This Is Really War by Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi

Author:Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2019-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

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Peg Nash had more projects to coyly suggest to her carpenter friend. Another set of inmates were scheduled for transfer from Santo Tomas, and the infirmary needed to expand. The nurses were forfeiting their dormitory and squeezing into the infirmary basement. They were not keen on returning to such tight quarters, but their dormitory was ideal to serve as a ward. Peg was the resident interior designer among the nurses, and even Chief Nurse Cobb deferred to her ideas on how to improve the space. Peg hopefully mentioned to her carpenter friend that it would be nice to build the nurses a covered patio with a wooden floor. The carpenter agreed, and even added a wooden dining table.

The nurses were impressed with his craftsmanship. Mary Chapman ran her hand over the table’s smooth surface. It reminded her of a picnic table. Perhaps, she suggested hopefully, when the war was over, the women could get together for a reunion and have a picnic. Mary’s mind likely returned to her home in Chicago and the thought of warm summer evenings in the city parks. The other nurses looked at her in disbelief. When they got home, they were never eating outside again.

In the coming weeks, the table served other purposes. Dietitian Bertha Evans continued to have difficulty sleeping. She often woke up in the middle of the night, riddled with anxieties. She crept from the nurses’ rooms to the patio and sat at the table. She listened to the quiet of the camp and looked up at the stars, thinking of her fiancé and her home in Oregon, and wondering if she’d ever see either again.

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