Restless Days and Restless Nights
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Ch. 8
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Photographs and Memories Pt 3

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Thomas woke up to the low sound of conversation. Male voices…oh, great – now Higgins had sicced the guys on him? That woman just would NOT quit. It was the middle of the night…or was that early morning? He tried to go back to sleep, pulling the pillow over his head to muffle the soft voices, but soon gave it up as a lost cause. Facetiously he grabbed his robe, knowing the guys had often seen in him far less, but trying to dump his frustration with things before he faced them…slipped his feet into his boat shoes and padded down to the living room area of the guest house, saying sheepishly. "Hi, guys. You guys okay?"

"Are we okay, he asks?" Rick said, snidely. "Sure…just hunky-dorio until I woke from a damn nightmare remembering that night in the camps. Took a while, but the dime finally dropped that you were holding your arm funny at the King Kamehameha Club earlier, Thomas. I don't know, couldn't you just tell us when you do a number on yourself, hermano? For crying out loud!"

"Before you get all riled up, Rick, I really didn't realize it until Higgins squeezed my shoulder earlier to convince me I had a bit of a problem on my hands…or should I say on my shoulder? I just about passed out."

The big black Marine stood up, his fists clenching. "She did what? Damn, she sure didn't tell us that part."

Thomas shook his head, looking at the chopper pilot with obvious affection. "Stand down, Theodore, don't go all Rambo on her. She knew something was up, but not to what extent and she definitely didn't know about the prior injury. No harm, no foul."

Rick shook his head, having known Magnum would dismiss the action as inconsequential from the moment he had mentioned it. "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy…so why when the lovely lady, the HPD Detective and Kumu tried to get you to go to the ER, didn't you go to the damn hospital?"

"Rick…" Oh, damn. I'm whining, Thomas thought to himself. "You know I hate waiting in those waiting rooms and I already know they will want X-rays and when they see that one bone and my scapula they are going to want to do the surgery just like all the other docs I've seen. Most of the time it only bothers me when a rain storm is coming in or if I swim or row a bit too long, so I don't see why I need the damn surgery…and you know how I feel about getting locked up in some damn hospital. It's not happening."

"Thomas…" TC tried to start, but the private investigator held up his hand in a stop gesture.

"Don't even, Theodore…are you going to have them fix your feet?"

"My feet are damn bone spurs which will grow back if they grind them off, Thomas…not a badly healed fracture that should have been fixed at Bagram before we ever left Afghanistan! Let's not compare apples and oranges, dude!"

Thomas rolled his eyes and said. "You say Potayto and I say Potahto…it's the same thing."

Rick replied, seriously. "No, no, it really isn't Thomas. Look…let's not chase our tails all night. Let's just hang out and try and relax. We'll worry about this in the morning. But, first, let me see the damn thing. Robe OFF, Magnum."

Magnum snorted, "Well, at least it's not my shirt this time." He reluctantly slid the robe down his arms and turned so Rick and TC could see the damage.

"Unbelievable…it actually does look worse in person." Rick stood and came around the back of the chair Thomas was standing behind to gently touch it. "Tommy, no..No…you have got to get this looked at by a professional."

"Rick?...I thought we were just going to hang out and try and relax." Thomas hastily pulled the robe back up and fastened it, somehow the man had drawn out saying his name sound to make it sound like it was three syllables long.

"That was before we got a good look live at the damn thing, Thomas." TC replied huffily. "That thing is even gnarlier in person. You really rowed with that in that shape?"

"It's not…"

"that bad." Both of his friends finished his sentence, both rolling their eyes at his predictability.

Thomas laughed at the two men and started singing a little ditty from an old TV show. "Who said that opposites attract, they probably think the world is flat, for you and I are opposites…and all we do is fight. We see from different points of view, you laugh at me, I laugh at you, but we both know two wrongs don't make it right…

Rick stuck his tongue out at him, but joined in. "So here we are at the corner- of so long and goodbye…but something in the heart of me, says give it one more try…"

TC's mellow bass was added. "Here we are at the corner, but this time it's the end, we're opposites, we're idiots, but we're still friends!"

The guys all laughed and went and sat, Rick and Magnum on the coach, TC in the chair where he could regard the two others.

Theodore shook his head. "Oh, hell no…I'm getting the frozen spinach out."

"T, Higgins made me ice it earlier." Calvin waved as he went over the freezer on the refrigerator and got the big bag of frozen spinach out, opening a drawer near the frig he also got a dish towel, wrapped it in a single layer of the material and walked over to his friend, lifted up the robe just enough to slide it under and onto the bad shoulder and put Thomas' hand on it to hold the pack in place. As he did so, he replied. "Won't hurt to do it again, Tomas!"

Rick shook his head, stood, came over, took the length of material that served as a belt out of its loops and tied it around Tom's shoulder and under the other arm to hold the cold vegetable bag in place and took Thomas' hand and laid it in his lap, muttering. "Boys…boys…boys."

TM put up with the ministrations in good humor, knowing the fussing came from a place of love and caring they all shared, but feeling more than a bit ridiculous about the whole thing. It really, really wasn't that big of a deal! Really.

Things felt like home between the three of them..only thing missing was Nuzo. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and sighed, missing the Italian Stallion, but happy to still have these two to keep his life on course. They were just the best…the best friends that could be. Even if the number of people he could depend on seemed to be growing, still Rick and TC were the heart of him. God, their friendship meant just everything to him. "If you have to take someone, Lord, let it be me." He thought/prayed out into the universe.

Unable to restrain himself, he began to sing. "I bless the day, I found you…"

TC smiled and sang the next line. "I want to stay around you."

And Rick added the next line. "Now and forever…"

"Let it be me…" all three sang together. They all stopped and looked at each other, and Magnum spoke the words they were all thinking… "Okay the rest of the words may not fit."

"Well, some do…some don't…it's still a good old song!" TC retorted.

"True that."

"'member the song game in the Sandbox?"

"God, I think the other guys thought we were nuts…. Who started that anyway?"

Thomas held up his hand… "Guilty, your honor. It was a game my dad invented with my mom in the car to keep me from getting bored on longer trips. We'd start with one song and that would trigger a thought of a line in another song and on and on."

"Remember the time we started it over the radios in that convoy with the Academi guys yelling at us for it?"

"Boy, Captain Greene read me the riot act for that one about 'Unprofessional stunts on public airwaves being bandied about the whole FOB…'" TM responded to Rick's query.

"But the whole camp was doing it every time we met up…anywhere –" TC responded.

"Any time…" Rick chortled. "It went on for days after that. Drove Greene cray – cray!"

"Didn't have far to go though, did he?" Magnum replied…the two looked at each other and busted up laughing.

TC looked between the two of them and just smiled. "Did you ever think we'd make it to this kind of comfort and relaxation back there, back then?"

Growing more serious, Thomas honestly replied. "I truly thought I would be coming home in a bag, Theodore. Never thought I would make it back. Did you?"

"I don't want to think like that, TM. Keep it positive, babe. That's what I say."

"It was hard to do at times…" Thomas quietly acknowledged, "But we did. Beat the odds and made it home."

The three men all sighed simultaneously…looked at each other and busted out laughing refusing to end on a sour note.

"What song did you usually start off with on your car trips, T?"

"Don't ask me why, but we usually started with….

He started singing… "The coffee in the Army they say is mighty fine…

"Fine for cuts and bruises, it tastes like I-Owe-Dine…" Rick remembered Thomas teaching Nuzo and him this song on leave one time."

"I don't want no more of Army life….Gee, but I want to go home." TC finished. "Don't make no damn sense…your dad was as Navy as they come from what you've said… Why that song?"

"My granddad had this little blue book with songs from the army from somewhere and that's where my dad learned them I think…" Thomas shrugged. "Eh, we had fun with it. I think that one was called 'Gee Ma I want to go home'."

"So really the story of every GI in every conflict anytime anywhere…" Rick commented.

Thomas smiled. "Also true." He leaned his head back against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes… Rick and TC looked at each other across the room and smiled tolerantly. Thomas seemed the most at ease when they were all together. Maybe come morning it wouldn't be too hard to convince the recalcitrant investigator to seek professional medical help. As if….