Battle Cry - Leon Uris [253]
“It’s the least I could do.”
“I’ll have the things sent over to your camp.”
“Chaplain Peterson…what about Andy?”
The balding minister shook his head. “Only time will heal his wounds. I’ve tried to talk to him, as you have. In a little while they will restore his face, but…”
“They’ll never restore his leg.”
“It is a pity. He has a wonderful girl and so much to live for. I took this letter around and read it to him. He threw it back at me.” I took the envelope from him and opened it and began to read. “My Dearest, You have a son….”
I looked up at Peterson.
“Born on D-day, Mac.”
It is rather hard to say what Timmy looks like. Poor little dear, what a horrible mixture he is. New Zealand, American, Scotch, and Swede. At any rate he bellows like a Marine and eats like a lumberjack. I think I’ll keep him. You know how happy I am.
Andy, we know where you are. Our prayers are with you every second of every minute. I know that it will be a long long time before you will be back with us but remember that all Timmy and I live for will be the day you return forever.
Mother and Dad have been dears. Dad is already looking about for a pony for Timmy. The poor wee fellow can’t even hold his head up yet. Mom spends half her time digging up American recipes. She says she is really going to fatten you up.
Darling I can hardly wait till the day Timmy is old enough to walk. I shall take him over to our land and tell him that some day his Daddy is coming back and clear it and build us a nice warm little house and we shall live in it forever and ever.
Winter is coming, but soon it shall be spring and we will be here as always.
Your loving wife,
Pat
I dropped the letter on the desk.
“He’ll go back,” the chaplain said. “Love like that girl’s is too strong a magnet for any man.”
Speedy came up the road to meet me. “Mac, just got the word. We’re shoving off tomorrow.”
“Going home?”
“Yes.”
“I think I’ll drop over to the hospital and say good-by to Andy.”
Speedy grasped my shoulder. “I was just over there. He told me to get the hell out.”
I walked into the ward, down the row of legless and armless men till I reached the far end. I opened the screened enclosure around his bed and drew up a chair. Andy lay flat on his back, his face invisible under a swath of bandages leaving only his eyes and lips open.
“Hi, knucklehead, how they been treating you?” He did not answer. “I was just over to Chaplain Peterson’s.”
“If you come to preach, pray with somebody that needs it.”
“I came to say good-by, Andy. Speedy and me are going home.”
“All right, good-by.”
“Chrisake, they’ll have that ugly kisser squared away in a year so there won’t even be a scar. I talked to the Doc and…”
“Sure, I’ll get a pretty new face…a nice leg too. You can do anything with it. Chop trees, plow a row. Maybe even get a job in a sideshow.”
“Hold on, you’re way off base. You’ve got a home and a wife and son.”
“Leave her out of it! I ain’t got nothin’! I never had nothin’!”
“She’d want you back if they sent you home in a basket.”
“Sure…sure, after they fit me with a leg, they rehabilitate me. You should listen to them crackpots around here. Look, Mac, want to see me wiggle my stump and show you how funny it is?”
“Cut it out! You’re not the only guy in the world that lost a leg. You worked in the woods, you’ve seen it before.”
“I’m glad to give it, Mac. Just ask anybody, we’re all real happy to do it. They going to fix up the Injun with a new pair of ears? Maybe they gonna dig up Seabags and the skipper.”
“Andy, you’re all scarred up inside you. Christ, we can’t all just lay down and die. They didn’t ask to live when they joined the Corps.”
“Get out of here.”
“Not before I tell you I think you’re a yellow rat. You haven’t got the guts to deserve to live. Don’t speak about the skipper and the squad. You aren’t in the same league with them.”
I wanted to take Andy in my arms and tell him I didn’t mean it. His hand groped for the air, reaching for mine.
“Mac, I ain’t sore at you…you know that