Angel of Mercy (13 page)

“I need to see your degree of flexibility at 88 on the Dauber Scale,” the therapist said, making reference to the scale of muscular flexibility scale used in Basic Training as well as worldwide for those attempting to become Olympic gymnasts. “You are at 69 and that’s where you have been for over a week. There isn’t anything more that we can do, son. I’m terribly sorry.”

Gerald was officially notified three days hence that he would be returning to the United States. His commanding officer came to see him on his last day in the hospital, and wished him well. Army Chaplain Boyd Dalrymple, whom Gerald had gotten to know from his several weeks in Unit 2D, asked Gerald to stop by his office before he left for good. Gerald assured the hospital’s man of the cloth that he would drop by to see him. The two had shared more than a few enjoyable times getting to know one another on a personal, as well as Chaplain/client level.

Chelsea worked a 14-hour tour of duty in surgery. Though there had been no lapse in her considerable talents as a nurse, Chelsea wasn’t nearly as upbeat and talkative as she normally was while in the company of the other doctors and nurses. Captain McGuire looked at her with a quizzical glance a few times but since he didn’t know the particulars of her personal life, was left in the dark about her mood. He shook his head in dismay, as Chelsea had grown to be one of his favorite nurses.

That night, Chelsea was exhausted to the depth of her bones. Even so she was unwilling to miss a moment with Gerald. Chelsea met him outside the surgical unit after work.

Gerald greeted Chelsea with a kiss. Chelsea returned it enthusiastically. Not a moment was to be wasted that could be spent feeling Gerald’s warm lips on hers. Chelsea took Gerald’s hand and walked him to the door of her CHU. Lisa Glenn had been told that she needed to make herself scarce on this, Gerald’s second to last night on base.

Chelsea turned and kissed Gerald as soon as they closed the door behind them. Gone was the chaste and friendly kiss that Chelsea showed the public. Gone also was the hesitancy that accompanies most first and second kisses. Chelsea and Gerald kissed with a hunger that bordered on desperation, and with a passion borne higher by the knowledge that they would soon be separated.

Gerald started to unbutton his shirt, but Chelsea was having none of that. She tore Gerald’s uniform shirt, scattering buttons to the floor. Gerald kissed Chelsea who opened her mouth and feverishly met Gerald’s tongue with her own. The kiss, which was passionate from its outset, became a boiling maelstrom of lips and tongues as the lovers fought each other to show their individual passion.

Afterwards, Chelsea lay awake for a while. She listened to Gerald’s gentle sleep purrs and wondered about their future. She was so very thankful that God had brought the two of them together, but she had to wonder to what purpose. He was going to be going home while she still had a little over two and a half years on her contract. Sure they could do the distance thing but was that feasible? Finally, Chelsea drifted off to sleep. Questions aplenty, but answers hard to find.

Gerald was gone the next morning when Chelsea awoke. She knew that he had his appointment with the hospital chaplain and that they had plans to get together after that. For her part, Chelsea had a four-hour tour in surgery and then another hour doing clinic work. If all went well, she would be finished by 1500 hours and she and Gerald would have the rest of the afternoon and evening together. As Chelsea got dressed for her day, she found herself in a time of prayer.

Dear God, you need to help me. Gerald leaving his unit is really hard for him, but his leaving me is breaking me in two. I know that people are brought together for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. If You show me that Gerald and I were just supposed to be a part of each other’s lives for the reason of his recuperation, I can live with that. Whatever the case help him to be happy. I’ve fallen in love with him.

Chapter Nine

Chelsea’s first four hours were spent working on a single patient. It was an 11-year old boy who had run afoul of a roadside incendiary device. The burns and shrapnel were severe enough that skin graft surgeries were going to plague the young man for many years to come. For the millionth time, Chelsea’s heart broke for the innocent victims of war.

Her time in the clinic was less stressful than what she had experienced in surgery. The staff was working on bringing the civilian children’s vaccines up to date. Many of the young ones had never had even a polio vaccine, and that disease, almost unheard of in the western world since the 1960’s, was making a comeback in the Middle East and western Orient. Chelsea worked almost a half hour beyond her scheduled shift helping trim the line that stretched out the door.

Chelsea went home to freshen up before meeting Gerald. Awaiting her was a letter from Gloria Vesta.

“Dear Chelsea, I wanted to write to you because it’s been a long time since we had such a great time on leave. I could really use some pampering myself right now. It hasn’t been a good week. I broke up with Chad. He was just stringing me along, telling me what I wanted to hear. Way out here in this God-forsaken place it’s easy to forget the way we were raised. My Mama would have pitched a fit if she had known that I was sleeping with a married man. You know what, Chelsea? I realized, all of a sudden, that Mama would have been right.

Chad’s wife is waiting for him at home and here I am, taking what should rightfully be hers. I’m ashamed of myself, Chelsea! So I called it off. He told me that he intends to divorce his wife, thinking that would make me change my mind, but you know what? All that did was make me feel worse. I never wanted to break up anyone’s family. I was just selfish and lonely. Scared too. At night, when I can hear the mortar rounds in the distance I get scared. I just chose the wrong way to get comfort.

Anyway, I have a sense of peace inside that I am making the right choice. It will be hard until I go home or Chad goes home (Lord have mercy that man can kiss!) but then again it may not be that hard after all. My Mama used to say, ‘Doing the right thing hardens your backbone and lifts you head up high.’ Come to think of it, Mama had a lot of things to say that are only making sense now that I’m grown up.

I have to go now, Chelsea. Write back soon. G.V.”

Chelsea was left with some seriously mixed feelings after reading Gloria’s letter. She was glad that her friend had made the decisions that she had made, but Gloria’s talk of loneliness only made Chelsea’s grief over Gerald’s approaching departure that much more acute. In an environment of bed hopping married men and victimized nurses, Chelsea had found a good (and single, thank God) man to love. Now he was leaving.

Where is the fair in that?
Chelsea silently asked the air around her.
Nowhere, that’s where.

Finally, Chelsea took her leave of the CHU and walked the 200 yards to the front of the main clinic building where Gerald had planned to meet her. The warm sirocco desert wind began to kick up and Chelsea, worried about the condition of her freshly brushed hair, took a quick look around for Gerald before changing her plans. She started walking back toward her CHU.
He’ll catch up,
she thought.

Chelsea smiled to herself on the way back across the quadrangle that separated the clinic buildings from the residence CHUs. She was remembering the previous evening and enjoying the glow that was coursing through her body as she reminisced about some of the highlights.

Chelsea’s smile turned into a full-fledged laugh as she neared her residence. It wasn’t the thought of Gerald and making love that made her laugh. It was the sight of Lt. Matthew Clark scurrying across the street when he saw Chelsea approaching. The Lieutenant wasn’t wearing a girl on his arm this time. Word seemed to have made it around Kabul Air Base that Lt. Clark was damaged goods.

Oh, Chelsea knew that it wouldn’t last. Another fresh-faced crop of nurses would get off the plane and the Matthew Clark’s of the world would prey on them. It had always been that way and always would be thus. But for now, in this place, the good guys had shot down one lecherous bad guy. The thought filled Chelsea with a sense of goodwill.

Lisa Glenn and Chelsea passed one another just outside the CHU. Chelsea owed a multi-course Italian dinner to Lisa for her willingness to allow Chelsea and Gerald to be alone the previous night. Truth told, Lisa would probably be satisfied with a blow by blow account of what had happened (Lisa being a bit of a mental voyeur in her spare time) but Chelsea would rather spring for a big dinner than to kiss and tell with any particular and prurient details of what had happened the previous night. Those memories would stay with her forever.

Chelsea chatted briefly with Lisa before heading into the CHU. Lisa had a long tour of duty ahead of her, and Chelsea was hoping to put the time to good use in one of two ways. If Gerald indeed showed up very soon Chelsea was sure that they would make love. If, for any reason, Gerald didn’t show, Chelsea intended to take a nap. While her preference was that Gerald come over (and Chelsea admitted a little concern to herself that he hadn’t come to meet her over an hour after he had intended) Chelsea had learned the secret to stamina as a veteran nurse in a war zone. Nap when you can.

Chelsea put her headphones over her ears and lay down on the bed. Her playlist ran toward contemporary country and rock and roll classics. So, with a mix of Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Keith Urban, and Carrie Underwood playing in her head Chelsea closed her eyes and drifted away.

Normally a dreamless sleeper, Chelsea’s subconscious went into action as soon as she went to sleep. She dreamed of Gerald and of her mother back home. She dreamed that Gerald had already met Linda Bannister and that they were sharing a cup of tea on the porch of Linda’s home in Philadelphia. After that, she dreamed of the cross of Christ, slain on Calvary where (in her dream) she and Gerald were kneeling in prayer.

Finally, Chelsea dreamed of her maternal grandmother Hattie McCoy. Chelsea had never had a chance to meet Hattie McCoy since Linda’s mother had passed away just about the time that Chelsea was born. In Chelsea’s dream, though, Hattie McCoy smiled down on Gerald and Chelsea as they knelt before God in prayer.

Chelsea awoke from her nap after about two hours had passed. She checked her phone for messages, but none had been left. Now quite concerned about Gerald she quickly put a jacket on against the cool of the evening, as the sirocco had given way to a cold blast off of the Hindu Kush mountain range.

I love a lot of this country but the wind is for the birds,
Chelsea thought
as she set out to see if she could find Gerald Giacomo. She tried Tim’s place, but he hadn’t seen his brother.

“I thought he was going to be with you this afternoon,” Tim said with concern in his voice. “I haven’t seen him since early yesterday.”

Tim and Chelsea agreed that the best way to look for Gerald was to split up. Tim agreed to check the south and east quadrants of the base while Chelsea scoured the zones to the north and west.

Chelsea checked in briefly at the Afghan Canteen but wasn’t surprised not to find Gerald there. She knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t forget to be with her and stop to have a drink with his buddies. He knew just how much she was counting on spending whatever time they could together before he boarded the troop transport plane headed stateside.

Just as Chelsea reached the western perimeter of the base she heard her name called. It was Gerald, and he was running to catch her from behind. He was out of breath by the time that he got to her, having done no running at all during his time in the Glynnis Unit.

Chelsea offered her lips for a kiss. Gerald kissed her, but it felt a little perfunctory to Chelsea. Before she had time to process what that may mean, Gerald started talking.

“I’m sorry, Chelsea. I’m so sorry,” he began before having to gulp for air.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. But where have you been? I’ve been so worried. Your brother is worried, too. He’s looking for you…”

That was as far as she got before Gerald interrupted. “I know. I saw Tim. He told me you were here. He was going to come with me, but I told him that I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“Well, let’s sit down to talk,” Chelsea said leading Gerald to the very bench where she had meditated and prayed just a few nights earlier. They had barely been seated before Gerald took both of Chelsea’s hands in his.

“I apologize again for being so late, but I was talking to Chaplain Dalrymple in his office. We talked about plans, both in the short term and a little further down the line. He gave me a lot to think about.

“Chelsea, you know that it has been tearing me up to go home. I love my family, but I felt called to this unit, and this task, by God. Even when the sand fleas were eating me alive or the winter wind was howling I never thought I shouldn’t be here. Sure, I bellyached like everyone else, but I never wanted it to end prematurely.”

Chelsea nodded but didn’t speak. This was likely to be one of the last serious conversations that they had, and she wanted to hear Gerald out.

For his part, Gerald lifted Chelsea’s hands to his lips and kissed them, softly and sweetly. Then he continued.

“Chaplain Dalrymple asked me what I thought about training to be a Chaplain’s Assistant.”

Chelsea blinked in surprise, but wanted to know more. “You mean start over? Would you want to do that?”

Gerald shook his head. “I wouldn’t have to start over, Chelsea. All I would have to do is go through training to become a C.A. My combat training and physical training can translate to the training program toward becoming a chaplain’s assistant. The P.T. requirements aren’t as strict. The 8-minute mile that I could do right now will suffice.”

Chelsea smiled; glad to see Gerald feeling better about himself and about his prospects for the future. She was still going to miss him terribly, and she had absolutely no idea what, if any, future was in store for them as a couple, but at that moment she knew that she loved him. She knew that she loved him because his happiness was paramount in her mind at that moment. She always knew that when she truly fell in love, the joy of her partner would be uppermost on her heart.

Now, for the first time in her life, Chelsea Bannister knew how it felt. She was so very happy for Gerald that the loneliness without him was temporarily pushed to the background.

She genuinely smiled at the young soldier sitting next to her. She wanted to remember him just the way that he was right at that moment. She noticed the dimple in his chin. She noticed the way that he threw his head back when he was excited about something. She noticed his erect carriage even when sitting on a bench with his girl. And she noticed the lump in his throat as he looked back at her.

I can’t make his departure any harder on him than it has to be. If I love him as much as I think I do, have to let him go. He has a future, and he hasn’t thought that he would have one since he got hurt. Chelsea girl, it’s up to you to be a cheerleader for him leaving as if it’s the best thing in the world. After all, for him, it might be for the best.

Chelsea stood up, carrying Gerald’s hands with her. This was a time for a celebration, and she was going to treat Gerald to the finest dinner that could be found on Kabul Air Base.

“Buy you dinner before we say goodbye, Soldier?” Chelsea said with as much lightheartedness as she could put into her words.

Gerald said, “Sounds good. I’m hungry. It will be a while before I get some of the good food that this place has to offer.”

Chelsea snorted, “Like never again.”

Suddenly Gerald stopped on a dime and turned Chelsea toward him. “Chelsea, honey, why do you think I’ll never have Army chow again?”

“You’ll have Army chow. Just not here.”

Gerald folded Chelsea in his arms, but when she went in for the full hug, he stopped her. “Look at me, Chelsea.” Gerald put two fingers under Chelsea’s chin and looked into her eyes. “Chaplain Dalrymple’s assistant is retiring. He doesn’t want me to train and go somewhere else. He wants me to train and come back here! The training period is seven weeks, but after that I’ll be back here! Back to Kabul! Baby girl, I’ll be back to you!”