Ernest Hemingway Goes on Trial, France, October 1944 – Part Two
by Ernest Hemingway has his blood pressure taken…
” Mr Hemingway?”
” Hmmm?”
” You’ve been asleep, Mr Hemingway. I need to take your blood pressure.”
” Go ahead.”
The US Army doctor rolls up Hemingway’s shirt sleeve, ties the black pressure band and slowly applies pressure, all the time watching the gauge.
” Mr Hemingway, your blood pressure is 210 over 105, which is dangerously high…”
” What do you expect after what happened out there?”
” I would suggest it has probably been that high for quite a while now. When did you last have your blood pressure tested?”
” A few months back, and you’re right, it was pretty high then.”
” There are other signs that indicate you may have a liver problem too. Basically you need rest, and a complete change of diet, and I would also suggest you cut back on the drinking.”
” Or what, Doc?”
” You will die.”
” Stop beating about the bush, and give it to me straight.”
Both men laugh, and the doctor unwinds the band.
” I would also suggest you are suffering from some form of…”
” Don’t tell me, post-traumatic stress disorder?”
” Yes. How did you know that?”
” It seems to be something of a theme at the moment. Colonel Lanham calls it battle fatigue, which used to be called shell shock. Colonel Park was telling me in court that Red Pelkey is suffering from acute anxiety disorder – which is probably his way of suggesting I’m suffering from it too.”
” And you said something to the effect that every GI in the American Army was probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder too, and who could blame them with jerks like him running the outfit.”
” Something like that. You were there, obviously? “
” I was ordered there, just in case something happened.”
” Who ordered you?”
” My OC.”
” Who ordered him?”
” One guess. But this is a serious complaint, Mr Hemingway. I cannot advise strongly enough that you seek professional help as soon as possible.”
” Or what?”
” You will, in a very few years from now, sink into some form of debilitating dementia.”
” You mean I’ll turn into a dribbling old man who doesn’t know his ass from his elbow. Something like that?”
” Yes, something like that.”
” And then what?”
” And a degrading death?”
” How did I know you were gonna say that?”
5. INT. A BEDROOM IN THE HOTEL THAT IS BEING USED AS COLONEL PARK’S HQ
IN NANCY. DAY.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY is being examined by a US Army DOCTOR. The door opens
and COLONEL PARK enters.
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