The Store Manager - Chapter 2

At 6:30 in the evening Morten decided it was time to shower and get ready for his night out. He wheeled into his bedroom and transferred to the bed to take off his pants. He had learned how to do it in his wheelchair in rehab, but it was easier to do it on the bed and Morten wasn’t in the mood to struggle. He was naked when he transferred back to the wheelchair and headed for the bathroom. He looked down on his thin, pale legs. Before the accident he’d been in pretty decent shape and he was amazed at how fast the muscles had atrophied over the past few months. When he reached the bathroom he transferred to the shower bench and grabbed a towel from the towel bar and placed it on the seat of the wheelchair. He turned on the water and quickly washed his hair and body. When he was done with that he just sat there for a few minutes; he’d always liked to take long showers, especially when he was nervous; they calmed him somehow. 

After he’d toweled himself off he transferred back to the wheelchair and wheeled over to the sink to shave. He’d skipped shaving that morning and figured he’d ditch the scruffy look. Morten didn’t think he’d hook up with a woman that evening, but he figured it didn’t hurt to clean up. Just because he was disabled didn’t mean that he had to look he didn’t care about his appearance.  After he’d shaved and brushed his teeth he pulled out a sterile catheter and transferred to the toilet. As he inserted the catheter to his penis it occurred to him that he should wear a condom catheter with a leg bag to the bar. His bladder routine worked well and he didn’t have accidents as long as he monitored his fluid intake and catheterized himself every four hours, but wearing the condom catheter meant he didn’t have to worry about that. He grabbed a condom catheter from the drawer and after rubbing his penis to encourage an erection he rolled it on; after he’d made sure it was completely sealed and firmly attached he strapped a leg bag to his left thigh and attached the tube to from the catheter to it. 

By 7:30 PM Morten had dressed and wheeled up to the full-length mirror in his bedroom to look himself over. He gave himself a thumbs up; he looked pretty good. He’d dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a black tailored shirt. The shirt showed off his toned shoulders and arms and did a pretty good job of disguising the small gut he’d developed since his injury and the jeans disguised his thin legs and the leg bag he was wearing.  He looked forward to a night out with his buddies and hoped it wouldn’t be too awkward.

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Morten wheeled into Friday’s more than half an hour early. He’d chosen to get there by bus, but he was unsure of how it would work out and had allowed extra time to get a cab, in case the bus didn’t work out for some resaon. The buses in Oslo were supposed to be accessible, but this was the first time he’d had the guts to attempt a bus ride. To his surprise it had gone smoothly and pretty much without hitches, which was a relief.  Morten was aware that not all bus rides would go as smoothly as this one did, but the fact that this one had been virtually problem free had boosted his confidence a bit.   Moments after he entered the bar a cheerful hostess greeted him.

“Good evening, would you like a table in the bar or restaurant?”

“The bar. I’m really early; my buddies will be here in about half an hour. I think we’ll be eight people. There might be a reservation for Eirik Østbye.”

She checked the list in front of her. “Oh, here it is. We’ve got your table ready.” She showed him to a large round table in the corner and removed a chair to accommodate Morten’s wheelchair.

“A waitress will be with you shortly,” she said as she handed him a menu and left.  This was one of those moments where he missed having working legs; before his accident he would’ve climbed onto a barstool and chatted with the bartender ‘til his friends arrived. Now he was stuck in his wheelchair by the table. He wished he’d thought about stopping at a newsstand to pick up a magazine or a paper on his way to the bar. With a sigh he flipped through the menu.

“Morten! Great to see you buddy!” Eirik’s baritone voice boomed and he firmly clapped Morten on the back, it startled him a bit, he was immersed in a conversation on Twitter and hadn’t caught his buddies walking in. Before he managed to say anything he was on the receiving end of several more pats on the back as the rest of his buddies arrived.  To his relief none of them seemed awkward and as the evening progressed Morten started feeling more like his old self; his friends treated him like nothing had changed. Most of them had come to see him while he was in the hospital and then in rehab and those visits had been somewhat awkward. He was relieved that being out of the hospital setting had taken away the awkwardness and that gave him hope that going back to work the following Monday wouldn’t be too bad.

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Monday morning Morten was nervous. It was his first day back at work and he was unsure how returning to work in a wheelchair would work out, but knew he didn’t have much of a choice, unless he wanted to file for disability pension.  The social worker had pushed for him to do so, but Morten refused. He was only 28 years old and he wanted to earn his paycheck every month, not rot away in his apartment and get money deposited to his back account without doing anything productive. He was grateful that he had Grete’s support; she had been gently pushing him to come back from the first time she visited him in the hospital and her confidence in him made him believe in himself a little bit more.

He arrived at work about half an hour before the staff would normally arrive and made his way to the staff entrance in the back. The door was heavier than he remembered and he struggled a bit to get inside. Morten was grateful no one was there to watch him fumble. With a sigh of relief he wheeled into his office. It was tidier than he’d ever left it, but Morten was aware that Elise was a much neater person than him. Her desk in the opposite corner of the room was always immaculate, while his desk was generally cluttered with paperwork.

With a sigh he removed the bag from the back of his wheelchair and pulled out his lunchbox out of it before put it in the corner next to his desk. He placed the lunchbox in his lap and wheeled in to the break room, which he realized had received a fresh coat of paint since the last time he was there, where he put it in the fridge and headed back to his office to get caught up on his email.  He had just logged on his computer when there was a knock on the doorjamb. It was Andreas, the paint department supervisor.

“Morning Andreas,” Morten greeted him with a smile.  “You’re here early.”

“Morning Boss. Figured I’d get an early start today, glad to have you back. How are you?”

“Been worse, getting better. It’s good to be back. I’m looking forward to doing something useful again.”

“Have you been out in the store yet? We’ve made some changes I’m sure you’ll approve of.”

“Really? What are they?” Morten’s curiosity was piqued.

“Come on, I’ll show ya.”

Morten wheeled away from his desk and followed Andreas through the storage area and then through the double doors that lead into the store. When Andreas opened the door for him he was surprised to see his entire staff there, minus a couple of college students that worked part time. Grete was also there. He was greeted with a somewhat un-coordinated chorus of “Welcome back” and an onslaught of hugs. It was good to be back.

To be continued....