Free-Fire Zone by Chris Lynch & Chris Lynch

Author:Chris Lynch & Chris Lynch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2011-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

I am laughing out loud now because of course he doesn’t mean it, which is making my leg hurt even more. Which makes me laugh even more because this injury would make Ivan slap me silly — both because of all what he just said, and because slapping me silly was just always something he liked to do. I miss it. It’s time for my medication.

The hospital at the base at Chu Lai is probably about as fancy as you could expect for being right smack in the middle of everything. It’s kind of like a small airplane hangar with a row of big baby cribs lined up along each side, and long fluorescent strip lights hanging over each one. The nurse who has been taking care of me mostly is named Carolyn and she is very tall and slim with black moppy hair, and while she is a little bit intimidating from my angle she is kind enough to be much smaller than she is.

“Here ya go, dingbat,” she says, bringing me my little cup of pain pills and another cup of water. I swallow both quickly while she leans on the rails of my baby crib. I find the rails embarrassing, but do enjoy the leaning. She’s called me dingbat from the minute I got here even though she couldn’t even have known yet.

“When I get out of here would you like to go out with me sometime?” I ask, and I get a rush from just the asking. I can’t even believe I’m doing it. Because that’s just not like me at all, to even be able to talk to a tall girl. Somehow, now it’s easy.

“You know, I never get asked that,” she says.

“Really? Wow. That’s great because I would imagine with all the —”

“See now, sweetie, I was just joking with you there. Know what I mean? There are like fifty million servicemen for every nurse, and by the time I see them they are not only wounded and needy and looking for their mommy, but they are also medicated. So, sweet as you are … I am awfully more popular than I need to be already. But on the bright side, you do have visitors.”

“Cabbage!” the guys yelp before Carolyn shushes them down. It’s Hunter and Squid and Marquette. Carolyn moves on to the next crib, and they all start giving me the eyes like I’m Mr. Lucky or something. Then all three produce what look like sharpened chopsticks and start poking me with them, hard.

“Ow, I get it, ow, I get it,” I say, twisting as far away from them as my cage bed will allow me to. “I could go a long time without getting stabbed with sticks again, I can tell you that.”

“Oh,” Hunter says, “about that. We have decided to change your nickname to Pincushion. How’s that, Cabbage?”

“No,” I say. “As a matter of fact, you might want to consider calling me Rudi.”

“Rudi?” Marquette says. “That’s a stupid name. Why would we want to call you that?”

“Yeah,” I say.

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