Page 66 of From Here to Eternity
These ones were easy, though on the next, I tripped.
River
Did you always want to be a nurse?
I hesitated for a moment before I responded.
Me
No, I wanted to be a doctor, and I’m not really even a nurse. I’m just a medical assistant.
River
Why didn’t you go for it?
Me
I did.
River
What happened?
Me
I got trapped.
River
Want to elaborate on that?
Me
No. Did you always want to tattoo?
River
Not sure, Charleigh. Only thing I’m sure of is I just wanted to survive.
The tattoo on my inner arm burned its reminder. And I wondered if I was more like the man than I ever could have thought.
TWENTY
CHARLEIGH
EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD
She wasin the small alcove making copies at the machine, a mindless job that she hated, as if her intelligence was offering anything to the company the way Frederick Winston had implied when he’d suggested she intern.
It was boring, tedious work that she could have done asleep.
But there she was, stuck for the summer. What was she supposed to do when Frederick had returned to the dining room proclaiming she was going to be joining them, and one minute later, he’d announced her father was getting the promotion?
She knew with the look Frederick had cut her that it was subject to her complying.
Why?
That was what she wasn’t entirely sure about, although she figured the guy liked wielding his power. Tossing it around like a game, pulling strings and finding out who was happy to play his puppet.
