In Times of War

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

   “Firecracker, come on, sweetheart. You did it again.” David gently shakes my shoulder. My head rests beside his chest, on his cot. Every night after my shift is over I come and sit with him. I talk with him or to him or to Lee if David’s asleep. I usually end up falling asleep until he or Lee or Gladys wake me up and convince me to go to my own cot.

“Did I wake you?” I rub my eyes and sit up, stretching a little.

“No, honey, it’s almost four in the morning. You need to go to your cot.” He says gently.

   “I’m the one who’s supposed to be takin’ care of you, not the other way around.” I put my hand on his head. “Your fever’s back. I’m gonna get you another cold cloth then I’m gonna check those stitches again…”

“Mia,” he grabs my hand as I start to get up, babbling on about bringing his fever down. “Go. Sleep. I’ll be fine for eight hours while you get some sleep. You look exhausted.”

“I’m fine. I’m going to get you some water.” I push my mussed hair out of my face and try to get up again.

“You need to get some sleep, not get me water.” He pulls me back down by my hand.

“No, I need to take care of you and Lee.”

“Gladys can take care of us. You’re not invincible, Firecracker. You still need to sleep.”

“I’m fine.”

“Sleep. Then you can come back and take care of us to your heart’s content.”

“I’ll be back in four hours.” I say, kissing his lips.

“Eight.”

“Six.”

“Just go to sleep, Mia.” Lee throws a pillow at me and it hits me in the head. I throw it back at his head.

“Fine, six hours. But then I’m back and you,” I slap Lee upside the head. “Are gonna pay for that.”

   “As long as it gets you two to shut up, I don’t care.” With that I take my leave. I collapse at my cot and fall asleep before my head hits the pillow. When I wake up it’s almost noon; almost two hours after I promised to be back. I run a comb through my hair and sprint to the hospital, completely bypassing breakfast; not that it really bothers me. I burst in and down to the boy’s beds so I can spend some time with them before my shift starts, even though it’s only about ten minutes.

“Ah, and she appears. You know for someone who got a lot of sleep you sure don’t look happy about it.” Lee smirks. I flick him in the ear. He clutches at it and whines.

“That is for the pillow last night.”

“Fine, fair trade.” He grumbles

“I thought I asked Sarah to wake me up two hours ago…” I mutter.

“Yeah, about that…” David draws out. He looks sheepish all of a sudden.

“David, what did you do?”

“We, we,” he gestures frantically in between Lee and himself. “Might have paid her to not wake you up.”

“What?” I screech.

“Look, Firecracker, you weren’t sleeping at all and you really need to. We were taking care of you for a change, now don’t get mad.”

“I’m fine, I already told you that!”

   “Whatever you want to think, but for now I think the guy over there might need some medical attention.” Lee jerks his head towards the man that was trying to buy me a drink the other day. He has now decided to vomit up everything that was in his stomach. Blood and guts and men off their rockers I could handle, but vomit was my least favorite part about being a nurse. I grimace, but walk over anyway because he is a patient and he needs help.