We were at a stop light, so I turned to let her see me smile before facing forward again and answering "You're not the only one that's been to college, and had to quit."
The light turned green, and I only had time to spare a quick glance to see she that was surprised before accelerating. Behind me, I heard her ask "You'll forgive me when I say that I'm a little surprised to hear that you've been to college, too. What were you studying, and why did you have to quit?"
At that, I began to tell her how I'd been a philosophy major, and how I'd dropped out after realizing that my degree wouldn't be worth the parchment it was printed on. As I was telling it, she interrupted a few times to ask questions and get me to provide a little more detail. She'd been going to the same school I had, so when I was able to describe some of the professors and physical features of the school, she quickly realized that I was telling her the truth.
By the time I was done, we were at the next place she wanted to go to. It was in a shopping mall, and after she'd bought a couple of things, she decided that she was ready for a little lunch. After I asked where she wanted to go, she told me that the food court was fine. After we'd gotten our respective meals – she insisted on buying mine, too – we found a table to sit at. I figured I was going to have to feed her, but wasn't quite sure how to go about it; she saw my predicament and simply told me "Go ahead and just pick it up, Jim. You haven't been picking your nose, or anything like that, so I'm going to trust that your hands are reasonably clean. There's nothing wrong with me other than what happened from the accident, so whatever germs are on your hands aren't going to make me sick."
As we were eating, I saw an elderly lady get up from one of the other tables, and after disposing of her trash, head our direction. I was surprised when she stopped, and told Evie "It's so good to see that you have someone willing to help you get around, dear; and it's such a shame to see someone as pretty as you in a wheelchair!"
I wasn't the one she was talking to, so I kept my mouth shut instead of telling her any of the things that crossed my mind. As it turned out, Evie did an ever better job than I would have by answering "I don't need your approval, and I don't want your pity. How about if you just fuck off?"
Surprised and offended, the old woman said "Well! I never!"
Evie just grinned and told her "Maybe you should, sometime. There's nothing like a good fucking to clear the mind – something you seem to be in desperate need of!"
At that, the granny-lady turned white before heading away from us at a nice, fast clip. When I looked at Evie, I could see the amusement and delight on her face – and couldn't help laughing softly before telling her "Nice. Real nice. I'll bet it's a while before she does anything like that again!", and making her laugh, too.
When we'd finished our meal and I'd thrown away the detritus of our meal, Evie decided that there was another store she wanted to hit. While we were there, she told me "I expect this might embarrass you some, but then again, maybe not. Either way, I need to use a restroom. And no, I don't need YOUR help, so get that panicked look off your face", the last with obvious amusement. She went on to say "If you'll get me into the ladies room – I'll suggest you get an employee to make sure it's empty first – and onto a toilet, then leave me some paper, I can handle it from there. I can be loud enough to let you know when you can come back in again; just don't expect it to be too soon."
I'll admit that it was a little embarrassing for me to ask one of the store employees to check the ladies room so I could help Evie use it – but that was nothing compared to the relief the employee had on learning that was all the help we'd need from her.
With the way clear, I got Evie appropriately situated before leaving the wheelchair in the stall for her and beating a hasty retreat in favor of 'guarding' the door. As she'd cautioned, it was several minutes before I heard her letting me know it was okay for me to come back in. Once she was back in the chair, it was time for her to do a little more shopping.
As I was slowly pushing her down one of the aisles, I said "You said I should go ahead and talk to you like a real person, so I am. I'm curious about something, and if you want to tell me it's none of my damn business, I won't be offended – but I'm curious to know: you don't need a catheter or something like that?"
Evie gestured for me to stop, then move around to be in front of her. Figuring she probably got tired of having to look up at people, I squatted down so that we were at the same eye level. I saw a brief expression of gratitude cross her face before she softly told me "Yes, it's a little embarrassing for me to hear the question. But if you're willing to ask it, then I'm going to answer. No, I don't need a catheter or anything. I've still got enough control that I don't have to deal with that, thank goodness. And I can still feel most sensations, too – stuff like when there's something on my leg, or when I need to use the toilet, and that kind of thing. The worst problem I have is being able to move and control my arms and legs. It makes peeing and taking a crap a lot harder, but damned if I'm going to have other people wiping my ass for me!", the last with a grin. I grinned back as I told her "Sure, I can understand that!" before standing up and going around to get her moving again.
Before we left the store, Evie did find a couple of things she liked – one of them being a matching bra and panty set that she teasingly asked me if I liked. Teasing right back, I replied that I couldn't tell without having them 'properly filled' – which made her laugh.
The rest of the day went pretty much like that: the two of us chatting about any number of things, the odd bit of teasing, exchanging jokes, and so on.
It was getting toward late afternoon by the time Evie decided she was done for the day. Once we were back in my cab, I got us back to the Central. The concierge had gone home, so one of the desk staff came out to help me get Evie into the wheelchair; one of the bellhops took charge of getting all her purchases up to her room. While all of that was going on, the manager came out to make sure everything was okay – even though the amount of time we'd been gone should have told him it was.
I was a little surprised, and even embarrassed, at how Evie told him what an excellent job I'd done. I was really surprised, though, when she asked me to find a place to park and come up to her room. The manager started to say something, and she turned her head to look at him before asking "That isn't going to be a problem is it?" – making it clear that it had better not be. He hastened to tell her that it wasn't, and she replied "Good. He's coming up as a friend, and at my invitation, and I would hate to think that he would penalized because of it – now, or in the future."
The manager looked over at me, and saw that I was as surprised by her invitation as he must have been; that seemed to convince him that I wasn't trying to pull anything.
With that out of the way, Evie let the desk clerk know she was ready to go to her room. The manager and I were left looking at each other; I finally just shrugged my shoulders, and got in my cab so I could find a spot to park it.