Yesterday's Memories

By

Jennaya


Gibson stood over Kinch thinking how easy it would be to kill him right now; unfortunately, if he did then Kinch wouldn't suffer the way Gibson wanted him too.

"Put your hands up!" Gibson was startled by the guard's order and found he was at the business end of two rifles. "Hands up," Schultz repeated, forcefully. Bruno pointed his rifle menacingly at Gibson. When Gibson complied, Schultz started yelling for guards to help them, and eight guards quickly ran over. Pointing to three, Schultz gave out orders, "You go get the Kommandant, you get Colonel Hogan, and you go bring Sergeant Wilson." The men scattered to complete their assigned task.

Langenscheidt ran as quickly as possible to Barracks Two barging through the door. He stood supporting himself with his hand on the door frame breathing heavy. Everyone inside looked over at the guard as he tried to calm his breathing.

"What's wrong mate?" Newkirk asked, alarmed. Olsen summoned Hogan out of his office.

"Sergeant Kinchloe has been injured at the gym. A new prisoner did it," Langenscheidt said between winded breaths.

Before he could say another word Hogan ordered, "Stay here." He left the barracks in a run with Newkirk, LeBeau, and Carter following him; Langenscheidt walked quickly behind. Arriving at the gym, Hogan saw Wilson kneeling beside Kinch attending to him. "What happened?" he demanded.

"That's exactly what I want to know," Klink said, arriving last taking in the scene.

"He attacked me, I had to defend myself," Gibson replied, angrily.

"WHAT?" Hogan's tone and face was of utter disbelief. "Wilson, how is he?"

"He's alive, I'll let you know more when I can," Wilson replied not looking away from his patient.

"Sergeant, start at the beginning and tell me exactly what happened," Klink ordered moving the pertinent parties away from Kinch, so Wilson could have the room he needed. Plus blood always made Klink queasy, and he didn't want to be looking at it while conducting his investigation. Hogan's men stayed to help the medic.

"I came in to use the gym and Sergeant Kinchloe demanded that I leave. I told him we could both use the facilities but that's when he came after me. I defended myself and he fell into the door frame. I didn't mean to hurt him, but I wasn't going to let him hurt me either," Gibson said, appearing contrite.

"Do you know what the penalty for fighting is? You'll both spend time in the cooler!" Klink was angry.

"You shouldn't lie to the Kommandant. That's not a nice thing to do," Schultz said, stepping up.

"What do you mean?" Klink asked, confused.

"He wasn't here. Are you going to believe me or him?" Gibson threw out. Swallowing hard, he realized that was the wrong thing to say watching Klink, Hogan, and Schultz's faces.

"Of course I'd believe my head guard over a prisoner! Schultz, explain what you mean," Klink ordered, his face hard.

"Herr Kommandant, Sergeant Kinchloe had been in here for over an hour using the punching bag. You can see his wrists are still wrapped and his gloves are on the bench. He was not causing any trouble. Then this one barged into the gym, the door was left open so we could see. They had words and Gibson tried to hit Kinch with a stick, but Kinch grabbed it away tossing it in the corner. See, it's still there. At that time, Bruno and I were making our way over in case there was trouble. I don't know what Gibson said to Kinchloe, but Kinchloe held his hands up in a non-threatening manner then walked away. Gibson hit him from behind knocking him into the door frame. Sergeant Kinchloe did everything he could to avoid a fight," Schultz explained.

"Herr Oberst, there's no marks on this one. I know from personal experience if Kinch hit him, he'd be the one down," Bruno interjected.*

"Do you and Kinch have some type of history? Why did you attack him?" Klink demanded. Hogan shook his head slightly telling Gibson not to bring up the past.

"No, we'd never met before this place. He's just a piece of trash that doesn't know his place or how to mind his manners. I'm sure as a German you understand these things," Gibson tried to ingratiate himself to Klink.

Klink stood up a little taller, anger protruding from every pore in his body. He heard that type of talk too much from his own people and never bought into the propaganda. "Sergeant Kinchloe has never caused any trouble. He follows the rules; he's courteous, and helpful to his fellow prisoners. You have been here for a short time and have broken almost all the rules. We'll put an end to that. Schultz, take him away. Forty-eight hours in the cooler will teach him that my rules are to be obeyed at all times," Klink ordered.

"You can't be serious! Time in the cooler for this?" Gibson was shocked.

"Make it five days in solitary confinement, and loss of all privileges for another ten days," Klink fumed. How dare a prisoner back talk him.

"I'd suggest shutting your mouth before he extends your sentence," Hogan ordered before Gibson could respond. "Once you're out, you'll have to deal with me."

"You're supposed to be helping me out in this situation, sir," Gibson blew up at Hogan. "And you're just a n*gg*r lover like Hogan," Gibson threw at Klink enraged. He couldn't take anymore and swung at Hogan hoping to hit both Colonels since they stood side by side.

Hogan blocked his punch, twisted him, and had Gibson on the ground with his arms pinned behind him before anyone got hurt. "Calm down," he ordered as Gibson fought to get away. Suddenly a pair of German handcuffs was in front of his face. Hogan looked up to see Schultz handing them to him. With no other options to keeping the situation from escalating anymore than it already was Hogan placed the handcuffs on Gibson.

"Take him away under heavy guard," Klink ordered, shaken. "I'll start the paperwork on his transfer. There's no room for troublemakers here." Two guards picked Gibson up and hauled him to the cooler. Gibson yelled obscenities at everyone the entire trip. Schultz led him to a cell without a tunnel entrance. He knew which ones that the prisoners never stayed in very long.

"Newkirk and Carter, would you help me get Kinch back to the barracks?" Wilson asked

"How is he?" Hogan asked kneeling down beside his men. Kinch was semi-conscious.

"He'll be all right, but he has a major concussion. He'll be out of it for a while. Kommandant, he won't be able to make roll call for at least 24 hours," Wilson stood up moving over allowing Newkirk and Carter to put Kinch on the stretcher.

"Very well, but you know the rules. Schultz will have to verify he's here for each roll call. I want to be kept up to date on his condition," Klink ordered turning to go back to his office.

"Yes, sir," Wilson replied.

"I'll be there soon. Put him in my room if you think that would be better. I have to talk Klink out of the transfer," Hogan said. He quickly walked over to the Kommandantur. Personally he'd like Gibson out of the picture, but that wouldn't help Kinch in the long run. "Kommandant?" Hogan knocked on his door as he opened it.

"What do you want?" Klink responded tersely, transfer paperwork already pulled out.

"I wanted to apologize for what Gibson did, sir. There's no excuse for such behavior," Hogan sat down in front of the desk.

"Did you know he was this volatile?"

"No, sir, or I would have brought it to your attention. I thought he was just having a hard time adjusting to being a prisoner. I still think that's mostly what caused today's scene."

"There's over a thousand men here and none of them ever acted like him. Don't worry he'll be gone by morning," Klink indicated the paperwork on his desk.

"Are you sure that's wise, sir?" Hogan asked looking confused.

"Of course I am. I will not have someone so blatantly disrespectful in my camp. I hear enough of that nonsense from other sources," Klink retorted.

"If you say so, sir," Hogan started to stand up.

"What do you mean?" Klink asked watching Hogan carefully.

"It's none of my business," Hogan replied picking his cap up heading for the door.

"Sit down and tell me exactly what you meant," Klink ordered.

"Yes, sir. I was concerned for you with the vigilantes still out there. Trying to transfer a prisoner right now might be dangerous. What if they attacked the truck and took the prisoner? Who knows, they might also kill the guards. Obviously they've outsmarted the Gestapo, so Major Hochstetter would blame you if a prisoner was captured by the vigilantes. He has to have someone to pin the crime on until he finds everyone involved. Then General Burkhalter would get involved, and you could end up at the Russian Front. However, if you waited on the transfer until after the Gestapo have everything resolved there'd be no danger. But as you say, you know best," Hogan carefully laid his trap.

Klink thought it over before responding, "Perhaps it would be best to allow Gibson to learn from his time in solitary before any other actions are taken. We wouldn't want him to think he could try to escape during a transfer, or that he could get a transfer to another camp so easily."

"That's brilliant, sir! When he gets out, he'll be on grounds detail from dawn to dusk and too tired to cause any more trouble."

"Very well, I'll let you handle that part of his punishment. Dismissed," Klink said.


Hogan entered his hut asking about Kinch standing by his bunk.

"He'll be all right, sir. He's resting now, and the men know what to do for him. I should get back to my barracks before curfew. If you need me for anything, come get me," Wilson answered casting a glance at his other patient.

Hogan looked over; Mason was sitting up on his bunk a few feet over. "How are you doing?" Hogan asked gently, moving over by the young man.

"I want to apologize for causing trouble. I'm really sorry," Mason said looking down at the floor.

"There's no reason for you to apologize," Hogan assured him placing a hand on his shoulder. "We're just glad you're doing better."

"I heard what happened to Kinch. I'd like to sit with him for a while," Mason actually looked Hogan in the face.

"I think he'd like that," Hogan gave his approval with a nod. Mason sat down next to Kinch. Hogan couldn't help but smile, even on a really bad day, miracles happened.


* Episode – The Softer They Fall