The Folly of Assumptions
-1-
The first day of the new NFL football season dawned warm and sunny. The A Team was raring to go. They were acting like bulls in heat. The star quarterback of the home team received the very first snap of the new season. The center knew just how hard, and at what speed, to snap the ball to the quarterback, who in turn, knew just where his target would be. He threw the ball to his teammate, many yards away. Nobody could throw a ball farther than Larry Winston. Larry was well-named. He was the main reason why his team won so many games.
The ball had barely left his hand a nanosecond ago, when Larry was tackled. Two of the opposing team did the deed, and Larry's body was twisted in two directions. He fell to the ground in excruciating pain. He knew this was bad, beyond an ordinary tackle. He was correct, and would shortly find out that he had fractured his right tibia, and badly sprained his right ankle.
When he got the news in the locker room, Larry asked the doctor when he could resume playing.
"You'll probably be out all season. With very intensive physical therapy you might make the last game or so," the doctor delivered the bad news. "I'm sending you to the hospital now. We'll have to get you in a cast from your knee to your toes."
"No, no," Larry yelled. "You can't side line me."
The foolish man jumped off the examination table to prove that he was all right. The moment his feet hit the floor; the pain was so bad that he passed out. When he came to, he was in the hospital, and the cast was in place.
The first thing he saw, was an attractive young nurse, who was adjusting his IV. The second thing he noticed was that he had a catheter in his cock. He was appalled. The nurse was exceptionally beautiful. Under any other circumstances he would have gotten a whopper erection. No such thing happened.
"I've got to get out of here," he yelled at the nurse.
"Relax," she said. "You'll get out in a day or two. First, we are going to set up your physical therapy, and arrange for you to have someone at home to assist you. Your agent is working on that now."
"That's not good enough," Larry yelled. He was still unwilling to accept his bad luck.
"As soon as the cast is hard enough, we'll get you out of bed and you should be able to hobble around with crutches. We'll remove the catheter, and you'll be able to go to the bathroom," the nurse assured him, "but your assistant will have to help you shower and drive you around."
Just then, Larry's agent, Marty Phillips, came into the room. They shook hands, and Larry wanted to know how and where things stood.
"I was able to hire a physical therapist to come to your house," Marty said. "He's arranging for some nautilus exercise equipment to be delivered. He'll start exercising you as soon as you get home. I was made aware of an employment agency that specializes in temporary assistants for injured athletes, and I got you a personal assistant."
"You're kidding," Larry said. "I can't believe they have personal assistants strictly for injured athletes. Everything is so specialized these days."
"That's for sure. She'll accompany you home from the hospital."
"Wait a minute. Did you say, she?" Larry asked. "No way. I need a male assistant. I'm going to need help in the shower, and maybe in other sensitive activities."
"There were no men available, and won't be for the foreseeable future. Get over your modesty. She's a trained personal assistant. I'm sure she's seen it all. Besides, I don't think she'll get in the shower with you. She'll just cover your cast with plastic."
The patient shrugged his shoulders in resignation, and Marty left.
Larry was discharged the next day, and his new assistant came to help in the process. Sandi (Sandra) Chester was a beautiful woman. She was tall for a girl, about 5'7". Her hair was the same color as Larry's, ash blond with a soft wave. Her curves and her bust fascinated Larry, and now he did get an erection. He was glad he was in a wheel chair.
Sandi looked too young to be as well trained as Marty said she was, and Larry grew uneasy. Sandy could sense his discomfort. She was very blunt when she said to him, "Relax, Mr. Winston. You're not the first injured athlete, I've assisted. For your information, you're not the first jock I've seen naked either."
That left Larry speechless, so he stopped complaining, and shut up at last.
-2-
In the beginning, Larry was very nasty to Sandi. He was hoping she would quit, but nothing he said or did, fazed her. He made her walk his huge St. Bernard dog, Herschel. The dog was not friendly with strangers, but he treated Sandi with great love. He was all over her, slobbering her with his huge tongue. That shocked Larry. In fact, Sandi didn't mind walking him at all.
Larry went shopping with her for his and the dog's needs. He bought dog food for the massive beast in fifty-pound bags, and poor Sandi had to carry the food into the house. He had her drive him to the stadium so that he could sit in on practice sessions and actual games. That wasn't bad, but he made her take him to the locker room to give his teammates pep talks. Her beauty and good nature were not lost on them, and they treated her with the utmost respect. His plan to embarrass her, backfired.
Sandi was forced to drive Larry around to do his errands in her beat up, fifteen-year-old Plymouth. Larry's little two-seater sports car was too difficult for him to get in and out of. Besides, with two of them in the sports car, there was no room for groceries. Larry prayed that nobody noticed him in the old heap. It was bad for his image.
Larry's best friend on the team was Mac Johnson. Mac was the first person to visit Larry when he came home. He even beat out Larry's mother, father, and brother, who arrived shortly after he did. Mac knew them well, and he, Larry, and Larry's family made small talk, but it was Sandi who got all of Mac's attention. They went into a private huddle, and they couldn't stop laughing. That irked Larry. He didn't know why, and he didn't try to analyze his resentment.
Larry's father had been a star football player in his day, and Mac usually gave all his attention to John Winston. He begged him to tell stories about his old teammates. Some of them had been famous athletes. John was never without juicy tales, and Mac loved to pick his brains. Larry was not only irked by the attention Mac gave Sandi, he was angry at the switch in Mac's attention from his father to his assistant.
Nobody worked harder, and exercised more than Larry. He spent hours on a stationary bike. Still, when he tried to stand up and walk on his leg, the pain was unbearable. As has been noted often, time heals, and finally, Larry started to heal. The cast was removed after six weeks, much to Larry's relief. He still had to use crutches, but it gave the therapist easier access to the muscles in Larry's leg, and the healing accelerated.
Larry, Mac, and three other team mates had a weekly poker game. Nothing stopped them from playing. They were able to play at home and on the road. Because of his injury, the weekly game was moved to Larry's house, instead of rotating the location. There was a card table in the den. Sandi set it up with two decks of cards, and poker chips. She put out a bridge table, and loaded it with snacks, most of it homemade. During the first game after his injury, the card players spent more time eating than playing poker. They kept thanking Sandi, and complimenting her on the food. Finally, Larry got angry.
"Did you guys come to eat or play cards?"
The guys settled down and played poker.
Larry's anger wasn't because the guys were ignoring the game. It was because Mac and Sandi kept whispering to each other and laughing. He even asked Sandi if she wanted to go home for the day. She declined, saying she would stay to clean up after the game. Larry started to sulk. Poor guy! He had no idea that he was jealous of Mac and Sandi's relationship. At least he began to appreciate how diligently Sandi worked for him, and how much he depended on her. He became a lot nicer to her, but he continued to be angry, at no one in particular, over his physical restrictions.
Before his injury he had dated a super model, and he got laid often. Sherry came around a few times a week, but her visits were not pleasant. The moment she entered the house, Sandi had to lock up Herschel in a bedroom. Sherry couldn't stand to be around the huge beast. The locked-up, dog would whimper constantly. Rather than leave the house, so the two lovebirds could do their thing, Sandi was forced to keep Herschel company in the bedroom.
Besides Larry's family, and his girlfriend, Sherry, Mac was a constant visitor to his best friend's house. Unfortunately, his visits seemed to be more for Sandi, than for Larry. It still bothered Larry, but he still couldn't figure out why. It never occurred to him that he was jealous.
-3-
Mac's kid brother, Kirk, was a detective on the local police force. Because of his profession, everybody called him Sherlock. Larry and Kirk grew up together, and shared a bedroom. Larry couldn't bring himself to call his brother anything but Kirk.
Kirk was gay, and he came out to Larry and his parents when he was sixteen, and Larry was eighteen. Everyone in this tight-knit family loved each other, and it didn't make a bit of difference in their relationships. In fact, the two brothers kept themselves amused and apprised of what was going on in their love lives.
One day, about three weeks after he incurred his injury, Kirk called Larry. He wanted to come over so he and Larry could start to plan their parents' thirty-fifth wedding anniversary party. Since Sandi was there all day, and Mac was there almost every evening, all four of them got caught up in the planning. Although it wasn't meant to be, it became a four-man team effort, but they broke up into teams of two. Larry subconsciously assigned Kirk and Mac to be a team, and he paired up with Sandi. It was a crazy attempt to keep Mac and Sandi apart, but also, he was still very dependent on Sandi's assistance.
Larry's family was not big on surprises, so John and Marge Winston were made aware of the date of the party, so they wouldn't run off to Acapulco or some other place to celebrate their anniversary. Mac and Kirk's first assignment, was to hire a band. Larry and Sandi were assigned to book a venue, and plan the menu. They also prepared the guest list, which Sandi entered on a spread sheet. She added two columns to the right. One was for acceptances, and the other was for regrets.
The catering hall did not provide flowers, so that job was assigned to Mac and Kirk. In fact, whenever something came up that needed attention, they tried to keep the work load equal. Because of that, Kirk and Mac were at Larry's home every evening, and Sandi stayed later and later. Finally, one evening Mac invited Kirk and Sandi to have a drink at a nearby bar before everyone headed home. They accepted with pleasure. As an afterthought, they also invited Larry, but he declined.
As they were leaving to go to the bar, Mac helped Sandi put on her jacket, and Larry grew insanely jealous. It still didn't dawn on him how much Sandi meant to him. It took another couple of weeks for his awakening to occur. One evening, Mac and Sandi seemed to be enjoying each other's company more than ever. Larry finally realized that he couldn't (didn't want to) live life without Sandi in it. He loved her, and as much as he felt that way, he was aware that Mac and she had something very special going on. On the day the doctor cleared him to play football, he told Sandi that he didn't need her services anymore, and he fired her. He handed her an envelope with her severance pay check. His action was twofold. He was attempting to eliminate temptation, but at the same time, he didn't want to come between Sandi and his best buddy.
That evening there was to be a poker game at his house. When the other players saw a single dish of peanuts laid out as a snack, one of them whined, "Where are Sandi's delicious cookies?"
Larry spat out in his current state of surliness. "Sandi isn't here right now, and she's not coming back. I assume that you came to play cards, not to eat, so let's get to it."
The game was unusually quiet. After a while nobody felt like playing, and they agreed to quit for the evening. Mac lingered after the others left.
"I need to tell you something," he said to Larry.
Larry cut him short. His temper was equally as short. "You don't have to tell me anything," he said. "I know what's going on."
"You don't mind?" Mac asked.
In the nastiest way possible, Larry hissed, "You're both adults. I can't stop you."
"But do we have your blessing?"
"Yes, you do. Now please go home. I'm very tired."
-4-
When Larry fired her, Sandi couldn't believe what just happened. She had begun to feel like one of the family, especially while planning the party. She suppressed a sob, threw the keys to Larry's house on the front hall table, and left without a word. Larry decided that he would not invite her to the anniversary party, despite all the work she had done. Instead, he would invite Mac with a plus-one. He was sure Mac would invite Sandi. But now, given the way they parted, he wasn't sure if she would come.
Sandi was devastated. In fact, she declined the next job the agency assigned to her. She claimed she needed some time off, because Larry Winston had been such a difficult patient. She stayed home, and cried herself to sleep every night. Despite what Larry believed, she was crazy in love with him.
On the day before the big anniversary party, Larry and Kirk were having lunch together. They wanted to make sure that they had all the strings tied up properly. Larry confided to his brother that he was having trouble with the little speech he had to prepare when he toasted their parents.
"You always make the speeches," Kirk complained. "How about letting me do this one?"
"You're right," Larry said. "That's always been my job, and I'd like to keep it that way."
He didn't realize what was happening to him. When he sent Sandi away, he became short tempered with everyone around him, especially his nearest and dearest. Kirk couldn't believe that his big brother was being this nasty. He decided not to spoil the party, and he kept his mouth shut. He planned on telling Larry off, when it was over.
Larry was not surprised when Mac showed up at the party without a plus one. He was positive that Sandi wouldn't come. He was more than a little sad. He began to reason that if Sandi became a couple with his best friend, he had to mend fences. He surely didn't want Mac to step out of his life.
The time was nearing for him to give the toast. Now that he resigned himself to the fact that Sandi and Mac were a couple, he began to mellow somewhat. He realized what an ass he had been, and went to find Kirk to tell him that he should be the one to make the toast this evening. He looked all over, and couldn't see his brother.
"I spotted him going into the men's room," one of the guests said.
Larry went into the men's room, and froze in his tracks. Kirk and Mac were wrapped up in each other's arms. That was shocking enough, but they were also kissing passionately. Larry knew that his brother was gay, but he gave no thought to Mac's sexual orientation. The only thing that went through his mind was that he was cheating on Sandi. Determined not to let Sandi get hurt, he ran over to his brother and his best friend, and pulled them apart.
"What are you doing?" Mac yelled.
"How can you cheat on Sandi like this?" Larry answered Mac with another question.
"What's Sandi got to do with anything?" Mac asked looking totally perplexed.
"Aren't you seeing her?" Larry asked.
"You're seeing Sandi?" Kirk asked in disbelief. Now he was extremely upset.
"Of course not, guys," Mac said, obviously distressed. He looked at Larry. "Larry, I tried to tell you about Kirk and me, and the fact that I'm gay, but you said you knew, and you blessed our union. You must have thought I was talking about Sandi. No wonder you broke her heart. She's madly in love with you, dufus. By the way, I'm coming out tomorrow. I love Kirk too much to hide it any longer."
Larry was speechless. Finally, he said, "You make the toast, Kirk. I'm suffering from shock."
"Not on your life, I'm not prepared. Let's get out there."
So, Larry made the toast. He tried to keep it short, but he got carried away extolling the undying love his parents have for each other; how much love they gave to him and Kirk; what a loving household he grew up in; and on and on.
As soon as everyone took a sip of their champagne, Larry ran over to his parents. "You know how much I love you guys," he said, "but I gotta go."
"Go where?" his father asked.
"I've got to right a wrong."
"You mean that you have to recover a fumble," his father said.
"Yes," Larry answered. "If I don't accomplish a turnover, and score a touchdown, I'll never be able to forgive myself. I've got to win this game, Dad."
"Stop dawdling, and get out of here," his mother said. "Don't let her get away."
Even his mother knew what an ass he had made of himself. The trite adage came back to him. "Never assume, lest you make an ass out of you and me."
He hailed a cab, and went straight to Sandi's apartment. She wasn't home. He called her, but she didn't answer. Larry had Sandi's roommate's telephone number. In desperation he dialed her number.
"Connie," he yelled, "help me. I've got to find Sandi."
"Why should I help you, you prick. You broke her heart."
"Please," Larry whined, "I've got to tell her what a fool I've been, and that I'm madly in love with her. I want to ask her to marry me."
"In that case, we're at Craig's Pub on Third Street. It was all I could do to convince her to come here tonight. I'll try to make sure she doesn't leave, so get your ass here pronto."
Larry found Sandi sitting alone at the bar. She was too sad to socialize. He threw his arms around her, shocking the life out of her. He began to cry on Sandi's shoulder.
"Please," he sobbed, "forgive me. It was all a terrible misunderstanding."
"Why should I forgive you?" she asked.
"Because I love you so much, I can hardly breathe when you're in my presence."
"Well, we don't want you to stop breathing," she whispered in his ear, and then she began to kiss him passionately, and she really meant it.
Back at the party, Kirk and Mac looked all over for Larry. They wanted to tell him what a great little speech he had made.
Kirk's father said, "We're pretty sure that he went to find Sandi to tell her what an ass he's been."
Mac and Kirk grinned broadly. Kirk grabbed Mac's hand. "Let's get out of here also," he begged Mac. "I can't wait `for later' to show you how much I love you." They went to Mac's apartment, and made love all through the night, and until late the next day.
When they first arrived at Mac's apartment, they stripped so fast they were a blur. This was not their first encounter. They had been making love since Mac started to assist Kirk in planning his parents' anniversary party. They were both big, brawny guys. The football player was 6'3". His flaccid, uncut cock was 5". When it had to rise to the occasion, it was 8". The cop was 6'2". Flaccid, his uncut cock was 5" also, but it only rose to 7". Both guys were very hefty.
They warmed themselves up with a lusty game of sixty-nine, and then they gave each other extended trips around the world. Finally, they fucked each other twice.
Lying wrapped up in the afterglow, Kirk started to cry. "You make me so happy," he said.
With a sob in his voice also, Mac said, "I love you so much."
When the party was winding down, John and Marge Winston were saying goodbye to all their guests. They knew that Larry was occupied trying to win Sandi back, but they could only wonder where Kirk had gotten to. They didn't learn until the next day, that Larry's best friend, Mac, and their son, Kirk, were a couple.
That made Marge and John very happy. Their two children had found two of the things every parent wants for their children: Love and Happiness.