Chapter Eight- Bad Memories Unfold

Danny slipped on some warm pajamas and hopped into bed. Even though it was 7:30 and curfew was 11:00. He stirred around trying to forget all the things on his mind. His thoughts drifted on how nice it would of been if he died at Pearl Harbor. He would be not living through this mess that tormented him. His evil thoughts were disturbed by the door being flung open. In came Rafe, Red, Anthony, and Goose.

Danny closed his eyes tightly, so that they would leave him alone.

"I know you up Danny!" Rafe said.

Rafe always had a way with knowing if Danny was awake. He slipped on his nice shoes and nice clothes. Danny let out a loud moan as he turned to his side.

"Hey Danny, wanna come to the bar with us? The nurses will be there." Anthony asked.

"Not really,"

"Not eating, no jokes, in bed at 7:45. What's wrong Danny?" Rafe asked. "You were as cherry as a clown before we saw General Walker."

"Wait a minute. You guys saw General Walker?" Goose asked.

"Yeah." Rafe said. "Why?"

"Well you said Danny was feeling alright before the meeting with General Walker. That man has the power the power to scare anyone."

"Is that what"s bothering you? You do have the last name, maybe you are related?"Rafe looked at Danny.

"Walker is a pretty common last name."Danny said closing his eyes.

"Come on. Go to the bar with us! Evelyn tells me someone's there who wants to meet you." Rafe begged. Danny's eyes opened.

"Yeah right!" Danny said rolling his big brown eyes.

He pulled the covers over his head. Rafe ripped them right off. All Danny had on was short white boxers and a sleeveless shirt.

"Knock it off Rafe!" he yelled.

"Come on Danny!" Rafe yelled back. "Your being the coward you were back in Tennessee, when your father use to hurt you!" the words slipped out.

Anthony, Red, and Goose stopped what they were doing. They didn't know Danny's father was abusive. Danny felt a long burn of anger. His eyes widen with fury.

"So I'm a coward? Who would freak out when he couldn't finish a stupid spelling test, cause he wouldn't study? No, he would freak out cause he can't read for anything!"

Now the boys were bringing up some of the hard times of their pasts. Rafe angrily glared at Danny. Danny smirked.

"Boy, I should wipe that little smirk off ya face! Just like your old man always did."

Danny stood up, now he was eye to eye with Rafe.

"At least my old man wasn't a coward in the war." Danny spat.

"At least my old man didn't commit suicide on his son's birthday!" Rafe shot back.

Danny's eyes filled with water. That day, almost twelve years ago was stored into his memory, where he never thought of. It was his twelfth birthday. He was looking around his house for his father. He looked in the basement to find him dangling by the neck from a rope with a bottle of whiskey spilled all over the ground. That birthday was the worse for Danny Walker.

Red, Goose, and Anthony looked at Danny with disbelief. Rafe who was smirking, came to realize how much that probably hurt. Danny looked down and shook his head many times. He started breathing very heavily.

"I...I can't believe you said that!" Danny said quietly. He was on the verge of crying.

He grabbed his pants, pulled them on over his boxers. Grabbed his army jacket and stormed out of the headquarters. He walked over to the air plane hanger. He walked off to Plane52, the plane that was assigned to him. The small fighter plane was a dark green. Under the driver's window was a big star that inside had the number 52.

Danny found a small table that held paint for the boys to paint their planes with. He pulled up a stool and grabbed a thick brush. He dipped into a black paint. He made a large star right next to the back passenger door.

Danny made red and blue stripes all inside the star. In the far left corner he drew white stars. Over the star he wrote in white writing "Save America's Spirt.." and under the star he wrote "Kick Some Japanese Butt".

Once he finished he screwed the cap on each of the of the paints. He sat back on the stool and admired his work.

"That's pretty good." a voice said from behind.

Danny turned around to see Rafe. Danny quickly turned his head

and stood up. He started walking away.

"Danny, wait." Rafe said softly. "We need to talk."

Danny stopped walking and looked up. "I don't have anything talk to you about."

"Come on Danny, we really need to talk. I said some pretty nasty things back there."

"When I wanted to talk to you about Evelyn, you punched me. So, should I return the favor?" Danny hissed.

Rafe sighed with irritation. He looked at Danny's plane. Memories of how they use to dream about flying. This was there dream, to go on a top secret mission for the navy. How he longed for those days.

When he looked back at Danny, he was gone. Wow, did that boy disappear fast. Rafe walked out of the hanger. He decided to walk around the base. Something pulled him towards the parking lot. Several jeeps lied in a row. He heard loud yelling coming from the back of one of the jeeps.

Rafe walked slowly to the car. He tried to hear who it was. Once he recognized the painful yells as Danny. His pace quickened over to the jeep. He crouched down, to a car to the left of the jeep.