A Christmas Salute to the Troops
By Janet Brayden
Christmas was less than two weeks away. The men of the Riptide Detective Agency were deep into preparations. Even Nick, who hadn't had a great time at Christmas as a child, was getting into the spirit. He had no choice. Their adopted sister, Cayce McKenna, was having them up to her ranch, the Lazy M, to spend Christmas with her and her family. She insisted upon it every year since they'd been reunited though she had come down to them once.
More than that, though, they were helping Cayce and her uncle, Colonel Brian McKenna, under whom the two older detectives had served while in the Military Police after their service in Vietnam, put on a Christmas show for the troops at Fort Irwin where the colonel was currently stationed.
The galley, of the Riptide, smelled of ginger and chocolate. Cody had promised to make gingerbread and chocolate chip brownies. Cayce teased him that it wouldn't overtax his brain or his skills. She knew Cody was a good cook but baking was another story. She supplied him with the recipe since the detectives weren't around enough to do much in the line of baking. Their regular work kept them pretty busy although it didn't always pay that well. They had a very small tree, which Murray had insisted on decorating with little microchips over the protests of the other men that microchips weren't Christmas ornaments. There were a few garlands hung inside and along the rail on the outside deck as well as wreaths in the window and on the door.
The men finished loading everything into the Jimmy and headed for Fort Irwin. There were boxes and bags with baked goods, their suitcases plus gifts for the McKennas - especially their little sister. Taking a cue from the gifts she'd received at her birthday barbecue they had bought her a pair of leather gloves, some boot socks and a gift certificate for a book store. It was the least they could do for the warm-hearted young woman whom Nick and Cody had known since she was twelve.
The house at the Lazy M bustled with activity as Cayce, her housekeeper, uncle and various family members put the finishing touches on decorations and gathering the paper goods and confections that Josefina had made. Dan Laasanen and Josh McKenna, two of Cayce's cousins, were loading everything into the back of the cargo van that belonged to the ranch. Erika Laasanen, Dan's sister, and Sarah Knox, two other cousins were overseeing the packing of the baked goods ensuring that the young men didn't get into them before they arrived at their destination.
"Is that everything?" Cayce asked.
"I think so," Sarah said as she slapped Dan's hand when he reached for some cookies. "Danny! Stay out of the cookies! You can have some when everybody else does - at the party."
"But I'm hungry now!" he protested.
"Later!" the four women told him.
He backed off. Facing Cayce, Sarah or Erika was one thing, but when Josefina spoke up all the family members paid attention.
The air was crisp and the snow was about three feet deep. Cayce's ranch hands had ensured, as always, that the stairs, walks and parking lot were clear as well as the road leading up to the house. The sun shone bright and everyone was glad to have sunglasses as it reflected of the glittering white stuff.
Everyone climbed into the vehicles that they were taking and started off to Fort Irwin to decorate the auditorium and set up the food in the lobby. Cody, Nick and Murray were going to meet them there.
"Hi guys!" Cayce greeted her "brothers" with hugs and kisses. As always Nick gave her braid - she was only wearing her hair in a single braid this time - a tug.
"Hi yourself," Nick said.
The other two greeted her with hugs of their own and shook hands with Colonel McKenna, Dan and Josh. Then they were introduced to the other members of the entertainment committee who were working on the affair.
Cody and Nick were quickly put to work, with Josh and Danny, hanging streamers and signs. Murray was put in charge of the lights and such backstage and let in on a couple of secrets about the entertainment that was planned. They would need his expertise to manage some audio visual equipment since the ones who usually handled it were to be in the audience that night.
With everyone pitching in it didn't take long to get things ready. Before they knew it the committee, and the other volunteers (Cayce explained to the boys that Brian hadn't really volunteered - he'd been volunteered. That made them laugh because it was true, in the military, as in government jobs, you didn't have to volunteer yourself because somebody would volunteer your services for you.)
"Uncle Brian! Your hat!" Cayce held out a Santa hat to him just as he headed for the microphone to announce the start of the concert.
"Do you have the others?" he asked.
"Of course I do," she told him and picked up a plastic bag from a local store. "Right here."
"Good. Distribute them and let's get this show on the road."
"Yes, sir!" His niece threw him a salute and started passing hats out.
"Oh, and Captain Ryder," the colonel said, "I'd better not hear of any complaints about whatever hat you're given. We're all wearing them. Just remember it's for the troops and their families."
His parting words made Nick nervous. He was even more nervous when he saw the twinkle in Cayce's eyes as she passed out the hats. Some people were getting Santa hats but his hat, as well as hers, Cody's and Murray's, were elf hats - complete with ears.
"I picked it out, special, for you," Cayce kidded him as she made him don the red and green striped hat with the flesh colored ears. "Cody's got one just like it and so does Boz. All the guys are wearing them."
"I'll get you for this," Nick told her. "You just wait and see."
Murray quite willingly put his hat on, giggling as he did so. Cody rolled his eyes but didn't complain.
"It's for a good cause, Nick" he told the Italian who sullenly put his on.
Sh!" Erika said. "Colonel McKenna's giving his opening remarks."
"Welcome!" the tall, slender officer said. "Welcome to Fort Irwin's Christmas Salute to the Troops. Actually it's a salute to the troops and their families. Thanks to my nieces, nephew and a lot of other volunteers I think we can promise you a good time."
He walked to the left side of the stage to check on their opening act. Receiving a nod of affirmation that they were ready to start, he returned to center stage.
"Let's get started then." With a big grin he introduced "David Seville with Alvin, Simon and Theodore."
Four costumed volunteers, dressed like the cartoon characters from the 1960s Saturday morning cartoon were seen as the curtain rose behind Colonel McKenna.
Murray cued up the music for them and the quartet pantomimed their way through "The Chipmunk Song". The children in the audience, and the parents who had grown up with the original chipmunks, loved it and their applause echoed through the auditorium.
Next up was a group singing "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and they were followed by a young college student, dressed like Bobby Helms, who sang Jingle Bell Rock and an audio tape providing the music for him. This, too, was a big hit. Everybody sang along or tapped their feet or snapped their fingers as the song went on.
An hour into the program they took a brief intermission. The women, and some of the men, were kept busy dispensing cold drinks, keeping children from handling the goodies or taking too many. The Riptide detectives returned several "lost" children to parents or grandparents.
After the intermission the band from Centerville College played some of the old favorites such as "Silent Night", "O Little Town Of Bethlehem", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", "Away in a Manger" and, Cayce's personal favorite "Angels We Have Heard On High".
Cayce's contralto and the lovely soprano voices of Erika and Sarah were heard quite clearly on the last. It was a McKenna family favorite.
Dan was next. He gave a good performance of Bing Crosby's "Christmas in Kilarney". He may have been a Finn on his father's side of the family but he was an Irishman on his mother's and could do a credible Irish brogue.
"He's really quite good, isn't he?" Murray commented. He wasn't needed for special effects for this song so he was standing with the others.
"Yes," Cody agreed. "He's very good. The whole family is."
"Hey, look," Nick said as Dan exited the stage to a warm round of applause. "Cayce and the colonel have roller skates on. What do you suppose they're up to?"
It soon became apparent as the introduction to "Silver Bells' started. The colonel, and his adopted daughter, were skating around the stage to the waltz tempo just as if they were wearing ice skates and gliding along a frozen pond or lake. The backdrop was a winter scene reminiscent of the skating pond in Sunny Acres where the Riptide detectives had gone with the McKenna's the previous Christmas.
Boz was so into the music he was swaying so Erika approached him and invited him to dance. Soon the stage was filled with couples. Everyone was having a good time - even moody Nick who had Sarah for a partner.
The colonel and Cayce finished up and everyone took a bow as the audience applauded.
Josh was next. His dark blue pants were topped by a white shirt and a blue and white sweater patterned with snowflakes. He sang "White Christmas" and "It's Christmas". The former, of course, had been written by Irving Berlin - ironically a Jew by birth - but the latter was new to most of the audience, and volunteers. It had been included on the White Christmas album that Dukes of Hazzard star, John Schneider, had recorded.
After another brief intermission it was time for a sing along of children's favorites which included "Here Comes Suzy Snowflake", Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the song that Gene Autry had co-written - "Here Comes Santa Claus".
Following this, Cayce took the microphone and gave Murray the cue to set up the next song while two others pulled down the giant projection screen.
"This one's for all the pilots out there," she said. "Especially my favorite chopper jock."
There was the sound of cannon fire. The music started - it was "O Tannenbaum". In English it was O Christmas Tree but it was what came up on the screen that had the audience in stitches. Cayce had put Murray to work on a video of Snoopy, the beagle from the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schultz, dressed as the WWI flying ace. The song was Snoopy's Christmas - the one where he faces the Red Baron but they end up sharing a Christmas toast. Even Nick was laughing as he watched.
"Very funny," he laughed as he gave his "little sister" a kiss.
Cody was grinning from ear to ear. "This was great!"
"I hoped you'd like it," she said. "I love the two songs The Royal Guardsmen recorded about Snoopy. I couldn't resist including it in the show."
The auditorium rang with laughter and applause as the Red Baron saluted Snoopy "Merry Christmas, mein friend" and Snoopy, their hero, saluted his host.
A History teacher, from Sunny Acres, sang Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and was followed by a female student from the post high school singing Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".
There was no doubt that the show was a smash hit but it wasn't over yet. Cayce had a big surprise for everyone - she hadn't even told her uncle about it because she wasn't sure she could pull it off. It all hinged on a certain group of men being able to arrive on time.
"What's going on, Cayce?" Nick asked. "You're awfully antsy."
"Nick's right," Cody agreed giving her a suspicious look. "What's got you so worked up."
"Nothing." Her green eyes sparkled.
"Come on, Cayce," Murray said. "It doesn't take a genius to see that you've got something on your mind."
Colonel McKenna approached the group when he heard his niece giggling.
"Cayce Jillian, what have you got up your sleeve?" he asked.
"If it works out you'll know pretty soon," she told him. "I haven't heard anything definite yet."
What she wasn't telling anyone was that she had made friends, while traveling the rodeo circuit a couple of years ago, with some of the biggest names in country music who still performed at fairs and rodeos. She had high hopes that one of them would arrive.
It was while she was at one of these rodeos that she had invited some of them to perform at the Fort Irwin show and she was anxious to see if they would make it. Not wanting to get anyone's hopes up she was keeping it quiet.
"Cayce," Dan hissed. "Phone call."
Eagerly she ran, braid bouncing on the back of her emerald green shirt and embroidered Christmas vest, to take the call.
"Miss McKenna," it was one of the guards at the gate. "There's a bus ..."
"I'll be right there," she told him. "Please send them around to the stage entrance. In fact, please have someone escort them. I'll meet you out there."
She went back to the group and asked the detectives to come with her. "I want you to meet these guys before I spring them on the audience - and a little extra security couldn't hurt."
"Who's coming?" Nick asked. "The president?"
"You'll find out in a minute. Now hurry."
The three men followed her while Josh, Dan and the others sent curious looks after them. A big bus, with the word Alabama painted on the side, was being escorted to the auditorium by several MPs on motorcycles.
"Hi guys! Thank you ever so much for coming!" Cayce greeted the men who exited the bus.
"We wouldn't miss it for the world," one of them replied.
"Randy, guys, I'd like you to meet Nick Ryder, Cody Allen and Murray Bozinsky - I told you about them this summer when we were in Prescott, remember." Turning to the Riptide detectives, she said, "Nick, Cody, Boz, I'd like you to meet Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook and Mark Herdnon - otherwise known as Alabama."
The two groups of men shook hands. "It's nice to meet you."
"Come on, it's time for you to go on and close us out." Cayce hustled them into the building inviting the MPs to join them but they had to get back to their original posts. "We'll arrange something for you later. I think the show is being taped so those who were unable to make it will have a chance to enjoy it."
Inside she had the detectives keep the band company while she got her uncle's attention.
"Uncle Brian," she whispered. "I have special guests here to close out the show. Let me introduce them, ok?"
Brian McKenna smiled at his excited niece. "Okay." He moved over to one side.
Cayce stepped out to the middle of the stage, signaling for the curtain to be lowered so her special guests could get set up without being seen. It didn't take long before Nick was giving her the high sign that they were ready.
"Ladies, gentlemen and kids," she started. "As some of you know I'm a rancher, not a performer, but I do like to participate in these special shows such as the USO would put on. I'm a big supporter of them, having been raised by my uncle, who is now a colonel in the army. When I was ten, my folks were killed in a boating accident. Uncle Brian took me in and raised me as his own. I know, firsthand, how important these shows are."
"I spend a lot of time on the road, during the summer and early fall, competing in horse shows and rodeos. I get to meet a lot of fellow horsemen and drum up business for riding lessons and horse training and such. I also get to meet some pretty famous people at these shows and I invited some of them to come to this show."
"Uncle Brian, and all of you country music fans, I'm pleased to present to you Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook and Mark Herndon - Alabama!"
The audience came to their feet as the curtain rose and the band stepped up to the front. It took ten minutes to quiet them down enough to let the group sing. The music started and the men began to sing.
They started with a few of their biggest hits, sang a couple of traditional Christmas carols and then, finished up with their Christmas song: Christmas in Dixie.
"By now in New York City
There's snow on the ground.
And out in California
The sunshine's falling down
And maybe down in Memphis, Graceland's all in lights
And in Atlanta, Georgia, there's peace on earth tonight."
"Christmas in Dixie, it's snowing in the pines
Merry Christmas from Dixie to everyone tonight"
"It's windy in Chicago
The kids are out of school
There's magic in Motown
The city's on the move.
In Jackson, Mississippi, to Charlotte, Caroline
And all across the Nation, it's a peaceful Christmas time."
"Christmas in Dixie, it's snowing in the pines
Merry Christmas from Dixie, to everyone tonight.
And from Fort Payne, Alabama...
God bless y'all!
We Love ya!
Happy New Year!
Good Night!
...Merry Christmas tonight."
The end.