The last 3 months have been…well…alot. The original plan prior to the attacks is to fly home for the holidays to be with mom and dad. But since there are no “civilian” flights coming in or out of Hawaii, we’re stuck. Luckily, the Chlebecks (yes, Johnny is alive) made sure that Christmas wasn’t ruined because of the attack that happened earlier that month. For the evening of Christmas Eve, they invited us for Christmas Eve service and Christmas dinner, which like Thanksgiving was what Evelyn calls it a Smörgåsbord. Danny also helps as well with decorating the house, bringing a little color, and having a lovely Christmas morning together. On my birthday in mid-January, he surprised me by staying the night while Evelyn took me out for lunch/dinner on my birthday to one of the local eateries. It’s quite sad to see some mom and pop restaurants closed down because the owners are of Japanese descent. Valentine’s Day is extra special because this is the first Valentine’s Day where Danny and I spent it together as boyfriend and girlfriend. Every year since we were 5, he would give me something special and I’d give him chocolates all because I forgot to give him something back then and all I had were chocolates. This year, I gave him a box of chocolates and he gave me a bouquet of roses and a beautiful heart shaped necklace with the garnet stone and an engraving in the back that says: Grá mo Chroí; which means “love of my heart.” Lately, he’s been picking up on Gaelic, getting close to his Da.

March 15, 1942

With it being 3 months since the attack, recovery has been slow and steady but making progress. By this point, the bodies have been recovered, the majority of the damaged ships are in the shipyard getting repairs from the attack and getting it ready for this war. Despite some men fighting against the Japanese, there are some men from all over the country that were willing to help out in the recovery efforts. Because of this, we made some good progress.

As much as Danny wanted to take it out on the enemy, he realized the other way of defeating them is by rebuilding so he started helping out in the shipyard. Just like what he did with me with the ocean, he dragged me into repairing the ships. And honestly, every day is a different ship, different section, and different level. Because of his car, Danny has to ride with me, which is fine by me, hopefully the insurance company will give his money back soon. Everything is going fine until this late morning…

Naval Shipyard 1130

Today is just like any other day, we get up, we work, make sure this ship is close enough to return to sea; but today is vastly different. Lately, Danny has been complaining about shoulder pain but couldn’t pinpoint where it is because he says the pain is everywhere. This morning, his shoulder has been bothering him more than it has since the pain first appears. We are working in one of the upper decks, probably a lookout (honestly, I don’t know the parts of a battleship). It’s warm and sunny with some light clouds in the background.

“Aahh,” Danny groaned.

“Baby are you ok,” I asked

“I’m fine darling, keep at it.”

The next minute turned for the worst. As he’s walking toward the edge of that part of the lookout, he groaned and grabbed his shoulder tightly. His groan sounded alot more painful and his body crunched together in pain.

“DANNY,” I shouted.

His body turned towards me and then stopped. His face went blank and he stopped moving.

Oh no…, I thought

He fell backward, still holding onto his shoulder, into the water. On the way down, I heard a loud BOONG! I looked and he was spinning down until he hit the water hard. Oh no, this is not good. The blood emptied from my face and I went pale, but I didn’t faint. So I took off my boots, my socks, my tool belt, untie my hair, got a running start and dove into the water to save Danny.

I was able to get him before his head hits the bottom of the harbor. Trying to get him out of the water was a challenge. So I had to call for help, as well as to get someone to call an ambulance. I was able to get him to a small sandbank that looks like a mini beach. There, some men were scrambling and crowding around. One of them got him by the armpit while I got his legs. Once we were able to get him near the road, I was able to do compressions on him until he coughed up some water. I thought we are in the clear, but I was wrong. A minute after coughing up the water, he started convulsing. There’s alot of shouting, cussing, a couple men rolled him over onto the sand as he continued convulsing. On the outside, I was paralyzed but on the inside…I am crying…

Naval hospital 1330

We were able to get an ambulance quickly and getting him escorted to the naval hospital as quickly as possible. He was breathing but labored on the way, and when we got there, they escorted him to the emergency room, leaving me here waiting, drenched in salt water. This hospital is not as crowded as it was 3 months ago, some of the wounded are still being treated for severe wounds. I hate hospitals, they remind of death and nothing else. Even the blood stains on the marble flooring gives me the jeepers.

After what felt like forever, Evelyn came into the waiting room and she told me what has happened:

There was a bullet lodged into his shoulder blade that’s been there for a while. Due to extensive movement, the bullet went deeper, cracking the blade bit by bit. What happened today was it gave way, tore a rotary cuff, completely shattering his shoulder blade. And due to the extreme pain of that tear and fracture, he went into septic shock, which is why his body shut down and lost movement. Due to the extensive force of when he hit his head on the ship and the lack of oxygen, it triggered him to have a seizure.

“His situation is probably the worst I have ever seen during my time here,” Evelyn stated.

“Will he be ok,” I asked.

“I don’t know, El,” Evelyn replied. “He was combative after the surgery that we had to get him under. Because of the extent of his head injuries, he may not come out of this. He may be in a vegetive state, in a coma, or worst…”

The next part was a blur, the next thing I know I was running toward Danny’s room and saw him sitting upward, unresponsive and looking down. His head was wrapped, probably due to his head hitting the metal so hard, his shoulder is wrapped, and his arm was in a sling.

“Danny, It’s me Ellie.”

No response.

“Danny,” I said as I walked over and sat on his bed. “Danny, you better come back to me.”

No response. There’s no way he’s gone.

“Danny…DANNY,” I shouted as I shook his upper arms.

Nothing.

“DANNY! You come back to me. THAT’S AN ORDER,” I shouted. I noticed tears rolling down my face.

“You listen to me. You are going to get outta here. We are gonna go on and have a life together. We’re gonna married, have as many kids as possible, live by the beach, and grow old together. But not here, you understand me?”

No response.

“DANNY“, I cried. “COME BACK!”

“Come back to me Dan,” I cried softly before leaning forward onto his lap, crying.

As I laid there, a memory slowly appears in mind. There’s snow, a typical winter in the midwest, I was in the schoolyard, and I was only five. Even though I nearly died of the flu and had my light hair cut short for sanitization, I was still strong enough to punch one bully in the nose and told the other in a high pitched voice, “if you wanna pick on that kid, you’re gonna have go through me.” These boys scurried away through the snow, then I saw a little boy with shaggy black hair, freckles, plump cheeks, and a bit of a tooth gap like mine was.

“You ok, kid,” I asked as I held my hand out.

“y..yeah,” the boy squeaked as he took my hand.

I pulled him up and out of the snow. The boy thanked me.

“Name’s Ellis.”

“Ellie,” the boy asked in a nervous high pitched voice.

“You can put ‘er there! What’s your name?”

“Daniel,” the boy replied.

“How about I can you Danny,” I asked.

“You can put ‘er there,” he replied.

“Wanna be my friend?”

“sure,” Danny answered a little more confidently.

“great! I’ll have lunch with you!”

I didn’t know it at the time, but the way Danny looked at me as a child was the same as he does now.

---

“El…” a distorted voice called.

I couldn’t hear who is calling me.

“Ellis…”

This time, it sounded like man’s voice but couldn’t pick it up.

“Ellie?”

I looked up, with my eyes drowned in tears, making me feel drowsy, to see Danny looking at me in a concerned look.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah…” I answered as I wiped away my tears. “No…I thought I lost you Danny.”

Seeing the sorrow and pain in my eyes, he pulled me in and hugged me as he buried his face in the crook of my neck. I held him tightly, afraid that he may be gone, and I’m just dreaming. I probably hugged him a little too tight because he was grimacing and groaning in pain.

“sorry,” I apologized as I pulled away.

He wiped away the tears on my left cheek, tucked my hair behind my ears, and held my face as he leaned in to kiss me with the most sincere kiss. After he kissed me, he rested his forehead onto mine before kissing my nose, then my forehead, and eventually pulling me in where his chin rested on top of my head.

“Danny,” Evelyn announced. “The doctor and the sergeant wants to see you.”

We turned toward the door to see the doctor and a sergeant come in. The doctor is in white, while the sergeant is in a tan suit, highly decorated and a little rugged. The doctor explained to Danny everything that Evelyn told me and he pulled out a handkerchief, uncover it to see a bullet, which is as long as my palm, blood all over and some tissue still remains.

“Were you aware that you were shot, Lieutenant McCain,” the doctor asked.

“No,” Danny answered with shock in his tone. “I know that my girlfriend was grazed by a Japanese bullet a few months ago during the attack.”

I had to show them my scar, which is now a line from my collarbone to the bottom of my shoulder blade.

“Maybe that same bullet that grazed me, got you,” I stated. The dots are connected. My right shoulder was grazed, his right shoulder was shot, lodged and then fractured overtime. So it’s the same bullet!

When the doctor mentioned about his head trauma and asks how he doing now, Danny said he feels fine. Then, it looks like a lightbulb went off for him. So he pulled out his chain that has his dog tags and on the chain is a Celtic cross

“My dad’s pendant,” Danny stated. “mamma said it’s his lucky charm. He wore it when we sailed to America. He had it on the night of the fire that won my nonno’s approval. It’s probably why I’m still here.”

“Why didn’t your dad have it on during the Great War,” I asked.

“One of the greatest McCain mysteries,” he answered solemnly, looking at the rusted, brass cross.

“You are very lucky,” the doctor replied. “Having God by your side with your father’s pendant but also having your girlfriend save you as well.”

He looked over to me and smiled at me like “I knew I could count on you with my life.”

After the doctor left, the sergeant started talking about the possibility of giving him an honorable discharge due to the extend of his injuries.

“Sir,” Danny peeped. “If I may request, can I change my MOS?”

The sergeant looked puzzled.

“I didn’t write it down in my enlistment form, but I was in residency to be a surgeon in Michigan.”

“But you said…”

“I know,” Danny interrupted. “the construction part was true, helping my brothers out. I wanted to try something different, outside of my field of study.”

“Ma’am, who stitched your shoulder there,” the sergeant asked in a booming voice.

“He did,” I answered politely as I nodded toward Danny.

He looked at Danny with an impressed look on his face.

“Well, I’ll see what I can do. You did a very good job, ace,” the sergeant stated. “But for now, I’d command you to be on medical leave for your head and shoulder.”

“Yes sir,” Danny responded with a smile.

Danny wanted to salute but the sergeant dismissed him due to his right arm being in a sling.

After he left, I turned toward my boyfriend and said “Residency? Why did you not tell me that, idiota?”

“First of all, good job. Second of all, it’s not that important. What Italian-Irish kid would be a doctor, let alone a surgeon?”

“I don’t care! I know I’d support you, even now,” I stated.

After I said that, he cracked a smile, I know he’s thinking of something, and it better not be dirty.

“Marriage, huh,” Danny snickered.

“Oh gosh, you heard that,” I said while blushing.

“Oh I heard you, you mean it?”

“Well, yeah. You fly, I fly right? We’re stuck together.”

“Yeah,” he answered before pulling me in for a kiss.

Honestly, I hope this doesn’t get to his head too much because we’ve only been together as a couple for a short time.