[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
See, nurses can do anything, they told him airily,
mopping their faces.
Bah! Sergeant Deake spluttered. I wash my hands
of you! Let Lieutenant Graham handle you wild Injuns!
Females in the Army! Let me work with real soldiers
who have some respect for their commander! You re a
waste of time!
56 CHERRY AMES, ARMY NURSE
So the next day, the girls were confronted by a for-
mal young man who was their superior officer. There
was no fooling with him. When Lieutenant Graham ex-
plained gas mask drill, no one felt much like fooling,
anyway. The nurses stood in rows on the grass, dressed
for this drill in their white uniforms. Each girl wore on
her heavy belt a gas mask in a carrier held in place by
a strap over the right shoulder. Cherry found that it took
concentration and perfectly co-ordinated movements
to get those masks on in the space of seconds. But with
practice, they were mastering it. The young lieutenant
had them sniff sniff sets bottles containing the
identifying odors of lewisite and mustard and other
gasses. It left them choking and impressed. Neither the
gasses nor the young lieutenant was much fun. Next
day, the girls were glad to see that Sergeant Deake was,
resignedly, back again.
Look at you! he said gloomily, as they lined up
before him. Fatigues and curls! Field boots and pink
nail polish! He eyed Cherry. He still had not forgiven
her for the nickname she had tagged onto him.
Their feud grew livelier, day by day, into the second
week of training. Cherry wondered what Lovey could
possibly think up next. Sergeant Deake had them dive
into foxholes and slit trenches; march along a road, then
run for cover in the woods, throwing themselves flat;
crawl cautiously on their hands and knees searching for
LOVEY 57
booby traps; wiggle through mud and plow through
sandy marshes. They certainly were learning how to
take care of themselves, getting ready for anything,
anywhere.
We re doing all this, Cherry panted to him during
their ten-minute rest period, pushing her black curls
out of her eyes, only because we want to win your
praise, Lovey! He turned scarlet.
The truth was, the nurses made good soldiers. They
felt a real group spirit and group pride in their platoon s
progress. But the better they did, the less Sergeant
Deake gave them credit for and the less he liked them.
But we admire you, Gwen teased him, and Vivian
tucked her camera in the huge catch-all pocket of
her coveralls one day and snapped a picture of him, to
his chagrin.
The crisis came when Sergeant Deake had to teach
them something about camouflage. The girls stood in
the sun and wind, watching him, and grinning. You take
your helmet, he shouted, taking off his own heavy
metal helmet, which was covered with net. Then you
pick some leaves, like this. Then you stick the leaves in
the net and kinda fix it up. Then you put your helmet
on, see? Now nobody d know it was you you re dis-
guised as a tree!
They howled. Cherry could not resist calling out,
We d know it was you!
58 CHERRY AMES, ARMY NURSE
What a stylish leafy bonnet! Gwen teased.
Thanks for the style notes, Lovey!
Sergeant Deake exploded. For punishment, he drilled
them and then took them on an eight-mile hike. They
almost regretted the joke, but not quite.
Night, Lovey! Cherry called, unsquelched, as
she staggered off the field. See you tomorrow in that
helmet!
I ll see you at inspection of quarters next Saturday
morning! Sergeant Deake promised her ferociously.
Cherry dropped on her bed after supper, heavy boots
and all. A message said Captain Upham had phoned.
But Cherry was too tired to call back. No time to see
him anyway. There was a knock and Vivian Warren
wearily came in from the room next door.
Oh! Vivian moaned. My feet! My legs! She
dropped onto the bed alongside Cherry. I m so tired
I don t even wish I could see Paul Endicott.
Hi, Cherry said weakly, moving over an inch or
so. My feet are all beat-up too. Darn that Deake. But
someone else is getting just as rugged a medical-and-
basic workout as we are, so cheer up.
You mean the enlisted men who are going to be
medical corpsmen? What befalls them?
Plenty. I read in the Manual, Cherry said virtuously,
that they get thirteen weeks of basic training in
Medical Department techniques, first aid and ward
LOVEY 59
stuff. Then we nurses teach them some more when they
come to help us on the wards. There s about seventy or
eighty boys here in the Hospital Corps School. Poor
things. She rubbed her knees tenderly.
Uh-huh. Vivian yawned, and fished in her pocket.
Tired as I am, I stopped off at the PX to get this. Look.
It s priceless.
She held out a snapshot of Sergeant Deake. There he
was as Vivian had snapped him in the midst of an anti-
female rage, arms upheld, mouth open, his cap crooked.
Cherry looked at the snapshot speculatively for a
while. The corners of her red mouth began to turn up.
Do you suppose we could get sixty copies of this made
by Saturday morning?
I guess so. But why?
Wait, Cherry said. With a supreme effort, she rolled
herself off the bed and made for the door. Council of
war. Our platoon vs. Woman-hater Lovey, she explained
briefly to Vivian. Come on!
They started down the hall, knocking on each door.
As Cherry confided her plan, the girls forgot their
fatigue and the third floor of Nurses Quarters whooped
with laughter long after lights out.
They needed laughter, for the last few days of
Sergeant Deake s field training grew tougher and
tougher. The worst, the infiltration course, came on
Friday. Sergeant Deake led them to a muddy exposed
60 CHERRY AMES, ARMY NURSE
field, without trees or shelter of any kind, strung with
barbed wire, full of shell holes and ditches.
You ve got to get across that field with full first-aid
musette bag, he ordered them. There are wounded
soldiers on the other side and they need you. Look out
for the machine-gun bullets! There was an ominous
whining sound and a crash. Sergeant Deake jumped
close to the truck, the girls threw themselves flat. He
added, yelling over the biting rat-tat-tat of thirty-caliber
machine guns from the woods:
Those are live bullets! Now get across that field!
It was an order and a dare.
Cherry lay flat on her stomach, petrified with fear.
Then she started to crawl, cautiously, hugging the
ground, as she had been taught. Bullets sprayed only
thirty inches above her. She dared not raise her head.
She slipped and rolled into a shell hole. For a moment,
she lay there taut, face down, fingers and toes dug into
the mud.
Cherry listened breathlessly to TNT charges heavily [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
See, nurses can do anything, they told him airily,
mopping their faces.
Bah! Sergeant Deake spluttered. I wash my hands
of you! Let Lieutenant Graham handle you wild Injuns!
Females in the Army! Let me work with real soldiers
who have some respect for their commander! You re a
waste of time!
56 CHERRY AMES, ARMY NURSE
So the next day, the girls were confronted by a for-
mal young man who was their superior officer. There
was no fooling with him. When Lieutenant Graham ex-
plained gas mask drill, no one felt much like fooling,
anyway. The nurses stood in rows on the grass, dressed
for this drill in their white uniforms. Each girl wore on
her heavy belt a gas mask in a carrier held in place by
a strap over the right shoulder. Cherry found that it took
concentration and perfectly co-ordinated movements
to get those masks on in the space of seconds. But with
practice, they were mastering it. The young lieutenant
had them sniff sniff sets bottles containing the
identifying odors of lewisite and mustard and other
gasses. It left them choking and impressed. Neither the
gasses nor the young lieutenant was much fun. Next
day, the girls were glad to see that Sergeant Deake was,
resignedly, back again.
Look at you! he said gloomily, as they lined up
before him. Fatigues and curls! Field boots and pink
nail polish! He eyed Cherry. He still had not forgiven
her for the nickname she had tagged onto him.
Their feud grew livelier, day by day, into the second
week of training. Cherry wondered what Lovey could
possibly think up next. Sergeant Deake had them dive
into foxholes and slit trenches; march along a road, then
run for cover in the woods, throwing themselves flat;
crawl cautiously on their hands and knees searching for
LOVEY 57
booby traps; wiggle through mud and plow through
sandy marshes. They certainly were learning how to
take care of themselves, getting ready for anything,
anywhere.
We re doing all this, Cherry panted to him during
their ten-minute rest period, pushing her black curls
out of her eyes, only because we want to win your
praise, Lovey! He turned scarlet.
The truth was, the nurses made good soldiers. They
felt a real group spirit and group pride in their platoon s
progress. But the better they did, the less Sergeant
Deake gave them credit for and the less he liked them.
But we admire you, Gwen teased him, and Vivian
tucked her camera in the huge catch-all pocket of
her coveralls one day and snapped a picture of him, to
his chagrin.
The crisis came when Sergeant Deake had to teach
them something about camouflage. The girls stood in
the sun and wind, watching him, and grinning. You take
your helmet, he shouted, taking off his own heavy
metal helmet, which was covered with net. Then you
pick some leaves, like this. Then you stick the leaves in
the net and kinda fix it up. Then you put your helmet
on, see? Now nobody d know it was you you re dis-
guised as a tree!
They howled. Cherry could not resist calling out,
We d know it was you!
58 CHERRY AMES, ARMY NURSE
What a stylish leafy bonnet! Gwen teased.
Thanks for the style notes, Lovey!
Sergeant Deake exploded. For punishment, he drilled
them and then took them on an eight-mile hike. They
almost regretted the joke, but not quite.
Night, Lovey! Cherry called, unsquelched, as
she staggered off the field. See you tomorrow in that
helmet!
I ll see you at inspection of quarters next Saturday
morning! Sergeant Deake promised her ferociously.
Cherry dropped on her bed after supper, heavy boots
and all. A message said Captain Upham had phoned.
But Cherry was too tired to call back. No time to see
him anyway. There was a knock and Vivian Warren
wearily came in from the room next door.
Oh! Vivian moaned. My feet! My legs! She
dropped onto the bed alongside Cherry. I m so tired
I don t even wish I could see Paul Endicott.
Hi, Cherry said weakly, moving over an inch or
so. My feet are all beat-up too. Darn that Deake. But
someone else is getting just as rugged a medical-and-
basic workout as we are, so cheer up.
You mean the enlisted men who are going to be
medical corpsmen? What befalls them?
Plenty. I read in the Manual, Cherry said virtuously,
that they get thirteen weeks of basic training in
Medical Department techniques, first aid and ward
LOVEY 59
stuff. Then we nurses teach them some more when they
come to help us on the wards. There s about seventy or
eighty boys here in the Hospital Corps School. Poor
things. She rubbed her knees tenderly.
Uh-huh. Vivian yawned, and fished in her pocket.
Tired as I am, I stopped off at the PX to get this. Look.
It s priceless.
She held out a snapshot of Sergeant Deake. There he
was as Vivian had snapped him in the midst of an anti-
female rage, arms upheld, mouth open, his cap crooked.
Cherry looked at the snapshot speculatively for a
while. The corners of her red mouth began to turn up.
Do you suppose we could get sixty copies of this made
by Saturday morning?
I guess so. But why?
Wait, Cherry said. With a supreme effort, she rolled
herself off the bed and made for the door. Council of
war. Our platoon vs. Woman-hater Lovey, she explained
briefly to Vivian. Come on!
They started down the hall, knocking on each door.
As Cherry confided her plan, the girls forgot their
fatigue and the third floor of Nurses Quarters whooped
with laughter long after lights out.
They needed laughter, for the last few days of
Sergeant Deake s field training grew tougher and
tougher. The worst, the infiltration course, came on
Friday. Sergeant Deake led them to a muddy exposed
60 CHERRY AMES, ARMY NURSE
field, without trees or shelter of any kind, strung with
barbed wire, full of shell holes and ditches.
You ve got to get across that field with full first-aid
musette bag, he ordered them. There are wounded
soldiers on the other side and they need you. Look out
for the machine-gun bullets! There was an ominous
whining sound and a crash. Sergeant Deake jumped
close to the truck, the girls threw themselves flat. He
added, yelling over the biting rat-tat-tat of thirty-caliber
machine guns from the woods:
Those are live bullets! Now get across that field!
It was an order and a dare.
Cherry lay flat on her stomach, petrified with fear.
Then she started to crawl, cautiously, hugging the
ground, as she had been taught. Bullets sprayed only
thirty inches above her. She dared not raise her head.
She slipped and rolled into a shell hole. For a moment,
she lay there taut, face down, fingers and toes dug into
the mud.
Cherry listened breathlessly to TNT charges heavily [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]