Part 12 (2/2)
”And if I don't?” Charlie asked.
Sunny dabbed his brow again. ”Do you not owe it to your men to try?”
”A soldier has to . . . to know when to abandon his losses,” Charlie said.
”You are not lost yet, Charlie.” Franz held a hand out to him. ”So let us to do what has to be done.”
Charlie's eyes drifted shut. Sunny spoke to him in Chinese, her tone soft and soothing. After a few moments, he nodded.
Franz looked from Wen-Cheng to Sunny. ”The ether?” he asked.
Sunny lifted up a small smoked-gla.s.s bottle. ”Joey's contact cheated him. He mixed it with water. I am not sure there is enough ether to be effective.”
”What choice is there?” Franz asked, though inwardly he was horrified at the prospect of amputating the leg of someone who might still be awake.
Wen-Cheng held up his gloved hands. ”I am already scrubbed. May I perform the surgery?”
Franz had no idea why Wen-Cheng would want to take the lead but was relieved that he wouldn't have to use the saw himself. ”I'll a.s.sist you,” he said.
Franz donned a gown and mask, then scrubbed his hands with the last sliver of soap in the basin of lukewarm water. He dried his hands on the pillowcase that was serving as a towel and then slipped them into the rubber gloves.
Wen-Cheng draped Charlie's right leg with thin sheets, exposing the edges of the blistering wound. He cleaned the area with a soapy sponge. Sunny covered Charlie's face with the ether mask and dripped anaesthetic onto it. Franz could tell by the faintness of its odour that the drug didn't possess its usual potency.
Sunny shook the bottle to extract a final drop or two, but Charlie remained alert. She looked from Wen-Cheng to Franz. ”He is not anaesthetized.”
Franz squeezed into a spot across the bed from Wen-Cheng. ”The quicker we do this, the better.” He took a scalpel off the tray and handed it to his colleague, feeling irrationally complicit in something terrible.
Wen lowered the blade to a spot two-thirds of the way down Charlie's thigh, at a point where the skin still looked like human flesh. He glanced over at Franz, who nodded his agreement. Wen-Cheng sliced through the tissue in one fluid movement.
Charlie groaned and kicked his leg. Wen-Cheng's hand froze. His eyes darted over to Sunny. She grimaced as though the knife was cutting into her own leg. ”I have nothing more to offer him for pain.”
Franz fixed Wen-Cheng with the commanding stare that he had once summoned to motivate hesitant surgical interns. ”Do not stop now!” he barked.
Wen-Cheng sliced the blade across the man's thigh. Charlie moaned again, but his leg held still. Franz followed the incision with his sponge, dabbing away blood. The unwholesome odour intensified the deeper Wen-Cheng cut, as did Charlie's stuporous groans. Wen-Cheng deftly dissected out layers of diseased flesh and muscle, then used two sutures to tie off Charlie's femoral artery and vein, the large blood vessels responsible for supplying the leg with blood.
Franz lifted the saw from the tray and, heavy-hearted, pa.s.sed it to Wen-Cheng.
CHAPTER 19.
Most of the cla.s.s had been elated about the sudden cancellation of the school day. Not Hannah. The instant she had spotted Ghoya in the hallway, she a.s.sumed he had come for her and had almost bolted in the opposite direction. Only her fear of drawing his attention stopped her.
Hannah recognized from the newspapers the tall man who accompanied Ghoya. She couldn't remember his name-did he have some kind of aristocratic t.i.tle?-but she was certain he was a leader among local n.a.z.is. Despite his distinguished appearance, Hannah sensed malice behind his smile. An Asian man and a young German followed behind, the latter s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g his face into a permanent scowl, as though he were being led through a pigsty.
When Hannah informed Freddy Herzberg of the visitors, he did not seem the least bit concerned. Even when she explained who the men were, he shrugged it off with his usual bl.u.s.ter. ”Did you see any soldiers with them?”
”No.”
”Are they armed?”
”They're wearing suits.”
”So what is there to worry about?”
”A j.a.panese commander of the ghetto brings n.a.z.is to our school! Doesn't that seem bad?”
For a moment his face darkened, but he brushed her off with another shrug. ”We have the day off. We ought to enjoy it.”
Hannah did not know how Freddy could be so cavalier, but there seemed to be no point in arguing. She turned down his offer to visit the market and instead headed straight home to share the news with her family.
Hannah found Esther sitting still and silent on the chair in the corner of the living room. She was staring dead ahead at the closed bedroom door, while Jakob slept at her feet in his basket. It took Esther a moment to register Hannah's arrival, then her head snapped toward her niece as though she were emerging from a trance. ”Hannah! What are you doing here?”
”They cancelled school today, Tante Essie. We had visitors come to the-”
”You must go now,” Esther snapped before Hannah even had a chance to finish. ”Frau Eckstein has a skirt that needs hemming. Go fetch it for me. Straight away!”
”Tante,” Hannah pleaded. ”Ghoya came to the school today. He brought n.a.z.is with him!”
But Esther would not listen. ”We will discuss this later. You must go now.”
”Why, Tante?”
A loud moaning sound reached her from under the bedroom door, then Hannah heard voices on the other side. She recognized her father and Sunny but could not make out their words. More groans came from inside the room.
Hannah started for the bedroom door.
”No!” As Esther jumped up from her chair, her foot knocked the basket holding Jakob. She dropped to her knees to steady it as Jakob began to howl.
Hannah froze. ”What is it, Tante?”
Esther reached into the basket and lifted up Jakob. She cradled him under one arm. ”Shush, my darling,” she cooed as she gently bounced him up and down.
Jakob settled quickly in her arms. Esther looked over to Hannah. ”Your father and Sunny are in the bedroom. They are not alone.”
”Who is with them?”
”Dr. Huang.” Esther hesitated. ”And a patient from the hospital.”
Hannah felt her fists clench. ”Why would Papa bring a patient into our home?”
”This man is special.”
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