CHAPTER 2: RESCUE OPERATION

With a nod, Hogan sent Kinch and LeBeau out to find Newkirk. Then, before anyone else could disperse, he stood and pointed to the table.

"Sit, everyone," Hogan commanded. He crossed his arms and sighed as Harper, Carter, Olsen, Garlotti and Addison took their seats.

"I don't like having to repeat myself, but apparently some of you enjoy the sound of a broken record," Hogan began.

"Yeah, Newkirk does," Addison said. "He skips all the time."

"That's what I'm talking about," Hogan said, his voice growing angry now. "Knock it off with Newkirk. Stop teasing him about his stutter."

"Aw, we're just kidding him, Sir," Olsen said. "He takes it pretty well most of the time."

"Yes, but you three don't seem to know when to quit. So I'm telling you to stop. You can't tease him about how he talks." Hogan's voice was stern.

"Why does he talk like that anyway, Sir?" Harper's question seemed earnest.

Hogan exhaled. "I really couldn't say, Harper. I know he's been stuttering since he was a kid, and he's worked hard to make to better."

"It's all in his head," Addison said, spinning a finger next to his ear. At that, Garlotti jumped in.

"Addison, that's what the Colonel's talking about. Stop doing crap like that. Newkirk's a good guy. He just has a little trouble getting his thoughts together."

Carter had been sitting quietly but finally he piped up. "He can't help it, and he never knows when it's going to be easy or hard to talk. He says it kind of sneaks up on him." Then he looked right at Addison.

"I can tell you one thing, there's nothing wrong in his head. He's smarter than most of us, except of course the Colonel here, because he's really smart. Cause you don't get to be Colonel if you're not smart. And Kinch is pretty smart too—did you hear that explanation of physics? Aerodynamics, actually… well, anyway, Newkirk is plenty smart, and he's not crazy if that's what you were implying because I know crazy and that's not Newkirk. There's this guy in my hometown, Jimmy Wellford, now he was crazy…"

"Carter," Hogan interrupted. "That was a very kind defense of Newkirk. But…"

"I know, Sir. 'Shut up, Carter.' Sorry, Sir." Carter began to turn pink. Harper clapped him on the back.

Hogan smiled and winked at Carter. He wondered how a man so prone to verbal twists and turns had ever made Eagle Scout. The pathfinding badge must have been a killer.

"OK, if I could just continue. Why he stutters isn't really the issue. But you are definitely making it harder for him when you pick on him. So that needs to stop," Hogan said. "That means don't mimic him. Stop interrupting him. And don't laugh at him when he joins a conversation, because it's hard enough for him to speak up. Understood?"

The men let out a chorus of understoods and yes-sirs.

"All right, fellows. Be kind. Do better. Dismissed," Hogan said.

The men stayed at the table, heads down, as Hogan headed to the door. Kinch and LeBeau hadn't returned with Newkirk yet, and he wanted to see what was taking so long.

"Where's he going?" Addison asked.

"Maybe he's gonna go tell Newkirk to grow up a little," Olsen snorted. "If he wasn't always acting sensitive and storming out of the room, we wouldn't get in trouble. I swear, he's like my sister Sally. And she's 16!"

"Maybe he's on the rag," Addison said. Olsen snickered, but everyone else just glared.

"Maybe you shouldn't have pestered him so much about his birthday, Carter," Harper said softly.

"Yeah, you were all over his ass about that," Addison. "I wonder what the big deal is anyway."

"He doesn't like being the center of attention," Garlotti said simply. "My kid brother's like that. Real shy."

"Newkirk's not shy," Olsen said dismissively. "He's a big show-off."

"No," Carter said decisively. "Tony's right. He is kind of shy. It's not the usual kind of shy, but he's quiet a lot of time, and he definitely doesn't like everyone looking at him." He paused. "I should have backed off, but I was so excited about my idea. Oh boy. Oh boy, I'm a lousy friend."

"No, you're not, Carter," Garlotti said forcefully. "He's lucky to have a friend like you who understands him so well."

XXX

Out in the exercise yard, Hogan set off in search of his missing team members. He found them behind the shower hut. Kinch had an arm extended as he leaned into the wall and faced Newkirk, who stood very close to him, head down, but apparently listening intently as he nodded. LeBeau stood just as close on the other side of Newkirk, his arm around his friend's waist.

Hogan strolled up to them, his hands in his jacket pockets. "Everything OK, fellas?"

Kinch and LeBeau turned instantly and nodded, and Newkirk looked up miserably.

"We're getting things under control here, Colonel," Kinch said.

Hogan came closer and reached an arm out to Newkirk. "Don't let them get you down, soldier," he said as he rested his hand on Newkirk's left shoulder.

"They talk too much," Newkirk said. He lifted his right hand, made a fist, and pressed it under his nose. He rubbed and rubbed it, pressing the top knuckle of his thumb into the corner of his mouth. It was a gesture Hogan had noticed before, something Newkirk did was he was very upset.

Kinch noticed too, and he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit one, and handed it to Newkirk, who accepted it gratefully. "Yeah, they really do," he said.

"Thanks. I left me smokes in the b-b-b-b-b-b-b…" He paused to try again and came up with "hut." He inhaled deeply and let out the smoke through his nose.

Kinch lit one for LeBeau, and offered one to Hogan, who waved it away. He lit one for himself and leaned back into the wall of the shower hut, sure that the Colonel was about to say something.

But Hogan was quiet. He was thinking about what Newkirk had said – "They talk too much." How was he to answer a young man for whom any amount of talking could suddenly turn a sunny stroll into a lurch through a field of land mines?

"Just because they're talking doesn't mean you have to participate. Just because they're asking questions doesn't mean you have to answer," Hogan said quietly. "You don't have to say anything you don't want to say. And if there's something you want to share with Carter—or with any of us—you can do it privately. I don't want you to feel any pressure."

Newkirk was looking back at Hogan with an expression of pure trust. "Thank you, Sir," he said simply.

"You're welcome. Now, if I ask you a question, that's a whole different matter. You got that?"

Newkirk's smile finally reappeared. "Yes, Gov, I think I've got that," he laughed. "When you ask, I answer." Together, they ambled back to Barracks 2.