Here's a short one. Next one is just too long and I might not be able to splice it. Read this one for the weekend and I might update it soon as I see some feedback!

Chapter 36

It felt good to be back in the Swamp. If I had to be in Korea, there was no place better than this beauty. Alright, besides Seoul and Tokyo, which was in Japan anyway.

Semantics!

I was tired now. Lying back on my cot, the bumps and troughs of which I was intimately familiar with, a thought crossed my mind about how disturbing it was for me to actually feel at home anywhere in Korea, let alone a few miles behind the lines.

There's no accounting for taste in a war zone. Or sanity, for that matter!

I was gently rocked by this giant hand while I was lying under a beautiful Oak tree on a hammock trying to cover myself with something warm as the weather turned from very sunny and beautiful to extremely chilly and cloudy. The wind rocked the hammock faster. Even the tree was rocking and calling my name.

"Hawk!"

I woke with a start. It was BJ towering over me, blocking all light, hence the overcast.

"Up and at 'em, big guy!"

"Huh?"

"Dinner! Igor left it in Potter's office. It had gone cold till Radar heated it up again while I woke the tech up."

"You know what they say about people like you, right?"

"That the world would go bankrupt without us?"

"With friend's like you, who needs enemies." I started picking at food and was surprised, " Hey, this food isn't bad. Anything I knew in its previous life?"

"All I can tell you is, it ain't Clarabelle."

"You know, once, I punched Frank..."

"What? You punched our very own Frank? You used violence on Frank? This is the first time I have regretted not being here earlier." He was already laughing. I wondered how much Frank had annoyed him to make him all giddy just by telling him of a punch.

"Yeah, he struck me with a towel and I punched him in his face. Gave him a black eye. Margaret and Frank went berserk and Henry proceeded with court martial hearings. And I was treated with a water buffalo steak. That was the premise of the story." BJ laughed and laughed.

"Wow, what would they do if I slug him?"

"Maybe give you truckload of Adam's ribs and Congressional Medal of Honor on the side." We were both grinning ear to ear.

"Adam's ribs?"

"That's yet another war story worth telling. I have to be awake to tell it but the bottom line was, we, me and Trapper, flew in forty pounds of spare ribs from Adam's ribs in Chicago, the best ribs in the whole world. The only hitch was, by the time they were ready, we were hit by wounded and when I finally got to them, only the rib portion of the ribs remained. And yeah, I forgot to order coleslaw."

"Wow! That's some take out order." BJ laughed.

"Trapper made some calls to an old acquaintance of female persuasion to get them delivered. Good man, Trap. Really came through."

"You miss Trapper, don't you?"

"Yeah. A lot. He never even left a note for me before leaving." Then I looked into BJ's eyes. They had gone serious, contemplative, sad. "Don't think I compare you with him. There just isn't any comparison. Just like there is no comparison between those ribs and the water buffalo steak. Both are awesome." I smiled widely as I saw a grin break on his face too.

"Hawk!"

"Yes?"

"Thanks!"

"For?"

"Everything!"

"Thank me when you get home in one piece to your wife and kid."

"I am serious!"

"So am I."

"I don't know that. And you cannot be responsible for keeping me safe."

"I know. I am no good with guns or any of that army stuff anyway."

"Hawk! There's always a possibility I won't..."

"Beej, relax. Stick it out, alright. One day at a time. Some days are going to be harder and worse than others. But just hang in there, alright? And try to be safe."

"How about you?"

"How do you think I survive this sewer? All I have to do is...play poker and drink gin." I wanted to tell him all I had to do was turn to my right and see him there, on his cot but it felt too maudlin and sappy. And I could do with a break from melodrama.

"When was the last time we played poker?" I asked him, changing the subject with my usual lack of tact. The tray was almost vacant now. Heat had done wonders for food and one better for pudding. It could have been renamed 'puddle' instead of its more famous designation.

"We can talk about that tomorrow. I have to replace Frank in the morning." With that he stretched out on his cot and turned off his lamp.

"Beej, I am sorry!"

"'Night Hawk!"

"I will make it up to you!"

"Shut up Hawk! Lemme sleep."

"'Night Beej!" And with that, I, too, lied down. Suddenly, Korea was not as dreary as it was in the morning and the weather was not as cold as before.

I just might make it through this war alive...

With that cheerful thought, I switched my lamp off.