Chapter 14: The Porcelain God

Wedge Donovan woke up and realized he was lying on the floor of his room. He had no memory of anything that happened after he left the squadron Christmas party. He blearily tried to recall what happened and realized that he had a mink blanket on him, and his head was on a pillow. “Are you awake?” asked Roxie. She was sitting in one of the easy chairs watching TV.

“No,” groaned Wedge. He realized what was going on in his head and stomach and crawled off to the bathroom and puked.

“Are you going to drink like that every time you get mad at me?” asked Roxie as she mopped his brow with a cool, moist washcloth.

“Not mad at you,” Wedge mumbled, and he sat back against the shower. “‘s ok, just give me time and I’ll be your bestie again.”

“Is that it, you’re mad at me because I said you were my bestie?”

“‘m not mad at you. I’m mad at me.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, and she knelt next to him, facing him.

“You are you and I am me,” he said with a slur, and he shrugged his shoulders. “You see me one way, but I thought you saw me a ‘nuther. ‘s my fault. I hope I didn’ embarrass you. Jus a dumbass ol’ redneck.”

“Wedge stop it!” she said.

“I let myself think that there was more, that you thought about me like I think about you. Then I saw you with all those guys ... you were so happy, and I was dying inside.” He banged his head against the shower stall and said, “Just give me time and I’ll pull my head outta my ass an’ be your bestie all proper.”

She put a hand on each side of his face and said, “Michael Aloysius Donovan, you’re pretty stupid when you drink.”

“Yup, I’m Irish.”

“No shit.” Then she softened. “There is more, I’ve never felt like this before, I have a bestie that makes my heart flutter when he’s around.”

“Roxie,” started Wedge, “I think I...” He gently put his hand on her shoulder, his fingers tangled in her long, raven hair. “I want to say that I...”

She stopped him with a gentle finger on his lips. “Not here, not on the bathroom floor all hung over and pukey. Let’s clean up first. Come on, let’s go lay down in bed.”

He crawled to the door when he remembered... “Awww, Roopy, why’d ya go an’ do it?” His stomach twisted in a hard knot, and he dove for the toilet.

Twenty minutes later, Josh Graveley knocked on Wedge’s door and was a little surprised when Roxie opened the door, not really surprised, just a little. “I come to see how the big guy is doing.”

“He’s pretty messed up. He normally doesn’t drink. Maybe some wine but usually he drinks ginger ale, so it looks like he’s drinking. Last night he went all out.”

“He had something on his mind, then he found out about Roopy.”

Roxie sighed as she handed Josh a cup of coffee. “What did Roopy do now?”

Josh looked at Roxie with an odd look on his face. “You ... you didn’t hear? Roopy is dead, he killed himself.”

“Ah shit,” moaned Roxie. Roopy was like a kid brother to Wedge. The kid did some dumb stuff, but he was right out of tech school. He should have had a stateside assignment first. Kunsan isn’t equipped to properly train airmen with an apprentice skill level. She glanced over at Wedge. They should be downtown enjoying the wintery day and doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. “I’ll make sure he pulls through it. He’ll be on time on Monday.”

“That’s another reason why I’m here. We beat the 35th in the exercise, we got the highest marks the Juvats ever had, as a reward Monday is a down day for us and Friday will be limited duty.”

Josh stayed and had coffee with Roxie, hoping Wedge would wake up, but Wedge is probably lucky to be alive. After being cut off by the bartender at the officers’ club, Wedge made his way over to the Army Air Defense Artillery hooch (A hooch is a bar built in a dorm room to raise funds for the unit running the hooch.) Roxie and a co-worker of hers, Don Campbell, found him there. Don and his wife, Lanh, helped Roxie get him back to his room. “I’m surprised he’s not dead. When the shirt told him about Roopy, Mike Schaeffer said that it was like all the life went out of him,” said Josh.

“Oh god, the poor guy,” said Roxie. She looked over at Wedge and her eyes filled with tears.

“Thank you for being so good to Wedge, I can see why he loves you so much.”

“Did he tell you that?”

“Roxie,” said Josh, letting his native accent take full reign, “Ah may be ah dumb ol’ Georgia boy, but ah ain’t blind.”