POCKET CHANGE 2: A GAME OF CARDS
by Sharon R.
Chapter Thirteen
"What the hell happened to the IV lines?" one of the nurses called out as she frantically bustled through the clinic. "Sera. Help!"
"Calm down." Sera was rushing to get the last of the outpatient's discharged. "We will find what you need, but you cannot be taking anything from supply. Dr. Luka will have your head and then you will have nothing to put that silly hat on." The charts were piled at her side ready for filing. "Who is manning the clinic tonight, Dr. Maggie?"
"Um… it's supposed to be Dr. Carter, but he hasn't gotten back from Gulu yet." Maggie had just finished vaccinations with a new family. "I guess I'll stay on again. The relief docs haven't had a night off all week. They only have a couple more days left and if we want them to come back, I'm not going to piss them off."
"He was a lion again this morning."
"Carter growl at you?"
The portly African nurse put her hands on her hips as she held her face in a curtly pose. "He holds a grudge, that man does. Didn't like me taking care of him."
"Don't take it hard, Sera. I think he's a little embarrassed about the 'personal' care you gave him while he was unconscious." Maggie got a rise out of the strong willed woman.
"I am a professional. I would not take advantage of him. At least not while he was unconscious." The woman laughed as large as her frame. "What are you going to do, Dr. Maggie, when they go," Sera asked pointing to the relief docs at the coffee pot. "It will be like we only have two doctors."
"I'm sure Dr. Carter will finish up what he's doing in Gulu by then." At least that's what Maggie hoped.
"Going to the party?" the older round nurse asked Maggie. "Got yourself a hat?"
"Sera, I have the mother of all hats," she boasted as she spun around in the office chair. "I helped young Todd make hats with the kids this morning. They are really excited."
Standing on the steps of the Midway, wearing a hat fashioned from a case of beer, Sean reveled in his role of appointed master of ceremony as he opened the festivities with the brilliant flair of a fifteenth century herald, elongating the words and rolling the R's.
"Erudite noblemen, scholarly gentlewomen, common folk and honored guests … I bid you welcome to the PCRC first annual Art Exhibit where the extraordinary talents, skills of inordinate minutia, and wasted use of precious free time is on display for all to gaze at… and ponder with this question: what are we doing here and who the hell used the last of the toilet paper?"
The waiting crowd below laughed and cheered Sean on as his drawn out Irish brogue was a tip off that he had already sampled the refreshments.
"As you enter the gallery please notice that each piece of artwork has been valued and priced for your shopping pleasure. After much dancing, partaking of refreshments…" Sean held up his open bottle of beer as the crowd cheered again, "… and many a trip to drain the snake, we will hold an auction where you will be able to bid on a few select pieces, but you may wish to save your precious bobs until the very end when the most valuable piece is auctioned: a brand new, unwrapped roll of aforementioned… toilet paper." One brand new roll of TP graced the palm of his hand as he teased the crowd in front of him.
Oohs and aahs circulated through the gathering as he paused only long enough to down the last of his beer. "That reminds me," he said playfully holding the empty bottle up in front of his face, staring through the amber glass with one eye shut at the on-lookers, "a word to you though, you all cannot be circling the Shannon tonight as there is a camp to staff tomorrow!"
With that, the doors were opened and the assembled group of staff members filed into the Midway. Loud and laughing, they moved around the perimeter of the dining hall pointing at each other's 'art'. There were Coke bottles filled with different colored sand and dirt, the top stopped with a syringe. Someone made a bouquet of balloons from blown up exam gloves - each with a face drawn with marker that coincidentally resembled a doctor on staff. A paper chain was made from the disposed catheter wrappers. Someone with evil intent took a large piece of cardboard and, with markers, designed a place setting of yummy delectable western food of cheeseburgers, fries and milk.
The hats were just as creative: bedpans, cervical collars, crowns made from cans that the institutional foods came in. Toomay won the most praise as she wore a colander fastened with IV tubing under her chin, donned with banana frons and indigenous flowers. Maggie's mother of all hats was an empty exam glove box decorated with paper strips of blue surgical drapes flowing down her back, a lovely array of empty pill bottles affixed on top with surgical glue and one lone silver eye shield on the front for effect. Luka stared at her, finally breaking down unable to maintain his composure any longer.
"What?" Maggie offensively asked him, "I worked hard on this you know."
"Little over the top, don't you think?"
"You're just jealous." Maggie pointed her nose skyward as she shuffled past a chuckling Luka to the refreshment table.
Luka glanced at the sculpture on the table next to him. A figure of a man made from a Fleets Enema box and wire. Price - "one load of laundry".
Carter drove through the gates of the camp moments before sundown, just in time. Traveling on the roads in the dark alone was something he avoided at all cost. The clinic in the camp was something else he'd avoided almost equally as well for other reasons. At first he was startled by the lack of populace milling around as was common as folks settled in for the night. But then he remembered about the party in the Midway. Perched around the porch railing were several empty beer and Coke bottles. The lights were blazing and as he got closer he could hear and feel the music. He was about to turn around to go to his room when Luka stepped out on the porch.
"Coming in?" Luka asked knowing full well that Carter was once more placing himself in his comfort zone just slightly outside the box.
"No, I, ah… I'm on tonight in the clinic. Late already, so…" He gave a half baked smile and started back towards the hanger.
Luka walked down the steps but stopped short of getting into Carter's personal space. "The workers have something for you. Can't you just come in for a minute?"
He stopped in his tracks and took a deep breath before turning back to do the right thing. He as much as ignored Luka, nodding uncomfortably as he walked by him towards the stairs.
When Carter got within a shoulder's length of him, Luka finally spoke up. "John, we should talk."
With his one free hand in his pocket, Carter turned slightly but didn't stop. "It's okay. I'm okay. Things are good."
But Luka knew better.
The party goers bustled as Carter entered the Midway, chortles and giggles erupted. He was ushered by each elbow to the front of the hall and made to stand on top of a crate.
"It is with great honor, full pleasure and way too many beers," one of the staffers announced, "that we present to you, Dr. Carter, this very special Pakwach Congolese Refugee Camp crown which designates you as Lumberjack of the Day."
A hat made from twigs, branches and wire looking quite a bit like a tree was put on Carter's head. Within the branches of the 'tree' was a miniature kite. Cheers erupted as Carter played along, not so reluctantly though as he got quite a kick out of the humor.
"Speech, Speech!"
The illuminating heat lightening flashed through the windows giving Carter an eerie sense of camera flashes aimed at him. As he put his hand up to mockingly wave at his 'fans' he almost wanted to shade his eyes from the non existent cameras.
"Thank you. Please… thank you." He exaggerated clearing his throat for effect as he mirrored the tipsy revelers' cockiness. "I would like to thank you for this… this … mark of distinction. I know it's been a tough couple of weeks and I've not been, well, as affective as I should be. But I am on the mend and I look forward to continuing on with our journey." The people had quieted as Carter let himself open up. "But I suppose I owe you an explanation. It all started over thirty-three years ago in a suburb of Chicago. I was but a sparkle in my father's eye…"
"Boo… Boo."
Luka looked on curiously as Carter was quickly brought down from the make-shift pedestal. He was perplexed with Carter's quiet introverted return to camp, then sudden change to life of the party. As the music began and the students tried goading Carter into joining their Conga line, the two doctors' eyes met from across the room and, very briefly, Luka felt that spark of friendship they had built go out relegating him to mere spectator status.
Carter had a ball joking with the staff. Hell, it had been the only thing he'd done right with them lately. He was sure he could keep it up - at least for the duration of the night. As he stepped off the crate he caught Luka's eye and instantly knew that he owed him an explanation. But no sooner had that happened than a figure appeared behind Luka. Although he thought he smiled at her, Carter's face drew down. He had an inexplicable feeling of … of… not quite jealousy, but…
"I understand a hat and formal wear is required here."
The voice just behind his right ear was unmistakable, as was her scent.
"I have the hat, but what I've got on is as good as it gets."
As her arms wrapped around his waist from behind, Luka turned around and put his hands on either side of Colleen's face stroking her cheeks. "I believe what was meant by 'formal' was actually 'clean'. And you certainly look clean enough to me." It's hard to kiss while smiling, but Luka did. "Mmm. And you taste clean enough to me." He moved his hands up into her hair and buried them in the mass of long curls, giving and receiving a deeper, more sensuous kiss. "When did you get back?"
"Just now."
More small kisses as Luka let his finger slide down the back of her neck just barely touching the skin. "Where are your things?"
"In your room. I hope you don't mind."
Now with his whole hand behind her neck, he pulled into her tightly, his lips crested just above her ear. "Just promise me that next time you leave, you don't take everything with you."
As the children paraded around the room with their paper hats on, the floor was cleared for some dancing of the more grown-up variety. Colleen turned back around hugging her back into Luka's warm chest as he kept his arms tightly around her middle.
"We have all night and then some." Colleen moved her hands over Luka's strong arms while tipping her head back to speak with him. "John kind of looks all alone. Why don't I ask the one armed man for a dance?"
Luka followed the direction of Colleen's concern over to the side of the room where Carter stood, still wearing his hat, but choosing to watch instead of join in. "That would be nice. I'm sure he'd appreciate it, but just one."
Carter held the wall up, so to speak, while watching the children walk around the room, all proud of their creations atop their heads. Joseph, Tolo and Mbuto made points of hiding little waves with their hands as they walked by Carter. They giggled and pointed to his hat, evidence that they were in on the secret as well. Paulette stood by Toomay, probably too old to join in, but nevertheless just as giddy as the younger ones. Although she spent a fair amount of her time helping out at the clinic, Paulette had befriended Todd and the two spent time together talking about their homelands and dreams. Both kept from their homelands, both kept from their dreams, but for very different reasons.
Carter watched as Paulette stole away from her mother and quietly - quite innocently - took her place next to Todd who had kept to himself in the corner. He knew who was there without even looking in her direction, and gently took her hand in his behind his back. The gesture Carter was sure the young couple had assumed had gone unnoticed made him smile.
"How about a dance?"
He hadn't noticed the music had gone from reggae to slow standards, nor had he seen Colleen walk into his secluded thinking space. He didn't answer her, but instead nodded in Luka's direction sure she had overstepped herself.
"With Luka's blessing." Colleen grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the floor where a few other couples had already laid claim.
With one arm immobilized to his body, it was awkward, but she worked around it and managed. It didn't bother her. Carter could feel her long red curls as they brushed his cheek. It was hard not to be aroused and he pulled his pelvis away from her to get some comfort room.
"I need to ask you a favor," she softly whispered into his ear. Her breath tickled, and as he reflexively tilted his head, his cheek inadvertently brushed against her silky forehead. "I need a doctor to go with me tomorrow to a village and vaccinate a few families, maybe check them out."
Carter stepped back, giving her a baffled look. "There are clinics all over now. If they can wait just a bit, our satellite clinic on the other side of Pakwach will be open."
"No. These are people that are afraid for their lives if they leave their home. I came across them today on my way back here and stopped to take some pictures. Please, John."
"Shouldn't you be asking Luka?"
Colleen put her hand in the small of his back as she moved closer to whisper. "Would you take your lover to work with you?"
This made Carter laugh, not consider the meaning. "How do you know I already haven't?"
"Luka wouldn't understand. Besides, I hear you like to get away every now and then."
Carter remained silent. He didn't want to say yes. Didn't want to say no. Didn't want to hear any of this.
"Please John. Either way you can't tell Luka. Mixing jobs together kills relationships."
"No. I'm sorry." He smiled while her refused her, trying to be polite. "I have to say no. I really think you should ask Luka." He eyed the door intent on making a respectful get-away.
Carter abruptly ended their dance in time to be pushed into a card game by Danny, one of the college students.
"Come on doc, we need a fourth for Hearts," he boasted as he shoved Carter into a chair and handed him a beer.
Hearts. He hadn't played that in quite a while. In fact, the last time was with Abby, Chen and Pratt while they were quarantined. The three kids at the table were having a great time, had probably had a little too much to drink and were definitely serious about their cards.
"Come on Dr. C., three cards - pass left."
Carter looked down at the cards in his hand. Not a pretty sight. A few high cards, the dreaded queen of spades and the rest all over the place. He picked his three and pushed them face down to the gal on his left. The two of clubs was pitched and the game was on, but Carter noticed something strange about the deck.
"You do know you're playing with a marked deck," he said as he pointed out the peculiar holes in some of the cards.
"They aren't marked, Doc. It's just Buzby's odd way of having some fun," Danny clued him in. "Just don't let him shoot the moon and the cards will live to see another day."
Carter dredged his memory for the strategies of the game. Always hold something high until points have been broken. The queen of spades is worth thirteen points, the rest all one each. Get all the points, twenty-six, and you have shot the moon giving twenty-six points to all of the other players instead. The low score after the first reaches one hundred wins. Not hard. Kind of fun.
"OH!" The kids all laughed as Carter threw his Queen of spades on top of the three lower spades. "Oh doc, you ate the queen!" They made munching noises as they took advantage of the lull to tank up on more beer. Carter's was untouched in front of him.
Luka and Colleen were in the middle of a romantic slow dance. Sean and Maggie were the only other couple on the floor.
"Maybe we should be good neighbors and switch partners for the rest of this dance," Luka whispered in her ear.
"Um, no. I really don't want to dance with her," Colleen returned as far under her breath as she could manage.
"Huh? She wouldn't dance with you."
"Well she sure as hell ain't going to dance with you. And believe me, she's only being nice to Sean. Actually I can lay money on her wanting to dance with me, or Toomay, or Sera or with any woman before you."
Luka pulled his head back so as to look Colleen in the face as he mulled over this last bit. It took a minute before he caught on. "Oh, you mean… Maggie… Maggie?"
Carter wasn't totally out of the running yet. Almost, but not dead yet.
"Karalee 3, me 8, Buzby 25 and bringing up the rear is Dr. C. with 57," Danny announced from the tally sheet lingering over that last score.
Carter decided to become invested in the next hand. Play hard, play to win , but it was evident right by the fourth card toss that Buzby was on a roll, throwing everything high and taking the points - all of them.
"No… no…," Danny shouted as he stood away from the table, the last of their cards finally making their way onto the pile of points claimed solely by the brash student across from Carter. "Buzby's doing it… doing it folks," he announced. "Stay clear, Buzby shot the moon!"
Karalee took the cue and pushed her chair away from the table, the legs roaring across the wood plank floor. Carter curiously looked around at the players as well as the other students who came over to watch who obviously knew what was about to happen. All of a sudden Buzby took out a very large double edged hunting knife, stood up, and with two hands lifted it up over his head and plunged it deep into the table through the pile of cards right in front of Carter's face. His hand was flat on the table and he could feel the vibration of the steel as the kid let go of the knife handle. The glint off the blade as the lightening brightened the dark sky with a flash through the window pierced Carter's gaping eyes. Startled, Carter stood so quickly his chair fell backwards.
As the crowd laughed at what must have become a tradition in their nightly card games, Carter's heart raced, even skipped a few beats. He had to remind himself to breath and to stop staring at the shiny silver blade impaled in the wood table top. Grabbing his beer, he quickly made his escape through the people and finally the doors.
"Ooh. Edgy." Colleen quipped as Carter breezed past them.
Luka watched Carter's exit and followed him through the doors.
He didn't realize he had been holding his breath until he reached the night air and gasped. By the time he took his next big breath of air, the night insects dive bombed into Carter's wide open mouth and throat. He gagged and leaned over the railing to spit them out.
"Sick?"
"No." Carter took a huge swig of the beer, swished it around his mouth and spit it out.
They stood there on the porch in silence for what seemed like an eternity before Luka finally stepped over and leaned on the railing next to Carter. "I'm sure the kids didn't know," he tried to reassure him.
"Yep. I know."
"You want to talk about it?"
Carter didn't want to talk. He didn't want to play victim or patient anymore. Instead he drank down the rest of what remained of the beer and lined the bottle up with the rest that had dressed the porch railing.
"Look Carter, why don't I go into Gulu with you tomorrow? It wouldn't be a bad idea for me to meet the staff there anyway."
"No."
"If you want to stay here, I can go for you…"
"No. Luka please. I'm fine. I like being busy and I am capable of doing it without an escort."
Luka felt like he was back at the beginning. Back in Kinshasa when they first landed in the Congo with a pissed off Carter.
"Carter, I think you need some time to…"
Carter pushed away from the railing and walked back inside the Midway leaving Luka alone.
Colleen wasn't hard to find, being the only tall red head without a hat on. Carter strolled up to her and without much fanfare, gave her his change of mind. "I'll do it. I'll go with you tomorrow."
"And you'll keep this our secret?"
He met her eyes and nodded before turning around and leaving the Midway for one last time that night.
The party was winding down and Colleen and Luka could hear the raucous 'bidding' as they held each other after the second round of lovemaking. Her head was nestled in his neck, her arm over his chest and knee drawn up over his hips.
"I like this." Luka stroked her hair and planted a kiss on her head. "Like two puzzle pieces that fit together."
"You do fit me well," Colleen giggled.
They held each other and recovered from the marathon of sex that created more steam, more heat and friction than was already in the humid jungle air. The sweat between them didn't evaporate and instead lingered on their skin like a long lasting lubricant. Colleen used it to draw circles on Luka's abdomen, every now and then purposely tickling him.
"Will you be leaving tomorrow?" Luka wanted to prepare himself this time for her absence when he awoke.
"I have a bunch of busy stuff to do in town."
"And then?"
"Then I come home."
It was nice to hear her say that, not that the PCRC was homey. "As long as home is where I am, I can deal with that." He loved her energy, her assertiveness, her mystery, her raw sensuality. "I love… I love being with you."
She gave him a warm squeeze, but said nothing.
"What do you miss about your real home, the states?" he asked.
"Hmm. Snow. I haven't seen snow in a few years."
"Don't you go back to Boston?"
"God, no," she dismissively hacked out. "I, ah… I home base in the south, although I'm not really there all that often."
"You don't sound like you're southern."
"What? You're now an expert on dialects?" She jokingly slapped his chest. As she pulled away from Luka and reached for her backpack, the warm air rushed over their wet skin. Luka shivered with a chill as he separated from Colleen's natural body heat. She took a book from her pack and then pulled a photograph that had been carefully tucked between the pages. She looked at it for a moment first before putting it in Luka's hands. It was a school picture of a little girl with long red hair. The spitting image of Colleen.
"I miss her the most. She's my daughter, Amanda. Nine years old."
Luka paused and looked between the picture and Colleen. It could be her twenty-five years ago had the clothes been different.
"Why aren't you with her?"
"I know. I heard it all. In fact, I make sure that I regularly flog myself over my decisions, but I'm just not cut out for it."
"She's with her father?"
"No. Her grandmother. He and I were divorced years ago. We're both too involved in our careers and vain enough about our success to be parents. She's better off."
"You talk much?"
"When I can. And I see her whenever I can get back to the states." The unusual look of sadness faded as she perked up and focused back on the face of the little girl. "She's something. Pretty proud of her old lady too."
By the time Luka rolled out of bed in the morning, Colleen was gone once again, and as promised, most of her belongings were still in Luka's room. He smiled broadly as he walked out of his room to get something to eat at the Midway.
"Hey Maggie," Luka caught up with her as she herself exited the hanger, "is Carter up yet?"
"Up and gone. He took Miss Fancy Pants into Gulu. Ya know, he took call last night, I hope he got enough sleep."
"Hopefully he won't stay long. He usually doesn't after being on-call."
They drove for a couple hours before turning off on an unmarked road leading to a parking area next to a foot bridge. Carter was a little leery when he saw armed men waiting on the other side, but trusted Colleen enough to at least follow her to the steps of the bridge, where she told him to stay put so that she could negotiate passage with the men first.
With nothing but the body of the rickety bridge between them - and it was quite long over the narrows of a river - Carter tried to see what Colleen was doing with the men. Lots of talking, gesticulating with the hands and then she took some things out of her pockets to give to them. When she turned and pointed at Carter, one of the men shook his head with his hand outstretched. Putting her pack down, Colleen took something out and handed it to the man who, when satisfied, waved Carter over as though it was business as usual.
Carter picked up his backpack of medical supplies and crossed the bridge, making sure that his Alliance ID was around his neck and obvious to anyone looking at him. The wood planks chattered under his feet and as he grasped at the slack rope railing with his sweaty hand he wondered if he could coordinate his awkward one armed body to the end. He felt like if he stopped or turned around, he'd fall off. The closer Carter got to her, the more nervous he became but his feet kept moving anyway.
The heat intensified and was in a race with the humidity to see which would first be likely to kill. It had been a while since he had been away from the open airfield of the PCRC and roads of northern Uganda and for a moment the luscious green growth and wild animal sounds wrapped their arms around Carter bringing him to a stop. One, two, three… he counted to himself. A deep breath and he opened his eyes to find himself still on the dirt path, the sun now only able to peek through the big frons of the trees. One of the men poked him with the back side of a machete to get him moving again making him self conscious as he jumped.
Colleen was quite comfortable, happy, smiling all while these men surrounded them with guns slung over their shoulders and a couple even lazily pointing them in their direction. He stayed with her and it became obvious as they walked far into the jungle that these men would be staying with them, at least for the time being. Carter listened to them talk with each other, looked at their faces when he was sure they weren't looking, then finally it dawned on him.
"Hey Colleen," he whispered into her ear trying not to get the attention of the gun wielding men, "are these guys rebels?"
"Well, yeah," she gave him almost sarcastically.
"They're Mai-Mai?"
"Right on the money, Carter. You've done your homework."
"Let me ask you one more question. Are we in the Congo?"
"Yep. But you can drop the article. It's just Congo. Not the Congo."
A grammar lesson now? They were surrounded by rebel troops in the country he and Luka had been kidnapped in and Colleen was worried about semantics? Boy, he thought, she is all business.
After a couple hours of walking, they finally got to a clearing where it was obvious by the tire tracks that vehicles frequented it. And they stood there. Some of the rebels sat on a log and lit up cigarettes. Others played with their guns - Carter hoped they were actually doing routine maintenance. But within an hour of their sitting, the larger man of the group pulled Carter over to his log and quite roughly made him sit down.
Day turned to night as Luka paced the perimeter of the camp waiting for the Land Rover to get back. Carter wasn't supposed to be gone this long, and he knew that he would have never stayed away longer than dusk. But now it was even long past that. And Colleen… he worried about her too although she was a bit more savvy about the area.
Bob's SUV roared into camp and stopped on the road just inside the gate to pick up Luka before heading off for the hangar.
"Did you find them?" Luka asked.
"Yes and no." Bob stopped the SUV and got out waiting purposely for Sean to join them before expanding on his findings. "That prick Norman back in camp?"
"Yes. Probably in bed."
"Okay, let's go in the Midway."
All the way up the stairs Luka thought the worst. Carter killed, Colleen kidnapped. What would be done to her? He thought about her little girl and having to get word to her.
With the door closed behind them, Bob continued. "Nobody has seen them in Gulu. They never stopped there as far as I can tell. And nobody by their description has been seen in the other nearby villages."
"So?" Sean rubbed his forehead almost not wanting to even know.
"So I had to get more people on it. The Land Rover was found in a remote area a couple hundred clicks from here. From what we can tell, it's been there since early this morning."
"Were they taken?" Luka asked.
"I don't think so. The Rover was parked and locked with no personal belongings left behind. But see, this is where it gets tricky. This is a well manned border crossing. If they went there, they went on their own."
"Border?" Luka abruptly stood up. "Congo? Well, we have to get them out."
"They went in without visas," Bob stood up to follow him as his anger coursed from one end of his body to the other, "and without UN escort. Luka, I just can't barge in there with a miniature sampling of commandos."
"So, we wait? We sit around and wait?"
"Yes. We wait, for now."