“You did a good job, Ed,” Pru said and patted him on the back. “If he lives, the surgeons think he’ll keep the leg.” Ed had applied a tourniquet so perfectly, he had kept the patient from bleeding to death, but not so tightly that he’d lose the leg. The soldier was nineteen years old, barely more than a boy. The war was devouring boys like him every day, and killing most of them. It broke Pru’s heart when she lost one of them. She did everything she could to save them, including threatening the life of Reggie, her pilot, if he didn’t get them back fast enough. It was a race against time on every flight every day. “We got a load of new nurses in today,” she told Ed as he handed her a pint she didn’t want, but she took a sip anyway. “Americans.” Ed was a ladies’ man, and he could never resist a pretty nurse. He had the charm of the Irish, and many of the nurses found him irresistible. Aside from being good-looking, he was an incredibly nice guy, a great corpsman, and a talented medic.

“Music to my ears.” He smiled at her.

“I shouldn’t drink the beer,” she said, smiling back at him. “I haven’t eaten. I just want to go to bed.”

“Shall I get you some fish and chips next door?”

“I’m too tired to eat,” she admitted. “We’ve got a four A.M. start time tomorrow. I’m heading to bed.”

“Me too,” he said, glancing around the room. “I just haven’t figured out with who yet.” She laughed and knew he wasn’t as indiscriminate as he liked people to think. It was more of a game he played. He loved to flirt. Women loved him. And men admired him.

“Save yourself for the Americans. There were about six beauties in the room, or maybe it was four, when I stopped in to say hello to them.”

“Are any of them flying with us?”

“Not tomorrow, but probably soon. We have to brief them first. They don’t really need it. They’ll figure it out as they go along, like the rest of us. Well, I’m off,” she said, handing him her beer to finish.

“I’ll drive you back,” he volunteered, setting the beer down. “You look done in. You’re asleep on your feet.”

“Not quite, but getting there.” She smiled at him.

She followed him outside, and they chatted on the short drive back to her barracks. The nurses’ dormitory was one of the biggest buildings on the base.

“See you in the morning,” he said and waved as he drove away. He was thinking about the American nurses who had just arrived and wondered if they were as good-looking as Pru said. He could hardly wait to see for himself.