A Promise To An Old Friend Part 3
Standard Disclaimer: I wouldn't be unemployed and broke if I owned these characters.
It was late, after dark when Margaret pulled into town. She'd almost stopped a few hundred miles back, but had been afraid she might lose her nerve about what she was doing and turn back. She drove around the small town until she found a nice looking motel. She checked in and then took a walk until she found an open diner. She was too nervous to eat much, so she ordered a bowl of seafood chowder that turned out to be delicious. After eating, she slowly strolled back in the direction of her motel, trying to calm herself. As she rounded a corner, a small girl with long honey-colored curls accidentally ran into her. Margaret caught the girl before she fell backwards and set her on her feet again.
"Sorry!" the little girl said, giving Margaret a sunny smile before taking off again.
Margaret sighed as she watched the little girl disappear down the street. She continued on towards her motel, lost in her thoughts, until she caught a glimps of the ocean down a side street. She turned her steps in that direction and carefully made her way down a small drop until she found a nook, sheltered from the breeze, where she could look out at the moonlight glimmering on the water. The little girl had tourned her thoughts toward her own childhood. She couldn't in all honesty say it had been a happy childhood. She hadn't had many friends due to her father's peripatetic Army career. Moving every year or two tended to preclude close friendships, she, her mother, and her sister had been the dutiful Army family, ready to pack up and move whenever her father was transferred to a new base.
She thought about her father. She'd always tried to please him, but had never seemed able to do it. She remembered being envious of some of her classmate's relationships with their fathers. Her own father was pure military. Strict, domineering, undemonstrative, and not visibly affectionate. Occasionally, after she'd joined the Army he'd shown some small enthusiasm for one of her accomplishments, but it had always been tempered with criticism for another part of her life and career. No matter how well she did, it was never good enough. Even when she'd been named head nurse of the 4077th, it wasn't quite enough because she wasn't also second-in-command. She thought back to her father's visit to the 4077th. She'd run herself and her nurses ragged to make everything perfect for his visit. And what did he do? He criticized her nurses! Her nurses were the best damn nurses in all of Korea! Then she'd been so nervous about his being ther that she'd gotten clumsy and embarassed herself in the O.R. Then, that night, he'd attacked her friends Hawkeye and B.J. at the Officer's Club. But when he'd told her about it, he'd made it seem as if it had been Hawkeye and B.J. who were at fault, and had angrily cut his visit short. She'd believed him until Colonel Potter set her straight. When her father had offered to meet her in Tokyo, she'd jumped at the chance, thrilled to spend time with him. But it was not to be. She'd gone to Tokyo, but her father had managed to spend as little time with her as possible. He'd always had an excuse. He had a meeting. He'd run into an old Army buddy he hadn't seen in years. He was tired. Plausible excuses, but she hadn't believed them. That was the beginning of her disillusionment with her father. In the end, out of a seven day leave, she's had breakfast with him twice, and dinner once. After it was over she'd gone back to the 4077th determined to make it up to her nurses and apologize to Hawkeye and B.J.
A cool breeze brought her out of her reverie. She realized she had become quite chilled as she had sat there. She got up and carefully picked her way back to the sidewalk. Wrapping her arms around herself, she quickly walked the few blocks to her motel. She unlocked her door and stepped in out of the wind. Switching on the light, she admired the room. It was much nicer and cheerier than the roadside motels she's been staying in. The walls were a pale blue-green, with paintings of seascapes hanging on them. The furniture was early American in style, in a light colored wood. She went into the bathroom to run herself a hot bath to warm herself. She eased herself into the steamin water and rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes. She soaked like that until the water began to cool. Drying off quickly, she put on her pajamas and climbed wearily into bed. Shutting off the light, she curled up under the covers and wondered what the coming day would bring.
To be continued.