Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Beach Boys

By Suzie2b

The Rat Patrol had finished their latest mission and had reported in at the base just outside of Nouakchott, a town along the coast of Mauritania. The base commander was a major by the name of Roger Kalyn.

Major Kalyn had contacted Major Gleason at the base in Ras Tanura to inform him he was going to retain the four men to escort a supply convoy to a battalion in Mali.

Troy and Moffitt met Hitch and Tully in the motor pool. Troy said, "Major Kalyn is going to send us with a convoy to Mali. We'll be heading back to Ras Tanura once the convoy's at its destination."

Tully asked, "When do we leave?"

Moffitt smiled. "Two days from tomorrow. That means we have a little free time."

Troy said, "Get the jeeps in for service. You can restock them tomorrow morning."

#################

After a good night's sleep and a decent breakfast, Hitch and Tully spent the morning inventorying the jeeps, collecting what was needed from supply, and getting their vehicles ready to go.

After lunch, Hitch said, "Let's go down to the beach for a while."

Not having any better ideas, Tully shrugged and said, "Beach it is."

Hitch and Tully both slipped out of their shirts and sat down on the sand. The breeze was warm and the sea smelled of salt and the creatures that lived in it.

Tully pulled his boots and socks off. He wiggled his toes in the sand and said, "It feels different then the sand in the desert."

Hitch picked up a handful and let it slide between his fingers. "Yeah, it feels somehow … thicker." He followed suit and buried his toes in the warm sand.

Two off duty nurses strolled by wearing swimsuits that were popular at the time. Of course, Hitch and Tully watched them coming and going. Then the pretty red head looked over her shoulder at them and stopped. She whispered something in her brunette counterpart's ear. They nodded, turned, and walked back to where Hitch and Tully sat.

The redhead stood in front of Hitch with a smile and said, "You two must be new in town. My name's Joan. This is Kathy."

Hitch grinned. "Care to join us?"

"Well, we were wondering if either of you know how to surf."

Tully smiled. "I'm from Kentucky. I had to come to North Africa to see the ocean for the first time."

Hitch said, "I use to watch 'em surf at the beach at Coney Island."

Kathy smiled and asked, "Would you like to learn?"

"Um … we're not exactly dressed to get in the water."

Joan giggled. "We're nurses. Just strip down. I'm sure you don't have anything we haven't seen before."

The girls borrowed a couple of surfboards from friends while Hitch and Tully stripped down to their boxers. Then, with Hitch and Joan on one board, and Tully and Kathy on the other, they paddled their way through the waves into deeper water.

Tully asked, "How long have you been in North Africa?"

Kathy replied, "Joan and I got here at the time. It's been about a year now."

Hitch questioned, "When did you two start surfing?"

Joan said, "I'm from California. I was on a surfboard with my father before I could walk. I started teaching Kathy not long after we got here. We spend a lot of our time off here at the beach."

#################

The afternoon passed swimmingly. The girls had Hitch and Tully standing up, riding some small waves with them within a couple of hours. That is, after a lot of false starts, balance issues, and general goofing around. It certainly wasn't as easy as it looked.

They were lounging on the boards, taking a breather, when Kathy whispered something in Tully's ear. He shook his head and said, "Sorry. I'm married."

Kathy giggled. "She'll never know unless you write her back in Kentucky and tell her."

"Charley's at our base in Ras Tanura. She's a courier."

With one smooth move, Kathy rolled Tully into the water and started to paddle away.

When he came up, Tully sputtered, "Did I say something wrong?" Hitch and Joan just laughed at the bewildered look on his face. Then Tully looked up at the two of them and said, "I'll meet you on shore." And he began to swim towards the beach.

Tully was sitting on the warm sand letting the sun dry him before getting dressed. A shadow suddenly blocked out the sun and he looked up to see Kathy standing there. She dropped to her knees and said, "Sorry about that."

Tully smiled. "No harm done."

Kathy sat down next to him and stretched her legs out in front of her. "It's just I don't seem to have much luck with guys out here. About the time I start to get close to someone, they leave … or die."

"Hitch and I will be outta here in about twenty-four hours, so it's probably just as well we didn't hook up anyway. If I were free that is."

"You're a faithful husband. I can respect that."

Tully looked at her and smiled. "Want to have dinner? We can make it a foursome."

Kathy was surprised by the sudden invitation. "But…"

"It's just dinner. No strings attached."

#################

That evening after dinner, Troy and Moffitt were headed back to their quarters when they saw Hitch, Tully, and the girls walking together. Troy smiled as he said, "I hope they don't make any promises."

Moffitt said, "I don't think we have to worry. Tully's got his hands in his pockets and Hitch is just holding his girl's hand."

"Yeah, usually he'd have an arm around her."

Later in the night, Troy and Moffitt were awakened when Hitch and Tully stumbled into the quarters they were sharing. Moffitt turned on the bedside lamp and the sergeants were stunned by what they saw.

Hitch and Tully stood there, their clothes wet and covered in sand. They were both barefoot, carrying their boots.

Troy asked, "What happened to you two. We saw you with a couple of girls earlier…"

Hitch swayed as he tried to explain, "We had dinner with 'em and then walked 'em to their quarters."

"Okay, it's now 2am. What happened after that?"

"We went to a bar."

Moffitt said, "Well, that explains your stupors."

Tully had a silly smile as he said, "Then we went to the beach."

Moffitt was trying to keep a straight face as he asked, "And what were you doing on the beach in the middle of the night?"

"We were gonna go surfin'."

Hitch nodded. "But we couldn't find any … um … boards."

Troy was trying hard not to smile. "So, how'd you two get all wet?"

"Well, ya see … we were walkin' barefoot on the sand…"

Tully quickly added, "Sarge, did you know the sand feels different on the beach?"

Troy shook his head and Hitch continued, "Yeah … well … we were walkin' along when we saw a small dock."

"There was a boat there."

Hitch nodded. "We thought we'd take it for a spin."

Moffitt said quietly, "Oh no."

Troy looked at them incredulously, "What did you do?"

Tully said, "Well … Hitch got in and I untied the rope. I started to get in the boat … but I sorta missed and fell in … the water that is."

Hitch said, "I was tryin' to pull him into the boat … but he pulled me into the water."

"I didn' pull ya in … ya fell all by yurself."

"You did so…"

Tully shook his head, nearly lost his balance, and took a step back. "Didn'!"

Hitch turned to face his friend and nearly stumble into him. "Did!"

Troy and Moffitt looked at one another as they got out of their bunks. Troy said with a grin, "All right. It's time to get some sleep."

The sergeants took the privates wet boots and tossed them into a corner.

Troy was unbuttoning Hitch's shirt as the private said, "You believe me, don't ya, sarge?"

Troy said, "We'll discuss it in the morning."

Moffitt got Tully out of his shirt and started to undo his pants as he said, "Why would you want to take a boat, Tully? You know you get seasick."

Tully cocked his head slightly to one side. "I do?"

"Yes, you do."

"Oh."

Once the two young privates were standing there in their damp skivvies, Troy and Moffitt got them into their bunks. They were both asleep before the blankets were pulled up around their shoulders.

As the sergeants headed back to their own beds, Troy asked, "We do have aspirin handy, don't we?"

Moffitt smiled as he reached to turn off the light. "I never leave home without it."