He returned the receiver to the base and walked around the kitchen, wishing he had something to do to pass the time. His flight to Denver was still hours away.
When the phone rang, he picked it up immediately and cursed it.
"Oh no! Oh No! You're not going to call me into work again! Not now! Look, I already told you that I'm taking an undetermined amount of time off because of a
family matter and if you jackasses-."
"So that's why you called."
A huge sigh escaped. "Trapper."
"In the flesh. Or in the voice or whatever it's supposed to be. Sorry it took so long to call you back. I got to the phone as soon as I could."
"I'm sorry. Look, something's happened and… well, I thought you should know. But be forewarned. It will probably shock you."
"After the stuff we saw in Korea, nothing could shock me anymore."
"Frank's dead."
"Frank? As in Frank Burns?"
"That's the only 'Frank' I know, thank God."
There was a long silence and then- "Nothing could shock me except that. Frank's what?"
"DEAD, Trapper! D-E-A-D, dead!" Hawkeye yelled. Damn, now he was taking his anger out on his best friend. "I-I'm sorry, Trapper. I-."
"You all right?"
Hawkeye rubbed his temples. "Yeah. I mean no! No I'm not all right! I'm anything but!"
"Well, you've gotta admit, the guy had it coming to him."
"Trapper, stop making jokes, all right? This isn't funny!"
"I'm sorry. I just got out of a three hour surgery."
Hawkeye's heart went out to his friend. He knew those long surgeries all too well. "I'm sorry, too. That's rough."
"Yeah, a kidney transplant. Those are the worst! But I just try to think about how the operation will extend the person's life, you know?"
"Yeah. At least that's some consolation."
"So about Frank… what happened?"
"No idea. Margret called me. She was in absolute hysterics."
"She called you?"
"Yeah and she sounded awful, Trap. So, I'm going to go to her."
"You're flying to Denver?"
"I have to. She needs me. Otherwise she wouldn't have called. I'm flying to Denver on the red-eye. That was the earliest flight they had. Damn airlines."
"God… Frank's dead. I can't even…"
"I know. But I'm more worried about Margaret. She's so upset."
"Go to her, Hawk. And give her my love."
"I will, but save some of that love for yourself." Hawkeye smiled, remembering that he'd said those same words to BJ.
"Same to you, my friend. Keep in touch."
"Always."
Hawkeye returned the phone to the base and smiled. BJ and Trapper didn't even know each other, but they were the greatest guys in the world.
