Hope Rising (25 page)

“I think I’m going to do it,” she said, sitting up. “I’m going to write to Joel.” She shivered as the cold air draped itself around her thinly clad shoulders, but she didn’t mind the frigid temperature now. “Since I have leave next week, I’ll try to find out where he’s stationed and write him a letter.”

“I think that’s an excellent plan.”

A real smile lifted Evelyn’s mouth at the prospect of seeing Joel again, of telling him how much she still longed to marry him. There was the possibility she’d driven him away for good, but she would take her chances and see. Sliding back down into her sleeping bag, Evelyn shut her eyes. But sleep took some time in coming as her mind filled with happy memories, new plans, and renewed faith.

J
oel climbed out of the truck, his knees almost giving way beneath him. His injured leg had started to bother him a few days earlier, but the middle of a battle hadn’t been the time to focus on his wounds. The promise of rest in this French village meant he could keep his leg propped up—if he didn’t have something more important to do.

After hastily eating his hot dinner, he shaved the light beard from his face and washed the mud and stench of the trenches off himself and his uniform. The wool hadn’t completely dried before he dressed again, but Joel couldn’t stand to wait another minute.

Obtaining permission to leave wasn’t hard to come by. Joel simply had to return by the following evening. Plenty of time to get to the evacuation hospital where Evelyn was stationed and back to his squad. He descended the stairs of the house where he and his men were staying and crossed the entry to the front door.

“Aren’t you coming to the YMCA performance?” Private Wiseman, one of his squad members, asked from inside the parlor.

Joel shook his head. “Sorry, Wiseman. I’ve got something more pressing.”

Private Wiseman shrugged and blew out a puff of smoke from his cigarette. “Suit yourself. I heard the girls singing tonight are prettier than the last group we saw.”

The soldier’s words brought a forgotten memory to the front of Joel’s mind. He’d asked Ralph to come see a similar performance at the beginning of the summer, more for something to do than anything else, but Ralph had declined.
“I don’t need to see a stranger’s pretty face—I’ve got a much better girl to think about.”
It was one of the many times he’d talked of Evelyn and showed how much she’d changed him, even though their time together had been short.

Thanks, buddy
, he thought, shooting a smile at the sky as he stepped out of the house.
For trusting me with her.

Procuring a ride back to the front proved the hardest task of the evening. After asking around, Joel learned of a supply truck making a run near Evelyn’s evacuation hospital. The drivers were more than willing to allow him to ride with them, as long as he made himself a spot in the back. Joel rearranged some boxes and folded himself into the back of the vehicle. With a rumble, the truck jerked forward and soon left the village behind.

The drive wouldn’t be longer than a few hours, but his already agitated leg would likely not fare well in a bent position for that long. Still, it didn’t matter. A sense of urgency dulled most of his pain. All he cared about at the moment was finding Evelyn and telling her that he still wanted to marry her—if she’d have him.

Evelyn sat upright on her cot, her heart pounding. Something had pulled her from her pleasant dreams. She took a steadying breath and tried to relax. The noise was likely a truck or someone dropping something nearby. She couldn’t have been asleep for long, judging by the darkness outside the tent. A steady influx of wounded the last week had kept her and Janet busy until almost midnight every night.

What had she been dreaming about? Evelyn searched her mind. She’d been back at St. Vincent’s with Louis, but Joel had been there, too. She slid back down into her sleeping bag and shut her eyes. Tomorrow—or rather today—she would be given leave. Her pulse leapt again, from excitement this time. She couldn’t wait to hug Louis and Alice and find out where Joel was stationed. Though she hadn’t written her letter yet, she knew every line she planned to pen to him.

Just a few more hours.

An ear-splitting
bang
jerked Evelyn from her sleeping bag again and sent her heart crashing against her rib cage. The sound wasn’t a truck or a dropped object.

She swung her legs over the side of the cot. The cool air in the tent sent shivers up her spine. “Janet! I think that was shellfire, but it’s awfully close.”

“You’re right.”

“I’ll go see what’s going on.” Evelyn pulled her outdoor uniform over her nightgown for speed and warmth. She pushed her arms through her coat and had one of her rubber boots in hand when a whizzing noise sounded outside the tent. “Did you hear that?”

“What?” Janet was pulling on her own boots.

“It sounded like—” Her words were drowned out by another bang that sent her and Janet scrambling to the ground. Evelyn covered her head with her arms. A memory snagged in her mind as she tried in vain to slow her racing pulse. Some of the wounded soldiers referred to shellfire as “whizz bangs” because of the noise they made.

Janet gripped Evelyn’s elbow and helped her to a sitting position. “We’d better see if they’re evacuating the patients.”

Evelyn wet her dry lips. “Right. We can do this.”
Don’t think about your leave. Don’t think about Joel and Louis.

The murmur of conversation and the hasty fall of footsteps reached her ears from outside the tent. Evelyn climbed to her feet as someone rapped a knuckle against one of the tent poles. “Nurse Gray? Nurse Rutledge?”

Evelyn recognized the voice of Chief Nurse Rowena Sheffield. “We’re awake,” Evelyn and Janet replied together.

“We’re evacuating all the patients to the kitchen tents, to get them out of range of the shells. Will the two of you help with the abdomen and head wound tents?”

Evelyn swallowed hard. “Yes. We’re coming.”

“Good.” Nurse Sheffield moved on.

Evelyn hurried to finish putting on her rubber boots and hat, then followed Janet out of the tent. Outside the moon lit up the hurried movements of nurses, doctors, orderlies, and those patients who could walk. All were moving in a steady stream toward the safety of the woods, up the hill and behind the evacuation hospital.

Janet led the way through the river of people toward the abdomen tent. Evelyn stuck close behind her. “There ought to be a stretcher,” Janet said, “that we can—”

The whizzing noise came again. Where would the shell drop? “Get down,” Evelyn said to Janet, yanking her friend’s arm. They crouched on the ground until the deafening
bang
sounded over the hospital.

Janet stood, urgency and determination evident in the movement. Evelyn followed suit.

Around the hospital others were climbing to their feet as well. Nurse Sheffield called everyone to attention. “Sergeant Tanner here is going to help us evacuate as safely as possible. He’ll tell you when to drop. But don’t move until he gives the ‘all clear.’ Now, let’s go.”

Evelyn ran after Janet to the abdomen tent. Inside they found an empty stretcher. They situated it next to one of the occupied cots.

“All right, soldier,” Janet said with perfect calmness. “We’re going for a little ride.”

Gripping the man’s feet, one in each hand, Evelyn assisted Janet in getting the young man onto the stretcher. They hoisted him into the air. Evelyn’s arm muscles strained at the weight. After maneuvering their way out of the tent, she and Janet started in the direction of the hill.

They hadn’t gone far when Evelyn heard the sergeant shout, “Drop!” She and Janet lowered the stretcher to the ground and bent over the patient, their arms covering their heads. The bang cracked over the hospital and Evelyn cringed at the sound. How did these men run headlong toward such noises?

She waited until she heard the “all clear” before she lifted her end of the stretcher, and she and Janet continued on. They had to stop twice more, to crouch down and wait for falling shrapnel, before they reached the bottom of the hill.

Being at the head of the stretcher, Janet ascended the muddy hill first. Evelyn felt the staggering weight of the young man tip toward her as the stretcher angled downward. The mud dragged at her boots as they slowly ascended the incline. Evelyn concentrated on keeping her feet from sliding in the muck. Sweat began to form on her neck, making her wish she’d left her coat behind.

Near the top, one foot slipped, sending Evelyn to her knees in the mud. She managed to keep her end of the stretcher from joining her, but she lost her hat in the process. She’d have to find it later.

“Are you all right?” Janet asked in a winded voice.

Evelyn stifled a groan and hauled herself onto her feet. “I’m fine.”

Once they breasted the hill and reached the woods, they were able to pick up their pace. It took only a few minutes more to reach the kitchen tents. Several other tents were hastily being thrown up to give the men protection from the cold.

“Which ward is he from?” Nurse Sheffield asked as they approached.

“Abdomen ward,” Evelyn answered.

“Place him over there.” The chief nurse pointed to one of the new tents. Evelyn and Janet carried the soldier to the tent and gently moved him from the stretcher to the ground.

“You’ll be inside soon,” Janet said, pulling the man’s blanket up to his chin.

Evelyn lifted her end of the empty stretcher, and she and Janet rushed back through the woods to the hill. She half slid, half jogged through the mud to the bottom. As they neared the hospital, Evelyn heard the yell to “drop.” She sank to her knees beside Janet and held her breath as she waited for the “all clear.” Once the call came, Evelyn clambered up and ran with Janet back to the abdomen ward. They loaded the next patient onto their stretcher and left the tent a second time.

The way to and up the hill took less time this round—partly because the soldier on the stretcher was a spry young man, and partly because she and Janet were becoming more proficient at navigating through the mud. The sweat on Evelyn’s back and forehead turned icy in the chilly night air, and her legs and arms began to ache with the exertion of holding the stretcher higher to climb through the mud. She pushed through the discomfort, though, blocking it out with thoughts of how quickly they could get the patients out of the abdomen and head wound wards.

She and Janet took their patient to the appropriate tent and returned for another injured soldier. Then another, and another. The shellfire faded into the background as Evelyn focused on each small step of the evacuation.
Leave the tent. Rush until the “drop” signal. Wait. Jump up. Rush forward until the next “drop” signal. Wait. Jump up. Hike the hill. Ignore the mud. Place the patient near the kitchen tents. Repeat.

When all of the patients had been cleared from the abdomen ward, Evelyn followed Janet to the head wound tent. This ward was located closer to the hill, which meant she and Janet were able to evacuate three of the patients in half the time it had taken them to travel with one from the abdomen ward.

“We’re almost done,” Nurse Sheffield announced when they placed their third head wound patient inside one of the tents.

“Do you think anyone’s been hit?” Janet asked as they scrambled back through the mud with the empty stretcher between them.

“I don’t know.”

Evelyn didn’t want to think about it. Is this what Joel experienced each day at the front? Wondering which of his buddies wouldn’t be returning? She hated to think of anything happening to the other members of the medical staff or the patients at the evacuation hospital, even if she didn’t know any of them as well as she did Janet.

Before long, there was only one patient left for her and Janet to evacuate—a soldier who insisted on walking, though he needed both nurses to support him. Grateful not to have to heft the stretcher one more time, Evelyn didn’t protest the young man’s stubborn request. Instead she and Janet helped him hobble outside.

They made it nearly to the hill before they had to lower him between them when Sergeant Tanner yelled, “Drop!” His commands were sounding hoarser by the minute. Hopefully the other tents were almost all evacuated, too, and Sergeant Tanner would be able to take cover in the woods along with everyone else. He had surely saved many lives with his expertise and loud calls.

“All clear!”

Evelyn elevated the soldier to his feet with Janet’s help. They made it to the hill and started trudging their way upward through the mud. Even without the stretcher, the ascent was slow going as they half lifted, half dragged the young man. At the top, they paused to rest.

Evelyn sucked in great gulps of air. Soon she would be safe inside the kitchen tents and she could remove her coat. Maybe even catch a little more sleep, once the patients were attended to, before she left for St. Vincent’s.

Thoughts of the hospital spurred an idea. “Do you think you could carry him the rest of the way?” she asked Janet. “Someone ought to get the supplies from the surgery tent. We’re going to need them.” She hated the idea of anything happening to the precious medical supplies after knowing what it was like to go without.

“All right.” Janet shifted the soldier’s full weight to her own arms, and Evelyn slipped out from underneath his grip. “As soon as he’s situated, I’ll come help you.”

“Okay.”

Evelyn slid back down through the mud to the bottom of the hill and took off at a clopping run toward the hospital. She made it into the surgery tent before the holler to “drop.” The ceiling of the tent was pockmarked with holes from the shrapnel, which let in enough light to see by. She remained crouched until a muffled “all clear” reached her ears. As she stood, a dark figure rose up from the corner. Evelyn screamed—her mind racing back to the day in the woods when she and Joel had stumbled onto the young German deserter.

“It’s all right,” a male voice said. An orderly stepped closer and Evelyn put a hand to her chest to slow her racing heartbeat. She recognized him now. He was one of the men who brought soldiers into the surgery ward; his name was Theodore or Teddy, as most people called him. “I’m just getting supplies.”

“Me, too.”

“I haven’t gotten to the stuff over there.” He pointed to the opposite side of the tent before turning back to fill the box he’d set on one of the operating tables.

Evelyn crossed to the other supply cupboard. She couldn’t find a box, but a water pail would suffice for transporting the things they needed. Dumping out the little bit of water inside, she used some bandages as cushioning and added in medicine and needles. Twice she heard the yell to “drop,” and she paused to shelter her head.

“My box is full,” Teddy announced after several minutes. “You wanna make the run back up the hill together? Or try to get more supplies from one of the other wards?”