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case, and a back full of shrapnel fragments, seemed
less terrible on this trip. The soldiers were absorbed in
making their special pleas for Johnny.
 He had our whole company fooled. You know we
shave every day if it s at all possible. Didn t suspect
until these last three days. We were in those foxholes for
three days and nights without moving. Couldn t shave.
 Nurse, be a good sport about Johnny, won t you?
He s one of the best GI s in our outfit. He took it on
the chin for our platoon this morning.
 Don t tell on the kid! It d break his heart to be mus-
tered out of the Army and sent home to school!
A MEDAL FOR J OHNNY 117
Finally Cherry burst out laughing. She made this
announcement, not only to Johnny, but to all of them:
 Fellows, I ought to report Johnny but I won t. Just
the same, someone is sure to find out when you re all in
the hospital. You see, the corpsmen will come around
with shaving things and believe me, those doctors and
nurses have sharp eyes.
Johnny called stubbornly,  I won t let  em catch me.
I m not going home!
Cherry shook her head doubtfully but she had to
laugh again. She was impressed, too, at the spunk of this
boy. He must have run away from home and fibbed his
way into the Army. His parents probably were worried
to distraction about this youthful adventurer.
The flight back to the base hospital went off almost
cheerfully, because Johnny was aboard.
As the men were being unloaded, Cherry whispered
to the fourteen-(and-a-half)-year-old boy,  I ll come to
the hospital to see you!
He scowled up from his litter.  Don t you write my
ma!
 No. Promise.
Cherry was too busy for the next few days, and also
too tired, to get over to the hospital to see the underage
soldier. She was a little puzzled over her continuing
fatigue. The other flight nurses admitted they too found
this work a terrific strain. But they perked up after a
long sleep, and somehow, Cherry did not. However,
118 CHERRY AMES, FLI GHT NURSE
she pushed herself and kept going more flights into
combat areas, helping out on wards, preparing for the
next flight.
There was not a moment to see Muriel or Mrs. El-
dredge now. Cherry debated as to whether or not she
should tell Mrs. Eldredge that she had actually seen
Mark Grainger on a forbidden military airfield, in the
heart of the combat area. It certainly made things look
bad for him. What had he been doing there? If he were
a spy
A spy could make real trouble in that spot. A spy
could tip off the enemy that this was where the unpro-
tected wounded lay. A spy could learn for the enemy
the comings and goings of paratroop planes, for this
air strip apparently was used for more purposes than
evacuating the wounded. A spy could walk only two or
three miles from the holding station and be at a head-
quarters tent, where written orders and marked maps
for the battles to come were kept. A spy in this criti-
cal spot with, perhaps, a load of dynamite Cherry s
head ached at the endless and terrible possibilities.
If Mark Grainger were a spy, could the sentries ac-
tually have been so lax as to let him through? Yet an
occasional slip-up was almost bound to occur. Mark
could have slipped in, unnoticed, or he could even have
come in quite legally, by pretending to be a neighbor-
ing farmer with food to sell to the Army. There were a
dozen ways for a clever, fearless man to get in.
A MEDAL FOR J OHNNY 119
How did he get across the Channel? That was an-
other, and thorny, question. Certainly not on that care-
fully restricted plane he was hanging around.
Should she tell Mrs. Eldredge? It was a heavy ques-
tion.
 I d better not do or say anything until I m sure,
Cherry thought.  It would only worry Mrs. Eldredge
unnecessarily. She recalled her talk with Wade.  After
all, we don t have anything very definite to base any
charges on. It looks suspicious, but I don t know.
Once more, the picture of Mark Grainger playing
with his little daughter, in that peaceful sitting room,
returned to Cherry. There popped into her head the
reproachful words  O ye of little faith!
She did have faith in Mark Grainger, suspicions
notwithstanding. Muriel s faith in her father was the
basis for it. Children were not easily deceived, Cherry
thought; children had a basic, unspoiled honesty which
sensed dishonesty in others, particularly in those they
loved. Perhaps Muriel s innocent trust in her father was
the true barometer of Mark Grainger s worth.
So when Cherry finally had a little free time, the
following week, she used it not to pursue her suspicions,
but to visit fourteen-(and-a-half)-year-old Johnny.
At the hospital, Cherry applied for entrance and
cleared with the Information authorities, like any other
visitor. Then she went upstairs to a ward she had never
seen before. She was curious to see how some of those
120 CHERRY AMES, FLI GHT NURSE
men, who were transported on her plane the other day,
were getting along.
The minute Cherry entered the ward, she was heart-
ened. The long white room was badly overcrowded
jammed with extra rows of beds but these young
men were getting well! It was absolutely amazing how
quickly they snapped back to health and high spirits.
A radio was playing swing music. Some of the fellows
were already strolling around the ward visiting. Those
still in the beds were joking with the Red Cross ladies as
they played checkers or learned to knit woolen socks.
It was hard to recognize the beat-up soldiers out of
the foxholes in these clean, cheerful lads.  Our young
men have the stamina and resilience of steel wire!
Cherry thought proudly.  And what unquenchable
spirit!
They were talking, she discovered, about their
chances of being flown home to America talking ea-
gerly. Planes did a lot for morale!
Cherry located Johnny hunched up in bed. He was
not a bit glad to see her. In fact, he pulled the covers
over his face. Cherry pulled them down again. A pair
of fiery boyish eyes snapped at her.
 I s pose you ve come to report me!
Cherry laughed.  Nothing of the sort. But haven t
they caught you yet?
Johnny looked around guardedly.  They re beginning
to suspect, he whispered.  But they still don t know.
A MEDAL FOR J OHNNY 121
He gave her an impish grin. Out of uniform, he certainly
did look like the schoolboy he was.
Cherry took a look at his chart, hanging on his bed.
It said that Johnny was a long way from recovery. Al-
though he did not know it, Johnny was slated to return
to a hospital in the United States for long-term conva-
lescent care. Somewhere along the way, he would surely
be discovered and retired from the Army though of
course the Army would keep him in a hospital until he
was thoroughly well again. Johnny was not going to like
what lay ahead.
Cherry looked into his scowling, freckled face, and
considered. Better for him to face the inevitable with
the right attitude. She was the only Army Medical
Corps person who knew of his plight. She had a re-
sponsibility here. She must try to make Johnny face
the facts with a more grown-up attitude.
 Quite a flight we had the other day, she started.
 How would you like to fly home?
 Not goin home!
 But suppose the Army ordered you back home, for
medical treatment?
 Too risky, sittin around a hospital. I m goin to get [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]