THE EMBALMING
SURGEON

Between the place where the dead men lay and the glowing tent across the way, the smell suffusing the air changed character. From the sickening stench of decaying flesh it became a chemical reek.

Ready for any horror, Ida walked sturdily forward. Heading for the line of light at the edge of the curtained opening, she stopped when she saw a burning ember among the trees at one side. It was a lighted cigar.

The cheroot made a bright arc as it was thrown away. A big man with an apron over his coat stepped forward into the light.

“Name?” he said to Ida.

She guessed at once that he didn’t mean her own. “Seth Morgan,” she said at once, struggling to speak above a whisper. “First Lieutenant, Second Massachusetts.”

“I’ll get my list,” he said. “Excuse me.” He lifted the tent flap and went inside.

For a moment Ida caught a glimpse of a naked man stretched on a plank. A rubber tube arched obscenely out of his chest and descended into a bucket.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said, emerging from the tent with a paper in his hand. “That name isn’t here. When was the order sent?”

“The order?”

“By telegraph. Didn’t someone send an order?”

Ida shook her head. Was it something she should have done? She was confused and ashamed.

The surgeon pitied the young woman. She should never have come. She looked far gone with child. “Forgive me,” he said. “You mean you want to order it now? He was an officer? That’ll be eighty dollars.” He waved his hand in the direction of the rows of the dead. “I guess your husband’s over there?”

“No, no, he’s not. I can’t find him.”

“Well,” said the embalming surgeon, embarrassed, “a lot of the deceased have already been interred.” He pointed another way. “If you make out a requisition, Dr. Chapel will have your husband exhumed and sent home. You say he was Second Massachusetts? Good, because there’s no list for the buried rebs.” He chuckled. “Their kinfolk are out of luck.”

Ida thanked him and turned away, heading vaguely in the direction of his pointing finger. But her courage and strength had given out. She reached out a hand to the dark ground and sank down.