Cover Girl opened the door of her living quarters and stepped outside into
the hall, ready for another day. As she closed the door behind her, the
red rose taped to her door caught her eye.
"Oh my!" Cover Girl said in surprise, her eyebrows raised, her lips curled into a thoughtful frown. It was the middle of March. That made it too late for Valentine's Day, and her birthday was months off.
In Cover Girl's experience, no one had ever given her flowers except on special occasions, like her graduation from high school, or the senior prom. None of the men she had dated in the past had ever been romantic enough to give her flowers out of the blue. But this flower on her door—this was something exciting. Her life, which for the past few years had consisted of nothing but taking part in military actions against terrorists, had grown so humdrum and devoid of warmth. Now, there was suddenly an element of romantic mystery in her life, and it intrigued her.
A small note was tucked in between the rose's stem and the door. Cover Girl removed the rose from the door and slowly smelled its petals, inhaling its languorous fragrance. She reached out for the note, which contained a single line:
You're too beautiful.
Cover Girl fingered the note thoughtfully, inspecting its writing with great care. She was trying to figure out if she could recognize the handwriting. Who would write such a thing to her? Who was this mysterious secret admirer?
She stood alone in the hallway, in front of her door, holding the lovely flower close to her heart.
* * *
It happened unpredictably. On random days, Cover Girl would find a flower attached to the door of her quarters. The flower varied; some days it was a rose, other days it was a carnation, and on others still, it was a bright sunflower. Sometimes the flower would be accompanied by a short note praising Cover Girl in some way; but just as often, the flower came with no message. The secret charade continued for many weeks. Cover Girl never knew when she would find the flower. In the mornings, they seemed to appear on her door as if by magic.
Few people knew what was going on, for Cover Girl told no one. As soon as she alighted from her room and found the flower, she would return inside and hide it away. Somehow, she would uncover the mystery of her secret admirer. It had to be someone in G.I. JOE. That she was certain of. Their headquarters' security was too restrictive for any outsiders to be involved in this clandestine endeavor. Cover Girl told only Scarlett about the flowers.
When Scarlett first heard this information, she asked, "How do you feel about this?"
"I don't know," Cover Girl said. "I'm very flattered, I guess. I never thought of myself as worthy of the kind of things this person has been writing about me. I really wish he would just come out and confess to me."
"Could you love him back?"
"It's something I haven't given much thought to," Cover Girl explained. "I've been single for so long, I've almost forgotten what it's like to be in love."
Cover Girl smiled wistfully.
"But I'd like to find out again, what it's like…"
* * *
Once again, Scarlett and Clutch were alone in the target practice room. Scarlett, focused on aiming her crossbow, barely noticed someone approach behind her. After firing an arrow into the target's head, Scarlett turned around to face Clutch.
Scarlett was ready to utter some kind of cutting, sarcastic remark, but something made her stop. Clutch looked different today. He was not the rude and cocky man that she had grown accustomed to over the years. This man who stood by her was quiet and contemplative. He seemed troubled by something, judging from the crease in his brow, the frown on his lips, and the way his eyes dropped to the ground, avoiding eye contact.
"Hey, Scarlett," Clutch said hesitantly.
"Is there something wrong?" Scarlett asked.
"Yeah, you could say that," Clutch said. "I've got this problem, see…"
Scarlett cocked her head to one side and looked Clutch in the eye.
Clutch went on, "I think I'm in love."
"You?" Scarlett nearly laughed. "You're in love? With whom?"
Clutch grew very uncharacteristically bashful, averting his eyes again for a moment.
"With…" he stuttered, "with Cover Girl."
Scarlett stared at Clutch, dumbfounded. It seemed to her that Clutch and Cover Girl were two people who were constantly at each other's throats. Clutch continually made fun of Cover Girl, and she in turn gave him the cold shoulder and an occasional derisive retort. Perhaps after all these years, Clutch had finally started to grow up. He had fallen head over heels in love with Cover Girl, and now he was afraid and confused. He needed to confide in someone. This feeling inside of him was too great to keep to himself, and Scarlett understood that he now looked to her as someone he could talk to and trust.
Scarlett's eyes lit up with understanding, and a smile gradually spread across her face.
* * *
"How did this come about?" Scarlett inquired of Clutch as the two of them sat down to a cup of coffee in the mess hall. A few other Joes, unaware of the secret intrigue, were also hanging around in the mess hall, enjoying a brief break from their duties.
"It's hard to say," Clutch said, running his fingers over the stubble on his face. "All these years Cover Girl and I have known each other, we've worked well together, but we never really got to know each other. I used to always tease her, and she would always try her best to cut me down. I guess I've realized that she means something to me. There's something about her that gets to me. I want to find out what that something is. You understand what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"Yes," Scarlett said.
"All I'm saying is that Cover Girl and I have never really been very close. I had something like a… a revelation. I had the thought that maybe it didn't have to be this way. Maybe things could be different between her and me. Maybe there's something I can do."
"Why come to me?" Scarlett said.
"The trouble is now, I don't know how to act around her," Clutch said, absentmindedly fiddling with his now empty coffee cup.
"You and I ain't exactly the best of pals," Clutch began.
Scarlett gave Clutch a lopsided smile, as if to let him know that whatever he had done to piss her off over the years, she had no hard feelings and forgave him. Scarlett let Clutch know that she could be a friend to him when he had no one else.
"But you're friends with Cover Girl," Clutch continued. "What I need is a woman's advice. How do I do this?"
"Do what?"
"How do I get her to like me back?"
"You can't get her to like you," Scarlett said. "You can't change the way someone feels about you. But that doesn't mean it's impossible that Cover Girl could grow to like you. All I'm saying is that there's only so much you can do. It's not in your hands."
"What can I do?"
"Just…" Scarlett said, "be interested in her. Show her that you're interested in who she is. Everything about her—her life, her dreams. You see, Clutch, all her life, she's had men love her for who she was on the outside. She's never had someone fall in love with her for who she was on the inside."
Clutch listened attentively, not missing a word. It seemed all his hopes hung on the "gospel" that Scarlett had to tell him.
Scarlett saw Snake Eyes approach them from the entrance. She smiled and waved at him.
"Here comes Snake Eyes," Scarlett said cheerfully. "I have to go. Remember what I told you. And one more thing."
"What's that?"
"Make sure you don't call her a chick."
Clutch blushed. "Aw, come on, give me a damn break.—"
"I've always thought of you as a hopeless chauvinist," Scarlett confronted him. "You'll never win if you continue to act like one. Don't forget this. She's a woman. She's not some kind of animal, or an object. She's something special… precious… you have to treat her as such…"
Snake Eyes came up to the table and put an arm around Scarlett as she got up. Scarlett smiled at Clutch, and a secret, unspoken message of parting was exchanged between them. Clutch was left at the table with his empty cup of coffee, alone in his thoughts.
* * *
General Hawk stood before the small group of Joes assembled before him in a conference room. Seated before him were Clutch, Cover Girl, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, Rock 'N Roll, and Snake Eyes.
"We've intercepted some vital information about an agent of Cobra that the CIA has been tracking for the last decade," Hawk informed them. Everyone in the room listened intently, not saying a word. Hawk turned on a slide projector, and the image of an old man, at least in his late sixties, appeared on the screen. The picture was in black and white, and the lighting conditions were poor. The man had a lean countenance, with a pair of intense looking eyes. He had close-cropped hair and a thin mustache.
"Who is this guy?" Lady Jaye said.
"We don't know his real name, at least not yet," Hawk said. "He is known only by the moniker Rouge."
The Joes gave Hawk a collective blank stare.
"This man, Rouge, has an inside knowledge of the government's biological weapons program. He is believed to be selling secrets to Cobra. In three days, there will be a meeting between Rouge and Cobra at a house near the Hudson River in upstate New York. Stolen information and vital materials will be exchanged in return for money. What I am telling you is strictly classified. This information is not to leave this room. We'll meet again to discuss the mission I'm planning out with Flint and Duke. That is all, Joes. You are dismissed."
Scarlett watched Clutch out of the corner of her eye as the Joes got up to leave the room. Clutch discreetly had his eye on Cover Girl, who was unaware of Clutch's attention. Clutch looked as if he wanted to say something to Cover Girl. Scarlett could see the momentary struggle being waged within his heart, but the weak side of him won, and Clutch said nothing, letting Cover Girl leave without so much as a word. Scarlett sighed. She would have to do something, and fast. Otherwise Cover Girl would go crazy over the constant flowers from her secret admirer, and Clutch would be eaten from within by his own loss of courage and self- confidence. Scarlett could not bear to see that happen.
"Hey pal," Scarlett whispered to Snake Eyes, "can you excuse me for a while? There's something I need to do."
Snake Eyes looked at her questioningly.
"I can't tell you what it is, but I promise to tell you when it's over," Scarlett smiled at her love. Snake Eyes nodded in assent.
It was nearly sunset outside on street level, as Clutch strolled along the sidewalk, having left the immediate premises of the G.I. JOE base. Just near the limits of the base, there was a little series of stores and shops. Among them was a humble little flower shop, which sold a small variety of beautiful flowers and house plants.
From a distance, Scarlett watched Clutch go into the flower shop. For the first time, Scarlett had an inside view of Clutch's secret ritual. She had managed to follow him without being seen, a rather easy feat considering her long experience in using stealth as part of her counter-intelligence missions. In Scarlett's mind, she knew what she now had to do. She would intervene for the sake of both of her friends.
Scarlett made her way to a pay phone on the other side of the street. She had a good view of Clutch inside the flower shop, deciding what flowers he would buy for Cover Girl. This time it was a red rose.
"Hello?" the voice said on the other end.
"Cover Girl, it's me," Scarlett said, trying to remain concealed within the phone booth.
"Scarlett?"
"Listen, if you want to learn who your admirer is, there is a strong likelihood that he will stop by your place tonight."
"What? How do you know this?" Cover Girl said quickly and on reflex.
"Just thought you'd like to know, dear. I gotta go," Scarlett said hastily as she hung up the phone and turned to walk back to the lift that would take her back into the Pit.
* * *
It was some hours later, in the middle of the night. Clutch did not know the exact time, nor did he really care. His mind was elsewhere, on the mystery that was Cover Girl. He thought to himself over and over, how could he penetrate this mystery and get to know the real Cover Girl? How could he learn what moved and inspired her?
"I'm just an ordinary guy," he muttered to himself as he slowly and quietly shuffled down the mostly deserted corridors of the residential section of the Joe headquarters.
"I'm nothing compared to her."
After once again traveling the route with which he had grown so familiar over the past month, Clutch found himself standing at the door of Cover Girl's living chambers. If he could only summon up the courage to knock and say something to her, face to face… how wonderful it would be to speak with her as he had never spoken to her before. By some miracle of the heavens above, Clutch would see the girl of his dreams smile warmly at him with open arms, welcoming him and letting him in. She would share with him her one precious gift, the treasure of her love. Clutch dimly recalled the lame, silly, and mostly demeaning things he had said to Cover Girl over the years. If there was only some way that he could take it all back… if there was only some way he could start over with a clean slate. She would not then see him as a "chauvinist pig." Once Clutch had been indifferent to the appellation of "chauvinist pig;" in fact, he took pride in being the kind of manly person that he was. Had he somehow gotten it wrong?
Could a man change his heart, and have it show on his face and in the new way in which he lived his life? Was it possible for him to really change, and for Cover Girl to see the change in him?
As Clutch stood in front of Cover Girl's door with his head bowed in reflective thought, he barely heard a soft clicking sound. The door opened slowly, and Clutch stood frozen with surprised terror, still cradling the fresh rose in his callous-hardened hands.
In the middle of the night, Clutch and Cover Girl now confronted each other face to face.
"Oh my!" Cover Girl said in surprise, her eyebrows raised, her lips curled into a thoughtful frown. It was the middle of March. That made it too late for Valentine's Day, and her birthday was months off.
In Cover Girl's experience, no one had ever given her flowers except on special occasions, like her graduation from high school, or the senior prom. None of the men she had dated in the past had ever been romantic enough to give her flowers out of the blue. But this flower on her door—this was something exciting. Her life, which for the past few years had consisted of nothing but taking part in military actions against terrorists, had grown so humdrum and devoid of warmth. Now, there was suddenly an element of romantic mystery in her life, and it intrigued her.
A small note was tucked in between the rose's stem and the door. Cover Girl removed the rose from the door and slowly smelled its petals, inhaling its languorous fragrance. She reached out for the note, which contained a single line:
You're too beautiful.
Cover Girl fingered the note thoughtfully, inspecting its writing with great care. She was trying to figure out if she could recognize the handwriting. Who would write such a thing to her? Who was this mysterious secret admirer?
She stood alone in the hallway, in front of her door, holding the lovely flower close to her heart.
* * *
It happened unpredictably. On random days, Cover Girl would find a flower attached to the door of her quarters. The flower varied; some days it was a rose, other days it was a carnation, and on others still, it was a bright sunflower. Sometimes the flower would be accompanied by a short note praising Cover Girl in some way; but just as often, the flower came with no message. The secret charade continued for many weeks. Cover Girl never knew when she would find the flower. In the mornings, they seemed to appear on her door as if by magic.
Few people knew what was going on, for Cover Girl told no one. As soon as she alighted from her room and found the flower, she would return inside and hide it away. Somehow, she would uncover the mystery of her secret admirer. It had to be someone in G.I. JOE. That she was certain of. Their headquarters' security was too restrictive for any outsiders to be involved in this clandestine endeavor. Cover Girl told only Scarlett about the flowers.
When Scarlett first heard this information, she asked, "How do you feel about this?"
"I don't know," Cover Girl said. "I'm very flattered, I guess. I never thought of myself as worthy of the kind of things this person has been writing about me. I really wish he would just come out and confess to me."
"Could you love him back?"
"It's something I haven't given much thought to," Cover Girl explained. "I've been single for so long, I've almost forgotten what it's like to be in love."
Cover Girl smiled wistfully.
"But I'd like to find out again, what it's like…"
* * *
Once again, Scarlett and Clutch were alone in the target practice room. Scarlett, focused on aiming her crossbow, barely noticed someone approach behind her. After firing an arrow into the target's head, Scarlett turned around to face Clutch.
Scarlett was ready to utter some kind of cutting, sarcastic remark, but something made her stop. Clutch looked different today. He was not the rude and cocky man that she had grown accustomed to over the years. This man who stood by her was quiet and contemplative. He seemed troubled by something, judging from the crease in his brow, the frown on his lips, and the way his eyes dropped to the ground, avoiding eye contact.
"Hey, Scarlett," Clutch said hesitantly.
"Is there something wrong?" Scarlett asked.
"Yeah, you could say that," Clutch said. "I've got this problem, see…"
Scarlett cocked her head to one side and looked Clutch in the eye.
Clutch went on, "I think I'm in love."
"You?" Scarlett nearly laughed. "You're in love? With whom?"
Clutch grew very uncharacteristically bashful, averting his eyes again for a moment.
"With…" he stuttered, "with Cover Girl."
Scarlett stared at Clutch, dumbfounded. It seemed to her that Clutch and Cover Girl were two people who were constantly at each other's throats. Clutch continually made fun of Cover Girl, and she in turn gave him the cold shoulder and an occasional derisive retort. Perhaps after all these years, Clutch had finally started to grow up. He had fallen head over heels in love with Cover Girl, and now he was afraid and confused. He needed to confide in someone. This feeling inside of him was too great to keep to himself, and Scarlett understood that he now looked to her as someone he could talk to and trust.
Scarlett's eyes lit up with understanding, and a smile gradually spread across her face.
* * *
"How did this come about?" Scarlett inquired of Clutch as the two of them sat down to a cup of coffee in the mess hall. A few other Joes, unaware of the secret intrigue, were also hanging around in the mess hall, enjoying a brief break from their duties.
"It's hard to say," Clutch said, running his fingers over the stubble on his face. "All these years Cover Girl and I have known each other, we've worked well together, but we never really got to know each other. I used to always tease her, and she would always try her best to cut me down. I guess I've realized that she means something to me. There's something about her that gets to me. I want to find out what that something is. You understand what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"Yes," Scarlett said.
"All I'm saying is that Cover Girl and I have never really been very close. I had something like a… a revelation. I had the thought that maybe it didn't have to be this way. Maybe things could be different between her and me. Maybe there's something I can do."
"Why come to me?" Scarlett said.
"The trouble is now, I don't know how to act around her," Clutch said, absentmindedly fiddling with his now empty coffee cup.
"You and I ain't exactly the best of pals," Clutch began.
Scarlett gave Clutch a lopsided smile, as if to let him know that whatever he had done to piss her off over the years, she had no hard feelings and forgave him. Scarlett let Clutch know that she could be a friend to him when he had no one else.
"But you're friends with Cover Girl," Clutch continued. "What I need is a woman's advice. How do I do this?"
"Do what?"
"How do I get her to like me back?"
"You can't get her to like you," Scarlett said. "You can't change the way someone feels about you. But that doesn't mean it's impossible that Cover Girl could grow to like you. All I'm saying is that there's only so much you can do. It's not in your hands."
"What can I do?"
"Just…" Scarlett said, "be interested in her. Show her that you're interested in who she is. Everything about her—her life, her dreams. You see, Clutch, all her life, she's had men love her for who she was on the outside. She's never had someone fall in love with her for who she was on the inside."
Clutch listened attentively, not missing a word. It seemed all his hopes hung on the "gospel" that Scarlett had to tell him.
Scarlett saw Snake Eyes approach them from the entrance. She smiled and waved at him.
"Here comes Snake Eyes," Scarlett said cheerfully. "I have to go. Remember what I told you. And one more thing."
"What's that?"
"Make sure you don't call her a chick."
Clutch blushed. "Aw, come on, give me a damn break.—"
"I've always thought of you as a hopeless chauvinist," Scarlett confronted him. "You'll never win if you continue to act like one. Don't forget this. She's a woman. She's not some kind of animal, or an object. She's something special… precious… you have to treat her as such…"
Snake Eyes came up to the table and put an arm around Scarlett as she got up. Scarlett smiled at Clutch, and a secret, unspoken message of parting was exchanged between them. Clutch was left at the table with his empty cup of coffee, alone in his thoughts.
* * *
General Hawk stood before the small group of Joes assembled before him in a conference room. Seated before him were Clutch, Cover Girl, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, Rock 'N Roll, and Snake Eyes.
"We've intercepted some vital information about an agent of Cobra that the CIA has been tracking for the last decade," Hawk informed them. Everyone in the room listened intently, not saying a word. Hawk turned on a slide projector, and the image of an old man, at least in his late sixties, appeared on the screen. The picture was in black and white, and the lighting conditions were poor. The man had a lean countenance, with a pair of intense looking eyes. He had close-cropped hair and a thin mustache.
"Who is this guy?" Lady Jaye said.
"We don't know his real name, at least not yet," Hawk said. "He is known only by the moniker Rouge."
The Joes gave Hawk a collective blank stare.
"This man, Rouge, has an inside knowledge of the government's biological weapons program. He is believed to be selling secrets to Cobra. In three days, there will be a meeting between Rouge and Cobra at a house near the Hudson River in upstate New York. Stolen information and vital materials will be exchanged in return for money. What I am telling you is strictly classified. This information is not to leave this room. We'll meet again to discuss the mission I'm planning out with Flint and Duke. That is all, Joes. You are dismissed."
Scarlett watched Clutch out of the corner of her eye as the Joes got up to leave the room. Clutch discreetly had his eye on Cover Girl, who was unaware of Clutch's attention. Clutch looked as if he wanted to say something to Cover Girl. Scarlett could see the momentary struggle being waged within his heart, but the weak side of him won, and Clutch said nothing, letting Cover Girl leave without so much as a word. Scarlett sighed. She would have to do something, and fast. Otherwise Cover Girl would go crazy over the constant flowers from her secret admirer, and Clutch would be eaten from within by his own loss of courage and self- confidence. Scarlett could not bear to see that happen.
"Hey pal," Scarlett whispered to Snake Eyes, "can you excuse me for a while? There's something I need to do."
Snake Eyes looked at her questioningly.
"I can't tell you what it is, but I promise to tell you when it's over," Scarlett smiled at her love. Snake Eyes nodded in assent.
It was nearly sunset outside on street level, as Clutch strolled along the sidewalk, having left the immediate premises of the G.I. JOE base. Just near the limits of the base, there was a little series of stores and shops. Among them was a humble little flower shop, which sold a small variety of beautiful flowers and house plants.
From a distance, Scarlett watched Clutch go into the flower shop. For the first time, Scarlett had an inside view of Clutch's secret ritual. She had managed to follow him without being seen, a rather easy feat considering her long experience in using stealth as part of her counter-intelligence missions. In Scarlett's mind, she knew what she now had to do. She would intervene for the sake of both of her friends.
Scarlett made her way to a pay phone on the other side of the street. She had a good view of Clutch inside the flower shop, deciding what flowers he would buy for Cover Girl. This time it was a red rose.
"Hello?" the voice said on the other end.
"Cover Girl, it's me," Scarlett said, trying to remain concealed within the phone booth.
"Scarlett?"
"Listen, if you want to learn who your admirer is, there is a strong likelihood that he will stop by your place tonight."
"What? How do you know this?" Cover Girl said quickly and on reflex.
"Just thought you'd like to know, dear. I gotta go," Scarlett said hastily as she hung up the phone and turned to walk back to the lift that would take her back into the Pit.
* * *
It was some hours later, in the middle of the night. Clutch did not know the exact time, nor did he really care. His mind was elsewhere, on the mystery that was Cover Girl. He thought to himself over and over, how could he penetrate this mystery and get to know the real Cover Girl? How could he learn what moved and inspired her?
"I'm just an ordinary guy," he muttered to himself as he slowly and quietly shuffled down the mostly deserted corridors of the residential section of the Joe headquarters.
"I'm nothing compared to her."
After once again traveling the route with which he had grown so familiar over the past month, Clutch found himself standing at the door of Cover Girl's living chambers. If he could only summon up the courage to knock and say something to her, face to face… how wonderful it would be to speak with her as he had never spoken to her before. By some miracle of the heavens above, Clutch would see the girl of his dreams smile warmly at him with open arms, welcoming him and letting him in. She would share with him her one precious gift, the treasure of her love. Clutch dimly recalled the lame, silly, and mostly demeaning things he had said to Cover Girl over the years. If there was only some way that he could take it all back… if there was only some way he could start over with a clean slate. She would not then see him as a "chauvinist pig." Once Clutch had been indifferent to the appellation of "chauvinist pig;" in fact, he took pride in being the kind of manly person that he was. Had he somehow gotten it wrong?
Could a man change his heart, and have it show on his face and in the new way in which he lived his life? Was it possible for him to really change, and for Cover Girl to see the change in him?
As Clutch stood in front of Cover Girl's door with his head bowed in reflective thought, he barely heard a soft clicking sound. The door opened slowly, and Clutch stood frozen with surprised terror, still cradling the fresh rose in his callous-hardened hands.
In the middle of the night, Clutch and Cover Girl now confronted each other face to face.