Today is Wednesday, May 28th, 2003; Karen's Korner #63

For those of you who read Chicken Soup for th Soul books, or subscribe to the daily "Chicken Soup" daily e-mails, you may have read this one before (this is today's email). If not, enjoy:

 

Night Watch

By Roy Popkin

"Your son is here," the nurse said to the old man.
She had to repeat the words several times before the man's
eyes opened. He was heavily sedated and only partially
conscious after a massive heart attack he had suffered the
night before. He could see the dim outline of a young man
in a Marine Corps uniform, standing alongside his bed.

The old man reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped
his toughened fingers around the old man's limp hand and
squeezed gently. The nurse brought a chair, and the tired
serviceman sat down at the bedside.

All through the night, the young Marine sat in the
poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and
offering words of encouragement. The dying man said
nothing, but kept a feeble grip on the young man's hand.

Oblivious to the noise of the oxygen tank, the moans of the
other patients, and the bustle of the night staff coming in
and out of the ward, the Marine remained at the old man's
side.

Every now and then, when she stopped by to check on
her patients, the nurse heard the young Marine whisper a
few comforting words to the old man. Several times in the
course of that long night, she returned and suggested that
the Marine leave to rest for a while. But every time, the
young man refused.

Near dawn the old man died. The Marine placed the old
man's lifeless hand on the bed and left to find the nurse.

While the nurse took the old man away and attended to the
necessary duties, the young man waited. When the nurse
returned, she began to offer words of sympathy, but the
Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked.

Startled, the nurse replied, "He was your father."

"No, he wasn't," the young man said. "I've never seen
him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to
him?"

"I knew there had been a mistake by the people who
sent me home on an emergency furlough. What happened was,
there were two of us with the same name, from the same town
and we had similar serial numbers. They sent me by
mistake," the young man explained. "But I also knew he
needed his son, and his son wasn't there. I could tell he
was too sick to know whether I was his son or not. When I
realized how much he needed to have someone there, I just
decided to stay."


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