"Well would you look at that... it actually feels a little cooler out today."
"Thats just the rain," Erin replied. "Gosh, does it ever stop raining in Vietnam?"
"Think on the bright side, Christmas is coming up in a few weeks. Maybe we can cheer the place up again like we did last year?"
Darlene smiled, "Not a bad idea, Jo. In fact, maybe this year we could have a gift exchange. That would be nice, wouldn't it?"
"Hey that's a great idea, that'll really boost the morale around here!" Erin exclaimed.
"And we have plenty of time to plan something out," Jo remarked, pulling out a notepad.
Erin smiled, "Well you two will have to start without me, I've got three days of R an' R starting this afternoon."
"You plan on getting out of here and you don't even tell us?" Darlene glared at Erin in a joking way, "and you didn't even invite me! I must say I am offended."
Jo waved her notepad in front of her nose. "I too am offended, I can't say in the same way."
Erin frowned and sniffed her shirt.
"If you're leaving for three days you best hit the showers before you offend the rest of Vietnam."
Erin rolled her eyes. Standing up from the cot, she reached for her towel and headed for the door. "This is why I never ask you guys to come with me."
Darlene chuckled, "Hey I'm not the one who was offending the offensive."
/scene/
It was still raining by the time Erin had gotten to the hotel she'd be staying in. It was never anything like the hotels that she had been to in the states. But it was certainly a lot nicer than spending another three days in the camp. At least the hotel didn't have blood-stained floors.
And for the rest of the night, Erin laid on her back, listening to the patter of rain hit the windowsill. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting herself drift to sleep.
And as she did so, she though of something BJ had told her many years ago. A large rainstorm had hit Mill Valley, and little Erin was too nervous to fall asleep. But his words of comfort were enough to help her find her way to dreamland.
"An old friend of mine told me, if you listen; really listen to the rain, it sounds just like the sizzling of steaks."
And as she laid in the dark, she almost felt a sense of peace that she hadn't in a long time. When her father first told her this she didn't think too much on it, aside from dreaming of steaks raining from the sky. But drifting into sleep, she could agree:
It did sound just like the sizzling of a steak.