Bettina Hanson

Marshall

We arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later. As we walked in I grabbed Als arm. When we were kids I would aways grab his arm when I was scared or nervous. And Al didn't care. He let me. We signed in and took a seat in the waiting room. It took five minutes before my beautiful... my precious Bettina came out. I ran to her and she ran to me and we hugged. I picked her up with tears swelling in my eyes. "Thank the lord you are okay Bettina. I wouldnt know what to do without you." I whispered in her ear. She just hugged back. I kissed her soft, pink cheeks and set her down. "Did they treat you okay?" I asked. She nodded, holding a pink fluffy bunny the hospital gave her. "I wanna go home." Bettina whimpered and ducked her head. Picking her up again, we walked over to the desk where an ass-load of papers had to be filed. I filled them out, and about 10 minutes later I finished. "Here you go ma'am, and here is my security card." I said, handing her the papers and card. I waited for a while until she finished filing the papers. A copy of the bill was given to me as well as my security card for Bettina. We left the hospital, and drove back to my house.
"So, Bettina what was it like in the hospital?" Al asked. He sat in the back with Bettina and her two stuffed animals; the new one and old. "I.. I hated being alone." She whispered. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes now. "Hey.. Hey hey hey! Don't cry!" I said, placing my hand on her leg as I drove. The rest of the ride was silent with occasional sniffing from Bettina.
We finally arrived at home. "Hey, there's a surprise on your bed.." I smiled at Bettina who jumped in excitement. "Oh oh! What is it?" She wondered. The three of us walked inside. It felt stale inside- like something was wrong.
As Bettina ran upstairs to her room, both Al and I went into the kitchen to see Suzie sitting at the table. Her expression was blank; her face white. "S..Suzie?" I asked, placing a hand on her warm cheek. "Hello... Marshall." She whispered, moving away from my hand. "Is there something wrong?" I sat in front of her and stared at her. She never acted this way. She was always cheery and smiling. "Well.. Yes.. I.. I got a phone call for you... and..." she was now crying. Her shoulders bobbed up and down and she hid her face in her hands. I came in to hug her but she rejected. "It was the government... they.. they signed you up for... the... the draft."
Everything stopped.
My vision became blurry, but I still could see Suzie.
My hearing muffled out, but I could still hear her loud wailing.

We were going through a war against Korea. I didn't even know they were drafting...

There was a tug on my shirt and I turned to see Bettina. "Daddy... Why.. Why is Suzie crying?" She asked, her high, innocent voiced wavering.