I'm back in action, kinda. Next chapter is in the pipeline already and here's hoping I would continue writing today and maybe write a few chapters in next few hours. Few chapters are all that's left of the story anyway and I think I can bring it home now, once and for all. I had forgotten the story and also, haven't seen the show in a long, long time. I might catch a few episodes this week and be done.

Thank you Hawkins, Katie, Disaster, Anime, Radar and NYGal. Much appreciate your input!

Chapter 98

Enough self pitying and one can fall asleep practically anywhere.

That stroll of mine took me to post-op. After gin, bugging Frank, golf, gin, gambling, chasing women, dissing mess food, gin, bugging Frank and in the immortal words of one Walter O'Reilly, horsing around, post-op was the best cathartic place. It was purgative even, and was aided by mess food to achieve optimum results.

Post-op was the same as I had left it not so long ago. The patients were stable and most were deep asleep with help from morphine, I was sure.

The excitement I had been living in, if one could call the insanity of war excitement, had made me look for even the smallest signs of trouble and not ignore them. I tried to find something that might have been wrong and failed.

As I sat down in the corner chair, I became aware of a small wave of disappointment that came over me when I found out everything was in order. That was a disturbing idea but led me to think about this state of mind further, inner chastising notwithstanding.

Crabapple Cove wasn't well known for the excitement that we faced here on a regular basis. What was I going to do once I got back to humanity? That small impersonation of paradise hadn't seen in all its years of existence what I had seen within my first week here. And now I wasn't sure if I could work as my father did, everyday, for over thirty years. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear a whole town say 'Aah' day in and day out. However much I loved that place, I knew that after what I had seen and done here, it would be a waste to run Dad's surgery alone once he retired.

You can think about it when you get your release orders!

What would Dad think when he finds out about my doubts regarding taking over his work and his lifetime's investment?

Maybe he would be relieved?

I had some good time yesterday, working in the village. The question was, could I learn to love it enough to give up surgery?

I wasn't sure about that and couldn't help thinking about how things had changed for me almost instantly when it came to my relationship with Dad. I didn't want to hurt him again. I didn't want to disappoint him either and it seemed that I was headed that way even if I didn't want to.

A gentle tapping on my shoulder woke me up. It was a bad idea to nod off in that chair, the crick in my neck reminded me painfully. I had to learn not to sleep in this chair. There were better ways of getting body aches as I had found out lately.

Cursing under breath, I decided to leave post-op, noticing for the first time that Sanders wasn't there anymore. He was probably evacuated to 121st. And from there to the front, once again.

Walking back once again to the Swamp, I wondered how long could I delay going to sleep. It had been close to forty eight hours now. Maybe over forty eight?

Maybe now I won't have that dream, I silently hoped.

I slept that night.

It was the sleep of the dead.

I woke up to the gurgling noises coming from the cot opposite mine and for one second, I thought Frank was drowning.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he wasn't.

"Mornin' Frank." I opened one eye and greeted my bunkie as part of the great plan devised by Potter. My faith in the plan was shaky to begin with and the response to this greeting in the form of a grunt was a testimonial to my ability to predict accurately what Frank would do in any given situation. I decided to do as Potter told me till lunch time after which I figured I would need a different MO to get out of my current trouble.

"Where's BJ?" I asked Frank in my most dulcit tone.

Frank looked at me with a semi-annoyed expression he wore when getting ready to deliver a sanctimonious piece of crap.

"Your friend there is following in your footsteps and if I were you, I would warn him unless he wants to end up like you." Frank left his position in front of the mirror and gave me this lecture standing at my foot end, hand pointing at me with half his face covered with shaving foam.

"Frank, he doesn't take anything I tell him seriously. Why not tell this to him yourself? You ARE a senior officer, after all." I had trouble keeping a straight face as I saw the color escape his face and his expressions changed.

His bravado was fake. I didn't need a degree in psychiatry to know that. And he was scared. Maybe BJ had a heart to heart with Frank.

I checked my watch to see if it was alright to get out of bed.

It wasn't.

6am was just too damned early.

I wondered where BJ had gone and suddenly realized where. Where else but post-op? Before Frank could comment on my state of disrepair, I was out of the Swamp where cold air and flurries welcomed me. Shuddering and shivering, I entered the post-op. BJ wasn't here. And everything was alright.

I waited for my heart rate to return to low hundreds before asking the nurse on duty if she had seen BJ. She hadn't. And there had been no emergency overnight either.

My return to Swamp was the exact opposite of my exit. This had to stop. All this adrenaline rush, all this insanity, all this dread, and for what? I simply didn't have the reserves to deal with this kind of stress anymore. Problem was, I just wasn't willing or ready to accept it yet.

"Where did you go?" BJ was sitting shivering on his bunk, his feet next to the heater.

"Just felt like enjoying the flurries. It doesn't snow in Mill Valley, right?" Evasion was the best policy especially with Frank around.

"I don't know how you people live in such cold weather. I want some sun. Even my bones have frozen." BJ spoke between shudders. Frank stayed quiet and out of it.

"I'll show you some real good winters in Maine. This isn't the kind of winters I grew up in. Mine are better!"

Frank left the Swamp then.
I had a feeling something was going on between the two of them but what, I didn't know. It was time to ask BJ.

PS:

Point out any typos. Next chapter might be up pretty soon so don't worry if this chap seems kinda lame. I had to finish it before it got too long.