Chapter 4

"C'mon Hawkeye, it's time for bed."

Trapper led Hawkeye back to the Swamp.

"I don't wanna go to bed!" He yelled, and ran off.

"Hawk!"

He sighed.

"I guess it's not gonna be so easy."

He ran after him, but Hawkeye was nowhere in sight.

"Hawkeye! Where'd you go?"

"You'll never find me!"

His taunting voice came from the direction of the showers.

Trapper opened the door casually and strolled in.

"I guess I'll never find him."

He checked every stall, but no Hawkeye. He glanced at the corner and saw a figure huddled underneath a towel.

He strolled over, pulled the towel off, and dragged Hawkeye to his feet.

"Come on, let's go."

"NO!"

Hawkeye squirmed and flailed his arms around, trying to get away again.

Handling a 10 year old was hard enough, but a 10 year old in a man's body had to be the toughest job of all.

"For god's sake, you're acting like your 7 years old!" Trapper said, keeping a firm grip on him.

"Well DUH that's because I AM 7! You're so silly!"

"Oh great! Sidney was wrong. I've got a 7 year old, not a 10 year old on my hands."

"I don't WANNA go to bed!"

Hawkeye thrashed some more and ended up punching Trapper in the face.

"Whoa! You've got a mean punch! But I'm still not letting you go."

"Aw!"

"Do you do this to your dad? Every night?"

"No."

"Well then, don't do it to me. Now come on."

He dragged Hawkeye back to the Swamp and tucked him into his cot.

"Goodnight Hawk."

Trapper climbed into his own cot and closed his eyes.

"Aren't you gonna tell me a story?"

"A story?"

"Yeah."

Trapper sighed and sat up.

"Once upon a time there was a man. He lived and he died. The End."

And he flopped back down and closed his eyes.

"I hate that story!"

"So do I, now go to sleep and hate it in your dreams."

"You're so mean!"

"I know. I'm just cranky, I should be fine as soon as I get some sleep."

At about one in the morning, Trapper once again woke up suddenly.

"Why me?"

He turned over and saw Hawkeye again sitting on the edge of his cot, staring at the picture, but no martini this time.

"Hey, didn't Sidney have that?"

He ignored him and kept staring at the picture.

"Are you O.K.?"

Once again, he was ignored.

"Oh no, we're not going back to the silent stage are we?"

He looked up at him; tears were in his eyes.

"What is it Hawk, what's wrong?"

Hawkeye handed him the picture.

It was the same picture, a woman holding a baby boy.

"Hawkeye, who's in this picture?"

He held it up and pointed to it.

"Who is that?"

Tears ran down Hawkeye's face.

"C'mon Hawk, you gotta tell me who's in the picture."

He reached out to take the picture back, but Trapper pulled it away.

"I'm not giving it back until you tell me who's in the picture."

He just sat there, his arm still reaching.

"C'mon, we wanna help you. We want you back. I miss you."

Hawkeye's arm dropped.

"Who is this? You gotta tell me."

"I want my picture back."

"Well, you're talking. That's progress. Will you tell me who this is?"

He didn't say anything.

"C'mon! Please, talk to me!"

He held out his hand.

"O.K., I'll be right back."

Trapper, still holding the picture, left the Swamp and knocked on the door of Sidney's tent.

"What?"

"Sidney, it's Trapper."

"Trapper, it's ten after one in the morning, what do you want?"

"It's Hawkeye, he's gone all weird on me again."

He opened the door.

"What do you mean, 'gone all weird'? I thought acting like a ten year old was weird en0ugh."

"Well actually he's 7, and he punched me in the face. But anyway, he was looking at this again."

He gave him the picture.

"I asked him who it was over and over, but he only said he wanted the picture back."

"Well, the person in the picture must be very important to him."

"I just wish I knew who it was."

"Come on. If he's still awake I'll try and talk to him."

Sidney and Trapper headed back to the Swamp, but when they got there, everything was trashed and Hawkeye was gone.

"Frank?" Trapper looked under some things and looked around. "Frank?"

He heard a whimper, looked under Frank's cot, and saw him there, holding the picture of his mother.

"It's O.K. Frank, you can come out now."

"Is the maniac gone?"

"Maniac?"

Frank climbed out and got to his feet.

"I was asleep, just asleep, when I heard a loud noise and saw Hawkeye throwing things around and ripping the whole tent apart. I asked what he was doing and he threw the still at me! So I hid under my cot, then when he stopped he said 'I'm going now', mumbled something I couldn't hear, then said 'don't tell Frank'."

"That's a very interesting story. Did he say where he was going?"

"No."

"Go to sleep Frank."

After searching the entire camp, Sidney and Trapper still couldn't find him.

"Should we tell Henry?" Trapper asked.

"In the morning."

"It is morning."

"O.K., lets go then."

"Henry!" Trapper knocked on the door. "Henry wake up!"

Henry opened the door.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing? It's 2:30 in the morning! Now what do you want? I have a pillow waiting for me."

"Hawkeye's gone."

"What do you mean he's gone?"

"He's gone Henry, we can't find him, he disappeared, can't be seen, vanished, ran away, poof he's not there."

"O.K., I get the picture. Did you search the camp?"

"Yep, can't find him."

"Well this is just fine and dandy, first he takes a trip to silent world, then a trip back to the good old days, and now he's taken a trip to who knows where!"

He had just finished saying that, when two MP's came over, holding Hawkeye.

"He was trying to leave camp, said something like 'I have to get home to see her'."

"Who's 'her'?"

"I dunno sir."

"O.K., we can take it from here."

The MP's released Hawkeye and left.

"Pierce, what were you doing trying to leave camp?"

"I have to go see her."

"See who?"

"I have to go."

"No you don't, who do you need to see?"

He stood there for a minute, then said something.

"She's gone?"

"Who's-"

"But how can she be gone? Didn't she fight?"

Sidney, Trapper and Henry realized they were hearing a conversation, but only one side of it.

"Then why is she gone?"

"I know that! You said she was strong enough to get through anything!"

"You lied!"

"NO, you did! You said that, and it wasn't true! Now she's gone and I'll never see her again!"

He fell to the ground, curled up into the fetal position and cried.

Henry turned to Sidney.

"Sidney, what the hell was that?"