Mindtease

Chapter 8

The door to the hotel room clicked, and Kirk strode in, plastic bag swinging, the contents jangling.

"Back Josh," Kirk said softly, knowing Josh was on the bed in pain.

"Okay," Josh stammered weakly, laying on the bed in the fetal position with a borderline cluster migraine.

Kirk reached into the plastic bag, and pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and aspirin. After struggling with the protective caps on each bottle, Kirk had three of each tablet.

"Here Josh," Kirk said. Josh grabbed the pills, and put them into his mouth, swallowing with a loud gulp.

"No water?" Kirk asked, Josh waving his hand in dismissal. Kirk looked around, wondering what he could do to make Josh more comfortable, but saw there was little else he could do...except leave.

"I'll be back Josh," Kirk said quietly as he left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Josh stayed motionless in the fetal position, his hands and arms over his head, trying to block out the pain from the light and sound.

# # #

Kirk rode the elevator down, watching the numbers on the readout change, considering. Then the thought struck him as he remembered the strange dream, naked in the woods, finding Josh there too.

Hope I am not going gay.

Kirk laughed at the very idea, but then wondered. Shaking his head in dismissal, Kirk still pondered...and realized a very simple solution to the problem of the dream.

The elevator doors chimed open, and Kirk strode to the front desk. A young, petite, attractive older woman formally dressed with a cobalt blue coat looked up at him. She smiled a warm smile.

"Hello..." Kirk said, "Vivian."

"How can I help you?" she asked in a friendly, professional voice.

"Does the hotel have a computer the guests can use?"

"Sure we do, we just got rid of the rotary phones last month."

Kirk stared at Vivian for a few moments. Finally Kirk laughed, and Vivian laughed...for a different reason.

"But yes, there is a computer over there in the niche..." Vivian pointed toward her right, past the elevators, "around the corner."

"Oh, okay...thank-you...Vivian."

Vivian smiled warmly at Kirk and gave him a friendly nod. Kirk gulped at her obvious interest, and walked away unsure how to respond.

# # #

Kirk sat down at the computer in a tubular chair that slid sharply across the tiled floor. The computer was a recent model, and Kirk clicked on the web browser icon, opening the browser. Kirk typed in a search engine address, and waited.

After a few moments, the search page appeared. With a click of the mouse, Kirk positioned the cursor, and typed: "dream interpretation" and waited. After a few seconds a few million results appeared on the computer screen.

Kirk snorted as links to Freud's magnum opus were listed. Kirk thought a moment, and adjusted his search query.

"This is more like it..." Kirk said aloud to nobody.

Kirk continued his search, wondering if he should use the nearby laser printer to print out his findings for hardcopy. Kirk decided not, choosing to remember what he found by taking mental notes...a useful habit he had developed in college.

Kirk further refined his query, and dug into the search results...

# # #

The sound of the blaring television told Kirk that Josh was feeling much better. But after sitting in front of the hotel computer for four hours, Kirk finished his online research into his dream and returned to the room.