A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway [30]
"Can I have wine with the meals?" I asked her.
"Only if the doctor prescribes it."
"I can't have it until he comes?"
"Absolutely not."
"You plan on having him come eventually?"
"We've telephoned him at Lake Como."
She went out and Miss Gage came back.
"Why were you rude to Miss Van Campen?" she asked after she had done something for me very skilfully.
"I didn't mean to be. But she was snooty."
"She said you were domineering and rude."
"I wasn't. But what's the idea of a hospital without a doctor?"
"He's coming. They've telephoned for him to Lake Como."
"What does he do there? Swim?"
"No. He has a clinic there."
"Why don't they get another doctor?"
"Hush. Hush. Be a good boy and he'll come."
I sent for the porter and when he came I told him in Italian to get me a bottle of Cinzano at the wine shop, a fiasco of chianti and the evening papers. He went away and brought them wrapped in newspaper, unwrapped them and, when I asked him to, drew the corks and put the wine and vermouth under the bed. They left me alone and I lay in bed and read the papers awhile, the news from the front, and the list of dead officers with their decorations and then reached down and brought up the bottle of Cinzano and held it straight up on my stomach, the cool glass against my stomach, and took little drinks making rings on my stomach from holding the bottle there between drinks, and watched it get dark outside over the roofs of the town. The swallows circled around and I watched them and the night-hawks flying above the roofs and drank the Cinzano. Miss Gage brought up a glass with some eggnog in it. I lowered the vermouth bottle to the other side of the bed when she came in.
"Miss Van Campen had some sherry put in this," she said. "You shouldn't be rude to her. She's not young and this hospital is a big responsibility for her. Mrs. Walker's too old and she's no use to her."
"She's a splendid woman," I said. "Thank her very much."
"I'm going to bring your supper right away."
"That's all right," I said. "I'm not hungry."
When she brought the tray and put it on the bed table I thanked her and ate a little of the supper. Afterward it was dark outside and I could see the beams of the search-lights moving in the sky. I watched for a while and then went to sleep. I slept heavily except once I woke sweating and scared and then went back to sleep trying to stay outside of my dream. I woke for good long before it was light and heard roosters crowing and stayed on awake until it began to be light. I was tired and once it was really light I went back to sleep again.
14
It was bright sunlight in the room when I woke. I thought I was back at the front and stretched out in bed. My legs hurt me and I looked down at them still in the dirty bandages, and seeing them knew where I was. I reached up for the bell-cord and pushed the button. I heard it buzz down the hall and then some one coming on rubber soles along the hall. It was Miss Gage and she looked a little older in the bright sunlight and not so pretty.
"Good-morning," she said. "Did you have a good night?"
"Yes. Thanks very much," I said. "Can I have a barber?"
"I came in to see you and you were asleep with this in the bed with you."
She opened the armoire door and held up the vermouth bottle. It was nearly empty. "I put the other bottle from under the bed in there too," she said. "Why didn't you ask me for a glass?"
"I thought maybe you wouldn't let me have it."
"I'd have had some with you."
"You're a fine girl."
"It isn't good for you to drink alone," she said. "You mustn't do it."
"All right."
"Your friend Miss Barkley's come," she said.
"Really?"
"Yes. I don't like her."
"You will like her. She's awfully nice."
She shook her head. "I'm sure she's