Night Watch
Message: "Your son is here," the nurse said to the old
man. She had to repeat the words several times
before the man's eyes opened. He was heavily
sedated and only partially conscious after a
massive heart attack he had suffered the night
before. He could see the dim outline of a young
man in a Marine Corps uniform, standing alongside
his bed.
The old man reached out his hand. The Marine
wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's
limp hand and squeezed gently. The nurse brought
a chair, and the tired serviceman sat down at the
bedside.
All through the night, the young Marine sat
in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's
hand and offering words of encouragement. The
dying man said nothing, but kept a feeble grip on
the young man's hand. Oblivious to the noise of
the oxygen tank, the moans of the other patients,
and the bustle of the night staff coming in and
out of the ward, the Marine remained at the old
man's side.
Every now and then, when she stopped by to
check on her patients, the nurse heard the young
Marine whisper a few comforting words to the old
man. Several times in the course of that long
night, she returned and suggested that the Marine
leave to rest for a while. But every time, the
young man refused.
Near dawn the old man died. The Marine
placed the old man's lifeless hand on the bed and
left to find the nurse. While the nurse took the
old man away and attended to the necessary duties,
the young man waited. When the nurse returned,
she began to offer words of sympathy, but the
Marine interrupted her.
"Who was that man?" he asked.
Startled, the nurse replied, "He was your
father."
"No, he wasn't," the young man said. "I've
never seen him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I
took you to him?"
"I knew there had been a mistake by the
people who sent me home on an emergency furlough.
What happened was, there were two of us with the
same name, from the same town and we had similar
serial numbers. They sent me by mistake," the
young man explained. "But I also knew he needed
his son, and his son wasn't there. I could tell
he was too sick to know whether I was his son or
not. When I realized how much he needed to have
someone there, I just decided to stay."