Part 57 (1/2)
”From Big Daddy. Killer will proceed Sasebo ASAP. Acknowledge.”
”Acknowledge proceed Sasebo ASAP. What's up?”
”Little Daddy is in Sasebo. Lady Friend bought farm. Fat Kraut carrying bad news.”
”Say again?”
”Fat Kraut carrying bad news, Lady Friend bought farm, to Little Daddy in Sasebo.”
”Understand Lady Friend bought farm. Where's Beaver?”
”Beaver here.”
”Send Beaver Korean Marine. Wait for me. Acknowledge. ”
”Acknowledge Beaver to wait for you at Korean Marine.”
”Contact Wild Bill Junior. Arrange transportation for me Seoul Sasebo. ETA Korean Marine 1200. Acknowledge. ”
”Acknowledge Killer ETA Korean Marine 1200. Wild Bill Junior to arrange transportation Seoul Sasebo.”
”What happened to Lady Friend?”
”Gooney Bird went in on way to Wonsan.”
”Advise Big Daddy I'm en route Sasebo. Acknowledge.”
”Acknowledge advise Big Daddy Killer en route Sasebo.”
”Send replacement crew for Wind on Beaver. We took two KIA, three WIA. Acknowledge.”
”Acknowledge replacement crew on Beaver. How Killer?”
”Killer fine. Mind the store, Car Salesman. Flying Fish out.”
”Fishbase clear.”
McCoy laid the microphone on the desk and took off the headset.
”About the only thing I understood about all that, Major McCoy,” General Almond said, ”was 'Killer fine.' And that's just not so. You're bleeding all over the linoleum.”
He pointed. There was a small puddle of blood on the linoleum under McCoy's chair.
”Can you make it to sick bay under your own power? Or shall we get you onto a stretcher?” Almond asked.
”I've got to get to Wonsan, sir. I'm all right.”
”You're not going anywhere until they have a look at your leg. Clear?”
”Yes, sir.”
”Well, there's nothing in there,” Lieutenant Warren Warba.s.se, MC, USNR, said to Major McCoy, who was lying p.r.o.ne on a medical table in sick bay. ”And no serious muscle damage that I can see.”
”They got lucky,” McCoy said. ”Hitting something with a mortar from a small boat under way isn't easy. I think I actually saw the round coming in.”
”A half inch the other way, and what sliced your thigh would not have bounced off,” Dr. Warba.s.se said.
”Four inches the other way, and I'd be a soprano,” McCoy said.
”The sutures I'm going to put in will disappear,” Dr. Warba.s.se said. ”There is a danger of infection, of course. The penicillin I'll give you will probably take care of that. You need a day on your back, and when you get up, it will hurt like h.e.l.l every time you put weight on it.”
”I don't have time to spend a day on my back. Can you give me something for the pain that won't turn me into a zombie?”
”I can give you something-reluctantly-that will handle the pain,” Dr. Warba.s.se said as he started the first st.i.tch. ”The more you take of it, the more you'll become a zombie.”
”Fair enough,” McCoy said evenly, then: ”Jesus, that hurt!”
”If I don't put these in right, they won't stay in. Understand? ”
”May I come in?” Major General Almond asked from the doorway.
Dr. Warba.s.se looked up from McCoy's thigh.
”Yes, sir,” he said.
”How is he?”
”He was very lucky,” Dr. Warba.s.se said. ”And what he should do is spend at least a day on his back.”
”Unfortunately, Major McCoy is not subject to my orders, ” Almond said.
Almond held an olive-drab s.h.i.+rt, and trousers and a field jacket, in his hands.
”A present from Al Haig, McCoy,” he said. ”You're pretty much the same size.”
”Thank you, sir. Tell him thank you, please.”
As Almond watched, Dr. Warba.s.se finished the installation of the last of half a dozen sutures, painted the area with a purple antiseptic, covered the sutured area with an adhesive bandage, and then wrapped the leg with gauze.
”If you get off that table, Major,” Dr. Warba.s.se said, ”you are doing so against medical advice.”
”Thank you, Doctor,” McCoy said, and sat up.
Dr. Warba.s.se prepared a hypodermic and stabbed McCoy three times, twice in the thigh and once in the arm.
”With that much of this stuff in you, if you were so inclined, Major, you could carouse all night with little chance of acquiring a social disease,” Dr. Warba.s.se said. ”I will now go get you a bottle of zombie pills.”
”Thanks,” McCoy said.
When he left the treatment room, Dr. Warba.s.se left the door open. Almond went to it and closed it.