Hospitals

By: AliasCWN

"Í hate hospitals!"

"No you don't."

"Oh yes I do!"

"You know they're necessary. You need them from time to time. Without this hospital we might have lost you."

"And maybe not."

"Quit being such a baby. If you just follow the doctor's orders you'll be out of here in no time."

"Well if that's the case then I can't be hurt all that bad. Maybe they should just let me out now."

"You're not ready."

"Why not? I feel fine."

"Fine? Fine as in ready to go back to work or fine as in, you're bored?"

"What difference does it make? I don't need to be here, I can rest in our tent."

"What's the matter? Aren't the nurses pretty enough for you? The ones I saw were easy to look at."

"Óh they're pretty enough, I just hate hospitals."

"Since when?"

"Since the last time I was in here…or maybe even the time before that."

"Don't be ridiculous. The doctors are here to make sure that you heal well and don't do anything foolish."

"Like what?"

"Like try to get out of here."

"I can do more than try. I could get up right now and walk right out that door."

"And what would that prove?"

"That I can."

"Before or after you fall on your face?"

"How do you know that I'll fall on my face?"

"I saw how much blood you lost. There's no way you're strong enough to go back to work so soon after being wounded. Just walking across the base will wear you out."

"I survived the ride in."

"But you were unconscious most of the way."

"I had an excuse; I lost a lot of blood."

"My point exactly."

"But they gave me a blood transfusion. They replaced what I lost."

"Only part of it. Besides, it still sapped your strength, you need your rest."

"The bed in my tent is more comfortable."

"But it doesn't come with a nurse."

"You could be my nurse."

"No thanks, I don't have the legs for it."

"You wouldn't have to wear a skirt."

"You have plenty of perfectly good nurses here and the doctors are close by to check on you."

"Don't doctors make house calls anymore?"

"Perhaps, but not tent calls."

"Now you're being picky. Tent, house, what's the difference?"

"The doctors have all of their patients in one spot, here. They're not going to make an exception; not even for you."

"I should get special consideration when you think of all of the times one of us is in here. We practically keep them in business."

"Maybe they'd rather not have the business. Anyway, that's not up to me."

"Hey, maybe they're tired of seeing us. I could get out of their way."

"Good try but it won't fly."

"Now you're a poet?"

"Not at all. I'm just saying that I don't think the doctors, or nurses, will buy a line like that."

"I could try."

"They'd shoot you down."

"I'm getting frustrated. They want me to stay calm; I'd do that if they let me out of here."

"Or they could give you something to keep you calm."

"More drugs?"

"It's a possibility."

"I don't want more drugs. I feel like a walking pharmacy now."

"You're not on that many different pills."

"One is too many."

"Just take the one the give you and try to relax."

"There's more than one."

"How many more?"

"I don't know, I don't keep count."

"Then how do you know there is more than one? Maybe you're taking several doses of the same one."

"I don't like it, it makes me feel funny."

"Funny, how?"

"I don't know...different."

"You've always been different for as long as I've known you."

"That's not nice."

"But it's true. Besides, it's not a bad different, just different."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, that's what hospitals are for."

"But I'm bored."

"Read a book."

"I've read every book in here."

"All of them?"

"There's not a very big selection."

"Then talk to your neighbors."

"They're sleeping."

"That's what you should be doing."

"I'm not tired."

"Then talk to me."

"I am but you're not listening."

"I am listening, I just don't agree with you."

"About what?"

"About you being ready to leave the hospital."

"Oh that. Have you ever tried sleeping in one of these hard beds?"

"You've slept on worse."

"The nurses are cranky."

"You probably made them that way."

"They keep waking me up when I get to sleep."

"Then you must be getting some sleep."

"Not enough."

"Then go to sleep."

"I want to sleep in my own bed."

"You can, as soon as the doctors release you."

"They could release me now."

"Not if you're not ready."

"Why not now?"

"Because your wounds aren't completely healed."

"They feel better."

"That's because you are in a hospital where doctors and nurses are taking care of you."

"I can take care of myself."

"Not at the moment you can't."

"Get me out of here and I'll show you."

"Maybe later."

"What's wrong with now?"

"I don't have the authority to take you out of here."

"Ðietrich never gave you the authority to take me out of one of his cells but that never stopped you."

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Because he was more likely to hurt you than to help you. Hospitals are meant to help."

"I'm going out of my mind."

"There are those who believe that that happened a long time ago."

"I'm really going crazy."

"No you're not."

"I see things."

"Like what?"

"Like German tanks rolling past the door."

"That was real. We captured one and they drove it right through the middle of the base."

"Then I'm not seeing things?"

"No."

"What about the dancing girl I saw yesterday? She walked right past here just as plain as could be."

"Someone was having a party and hired her to entertain. The captain wasn't very happy about that when he found out."

"She should have come in here and danced for us."

"The doctors wouldn't have allowed it. They want you calm so you can rest, remember?"

"They're no fun."

"They're doctors; they're not supposed to be fun."

"They don't have to be so boring."

"I think they get enough excitement every time a new batch of patients arrive."

"If they let me out they'd have room for another one."

"Why would they want another one, they have you?"

"But I'm fine."

"So you keep saying."

"So I should be able to leave."

"Not until the doctors release you."

"We could escape."

"Not me."

"Sure, you're not a prisoner here."

"You're a patient, not a prisoner."

"Same difference."

"Not hardly."

"Aren't you tired of being in here?"

"I'm here to see you."

"And you can leave whenever you want."

"That's because I wasn't wounded."

"But I'm okay now."

"Okay, not fine?"

"Okay, fine, same thing."

"Not to the doctors."

"So what would it take to get you to bust me out of here?"

"How about a signed release from the doctor?"

"I could forge one."

"It wouldn't work. They'd come after you."

"What if I could get somebody to take my place?"

"Where are you going to find someone to take your place? Never mind, I don't want to know the answer to that question."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Curiosity I suppose."

"And now you don't want to know?"

"No, I don't."

"That's okay; I wasn't going to tell you anyway."

"Just what is it you have against hospitals?"

"They're too busy and then they're too quiet."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"They're too busy. They wake you up all of the time to take your vitals when you are trying to sleep. And then when you don't want to sleep they're too quiet."

"So that's it."

"There's nothing to do when you're awake and you can't sleep all of the time."

"A little more rest might be good for you."

"The nurses won't let me sleep. About the time I go to sleep they come in to take my pulse, or my temperature, or to give me one of those pills I don't need."

"Why don't you try going to sleep?"

"I'm not tired."

"Just try."

"Oh all right. Oh look, here comes the doctor and his ever faithful nurses."

"How's the patient today?"

"Cranky." Moffitt answered before Troy could respond.

"I'm ready to get out of here Doc." Troy replied.

"Let me check your chart." The doctor read the chart carefully before moving to the side of the bed to check Troy's vitals. Finally he nodded and made a note on the chart. "I'm going to release you sergeant but I am going to recommend plenty of bed rest for the next few days."

"I'll make sure he gets it." Moffitt promised.

The doctor signed the papers that released Troy from the hospital. Moffitt helped him get dressed and stayed close as he walked out the door.

"Well Troy, you're a free man. What do you want to do first?"

"I'm kind of tired. I think I'll go to my tent and take a nap, that is if I can get to sleep on that hard cot."