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Guess She’s Still Mad

12/10/2025

“Did you want to go down to the cafeteria and grab some lunch while we wait for your tests?” The nurse asked.

“I’d really like to stretch my legs, ma’am.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “You think that’s a good idea, Jozsa?”

“I’ve been cooped up since the accident on Monday, ma’am. I’m creeping up on a serious case of claustrophobia. If you could just point me to the exchange, maybe I can pick up a souvenir for my folks.”

“Tell you what.” She held his fleece sleeve up for him. “We’ll get dressed for going outside. If you can make it to the front door without getting dizzy, I’ll get you a ride to the BX. Deal?”

“Sounds fair.” He slid into the sleeve with his right arm and she draped the fleece over his left shoulder.

“Now your jacket.” She held the black winter shell up for him to slide his arm into and draped that over his left shoulder. She pulled the outer covers over his sling and zipped them part of the way to keep them from blowing or sliding off. “Still with me?”

“Yes, ma’am. All ready for shopping.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Did you take notice if my phone was charged?”

“Oh, no you don’t. I don’t want you texting.”

“No, ma’am. Wanted to call my folks. They haven’t heard from me since this all started.”

“You haven’t called them?”

“I’ve been a bit distracted, ma’am. This is the first I’ve thought of it.”

She rolled her eyes and handed him the phone. “No texting. Promise me.”

“No, ma’am. Just a quick call home.”

“Go ahead then. You can call while we head to the front door.”

Matt flipped through his apps and smiled. “Isidore.”

Sanctus bells jingled. “Good afternoon, Matthew. How can I help?”

“Please try an audio call to my mom and dad.”

“Let me see if I can reach them.”

The nurse peeked at his screen. “What’s Isidore?”

“He’s an AI from the Catholic TV channel. My folks cover my subscription while I’m away.”

“Why did they give him such a sexy voice?”

“St. Isidore is the Patron Saint of the Internet. Nobody knows what a seventh-century Gothic saint really sounds like, so they went with Antonio Banderas.”

“Good choice.” She fanned herself. “Really, really good choice. I’ll bet he’s very popular.”

“Matt?” His mom called out. “Matt, are you there?”

“Hi, Mom. I’m in Germany.”

“Ooh, how is it?”

“Looks a lot like home, actually.”

“Matt? Is that actually you?” His dad entered the call.

“Hey, Dad. Yeah, I was just telling Mom I’m in Germany now.”

“Oh, nice. Big change in the weather, huh?”

“Ha ha, winter is actually winter here. I’m heading over to the base exchange to see if they’ve got any nice ornaments or whatever.”

“They’re letting you walk around in your condition?” His mom asked.

“That remains to be seen, Mrs. Jozsa.”

“Matt, who is that?”

“She’s the nicest nurse in Germany, Mom. She’s going to set me up with a ride to the exchange, and she’ll check up on me later this afternoon.”

“Don’t let him bamboozle you, Miss.” His dad called out. “He thinks he can sweet-talk his way out of anything.”

“We’ve got a deal, Mr. Jozsa. If he can get to the front door without getting woozy, I’ll let him go shopping.”

“Ha, he’ll crash out in the car on the way to the store. This is what he does. Tell the driver to turn around if he gets woozy in the car.”

“Dad, c’mon.” Matt laughed. “I’ve been napping since Monday afternoon. If I don’t get out for some fresh air, I’m gonna flip my wig.”

“Yeah, huh? How are you feeling, kid?”

“They’ve got me patched up for now. We’ll have to touch base with people when I get home and schedule some appointments.”

“Oh, honey, don’t even worry about it. Your major called us, and he transferred us to the people here. We’re all set up with appointments at St. Hedwig’s over in Pine Hollow. They’ve got a nice Christmas Village starting up Friday afternoon.”

“That sounds like fun, Mom. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Hey, Matt. What’s the word on your getting back?” His dad asked.

“If everything looks alright this afternoon, they think they can put me on a flight first thing tomorrow.”

“How wonderful.” His mom said.

“What time can we get you?” His dad asked.

“They figure it will be pretty late, so first thing Friday. I’ll let you know when I have more details.”

“You can take Friday off.”

“Of course, I can take Friday off. What kind of father do you think I am? I’m going to leave my son waiting all day for a ride home like some vagabond?”

“Love you, guys. I’ll call back when I’ve got more details.”

“Oh sure, Matt. You go take a rest, and we’ll catch up with you later.”

“He’s going shopping, Gabe.”

“Shopping?”

“Gabe, he’s in Germany for Pete’s sake. He wants to find an ornament.”

“Jeez. Kid gets blown to heck, and he’s out ornament shopping. Good job, son. Show ‘em that Devil Dog spirit. Huh?”

“Sure, Dad. Talk to you later.” He pressed the red phone button. “Merciful God.”

The nurse laughed. “Are you sure you really want to go home? I’m feeling woozy after that.”

“I’m used to it, ma’am.” He handed her the phone. “How about that ride?”

“You’ve earned it. Happy shopping, Jozsa.”

Gary stepped into the cold kitchen and took his trooper hat off. There was a plate with a cold grilled cheese sandwich and a handful of chips. He balanced the hat on the windowsill as he took his boots off and hung up his coat.

‘Guess she’s still mad.’

The living room was all cleaned up. No sign of Teddy’s toys.

He pushed through to his bedroom and changed out of his uniform. He put on jeans and a flannel shirt over a long-sleeved tee. He tied up his sneakers and said a quick prayer for wisdom.

“Hey, Abby.”

“Hey.” She said through the door.

“Up for H&H or Burger Heaven, maybe?”

“We ate.”

“Can we talk?”

“I don’t know. Can we?”

“I’d really like to.”

“Are you going to act like you know everything about everything or are you actually going to listen?”

‘Goes both ways, Ms. Smartypants.’ He controlled his breath. “Yes. I’ll listen. I want to understand.”

“Go eat your sandwich. I’m feeding Teddy. I’ll be out when we’re done.”

He went out to the kitchen and stuck the sad-looking sandwich on a paper plate to warm it up in the microwave. While that spun, he poured himself a mug of cider.

‘What if she’s right?’

He fished around in the fridge for a jar of pickles.

‘If this guy turns up and it’s all lovey-dovey and perfect like she thinks, I won’t even get a sandwich. It will just be me and this whole house.’

He plucked two large kosher dills from the jar and put them down where the sandwich had been.

‘I ought to hope this joker never turns up.’

The microwave beeped, and he transferred the sandwich back to the plate with the chips. He sat down to eat.

That’s when he noticed the high chair was gone.

‘Her bedroom must look like a baby warehouse.’

The sandwich was a little too hot, but the space where the high chair was supposed to be chilled him to the core.

‘Message received. We need to have a talk about all of this.’

Matt stepped off the base shuttle with his AAFES bag in hand. The ambient chill was making his arm ache. ‘I guess Nurse Grumpy had a point.’ He shivered as he pushed through to the lobby of the hospital. A USO sign caught his attention.

‘What have we here?’

The double doors were an explosion of Christmas, flanked by the most over the top trees he’d ever seen.

“Hey there, handsome. Come on in!” A young lady with an ornate Christmas dirndl waved him in.

‘Here we go again.’

“Sorry about your arm, sir.”

“You don’t have to call me sir, ma’am. I’m only a corporal.”

“Well, you don’t have to call me ma’am. I’m only a civilian. I’m Marnie.” She smiled sweetly.

“I hope you don’t mind that I’ll still call you ma’am because you’re a lady. I’m Matt.”

“I won’t argue with you on that point, Matt. Would you like to catch a movie? We’ve got A Christmas Carol starting in about ten minutes.”

“That sounds like fun, but I’d like to eat something first.”

“Oh, yay! Come over here so I can spoil you.”

“How can I say no to an offer like that?” He grinned.

“That’s the Christmas spirit, Marine. Oorah!”

“Oorah!” He followed her over to a triple crock-pot he’d seen at church dinners.

“We’ve got Sloppy Joes, chicken noodle soup and beef barley soup if you’re really hungry. We’ve got fresh popcorn for the movie. What are you hungry for?”

“The beef barley sounds great. That is a really fancy dress.”

“Thanks. My mom’s a seamstress.” She pulled a bowl from the stack and ladled out some of the soup for him. “Here we go. Take a seat, and I’ll find you a spoon. Are you heading home?”

“The only upside to a busted wing is I get to be home for the holidays.”

“A blessing in disguise. How can you go wrong? Something to drink with that?”

“Sure, whatever you grab is fine. I’m not picky.”

“How about a nice cola?”

“Yes, ma’am. That works for me.” He took the can from her and set it down beside the soup. “Three guesses what happened. I know you’re curious.”

“Hmm, skiing?”

“Would have been nice, but no skiing in Djibouti.” He smirked as he ate his soup.

“Djibouti? Oh, no. Were you involved in that bomb that went off?”

“Sad, but true. There I am, conducting an inventory with my boss, and boom. Now, I’m here on my way home for the holidays.”

“Oh, gee. I’m glad it wasn’t any worse. Sorry about your arm, though. What was the point of the bombing?”

“Some guy’s camel got loose and got hit by a truck in the French convoy. They checked it out, but the poor thing had to be put down. All of a sudden, the whole city is all torqued about this camel. We were on high alert for days until they did their usual thing.”

“This happens all the time?”

“No, there’s a local outfit. I forget the Arabic term, but it translates to Sons of Thunder or something like that. They get bent out of shape from time to time, and they plant these bombs near the fence.”

“No kidding?”

“Yeah, they’re usually in a pot about the size of a bowling ball that’s made to look like a rock. It blends right in with the scenery, and they wait until the MPs have passed by. They’re not trying to hurt anybody. They’re just making noise to express their outrage.”

“Well, it seems like they hurt you. What did you do, try to bowl with it?”

Matt almost blew soup out of his nose. He gathered up napkins to recover. “No, ma’am. They made an extra big one this time and put it near the storage unit where the major and I were taking inventory. They weren’t expecting anybody to be there, and the thing was so big it knocked the storage container off its footings. My arm got caught between some falling book shelves and I got pelted by at least a dozen Bibles as I hung there.”

“Oh, wow. That’s so scary. I’m sorry that had to happen.”

“Like you said, ma’am. Mixed blessing. I was wishing I could be home for Christmas this year. I didn’t know that wishes came with trade-offs.” He shrugged.

“Sure, watch out what you wish for. That’s what they say.” She looked at the clock. “Enjoy your soup, Matt. Movie starts in a couple of minutes here. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”

“Did I see Christmas Yum Sticks over there?”