Disclaimer: I do not own the Rat Patrol or profit from writing.
Moffitt yawned and reached for his pack. He needed some tea. He rummaged around looking for his tea. Something blue caught his eye. He pulled it out. It was a beautiful intricately folded butterfly. He smiled and held it up to the light. Where did this come from? He stared at the butterfly. Maybe on of the guys was playing a joke on him. He shrugged and put it in a his drawer.
Hitch flopped into bed with a groan. It had been an exhausting day. He felt something poking him. He got up and looked at his pillow. There lay a small paper frog. Hitch was puzzled. How did this get there? Oh, well. He picked up the paper frog and inspected it closely. There was a small flap on the back. He made it hop along the length of his pillow. He played with it for quite some time before falling asleep.
The next day, Tully knocked on Troy's door. Troy opened it.
"Hi, Tully. Need something?"
"Yes, do you have any paper?"
"I think so, I'll go check." He came back with a few sheets. "Here, this is all I have. Plan on writing a really long letter?"
Tully shrugged, "Maybe. Thanks for the paper, Sarge."
The next day, when Troy reached for his hat, a folded giraffe fell out. He reached down to pick it up. It had been made with paper from off cans. He grinned. Whoever had done this was ingenious. What a clever way to use the wrappers. He carefully placed it on his table. He headed for the mess hall. Once there, he found it in an uproar. The men were holding origami of all sorts.
"Hey, look," one exclaimed, "I found an owl by the motor pool."
"That's nothing," scoffed another, "I found a crane by the latrines."
Troy searched for the other Rats. He spotted them and headed for their table.
"What's going on?" he asked, "You guys have an origami party?"
"You mean you didn't find one?" Tully asked worriedly.
"More like it found me. Where did all these paper animals come from?"
Moffitt shrugged, "I don't know. We've been finding them all over the place. It's kind of fun."
"Yeah," Hitch grinned like a six-year-old, "It's like an Easter egg hunt."
Troy shook his head, "Well I'm sorry to have to break up the hunt, but we have work to do."
Over the next few weeks, they continued to find all sorts of folded creatures: frogs, birds, fish, even a hippopotamus. Then people started finding plants. Roses, daisies, leaves were all starting to pop up. They were all made of the wrappers from off the cans. Soon everybody started collecting and trading them. The most sought after animal was the dragon. The crab was a close second. You could trade about five other animals for a crab or a dragon. It was a welcome diversion from the gruesomeness of war.
Everyone was trying to figure out who was making and leaving the origami for them to find. There was even a pool going and they were betting on who it was. Several weeks passed before they even got a hint. There were rumors it was one of the men in the hospital. Someone had claimed to have seen him with several dragons and crabs. When confronted, the man staunchly denied it. So the betting pool started up again.
One day, Hitch burst into the room he and Tully shared.
"Guess what?" he said excitedly, "I found a new animal." He held up a fox.
Tully nodded, "I know."
Hitch narrowed his eyes. "How did you know?"
Tully hastily explained, "I saw from the window."
Hitch continued to look skeptical but seemed to accept the explanation. He had his suspicions but refrained from saying anything.
Over the next couple of days, a few more animals showed up. Mostly foxes and a rabbit here and there. Then abruptly the origami stopped. The men were puzzled until someone pointed out that there was no more paper to be found. The next week, it started back up again. By now, it was a sort of game. Each soldier tried to be the first one to discover a new animal or plant. When one was found, there was great excitement for that meant more new ones would start appearing. The crab was no longer the one of the most sought after. Instead, you wanted to find a peacock. The dragon was still the rarest, though. Only a few of the men had one. Most of the dragons had been found by the latrines, so each morning there was a long line for the bathroom.
A few weeks after Hitch and Tully's conversation, Moffitt found an origami peacock. Moffitt was greatly pleased not just because he was only the third man to have found one, but also because he had figured out who the origami folder was. The next day, he went to Tully's room.
"So, Tully, how are you enjoying the origami?"
Tully looked up from his book. "I like it, Sarge."
"Which one is your favorite?"
"Probably the frog."
"The frog? Why do you like that one?"
"Well, you see, you can make it hop and it's really easy to fold. Not like the dragon. That's really hard. It takes a really long time." He stopped when he realized he had given himself away.
Moffitt smiled. "So it was you."
"Guilty as charged."
"Why did you try to hide it, Tully?"
Tully grinned, "I wanted to see what the others thought of it. It has been rather depressing around here lately, that I thought we could all use some cheering up. The origami helped take my mind off things."
Moffitt nodded, "Yes, I understand. So are you going to tell the others now?"
Tully thought for a moment. "Maybe, do you think I should?"
"Yes. Everyone really wants to know."
"Okay, I'll tell them at dinner tonight."
After dinner, Tully stood up.
"I have something to say."
Everyone turned their attention to him.
"I am the one who made the origami. I wanted to liven the place up a bit. I hope you guys all liked it." He quickly sat back down.
"Liked it?" one of them called, "We loved it."
"Yeah," agreed another, "Three cheers for Tully Pettigrew. Hip, hip hurrah. Hip, hip hurrah. Hip, hip hurrah." The others joined in. Tully turned red but grinned.
Later that night, Hitch said, "I knew it was you, you know."
"Yeah, I figured you knew. I have something for you." Tully pulled out a paper egg and handed it to Hitch. Hitch opened the egg carefully. Inside was a paper baby chick.
"There's your Easter egg," Tully grinned impishly.
Hitch was touched. "Thank you, Tully."
"Make sure you don't ruin it. There won't be any duplicates."
Hitch nodded, "I won't lose it. I'll put it right here." He walked over to the table and placed it carefully by his other origami critters. "He's the best friend I've ever had," he thought.