Unlikely Saint
by Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Dameron
Chapter Two: Lady Of The Lamp
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Hawkeye Pierce saw Father Mulcahy rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he made the rounds of Post Op. "Have you been here all night Father?"
Mulcahy looked up a Pierce. "Most of it I'm afraid."
Hawkeye took a look at the chart for the woman. She had been treated for shock and the wound in her shoulder redressed as well as having been cleaned up by the nurses and removed from her torn and blood stained Red Cross Uniform. He took a seat on the opposite side of her bed as the Father and made a closer observation of her condition.
There were marks on her face from bruises that had almost faded and on her neck were finger shaped ones. From his guess they had been very bad, but they were at least two weeks old. Someone had badly mistreated her. Hopefully she would be able to tell them what had happened, and who she was.
"I wish we knew her name." said Mulcahy. "I know that she is a Mormon, and that makes things a little difficult for me."
"How so Father?" Hawkeye asked.
"Only a Later Day Saint Elder can preform the Blessing for the Sick and Afflicted." He nodded his head. "They believe that no other faith has the authority of the priesthood."
"I hope you aren't taking offense at that Father." Hawkeye said.
"Oh no Hawkeye," Mulcahy said, "it's just that there aren't any Mormons in camp at this time, let alone an Elder, and I fear that only such a blessing could bring this woman peace."
"Was her night that bad Father?"
"Yes." Mulcahy said sadly. "She is a God fearing woman Hawkeye, and she has been through more than any God fearing woman should have to bare."
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Corporal Maxwell Klinger set down the phone with a sad face. "I'm sorry Father, there aren't any Latter Day Saints at the 8063rd or the 8055th ."
"You need to keep looking." said Mulcahy.
Klinger sighed. "I'll keep looking Father." He pulled a file out of his in box. "I'll also keep trying to get a list of missing Red Cross workers, but this may take a few days."
Father Mulcahy hung his head and shook it. "The sooner we can find what we need to help this woman the better."
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Margret tried to get the young woman to eat, but now that she was awake she would not suffer anyone to come near her. Worst of all she would not speak but stare at everyone around her with a haunted look somewhere between fear and disbelief.
"Any luck with our Lady Of The Lamp1?" Charles asked as he entered Post Op to find Maj. Houlihan at the foot of the woman's cot trying to convince her to let her bring a tray of food closer.
At the site of Dr. Winchester the woman climbed from the bed and tried to run past. She managed to duck under Winchester's arm and send the tray of food flying from Margret's hands into Charles's face.
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Father Mulcahy was just about to leave Klinger's office when the young woman ran into it and tried to make for the door. Without even thinking about it he stepped in front of the door and faced her. She ran into him and tried to struggle, her small fists striking out. Then she struck the cross on his chest, and looked at it with wider eyes than those of a starving child in a candy store.
"Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti Et tibi Pater, Quia peccavi nimis, Cogitatione, verbo et opere.2" she said through tears in halting Latin as she took Mulcahy into a tighter hug than he would have liked.
"What did she just say, Father?" Klinger asked as Houlihan and a dripping Winchester came bursting in after the woman.
"What she said Klinger," Said the Father as he helped the woman to sit on the end of Klinger's bed, "is that she has sinned. She has invoked the confessional."
"I thought she was a Mormon, Father." Klinger said with confusion.
"Mormons prefer to be called Saints.3" the woman said through tears.
"Oh," said Klinger, "then you are one."
"I think I am." the look of bewilderment on the woman's face did not make sense.
"What is your name?" Mulcahy asked in as gentle a voice as he could.
The woman looked down at her trembling hands held in the Father's. "I don't remember."
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1. The Lady Of The Lamp is the nick name given to Florence Nightingale by the press during the Krimarian War. She is attributed with the founding of the British Red Cross, so I thought that an unknown Red Cross nurse being called that would be fitting.
2. This literally translates to (I confess to God Almighty, and to you Father, that I have sinned, in thought, in word and in deed.)
3. It is true that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are encouraged to use the name Saints when referring to themselves, and always have been. The term Mormon is a nick name originally intended as a rude Epithet derived from one of the books of scripture accepted by the LDS Church. It has been discourage in common use, but is used by Church members along with the term Saints anyway.
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