Chapter Eleven

A car horn, or rather, a van horn snapped the Captain back to reality.

Murdock slowly turned his zombie-like gaze away from his open window, to glare at the van's driver, as he laid on his annoyingly loud horn one last time. "Must you do that?" he aristocratically inquired.

Baracus gave his passenger a quick, worried glance and was relieved to see that he'd finally gotten the little guy's attention. "Don' scare me like that, man! I was beginnin' to think you was dead. I don' like when you get all quiet like that. It's creepy! Make me feel like I'm drivin' a hearse. An' this ain' no hearse! So, look alive, sucker!"

But, Murdock looked like and replied like exactly how he felt like—one of the living dead. "I can't help it. I can't get my mind off a' the Colonel…"

The Sergeant shot the big kid, in the seat beside him, a sympathetic glance. B.A. liked kids—even big, crazy ones. "Open the glove compartment!"

Murdock hesitated.

"Go on! Open it!"

Murdock remained motionless and eyed the Sergeant suspiciously. "But, you sai—."

"—I know what I said! I said, 'Open it!', sucker!"

The Captain quickly opened the compartment, to which he'd formerly been forbidden entry, and stared disbelievingly down at his missing periscope. "Perry Scope!" he excitedly exclaimed, and his zombie-like expression was momentarily replaced by one of joy.

B.A. was forced to smile. "Go on, fool! Take your toy, there, an' go play 'Captain Nemo an' the Nautilus', or 'Voyages To The Bottom a' the Sea', or somethin'. Maybe it'll take what's lef' a' yer min' off a' Hannibal," he added, hopefully.

Murdock shot the Big Guy another suspicious glance and cautiously reached into the previously off limits compartment. The Captain snatched up his toy and then sat there, fondling it affectionately. "Oh, Perry! Perry! They told me you were dead," he declared and gave 'they' an annoyed glare.

The Sergeant shrugged. "So I exaggerated a little. He—it weren' dead, after all. He—it was jes' hidin' out in my glove compartment all these months. Now, go on! Git back there an' play with it! It'll do yah a world a good."

But, the big kid remained glued to his seat.

B.A. aimed a bewildered glance at his insubordinate, inanimate associate. "Yah haven' forgot how ta play, have yah?"

"No," Murdock calmly replied and peered back at the Big Guy through Perry. "And, I haven't forgot what you said you'd do to me, if I ever tried to turn your van into a submarine again, either."

"I was jes' teasin', man. You know I would never really drop a depth charge down yer hatch. Besides, these are extenuatin' circumstances. So, I'm makin' a special allowance, on accoun' a' how worried you are about Hannibal. Now, this is the Nautilus, sucker! An' you are Captain Nemo!" B.A. snatched the periscope back from Murdock and waved it menacingly in his face. "An' this is yer First Officer, Perry Scope! An' if you don' take him—it an' start distractin' yerself—THIS INSTANT—I'm gonna distract yah with it! An' then, I'm gonna show yah a new hidin' place fer it!"

"Di-ive! Di-ive" the Captain alarmedly exclaimed and quickly snatched his toy back.

Then he and his First Officer instantly took refuge in the back of the van—er, submarine.

The gallant submarine commander dove to the black carpeted floor beneath the vehicle's back window. "As long as we're here, we may as well take a look around. C'mon!" he urged, cranking his telescoping instrument into position. "Up, Perry Scope!" Murdock gave the blue, '82 Cutlass Supreme, trailing behind them, a gander.

But, the big kid's heart just wasn't into it.