Devoted

Consequences Of A Dalliance

Grabbing her jacket from the hook beside the door and pulling it on as she makes her way down the porch stairs, the brisk air sends a shiver through her.  As she tightens the jacket around her to fight off the chill of the November night, Florence focuses on the ground in front of her. Paying careful attention to her feet in the gloomy lighting. The sun has all but set below the horizon, and she realizes a lamp would have been helpful. But she is too close to the shoreline to turn back now.

Florence trudges on, making it to the rocky stretch of land where the water laps against the smooth stones, as if trying to touch the looming cliffs above. The sliver of sun left casts everything in an orange glow, it's a magnificent view. It seems like a sign meant just for her that makes her think, one day, she might be able to truly call England home.

Florence scans the shoreline. The way Ron described it, had her picturing large boulders and sharp, jagged stones. Yet, it's rather flat. She doesn't dare try and traverse it in the dying light knowing it's still unsure footing.

There is a dark lump just out of reach of the tide, Florence ignores it, assuming it's just a boulder, moving her gaze along. A small flash of movement in the corner of her vision brings  her attention back to the large black lump.
She must have seen a bird, what else would be moving among rocks? An uneasy feeling grips her stomach as she keeps watch, and then it happens again, a small movement, almost undetectable if she wasn't looking for it.

She takes a look up at the cliff side the lighthouse stands on, she doesn't see Ron around to call for help. Florence starts picking her way towards the black mass, cautiously approaching it worried that it may be an injured animal that will be frightened by her. What if it's a predator, and upon seeing her, it decides she is a nice meal? Florence shakes her head, dispelling the silly notion as if it were water sliding off a duck's back. Reminding herself this is not the time to give in to tricks of the mind.

Only a foot away from the creature, for lack of a better term, she squints making out the form of a man lying on his side on the rocks. What on earth? She rushes to him, heart hammering in her chest at the prospect of what injuries await her on the poor man.

Dropping to her knees she pauses long enough to see the shallow rise and fall of his chest, grabbing a handful of the waterlogged jacket she rolls the man towards her. It's like she's moving a rag doll as the man flops into a prone position, head falling to the side, on the cusp of unconsciousness.

Assessing the man for injuries Florence finds a head laceration above his left brow, it could need stitches. Large angry  red welts left from something clawing at him cover his face and neck.

Reaching for the straps of the yellow flotation vest strapped onto him as she attempts to remove it, it takes several tries to steady her shaking hands. She can feel her fingers becoming numb as they fumble with the last buckle, upon freeing the last piece she's able to start unzipping the leather jacket, and pushes it out of the way.

Just below the leather jacket is an Eagle badge, and it's  as if an icy finger of fear traces down her spine. This man is a German fighter pilot. She was stupid to have not stopped to consider the flotation device he wears, the coveralls, and black boots. Was he shot down nearby? After coming in to help carpet bomb British cities? He has probably been the harbinger of death to countless men, British and Americans alike. Could he have been in the air fighting trying to down her husband, James? The thought nauseates her as she sits back on her haunches swallowing down the bile rising in her throat.

Florence frantically searches for someone else, anyone else to deal with this impossible situation. She knows what is done to anyone seen as a collaborator, even here, yet how can she leave a man to die when she is capable of saving him? Florence may not have sworn an oath like a doctor but she has the same motivation to save a life and do no harm.