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.Macurdy, however, preferred to avoid brawls, and found quieter, moreout-of-the-way bars, frequented by those who preferred friendliness to fistfights.He'd learned to drink in Phenix City, Alabama, and did it moregracefully than most.Having a rare ability to control his physiologicalprocesses, and being neither obsessive nor addictive, he didn't get drunk.Largely he drank wine-he hadn't learned to like hard liquorallowing himself atmost a certain mellowness.Of course, he'd recently had his 39th birthday, buthe'd have handled his trips to Oujda more or less similarly had he been tenyears younger.In fact, he would probably have come through his Oujda monthsunscathed, except for a two-and-a-half-ton truck.He was with Cavalieri andLuoma, headed back to camp, not drunk or even tight.Over-relaxed perhaps, andless alert than might be.The truck was heavily laden, hauling ordnance fromthefile:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Deskt.,%20John%20-%202%20-%20The%20Bavarian%20Gate.html (146 of 452)3/12/2004 11:18:09 PMfile:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder/Dalmas,%20John%20-%202%20-%20The%20Bavarian%20Gate.html docks at Mellilla.The driver saidhe never saw them, that a donkey cart had turned in front of him, and he'dswerved.Also, he'd been continuously on duty for seventeen hours.At any ratehe knocked down a G.I.and ran over him.MPs appeared as if by magic, filling out forms, taking names, ranks, serialnumbers, units.The driver they hauled off in an MP jeep.The victim, whowas taken away in an ambulance, was Staff Sergeant Curtis E.Macurdy, serialnumber36 928 450.Macurdy awoke in the base hospital, remembering nothing of the day.The heavytruck had run over his right leg, doing extreme soft tissue damage, breakingthe femur, patella, tibia and fibula, but somehow missing foot, hip, and leftleg.He didn't know this, of course.All he knew, vaguely, was that his right legwas in a cast and elevated, its shrunken aura a chaotic mess, and that he wasdoped to the gills.He thought of doing something about it, but it seemed like too much trouble,so he fell asleep again, drifting in and out for an indeterminate period thatseemed quite long.The next day he awoke more or less alert.The ward was less than half full,but he had a neighbor in the bed on his left, his right leg also elevated andin a cast.The man was reading a paperback.Macurdy lay quiet for a while, searching his mind for what had happened, andfile:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Deskt.,%20John%20-%202%20-%20The%20Bavarian%20Gate.html (147 of 452)3/12/2004 11:18:09 PMfile:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder/Dalmas,%20John%20-%202%20-%20The%20Bavarian%20Gate.html finding nothing.So he interruptedthe reader."Where am I?" he asked.The man looked at him."The base hospital in Oujda.""What happened to me?""Damned if I know.A medic can probably tell you.How's your leg feel?"Macurdy gathered focus and looked again at the aura around it, more clearlythan before.It was still shrunken, but a little less chaotic."Busier" now;Page 68 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthe leg was trying to heal.It was also dark with pain, more pain than thehard-edged ache he felt.He was still doped up, he decided, but not nearly asmuch as he had been."Not too bad.I'd like to know what happened though.What happened to you?""I'm in the 505th Parachute Infantry.We jumped on an exercise in the hillseast of Jerada, five days ago.It was pretty windy, and I came down in aravine full of rocks." He paused."What outfit are you with?""The 509th.""Ah! One of those! See any combat, did you?""Not much.We took some shelling at Tafaraoui, and swapped shots on a nightpatrol I was on out of Gafsa, but the only real fighting I saw was when wedrove the Germans off Faid Pass."He paused."Not all that much-some companies got morebut enough to get thefeel of things.We had almost as many casualties jumping and training as wedid fighting." He chuckled."And barroom casualties here in Oujda.I stayclear offile:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Deskt.,%20John%20-%202%20-%20The%20Bavarian%20Gate.html (148 of 452)3/12/2004 11:18:09 PMfile:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder/Dalmas,%20John%20-%202%20-%20The%20Bavarian%20Gate.html those.I'm basically a peacefulman."The 505er laughed."Me too.I'm thirty years old; I leave those bullshitbrawls to the kids.My name's Keith.Staff Sergeant Fred Keith, from Gwynn,Michigan.""Mine's Curtis Macurdy, from Washington County, Indiana by way of Nehtaka,Oregon.I'm a staff sergeant too."They were interrupted by a nurse."How are we doing, Sergeant Macurdy?""Could be better.What happened to me?""You were run over by a loaded truck.The surgeons spent several hours puttingyour bones back together.You have enough pins in your leg to make a magnetspin
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