In Times of War

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

I’ve been out of the hospital for two weeks now.

   I got discharged, finally, two weeks after Alice’s visit. I’ve held at my current weight for two weeks, and I’m going back to check in with Doctor Tennant today. If he gives the okay and signs off that I’m in good health then I finally get to be an Army Corp nurse. I had gotten one letter from David just before I left the hospital. It was more of the same: him telling me to eat and to take care of myself, and me telling him not to worry so much.

“Maria… Maria…” Mama’s hand waves in front of my face and it breaks me out of whatever trance I was in.

“3.1415926!”

“I don’t know what that means, but you’re not in school.”

“Sorry, Mama, it means Pi.”

“How do numbers mean pie?” She looks confused. She never had the best education. Her family couldn’t afford the tuition to let her finish high school.

“Pi, P-I- like a sequence of numbers, not pie like P-I-E that you eat.”

“Oh, okay, well it’s time for us to leave.” I think I might have embarrassed her. Jimmy hadn’t been able to finish high school either and both he and my mom worked their tails off to send me to high school.

   “Alright then, let’s go.” We walk down to the hospital and then up to Doctor Tennant’s office. She sits in the chair in the exam room and I dress myself in the hospital gown that’s laid out for me on the exam table. After a few minutes Doctor Tennant walks in with his clipboard in hand. He conducts his examination, looking at my weight, asking me questions, things like that until he finally makes his decision.

   “Alright, Maria, I think you’re good right now, but I also think that you’re smart and that you’re strong. I think that you could have done all of this just to get out of the hospital and to join the Army Nurses. I hope that you haven’t but I think you could have. So, I want you to look me in the eye and be completely honest with me. Did you do all this because you want to get better?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to starve yourself again?”

“No.” Maybe.

“Are you lying to me?”

“No.” I’m not sure.

“Alright, then, I’m going to sign this to say that you’re in good health and I’m going to hold you at your word that you’re not going to try and do this again.” He eyes me suspiciously.

   “Thank you.” He hands me some papers and sends me on my way. As soon as I get home I leave again. I rush to the Red Cross and register to become an Army Corp nurse. They tell me when and where to be and then I go home. When I get home my mom has supper waiting for me. I set the table and then sit down.

“When do you leave?” She asks, ending the heavy silence.

“Day after tomorrow.” I continue staring at my food as I pick at it.

“How’re you gettin’ to training camp?”

“Train.” That was the end of our conversation. I help her with the dishes, something I never do. We wash the dishes in silence. After we finish I go up to my room and sit down at my diary. I write some and then read a book until I get tired. We don’t talk a lot the next day either. I think we were both scared that it would be too much like a goodbye, and both of us had said too many of those.

   I got the mail, which consisted of one letter, that afternoon. One single, solitary letter addressed to me sits in my hand as I go up to my room. I know who the letter is from before I even look at it. I sit down at my desk and open the letter up.

September 12th 1942

Dearest Maria,

   I’m so happy that you’re leaving the hospital, as long as you keep up the good work. And I know you really don’t want to talk about you eating anymore, so I won’t. For now… I’ll tell you that Lee’s sitting beside me right now and he won’t shut up about Alice. Three months and she’s all he can talk about. And Leo, but mostly Alice. He tells me that I’m the same way with you and that this is payback for all of it. But it’s kind of hard not to talk about you when you’re the only thing I can think about.

Love always,

David

   This is the longest letter he’s written me and he’s written really small so he can fit it all on the small sheet of paper. I get a piece of paper and my fountain pen to tell him about me probably going overseas. I wasn’t entirely sure where I would go; they would tell me that at the end of the four week long training camp. It was to teach us about how things were going to be in combat zones and how to really make do with what we get.

September 19th 1942

Dearest David,

   You’re all I can think about, too. I love getting your letters; they really make my week. The sad thing is: I’m not sure how many of them I’m going to get from now on. The Nurse Corp has accepted me and I leave for training camp the day after tomorrow. After camp they’ll tell me where to go and I’m not sure I’ll get mail there. Doctor Tennant approved all of this, so don’t worry about me. In case I don’t respond to any of your other letters I just want you to know that it isn’t because I’m ignoring you, I either didn’t get them or I simply couldn’t respond. I want you to know that I love you more than anything else on this planet.

All my love,

Maria

   I almost start to cry writing the letter because I didn’t want to think about not being able to have any communication with him at all. I mail the letter and go home for supper. I don’t eat all of it, much to my mother’s dismay, but I do eat most of it. I end up just going to bed without saying much to my mother. She was going to switch shifts at the factory tomorrow so she could see me off.

   When I wake up I check my bags to make sure that I have everything packed that I might need. I have my diary, but not my fountain pen. It’s too precious to me to take anywhere. Instead I have a regular pen. I have one book, The Hobbit, a few changes of clothes, my uniform, and some other things that they put on my packing list. The list even said I could bring my flute if I wanted to, and I did. My silver necklace from David is around my neck and I have part of my hair pulled away from my face with a few pins. I take my bag and ride the bus to the train station in Savannah with my mother. We just stand there, awkward and silent until the whistle blows, signaling that there is five minutes until the train leaves. That’s when it really sets in that I’m leaving and I don’t know for how long.

“Mama, don’t cry.” I pull her into a hug, noticing the tears coming from her brown eyes.

“Just be careful, please. Don’t do anything stupid like run out in the middle of a battlefield.”

“I don’t even know where I’m going. I might not even be in a combat zone.”

“Like that makes me feel any better. Oh, look at me, blubberin’ like a baby. Do what you have to do, just come back to me, Maria.” She pulls away and wipes under her eyes, then takes my hands.

   “Of course I’ll come back to you, Mama. Always.” I kiss her forehead, squeeze her hand, then I grab my bag and get on the train. I find a seat by the window as the train starts to move. I stick my head and shoulders out the window and wave sadly at my mother. She waves back just as sadly. I feel like I’m leaving my life behind. I wonder if this is what David and Lee felt like when their train pulled out. I put my head back in the window and face forwards.

I’m going to go into this new chapter of my life with a smile on my face.