Part 2: "Excuse me, soldiers." Beth bent over and picked up the blankets, but he butt was pinched. "Knock it off!"
Suddenly, from behind her she heard a voice, "Gentlemen, is there a problem here?" She looked up into a pair of brown eyes. "No, Lt. There's no problem, just havin' a little fun with the FNG." A soldier said.
Mckay reached down and helped Beth up. "Leave her alone, alright guys, she ain't for you to be messin' around with."
"Thank you." Beth said as she stared at a very gorgeous face.
"No problem, you have anymore problems come find Lieutenant John Mckay. At your service night and day." He said as he smiled at the beautiful blonde women standing in from of him. "You are?"
Beth smiled at him and then replied, "I'm Beth Black, the new reporter. You're kinda cute for being a grunt."
"Sorry, no grunt here. I'm a chopper jock. Where are you headed with your sheets?"
Beth looked at the dirty pile. "I'm going to wash them. They stink really bad. The guys in my hootch don't clean much of anything it seems."
Mckay picked up the load of sheets and asked, "Would you like some help? I'm not sure where you intend to wash them, the laundry room is closed down, but I could help."
"I was going to use the shower, then hang 'em over the wall." She explained smiling at him.
"Hey, Lt. Have you seen Sarge? We need to see about passes for tonight." Taylor asked as he walked up with Percell, Ruiz, and Doc.
"No guys, I haven't." Mckay looked at his watch, "Oh, hey Ruiz, Percell, will you show Beth where the shower ir, help her with the laundry and make sure no guys bother her?"
Ruiz looked at Percell and Percell smiled. "Yessir." Percell took the sheets from Mckay and motioned for Beth to follow him and Ruiz. Mckay started walking with Taylor and Doc when he heard, "Nice meeting you Mckay." **** "Here's the shower, chica." Ruiz said as he looked at Beth. "Si, mucho gracies, amigo." Beth replied.
"Tu hablas en espanol?"
"Un poco." Beth said and smiled, knowing she had just made a friend. "You guys mind speakin' in English." Percell said, annoyed Beth and Ruiz were bonding. "Me and Ru will wash them for you. We're used to the guys around here." "Percell, I'll help. Naked guys don't bother me, 'specially if they're cute." Beth smiled to herself when she saw Percell give Ruiz a nudge. "Now you two on the otherhand, might make me gag, or even puke." Percell frowed. "Now what in the hell is that supposed to mean. We're good looking." Beth stuck her head out from behind one of the sheets, looked at Ruiz and asked, "Is he always this uptight?" Ruiz laughed and Beth glanced at Percell. "I'm kiddin'! You guys are both cute, especially you Percell." Ruiz laughed as both of the blushed. *** Percell sat down with an arm load of beers. "Beth, I forgot to tell you, you're supposed to meet Lieutenant Goldman and Sergeant Anderson. "Oh, where would I find them and do they know I'm a woman?" "No, they don't!" "But we do know! Taylor, why you lookin' so down?" Sarge asked. Beth stood up and looked at the man standing behind her. "Hello, Sargaent. I'll be traveling with your squad, and am I sharing their hootch. Shall we talk, Sargaent and go find your Lieutenant." "Yes, ma'am." Beth followed Anderson out of the bar. When Beth caught up with Anderson and asked, "Taylor has a problem with me, doesn't he? He makes me feel so unwelcome." "Well, ma'am." "Beth, please, call me Beth." Anderson gulped, "Alright, Beth. Taylor has a problem with change and he definitely doesn't like the idea of women being in the 'Nam. He's already lost one woman because of the Army." "Really?" She asked as the continued walking. "Is there anything I can do to make him accept me any easier?" "Be nice, buy 'em a couple of beers and give him time to adjust." Anderson stopped in from of a lighted hootch. He opened the door and motioned for Beth to go in. Beth stepped into the room and looked around. In the left corner there was a bed, a bed on the right side, and blanket leather chair with a footstool. The right side of the room was very neat, but the left had dirty shirts and fatigues and laying all over the bed and floor. She looked to the right of where she was standing and saw a wooden desk. "Lieutenant Goldman?" He stood up and shook Beth's hand, "Yes, I'm Goldman." She let go of his hand and said, "I'm Beth Black and the new reporter and will be with you and your squad until further notice." "Yes, that is what I have been told. Sargaent, does she have a place to sleep? I know the base is packed, that's why I'm sharin' my room with a chopper jock." Anderson nodded and stepped further into the room. "If you have any problems, ma'am just come to me. If anymore men come into your hootch, let me know, and you can stay here."
She glanced at Anderson, then at Goldman. "Thanks, you guys are making' me feel so welcome. It's nice to know I got assigned to a good squad. My treat guys, let's go back to the club and get a couple of beers." They both nodded. **** "Alright, Lieutenant Goldman, Sargaent Anderson, here are your beers. Enjoy. I'm going over by Taylor, try'n get him on my good side." Goldman nodded and started talking to Anderson about tomorrow's mission. Beth went back to the bar and got four beers and a soda, then walked over to where the guy's were. "Taylor, you wanna beer? My treat?" He looked up as he turned, Beth smiled and took the beer. "Thanks. You might not be too bad if you can keep from rollin' off the bed." Beth looked at him and smiled. "Doc, Ruiz, Percell, y'all want another beer?" They all said thanks and Percell told her to pull up a chair. A few minutes later Beth looked at Percell and he looked are her, "Percell, you wanna go play the jukebox?"
He nodded and they both got up and made their way over to it. Taylord looked at the two leaving, then said, "I think those two would be good together."
Percell and Beth came back to the table and stood there, and soon a slow country song started playing that Percell had chosen. He looked at Beth and asked, "You wanna dance?" Beth took his hand and smiled. He led her onto the dance floor and took her into his arms.
"Percell?" Beth asked.
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just want you to know that comment I made about you guys makin' me puke was only a joke."
Percell nodded his head and pulled her closer, and whispered into her ear, "You're beautiful, my little cowgirl." Beth didn't respond, she just wrapped her arms around his neck tighter and took in the scent of him. *** Anderson walked up to the table and said, "Well ladies, ain't it 'bout time for y'all to turn in?" Everyone groaned, taking last gulps of the beer, and slowly got up and made their ways to the jeep and back to the hootch, *** All the men were in the barracks, lying on their own cots and Beth came in with her pajamas on and Taylor looked at her and said, "Are you weird or somethin'? No on wears stuff like that around here, just sleep in you're underclothes." Beth uttered, "Taylor, I just took a nice shower and smell good. Under no circumstances am I going to put dirty, smelly fatigues on." Beth folded her dirty clothes and set them alongside the bottom of her bed. "Hey guys, what time do we leave tomorrow?" Ruiz looked at her and asked, "What do ya mean we? Hey girl, you don't think you're comin' with us in the bush, do you?" Beth turned and faced the guys and exclaimed, "I mean 'we' as in all of us in this room. Taylor got off his bed and walked over to her. "There is no way in hell that you are coming with us! That's just dumb." "How else am I supposed to get my stories? Listen to you all tell me? No way, I'm going to see it first hand." Beth growled, "Just wait!" and ran out the door towards Goldman's hootch. She ran with her pajamas and matching red slippers on, and when she reached his hootch she yanked open the door. "Lieutenant Goldman, sir. I have a complaint and question, sir." Also I'm sorry to bother you, but this is important. Goldman rolled over and flipped the light on. He got ip out of his bed, and stood only in his boxers. "What is it?" "Beth, is that you?" She looked to the other side and saw Mckay laying on his bed. "Who else would it be?" Beth snapped. "Sir, do I get to go with you and your men on this mission?" She planted her fists firmly on her hips. Gold raked his fingers through his hair. "Why do you want to know at this hour?" "Because Taylor said that there was no way that I was going with tomorrow. I'm supposed to write stories and I need to see things first hand. Didn't Colonel Brewster tell you that I was supposed to go with?" Goldman sighed heavily and Mckay smiled, quite amused. He could tell that Beth would get her way. "Of course he did, but Anderson told you about Taylor. He doesn't like the idea of women in the 'Nam." She sighed and walked over to Mckay, "Well, I'm here to do my job, not stand around, because some guy has a bad feeling about women being in Vietnam." She sat down on Mckay's bed next to him. "Listen, I'll make a deal. I won't precisely go on the mission. I'll just ride on the chopper, get a feel for that first. Make everybody happy. Goodnight." She walked across the base and then opened the door to her hootch. "Listen Taylor, you better be damn happy, I'm not going on the mission tomorrow. I'm ridin' in the chopper." She crawled into bed, pulled the covers around her and tears streamed down her face. "I hate this place," she whispered. A sob escaped her throat and Percell heard it. Beth laid there for a few minutes, until she though everyone was sleeping, then slowly got out of bed and went outside and sat on a wooden crate. The tears wouldn't stop falling. Before Beth knew it, Percell came out and sat next to her. "I hate this place." Percell took her hand and held it tight. "We all hate this place." Beth shook her head no. "This place is awful for everyone, but I don't get treated like an equal. I really wanna go on that mission tomorrow." He looked at her and said, "It would make Taylor happy if you didn't this one time, next time, come. If you don't want to do it for Taylor, do it for me?" "Alright. Let's go back inside you need your sleep." *** Beth kept her promise not to go on the mission, but she did ride in the helicopter. She yelled over to Taylor, "I'm not going on this mission just to make you happy!" Taylor looked at her, then tried to scoot closer to her. "Thanks. I just had a bad feeling about you comin' on this one." Zeke looked at Taylor and exclaimed, "Why Taylor, I never knew you cared." Taylor and Zeke both laughed. The chopper barely touched the ground and the men began jumping off. "Good luck!" She screamed, then the bird was lifted off the ground. Beth leaned against a wall in the chopper and looked out the side doors. Then her attention was averted to the door gunner closest to her as he began firing. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what Percell was doing. ***