Posted by hummingbird on 6/24/2014, 7:53 am VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Chapter Thirty-One December 12, 1944
Bo was restless….
Finally, his recovery was progressing nicely. He had no more headaches, his infections were healed, and his arm and ankle were both out of their casts. Still, the doctor would not release him back to active duty.
Bo knew the doctor was right. Although his ankle was healing, he still couldn’t walk without the use of a cane, let alone be as active as he would have to be if he was back at the front.
For the last couple of weeks, Bo spent his time practicing his walking trying to strengthen his ankle. He walked throughout the hospital and conversed with other soldiers who were still confined to bed. He wrote letters home for those who were unable. He was an encourager to the discouraged. Anything to keep busy.
One day as he was walking, he saw the mail delivery come.
“Good morning,” Bo said to the mail carrier. “You have anything there today for Bo Buchanan?”
“I don’t think so, Mr. Buchanan, but let me look here...hmmm…” He perused the stack of mail. “Sorry, not today.”
He saw the disappointment on Bo’s face.
“Don’t be so discouraged, Mr. Buchanan. You get a lot more mail than some of these blokes….”
Bo interrupted him. “What do you mean? I haven’t received anything for months! I’m beginning to think the government mail service is sending it to the wrong address.”
The mailman looked confused. “Mr. Buchanan...I put your mail in the bag with everyone else’s. My job ends there. Once I drop off the mailbag, the nurses sort it and deliver it to their patients. Maybe you should ask your nurse about it.” he suggested. “I know you have gotten mail.”
Bo looked at the mail carrier thoughtfully. “I’ll do that,” Bo replied, “and...thanks.”
As Bo was making his way to the nurse’s office to inquire about his mail, he was pulled aside by Nurse Hadden.
“GI Buchanan, Lieutenant Carson would like to speak to you. Let me direct you to his office.
Bo followed Nurse Hadden. She walked him into the Lieutenant's office. “Here is GI Buchanan, Sir.”
“Thank you, Nurse Hadden.” As the nurse left, Lieutenant Carson extended an invitation for Bo to be seated.
He fumbled through some paperwork on his desk before he folded his hands in front of him and began.
“Buchanan. I had a discussion with Dr. Blake yesterday, so I have been reviewing your charts. According to this….” He looked back over the paperwork, “...you have been here at the hospital since... early September.”
“That's correct, Sir,” answered Bo.
“Dr. Blake says you have made great improvement since your arrival. I’m glad to hear that. Yet...Dr. Blake also tells me that it will be many months before you have full use of that leg again.”
Bo nodded. “Yes, sir. Dr. Blake has told me the same, Sir.”
“Dr. Blake also tells me that you are anxious to get back to the front.” The Lieutenant removed his glasses . “I’m sorry to say, Buchanan, that your leg injury is going to prevent that possibility.”
"I'm sorry to hear that, Sir," Bo replied.
The Lieutenant sat back in his chair. He looked at Bo thoughtfully before continuing.
“I want you to know that you have been a great credit to your troop. General Hollister tells me that it was your skill and bravery that saved the lives of three of your comrades at the battle of Paris. For that alone you will receive a Medal of Valor.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
The Lieutenant paused again, then asked, “Do you have a family waiting for you at home, Buchanan?”
“Yes, sir. I have a wife of seven months…” Bo began.
The Lieutenant smiled, “That’s not a wife, that’s a bride! You ready to go home to her, Buchanan?”
“If I am no longer needed in service of my country, then... yes, sir!”
The Lieutenant laughed. “Then I’ll draw up your discharge papers...Honorable Discharge, Buchanan. I want to thank you for your service to the United States Army...and wish you the best in your future. Now...unless you have further questions for me, you are dismissed, Buchanan.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Bo said. He stood and saluted the lieutenant who saluted him in return.
“Now...go write a letter to that bride of yours. Tell her you’ll soon be on your way home.”
“Yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir!”
Bo left the office with a huge smile on his face.
I'm coming home, Red...I'm coming home...
* * * * * *
Bo left the Lieutenant’s office with a lighter heart and resumed his walk to the nurse’s station. He stood in the doorway and looked around. The only nurse present was Nurse Sarah who was working on patient charts.
“May I help you, GI Buchanan?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I was looking for Nurse Catherine. I have a question for her regarding my mail.”
Sarah looked startled, but she quickly regained her composure. “Cat should be back any moment.”
A few moments later, Cat came into the office. She was surprised to see Bo standing there. Bo plunged right in.
“Nurse Cat...I ran into the mail carrier today. He told me that he has delivered quite a bit of mail addressed to me. Can you please tell me where it is?”
Cat tried to hide her anxiety. “He must be mistaken. You see me deliver the mail to the others every day. If you had any, I would give it to you,” she said.
“I would hope so,” said Bo. He paused, then continued, “He was quite sure that I had received mail though. In fact...he said I received more mail than most of the other guys. I think it odd that I haven’t seen it.”
Cat looked on her desk and under a few papers. “How silly of me. You did get a letter. Here it is right here.”
She handed Bo a single envelope. It was from Maggie. She hadn’t had time to sort through yesterday’s mail and hide this letter. Cat thought if he received this one, he would be satisfied and drop the subject. It didn’t happen.
Bo looked at the letter and said, “That’s odd...this letter has been forwarded from my old post. After all of these months, my family should have my new address. I’ve used it on my letters home to them. I think it strange that Maggie would send a letter to my former address , and... I think it even more strange that I haven’t received any letters from my wife...unless they haven’t been getting my letters. Have you been sending my letters out, Cat?”
Before she had the chance to formulate an answer, Nurse Hadden came into the office. “GI Buchanan, may I help you with something? We don’t allow patients in the nurse’s office.”
“I was just inquiring about my mail,” said Bo. “The mail carrier informed me that I have been receiving mail, but it hasn’t been delivered to me.”
Nurse Hadden looked at Cat.
“I have given him the mail I’ve received for him, Ma’am.”
Bo interjected, “The one letter I have received...just given to me today...has the former address on it. I find that very peculiar. I have been sending my family mail with the new address for a few months now. I am beginning to wonder, Nurse Hadden, if they have even received my mail. If they haven’t... then they haven’t heard from me since August. They must be worried sick about me. AND...if they haven’t received my letters, then where are they? I gave them to Nurse Catherine to mail. What happened to them?”
“They are in her desk drawer,” came a quiet voice. It was Nurse Sarah. Cat’s head spun around to look at her. She shot her a warning with her eyes.
“Excuse me, Sarah, what did you say?” asked Nurse Hadden.
Sarah slowly stood and faced Nurse Hadden.
“I said...the letters are in Cat’s desk drawer. I was borrowing a pencil one day, and I found them.”
“You’re lying, Sarah! I don’t have any letters in my drawer...why are you saying such things?” Cat countered angrily.
Sarah was firm, “I saw them, Ma’am.”
“Well...we’ll solve this issue right now!” Nurse Hadden said as she began searching through Cat’s desk.
Cat looked at Sarah with a smug expression knowing that she had burned the letters. Her expression changed quickly when Nurse Hadden held out an envelope...it was addressed to GI Beaufort Buchanan.
“What’s this?” asked Nurse Hadden.
Cat tried to hide her guilt. Nervously she replied, “I don’t know. Maybe it accidentally fell in my drawer when I was doing paperwork. I probably just picked it up with some work I was filing and…” she tried to explain.
Hadden cut her off. “Opened?”
Cat looked at her superior. Cat’s jaw was clenched. She was angry and could no longer hide her guilt.
“Where are the rest of GI Buchanan’s letters, Nurse Catherine?” asked Nurse Hadden firmly.
When Cat didn’t respond, Nurse Hadden shouted, “I asked you a question! Answer me! NOW!”
“I burned them…” Cat said looking down at the floor.
“Look at me and speak up!” Hadden shouted.
Cat looked up at Nurse Hadden with grim resignation. “I said I burned them,” she repeated.
Bo rubbed a hand over his face. He held his hands out in a questioning gesture. “Why?”
“You owe this soldier an explanation, Nurse. Please tell him why you would withhold his mail...why you would cause he and his family unnecessary duress during war time...explain yourself please!”
As Cat stumbled to form an explanation, Nurse Hadden looked through the drawer for any other letters or ‘proof’ that may have been left behind. She pulled out another letter not yet in an envelope...it was the one Cat had been writing to Bo pretending to be Nora.
Nurse Hadden handed the unfinished letter to Bo. He read it.
“No need for an explanation,” he said. “This letter pretty much clarifies everything.” He looked at Cat as he continued, “You were planning on betraying me, making it look as if my marriage was over. What were you looking for...a free ride to The States?”
Bo shook his head in unbelief. “If you only understood how ludicrous this plan was. You see...I know my wife. I know the love we have, the bond we have…it could never be broken…”
He threw the fake letter on Cat’s desk. She looked down at the floor again.
Nurse Hadden spoke, “We will be dealing with this in the harshest of ways, GI Buchanan. It will be dealt with. I assure you, it will never happen again.”
“Well, it won’t happen to me again, but you may want to protect the other soldiers.”
When Nurse Hadden gave him a questioning look, Bo continued, “I received word today...I am being discharged...Honorably Discharged,” he said looking at Cat. “I’m going home.”
yay!!!! I was dreading these chapters....yay....Bo is coming home! Happy, happy chapter coming up...please don't leave us hanging over the weekend!!! get Bo on a fast plane....no slow boats!
