Read Online An Indecent Obsession by Colleen McCullough - Free Book Online
Authors: Colleen McCullough
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others not been present to drag Michael away from the RSM, it appears the RSM would now be dead. Michael’s only comment since the incident was that he wanted to kill the man, and would have killed him. He has repeated this often, though he won’t enlarge upon it.
‘When the CO tried to find out what was at the bottom of it, Michael refused to answer. However, the RSM was very vociferous. He accused Michael of making homosexual advances to him, and insisted there be a court-martial. It appears Michael’s dead friend had definite homosexual leanings, but as to whether Michael himself was actively involved, opinion was strongly divided. The RSM and his followers maintained the two had been lovers, where the vast majority of men in the company maintained just as firmly that Michael’s attitude toward his dead friend was that of protector and friend only.
‘The battalion CO knew all three men very well, as they’d all been with the battalion a long time—Michael and the dead man since its inception, the RSM since New Guinea. And it was the CO’s opinion that under no circumstances should Michael come to court-martial. He preferred to believe that Michael had suffered a temporary derangement, and ordered Michael to submit to a medical examination, the results of which indicated he was definitely of unsound mind, whatever that might mean.’ Her voice was noticeably sadder, sterner. ‘So they bunged him on a plane and sent him here. The admitting officer automatically slotted him into X.’
Colonel Chinstrap pursed his lips together and watched Sister Langtry carefully. She was choosing sides again, a most regrettable habit of hers. ‘I’ll see Sergeant Wilson in my clinic in the morning. You can walk him down there yourself, Sister.’ He glanced up at the meager wattage of the light bulb in a naked socket over the desk. ‘I’ll look at his papers then. I don’t know how you can read anything in this light—I certainly could not.’ The chair became too hard, too uncomfortable; he rolled his buttocks on it, hemmed a little, frowned fiercely. ‘I loathe cases with a sexual connotation!’ he said suddenly.
Sister Langry was idly holding a pencil, and her hands closed around it convulsively.
‘My heart bleeds for you, sir,’ she said without any attempt to disguise the sarcasm. ‘Sergeant Wilson does not belong in X—in fact, he does not belong in any hospital ward of any kind.’ Her voice shook, she shoved an impatient hand into the front of her hair and slightly dislocated the set of its neat brown waves. ‘I think it’s a pretty poor show when a fight and a highly suspect accusation can break up a young man’s life, already greyed because his friend had died. I keep thinking of how he must feel at this moment. As if, I’m sure, he’s groping through some appalling fog he’s never going to manage to find his way out of. I’ve talked to him, you haven’t. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with him, mentally or sexually or any other way you care to think of. The medical officer responsible for his being sent here ought to be the one facing a court-martial! To deny Sergeant Wilson the opportunity to clear himself by whisking him off instead to a place like ward X is a disgrace to the army!’
As always, the colonel found himself unable to deal with this kind of adamant insolence, for normally men in hospital positions as high as his did not encounter it. Dammit, she talked to him as if she regarded herself as his educated and intellectual equal! Perhaps their officer status was what was wrong with these army nurses, that and the high degree of autonomy they enjoyed in places like Base Fifteen. And those stupid bloody veils nurses wore didn’t help, either. Only nuns ought to wear veils, only nuns ought to be addressed as sister.
‘Oh, come now, Sister!’ he said, holding onto his temper and trying to be reasonable. ‘I do agree that the circumstances are somewhat unusual, but the war’s
‘When the CO tried to find out what was at the bottom of it, Michael refused to answer. However, the RSM was very vociferous. He accused Michael of making homosexual advances to him, and insisted there be a court-martial. It appears Michael’s dead friend had definite homosexual leanings, but as to whether Michael himself was actively involved, opinion was strongly divided. The RSM and his followers maintained the two had been lovers, where the vast majority of men in the company maintained just as firmly that Michael’s attitude toward his dead friend was that of protector and friend only.
‘The battalion CO knew all three men very well, as they’d all been with the battalion a long time—Michael and the dead man since its inception, the RSM since New Guinea. And it was the CO’s opinion that under no circumstances should Michael come to court-martial. He preferred to believe that Michael had suffered a temporary derangement, and ordered Michael to submit to a medical examination, the results of which indicated he was definitely of unsound mind, whatever that might mean.’ Her voice was noticeably sadder, sterner. ‘So they bunged him on a plane and sent him here. The admitting officer automatically slotted him into X.’
Colonel Chinstrap pursed his lips together and watched Sister Langtry carefully. She was choosing sides again, a most regrettable habit of hers. ‘I’ll see Sergeant Wilson in my clinic in the morning. You can walk him down there yourself, Sister.’ He glanced up at the meager wattage of the light bulb in a naked socket over the desk. ‘I’ll look at his papers then. I don’t know how you can read anything in this light—I certainly could not.’ The chair became too hard, too uncomfortable; he rolled his buttocks on it, hemmed a little, frowned fiercely. ‘I loathe cases with a sexual connotation!’ he said suddenly.
Sister Langry was idly holding a pencil, and her hands closed around it convulsively.
‘My heart bleeds for you, sir,’ she said without any attempt to disguise the sarcasm. ‘Sergeant Wilson does not belong in X—in fact, he does not belong in any hospital ward of any kind.’ Her voice shook, she shoved an impatient hand into the front of her hair and slightly dislocated the set of its neat brown waves. ‘I think it’s a pretty poor show when a fight and a highly suspect accusation can break up a young man’s life, already greyed because his friend had died. I keep thinking of how he must feel at this moment. As if, I’m sure, he’s groping through some appalling fog he’s never going to manage to find his way out of. I’ve talked to him, you haven’t. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with him, mentally or sexually or any other way you care to think of. The medical officer responsible for his being sent here ought to be the one facing a court-martial! To deny Sergeant Wilson the opportunity to clear himself by whisking him off instead to a place like ward X is a disgrace to the army!’
As always, the colonel found himself unable to deal with this kind of adamant insolence, for normally men in hospital positions as high as his did not encounter it. Dammit, she talked to him as if she regarded herself as his educated and intellectual equal! Perhaps their officer status was what was wrong with these army nurses, that and the high degree of autonomy they enjoyed in places like Base Fifteen. And those stupid bloody veils nurses wore didn’t help, either. Only nuns ought to wear veils, only nuns ought to be addressed as sister.
‘Oh, come now, Sister!’ he said, holding onto his temper and trying to be reasonable. ‘I do agree that the circumstances are somewhat unusual, but the war’s
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