Zwei
Sick Leave
17 December 1914
Not friends, but not enemies. Just strangers who are held confined in their own stranded ship. It's all we've become.
Christmas is near, but only meager of joy dares to thread amongst the bleakness of this overcrowded ship and her distressed crews. The American authorities prohibited us to go ashore, with exception of officers on official duty or whenever they capriciously feel like permitting us.
Sure, we're still breathing and alive, and I'm sure if we continued our voyage with whatever left of the coals, the Japanese would show us no mercy. But to live like this, not attacked as foes or welcomed as guests, is really unsettling.
I have hopes on Herr Sieben to at least succeed in making this condition a little more bearable for all of us.
Weiss read the entry she had just written once again, then backtracked the older entries. Most of them were daily mundane observations, some of it were her frustration of those daily mundanities. This wasn't how a journal of a soldier at war supposed to be. No accounts of thrills, of emotional and physical shake-ups by violent fighting recorded by her pen. A part of her envied her comrades of the Emden who often bragged about their swashbuckling seaborne adventures at every available opportunity back at Tsingtao.
That, however, didn't necessarily mean she would gladly throw her life away just for adrenaline rush.
On her peripheral vision, a seaman came to her with a stiff salute. She closed her journal with a sigh then straightened her back. "What is it again?"
"It's Klopp, ma'am. Since days ago he's just… well, acting violent and harassing others without reason. May we ask the doctor to… uhh, calm him down a bit?"
"Yes, yes, just do anything so he won't make any more ruckus and bother others."
Her response was too dismissive and nonchalant, but she couldn't help it. She wasn't in her prime condition to be a responsible officer she was supposed to be. Blame it to the searing headache under her cap that had been plaguing her for days.
Having spent months bearing ranges of minor ailments under the Pacific sun, she should've been familiar in this kind of predicament. In this particular day, though, the sun felt hotter than usual. The burning sensation washed all over her, like a waterfall of lava descending from her head all way down to the toe.
All the way down, bombing her body with a striking bolt of pain.
Her hand caught the rail just in time before she collapsed. Even so, her grip was so shaky and brittle. Had the seaman not steadied her shoulders, her body would've banged the deck's floor hard. With a grunt peppered with hushed cuss words, Weiss ordered him to take her to the doctor. To hell with an officer's dignity and manners in front of her subject, she couldn't even stand straight on her own legs and her head was too close to exploding.
Limping, Weiss was supported by the seaman to the sick bay. The doctor worked fast in situating her on the bed as comfortable as possible but the treatment was badly hindered with incredibly low medical supplies aboard. The only possible effort left were giving her the very last precious aspirin on board, fed her pathetic excuse of a dinner and applied cold compress to arm her to survive through the night. By the next morning, her condition worsened. Her body temperature hit the roof and her muscles were aching all over. The doctor threw his hands up and urged to have her sent ashore. Fortunately, Weiss didn't have to suffer too long before they got the clearance to send her to US naval base for more proper medical attention.
The transportation of the sick Leutnant from the cruiser to the base was eventful. On the boat her shivering body was rocked by nausea and agitated her to vomit, but her empty stomach ejected nothing but further misery for her day. As soon as they reached the pier, she really had no strength left that she had to be carried upon a stretcher.
An American doctor and a couple of nurses carefully rushed her to the infirmary. Weiss sighed softly when her body left the rocking stretcher and landed on the fluffy margin of the bed. By no means this bed was a luxury, but compared to her bunk or the sick bay in the belly of a bleak ship, this was leagues better.
"I should've known you were sick that night."
Weiss looked up to one of the nurse, the one with peculiar shining eyes and black hair tipped with red. "…What?"
"The day when German officers visited the bar, remember? I was the one who gave you aspirin," said the silver-eyed nurse. "My name is Ruby Rose, Lieutenant Schnee."
"It's Leutnant Schnee," Weiss corrected in croaky voice.
"Nice to meet you Leutnant… Schnee…?" Ruby stumbled with her pronunciation. "Not that I find it nice to meet you while you're sick but—uhh, well, you got my point!"
If Weiss' head hadn't been subjected under the mercy of metaphorical killer hornets, she probably would find the nurse annoyingly adorable. But for this moment she only wanted her to shut up.
Ruby realized more words would only bring more discomfort to the ailing officer, so she just cut it short and went on with her duty. Wiping the officer's flushed face, she could felt the searing heat permeating past the cool wet cloth to rendezvous with her sensory endings. No doubt an omen of how dire Weiss' suffering had been and would be without medical intervention.
Cold wipe could only do so much to hold back the fever. Fortunately, the doctor swiftly arrived with the reconnaissance consisted of a small compartment alongside an assorted vials of medications. The nurse cleaned the inner fold of Weiss' elbow with antiseptic as the doctor prepared the main firepower—a syringe loaded with hypodermic medication.
There, Weiss stared at the syringe after the fashion of an ancient footman before being shot by a field cannon.
While Weiss' vertically challenged physique left a lot to be desired, her immunity was more robust than average peers. That, and her handsome luck with health, allowed her childhood to be free of any common ailments as well as deadlier kinds of sickness. As an adult, any symptoms she suffered used to disappear with little to no involvement of any medicine, let alone medical injections.
Humans, however, fear the unknown—and her absolute lack of any experience with syringe needles triggered it.
For the first time in her life, Weiss cursed the natural resilience of her immune system.
"…Is that needle going to—?"
The doctor looked at the nurse and the officer with incredulous look. Ruby sighed softly and gestured the doctor to give her a moment.
"Don't worry, it's only going to hurt a bit, okay?" reassured the nurse with a smile, gently placing her hand on the snow-haired woman's clammy one.
Weiss was anything but reassured. The stoic face of the German Leutnant churned into one of horror when the needle inched closer to her skin. As the sharp bezel of the needle nipped her, her eyes shut tight in her desperate attempt to repress the pain and soldiered on. She exhaled audibly when the hypodermic syringe finally left her skin.
Ruby really had a hard time holding herself from giggling and hurting the German officer's pride. Why, a grown-up military officer cowering before a medical shot was one of most amusing sights ever.
The rest of the procedure went well. Weiss gently fell asleep from the effect of the medication. Ruby stayed a bit too long that she was supposed to. Everything stayed that way, until a blonde Marine called the nurse to get some lunch together.
Right before the door of the hospital wing, she looked over her shoulder to the only occupied bed.
"Something wrong, Rubes?"
"Nothing," Ruby chuckled. "Let's go have our lunch, Yang!"
xxxxx
Being sick sometimes could be a lonely business.
Weiss' body chose the right time to get sick and had the whole hospital wing to herself. Only the heat of her fever and sweltering sweat loyally waited on her.
Neptune could've visited her if he wasn't too busy chasing skirts in-between his official duty at Guam. Not that she missed his annoying presence in any way, but his chatters would be far more preferable than to ruminate alone in insufferable hot tropical air of Guam. Kapitän Sieben had kindly spare some time from his mind wrestling with the disagreeable American governor to visit her, but it was brief one-time occasion. Besides, she didn't want to take the captain's time and distracted him from his battle to improve the welfare of the whole crews.
The constant form of true human company she had was Ruby Rose, the nurse who always seemed to be around the clock for her.
Her opinion of Ruby Rose? Someone who superficially like a child in a grown-up's body, but an expert in her job. Adorable youthful face she had would easily made sailors swoon. Ruby Rose was fortunate Weiss was anything but deprived common sailor—imagine the amount of improper flirting the nurse would have gotten if she was just like anyone else.
That, and constant hum of headache drained her eloquence. Should she ever had to woo the nurse, she would never let her fever do the talking.
Speaking of the devil, the silver-eyed nurse had just entered the hospital wing, announced by gentle thumps of her soft leather boots. Crisp white uniform layered her petite frame, a black cape with crimson inner lining rested on her shoulder. By no means Weiss was disrespecting American nurse corps, but the uniform reminded her of classical purity and piety of white quirkily paired with the aesthetic of Dracula.
How could she wear a cape in a perpetually hot day like this though, Weiss wondered.
"Hello, Lieutenant—no, Loot, Leu—" Ruby shook her head and gave up her attempt at addressing her military rank properly. "Hi, Miss Schnee, how are you feeling today?"
Weiss glared at the nurse under her half-lidded eyes. How dare she asked that as if her condition wasn't so obvious to anyone with functioning eyes and brain. That, and the way the silver-eyed American mispronounced her surname made her cringe
The nurse chuckled with a sheepish smile and proceeded to taking daily readings of her vital sign. "Your fever is slowly going down. Any pain or stiffness on your limbs or joints?" she asked while lightly pressing and moving the officer's upper limbs. Her face brightened when she got negative response from the officer. "Really? Thank goodness. Seems like you already make quite a progress with your flu."
Weiss grimaced. "Flu? Seriously? I suffer this much because of common cold?"
"Flu is different from common cold," the nurse spoke with a frown cranking up the seriousness in her voice. "You should know influenza can kill people."
Weiss had to admit she was startled—and awed—by the unexpected firmness in Ruby's words and eyes. Even more so when those chromed steely eyes melted back into gentle quicksilver with too little transition, and the gentle voice that followed.
"But you're really strong. I heard that you've been feverish even before you went ashore." Ruby scribbled the results on the clipboard. "I'm glad you get proper treatment before it's too late."
Somehow, Weiss wasn't that happy to have her daily check-up done quick. It was a bright afternoon and the mix between too much sleep and overexposure of light would make getting a shut eye difficult. She didn't look forward to hours of doing nothing in loneliness of her sick bed. There was a suggestion inside herself to make use of the nurse as a company, but she discarded that quickly.
"And oh, I got you something from my own collection, to help you killing the time. I think you might like this."
Craning her neck, she examined what Ruby handed to her. To her surprise, it was a leather-bound script of Tanhäuser in both German and English text.
"You like Wagner?"
The nurse tilted her head. "Is there something wrong with it?"
"No, just something…unusual for Americans, I guess."
Ruby made a small jovial noise under her curled up lips. "You're not wrong! I don't have anyone to talk to about his works, so I excited to meet someone who knows his works."
Little did Weiss know Ruby's smile was infectious, as she was barely aware of how her lips curved under the stress of her own excitement. "How do you know Wagner's works, by the way?"
"My mom had a copy of abridged Tanhäuser in English she used to read for me before bedtime. I know it's not something a kid usually will like, but I just love it until now," Ruby said with twinkles in her argentine eyes. "I love it so much I bought the full script to read the whole thing in detail. And maybe finding someone who understands German to find anything that's missing from the translation."
Nodding with a short hum, Weiss skimmed through the translated and original script. "Well, I can say the translation is really well done. There's nothing much for me to cover, I wager."
"I guess you like Wagner's operas too?"
"I had the opportunity to watch the plays with my grandfather. Tanhäuser was also my first exposure to his works, and also quickly become my favorite."
"Tanhäuser is my top favorite too!"
"Are you sure it's not because you're biased to the first thing you know?" chuckled Weiss.
"No! Well, I don't know, maybe?" Ruby giggled bashfully. "What I know is I always want to give the poor Tanhäuser a big hug. He's a sweet guy, just confused and misunderstood."
At that point, Weiss really couldn't hold her laugh. Ruby's childish confession was too amusing and no one would be able to compete with that. Miffed by the reaction she got, Ruby huffed with a pout. In the end, she laughed along with the German officer and filled the space of the quiet hospital wing with their laughter. Then it ebbed gently, leaving them in peace of their own minds—Weiss and her book, Ruby with her fascination towards the snow-haired officer.
Usually, Weiss would find it deeply annoying to have someone buggering her while reading, even with something as simple as staring. She, however, found the nurse's silent attention elating and piqued her own interest towards the dark-haired woman. She couldn't deny the awkwardness though.
Weiss paused her reading to address the elephant in the room. "Is there something wrong, Miss Rose? You've been staring at me for a while."
"No, I'm just wondering if…uhh..." Ruby fiddled with her own fingers with a sheepish grin. "Can you sing anything from the play? Maybe Tanhäuser's song?"
"Tanhäuser's aria is for tenor voice. Mine is something closer to soprano, so I don't think it's going to work."
"But can you tweak it so you can sing in your range?"
It wasn't impossible. Weiss was more than capable to do that. She rarely accepted people's request to sing, however. Maybe the utter look of hopefulness in those wide eyes chipped her guard enough to allow some exception. There was no harm in it anyways, so might as well just go along with it.
"Alright, let me see." Her fingers flicked back and forth the pages. She settled with Tanhauser's aria on the first scene of act one, when Venus compelled him to sing. Sitting upright, Weiss cleared her throat, hummed a melody or two to set her tweaking of the aria and inhaled the air to start the aria.
Dir töne Lob! die Wunder sei'n gepriesen,
die deine Macht mir Glücklichem erschuf!
Die Wonnen süss, die deiner Huld entspriessen,
erheb' mein Lied in lautem Jubelruf!
Nach Freude, ach—!
Soreness suddenly ambushed Weiss' throat. She threw a fit of cough that prompted Ruby to scurry for a glass of water. She drank the water in-between the coughs, careful not to get choked by it instead.
"Still sore?" Ruby asked and Weiss nodded in between her coughs. The nurse fed the snow-haired woman a spoon of sore throat emulsion and slowly the coughs quieted and ended. Ruby looked at the officer with face saturated by guilt. "I'm sorry I messed up. I shouldn't have forgotten you're still sick. But, gosh, your voice is really awesome, Lieutenant Schnee!"
Weiss sighed, "it's Leutnant, Miss Rose. And don't worry about my throat, it's all fine."
A senior nurse came in and notified Ruby to get ready for the routine round to Chamorro villages. She was reluctant to do it, but the impatient look of the older woman ceased her will to weasel out. "I need to go, but I promise I'll bring Lohengrin and Parsifal with me tomorrow! I'll ask Blake if she got any Wagner's other plays too."
"Thank you for the book, Miss Rose" she muttered just loud enough to be heard. "And for your time too, I guess."
Ruby smiled with a nod then scuttled after her upset older colleague.
All alone again, Weiss buried herself nose deep to the singer-knight's journey of folly and redemption. The day was still hot and her head was still in the heat trap, but at least her heart found some comforting warmth to get through the day.
Say all you want about Wagner. I just love his Tanhäuser so much.
It's really hard to find documentation of medical practices in 1910s, so I hope I can do it justice. I only know they're really simple and sometimes absurd, but at least it's better than in 1800s where opium literally became the cure-all.
And oh, before you laugh at Weiss being scared of the syringe, go Google fu ancient syringe images, and decide if you want to get your next shots using it. (spoilers : I don't want it)
Thank you for reading. Reviews, comments and constructive feedbacks make me feel loved. I'll see you in the next chapter!
