In the Belly of the Beast

17

He dozed off sometime that morning and was surprised to see the clock said early evening. If Ruby had checked on him, he didn't know it. 

There were no aromas of chicken soup either.

He shifted his position, and the bed creaked loudly in futile protests. He felt a sudden, painful urge to go to the bathroom.

"Ruby!" he cried.

Oh god, the cramp was awful.

"Ruby!" he screamed louder, his voice filled with urgency.

"What, Geoffrey," she said running through the door. "What is it?"

"Help me," he said, his face flush and distorted with pain. "I've got to go to the bathroom, Ruby. Help me to the toilet."

"Geoffrey, you're too big. I can't get you up."

Panic filled his eyes.

"What do you mean can't get me up? You told me you'd help. Now help!"

"But don't worry. Don't worry," she said reaching beneath the bed. "Here use this. Move onto your side so I can wedge it under you."

A bed pan.

His sole salvation. 

His life was reduced to this, a big metal bedpan.

He felt its coolness against his skin as she slid it underneath him. The rolling pain in his stomach eased, and he raised his monstrous thigh.

"Call me when you're done," she said. "And don't mind the mess. I'll clean it up."

But there was no mess. A wave of nausea passed over him and with it another stabbing pain in his stomach. The booming noise that escaped from him echoed throughout the room. It was one explosively wet fart.

Gas.

A king-size attack of gas. It only be described as a manly. Not some puny little putt-putt thing. One to be proud of.

But boy, did it stink.

His eyes began to water. The smell took his breath away.

It sure packed a punch, he thought and wiped his eyes with a pudgy finger.

***

The faint buzzing sound was hardly noticeable at first. 

Damn fly. 

How did it get in here? 

Probably drawn to the stink. 

He swatted at the droning sound that flew about his face. It landed on his ear and crawled inside the hole. He furiously dug at it, but his fat finger only brushed the outside of his ear.

Tiny prickles skittered up and down his body, tickling as they moved. He reached for the light switch behind his head, slapping at the wall, desperately groping with this hand. He flicked the switch, and the light came on.

He was covered in flies, his massive legs and torso blackened by them. He screamed and lurched to one side. The sudden movement of his titanic corpulence sent the flies buzzing in a thick cloud above his head.

"Geoffrey!" Ruby cried.

The instant she opened the door, the room went black. Geoffrey held his breath, waiting for whatever was coming next.

"Must have blown a fuse," she said. "What is it? Why are you making all this racket?"

Silent. Absolute silence.

No buzzing overhead. No needle sticking footsteps upon his skin.

"Sorry," he said weakly. "Bad dream."

"Are you finished with the bedpan, yet?"

"It's empty," he said. "Just gas."

"Here then," she said, "let me reach under you. I'll get it and slide it back under the bed."

He felt her hand beneath him. Slight pricks pressed his flesh. What was that? Nails? Fingernails? It made no sense. Ruby's nails were always short; she cut them to the pink. These felt long, manicured.

"It may take awhile to change the fuse, Geoffrey. I'm not as young as I used to be, you know. And I've got to be careful. Move slow in the dark. Don't want to break a hip.

First thing I gotta do, though, is remember where I put the things. Ain't got a clue where I stored them."

She closed the door leaving him alone in the darkness.

Thirty minutes passed. An hour.

What in the hell was she doing? 

He could have rewired the whole house by now.

He felt sick at the thought that she might have fallen in the darkness. What then? How would anyone know he needed help? He imagined her lying on the cold concrete basement floor. Maybe unconscious. Maybe dead.

He tried to find the phone. Where was it? He patted the areas around him. It was hopeless in the dark.

"Geoffrey?"

Ruby's voice floated across the blackness.

"It's not the fuse. I finally remembered where they were and got it changed. Took forever. Turned on the wall switch, but nothing happened. Looked outside. The whole street's black as pitch. Power's out all over the neighborhood. Nothing I can do."

She stood there in the darkness.

"You O.K.?"

"Yeah," he said hopelessly.