My Safest Place

Bad Joke

Once at the lounge, the game started off slow and awkwardly silent. "So what did you do before coming here?" Nadine broke the silence with a question. A question, which answer she already knew.

He looked at her a bit puzzled, but satisfied that she might have no idea who he was. "I used to sing...until I found out that I was sick." Scott didn't hesitate to fill her in on his wife, who had left a couple of months after she found out about his illness. She found it too hard to cope with everything so..."She just got up and left one day."

"I'm sorry. That must've been hard for you."

He was the youngest of three brothers and had moved from Kentucky with his mother after his father had died of cancer. "She can't deal with me at home, so she stuck me in here...motherly love" he seemed bitter about his mothers intentions.

She interrupted his chain of thought, "Hey maybe she means well. If you're always this grouchy...maybe she..." Nadine got a glare from Scott. So, she decided to keep her thoughts to herself. "How about we just the game?"

"My cousin has a band and I used to play with them, but and my side effects...made me quit." He seemed to go deep in thought and was startled by the clicking of the balls crashing together.

"I'm sorry about your father and your wife. But being here can't be that bad." She smiled trying to make his life better with one phrase and a smile.

He laughed as he queued his pool stick, "Well it's no Hilton. Plus, it's just a reminder that I'm going to die. People die around me at least once a week here." His broad shoulders lifted in a defeated shrug.

Nadine sighed heavily; making things fun and easier for Scott's last months of life was not going to be easy. "Your turn." His voice broke her thoughts. "So, what about you? What is your life like?"

She would have preferred not to answer such a question. Her life was complicated at the time. "Well let's see I just turned 21. I live with my two brothers, my sisters and my mom. I never get enough sleep, because I go to school and work at Denny's part time and whatever free time I do have, I dedicate it to volunteering."

"Wow all in a nutshell huh? Well, at least you don't have only six months to live?"

Nadine just stared at him dumbfounded. "Was that supposed to be funny? Cause it's not." She stated. "Come on, our time is up for today."

The walk down the hall back to Scott's room was silent. He cleared his throat "I'm sorry, I tend to deal with my discomfort with jokes. Sometimes they aren't as funny as I think." Nadine gave him a weak smile, then motioned him to wait and went back to Sarah in the reception area.

"Ok we are back Sarah..." Nadine leaned over the counter.

"Oh good cause it's Mr. Richardson's SLEEPING TIME!" Sarah spoke loud enough for him to hear. Then she gave him a wink. He groaned and smiled back at her "Oh come on Scott...you just played a game of pool with none other than, Nadine Santos. One of our top volunteers in the program. You can at least sleep happily!" Sarah teased with a giggle, which made Nadine turn three shades of red.

Nadine and Scott walked down the hall to his room. "Well here we are..." Nadine stopped at the door.

She watched as Scott climbed into his full size bed and gave her a friendly smile. "Good night." She almost whispered and started to walk away.

"Hey Nadine?" His voice made her stomach flip. Never in a million years did she imagine hearing his voice, if it wasn't singing through the radio. She turned to look at him, "Thanks for volunteering. I really had a good time tonight." He turned around and covered up.

She smiled and left him to rest.

The next day was a bit easier on the two. He was in a much better mood and ready to go wherever she had planned. She smiled as she caught him pacing at his door.

"Hi."

He stopped and looked up at her. His green eyes brightened up at the sight of her. "Hi. I thought maybe I scared you off."

Nadine smirked, "It takes a lot more than bad jokes to scare me off. So, can we say that you did enjoy my company?" She was trying to be playful and break the tension that seemed to build up between them.

"Oh don't flatter yourself. You are just a kid."

She let out a laugh. "I didn't mean it that way."

"Right!"

"Come on, we aren't doing anything special today. Just going out to the garden for a walk and then a game of checkers?"

"That's lame! I thought you were here to have fun."

"Well, not everyday. We can't rush into things you know."

She reached up and placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Don't get all grumpy. We will still have fun. You can't tell me more about you."

"Mhmm..."

They spent the next four hours, walking, talking and arguing. Kevin was quite the character and sometimes Nadine wasn't sure if she would be able to tolerate him. One minute he'd be laughing and smiling and the next he'd be pissed and almost yelling.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's ok. I can imagine it's--"

"You can't imagine anything that's going on inside of me, Nadine. My body is deteriorating and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. I used to do a lot of things and now I'm confined to these four walls...like a fuckin prisoner. So, you can't imagine."

He walked into his room and slammed the door.

"Give him time! It must be really hard for him." Sarah gave Nadine a squeeze on the shoulder.

"Ugh...he stresses me out." Nadine walked over to the counter, "Think I can drop out?"