That night, Lenalee and Cloud were busy hanging wet socks and pantyhose on the clothesline. Both were comfortably wearing their own pajamas and planned on going to bed as soon as they were finished. “Boy, I’m beat,” Lenalee said. “I can’t believe O.R. could go on that long.”
“Would’ve been longer if we hadn’t helped out in triage,” Cloud pointed out.
Lenalee smiled. “We were great, weren’t we?”
“Yeah.” There was a sudden knocking on the door. “Come on in.”
An old, familiar face stepped inside. “Hi, Allen!” Lenalee greeted happily.
“Hi,” he replied and then turned to Cloud. “Lieutenant Nyne, I would like to speak to Leutenant Lee, alone. And I won’t take no for an answer. Unless you pull rank on me, in which case I’ll just wait outside here, even though you’re both lieutenants, and I won’t go away either.”
“Well, Corporal Hellcat,” Cloud said as she made her way to the door. Then she said to Lenalee, “I’ll be outside if you need me.” As she passed Allen, she added, “That goes for you, too.” Then she disappeared into the darkness of the night, letting the door slam shut.
Lenalee put her hands in her pockets. “Well, we’re officially alone, Allen.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat as he prepared to take the plunge. As he spoke, Lenalee kept placing more laundry on the clothesline. “Listen, uh, you probably haven’t noticed or anything, but, uh, I’ve been trying like heck for you to like me. And, uh, I’ve tried everything I know and all that other stuff and I’m—I’m tired of trying. So I want to get one thing straight. Do you want to go out with me or not?” By the time he reached the end, his mouth was running on automatic. That last sentence ended up tumbling off of his tongue.
She looked him straight in the eye and said, “Yes.”
Allen nodded and started heading for the door. “Fine. Then we’ll just forget it. If I’m not good enough for you”—He stopped when he was halfway out the door and looked back at Lenalee. “You do?”
“I said, ‘yes.'”
Allen’s mouth fell open and he stepped back into the tent. “You did?”
“Yes!”
“Well, how come you didn’t say so before?”
“You never asked before.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess I was always too busy thinking up stuff to say, you know, to impress you.”
Lenalee shook her head. “Allen, you don’t have to impress me. I think you’re nice when you’re unimpressive.”
“Gee, thanks.” All of a sudden, it seemed like Allen awoke from a deep sleep. “Wow! That’s about the swellest thing anybody ever said to me.” He bounced a little on the balls of his feet and grinned widely.
Road and Cross were in the former’s tent, with the latter pouring out some booze in a special bottle he carried with him in a couple of shot glasses. “Oh, Cross,” she said, smiling, “I was so proud of my nurses today.”
“I was proud of you. You know, it all flows down from the top just like this twelve-year-old scotch.”
“They did everything so beautifully.”
He handed her one of the glasses and raised his own. “Here’s a toast to you, Road, and your wonderful staff.” Both sipped their drink and felt it warm up their insides nicely. “Now, let’s talk about you.”
She immediately waved it off. “Oh, no. We’ve talked enough about me.” Cross sat down on Road’s bed while Road sat down in a nearby chair.
“And your future?”
“What about me?”
“I have an opening on my nursing staff in Tokyo for a lieutenant colonel.”
She saw what he was offering her, but she decided to make him say it out loud, “But I’m only a major.”
“Here you’re a major, but in Japan”—
Road was too excited to let him finish. “We could do wonderful things together.”
Cross got up to get more scotch. “We sure could.”
She stood up in her excitement. “A triage program for all the nursing units in Korea.”
“If we have time.” Cross poured some more in each of their glasses.
“Oh, Cross! First, the divorce, and now this. I—It’s like a wonderful door has been opened up on my life.”
“The door was always open, Road. All you had to do was walk in.” He set the bottle down. “It’ll be like old times. Romantic suppers at the Officers Mess and cool night strolls through the cherry blossoms. Then, up to my billet for a nightcap and a game of escaped convict and the warden’s wife.”
Road’s expression grew deathly serious. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Is that what this promotion talk is all about?”
Cross immediately shook his head. “Oh, no. No, no, no. The promotion’s legit. I’ll make you a colonel.”
Anger welled up within her. “A colonel in charge of what, your budoir? I’m a head nurse and a damn good one!” She pointed out the door. “What do you think that demonstration was all about, anyway?”
Cross half-chuckled and said, “At ease, Major. You know how the game is played. You rub my back and I’ll rub yours.”
He put his hand comfortingly on Road’s arm, but she immediately shrugged it off. “I’ll rub my own back, thank you. How dare you assume such a thing!”
“Oh, come on, Road. I know you better than that. You have the talent. I have the clout. Now, let’s get together and have a few laughs.”
“You haven’t been listening to me, General. I’m not a pushover anymore. Get yourself another clay pigeon.” She turned her back on him and set the drink down on her desk.
“You’re going to hate yourself in the morning.”
Without turning around she commanded, “Get out of my tent, General.”
“Are you sure?”
“Out! And that’s an order!”
“Okay…” he set the untouched glass of scotch down on her desk. “…Major.”
Cross grabbed his hat on the way out the door. After he was gone, Road smiled to herself. She picked up her glass, raised it, and said, “Here’s to me.”
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