A Lesson in Manners
By Yankee01754
Cayce McKenna stood tall and proud as the strains of the Star Spangled Banner floated on the air. In front of her stood the soldiers of Fort Irwin. Sunlight gleamed off their brass buttons and buckles as well as the barrels of the rifles they carried.
Beside her stood her uncle, Brian McKenna. Brian was a full colonel now. Formerly a combat soldier, he had given that up to raise his brother's only child when her parents were killed in a boating accident. Now he was assigned to the Military Police. He had bachelor officer's quarters on post, but he spent time at the family ranch – The Lazy M – with his niece whenever possible.
This bright and sunny morning found Cayce at Irwin because she had promised to visit the elementary school and sing for the children. She had her guitar with her but there was a piano in the music room. The school was fairly large so there were separate rooms for music and art classes as well as a gymnasium.
The formation ended and the two McKennas started to walk away from the parade ground. Brian put his right arm around his niece's shoulders as they walked together toward the parking lot where Cayce had left her Jeep. Colonel McKenna's office was on the opposite side of the post from the school where Cayce would be for the rest of the morning. The sound of a helicopter overhead drew their attention. Both grinned as they recognized the flying style of Nick Ryder, a private detective who was a Captain in the reserves and one of the three men Cayce considered to be her older brothers.
"Nick never changes, does he Uncle Brian?" Cayce laughed. "I always know when he's at the controls of a chopper."
"No, he never does – not in the important things," her uncle agreed. "I may not always like his style but he's honest, loyal, brave and he looks out for my little girl."
"I'd say that he knows we were at the formation and wants to say 'hi'," Cayce giggled.
"More than likely," her uncle agreed.
By now they had reached the young woman's Jeep. She gave her uncle a hug promising to meet him for lunch, then climbed in and drove off to the school.
"It's such a nice day outside," Cayce said to the music teacher, a Mr. Charles Garabedian. "Let's take the kids out and sit under those trees."
A little hesitantly he agreed and the class of some thirty children lined up and filed out the door with Cayce at their head and Garabedian behind them.
Cayce found a shady spot far enough away from the windows of the school to keep from disturbing the other classes, but close enough that they weren't completely out of sight either.
With a big smile she asked the music teacher, "What shall we start with?"
"How about Tingalao?" he suggested.
"Tingalao it is," she agreed and started a silly little song she remembered from her childhood. A song about a donkey that walked, talked and ate with a knife and fork. It was always popular with the younger kids.
Thirty childish voices sang loud and clear with a young woman's contralto and a man's bass accompanying them.
After Tingalao, Cayce started them on an old, old folk song – Froggie Went a Courtin'.
Froggie went a-courtin, he did ride, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Froggie went a-courtin, he did ride, uh-huh, uh-huh
Froggie went a-courtin, he did ride,
A sword and buckler by his side, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh
He bridled and saddled a big fat snail, uh-huh, uh-huh
He bridled and saddled a big fat snail, uh-huh, uh-huh.
He bridled and saddled a big fat snail,
And rode it 'tween the horns and tail, uh-huh, uh-huh. uh-huh
The silly song went on for quite a few verses and the children loved it tremendously. After that they sang Home on the Range, The Strawberry Roan, Madame Shady – a song Cayce had learned at camp when she was eight, This Land is Your Land got the kids really wound up so she ended her stint with Puff, The Magic Dragon hoping it would calm them down. It made the children cry for more.
Making herself comfortable on the ground, Cayce told them, "One more. Your class is almost over."
"Clementine!"
"Yankee Doodle!"
"Polly Wolly Doodle!"
"Camptown Races!"
The suggestions came from everywhere. There were so many requests that Cayce finally made the decision.
"'Greensleeves'?" she asked.
"Yeah!"
"Ok."
The last fifteen minutes of the class were spent singing that song and Cayce taking requests for her next visit. She made a point of trying to visit the school once a month or so. She also visited the schools in Sunny Acres when she had time.
"Okay, guys and gals, class is over. Back to the music room for Mr. Garabedian's handouts and then off to your regular class again."
Cayce put her guitar in its case and locked it. Standing up, she picked up the guitar and helped get the children in line to go back into the building. Nobody was going to wander off on her watch.
When the children had left, with their teachers, to return to their regular classrooms, Garabedian handed Cayce a stack of music books.
"Thank you for the loan of these, Miss McKenna. I found several songs in each of them that I plan on using in future classes."
"You're welcome, she replied as she juggled the books, trying to secure them on her left hip long enough to get to her Jeep.
When they started to slip, Garabedian reached out and steadied them before opening the door to his classroom for her.
"See you next month?" he asked.
"Of course. I'll check with Uncle Brian to see what day is convenient for me to visit him here – he always takes me shopping at the PX and to lunch – and let you know when it will be."
Departing the school building was a bit of a challenge but she managed by putting her guitar down and using her right hand to open the door. Bending down to retrieve the guitar caused the books to slip again but she managed to hang onto them.
Carefully, she made her way down the steps and onto the sidewalk. Her Jeep was parked in the parking lot on the other side of the street. She was half way across when she felt her burden start to slip again. This time she was unable to catch it and the books went flying every which way.
Cars came to a screeching halt as they tried to avoid both the young woman and her music - both sheet and books - that were scattered all over the place. A few people honked their horns and cursed as she struggled to catch up with the loose sheets of paper that were being blown every which way by the breeze that was blowing.
Exasperated, Cayce put her guitar down on the sidewalk nearest the parking lot she had been heading for and started chasing her sheet music down. One woman, a sergeant, snared a couple of pieces of sheet music for Cayce and stuck them under her guitar case so they'd stay put. Apologizing that she had a meeting she had to get to, the sergeant moved along.
It was while she was picking up the books that she ran into trouble. A young man wearing the uniform of a corporal picked one of them up and refused to let go. He had spotted her from half a block away and decided that he was going to get acquainted. He'd seen her around a few times but had no idea that he was walking into trouble.
"Would you mind handing me that book?" she asked slightly annoyed. "I'm trying to get everything together so I can put it in the car."
"I don't think so," the corporal said. "Not unless you say you'll have a drink with me."
"Two problems with that," Cayce told him. "First of all I don't know you and secondly I don't drink alcohol."
"One little drink at the NCO Club wouldn't hurt you. I'm buying."
"Not interested," the young woman reiterated. "Now hand me my book and get lost."
The corporal, a self perceived ladies man, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, by the name of Tony Lombardo, persisted.
"Just one drink. One drink isn't going to hurt you."
"I think you should get lost before you get into trouble. I said 'no', I'm not interested!" Cayce was getting more than a little annoyed.
"Aw, come on sweetheart." Lombardo kept backing away with the music book just out of Cayce's reach.
Finally she got angry and got her hands on the book pulling it away from the annoying corporal. She was dismayed when the cover ripped. She'd searched for that particular music book for a long time, paid a fair amount of money for it and now it was ruined because some egotist had tried to convince her to go on a date with him.
"You'll pay for this book, Corporal," she said, 'or I'll be reporting you to the MPs for harassment."
"No way! You ripped that book yourself!"
"It wouldn't have gotten ripped if you'd given it to me when I asked you to," Cayce retorted.
Steaming mad, Cayce snatched up her sheet music, and the books, and walked over to her Jeep which was parked close by. Unlocking it she dumped the loose pages and all the books - including the damaged one - on the passenger seat. Then she went to retrieve her guitar.
When she returned to the sidewalk she found that Corporal Lombardo had taken her guitar out of its case and was now plunking on its strings.
"Put my guitar back in its case and get lost!" she told him.
"Now, sweetheart, I was just getting warmed up," he replied.
"Put. It. Back." Cayce said through clenched teeth. She'd have reached for it but she didn't want it damaged like her book had been.
"I don't think so. Not until you agree to have a drink with me."
"I told you I'm not interested." Infuriated, Cayce looked around for an MP to summon. It wasn't that she couldn't take care of herself but she didn't want to cause problems for her uncle - or embarrass the post police.
Not seeing anyone she finally took matters into her own hands. Approaching him with the light of battle in her eyes, she reached out and slapped his face - hard. Years of riding and wrestling with cattle had made her strong. She used that strength, now, to protect her property.
"Hey!" an outraged Lombardo yelled. "What was that for?"
"I told you to let go of my guitar. You ignored me. I don't like being ignored."
"Why you little..." Lombardo reached out and grabbed Cayce by the arm, his hand raised, intending to slap her around.
"Is there a problem here?" a male voice, one that was very familiar to Cayce, asked.
"No," Lombardo said. "Buzz off."
"Cayce? Is everything ok?"
The newcomer was former Lieutenant, now Reserve Captain, Nick Ryder. One of the three partners in the Riptide Detective Agency, Ryder had served under Cayce's uncle and was now her honorary older brother. A very protective honorary older brother. He didn't like what he saw.
"Everything will be just fine as soon as this idiot lets go of my arm," she told him, "and I get my guitar back undamaged - unlike the music book he just ripped on me."
"Is that right Corporal? Did you rip the lady's music book?" The Italian's blue eyes were like ice. He didn't like this guy's attitude and he knew that Cayce wasn't a complainer. The corporal must have really been giving her a hard time.
"She ripped it herself," Lombardo lied.
"That book cost me a fair amount of money," the young woman said. "I searched for that particular book for over a year before I found it too. If it weren't for this bozo it would still be in perfect condition!"
"Seems to me like you owe the lady an apology and whatever she paid for that book," Ryder told the young non commissioned officer.
"Why don't you get lost, mister?" Lombardo snarled.
"I'll leave if the lady wants me to - which I doubt."
"What I'd like," Cayce hissed, "is for this imbecile to let go of my arm, pay me for my damaged book and get lost!"
"You heard the lady," Nick said. "Why don't you be a good little boy and let go like she said?"
Lombardo let go of Cayce's arm and swung on Nick. As he did he found that the Italian was ready for him. Ryder easily blocked the blow aimed at his head and countered with one to the other man's midsection.
Nick was dressed in civvies - his usual jeans and a purple shirt and sneakers. He'd gone off duty thirty minutes ago and, having talked to Colonel McKenna, knew where to look for Cayce. His feet were shod in sneakers.
"You need a lesson in manners, kid," he told Cayce's unwanted suitor. "Where I come from we don't treat ladies like that."
This angered Lombardo even more and the fight was on. There were a lot of punches thrown. Cayce stood back out of the way. She was feisty but she wasn't stupid. She knew she could get hurt if she got in the middle of this. Nick's temper was up and that was a very bad thing for the foolish and arrogant young corporal.
Lombardo hit Nick on the left eye. That eye would swell up pretty good later on. Nick gave as good as he got. He threw a right that caught the arrogant young corporal on the right cheek splitting the skin. The younger man retaliated with a left that bounced off Nick's ribcage. Nick landed a few more punches as did Cayce's would be assailant. As a result, by the time the MPs came along and broke up the fight, both combatants were bruised, bloody, sweaty, disheveled and wheezing. Nick had a cut lip, and his right eye was beginning to swell shut, while Lombardo had a lump on his left temple where the detective's fist had made contact.
"What's going on here?" the larger of the two MPs demanded to know.
"The corporal, here, was accosting Miss McKenna," Nick told them. "I came along as he was manhandling her."
"Is that true Miss McKenna?"
"Yes. I dropped some of the music I was carrying and he picked it up. When I reached for one of the books - a rather expensive one I searched for for a very long time - he pulled it away from me and it was torn." Cayce was definitely angry but she was in control of herself.
Lombardo stood panting and glaring at Nick while struggling to free himself. It did him no good - the MPs had slapped a pair of handcuffs on him and were holding him tight.
Nick stood there, getting his breathing under control while Cayce explained to the MPs what had happened.
"Are you all right, Miss McKenna?" the MP sergeant asked. Cayce was known to virtually all of the MPs at Fort Irwin because of her regular visits to her uncle when he was unable to get to the ranch.
"I'm fine, Sergeant Hakala," she told him with a smile. "I think the corporal is going to need a little first aid though - before you lock him up. Nick did a good job on him."
"The captain usually does," Hakala grinned. "Corporal Lombardo isn't his first 'victim'."
Cayce grinned at that. She could well imagine Nick having it out with some other idiot - or an insubordinate soldier.
"What's the big deal, here," Lombardo wanted to know. "All I did was ask her out for a drink!"
"Is that true, Miss McKenna?" Sergeant Hakala asked.
"That's only part of the story," the young woman told him.
"We'll take him to the office. We'll need to hear both sides of the story before we throw him in the stockade."
Half an hour later, the group met at MP headquarters. Cayce and Nick were the last to arrive as she had stopped at a drugstore, on post, to get a cold pack for Nick's eye. The Italian would have quite the shiner before the day was over.
The MP Officer of the Day was waiting for them. Lombardo's hands were still cuffed behind him as he had been making threats toward the arresting MPs the whole time and fighting to get away from them. He scowled as Cayce and Nick walked into the office.
"What are you arresting me for? He started it!" Lombardo yelled.
"Sit down and be quiet," Sergeant Hakala told him.
Captain Gray, the officer in charge, indicated where Cayce and Nick should sit, then started the questioning.
"Miss McKenna, would you please tell me what happened that my men had to break up a fight between Captain Ryder and Corporal Lombardo."
"I spent the morning at the Roosevelt School. I volunteer in the Music Department once a month or so. you know? Mr. Garabedian had borrowed some music from me - including a rather expensive, and rare, book of folk music. I should have made two trips but I didn't want to disturb the next class so I took everything at once." The young woman grimaced. "It really was too much of a load but I thought I'd be able to make it to my Jeep since it was in the parking lot across the street."
"About half way across lost my grip on the music and it fell. A few people stopped for a minute to help me. Then the corporal came along. He asked me out for a drink - practically ordered me to go out with him."
"What was your response?"
"I told him no. No because I don't drink and no because I don't know him,"
"What did he say to that?"
"He said one little drink wouldn't hurt and I refused him again."
"Then what happened?"
"The corporal had hold of my music book and wouldn't let go. When I pulled he pulled and the book got ripped. I told him he owed me for the book. He said "no". I gathered the rest of my music and put it in the Jeep. When I went back to get my guitar the corporal had taken it out of its case and was fooling around with it."
"That's when she assaulted me!" Lombardo exclaimed.
"Yeah, I slapped your face!. Big deal! You wouldn't take no for an answer and my rare music book - one that I searched for for years - got ruined." Cayce was still quite angry over the destruction of her book. "I wasn't about to trust you with my guitar! Then you grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go until Nick came along."
"I think we've heard enough," the captain said. "Corporal Lombardo, I see by your record that this is not the first complaint we've had against you. It seems like you - at the very least - make a pest of yourself where the ladies are concerned. There are quite a few reports of your offensive behavior and a few complaints as well. I'm afraid you're going to be held over for a court martial and you're facing a dishonorable discharge."
"Court martial? Just because I asked some stupid bimbo for a date?"
Nick half rose out of his chair, ready to beat the tar out of Lombardo for a second time. Nobody called his "sister" a bimbo and got away with it! One of the other MPs saw it and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Cayce reached for his hand and squeezed it to let him know that the corporal's insult didn't bother her.
"That will be enough corporal. Your behavior is unbecoming at any time but you really picked the wrong woman this time. Miss McKenna is not only known in the Music Department at the Roosevelt School as a beloved volunteer, she's also a respected business woman and she's the niece of the commander of the MPs on this base. He raised her from childhood. Colonel McKenna is not going to be pleased when he hears what happened."
Cayce winced at the thought. She didn't like to bring up the fact that her beloved uncle was the head of the MPs at Fort Irwin but it looked like there was no escaping it.
However, there was one little thing they had forgotten to bring up.
"Uh, Captain? There's one more charge you can add."
"And that would be?"
"Assaulting a superior officer. Mr. Ryder, here, is a captain the reserves. He came to my aid and had to defend himself at the same time that he was defending me."
"So noted."
"And Miss McKenna, here, is like a sister to me and to my partners of the Riptide Detective Agency," Nick added. "You mess with her - or them - you have trouble with the rest of us."
Nick put his arm around Cayce's shoulders as they left the office. Colonel McKenna was nowhere in sight so they headed to his quarters to see what, if anything, could be done to salvage Cayce's book.
"I'm afraid it's a total loss," Cayce sighed as she and her "brother" tried to tape the torn book together again.
"Looks like it," the Italian agreed. "Too bad it had to be ruined by a jerk like Lombardo." He looked at her disappointed face and said, "Why don't we give Boz a call? Maybe he can track down another copy using his computer. We'll even pay for the replacement."
"You don't have to do that," Cayce protested.
"I want to do it, and Murray and Cody will agree with me that we should do it. It's not your fault the book got ruined. We all want to help you."
Nick went to use the phone in the living room while Cayce started dinner preparations. She also got an ice pack to replace the cold pack that was no longer cold. Nick's eye was only half swollen now and she wanted to make sure she got the swelling down as much as possible. It they didn't get it down Nick would be grounded and she didn't want to have to deal with a grumpy pilot that was forbidden to fly for a while.
Nick was on the phone, with Murray, when Cayce handed him the ice bag. He took it with a smile of gratitude and placed it against his bruised and swollen face.
"Yeah, hi Murray. It's Nick."
Cayce could hear the skinny computer whiz from where she stood in the kitchen. She smiled softly. Murray was such a happy go lucky type of person for the most part.
"Everything's fine," the Italian told his friend.
Cayce snorted when she heard that one. "Yeah, everything's fine. If he could see your face he'd have a heart attack - and Cody too!"
Nick shushed her. "Huh? Oh nothing. Just Cayce being a smart aleck is all."
Again Cayce could hear the youngest partner in the Riptide Detective Agency as he conversed with his friend.
"Boz and Cody say 'hi'," he told the young woman.
"Hi guys!" she responded.
"What was that?" Nick asked. "Oh, ok, I'll ask her." Turning to Cayce he said, "Murray wants to know when you're coming down to King Harbor to visit us again."
"I'll check my calendar when I get home," she said. "I might have some free time coming up."
"Listen Boz, I have a mission for you guys. Cayce's had a music book destroyed by a jerk here, on the post. I want us to replace it for her." There was a slight pause.
"She's fine. Mad, but fine."
"Yeah, the title of the book is The Book of Olde -that's o-l-d-e - English Folks Songs. It's by a Walter Kavanaugh. The copyright date is 1935. See if you guys can scare up a decent copy somewhere."
There was a momentary silence as Murray double checked the title of the book and the spelling of the author's name.
"Yeah, I'll tell her. I'll be home in a few days. Talk to you later."
Nick hung up the phone and went out into the kitchen to check on dinner. He was getting hungry and hoped that Colonel McKenna wouldn't be late. Dinner was to be fried chicken with biscuits, mashed potatoes, corn and cherry pie for dessert.
He didn't have long to wait. Brian McKenna came rushing in the door around quarter of five that afternoon. He wore a worried look on his handsome face as he hurriedly put down his brief case and hat.
"Cayce? Cayce, where are you?"
"In the kitchen Uncle Brian," his niece called back.
Brian hurried into the back of the apartment to find his niece, and her rescuer, where she told him she was. Cayce was busy turning the browning chicken while Nick was setting the table.
The colonel put his arms around his niece and hugged her tight. She returned the hug, gladly, sensing that he'd heard what had happened and wanted to be sure she was all right. His first words confirmed her theory.
"Are you all right? I heard what happened when I got out of my meeting with the post commander about the open house next month."
"I'm fine, Uncle Brian," she reassured him with another hug. "Nick came along before that little creep could do more than grab hold of my arm - not that I couldn't have taken him myself if I'd had to."
Only after his niece spoke did McKenna realize that Nick was even in the room.
He held out his hand to his junior officer.
"Thank you, Captain Ryder, for looking out for my girl."
Nick smiled. "Not a problem, Colonel. I'd do it for any woman but Cayce's special - even if she is a pain in the neck and gets into trouble if we're not around to look out for her."
"One more crack like that, Nicholas Joseph," his "sister" said, "and you will find yourself uninvited to dinner and can go to the Officer's Club for dinner. I hear they have a pretty good cook these days - he hasn't poisoned anybody in a couple of weeks now."
With that she wrinkled her nose at him and turned her attention to finishing dinner.
"When are you going to learn," Brian asked Nick, "not to match wits with my niece? She gets you every time."
Nick laughed. "Never. It's too much fun getting a rise out of her."
"Go clean up, the two of you," Cayce ordered. "Dinner will be ready, and on the table, by the time you get back."
The two men hastened to comply. They didn't want to keep the cook waiting - there was no telling what she'd say, or do, if they were late to the table.
"Looks good sweetie," the colonel told his niece.
McKenna said a short blessing and then they dug in. Silence reigned supreme for a few minutes as the men ate and Cayce made sure there was plenty of everything on the table for them as well as seeing that their coffee mugs were full.
It was after dinner, while they sat in the living room of the apartment with their pie, that the subject of the day's events came up.
"So what do you think will happen to Corporal Lombardo, Colonel?" Nick asked.
"I'm afraid the corporal is definitely facing a court martial this time. He's been warned by friends and his immediate supervisor. He's been told by the MPs that he better watch his step. He's disregarded all warnings." McKenna sighed. "If he'd keep out of trouble, mind his manners, he would make a good soldier. No commander, in their right mind, would send this guy into combat or let him work outside of an office - and at that he'd have to be under strict supervision so as to ensure he didn't harass the women in the office."
"A real loser, eh Colonel?"
"I'm afraid so. A disgrace to humankind let alone the uniform."
"Enough talk about him," Cayce said. "I want to hear what the Riptide Detective Agency has been up to."
"I'd like to know that myself," Brian McKenna said. "Enlighten us, Captain. I think we've heard enough about Lombardo's lesson in manners."
For the next several hours, before Nick said good-night and headed back to his temporary quarters, he brought the McKennas up to date on their latest cases and Murray's latest inventions. Lombardo may not have learned his lesson before now but he wouldn't soon forget the lesson in manners that Captain Nicholas Ryder gave him that day.