Disclaimer: Again, I do not own the characters to Kim Possible, they are owned by Disney. I own everyone else.
"Come on, Ron. Step on it" Kim shouted above the purr of the scooter.
"I know, KP, I'm going as fast as I can," Ron shouted as he leaned forward, gripping the handle bars tightly.
While they went a dozen questions were abuzz in her mind. Mrs. Montry was a gentle soul, but there was a void in her questions. She forgot about her chest in the attic in her old house, but why? It was so important, it contained the remains of her only son's mementos of service, his uniform and medals how could she forget about it? There was no answer. All she could do was perhaps return to the house and perhaps salvage the chest and return it to Mrs. Montry, but that would have to be at a later day. Right now, they were focused on returning to school without being late. Running through the hallways, pushing through the throngs of students that were on their way to class, Ron and Kim, our two heroes, barely made back in time before the tardy bell rang. Mr. Barkin was standing by the door counting the seconds that ticked by on the clock that was suspended above the door frame as the children slid on in. With great skill Kim and Ron were the last ones in with only a few seconds to spare.
"Possible, Stoppable, you barely made it" he said.
"I know, Mr. B" said Ron, "we have a long run."
"Be on time, next time"
"Sure thing, Mr. B"
Finding their seats they sat down, but Ron was uncomfortable. His stomach growled because he was running on empty for missing his meal of nachos and so did Rufus's as who buried himself into the backpack of his owner to find the scraps of candy bars and meals of long ago for a meal. He had little luck.
"Alright you bunch of retards, after reading your assignments I'm pleased to announce that most of you have passed. After much thought and deliberations there will be one that will be printed on the front page of the newspaper on Veteran's Day."
"Yes" said Kim as she reclined in her seat.
"Steady yourself Possible. I didn't say it would be you" Mr. Barkin added. "Even though you had an A so did many others." Mr. Barkin continued, "Use the rest of the period to go over your papers, class. I want a review of your work stating to me why your veteran should be the one printed in the newspaper. I want an argument, people. Show me what you're made of."
Students sighed in frustration. Fishing out their papers Ron scooted closer to Kim to go over their work. Instead of writing their review the two discussed what their next move would be regarding the chest. "When school gets out we'll go to Charles' house, get that chest, and return it to his mother."
"Okay, KP" Ron said playfully working his pen over a piece of paper to simulate writing. In his mind the review was worthless. Mister Barkin was just giving them an assignment to keep the students busy while he read a novel behind his desk. "But can we eat first?"
When the bell rang there was a mad dash towards the outside world, students throwing their review papers onto Barkin's desk and running as fast as they could before he could catch them. With the ring held tightly in one hand Kim approached her locker, spun the lock combination, opened it and called for Wade. He came on the small monitor.
"What's up, Kim?" he said.
"Wade, I need a favor"
"Sure thing"
"Can you pull of military records on a Charles Charles Montry? He served in 1972"
"It will take a bit, but I'll try my best."
"Thanks, Wade"
Shutting the door the two continued the long walk towards Kim's house where a large stack of chocolate chip cookies were waiting. "Boo-yah, that's what I'm talking about" yelled Ron as he dived on into them followed by Rufus. There was a flurry of dough and chips as they tore into their prey with fury. Taking a hand full Ron went upstairs with Kim. "I still have Mr. Yarbrough's number. I'm going to give him a call."
"What for?" Ron asked sinking his teeth into a cookie.
"I have a few questions for him. Then we can put this matter to bed," the teenager sighed as she dropped her backpack on the floor, picked up the receiver to her phone, and sat on her bed. In one hand was a sliver of paper with the numbers of both surviving veterans and she waited patiently as the phone rang several times. Finally, someone answered with a thick, heavy voice, "Hello?"
"Yes, hello, is this Mr. Yarbrough?"
"Yes, it is" the voice replied.
"Hi, my name is Kim Possible."
"Yes, child, I spoke with you earlier."
"Yes, I have some more questions to ask you about your service."
"Well, shoot, this is incredible. No one has ever shown this much interest in me before, not even my family. Child, I was on a river boat in the Mekong Delta fighting infiltrators and weapons caches. We were ambushed many times, and each time we managed to pull through because of our captain."
"You mean Charles Montry?"
"Yes, it was because of his leadership and quick thinking that allowed us to punch through the ambushes and nab the bad guys. Anyway, when Montry left Vietnam we were near the end of our own tour. We were given a new captain, but we had only three months left."
"What happened then?"
"We went home, but it wasn't the same as when we left. I was in the army for eight years, I went out as a sergeant and everything had changed. We had a new president, a war was coming to an end, a revolution was starting in our own country, and everything was starting anew."
"Mr. Yarbrough, about Mr. Montry, can you tell us the day that he died?"
"Yes, child" he drew a deep breath, cleared his throat and began to speak, while at the same time Kim picked up a pad of paper and a pen and began to scribble down what he dictated: "We were operating the King Kong in the waters of the Mekong Delta on September 1st 1972. We were operating twenty-three miles from our FOB when a rocket propelled grenade from the water's edge struck our engine and we began to smoke. O'Rourke came forward and said that we were dead in the water. We came to a halt and that's when the heavy stuff began to hit us. All around there were rockets and artillery raining down; geysers splashed throwing huge buckets of water on us like rain. While O'Rourke worked on the engine to get it working again the rest of us manned our weapons to beat back our attackers. They were in the trees then two sampans came up and I could see people on them firing AKs at us. They were standing right in the open with determination in their eyes. Bullets were whizzing past our heads. They didn't care. We aimed carefully and fired off burst after burst at those on the sampans and we obliterated them and they sank in a matter of moments. Marcus was on the forward twin fifty cal raking the tree line while Vincent was on the rear fifty guarding the rear. Montry was on the radio as well working the grenade launcher. He first rounds into the tee line after the gunners saw muzzle flashes. We fought for fifteen minutes, dead in the water, but by some stroke of luck we were not hit, only sprayed by water. At last, O'Rourke came through and the engine revved up and we were underway at last. We ducked and weaved our way down the river and made it out of the kill zone. Once out we did a damage assessment. We counted fifty three bullet holes in the boat. O'Rourke came up to tell Montry that the engine was working at one hundred percent when he saw that he was sprawled out on the deck. Antonio and Yarbrough both rush to his aid, but there was nothing we could do, he had been shot through the chest, right through the heart." The man began to weep into the receiver. His sobs began to make Kim sob as well. She wiped away the tears by setting the pen aside and brushing the tears away from her eyes.
"Mr. Yarbrough?"
"Child, if only you could have been through the hardships we have faced for a year. Warm beer, tropical climates, snipers, and rats, oh the hardships we faced."
"What happened after the ambush, sir?"
"We moved down river to our base and off loaded Montry's body to be transported back to the states. He was a good man. He looked after us and made sure that our boat was in good shape. If it wasn't for him we would have made it the nine months of our tour alive. It was afterwards that we were told that for our actions we would be awarded the Bronze Star with V device while Charles was selected to receive the Silver Star. It was due to our selfless act of saving another river patrol boat on that day." Writing all of this down Kim could only listen as the veteran opened up his heart to her. Ron sat on at the edge of bed munching on cookies and drinking that ice cold milk while Rufus dined on the crumbs.
"Nine months in country and I was awarded nine different decorations for valor, but the one I'm most proud of was the bronze star that I earned with Sergeant Montry. He was the best." Near the end of the conversation Yarbrough asked, "Why do you ask me this, child?"
"Mr. Yarbrough" she asked, "Did you have any contact with Montry's family after his death?"
"No. I sent them a letter, but never heard a reply. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, but did Charles ever mention a girl named Kim to you?"
"Yes, he did"
"Can you tell me what her last name was?"
For a moment there was a pause as the old veteran scratched his head. The blood in Kim pulsed. There was a rush of excitement. This was it. She was at last going to find out the name of the long lost soul of the ring bearer.
"Anne. Anne Possible"
Kim was flabbergasted. It was all true. Her mother was suppose to marry Charles. "Hello? Are you there?" Mr. Yarborough asked.
"Sir," she said after a moment of dead silence, "my last name is Possible, Kim Possible. Anne is my mother."
"You're kidding, child" Yarbrough was heard to laugh into the receiver, "I'm surprised. I guess you find the needle in the haystack. Your mother was a beautiful one, but I don't know what happened to her after Charles died. I guess she moved on."
"Yeah, I guess she did. Anyway, thank you, Mr. Yarbrough, you've been very helpful."
"You're quite welcome, goodbye."
Hanging up the phone there was a look of determination in her eye as Kim walked calmly out of her room and down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where her mother was baking a fresh batch of cookies.
"Just a few more minutes and they'll be ready" she sang as she scooped the soft morsels onto a large plate on the kitchen table.
"Mom, I need to talk to you about something" Kim said rather slowly.
"Why, of course dear" her mother replied with a smile.
"Who is Charles Montry...?"