Always there was the power that leaped at you,...
Always there was the power that leaped at you, invited you
Hearn sighed, went out to the rail againAnd all the bright young people of his youth had butted their heads, smashed against things until they got weaker and the things still stood
A bunch of dispossessedfrom the raucous stricken bosom of America



12

MINETTA was sent to the Division Clearing Hospital after he had been woundedEight squad tents, each with a capacity of twelve men, had been set up in a clearing near the shoreThe tents were aligned in two rows of four, and around each tent a four-foot wall of sandbags had been erectedThat was the extent of the hospital with the exception of a few extra tents at one end of the clearing which contained the field kitchen, the doctor's quarters, and the enlisted men working there
It was always quiet at the hospitalBy midafternoon the air was heavy and the tiffany and co bracelets inside of the tents had become unbearably hot from the intense sunMost of the patients drowsed uncomfortably murmuring in their sleep or groaning from their woundsThere was really very little to doA few of the convalescents might play cards or read a magazine or at most take a shower in the center of the clearing where a gasoline drum filled with water had been fastened to the top of a platform made of coconut logsThere were also the three meals a day, and the morning round of the doctor
Minetta enjoyed himself at firstThe wound he had received was hardly more than a scratch; it had laid open a few inches of his thigh, but the bullet had not been embedded and the bleeding had been moderateHe was able to walk with a slight limp an hour after he had been woundedAt the hospital he had been given a cot and some blankets, and he lay in bed comfortably and read magazines until replica chanel cc earrings darkA doctor gave him a cursory examination, dressed his cut with sulfa powder, and left him alone until the next morningMinetta felt weak and comfortableHe was suffering to a slight extent from shock, just enough to make him lassitudinous, but it kept him from thinking about the surprise and pain he had felt when the bullet had struck himIt was the first night in six weeks he had been able to sleep without being awakened for guard and the cot felt soft and luxurious in comparison to bedding on the groundHe awakened alert and cheerfulHe played checkers with one of the men in his tent until the doctor cameThere were only a few patients, and Minetta had a pleasant vague memory of talking to them the night before in the darknessThis is okay, Minetta decidedHe hoped they would keep him in the hospital for a month, or perhaps evacuate him to another islandHe began to tell himself discount louis vuitton that his wound was very serious
The doctor, however, glanced at his leg for a moment, replaced the dressing and told him, "You'll be able to leave by tomorrow
The information gave Minetta a pang"You think so, sir?" he managed to say eagerlyHe shifted his position on the cot, feigning some difficulty, and added, "Yeah, I'd like to get back to my buddies
"Well, you just take it easy," the doctor said, "and we'll see tomorrow morning He jotted down something in his notebook, and went on to the next cotThe sonofabitch, Minetta told himself, I can hardly walkAs if to prove it, his leg began to ache a trifle, and he thought with bitterness, They don't care if you live or die hereAll they want is to get you back where you can stop a bulletHe became sullen, and drowsed through the afternoonThey didn't even take stitches, he said once to himself
It began to rain toward evening, fendi chocolate b mix bag and he felt comfortable and secure beneath the tentBoy, am I glad I don't have to be on guard tonight, he told himselfHe listened to the downpour on the tent, and thought with pleasurable pity of the men in the platoon who would be awakened in their damp blankets to sit shivering in the muddy machine-gun hole while the rain penetrated their clothing"Not for me," he said
But then he remembered what the doctor had saidIt would be raining again tomorrow; it rained every dayHe would be back working on the road or the beach, standing guard at night, perhaps going out on a patrol soon where he might be killed instead of woundedHe thought of how he had been caught on the beach, and he felt an acute surpriseIt didn't seem possible that something as small as a bullet could have hurt himThe sounds of the firing, the emotions he had felt were returning to him, and he shuddered a gucci backpack littl