*****SHRAPNEL OF LOVE*****
Chapter 02
What had that been about?
I shook the thoughts out of my head and faced Radar and Captain Hunnicut.
The camp was swarming with people. Trucks were coming and going, swirling clouds of dirt under their road-worn tires. A jeep, with a young officer inside, came to a screeching halt just next to us— smoke rising— making all of us cough. The boy caught the eye of one nurse, leapt out of the car and they hugged, grinning like lunatics. Some privates were playing basketball, shouting at each other, sweating in the terrible heat. Nurses were heading out from post-op and for the showers, towels around their shoulders and shampoos in their hands, and two Korean merchants, who were pushing their wheelbarrows with wares, were trying to persuade a funny looking Major to buy something.
This was probably as normal as the unit got.
"Is he—?"
"—always like that?" BJ finished for me and I nodded, unable to shake the adrenaline pumping in my blood from my encounter with Captain Pierce.
"Ooh, he's much worse."
I grinned, feeling oddly… conflicted.
Captain Hunnicut chuckled and nudged Radar with a nod of his head. "Ok, Radar. Do what the chief surgeon told you to do. Take her to bed, soldier."
Chief surgeon? Captain Pierce was the chief surgeon of the 4077th? I tried not to look surprised.
"Yes, Captain, Sir," Radar said. "Ohh, and the mail has arrived, Sir—"
"From Peggy?"
"No, Sir. It's just—"
"Ah, well," the Captain waved his hand. "I'll be in the Swamp for another eight hours-unconscious. You can throw it on the table, Radar. And don't you dare wake me up before my next shift, or I won't play with you."
"I won't, Sir."
"Thanks, Radar." Captain Hunnicut smiled broadly. "All right, see you around, Bonnie."
"You too, Captain Hunnicut."
"Please, just call me BJ."
"Ok, BJ."
He turned and I watched him head for the Swamp.
Radar fidgeted a little. "Those are our captains," he said cheerfully, when he saw how bewildered I had to look.
"They seem really nice," I said truthfully.
"They're great! But you haven't seen nothing yet. They're greatest when they're saving people. That's really something." He was clearly admiring them and I guessed he had a good reason to. The small, precise stitches in my cheek (and gut) were a damn good reason for me, too. "The bestest surgeons I've ever seen," Radar continued. "They work all the time and never sleep. Sometimes I think they're not even human." He shrugged, thinking.
The basketball ball fell out of one player's hands and rolled all the way to my feet. I bent down and picked it up, careful not to break the stitching in my abdomen, and threw it back to the good-looking private. He smiled then returned to the game.
"Whose shift is it now?" I asked Radar, who was still lost in thoughts.
"Hawkeye's. I mean, Captain Pierce's."
Oh, great. How was I supposed to sleep with him walking around checking on the patients? I didn't want to know what kind of a pulse I was going to have with him taking it.
"Thanks for the tour, Radar."
"Oh, it was nothing," he waved his hand, smiling sheepishly. "When they let you go out for a walk again, I'll show you the rest of the camp!" He shifted a little in his spot.
I'd noticed he was hyperactive. He seemed to be restless without movement.
"Rosie's Bar, the Mess tent, the Officer's club. All of it! And if you're interested, I can show you my animals, too."
"Animals?"
Radar's face lit up. "I've got a cockroach collection."
I laughed, breathily. "Really?"
"Uh-huh," Radar said proudly. "And I win a lotta money with them, too. Last Friday I won five dollars on Sydney Freedman— oh, he's a psychiatrist, visits MASH sometimes— and ten on Father Mulcahy."
"You do competitions?"
"Yes, ma'am! And that's not all I've got," he beamed, "I've got rabbits, a hamster and two guinea pigs and— ahh, heck, Captain Pierce is gonna kill me if we don't get back to post-op!"
I had to laugh. "He's not going to kill you, Radar—"
Radar seemed convinced of the opposite. "—Duh, and he won't lend me that January issue of Applied Nudism… it's not for me, though! I don't read things like that!"
"Just use it to bribe people," I finished for him, grinning.
"Well…" Radar put his finger to his chin and shrugged, "…I do send them to Sparky sometimes… exchange them for gauze or thermometers… or for comic books… but that doesn't mean that I read them!"
I smiled to myself and we set out for post-op ward, Radar supporting my weight again with an arm around my waist.
The sky was blue and the scorching sun was making me all dazed so it was absolute relief when Radar pushed the door to the much cooler ward open. We passed a couple of nurses whose shifts were just ending. They were giggling about something and because they walked right past us, I couldn't help but eavesdrop.
"… he's great, isn't he?"
"… you see how he smiled…"
The nurses pushed the doors open and disappeared into the heat outside. Interesting. I wondered who they were talking about.
Radar helped me into my bed. It was on the far left, next to a soldier that had his right arm in plaster and half of his face bandaged. He was fast asleep.
God, I'd been so lucky.
Radar snapped me out of my reverie when he said, "I need to go sort out the mail but I'll be back when they let you out again— and we can finish that tour!"
I grinned up at him from the sheets. "All right."
He fidgeted a little. "Well uh… oh, look! There's Captain Pierce. Good thing we got back in time!" he straightened up conceitedly.
"More comic books," I said, smiling broadly.
Radar gave me an innocent look then absently checked his watch. "Oh, God! Now Colonel Potter's gonna kill me! He's waiting for a letter from his wife, too! I have to… duhhhh…" And he ran off, driving his small body through the door and almost knocking over two new nurses that were heading for their starting shifts.
I pushed my back into the mattress, wishing I could fall asleep. But I couldn't stop thinking about all the amazing people I'd met so far. Radar, Captain Hunnicut, Captain Pierce… And I couldn't stop worrying how I was going to explain myself to the Colonel…
Swallowing, I propped up on my elbows and sat up. My throat was so dry and parched it felt like I'd grazed it with sandpaper. I needed to get some water into my body. I felt weak and even though the ward was much cooler than the outside, I was still sweating like a pig.
I had to clear my throat two times before I could speak, too.
"Nurse?" and a pretty young nurse turned around and walked up to me.
"Yes?" she asked, smiling. She'd been working for hours now, had black circles under her eyes, but still she was smiling. I couldn't help but admire her for that.
"Could I… can I have some water, please?"
"Of course. I'll be right back."
Great. I was feeling better already. My elbows gave out and I fell back into the mattress with a thud. I felt weak but I didn't feel sleepy. Just needed the water or caffeine or something to get me back into business. A shower would have been nice, too.
My straw-brown hair was sticking to my neck and face and I had to smell like the filthy road outside. I was a mess and my limbs hurt and my heart was aching. My brother…
His voice shook me awake the moment I heard it.
I closed my eyes again and listened to Hawkeye Pierce talk to a nurse, listened to him grab a chart and examine a soldier.
"… you feeling, Brett?"
And I heard the soldier answer, "Thanks for putting me back together, Doctor."
"That's my hobby. In between chasing the nurses. Now get some rest."
"Thanks, Doc."
I opened my eyes and mobilized all strength to sit up again. I wanted to see him work. Or maybe I just wanted to see him. So I turned on my side and sat upright.
He had that white robe on, the one that doctor's wear, and he was making a note into soldier Brett's chart. He was slouched a little and he seemed tired. But each time he inspected a new patient he somehow dug up all the strength and energy that was inside of him and took care of everyone with such intensity and passion for his work that it left me speechless.
Not only did he make them feel good on the outside, sewing them up, but also on the inside. He treated all the soldiers like human beings, not like names on the Army list.
And he was slowly proceeding my way, coming to examine the soldier that lay next to me with the bandaged head.
Jesus, I didn't want him to see me like this! I pushed my fingers through my hair but I had it so tangled up that I got stuck and had to leave it the way it was. And the nurse hadn't brought me that glass of water either so my voice was all croaky.
I licked the bead of sweat from my upper lip and rested my head against the pillow like a good little patient. And the moment I did, he looked my way and smiled.
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