Johnny Got His Gun Page #2

the sutures.

Let's disinfect.

I wish they'd get

this stuff off my face

so I could see

what they're doing.

Sorry, sir.

Another.

Ouch!

They're pinching me.

No, it's more like a--

a little stab of heat.

Wait a minute.

I know.

It's just like when

I ran into

the barbed-wire fence

and cut my eyebrow.

They sew you up,

and then it heals,

and then they take

the stitches out.

Only-- Well, only

this is different.

I can feel what they're

doing to my arm,

but I can't feel the end

of my arm at all.

The nearest thing

to the end of my arm

is the heel of my hand.

The heel of my hand,

the end of my arm.

It's too high.

It's high

as my shoulder.

You've cut off my arm!

The tissues have closed.

My arm! Oh, my God.

Remove the wrist.

Why did you do

a thing like that?

I need that arm.

Oh, I've gotta

work with it. I--

You can't go around

cutting a man's arm off,

like you were pruning

dead branches off a tree!

Well, there's

a law or something!

You've gotta get

his consent

before you do

a thing like that.

He's gotta sign a paper

because a man

with only one arm

is a cripple, and--

and all he can do

is go around

selling pencils!

Oh, no!

Not my other arm, too!

No, no! Please, no.

You've already taken

one of my arms--

I want him moved to

the least conspicuous room

you can find,

for his own good.

A room with a lock

and something over the windows

so they can't peer

in at him.

There isn't a decent

unoccupied room in the building.

Utility room?

Supply room?

Store room? Anything.

He can't tell

the difference.

Put someone

in here who can.

There's a game out there,

and the stakes are high.

And the guy who runs it

figures the averages

all day long

and all night long.

Once in a while,

he lets you steal a pot.

But if you stay

in the game long enough,

you've got to lose.

And once you've lost,

there's no way back.

No way at all.

Hit me.

Pay 20.

Christ, I sure could

do with a shot of whiskey.

Help yourself.

Bets down.

How'd you learn that?

I used to do it

at weddings.

Hey, can you do

card tricks, too?

Sure.

Cards to the gamblers.

Hit me.

I'm just fine.

Boy, I'm just fine.

Hit me.

Stan?

Hit me,

but not too hard.

Now, watch him get 21.

Pay 21.

It's a funny thing,

I can do

almost everything

but hit a 12.

any harder to hit

then a 13, should it?

Shouldn't be, but it is.

That's nothing

but superstition.

A 12 to hit

is just the same

as any other

number above it,

only better.

Don't let anybody

tell you different.

Assembly. What time

is it anyhow?

Three Christmases

and 41 days.

Time to go.

If I don't make

that train, I miss--

I miss a date to be killed

on the 27th of June

at 4:
30 a.m.

in the morning.

Not too good

for my kid, huh?

He's only a year,

eight months,

and smart as hell

already.

Sure wish I could see

him when he was 5.

You'll see him

when he's 50.

And you'll still be 23.

What the hell?

We're all gonna be killed.

That's what we're here for.

He's already got his.

And the big Swede here,

he's gonna catch flu

and die on shipboard.

I'm gonna get buried

in a trench cave-in

and smothered to death.

Now, isn't that

a hell of way to go?

Jeez.

All aboard!

Next stop, New York,

Atlantic Ocean,

and Paris, France!

What's this guy doing here?

He ain't gonna get killed.

Leave him alone.

He's all right.

Come on, boys.

On your feet.

We've got to make

that train.

Are you going with us?

Of course. I've got

lots of trains to handle.

Lots of dead men.

So many dead men,

you wouldn't believe it.

Not my legs! Not my legs, too!

Oh, God, no.

Not my legs, too.

Help me, somebody.

Help me.

Don't let them

cut my legs off.

Don't let them take my legs, too.

Jesus.

They just went ahead

and chopped off everything.

Of course,

it's a lot cheaper

to cut a leg off

than fix it up.

With a war going on,

they haven't got much time.

Everybody is tired.

But, what kind of doctor

would cut a man down

to what I am now

and still let him live?

Do they have a bet on?

Were they showing off

or something?

Was it some kind

of experiment?

No.

Nobody would do

a thing like that

to another man.

Nobody could be

such a butcher.

My dear students,

war has various meanings

to various persons.

To the scientist,

war means that he

is actually set free

to accomplish

his most brilliant

and most imaginative

enterprises.

For example,

in previous wars,

each injury has resulted

in a very serious loss

to the taxpayers,

the loss of a most

expensively trained soldier--

or fighting unit,

as we call him now.

However, in the next war,

we shall be able to repair

and deliver that

same fighting unit

to the frontline trenches

in three weeks

or even less.

And all because

of the radical

new techniques

which this young man

has taught us.

I'm having a nightmare

that says I'm real.

Wake me up, Mother,

and tell me I'm not real.

I don't know where you are, my son,

or what troubles you.

Try to remember that God

is the only reality,

and that you are made

in his image and likeness.

And since you are

the perfect reflection

of God's reality,

you are real.

You're wrong, Mother.

It's a dream.

It's got to be.

Everything else

is true, but not this.

No, I remember

the real things, Mother.

Even before we left Colorado

and moved to Los Angeles.

I remember everything.

Ouch.

You hurt yourself,

son?

Uh-uh.

Let's see.

Oh, honestly.

Someday those feet

are gonna get so dirty,

they'll

never wash clean.

From now on, I'm gonna

take my baths at the YMCA,

the way Daddy does.

For behold, I bring

you tidings of great joy

that shall be

to all people.

For unto you is

born this day

in the city of David,

a savior,

which is Christ the Lord.

And suddenly there was

with the angel--

See those rocks

over there?

A long time ago,

they caught

a hunting party

of Ute Indians there.

Know what they did?

Rounded 'em up,

tied rocks around their feet,

and threw 'em in the lake.

About where we are now.

The, uh, fishing on this

side of the lake's been good ever since.

Science and Health

with Key to the Scriptures,

by Mary Baker Eddy.

"All is infinite mind

"and its infinite

manifestation.

"Matter is mortal error.

"Spirit is the real

and eternal.

"Matter is the unreal

and temporal.

"Spirit is God,

"and man is his image

and likeness.

"Therefore,

man is not material.

He is spiritual."

Those were the real things, Mother.

What I am now is in a dream.

There is no more reality

to the waking dream

of mortal existence

than there is to

the dream we have in sleep.

Reality is God.

And the essence

of God is love--

that perfect love

which banishes all fear

and heals all wounds.

Stop it. I don't

want to hear anymore

about God is love.

Prepare an injection.

Because If I do,

I'll begin to hate him.

When did you

aspirate him last? 4:30.

Gavage feeding?

No, no.

Don't put me under again.

I've gotta figure

some way out of this mess.

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