Retreat, Hell! Part 64

One of the nurses rolled a wheelchair to his side of the bed, and another started to pull the drapes around the bed.

"I won't need that, thank you," McCoy said, and got out of the bed and slid his feet into slippers.

Dr. Schermer thought: He seems to be able to do so without pain. He seems to be able to do so without pain.

Or without much pain.

Or he's very good at concealing pain.

As the privacy drapes were drawn around the bed and Lieutenant Commander Robert Haverty, MC, USNR, Chief of Gynecological Services, and a nurse went behind it, McCoy walked to the window and rested his rear end on the sill.

Dr. Schermer walked over to him.

"She means that, sir," McCoy said. "She wants to go home. Is there any reason she can't?"

"To the States? I'm afraid she doesn't meet the criteria for medical evacuation, and I don't think a flight that long would be the thing for her to do."

"She means Tokyo, sir," McCoy said. "We have a house there."

"You know what happened when she came here from Tokyo," Schermer said.

"She couldn't get a sleeper-for that matter, even a first-cla.s.s seat-on the train, so she sat up all the way, all night, on a wooden seat in third cla.s.s," McCoy said.

"I didn't know that," Schermer said as Commander Stenten stepped up beside him.

"Neither did I, until I tried to talk her out of going back to Tokyo," McCoy said. "You're going to have to convince her there is good reason-that she would lose the baby-if she went back to Tokyo in a sleeper on the train."

"Why does she want to go to Tokyo?" Commander Stenten asked.

"She says she'd rather be in her own bed, at home, than here."

"Especially since you won't be here?" Commander Stenten asked.

"Yes, ma'am," McCoy said.

"Let me think-long and hard-about this. After I speak with Dr. Haverty," Dr. Schermer said.

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

"And how's your leg?"

"I don't think I'd want to do any squat jumps, sir," McCoy said. "But I can maneuver, and I really have to get out of here and back to work."

"Back to what you were doing when you were hit?" Commander Stenten asked.

"No, ma'am," McCoy said, chuckling. "I don't think I'm quite up to that yet. But I'm okay for limited duty."

"Let me talk this over with Dr. Haverty," Dr. Schermer said.

[TWO].

OFFICE OF THE HOSPITAL COMMANDER U.S. NAVAL HOSPITAL U.S. NAVY BASE, SASEBO SASEBO, j.a.pAN 0855 25 OCTOBER 1950.

"I didn't know about her sitting up all night on a train," Dr. Haverty said. "That explains a good deal."

"How is she?" Dr. Schermer asked.

"At the moment, she's fine," Haverty replied. "But the idea of her taking another train ride . . ."

"Even flat on her back in a sleeper?" Commander Stenten asked.

The question seemed argumentative. Nurses are not permitted to question the opinions of physicians, much less argue with them. But this was not an ordinary nurse, this was the Dragon Lady.

"Well, what if she had trouble on the way?" Dr. Haverty asked.

"Yeah," Dr. Schermer agreed. "The husband wouldn't be much help. If something happened . . . anything could start her off again."

"She would need medical attention right then," Dr. Haverty said.

"But nothing a nurse couldn't handle, right?" the Dragon Lady asked. "Worst case, she starts-"

"You're not suggesting we send a nurse with her, are you?" Dr. Schermer asked. "I couldn't authorize anything like that."

"In addition to the train ride," the Dragon Lady said, "she got a h.e.l.l of an emotional shock when she heard her friend had been killed. And when she got a good look at Major Pickering. You don't think that had anything to do with the trouble she had?"

"Of course it did," Dr. Haverty said.

"Then you would suggest her mental peace would be a factor in whether she can carry to term or not?"

"Obviously," Dr. Haverty said.

"She's a nice young woman, a very nice young woman," the Dragon Lady said. "Tough, but not as tough as she thinks she is. Who is far from home and alone."

"That's true."

"The prospect of being here alone terrifies her. She wants to be in her own home," the Dragon Lady said. "I can understand that."

"So can I," Captain Schermer agreed. "But what if something happens at home? She'd be alone there, too."

"They have three live-in servants. She speaks j.a.panese."

"Three live-in servants?" Captain Schermer said. "In a major's quarters?"

"How do you know that?" Dr. Haverty asked.

"I've talked to her. Yeah, three live-in servants. Maybe the CIA pays better than the Marine Corps. But she's got three servants, and she doesn't live in government quarters. They own a house in Denenchofu."

"Which brings us back to the question of the trip to Tokyo. As much as I'd like to, I can't authorize sending a nurse with her."

"I'm up to my ears in use-it-or-lose-it leave," the Dragon Lady said. "I herewith apply for up to thirty days' ordinary leave."

They both looked at her in surprise.

"I've got some friends at Tokyo General," the Dragon Lady said. "I can explain the situation to them and make sure they lay on whatever might be needed if it's needed."

Dr. Schermer looked at Dr. Haverty, and said, "Bob, if she's not in immediate danger of losing the baby . . ."

"She really would be better off in her own bedroom. If she had quarters here, I'd recommend her release and tell her to get in bed and stay there, and to call for help the moment . . . But she doesn't have quarters here."

"So the question, then, is how to get her to her quarters?"

Haverty nodded.

"Commander Stenten," Captain Schermer said, "in connection with your Temporary Duty to confer with the nursing staff of the U.S. Army General Hospital, Tokyo, you are authorized up to thirty days' ordinary leave."

"Thank you, sir," the Dragon Lady said.

[THREE].

ROOM 16, NEURO-PSYCHIATRIC WARD U.S. NAVAL HOSPITAL SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 0830 26 OCTOBER 1950.

"Come on in, Major," Lieutenant Patrick McGrory, MC, USN, said to Major Malcolm S. Pickering, USMCR.

Pickering was in pajamas, a blue bathrobe, and felt slippers. After a moment's hesitation, he walked into the office.

"Have a seat," McGrory said. "I'm Pat McGrory."

He leaned across his desk and put his hand out.

Pick made no move to take the hand.

"Funny about the seat," Pick said. "I seem to remember that officers are supposed to get out of their their seats when a more senior officer enters a room." seats when a more senior officer enters a room."

McGrory stood up. "Sorry," he said.

"As you were," Pick said.

McGrory smiled.

"Does that mean I can sit down now?" he asked.

"Be my guest, Mr. McGrory," Pick said.

"Actually, that's Dr. McGrory, sir."

"Be my guest, Dr. McGrory."

"I'm a psychiatrist," McGrory said as he sat and motioned for Pick to do the same. "And you are in the psychiatric ward of the U.S. Naval Hospital, San Diego. This is our initial-sometimes called 'the welcoming'-interview."

"I never would have guessed, with the locked doors and the steel screens on the windows."

McGrory smiled at him.

"Funny, n.o.body told me I was nuts in j.a.pan," Pick said. "They told me-rather unnecessarily-that I was a little underweight and that my teeth are loose in my gums, but the word 'nuts' never came up. At least until yesterday when the guy on the airplane threatened to stick a needle in my arm unless I got on his gurney and allowed myself to be strapped in."

"I heard about that," McGrory said. "And I understand you said rude things to the nurse when she wouldn't let you use the telephone."

"I wanted to call my mother," Pick said. "And I am unable to understand why I couldn't."

"Well, for one thing, you had just got in, and you hadn't had your initial interview, in which the rules are explained. You can call your mother as soon as we're finished here."

"And when will that be?"

"Shortly."

"Tell me about the rules," Pick said.

"They vary from patient to patient-"

"Tell me about the ones that apply to me."

"-depending on that patient's problems."

"My problems are my teeth are a little loose in my gums and I'm a little underweight."

"You have gone through what I understand is one h.e.l.l of an ordeal. Do you want to tell me about that?"

"No."

"Any reason why not?"

"I'd prefer to forget about it."

"That's understandable," McGrory said. "But from my viewpoint, the Navy's viewpoint, we have to wonder what damage your ordeal caused."

"We're back to the loose teeth and lost weight," Pick said.

"The lost weight we can deal with by giving you a lot to eat. The food here's pretty good. And, I'm told, as you get your weight back, the loose teeth problem will gradually go away."

"Then why am I locked up in the b.o.o.by hatch? That's all that's wrong with me."

"And I hope to be able to soon certify, after we've talked some, that there are fifty-two cards in your deck."

"Plus a couple of jokers. Take my word for it."

"There are three categories of patients here. You-because you just got here and have not been evaluated-are in Category One, which means that you are restricted to the ward. If you need anything from the s.h.i.+p's Store, for example, you give a list to the nurse, and she'll see that you'll get it. You're not allowed to have money in your possession. When you move up to Category Two . . ."

"Let me guess. I can have money in my possession?"