Another Time, Another Place

I poked her in the shoulder as she started dialing on the rotary phone. “A thank you would be a nice touch.”

Aunt Frances turned to face me with the receiver nuzzled against her ear. She reached for my hand. “I’m sorry would be even better.”

I raised my brow, confused.

“You know? For Eugene and all.”

I squeezed her hand. “Eugene wasn’t the problem, just the wrong answer.”

“Jasmine, I want you to get out and meet new people. Start enjoyin’ life again.”

I hugged her. Gripping the basket with both hands, I walked to the doorway. “Maybe I should leave the island. Seem like each day I stay in Sapelo…in my house, it gets harder to forget the past.” A frown crept on her face, but I walked out.

***

The humidity in the mission was overbearing. I wiped the sweat off the nape of my neck, and pulled the slightly frizzled locks of my mane into a make-shift bun. My mind was on a much needed nap on the sand, soothed by a misty breeze. I placed the last bandage in one of the drawers, and headed back to the office when I glanced at a patient, unraveling the bloodstained bandage on his head. He noticed me watching, and motioned with his finger to come over.

“No, no,” I mouthed. “I’m not a nurse.”

He put his hands in a prayer gesture, and mouthed, “Please.”

I licked my lips that were dry from the humidity. I smiled at the young man as I walked closer. He looked like a mummy, with his head wrapped in gauze. The closer I got to him, the more attractive he became. Tight pecs shadowed his sweat-laden tank undershirt. His muscular arms glistened from the sun shining through a nearby window. A bright smile, with the prettiest white teeth I’d ever seen, complemented his flawless cocoa skin. When we were only inches apart, he gently took my hand and kissed it. The warm and wet tingling on my flesh from his smooth lips sent butterflies to my stomach. I jerked my hand away, feeling flushed in the face, and ignited below by his continuous stare.

“What’s your name?” I asked as I opened the medicine drawer.

“Name’s Harrison. Harrison Holmes.”

I looked back at him, fixated on the smile that was suddenly familiar. “You Charlotte’s boy, aren’t you?”

He smirked. “I’m Charlotte’s son. Thank you for obligin’ me, Miss Jasmine.”

I fiddled with the heart pendant resting on my chest. “You know me?”

“I’ve seen you in passing plenty of times.” He grabbed my hips and pulled me closer. “But with those sexy eyes, and this soft ass, I sure as hell wanna know you.”

I was stunned by his forwardness, but I didn’t move away this time. His hands felt good on my curvaceous bottom. I could only imagine what would happen next if we were alone on the beach, instead of sweating in the confines of this stucco mission building. I cleared my throat, and slowly removed his hands from my waist.

“We’re not alone, you know,” I said, peeking behind us at a few of the occupied gurneys. A couple of patients were sleeping; another one had a girlie magazine, but was getting more enjoyment watching me and this young man.

Harrison pulled a cigarette pack from the pocket of his khakis, and tapped it against his palm until one came out. “You want to be alone? I can arrange that.”

I ignored his proposition, and took some more gauze and bandage tape out of the drawer. “Looks like that bandage needs changing.” I slowly unraveled the soiled gauze from around his bald head, gasping when I got to the gaping wound at his ear. A part of his earlobe was gone, the remaining skin jagged and bloody. The dog tag around his neck let me know he was a soldier. I thought of Adam. “Maybe I should get Dr. Tate or Frances,” I said, abruptly placing the gauze on the side of the bed. “I don’t know what I’m doing, anyway.”

He touched my arm. “Just keepin’ me company is enough; please stay.” His deep brown eyes were persuasive. I gave him a slight smile as I picked the gauze up.

I resumed wrapping the bandage around his head. He winced when the fresh gauze grazed his ear.

“Sorry,” I said as I rolled the remainder of the dressing around his wound.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how’d this happen?”

He lit the cigarette. “Air strike. My unit’s helicopter was shot down. Only two of us survived. I lost enough hearing to get me out of that damn war. I’m all right, though. Coulda been worse.” He took a slow drag from his cigarette, blowing smoke out the side of his mouth as he surveyed my dress. “Those shells coulda blinded me, and I wouldn’t see all this beauty standin’ before me.”

I smacked my lips as I opened the medicine drawer and dropped the tape in. “Did you practice that line on your wife before you got here?”

His jaw clenched for a second as he leaned over to put out his cigarette against the cement wall. He let his finger glide down the smoothness of my bare arm. “Now why you wanna ask a question that you don’t wanna hear the answer to?”

I braced my hands on the gurney as I leaned in closer to him. “I’m a lawyer. I like to know the truth.”