Chapter 3

Tito walked out of bed as he walked over to Francis as he sat watching television as he always seemed to do. Tito walked over, sitting down beside him. "Hey Francis," Tito muttered, exhausted as he proceeded to yawn. "Hey Tito," Francis responded.

"Hey, um… Is Dodger alright?" Tito asked. "He has seemed pretty frustrated lately." "Yeah," Einstein responded. "He and Rita have just seemed to have been arguing a good bit lately."

Rita walked out. Tito and Francis both turned, noticing her there. "Morning," they both muttered. "Morning," he responded. She walked over, getting a cup of coffee and sat down. "Hey is Dodger alright?" Tito asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know, he has just been such a jerk lately. I think that he has just been fighting this cocky attitude he has been having, and I think it has just turned him into something else."

She took a breath. "He told me two weeks ago that he would stop being this way. I didn't put my full hope into it though, knowing the way he is. But, I did have some hope for him, but you wouldn't believe what he is doing now."

"What?" Einstein asked.

"He is acting like he is at the top and has even started acting like everybody is below him. He even said some bad things about each of us."

"What did he say about me?" Tito asked. "I'm not so sure it is my place to say," Rita said. "Oh come on, you can trust me," he responded. "Alright, he said he thought you were too rambunctious." Tito frowned.

"What about me?" Francis asked. "He said you were too sidetracked and sensitive because of your reaction if people call you Frankie or Frank."

"What about Fagin?" Tito asked.

"Hopeless."

"Einstein?"

"Clueless."

"Well, what about you?" Tito asked.

Rita sighed. "Okay, well we're all family here," she quietly muttered. "On this night a couple of weeks ago, Dodger and I were sitting on the dock together and we happened to kiss…" She paused, waiting for a major reaction from them, but they all sat quietly, taking the news pretty well.

"Well, he told me that he only kissed me because he found me attractive and that's it."

"Geez," Tito said. "When he walks in here, I'll beat him up Rita," Tito said. "Beat him to a bloody pulp." "No, Tito don't. When he comes home tonight, we'll confront him and tell him what is going to happen if he keeps doing this."

"Do you think he still cares about all of us?" Francis asked.

"Of course he does. I think he is so tough about bringing money home because he cares about us." "Well, when Dodger gets here, we will sit him down, and we will address this whole situation personally," said Francis.

Dodger walked down the steps into the main area of the boat and noticed the gang had been sitting there waiting for him. "Dodger, please sit down," Rita said. "What's going on here?" he asked. "We heard about all the things you have been saying Ddoger," Tito barked. "Like what?" Dodger asked.

"Like that you kissed Rita only because you thought she was pretty, that I am reinbunctous, Fagin is hopeless, Francis is sidetracked and sensitive and Einstein is clueless!" Tito yelled.

"Can I talk?" Dodger asked. "NO!" They all yelled. "Do you even like us Dodger?" Einstein asked. "Because if you don't you'd better just admit it now!" "Yes!" Dodger gasped. "Yes, I love all you guys, you all know that. You all are what I live for."

"Then why would you say all those things?" asked Tito.

Dodger leaned back against a wall, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath. "Because, I was mad at myself…" "Oh, okay," Tito sarcastically said. "He was mad at himself so we all deserve to be insulted."

"STOP. Please just listen to me. I was mad at myself for being so cocky, and Rita when you were telling me the way I was acting, I secretly realized that you were right and I knew that I had problems and I didn't want to feel alone. So, I made it sound like everybody in the group had problems. Now I realize that nobody is perfect, so of course everybody has some issues.

'Tito, do I feel that you might be a little reunbunctous sometimes, not to hurt your feelings but yes. Francis, can you be very sensitive at times and get sidetracked easily? Yes. Fagin, can I sometimes think you might be a little hopless at trying to take care of the group? Yes.

'But hey, look at me. I am not saying any of this as an insult towards anybody. I just think that I was so angry and foolish that I kept on concentrating on everybody else's ups and downs instead of my own."

"Like all those tall tales you used to make up about yourself?" Tito asked.

"Exactly!" Dodger said. "Just like with me and my tall tales. Not to mention my cockiness. Dang, now I feel bad because I am realizing all the mistakes I have made, I don't know who I thought I was to insult you all on your errors. I'm sorry gang, I shouldn't have been picking on the only ones in the world who really, truly care about me."

The gang sat in silence for a moment, none of them knowing what to say next. Rita eventually broke the silence.

"Dodger," she said. "This is something that we have all discussed as a group and have agreed on."

"What?" Dodger asked, afraid of what it might be.

"Just to clear things up, Fagin got the job," Francis said. "Really?" Dodger shouted excitedly. "Wow, this is great. Now we will be making two times the money and…"

"That's what we were going to get to, you didn't let me finish," Rita said. "Dodger, we're…" She closed her eyes to take a deep breath, unable to bring the words to her lips. "It's okay, I've got it," Francis said. "Dodger, if you keep acting like this, we will exclude you from the gang."

"What?!" Dodger screamed. "Dodger, we all love you, but if you continue to act this way, we feel that we have no other choice," Rita said.

"But… we're family," Dodger said. "We didn't say you wouldn't be a part of our family," Einstein said. "Dodger, before you joined the military, we all had to rely on eachother for one of us one day to be specifically picked to get the food. It is still a little like that now," Rita said. "Only here's how everything goes.

'We collect any food, you don't get any. It belongs to us. Any food Fagin gets, goes towards us."

"Dodger, be fortunate you even got into the military," Fagin said. "I haven't told anyone but I went into the same recruiting office as you last week to try to enlist in the Army, and I didn't pass the medical exam."

"Dodger, not trying to scare you man, but you don't know if you will be in the Army much longer. What if you get sent somewhere and get shot? Then you will be out of the military and back to your old self," Tito said.

Dodger sat back in shock.

"Well, is there anything I can do to stop this?" he asked. "Yeah, quit the attitude," Francis said. Dodger looked around at all their facial expressions. He knew they were serious. "Well I…" he stuttered. "I'm…I'm…" He suddenly turned around and ran up the steps.

Hours passed. Everybody did their casual routine as they got ready for bed without saying a single word, Dodger on everybody's minds. Rita had looked outside and discovered it had been dark for a while. "Where do you think Dodger is?" Rita asked. "Probably sitting out on the docks where he is every night," Francis responded.

Rita sighed. "I'm going to go talk to him," she said. "No," Francis responded. "I've got it." "You sure?" Rita asked. "Positive," he said.

Francis walked out onto the docks, the freezing winter New York City wind striking him like a bullet. He spotted Dodger sitting at the end of the dock, feet hanging over the side as he sat, looking down into the water. "Dodger," he called out. "Come on bud, it's cold out here." Dodger didn't respond as he just continued to sit silently.

"Hey, you don't have a cigar with you," Francis called out as he walked over to him. Dodger continued to ignore him as he sat in silence.

"Okay look!" Francis said angrily. "Just because you're mad doesn't mean you have to be a…." "I told you I am not mad at you," Dodger suddenly muttered, looking slightly over his shoulder. They sat in silence for a moment. "I'm mad at myself," Dodger muttered, taking a deep breath to calm himself from anger.

Dodger cursed. "I mean, you all are all I've got and I treat you all so terribly," he said as he put his paws up to his forehead. He sat for a moment and put his paws back down. "My exclusion. I deserve it. Every bit of it." Francis knew that he couldn't argue with that.

Francis stared at Dodger for a moment, and excluding what had occurred earlier, he hated seeing his friend like that.

"Well, I am going to go back in the boat. It would make me feel a lot better if you came with me." Dodger sat, contemplating the idea in his mind before he stood up and walked over to Francis. "Come on," Francis said, wrapping his arm around Dodger. "It's too cold out here."

Three days passed. Dodger treated everybody how they should have been treated, not to be a suck up, but to show that he truly felt sorry for his actions. He would go to work as always, and when he came home, regardless if his day had been outstanding or terrible, he came home in a fabulous mood and was always happy to see everybody. He even spent his money on take out restaurant food just to surprise everyone.

Everyone had certainly noticed his change in behavior and talked about it. Francis thought that Dodger's sudden change in behavior was just Dodger's way to try and get everybody to like him again, but other members knew how much he cared about them and knew that he was doing it all out of the bottom of his heart.

Until the third night. This was the night that would change everybody's life forever.

It started out as any ordinary day. Dodger would get up early for work, the gang would wake up about an hour or two later, and everybody would go about their day. Timmy everyday would stand outside, staring over at the New York skyline, begging if someday they could go visit some of New York's biggest tourist attractions. He begged to go visit the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, Rockefeller Centre, and the Statue of Liberty. Rita promised Timmy that they would get him to those places one day, they just didn't know when. Dodger returned home later that day, and same as he had done for the past three days, had food with him for the gang that night. He had a pizza box that had imprinted on it, "Best in New York," as all the pizza places in New York said.

Dodger lay deep asleep in the middle of the quiet, silent night. A noise suddenly erupted, disturbing his sleep. He shook it off and convinced himself that he was dreaming as he closed his eyes and tried to go back asleep, but the sound continued. He realized that the sound was real and not his imagination. He opened his eyes again and saw that the phone in the corner of the room was ringing, something they didn't have happen much. He then slowly got out of bed and answered it.

"Hello?" he said in a tired tone. "Is that you Dodger?" the voice on the other end asked. "Yes," Dodger responded. "It's Major Howard," the voice on the other end said. "Oh, hey sir how you doing?" Dodger asked as he rubbed his eyes. "Alright. Dodger, we need you here at the base right now, uniform on and everything, and hurry." Howard hung up, not even giving Dodger the chance to ask what was going on.

Dodger ran over to a small wardrobe where he kept his uniforms. He threw on his battle dress uniform and then put his black combat boots on. Everybody was awake now and was watching him. "Dodger," Rita said. "What are you doing?" "They just called me to the base. I…I…" he stuttered. "I might be getting deployed." That got everybody's attention.

"Do you know for sure?" Tito asked. "They didn't say anything specifically where I might be going. My commanding officer called and just told me to get down to the base and quickly." Dodger threw his Kevlar vest on and snapped it. He snapped his gun belt on across his waist and then put on his helmet. Everybody there had seen Dodger dressed this way for training exercises, but they never imagined they would watch him get dressed for war.

Dodger stood there trying to calm himself down. "I… I need to get to the subway station." He grabbed his green military bag containing all his personal supplies he would need in the case of a deployment. "I don't think I can go alone. Will you all come with me?" "Of course we will," responded Rita. Everybody got up out of their beds to go with Dodger, not because they felt like they were being forced to, but because they all cared about Dodger.

"It is pretty cold out there. You all need to bring coats," Dodger said. He let everybody put coats on and then they left the boat and got up on the dock. Dodger paused for a second and looked at his boat home. Could this be the last time I see my home? he asked himself. He then continued on. Rita looked over at him as they walked.

"Dodge," she said. "Are you okay?" "Yeah," he responded. "I think so."

"My train shouldn't be here but a couple more minutes," Dodger said. The gang sat on two different benches. "Should we pray?" Timmy asked. "Yeah, let's pray," Rita said. "Okay, everybody get in a circle," Dodger said. Dodger, Rita, Timmy, and Francis sat on a bench together and Einstein, and Tito came over and squatted around their bench, making their line of three as round as they could.

"Who wants to pray?" Timmy asked. "I will," Rita said. They all bowed their heads and closed their eyes. "Dear God," she prayed. "As Dodger leaves tonight we all pray that you will please watch over him and protect him. Since we cant go with him wherever he is going, we know that You will be with him and please protect him every step of the way. Please keep him safe from our country's enemies and please, please bring him back home to us Father. Amen."

"Amen," they all said as they stood up. "Hey Rita," Dodger said. "Can I please talk to you privately?" "Yeah, of course," she said. Dodger took his helmet off and walked with Rita behind the stairs leading into the underground station so they could talk in private. Dodger glanced at a watch on his wrist.

"Subway will be here in five minutes," Dodger said. "That's all we've got. Rita, I…" He stuttered, trying to find his words. "I…I have… I have been beating myself up over the past few days because of all the things I had said to you guys, and I keep feeling like you guys won't forgive me, and I am nervous about this deployment because of the thought of if I don't come back. I feel like you guys might hate me, but I fell that the only reason I really want to return home alive is so I can renew myself…" Rita pulled Dodger over to her and pressed her lips against his.

"Dodger," she said. "We have all forgiven you. The biggest question is whether you can forgive yourself."

"You know that I care about every one of you," Dodger said. "I know you do, and we all care about you too," Rita replied. "We were worried if anything, about you and we really did not want to see this behavior take control of you." "Rita, when I come back, there will be an entirely different me. I won't brag and make myself look like I am above you all anymore. I will make my whole life revoke around you all. All the places Timmy wants to go, I'll take us there."

Dodger looked back down at his watch. He had one-minute left. He could even hear the subway approaching in the distance. "Rita, I don't think I can go," he said. "Dodger, do what you feel in your heart is right. Go defend the country. Go defend us." Dodger kissed Rita again. "Go do what you know is right," she said.

The subway pulled into the station. They walked back around where Dodger put his helmet on and picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Wait," Rita said. "Fagin, get a picture of me and Dodger before he leaves." She got next to Dodger and they bolt smiled for the picture, even though they were both faking it since they both weren't very happy. "Everybody get in," Rita said. They all then piled in as Fagin took the picture.

The subway doors opened. Dodger turned around to step in but then stopped. He turned around and said, "I love you all." "We love you too," they all responded. Dodger then stepped into the train as the doors closed behind him. He watched them all through the window. He picked up his right paw and waved. They all waved back as the train started to slowly move forward.

Dodger set his bag down and sat down in a seat, putting his head in his paws. And just like that, he was gone.

Everyone in Dodger's company was dressed for war. The whole company had their vests and helmets on with rucksacks full. Dodger looked around and would ask any random soldier if they knew what was going on, but they would all give him the same answer, "We're being deployed." Major Howard was nowhere to be seen, probably discussing with the Colonel the situation at hand. A siren on a telephone police suddenly came to life and everybody was ordered to report to the barracks. Everybody then began making their way to the barracks areas.

There was absolutely no communication with the outside world. The phones were shut off and the company was locked in the barrack areas. The Army was trying to make sure that absolutely no word got to the outside world. If somebody told anyone, even their own wife, word can suddenly spread like wildfire all over the place, and nobody wanted to take the chance of some of the country's enemies finding anything out.

Major Howard eventually entered the barracks area. "What is going on sir?" the First Sergeant asked.

"Manuel Noriega, president of Panama, has been committing drug crimes for a while now. He has had loads of cocaine smuggled into our country for a while, so we have been ordered to deploy to Panama and stop him. Tonight, we will fly down to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to unite with some other 82nd soldiers, and from there we will hit Panama. Before we leave, everyone will go to the arsenal and get your rifle. We will quickly load our magazines, get our gear in check, and then we will be on our way. Hooah?" "Hooah," Alpha Company responded. "Then let's get to it," Major Howard said.

The company lined up outside the supply room so they could quickly go in, get their rifle and ammunition, and then let the next person go. Dodger stepped in as a young private asked Dodger which number his rifle was. "Forty-seven," Dodger said. The private picked up rifle 47, which was an M16, and handed it to Dodger. Dodger grabbed the number of boxes of ammunition he needed to load his magazines and then got out.

The company also grabbed maps, first-aid kits, grenades, magazines, everything they would need when they arrived in Panama.

Hours passed. Alpha Company was just waiting around now for the green light to flu out. Dodger even dozed off in one of the room's corners and suddenly awoke and glanced at his watch. 2:18, it said pm the small screen. Dodger closed his eyes to drift off again but was suddenly shaken by the First Sergeant. "It's time to go," the First Sergeant said. Dodger stood up, grabbed his rucksack sitting next to him, and followed the First Sergeant out.

A line awaited outside the huge C-130. The back was opened and the soldiers walked up the incline to enter the aircraft. Dodger soon got on board. Seats had been set up for the troops and Dodger got to have a window seat. Howard stepped onto the plane and performed a rollcall and everyone would reply with, "Here sir," after their name had been called. Major Howard told the pilots everyone was present and they could leave. The back of the plane closed and the planed moved onto the runway.

Dodger couldn't stop staring out the window. Soon the plane turned and the speed of the aircraft increased enormously and soon slowly lifted off the ground. The plane flew straight and then turned and Dodger could see New York City far below him. He looked out at the Empire State Building, Central Park, and as they flew over lower Manhattan Dodger could see the towers of the World Trade Center towering over all of New York and the Statue of Liberty. Even though most of the city lay asleep, the huge infrastructures always seemed to be lighten up. But, below him in Lower Manhattan, was his family.

Dodger looked down, looking for his boat in the docks but it was impossible to see because of 1). The darkness and 2). How small it was compared to how high up he was. Dodger took one good last look at the city, wondering if he could ever see it again. Dodger closed his eyes and sent up a quick prayer that the Lord would bring him back home. After his prayer, Dodger realized that if there was any time to sleep that it would be now because who knew how much sleep he would be able to get in the next few days. He snapped his helmet off, placed his head against the wall, and slowly closed his eyes. They would be to North Carolina soon to meet up with other soldiers from the 82nd, and from there: Panama.