Learning to Walk, a City Hospital Novel by Drew Zachary

things in his bag and tossed his towel into the bin. “Ready? My hips are starting to ache.”
    Neil threw on his own clothes and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I’m good. Let’s get you on to that table and work on that.”
    At least this particular massage was going to be in public.
    Chapter Six
    Kit took a look around the living room and nodded to himself. He and his dad had cleaned up pretty well the day before, since Saturday was cleaning day at their house. It had been that way when his mom was alive and it always would be -- Saturday, the house got shiny.
    His father, knowing that Neil was coming over, had planned an actual excursion for himself, to Kit’s utter delight. He’d be gone for hours, puttering around doing some errands, seeing some friends, and generally having a day to himself. Kit planned to order pizza for supper, and if his dad didn’t come home until after dark that was okay. He could amuse himself just fine.
    Right then, though, he was making sure that he and Neil could move things out of the way easily for his massage. He was more than sure that he wouldn’t be able to talk Neil into his bedroom, even if he did try, so the couch was going to need a lot of area around it.
    The doorbell rang, precisely at two.
    Kit shook his head and wheeled through the kitchen to open the door. “Do you ever wind up walking slower to a place so you don’t get there early?”
    “Yep. All the time. Or I wait around the corner or something.” Neil looked startled at his own words, like he hadn’t meant to confess the truth.
    Kit blinked at him and grinned. “Well, for me you can come right to the door, especially if it’s raining or cold, all right?”
    “I can try.”
    “Good. I try hard, you try hard.” Kit moved back to let him in. “Dad’s gone out for the day, but there’s some cut-up veggies and stuff for us to snack on, and I think there’s beer in the fridge. Yes, I know the two don’t go together.”
    Neil laughed and held up a bag. “My nachos and salsa might work with the beer.”
    “Perfect.” Kit went to the living room. “So, music? TV? How was your day yesterday? Do anything cool?”
    “Errands, boring shit. TV would be distracting -- a massage is supposed to be relaxing, right?”
    “You’re going to have to pick the music, then. We’ve talked about this.” Kit opened the cabinet and showed him all the CDs. “Make it something really long.” He was totally going to get as much out of this massage as he could get.
    Neil laughed and started looking through the music.
    “So, I’m not sure how well the couch is going to work, but it’s at least long enough. And it’s pretty deep, but it’s kind of soft.” Kit had been speculating about the couch for days, finally deciding that getting a new one just for a massage was probably not a good idea.
    “Or I could kneel in front of you or something -- that way you wouldn’t have to bend as far.”
    Kit stared at Neil to keep his brain from derailing. Neil on his knees in front of him was not where this massage was supposed to go. Mind you, he’d think about it a lot, hopefully after he was safely alone in bed later. “Um.” Kit shook his head to clear it. “I was thinking I’d lie down, but that might not work for you?”
    Neil frowned. “You were thinking you’d lie down? I thought I was getting the massage here.”
    Kit threw back his head and laughed. He’d honestly given it his best shot. If Neil had gone for it, Kit would have totally won the universe. “Damn. I can’t get anything by you at all, can I?” He liked that -- a lot of people would have just nodded and gone along. “You don’t think I can sit on the edge of the couch and do it, though?” He was pretty sure he could.
    “That doesn’t sound very comfortable for you.”
    “But you getting a massage on your knees doesn’t sound like a great time, either,” Kit pointed out.
    “Have you got a low chair, or a stool?”
    Kit thought about it. “There might