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3
Landon
“Hey, Doc. Wake up.”
The curtain on his rack was pulled to the side. Landon groaned and forced his eyes open in the bright fluorescent light as he glared at the Marine. “What is it now?”
“Martinez is losing it. I need you to go check him out.” Sergeant Sierra shrugged.
“I can’t deal with anymore vomit. I’ve been up for two days straight handling this bug you’ve all been spreading around. Just send him to medical to get some Imodium.” Landon rubbed his hands over his face, trying to wake up. Being the Navy Corpsman in a unit of Marines was a lot like dealing with toddlers. So much for going to sleep early.
“He’s not sick like that.” Sgt. Sierra offered a half-hearted smile. “I know you had a late night, but I don’t know what else to do.”
“It’s always a late night. Can’t you guys just stop being idiots for three more days until we get home?” Landon yawned as he jumped down from his rack and then opened his locker to pull out his boots.
“About that,” Sgt. Sierra paused before they made their way out of the berthing, “word is navigation is down and we’re not going home just yet. That’s why Martinez is all worked up.”
Landon closed his eyes. They couldn’t do this to him now. He’d been knee deep in vomit and excrement for the past forty-eight hours, taking care of his unit who’d been hit with viral gastroenteritis during the port call in Hawaii. There wasn’t even a spare second to respond to Tessa’s last message. She was going to be so mad when she heard they would be delayed.
“You alright, Doc?” Sgt. Sierra glanced over his shoulder.
“Yeah.” Landon swallowed hard, twisting the silicone wedding band on his finger. “Where is Martinez at?”
Lance Corporal Martinez. Aged 23. First tour of duty. Lives on base. Pregnant wife. History of anxiety. Two colds in the past year. Landon ran through all the mental notes he could remember about the Marine as he walked the passageways to the medical bay. Asked for the chaplain’s email last month. Requested a light duty chit for a bruised knee. He added in as much detail from their previous encounters as he could to form the full picture in his head.
“HM2 Ward.” The hospital corpsman assigned to the ship and standing duty jumped from her seat as Landon entered the hatch to the main medical compartment.
“HN Rodcliff.” He nodded in her direction. “You have one of my guys here?”
“I moved him to the back room,” Rodcliff stuttered. “It’s after sick call and Commander Jenkins is in a meeting. I just wanted to keep him comfortable until we can sort things out.”
“Alright.” Landon sighed. “I’m going to check on him.”
He pushed open the hatch to the dimly lit room with patient beds reserved for overnight stays. “Hey Martinez. What’s going on?”
“Doc.” Martinez sat up straight, clutching the thin pillow in his fist. “I can’t do this anymore. I need to go home.”
“Lay down and let’s talk for a minute.” His eyes swept over the patient taking a quick visual assessment of outward physical symptoms. Bloodshot eyes, clenched teeth, shaking limbs. “Are you feeling alright?”
LCpl Martinez tossed the pillow aside and swung his legs off the bed, gripping the side of the mattress instead. Tears filled his eyes. “We’re headed back to Hawaii and no one knows what’s happening. How long are they going to keep us in this steel cage? I have to get out of here.”
Hawaii? Landon remained stoic and calm. “This isn’t the first time a homecoming has been delayed and I can guarantee you it won’t be the last. It’s all a part of the job. Just hold tight like the rest of us and we’ll get home soon.”
“My wife is due any day now and they wouldn’t give me leave. They wouldn’t let me fly off the ship. I can’t miss his birth,” Martinez spoke too fast.
“Your first?” Landon squatted down so he was eye level with the Marine, trying to recall all the details of the physical assessment he’d given him before they shipped out. He was gushing about being a dad then. Torment played across Martinez’s wide eyes as he nodded, trying hard not to let the tears spill out.
“I have two,” Landon continued. “My boy Mason is seven and my daughter Emily is four. I missed her birth by two days just like half of the dads on this ship have done. But you can’t worry about what you might miss, if that even happens, worry about the years you’ll need to be there in the future when he remembers his father’s name.”
“But Gabrielle is so scared.” Martinez broke; his shoulders heaved as he wept openly in the empty patient room. “She needs me to be there for her.”
Landon coughed to clear the emotion building in his chest. “She’ll understand. Your wife and your unborn son need you to provide for them and your unit needs you here too. I promise this is only temporary. We are going home.”
“How’s Martinez doing?” Sgt. Sierra leaned against the bulkhead in the corridor outside of medical.
“I had Rodcliff run to get Commander Jenkins and prescribe him an emergency script of hydroxyzine to stop the panic attack. She’s going to keep an eye on him while he takes a nap. He should be fit for duty when he wakes up, but he’s going to need to follow up with psych when he gets home.” Landon twisted the band around his ring finger. “I think he’s done after this tour. He doesn’t want to stay in.”
“The kid is smarter than we ever were then.” Sgt. Sierra tapped Landon on his chest. “We should have gotten out and gone to college too. Now look at us. But why does he need to go to the wizard? I thought you were our shrink.”
