Reasons To Live
Friends
Chapter 9
Nurse Mason was very curious about her patient's friends. She had been told they were American but Goniff was definitely British and this gentleman was Italian. "You're not an American?" she asked.
"Yes, I am I have been a naturalized citizen for almost a decade now. When I first arrived in New York I felt that it was home and after the war I will return there."
"And… Goniff?" she asked tentatively.
Actor smiled, "Goniff is also a naturalized citizen, as is his mother. I believe they have plans for opening a business in New York City when the war is over. He is quite devoted to her."
Nurse Mason smiled and nodded knowingly, "She must be very proud of him. He's a fine young man. Do you have family in New York?" Suddenly, she looked embarrassed, "I'm so sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me. I'm usually alone with my patients during the night. Having you all here is having an odd effect on me. I don't normally pry into my patients private lives."
Actor smiled knowingly, "Perfectly understandable. We are an unusual group. I would have been surprised if you weren't curious about us."
"Still I haven't the right. Your friend is my patient and my job is to give him my undivided attention. I've allowed myself to be distracted. You did say you brought a book and that you might read to him?"
"Yes, I did. Chief unfortunately, was never able to complete his education and we have been working together to improve his academic skills. This is the book we were reading together before our last assignment, The Count of Monte Cristo." Actor obfuscated a little. He was reading the book to Chief and Chief was asking questions about what he didn't understand. Actor felt the language of the book would a big help in furthering Chief's education and Chief was enthralled by the story of the young man imprisoned and tortured unjustly. It also seemed to Actor that Chief had taken the idea that the prisoner was able to get an even better education while imprisoned, to heart. He was not fighting him about learning to read anymore and was willingly working on his writing, a most gratifying situation for Actor.
"Oh, I loved that book. I saved every penny I could to buy my own copy when I was in school." She said smiling with delight. "It's very kind of you to help him like that. Not many people would have the patience to teach an adult or an adult the patience to learn."
Actor looked at Chief sadly, "Too true I'm afraid. At first it started as a way to improve our… way of communicating with others." Was that ambiguous enough, he asked himself. "And truthfully he was not certain about his own ability. He has rarely ever had anyone in his life that believed in him but he has become a diligent student. As for myself I find that I truly enjoy helping him with his studies."
Actor got up to retrieve the book and returned a moment later with it and a tin of biscuits. "Our Goniff has an insatiable appetite but I don't think he would mind if we had a few." He said as he held out the tin.
"Perhaps just one." She carefully picked the smallest one. "I have some hot tea if you would like a cup?" She asked.
"That would be most kind of you. It has been a long day." Actor said.
"Well I hope you like it strong. My husband used to say my tea could keep an army awake for weeks."
Actor was saddened by her statement, "Your husband is no longer with us?" He asked gently.
She smiled at Actor sadly and said, "He passed away several years ago. I had been a nurse before we were married and I had to do something useful after his death so I went back into nursing." To cover her sadness she picked up the cloth and bottle of rubbing alcohol and began cooling down her patient. He pulled away at first but then stilled.
"I am truly sorry for your loss but I am grateful you were able to be here to help our friend. You have a gentle healing touch which is something he needs now."
"I know I'm prying again but I have to ask…the scars on his body… are not all war wounds, are they? Some look too old to be that recent. Goniff said he had a rough life." She was prying again but she couldn't help it. There was something about these men! Then she was truly ashamed of herself when she saw the look of sadness in his eyes.
"You are correct, life has been most cruel to our Chief and yet somehow he has survived with courage and a good heart. America is a good country but like all countries it has its fair share of bigotry, prejudice and sheer stupidity. He rarely talks about his past but there are some things a man cannot hide."
And Actor couldn't hide his own shame. He was just as bad as everyone else in the beginning. All he had seen was the red collar of a rogue guardian. He had thought long and hard about requesting to be returned to prison when the rogue had arrived. After all it was one thing to lower himself to work with thugs and something much worse to work with a guardian. He also remembered that first sleepless night trying to ignore, forget or even justify what he had heard coming from the G-CAT Handler's room and failing. In the end he had taken the coward's way out and told the Warden what he thought the Handler was doing and dismissed it from his mind, at least he had tried to dismiss it. He told himself that Guardians were little more than animals and had to be treated harshly because of that, but the sound of the Guardian's pain and begging haunted him. It had taken awhile, but slowly, Actor had begun to see the Guardian for what he truly was, a man victimized by an organization intent on keeping him a slave. The American, government sponsored, organization known as G-CAT was no better than Hitler with his "Final Solution". Sad strange world we live in, he thought.
"I'm sorry I've brought up bad memories. I shouldn't have asked. As I said I don't know what has gotten in to me tonight. Please forgive me."
Actor realized he was giving away too much of himself and if she learned the truth about Chief her future could be at risk. He could not let that happen. Putting on one of his reassuring smiles he said, "Do not trouble yourself. I will start reading and take our minds off our worries for awhile."
She smiled at him and said, "Thank you. I'm certain Chief would like that. It is the silence that seems to bother him the most."
Several times her patient became agitated but quickly calmed when his friend gently spoke to him. He was very weak and the congestion in his lungs was getting worse. Soon he would be fighting for every breath. The poor young man's life was slowly fading away and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Several times Actor helped her to make Chief comfortable and each time she was touched by the gentleness of his care. She was glad now that her patient had his friends with him. No one should be alone when they died. .
Actor's reading voice was a pleasure to hear and she found herself once again sharing the adventure of the Count of Monte Cristo. All too soon someone was standing beside her and a hand was placed on Actor's shoulder. It was the one wearing sunglasses that did not hide all of the colorful bruising around his eyes.
"How's he doing?" Casino asked softly.
She didn't want to hear Actor's answer to his question and she let her mind wander a bit. This one was definitely American. If the American cinema was right, this young man was from New York or... What was the city called…New Jersey, maybe? No that was a state wasn't it? She pondered. Her husband had loved gangster movies.
Actor just shook his head.
The new man said, "Well, enough of that! Geronimo and I are going to have a long talk. You go and get some shut-eye."
Actor said gently, "Nurse Mason, this is my colleague, Casino. Casino, this is Nurse Mason."
Not really knowing how to respond he said, "Nice to met you." And replaced Actor in the chair next to her.
"He has been raised to a sitting position to aid his breathing," Actor explained. "Keeping him calm and comfortable is all we can do now. He becomes agitated when it is quiet for too long. Talking to him or reading aloud seems to help. I have marked the part where I left off in the book." Actor indicated the book on the side of the bed. "His temperature is still too high so if you would help Nurse Mason with alcohol rubs to bring the fever down it would be a great help.."
Casino asked sarcastically, "Anything else, Doc?"
Actor sighed, "It is bad Casino. If the fever does not break soon we could lose him."
Casino said determinedly, "Not if I've got anything to say about it. Go on, Actor. Get some rest."
For a long time Casino sat in silence, memories of how badly he had treated Chief in the beginning rising unbidden in his mind. Like everyone else he had believed the lies G-CAT had told the American public. He never stopped for a minute to question how in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave people could be kept and treated like dogs. He remembered the school books…little more than an animal…just a human looking dog…dangerous… stupid…needs a keeper/handler…lazy…. He had listened and believed every word like every other fool. It had taken a stupid accident and an idiot doctor to finally make him see the truth.
"Hey Geronimo, you going to lay there and let Braxton get away with this?! That rat bas…" Casino stopped, realizing he was not alone.
"Oh sorry, Nurse."
She smiled nervously at him, "It's quiet alright. I've heard much worse in my day."
Casino shook his head, "Nah, my mother taught me better than that. It's just that seeing him like this… Knowing we could have stopped it… It's making me a little crazy."
It was hard to figure this man out without being able to see his eyes but the concern in his voice made her want to trust that he truly cared for her patient.
"You mustn't blame yourself. A childhood disease can be very hard on an adult. Secondary infections like pneumonia are all too common. He is getting the best treatment possible, but pneumonia is a hard illness to fight." she said trying to reassure the man and herself. She surprised herself when she realized she was now personally involved in the case and wanted Chief to live as much as his friends did… because of his friends. He had to be quite a man to have friends care this much about him.
Casino sighed, "I know all that but we should have taken him to the doctor's ourselves this afternoon. Instead we let…." Casino sat back in the chair and exclaimed, "I can't believe we were so stupid! After everything he's been through we let…damn!"
"Casino…Casino shot me!?" Chief blurted out unknowingly.
Nurse Mason quickly opened the oxygen tent and started running a cool cloth over Chief's forehead. "Don't be surprised by what he says. It's just the fever. Everything gets confused."
Casino bowed his head, "He's not confused. I did shoot him. It was an accident, I thought he was a wolf but I did shoot him. Could've killed him. It took awhile but he's OK with it. Shows you what kind of guy he is. I'll never be OK with it but all he had to know was that it was an accident and that I was truly sorry. I think what bothered him the most was that I didn't tell him it was me from the beginning. See he didn't remember how he got shot at first and I acted like a chicken sh... uh, I didn't say anything. Since then I've never once doubted that he had my back. Anyone else would have hung me out to dry the first chance they got but not Chief. I've treated him like dirt but he's always been there for me and the team. I don't think I'll ever understand him."
Nurse Mason said, "He sounds like a very remarkable young man."
Casino shook his head and laughed, "You'll never how right you are, Lady. I'd be drooling in the corner of a padded cell in some nuthouse if I'd had the life he's had but here he is, ready, willing and able to do what he's told…well most of the time. He can be pretty stubborn sometimes. We'd all be dead a dozen times over if it weren't for him and if I had listened to him I would not be wearing these glasses."
Casino looked again at his friend. If I just listened to you… If I had made the Sergeant Major let us take you to the doctor first… If I had just looked at you in the beginning instead of believing all that BS they fed us as kids about guardians. I let you down again, Kid. He thought.
Before Nurse Mason could say anything Casino picked up the book Actor had been reading and said, "I've heard Actor reading this. It sounds interesting. I used to read bedtime stories to my younger brothers and sisters." He started reading where Actor had left off.
A little while later Nurse Mason excused herself for a few minutes. She had no qualms about leaving her patient with his friend. It was clear he cared as much for Chief as Goniff and Actor.
When he was certain that she was gone and the others weren't listening he leaned over and opened the tent. "You listen to me, Junior, you are not a quitter and you are not going to let Braxton and Danvers get away with this. You're going to beat this thing and we are going to track down those two slime balls and make them regret the day they were born. First the Nazis, then G-CAT and now Braxton and Danvers… well, enough is enough! You just get yourself up and out of that bed and we'll pay them back in spades. You hear me, Kid? I want you with me on this." Casino paused, surprised at how afraid he was that Chief would die. He had often thought that it would better if the kid was killed during a mission before G-CAT could take him back. If Chief asked him he knew he would help him end his life. The life of a slave was no life. Yet, here he was praying that Chief would live. Maybe it was because this way it wasn't Chief's choice and when and how he died was the only choice he really had now. Whatever it was, watching him die by inches was tearing him apart. "You got to fight this, Chief. We need you. Please fight." He sat up quickly and closed up the oxygen tent when he heard the nurse return.
She asked, "Is he alright?"
Casino coughed, "Yeah, just a little antsy. I'll start reading again. I like the story myself. Payback is always sweet."
