Fortunate Sons

Chapter 7: Night Terrors January, 1968

Sue made her way through the maze of graves, small crowds of people and stone tables where people had left offerings for the dead, the heels of her brown sandals clicking on the moss and weed covered walkways and her green army fatigues immaculate. A pair of amber hair pins held her strikingly black hair in a neat bun at the back of her head and her short sleeves kept her cool in the merciless heat.

Finally she found the grave belonging to her father and uncle's father. Ong Noi had been the one person in her life who had been the biggest influence on Sue, practically raising her when her parents couldn't. When her parents were gone and left Sue in the care of Uncle and his family, Sue had become even closer with him. Though he lived to be ninety three, his death was still a horrible blow to the family.

She knelt before the grave, replacing the old offerings with the new and leaving the jade rosary beads that had belonged to her grandmother with them. She lit a few joss sticks for the incense burner and put them in their place with the smoky trails rising up into the hot winds like wisps of dragon's breath.

All around her were families that had come to pay their respects to their deceased elders, some who had even come to perform a secondary burial before the start of the New Year. As she looked around, Sue had hoped that wherever Ong Noi was, he and her other family members would keep her safe in the tough days ahead.

I wish you were here Ong Noi......Sue thought tearfully. I wish you were here so I could talk with you again.....

"You ok?" someone had asked her.

Sue was startled to find Leah, one of the nurses, kneeling beside her, her red hair tied off in a simple braid that hung loose over one shoulder. "Yeah, I just came to see my grandfather," Sue replied.

Leah nodded, understanding that Sue had come for reasons of her own. "Sorry if I disturbed you," Leah said. "I got lost and wandered in here on accident."

"Nobody got mad at you did they?"

"No surprisingly not," Leah chuckled. "I ran into a nun and she told me that you were here."

Sue and Leah rose from where they had knelt and began walking out of the cemetery, taking the road that led through the main part of town. Everywhere they looked, people were selling clothes, lanterns, food, jewelry and other things to make ready for the New Year. The streets were alive and frenetic as people prepared for the coming celebrations, sweeping out their houses and getting their businesses ready for the celebrations.

"How's Uncle been?" Leah asked as they walked.

"Busy as hell," Sue told her. "People come in, they order food at some obscene hour and then go home. How's life at the nurse's station?"

"Had four guys come in with some pretty ghastly injuries," Leah said. "Did two back to back amputations in under four hours and took care of a sucking chest wound."

"Oh you poor suffering creature," Sue quipped. "At least you didn't have to scrape the socks of a man's feet."

"Reminds me of one of my Dad's horror stories from when he was at Saipan," Leah half laughed.

The girls headed back to the compound for the day and to settle in for the night ahead. Rosemary had been the only one to return early, changing out of her fatigues and into her cobalt blue robe she had bought from a shop close to the house.

"Rough day?" Sue asked.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Rosemary said. "Young guy was brought in after he stepped on a mine. He was lucky he didn't lose his legs or his life."

"Ouch."

"Anybody else coming home tonight?" Sue asked.

"Esther should be home later, Kathleen is still at the hospital, not sure where Robin is," Rosemary replied. "I think for now it's just us three."

"Last I heard Robin had to go into a village outside of town," Leah said. "I think it had to do with somebody getting jungle fever or something."

"Anybody go with her?" Sue asked

"Yeah, I think Dr. Pearlman went with her," Rosemary replied.

As their chattering continued and the night dragged on, Sue soon retreated up to her room to see if she could catch up on some much needed sleep on her only day off. Working twelve hour days at the hospital was murder not just on her feet but on every last part of her. All of those ghastly injuries she had seen on the job, the forlorn faces of the soldiers who lay in those beds day after day. Sometimes all Sue needed was a day to herself to unwind.

She flopped right into bed and closed her eyes, giving in completely to the inescapable spell of sleep and letting her exhaustion float away on the wind. Her mind had begun to wander off but those wanderings soon took her to a nightmarish place. Visions of fire, blood and screams, visions of artillery fire and angry shouts, visions of Taylor and the others running through the jungle and ordering people to take cover. She saw him running through fire, smoke and burning jungle foliage, a bright blur of white, red-gold and pine green, dodging mortars as they hit the ground. A piercing whistle filled the air.......

"TAYLOR!!!" she screamed as she awoke, bolting upright and gasping for air.

She looked around the room, her eyes fixed on every square inch of the room as they darted back and forth. It took her several seconds to realize what had happened. Now she had begun to see what Taylor had meant. This didn't feel like any ordinary dream or any ordinary nightmare.

My God......Sue thought to herself. Now it's happening to me.....what the bloody hell....?

She couldn't put it out of her mind. No matter how hard she had tried to put it all out of her mind it was almost impossible. It frightened her to think that at any time, the danger that she and so many others were in could become worse.