Corpsman and the Nerd (21 page)

KC stared at the last two sentences in
horror. Ryan gashed open his forehead? Desperate, she switched over
to write an email and frantically dashed it off to Treeny. Deep
inside she knew Ryan was fine, but still, the professional in her
demanded she speak with the same professional who had treated her
son. Treeny would gladly answer and set her mind at
ease.

Even as she typed, KC knew she was
acting overly paranoid and perhaps bordering on the verge of
psychotic mother. She didn’t care. After rereading the email, she
sent it before switching back to Max’s email.

Mitch seemed to enjoy the
day. He and Lainy locked Bentley in the house, and that dog whined
the
entire
time,
along with most of the herd, but to no avail. We weren’t about to
let him loose. He’s a disaster to leaf piles. (The herd was bad
enough!) The teenagers had fun throwing each other in, but they
re-raked, so it all worked.

The herd wasn’t too good
about re-raking. (We did pick up a Ryan-sized rake.) He helped
every now and then. His rake was popular. All of the herd tried it
out. Not for long, but they all took a shot with the
pint-sized tool, horse, sword (someone nearly got their head taken
off with that one) and various other uses the kids found for
it.

A successful day. Oh, and
the bakers assured me there’s another package in the mail. The last
one somehow was returned? We’re not sure why, but they scurried
around to mail another one out to you. So be on the lookout for a
new carton of cookies.

My cousin, Ben, thinks he
might end up close to where you are. He’s going to try to swing
things so he can pop in and see you, if he gets as close as he
suspects. He told me not to promise he’ll be there, but he’ll try.
I assured him that’s all you’d expect, but I did warn him you’d be
excited to see him. (I might have promised him you’d share your
cookies too.)

He helped Treeny patch up
Ryan. They make a good team, but when I mentioned that to him I got
my head bit off. So, don’t say anything to him about her. Something
is brewing there, but I didn’t pry. The man’s got a right to his
privacy. (Yes, this could just be me being a wimp. About that time,
Ryan and I were sent off for naps anyway.) LOL

Ed and Lainy both ran
around with camcorders, so expect more videos. Ed’s been busy with
a military project, so he hasn’t had as much time to make videos as
he did for Mitch. Lainy has taken over for him, except she’s been
puking, a lot, but is still doing what she can.

Mitch is pretty worried
about her, and when I told him about that doctor you recommended,
he made an appointment with her. I guess that made him feel
better.

Laurie keeps assuring him
Lainy’s sickness is normal, but he’s still going a bit nuts over
the whole thing. Lainy’s threatened to not ever get pregnant again,
but he doesn’t seem too worried about that. I didn’t ask why. She
continues to glow.

Dory had her baby. A
little boy. Aaron John. Please don’t ask for more information,
because I don’t know how much the kid weighed or how long he is, or
any of that. I know he was born, on November seventeenth, and
that’s all. (Why do women find this information so interesting?) We
didn’t keep Eliza because we were sick. She went to Mitch and
Lainy’s house. Mitch was enthralled with her, apparently, and Lainy
says she thinks Mitch wants a girl.

Ryan’s asked Lainy to have
a boy, though. She promised to do what she could, but she couldn’t
guarantee anything. And then she reminded him that he likes Eliza.
So, he said if she had a girl like Eliza, he’d put up with her. He
has no shame. And he doesn’t get that from
me!

Although my mom claims he
reminds her a lot of me when I was little. I don’t know. Mom’s
memories can’t always be trusted, so I just shrugged and went for
another cookie. One good thing about being sick is I wasn’t
expected to work as hard. LOL

Hope you’re not quite as
busy. The time will go faster if the pace remains frantic like
that, but I know you. You’re frazzled already. So, take a deep
breath and relax some, okay?

Love,

Max and Ryan

*****

When she checked her e-mail
inbox after another frantic day KC was surprised to see a bunch of
messages but when she saw the title of one,
Rocky
, she eagerly clicked on that
tab.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: Rocky!

Hello KC,

Just a quick note to let
you know Rocky had her puppies. We’re all pretty excited here. She
had eight. A couple of them look like Bentley, three look like her,
and the other three look like neither of them. They’re very tiny,
but cute. Ryan’s been bugging me all the time to go see
them.

He doesn’t have to work to
convince me. General Emma is beside herself!

Love,

Max and Ryan

*****

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: Hello!

Hi KC,

Thanks for your note on
Ryan. He’s fine. Just a small gash, that only required cleaning and
a SpongeBob Squarepants band-aid. He was the coolest kid on the
block with a bright yellow band-aid across his forehead.


Did you hear Rocky had her
puppies? They’re
so
cute. I can’t get enough of them! General Emma is such a
mother hen, by the way. We’re only allowed an allotted amount of
time to visit before we have to leave, ‘cause Rocky just gave
birth.

She’s too
funny!

Miss you!

Treeny

*****

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: re:
Rocky!

Dear Max and
Ryan,

I’m so happy to hear about
Rocky’s puppies! I’m keeping this short so I can go spread the
news! Wonderful!

Everyone will be excited
to hear about those puppies. I know I am!

Wish I could see them and
you.

Love,

KC

*****

The next day KC wrestled with a
package, trying to turn it so she could better carry the cumbersome
box. Unfortunately, any way she moved the carton proved as useless
as the last. Finally she tipped it so one corner pointed north and
the opposite pointed south and carried the box that way.

From the heavy weight, she hoped she
would find some cookies inside. Lainy had promised more brownies.
Knowing her friend, most of the box would contain those chocolaty
treats. KC resolved not to complain if her theory proved true. A
woman had to do what she had to do. Besides, Janine would also be
happy to see a new chocolate supply.

Their work schedule had grown
ridiculous the past three days. They worked so many hours nearly
everyone giggled or cried regardless of the stimulus to relieve
stress. Most of them giggled maniacally, sometimes without
prompting. A feat which inevitably then set everyone else
off.

Even the Gulf War veterans muttered
under their breath and burst into foolish laughter and antics. The
lack of sleep, overabundance of heat and patients, and frequent
sandstorms all contributed to the silliness.

The nurses, their rocks, teetered on
the same edge. Four of them relieved the stress with emotional
outbursts from time to time, at which point one of the male doctors
would grab her and ballroom dance with her around the medical
building. The dance steps were usually accompanied by a really bad
rendition of Barry Manilow or Frank Sinatra. One of the doctors,
Dr. Sutter, did a mean Bob Marley, though.

Most of them tried to time their
outbursts around him, since his singing was actually soothing. KC
and Janine would grab whoever stood nearby and initiate the fox
trot or something. Janine sounded a little like Rhianna, while most
told KC not to give up her day job. At which point, she hit the
screech zone. Once there, her singing was yet another excuse to go
off into raucous laughter.

She couldn’t even call Max and Ryan.
With so much equipment attached to so many patients, they had
discussed using cell phones, and whatever type of electronic marvel
Lainy’s specially built phone was. All of them had agreed that it
was too risky, so phones using those types of cellular waves were
banned based on necessity. So she didn’t even have that
outlet.

Therefore, the emails they exchanged
had become vital.

She struggled to open the door of her
quarters, and finally, using her foot, KC managed to wiggle the
door open enough to squeeze through with her package. She dropped
the box on her cot and ripped through the tape. And came up with a
huge container of brownies. Prying the lid off, she shoved one into
her mouth, so thankful for the chocolate she nearly burst into
raucous song again.

Janine breezed in as KC haphazardly
removed items from the carton. Her friend helped herself to the new
supply. “Bless whoever sent these,” she said on a sigh as she sank
gracefully onto her cot next to KC’s.

“
Amen,” KC replied and
tugged out some DVDs. Grinning at the discovery, she savored the
thought of being able to watch more family DVDs. Hoping Ryan would
feature in these, she set them aside to continue her
unpacking.

Another container, this one with
assorted cookies, was also met with relief by her and Janine. They
started in on those too. The brownies were good, but a woman really
should mix up her carbs, KC decided.

She dug out toiletries, a much welcome
sight. Fearing she might run out of deodorant earlier, this was
most satisfactory. As were the bars of soap and razors and feminine
products. There was plenty, so she could share with Janine, who she
learned didn’t have much in the way of family.

Digging to the bottom, KC came up with
some papers and blinked back a tear or two when she saw what they
were. Ryan had painstakingly drawn some pictures for her. They were
of her little family, including Max. At least she assumed the
taller, bigger figure in the picture was Max. Sniffing, she peered
closer and saw the larger stick person wore glasses and had dark
hair.

She and Ryan were also in the picture,
as was Spuds. What nearly broke her heart was that between the
figure depicting her and Ryan, Max, and Spuds was a large blue
blob. Her stick figure stood on one brown and green surface and her
boys stood on the other with the blue blob between them. Their
hands were outstretched, as though trying to connect, despite the
distance between them.

Janine trod up behind her and peeked
over her shoulder. She placed a strong, steady hand on KC’s
shoulder and squeezed.

“
Hey girl, it hurts, but he
hasn’t forgotten you.” Janine’s voice was as soft as usual, and
wise.

“
True. He tells me he wants
me to come home every time I get an email from him.” She sniffed
again, and rubbed her runny nose with a tissue. “Max tells me the
same thing.” She laughed, but her effort sounded wobbly.

“
They miss you,” Janine said
and sank onto the bed.

“
I miss them
too.”

“
Of course you do. You
wouldn’t love them if you didn’t.”

“
No, I suppose not. They’re
the most important people to me.”

“
And that’s
evident.”

KC nodded as she gazed at the picture
again before moving on to the next one. This one featured Spuds
solely. And it wasn’t a bad rendition of him.

“
I’d say your son has some
talent there,” Janine remarked.

“
My brother has loads of
talent, and I think Ryan’s mother was a budding painter. So he
should have some ability.”

“
He does.” Janine squeezed
her hand. KC squeezed back as they continued through the pictures.
Then Janine and some of the nurses helped her hang them.

The ache in her heart didn’t lessen,
though.

*****

Max saw another email in his box, and
clicked eagerly on it. Another message from KC, he liked
that.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: I got another
package!

Dear Max and
Ryan,

I got another package,
bearing the name, Morrison. So I assume this was a Morrison Family
Effort? A big container of brownies and another of cookies, which
were well received
–
some sorely needed toiletries, a few
DVDs
and some most wonderful pictures
by Ryan’s own hand. The most precious part of the
package.

My roommates helped me
hang those pictures, as they’re all as pleased with them as I am.
It’s nice. There’s little to relieve the starkness of the
landscape, so we’re grateful. Mitch definitely didn’t lie about
that!