Today's Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul

[Guest guest]

Night Watch

" 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. "

By Roy Popkin

Reprinted by permission of Roy Popkin © 1964, from A 5th

Portion of Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark

Victor Hansen.