Quantum Theorem Read online

  “What happened to me? I can’t move my legs.”

  Her smile faltered as she snuck a glance down to my legs. “You stepped on an IED; you are pretty torn up. Other than that, I will let the field doctor figure out how you are. For now, you are stable.” She reached up to the IV and inserted a needle and added something to the line. In a second my eyelids slammed closed.

  The next time my eyes opened I was in a hospital bed. I moved my head and looked around; the walls of the long room were lined with beds. Most of them were occupied, with sleeping men or men who stared up at the ceiling. I tried to call out for a nurse, but my throat was parched. The only sound that came out was a squeak. It must’ve been loud enough though, a male nurse appeared with a glass of water and a straw. He put the straw to my lips and I took a nice long drink. Letting the cold water turn my tongue into something that worked and wet my throat. I pulled away from the straw and looked up to the nurse.

  “What’s the news?” I was asking about my condition.

  The man looked down toward my legs and then back to my face quickly. That look told me everything I needed to know. I could feel my left leg, since I could move it. The other felt weird, no pain, but couldn’t move it. I gave the young man my best “I am not amused” look.

  “I think it’s best if the doctor comes and tells you Master Sergeant,” and with that he turned and moved away at double time.

  I put my head down on the flat pillow and tried to wrap my mind around what could possibly be wrong. I slipped into a mental meditative state I learned from a craggy old Sergeant Major when I was but a Private. I relaxed and let my mind wander, I felt calmer. An older man’s face appeared, looking down on me. The face was clean shaven, black as night, bald, with a real easy smile. Granny glasses sat on top of his head.

  “Master Sergeant Welko, so glad to see you awake. I bet you are filled with questions. I tell you what, let me help you sit up, it’s easier to talk that way,” he waved for the male nurse to come over and help him. Together they helped me to a sitting position and moved pillows in behind me to make a spot for me to rest. I couldn’t see my legs as they were under the blanket that was draped over me. I fixated on the blanket covering my legs. A cough brought my attention back to the kind doctor looking down on me. “I haven’t told you my name yet, how rude of me. Sorry Master Sergeant, I am Captain James Jerome Oliver, just call me JJ. I am the head surgeon here.”

  I raised my hand and saluted the man; he gave me a soft smile and returned the salute. I cleared my throat. “Captain, you said here. May I enquire where here is?”

  “Master Sergeant you are in the care of the great staff of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, or as we lovingly call it the LRMC.”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “Four days, you’ve been under my care since you were flown in.”

  “Great, so now, with that out of the way. Doctor, what is going on with me?”

  The Captain stood and drew the curtain closed around my bed, giving us some privacy. Then he took the blankets and folded them up toward my chest. My left foot came into view and I wiggled my purple toes. I then checked on my right and there were no toes, in fact no calf or shin. My leg was missing from the knee down. I stared at it, as the Captain turned to give me a minute. I stared at the stump and the bright white bandages wrapped around it. I then examined my left leg and saw the stitches covering it like I was Frankenstein’s Monster. I really believe if I had been any other man, I would’ve lost it and broke down over my situation. My daddy brought me up to understand that there are things you cannot control, and this one of them. Now was the time for me to deal with the things I could deal with, like my recovery and rehab. I decided right there and then that this was not going to stop me.

  The Captain turned around and took in my expression, he studied me for a moment. “Good, it looks like you are not the whiney kind of man. As you can tell you lost your leg just below the knee. That IED did some work on you son,” he sat down and started unwrapping my knee. “From what I understand the Lieutenant you were carrying was moving around knocking your balance off and you stepped down on a nasty little surprise. I checked the records and it seems the Lieutenant died, and you are going to be getting a couple of awards for valor and a purple heart. I talked to your commanding officer and he says because of your training and quick thinking your Lt and you were the only two that got hurt. Your men rallied around you and dragged you and the Lt to safety and called in the medivac.”

  The Captain finished unwrapping my knee and peeled away the cotton pads. He then rooted around in a drawer and came out with a mirror. He looked to me for a second, looking for an answer. I nodded my head for him to continue. He brought the mirror down and showed me the damage. He gestured with a pen pointing at the stitches and staples. “As you can see, I had a hell of a job in front of me. I first tried to save the leg and only take the foot, but the damage to the muscle and bone was just too much. I took apart the knee joint and removed the leg and tried to put everything back together the best I could. There was enough skin from your leg to close the wound,” he stopped talking and looked up to me. Checking to see if I was handling all this. I studied the image in the mirror as though it was on someone else. The Captain nodded to himself and continued. “On your other leg,” he moved his pen and the mirror to show me the damage to that leg. “the wounds were superficial. Lots of cuts to the tissue and a nicked vein or two. But your team took good care of you, and your medic got the veins clamped off which saved that leg. You owe that man a bottle of something wet and strong.”

  I nodded my head and took in a deep breath. “Looks like you did a fabulous job, Captain. Although honestly, I couldn’t tell you what was good or bad, I am just guessing here,” I gave the Captain an honest smile. “So, when do I start rehab?”

  “When you get back to the States, they will need to fit you for a customized prosthesis and get you used to it. I am not going to lie to you Master Sergeant, you are in for a hell of a time over the next year or more,” his smile melted to a small frown. “Fortunately, you seem like the kind of guy who will cut the rehab in half and be running within six months.” The smile came back to his face.

  “Damn right Captain, it takes more than losing a leg to hold me down,” I surprised him by holding my hand up.

  The Captain took my hand and he shook it firmly, before letting it go and snapping to attention and giving me a crisp salute. I saluted back and gave him a genuine smile. My mind came out of my flashback just in time to gauge where I was on the trail and turn around to run back to the house. I had run five miles in that time and barely registered any of it. I ran the way back to the house at a much faster pace than I had on the way out to the midpoint. I didn’t want to relive the rehab and pain of learning to walk again. I pounded the ground with my combat boots. I stopped though when I thought I heard a scream. We lived pretty far out from others and that scream would have to be loud and close to reach me. I waited for another one and after five minutes no more came. I shook it off as a figment of my imagination or a hawk or something. I continued my run back to the house and stopped as I came up to the garage. I put my hands over my head and took in deep breaths, trying to control my breathing, slowly walked to the water well and pumped out enough to fill a small bucket. I grabbed the small tin cup I kept nearby and drank my fill of the cold mineral filled water, before picking up the bucket and upending it over my head. The water was easily ten degrees cooler than the air around me. It cooled me down quickly and refreshed my burning muscles.

  I entered the security code on the side of the garage door, went inside, peeled off my sweaty clothes and stepped into the small shower I had installed there. I quickly washed my body, this time in warm water, and stepped out of the shower. I shrugged on a pair of coveralls and flipped on the old coffee maker I kept in there. I retrieved a box of protein bars and made my way through three of them before the coffee was done. I pulled up a seventies style green office chair
, I bought from an old car garage in town, and reclined back as far as it went to enjoy the coffee and another protein bar. I stared up at Old Bess and thought about what I was going to do to her today. Then my to-do list popped into my head. I was going to have to get all that done before I could start working on the truck. I drained the last of my coffee and poured another one before heading back inside to get started on my chores. I quickly finished the list just before noon time. The last one on the list was the oil change. I would need to head into town and grab some oil and a filter before I could start. I figured I could pick up some parts for Bess while I was there and maybe pick up some lunch and pop by the hospital to spend some time with Kell. I grabbed my wallet and keys off the hook and headed out the door. I jumped into my restored Mustang and fired up her big V8 engine. The engine roared to life, shaking the car before it finally warmed up to a nice little purr.

  I speed shifted the gears spinning the wheels that left a spray of small dirt clumps and rocks in my wake as I fishtailed down the driveway. Man, I love me a manual transmission. I easily hit over a hundred on the highway as I shot toward town like a rocket. I came up on the bridge that spans the good size river which the town was named after, the Belgium river Scheldt. The town was founded by Belgians who had moved west during the great expansion. Mining and lumber where the town’s biggest business and had been since day one. Most of the residents were from the original settlers.

  I pulled into Johnson’s garage and turned off the powerful V8. Before I could open the door and step out, a gargantuan bald black man came out from the main bay and strode up to the car cleaning his hands on an orange oil rag. He stopped my door from opening with a hip as he continued cleaning his hands. I rolled down my window.

  “I don’t remember this garage having a pet Gorilla.”

  The man leaned over till he could look into the car. “What the fuck do you want numb nuts?” he asked in his deep basso.

  “A case of oil, a filter, a piece of venison jerky, and to kick your big ugly ass,” I answered.

  “Oh, you got jokes huh?” he opened the car door and reached in. Grabbing the front of my coveralls and pulled me out of the car. I looked up to his face and wrinkled my nose.

  “Holy hell, you stink. You been rolling around in dog mess, or you been fucking skunks again?”

  “What the fuck you say?” Johnson lifted me higher, so my toes were having a problem touching the ground.

  I reached up and grabbed onto the man’s left nipple through his work shirt and twisted. He yelped and let go of me dropping me to my feet. I let go of his nipple and dropped to my knee. I swept my arm out and hit him behind the knees and drove my shoulder into his waist. He went back and fell to the parking lot on his ass. I moved away from him six steps and pulled my Glock. I pointed it to the ground as I smiled down at the big man. He started laughing and slapping the ground. I slid my Glock back into its holster and joined in on the laughing.

  “I keep forgetting how well you’re trained,” the black man said through bouts of laughter.

  “You would’ve been too if you hadn’t gotten out after one tour. Civilian life has made you soft big man.”

  “Got tired of being told what to do, plus the old man died and left me the shop. Help me up and let’s get you that filter, case of oil, and some jerky.”

  I came forward and offered the man my hand, he took it and I helped him up to his feet. We walked into the garage bay and past a beautiful shiny black 1961 Lincoln Cosmopolitan convertible. It was up on the lift with its tires off. I stopped and checked out what work was being done it. “You’re replacing the old brakes with a modern system?”

  The big man turned around and checked out what I was looking at. “Oh yeah that TV show host that moved into town brought this beauty in and asked me to upgrade the braking system. He gave me a blank check, so he is getting super car type braking power. Plus, that engine has been played with, okay, replaced with a five hundred horsepower demon. I even put a kick ass new tranny in her. This thing is gonna scream down the road.”

  I admired the car for another minute before following my man Johnson to the back-store room. He picked up a filter, case of oil and pointed out a big box full of fresh venison jerky. We made small talk as we stuck my supplies into the trunk of the Mustang. I gave the man a big hug and explained that I had to get going. We agreed that he would come out to the house and have a barbecue soon. I drove the Mustang slowly through town waving at friends and a deputy or two who were out writing parking tickets.

  I pulled into another friend’s place and parked the car in the spot nearest the door. The sign above the door read Leeder’s Hot Rods. I opened the door and was greeted by a semi horn whooping. I chuckled and made my way up to the counter. A seventeen-year-old girl with a pink dyed pixie cut hair style, came to the counter and when she finally looked up from her cell phone slid it into the front pocket of her snug jeans. Her face exploded in a grin and she took three running steps, jumped into the air planted her hands on the counter and vaulted up and over it. She landed in front of me and jumped into my arms. I caught her as she planted kisses on my cheeks.

  “Uncle Danny!” she shrieked.

  “Hey Gidget!” I planted a kiss on her forehead and danced around the floor with her in my arms.

  “Gidget! Get off your uncle and get your little butt back to work,” said a giant of a man as he came out through the stacks of auto parts. He was humongous, like a silverback gorilla only bigger.

  I put Gidget down on her feet as the big man came around the corner with a scowl on his face. He stopped so close to me that my eyes only reached to the bottom of his hairy covered chest. He liked to use his size to intimidate people, but I had known the guy since we were both five, and I knocked him down in the park playground. We grew up side by side and became thicker than friends, we were brothers in every way but our DNA.

  “Get your beard out of my face Bri or I am gonna find an axe and cut your ass down to a normal size,” I growled playfully.

  Bri took three steps backward and held his hands out in front of him in a placating position. “Damn little man, chill. You better be happy I don’t pull the other leg off.”

  Any other man said that, and I would kill them, but I knew Bri was joking. He had been there by my side the entire time I went through rehabilitation. “Good to see you little brother.” I said. Technically I was older by two months.

  “Who the fuck you are calling little?” He looked down at me with his arms crossed across his massive muscled chest.

  I turned in a slow circle looking throughout the store. Bri took on a curious filled look on his face. I stopped and hunched my shoulders. “Looks like you are the only other guy in here, so I guess I am talking about you.”

  Bri growled in his chest and gave me a mean pissed off look. He held it there for a second before sticking his bottom lip out in a pouty gesture. “Words hurt Boss; words hurt.”

  I chuckled and moved in for my hug, arms opened wide. Bri leaned down and wrapped his big arms around me lifting me off the ground and giving me a proper hug. “When did you get home?” he said as he put me back on my feet.

  “Late last night. I need to hit the office tomorrow for a couple of hours. After that I am free if you want to come over and do some refresh on your shooting skills. Bring Gidget too,” I patted his bicep.

  He shrugged, “I got nothing else to do. I’ll have Charlie run the shop.”

  “Awesome.”

  “You here for those parts for that shitty farm truck?”

  “Old Bess is not a shitty truck. She is gonna be a sleeper when I’m done.”

  “By sleeper you mean, not start periodically, right?”

  “Har, har, funny.” I punched him in the stomach and almost broke my hand. You’d think I would learn after twenty-five years of friendship.

  He looked down at me as I shook my hand out. “Did you hurt your little girly hand Boss?”

  “Just go get my parts, you damn Sasquatch.�
� I said through clenched teeth hamming it up. I was not that hurt.

  Gidget disappeared into the back with one look from her father. She knew what he wanted and where it was. Bri and I took time to talk about Kell and what he should bring the next day. Gidget came around the counter pushing a cart with a box of parts including a modified carburetor for Old Bess. I gave her another hug and kiss and took my parts out to the car. Bri followed me out and patted me on the back hard, almost buckling my knee and sending me to the ground. I had to grab onto the car’s roof to keep my balance. He loved doing that to people, it reminded them of how big of a man he really was. I brought my prosthesis foot down on his foot away from the toes, I knew he wore steel tipped boots. He yipped from the pain and stepped back.

  “No fair cyborg.”

  “All’s fair brother, as long as I win.” I slid into the car as Bri retreated inside the store limping a little.

  I drove away and down the street to my fave burger shop. It was still run by the original owners, an old couple as when I was a kid. I ran in and visited with the owners Momma Leslie and her stoic husband Mark. I answered a billion questions and put my order in for my fave and Kell’s. Momma and I chatted about life and Kell, while Mark made his famous burgers. That man really had a talent. I collected the shakes and food and bid a farewell promising to come back soon.

  I drove through town and out to the biggest hospital in over two hundred miles. It served all the small cities and counties in the area. I pulled up front and parked in the Sheriff's spot. I knew the guy and he never gave me shit for doing it

  I retrieved the food and passed the guard at the door. “Watch the Stang son,” I called over my shoulder.

  “No problem Mister Welko,” he called out.

  I walked up to the admin desk and smiled down at the sweet older lady behind it. “Miss Mary Roark, you still working here? I thought by now you would own this dump.”