Copyright 6/21 by Kirby's Cowgirl
Fan-Fiction based on TV Show Combat! Copyright Selmur Production, Inc, ABC, Image
Productions etc.
Disclaimer: Combat! and its characters do not belong to me, this WWII story is a piece of fan-fiction and I am not being compensated in any tangible way for this story.
Old Friends
Billy Nelson sighed, "No one was coming." This would be another month that his medications weren't changed, because of that damn hill.
He adjusted his crutches and started climbing. The city bus wouldn't drive up to the entrance of the VA Hospital, because the parking lot was too narrow for it to turn around. He wondered if the bus even had enough power to make it up the incline. What idiot had thought it would be a good idea to put the hospital here, on this mountain that was called a hill. It was next to impossible to access in winter time.
He was already panting, and he wasn't even a quarter up. "Think of the good things." He told himself. "He and Evie were going to have a baby! A baby!" After the Army Doctors had told him that he'd never walk again, never have any children, and Evie's family had disowned her for marrying a cripple - "Well," Billy reflected, "That wasn't a good thing. They had hurt Evie terribly." Just because he required crutches to get around - His wounds had healed. But after months in bed, his legs had atrophied, and he'd never be able to walk normally again.
He sighed again. He had a good job, at the college library. Though he had no clue the only reason that he'd gotten it was that his boss had taken one look at him and seen her son that hadn't come home. He certainly didn't have any of the qualifications.
He heard a car coming, and carefully stepped over into the grass. Sometimes people would stop and give him a ride the rest of the way up, but usually not.
"Want a lift, kid?" The passenger door popped open.
Billy hobbled to the truck that said, "Barnhardt Garage" on the side, and struggled to get in on the incline. And then the truck started rolling backwards. The driver was cussing, and he grabbed a handful of Billy and hauled him inside, just as Billy was thinking he was going to die, leave Evie a widow with an unborn baby…
"Damn, I have got to adjust this clutch!"
The voice sounded familiar for some reason, and Nelson opened his eyes to see Grady Long's face.
"Billy Nelson!" Grady squeezed his shoulder hard and winked at him. Suddenly they were soldiers again. Back in France, and he could even hear the Sarge yelling at Kirby.
Then the truck started rolling backward again and the moment was lost.