11.
Aries came into the hospital room carrying a crisp, clean uniform with an additional stripe on the arm.
Callahan sat up, pushing aside the tray of food. “First Sergeant,” he said with a broad smile. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Bill. How are you feeling?”
“Sore. I refused the morphine.”
“Bill, if they got the morphine, you might as well use it.”
“And be addicted to it? No thanks.” He swung his legs off the bed. “Put it on, let me see.”
Aries laughed. “It’s just a stripe.” He hung the uniform up, unbuttoning it.
“You still need to tell me your story.”
“What is there to tell? I’ve been in so many wars, they kind of bleed into each other.”
Callahan took up his cane that was beside the bed. “Bad pun.”
Aries glanced at the bed next to him. The man was asleep, his back to them. Aries pulled the curtain between them, and then pulled the other curtain that was near the door. He wore only his A-shirt, being that he was going to change into his uniform.
Callahan shook his head. “Not here,” he whispered.
Aries grinned and took two steps forward. Callahan stumbled back, bumping into the nightstand. “Are you crazy?”
“Yep,” Aries said, and kissed him, long, hard and with passion. Callahan surrendered into Aries’ arms. When Callahan opened his eyes, he had his arms around Aries’ neck, while Aries was holding onto his waist. Both men pressed against each other.
“Ahem,” Callahan said, glancing down.
Aries grinned again. “I can take care of that.”
“No!” Callahan pushed Aries away, who stepped back with a laugh.
“All right, all right. But I will take care of it sometime.”
“Not here, not now. I need to take my walk around the ward. Want to come?”
“Would love to.”
Callahan walked with the cane to the edge of the bed and whipped the curtain open. Aries put on the uniform shirt and walked with Callahan. “Were you in the Great War?” Callahan asked Aries.
“Yes,” he said. “The Meat-Grinder, we called it.” He shook his head. “People didn’t understand, especially people in command. They had no idea what we went through, but they would send us all the time over the wire.”
((lost concentration and too much noise at work – trying to make this a full-fledged novel))