In a New York minute....

Eden paused as she grabbed her purse; for the last week or so, she'd had the creepiest feeling every time she left the apartment. Like someone was following her, but she couldn't spot anyone suspicious. She shuddered. It was too much like that time outside of Saigon, before the mortars started falling and so many of the men in the 1019th had died. They'd been shadowed by the Cong for days beforehand, and she'd felt that same sick suspicion.

After only another moment of hesitation, she took the small Beretta out of the top drawer of the cabinet in the hall and slipped it into her huge, woven purse. Not for the first time, she silently thanked Alan and Fuzz for defying orders and teaching her how to handle a gun. They'd had the guts to question why the U.S. Army would send a woman to the jungle, but leave her defenseless. The Cong didn't care if you were a woman, or if you were medical personnel; if you were white, you were an enemy.

The war was three years ended now, but she sometimes felt like she'd carry it inside her forever. She had it better than most vets, though. She'd been spared a lot of the horror, and she'd been busy saving lives, not taking them. Eden thought of the last time she'd seen Fuzz, and his empty, haunted eyes. It was hard to believe that she'd only gotten the call a month ago. Suicide. Tears stung her eyes again, and she brushed them aside negligently.

She'd gotten used to crying over the deaths of her friends. It wasn't Fuzz killing himself that really got to her. She should have seen it coming. She'd known he was hurting--she'd felt his hurt, plain as day, but she hadn't realized how serious it was. Eden was so busy, working at the hospital and volunteering half of her free days at the soup kitchen, she hadn't even seen it coming.

Eden went out into the hallway and locked the door behind her, checking the doorknob to make sure it was secure. She walked down four flights of stairs to the street and nodded to Lenny, the security guy. Making a quick detour into the alley between her building and the next, she dug a plastic baggy full of cat food out of her over-sized purse. A quick look told her that the skinny, half-grown stray she'd been feeding wasn't there, so she just emptied the baggy into the little plastic bowl she'd hidden behind the dumpster.

Walking back out into the open, she caught a gust of chill October wind. It was only a few blocks to the grocery store, but she was glad she'd grabbed a jacket. Eden snuggled down into the warmth of the old military jacket, and the comfort of its large size on her spare frame. Today was a nostalgic one, she was realizing. Alan Torres had given her this jacket the day her plane had left Saigon. She fingered the patches on the sleeve--the insignia of the 1019th Combat Support Hospital, Torres' corporal's badge.

It was too bad that he'd been married; they'd had quite a thing going overseas. But that was how things went during wartime--you found comfort where you could in a godless land. Still, she'd left his name embroidered on the breast, a reminder of something she'd cherished while it lasted.

Eden waited at the edge of the street, tapping her foot as she waited for the light to change. The sunlight poured down, and the air was crisp and clean from the rainstorm that had blown through a few days previous. It was a beautiful day, and she was glad she had the day off at the hospital. It was the kind of day that made it hard to believe she'd been so paranoid lately. New York would do that to a person, even they hadn't been in a war.

Something caught her eye. Half the street signs on the intersection were upside down. Not again, Eden thought irritably. Some bunch of punks had been vandalizing the neighborhood for about a month now. Nothing serious, but it was a nuisance to the neighborhood. Maybe they should start up one of those "neighborhood watches". She'd talk to Maria Alvares; the woman lived across the hall from her and was the biggest gossip in a four-block radius. If anyone could get something like that mobilized, it was Maria.

Eden smiled as she crossed the street and let the tide of foot traffic carry her towards the store on the corner of the next block. She'd pick up some sangria fixings, invite Maria over for a drink and some gossip. And within a week, she knew she'd be seeing the first "Neighborhood Watch" signs being put up in shop windows and apartment lobbies.

She almost laughed as she swung into the corner store. She'd been so bogged down lately, with Fuzz, and being followed, and all the stress at the hospital. She'd forgotten what it was like to simply let go and have a good day. Maybe she'd even let Maria talk her into a date with one of her numerous marriageable male relatives.