The Powers of Friendship
BJ was sitting quietly in his black easy chair watching Erin, his daughter play with the dog in front of the fire that was in the fireplace. She would throw the dog's ball afew feet away and he would leap from all fours and bring it back to her. BJ starried at the fire completely loosing himself in the crackling flame of the fire burning in the fireplace, Erin then popped up out of no where, scaring her dad. "Aaaaaah!" He screamed. She was waiting for him to let her up in his lap, and so he removed his hands from his lap. She was content for a moment as she snuggled up to him, getting as close as she could. "Dad, what are you thinking about?" She questioned.
Well he replied to her, "I was just thinking about the times I had in Korea, with my friends at the M*A*S*H 4077th."
"Dad."
"Yes."
"What is a M*A*S*H 4077, and what is Korea?" She asked, as she gave him a blank look.
"Well it is hard to explain. But to put it simply, it is a hospital that the army makes out of tents and it can move very quickly from place to place. You were probably to little to remember when I was stationed there for along time. I was drafted and the army made me a doctor there, during the Korean war. Korea it the name of the place were it was fought. It is a very long ways away from here."
"Why did you like it so much? Was it fun?" She again questioned.
"I didn't like it at all, however I made a lot of friends there that I did like and they became very special to me."
"Good for you dad."
"I had several friends that I would like to see again. Pumpkin, do think I will be lucky enough to see them again?"
"Well, dad, I sure hope so." She replied in a childish like voice.
"ERIN!" Her mother called form the kitchen.
"Yes, mom."
"Come here and pick up your toys so you can go to bed."
"Ok, coming." She replied as she said good night to her father and proceeded on her way. The next morning came and Peggy got up first fixing their breakfast. "ERIN, BJ!" She shouted. A few minuets later they both appeared at the table, ready for the new day and hungry. She set their breakfast on the table and as they were eating they started to talk. "Well, BJ, do you think we should tell her?" Peggy commented.
"Oh, go ahead." He replied.
"TELL ME WHAT?" Erin asked with annoyance.
"Your dad and I were thinking about going on a family vacation this weekend and we thought that you might want to go to the Zoo that is in Iowa. How does that sound?"
"GREAT!!" Erin responded. The days slowly passed and Erin was growing more exited by the minute about the trip, she had never been to a zoo before and she loved animals. As Friday approached, BJ and Peg packed up the car with lots of clothes and luggage, after all it was along drive form California to Iowa. Then later that night as planned, they set off. They slowly made their way through the various states and on in to Iowa.