Goodbye Old Friend
Radar had just said good-bye to his animals, and was walking back into the main compound. He was usually inside when there was an OR session, hauling litters or manning the radio to either get supplies or help from the other MASH units. With what he knew what was going on inside the OR, the quiet outside seemed almost…obscene.
He paused by the door to The Swamp, hesitant to go inside. I just want one last look, he thought, no harm done. He stepped inside, looking about. Boy, if I let my room go like this back home, he marveled, mom wouldn't let me see daylight for weeks. He watched the still, the swirling mass bubbling in the huge flask as the sterno can heated it. The brew it made taste tasted like kerosene, and it made him walk funny only after one glass. He had only tasted it a few times, and it only made him grateful that grape Nehi was available over here. He turned to leave, and paused.
He reached into his bag, and pulled out his teddy bear. He looked over the now raggedy thing, and carefully laid it on Hawkeye's bed. "It's not that I don't need you anymore, I just think you're needed over here more than I do." He left without a look back.
To anyone who would look into the tent onto the teddy bear, one would see the late afternoon sun glinting off the lone glass eye.
It almost looked like…a tear.
