Unexpected Turns

Attack

The day came when they decided to attack.

I was waiting for the men to come in injured and I was ready to assist. There were many bases on which the nurse corps were and ours was the closest to the battlefield so if they came, ours would be the first one they would come to.

The doctor was listening on the radio and was telling us what to prepare for. Many of the girls were frightened waiting for them to arrive and I was too. When they finally came it was three cars filled with about twenty injured people.

I looked around in search of Dick and when I saw him, I was relieved. He was helping the injured men out of the car and was instructing them on what to do. Men came pouring in, some injured and the others helping the injured by carrying them or putting their arm around them to help them walk. Dick came in with his friend who was shot in the arm, he put him down on a gurney and called out to me. I came running and asking what the situation was.

He told me Alex, the man, was shot in the arm and he is starting to lose his consciousness. I gave him a drug for the pain and put on my gloves. Dick sat close telling Alex to stay with him. I could see he was tearing up and how much this man meant to him.

I took a clean cloth and some alcohol to clean up the blood. It stung him as usual and then I took my forceps and looked for the bullet. Dick held his right hand as he yelled in pain. I found the bullet, removed it, stitched the wound up, and wrapped a bandage around.

"Thank you," Alex said and Dick just smiled at me.

"It's my job to keep you safe. Now when you feel ready to get up, you can go. But be careful with that arm."

He nodded.

"Mary!" another nurse called, "I need some assistance!"

I threw away my gloves and took two new ones to put on. When I got there, the guy was hysterical. His leg was bleeding profusely and his eyes were halfway open, trying to stay awake. When I came he chuckled softly.

"Your going to let a nigger touch me?" he said looking at the other nurse.

"She's one of the best," she argued.

"Call the doctor, lady."

She sighed and called, "Dr. Hudson."

"I'm busy," he called back, "unless the guy has a bullet near his ribs, call Nurse Richards."

"Mary," she looked at me.

I shrugged, "if he doesn't want my assistance then I can't do anything about it."

"No nigger is going to touch me," he said again.

"Listen sir, I don't wish to touch you either, however I'm your last hope. It's obvious that nurse Abigail here can't remove the bullet and the doctor had told me to do it but if you refuse my assistance I will leave and let your foot get infected and soon become amputated."

"Screw you," he laughed weakly.

"I'm sorry," I smiled, "you're the one that's screwed."

I began to walk away until he called out to me, "okay fine, just do whatever you can to get this out of me."

I turned around and shook my head, "your lucky I'm a nice person."

He just sighed. I gave him a drug to help with the pain as I forced my forceps deep into his leg. He screamed so loud but I didn't care, he deserved it. The bullet was so deep it was way to hard to get out. I kept trying to pull it out but it kept falling off my forceps. Finally, after a while I took it out and he was unconscious. I guess the pain drug wasn't strong enough. Nurse Abigail checked his pulse and figured out that he fainted and that was all. I wrapped his leg and once he woke up told him that it will take a long time before he could walk even close to normal again.

-

"You did a good job," Dick told me when everyone was leaving after a long day.

"Thank you."

I looked outside the window and saw the bodies we couldn't save being put into one car and the other bodies that we helped being put into two other cars. I began to tear up and he frowned at the sight.

"I know it's hard," he said.

"How did you survive?"

"I got lucky, I guess. Also, someone took a bullet for me, that helped a lot," he chuckled.

I hit him in the arm, "it's not funny."

"I know," he sighed, "it's not but I'm just trying to make you not cry anymore."

I smiled at him, "you always do."

"I have to tell you something before I go," he began, "when I was on the battlefield and I thought I was going to die-"

I interrupt, "Don't talk about that-"

"But I have to-" he interrupted me, "when I thought I was going to die, I thought about the one thing I wish I was doing before I died and that was being with you, hugging you, and kissing you. I know, it's such a cliche but it's true. I didn't think about family or Charlotte, I thought of you. I love you and I know you don't love me but I also know that I will love you more than Jerry will ever love you. I've, um, liked you ever since I saw you down those stairs at my house. I've had a crush on you before Jerry but I never had the guts to ask you out and that is how you ended up with my brother."

"I don't want to talk about this."

He continues, "I care about you and I will do anything to make you happy which means I can't be selfish. I can't fight for you anymore because I know what makes you happy is Jerry and not me. So I'll leave you with this, if Jerry is what makes you happy I won't stand between you anymore, but if you ever change your mind I'll be here for you. Even if it means, I am your second choice."

I gave him a hug, "I would never say you are my second choice just a choice I made late."

I reached up, on my tippy toes, and gave him a little kiss on the lips.

"what was that for?"

"I granted you your wish, you said you wished to hug and kiss me and I granted it."

"Can you grant my wish again?" he put his arms around my waist.

I laughed, "no, Jerry wouldn't like it," I took a step back from his space.

"Dick!" someone called.

"Coming," he replied, "I'll see you at home."

He walked up to the door and looked back at me with a smile. I waved at him as he stepped onto the three-step stairs.

Then...

BOOM!