Forever (15 page)

“Well, I’ll be in the ER most of the time, but I’ll see what I can do,” Scott answered.

“As often as he cuts himself or drops things on his foot, you’ll probably see him more than either of us would like,” Esther quipped.

Jack paused and shuffled some papers. He leaned over and said something to Esther.

“So you two are interested?” he asked.

Scott nodded, but Roni spoke up. “We are very interested. We’ve been looking all morning and haven’t found anything even close to this. And we agreed on nothing.”

“Would you be able to move in August 1?” he asked.

“Well, the plan wasn’t for us to move until Labor Day weekend,” Scott said. “I’m not done with AIT until 21 August.”

Jack frowned, then looked down. “We really like you two. But we really wanted to get it rented August 1, and we have people interested for that date,” he added.

Roni shot Scott a look. He nodded. “We’ll pay the extra month, Jack.”

“Jack,” Roni said, “I already know this is the house I want to walk into at the end of the day. I already know this is the house I want to wake up in every day. I already know this is the house I want to wake up with my husband with every day.”

Jack looked at Scott.
“Anything to add, son?”

“Sgt. Major, I would never assume to debate Roni,” Scott said.
“Especially when she’s right.”

Jack stood up and offered Scott his hand. “Come by after supper and we’ll have a lease ready for you to sign.”

Scott shook Jack’s hand. Roni hugged him, then Esther, then finally Scott. She was crying.

“You two better hurry if you want to go see the Fort,” Jack said. “See you tonight.”

****

CHAPTER 18

After lunch, they decided to check out Fort Riley, but on the way out they swung over to the north side of campus to look at the football stadium. KSU Stadium was not much to look at. It looked like an overgrown high school stadium, a pile of bleachers sunk into the ground. The smallest college press box they’d ever seen sat on top of the west stands. On one end was a building they assumed to be locker rooms.

“This is a Big Eight stadium?” Roni asked. “This is pretty sad.”

“It’s no Folsom Field,” Scott said, indicating Colorado’s home stadium.

“It’s barely
Stampeder Field,” Roni said, indicating their high school field.

“Yeah, but at least the tickets will be cheap.”

”You’re not getting creeped out, are you?”

“No. But it is amazing how things look alike.”

They had driven through the Fort Riley gate where it connected to Ogden. Scott’s assessment was right; trailer parks, tattoo parlors, seedy bars, pawn shops, and liquor stores.

“Shit-hole Army town is right,” Roni said. “Why would anyone live here?”

“It’s cheap. ‘Bout the only reason I can think of.”

“It’s a different world, isn’t it?

“Very different. I’m hoping the hospital company is a little closer to us than other places.”

A couple of miles in, on the right, a tall building rose before them. Letters on the top read “Irwin Army Hospital.”

They pulled in a side driveway to the back of the building. The hospital was in an “L” shape, rising six floors. The parking lot they pulled into was next to a long three-story building that appeared to be the MEDDAC barracks.

They pulled around the side of the building and up into the main parking lot.

“Want to go in?” Roni asked.

“No, not yet.
I know where it is at least.”

They toured around the main post; most of the buildings on the base were made of the same limestone rock. It was actually a beautiful place. They stopped at the commissary and found cartons of cigarettes for $3.00.

Roni bought 10 cartons of Marlboro Lights, while Scott bought 10 of Marlboro Menthols.

“That should hold us,” Scott said.

“That military ID is gold around here,” Roni said. “Do I get to use it too?”

“Once we’re married, you’ll get one. Then you can go here, the Main PX, any of those places.”

They drove up the road to Custer Hill and found the Main PX, a huge modern building that looked like the nicest K-Mart on earth.

“Jesus, this place has everything. And it really is cheap.”

“That’s why only active duty or dependents can shop here. Otherwise, it would be way unfair to places off post.”

They browsed through the rest of the aisles. Roni picked up some “ARMY” t-shirts, tank-tops and shorts for both of them. Eventually they found the uniform department. “God, Footer, these are so ugly. What will you wear to work?”

“Flight suits I think,” Scott answered. “I’m pretty sure it’s scrubs or a flight suit most of the time at the hospital.”

They had dinner back in Aggieville. Kite’s had cold beer and great deli sandwiches. It seemed like a big-time campus bar, but with summer school, like most campus bars, it was mostly deserted. Before dinner they had one last shopping spree, stopping at Varney’s Book Store to load up on Kansas State clothes. Scott found a couple caps he liked.

“You guys from the Fort?” asked their waitress. Her name tag read “Amanda.”

“Actually we’re from Colorado,” Roni said. “He’s in the Army in Texas right now, but he’s coming here in September. I start design school in January. We’re getting married New Year’s Eve, but we wanted to come out and find a place to live.”

“Awesome,” said Amanda. “Find something?”

“Yeah,” Scott said. “A house on Fremont.”

Amanda had a quizzical look on her face. “Fremont? Jack and Esther are your landlords?”

“Yeah,” Scott said. “Why?”

“I’m your neighbor,” she said. “We live next door!”

“No way,” Roni said. “Who’s we?”

“I have two roommates. This is too cool.”

“We heard the last guys were kind of a pain in the ass.”

“You heard about the turkey, right?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah.”

“That was actually mild. One night they decided to have a garbage can party. They convinced a bunch of freshmen girls it was now naked time, and pretty soon there were about two dozen naked people running around our neighborhood.”

“We’ll probably be a disappointment,” Scott said. “We’ll have parties every once in a while, but they probably won’t be naked ones.”

“Well, not totally naked,” Roni added.

“We’ll have fun,” Amanda said. “We usually have pretty good weed.”

Roni jumped up and hugged her.
“My new best friend!”

Roni came out of the bathroom while Scott was lying on the bed, watching the news.  She fished a Coke out of the cooler, drank part of it, then grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels off the counter and refilled the can.

She climbed on the bed, set her Coke down and climbed up on top of him straddling his hips. “Want a back rub, baby?”

“I would love one.”

Roni grabbed a bottle of baby oil off the nightstand, poured some in her hands and began working it into the muscles of Scott’s shoulders. Roni didn’t look all that powerful, but she had strong hands from years of working the horses, and she knew every inch of Scott’s body. She knew every muscle, what part needed work, what part needed a light touch.

“Mmmmm…baby that is so nice.”

“You can owe me one tomorrow night in Ardmore.”

“You got it.”

“Has it really hit you yet, Footer?”

“Which thing? Lots of things have hit me lately.”

“We have a house, Scott. We have an address. We can get those little address labels that say:

“The Mitchells

1022 Fremont Street

Manhattan, Kansas 66052!”

Scott’s arms were crossed in front of him. His head lay on the mattress and he looked up at her with one eye and a smile.

“I hadn’t thought about that,” he said. “That’s incredible. Six months ago, was this even a vague thought?”

“No. But anymore, in the back of my mind, I guess I always thought it could happen. At least I always wanted it to.”

He rolled over onto his back and pulled Roni close. “I seriously can’t wait to marry you,” he said.

“I love you, Footer.”

Before they left town
the next morning, they swung by the house one last time to take a picture.

“I can’t believe we didn’t do this last night,” Roni said as they pulled up out front.
“Sweetie, go stand in front of the porch.”

“What are we going to do, take turns?” he asked as he trudged toward the steps.

“Both of you get in there!”

Scott turned around to see Amanda come bounding out of the house next door. She was in a bright green T-shirt that said “
Kaupan Mt. Carmel” across the front of it, and pair of black shorts.

“I saw the truck pull up and I wondered if it was you guys. Roni, get up there with your sweetie. You should both be in this.”

Scott reached over and pulled the “For Rent” sign out of the ground and held it in front of them. Amanda counted “one-two-three.” He and Roni broke into huge grins and the shutter clicked.

Home.

****

CHAPTER 19

It was after 2330 when Scott finally walked out the main doors of the BAMC emergency room. It had been ride-along night for him, and since 1500, he’d been assigned to one of the hospital’s ambulances.

There were five runs all together – two
illness in barracks, a possible heart attack, a seven-year old girl who’d slipped out of a tree and broke her arm, and another woman who had tried to commit suicide.

The last case had been disturbing to Scott. The woman’s husband was overseas and she had taken a huge combination of cough syrup, aspirin and other over-the-counter pills. By the time they reached the ER, she was barely conscious. Scott helped snake a tube down her nose. The ER doctor hooked a large syringe to the tube,
then filled it with charcoal and poured saline down the tube.

Within seconds she began to vomit, a black and gray slime that smelled like death itself. She was only dressed in an old bathroom and the gunk clung to the terrycloth and on her skin.

“That was just freaky,” Scott said to Lt. Wolfe, an attractive ER nurse who couldn’t have been much older than him.

“They decide to off themselves,” she said, “but they don’t have the right stuff around so they use whatever is handy. Thank God she used what she did. About six months a girl used Drano.”

“Drano? Jesus…”

“She didn’t make it.”

Scott was pondering how someone could become so screwed up they’d try to kill themselves as he walked into his and Carl’s room.

“Shit, there you are,” Carl said. “You need to call Roni.”

It was Tuesday night, the 16th. There were just over 10 days of EMT training left, and Scott was fired up about heading back for Rick and Maggie’s wedding, then for the big move. His parents and the girls, Roni and her parents, Mark, Rick and Maggie had already taken a large load of stuff to Manhattan. There’d still be one more load, but they were in good shape.

But he and Roni just talked Sunday night. For her to call at this hour meant something was up.

“She didn’t sound like herself,” Carl said. “I’ll be in the TV room.”

“Thanks, man,” Scott said. “I’ll try to make it quick.”

Scott pulled out his phone credit card and dialed her number. It was closing on midnight there, and 2300 at home. Roni answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi baby. Sorry it’s so late.”

“It’s fine. This couldn’t wait.”

He almost didn’t recognize this voice. She sounded angry, tired, and almost as if she’d been crying.

“Baby,” Scott said softly, “what is it?”

“Well, I don’t know if there’s going to be a fucking wedding!”

“What? Baby, what are you talking about? Whose wedding? Rick and Maggie?

“Yeah.
I don’t fucking know!”

Scott was completely helpless at this point. He could hear his heart pounding in his head. There was a knot in his stomach and a metallic taste in his mouth.

“Roni, slow down,” he said. “Tell me what happened.”

“I was in Greeley all day with Maggie, working on wedding stuff, and came back here about 7:00. Wasn’t an hour later she calls me screaming, crying. Some girl called looking for Rick. Some girl he’d been banging for two weeks on the construction job he’d been on in Arvada.

“He walks in the house and she just unloads on him. He admitted it, said it was meaningless. Then she gets it out of him there were others. A few years of them.”