Harvey's Christmas Wish
Chapter 10 Star of Hope
For the fourth time that evening since arriving at the hospital, Murdock propped Harvey up and held the emesis basin under the kid's chin.
"That's right. Don't hold it in. I gotcha, buddy." His voice was low and soothing even as the boy's violent stomach spasms were at their peak. "There now. Finished?" Harvey nodded weakly and he eased the boy back onto his pillows.
On the television suspended from the ceiling, Ebeneezer Scrooge groused, "Bah, humbug!" Face was napping in a wood-framed armchair nearby. B. A. and Hannibal had gone to find some coffee.
Murdock straightened from his kneeling position and walked to the bathroom. Moments later, a toilet flushed, water ran and he came back with the rinsed basin.
The kid can't have much more on his stomach. I gotta find something to divert his attention.
"Did I ever tell you about the time around Christmas I tried to catch a star over in Nam and got a tailful of mortar shot instead? Barely made it back to base camp." The boy's eyes glimmered with interest and he tried to adjust himself higher in the bed.
"Here now. Let me help you." Murdock fluffed a pillow before tucking it under Harvey's back. He perched at the end of the bed, leaning toward Harvey, keeping eye contact and speaking in a low calming voice.
"We were comin' back from a midnight run, droppin' off a squad of five in the Mekong Delta, Vinh Binh province. Thought the job would be a skate, easy in and easy out, no pain, no sweat. I must've been daydreamin', a dangerous thing to do anytime over there."
The night nurse came in on squeaky rubber-soled shoes and checked the IV drip and Harvey's vitals. She raised an eyebrow over Murdock's choice of seating. He smiled apologetically, rose to his feet and returned to his place on the bed after she swept out of the room.
"Then what, Captain Phoenix?"
Murdock grinned at the nickname. "Looked up in the sky and saw stars as far as you could imagine. I even pointed it out to Tracker, my peter pilot. Didn't see too many nights like that where you didn't see red tracers or flashes of ground fire."
"It's hard to see stars when you live in the city, Captain. We used to in Texas all the time. That must've been some sight." The kid had a dreamy grin on his face. The pilot suddenly wished he could let him see a star-filled sky just once more.
Heck, I'd fly up there and drag down the entire night sky into this room for him if I could.
"Yeah, I miss not seein' the stars, too. I grew up in Texas like you, you know. I remember what those starry skies look like. Anyway, I was flyin' high enough to almost touch the largest star I could see. Then, it happened."
"What happened?"
"A green flash shot up from the ground, then another and another. I had flown right into an area where Charlie had big guns and they wanted to take my bird outta the sky." The pilot paused in his story, thinking about the terror of those moments, his two crewmen shouting, their faces illuminated by the fireworks around them.
"Were you scared?"
Murdock flinched with the memory. Harvey was waiting for an answer so he nodded. "Who wouldn't be? I felt a jolt and knew one of the shots had hit the fuselage somewhere. I didn't know where. My eyes were trained on that big ol' star and I kept hopin' it would lead me outta there safe. And it did."
He noted with satisfaction that the kid was valiantly trying to keep his eyelids open. "They said my bird shouldn't have been able to make it back as bad as the tail rotor was damaged. But I think focusin' on that big ol' star made the impossible possible."
The kid was asleep, breathing softly, his pale arm with its IV resting across his belly. Murdock watched the boy and thought for a while, his chin cupped in his hand.
Two hours later when Harvey woke with the beginnings of another wave of nausea, Face had taken Murdock's place. The pilot napped in the armchair Face had vacated. Even in rest, his face was haggard from the vigil he had been keeping.
Harvey gazed around the room in amazement. It had been transformed as he slept, and he knew that his Captain Phoenix had worked the magic.
Several small handcut white paper stars were stuck with medical tape and chewing gum to the mirror and walls all around the bed. Hanging underneath the now silent television was a large star made from gold foil Christmas wrapping paper.