the storm - doves

i put a stubby cigarette up to my lips and took in a drag. menthol and smooth... refreshing blend as per the package promise i read casually before i checked out the tar content. woof, don't look... these are much worse than the old ones i used to smoke...
Anthony tapped on the window and pointed a finger at me.
"What?! It's not in the goddamned house... leave me alone."
He began fighting with the window lock to pop it open. Struggling for a little bit I tried to coach him a little. "No, turn it left then push it up... UP! No, left then..." Gave up. For someone who had superior problem solving skills than me he wasn't very patient with mechanical applications. I turned back to my smoke and casually flipped through the pages of a DJ magazine i had picked up last time i took the bus into Toronto. Anthony came outside in running gear, no knee brace.
"Hey... you forget that you're old. Go get your brace or else you're going to be calling me from the sidewalk two houses down."
"I didn't bring my cell phone... it's too heavy."
"If you got a new one it wouldn't be a fucking 10 pound dead weight. Shit, that thing is like carting around half a phone book."
"It's not a high priority." He looked pissy and did a half-assed stretch.
"I gotta say, it's good that you're up and moving again at least."
"Don't. Don't start with this..."
"No, I'm not mad. Really." Long, deep drag. I casually twirled around my cigarette pack on the cool cement. Just to let him know it wasn't a few that I had got out of someone. It was the whole fucking pack. Well, what would have been a full pack and the other empty deck was jammed with a baggie of weed and a sweet little paper square of coke.
"Five months. You went five months without smoking and then you buy a pack out of spite?"
"I think they taste better with spite seasoning. Want to try? Come on, you might really like it." Waving it around a little he looked repulsed. "It's not like I'm coming at you with a piece of shit. Try it! Keep you thin and trim."
"Better ways to do that... Like exercise. Just MAYBE?!"
The magazine page made a sharp flipping noise. "Exercise will kill you too apparently."
"Don't... Fuck... F... Forget it. I'm out of here." He turned sharply to make a point and went rigid.
"Tisk, that must have been a sharp pain. Sharp AND stabbing? or just sharp?" He went to run and the left side of his body curved over. "Good one hop-along. Feel the burn!" Two more steps forwar and the curve became more pronounced.
"Anthony... Don't do it. Just come back." He straightened up and tried to look like it didn't feel like burning agony and he stopped at the end of the driveway. I quickly looked back at my magazine as he turned around. Quietly he came back only limping this time over to the stoop to sit beside me.
I worked on swallowing two lung fulls of smoke and blotted out the cigarette. "Kinda feels like a kick in the head to spend SO much time pulling on those gaylord spandex running pants for nothing huh?"
He put his head down to his knees. Prick was much more flexible than I could ever hope to be. I resisted the urge to yank out a strand of grey hair. That would just be overkill. He'd beat himself up mentally without much help from me.
My BlackBerry hummed on the stoop and began to do a little dance moving around. I popped it out of the carrying case and checked the call display. Elbowing Anthony he looked up to see a large screen lit up with "Dan" on it. He went to stand up suddenly to leave in a huff but didn't get far. Oh good... you're not going anywhere so I'm totally answering this!
"moshi moshi? hey... yeah? oh yeah? that sounds cute... hmm... well i did just eat. i guess i could do that. or... no that works for me. half hour? ok. lates."
Anthony still had his head down to his lap.
"Hey, I've never asked you... Can you like, blow yourself?"
"Shut. Up. Yoga is my relaxation exercise not some sicko sexual thing."
"Man, I'd never leave the house. I'm serious. I'd like to think that I wouldn't act like that, but it'd be a few weeks at LEAST. The novelty of being able to do it would be..."
He sighed. "What are you doing with Dan? Please tell me he's not coming over here."
"No, wouldn't dream of it. He'll come pick me up but he won't come in."
"Good."
"He'd probably be a good person to talk to about your injury... you... know... OK so it sounded like a stupid idea the minute I said it out loud."
He wrapped his arms under his thighs to hug himself a bit in his typical mildly autistic way. "Where're you going for dinner?"
"You're not invited."
he turned his head to look at me. "I know I'm not invited... Just wanted to know where you're going that's all."
"Sushi. Where else? You can't actually get up can you?"
"No... It's ah, it's pretty locked up right now. I think I'm on the verge of either a leg cramp or maybe it'll just fall off."
I stood up to line myself up in front of him. I crouched down with my knees and snapped my fingers to get him cognisant of what was going to happen. Deep sigh and he raised up his arms for me to fix my forearms underneath each armpit. "On three, lean GENTLY into me and try to push up into a standing position. One, two, threeeeeaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhh!!!" He groaned and I was surprised how much weight he put on me even though he was clearly trying to do most of the work on his own.
"SHIT! you get physio paid for through work... You go on Monday or I'm going to leave you next time I see that you can't stand up." He looked a little dazed and I shook him a little.
"Don't go to dinner with Dan."
"what?"
"Sorry... I don't know why I said that."
"Seriously? If you don't want me to go I can call right now."
He looked into my face but I couldn't read him. "I'm fine. I'm fine and it's ok... Just don't listen to me."
Hobbling to back porch he went inside. I should have gotten him to take the magazine in... Smokes too. Dan'll kill me if he sees that I bought a pack, even if it was for a good reason.