Chapter 13

06:10 Sunday, June 30th, 1991
Holiday Inn, 2730 N. Main St
Walnut Creek, CA

Frustrated, Sandy slammed the phonebook shut. She pulled on her shoes, and trotted to the staircase, bypassing the elevator. When she reached the front desk, she asked the clerk where the nearest military base with a large hospital was.

The somewhat-surprised clerk told her "Oak Knoll. The Navy's given it some newer name, but it's been Oak Knoll for as long as I remember. My husband used to go there all the time for his treatment." Sandy blinked at the middle-aged woman across the desk. The clerk wore a friendly smile and didn't seem pained by the mention of treatments for her husband, so Sandy simply thanked her and walked back up the stairs to where her road atlas waited.

08:30 Sunday, June 30th, 1991
Naval Medical Center Oakland (Oak Knoll)
Oakland, CA

"It'll be between four and eight hours, Sandy." Sandy had parked the truck after dropping Ben off, then she and Lenore walked in to find Ben stuck in triage hell. "I guess weekends are busy, the Navy's kids get hurt, or something."

The waiting room was crowded. Ben suggested they wait another day, for Monday, when presumably the wait would be shorter. Sandy had misgivings.

She felt Ben's forehead, and though he wasn't hot, he sweated. "You're staying here, mister. Lenore and I'll get you something to read, then we'll be back with lunch."

Ben acquiesced, quicker than he might have, to Sandy's way of thinking. He really must be feeling unwell.

Lenore picked out four science-fiction or fantasy books. "I don't think he's read these. These two are series he was reading before he left for the Army."

Sandy smiled and nodded, then schooled her features into her calm mask. Lenore shook her head, muttering, "How do you do that?" but didn't make any overt comment.

Lenore boggled at the menu choices for sandwiches at the sub shop they'd found. "Hummus and arugula, organic tomato pesto mayonnaise, organic salsa cruda, and free-range chicken breast sautéed in organic butter with shiitake mushrooms and Vidalia onions on five-grain pannini?" Lenore read incredulously.

"Shh!" Sandy urged, laughing, "They might hear!"

They left with an armload of food.

"Where the hell is Ben?" Sandy wondered aloud.

Lenore looked around the waiting room curiously. "Maybe he's in an examining room?" she offered.

Sandy tossed her head, thrust the bag with the books at Lenore, forcing her to do some quick juggling with the bag of aromatic sandwiches. She strode off to the registration desk, and found a free clerk. "Excuse me. PFC Collins was here with a cough and checkup following a punctured lung. We left to get him lunch, and now we don't see him. Where might I find him?"

The man at the desk, a male rating with three stripes and a strange symbol on his rank Sandy couldn't make out, looked up. "Pardon, Ma'am. Who are you?"

Lenore had come up next to Sandy, looking curious. Just as she was about to open her mouth, Sandy nudged her foot with her own. Lenore shut her mouth and frowned at Sandy. "My name is Sparks. He and I are on TDY orders together."

The rating evaluated her for a moment, then read his clipboard. "Okay. PFC Collins was admitted. Currently, he's undergoing some tests, getting white blood counts, et cetera. This should take a few hours. Come back before 1400 hours, and we should have a room number for him. Gunny Hebert seemed to take an interest in him. When you find him, the Gunny may be present. You have been warned." The man stared at her humorlessly, leaving Sandy to wonder just what the hell that last sentence meant.

Sandy concluded it was irrelevant. "Thank you, Seaman Wright."

He smiled at her. "'Hospitalman' works, too."

"Sparks?" Sandy turned back to him. "We have a refrigerator for his lunch, if you'd like?"

Sandy gratefully turned Ben's sandwich over to the Seaman. "One more thing, Sparks." Wright was looking at Sandy, but indicated Lenore with a flick of his eyes. "Only military personnel from his unit, those personnel with business with him are allowed in. Girlfriends ... are not."

Sandy gave a terse nod. "Got it, Hospitalman Wright." She gave him a faint smile, and he quirked an eyebrow towards her.

Lenore laughed all the way to the truck. "I can't believe he hit on you."

Sandy shrugged. "I didn't think it was so much a hit, more of an invite to express interest. But I'm not about to tell him he got the situation wrong."

"You really think he thought I was Ben's girlfriend?"

"Yep." Laughing, Sandy started the truck.

Two and a half hours later, Sandy and Lenore climbed back in the truck. "God, I can't believe how bad Kevin Costner's English accent was. And he kept dropping it!" Lenore laughed.
Sandy mimed pouring milk into a saucer and offered it to Lenore, but it hardly slowed the other girl down. "What is with that Azeem character? I don't remember there being Moors in 'Merry Old England' during the Crusades. Jeez, they killed the Robin Hood legend!"

Sandy snorted. Seeing the movie had been a good way to pass the time. Still, she worried about Ben. Lenore sensed it, and smiled at Sandy. "He'll be fine, Sandy."

For the rest of the ride up to the hills, they chatted about the trailers for the movies they'd seen in the coming attractions.