Kooshball Note: THIS IS NOT A SELF HELP GUIDE! This is merely a reason for me to use Izzy in a fic again. If you do not know Izzy, go read "Not a TV show" before reading on.
Still reading? You must be at least familiar with Izzy then. Good.
This first one is in first person perspective, or a POV fic. It's in Charles' POV, even though I know most people wanted a Hawkeye POV, about how Charles first learns about Izzy.
'Come on, Charles, lighten up,' BJ says.
'Yeah, we'll grow on you sooner or later,' Hawkeye adds.
'I don't want you to "grow on me". I want to go back to Tokyo!' I snap.
"Dear Mother and Father. I have been in this hellhole known as Korea for a week now, and I am still no closer to leaving. The Colonel tells me I am here permanently."
I calm down a little before continuing on. 'Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go to our tent, and listen to music.'
'Come on, Beej, let's leave Charlie to his music,' Hawkeye says, slouching off toward the officers club. I have to restrain myself from yelling at him. How many times have I told him my name is Charles Emerson Winchester? I head to the tent I have to share with "Hawkeye" and "BJ", which is named "The Swamp". I hate to admit that it suits it.
"The camp is in the middle of the biggest mud puddle in the whole of South Korea, and it's three miles from the front. Three! How we haven't been over taken by North Koreans I don't know."
Picking out a Bach record from my collection, I lay on my cot to relax. How I am meant to relax, let alone sleep on this hard piece of canvas, I do not know. I close my eyes, only to open them again when I realise someone is stumbling into the tent.
'Is Hawkeye here?' a young female voice slurs. Standing in the doorway is a girl of about nineteen, with dark blond hair. She stumbles into the tent further and falls over onto Hawkeye's cot.
'Who are you?' I ask. She looks too young to be part of this MASH unit, but then again, Radar seems to be of the same age, if not only a year or two older.
'Private Izzy Parker,' the girl answers, trying to salute me while lying on Hawkeye's cot. 'I need to talk to Hawkeye.'
'Captain Pierce is not here. He went with Hunnicutt to the officer's club,' I tell her. She didn't reply.
"The operating room is terrible. The lighting is bad, there is barely any room, and we work for eight hours or more at times. I don't know how I'll survive..."
'Private?' I ask. Cautiously, I moved toward her, and checked her. She was still breathing. I moved her onto the cot properly, and rolled her over onto her back. I would let Pierce and Hunnicutt to deal with her when they came back.
'What's Izzy doing here?' Pierce asked loudly.
'She came in here looking for you,' I grumbled, turning over. I had been dreaming that I was back in Boston and he had ruined it for me by waking me up.
'Izzy,' Hunnicutt mumbled gently. 'Come on, Hawkeye needs his cot back.'
'It's ok, I'll sleep in my chair,' Pierce said.
'Must you make so much noise?' I demanded, suddenly sitting up.
'Shush, Charles, you'll wake her up,' Pierce snapped back. I was surprised. It was the first signs of a temper I had seen from Pierce.
'What do you care, she's only a child,' I said.
'She's an orphan,' Hunnicutt said, trying to calm Pierce down. 'Hawkeye likes to look after her.'
'I have no idea why you'd waste your time on a street urchin,' I muttered before laying down again.
'I have no idea why you'd waste your time on a street urchin,' Pierce mocked. 'There's some great human compassion for ya, Beej.' There were a few sounds of them settling down, and then, just the silence of the Korean night.
"I cannot stand it here much longer! The showers are cold, the food is rank, and the noise! Occasionally, it is quiet, but other nights, the air is filled with gun fire and explosions! I swear, if they don't finish this war soon, I will finish it for them."
Three nights later, I am trying to read when Pierce, Hunnicutt and the young girl come in.
'Hey, Charlie,' all three chorus at once.
'Pierce, Hunnicutt, street urchin,' I greet. I know it will annoy Pierce to hear his precious lost dog being called "street urchin".
'I'd watch it if I were you, Major,' the girl says. 'The last guy to cross me was belted by Hawkeye.' I ignore her. Soon, all three leave and head to Rosie's bar.
"I try to withstand this camps idiocy, but sometimes they outdo themselves. But between drunken children and a man wearing dresses, there is only so much I can stand."
It's only a few hours later when the girl comes back in. She stumbles in the door of the Swamp again, and collapses this time on Hunnicutt's bed.
'You know,' she says, looking at me and pausing before going on, 'you know, you can be a real great bloke when you want to be, you know?' She started giggling.
'What are you on about?' I said. Her accent was quite hard to place. It seemed to have picked up on a few on top of her own, and it made me wonder where she was from.
'You don't know me, but I know you,' she said. For a moment, she seemed sober, but then she fell backwards onto Hunnicutt's cot. Again, I left her for Pierce and Hunnicutt to find.
I was awakened several hours later, by Pierce and Hunnicutt moving around.
'Don't wake either of them,' Pierce warned.
'I know,' Hunnicutt replied. 'But where am I supposed to sleep?'
'Take my bunk, and I'll sleep on my chair again,' Pierce offered.
'Aw, Hawk, I couldn't do that to you,' Hunnicutt said.
'Hey, I've made Izzy my responsibility. If she falls asleep on your cot, it's only fair that I give you mine,' Pierce said.
'Hey, she's everyone's responsibility. I'll sleep on the chair tonight,' Hunnicutt replied. There was no more arguments about it from either Captain. For a moment, I wished I had a friend who'd give up his cot for me, no matter how uncomfortable it was.
"According to the other people of this outfit, it gets incredibly cold here in the winter, and unbearably hot during the summer. Send my fur coat as soon as you can. Knowing the mail, I'll get it just as it gets cold if you send it right away."
One night, I decided to visit the small Korean owned bar the girl always went to. I was wondering what sort of place would serve minors, and if they had a few bottles of '41 port. The girl was there, sitting at the bar, beckoning every so often for another drink.
'Charles,' she said, greeting me like an old friend. 'Sit down, have a drink on the Army.' I sat beside her, wondering if she always made little sense.
'I'll have a wine, year 1940 if you have it,' I said.
'No wine, but got beer,' the small Korean lady said.
'Fine,' I mumbled. Was nothing here civilized?
'Charge it to my account, ok, Rosie?' Izzy said. 'Just that one, mind.' The Korean woman nodded and disappeared. 'Enjoying Korea?' she asked, looking at me with a grin on her face.
'No,' I replied stiffly.
'Think of it this way, it's better than fighting in the trenches,' the girl told me seriously.
'Hmm,' I said. She was right, much to surprise. She was smarter than I gave credit for. 'What's your name?' I asked her.
'Didn't you know?' she asked in surprise. 'That's right, you've been calling me street urchin. I'm Izzy.'
'Short for Isabelle?' I asked hopefully.
'Nope, just Izzy,' she replied happily.
'Where did you come from? A high class of society?' I asked, knowing there was no possible way that this rough looking child would be a high class citizen.
'No, just a thief,' she said, not so happily. 'Kicked outta home at fifteen, been on the streets until I came here.'
'What city are you from?' I asked, wanting to find some link for her to be high class.
'Sydney,' she said. Sydney? As in that dirty place with all the large hopping rat things? Well, it explained her accent, especially if adopting some of the other's accents. I was disappointed, but not ready to give up. She just had that air of being well-bred, and I was determined to find it.
'Is there anything regal in your background?' I said, desperately. It was a long shot, but...
'No,' Izzy told me. 'Nothing flash about me. I'm just a street kid from Sydney, with no history, and no future.'
'How can you say that!' I said, slamming my fist onto the bar. Izzy jumped.
'Gee, what's with you?' she asked.
'You have the quality of being from a well off family,' I said. 'I can tell. Winchester instincts have never failed my family. It's how we knew not to by tickets for the "Titanic".'
'What, so you're saying I'm gonna hit an ice burg and sink?' Izzy sniggered.
'I just want to know why!' I said loudly. Suddenly, she looked guilty at my outburst.
'I'm from a rich family. Believes in good manners, and such. My mother was annoyed when I did something that didn't fit in with our sort of people and she kicked me out. She died, a few days later,' Izzy told me, looking down as if she were ashamed. I was silent for a while.
'I'm sorry for bringing it up,' I said eventually. I left Izzy at the bar, and went back to the Swamp.
"No one here is civilized. Just the other day, someone in the mess tent started a food fight. Luckily, I've found a Korean housewife who offered to do my laundry for a few dollars a day. She does a good job, and worth every penny, maybe a few more."
Izzy came into the tent later that night, while I was in the latrines. I found her passed out on my cot.
'Sorry, Charles, we were just about to move her,' Pierce said hurriedly. He seemed to want to keep me in a good mood for some reason.
'Leave the girl where she is!' I snapped. I went to Pierce's putrid chair and sat down in it. 'I shall be sleeping here tonight, and she may have my cot.' Pierce and Hunnicutt looked amazed, and it was worth the horrible night's rest to just see the looks on their faces.
"Concerning the lack of civilized people, I have found a young girl who appreciates my music, and taste in books. The most surprising thing about her though, is that she is homeless, with not a penny to her name. Usually, I'd disapprove of a Winchester consorting with the likes of her, but considering my other choices, I think you'd be pleased."
Kooshball Note: Ok, that's it for the first person perspective. Like it? Hate it? Stupid idea? I want to hear what you have to say about this!
PS. MASH-NUT-4077 if you are reading this, (And I hope you are) can I use your Random humorous dialogue that you left as a review for "Not a TV show" for this fic? It, of course, will be credited to you, as it should be.