Chapter 2: Finalization of Project GML

To say that Dave was surprised to see his wife walk into his hospital room would be an understatement. He was shocked and momentarily speechless. He knew that their financial situation had improved with her taking the job with Andrew, but she must have wiped out every bit of savings to show up like this.

"You're here," Dave said stating the obvious.

Sue Ellen, half afraid of touching him out of concern for hurting him, approached the bed with tears in her eyes. She sniffled.

With a quaver in her voice, she asked, "How are you?"

"I could be better, but I'm alive," Dave said taking her hand in his.

"I was so worried when I got the news that you were wounded. They didn't give me any details at all," she said.

Her eyes flicked over what she could see of him. He looked pale and weak, but she couldn't see any damage. Of course, most of his body was covered with a sheet.

"IED. It took a big chunk out of my leg," Dave said.

He had lost about two-thirds of the calf muscle in his left leg. There was a little damage to his Achilles tendon, but it hadn't disconnected completely. He knew that he was lucky and stood a good chance of being able to walk again.

"Did they have to amputate?" she asked despite the fact that two feet were visible under the sheet.

"No. I just won't have much of a calf," he answered.

"Thank God."

Still amazed by the fact that she was there, Dave asked, "How did you get here?"

"Andrew arranged it. He dropped everything to get me here," she answered.

Although Dave had never met her boss, he did know a lot about him. One of the things that he loved most about Sue Ellen was that she wrote him about everything going on in her life. She told him everything, even some things he would rather not know (such as when her period started). Still, it gave him the feeling that he remained a part of her life.

The first he had learned about Andrew was when Sue Ellen had written about him getting fired after reacting to the unkind statements his coworkers had made about his short visit in jail. Dave understood Andrew's angry reaction and privately applauded Andrew for not putting up with that kind of treatment. If it had happened to him, he was sure that his coworkers would have an in-depth and personal knowledge of how it felt to be butt buddies with a telephone pole. If he had been the boss, Andrew would have been the only one to keep his job – lawsuits be damned.

She had written about the receiving job offer from Andrew out of the blue. He had written back that she should at least go for the interview. She had sent him a long email about the interview, which wasn't really much of an interview other than a few questions about her basic office skills. He had blessed her change in jobs remarking that the increased pay would help them save some money. She had then written to him about the reaction where she had worked on getting her letter of resignation, and then all of the details about starting at her new job. He had read long emails about how boring her job was.

When Sue Ellen described Andrew in her emails, he had to chuckle at what she said about her new boss. He had known a lot of guys just like Andrew in high school and knew that they were actually pretty good folk who followed the rules and had a strong belief in fairness. He had rescued more than one nerd who had stood up to a belligerent jock who was being obnoxious. The nerd did it despite knowing he was going to go home bruised and beaten. Usually by the time Dave got there, the nerd had came out the worst in the deal, but walked away proud that he had stood up for what he believed. Dave respected that.

She had even mentioned that he spent more time in his office watching pornography than working, but that he was very careful that she would not see it. Dave was not surprised that his wife would check on Andrew's browser history like that. She was a snoop and Andrew would have no chance of keeping any secrets from her.

He wasn't surprised by anything his wife told him about Andrew. From his experience, her boss was typical of most hormonally driven geeks and nerds. They couldn't get the real thing so they turned to images of what they wanted. They weren't perverts lusting after everything in a skirt. Even after watching hours of pornography, they would still treat every woman around them with real and honest respect. They would open a door for a lady regardless of her age.

As far as having Sue Ellen work for the Andrew, he wasn't concerned in the least little bit. He knew that Andrew might hit on her once, but he wasn't worried about Andrew stalking or badgering Sue Ellen into a sexual relationship. People like him, as Sue Ellen had pointed out, didn't do those kinds of things despite fantasizing about them. She would shoot him down once and that would be the end of it.

Dave said, "That was nice of him. I'm not surprised he helped you out based on what you've told me about him."

"You don't understand. He really dropped everything. He got me to the passport office, bought first class tickets, reserved a hotel room for me, and took care of everything," Sue Ellen said.

"We'll have to find some way to thank him," Dave said finding it hard to believe that her boss would actually do all of that for her.

"He'll be here in a while."

Surprised, Dave asked, "He's here?"

"He's taking care of the hotel rooms."

"You're sharing a room?" Dave asked with a frown.

"No. We're at the same hotel. He's going home tomorrow. He just wanted to make sure that I got here safely," Sue Ellen said.

"Oh. That's kind of a lot for him to do for you," Dave said uneasily.

Sue Ellen said, "He's a good decent guy. You'll see that when you meet him."

Not quite sure how he felt about Andrew coming on the trip with Sue Ellen, Dave said, "I'm sure he is."

There was helping out and then there was helping out. It seemed to Dave that Andrew had kind of crossed the line. He was going to have a long stern talk with Andrew.

Sue Ellen said, "Dave, you don't have anything to worry about. He's a nice guy. That's the opinion of the world's greatest snoop."

Dave chuckled at the comment about being the world's greatest snoop. He said, "Okay. I'll take your word for it."

"I missed you so much," Sue Ellen said.

For the next two hours, Dave and Sue Ellen talked about what he had been doing and what she had been doing. They covered the same material discussed in countless emails, but doing it face to face made it more real.

Andrew arrived at the hospital after having taken care of things back at the hotel. Not knowing enough about the layout of the hospital to head directly to the room where Dave was, he wandered down the halls of the hospital glancing in each room after checking out the room number.

It was heart wrenching to see all of those soldiers lying in beds. There were too many of them who were missing limbs, and lying there looking lonely and depressed. He knew they were all going through a hard time, but he didn't know what he could to do to help them.

He felt it was wrong for them to be alone that like. In a way, it kind of angered him that their families weren't there with them. The military should have paid for them to be there. He felt that it was a small payment for the debt the nation owed these heroes.

He felt a little ashamed that he was living a life of leisure when there were so many who were giving all they had on his behalf. His problems were so small compared to what they had to face. There were just so many problems they were facing beyond losing a limb. They had families to worry about, jobs that might or might not exist, and a future life of dealing with medical issues.

He finally found Dave's room. It was pretty obvious which of the men in the room was Dave since Sue Ellen, with tears of joy in her eyes, was holding hands with him like she was never going to let go. She looked so happy to be there with her husband. He took a moment to get his emotions under control.

Andrew walked into the room and marched over to Dave's bed. He held out his right hand in the universal gesture to shake hands.

In an awed voice, he said, "You must be Dave. I'm so proud to meet you. You're a real American hero. I want to shake your hand."

A little stunned by the greeting, Dave took the offered hand. Andrew really shook his hand, pumping it up and down excitedly. By the time Andrew released his hand, Dave was kind of glad to get it back in one piece.

Dave said, "I'm pleased to meet you, Sir."

"Sir? Oh, sorry. I'm Andrew King. You can call me Andrew."

"I knew who you were. My wife warned me that you were coming," Dave said.

When Sue Ellen had described Andrew in his email, Dave had almost thought she was making fun of the poor guy despite the fact that it wasn't her nature to do something like that. She had been spot on, even down to the details of his ill fitting black pants and white shirt. At least he was wearing a jacket that kind of covered up the bunched pants around his waist. Still, he was dressed just like a Hollywood portrayal of a nerd.

"I don't like admitting it, but I was in tears walking down the hallway to this room. I kept looking in the open doors and ... so many fine young men and women are recovering here. It's hard to imagine so many heroes in one place," Andrew said with his voice breaking at times. "I wish I could help each one, but I can't."

"Well, most of us don't feel like heroes," Dave said able to keep some of the bitterness out of his voice.

"You are a hero. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise," Andrew said.

Dave didn't know what to say. There wasn't much of anything heroic about getting blown up by a bomb planted beside a road. He felt guilty about the others who didn't make it out alive. They called it survivors guilt, but that was just a label. It was different knowing that you were here and the guy who had been sitting next to you was now in a grave.

Sue Ellen said, "He's my hero."

Andrew reached into a pocket of his jacket and pulled out two cell phones. After checking them, he handed one to Dave and one to Sue Ellen. He then pulled out a couple of chargers from the other pocket of his jacket. He put those down on the table by Dave's bed.

He explained, "I got some cell phones that work over here. You two can talk to each other all night long if you want."

Touched, Sue Ellen said, "Thank you."

Dave was speechless.

Andrew said, "All of the numbers you'll need are programmed into them. I also got the number of the taxi company programmed in them. Just call when you're ready to leave, and they'll dispatch a car to come out and pick you up. Don't worry about having money to pay them, I set up an account with them."

"That's real nice of you," Dave said overwhelmed by the gift.

Dave examined his cell phone noting that it wasn't a top of the line product, but a basic functional phone. He opened it and with a couple touches on the keypad, he found the contacts function. There was indeed a number for Sue Ellen. There were also numbers for Andrew and the hotel.

"That's very nice of you," Sue Ellen said staring at the phone in her hand.

"I didn't know how long you'd be here, but they're paid for six months," Andrew said apologetically. "If you need more time than that, let me know."

"That's more than enough. I think they'll be sending me back to the states sometime soon," Dave said.

"That's good," Andrew said. He frowned and then his expression brightened. "Maybe when you go home, you might leave the phones for another couple to use after you're gone."

"That's a good idea," Dave said thinking that there would be some folks who would appreciate it.

Andrew said, "I'm going back to the hotel. I've got plans for the evening. You know ... uh ... places to see and all that."

"Have fun," Sue Ellen said.

Dave said, "Thanks for everything."

Andrew left muttering to himself. "So many fine young men and women in one place. It makes you proud to be an American to know that so many people are willing to fight for the country."

Dave and Sue Ellen looked at each other. They grinned knowing they were both thinking the same thing.

Dave shook his head and then said, "He's a bit much."

"It was nice of him to give us the phones," Sue Ellen said.

"I wonder what his plans are."

"I bet his plans for this evening involve an escort."

Dave nodded his head. He had the impression that Andrew's plan included activities he was a little embarrassed to discuss. An escort was about the right kind of thing to explain that little awkward pause when discussing his plans for the evening.

"So tell me what you do there at work all day," Dave said.

Looking a little sheepish, Sue Ellen said, "I mostly work on Project GML."

"You've mentioned that to me, but you've never really told me what it involves," Dave said.