"What’s the matter? Are you in pain?" I asked.

"No, I just found out that the friend that was supposed to pick me up this morning can’t make it."

"That’s not a problem, I can give you a ride home."

"That’s sweet of you," she said as I wiped the tears from her face. "But that’s not the only problem. My friend was supposed to stay with me and help me out while I’m laid up."

"So why can’t she? Did something happen?"

"She was in a car accident last night while she was driving home from work. She wasn’t hurt too bad, but she broke her ankle and strained her neck. She has to wear a short leg cast for a month, and a cervical collar for two weeks."

"I guess that means she doesn’t feel like taking care of you for a while, huh?"

"No, and I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t feel like taking care of someone if I were in her shoes either."

"Well," I said. "You sort of are in her shoes. Only your shoes are bigger."

This brought a smile to her face, which made me feel better. She hadn’t smiled once since I’d gotten there. Now I had to think of something that would help her situation.

"So where are you going to stay?"

"I spoke to the doctor, and he said that if I didn’t have a place to stay, and someone to take care of me, I would have to be admitted to the hospital. I don’t want to be stuck in this place for the next six weeks."

"Well what about your parents, can’t they take care of you?" I asked.

"They live in Arizona, and don’t really have a lot of money. I’ve already called them and told them that I had a place to go. If they knew I didn’t, they would probably come up and take care of me. I just don’t want to burden them."

"How about other friends?"

"All the other people I know have full time jobs, and can’t afford to take off from work."

"Well, then there’s only one thing left that I can think of to do." I said with a smile on my face.

"And what might that be?"

"I’ll have to take care of you."

"Oh really? And just how do you propose to do that, you can hardly get around yourself. I mean, how are you gonna push me around in my wheelchair?"

"I think your insurance will probably cover an electric chair, won’t they?"

"Well, I suppose they would."

"And I can take care of you at home. You know, cook, clean, bath you. That sort of thing."

"And whose home are you suggesting we stay at?"

"Which ever you are more comfortable with. My apartment is on the first floor, so that wouldn’t be a problem."

"Well," she said, "I’m not too sure about leaving my house unguarded for that long of a time."

"You have a house?" I was somewhat taken back by the thought of this woman, who was my age, owning her own place.

"Yeah, nothing big, just a one story, two bedroom place, but I like it. It’s pretty roomy. If you didn’t mind, you could stay there with me. Like I said, it has two bedrooms."

"If that’s what you would prefer, I don’t have a problem with it."

"Then it’s settled. I’m not sure how I’m gonna get up the steps to the door though." She said.

"Let me worry about that. Just let me know what your address is, and I’ll take care of it."

She gave me her address, and I made a few phone calls. We arranged everything with the doctors, and got Jenna a brand new electric wheelchair. She was thrilled to say the least.

After she was shown how to use it, and all the paperwork was filled out, it was time to go.

I brought my truck around to the exit, and the nurses helped Jenna into the passengers seat and got her buckled in. They were a little concerned about how I was going to get her out, but I told them that I had it all arranged.

After the wheelchair was secured in the back, we were off. I suggested that we stop and pick up some lunch. She thought that was a good idea, so got some fast food, and went to the park to eat it.

"I have a surprise waiting for you at your place." I said as we ate. I still couldn’t keep my eyes from wandering to her beautiful casted limbs.

"And what might that be?"

"You’ll have to wait and see, but you should like it."

"Come on! Gimme just a hint? Please!"

"Nope, you have to wait, sorry."

We drove to my place so I could pick up some of my stuff. This took longer than I had expected because of me being on the crutches, but that was ok. It would give my friends more time to finish.

From the time we left the hospital, which was 11:15, to the time we got to Jenna’s place, it had taken four and a half hours. We pulled into her driveway, and her eyes got wide.

"Oh my god!!! I can’t believe you did this!"

I had called some friends from the hospital and made the arrangements. They were just putting the final touches on the metal wheelchair ramp I had them pick up from the medical supplies store in town. I had called there first to make sure they had one in stock, and since all they had left was the deluxe model with hand rails and everything else, I said "what the hell", and put it on my credit card.

"Do you like it?"

"It’s great, but you didn’t have to go through all this trouble."

"Well, if you are going to be in that chair for a while, we had to have some way to get you in and out of the house didn’t we? Besides, my friends are the ones who did all the work, and believe me, we have to pay them back."

"I know. It was so nice of them to do this for us, how much should we pay them?"

"Well, they’re pretty easy to please. All I had to do was promise them a party when they got done. I hope you don’t mind if we have it here. I promise they won’t leave a mess."

"A party sounds like a great idea." She said. "I’ve been laying around in that hospital long enough. Of course, I’m not going to be doing much dancing tonight."

We both laughed, then I saw my friend coming toward the truck.

"I guess it’s time we had some introductions." I said.

Mike and Chris helped Jenna out of the truck and into her wheelchair, and then I made the round of introductions. Jenna was so happy and grateful to everyone for what they had done for us. Everyone was getting along great.

"Well you guys," Jenna said " Eric promised you a party, so that’s what we’re gonna do. I don’t have much in the house, but if some of you want to go get the provisions, I’m paying."

When I started to object, she gave me an insistent look and said "I won’t take no for an answer. It’s the least I can do for all of you, to pay you back for what you have done for me."

"Well, we aren’t going to argue with you." Said Brandi. "But we would have done it for nothing."

"I think you would have." Said Jenna. "I’ve only known you guys for a few minutes, but I’m so comfortable around you that it feels like I’ve known you forever."

"Aw, come on. Don’t go getting all sentimental on me." I said. "What do you say we get this party going?"

We all agreed, and I sent the other guys to the store for food and drinks, and Brandi and I got Jenna into her house so she could change. (Which I’m happy to say she let me help with.)

We partied on through the night, and even though neither Jenna nor I could drink alcohol, (because of the pain killers) we still had a wonderful time.

I’m truly blessed to have such good friends. They are just like family to me. And now we had a new member of the family.

The weeks passed quickly, (unfortunately) and Jenna and I had so much fun with each other, and with our casts. We spent a lot of time with our friends, but we savored the time alone together. We also had a lot of public outings, and I was surprised at all the help total strangers offered to us when we were at the mall, or getting dinner, or just out for a stroll. I wonder how many of them shared our fascination with casts, or how many of them may have been casters themselves.

The time finally came when Jenna got her leg cast off. Mine would still be on for two more weeks at least.

As I sat in the doctors’ office waiting for her to come out, I couldn’t help but notice how many people were wearing casts and braces. They were mostly men, but a couple of women as well.

"Getting your cast off today?" I heard a woman ask.

She was sitting across from me, and had her left arm in a short arm thumb spica.

"No, I’m waiting for my girlfriend. (I was calling her my girlfriend now.) She’s getting hers off today."

"Wow, both of you in casts. That’s unusual. What kind does she have?"

I told her about our accidents, and how we met and got together. I did, however, leave out the part about our little cast fetish.

"Well, that certainly is going to be a unique story to tell the grandkids."

"So, how about you, what did you do?" I said, pointing to her arm.

"I broke my thumb and wrist when I went over the handlebars of my bicycle. I was riding down the street when out of nowhere this kid comes flying out in front of me on one of those new scooter things. I swerved to miss him and hit the curb. Over I went, and landed on the sidewalk with my outstretched hand. I heard the bones snap, and knew I was in trouble."

"Sounds painful." I said. "Are you getting that off today?"

"No, just getting it changed. I’ve got three more weeks in the next one, then I have to wear a brace for a couple of weeks."

"Well, I hope everything works out for you. By the way, my name’s Eric Holiday."

I reached over and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Allison Maines."

Just then a nurse came out and called Allysons’ name.

"I guess it’s my turn. Tell your girlfriend I hope she’s feeling better. Oh yeah, here’s my card. Maybe we can all get together sometime."

"That would be nice. Well, good luck."

"You too." She said, and then disappeared behind the door.

About fifteen minutes later Jenna came out. The full leg cast was gone, replaced by a short leg-walking cast. She was using one crutch, but otherwise she was walking under her own power.

"I thought you were going to be out of the leg cast?"

"Well," she explained, "the bones are healing, but they still need more time. I’m in this for two more weeks, but I should be able to go without the crutch in a couple of days."

"That’s great, no more wheelchair."

"Yup, but guess what? The insurance paid for the chair, so I get to keep it."

"What would you need an electric wheelchair for?"

It took me a second, but then I realized that she planned to use it for cast games later on.

"Oh." I said. "Never mind."

She just kind of smiled at me. She knew that I figured it out.

We left the office and headed home. I’d come to think of it as my home too.

After we got home I remembered about Allyson Maines and the card she had given me. I hadn’t even looked at it yet. I told Jenna about her, and what had happened to her, and that she had thought we might want to get together sometime. She thought it sounded like a good idea, and I dug the business card from my wallet.

We were both pleasantly surprised when we read it.

We would definitely be giving her a call.