Wings of the Walker - CoraLee June Page 0,379

The socket was ill-fitting which caused some weight-bearing pressure. I increased the surface area so the forces could be distributed evenly,” Maverick explained in an annoyed tone.

Gordon gave him a confused stare. “Basically, he re-sized it,” I explained with a wave of my hand. After a lifetime of translating Maverick’s nerd-speak, it was second nature to me.

“Do you experience any phantom pain?” Maverick asked while ignoring me. Tallis walked around the room and observed the Clinic equipment with interest. His curious stare and wide eyes made it seem as if he had never seen anything so sophisticated before. My eyes kept flickering to him and his excited expressions.

“It…” Gordon began while looking shyly at me. His cheeks blushed in embarrassment, and I noticed his fingers twitch. I should have looked away and given him privacy. It’s what any decent person would do. But Gordon needed to learn that the world was cruel and people wouldn’t cater to him. I gave him an expectant steadfast stare while raising my eyebrow. His shoulders sagged in defeat.

“It hurts when I touch it, or sometimes when I—when I move a certain way,” he said in an embarrassed tone.

“That's very normal,” Maverick replied. “Phantom pain is caused by mixed signals from your brain or spinal cord. Sometimes certain activities can trigger it. I’m going to give you some beta blockers to help, but I also want you to start repositioning your residual limb at night. You can prop it up on a pillow or cushion.” Maverick started flipping through his Tablet. “I also have some massage techniques I’ll give you.”

“Fine, can we go now?” Gordon whined. Tallis opened his mouth like he was about to speak, but I beat him to it.

“Didn’t I say you needed to work on your attitude? Say thank you to the nice man that took time out of his day to help you,” I ordered. Gordon looked over to Tallis for help, but he just crossed his muscular arms over his chest and shrugged.

“You heard her,” he said.

“Thanks—I guess,” Gordon said to Maverick who was already back at his desk and wholly absorbed in whatever project had captured his attention. Pioneer Day was the hardest on Maverick. He always escaped his grief through knowledge. It’s how we became so distant.

“We better get going,” Tallis said to me while Gordon made his way over to the door. I noticed he was limping, and I debated on asking Maverick to triple check his leg.

“See you tomorrow?” My hopeful voice sounded too bright to my ears. I had to bite my tongue to punish it for being too obvious.

“Greet you in the new day, Agapimenos,” Tallis said with a secret smile before biting his lip. Before I could ask him what that ridiculous nickname meant, he and Gordon were walking out the door. Just as they were about to leave, Tallis froze. "Ah, almost forgot," he said in a light voice, spinning around and walking towards me.

Before I could protest, his soft lips lightly touched my cheek as his hand covered my heart. Too stunned to move, I stood frozen in Maverick's Clinic as Tallis pulled away and left.

My hand covered my cheek for a moment as I cleared my head. After a few moments, I watched Maverick in silence. I coughed, hoping the noise would draw him out of his work, but he still kept his eyes glued to the screen.

“Maverick?” I asked a little louder.

“What?” Maverick replied in a bored tone, whirling around in his chair. I noticed that he had bloodshot eyes and was paler than usual.

“Still the same Mav I see,” I mused while running the tips of my fingers over some of his lab equipment, leaving my fingerprints on the glass.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

I purposefully tipped over a beaker of water, and he immediately shot out of his seat to clean up the mess I made.

“You’ve always been such a hard worker.” I began with a sigh. I spent most of my childhood waiting outside the Clinic for Maverick. Most nights he either fell asleep at his desk or scolded me for bothering him.

“Do you need anything? I really want to finish this trial today,” Maverick urged before going back to his desk.

“Yeah, I was wondering if you needed any help getting the new school house set up,” I said casually while flipping through a water-stained journal left out on one of the tables.

“Ah, ever the opportunist. I should have known you’d try to find a