KISS ME
Note: in this story, WWII actually begins just after January 1st, 1945.
June 1946.
Molly looked up at her tiger sitting across the table from her, forcing her bloodshot eyes to focus on his equally bedraggled face.
"So Michael. Which one of us had the great idea of taking advanced chemistry and Calculus this year?" The fourteen-year-old bearess asked. Michael pushed his text book aside and groaned.
"I think it was your idea to take calc… and I decided to make a clean sweep of it and take chemistry." He paused, "Where's Jereem?"
"At a movie… with Hannah." Molly said. "He's aced all the tests… he doesn't even have to show up for the final to get an A" She smiled tiredly. "He was going to come here and give us a hand, but I convinced him to go to the movie."
"We could have used the help." Michael said.
"Every time Jereem explains it, I get the feeling that My IQ just dropped about twenty points…" Molly laughed, "I guess some people just have a gift for science and math." She sighed, and looked at the chapter on tangents. "On the other hand, I think you might have been right." She blinked, looking at the dark sky outside of the window. "What time is it?"
"About 10:30." Rebecca said, coming into the dining room.
"Mom!" Molly said, "I thought you had gone out with Mac."
"I had, Molly… and we got back about two hours ago." Rebecca smiled at her daughter. "So tell me… how much have you gotten done in the last hour or so."
"Well…." Molly said. Rebecca walked over and looked at her paper.
"A plus sign is add, not subtract, sweetie. I think it's time you called it a night."
"But the test!" Molly wailed.
"You're getting a strong 'B' in the class, Molly." Rebecca said, "And you're fourteen, and taking a class that usually is only for juniors and seniors…. You'll do fine." She smiled. "Besides, if you finish all of this before your senior year… what will you do then?"
"Take fun classes." Molly said. Rebecca blinked. "Actually mom… I want to graduate early, and start college at 17." Rebecca looked surprised.
"We'll talk about that tomorrow." Rebecca said, looking at her daughter. "For now, I think you'd better head home, Michael…"
"OK…" The tiger said.
"Mom… Could he stay for a little while longer?" Molly asked.
"And what about the test tomorrow?" Rebecca said.
"Oh." Molly said, reddening. "I'll go with you to the car, Michael."
"OK," Michael said as they gathered the scattered papers and books, stuffing Michael's into his bag. Becky waited until they had left the apartment, then walked back into the living room where Mac sat. The burly badger looked up at Rebecca and stood, both taller and broader then her.
"I heard that," Mac said, "Calc and advanced chemistry… at fourteen? That's pretty advanced stuff."
"I was surprised too, but evidently Molly has some kind of bet going on with Michael." Mac laughed.
"I know exactly the bet, too." Rebecca raised her eyebrows.
"Yes?" Mac ran one hand through his hair, the silver streaks running through his crewcropped brown hair.
"Well…. Michael's probably going to some fancy private college, Harvard maybe. Where's Molly going?" Rebecca sighed.
"Well, probably the City college… I really don't have enough money to put her through a private college and pay for room and board."
"Yep, not many people do… unless the daughter in question can get a full academic scholarship…." Mac paused, "Jereem could go to any college he wants… hell I'd want him for my company when I get out," He gestured at the Colonel's eagles on his uniform, "except that Jereem would be wasted there." Rebecca nodded,
"I know what you mean, Mac." She paused, looking down out of the window towards the street, where Michael and Molly waited, hand in hand, for Michael's ride. "Do you think they're that serious?" Mac walked up beside her and put his arm around her. The badger looked out of the window, the city lights showing the silver in his thick black hair. Like most of his kind, Mac tended towards going gray early, which only emphasized the strength in his form. Rebecca had met him two years ago during one of her rare excursions to Louie's, but only recently had they began to date.
"I don't know, Rebecca. I'd say there is something there, but what it's gonna turn into… well we were both fourteen, and you know how much things can change." Rebecca nodded.
"When Michael and Molly first got together, I really wasn't too happy, him being a Khan…" She laughed softly, "So much for my impartial judgement…." Mac shrugged.
"You two have history… you shouldn't be surprised that it colored your view of the kid, though I'd have to agree, he's cut from a different cloth then old Shere." Rebecca turned around in his arms.
"Well, even Shere seems to be getting mellow in his old age… I guess he's finding out that raising a son is a bit more difficult then running a major company." Mac laughed. They heard the elevator humming on its way back up, and Rebecca walked over to the kitchen, getting some sandwich fixings. "I'll bet you that given how into the work they were, Molly forgot to eat dinner again… do you want one?" Mac shook his head,
"I'm still digesting the dinner."
"Mac…" Rebecca said, "Baloo asked me too… well…"
"Ask me if I've heard anything about Kit?" Mac shook his head. "Rebecca, I don't even know what Kit is doing, except that it's way the hell beyond my clearance, and I've got a TS clearance. That being the case, Kit's doing something that is sensitive, dangerous, and poking around could get him killed, so I'm not even gonna try." He paused, "If you want I'll tell Baloo for you." Rebecca shook her head.
"I'll do it… I was asking the question as much for Molly and I as I was for Baloo…. One of the tellers at the bank got a telegram about her husband." She said, only a slight tremor in her voice. Mac sighed.
"Kit's smart," Mac said quietly, "and he doesn't have a hero complex… he'll do the job, whatever it is, and not stick around to try to be the hero."
"Don't tell Baloo he's not a hero.":
"I said he doesn't have the herocomplex, Rebecca… but he is a hero… he just won't go looking for opportunities to prove it, thank God." The door opened, and Rebecca, without missing a beat, turned around to Molly.
"Now, young lady… did you eat dinner?"
"Mom!"
The next day, Molly sat in class, surrounded by the larger juniors and seniors, sweating over question #13.
"Graph the acceleration of an object, weighing twenty pounds, with forty pounds of thrust, the thrust being perpendicular to the ground. Assume normal gravity and do not consider air resistance." Molly muttered to herself, before checking the wall clock, which seemed to be moving at least twice as fast as it should. Jereem walked up to the teacher, handing in his test, and went back to his seat. Molly used all her will power to keep from glaring at him, and then pulled out another sheet of scratch paper.
Later, during the long lunch (the school was in finals, so lunch was two hours), Molly, Jereem and Hanna sat on the bench, Molly glaring at her lunch.
"I'm going to flunk that test… and what was it with all the questions? We barely spent a week on those."
"I think they were choosing questions that would require you to use everything we had learned." Jereem said.
"I'm certain you did well,
Molly." Hannah said softly. Molly sighed.
"I should have stayed in
algebra with you, Hannah… but I hope I passed."
"Well, I don't have to worry about passing," Michael said, flopping down behind them. "I think the chemistry test was written by the Marquis de Sade." Molly leaned into him.
"Well, maybe we can go to summer
school together."
"Why don't' you wait until
tonight?" Jereem asked, "Mr. McCulloch
is going to be grading the math test, and he said, he'd take a look at ours
first, since we're the youngest in the class." The kids nodded.
"What are you doing tonight, Molly?" Michael asked. Molly paused;
"Promise not to tell mom?"
"Does it involve, pirates, ghosts, cameras, or redfruit?" Molly shook her head.
"Then I'm silent."
"I've decided to volunteer."
"For coast watcher?"
"No, silly. They've been pulling so many nurses into the military that they need anyone they can get down at the general hospital."
"I… have a hard time seeing you in a nurses uniform." Michael said,
"Well, so do I, but most of the other jobs are… 'Men only', Molly said, stabbing the fork into her salad like she was eviscerating the writer of that requirement. "So I'll do the best I can." With a toss of her head, she changed the subject. "So are we still going to have the baseball game this Saturday?"
"As far as I know," Michael said. "Jereem?"
"I'm ready." The smaller coyote said. Hannah laughed.
"And are you going to pitch again?"
"He'd better," Michael said, "Last time Jack and Molly gave up four home runs, between them."
"Well, I'm not going to mention a certain Tiger, who ran into a tree trying for a fly ball," Molly said, as everyone, including Michael laughed.
"Why don't you want your mother to know, Molly?" Hannah asked. Molly paused.
"I'm going to tell her… but she gets worried about anything having to do with the war… This way, if I decide to stay, I can talk to her about it, and if I decide not to, there isn't any problem." Jereem shook his head.
"You owe her more then that, Molly." The smaller coyote said. Molly cocked her head to him.
"I'm not lying to her."
"Then why are you being defensive about it…. You're trying to box her in, so even if she didn't want you to do it, she'd feel like she had to." Molly glared at the coyote.
"So what should I do?"
"Tell her?" Michael asked rhetorically.
"Hannah?" Molly said, turning to the other girl for support.
"I think they are right, Molly." The bearess threw up her hands in frustration.
"All right! But if I get into an argument, and can't play on Saturday, it's not my fault."
"Just as long as you don't take Jereem with you," Michael said, then ducked as Molly threw a piece of sandwich at him.
***
When Molly got home, Rebecca was already there, working at the desk. The bearess stopped, confused.
"Mom?"
"Hi, sweetie… How did the test go." Molly put her books on the table.
"Got An A- on the Calculus test.. and an A on the history final…. Only one more to go, tomorrow, and I can relax for Summer!" Rebecca smiled at her daughter's enthusiasm. Molly looked at her mother. "Mom, why are you home so early."
"I closed up early, Molly. There weren't any shipments." Molly blinked.
"It's been that way for the last two weeks… what's happening?"
"The war, Molly. A lot of places we can't get to, and gas is rationed, so I can only fly a few flights anyway… and they might cut the ration more." Molly sat down, a gnawing worry eating at her.
"Is that going to…."
"No, sweetie." Rebecca smiled. "I've managed to lay more then enough money to see us through this, even if it goes on for a year. Besides, the banks are postponing payments on loans from businesses affected by the war." Molly noticed her mothers worried eyes, giving lie to her words. Becky shook herself, then went to the desk. "We got a letter from Kit." Molly looked up.
"We did?" She asked, "Has Baloo seen it?"
"Yes, and the one Kit sent to him…" Rebecca smiled, then frowned as she took a tattered piece of paper out. "But the censors figured out that you can see through the black out…. They're cutting now." Molly looked at the paper. Entire sentences had been sliced out, then the remaining letter glued to a new backing sheet.
"How much did they get?" She asked.
"A lot." Rebecca said, handing the letter to her. Molly read it.
Dear Ms. Cunningham and Molly.
Everything is going well, I'm at censored
We should be rotated back censored and then I'll censored anyway
Besides, we're trying to censored and I think we can censored
Hope everything is going well for you, and don't let Baloo get too fat to fit in the cockpit of the 'duck.
Love,
Kit.
"Wow." Molly said. "They didn't leave much, did they?" Rebecca sighed. "No, they didn't. Sweetie… do you mind making your own dinner tonight? Mac and I decided to go to a movie."
"I thought you were going to do that this weekend?" Molly said, puzzled.
"We might not have the chance." Rebecca said. "Mac got the notice today… his unit has to be ready to move out in twenty four hours… they could be here for a month, or they could be gone tomorrow." She finished, eyes worried.
"Oh, mom, I'm sorry." Molly said. Rebecca shook her head.
"Well, I knew it was coming,"
"Mom?" Molly asked,
"Yes, Molly?"
"I'm going to volunteer to work down at the hospital.":
"Oh… Molly, you're too young." Rebecca said, surprised.
"Not for just cutting bandages, and doing gopher work, I'm not." Molly paused, "Ms. Thomson said they're pressed for help, and since it's one of the few jobs they'll let girls do." She took a breath, "I figure that I could give a hand."
"Why not Jereem or the others?"
"Jereem can't… his leg wouldn't hold up with all the walking around, even now." Molly said, "Michael has a lot of his time taken up with Shere showing him the ropes, and Hannah helps her dad at the medical office." She looked up at her mom. "That leaves me."
"Sweetie… I." Rebecca paused, "Do you know what you're getting into?"
"I'll be helping at a hospital." Molly said,
"You'll be around a lot of hurt people." Molly looked at her mom.
"If nobody gets around them, they're not likely to get any better, now are they?" Rebecca gave a smile, then looked at her daughter.
"If you want to, then do it." She shook her head. "Just…"
"Yes?"
"Be ready, sweetie… you may see some terrible things."
***
Later that day, Molly found herself sitting in the entry lobby of the Cape Suzzette General hospital. She finished filling out the paperwork, then walked to the desk nurse, handing it to her. The nurse didn't look up, just pointed down the hall.
"Ward #21, you'll talk to the doctor there." Molly nodded, and left the nurse already forgetting the bearesses presence. Walking down the hall, she stepped back to avoid some stretchers, then came to the door. She put out her hand to open it.
"What are you doing here?" The strong, somewhat irritated voice startled her, turning around; Molly looked at a large wolf in doctor's garb, looking at her, a sheaf of papers in one hand.
"I'm the volunteer, the nurses told me to come to ward 21." She said, looking up at him. The doctor blinked, then his eyes narrowed.
"How old are you?"
"Fourteen. Why?" He didn't seem to hear here.
"And those idiots assigned you to the trauma and burn ward….." He walked over to the intercom on the wall, and leaned on the button. It squealed for a moment.
"Yes?"
"Sarah, transfer the idiot on the front desk and get Cindy out of pediatrics… they sent me a kid for duty in Burn&Trauma."
"Ouch." The woman said on the other end. "I'll change to paperwork… Doctor, Cindy will be down in about thirty minutes, if you can send the other…"
"What's your name?" He asked Molly.
"Molly Cunningham." The kid said, beginning to swell up at his attitude.
"Molly Cunningham." He said into the intercom.
"Done." The nurse said, and the device clicked off.
"Hey!" Molly protested, "I'm not a baby… I can do the work in there."
"Well, Ms. Cunningham…. I don't want you to… and unless you know the hospital director, that kinda ends the argument." He turned and pointed up the hallway. "If you still want to volunteer, pediatrics is that way."
"I know… I've been there before." Molly muttered, heading off down the corridor. Draven looked at her retreating back, tense with anger, and shrugged, going into the room for his daily rounds.
Molly walked up to pediatrics, and before she could even say anything, she was dragooned into dozens of chores, mostly boring hard work. She persevered, not wanting to be seen as a quitter. Later, the ward nurse came to her as she was stacking blankets.
"The girl in 24# could use someone to read to her…. You want to do it?"
"Sure… how old is she?"
"Five," The nurse said, "Her parents can't come right now, and she's pretty scared." Molly grabbed a book, actually on of the stories that her mom had read to her at that age, and walked to the room. Inside, a small raccoon was sniffling, her mood in contrast to the painted walls and stuffed animals.
"Hi," Molly said a bit uncertainly.
"Hi." The girl sniffled. "Are you a nurse?"
"Um…. Kind of a pretend nurse… they don't let me touch any medicine, so you don't need to worry I'm here to give you something." Molly said. The sniffles subsided somewhat. "Would you like me to read a story to you?"
"Ok." The child said. Molly walked over to her. "I don't like this place." The girl said. "They won't let me keep puffy." Molly blinked.
"Who is puffy?"
"My kitty cat." The girl paused, "I was on the bus, and then it fell over. Then I came here." She dropped her voice lower. "They stick needles in me." Molly smiled.
"They did that to me too, but then they let me go… so I guess it wasn't all bad." The child giggled, coughed, then giggled again. "So what story do you want?" Molly asked. The child paused.
"My name is Jenny…. What's yours?"
"Molly Cunningham."
"That's a nice name. Can you read to me about the three little pigs?" Molly laughed and found the page.
Later, she had gone through the entire book, Jenny leaning on one of her arms, which had promptly gone to sleep. She was about to start the next page when she realized that Jenny was fast asleep. It took a little work, but Molly was able to substitute a stuffed animal for her arm, and leave without waking Jenny. A nurse met her at the door.
"That was very good…. This is the first time we won't have to give her a sleeping draught." She sighed. "Too bad her parents can't come here, but they live in Winger city and have to work…."
"What happened?" Molly asked, The nurse looked at her.
"Drunk driver… she had a major concussion, and we had to go in and fix some internal bleeding… nothing too major, in a medical way, but pretty frightening for a little girl." She paused, "By the way, your shift ended three hours ago."
"Three hours?" Molly started, then looked out a window at the growing dusk. "I'd better get home before I have to take the bus." The nurse smiled and took the book back to the library.
By the time Molly got home, she just ate some food, and then went to bed, claiming a hard day to forestall any questions from Rebecca. Curling up in her bed, she closed her eyes, and was asleep before ten minutes had passed.
The next day, Molly sat chewing her lunch. The literature final had gone well… except that she had completely flubbed the last essay question. Still, she was confident that it would be an A… especially since the class was being graded on the curve, and had Dave and his cronies dragging that curve down.
Michael sat down beside her.
"Penny for your thoughts," He asked.
"Just wondering how Kit is doing," Molly said.
"Kit can take care of himself." Michael said. He wasn't going to say that kit was doing fine. Molly nodded reluctantly.
"I guess you're right." She looked over at them. "I'm going to be working until the end of the week…" Michael looked at her.
"Volunteering? How did it go?" Molly shrugged.
"Not… bad…., it's sad though all those hurt people." She got up. "Speaking of being sad, I need to ask Ms. Thomson how I did on literature… then I can relax for the summer!" Michael laughed.
"Well, if you're free, I have an idea that could…" Molly looked at him.
"Does it involve fruit?"
"No."
"And you've asked Shere if he's involved with it?"
"He's not." Jereem and Hannah were following the exchange between the two like spectators at a tennis match.
"So what is it?"
"With gas being rationed, we could start work for some of the messenger services… we have bikes, and in the traffic, they're as fast as cars or motorcycles." Molly looked at him, considering…
"That actually might work." She said. "We could certainly use the money… and it seems a pretty sure thing."
"Well, more certain then the redfruit business, that's for sure." Michael said.
"All right!" Molly said. "After vacation starts, we'll start working on how to do it." She smiled, as Michael got up and offered his hand to her, pulling her up with ease. Jereem and Hannah stood up. Hannah smiled.
"I have to go help father with the office, and Jereem is…"
"Going to help Ms. Cunningham." Jereem said, "She seems to think my work is good enough to start me on the inventory report."
"Ugh. You're welcome to it." Molly said. Giving the three an airy wave, she headed in to talk with Ms. Thomson.
***
Later, that day, Molly had returned to the hospital, and had finished working with the Kids. Her airy manner had led to the ward nurse keeping her in the recovery ward, helping, and occasionally just talking to some of the younger children, keeping them from being overly frightened by the surroundings. Later that evening, one of the nurses, a younger, harried crane walked up to Molly.
"Could you take this to Dr. Draven in B&T?" She asked, "I have a meeting and he needs it for tonight's examinations. Molly nodded, and stuffing the bandages she had been cutting in their containers, she grabbed the shief of paperwork and set out for B&T.
The first thing the bearess noticed was that the ward was much quieter then the children's ward, with most of the patients either quietly reading or resting. Molly looked for Draven, but didn't find him. She heard a tiny groan, and looked over at one of the beds, where a young wolf was laying, the pungent odor of cologne assaulting her nostrils.
Why is he wearing so much? Molly wondered. She walked over to the bed.
"Hi." She said. He looked at her without much recognition. "Is there anything I can get you?" He said nothing, then gasped as he moved slightly. Molly caught an odor under the cologne… sickly sweet, and nauseating. She bent down tucked the side of the covers in, and as she moved, caught it again.. much stronger this time. Molly walked over to a nurse.
"Ma'am?" Molly asked,
"Yes?"
"I think there's something wrong with the man over in bed 32."
"There's something wrong with everyone here- but I'll check." The nurse, a harried looking fox, said. Walking over, she smiled. "Well, sergeant, lets take a look see." When there was no response, the nurse looked concerned, and lifted the covers. There was an explosion of the nauseating smell, overwhelming the cologne. Molly gasped at the wrapped leg, fluid seeping through the soaked bandages. The nurse ran to the intercom, and in moments, Draven was there. He took a look at the leg, opening the bandages up. Molly turned her head, afraid that she was going to throw up.
"Nurse, get the operating room prepared, it's gonna have to come-oof!" The man started screaming inarticulately, the words somehow penetrating his pain fogged brain. One flailing fist caught Draven in the stomach, and the other caught the nurse in the jaw, sending her too the floor. Draven came back up. "Don't let him tear the bandages any more! Orderly… ORDERLY!!" he shouted. Molly leaped to the other side of the bed and latched on to the man's other arm. Whether because she was a kid, or because he was too weak to continue fighting, he didn't smash her the way he had the nurse, but it took all her weight to control the one arm. Soon, two orderlies arrived, and between them, the burly men managed to hold the man down until Draven took a hypo of Morphine and injected the man. Without saying a thing to Molly, he directed the men in placing the patient onto a gurney, and took off for the operating room.
***
Molly was sitting in the hospital cafeteria, pushing some food around a plate. The incident had shaken her badly, her hands shaking a little. A shadow fell over the table, and she looked up and saw Draven standing over her, his blues stained with sweat. He sat down, holding a cup of coffee, face slightly pale.
"That was… very good of you, kid." He said, "The guy had developed necrosis of the limb. It moves fast, and between the number of people, and the cologne he wore, well, by the time the nurse would have come around again, it would have been to late."
"Why-why did he wear the cologne?" Draven shrugged.
"He's a wanna be football star… he figured that if nobody realized it was getting worse, he could work through the pain and keep the leg."
"And?"
"Had to take it off at the hip…. Two more hours, maybe less and it would of gotten into the main body and well…. That would have been all she wrote." He blinked, exhaustion on his face.
"But he can't play football, and he only has one leg so…" Molly said, almost to herself.
"What can he do?" Draven asked, "Right now he thinks his life is over, and in the football world, at least, it is. But that won't stop him from being a father, or a teacher, or a doctor… and it's my job to give him the opportunity." He stood up, swaying a little. "Well, time to check the rest of the wards."
"Shouldn't you get some rest?" Molly asked, Draven laughed.
"Girl, I've got fifty patients, most of whom would have a single doctor assigned to their case in peacetime... sleep is not an option until I finish my duty." He looked at her hands. "I figured you might be a little shook up, so I called your mom to pick you up."
"Mom!" Molly squeaked… that wasn't needed. Draven smiled.
"You've had a rocky time of it, and your mom should know… not find out later." He paused, "You might not realize it, but in this job you do pick up a certain amount of knowledge about people… you're firmly in the 'I can do it myself ,' camp." Shaking his head, he turned and left, saying in passing. "And that means that us who have tried that stunt need to save you from our folly. She's waiting in the lobby." Molly got up and put her food away and walked to the lobby.
Rebecca was waiting for her in the lobby. Molly walked up to her.
"Hard day?" Rebecca asked.
"Not for me." Molly said, then walked out with her. Getting into the Taxi, Molly sat quietly for several minutes, then turned to Rebecca. "Mom…. How long do you think the war is going to go on?" Rebecca considered for several minutes.
"A while, honey…. I don't think that people are right when they say it will be over by Christmas." Molly sat quietly.
"And Kit?" She finally asked.
"Kit's smart Molly… but yes, he might die… we just have to pray that he keeps safe. Besides," Rebecca said, "The air commandos haven't been deployed yet, so Kit isn't in any real danger." Molly quietly nodded, and spent the rest of the trip home in silence.
