Angel of Mercy Read Free

and set it aside, knowing that she would read it a couple more times before she went to bed. Though the two were separated by 126 miles, Linda felt very close to Chelsea at that moment. At long last Linda felt that the damage that had been done by George Bannister’s peccadilloes and bad habits could be put into the past and not bothered with again.
    While Linda was pondering her daughter, Chelsea was pondering a slice of Supreme Combination pizza from Bella Pizza in downtown La Plume. Some of the nursing students were throwing an impromptu goodbye celebration for Guy Harris, who had achieved his nursing degree and was going to Lackland Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas to begin Basic Training. He wanted to serve his country and put his medical education to work in the military before settling down stateside.
    “Guy, you would be the one that would get his hand chopped off by helicopter blades as soon as you stood up to salute. In three weeks you’ll be back with a stump where your right hand used to be,” said Gloria Vesta. She and Guy teased one another like brother and sister but everyone knew that there was a deep bond of friendship between the two.
    Guy grinned at his tormentor. “You’re right, but I’ll have something else. I’ll have a Purple Heart. I won’t have to work. I’ll travel around the country making hero speeches for the rest of my life.” The rest of the students at the table hooted. Chelsea threw a piece of breadstick in Guy’s direction and said, “Sure. Come on everybody! Let’s go hear Guy Harris. He was in Iraq for 20 minutes. Ooohhh, Guy, you’re so good you’re baaaad.”
    Chelsea looked around as the rest of the table joined her in laughter at Guy’s red face. She had developed such a close bond with these people. True friendships are forged in a challenging educational environment. Students rely on each other when the hours grow long, and the eyelids begin to flutter. Chelsea’s eyes fell away from Guy and settled on John Chambers, seated to Guy’s left and directly across from Chelsea. John Chambers was a North Dakota boy for whom the movie “Fargo” seemed less like a comedy and more like real life.
    He had blue eyes and a shock of blonde hair and stood a more than slender 6’3” and 175 pounds. He and Chelsea had first shared a class when they took Anatomy and Physiology together at the killer hour of 7:30 a.m. their first semester at Keystone. They used to split up the month, one bringing coffee and pastry for the other one week, while the other reciprocated the next.
    Chelsea and John became better friends when they started nursing school together. Chelsea’s clinical rotation to Geriatrics coordinated with John’s clinical rotation to Orthopedics. The buildings for the two disciplines were next door to each other far past the west end of the Keystone campus proper, so the two students rode together.
    One late spring afternoon John was doing the driving and Chelsea was letting the sun that was coming in the passenger window warm her face. John cleared his throat and said, “Chelsea?”
    “Hmm?” Chelsea said without opening her eyes.
    “Would you like to go out with me sometime? I mean like a date?”
    Chelsea looked at John’s earnest open face and answered, “Certainly, John. That would be nice.”
    John smiled widely and suggested dinner two nights hence at an Italian eatery named Bazil’s Ristorante Italiano in Clark’s Summit, six miles south of the Keystone campus in La Plume. John had shown up at Chelsea’s dormitory dressed in a camel hair sport coat over chocolate brown slacks. Chelsea had never actually thought of John in a romantic sense, but she was flattered that he had dressed up so nicely for their date.
    The two classmates had an enjoyable evening over pasta and red wine. When the bottle was empty, John ordered another. He and Chelsea continued talking over dessert and Chelsea notice that John stumbled a bit as he got up from the table. She