The Curse of Dr. Zola

Chapter 19

"Dinner's ready!"

She let the men go first. Steve felt guilty about piling up his plate but Bucky urged him to load it up. Behind them, Mary giggled. Steve turned. "It's okay, Steve, eat up. I've learned how to cook for the army." She glanced at Bucky.

"Thank God she doesn't make Spam. I don't think I could eat another mouthful of that stuff."

They settled around the table to enjoy their meal.

When Bucky finally sat back and announced he was full. Steve roared. "I remember your father saying your stomach was a bottomless pit."

"The first time I asked for permission to go to your house he was happy to not have to feed me!"

They chatted about the past and Bucky told Steve what he remembered about the last days in '44, and his first day in 2007.

"That's not the whole story, Bucky."

"Yes, it is."

"Not quite, Steve. He neglected to mention that when I woke him up from the capsule, he was, and pun intended, buck naked."

Bucky turned beet red, and Steve was thoroughly enjoying it.

"It was…" She paused to think. "It was a Bowery Boys comedy of errors trying to keep the towel around his waist." She glanced at Bucky. "I can't even imagine the look that was on my face when the door to the capsule slid open and there you were."

"In all my glory." Bucky added to her statement, as he spread his arms wide in the air triumphantly.

"I don't know if I'd go that far." She winked, and Bucky started blushing again. "But once I got him standing up and the towel around his waist he fell over on top of me!"

"I did not!"

"You knocked the wind out of me, and it was all I could do just to push you off. Anyway, you probably just don't remember, you were still pretty out of it. I had to get him up the stairs, and the damn towel kept falling off. He almost fell on me going up the staircase. I honestly don't know what kept him on his feet until we got to the bathroom, and then I had to yank the towel up because he had to sit on the toilet. That was fun."

"I don't even remember any of that."

"I was horrified the entire time, Steve. My mother never told me about Bucky or any of this. I had just moved into the house and I find out about a secret room and there's a naked man in my basement!"

Steve laughed.

"I thought about calling 911, to get emergency help, but I couldn't come up with an explanation. I could almost hear the call now….'ma'am, what is your emergency? Well, you see there's a naked man in my house and his towel keeps falling off.' You see where I'm going with this?"

Steve leaned back in his chair roaring with laughter, as Bucky turned the deepest red yet, but he smiled in spite of himself.

When Steve got his breath back, he clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Bucky wasn't always so modest, in fact, he was quite the ladies' man back in the day."

"Well, all it took was a good woman to make me into a one woman man." He smiled at Mary.

"That, and the fact that who else would believe his story?" Spoofing Bucky, Mary stood up, hitched up the waistband of her pants, and went into her imitation. "But, baby, believe me when I tell you I'm 94 years old!"

Both men began laughing all over again. Steve was holding his stomach with his left hand and the right clapped over the left part of his chest.

When they caught their breath, Mary began clearing the dishes away. Steve jumped up immediately to help. She smiled and accepted his offer. She cleaned up the dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher, and set it to wash.

They went into the living room where Steve marveled at the uniquely designed furniture. "This is amazing."

"My mother designed it. I guess she had Bucky in mind all thru the house." She looked around in a circle.

"When I got Bucky upstairs, I brought him to the bed and got him to lie down. I had a heck of a time pushing his legs up and to make him comfortable. I threw a warm blanket over him. When he woke up the next morning, he was wearing a bathrobe that he found hanging on the back of the bedroom door. I had gotten up early and was reading this."

She pulled the composition book from the desk shelf. Steve opened it and started flipping pages. He skimmed over bits and pieces, but he saw how it filled in the spaces of his memory.

"Who wrote this?" Steve looked at Mary curiously.

"My grandmother started it back in the 1940's, my mother filled in some more, and I guess they left enough space for me."

Steve sat down, his face going white. Bucky was instantly concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Steve explained how some men came into camp telling a story about a woman who had rescued them from a HYDRA factory prison, and then let them go, and about the sacrifice Bucky made to insure their freedom. "Bucky, you won the Congressional Medal of Honor for what you did. They all verified the story, and I put you in for it. As you were listed as MIA, the medal went to your parents back home."

Bucky's jaw went slack. He was speechless.

"I'm going to make some calls tomorrow, and I'll try to find out what happened to it. Okay?"

Bucky could only nod. He felt tears welling up. They made it back to camp! They all made it!