Ok so I haven't updated in an eternity, I really had most of it done but I just kind of forgot about this. Sorry. If your American I hope ya had a good 4th of July. Even if your not, I still hope it was a good day for you. Well enough rambling. Onwards!
Disclaimer: I'd I owned MASH there would be an all MASH channel and it would only play MASH. hehe
The O.R. session dragged on like all the others. Hours of patching people up, playing hide-and-go-seek with shrapnel and the moments of silence when a kid was to far gone to be saved. Most of these people were innocent Koreans, leading innocent lives in a not so innocent place. Ginny was but a nagging thought at the back of people's minds; they had more important things to worry about first.
"Colonel all that's left is the girl," Margaret announced after eight hours.
"Good I'll take her," Hawkeye said, snapping off his gloves. "Close for me would you Kelleye? Thanks.
Hawkeye walked out into Pre-Op where Ginny was sitting wordlessly, lips pursed together in the corner invisible to the rest of the world. Hawkeye approached her with great caution. Teenagers, in his eyes, were boiling cesspools of hormones, awkwardness and grease.
"Hey kid, you doing all right?" Hawkeye queried. She looked up and Hawkeye almost recoiled. Most of the cuts on her face had stopped bleeding but flakes of dried blood still remained upon her swollen red cheeks. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot and she had the look of a wounded animal.
ÔWhat ever happened to people becoming beautiful when they cried? She looked like the child of Swamp Monster and the Thing That Ate Brooklyn.' Hawkeye thought.
"I'm fine. Now mind your own beeswax." She said quietly but with much venom in her voice. Hawkeye starred at her. Most normal people would pity the girl whose father was taken by the war. But Hawkeye did not react like normal people. He had just gone through another seemingly endless O.R. session where other people had died. They had children too. She wasn't the lone victim here.
"Look kid, I don't have time for this. Go back to where you came from!" He shouted the words. As they echoed around the empty Pre-Op he regretted venting his anger on the poor girl. "Sorry I didn't mean to do that. Can I look at the cuts on your face?" He offered out his hands. Ginny stared at it warily trying to decide how longer she could fight everything. "I promise I don't bite," Hawkeye offered laughter lighting up his exhausted features.
Ginny, carefully, put her smooth small hand into his rough and bloodstained hand and the surgeon pulled her up and led her into the bandaging room and began cleaning all of her cuts.
"So," he asked. "What's a pretty girl like you doing in our neck of Korea?" She hesitated only slightly before unfolding her tale. She knew that they would need to find out,
ÔMight as well do it while most of me is still numb,' she thought.
"Well I was born in the states, in Colorado to be exact. Anyway my mother died giving birth to me. Since I had no other siblings it was just my dad and I. We were very close. On cold nights he would light up the fireplace and make hot chocolate and we would snuggle under a warm blanket. Sometimes we would go horseback riding together. He would ride on his old horse named Stan and I would ride on my mare Gypsy. In Colorado there's always time to ride and wander through the trees and streams.
"Then the war started. Daddy worked for the Red Cross at home and they were transferring him to Korea to help relocate refuges. But there was the matter of me. Everyone on my dad's side of the family was killed in WWII from air raids in Britain and my mom's side of the family was to old to care for me. He had no other choice but to take me to Korea. We sold our home and our horses. Saying good-bye to Gypsy was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. At night I would let my mind drift back to Colorado and I would ride Gypsy through the mountains and pick berries. Then I would wake up and the taste of Koran dust in my mouth compared to the lush berries would only remind me how far from home I really was. Korea wasn't that bad, after we got used to it. After a while my dad and I picked up the language and became friends with some of the locals. We were happy, well happy as you can be in Korea, until today.
"We were visiting another village near here when the shelling began. My father and I were running to a near by cave for shelter. My father was running behind me when a shell exploded and part of a roof knocked over my father, trapping his legs. ÔDaddy!' I screamed shells still exploding around me. ÔRun Virginia! If you love me run!
"And then time seemed to slow down and the cries and scream seemed to be turned down. I had become deaf to everything expect my father, my daddy. I could see his loving eye looking at me. He was brave Ôtill the end. Then making its way through my quiet horror I could hear another shell falling. I could see the look of horror on his face as his life was snuffed out like a candle. I could smell the horrible stench of mortar and blood. One of the villagers grabbed me and I screamed for my release. The medics soon found us and took us here." She ended her tale quietly and drew her arms and legs in hopping to become so small that she might disappear.
Hawkeye put down the bandage and looked mournfully into her eyes. He wanted to cry with her and lose himself in her sorrow, but he couldn't. All he could do was blame it on the damn war.
"What are you going to do now?
"I haven't really thought of that yet." She added barely moving her lips.
"Well for the next few days you'll be staying at chez 4077th. Those were some pretty nasty cuts and we need to watch them for infection. Come on, I'll wheel you into Post-Op.
Later that night everybody huddled around the same table in the mess tent. Occasionally someone would take a sip of the bad coffee that they had grown used to over the months. Hawkeye had retold Ginny's story to everyone, they sat in silence absorbing it all.
"Damn war," Potter repeated absentmindedly into the silence a few time.
"She can't stay here forever you know," Margaret was the first one to say anything constructive.
"She say's she is sixteen. Alone in the world at sixteen. Erin will be sixteen someday," BJ said to no one in particular. Hawkeye remained in a stony silence and Father Mulcahy addressed the group.
"I think it would be best Colonel it we perhaps contacted the Red Cross to see if they have any records of her. Maybe then, they can get her back stateside.
"Father, though I hate to disagree with a priest, she has no residence to return to," Charles' thick Boston accent cut it's way into the conversation
"Maybe then, she could be of some use to Sister Theresa's orphanage?" The Father replied back. Silence consumed the Mess Tent as the group considered the option.
"She still could be near if we found out she had relatives in the States," the ever practical Margaret said pointing her index finger into mid-air to emphasize her point.
Colonel Potter sighed. "Looks like we have a winner folks. When she has recovered, we'll ship her over to the orphanage.