Margaret excitedly walked into the hotel dinning room at a little past five, searching the room for everyone else. She recognized Daniel's loud laugh in the corner of her room and tried to discern where it came from.
"Ah Margaret there you are," Mildred Potter called while waving. Margaret smiled and waved as she made her way over. Daniel and Ed rose politely and the waiter helped her with her chair. Peg leaned over and excitedly handed Margaret a framed picture.
"BJ sent this to me." She said happily. Margaret studied the picture and smiled. She traced the outline of the familiar faces with her finger. Then she noticed the sign and looked at Peg curiously.
"Why does it say…?"
"My son wants me to believe that here is still here in America." Margaret looked up at Sheila. "He doesn't want me to worry about him." Margaret smiled in understanding and nodded.
"You miss them don't you dear?" Mildred asked. Margaret looked up from the photograph and nodded.
"They were the closest thing I had to a family; a real family anyway." Margaret snorted and shook her head in amusement.
"Tell me," Daniel said, leaning back in his chair. "What was the craziest stunt anyone ever pulled off?" The table quieted down considerably to hear her answer. Margaret stared at the picture as memories flooded into her head.
She sighed. "Wow it's hard to choose. Of course there's all the hundreds of stunts Klin…uh, Max tried to pull off. He's dressed up as everything from Moses to the Statue of Liberty."
Margaret paused for a moment as Sheila Klinger tried to stifle her laughter so she wouldn't spew her mouthful of food all over the table. After everyone stopped laughing Margaret continued.
"Of course there was the time Captain Pierce and Captain Macintyre strung all of my underwear up the flagpole; they replaced Major Burn's pistol with a plunger…Oh! And recently Hawkeye and BJ refused to shower until Major Winchester agreed to stop playing his new French horn." Margaret smiled and shook her head.
"But of course that wasn't really a stunt, it was just disgusting." Everyone was laughing good humouredly as Margaret tried to remember the best stunt that had been pulled off.
"Ah yes I remember one now." She was grinning wickedly as everyone watched her curiously. "It was actually a brilliant trick. I'm not even supposed to know about it but I'm not quite the dumb blonde they think I am." Margaret chuckled in remembrance and continued.
"I'm not quite sure how it all started, but the gist of it is that Hawkeye and Trapper created a man."
"What?" Margaret looked up and laughed at the expression on Dr. Winchester's face. "What on earth are you talking about? They created a man?"
"Just give me a minute to explain and everything will make sense." Margaret assured him.
"I'm not quite sure why they did it in the first place; I think it had something to do with smuggling supplies. Anyway, they created a man and they named him Captain Tuttle…" Here Daniel burst out laughing and Margaret watched him curiously for a moment.
"What is it?" she asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.
"He called him Tuttle? Tuttle was Hawkeye's only friend growing up…" Daniel was wheezing now and trying to speak in between fits of laughter. "But he…he didn't even exist! Ben would blame everything on Tuttle."
Margaret chuckled and shook her head. "Well Tuttle bailed him out in Korea also. But some of us officers got suspicious and wanted to see Captain Tuttle's file. So, they made one." Margaret was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face. She had never thought much about this particular prank before and the more she thought about it the more hysterical it became.
"It was pure genius, really!"
Mildred leaned forward, pressing herself against the table. "Well how did you find out?"
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there." Margaret guaranteed her as she wiped the tears from her face.
"Well one thing after another happened; first they realized that Captain Tuttle hadn't been paid in two years! So two MP's came and Hawkeye had to dress up in surgical gear to sign for the money. Then he turned around and gave all the money to a nearby orphanage and instructed all the rest of his money to be given to them. Meanwhile, both Captains had everyone in camp believing that Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle was their best friend! They even had me half-believing I was dating the man. Well someone heard about Tuttle donating his paycheck to the orphanage and some General came and wanted to award Tuttle with a medal…"
Margaret stopped for a moment to catch her breath before continuing. "That's when I caught them. They had to think of some excuse for Tuttle not being there. I saw them making some dog tags and Radar scrounging around for a parachute and helmet. They told the General…they told him Tuttle died!"
"What?" Daniel looked at her in wonderment. "How did they get anyone to believe that without a body?"
Margaret took a deep breath and leaned back. "They said he jumped from a plane with out his parachute. On top of all that Pierce had enough nerve to stand up and give a damn eulogy! He had the entire camp in tears!"
Slowly but surely the group calmed down and began to ask Margaret to recount more stories. They enjoyed hearing about their loved ones and Margaret was careful to filter out any details that might remind them that it was still a war. Almost an hour late Peg stood up and announced that they would be late for the show if they didn't hurry.
Suddenly Margaret felt that she needed to be alone. She politely excused herself from going; saying that she was exhausted. Everyone understood and wished her a goodnight's sleep. Margaret quickly made her way to her room and sat down on the small couch and let the tears come.
Haha so I'm going to be rather mean...I already have the next chapter all typed out and waiting to be uploaded...but I'm holding it ransome for say...five comments...the second I get five comments for this chapter the next one will pop up within ten minutes...hehehe