Chapter 68

Flashback – Ben – Back at the base

After I almost got raped by the flight nurse, the pilot announced, “Prepare for landing.”

She pulled away and assured me, “Don’t worry, I will see you later.”

The chopper landed and as they began to take me off the chopper, I had a slight problem in my pants: The flight nurse got me so excited I had a world class tent. And it wasn’t funny! It hurt like hell because my hands weren’t free so I couldn’t position him in a more comfortable position.

They slid me out of the chopper and SHIT! There to meet me was Colonel Maggie. I could clearly see where her eyes traveled as they went from South to North - she noticed the tent. She scolded me, “Sgt. Blaine, what the hell did you think you were doing?”

I wasn’t sure what the hell she was talking about and since I worried her comment was about the tent in my pants, I decided to play dumb, “Sorry Sir! I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

I mentally breathed a sigh of relief when she continued, “Your foolishness for trying to save the supplies out of the downed medivac chopper damn near cost the Marines one of their best snipers. Sgt. Blaine, do you have any idea how much money the Marines have invested in you?”

I decided to yank her chain a little and teased, “Oh I don’t know, five or six dollars?”

Her eyes softened, she laughed and said, “Sgt. Blaine, it’s a hell of a lot more than that! So don’t go getting yourself killed because you’d be hard as hell to replace.”

I changed the subject, “Is the Captain going to be okay?”

Colonel Maggie’s smile continued and she said, “Don’t worry Sgt. Blaine, I have a complete report on his actions and you’re not going to work with him again. By the way, the surgeons said you did a hell of a job on Jack.”

I asked, “Where is he?”

Colonel Maggie said, “He’d be in your room if we could get him to stay in bed long enough that he could get off the shots for pain. I never realized he was such a pansy about pain.”

I quickly thought and replied, “Jack can be funny: Some things don’t seem to bother him at all, but when his ‘prides’ been hurt he always complains.”

Colonel Maggie laughed, “‘Pride’, now that’s a funny name for his flabby ass.”

The Corporal came up and remarked, “Sgt. Blaine I’m going to take your rifles and packs to your room.”

I smiled and thanked him, “That would be great, I was wondering what I was going to do with them in the ER.”

The corpsmen came up and hauled me into the ER, Colonel Maggie tagged along and started on the ER doctors, “I know you all are busy but don’t you dare let this Sgt. languish in the hallways forever.”

One of the nurses came up and confirmed, “Don’t worry Colonel, Sgt. Blaine is going to get the best care anywhere.” The nurse gave me a smoldering look as she continued walking.

Colonel Maggie said, “Well, I need to get going and give that Captain some shit for harassing you. Hell, I might even give him a General Donaldson.”

She left, but it took me a couple minutes to figure out what a ‘General Donaldson’ was. I started to laugh, then the nurse returned to wheel me into a room...

Flashback – Jack – in the hospital

I really wanted to call Masha again to make sure she was okay, but I looked at my watch and realized she’d be asleep. Of all the crazy assed things to have happen to her: She was forced to kill a teenage girl - what’s the world coming to? I was thankful as hell that Colonel Maggie took care of the situation so at least I could relax some.

The Corporal came up and announced, “Banzai is here, I took his rifles and packs to the room along with yours.”

I asked, “How’s he doing?”

The Corporal replied, “I’m not a doctor, but he seemed fine to me. Banzai and the Colonel had a long conversation.”

I asked, “Do you know what happened to him?”

He leaned closer and whispered, “From what I understand, he was trying to save medical supplies from the downed medivac chopper when the towelheads hit the downed chopper with two RPGs.”

I chuckled because knowing Colonel Maggie like I do, she must have given Banzai a huge load of shit about that.

The Corporal asked, “Is there anything I can do for you Sgt. Reynolds?”

I looked at him and said, “Yeah, you can start calling me Jack instead of Sgt. Reynolds.”

He smiled and said, “Okay Jack, I will be back later to see if you need anything else.”

Hell, I could get used to having an aide at my beck and call.

Flashback – Masha – The next day

I jumped like crazy when someone touched my shoulder. Louise jumped back and said, “Don’t kick my ass Masha, it’s just me. I thought you might want to join us for breakfast.”

I sat up, my head ached then I remembered the wine from last night and realized the source of my ailment. I sputtered, “Y ... Y ... You made breakfast?”

Louise laughed (which made my head hurt even more) and replied, “Yeah, I’m sure it won’t be as good as one of your meals, but I can boil water without burning it and cook eggs.”

I figured out the joke, forced myself to laugh and said, “Please give me a minute in the bathroom and I will be right there.”

Louise left, I rushed to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. Then I splashed some water on my face, rinsed my mouth and headed into the kitchen. Linda saw me and began to coo and goo and suddenly my headache was gone. I walked over, gave Linda a kiss on the cheek and said, “My, are you a happy girl today?”

Louise remarked, “She sure is, she likes staying at Auntie Masha’s house.”

Louise had made some coffee, which I grudgingly accepted, she put some eggs and potatoes on my plate, sat down and said, “I hope you enjoy it.”

I was glad I vomited earlier, because the food looked greasy enough that I knew I would have vomited again after I ate it. I took a fork full, put it in my mouth and remarked, “Thank you, this is really good.”

Louise suggested, “Try some of the potatoes.”

I took a big fork full, put it in my mouth and to my surprise found it was excellent. There were some onions, and green peppers in it, plus one other taste I couldn’t place so I asked, “These are even better, what did you put in them?”

Louse laughed and replied, “So, you’re trying to steal my cooking secrets? These potatoes are like my mother made when I was a child, she always added a little maple syrup to them when she cooked them.”

I commented, “I didn’t know I had any maple syrup.”

Louise laughed, “Don’t worry, I brought some from the store last night, along with a few more things for Linda. Well, it looks like it’s time for me to leave.”

Louise kissed Linda, walked out the door and for once Linda didn’t even cry. I finished the eggs and potatoes, checked my cabinets and noticed they were practically full. Louise brought much more than a ‘few’ things.

I did the dishes while Linda played in her chair and then prepared her for her bath. I really enjoyed having Louise here with me full time...

Flashback – Glen – At home the next morning

I slept like shit last night! I called the military academy I put Jennifer in to see how angry she was at me and I was promptly told that Jennifer couldn’t come to the phone because she had rebelled and they removed her privileges. I wondered all night long what the sort of fucking place I put Jennifer in and quickly came to a decision.

I walked down for breakfast, Daniela made another great meal but I looked at it and said, “Sorry Daniela, I’m not hungry this morning.”

She stared at me and argued, “Señor, what is wrong? You must eat.”

I returned the argument, “Like hell I do, Jennifer is always telling me I’m getting fat so missing a meal or two sure won’t hurt me.”

Somehow Daniela figured it out and replied, “Señor, if you are so worried about Señorita Jennifer, then you should bring her back from that school.”

I tried to explain, “Daniela, I’m not sure that I can since I signed a contract with the school and they don’t like things like this.”

Daniela thought for a moment then suggested, “Señor, if it is only a matter of the money, wouldn’t it be worth having her back at home so you would not be a crab in the morning.”