Page 109 of Master of Paradise
Nothing on earth could have prepared them forthe sights and smells they encountered. Wounded men lay on thefloors with only a thin blanket to go under them. Half the men hadlost limbs, and lay legless or armless, their great burning eyeswaiting for death. Most were fevered with high spots of color ontheir prominent cheekbones. A lot of them weren't even men, theywere still boys.
A few women volunteers moved among the men,but they looked on the point of exhaustion from the endlesswashing, lifting, bandaging, and feeding.
The men in these hospitals and warehousesdied like flies from blood poisoning, gangrene, typhoid, andpneumonia. All had bloody flux from eating putrefied rations, andthe miasma that arose from the blood, sweat, and dysentery was astench that would stay in the nostrils for years.
As Amanda bent close to each man, she sawlice on their bodies and blankets. Her first instinct was to recoiland pull her skirts tightly above her ankles, but then theabsurdity of her actions hit her.What in God's name do a fewlice matter compared with the agony these men are enduring?
After a full day of touring hospitals,Bernard was almost finished. Amanda insisted that he rest and wentalone the next day.
In the middle of the afternoon she found himon the top floor of a warehouse, lying beneath the rafters. Thestifling air must have been about a hundred and ten degrees. He hada leg wound that should have started to heal a week ago, if it hadbeen properly attended.
Brandon looked at her with disbelief, when herecognized her. If he hadn't spoken, she would never have knownthis filthy, bearded skeleton as her dashing Brandon.
"Mandy, what are you doing here?" hewhispered.
"I've come to take you home, of course," shesaid briskly.
He grimaced at their surroundings. "It hasall the charm of an abattoir."
She laughed at his joke.If I don't laugh,I'll lose control and weep.
With an air of authority she called to ahospital orderly and amazingly he obeyed her command to get herbrother on his feet. Brandon's face went white with pain at theexertion of moving, but Amanda insisted, and almost propelled himtoward the stairs. She knew the men lying around would think her acallous little woman to treat a wounded comrade so briskly, showingno sympathy whatsoever, but Amanda knew a compulsion to get Brandonaway.The war has taken Beau, and perhaps Nicholas, but I'll notlet it have Bran, not while there's still breath left in mybody!
At the boarding house the woman would not letBrandon in until his vermin-infested clothes were removed andboiled in lye. Bernard dressed his son in his own shirt andtrousers, and put him into his own bed, but Amanda could see thather father was far from well.
Bernard finally admitted that he had a sorethroat and a fever.
Lord God Almighty, whatever am I to donow?They had no money to even pay for their lodging. She madeher father rest in her bed and set out to try to procure somethingto treat Brandon's leg wound. She went straight to the ProvostMarshall's Office and by using all her feminine charms was finallyushered in to the thickset man in charge of supplies.
"Good evening, Captain," she flattered him byraising his rank from sergeant. "My Daddy is Senator Jackson fromthe Richmond Congress. My poor brother is a cavalry officer with asuppurating leg wound. I wonder if you could spare me some quinineand calomel and some bandages?"
"Honey, if your daddy was General Robert E.Lee ah couldn't give you any, for the simple reason we havenone."
"Oh please, just some iodine then, or anydisinfectant," she begged.
"Nothing at all honey, an' bandages are insuch short supply they have to be washed and reused."
Amanda looked at him with disbelief.
"Little girl, if ah had anything that ahcould use to wangle a few hugs and kisses from you, ah'd offerthem."
It was twilight when she departed thebuilding, and she walked aimlessly away from the busy section oftown. She became aware of her surroundings with a start. She hadwandered into the Fredericksburg Cemetery. She wandered along therows of softly piled earth with their newly carved small whitecrosses. Some had only a name and rank: Captain Franklin. Othersgave a state: Jones, Sergeant, South Carolina Infantry.
Amanda read every name and offered up asilent prayer for the souls of the men. She felt completely drainedand defeated. She lay down on the grass in the dusk and thoughtabout Nicholas. Before she'd always pushed it away, but now shecould put off thinking about it no longer. She offered up a specialprayer for the soul of her beloved husband and the tears flowedfreely.
I love him too much. I can't go on withouthim. Life without Nicholas isn't worth living.She was withouthope. All were dead or dying.
Suddenly Amanda felt a flutter, a quickeningin her womb. She put her hand on her belly and held her breath.Yes, there it was again, as if her son had kicked. In that instantshe realized that not all were dead and dying. Here was life! Herewas Hope!
As she lay on the earth she thought she couldfeel the pulse of the Universe beating solidly beneath heroutstretched limbs. She lay there a long time, resting, feeling apeace descend upon her. Amanda lay there until the sky turned inkyblack, hung with diamonds, then slowly she arose and returned tothe boarding house.
She slipped through the darkened hall, towardthe kitchen. Very quietly she searched for anything she could stealthat would benefit Brandon. She picked up an empty berry pail andput in two cups of salt, and on top of that she put two cups ofsoda. Then she stole a bar of lye soap. She felt guilty because sheknew how much these things cost, but she concealed it beneath hershawl and stealthily made her way upstairs.
Both men were sleeping restlessly, and shecould tell they were both fevered. She shook her father awake andtold him to dress. As he did so she explained, "We have to leavenow in the middle of the night because we have no money to pay ourlodging."
She awoke Brandon and was relieved to seerecognition in his eyes. He was not yet delirious. "Bran, we haveto get out of here without making any noise. Put these extraclothes on, we can't carry any luggage."
Bernard and Amanda helped Brandon struggleinto his newly-washed trousers and tunic, and they got him to hisfeet. Amazingly enough they were quit of the house and at thestable doors before they were discovered. Amanda, panic rising inher throat, babbled the first thing that came into her head.
