Infected Poppy Fields

by Alathia Paris Morgan

  “I think it’s because I just finished training to become a surgeon. I haven’t done any outside of the practice sessions, but I think they consider it more valuable even though I’ve done less actual doctoring than either one of you.” I readjusted the duffle bag across my body and started walking toward the largest building in the area.

  “Makes sense in one way to give the surgeons a higher rank, but I’ve been a doctor for over ten years so you’d think they’d have figured out a better system.” Carson Coleman grumbled.

  “Since when did the army start making sense?” Freddie pulled a cigarette out of his front pocket leaning against the corner of the building. “I don’t know about the two of you, but I’m going to enjoy one of these before going inside. Otherwise, we might be thrown into action and not get a chance to sneak out for days.”

  I didn’t want to seem like a prude, but cigarettes weren’t my thing.

  “As the ranking officer, I say we take a small break before facing the lion’s den.” I slid off my bag and sighed in relief as it hit the ground.

  “Hear, hear,” Freddie agreed holding out an extra cigarette for Carson. “You heard the man, a break it is.”

  We stood there against the wall looking at the hospital as a row of ambulances rolled up and they started to unload stretchers full of suffering men.

  “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” I muttered snagging one of the cigarettes from Freddie. “I’ve never needed to smoke before, but something tells me I’m going to need to have some way to escape all that.”

  Carson clapped me on the back, “No, need to feel ashamed son. We’ve all been there and what you’re about to see is ten times worse than anything they showed you during medical school. You’re about to get hands on training.”

  A cloud of smoke escaped my mouth and I coughed making the other two laugh.

  “Don’t worry, if the old man over here can do it then you’ll survive.” Freddie cheerfully proclaimed. “At least the first day.”

  “It’s not like we can go back home so we have to make the most of it.” I grimaced and took another drag off of the smoking stick I held in between my fingers.

  “You’re right, guess we should go see if we can help.” Carson took one last drag before putting out his still smoking stub into a small tin.

  “Never seen that before.” I frowned as followed suit putting mine out too.

  “It lets you reuse it when you can’t finish it. You’ll never believe how many unsmoked cigarettes pile up when you’re a doctor. Plus, I’m going to guess that they’re hard to come by over here as well.” Carson explained patiently.

  “I’ll remember that.” I nodded as I hefted my bag back onto my shoulder.

  -----

  The opening of the hospital was huge. It had been one of the government’s buildings and had been turned into a working hospital for all the injured soldiers.

  There were lines of men waiting to be seen so no one noticed our arrival until we presented ourselves at the front desk which was vacant.

  “We’ve sure got our work cut out for us from the looks of it.” Freddie commented as he gazed at the men in obvious need of help.

  A harried looking soldier returned to the desk.

  “If you’re not bleeding or about to die, take a seat at the end of the row and someone will be with you as soon as possible.” He started to leave, but I cleared my throat making him look closely at us.

  “We’re doctors. I’m a surgeon. We were told to report here for duty?” I made it a question, but I didn’t think this kid would be of much help.

  “Just a second,” He waved at someone on the top floor before turning back to us, “Jeff will be down in just a minute to show you to your quarters and then to let you get started. We’re short staffed and even a few extra doctors would be a huge help.”

  Jeff appeared as if he’d flown down the stairs to us.

  “You’ve got fresh meat for me?” He grinned and then grew excited as he saw that the band on my arm that indicated I was a surgeon.

  “We’ll certainly make use of you. I’ll get you to your rooms where you can leave your bags and then I’ll introduce you to our chief of staff for the hospital. He’ll be the one to place you into the hospital’s service based on your experience.” Jeff took off in the same whirlwind that he’d arrived in and we hurried to catch up.

  “It’s a fairly easy system. You’ll work for two days and then have one day off. Sometimes that isn’t possible if there’s a specific battle going on, but we try to let you get some rest otherwise you won’t be able to keep working. You’ll have to eat between patients or surgeries,” he added for my benefit, “the kitchen does serve actual meals for the patients and when you can make it to the dining room it will be a hot meal.”

  “The cooks always have a soup on or bread to make sure that you don’t starve.” He continued to give us the tour as he practically ran up the stairs to the third and then fourth floor. “Here’s the only space we have available for the moment.”

  “Sorry, we have to rotate the beds, but at the moment you only have to share with the six people assigned to your room. We have one set on the night shift and the other on the day shift. We don’t have many overlaps due to the amount of people that need care. Questions?”

  He looked at our shocked faces, “I know it seems like a lot, but you’ll adjust fairly quickly.”

  “Are there that many soldiers being injured? I didn’t think there were that many battles going on right now?”

  Jeff’s expression grew sad instantly, “While we Americans are just now getting started, the poor French and Brits have been waging this war for over three years. There aren’t as many actual battles, thank goodness for that,” he crossed himself as if praying, “if there was one I wouldn’t be able to stand here talking to you.”

  We exchanged glances hoping that the dire circumstances that he’d just laid out weren’t the norm. I was afraid that everything he’d said was just the watered down version so that we didn’t run out the door screaming.

  I put my bag in the corner next to the others and squared my shoulders ready to face whatever was next.

  When we came out of the small room of cots, I almost ran directly into the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen before.

  “Excuse me, ma’am.” I apologized stepping back making the others run into my back.

  “No, worries soldier.” She gave a flirty wave before disappearing down the hallway.

  I walked out and waited for Jeff to join us. “Who was that? I breathed in awe.

  “Oh, you must mean Vivianne Pannier. She one of the French girls that help out and get our supplies to us. If you can get her a few extra dollars or rations, then she’ll hook you up with just about anything you need from the black market.” He took in my dreamy look, “You don’t want to get messed up with her. She gets around a lot, if you know what I mean. Great girl, but…”

  I knew what he was implying and it didn’t matter to me because I really wanted to meet her and decide for myself. “Thanks for the warning.” I replied hoping he would leave it alone before Freddie and Carson gave me looks of pity.

  “Let’s get you started. Remember your room is on the fourth floor, number eighteen.” Jeff headed toward the back stairs and in a small little office off of the kitchen we were brought before the chief of staff.

  “Ah, new recruits.” He beamed brightly sitting down his sandwich on the small tray in front of him. “We’re so glad that they’re sending us new doctors to help with the influx of new troops. Even those who aren’t in battle yet, have ills and pains from all of the new environments. So tell me who you are and what you’re field of expertise is?”

  Freddie pipped up not one for being shy, “I’m Freddie Kellogg from Detroit. I’ve been a family practice man for about three years on my own, but started out when I was just a teen helping the old doc until I could start taking classes.”

  He held out a hand and shook it eagerly before tu
rning to Carson.

  “Oh, I’ve been working in Richmond Virginia as a general fixer kind of doc for about ten years. If it’s a sore throat or tummy ache, I can fix them up pretty quickly.”

  “That’s wonderful,” The chief exclaimed, “You’ll find that the medicines we have on hand are slightly different here, but once you know what the substitutes are it will turn out to be easy for you.”

  “And you are?” He questioned holding out his hand brimming with curiosity.

  “Joseph Fitzgerald, but Fitz works as well. I’ve just finished training to be a surgeon in New York, but don’t have any practical skills yet.” I apologized.

  “No need for that,” He smile brightly at me, “We’ll have you fixed up and doing in a month what would have taken you years to accomplish in the states. I’m Thomas Booth, Chief of Staff here at the temporary AEF hospital.” He sat back down and took a sip from a long cold cup of coffee.

  “Jeff, if you will get these two gentlemen set up working through our walk-ins that would be wonderful. Fitz, if you can wait just a minute while I finish this meal. I’ll have to take you over and make sure that Pittman is okay with letting you shadow him for a while.”

  Before any of us could say a word, Jeff had hustled the other two out and I found myself sinking into the chair in front of the desk.

  “All this is a little overwhelming isn’t it?” Thomas asked before he took a bite of food.

  “Yeah, although the New York hospital is one of the busiest that you can work in, but I’m sure the kind of things you see here are so much different than what we came across there.” I grimaced at the thought of missing arms and legs from explosions.

  “It’s only a little more comforting, but after a while, you won’t even notice the damage because you’ll be working too hard trying to fix it. I just wish that I could do more instead of having to do all this paperwork, but there are some days that I get to pitch in because we’re so overworked.”

  “I would assume as much from what Jeff said.”

  Thomas washed the last bite down with his cold coffee and rose from the desk. “Once you’ve been trained for about three months, then we’ll give you a weekend off and send you a little closer to the front. We need good surgeons out there, but you have to be amazing before I’ll let you go. Consider this you’re entrance and exit exam, if you pass then you get to graduate to bigger problems.”

  He clapped me on the back and I tried not to panic at his words.

  “It’s not all bad. There are even a few pretty French girls around if you’re not exhausted on your days off.” He winked at me and closed the door behind him.

  ------

  From the moment I was introduced to Doctor Pittman, it felt like I didn’t stop until I had a weekend off almost four weeks later. Every month we were giving a few days over the weekend to get away from the hospital and taken to Paris for a much needed time of recuperation. They hadn’t been kidding when they’d said I would be doing surgeries after just a few days of training.

  When I came back I would taking on patients by myself and unless something went terribly wrong then I would be solo. It was a satisfied feeling knowing that I was doing something useful so these guys could either return to the battle field or home when they were well enough.

  Chapter 3

  Paris wasn’t anything like I’d expected it to be. Compared to New York it was just as loud and busy, but there was a completely different atmosphere here.

  I felt like a tourist with my neck crane up to see all the different things. The backdrop of soldiers everywhere reminded everyone that there was a war on, but even with that most people didn’t seem to be letting it get them down.

  The troop truck had stopped in the middle of town. The driver came around to let the back gate down.

  “Here are enough ration cards to last the weekend. You have to be back here on Monday morning or we’ll mark you as a deserter.” With those words he disappeared into the truck’s cabin and took off quickly.

  Everyone scattered in groups or individually and suddenly I was alone for the first time in months holding a handful of ration cards and no clue what to do with them.

  Freddie and Carson were supposed to join me, but at the last minute they’re relief got sent to the front and I was on my own. There was one upside to working all the time, I never got to spend any of the money I made minus cigarettes which were expensive.

  The first thing I needed to do was find a place to stay so that I didn’t have to walk around with my bag for the next few days. A sign with the words rooms for rent seemed to call to me and I went to inquire.

  A lovely lady, Mrs. Fabron answered the door and let me in beaming at my question.

  “Do you still have a room available?” I didn’t think I would be able to ask in French and hoped that she understood my English.

  “Of course, monsieur. We still have rooms. It helps keep my home filled with the sound of voices while my boys are on the front.” She spoke English, but it was laced with a lilt that came from speaking French.

  “How much for a room for three days?” I grinned in relief she named a price much lower than I’d expected. “Perfect. I’ll pay you now so I don’t forget.”

  “You are too kind. We serve breakfast at seven sharp, but you’ll have to find something out in the city for lunch and dinner.” She took the U.S. money from my hands and started up the stairs.

  “I’m just so happy to be away from the surgery table for a few days. I was beginning to think that the metallic smell of blood was how everything smelled.”

  “Oh, you poor man.” She sympathized, “We’ll make sure that you remember how the world smells before you go back. Ah, here is your room.”

  I finished climbing the last few stairs up to the third floor and realized the past few weeks of climbing up to my room at the hospital had gotten me in shape because I wasn’t even winded.

  “Here’s your key and there’s a dictionary on the dresser. If you could leave it when you go back it would be appreciated.”

  “Certainly, any recommendations on what I should see first?” I dropped my bag to the floor in relief.

  “Most want to see the tower or maybe the art museum, but all of them want to know where to find the ladies.” She gave me a suggestive wink, “If you know where to go the ladies will find you.”

  Red crept up my cheeks and I shook my head no. “Uh, I think I’ll just let that happen another time.”

  “A handsome man like you will draw the ladies to you, but if you don’t want that then just walk around the neighborhood shops and maybe something will appeal to you.” She turned to walk back down the stairs.

  “Walking sounds like a great idea.” I picked up the English-French dictionary following behind her. “I’ll go explore and then in the morning I may have a better idea what I want to see.”

  “No,” she paused, “how do you say, no worries?”

  “Exactly. Maybe I’ll pick up a few French words and teach you a few slang phrases.” I stopped before I went out the door, “Your address or street number so I can find my way back.”

  She laughed out loud and reached in her pocket for a pencil taking the dictionary out of my hands. She scribbled a few words and handed it back.

  “Ask anyone that’s French and they’ll tell you where to go. Give them a coin and they’ll lead you here themselves. Go have fun.”

  I followed her advice and began to wonder around not really caring where I went so long as it wasn’t to the hospital. Using my dictionary frequently, I was able to pick out a few words to order from my menu, but there wasn’t much on my plate due to rations.

  The French were not the only ones trying to learn to speak another language, there were many Englishmen roaming around in uniforms as well who were also attempting to make the romantic language sound proper.

  With my head down looking at the book and trying to figure out what kind of shops were on this street, I ran directly into someone.

  “
Pardon me.” I mumbled looking up to find Vivianne standing in front of me. “Oh, hi. We meet again.”

  “We certainly do.” She smiled putting me at ease. “I’m guessing they let you off for the weekend. Do you have plans yet?”

  “Um, not really. I was just trying to find a shop to buy a few things to send back to my mom and siblings. Any recommendations?” I didn’t expect for her to really help me, but to my surprise she slipped her hand through my arm.

  “Ha, you managed to catch me after I’d finished my errands. I’ll point you in the right direction so that you don’t get taken advantage of.” She caught sight of my dictionary, “Trying to learn French?”

  “It seems a pity that I’m all the way over here and can’t speak to half the people who live here. I’m not sure I’m getting much, but at least it’s something to do.” I shrugged not really sure what else to say.

  “All right, we’ll start with a few shops and then I managed to get tickets to a play that you might like. It’s all the rage with the service men and then if you don’t mind you can take me to dinner for being your tour guide.” Her enthusiasm was catching. “I know a place that give large portions for the rations we’re allotted.”

  “That’s not fair, I’ll be monopolizing your day and all you get is a dinner when you could be out with your boyfriend or husband.”

  She raised an eyebrow, “No, boyfriend or husband as of yet. Although, I know the reputation I have at the hospital. I’m a flirt, but it’s only to help our boys stay alive and happy. Do I have to worry about la petite amie for you?”

  I didn’t know what the exact meaning of the word was, but since I’d just mentioned having a boyfriend I was sure it meant girlfriend for me.

  “No, I’ve been training to be a doctor for a while and there weren’t a lot of opportunities to date.”

  “Oh, then we’re all clear.” She squeezed my arm and pulled me along the brick laid street. “Let’s find a few gifts for your family and then I’ll show you the parts of Paris that get overlooked.”