Evelyn found that during the first few weeks of training, it was hard to make friends, although Lena pointed out it was always hard for Evelyn to make friends. With boot camp being harder than expected, or rather, not being quite what anyone was expecting, nurses and men were packing up and quitting. Major Hartley's nursing staff had shrunk from twelve down to seven, including the red haired southerner, Jenny, who was the only one to befriend Evelyn and Lena. The three of them would play card games and chat in the couple hours of free time after dinner and before bed. Evelyn liked Jenny well enough, although being a lot shyer than Lena, found herself on the outside of most conversations. She didn't mind too much, though.
And then there was Bob. At breakfast one day during the second week of boot camp, Bob sat down with Evelyn, Lena and Jenny to eat.
"I heard Bellow's planning on increasing our strength training today; he wants us to do a two mile run." Bob informed the girls while he grabbed Evelyn's full bowl, grits again, and gave her his toast and a sausage. "Best eat up."
"Thank you," Evelyn said, a bit shocked, but ate the offered food anyways.
Lena nudged Jenny with her elbow and winked at Evelyn when Bob was focused on his plate.
After the two mile run, Bellow ordered the recruits to pair up. There was an awkward shuffling as everyone found a partner; Lena linked her arm with Evelyn's and the pair smiled at each other. However, when Lena spotted Bob standing alone, scratching the back of his head, she untangled herself from Evelyn and grabbed Jenny, who had been partner less, shoving Evelyn in Bob's direction.
"What the f-" Evelyn mumbled, not prepared for the shove.
"You two! Hurry it up!" Bellow shouted, pointing between Evelyn and Bob.
"Hi, partner." Bob laughed, sidling up to Evelyn as Bellow started his explanation of how to properly execute a sit up.
"Now, one of ya lay down with your knees bent," he began.
Evelyn and Bob looked at each other wide eyed, while Lena cackled behind them.
"I'll do it." Bob said hurriedly and stretched out on the grass.
"Now your partners will hold your feet down while you sit up, like so. Major Hartley, would you mind helping me show these poor bastards?" Bellow continued.
"Not at all," Major Hartley said, stepping forward as Bellow lay down.
"Now whatever you do," Bellow continued to the recruits as Major Hartley kneeled down "do not, I repeat, do NOT stand on your partners feet. Use your hands to keep their legs down; we don't want anybody breakin' their goddamned toes!"
"How many sit ups are we supposed to do, sir?" someone from the rear of the group asked.
"Let's start with fifty," Bellow answered "and I don't wanna hear you speak outta turn again! Get to it!"
Evelyn sighed deeply and kneeled in front of Bob; her legs were still shaky from their run.
"So, partner, tell me about yourself?" Bob said after a couple minutes of silence, his face rising up over his knees.
"Uh, I'm tired." Evelyn offered, readjusting her grip on his ankles.
"You're tired." Bob replied flatly, still steadily exercising. "Constantly or just in this moment?"
"Oh it's all the time." Evelyn said cheekily.
"How many is that?" Bob asked, his pace slowing down.
"I wasn't counting. Guess you'll have to start over." Evelyn said, casting a glance over the rest of the recruits.
Lena's face was already flushed as Jenny counted quietly out loud.
"We'll just switch when they do." Bob offered, following Evelyn's gaze.
"Works for me."
"Were you really not counting?"
Evelyn looked back at Bob. He had sweat beginning to bead under the dark curls on his forehead.
"I'm pretty sure you've hit twenty."
Bob groaned as his head disappeared back behind his knees. Evelyn stifled a laugh.
Soon enough, Jenny announced that Lena had finished her fifty sit ups.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Lena announced, rolling onto her stomach.
Evelyn let go of Bob's ankles and he rolled onto his side, curling up into a ball.
"When you have finished, make sure you stretch before switching." Major Hartley called over the mass of groaning recruits.
Evelyn pulled Bob onto his feet, staggering under his weight as he leaned heavily against her.
"It's your turn now, partner." He said with his slanted smile as he straightened up.
Evelyn rubbed her hands together before laying down in the grass. The bright South Carolina sun had warmed the ground, and Evelyn thought it was almost pleasant to be stretched out watching the clouds drift slowly across the sky…then Bob's tight grip on her ankles brought her attention back to the task at hand.
"To be fair, I'm not counting." He winked, still out of breath.
"Fair is fair." Evelyn replied as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Get to it, recruits!" Bellow barked and Evelyn sat up.
"So, partner," she said when she came face to face with Bob "tell me about yourself."
"Well, I'm tired." He laughed.
"Yes I heard outrageous calisthenics will do that to a person." Evelyn joked.
"Um, I write for a newspaper." Bob continued.
"Oh yeah? Which one?"
"The Bergen Evening Record; I do the sports articles."
"No shit! My brother Frank is a huge fan of yours." Evelyn exclaimed.
"Oh yeah? How about you?"
"Well personally I think your writing's a bit dry…"
Bob pinched her calf.
"Ouch! Hey, I'm kidding! You're an excellent sports reporter; the best in all of New Jersey."
"Thank you. It's always nice to meet a fan."
They laughed.
"You're really not counting, are you?" Evelyn asked, her muscles starting to burn.
"Uh, fifteen…I think." Bob replied, glancing over at Jenny and Lena, who were chatting, no sign of fatigue on Jenny's face.
"So you're really a nurse?" Bob asked.
"Yes; worked over at Saint Francis hospital." Evelyn puffed.
Even though it was beginning to get difficult to breath, she was thankful to Bob for distracting her from the tired ache beginning to spread from her belly button.
"Why'd you come here?" Bob wiped his forehead on the back of his hand.
"I must have lost my mind." Evelyn said, beginning to struggle.
She looked over at Jenny who was still showing no sign of slowing down.
"This isn't a competition, recruits, just go your own pace." Major Hartley called over the group as he walked through the teams.
Evelyn gritted her teeth and pulled herself up again.
"You're halfway there, partner." Bob encouraged.
Evelyn gave him a strained smile, but couldn't speak. Her abdomen felt like it was on fire and she was worried she'd either start screaming or throw up if she opened her mouth to say anything. The weight of Bob's hands around her ankles was comforting, though.
After what felt like hours, Bob announced Evelyn had completed her fifty sit ups. Evelyn stayed on her back, breathing hard. A bird circled high above and Evelyn couldn't help but think of vultures that follow dying animals in the desert, waiting for them to die so that the scavengers may feast. Once again she was pulled out of her thoughts by Bob offering her his hand. Shaking, she took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet; Bob kept a firm grip above her elbow to keep her from toppling back over.
Once the recruits had arranged themselves back into messy ranks, Sergeant Bellow dismissed them for lunch.
"After lunch you will report to Sergeant Jones at the training hall for your lecture on the Marine Corps' values of honor, courage, and commitment. Now get outta my sight."
The recruits snapped to attention and saluted before deflating and making their way slowly to the mess hall.
That evening in the nurse's barracks was quiet; everyone was tired and sore. Jenny had just pulled her deck of cards from her pillowcase when there was a brisk knock at the door.
"Is everybody decent?" Major Hartley called through the wood.
"Yes sir!" the seven nurses replied in unison.
When the door swung open, they all scrambled to their feet as fast as they could, standing at attention by their foot lockers.
"As you were, ladies." Major Hartley waved his hand, sitting himself down on an empty cot.
Evelyn sighed and sat on the edge of her bed, facing the Major. The others girls did the same.
"I just want to make sure you ladies are alright with what's been going on," Hartley started "I know this probably isn't what you envisioned when you volunteered and I want to make sure there isn't another exodus of nurses."
There was a murmur of consent from around the room.
"I just have one question, sir." Evelyn spoke up. "Doesn't the Navy usually handle the medical care of the Marine Corps?"
"I feel that there's gotta be Marines to back Marines. When one of our guys yells for a corpsman, I want a Marine medic out there giving him a hand." Hartley explained, leaning his elbows on his knees. "It's been an idea of mine for a long time to have a Marine Corps hospital. There are already a few doctors and a handful of surgeons, some switched over from other military outfits, some civilian volunteers, like you, who've already done their training, but I need nurses. Good strong nurses who aren't afraid of anything. That's why you're here, getting the training you need to be able to face anything you might see or experience once we get into battle. The seven of you, and those who come after, will go through this training to better understand what our boys go through. You, as Marines, will know how a Marine thinks and what he needs."
They all sat in silence for a few moments, before Hartley clapped his hands together and stood up.
"If there's nothing else, ladies, I'll say goodnight."
"Goodnight, sir," was mumbled throughout the room, some nurses moving to crawl back into their cots.
"Oh and one more thing," Major Hartley said, turning around at the door "the swearing; if it bothers you ladies, I can ask your drill sergeant to stop."
"Actually, I think it's a good motivator." A blonde nurse said from the back of the barracks. The others nodded in agreement.
"Alright then." Major Hartley laughed as he opened the door once again and stepped out.
Evelyn stood up and stretched before throwing the blankets of her cot back.
"That Bob fella sure has taken a shine to you, Evie." Jenny remarked, sitting down on Lena's bed, cards in hand. "I must say the pair of ya does make a good lookin' couple."
"I don't think so," Evelyn said, tucking her blankets around her cold legs. "Besides, I have Tommy back home."
"How could I have forgotten about Tommy?!" Lena exclaimed, slapping her palm against her forehead. The other girls turned to see what was going on, but turned back to their own conversation when they saw it was nothing.
"Well, since you have Tommy, mind if I partner up with Bobby tomorrow?" Lena asked as Jenny dealt the cards.
"Not at all." Evelyn replied, rearranging her cards to fit better in her hand.
After just a couple hands of cards, the girls decided to call it a night. Evelyn pulled her rough brown blanket tight around her shoulders and rolled onto her side. She could hear Jenny and Lena still whispering, but she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will herself to fall asleep quickly. Her back and sides were achy, and her legs felt like she'd been swimming all day. With a groan Evelyn sat back up and stuffed her pillow under her knees and flopped back down on her back. She stared up at the ceiling in the dark and listened to the hushed voices of her friends, though she couldn't quite make out what they were saying, and the sounds of crickets from outside. When she finally did fall asleep, Evelyn dreamed of running laps with Tommy, while being chased by Margaret with a frying pan and Frankie marched around playing his toy trumpet. Bob was there, too, sitting in the middle of the field with his typewriter clacking away.
"Hey partner." He'd say whenever she ran passed him.
Evelyn woke with a lurch when she tripped in her dream. The pink sunrise was beginning to seep into the windows and paint the ceiling. Evelyn lay in her bed, heart beating fast for a few minutes before reveille played over the loudspeakers just outside the barrack's front door. There was a chorus of groans from the rest of the occupants as they began to wake up.
"Morning, sunshine," Lena croaked as she sat up.
"Morning," Evelyn replied staying put, not wanting to get up, her body feeling heavy as if she had spent the whole night running.