A Cheerful Giver
Part 2
On Monday, Foggy wasn’t surprised to sense Matt’s injuries even before he walked in the door.
“Hey, Matt, how you doing?” he asked.
“Hey, Foggy, I’m fine,” Matt said.
“No, you’re not, and do you know how I know? Because my spidey-sense is tingling.” Foggy came up behind Matt and reached for the collar of Matt’s coat. “Here, let me help you get your things off.”
But Matt, probably perceiving Foggy’s plan of touching him on the neck and healing him before he knew what hit him, quickly turned to face him. “Spidey-sense, Foggy?”
“It sounds cooler than healing-sense. Or in your case, pain-sense. Come on, get over here.” Foggy reached out, and tried to make his voice sound low and ominous. “My gift knows, Matt. It wants to heal you.”
“You don’t have to,” Matt said.
“Actually, yes, I do.”
“What doesn’t Foggy have to do?” It was Karen, coming in.
“Matt tripped and bruised his knee.” Foggy didn’t mention all the other bruises he could sense on his best friend’s body. “I want to use my new healing gift on him.”
“Healing gift?” Karen looked dubiously at him and then at Matt. “What, like in the Bible?”
“Yup,” Foggy said. “Exactly like in the Bible. I got it from my grandma. All I have to do is lay my hands on Matt—“ he reached out, grabbed Matt’s hand, and practically shot the healing warmth into Matt’s skin, which made Matt gasp and pull away in surprise –“and he’s healed. Right, Matt?”
“I thought you had to lay hands on his head,” Karen said, and Matt replied, “I didn’t know you knew the Bible, Karen.”
“I only remember a little bit from Sunday School,” she replied, grimacing a little.
“Well, apparently, I only need skin contact,” Foggy explained. He felt the sudden exhaustion that he’d felt on Saturday, and wanted to go sit down, but he held his ground. “Cool, huh?”
“I guess.” Karen didn’t look convinced.
“Come on, roll up your pant leg, show her your beautiful, not-bruised knee,” Foggy said to Matt. He was getting hungry again, too, despite the fact that he’d just had breakfast less than an hour ago.
“Well, since I didn’t see the ‘before’ picture, the ‘after’ picture isn’t going to prove anything,” Karen said.
“She’s got a point,” Matt said.
“Well, next time Matt shows up with a black eye, I’ll wait until you’ve seen it before I give it my new Nelson healing touch,” Foggy replied. “Hey, Matt, since you’ve still got your coat on, how about you run out and buy me a bagel or something, huh? Right now, I’m going to drink some coffee with lots of sugar because I’m so hungry I’d probably starve to death on my way down the stairs, before I even got to the food.”
Matt frowned a little, but to Foggy’s surprise, he changed his frown to a smile and said, “Sure, Foggy.”
“Didn’t you have breakfast?” Karen asked.
“Healing makes me hungry. Takes all my energy,” Foggy replied. To Matt’s retreating back, he called, “Thanks, buddy, I owe you!”
Then he walked slowly to his desk and plopped down in his chair. The next thing he knew, Karen was shaking him awake. “Hey, Foggy, wake up, you’ve slept almost two hours and you’ve got a client. Matt says to eat something as fast as you can and meet them in the conference room.”
The next day, Matt was at the office before Foggy arrrived, already seated at his desk. When Foggy approached his open door, he held up a hand. “Don’t even think it. You can’t afford to sleep the entire morning away again.”
“It wasn’t the entire morning,” Foggy said. “It was only two hours. And I didn’t miss all that much anyway.”
Matt frowned. “I’m not really hurt, anyway. Just a few bruises. Less than yesterday, and it will all heal on its own. It’s not worth knocking you out like that.”
“I can see your point,” Foggy said, “but I can still tell you’re hurting. By the way, I’m calling my spidey-sense the Murdockmeter now.”
“The Murdockmeter?” Matt sounded slightly amused.
“Yeah, and on a scale from one to ten, you’re –“ Foggy hesitated, then decided. “Maybe a four. I’ll need to get some more readings so I have something to compare it with.”
“I’m at one point five,” Matt insisted. “One point six, maximum. And I’m not letting you touch me until I’m up to at least four. I can handle it, Foggy. Really.”
“You know, maybe if you didn’t go out every night, we could get this into some kind of work-friendly schedule. Let’s say Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And every other Saturday,” Foggy suggested. “Then I’ll only have to heal you at work on Tuesdays and Thursdays , and we can schedule our clients around my recovery time. Win-win!”
But that made Matt frown even more. “Like I said, Foggy, you don’t have to do this every time, especially if it knocks you out for hours afterwards. I can take a little pain.”
Foggy sighed, and was about to protest again when Matt added, “Please, Foggy.”
Foggy threw up his hands in defeat. “All right, Matt, but only because you said ‘please.’”
It was hard for him to work next to Matt that morning, able to sense his friend’s pain but not being allowed to do anything about it. Foggy also noticed that the closer he got to Matt, the more he wanted to reach out and heal him. In fact, the need became noticeably stronger as the day went on. His hands began to twitch, only occasionally at first, but then more and more, and he stopped being able to concentrate on anything else except wanting to reach out. Finally, he just couldn’t take it any longer, and marched into Matt’s office.
“Foggy—“ Matt started to protest, but Foggy grabbed his left hand away from Matt’s refreshable braille display and let his healing power flow through Matt’s skin, gripping tightly when Matt tried to pull away. When the warmth ebbed, he let go and looked down at the floor.
“Sorry, Matt,” he said. “I couldn’t stop myself. All I could think of all day was that you were hurt and I wanted to help you. My hands were twitching! I had the feel for heal!”
“The feel for heal?” Matt repeated. Coming out of his lips, it sounded ridiculous, and Foggy cringed inwardly. Had he really said that? He floundered for an explanation. “Yeah, you know, like the need for speed, or—or roid rage or something like that. I had to do it, Matt!”
“I don’t want to say thank you, because I specifically told you not to,” Matt admitted. “But it does feel better.”
“I don’t,” Foggy realized, his heart sinking at what his action would mean. “I feel worse, knowing that you’re going to go out again to-night and undo all my good work.”
Matt grimaced a little. “Sorry. But as you say yourself, I have to do it.”
Foggy let his shoulders slump. “I guess I understand it a little better now, but I still hate it.”
“I know,” Matt said with a little sigh. “I know.”
He paused, then said quietly, “Good thing we don’t have clients this afternoon, huh?”
“You know, I don’t remember my grandma being asleep all the time,” Foggy said. “Maybe she got stronger as she went along, didn’t use up so much energy.”
“Maybe,” said Matt. “But for now, why don’t you go rest? I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go home.”
“Thanks,” Foggy said, and walked towards the door. Before he reached it, Matt said, “Thank you, Foggy.”
The next day, Foggy noticed his Murdockmeter suddenly increase in intensity, and came out of his office expecting to see Matt arrive. Instead, it was Karen, limping heavily.
“Hey, what happened to you?” Foggy asked, rushing forward to give her a hand.
“I twisted my ankle,” she said. “Practically tore the heel off my shoe, too.”
“I don’t think it’s just twisted, I think you sprained it,” Foggy said. “It feels pretty wrong for just a twist.”
“That’s kind of creepy that you can tell,” she said, letting him guide her to her seat while slipping her coat off. “Are you going to become a kind of vigilante, too, go running around at night healing people? Will you dress in white Spandex with a big red cross on your chest and swing in through hospital windows?”
“No way,” Foggy said, laughing at the idea. “I’d scare people to death if I wore white Spandex. Or any colour of Spandex, actually. Not to mention I’ve got to save the healing energy for Matt, and you, and my many relatives.” He reached out hesitantly. “Um – can I?”
“Sure,” she said, and he placed his hand over hers, letting the warmth flow out.
“It really works,” she exclaimed, standing up to try it out. Her heel wobbled, and she almost fell, but Foggy caught her. “That’s amazing!”
“Sorry I can’t do your shoe as well, but maybe we have some superglue in here somewhere?” Foggy suggested, holding her until she’d steadied herself. She was thinner than Marci, but Foggy didn’t mind the difference. He wondered if she ever compared his body to Matt’s, and whether she minded the difference.
“I don’t think we do, but I can run out on my lunch break and get some,” Karen said. “Or I can just buy a new pair of shoes. These were getting old anyway.”
“I’d offer to get you new shoes, but I’d probably pick out something that you hate,” Foggy said. “But I can get the superglue, because I don’t want you going out and twisting your ankle again the minute I’ve got it healed. In fact, I can go right now and be back in half an hour.”
“Thanks, Foggy,” Karen said, and gave him a smile. “But don’t you have to sleep it off first?”
Foggy considered. “I don’t feel especially tired. Maybe healing you isn’t as strenuous as healing Matt.”
“I thought he just bruised his knee yesterday,” Karen said. “There shouldn’t be that much difference between a bruised knee and a sprained ankle. I’d think the ankle would be worse.”
“Well, maybe I’m getting used to it already, building up my strength.”
“That’d be good.” Karen smiled, and Foggy smiled with her.
“So, we’ve still got time for me to run to the store quickly, anything else you need while I’m out?”
“Nope, can’t think of anything. Though I was wondering …” She let her voice trail off before asking, “Can you heal yourself?”
Foggy thought about it. “I don’t think so. Maybe a little. Grandma didn’t say.”
“You could try it out with something small, like a papercut,” Karen suggested, just as Matt came in.
“Yeah, maybe when I get back,” Foggy said. He knew without even looking that Matt’s face was bruised, and not only his face.
“Where are you going?” Matt asked.
“To get some superglue.”
“Why do we need superglue?”
“To glue you to your chair so you don’t have any more accidents,” Foggy told him, which made Matt frown and Karen laugh. “Which, by the way, I can sense. As you know. So don’t tell me – you walked into the door of a cabinet that you left open?”
“Wasn’t watching where I was going,” Matt replied in his self-deprecating way.
“You know, we’ve got to put those cabinets behind bars, they’re dangerous elements in the kitchen,” Foggy said. “But, Matt, your bruises will have to wait until I get back with that glue.”
“It’s for my shoe,” Karen explained. “I almost broke the heel off it, and sprained my ankle. Foggy’s just going to run out quickly before nap time.”
“Hey, it isn’t a nap,” Foggy protested. “It’s R&R – rest and recovery. And I might not even need it to-day. I think I’m getting the hang of this healing gift now.”
He went out and noticed that he had to be a good fifteen paces away from Matt before his Murdockmeter faded to zero. Coming back, he found it picked up again at approximately the same area. Awkward, since there was no place in the office he could retreat to that was that far away from Matt, but good to know nonetheless. And after he’d healed Matt, he tried the papercut experiment that Karen had suggested, but it didn’t work. Well, he thought, at least he was getting better at not falling asleep ...
The next thing he knew, Karen was shaking his shoulder and saying something about his snoring amusing their clients.
Part 3
“Hey, Matt, how you doing?” he asked.
“Hey, Foggy, I’m fine,” Matt said.
“No, you’re not, and do you know how I know? Because my spidey-sense is tingling.” Foggy came up behind Matt and reached for the collar of Matt’s coat. “Here, let me help you get your things off.”
But Matt, probably perceiving Foggy’s plan of touching him on the neck and healing him before he knew what hit him, quickly turned to face him. “Spidey-sense, Foggy?”
“It sounds cooler than healing-sense. Or in your case, pain-sense. Come on, get over here.” Foggy reached out, and tried to make his voice sound low and ominous. “My gift knows, Matt. It wants to heal you.”
“You don’t have to,” Matt said.
“Actually, yes, I do.”
“What doesn’t Foggy have to do?” It was Karen, coming in.
“Matt tripped and bruised his knee.” Foggy didn’t mention all the other bruises he could sense on his best friend’s body. “I want to use my new healing gift on him.”
“Healing gift?” Karen looked dubiously at him and then at Matt. “What, like in the Bible?”
“Yup,” Foggy said. “Exactly like in the Bible. I got it from my grandma. All I have to do is lay my hands on Matt—“ he reached out, grabbed Matt’s hand, and practically shot the healing warmth into Matt’s skin, which made Matt gasp and pull away in surprise –“and he’s healed. Right, Matt?”
“I thought you had to lay hands on his head,” Karen said, and Matt replied, “I didn’t know you knew the Bible, Karen.”
“I only remember a little bit from Sunday School,” she replied, grimacing a little.
“Well, apparently, I only need skin contact,” Foggy explained. He felt the sudden exhaustion that he’d felt on Saturday, and wanted to go sit down, but he held his ground. “Cool, huh?”
“I guess.” Karen didn’t look convinced.
“Come on, roll up your pant leg, show her your beautiful, not-bruised knee,” Foggy said to Matt. He was getting hungry again, too, despite the fact that he’d just had breakfast less than an hour ago.
“Well, since I didn’t see the ‘before’ picture, the ‘after’ picture isn’t going to prove anything,” Karen said.
“She’s got a point,” Matt said.
“Well, next time Matt shows up with a black eye, I’ll wait until you’ve seen it before I give it my new Nelson healing touch,” Foggy replied. “Hey, Matt, since you’ve still got your coat on, how about you run out and buy me a bagel or something, huh? Right now, I’m going to drink some coffee with lots of sugar because I’m so hungry I’d probably starve to death on my way down the stairs, before I even got to the food.”
Matt frowned a little, but to Foggy’s surprise, he changed his frown to a smile and said, “Sure, Foggy.”
“Didn’t you have breakfast?” Karen asked.
“Healing makes me hungry. Takes all my energy,” Foggy replied. To Matt’s retreating back, he called, “Thanks, buddy, I owe you!”
Then he walked slowly to his desk and plopped down in his chair. The next thing he knew, Karen was shaking him awake. “Hey, Foggy, wake up, you’ve slept almost two hours and you’ve got a client. Matt says to eat something as fast as you can and meet them in the conference room.”
The next day, Matt was at the office before Foggy arrrived, already seated at his desk. When Foggy approached his open door, he held up a hand. “Don’t even think it. You can’t afford to sleep the entire morning away again.”
“It wasn’t the entire morning,” Foggy said. “It was only two hours. And I didn’t miss all that much anyway.”
Matt frowned. “I’m not really hurt, anyway. Just a few bruises. Less than yesterday, and it will all heal on its own. It’s not worth knocking you out like that.”
“I can see your point,” Foggy said, “but I can still tell you’re hurting. By the way, I’m calling my spidey-sense the Murdockmeter now.”
“The Murdockmeter?” Matt sounded slightly amused.
“Yeah, and on a scale from one to ten, you’re –“ Foggy hesitated, then decided. “Maybe a four. I’ll need to get some more readings so I have something to compare it with.”
“I’m at one point five,” Matt insisted. “One point six, maximum. And I’m not letting you touch me until I’m up to at least four. I can handle it, Foggy. Really.”
“You know, maybe if you didn’t go out every night, we could get this into some kind of work-friendly schedule. Let’s say Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And every other Saturday,” Foggy suggested. “Then I’ll only have to heal you at work on Tuesdays and Thursdays , and we can schedule our clients around my recovery time. Win-win!”
But that made Matt frown even more. “Like I said, Foggy, you don’t have to do this every time, especially if it knocks you out for hours afterwards. I can take a little pain.”
Foggy sighed, and was about to protest again when Matt added, “Please, Foggy.”
Foggy threw up his hands in defeat. “All right, Matt, but only because you said ‘please.’”
It was hard for him to work next to Matt that morning, able to sense his friend’s pain but not being allowed to do anything about it. Foggy also noticed that the closer he got to Matt, the more he wanted to reach out and heal him. In fact, the need became noticeably stronger as the day went on. His hands began to twitch, only occasionally at first, but then more and more, and he stopped being able to concentrate on anything else except wanting to reach out. Finally, he just couldn’t take it any longer, and marched into Matt’s office.
“Foggy—“ Matt started to protest, but Foggy grabbed his left hand away from Matt’s refreshable braille display and let his healing power flow through Matt’s skin, gripping tightly when Matt tried to pull away. When the warmth ebbed, he let go and looked down at the floor.
“Sorry, Matt,” he said. “I couldn’t stop myself. All I could think of all day was that you were hurt and I wanted to help you. My hands were twitching! I had the feel for heal!”
“The feel for heal?” Matt repeated. Coming out of his lips, it sounded ridiculous, and Foggy cringed inwardly. Had he really said that? He floundered for an explanation. “Yeah, you know, like the need for speed, or—or roid rage or something like that. I had to do it, Matt!”
“I don’t want to say thank you, because I specifically told you not to,” Matt admitted. “But it does feel better.”
“I don’t,” Foggy realized, his heart sinking at what his action would mean. “I feel worse, knowing that you’re going to go out again to-night and undo all my good work.”
Matt grimaced a little. “Sorry. But as you say yourself, I have to do it.”
Foggy let his shoulders slump. “I guess I understand it a little better now, but I still hate it.”
“I know,” Matt said with a little sigh. “I know.”
He paused, then said quietly, “Good thing we don’t have clients this afternoon, huh?”
“You know, I don’t remember my grandma being asleep all the time,” Foggy said. “Maybe she got stronger as she went along, didn’t use up so much energy.”
“Maybe,” said Matt. “But for now, why don’t you go rest? I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go home.”
“Thanks,” Foggy said, and walked towards the door. Before he reached it, Matt said, “Thank you, Foggy.”
The next day, Foggy noticed his Murdockmeter suddenly increase in intensity, and came out of his office expecting to see Matt arrive. Instead, it was Karen, limping heavily.
“Hey, what happened to you?” Foggy asked, rushing forward to give her a hand.
“I twisted my ankle,” she said. “Practically tore the heel off my shoe, too.”
“I don’t think it’s just twisted, I think you sprained it,” Foggy said. “It feels pretty wrong for just a twist.”
“That’s kind of creepy that you can tell,” she said, letting him guide her to her seat while slipping her coat off. “Are you going to become a kind of vigilante, too, go running around at night healing people? Will you dress in white Spandex with a big red cross on your chest and swing in through hospital windows?”
“No way,” Foggy said, laughing at the idea. “I’d scare people to death if I wore white Spandex. Or any colour of Spandex, actually. Not to mention I’ve got to save the healing energy for Matt, and you, and my many relatives.” He reached out hesitantly. “Um – can I?”
“Sure,” she said, and he placed his hand over hers, letting the warmth flow out.
“It really works,” she exclaimed, standing up to try it out. Her heel wobbled, and she almost fell, but Foggy caught her. “That’s amazing!”
“Sorry I can’t do your shoe as well, but maybe we have some superglue in here somewhere?” Foggy suggested, holding her until she’d steadied herself. She was thinner than Marci, but Foggy didn’t mind the difference. He wondered if she ever compared his body to Matt’s, and whether she minded the difference.
“I don’t think we do, but I can run out on my lunch break and get some,” Karen said. “Or I can just buy a new pair of shoes. These were getting old anyway.”
“I’d offer to get you new shoes, but I’d probably pick out something that you hate,” Foggy said. “But I can get the superglue, because I don’t want you going out and twisting your ankle again the minute I’ve got it healed. In fact, I can go right now and be back in half an hour.”
“Thanks, Foggy,” Karen said, and gave him a smile. “But don’t you have to sleep it off first?”
Foggy considered. “I don’t feel especially tired. Maybe healing you isn’t as strenuous as healing Matt.”
“I thought he just bruised his knee yesterday,” Karen said. “There shouldn’t be that much difference between a bruised knee and a sprained ankle. I’d think the ankle would be worse.”
“Well, maybe I’m getting used to it already, building up my strength.”
“That’d be good.” Karen smiled, and Foggy smiled with her.
“So, we’ve still got time for me to run to the store quickly, anything else you need while I’m out?”
“Nope, can’t think of anything. Though I was wondering …” She let her voice trail off before asking, “Can you heal yourself?”
Foggy thought about it. “I don’t think so. Maybe a little. Grandma didn’t say.”
“You could try it out with something small, like a papercut,” Karen suggested, just as Matt came in.
“Yeah, maybe when I get back,” Foggy said. He knew without even looking that Matt’s face was bruised, and not only his face.
“Where are you going?” Matt asked.
“To get some superglue.”
“Why do we need superglue?”
“To glue you to your chair so you don’t have any more accidents,” Foggy told him, which made Matt frown and Karen laugh. “Which, by the way, I can sense. As you know. So don’t tell me – you walked into the door of a cabinet that you left open?”
“Wasn’t watching where I was going,” Matt replied in his self-deprecating way.
“You know, we’ve got to put those cabinets behind bars, they’re dangerous elements in the kitchen,” Foggy said. “But, Matt, your bruises will have to wait until I get back with that glue.”
“It’s for my shoe,” Karen explained. “I almost broke the heel off it, and sprained my ankle. Foggy’s just going to run out quickly before nap time.”
“Hey, it isn’t a nap,” Foggy protested. “It’s R&R – rest and recovery. And I might not even need it to-day. I think I’m getting the hang of this healing gift now.”
He went out and noticed that he had to be a good fifteen paces away from Matt before his Murdockmeter faded to zero. Coming back, he found it picked up again at approximately the same area. Awkward, since there was no place in the office he could retreat to that was that far away from Matt, but good to know nonetheless. And after he’d healed Matt, he tried the papercut experiment that Karen had suggested, but it didn’t work. Well, he thought, at least he was getting better at not falling asleep ...
The next thing he knew, Karen was shaking his shoulder and saying something about his snoring amusing their clients.
Part 3