The Ghost
Note and Disclaimer: I'll always say that I never own M*A*S*H and so should you. This is the last part in the series "By the Graveside". I want to thank everyone for their support and kindness during this series. There will be another coming up shortly. Enjoy!
He couldn't remember much of himself and his past. From the moment his plane had lifted from the airport in Kimpo, the ghost had lost track of all time and space. He was supposed to be going home to his family, but he never made it there. He recalled hearing a crash from behind him. There was a fire. Red and orange lights flashed in his face and screams hailed around him before the sea below met them. Darkness claimed his spark.
The next thing he knew, all feeling was gone. He understood what it was like to have them, but he no longer possessed them. He drifted aimlessly into an existence that slowly excluded anything he used to know. There were people like him, surrounding him as dazed and confused as he was, that sought to find their final destination. The ghost wanted to do the same. He had so many questions that his essence desired nothing more than to rehash his old life and why he no longer had purpose.
He could not pinpoint his starting point. It could have been the waves that swallowed him whole. It could have been the many lands he visited in this other life he used to have. But without reason, he was soon tethered to a grave that bore many witnesses. The ghost did not understand how and why. He just knew that this quiet spot was a final resting place and that he belonged here.
Oh, there had been many visitors who came to him! There was so much emotion behind each person that it was overwhelming. Everyone had something to say, something to give back, and all of it a mixture of feelings and memories that involved the ghost. Most were sad at his passing. Others had respect, gratitude, anger and even gladness, expressing it all in a burst. Everyone had to share their deepest and most pressing thoughts with the ghost, so much so that it enveloped him tightly to that cold stone.
The ghost could talk, scream, cry and carry on, but nobody heard him. He had so much he wished to say to these people he supposedly knew in his other life. He yelled that there shouldn't be anybody grieving or wishing that he was alive. No, he still existed. He easily could speak like them. He waved his arms, whistled and danced to a little tune. Nothing helped him to get their attention.
And then, the ghost remembered that he had been Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake. He had been discharged from the Army and was supposed to finally be with his wife and children. On that final trip, his plane was shot down by the enemy and crashed into the Sea of Japan. He tried assisting everyone he could to grab a parachute and jump, but there was no time. A fire quickly consumed them and the wreck plunged into the waters below.
Henry was devastated. Once he realized who he was and why all these people knelt before his graveside, his life came crashing down on him. All at once, images of his past came to haunt him.
Korea had been his curse. He had been a CO of the 4077th M*A*S*H. Henry had dealt with more than the daily fear of a battle at his doorstep. There had been manipulative doctors, cross-dressing orderlies, Regular Army nut jobs and sex all the way around. There was enough tomfoolery in that camp that his head spun. And it was hell, the way that Korean Conflict dragged on and kept him away from his family
But what made up for the lost time away from his wife and children was going home. While he considered the people at the 4077th to be another family, he still had an obligation to Lorraine and their son and daughters. He was elated to have the chance to see them again. The Army was no longer his life.
Fate had different plans for Henry. When his life was lost, he felt that his purpose had been too. This afterlife had taken away his identity and his sense of self. He had to sort out all of these people and their stories and allow the human tool of time to heal him. Henry's goal had been to listen to them and to learn why he was so important to each individual. Even dead, his life had been special and not just to Lorraine and the children. His family in Korea felt the same way.
Henry felt another tugging. It wasn't like the one before, when he was transported to this cemetery to hear out his guests. This one was calling him home. He had fulfilled his mission. Now, it was the moment he had been waiting for. Peace and quiet beckoned to him. There was no judgment or guidance anymore. It was his last journey.
And that was when Henry walked into the next unknown.