Three (Article 5 #3)(37)

“Dr. DeWitt gave me some tea. It’s good. You should have some, too.” She lifted a cup of what looked and smelled like dirty water, and when she giggled at my scrunched nose it occurred to me the concoction might be spiked.

“What did you give her?”

“Something for the pain,” answered DeWitt. “Maypop root, to relax her muscles. Hopefully help her body heal naturally.” He gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

In my time with him, I’d yet to see DeWitt in this role, but watching him with Rebecca, it was clear he enjoyed taking care of people.

“He thinks I’m going to walk again!” Rebecca squeezed my hand and pulled me down beside her. “I mean, walk better. Without the crutches.” She spilled some of the tea on the cot.

“Really?” I offered her a weak smile, reluctant to believe what I’d secretly closed off as an option. Was the doctor right? He didn’t have any proper medical equipment that I could see.

“Slow down,” said DeWitt with a kind smile. “I said there’s a good chance you’ll recover. But only if you take care of yourself. Relax. Eat right. Do the exercises we talked about.”

“And rub moldy plants all over me every day,” Rebecca added solemnly, then grinned at me. “Sean’s going to flip his lid.”

I was going to flip my lid. I didn’t want to believe the impossible, but her joy was contagious. If this place could make her better, if DeWitt could help her, every ounce of pain we’d put her through for freedom had been worth it.

“I can’t wait for you to tell him,” I said. “Where is he?”

“He’s a farmer now.” She giggled. “Can you imagine? They’ve got him picking carrots I bet.”

“How’d he pull that off?” All able-bodied fighters were being recruited to the army. I was sure they would have wanted him given that he was an actual soldier.

“He dislocated his shoulder,” she said with a pouty frown. “It must have happened when those boys ambushed us. He’s so the suffer-in-silence type—I didn’t even know about it until this morning when he had Dr. DeWitt reset it.”

I’d seen Sean since the boys had attacked us. He hadn’t been injured. I was almost positive this was a ploy to stay close to Rebecca. He’d promised he would never leave her again.

DeWitt was watching me out of the corner of my eye.

“He didn’t want you to worry,” I quickly told Rebecca. “I’m glad he finally got it looked at.”

Some, but not all of the suspicion faded from the doctor’s face. “Picking carrots is a noble job,” he said. “It makes the horses very happy.”

“Sir?” A radio tech appeared in the doorway, adjusting his glasses. His cheeks were stained red, and his hair, sweaty like mine, stuck straight out on the sides.

“Excuse me.” DeWitt rose, and shook Rebecca’s hand. “It was a pleasure, dear. We’ll talk soon, all right?”

“Thanks, Dr. DeWitt.”

My eyes tracked him to the door, where the calm, reassuring presence was stripped away as he listened to what the tech had to share. A moment later, they sped down the hallway, footsteps clicking.

“What happened?” Rebecca asked.

“I don’t know.” I stood, intent to follow, but before I could, Rebecca shoved something into the palm of my hand. Two unmarked squares in blue plastic wrapping. The same that had been in the jar on the counter. The same that were practically contraband in the civilian population without a prescription because they were the gateway to immoral behavior—the kind reserved only for married couples.

My face flooded with heat.

“They’re condoms,” she said.

“Rebecca, I know.” My mom had traded for some at the soup kitchen to give me before Chase had been drafted, but we’d never gotten that far. I shoved them into my pocket; the sharp corners of the plastic stuck through the fabric into my thigh.

“They stole them from the FBR. Soldiers get them for free, you know. I figure you probably need them more than I do. For now, anyway.” She snickered, but it was cut short when she saw my face. “Oh. I thought … I mean, wow. Really?”

“Shut up,” I said. “I’m leaving.”

“Wait.” She snatched my hand and pulled me down beside her. “You’re awfully squirmy.”

“I’ll see you later.”

Her arms latched around my waist. “Stop it. I just want to say something real quick.”

“Fine,” I mumbled.

She took a deep breath, and I was reminded of the time my mom told me how babies are made. I didn’t want to have the conversation when I was twelve; I sure didn’t want to have it again now.

“I don’t know a lot about this stuff, but from the sound of it I know more than you.” She blushed, which made me feel a little better. “And I guess I just want to say that it’s not bad like they said at the reformatory, not if you love the person. You’re not dirty or anything if you want to. Although, some of the other girls, they didn’t have someone like Sean their first time, and it was pretty bad for them.” She met my eyes. “Anyway, if you have any questions or anything, you can ask me, okay?”

There were questions. Lots of questions. Questions I’d wondered about and questions I hadn’t even considered until right then. About what I was supposed to do, and how much it would hurt, and how you knew when it was the right time if you already knew you were in love. All things that didn’t really matter with everything else going on. I sighed, allowing her grip to turn into a hug. She was a good friend, and I was glad to have her back.