Part 61 (1/2)
”You want to lie down with me?”
”I want to, but is it smart?”
She s.h.i.+fted herself to the far side of the narrow bed, then patted the near side.
He very carefully got into the bed beside her, but was unable to do so without wincing several times.
”I don't think this is going to work,” he said.
”You want to feel him or her? Him or her just kicked me again.”
”Is that good or bad?”
She took his hand and guided it to her stomach.
”Jesus!” he said. ”Does it do that all the time?”
”Him or her does that frequently,” Ernie said. ”Do not call him or her 'it.' ”
”Yes, ma'am.”
Their eyes met again. He moved his hand from her stomach to her face.
”My G.o.d, I love you so much,” he said.
”It took you long enough to say it,” she said.
The door swung open, and Captain F. Howard Schermer, MC, USN, marched in, followed by a middle-aged, gray-haired, short and stocky nurse whose badge identified her as Commander J. V. Stenten, NC, USN, Chief Nursing Services, and Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR.
”When I told you, Major McCoy,” Captain Schermer said, ”that you would have to spend at least the next four days in bed, I really had a bed of your own in mind.”
McCoy, looking guilty, started to swing his legs out of bed.
”Belay that!” Captain Schermer ordered.
McCoy stopped moving.
”How bad is he, Doctor?” Ernie asked.
”He has been sewn up,” Dr. Schermer said. ”If he does what he's ordered to do, in three weeks or a month he should be as good as new.”
”He very seldom does what he's ordered to do,” Ernie said.
”So General Pickering has been telling me,” Dr. Schermer said.
”Is there any reason another bed can't be brought in here for him?” Ernie said. ”I'll see he does what he's told to do.”
”It is against both regulation and policy,” Dr. Schermer said.
”That wasn't her question, Captain Schermer,” Pickering said.
”Doctor, the sumo bed?” Commander Stenten asked.
”You're one step ahead of me again, Commander Stenten, ” Captain Schermer said. He turned to Pickering. ”What I was thinking, General, was that if, in contravention of regulation and policy, we rolled another bed in here for Major McCoy”-he pointed across the room-”the first thing either or both of them would do the minute the door was closed would be to push the beds close to each other. Neither of them should be (a) on their feet and (b) pus.h.i.+ng furniture around. This applies even more to Major McCoy, since he is about to take the medicine for pain prescribed, which is certain to make him more than a little groggy.”
”Will you behave, Ken?” Pickering asked.
Captain Schermer ordered: ”Get the bed, Commander.”
”Aye, aye, sir,” Chief of Nursing Services Stenten said, and went to the telephone on Ernie's bedside table. She dialed a number and then issued several orders of her own: ”Chief, this is Commander Stenten. Get the sumo bed out of the attic. Bring it, now, to 308 in the Maternity Ward, together with two new mattresses and linen.” She hung up, then turned to Captain Schermer. ”On the way, sir.”
”As a matter of historical interest,” Captain Schermer said, ”when we took over this hospital after the last war, we found that it was equipped to handle sumo wrestlers in need of medical attention. Some of them weigh well over two hundred kilograms-more than four hundred pounds-and they apparently didn't fit in standard j.a.panese hospital beds. I think these two should both fit comfortably into it.”
”Thank you,” Pickering said.
”But I think I should tell you, Major,” Commander Stenten said, ”that if you don't behave, you will almost instantly find yourself in a single bed in Ward F-7, where we care for those suffering from what is euphemistically called 'social disease.' ”
”Commander Stenten, Major,” Captain Schermer said, ”is more or less affectionately called, behind her back, of course, 'The Dragon Lady.' Don't cross her.”
[FIVE].
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS UNITED NATIONS COMMAND THE DAI ICHI BUILDING TOKYO, j.a.pAN 0900 21 OCTOBER 1950.
As they started down the corridor to the office of the Supreme Commander, Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR, caught the arm of Colonel Edward Banning, USMC, who stopped and looked at him.
”When we march in there, Ed, we salute,” Pickering said. ”The Army salutes indoors.”
”Yes, sir,” Banning said. ”I remember.”
Pickering waved him down the corridor.
In the outer office, Colonel Sidney L. Huff, Mac-Arthur's senior aide-de-camp, stood up when Pickering and Banning walked in.
”Good morning, General,” he said.
”How are you, Sid?” Pickering said. ”You remember Ed Banning, don't you?”
”It's been a long time, Colonel,” Huff said, and put out his hand.
Neither Pickering nor Banning thought his smile looked very sincere.
”The Supreme Commander will see you now, General. He's been expecting you.”
”Not for long, certainly, Sid,” Pickering said. ”You said nine o'clock, and Banning and I stood out in the corridor for fifteen minutes looking at his very expensive Rolex until it was oh eight fifty-nine fifty-five.”
”Yes, sir,” Huff said.
He opened the right of the double doors to MacArthur's office and announced, ”General Pickering, sir.”
Pickering saw that Major General Charles M. Willoughby was in the office, sitting in an armchair by a coffee table.