“Can you get Michael and the doctor for me.” I got back to business; it was the only way I was going to keep sane in this situation.
“Of course, I will.” Eddie promised.
I lost my cell phone, so you’ll have to call me back here at this number to reach me.”
“Kay, are you going to be okay?” He was beginning to panic.
“I’ll be fine Eddie. I’ll be home soon.” I tried to soothe him. I thought I heard him crying when I hung up the phone. I laid back on the pillows. There wasn’t anything more I could do at this point. I closed my eyes and thought about Ethan and walks in the moon light; the smell of the salt water, the warm breeze on my face. I imagined he was here to hold my hand the way he did that night at the Ironclad. Thinking of him made me smile.
The next day there was a knock at my door and Dr. Gordon poked his head in.
“Ms. Dandridge you have a guest.” He announced.
He stepped aside and a man who looked to be about forty, with blonde hair and horn-rimmed glasses stepped inside.
“Hello, I am Dr. Klaus.” He smiled. I had been expecting someone older. His youth took me by surprise, as did his Bavarian accent.
“I’m glad to meet you Dr. Klaus.” I greeted him.
He walked over to the bed and shook my hand. “I understand you have an interesting proposal regarding your leg.”
“Yes. I do.” I smiled up at him.
“Do you mind?” He pointed to the blanket.
“Go ahead.” I nodded.
Dr. Klaus turned to Dr. Gordon. “Of course.” Dr. Gordon insisted.
Dr. Klaus started to remove my bandages. I watched intently; I had a long incision from my ankle to my knee. “Do you know what sort of shrapnel did this?”
Dr. Klaus looked from me to Dr. Gordon.
“Um, well.” Dr. Gordon looked uncomfortable. “There were some metal fragments from but mostly it was bone.”
I cringed as I knew that the only thing left of the new kid was what they dug out of my leg and left side.
“Bone?” Dr. Klaus asked.
“Yes,” I filled in the blanks. “There was a Marine standing next to me when we were attacked. He took a direct hit.” It broke my heart, a young vibrant life reduced to less than a pound of bone, placed in a six-foot coffin and draped in a flag. That made me want to cry more than anything.
Dr. Klaus looked horrified. “It doesn’t matter how many times I see or hear about war injuries I never get used to it.” He shook his head and looked at me. “I am very sorry.”
“Thank you.” I nodded reassuringly.
“I must also say you are very lucky to be so close and to not have suffered more life-threatening injuries.”
I nodded. I had to admit I wasn’t feeling so lucky at the moment although he did have a point. Things could be worse.
“I’ve looked at your x-rays and the video from your surgery. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to save your leg if you’re up for another surgery.”
“If it will save my leg. I’m up for anything.” He nodded gravely. “I do have one small request though.” I looked to Dr. Gordon.
“Oh?” Dr. Gordon raised his eyebrows in my direction.
“I want to see them first.” I said definitely. “I want to see all of them, my team.”
I had one IV still in my hand which they hooked to the back of a wheelchair and insisted that a nurse escort me. I didn’t mind, my chest and shoulder still hurt and manuring the wheelchair on my own would have been a little too much.
“Oliver?” I said quietly as the nurse parked me next to the bed and waited. He opened his eyes slowly. “Oliver? It’s Kay.”
He looked over in my direction and tried to smile. “Hey Kay!”
I noticed that he was missing his left arm from the elbow down. I tried not to let my anger show.
“Hey how are you feeling?” I asked. “Oh, I don’t know they keep me pretty doped up.” He looked down at his arm. “What am I going to do? I can’t be a marine with only one arm!”
I could see the panic in his eyes, and it broke my heart. “I’m so sorry, Oliver.” I felt the tears building. “I wish I could have done more to help you.”
“It’s not your fault. You saved us. Because of you we didn’t end up in some torture chamber or worse.” Oliver smiled a weak smile.
“I’ll fix this.” I promised.
“What about you?” He wanted to know.
“Oh, I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me.” I assured him. It was tempting to tell him I was hurt too but he needed to be strong and didn’t need another sob story.
“Is your arm the only thing they took?” I was afraid I already knew the answer.
“No, they took part of my leg too.”
I looked down the bed. I felt the anger rising in my chest. Why hadn’t Dr. Gordon told me? Why had they taken his leg and not mine? Dr. Klaus might have been able to help Oliver too.
“Have you talked to your family?” I changed the subject before the tears escaped.
“Yeah, mom and dad are flying over and they should be here tomorrow. They say I’ll be in rehab for a while though.”
“Yeah, we all will. That is okay we will get through it together.” I patted his shoulder.
“Will they let us go to the same hospital?” He asked.
“I’ll do what I can to try and make that happen.” I promised him.
He nodded and his head fell back on his pillow.
“You get some rest okay? I’ll come back and see you again.” I whispered.
“Promise?” His eyes refocused on me.
“Promise.” I smiled and then nodded to the nurse.
The nurse wheeled me down the hall. I visited Devon, Chris and Micah before returning to my room. Chris, Micah and Devon weren’t hurt as bad in that they hadn’t lost
