“Catch-22” By Joseph - Khamkoo

“Catch-22” By Joseph Heller 185
unconsciously, slide his proprietary, respectful hand up the shell-like ridge of her spine
beneath the elastic strap of the top of the two-piece bathing suit she always wore to
contain and cover her tiny, long-nippled breasts. He loved Nurse Duckett’s serene,
flattered response, the sense of attachment to him she displayed proudly. Hungry Joe
had a craving to feel Nurse Duckett up, too, and was restrained more than once by
Yossarian’s forbidding glower. Nurse Duckett flirted with Hungry Joe just to keep him in
heat, and her round light-brown eyes glimmered with mischief every time Yossarian
rapped her sharply with his elbow or fist to make her stop.
The men played cards on a towel, undershirt, or blanket, and Nurse Duckett mixed the
extra deck of cards, sitting with her back resting against a sand dune. When she was
not shuffling the extra deck of cards, she sat squinting into a tiny pocket mirror, brushing
mascara on her curling reddish eyelashes in a birdbrained effort to make them longer
permanently. Occasionally she was able to stack the cards or spoil the deck in a way
they did not discover until they were well into the game, and she laughed and glowed
with blissful gratification when they all hurled their cards down disgustedly and began
punching her sharply on the arms or legs as they called her filthy names and warned her
to stop fooling around. She would prattle nonsensically when they were striving hardest
to think, and a pink flush of elation crept into her cheeks when they gave her more sharp
raps on the arms and legs with their fists and told her to shut up. Nurse Duckett reveled
in such attention and ducked her short chestnut bangs with joy when Yossarian and the
others focused upon her. It gave her a peculiar feeling of warm and expectant well-being
to know that so many naked boys and men were idling close by on the other side of the
sand dunes. She had only to stretch her neck or rise on some pretext to see twenty or
forty undressed males lounging or playing ball in the sunlight. Her own body was such a
familiar and unremarkable thing to her that she was puzzled by the convulsive ecstasy
men could take from it, by the intense and amusing need they had merely to touch it, to
reach out urgently and press it, squeeze it, pinch it, rub it. She did not understand
Yossarian’s lust; but she was willing to take his word for it.
Evenings when Yossarian felt horny he brought Nurse Duckett to the beach with two
blankets and enjoyed making love to her with most of their clothes on more than he
sometimes enjoyed making love to all the vigorous bare amoral girls in Rome.
Frequently they went to the beach at night and did not make love, but just lay shivering
between the blankets against each other to ward off the brisk, damp chill. The ink-black
nights were turning cold, the stars frosty and fewer. The raft swayed in the ghostly trail
of moonlight and seemed to be sailing away. A marked hint of cold weather penetrated
the air. Other men were just starting to build stoves and came to Yossarian’s tent during
the day to marvel at Orr’s workmanship. It thrilled Nurse Duckett rapturously that
Yossarian could not keep his hands off her when they were together, although she
would not let him slip them inside her bathing shorts during the day when anyone was
near enough to see, not even when the only witness was Nurse Cramer, who sat on the
other side of her sand dune with her reproving nose in the air and pretended not to see
anything.
Nurse Cramer had stopped speaking to Nurse Duckett, her best friend, because of her
liaison with Yossarian, but still went everywhere with Nurse Duckett since Nurse Duckett
was her best friend. She did not approve of Yossarian or his friends. When they stood
up and went swimming with Nurse Duckett, Nurse Cramer stood up and went
swimming, too, maintaining the same ten-yard distance between them, and maintaining
her silence, snubbing them even in the water. When they laughed and splashed, she
laughed and splashed; when they dived, she dived; when they swam to the sand bar
and rested, Nurse Cramer swam to the sand bar and rested. When they came out, she
came out, dried her shoulders with her own towel and seated herself aloofly in her own
spot, her back rigid and a ring of reflected sunlight burnishing her light-blond hair like a
halo. Nurse Cramer was prepared to begin talking to Nurse Duckett again if she
repented and apologized. Nurse Duckett preferred things the way they were. For a long
time she had wanted to give Nurse Cramer a rap to make her shut up.