'What's up, Izzy?' Hawkeye asked.
'I'm cold and wet. Whoever sold us the tent failed to tell us it wasn't waterproof,' Izzy grumbled. It had been raining for the past week, and she'd come into the Swamp, soaked through and miserable.
'Come stand next to the fire,' BJ said kindly, moving away from the little stove in the middle of the tent so Izzy could get warm.
'Thanks,' she said, moving as close to the stove as she could without burning herself.
'What about all you stuff?' Hawkeye asked. 'Isn't it all getting wet?'
'I put it into my foot locker the second rain started coming in through the roof,' Izzy said.
'Good idea,' BJ said.
'It's so cold,' Izzy continued. 'How can you stand it?'
'It's not cold. Yet. Right now, it's a cool temperature, with the chance of it getting colder,' Hawkeye said. 'Usually, for it to be really cold, it snows.'
'Great,' Izzy mumbled. She sneezed, waking Frank up.
'What's she doing in here?' he asked.
'Getting dry,' Izzy replied. 'Do you think I could sleep in here until I get a waterproof tent, and maybe a stove? My tent's cold.'
'No!' Frank said. Hawkeye glared at the man, before turning back to Izzy.
'Sure, if you promise not to clean up,' he said.
'The Colonel won't allow this,' Frank said snidely.
'He will unless he wants me to catch pneumonia, or something,' Izzy said.
'There's a spare cot in here already,' BJ said.
'Thanks, BJ,' Izzy said. Hawkeye suddenly frowned as the sound of helicopters sounded through the rain.
'Big haul of wounded coming in, folks. Better get on your raincoats and come meet 'em,' the PA struggled over the rain.
'Come on,' BJ sighed, taking his jacket down from a peg.
'You stay here, Izzy, you already sound a little sick,' Hawkeye added before the three surgeons left the Swamp. Izzy watched the camp flounder around in the wet for half an hour until the last of them disappeared into the OR, before looking around the Swamp. She hoped Hawkeye and BJ didn't mind her looking through their things, she knew Frank would, but she didn't really care about him. She studied BJ's photo's of his wife and daughter, experimentally had some more gin from the Still before tipping the rest of the glass outside, and wrote rude things in the margins of Frank's letters home. She sat on Hawkeye's cot after a while, and saw a book sitting on his locker.
'"The last of the Mohicans",' Izzy read with interest. The infamous book Hawkeye got his name from. She picked it up, and a slip of paper fell from it. She was about to put it back, when she realised it was a letter. She glanced around guiltily before reading it.
~ Dear Trapper,
This letter will probably end up with the other thirty two letter's I've tried to write to you, in the fire, but you never know, I might send this one.
BJ, the man who replaced you is great, a real joker, like you, though, replaced probably isn't the right word. Who the army sent in to make up numbers after you left is probably more accurate. He filled one of Frank's shoes with mashed potatoes yesterday, before telling Frank he needed to go to Post Op. I think you would have liked him.
Speaking of Ferret Face, we weren't stuck with him for CO for long, a Colonel Potter was brought in to take charge of the unit. He's great too, stricter than Henry was, but still lets us have a lot of fun.
Margaret and Frank are still together, Klinger still wears dresses, and Radar still sleeps with his teddy bear, so other than you leaving and BJ and Potter arriving, nothing much has changed. Except we have a new member of the unit. I know you would have wanted to send her home, because she's so young, but I can't help but feel if she goes, the war will worsen. Her name's Izzy, a plucky eighteen year old from Australia. She's had a rough life, but has proved to everyone that she can take care of herself. She's no good in surgery, worse than Frank, and that's saying something, but she managed to catch four of Flagg's spies the other night. She's handy with a gun, which scares me a little bit, because you know how I feel about guns. It's ok, though, I don't think she likes me flirting with the nurses, which makes us even.
Ok, the hard part of the letter, now. Why did you leave? Couldn't you have waited a while longer for me to get back from R and R so I could have said goodbye properly? Writing this, I know where this letter will end up, ash in the bottom of the Swamp's stove, with the other letters, but I might keep it a little longer so I can start another one and know where I'm heading with it before burning it as well.
Because we never got a chance to before, I'll take this chance to say goodbye.
Goodbye Trapper.
From Hawkeye. ~
Izzy put the letter down. It was weird reading a letter by Hawkeye, especially one to Trapper. She'd never heard Hawkeye talk about Trapper, especially about how he felt about him leaving. It gave her a lot to think about. She put it back into Hawkeye's book, and put the book back where she found it. She knew she'd never be able to talk to Hawkeye about that letter, or anyone else for that matter. Izzy sat beside the stove again and stayed there quietly for hours until BJ and Hawkeye came back from surgery.
'I'm cold and wet. Whoever sold us the tent failed to tell us it wasn't waterproof,' Izzy grumbled. It had been raining for the past week, and she'd come into the Swamp, soaked through and miserable.
'Come stand next to the fire,' BJ said kindly, moving away from the little stove in the middle of the tent so Izzy could get warm.
'Thanks,' she said, moving as close to the stove as she could without burning herself.
'What about all you stuff?' Hawkeye asked. 'Isn't it all getting wet?'
'I put it into my foot locker the second rain started coming in through the roof,' Izzy said.
'Good idea,' BJ said.
'It's so cold,' Izzy continued. 'How can you stand it?'
'It's not cold. Yet. Right now, it's a cool temperature, with the chance of it getting colder,' Hawkeye said. 'Usually, for it to be really cold, it snows.'
'Great,' Izzy mumbled. She sneezed, waking Frank up.
'What's she doing in here?' he asked.
'Getting dry,' Izzy replied. 'Do you think I could sleep in here until I get a waterproof tent, and maybe a stove? My tent's cold.'
'No!' Frank said. Hawkeye glared at the man, before turning back to Izzy.
'Sure, if you promise not to clean up,' he said.
'The Colonel won't allow this,' Frank said snidely.
'He will unless he wants me to catch pneumonia, or something,' Izzy said.
'There's a spare cot in here already,' BJ said.
'Thanks, BJ,' Izzy said. Hawkeye suddenly frowned as the sound of helicopters sounded through the rain.
'Big haul of wounded coming in, folks. Better get on your raincoats and come meet 'em,' the PA struggled over the rain.
'Come on,' BJ sighed, taking his jacket down from a peg.
'You stay here, Izzy, you already sound a little sick,' Hawkeye added before the three surgeons left the Swamp. Izzy watched the camp flounder around in the wet for half an hour until the last of them disappeared into the OR, before looking around the Swamp. She hoped Hawkeye and BJ didn't mind her looking through their things, she knew Frank would, but she didn't really care about him. She studied BJ's photo's of his wife and daughter, experimentally had some more gin from the Still before tipping the rest of the glass outside, and wrote rude things in the margins of Frank's letters home. She sat on Hawkeye's cot after a while, and saw a book sitting on his locker.
'"The last of the Mohicans",' Izzy read with interest. The infamous book Hawkeye got his name from. She picked it up, and a slip of paper fell from it. She was about to put it back, when she realised it was a letter. She glanced around guiltily before reading it.
~ Dear Trapper,
This letter will probably end up with the other thirty two letter's I've tried to write to you, in the fire, but you never know, I might send this one.
BJ, the man who replaced you is great, a real joker, like you, though, replaced probably isn't the right word. Who the army sent in to make up numbers after you left is probably more accurate. He filled one of Frank's shoes with mashed potatoes yesterday, before telling Frank he needed to go to Post Op. I think you would have liked him.
Speaking of Ferret Face, we weren't stuck with him for CO for long, a Colonel Potter was brought in to take charge of the unit. He's great too, stricter than Henry was, but still lets us have a lot of fun.
Margaret and Frank are still together, Klinger still wears dresses, and Radar still sleeps with his teddy bear, so other than you leaving and BJ and Potter arriving, nothing much has changed. Except we have a new member of the unit. I know you would have wanted to send her home, because she's so young, but I can't help but feel if she goes, the war will worsen. Her name's Izzy, a plucky eighteen year old from Australia. She's had a rough life, but has proved to everyone that she can take care of herself. She's no good in surgery, worse than Frank, and that's saying something, but she managed to catch four of Flagg's spies the other night. She's handy with a gun, which scares me a little bit, because you know how I feel about guns. It's ok, though, I don't think she likes me flirting with the nurses, which makes us even.
Ok, the hard part of the letter, now. Why did you leave? Couldn't you have waited a while longer for me to get back from R and R so I could have said goodbye properly? Writing this, I know where this letter will end up, ash in the bottom of the Swamp's stove, with the other letters, but I might keep it a little longer so I can start another one and know where I'm heading with it before burning it as well.
Because we never got a chance to before, I'll take this chance to say goodbye.
Goodbye Trapper.
From Hawkeye. ~
Izzy put the letter down. It was weird reading a letter by Hawkeye, especially one to Trapper. She'd never heard Hawkeye talk about Trapper, especially about how he felt about him leaving. It gave her a lot to think about. She put it back into Hawkeye's book, and put the book back where she found it. She knew she'd never be able to talk to Hawkeye about that letter, or anyone else for that matter. Izzy sat beside the stove again and stayed there quietly for hours until BJ and Hawkeye came back from surgery.