Just throwing a question out there to the readers of this story...should I call Radar by his given name in this story or Radar? I sometimes worry that people won't know who I'm saying if I say Radar ( except for the die hard fans...yah or nay?)

Walter sees Sherman sitting at the kitchen table reading 'Black Beauty' and he sees him closing the book then making a sad face and shaking his head then Walter walks in and says, "Pops? Are you okay?" Sherman looks at him and semi smiles and says, "Oh, I'm fine, I was just going over the next chapter of the book when Misty and I read it" "Oh" Walter goes over to the refrigerator and gets out a Grape Nehi, pops it open on the opener on the counter then goes and sits down at the table then Sherman asks, "Where's Sunshine?" Walter shrugs his shoulder then says, "She got Mom and then they went down to the general store to get some fabric that she says will be just perfect for the kitchen" He smiles then says, "I'm glad you got the house son"

Walter smiles then says, "I am too...uh, it will just be a few days until our stuff comes down from Iowa, my cousin is packing everything up" Sherman shakes his head then says, "That will be just fine" After a few seconds of silence, Walter then asks "Um, I was wondering...when you were telling us about the war...did you, like, ever meet any of the actual French people over there?" Sherman thinks about that and softly laughs then he says, "I think that radar of yours Radar is working overtime again" Confused, Walter asks, "Sir?"

Sherman then says, "That's what I was thinking about when you came in here, I just didn't want to say right then but...I think I need to tell somebody" "What?" "Well...let's go outside" They get up from the table and go outside and down the steps and Sherman sighs then says, "Well, after Ryan died, everything just seemed...bland...even Steve seemed to slow down on the jokes so one night we were all walking down the streets of Paris and we could see and hear the bombs going off and I may be wrong but it was just so much damned worse than Korea...maybe it was because it was my first war...I don't know..." Sherman and Walter just walk along and Walter considers asking a question but he just lets the man he considers her father , talk.

"Well, we heard a bomb coming and somebody yelled "Incoming!" So we each dived for the nearest fox hole on either side of the street and after hearing a building collapse somewhere in the background and making sure nothing else was coming, we slowly got up, we saw the smoke from the bomb, thick at first but slowly coming apart and going away so we got up and started walking again. We were going back down down street and far down the way we saw a small figure and since it was dark and we could just see the outline of buildings, we didn' t know if it was the enemy or what but the closer we got the more we saw...it was just a small, scared 13 year old girl" Walter's eyes just go wide as saucers and he asks, "Wow, what happened?"

Sherman shrugs his shoulders and says "Just one of the many victims of that war"

He looks around at the cloudy November day then says, "A mite cold today" Walter then asks, "Do you want me to go get your sweater?" Sherman gives a light wave then says, "It's okay, today reminds me of that day...it was just starting to really get cold that time of year and that didn't help matters much...she was just a little thing, with strawberry red hair, light freckles but you could tell the light had gone out in her eyes and her clothes were torn and dirty because of the life she was having." Walter then asks him, "How did she take to you ?" Sherman thinks about it for a second then says, "Well, it wasn't like she was scared of us but..." Walter then says, "Didn't know how to take you?" Sherman shakes his head then says, "Yes and it broke our hearts and we tried to get her to tell us her name but she didn't for quite a while so we thought so we thought she couldn't understand the language or she was mute but a few nights later when I bought her some food I found, she slowly said, 'My name is Ginger', I smiled at her then left her alone for awhile."

Sherman looks up at the sky and the slow, gray passing clouds then he says, "It was Mark who eventually asked her why she was named Ginger? He had never heard the name before and that's when we found out that she had more or less named herself, raised herself and took care of herself for years" Walter's eyes go huge and he softly says, "Wow" Sherman continues his story by telling him, "Her family had died off for years, even before the war and what family she had had more or less made it known that she was on her own so...she wasn't ever really abused, physically or anything like that but..." "She wasn't loved" Says Walter.

Sherman agrees then says, "That says it best and so she went back into her own little world for awhile but then Steve..." Sherman laughs then says, "He was a Scotch boy you know, had the thick accent and all and I don't know how but he found this Scottish kilt in some bombed out home and he surprised her by doing this...Scottish dance that he called 'Dance of the Swords' and after that, he wore that darn kilt the rest of the day! She got closer to him but I don't think she still exactly trusted us until she kept seeing us show, I don't know, different acts of kindness to a person here, a child there. A old person that needed a jacket...Herman took off his very own Calvary jacket and gave it to him. Then one day, the sun happened to be out one day and we all stopped to rest under a shade tree" Walter interrupts him with the question, "She just stayed with you all?" "Where else did she have to go?" Walter shakes his head and Sherman continues...

She turned to me and asked, "Why we were so kind? Why were we so kind to these people that we did not know? The boys and I all looked at one another and I said, "Why shouldn't we be? They never did us no harm, the people we showed kindness to were not our enemy" She thought about that then asked me and the other boys were we were from and about our background then she was quiet and she said in a very soft but broken voice, "I see your kindness and I appreciate it but I don't think I shall ever be as kind or nice as you" Young Sherman's eyes grow wide and he asks, "Why not?" She thinks on that then says, "Because I haven't ever had anybody show me kindness until you came. My mum died when I was a baby and I was passed around so quickly that I never had any to really grow up on, I went to a uncle and he didn't do me any harm mind you but all I was to him was a girl to work under his roof but he only saw that I had food to eat to grow strong to do his duties that he was to lazy for and I only stayed under his house for that " Herman asks, "What happened to him?" She shrug her shoulders and says, "I don't really know, one day he went into town to go to a pub and he never came home, I assumed he was just killed in the streets for whatever drink he had and his home was one of the first ones destroyed in the start of the war...I lived for awhile with a group of children but some other children, older they were, just teased us and mocked us for being poor and then one day, we were scattered about and I don't know why"

Sherman then says, "There we were, boys from sixteen to 20 years of age hanging on to every word of a child of the streets but we couldn't stop listening..." Ginger continued, "I remember one day, I was having fun I suppose. In a meadow...I thought I was beside myself when a pair of rough hands grabbed me from behind and he tried to force me..." Ginger hung her head low and said, "I escaped but that was the worst kindness of man that I had been shown and I became something short of a wild child I suppose and I met another man who wanted me to work as nothing like my Uncle. I put my foot down and when he tried more mean ways to get work out of me, I ran away then I met you boys the very night I ran away"

Older Sherman says, "All we could do was look at each other and for the first time since I had known him, Steve was speechless. Herman and Mark didn't know what to say but somehow after that we got to going"

Just then, a black 1965 Chevy drove up and Sunshine gets out and she runs over to her husband and she says, "Oh, you should see the material I got for the kitchen Walter! It's perfect, mom and I are going to go start sewing them together right now!"

Sunshine gives him a peck on the cheek and Mildred gives Sherman a wave and Misty gets out of the car and she sees her grandpa and she says, "Grandpa! let's come read the book!"

Sherman smiles and looks back at Walter and says, "I'll tell you more about Ginger later" He waves at him and goes on to his granddaughter and Walter just stands there thinking about it all.

A/N-Please send reviews so I will know how I am doing.

Sand n' Sable