrigerator makes ice."

He and Ernie laughed. They had had an ice maker in their refrigerator for twenty years. Betty just shook her head.

"Boys," she said.

Ernie's cell phone began ringing its little tune. He pulled it from his pocket with an eager smile.

"Hello?" he said to Kim.

"Hello to you," he cooed.

"Yes, Gramma's fine," he told her.

"Yup, he's doing great. You'd never know he was going to be 84 in February."

John was making body builder poses across the room. Betty was shaking her head as she watched. They tried not to listen to Ernie's side of his phone conversation with Kim.

"How was your day?" he asked and listened for a while.

"Well, you've earned that. They respect your analysis and writing abilities."

"That's great."

"Well, that's really great."

"You did? Awww. Well I'll be here a couple days. My flight back is at noon, day after tomorrow."

"Well, I'll call you tomorrow night, OK?"

"I love you, too."

"OK, bye."

Ernie folded up his phone and put it back in his pocket.

"Oo-oo-oohh," his grandfather said like a fifth grader. "Ernie's got a girlfriend."

"Oh John," Betty said.

Ernie smiled and then blushed.

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