Another Carter Distraction-

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In Carter's Point of View

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Colonel Hogan, myself and Newkirk had been out on a mission to blow up a bridge but it went terribly wrong. The Gestapo had been in the woods. We weren't caught, thank goodness, but Colonel Hogan had been bitten in the side by one of their dogs. It took both me and Newkirk to beat the dog off. It was a crazed thing. It scared me, I had never seen a dog so vicious before. When Newkirk finally put the dog down we found the colonel lying on the ground on his right side. He wasn't moving at first. It made me even more scared. Newkirk was the first to move he didn't waste any time. He rolled the colonel over onto his back and inspected the wound. The Colonel was awake but he was in really bad pain. I saw a gaping hole in his left side and thought I was going to pass out. Newkirk pulled my attention to him. He snapped me out back to reality and we were able to carry the colonel back to camp.

The wound wasn't too bad luckily, but it wasn't that good either. It had taken off the flesh but his organs weren't damaged. I walked into his quarters he was awake on the bottom bunk and Newkirk was half asleep in a chair next to him up against the wall. The colonel looked up at me and smiled. He looked okay, kind of pale, tired and sore, but okay.

"How are you doing, Sir?" I asked softly as I closed the door gently.

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I've been better." Then he opened one eye and saw me standing at the other end of the room still. He looked over to a stool nearby then back at me. I could take a hint. I grabbed the stool and put it next to him. Newkirk was still only half awake. He knew I was there, I could tell.

Colonel Hogan shifted in his bunk and made himself more comfortable.

"How's the pain?" I asked gently.

He looked at me his smile gone. "It's killing me." He shifted again then didn't move. His eyes closed again. "How about a distraction?"

I didn't really know what he meant. I think he saw the confused look on my face and he clarified.

"You told Newkirk a story a month or so back about you blowing up your high school, remember? He was injured and you told him the story to distract him from the pain." Hogan's smile made me happy.

"I had forgotten. But I'll certainly think of a story to tell you." I paused to think. The only subject I could think of was when I got a puppy. Although I hardly thought it appropriate.

Colonel must have been getting impatient because he asked, "Have you thought of a story yet?"

I answered, "Well, I have but it involves dogs."

Hogan smiled at my consideration. "That's fine." He spoke softly. He closed his eyes and listened. While I started telling the story he opened his eyes, perhaps to see the gestures and faces I was making to go along with the story.

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[Story Mode Begins]

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It was a December Friday afternoon. My kid brother was playing with his toys and my little sister was in her play pen. My older brother was out. I was sitting in the kitchen working on an essay for class. I was having some real trouble starting it. I had my name on the paper, I decided to write an easy introduction. "The…"

CRASH!

I looked up at the door. My mom must have been home from the store. Good I was getting really hungry. I heard the outside door slam shut.

THUMP, THUMP.

Mom must have been having trouble with the groceries while climbing the few stairs to the inside door. I put my pencil down and was about to stand when the door burst open and a black dog on a leash ran in tugging my mom along. She seemed out of breath. She had a bag of groceries in her other arm. I didn't know what to say. I knew whose dog it was. It was a girl's who lived down the road. Why did we have it? Did it get loose and Mom wanted to bring the groceries back home first before returning it?

She let the leash go and the dog happily trotted around the house exploring. Mom closed the door and put the bag of groceries down on the table. "Oof! Ah, much better."

My brother, sister and I both looked from her to the dog.

"Kari down the road came up to me at the grocer's, she had Blackie," That was the dog's name. "On a leash next to her. She had a big smile on her face and asked, 'Could you take care of Blackie? I can't keep him'." As Mom spoke she imitated Kari's gestures with a great amount of emotion.

My eyes bugged out, this was awesome!

Our other dog Dawson ran into the scene from the other room and saw the other pup. They were actually brothers; they came from the same litter. They weren't quite a year old yet which meant we had double trouble.

"You mean we get to keep him?" I asked excited.

My mom nodded and started putting the groceries away.

I got down and started petting him. Then I thought, "Does dad know?" Dad didn't like it when Mom brought home animals without Dad's knowing it. We had plenty of cats all over the place. Mom practically collected animals. Not that I can talk, she's where I get it from. Dad's concern was the fact that they ALWAYS took his side of the bed and not my Mom's, which meant he had to sleep on the couch. Of course sometimes the cats had the couch which meant he had to sleep on the floor or in front of the stove, which wasn't always comfortable.

Mom smiled. "No, but he wont mind."

I looked at my kid brother he knew what I was thinking. "How do you know he wont mind?"

"Well, Kari warned me ahead of time that she might now be able to keep him and I talked to your father about it and he said he didn't mind."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh okay,"

I stood and Dawson was at the trash pulling things out. He always did that. I straightened and went over to him. "No, Dawson!" I took the stuff from him and put it into the trash again then took him by the collar. I turned back and saw Blackie pulling a loaf of bread off the counter. "Ah! Blackie No!" I grabbed him by the collar.

I turned back to Mom in hopes that she would help, but she was gone. "Where'd Mom go?" I asked my kid brother

He was picking up his toys so that the dogs wouldn't get them. "She went to tell dad that we got the dog. She said she'd be back later." Then he turned and left me with the dogs in both hands.

I looked over to the table and the cat was climbing up onto it get my turkey sandwich my mom had quickly put together for me. "AH! Blair! No!" I let go of the dogs and grabbed the cat just in time. I had the very large cat in my hands and sighed with relief. I turned at a noise and saw the pups playing with each other. "Well at least they'll keep each other busy." Then they started running as fast as they could around the house while play fighting each other. They ran and body slammed each other. Dawson shoved Blackie into a small table that had a vase on it. "AH!" I dropped the cat who landed with a loud thump! I ran over to the table which steadied itself by the time I got there. "Phew!" I turned around. Blair was on the kitchen table again making his way to my sandwich. I ran over to the table and he jumped down.

Blackie ran up the stairs. Dawson couldn't climb stairs, he was afraid of heights. The last time he climbed those stairs was when he was six weeks old and got half way up them before falling all the way down again. Dawson stood at the bottom looking up waiting for the other to come down. I followed Blackie up and grabbed his collar. I began to pull him down the stairs. Once down there he and Dawson started running again.

I couldn't let them out or Blackie might run right down the street. He didn't know the territory. He would get lost and I would be to blame.

I blocked off the room to the upstairs and locked the two in the kitchen. Blackie ran and full speed around the table crashing into the lower cupboards making them bang loudly. Dawson followed suit banging the cupboards and causing the pots and pans to fall out.

CRASH, CRASH BANG BOOM CRASH!

I cringed at the sounds and crashing and banging. My little sitter in the play pen was watching from over the railing. "Uh-oh." She said in her small voice. She was only a tot yet. She was just learning to talk. 'Uh-oh' was a common phrase she used; with reason!

Then the dogs ran by again and knocked over a chair, crashing into a shelf causing all the books and decorations to fall off and crash to the floor.

I had had enough. "ALRIGHT BOTH OF YOU STOP RIGHT NOW AND SIT DOWN!"

Anya, my little sister, cowered slightly at my rage. She knew I was mad. However it wasn't any use. The dogs weren't paying attention, and my rage melted away to defeat. I sighed and dropped my head. The dogs ran by and knocked into some more the cupboards. Blair had gotten to my sandwich after all. The dogs ran through the pots and pans making loud crashing noises. I decided to just put up everything breakable.

Once all the breakable objects were safe I sat down next to Anya who was in her play pen yet. She looked at me. She knew I was defeated. So she took advantage. She poked me in the shoulder, I turned and she handed me a doll. I gave in. I took the doll and began playing with it, dressing it and combing its hair.

About three hours later the dogs were still running around and my kid brother was hiding in his room so he didn't have to help me with the pups. The front door opened and I heard my brother walk in.

I stood and went to greet him, and to make sure the pups didn't run out the front door. "Hey John," I said stepping over a large mess in the middle of the room.

He looked around cautiously and with concern, "What-what happened?" He closed the door all the way and stepped over the mess. He stepped into the kitchen and saw the two dogs run around the kitchen table barking loudly at each other crashing into things and almost breaking stuff. The book shelf was still bare from when they knocked everything off.

"Mom brought home Blackie, you know Kari's dog, he's ours now." I explained.

"Oh," he said unsure. He looked at the mess around the house.

I heard Anya chuckle.

"Mom ditched me with them and Ben fled upstairs so he didn't have to help." I said with a sigh. I turned and caught a fleeting glimpse of my older brother fleeing upstairs. I growled in annoyance.

About an hour later, Mom came home with Dad. Dad walked in and stopped. He saw me sitting on the floor playing dolls with Anya, the house was a wreck, the dogs were barking and banging the pots and pans and running around the table and crashing into things.

I looked at him pleading.

"Need help?" He asked.

I nodded.

He nodded in return and turned on his scary mode. And in a loud booming voice he yelled. "STOP!"

One word; that's all it took.

The dogs came to a halt and looked up at him. They sat down obediently.

He had a way to make kids and animals obey him and respect his authority. Of course he was a dad. Dads could do that.

His scary mode turned off and he had a happy smile on his face again. "Okay they're all yours." He turned and went to the coat rack to take off his coat and hat.

"Thanks Dad." I said standing up.

Mom ended up taking over and the pups were pretty well tired out. Mom took them out for a walk and then they slept the rest of the night.

The next few weeks were pretty rough. I never did end up finishing that essay until much later. But my Dad wrote a note for me to have extra time to do it. It was supposed to be about the most difficult time I ever had. So I had no trouble writing about the pups.

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[Story Mode End]

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"So, I got an 'A' on the essay. I was glad about that. My teacher really liked it." I finished the story with my good grades. I always liked to tell people about them.

Colonel Hogan was smiling like he usually did when he was amused.

Even Newkirk was smiling. "Mate, you 'ave some crazy stories."

"The crazy part is coming." I said.

The two looked at me. "We renamed him Hans."

They burst into laughter. "You named him Hans? A German name? Seriously?"

"Mate, Who's side you on?" Newkirk joked.

I playfully slugged his shoulder.

Newkirk smiled and got comfortable again.

The laughter died down to a soft chuckle and we settled down.

"Carter, I appreciate the story." Colonel Hogan spoke softly. He sounded really tired.

"Sure thing." I said standing up.

"You can stay you know." Colonel Hogan had one eye open.

I smiled and took my seat again. It would be a quiet night. Unless puppies showed up.

…

[AN] Okay so this wasn't originally the fic I was going to write and post up. As you can probably tell, I got a new puppy. I was sitting at the kitchen table ready to write another fan fiction. I got one sentence done…then my mom came in with Blackie(Hans). Yes we actually named him Hans. Hope you liked this fic. Let's hope I can write another fic soon without the puppy interrupting. Please R&R.