THE GATES OF HELL
CHAPTER 9
David picked at the food on his tray. Even after being on a starvation diet for almost 6 weeks while imprisoned in the camp, he still didn't have much of an appetite. It seemed like whatever he did manage to choke down, he just threw back up again. He looked up in surprise when Abigail walked up to his bedside and sat a bowl down on the bedside table in front of him. He grinned broadly when he saw the hot fudge sundae. "Hey, thanks." he said in a pleasantly surprised voice
"Well, you need to eat something. So it might as well be something you'll enjoy." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Figured that might suit you a little bit better than the stuff they been serving you."
"That's what I like. A woman after my own heart." David said in a teasing voice, his eyes sparkling with pleasure.
"I expect you to eat all of it too." Abigail warned him. It did her heart good to see David looking happy about something for a chance. She watched as he took a bite of the sundae, a look of pure pleasure on his face. Satisfied that she'd finally found something he could eat, she smiled and walked away to finish helping to pass the supper trays.
After he'd finished eating, David lay there and stared at the ceiling. There really wasn't much else he could do. He still couldn't get out of bed because of his leg and if he tried to read it gave him a headache. And sleep was pretty much out of the question because when he slept he had terrible nightmares where he was back in that cage in the jungle. The only way he could sleep at night was when they gave him something to knock him out so he wouldn't dream. He'd been in the hospital almost three weeks. He knew he was safe now but there was still a part of him that didn't feel safe, not as long as he was in Viet Nam. He often wondered if he would ever feel safe again.
The only break in the boredom came when the nurses changed the bandages on his leg. He tried not to think about how close he had come to losing his leg because of that dang snake bite. His leg was still swollen but the doctors had finally closed up the wound and took out the drainage tubes. He had a six inch incision on the side of his left calf, a permanent reminder of how close he'd come to dying in this place.
Over the next two weeks. David slowly started regaining his strength and his stamina. He had regained fifteen of the pounds he'd lost so his face didn't look so gaunt anymore. That afternoon, he'd finally been allowed out of bed for the first time. He was still weak and unsteady on his feet but it still felt good to be standing upright again. He still couldn't put much weight on his injured leg but he remembered how to use the crutches from when his ankle had been broken when he was thirteen.
David wondered if anyone had notified Ma and Aunt Rosie that he was all right. He knew they had to be worried sick since he hadn't written in so long. He had written them religiously twice a week since he'd been shipped to Viet Nam. It was hard to believe that it had been almost two years since he'd actually seen them. David was pulled from his thoughts when Abigail stepped up to his bedside. Smiling, she handed him a long white envelope with the familiar insignia in the upper left hand corner. New orders. He fingered it nervously, not sure that he wanted to open it. Noticing his hesitation, Abigail said "Would you like me to open it for you?"
"Would you mind?" David asked anxiously, handing the envelope back to her. He knew he was being foolish but he knew that his immediate future rested inside that envelope. Abigail took it and tore it open, taking out the single sheet of paper it contained. Unfolding it, she skimmed through it and then looked at David with a huge grin. "Congratulations, soldier." She told him "It's a medical discharge. You're going home."
"Home?" David repeated, his heart pounding frantically in his chest, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Home." Abigail told him "Just as soon as you're strong enough to travel." She was genuinely happy for David. He didn't belong in this place. She handed the discharge paper back to David, who scanned it for himself. He blinked back the tears that gathered in his eyes, feeling foolish at his display of emotion. Realizing that he was finally going home, he was having trouble controlling his raging emotions. Suddenly the floodgates opened and he found himself crying uncontrollably.
Abigail gently slipped her arms around him, holding him close as he let out all the fear, pain and horror of the past two years. She had been waiting for this to happen. It usually did with the ones who had been in the prison camps. She was glad that he was finally letting out some of the emotions instead of keeping them bottled up inside. Finally, he calmed down and gently pulled away, wiping away the traces of his tears with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry." He mumbled, lowering his eyes to avoid looking at her, ashamed of his emotional outburst.
"There's nothing to be sorry for, sugar." Abigail told him "You've earned yourself a good cry." She grinned and leaned in close so she could whisper in his ear "I think I can sneak ya a beer as long as you don't tell nobody. It's even a real beer from the states and not that crap they call beer over here."
"That sounds great."
"Be right back." She told him with a wink. She hurried away, returning shorting with a paper cup that she handed to him. It was filled with ice cold beer that had never tasted so good to David before.