Battle Scars Ch. 04

I snapped my fingers softly so that Annie knew where I was, and she joined me on the bed. She slid her hands down Gabby's left arm and lifted it onto her shoulder, then slid in beside me to hug her friend.

After a while, Gabby loosened up a little and I let her shift her hug to Ann alone. "Oh, how I have looked forward to... this," she said as she looked past Annie's shoulder at me. "Oh crap, David, what happened to your face?"

"IED, Gabs." I held up my damaged hand." No more guitar solos for me, either."

"You don't play the guitar, Gunny." She said with a puzzled look."

"I know; I'm just sayin'..." I smiled. She smiled back, which was a good thing in my book. Annie sat back a little and 'looked' at Gabby.

"So, don't you think this is a pitiful way to finally make it into the insurance company height to weight chart limits?" she said.

Gabby smiled, and said, "And is your future so bright, you have to wear shades?"

Annie 'looked' over her shoulder at me and said, "She doesn't know?"

Annie took Gabby's right hand in hers, partially to have a hand to hold, and partially to keep her from grabbing the sunglasses away. Gabby looked at Annie's hand and cried out, "NO way! You guys got hooked up? It's about time!"

You're right about that Gabby. But there's something else you need to know, okay?"

"Okaaay?" she said guardedly.

"When I was in Africa, I got a parasite in my eyes which caused what is called River Blindness."

Gabby's hand broke free and pulled Annie into a hug. She looked over her shoulder at me and asked, "It's treatable, isn't it, Annie?"

Piglet shook her head and said, "I'm afraid not, Gabs. They had to take my eyes out because I couldn't stand the pain anymore."

Gabby leaned back and snatched Annie's glasses off and looked at her eyeless face, stunned. "No. no. no. Annie, my poor Annie; who's gonna tell me I look like a fucking clown when I ...dress wrong ...now?" The tears began again, and this time Piglet and I joined in for a little while.

"I guess that would be me, now, Gabs." Are you ready to get out of here?"

"Only you could imagine how much I want out of here. When can we go?"

"I have a feeling the Doc we talked to this morning has probably already checked in with Dr. Jennings. Where's your gear?"

"Well, all I have here is what's in the locker there and the wheelchair by the door. It's a nice little Quickie™, but I can't use it by myself very well yet. It'll be fine if one of you wants to push, though." Her voice fell to a barely perceptible whisper by the end of the sentence.

"Me, pick me!" Piglet burst out, bouncing up and down on the bed to the point that Gabby had to grab the side rail to keep from falling over. "You can sit, and I can push you and I can finally work off some of the weight I've gained since I got back from Africa."

"Well, maybe after your arm gets better, Gabs..."

"They like to tell us stuff like that, Dave, but you and I know better. You want to see?"

"Might as well get acquainted with it, since I'm gonna be taking care of your sorry ass for a while," I said, daring her to flinch. She didn't.

"Damn straight, Gunny." She grabbed her sweatshirt and worked it up over her head, then drug her withered arm out of the sleeve. She wore a wife beater underneath the sweatshirt and her nipples were apparently very hard. It wasn't pretty; her lower arm appeared to be nearly devoid of muscle tissue. There was a mass of scar tissue just above her elbow, which to my experienced eyes was certainly a gunshot wound.

"The nerves are mostly gone, gunny, so I don't expect it will ever work again, and only one little part of my biceps is still working, so there's not much strength. Look, I want to thank you for giving me a place to go until I get back on my f... Well that was gonna sound stupid, huh? I just don't want to fuck up your lives any more than I have to."

Annie found Gabby's face and held it in her hands. "You are our dear friend, and right now you need us. We are thrilled to be there for you."

"Thank you, both of you, it means a lot to me Annie. I've missed you both, but especially you," she whispered.

I had my head in the closet when Dr. Jennings walked in.

"Are you ready to get going with this group?" she said.

"Nothing personal, Doc, but I won't miss this place at all."

"And we hope to never see you again unless you come in the front door, either. Well, you're signed out, and the packet I have put on the bed has all the contacts you'll need for the Domiciliary in White City. Good luck to you Corporal."

"Aye aye, Captain." She saluted, and the Doctor snapped one back at her. The room was quiet for a minute after the Doctor departed, and then I said, "Let's get out of here!"

"Roger that!" agreed Gabby.

"Where's my new toy?" said Piglet. I brought her to the wheelchair and directed it to the bedside.

She reached down and locked the wheels and I looked at Gabby.

"Do you need to pee first?" I asked. She was pulling her sweatshirt on and threading her lifeless hand down the sleeve.

"I'm okay for now Dad," she smiled. "And I brought my special seat so I don't fall through and get wet."

"So how do we get you into the chair?

"We don't, I do this..." she put her limp left hand on the bed and grabbed the seat of the wheel chair and flipped around, planting her butt firmly on the seat.

The trip down the hall to the front desk was exciting, what with a blind woman pushing and the passenger giving less than adequate instructions. I only had to prevent collisions three times, and Gabby only tried to fall out of the chair twice.

We made a stop to see the Master Chief, but he was occupied with a vet and her family, so I took down his info and promised to catch up with him the next time I was in Portland.

I got Gabby loaded into the Range Rover, along with Annie, who wanted to sit in the back seat with her friend, and we got on I-5 southbound. They chattered for quite a while, until Gabby got so hoarse she had to stop talking. I stopped for gas at Albany, and they were both asleep, Annie with her head against the right window and Gabby sideways in the seat, her shoulders against the seat back and her head on Annie's lap.

There was a lot of room for Gabby without legs, and I was surprised to see that Piglet was holding Gabby's left hand in her own. Just before I turned into my drive and the electric gate swung open, I looked in the mirror at my precious cargo, and they were both smiling in their sleep.

And so it begins.