Story Clora's House of Gathered Up Children

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PacNorWest

Veteran Member
#1

The war lasted three years. Three years of hand to hand combat, mortar shelling's, IED's, road side bombs and crippled people filling homes that were so happy they came back alive.

The soldiers returning weren't happy. They all carried deep scars. Some scars were on the outside, no one came through without wounds, but all carried scars inside, and they crippled the worst.

It is dehumanizing to listen to the screams of wounded soldiers, friends and brothers, and not be able to help them, because you yourself are so wounded you can't crawl to them to give aid.

Sometimes all you could do was hold their hand so they didn't die alone. Every member of the clan was put in this position, and to tender hearted people that lived and breathed Clora's faith, it took away part of what made them human.

One by one they straggled home, praying for the gentle care and prayer their bodies and souls needed.

Open arms greeted them and prayers were sent to heaven for their return. All of them needed the time and space to do nothing but try to come to terms with what they had seen and what they had to do. Sitting in the sun, the spring unfolding in silent glory all around them, was part of the therapy Clora and Mark used.

Finally the only members of the clan left out in the great void of war aftermath, were Tess and Bruce.

No one had heard from Tess in almost a year; and Clora tried to search mind after mind to find her beautiful daughter. Always she could feel Tess was alive, but in a unknown place.

Bruce was close to being released, and he didn't care if he ever did another surgery on a wounded person. The destruction in wounded lives had numbed him to the core.

He was requested to look in on a soldier that had knifed in the back during one of the last battles of the war. The woman was laying on her stomach so the oozing and serum bubbling wound was open to the air. He was prepped and ready for one last surgery, when he happened to look at the soldier's name.

Bruce had Tess Linderman on the operating table.
 
K

kua

Veteran Member
Oh PAC! Talk about starting with a bang! Whew, but with Dr. Bruce Tess has a better than average chance of recovery. Waiting with baited breath for the next installment.
 
P

PacNorWest

Veteran Member
#2

Bruce worked on Tess with the same care he had used on Clora. Who ever had knifed Tess, slipped the blade between her ribs on the right side, missing her lung by a hair's width. The attacker had been startled by Tess's sudden lashing out with her own knife, gutting the man while she carried his blade in her back. In all, the super human strength fueled by adrenalin had allowed Tess to knife and shoot three of the enemy that had infiltrated the command center.

Where the others had frozen in fear, Tess acted. She might have paid with her life for her act of bravery, if Bruce hadn't been there. The surgeon that had operated on soldiers for days at a time with no relief or sleep, put back together the daughter he would have been proud to call his own.

Bruce sat with Tess for three days while her mind and body struggled to decide to live or die. Always a scrapper and a fighter, Tess was wanting to live, but twice she stood in the blinding light reaching for the arms of Jesus.

Each time she was sent back, there was work for her to do on earth.




Bruce took her home in an Army ambulance. His perk for saving a brave soldier that had saved seven other lives. The ambulance tooted at the gate, the compound in heavy lockdown.

Clora was cleaning up a mess that Luke had made, when she cried out, "it's Tess. Dear God in Heaven Tess is hurt bad." and she went running outside, frantic in her mother's pain and emotion.

Mark hit the gate opener, and the Army OD colored Cadillac hearse rolled in the yard. Carefully Tess was unloaded and the blanket rearranged to cover her bare body on the gurney. Bruce had commandeered the gurney, the only way to move Tess around and heavily sedated his patient so she wouldn't break open the delicate repair.

All of the wounded soldiers and their Father saluted as Tess was rolled in the house and down the hall to her room.

Clora was in a frenzied, deranged state of mind as she held the sheet on Tess as Bruce moved the girl to her room.

"Will she live," Clora begged Bruce for information, hardly breathing as she waited for his answer.

"50 - 50," Bruce had said, as he checked the wound again. "Lady skin is finer and thinner than what I'm used to working on, and there is much internal damage from a large knife. Mark, Clora; Tess is a true hero, she saved seven people from death while she carried that knife in her back. She killed her attacker and three others, and no one knows how she did it. She was amazing." Bruce whispered softly.

Clora was already touching Tess's face and praying, on her knees on the floor, asking God for a miracle. Mark was ramrod straight with tears in his eyes and a voice that couldn't speak for the lump in his throat. He sank down beside Clora and put his hand on the gurney, hiding his face on his upper arm.

Benny came in the room and knelt by the other side of the Gurney, touching Tess's shoulder and praying silently. His head was low, but Bruce noticed there were tear splotches on the floor. If Tess was going to make it, she would make it now.

Trish came running from their cabin. She had been sleeping after a double or had it been a triple shift. She couldn't remember. Bruce was home and she needed to touch her man and make sure he was real. He opened his arms and she threw herself into them, breathing, kissing, touching and crying all at the same time.

Big ole mean and clumsy Bruce from the tenements of Chicago, buried his face in his wife's embrace and cried.
 
Siskiyoumom

Siskiyoumom

Veteran Member
I think that your stories dear Pac are meant for specific folks who need encouragement, healing, hard core instruction and an dose of hope.

I am so glad that you post the stories here and that you are taking a bit of time for your own refreshment of your heat and soul.

Nice to see the new posts in your new story and I look forward to wear this story is going.

Hope you have a most pleasant rest of the week and have much joy and laughter, even in these perilous times.
 
ted

ted

Veteran Member
Lot of that going around Dosadi. Thank you Pac, you must be super woman, got caught up already. lol!
 
O

OldArcher

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank-You, and God Bless You, and Yours, Mrs. Pac... Thank-You for giving, and sharing, so much of what God has to give...

Maranatha

OldARcher
 
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Dare7

Senior Member
PAC!!!! I thought we had to wait. Can't say much more than thanks because, out of the blue, the fresh chopped onions on my chili dog were extra potent tonight. The welcome home salute made them at least twice as pungent as when Dr. Bruce discovered who was on his table!!!
 
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PacNorWest

Veteran Member
#3.

Tess made it through the first hour and then the second. By the third hour, the equipment started arriving. The olive drab and camo covered trucks unloaded next to desert sand cammo squiggled trucks. A set of generals had sent most of a brazenly stolen field hospital to a surgeon that worked for eight hours to patch up a woman that had saved their daughters. The three women, friends with Tess and so thankful for her bravery. Their Daddy's were also.

All the equipment had the numbers carefully removed, and the refrigerated unit that held the necessary sacks of whole blood, drugs, drips, saline and antiseptic came with it's own generator, one of the new super quiet units. Ten barrels of gas, a large propane tank and the truck to fill it for the tri fuel generator. The huge lights and all the operating room supplies along with a small autoclave, and packs of sterilized instruments.

Tess's old bed was removed to make room for the items Bruce needed to keep his patient alive, and that patient lay deathly still, in her coma.

Bruce, when he gained his composure hidden in Tricia's arms, kissed his wife and took her in to help him set up the drips and pain control unit. They worked together quietly and efficiently, the equipment would make the difference, and they were both grateful to the fathers that had the ability to gift them the life saving equipment.

When he was ready to show Tricia the wound, Bruce alerted Mark and Ben to come look. The huge gauze square covering the open hole was soaked with blood, and Bruce used a scissors clamp to remove the covering.

Battle hardened and scarred men stared at the opening and made involuntary noises in their throats. Twice the size of the hole Mark had carried, it was the most gruesome wound they had ever seen. Where the knife had worked back and forth as Tess fought, the ultra sharp blade had made thin, narrow ribbons of flesh that Bruce painstakingly stitched together to hold Tess in one piece. Bruce had done a miracle, now it would take another one for her to live life.

Ben's lips were moving as he beseeched his God to give him the wound and let his Tess live. Ben in his agony bargained with God, giving his own life in exchange for Tess's, a thousand times over. Frantically, Ben prayed and touched Tess on the shoulder to feel her skin as a connection. Tess stirred in her coma, feeling in some way Ben was near.

Mark stared at the gaping hole that Bruce covered and then drew the sheet up to give Tess dignity. He was saying the same prayer as Ben, he would do anything for God, if God would only let Tess live. Bruce had already had the same conversation with a God he hadn't believed in for many years. Bruce thanked that God for guiding his surgeon's hands, mind and resolve, for it couldn't have been done by a human alone.

Ben couldn't help himself, he bent down to kiss the skin he was touching as a way to ease the pain that was almost drowning him, and Tess stirred a second time.

"Tess can feel that you are here," Tricia had told the young man. "That will speed her healing. Stay as long as you can, go out and take a break and then come back, for she needs the connection to you. There is a lot of significance to your touch Ben, she needs you."

Ben had nodded, to overcome to speak. A kitchen chair appeared and Ben sat close to Tess and took her limp hand and held it to his forehead, as he prayed. Kindly, no one said anything about the tears that ran down his face.

"Bruce, that is the most magnificent job I have ever seen a surgeon perform." Trish praised quietly with an emotion choked voice. "God blessed you wondrously Bruce, thank you."

The big, dumb kid that had been taunted for years about his size and clumsiness, had been used by God to repair a woman that God needed to work her faith, later in her life. Bruce thanked God again for guiding him.

To Ben, the fact that Tess reacted to his touch, was a powerful revelation to the sometimes unsure man of how great the depth of her love was for him. As emotionally raw as Ben was over her injuries, he wasn't sure he could handle the force of Tess's love, but he couldn't back away from that strength that he desired.

Tess lived another hour.

Close to evening, Ben had to take a break and go outside for air and freedom from the tense, highly charged atmosphere.

Milo, Cody, Abbi, and Gary were on the patio, anxious for information.

"She's alive, and I don't know how she could be," Ben had whispered. "She's got a four inch hole in her back where some ####### buried a knife in her. "If she hadn't killed him, I'd kill him myself. She killed him and three more when a raiding party slipped through defenses and attacked the command center. Please pray, we need a solid front to God."
 
stjwelding

stjwelding

Veteran Member
Pac thank you so much for the first 3 chapters, I haven't been able t stop the tears running down my face, again thank you.

Wayne
 
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P

Papa

Senior Member
Woo-Hoo the Linermans are back...I don't know what it is about your stories...but I am drawn to them like a moth to a flame...
 
P

PacNorWest

Veteran Member
#3b

There was a lot the brothers didn't know; and they had talked quietly among themselves as to why Ben was in the room with Tess and they had been asked to wait. After Ben's plea for prayer, and as the man sat slumped over in his chair, brother looked at brother with raised eyebrows and there was only one conclusion. Ben was in love with Tess.

Dad and Ma were in there, so they must be aware, and the only one that looked like he was going to say something was Gary, until Robert leveled a look at him that would have uprooted trees and shattered concrete. Gary sat back carefully in the chair, he had been shot in the hip two weeks prior, and he had enough pain to remind him of exactly where it was located.

Robert had a through and through in the calf of his left leg that had gotten infected before he could get to the Medic and have it looked at. There were three more injuries that came in right behind him, and he had waved the overworked man to triage the new patients. Like Ma always said, it was a long way from his heart, but today it was beginning to feel closer.

Cody had taken a fragment to his head that blew his helmet off, and he had a concussion that beat all concussions. He usually sat very still, and didn't talk much. He watched Abbi carefully when he could open his eyes. She was usually still and quiet, suffering from depression, and never saying a word. She had been knife cut across her face and abdomen and they were deep, angry looking, red scars.

That had been the enemy's favorite method of attacking women, cut them any way they could with a knife and maim and scar them into gross disfigurement.

The group usually sat together on the patio in the sun and no one talked. They spent their energy trying to heal and forget. Everyone was welcome but Ted and he was barely tolerated and never spoken too. The family that had sent nine of it's young men and women to fight and return with horrific injuries, had little to do with the one that fled, rather than stand with them. Ted was shunned and it was hard duty for him to be ostracized, unharmed and away from his beloved numbers.

In the quiet of the early evening, alarms went off, bells were chiming, warbles sounded, Tess was crashing.

There was a agonized plea from Ben as he tore back into the house. "Oh dear God, please no, take me instead," he cried out as he ran for the room.

Milo turned his head to look at Cody. There was no doubt now, as to how Ben felt, and it was disquieting to the brothers. They weren't sure if they approved or not, it was something they were going to have to think on.

Tess, as soon as Ben got back in the room and touched her, started to rally. He knelt on the floor next to the head of the gurney and whispered to her to fight, stay with them and refuse to fade away. He turned so he could put his good hand on her shoulder and Tess's numbers started back up.

The inescapable truth, Tess needed him close so she could fight to live. Dad had talked to him about that, and Ben had been sure the old man was wrong. But it was there, and he could hear and see it. Tess needed him for her will to live. Without Ben, there was no reason for her to stay alive. He was dumbfounded and then marveled that he could be the caretaker of such a brave woman's life. It was as Dad had said. Deeper than Ben had any idea of.

Ben looked up to see Mark watching him. "Do you understand now?" Mark had asked, and Ben nodded. He understood.

Slowly, all through the night, Bruce lessened the amount of morphine to bring Tess closer to consciousness, watching her numbers drop when Ben left the room and then climb when he returned. He wasn't surprised, Clora had done the same thing; so it was a case of: like mother, like daughter.

Early in the morning, Trish had come to relieve him; sending the deliriously exhausted Bruce home to sleep. He refused and flopped down on Tess's single bed that was still in the hall. Tricia found a pillow and blanket for her husband and gave him a look of pure love. He had given all he had to give and needed to recharge. Rough and tough Bruce, the man that snarled with insults and roared with displeasure over the slightest trifle, was as soft inside as melted chocolate.

Clora had never moved from her kneeling position and Tish indicated to Mark they needed to get her up in a chair, and warm her with a blanket. It was time to move, but Clora couldn't get up without help. Mark had never seen Clora react with such anguish, but then he hadn't been home at lot of times when he was hurt to watch her reaction.

Tess lived through her first twenty four hours at home.

Bruce never spoke about the fact that he had brought Tess home to die among the people that loved her, rather than in a cold and uncaring hospital. But Mark knew, and his heart trembled for his daughter.

The family took life with devoted prayer; one minute, one hour, one day at a time. It was four days later that Tess came up enough in consciousness to open her eyes. Ben was right there and Tess feebly tried to touch his face, and then slid back into the blessed rest provided by the drugs.

Deeply emotional, Ben took her hand and closed his eyes and rocked back and forth in his chair. He had to use the movement to release his tension and fear. He couldn't leave her, not for one second. He had been entrusted with a love that was bigger than his life, and he took it as seriously as the gift it was.
 
S

Sneaker 11

RECONDO
WOW!! Rangers don't cry...........but my eyes were sweating so badly I had a difficult time reading. You hit a home run with the opening....thanks seems so inadequate.

Sneaker 11
 
Dosadi

Dosadi

Brown Coat
The older I get the more I don't worry about my tears. Esp. when they are tears for loved ones or of joy.

Thank you Mrs. PAC

Dosadi
 
O

OldArcher

Has No Life - Lives on TB
God Bless You and Thank-You, Mrs. Pac... Damned allergies are terrible this morning... Can barely see...

Have a Blessed Day, and again, God Bless You, Ma'am...

Maranatha

OldARcher
 
teedee

teedee

Veteran Member
THANK YOU! Dear lady, you have once again got a movie running in my head. I had resigned myself to having to wait until you had recharged and could start on the next chapter in your saga. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see all of your work this morning. I hope that you have some idea how much we all love you for sharing your talent with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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PacNorWest

Veteran Member
As I said in the other thread, I am hopelessly addicted to the endorphins that make this possible. It's rather unbelievable; now I go out and work a bit in the garden and dream up something else to put on the clan, and have to rush right in and get it included before I forget the catch phrase I want to use.

It wouldn't be so bad, but I have all these secondary spin off's running around in my head, the 'back story' if you will, that keeps me moving forward. I already have messed up in the chapters close to the end of 'Woods', I thought I had posted a chapter with more situation as a lead in, and oops...I didn't.

That's why I got so frustrated with Woods. It was time to bring it to a close. Perhaps if the characters are three years older and by hopeful association...smarter; 'Children will flow smoother.

It's amazing that all of this story, in bits and pieces, has been given to me in the journals and diaries of my elders, I have a Oregon Trail ancestor that took an arrow in the back that he could not reach to pull out. He backed up to a tree and pushed the arrow out front wards. I don't believe I'm tough enough to do that. But then, the will to live can be pretty strong. That's where Tess's wound came from. The rest of it, my neighbor just bought a new Kukri, and he was showing me what it can do to a small watermelon. That is one scary piece of equipment. Pac.
 
Sammy55

Sammy55

Veteran Member
teedee said:
THANK YOU! Dear lady, you have once again got a movie running in my head. I had resigned myself to having to wait until you had recharged and could start on the next chapter in your saga. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see all of your work this morning. I hope that you have some idea how much we all love you for sharing your talent with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I agree with teedee. I had resigned to waiting until you were recharged and just happened to check at lunchtime and saw you had started another story and already had four chapters! Hot dang!! I was excited!! And when my dh got home, I told him and he was surprised and shocked as all get out, too!! So we are caught up......for now......(hint, hint)

Thank you muches! And both of us here love you for sharing your talent and keeping us on the CloraCoasterRide!!
 
O

OldArcher

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Indeed, Mrs. Pac.... One must be most careful with the noble Kukri, as follow-through, for the newbie can result in horrific, self inflicted wounds... Momentum/inertia must be aimed, for recovery does take strength and skill... The Gurkha are magnificent fighters, far eclipsing most others, even amongst the elite... Of their regiments, there is an annual competition... The greatest wielders of the Kukri, one from each regiment, go for bragging rights. Whomever decapitates a selected bull, with one strike of his Kukri, his regiment gets the glory... Yes, one strike of the Kukri. The loser, gets the dogsbody chores for that year, and whatever regimental "perks" go to the winner's regiment... I guess they continue decapitating bulls, until there is a single, indisputable winner... Oh, and their Kukri's can go up to seven pounds in weight... Even so, they're quite strong and adept, regardless their physical height and stature...

GBY&Y's

Maranatha

OldARcher
 
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PacNorWest

Veteran Member
Old Archer;

are the knives pronounced 'kurk-ree or koo-kree. I don't have the faintest idea. Yeah, I think my neighbor will probably be visiting the ER soon. He doesn't have a clue how to use the thing.
 
O

OldArcher

Has No Life - Lives on TB
PacNorWest said:
Old Archer;

are the knives pronounced 'kurk-ree or koo-kree. I don't have the faintest idea. Yeah, I think my neighbor will probably be visiting the ER soon. He doesn't have a clue how to use the thing.
Click to expand...

Ma'am, I've always heard "koo-kree." Just checked internet for pronunciation, and lo-and-behold, I'm right! At my age, and condition, that's one small victory for Man, a Giant Leap Upward, for me! All kidding aside, I've had Kukri's for years... Great for cutting and chopping in the kitchen, or chopping down small trees... Easy to slice a cantaloupe in mid-air, but do watch, and know where that blade is going to end up, at the end of your swing or strike... I love 'em, and have given them to friends and family for their bugout gear... However, my regular EDC is a Morakniv Garberg, and a Zero Tolerance 0301 and 0303 (Stryker) knives... One maybe enough, but three is better... I learned that in the Navy, nearly fifty years ago... Never, EVER, be without a knife...

GBY&Y's

Maranatha

OldARcher
 
P

PacNorWest

Veteran Member
#3c

It stretched on into four weeks and Tess had not regained consciousness. Benny was beside himself. "Dad, what happens if she never comes too, what's going to happen?"

"Ma and I have to believe that Tess's body will let her know when it's ready for her to be awake. The more she can heal and be still, the better for her. Why? Is there a problem?"

"Sort of." Ben mumbled.

"What?" Mark wondered, 'what now could be the matter with his third son. The kid was a jumping bundle of nerves'

"Dad, what will happen if she never wakes up so I can tell her I love her?" Ben looked and acted devastated.

Mark shot the clueless kid a perturbed look. "You haven't told her?" Mark sounded aggravated.

"No." Ben shrank back into himself. "She said it first and it pissed me off, I wanted to do the leading. I wanted it to be my way and she never gave me a chance."

"Then what you have is the consequence of a decision." Mark said reasonably. "If Tess wakes up then you have the opportunity to a second chance. If she doesn't, well then you have the consequence. I believe I mentioned that these women are not like ordinary girls. What part of that didn't you understand. Are the words going in one ear and out the other?"

"No, I just wanted it to be different, that's all." Stubborn Ben wasn't ready to give up.

"Ben," Mark was sharp and confounded by the boy's attitude. "You don't say I love you once, and that's the end of it. Ben, there are sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour and twenty four hours in a day. Every single bit of that time is available to tell your lady you love her. I probably say that to Ma six or seven times a day, and she returns about the same. Just where are you getting your ideas about love and kindness and respect. You sound like a case of arrested development at age ten."

"I don't know, I just have'em."

"Well, how are they working for you?" Dad Linderman asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do they make you happy or are you scared to death Tess may never know you do love her.? Ben, every decision has a right and a wrong and an indifferent choice. Each one has rewards and consequences. Tell you what I would do if I were in your shoes. Every time it's just you and Tess in here, I'd tell her low by her ear that you love her. Your choice may be different, but I sure don't see you getting what you want with your way."
 
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