Randall climbed slowly out of a silent velvet-soft darkness into a hospital room awash with sound and light. Even before he opened his eyes, he had identified bandages, tubes, and beeping monitors. He forced heavy eyelids to lift, and his first sight was a photograph on the ceiling. Someone must have taped it there. Or was he dreaming?
He mumbled weakly, "What is that?"
A sweet, feminine voice said, "It's a Netherlands Dwarf."
This confused him more. Why would someone tape a dwarf to the ceiling? Was that politically correct? Weren't they called "little people" now? And even though he wasn't focusing very well, he was sure it did not look like a dwarf.
"It looks like a little black rabbit," he murmured.
"A Netherlands Dwarf is a rabbit," the sweet voice told him. "Only smaller than a New Zealand White. I wanted you to have a picture of Conan. You can give it to Helga."
He let the cumbersome eyelids fall shut as he identified the voice. He smiled, his hand found Lou's, and he pulled hers closer.
"Is that a Lourdes O'Malley photo?" he asked, squeezing her hand as best he could.
"Yep," said Lou. "She had plenty of time to take it, develop it, and print it while you were sleeping your life away, Galen Randall."
He forced his eyes open again and looked at the ceiling, then at Lou's face.
"It's out of focus," he teased.
Her smile widened. "You're out of focus, silly man, but don't worry. You're gonna be fine. They got Buddy the Blade, by the way. Galen the Great is now known as Galen the Fearless."
He pulled her hand to his lips, kissed it, then held it against his jaw. "Galen the Fearless was very, very much afraid. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"He didn't hurt anybody but you. He thought you had a gun. But you didn't, you had this." She held the blood-spattered cocktail napkin in front of him.
He looked at his crude sketch.
"What is this?" she asked.
"I was designing a tattoo. What do you think of it?"
"Don't quit your day job."
He grinned and kissed her hand again. "I guess I'll have to have my tattoo designed by a professional."
"Well, there's always the guy who tattooed your buns."
He looked at her and down at his blanketed body as if to accuse her of illicit peeking.
She shook her head. "They undressed you in the emergency room."
He nodded his understanding. After a moment, he said, "The problem is, that guy in New Guinea has this weird policy. He won't tattoo names. And the name is the most important part of this one." He indicated the illustrated napkin with a glance.
Lou pulled her hand away from him gently and began to pull his bed sheet down until she could lower the neckline of his loose-fitting hospital gown. "I'm glad to hear you say that about the name," she said as she partially bared his chest. She produced a hand mirror from the bedside table. Using the mirror, she showed him a new tattoo on his left pectoral. It said, "Lourdes." Of course, it actually said "sedruoL," because he was looking at its mirror image, but even in his fuzzy state, Randall could make it out.
Randall looked into the mirror, then down at his chest. He touched his new tattoo with his fingers, then reached for Lou. "How did you-?"
"You've been asleep a long time, Galen Randall."
He wrapped his hand around her neck, tangled his fingers in her hair, and pulled her face toward his.
"I don't know if I want your name on my chest," he whispered. "What if I don't, y'know, love you, Lourdes O'Malley?"
"Oh, but you do."
"Mm-hmmm." he said, and kissed her lips. Soft and sweet. Followed by hard and deep. Followed by gee whiz, ain't they worried about popping some stitches?
Nope. They didn't appear to be worried about anything at all.
THE END
of one story is always
THE BEGINNING
of another. ;)
~o~~o~~o~
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks very much for reading, voting, and commenting upon LOU'S TATTOOS, A COMEDY OF ERRORS. Your enthusiasm and good-humored commentary has been a delight to this writer.
We end our story just as we are ending the year 2017, and I wish you all the very best New Year. Watch for the much-requested sequel to FINDING MIRANDA coming in 2018.