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Date Posted: 13:06:49 03/04/06 Sat
Author: Sylvia Bartlett Mohr
Subject: FWWATT Ch 7 Section One
In reply to: Sylvia Mohr Bartlett 's message, "FOR WHICH WE ARE TRULY THANKFUL Ch 7" on 13:01:08 03/04/06 Sat


FOR WHICH WE ARE TRULY THANKFUL

By Sylvia Bartlett Mohr

Chapter 7: Workin' My Way Back to You

Section One: Memory Leaps

Well, here I am. Another year older...any wiser? Time will tell. This is a very long chapter. I've sectioned it as well as I could, but several sections are still quite long, yet I broke them where I felt was best. Enjoy. One more I believe and I will be much slowed by writing new chapters. Very heavy stuff. So hang in, gentle readers. Here we go again.
Sylvia




Harm slowly opened his eyes to see Sturgis, once more in uniform, sitting next to him writing longhand on a yellow legal pad. "Did I miss the changing of the guard?"

His friend smiled warmly and clipped his pen to the paper, sliding forward in his seat, so he could lay his hand on Harm's free hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "You've missed a couple of them, Harm."

Harm's eyes had closed again, so he didn't see the worry that came to Turner's face when he responded. "You better not be late to class because you visited me, Sturg."

Chaplain Turner held up a hand to warn his son not to call attention to Harm's error. He spoke over his son's shocked silence. "How do you feel, my boy?"

"My arm hurts and I'm a little confused." Harm replied, but he suddenly opened his eyes with a worried look over at the Chaplain. "Chaplain T. ~ you're here? How banged up, am I?"

"Harm, buddy, what do you think happened to you?"

"The ropes – I took them too fast and I slipped and fell, right?" He was looking at the senior Turner though answering his friend.

When the older man looked concerned, he looked back over at Sturgis and got a better look at his friend's uniform. The terror that came on his face made each Turner grab a shoulder to keep him against the bed. "Oh, God, what has happened to me? You're both older, and, Sturg, are you a submariner or a JAG and…and a commander?" He closed his eyes. "What happened to me? Have I been in a coma or something?"

"Harm," Sturgis spoke reassuringly, "it is okay. One of the meds the Doctors have you on has made Swiss cheese of your memory. You just take it easy."

"That's easy for you to say." There was hopelessness and loss in his friend's voice. "Your life has gone on. I'm still in the second year of the Academy."

"No, Harmon." Chaplain Turner said, firmly. "You are a Commander, the same as my son. You are also a lawyer at JAG and a Naval aviator. Your arm was injured by shrapnel from a shoulder launched missile detonating near your Tomcat."

Harm opened one eye and regarded the older man suspiciously. "No offense, sir, but are you on the same drugs I am? How could I possibly be both a JAG and a pilot wounded in action? That's the kind of crap they show on TV, not reality."

"Well, not unless you happen to be a Rabb..." Sturgis tried to lighten the somber tone of things.

Harm closed the open eye and moaned softly. "I need a basin."

Sturgis grabbed one from the bedside table and pressed it to Harm's cheek just in time. He nodded okay to his father's indication he would go for help. The younger Turner was amazed that someone on IVs only could have so much to bring up.

The violent vomiting went on until his father returned with Doctor Studevant behind him, syringe in hand. Stu had administered the med before Harm opened his eyes and saw the syringe, "No. No more drugs. I - I can't remember things...my life. Please. No."

The doctor responded, soothingly. "This was something for the nausea, Harm."

"Please, no more." The aviator was trying to fight the drug, but he was too weak. He began to drift off, but managed to plead, "Stay with me, Sturgis."

"Right by your side, my friend. I promise."

"Thanks." Harm managed, before he slipped into sleep, clinging to Sturgis hand like it was a lifeline.


Turner looked like he wanted to ask the doctor a question, but the man shook his head negatively. The man slipped his hand out of Harm's and held up the legal pad, inquisitively. The doctor nodded. The lawyer wrote out his question. "I thought you said only recent memories would be lost as a side effect of the versed. He can't seem to remember anything from the second year of Academy on."

The doctor came around and wrote his answer.

Chaplain Turner sighed and stayed put at Harm's side on the other side of the bed, so after Sturgis read his answer, Studevant handed the legal pad over to the older man, so he could follow the 'conversation' as well.

The doctor had written. "This is unusual, but not unheard of. Some of it may be a reaction to the versed, but he may have unconsciously gone back to an earlier, safer memory - to give himself space before he has to remember Mahlberg."

Once his father had read the note, frowning thoughtfully, Sturgis held out his hand imperiously, demanding the paper back. "Are you saying some kind of traumatic amnesia - psychosomatic? That could be serious, couldn't it?"

Studevant shook his head strongly and grabbed the pad back. Writing in bold letters, he wrote. "DO NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS, COMMANDER. IT COULD STILL JUST BE A REACTION TO THE VERSED. YOU WERE HIS ROOMMATE AT THE ACADEMY, CORRECT?"

Sturgis nodded.

"Was there an incident where he fell from the ropes in the gymnasium?" The doctor wrote the question out.

Again he held it so the senior Turner could read the question before Sturgis was given a chance to write the answer.

"Yes, during physical training. He didn't wind up in infirmary even overnight though. Once he came to, they sent him back to the dorm with me. I had to check him all night, but they didn't keep him." Sturgis wrote a bit sloppily as he was hurried.

"Still that may just be the first memory his mind happened to grab. Did he hurt his arm that time?" The doctor inquired on paper.

Sturgis nodded.

"The mind can make some funny leaps around when it is grasping for memories." Was what the doctor wrote. Aloud he said. "Try not to be overly concerned. I'm sure Harm will be fine when he wakes up again."

Sturgis raised an eyebrow and the doctor indicated with motions that if his question wasn't related to the apparent amnesia he could ask it out loud. "What about this nausea? Can you treat it and the spasms without making things worse?" After the last, he tapped his forehead to indicate memory wise.

"If the spasms begin to come back when he wakes up, nausea or no, he will have to have more versed. That may keep him a bit looped and confused. Don’t make an issue of it. Just reassure him. Let him take the lead on what time frame he thinks it is. Don't push on the memories."

Studevant went on. "Right now my emphasis has to be controlling the reaction as it affects his lungs and keeping those spasms under control. We'll worry about the Swiss cheese effect later. Understood?"

Sturgis and the Chaplain exchanged concerned glances, but nodded.

"I'd better go update Chegwidden and Boone. They are in my office. Please stay with him for the time being, Commander Turner. Chaplain Turner, you should probably go get some rest."

"I am all right, Doctor." The elderly man insisted. "I am staying right here for now. That is not open to debate, Sturgis." He cut his son's attempt to protest off firmly. "I am not so infirm I don't know what I am capable of. I will not push myself past my limits, but I will stay the course for now. Understood?"

"Very well." The doctor nodded and left after handing the pad back to the lawyer, who left it on the bed as he had already gripped Harm's hand once more.

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Replies:

  • Re: FOR WHICH WE ARE TRULY THANKFUL Ch 7 -- Sylvia Mohr Bartlett, 13:29:20 03/04/06 Sat
  • ABOVE IS FWWATT Chapter 7 Section Two -- Sylvia Mohr Bartlett, 13:34:16 03/04/06 Sat
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