4 Elsie
Margaret was in her tent. She had just gotten back from surgery and was dozing off in her cot. It had been about two weeks since she had sent the letter to Elsie. There was a knock at the door. Margaret didn't feel like having any visitors.
"What is it?" she asked from her cot.
"May I please come in?' she asked.
Margaret sighed and got up to go answer the door. Outside there was a young girl. Round face with rosy cheeks. Her eyes were a deep brown with thick eyelashes and thin dark eyebrows above them. Her lips were thick and a soft pink. She had long thick blonde hair that lay loosely on her shoulders.
"Yes?" Margaret asked still trying to figure out who it was.
"Are you Margaret Houlihan?" she asked.
"Yes," Margaret said.
"Well, then I guess that makes me Elsie Houlihan," she said.
Margaret just stood there. She could not believe that her daughter was standing right in front of her.
"Elsie," she said.
Margaret led her in and then closed the door. She watched Elsie as she looked around the room. She watched her sympathetically and then looked down.
"You know this is no place for a young girl," Margaret said.
Elsie turned and looked at her. She softly smiled.
"I know, I just wanted to see you," Elsie said.
"Besides, don't the orphans come and stay here every once in a while?" Elsie asked.
"How would you know that?" Margaret asked.
"The priest out there was collecting for them and he told every one that they would be staying here for a couple of days," Elsie said.
Margaret went and sat down on the cot. She motioned for Elsie to come and sit down by her. Elsie smiled as she went and joined Margaret. She just watched her daughter and smiled as she put her hair behind her ears. She really didn't know what to say. She hadn't seen her for sixteen years.
"How did you get here?" Margaret asked.
"Well, Marcy's family pitched in and got me a ticket to Tokyo and from there I got on another plane that took me to Seoul and then hitched a ride with some nurses transferring to the 8063rd," Elsie said.
Margaret just shook her head as she looked off over to the side. She had trouble sorting out how she felt about this. With her eyes starting to water, Margaret looked Elsie directly in the eyes.
"Come here," she said.
Margaret tightly hugged Elsie. Elsie liked the feeling of being hugged by her actual mother.
"Love you to mom," Elsie said.
The two let go. Elsie sat back.
"I'm guessing that you need a place to spend the night, would you like to stay in my tent with me?" Margaret asked.
Elsie smiled with excitement and nodded.
"Okay," Margaret said wiping her eyes.