Rickie's War: North Africa

Care

Through the days, Rickie and Pris had bonded significantly. In her free time, Pris always went to Rickie’s bed for no reason. Rickie, of course, enjoyed the company of the red-haired beauty and cherished her in his mind every time she didn’t pass by.

It was the third day that Rickie had stayed in the military hospital, and of course, he was showing great progress. Pris herself was quite amused. She went over to Rickie’s bed and sat down on a chair that stood next to it. Rickie’s face smiled as he saw her again, bandages still all over his upper body. There had always been a kind of jolly feeling he had when she visited him. “You again…”

“Yes, it is me.” Pris said. “How’s the wound going?”

“I’m doing fine…” Rickie said. Something stopped him from saying that she was the cause of his fast healing, but words like that could wait for later. It was her large brown eyes that absolutely stunned him; they were so beautiful and if one just looked into them they could easily be sucked in by just how pretty they were. Rickie was lucky to have the company of such a person, and he wouldn’t wished for a different girl to be beside him.

“That’s great to hear. So…”

“Aren’t you supposed to be having lunch?” It was noon, as Rickie judged from the side where the sun came into the windows. The sun shone the brightest at half-day.

“I’ve had lunch. So what did you do before the war…?”

“Me?” Rickie chuckled. “I was at college. Was even at the OTC.” OTC stood for Officers’ Training Corps. Since 1939 it was the principal place where officers were taught and made.

“I see. To be honest, me too. Until the blitz took it away.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that… I am…”

“It’s fine.” She said. “Absolutely fine. Besides, me studying at home wouldn’t help the war effort at all.”

“You could always play a better role than this, could you?” Rickie asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Than being a nurse…”

“No… I volunteered for this because I thought that this is the closest way I could get to giving direct support to soldiers. To the likes of you. Who knows, maybe I could make friends or even, a lover.”

Rickie chuckled, then followed by a grin. She is looking for someone. He couldn’t hide his satisfaction. “I thought the likes of you had someone back home.”

“The guys my father wanted me to be with were arseholes, to be honest. May as well find a quick, dashing, handsome soldier in the field here.” She gave a smile. Slowly, she laughed.

“Why are you laughing?” Rickie asked.

“No, it’s just…”

“It’s what?”

“Looking at you, what my dreams were when I tried to enlist as a nurse was that I would work to save soldiers from being killed. Well, I’ve been doing exactly that.”

Rickie predicted there was a ‘but’ somewhere. “…but?”

“Well, I just didn’t find the dashing, brave, and handsome soldiers I expected to find. Just a group of either dying, broken, or wounded men… nothing handsome, dashing, or brave about that.” She said.

Rickie tried to pull off a joke. “So I’m not handsome, dashing, or brave?”

She gave a laugh. “You’re brave.” Suddenly, she put one of her hands onto the bed, and put it on top of his. “Otherwise you wouldn’t get these wounds. With that big bandage over your forehead, I don’t know if you are handsome. Without proper clothes, I don’t know how dashing you are.”

Rickie smiled. “Then meet me when I’ve recovered. I can promise you I will be all three.”

“An ugly man cannot promise to be handsome, Rickie.” She suddenly leaned closer to him and put a hand over to his cheek. “But you look good even with bandages on.” She closed her lips onto one of his salty cheeks, and kissed it. Rickie’s feelings bloomed like a sun flower during summer. His broken feelings, his visions of war and death and barbarism felt suddenly erased by that one single kiss. Slowly, Pris pulled away, and used both her hands to hold his free hand. The free left hand, the unwounded one, clenched her hands tight.

Pris looked up to his face again, and saw that Rickie had his eyes closed and tears trailed down his face. Pris took a handkerchief out of one of her apron pockets and wiped them off.

“I’m sorry.” Rickie said. “I’m very very sorry.”

“It’s alright… you’ve gone through a lot, and a lot of soldiers cried just like you. I don’t know a lot about what they’ve seen, but I know that what they saw was absolutely horrible to make such tough men cry into pieces.”

Rickie tried to smile but he couldn’t help the tears. Pris wiped them off again. Then, he was fine. “I’m very sorry… I don’t know what to say.”

“No, no… it’s absolutely fine.” She gave a smile. Aware of time, however, she looked down at her wristwatch and saw that her break was over. “Well, I better get back to work. The head nurse would kill me if I don’t get back now.”

“…Thank you.” Rickie said, smiling.

Pris, who was sitting, smiled. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. She then leaned again and kissed him on the lips. Rickie was stunned and yet he was so happy, so so happy. The kiss took pretty long, and as their lips touched, they cherished every single millisecond. Every single moment until their lips separated, as both felt a space of air between them. Rickie had a wide smile on his stubbled face. Pris could say the same, as she was so happy she didn’t want to let go. But she had to. Duty calls. “I’ll see you later. Okay?”

“Okay.” Rickie said. Pris went off the chair and on to her two feet. She turned around but as she was about to walk away, Rickie called her again. “Was that real?”

Pris smiled as she looked back.

“Yes.”

* * *