The Truth Will Out

Chapter 14

Barney and Lee had fish and chips at the restaurant along with beer. As Barney watched Lee eating, he knew it was exactly what the young man needed as Lee dove into his plate.

At one point Lee looked at Barney watching him and shrugged stating, "What?"

Barney chuckled and smiled responding, "You have been gone from the finer things in life a while."

Lee scowled as he commented, "Aw, Barney..."

Barney put up his hand and cocked his head to one side and remarked, "Tell the truth now. When was the last good meal you had lately?"

Lee sighed as he thought carefully and then replied, "Probably my wedding night-"

Barney chortled and queried teasingly, "Really? Had time to eat, did you?"

Lee shook his head as he blushed slightly replying, "I know, I know. But we had an early flight out of D.C. so we went to this diner on the way to Dulles and we had breakfast-"

Barney raised an eyebrow to him and nodded responding, "I see. Amanda's trained you to start that?"

Lee shrugged and sighed remarking, "When in Rome as they say. I basically had coffee and shared a pastry and some of her eggs. No big deal."

Barney shook his head and commented, "I remember when you weren't eating as a boy. The Colonel would try everything he could to get you to eat something when you first came to the base. But we knew the reason you weren't touching food then. He told me later it was because it wasn't your mother's cooking and you missed it."

Lee swallowed hard as he reflected on the memory of his parents and the home they shared and then asked, "So, how did you finally get me to eat?"

Barney sighed and stated, "Well, we knew force wasn't going to do it and the Colonel got tired of the school telling him you weren't eating so he put me in charge of it when he couldn't cook for you when he had travelling to do."

Lee snapped his fingers and replied, "Your silver dollar pancakes with the whipped cream! I remember those! But what about the other meals?"

Barney laughed out loud and commented, "Lunch was something else. I offered you peanut butter and jelly and you said that was for babies. Then I said how about liver and onions and you said, be serious! Well, then I found some turkey meat in the fridge and that was that- turkey sandwiches or whatever lunch meat I could scrounge up."

Lee said carefully, "Dinner?"

Barney smiled, "The Colonel could get rather ornery at times but one time he didn't. You see, he didn't eat well either but he was a little better than you at the time. You were having dinner in the mess hall with the men and the Colonel was going over procedures with one of the sargeants and he had a ribeye on his plate. You were having a burger. By the time he had finished going through what the sargeant needed to do the next day, the burger and the ribeye were gone!"

Lee whistled low and shook his head querying, "What happened then?"

Barney shook his head stating, "I can't believe you don't remember that night. The whole mess hall got quiet and I came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. One of the service men signaled to me not to approach the Colonel and you couldn't hear a pin drop. Finally, the Colonel looked at you and said, "Son, I'm real glad you've decided to include meals in your day but from now on you'll eat only from your plate. Dismissed." That was that. You went back to your quarters to head to bed and the Colonel had the last of the meatloaf that the men had earlier."

Lee chuckled heartily remarking, "I'm surprised I'm still around!"

Barney jovially nodded stating, "Me, too. Now, how about we head back to the house and take in a movie on the TV?"

Lee glanced at his watch and shook his head responding, "Thanks Barney, but-"

Barney commented, "Lee, they're fine. But you need some shut eye. That's an order, Son."

Lee sighed and nodded slowly remarking, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

So he and Barney got back to Barney's and Lee stretched out on the couch and fell asleep before the first scene of the movie, Guns Of Navarone.

Barney got up from his chair and put a light blanket over Lee and patted his shoulder stating, "Have a good sleep, Son. You need it."

Barney then got a book and sat back down in his chair to read for the time being...

TBC