In Love and War

by Natalie Brock

  Seemingly out of nowhere, a hand appeared in front of her face. The hand was holding a cup and offering it to her. Cathy looked up to see Dr. David Mason smiling at her. She was stunned. Her heart started racing and her stomach did a flip-flop, just like it did the other night in the Commissary when he looked at her with those sexy eyes of his.

  “I thought you looked thirsty,” he said, his eyes shining in the dimly lit room.

  Cathy should have accepted the beverage graciously, but she had no idea how to respond in a situation like this. “How does someone look thirsty?”

  David chuckled. Holding a cup in each hand, he sat down next to Cathy and took a sip from one of them. He pointed an index finger at the dance floor. “Why aren’t you out there dancing?”

  “Why aren’t you?” Cathy asked in a way that sounded more antagonistic than she meant it to. This was her big chance, the moment she’d been waiting for, and it wasn’t going well.

  David shrugged and held the cup in front of Cathy again. “You sure you don’t want some ginger ale?”

  Cathy took the drink from David and when she took a sip, she nearly choked on it. “This isn’t ginger ale. What is it?”

  “Well, it’s partly ginger ale. It’s called a sloe gin fizz. Ginger actually has medicinal properties.”

  “It has alcohol in it??” Cathy was incredulous. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”

  “No, no, it’s just that you looked really tense. I thought it might help to relax you.”

  Cathy was extremely put off by the doctor’s presumptiveness, so she handed the cup back to him. “Is that the doctor’s prescription? You’ve got a lot of nerve!” The doctor just gave Cathy her “out” and, as much as she wanted to stay and be close to him, she was more comfortable keeping him at bay. So she stood up to go, only to twist her ankle, thanks to the high heels she wasn’t used to wearing. David quickly set the cups down and rose to catch her before she fell.

  He held her in his arms and she looked into his eyes. She rarely got within kissing distance of the opposite sex and it scared her to death. “Let me go.”

  “If I let you go, you might fall,” he said, looking deeply into her eyes.

  Cathy’s mouth often worked independently of her brain and she said things that she shouldn’t. “If you don’t let me go, I might fall harder.” She realized she should have never verbalized that thought.

  “I’m flattered.” David smiled warmly. “Dance with me?”

  “I don’t know how to dance,” Cathy confessed, wondering how many more ways there were to screw up this opportunity to get closer to the doctor.

  “I’d like to teach you ... if you’ll let me.”

  Cathy didn’t know what to say, and David took her silence as a “yes.” He took one of her hands and placed it on his shoulder and took the other hand into his. His other hand pressed lightly into Cathy’s back.

  Cathy looked down at her awkward feet. “I’m ... I’m sorry I hollered at you.”

  David cocked his head and smiled, urging Cathy to look at him. “That’s okay. You’re sexy when you’re mad.”

  Chapter 19

  Louis sighed as he looked around at all the party-goers. Still no Sal. If the mountain wasn’t coming to Mohammed, Louis was going to track Sal down.

  He knocked on her dorm room door and when he entered, he saw Sal in bed reading a book.

  “Really Sal? You’re in bed? Reading? What’s going on?”

  Sal looked up from her book. “What are you doing here, Louis?”

  “I got tired of waiting for you to show up. Come on, let’s go dancing.”

  “I told you I’m not going. And I always mean what I say.”

  Louis walked further into the room and sat down on Sal’s cot. “It’s boring without you. I have no one to dance with.”

  Sal smiled. “Poor Louis. You could do what I’m doing and turn in early.”

  “I like the way you think.” Louis leaned toward Sal to kiss her and she panicked.

  “Don’t do that.”

  “I love it when you play hard to get.” Louis tried to kiss Sal again.

  “Stop it, Louis.”

  “You know you want it.”

  Sal slapped Louis’s face with all her might.

  “Hey!” Louis rubbed his cheek. “Why the hell did you do that?”

  “Because, I told you no. And ‘no’ means no. Don’t any of you understand that?”

  “You’re a piece of work, Sal. I’m going back to the dance. And I’m going to find me a woman who won’t give me mixed signals the way you do.” Louis got up off the cot and left the dorm.

  Sal breathed hard trying to calm herself down. She threw her book at the door, even though Louis was gone. “You go to hell Louis Richards.” She leaned back on her cot knowing full well that Louis wasn’t the object of her anger.

  ~~~~~~~

  When they weren’t training for combat, Michael and Joe were usually assigned to work on military vehicles, so they each had a key to the base garage. Michael used one of his keys tonight and he took Mary into the covered flatbed section of a cargo truck. Michael had taken his fair share of girls here before: another nurse who had long since returned to the states, a couple of USO entertainers, a WAC, and a Commissary worker named Suze. The flatbed was comfortable and spacious with plenty of room to maneuver, and it took Michael and Mary no time to get busy. He was immediately impressed with this new nurse because she clearly knew her way around the male anatomy. So, it didn’t take long for him to seal the deal.

  ~~~~~~~~~

  Meanwhile, Louis went back to the dance. He was so angry at Sal, he was fuming. He was tired of people taking advantage of his good nature. He looked around quickly and grabbed the arm of the first woman he saw. “Dance with me,” he practically demanded as he led Suze out onto the dance floor.

  The USO band alternated slow ballads with swing tunes, a little something for everyone. Doris and Ray were out on the dance floor doing the lindy, Cathy was getting swept away by David and starting to feel more comfortable, and Millie was sitting on Joe’s lap smooching with him.

  The music was interrupted by an announcement made by the company clerk over the base’s public address system.

  “Attention all medical personnel. We have incoming wounded. All medical personnel are to report to the surgical unit immediately.”

  David kissed Cathy’s hand and he left her alone on the dance floor.

  In the garage, Mary gathered up her clothes and got dressed quickly.

  Back in her dorm room, Sal dressed and headed for the hospital.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Scrubbing up side by side in the hospital scrub area, Mary couldn’t contain herself and she started jabbering to Dr. Mason. They never really even had a conversation before, but Mary was overflowing with joy and she had to tell someone.

  “I’m going to marry him.”

  “Sorry?” David continued washing up, only half listening to Mary.

  “Michael Zacharius. I’m going to marry him.”

  David chuckled, pretending to know what Mary was talking about, rather than asking personal questions. “Does he know that?”

  Mary secured her surgical mask, concealing the broad smile behind it. “After tonight, I think he probably does.”

  David adopted a stoic tone of voice. “Well, there’s always tomorrow. That’s the good thing about being in a closed society like a military base.”

  “What do you mean?” Mary asked, hoping to benefit from David’s experience.

  He ushered Mary into the Operating Room as he continued to give her advice. “If you want to see someone here, chances are good that you will. And if you don’t want to see someone, well, you’re probably going to end up seeing them anyway.”

  Chapter 20

  Forty-five people departed the USO dancehall, but it may as well have been three hundred and forty-five. Soon after the announcement was made telling all medical personnel to report to the hospital, the music started
up again and the USO staff started singing George M. Cohan’s “Over There” in an attempt to reinvigorate the party. But the life had been sucked out of the dance hall, and not just because there were nearly fifty fewer people in the room.

  The soldiers and WACs knew all too well what “incoming wounded” meant. It meant something they were trying to forget, just for a night, even just for a few hours. It reminded them there was a war going on. Today, somebody else was injured or killed, but tomorrow it could be any one of them.

  After his tryst with Mary in the truck, Michael wandered back into the dance hall and joined Joe and Millie. They were seated on a chair against the wall, with Millie sitting on Joe’s lap. Joe greeted his friend with an easy smile.

  “You look like you lost your best friend, buddy,” Joe remarked.

  “Nah, not my best friend. Just a new friend.”

  “That’s too bad. I thought for sure you were gonna get lucky tonight.” Joe winked at his roommate as he pulled Millie closer.

  Michael laughed. “Are you trying to get me to kiss and tell?”

  Fresh from the dance floor, Doris, Ray and Suze joined the group. “What’s going on?” Doris tried to sound chipper, despite the somberness that filled the room.

  “Mike lost his date,” Millie blabbed.

  “That’s too bad.” Suze said sarcastically, linking her arm with Michael’s. “But you’ve still got me, sugar.”

  “Hmmm. Say Michael.” Doris had seen Suze throw herself at Michael before, and she could tell by Michael’s body language that he wasn’t interested. So she took the opportunity to try her hand at matchmaking. “There’s a girl over there who looks like she might want some company.”

  Michael followed Doris’s outstretched hand which pointed to the middle of the room where Cathy was standing all by herself. “Her name is Cathy,” Doris continued. “I can introduce you.”

  “I think Michael already knows her,” Suze said, deciding she needed to take matters into her own hands. No way did she want Cathy anywhere near her heartthrob.

  “I do?”

  “Yeah,” Suze said, her grip was firmly attached to Michael’s arm at this point. “But you know her better as mashed potato girl.” Millie and Suze giggled. “You know, Granny from the Commissary serving line.”

  Michael remembered the server and the generous helping of potatoes she gave him. He remembered feeling flattered when she told him he could have anything he wants. “Ha. Right. No thank you,” he said, wanting to keep his reputation as a cool ladies man intact. “I think I’m gonna turn in though, call it a night. See you all tomorrow.”

  Michael managed to free himself from Suze’s clutches, but he didn’t get very far before Doris caught his arm. “Wait Michael. You should meet her. She’s really quite beautiful. And very nice.”

  Suze rolled her eyes. “Ha! She’s only beautiful because we gave her a makeover.”

  “Thanks anyway, Doris," Michael smiled. "Maybe some other time.”

  Cathy was standing midway between Michael and the door and he needed to pass her to get to the exit. She looked at him as he walked by, and he smiled and nodded at her. He stopped, mid-stride, and did a double-take as he turned back around. This couldn’t be “mashed potato” girl, he thought. This girl was exquisite.

  Michael’s mother taught him not to stare and he knew it was rude but he simply couldn’t look away. The surprising thing was that she didn’t look away either. She met his gaze and held it, almost defiantly, he thought.

  He never saw eyes that shade of blue or hair so long and wavy. The only other woman he’d seen with an hourglass figure like that was Betty Grable, but she was just a pinup poster on a wall, a movie star he would never meet -- not a girl standing only twenty feet away, then fifteen, then ten, then five, then one.

  Without even realizing it, Michael’s legs carried him as close as polite society would allow him to get to a total stranger. He searched his mind for one of his patented pick-up lines, one of those come-ons that never failed him when he was trying to make time with a girl, but his mind was a total blank, his easy manner gone, his normally glib tongue replaced by one that was tied in knots. He should probably feel like a total idiot, but instead he felt bewitched.

  Finally, she smiled at him, almost as if he amused her. Don’t just stand there and stare, he kept telling himself. Say something, Zacharius. Luckily, he didn’t have to, because she did.

  “Mashed potatoes, right?”

  Chapter 21

  “Mashed potatoes, right?”

  Michael laughed. Why didn’t he think of that? He couldn’t possibly have come up with as good an opening line as she did. “You remember me?” Michael was pleased he made an impression on her.

  “Your dimples are unforgettable.”

  Despite or perhaps because of the fact she was a great beauty, Michael expected Cathy to be soft-spoken. But she was blunt. She spoke her mind, just like she did that day in the Commissary when she told him he could have anything he wanted. He hoped she still meant it.

  “Well, I’m more than just a pretty face, you know,” Michael joked.

  “I’m sure you are. But right now, I need to go. It’s almost midnight and ....”

  “What ... will your carriage turn back into a pumpkin?” he asked.

  “No carriage tonight,” Cathy said, not picking up on Michael’s humor. “I came here on foot. And speaking of feet, mine are killing me. I need to get out of these stupid high heels.”

  “How about one dance before you go?”

  Cathy looked at Michael like he was a moron. “Didn’t you just hear what I said? I need to take off these heels. I danced more tonight than I have in my whole life and I’m just really tired.” Cathy turned and walked away from Michael and he couldn’t believe it. That was it??

  “Cathy, wait ....” Michael jogged after her and grasped her arm.

  “How do you know my name?” Cathy’s tone was almost accusatory.

  Michael stumbled for an answer. “Um ... someone told me.”

  “Who?” Cathy looked around the room and she saw the gang watching her and Michael. “Ah, Millie and Suze -- Cinderella’s stepsisters. Can we get out of here?”

  Michael was taken aback by how forward Cathy was. This did not fit his image of who she was -- well, of who he thought she was. He definitely had some preconceived notions and they just weren’t adding up. He followed her outside.

  Both of them looked in the direction of the hospital. Even from outside, you could tell there was a lot of activity going on inside. It made Michael sick to his stomach to think of soldiers fighting for their lives in there at this very moment. Michael and Cathy looked at each other and tacitly decided to walk in the opposite direction, away from the hospital.

  “Wait, wait.” Cathy took hold of Michael’s arm for balance while she removed one shoe and then the other. She smiled broadly. “Ahhh, that’s so much better. I can’t wait to get my makeup off, and this dress.”

  Michael raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That’s a really pretty dress,” he said clumsily. Real smooth, Zacharius, he thought to himself. With lines like that, it’s a wonder you’ve had any girlfriends at all.

  “Maggie bought it for me from Lost and Found. She bid on it. Do you know Maggie Simpson?”

  “Sure, everyone knows Maggie. She’s like the base mom.”

  Cathy cocked her head and looked at Michael. “Do you have a mother?”

  Okay, now Michael was starting to think that this girl, who was a study in contrasts, was quite possibly a nut job. “Um, sure, everyone has a mother.”

  “I didn’t. I grew up in orphanages and foster homes.”

  So Michael put his foot in his mouth yet again. “I’m sorry,” he said lamely.

  Cathy continued talking. You could even say she was babbling comfortably, now that she was away from the uncomfortable environment of the dance. She knew it was wrong, but she was relieved that David was called away. She didn’t know where the dance would lead
and the thought of getting any closer to David both thrilled and terrified her. At least now she could be herself again. “I didn’t have a father either. Well, I mean, I wasn’t raised by a father and mother. ... Say, what’s your name?”

  Michael smiled. “I’m Michael, Private Michael Zacharius.”

  Cathy stopped walking and faced Michael. “Nice to meet you Michael Zacharius. I like the name Michael.”