Blue Book 13
"It was my fault, Doc. I got carried away and he had to defend himself."
The medic was not happy. Wreck had busted three sets of stitches when he fell. Doc glared at the silent man. "Did you have to throw him?"
"Yeah. It was throw me or break my leg."
"There's a choice." Doc rolled his eyes at the two. "Next time, just…use a punching bag, okay? Now hold still. I've got to re-set and stitch these, again." He motioned to the shift nurse who handed him an anesthetic spray.
"Where's the other one? I'Lee?"
"She's off shift right now. We don't all work twenty-four/seven. This is Brinn."
The sailor grunted in response, mainly due to the medic working on the new stitches. When the doctor finished, he decided to check Wreck's eyes. Removing the pads, he passed his hand in front of the other man's face. No tracking. He flashed his light into the blue eyes to see if they were responsive. There…just a bit of reflex to the bright light. "Hmmm"-ing to himself, he replaced the pads.
"Your eyes look good. There was a response to the light and I think one more day of rest should show marked improvement. I'll give you some ibuprofen for the pain of the stitches and you get some rest."
Lt. Rich walked in as Doc walked out. "Do I even want to know?"
Doc shook his head and bid the younger man good evening.
"So, how'd the sparring go?"
"I'm not dead."
"How'd it feel to talk to Red?"
Wreck swallowed. He decided to be honest with the Lt. "It was weird. I could see her in my mind's eye. She tried to kill me there. But I knew it wasn't real. She caught on right away and introduced herself as Shana and called me by name. That helped a lot."
"Anything else I should know about?"
The silent man signed a clench and Psyche looked at his patient. "Wreck, Hector, these flashbacks…when they cut you, who did it?"
There was a long pause. "It was mostly the men. Once or twice there was a female but I tuned them out."
"So, your response isn't to the females so much as…"
"I don't want to talk about it anymore."
The psychiatrist nodded and said, "I can understand that. Thank you for being honest with me. It helps me to be able to help you." He took his leave and left the pair alone.
"How do you do it?" Wreck looked where he knew the silent man would be. "How do you deal with the scars?"
The silent man had no words.
dvdv
Green Book 13"Hey, D, Myles, either of you heard of a General Abernathy?" The tall Aussie stood at the printer looking at a stack of paper. He walked around to the various desks delivering the information to the correct owners.
"Let's see. If I remember correctly, he's from the Denver Abernathys. West Point. Military man all the way. My father and he did not see eye to eye on many issues. I liked him the two times I met him." The blonde agent leaned back in his chair, twiddling a pencil.
"He's a straight shooter. Has people requesting to join his units. Why do you ask?" Dimitrius watched as the brown headed man sat at his desk reading a printout.
"Just wanted to have a heads up on will be grilling us bomb boys. With such glowing recommendations, it can't be all bad now, can it?" He shot the two a playful grin as he opened his own email and compared it to the paper. The same general had sent his and Sue's requests.
Jack and the ladies came in from lunch at the same. Sue walked to the printer. Seeing it empty, she went to her desk. Nothing was there.
"Has anyone seen my seminar instructions? I printed them before I left for lunch."
Bobby made a show of looking through a pile on his desk. "Oh, here it is, sheila. Must've gotten mixed in with the ones I just finished." He handed it to her. "Want me to hold on to it for Saturday?"
"Sure. Thanks."
Giving her a wink, he turned to Tara. "Ms. Tara, one April from the second floor said she was going to MIT and asked if she could get a ride with you."
The computer tech gave a little cheer. "Yes, that would be great. I'll send her an email right now."
dvdv
Later that evening, Sue and Lucy were at home preparing for bed. Sue bid her friend a good night and retired to her room with Levi. She sat on the bed reading her Bible for a long time. Sleep eluded her and she found herself praying for something intangible. There was a thread out there and she would hold on to it until God told her to let go.
