Robert tugged at his collar and looked out the car window into the side view mirror to catch a glimpse at his reflection.  His mom was driving him to the Prom and he could hear her reminding him about his civil duty as a man, drilling him again not to go jumping into bed with just any girl who was willing to lay down with him, bringing unwanted babies into this world and creating more despair.  Her mouth had been smiling this morning but her eyes were vacant, distant, even a bit haunted when he asked her if she was going to take him to the dance.  He tried to ignore the look he knew so well, it was her look of depression and he wasn’t going to let her steal his night.  He had a date with June and he planned on paying attention to her and only her tonight; he’d deal with his mom's turmoil tomorrow sometime.  Now he smiled quietly to himself in the mirror and turned to reassure her that he was paying attention. 

In slow motion Robert saw the truck grow larger and larger; its horn suddenly screaming at the top of its lungs.  He saw his mom stop in mid-sentence, her head turning in time to see the monster grill crashing into the side of the car where she sat.  He watches as God plants forever in his memory the sight of his Mom's head leaving her body and sailing into the back seat of the car. 

Robert awoke with a series of jerks, sweat pouring out of every pore, sure that he had wet himself: again.  He hated going to sleep because of that dream, that memory.  He hated being awake because of that reality, he hated just about everything after he came out of a 6 month coma to this life; a dead mother, a grieving runaway father, living in a fine convalescent home paid for by his dad's wealthy but absent parents.  He waited now quietly for the morning rituals. 

Chauncey, the morning orderly would arrive soon and carry him to the bath where he would strap Robert into a tub of warm water, place a soapy rag in his hand and walk away saying he had some chores he needed to do. Robert had begun bathing himself 3 years ago at Chaunceys persistent pushing.  He was glad that Chauncey had pushed: he hated nothing more than being bathed by another man.  At least he had the dignity of washing his own genitals. 

Once his bath was over he waited for his morning nurse to check in on him, then he’d exist one more day with no one to talk to, no one to love and no one to share his life with.  With these thoughts racing through his head Robert watched his monitor for signs of people in the building.

It didn’t take long before he saw Jenny appear on the screen of his monitor, waddling down the hall toward his room.  Why were all the nurses either fat women or women who liked other women?  Whales or Dykes he thought, what a life he lived.  Not one sexy, beautiful nurse for the 10 years he had been paralyzed.  Once about a year ago, on his way into the house after a doctor's appointment, he saw a beautiful woman getting out of a car he didn’t recognize and his heart gave a quick jump.  However it wasn’t his nurse at all, just a beautiful woman getting out of a car.  Woo damn Hoo, no soup for you. 

The Nurse coming to his room now, although she was robust and dated women, wasn’t like any of Roberts other Nurses.  She was older than what he was used to, her hair a strong mixture of salt in an otherwise salt ’n pepper look.  Her eyes gave her away at the slightest glimpse; she was as gentle and caring as ever a person had been or could be.  She actually spent time with Robert, talking about his world and what he might like to try and do.  She seemed to actually care about how he felt, and seemed to understand why he had the angry chip hanging on his shoulder, without taking him personally at all.  She always had a smile for him and a pleasant remark, no matter how verbally combative he may be.  Today she was carrying a small black plastic shopping bag in her left hand that grabbed and held Roberts attention. 

“Good morning Robert.”  The nurse smiled broadly, much like the Cheshire cat who caught the parakeet does. 

Roberts' eyes never left the bag she tried to hide behind her.  “What makes it so good Jenny?” 

“Because I am here and not someone else!” she exclaimed with her usual enthusiasm.  This was their normal morning exchange and she wasn’t about to let the day pass without giving him a burst of positive energy.  “And because I have something for you.” 

“What have you got in that bag?”  His voice was barely above a whisper.  Could it possibly be?  Would this woman who only sees him a few hours a day actually buy him the Battle-Toon game?  He looked from the bag she now held out in front of him, into her smiling eyes. 

“It’s for you.” She stuck her hand into the bag and pulled out the Black and Gold box Robert had been coveting for the past month.  “I got it from my sister's boy, he’s a manager at the store and they get employee discounts.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke, she was busy tearing off the tape on the outside of the box and removing the bubble wrap from around what looked almost like a regular pair of sunglasses. 

Robert noticed the glasses had a small wire plugged into the tip of each ear piece that led down to a thin pair of black gloves with gold thimbles around each tip and a thin gold line down each finger.  

“He can buy anything in the store at 25% off.” Her fingers nimbly untangled the wires connected to the sunglasses as she continued telling her story.  “So he bought me one.  Tells me it’s because he’s heard me talking about it.  Can you imagine such a thing?” 

She stopped working on the wires long enough to raise her eyebrows at him before she went back to the task at hand.  “Yep, he knows he’s not allowed to buy me silly Christmas presents so he gets me things he knows I can’t say no to.  That’s how he gets away with buying me presents of any kind.”

Having unwound her wires, she held the gloves out for Robert to get a better view.  “All you need to be able to do is move your fingers together so you should be fine.  You want to try it out now?” 

Robert nodded his head yes and watched in silence as the only person he considered a friend carefully slipped each glove over his thin hands.  From the research he had done, Robert knew the gloves were there to allow the user to make choices in the game, but also to provide security measures.  The gloves could determine age and would not allow anyone younger than 21 to play.  For some reason the gloves could also determine gender and wouldn’t allow anyone to get a Character of the opposite gender from them.  The Online Rumor Mill ran amuck with such topics but Robert only wanted facts and never listened to idle gossip, all he cared about was that no one mentioned anything about paraplegics, so as far as he was concerned he was good to go. 

“You have to plug that third wire into my laptop Jenny.  That’s how you get to play with people from all over the world.”  His laptop sat on a pedestal right by his bed, at face level so he could use his pointer stick to activate it.  He turned his head to pick up his pointing stick with his mouth and deftly brought his laptop screen to life.  Within seconds it was resting on the Battle-Toon game page.  Jenny plugged in the cord then carefully placed the glasses on his face.  “Thanks Jenny.  Thanks more than I can tell you.”  A small tear trickled out of his left eye and down his cheek.

Jenny stayed long enough to watch him catch his breath then break out in a smile before she walked back down the hall to her morning chores and other patients.