BOOK TWO
13
WE GOT INTO Milan early in the morning and they unloaded us in the freight yard. An ambulance took me to the American hospital. Riding in the ambulance on a stretcher I could not tell what part of town we were passing through but when they unloaded the stretcher I saw a market-place and an open wine shop with a girl sweeping out. They were watering the street and it smelled of the early morning. They put the stretcher down and went in. The porter came out with them. He had gray mustaches, wore a doormanâs cap and was in his shirt sleeves. The stretcher would not go into the elevator and they discussed whether it was better to lift me off the stretcher and go up in the elevator or carry the stretcher up the stairs. I listened to them discussing it. They decided on the elevator. They lifted me from the stretcher. âGo easy,â I said. âTake it softly.â
In the elevator we were crowded and as my legs bent the pain was very bad. âStraighten out the legs,â I said.
âWe canât, Signor Tenente. There isnât room.â The man who said this had his arm around me and my arm was around his neck. His breath came in my face metallic with garlic and red wine.
âBe gentle,â the other man said.
âSon of a bitch who isnât gentle!â
âBe gentle I say,â the man with my feet repeated.
I saw the doors of the elevator closed, and the grill shut and the fourth-floor button pushed by the porter. The porter looked worried. The elevator rose slowly.
âHeavy?â I asked the man with the garlic.
âNothing,â he said. His face was sweating and he grunted. The elevator rose steadily and stopped. The man holding the feet opened the door and stepped out. We were on a balcony. There were several doors with brass knobs. The man carrying the feet pushed a button that rang a bell. We heard it inside the doors. No one came. Then the porter came up the stairs.
âWhere are they?â the stretcher-bearers asked.
âI donât know,â said the porter. âThey sleep down stairs.â
âGet somebody.â
The porter rang the bell, then knocked on the door, then he opened the door and went in. When he came back there was an elderly woman wearing glasses with him. Her hair was loose and half-falling and she wore a nurseâs dress.
âI canât understand,â she said. âI canât understand Italian.â
âI can speak English,â I said. âThey want to put me somewhere.â
âNone of the rooms are ready. There isnât any patient expected.â She tucked at her hair and looked at me near-sightedly.
âShow them any room where they can put me.â
âI donât know,â she said. âThereâs no patient expected. I couldnât put you in just any room.â
âAny room will do,â I said. Then to the porter in Italian, âFind an empty room.â
âThey are all empty,â said the porter. âYou are the first patient.â He held his cap in his hand and looked at the elderly nurse.
âFor Christâs sweet sake take me to some room.â The pain had gone on and on with the legs bent and I could feel it going in and out of the bone. The porter went in the door, followed by the gray-haired woman, then came hurrying back. âFollow me,â he said. They carried me down a long hallway and into a room with drawn blinds. It smelled of new furniture. There was a bed and a big wardrobe with a mirror. They laid me down on the bed.
âI canât put on sheets,â the woman said. âThe sheets are locked up.â
I did not speak to her. âThere is money in my pocket,â I said to the porter. âIn the buttoned-down pocket.â The porter took out the money. The two stretcher-bearers stood beside the bed holding their caps. âGive them five lire apiece and five lire for yourself. My papers are in the other pocket. You may give them to the nurse.â
The stretcher-bearers saluted and said thank you. âGood-by,â I said. âAnd many thanks.â They saluted again and went out.
âThose papers,â I said to the nurse, âdescribe my case and the treatment already given.â
The woman picked them up and looked at them through her glasses. There were three papers and they were folded. âI donât know what to do,â she said. âI canât read Italian. I canât do anything without the doctorâs orders.â She commenced to cry and put the papers in her apron pocket. âAre you an American?â she asked crying.
âYes. Please put the papers on the table by the bed.â
It was dim and cool in the room. As I lay on the bed I could see the big mirror on the other side of the room but could not see what it reflected. The porter stood by the bed. He had a nice face and was very kind.
âYou can go,â I said to him. âYou can go too,â I said to the nurse. âWhat is your name?â
âMrs. Walker.â
âYou can go, Mrs. Walker. I think I will go to sleep.â
I was alone in the room. It was cool and did not smell like a hospital. The mattress was firm and comfortable and I lay without moving, hardly breathing, happy in feeling the pain lessen. After a while I wanted a drink of water and found the bell on a cord by the bed and rang it but nobody came. I went to sleep.
When I woke I looked around. There was sunlight coming in through the shutters. I saw the big armoire, the bare walls, and two chairs. My legs in the dirty bandages, stuck straight out in the bed. I was careful not to move them. I was thirsty and I reached for the bell and pushed the button. I heard the door open and looked and it was a nurse. She looked young and pretty.
âGood-morning,â I said.
âGood-morning,â she said and came over to the bed. âWe havenât been able to get the doctor. Heâs gone to Lake Como. No one knew there was a patient coming. Whatâs wrong with you anyway?â
âIâm wounded. In the legs and feet and my head is hurt.â
âWhatâs your name?â
âHenry. Frederic Henry.â
âIâll wash you up. But we canât do anything to the dressings until the doctor comes.â
âIs Miss Barkley here?â
âNo. Thereâs no one by that name here.â
âWho was the woman who cried when I came in?â
The nurse laughed. âThatâs Mrs. Walker. She was on night duty and sheâd been asleep. She wasnât expecting any one.â
While we were talking she was undressing me, and when I was undressed, except for the bandages, she washed me, very gently and smoothly. The washing felt very good. There was a bandage on my head but she washed all around the edge.
âWhere were you wounded?â
âOn the Isonze north of Plava.â
âWhere is that?â
âNorth of Gorizia.â
I could see that none of the places meant anything to her.
âDo you have a lot of pain?â
âNo. Not much now.â
She put a thermometer in my mouth.
âThe Italians put it under the arm,â I said.
âDonât talk.â
When she took the thermometer out she read it and then shook it.
âWhatâs the temperature?â
âYouâre not supposed to know that.â
âTell me what it is.â
âItâs almost normal.â
âI never have any fever. My legs are full of old iron too.â
âWhat do you mean?â
âTheyâre full of trench-mortar fragments, old screws and bedsprings and things.â
She shook her head and smiled.
âIf you had any foreign bodies in your legs they would set up an inflammation and youâd have fever.â
âAll right,â I said. âWeâll see what comes out.â
She went out of the room and came back with the old nurse of the early morning. Together they made the bed with me in it. That was new to me and an admirable proceeding.
âWho is in charge here?â
âMiss Van Campen.â
âHow many nurses are there?â
âJust us two.â
âWonât there be more?â
âSome more are coming.â
âWhen will they get here?â
âI donât know. You ask a great many questions for a sick boy.â
âIâm not sick,â I said. âIâm wounded.â
They had finished making the bed and I lay with a clean smooth sheet under me and another sheet over me. Mrs. Walker went out and came back with a pajama jacket. They put that on me and I felt very clean and dressed.
âYouâre awfully nice to me,â I said. The nurse called Miss Gage giggled. âCould I have a drink of water?â I asked.
âCertainly. Then you can have breakfast.â
âI donât want breakfast. Can I have the shutters opened please?â
The light had been dim in the room and when the shutters were opened it was bright sunlight and I looked out on a balcony and beyond were the tile roofs of houses and chimneys. I looked out over the tiled roofs and saw white clouds and the sky very blue.
âDonât you know when the other nurses are coming?â
âWhy? Donât we take good care of you?â
âYouâre very nice.â
âWould you like to use the bedpan?â
âI might try.â
They helped me and held me up but it was not any use. Afterward I lay and looked out the open doors onto the balcony.
âWhen does the doctor come?â
âWhen he gets back. Weâve tried to telephone to Lake Como for him.â
âArenât there any other doctors?â
âHeâs the doctor for the hospital.â
Miss Gage brought a pitcher of water and a glass. I drank three glasses and then they left me and I looked out the window a while and went back to sleep. I ate some lunch and in the afternoon Miss Van Campen, the superintendent, came up to see me. She did not like me and I did not like her. She was small and neatly suspicious and too good for her position. She asked many questions and seemed to think it was somewhat disgraceful that I was with the Italians.
âCan I have wine with the meals?â I asked her.
âOnly if the doctor prescribes it.â
âI canât have it until he comes?â
âAbsolutely not.â
âYou plan on having him come eventually?â
âWeâve telephoned him at Lake Como.â
She went out and Miss Gage came back.
âWhy were you rude to Miss Van Campen?â she asked after she had done something for me very skilfully.
âI didnât mean to be. But she was snooty.â
âShe said you were domineering and rude.â
âI wasnât. But whatâs the idea of a hospital with...