Otherworld

by MCC

Chapter Two

My request to Lorie had been simple – I had asked to be returned to the hospital, and placed in cervical and pelvic traction during the night, and during some resting hours during the day. For those times when I would be ambulatory, I wanted to be fitted with a brace that would support and immobilize my lower back and neck, and possibly to stretch the spine in between. Of course, maintaining this regimen for any particular length of time would result in my muscles atrophying, and so I asked that some physical therapy be included, providing, of course, that it wouldn’t interfere with or prevent any actual patients from receiving the care they needed.

After showing me around the downtown area, Lorie had the driver stop, whereupon she exited the vehicle. "Stay here, please," she said to me, and then she disappeared into a shop. Several minutes passed, and she returned with a box. "Chocolates," she stated simply, opening the box for me, then the driver, before taking some herself. "I called the hospital to have a room ready for you." She said. We drove back quietly munching on the candy, and looking at the businesses, homes and people along the way. I noted several more body casts, and finally quit counting the number of Milwaukee braces I saw. After a bit, I turned to Lorie, and asked a question that was suddenly burning a hole in my mind.

"Have you ever worn a Milwaukee Brace?"

She turned to me with a puzzled look. "A what?"

I indicated a woman standing in a yard as we passed, the brace so obvious on her. "Oh, we don’t call it that," she said. "We call that a ‘Long Bar Brace’. And, no I have never worn one. In fact, I am one of the minority that have never had to have any treatment for spinal problems. Or any other problems, for that matter."

We returned to the hospital, stopping at the front door. My return apparently had been announced, as a large number of people were standing outside, lining the path to the door. As I exited the car, they started applauding, and I suddenly thought maybe I’d been dropped off at a movie premier. The crowd continued into the hospital, where another nurse walked up to Lorie and whispered something in her ear. Lorie nodded, and we all entered the elevator. "I thought you might like to visit some of the facility you are going to be using, before we settle you into yoru room." It wasn’t a smile she shot me, it was a grin. A mischievous grin.

The elevator stopped, and we walked out into the physical therapy area. It was huge, with all kinds of equipment all over the room. There were lots of people, patients and therapists, all going through their routines. Lorie spoke up, admonishing them to continue their work, that we intended to only visit, and not interfere. I was impressed by the work they were doing, and especially by the large numbers of therapists – in my world, personnel shortages were the norm at just about any hospital. Here, they almost seemed to have an excess of people.

Next I was taken to the brace shop. It seemed more like an assembly line than any orthotic shop I had seen on my world, with several work stations along two walls, most of them with patients being casted or fitted with new braces. There were, I was shown, two private rooms for those who felt uncomfortable being in front of everyone else, but they were rarely used. And my presence didn’t seem to change anything, either – women of different ages apparently had no problem being in the same room as me, in various stages of undress/nakedness. I walked back to the workshop section, and examined several of the braces in progress – probably ninety-five percent were some type of spinal brace. I also got to talking with the chief orthotist, and spent almost an hour discussing my problems, what I was wanting by way of a brace, what I was wanting the brace to do, and the different options. Although I made no decision yet, the orthotist assured me she could create an appliance that would give me the relief I wanted, and yet be absolutely comfortable to wear. They were, unfortunately, too busy to get to me today, but would have an opening tomorrow for my initial casting. Our conversation ended with her giving me a kiss on the cheek. From the reaction of the others in the room, I gathered that was unusual.

We left the shop, and Lorie announced we’d be eating dinner before I was taken to my room. We walked down the hall, made a turn, and wound up in the cafeteria. Again, women were standing along the way, smiling broadly, and welcoming me. I chatted with several as we ate, and mostly the conversation revolved around my life back on my world (was I married, did I have any children [doesn’t matter, you will now!], what my hobbies were, etc, etc). We finished, I thanked everyone, and we headed towards the elevator.

As the doors closed, there were three people in the cab – myself, Lorie, and another nurse named Teresa. I reached for the panel, pressed the ‘Stop" button, and as the elevator lurched to a halt, I turned to them.

"Okay, what’s going on?"

Lorie spoke up. "What do you mean?"

"People are acting differently now than when we left this afternoon. When we left, they were polite, but they kept their distance. Now, everyone seems to be falling over themselves to make me feel welcome. So, I’m going to ask just once more." To emphasize my point, I leaned down until my nose was almost touching hers. "What’s going on?"

Lorie looked at Teresa, who nodded. Lorie then turned back to me. "I told you earlier about several of the previous donors, and of their ‘eclectic’ tastes. When informed of their freedom, all carried their preferences to the extreme. We expelled one from this world after only two days, for trying to force himself on teenagers and children. The others, while not so bad, all had their particular idiosyncrasies. Your immediate predecessor, besides being a sports fanatic, fancied himself a ‘lady’s man’, even though, in truth, he was more of a slob. In actuality, he preferred to watch as much as anything else, and the less a woman wore, the more he liked it. He enacted decree after decree, dictating how much a woman could, and could not, wear in public. It wasn’t long before he decided that orthopedic appliances spoiled his pastime, and so he decreed that no woman could wear any visible medical appliance while in public. Needless to say, a great many woman found themselves unable to properly treat their spinal curvatures, and they found their conditions worsening. The number of surgeries performed to correct severe spinal curvatures increased by over eight-hundred percent. These woman suffered tremendously, all because that man didn’t like to see them wearing their brace."

Of course, I was horrified. "How long was that decree in effect?"

"Almost four years, until he left, at which time all his decrees became null and void. A lot of those women you saw today only just started using their braces again a few weeks ago. A lot of them are also being placed in full body casts, as a last-ditch effort to avoid surgery – we hope."

"So, you see, there was always the concern that you would be like your predecessor, and effectively outlaw the non-operative treatment of spinal curvatures. The donors we bring here are randomly picked, so we have no way of knowing who we are getting, or what we are getting ourselves into. When you asked about having a brace made for your back and neck, I hoped that perhaps our greatest worries were at an end. When I discovered that seeing women in braces actually arouses you, I knew they were. When I called to have the hospital arrange for your stay, I let them know what I had discovered."

I raised my eyebrows. "Even the arousal part?"

"Yes, even the arousal part. You see, while the majority of the population will have no interaction with you, or even want to, there are always some who want to associate with the donors, no matter what their obsession is. And, from what I have seen so far, what turns you on is an ordinary part of our everyday lives. So, as I said earlier, you will fit in nicely here."

She pressed the Start/Stop button, and we continued upwards. When the door opened, we were on a floor I hadn’t been on yet. The carpet was thick and plush, the walls covered in cloth. We walked a short distance down the hall, and turned to face a door with the number 1508 on it. "I hope you like it," Lorie said, then opened the door for me.

It could not have been properly called a hospital room – it was more like a luxury suite at a five-star hotel. The room itself was huge, with windows on two walls, overlooking the city on one side, and a river on another. A sofa and table occupied the entrance, with a standard hospital bed behind it. I walked over, and sat on the bed. Lorie looked at me, shook her head and smiled. "That’s for your nurse." She then took my arm, and walked me around the corner.

When I saw what was there, I stopped, and audibly gulped. The bed here was a huge contraption, with chrome bars all over the place. It appeared to be circular in shape, reminding me of a Circo-Electric bed, only much larger, and much more complex. Three other women were standing around it, all smiling at me. Lorie looked at them, and spoke; "First, we wash."

Two of them women walked up, took me by the arm, and led me to the bathroom. It seemed almost as large as a standard hospital room, with both a Jacuzzi tub and shower. What appeared to be two toilets were, I found out later, a toilet and a bidet. There were several faucets and hose connections along the wall and I could only guess at their function.

The door was shut, and the two women, whose names I later learned were Janet and Violet, started filling the tub, then removing my clothes. I hadn’t been given a bath by anyone other than myself since I was six, and so was a little nervous, but shortly I began to relax and enjoy myself. Neither of them seemed the least bit conscientious about bathing a naked man, and I decided that, if I was going to be on a world with nothing but women, I should not worry about being naked around them – so long as they didn’t mind, that is. They took their time, and forty minutes later I was clean, scrubbed, washed, and being toweled off by two very lovely ladies. When they finished, I was wrapped in a towel and led out into the room.

Apparently, while I was being bathed, the others had been at work, for a section of bars had been removed from the bed, and placed to one side. As I was led up to the bed, I saw all manners of pads, straps and buckles laid out. I turned to Lorie with an apprehensive look, but she simply took my arm and led me to the side of the bed. "It’s okay," she said, "I promise you’ll love it." She took the towel away, and I was eased down into the bed, several sets of arms guiding my arms and legs to where they apparently were supposed to be. I lay back, and found the bed to be extremely comfortable, pads and straps and buckles and all. One of the other women walked up then, and placed a pneumatic syringe against my arm, and pulled the trigger. I felt a slight sting, but nothing more. Lorie spoke up; "Traction is more effective when muscle relaxants are used." The woman with the syringe then backed away, and Lori, Janet, Violet and Teresa moved in and began fastening buckles.

The head halter was heavy canvas, but lined with lamb’s wool, and in addition to the straps behind my head and under my jaw, a strap was fixed across my forehead. The pelvic harness was very much like a Cotrel pelvic harness I had seen photos of, but was likewise lined with lamb’s wool, and included a lumbar support belt, reinforced with steel stays. Traction boots were applied to my legs, and my legs suspended in slings, raising them up and relieving my lower back of that weight, and also flattening out my lumbar spine. The boots were unusual in that, in addition to providing a grip on my lower legs for skin traction, they encompassed and immobilized my feet, much like a cam walker.

About this time, the drugs started taking effect, for I suddenly felt limp as a noodle. Lorie slid up beside me, and leaned down towards my face. "This is to keep your hands from getting caught in anything, or from fumbling with any of the buckles while you sleep." With that, she and Teresa each took an arm, and slid them into heavy, molded leather mitts. They extended almost to my elbows, and encased my thumbs and all my fingers in individual pockets. They were, of course, lined on the inside with lamb’s wool, and were buckled securely in place. Attached straps were tied off to the side of the bed, effectively immobilizing me. Lorie and Teresa stepped back, and Violet rolled a cart up next to the bed. Lorie stepped forward again, and picked up a set of hoses from the cart. She started to move them towards my head, and then stopped. She leaned over me yet again, but this time she didn’t stop until her lips touched mine. I don’t know if it was the drugs or the predicament, but the kiss she gave me was, without a doubt, the most electrifying kiss I’d ever received. When she finished, she again raised the hoses, and I found a nasal hood being placed over my nose. The gas flowing out of it was cool and sweet – nitrous oxide. My head started swimming as I heard clanking noises, the traction ropes exerting more pull with each clank – weights were being added to each rope.. When it all stopped, I saw all five women stand around the bed, all smiling. Each bade me good night, one at a time, and left the room. When only Lorie was left, she winked at me.

"I’ll be here when you wake. Sweet dreams." Velvet blackness, soft as eider down, enveloped me.