"These are the kind of bandages that we will be using within both the field and the hospital." Our head nurse explained as we were all sitting in our own session at the Medical cabin, well, outside since it was so nice that we would not have to be inside most of the days. After about a couple more days of getting into the routine, I was used to life on the camp now than I ever did before in the first day there. The nurses were very kind to me, helping me out with the usual tasks around the cabin and making me feel right at home. They too were from all over the states, and I was the youngest there. The rest of the women there were at least 28 or 29, if not older. I didn't mind being the youngest, it made me have more of a challenge to keep up with them since they haven been nurses for years before I was even allowed to be a nurse.
After meeting the men from Easy Company, I got to eat with them at meals and sometimes hang out with them during our free time when I wasn't researching more in the medical field. They were all so warm to me, though I never felt any kind of hostility from them since I was a woman. They treated me with kindness and respect, as if I was one of the guys but with not as much roughness as they would each other. And I got to know each of them as well: Luz with his humor, Randleman with his kindness from his big stature, Malarky with his quick wit, Webster and his scholarly ways and how he loves to read and Toye and his fiery attitude.
In which it left me with Liebgott, the cocky young man who knew how to both crack a joke and to bring ease to a situation. We would talk every once in awhile, getting to know each other and livening up the mood in the mist of war. Something about being near him and hearing his voice, it brought me peace of mind and a sense of serenity. I had no idea how he was doing this to me, but something about being around him and knowing more and more about him made me feel more normal. I was slowly becoming a part of the Easy Company, no longer an outsider.
Eugene was training with the rest of Easy Company in the afternoons, and he too would come and help out in the morning with the nurses and learn more in the classes. There was a handful of male medics in the camp, but most of them had their own classes that combined medical training and combat training. Doc would go to both classes though, since he was so serious in keeping his job and making sure no one would take it, I could see the intensity in his eyes. We would sit together during the classes, and every once in awhile I would whisper something in French to him since we both knew the language. That was another thing that I liked about Eugene, the fact he knew French and we would talk to each other in the language every once in awhile.
This day was actually a Friday, having me hear the chants and the drills from the other captains around the camp and seeing the blocks of privates on the grass and fields. Doc and I were in the front row of the male and female nurses as we were watching the tutorial on bandages and wapping wounds out on the field.
"You have your primary bandages that will be used for the common wounds.." The Head nurse, Sandra, went on as she showed each bandage to us. I was taking notes with my pad on my lap, Doc doing the same on my left. The sun was tight on our faces and giving us a sense of warmth as I was wearing my training nurse outfit, Doc in his uniform with the jacket undone and his hair ruffled. We were going into our second hour of class, having me look over at Easy Company and watch from y spot as they are taking another round of abuse and assault from Captain Sobel. I only met the man once or twice, and from what I was told from the rest of the company, he was a tyrant. Even meeting him was a bit of a fear, since he only looked at me as another number in his lineup of men in Easy Company.
"Êtes -vous attention?" Doc whispered to me as I looked over at him, away from our boys and then back in front of us to show that I was watching Nurse Sandra whom was getting out the heavier bandages and talking about the protocol with those as well.
"Il ne semble pas bon pour nos hommes." I replied under my breath, having me see Doc look over at Easy Company as well, having the both of us hear him yelling at several of the members before giving a command for them to run up the mountain, again. I sighed, feeling a bit bad about the whole thing since there were at his mercy.
"Ils sont forts, ne vous inquiétez pas trop ma chérie." Doc said under his own breath as I shoved him slightly in the shoulder for using a nickname on me, having me grin at him as I wrote down some more notes and then looked over at Easy Company, whom all loved rather grave as they started to get ready for the run up the mountain. They all walked over to their cabin, having me see the grave look on their faces. Especially Liebgott, who was talking to Toye under his breath and then looked over at me from my spot next to Doc. When we make eye contact, I saw him smirk and give me a small wink with his eye, having me immediately look away from him and back at the Head Nurse. He winked at me, or all people and of all the nurses on the camp. Why me? And why was I blushing from that simple gesture? After a moment or two I looked back over at him, seeing him still smiling but not at me anymore. He was looking at the ground as if it was a personal victory that he made me blush.
"Bon travail cacher la rougeur." Doc commented to me, having me wish that I could punch him in the stomach from his remark, but I went back to the class that was being held. I tried to get my mind back to the class and how we were talking about the minor bandage wrappings that were common on the field, but I was still thinking about that smirk, the signature smirk on his face when he was either satisfied or getting a personal victory.
I just wondered where I was in that smirk: a satisfaction with him or a personal victory?
"Nurse?" I heard at the front of the medical cabin, having me look up from my paperwork that I was working on. Sitting on my bed indian style with the paperwork on my lap, going over the rent recruit's medical records and giving them approval if they were safe enough to jump and be paratroopers. It wasn't what I had in mind signing up for nurse duty, but I knew it came with the job.
Placing the paperwork on my cot, I walked over to where I had my jacket hung on the wall and swung it on. Hanging on my jacket was my Nurse's saint coin, something I picked up when I was around 19 after my first year at the hospital I was working at, giving the patients a reassurance that I too was religious and I would help out when needed when it came to prayer. Walking over to the main area were the line of cots were, I saw two soldiers walking in, both of them were Privates. One of them was Toye, who looked pale in the face. But the other was in fact Liebgott, who was bringing him in with one arm around his shoulder and the other on his hip, holding him up.
"Private Toye, Liebgott. What happened?" I asked them both, helping Toye get on a cot that was closest to him and having me see him go green in the face.
"We were coming back down from our run up the mountain with Captain Sobel and the rest of the company and Toye got sick, ma'am." Liebgott explained to me as I felt Toye's head: cold and clammy. I grabbed a spare towel from the bin on his nightstand that was filled with cool water and dabbed it in, placing it on the back of his neck and watching him.
"How do you feel Private Toye?" I asked him in my gentle tone, seeing him looking up at me, paler than before and breaking a sweat on his forehead and around his cheeks.
"Like I'm about to puke all over the place, ma'am." He growled at me, making me smirk and walk over to the other side of the cabin, grabbing a pale from the ground and dusting it off.
"I don't think La Noux would like that you know, Toye?" Liebgott said aloud in a amused tone, having me grin as I walked back to Toye, placing the bucket in his clammy hands.
"Don't start, Liebgott." He threatened, placing his head in the bucket and taking a few deep breaths.
"What did you have for lunch?" I asked him, placing a hand on his back and feeling him curl against the hand that I used.
"Clam chowder" Liebgott replied to me in a grimaced face, having me nod my head and grimace myself.
"That would do it. With that in your stomach and running for 3 miles, you might have caught a bug from the food you ate. Why did he have you run already so early today?" I asked Liebgott as I wiped my hands on the spare towel on the nightstand.
"He saw a couple of our mistakes in our uniforms, as usual." He replied in a shrug, having me then eye him from my spot with Toye between us.
"And I suspect that he wants to order you to come here with Toye and stay with him?" I asked him in an amused tone, seeing him look back at me with more seriousness and less amusement. But a small smile was at the corner of his mouth, the smirk that I grew found of.
"I volunteered ma'am." I was confused for a moment then, thinking why would he want to come here and be with Toye, whom he had no great relationship with compared to the others in our Company.
"To get yourself out of training?" I asked him, pressing in some more as to the real reason.
"Well that, and to see you." I paused them when he said that, as if he had no shame in the matter. I didn't know what to say or think about when he said it such a way that it was normal. It didn't phase him, but why was it phase me. Why would he want to see me? I then looked down at Toye seeing him still looking rather sick to the bone and I sighed, getting up from the cot and walking over to get his paperwork from the files in the back.
"I'm writing to Captain Sobel to have him stay here for the night to get better. I doubt he wants a sick Private in his Company." I explained, walking back over to stand in front of the two boys and write up the note for Captain Sobel.
"That's not a good idea, Ma'am—" Liebgott started, but I looked up at him.
"Marley." I said, having him look at me with surprise in his eyes, "Call me Marley."
"Marley…" he started, having me now love to hear him say my name with his voice, it was almost heavenly, "Captain Sobel is not going to like having Toye sit out from one of his drills, the guy's a lunatic."
"Then he can deal it with me and the other nurses here who are required to give proper treatment to the soldiers here in order to have them be at their best or combat and training." I explained to him, handing him the note as he stood up to face me. I watched as he looked down at the note, the smirk was back on his face as he looked back at me, placing the note folded neatly in his jacket pocket.
"You're something else, you know that?" He asked me, having me shrug my shoulders.
"I tend to be." I merely replied.
"Honest to God, you're not like the other nurses. I don't think any of them is as brash as you, and you seem to not care about our Captain and his feelings towards this." He explained some more, amusement in his tone as I tried so hard not to smile big from what he told me.
"I just do what I have to do for the Company." I confessed, folding my hands in front of me and having him eye me once more. I then smoothed out my uniform just to find something to do before I looked back at him.
"So, you're last name." I said aloud, having me see him raise his eyebrow to me in amusement.
"What of it?" He asked me back, having me smile at him to show him I meant no harm.
"It's Austrian, isn't it?" I asked in curiosity. He nodded his head as I saw Toye roll on the bed, leaving the bucket behind on the floor and closing his eyes in defeat.
"My parents are from Austria, but they moved to Michigan before I was born, and then to Frisco when I was little." he explained as he sat on a spare bed, across from a passed out Toye and he looked up at me, "And La Noux is French?"
"That it is," I replied back, sitting next to him and smiling, "My grandparents on my dad's side immigrated from France before my dad was born, and my mother's parents from Ireland."
"So you know French then?" He asked me aloud with a hint of fascination in his voice.
"Oui , toute ma vie , je savais français" I replied back to him, seeing him grin from ear to ear as I then pointed to him, "And you know German I take it?"
"Ich bin der Übersetzer." He spoke in perfect German, having me beam at him, having me see more to him than what I saw before. Right after he spoke that to me, I heard footsteps at the head of the cabin, having the both of us look up and shoot up from the bed, seeing Winters there with another Lieutenant with him. We both threw up a salute at the both of them as they walked over to us, looking at a passed out Toye and then over at me.
"Private Liebgott, Nurse La Noux. How's Private Toye?" Winter asked me aloud with a hint of concern in his voice, though the rest was smooth and causal.
"He must have had a bad helping from the food, it seems to be food poisoning and I doubt he'll be able to attend anything else for the rest of the night." I explained to him, having me then place Toy'e feet the right way on the bed as I heard a groan from the other man there.
"Captain won't be pleased." He warned Winters.
"We can handle him, Nixon. Thanks for the update, Ma'am. Liebgott, let's give her space to work with him and get him better." Winter said to the group, having me watch the three men make their way down the row of cots as I got another towel from the water bin on the nightstand, having me ring out the access water and place it on his head. But as I was doing this, I heard something behind me, coming from Liebgott as he was about to leave the cabin. It was an undertone of voice, saying it under his breath, but I could hear it from my spot.
"Sie sind schön" I looked back to see what he meant, but he left the cabin before I could ask. I had no idea what he said, but he said it in such a way that felt more like sincerity and peace than anything else. As if he was making a proclamation, though I had no idea of what. It made me wonder, really wonder…
What else was there to Joseph Liebgott.
