Chapter 42

KING ABDUL AZIZ AIR BASE Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 98 Hours ago

Don remembered being called on the radio, but that final F-15 being so noisy he had to get into the step-van and close the door so he could hear what the person on the other end of the radio was trying to tell him. He sat in the driver’s seat and reached for a pencil to jot down the info that was being sent to him, and suddenly he was weightless. The truck filled with hot JP8 jet fuel fumes, and he and the truck were flying sideways through the air. The ramp was built up high off a depression in the desert floor and the edge of the ramp was a steep drop onto huge sharp edge boulders.

Instinctively, he gripped the steering wheel, and he remembered thinking, “I asked those kids to clean out this truck” because all manner of loose objects were floating in the air inside the truck, including him. He almost got back in the driver’s seat when the driver’s side of the truck slammed into the ground. He slammed into the side of the truck and the sharp rocks that came through the window. Then something very heavy hit the truck, bending it, causing the steering wheel to clamp him against the door. He felt bones in his chest, shoulder and his left arm break, and in his blurry vision he realized that the truck he was parked next to had been blown over on top of him, and then came a soft explosion which drove the passenger door down on him breaking even more bones and breaking his right arm, then everything went purple. It was Purple K firefighting agent. Someone was trying to put a fire out ... or a Purple K extinguisher exploded.

Now a woman appeared through the purple fog. She had platinum blond hair and a kind face ... was this mom? God, how he missed his mother! He missed her almost as much as he missed Lanh. Through the searing pain and the choking purple dust, he gasped, “Mom, tell Lanh I’m ok.” Lanh will forgive him for this little lie. It got hard to breathe, the steering wheel was crushing his left lung and ribcage, his heart ached with every beat, not romantically, because something was stabbing his heart. He realized he was in a steel coffin. At least he wasn’t alone, the blond kept telling him that Lanh loved him, and she reminded Don of the good times, fishing out on the pond, milking the cows together with Lanh, the joy on Lanh’s face when she birthed her first calf.

“I’m tired, I’m going to go to sleep,” he muttered as everything grew dark.

“NO!” shrieked the lady, “Stay with me Don! Lanh needs you! Krissy needs you! I need you! Don, I love you!”

Don tried to claw his way out of the pit he was sinking into, only three women on earth has ever told him “I love you,” his mom Emily, his wife Lanh, and his sister-in-law Kim-ly which she immediately said was because she had been drinking, but she never recanted. Who was this woman? It hurt so much to breathe, “maybe I should just stop...” but he heard voices. He tried to call out, but he couldn’t inhale, he couldn’t fill his lungs to shout. It hurt so badly, and only now did he realize how stupid his suicidal thoughts in the past were.

The blond was shouting at the voices Don heard, but he didn’t think they heard him. He started sliding down into that pit again and the blond started pleading with him, “Please Don, stay with us, I’m going to have a baby and you’re going to love her, she’s going to be so cute, she’s going to call you “My Mister Don” and you’re going to read her books and teach her to count, and Lanh will love her so much too but you have to stay with me Don ... I can’t do it alone...”

He was almost gone when his crushing metal coffin opened up. He could see the sun and he could hear voices around him. The pretty lady continued telling him about Lanh, and he relaxed as he was cut free and strapped to a stretcher. The weight was finally off his chest, and he could breathe, but each breath felt like he was being stabbed and it seemed like his lungs weren’t working. He was panting, but still out of breath. “Deep breaths Don!” called the lady, “In through the nose, out through the mouth!”

“Oh two is at fifty-five!” shouted one voice.

“He needs oxygen!” shouted the lady. “Give him ten liters!” but nobody heard her.

“I need oxygen! Ten liters!” shouted someone, who was leaning over Don. A flashlight was shone in each eye. It was white in the right eye, red in the left eye.

A mask was put over his mouth and nose and it became easier to breathe as he was carried back up to the ramp. He remembered the sky above him; the sun burning down on him, then he was put in the back of a truck, all the while the pretty blond kept telling him about his beautiful wife and a cute little girl he will care for and love, but he hasn’t met yet. Every now and then he felt the need to relax and let go, maybe go find his mom, but the blond lady would scream at him, plead with him, and wake him up. A mask over his face made it easier to breathe, but hard to see. People came into his blurry line of vision, and he tried to ask about Skip, Wendy and Cynthia, but everyone told him to relax and not to worry.

He talked with the blond; he decided she was Lanh’s angel because she knew all about his life with Lanh, from their first kiss, to their first handjob, to their first time back by the pond on the picnic table in their wedding finery. She even knew about the kinky stuff, how he loved it when Lanh eased her finger into his anus and tickled his prostate as she sucked his balls and stroked his cock, how Lanh loved to be tied up and fucked savagely occasionally, anal sex on Prom Night before they married, how they loved to play the Dragon Lady and Agent Double Oh Seven and Five Eighths and how they loved to make gentle love in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

Most of all, she knew about their love, and she reminded him over and over how rare and beautiful their love was, and that he needed to stay with her so she could lead him back to Lanh. Was he on an airplane? It was hard to tell. Was that ringing in his ears? Or was it aircraft electronics? He decided it didn’t matter as long as his friend, Lanh’s angel, was talking to him. The airplane landed with a gentle bump, but Don could tell that the airplane was taxiing fast. The big rear door opened before the plane came to a halt and cold moist air poured into the back of the airplane. After an ambulance ride, the angel still wouldn’t let him sleep. A worried-looking nurse had wheeled him into a room where there was so much equipment and so many people. They shifted him onto a table, put a mask on his face, and then it was time to sleep.

He woke up a few minutes later, and there was Lanh and a pregnant Tam. Lanh was snuggled next to him on a bed and Tam was sitting in a recliner next to them. Don was surprised that someone as slim as Tam could carry a baby, and here she was with baby number three, ready to pop. There were curtains all around the bed and there was the sound of a radio. The newscast ended, and suddenly he heard the words come from the radio, “This is AFN, Kaiserslautern.” It was AFN Germany ... he was in Germany?

He blinked his eyes; they seemed all gummy and only one was working, the other was covered? He couldn’t raise either arm to check. He tried to sit up, but he felt like he weighed a thousand tons. Lanh noticed his movement and her face moved into his field of vision and she looked at him. “He’s up!” she gasped.

Tam sat up in her chair and looked at Don. The look on their faces was both one of joyful relief. One of the curtains moved back and Kim-ly stepped into the area holding three of those weird skinny, soft drink cans you get in Germany. “Get Doctor Ortiz!” gasped Tam.

Kim-ly’s face lit up with joy and she set the cans on a bed table and disappeared while Lanh started crying. Don tried to tell her he was ok, but it just came out as a croak, so he turned his head and kissed the top of Lanh’s head.

“You’re back!” She cried and kissed him gently, weeping with joy.

“Take it easy lover,” scolded Tam, “wait for the doc.”

“I got my doc right here,” Don tried to say, referring to Lanh, but all that came out was a hoarse croak. His throat hurt like the rest of his body.

The curtain opened and a cheerful Hispanic woman with a major’s oak leaf cluster on her collar entered the area. “I am Doctor Ortiz, I helped bolt you back together. Next time you drive a truck, keep it on the ground,” she said as she began poking and prodding. “Doctor Campbell, can you raise the patient’s head for me.”