A low bank of clouds stretched across the horizon at about 6,000 feet. They had moved in during breakfast following the morning patrol and Greg stood looking at the horizon trying to decide whether or not to continue as planned with the day's flights.
"Here's the latest weather report, Pappy," Casey said running up to him.
Greg took the paper from him and studied it for a few moments.
"According to this we should be in fairly good shape until early evening."
"So we're still going ahead with bombing the airstrip?" Casey asked.
Greg looked at the horizon again still not liking the look of the cloud bank, but it was in the opposite direction from where they were going and appeared to be moving in that same direction so hopefully they'd make it back alright without running into any severe weather or heavy cloud cover.
"So, what are we going to do?" Casey asked.
"Tell Gutterman to have the second team ready to take off in 30 minutes and I'll lead the first team out 15 minutes after that."
Casey turned and ran off to relay the message for Gutterman to get ready since everything was going to go on as scheduled.
Both teams carried out their missions flawlessly. Greg's team located the airstrip on Choiseul and although it looked as if several of the Zeros were in the air they did considerable to those that were on the ground. Greg and Bragg strafed the planes that were on the ground until they were burning or so full of bullet holes that they looked like Swiss cheese and there was no possible way for them to take off, before moving on to strafe the airstrip to the point that it would take months of work before it could be used for that purpose again. Casey and Anderson flew over and dropped several 500 bombs over the maintenance building, which disintegrated in a spectacular explosion that sent pieces of it flying into the air and jungle for several feet.
As they headed back to join the second team Greg couldn't help but think that with the success of this bombing mission it was assured that all military branches stationed in or passing through the area would have one less thing to worry about, if not permanently, then at least for quite some time.
Gutterman and the rest of the second team made several passes over Bougainville getting quite a few photographic shots including several very clear ones of the planes and buildings as well as giving them a fairly good estimate of the number of Japanese on the island. Both teams had regrouped and were within a few miles of Vella La Cava when the weather started to get dicey. Black, almost green, cumulonimbus clouds their tops reaching upwards of 45,000 feet, before flattening out in an anvil-like shape, roiled around them.
"Second team leader to Black Sheep One can you hear me?" Gutterman called over the radio.
"Loud and clear, second team leader what's wrong?"
"Where'd this weather come from? I thought you told us the weather report said things would be fine until evening?"
"Yeah, that's what it said, but apparently some idiot didn't know what he was talking about. It's probably going to be rough the rest of the way in so stick close and pray we all make it," Greg said before signing off.
The wind was starting to pick up on Vella La Cava as Hutch, Emily, and Meatball waited for the two groups to return. It was impossible for Hutch to hear anything over the wind, and then suddenly he saw a plane descending from the clouds.
"That looks like Greg's plane," he thought as he ran to help get the planes tied down once they had all landed leaving Meatball to stand guard by Emily's basket. After everyone was safely on the ground Greg jumped out.
"Get those planes tied down and anything else that hasn't been secured yet, then everyone get to the Sheep Pen. It looks like we're in for one hell of a storm."
No sooner had they all gotten safely into the Sheep Pen than the storm hit with all its fury. Meatball lay on the floor beside Greg and whimpered at each clash of thunder, while Anderson walked around with Emily trying to comfort her. The sound of trees breaking and cracking could be heard above the wind as torrential rain battered the Sheep Pen.
"Hutch, I'd be prepared for some major damage to our planes," Greg commented.
"That's what I'm afraid of," he replied.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash very close to the Sheep Pen followed by everyone being thrust into sudden darkness.
"I think a tree fell on one of the generators," French commented.
"Great, just great," Greg said."Okay, does anyone know if we have candles and matches around here?"
"I think we've got some in a box behind the bar, but I'm not sure exactly where," Casey answered.
"Good luck trying to find them in the dark," Gutterman said irritably.
The next few minutes were filled with the sounds of TJ and Boyle, who had been standing next to the bar, trying to locate the box in question behind it.
"I think I found it!" Boyle exclaimed followed by the sound of breaking glass and the smell of beer.
"Boyle!" several of the Black Sheep cried out.
"Well, at least it wasn't the hard liquor and besides you guys ought to try doing this. It ain't easy looking for something in pitch darkness when you don't even know where it is to begin with," Boyle replied.
"Here we are," TJ said feeling around inside a small box.
A few seconds later the Sheep Pen was illuminated by candlelight giving them a chance to see how much damage had been done from the broken bottles. Luckily, only a few were broken and that mess was quickly cleaned up. Emily had finally fallen asleep although, now that he could see, Anderson continued to walk around with her.
Greg looked at his watch and noted it was a little after midnight.
"I don't think this will be ending anytime soon," he said. Although it had slacked off considerably. "So, I think the best thing to do is for all of us to make ourselves as comfortable as possible and try to sleep because tomorrow is not going to be an easy day."
The next morning, Greg awoke to find Emily already awake with two fingers in her mouth, quite content to just lay there and think. The rest of the Black Sheep were sprawled over tables or in chairs and combined with the smell of beer that still hung heavily in the air, from the broken bottles, Greg thought that if Colonel Lard or General Moore were to walk in it wouldn't surprise him if they assumed they were all passed out drunk after a long night of mindless drinking.
He managed to heat some water in a pot and make coffee as well as fix Emily her bottle. After she was fed and changed she went back to sleep. Then taking his cup he stepped outside to see the extent of the damage caused by the previous night's storm.
It was still raining although it had tapered off to a fine mist. Trees were down everywhere and branches littered the camp. Coconuts were tossed all over and from what he could see it looked as if some of the planes had been hit by branches, but how bad the damage was he couldn't tell from the doorway. Of course, they'd have to do a complete inspection of the buildings to see how badly they were damaged, but that could wait until things were cleaned up a little bit.
"Morning, Pappy how's it look out there?" Bragg asked sleepily from behind him.
Greg turned around.
"It's a mess out there so as soon as everyone gets up and has breakfast we'll start cleaning things up."
Slowly and with stiff muscles from their uncomfortable sleeping arrangements the rest of the Black Sheep awoke. TJ and French managed to scrape together a breakfast of sorts consisting of crackers, dried fruit, mixed nuts, and coffee.
"Has anyone been outside yet?" French asked.
"Yes and plan on spending most of the day cleaning up, maybe the next several days depending on how badly damaged the buildings are," Greg said.
After breakfast, Hutch and Boyle went to see how badly damaged the planes were. Anderson and TJ began to pick up coconuts and put them in empty boxes from the Sheep Pen. Casey took Emily and went to see if the radio worked before he attempted to contact General Moore to let him know about the damage sustained and then contact Sister Mary Elizabeth to see if everything was okay at the orphanage. Greg and French went to see how badly damaged the generator was and try to get it working. Gutterman and Anderson began sawing fallen trees and moving branches; piling them at the far end of the airstrip. Meatball had been walking around checking things out when suddenly he sniffed the air, started barking, and ran off into the jungle.
"What's gotten into him?" French remarked to Greg.
"I have no idea, but we'd better go after him. I don't want him to get hurt or anything."
The two of them stopped working on the generator and followed the sound of Meatball's barking. They found him several feet into the jungle standing by a fallen tree under which lay four very large and very dead wild pigs.
"Whoa," French commented. "Pappy, it looks like we're going to eat good for a few days, that is, if we can get this tree off of them and get them back to camp."
Greg ran back and got Gutterman and Anderson to bring a couple of saws and in a few minutes they had the tree cut apart and the pigs freed. They drug them back and put them in front of the Sheep Pen, next to the boxes of coconuts, covering them with a tarp to keep the flies and insects off of them.
"Finish getting these big trees cut up and then get a fire going and get these roasted," Greg said to Anderson and Gutterman. Then he went to see what Hutch and Boyle had found concerning the planes.
"It could have been worse," Hutch replied. "A couple of the planes have canopies that were smashed by fallen branches and your plane has some minor damage to the right wing as well as a smashed canopy and bent propeller; otherwise it's mostly cosmetic damage; scratched paint and dents from the hail."
"I'll send Anderson, French, Boyle, and TJ on patrol for the next few days and that should give us time to get them repaired," Greg said thankful that the damage wasn't worse.
Finished picking up coconuts, Anderson and TJ along with Casey and Emily walked around noting what damage had been done to the buildings. Luckily, there wasn't too much, a few shingles were blown off the Sheep Pen and there was some minor damage done to some of the tents, but all in all nothing that couldn't be repaired with things they had on hand and wouldn't take too long to fix either.
It was a few days after the tropical storm had struck Vella La Cava and French, Anderson, TJ, and Boyle were on morning patrol since Hutch was still working on getting the damage done to the other planes, as a result of the storm, repaired. They were about 500 miles off the coast of Munda when Anderson looked down at his instrument panel and then out the window suddenly very confused.
"Do you guys know where we are?" he asked over the radio.
"Not quite halfway down The Slot," French answered.
Then suddenly it hit him that it was unlike Anderson to ask such a question especially since they patrolled this same area every morning and evening. In fact, they were all so familiar with the area that if it weren't for having to keep an eye out for Zeros and Japanese destroyers they would probably try and fly it with their eyes closed just to break the monotony.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"No, take a look at your instrument panel and tell me what your gages are reading."
French did and could barely get the words out.
"TJ and Boyle what are your gages showing?" he asked his voice nearly panicked with fear.
The two of them relayed similar readings.
"Something's not right," Anderson screamed into the radio.
"Stay calm, everyone, we know where we are even though our gages say we're way off course, so let's not do anything to cause us to end up in the water. Pappy would really beat the crap out of us if that happened. Since we've got four planes still damaged from the storm there's no way we can risk losing anymore." French said trying to calm himself as well as the others.
Just then Boyle noticed something out the window that shook him up even more.
"Take a look to the Northwest guys."
"What the hell!" French choked.
"I don't believe it!"Anderson exclaimed.
"I don't like what I'm seeing!" TJ said in a shocked voice.
About 50 miles away from them was a strange black cloud and by black the four of them meant black to the point of nothingness, thick, inhuman, otherworldly blackness and what was even more unreal the "cloud" was outlined in a brilliant, greenish-yellow glowing light. It was about five miles across and headed towards them at a fairly good clip.
"TURN AROUND AND HEAD BACK NOW!" French ordered.
Despite the fact that their gages were going crazy they turned the planes and increased their speed to 400 mph.
"Think it's following us?" TJ asked.
"I'm afraid to look," French replied his fingers gripping the stick to the point they were white and he could barely feel them.
Tentatively, Boyle turned and looked. The "cloud" was now about 20 miles behind them, but half the size it had previously been and as the four of them watched it continued shrinking until it disappeared. What was even stranger was at the exact same moment the "cloud" disappeared their instrument readings returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
The rest of the flight back to Vella La Cava was flown in silence, no one wanted to speak and they were shaking so badly it was all they could do to fly the planes.
Meanwhile, it had been Greg's turn to sit with Emily during her sunbath and he had to admit that it had helped to clear up and keep her diaper rash from returning. She was now splashing happily in a tub of water. It was only midmorning, but the heat and humidity were already making it miserable. Emily had been uncomfortable even in just her diaper and, during her sunbath, Casey had brought Greg the tub of water suggesting that she might enjoy playing in it, since it was so hot.
Meatball though seemed to think she was playing in his personal water dish and kept trying to stick his tongue in the water to lap it up.
"For the third time, will you get out of there," Greg said. "Can't you get it through that thick, canine head of yours that this is for Emily to play in and not for you to drink out of?"
"Blah, gaa, goo goo," Emily babbled as she splashed water on Meatball who, not happy about getting wet in the first place, took off towards the Sheep Pen.
Emily looked up at Greg with a bemused smile, pointed in the direction Meatball had gone, and stuck out her tongue.
"I guess you told him," Greg remarked then seeing French, Boyle, TJ, and Anderson approaching from the airstrip got Emily out of the water and wrapped her in a towel, which didn't make her very happy.
"I know," he replied. "But, the guys are back from patrol and it looks like something may have gone wrong, so maybe later after your nap you can play in the water again."
That seemed to satisfy her as she quietly laid her head against his shoulder, sighed, and stuck her fingers in her mouth.
"Pappy did you or anyone else notice anything strange towards Choiseul this morning?"French asked.
"No," Greg replied. "I didn't and no one else has said anything to me, why?"
Then he noticed that all four of them looked visibly shaken.
They told him, as best they could, what had happened during the morning patrol. Greg looked towards the ocean.
"There's got to be a logical explanation," he said trying to calm them. "I'll have Casey get a weather report from Espritos Marcos. I'm sure it was just some kind of rare cloud formation and coupled with this ungodly heat and humidity combined to create an unusual storm front. The electrical surges from the lightening could have been what caused your instruments act like they did."
Greg knew that they didn't believe what he had just said anymore than he did. Just then Casey and Gutterman walked across the camp.
"Casey, I need you over here for a minute," Greg called.
"What?" Casey replied running over to him.
"Take Emily and get her dressed then take her with you and contact the weather station on Espritos Marcos. I need a detailed weather report covering the entire Slot from 0000 up until now. I especially want it noted if there were any reports of any unusual weather or atmospheric conditions around 0600 or 0630 near Choiseul."
"Any particular reason why?" Casey asked.
"After I see the report and talk to some other people about the situation that this pertains to I'll discuss the matter with everyone, if I think that it's necessary to do so," he answered. Then to French, Anderson, Boyle, and TJ added. "You four can give me a complete and official report of what you saw out there in my tent and hopefully once Casey gets that weather report this will make a lot more sense."
I really didn't know what to make of what they had told me. I knew none of them had been drinking the night before so I knew that what they were describing, unbelievable though it was, was not the result of too much liquor. Still there had to be a logical explanation for what they had experienced and hopefully Casey could get to the bottom of it.
It was later in the afternoon and Casey was still waiting on some information to come in from Espritos Marcos before he joined Greg and the other Black Sheep, who were finally making a complete assessment of their planes, which had had to be put off because of the storm.
"Be careful with the cameras," Greg cautioned. "I borrowed them from a very nice young SeaBee named George Williams and he needs them back before they sail for New Guinea since they're property of the USS Westpoint."
In response to that statement a chorus of "We'll take care of them," and "We'll be careful," went up from the Black Sheep.
"Good, as I said earlier, completely fill out a description sheet listing everything you find wrong on your plane even if it's something Hutch can easily fix and take pictures of each thing on your list. Then label the film with your name and give it to Casey and then put your description sheets in one of these manila envelopes," Greg said handing them to Bragg to hand out. "Then after that a couple of you can watch Emily while Hutch and I go over my plane."
Emily was lying in her playpen which Gutterman and French had made by laying a mattress that they had managed to get from the hospital, on the ground, sticking some large branches around it, and wrapping those with mosquito netting. Meatball was lying on the ground watching her and the two of them were having what appeared to be an interesting conversation, although, Greg doubted that Emily understood canine and Meatball, to the best of his knowledge, did not understand babyese. It would keep her safe and close by while they checked over the planes which, until they had come up with the idea for the playpen, he had had no idea how they would accomplish that.
"I still think this is stupid," Gutterman complained.
Greg looked at him not liking his pessimistic attitude.
"If it's stupid and it works it isn't stupid," he said firmly.
"That's my point exactly it isn't going to work."
"How do you know?" Greg asked. "We've never tried this before."
"And I say all it's going to do is get us broken up as a squadron," Gutterman countered.
"Who else feels that way?"
Several hands tentatively went up.
"Well, I'm going to say this one time and only one time. There's not going to be any chance of that happening, if I have any say about it. So you clowns get that thought out of your heads, quit your griping, and get busy with these planes like I told you to or you're really going to have something to worry about."
Immediately everyone ceased their complaining and got to work on checking over the planes and recording and photographing whatever they found that needed fixing or replaced.
That night Greg was looking over the weather reports Casey had gotten for him, but nothing out of the ordinary was noted on any of them. Still, Greg didn't have any doubt that the four of them had witnessed something very strange while on patrol, something that was not weather related nor could be explained as being of human origin, and whatever it was they had seen; he damn sure hoped no one else had to encounter a similar experience.
Meanwhile, Anderson, Boyle, Casey, and Gutterman were in the Sheep Pen when TJ entered looking as if he had lost his last friend, his dog had died, and he'd gotten a letter from his girlfriend in the States saying she was now married to someone else all at the same time.
"TJ what's wrong?" Anderson asked.
TJ got a beer and sat down between Anderson and Casey.
"I got a letter from my mom," he told them quietly.
"My condolences," Gutterman said.
"No one died; it's just that my brother, Robert, and his wife are having a rough time. They're trying to start a family and after a year, with still no little one on the way, they went to see a doctor in New York who's one of the top specialists in treating couples who are having trouble starting a family."
Then noting that none of them were even attempting to make an off color comment he continued.
"Janie, my sister-in-law, was in a serious accident a year before her and my brother met and sustained some major abdominal injuries. The doctor told them that as a result it was going to be more difficult for her to become pregnant, plus he thinks some of it has to do them being stressed out over not having a child yet, so he suggested for the time being they consider adopting a baby because sometimes that takes the stress off the parents and they go on to have a child of their own, sometimes as soon as a year after adopting, since they're not under so much stress."
"So what are they going to do?" Casey asked.
"They've started filling out the paperwork to adopt, but it may be a year or more before a baby is available."
"That sucks," Anderson said and the others agreed.
They sat in silence for several minutes TJ's news having made them down in the dumps themselves.
"I just had an idea!" Anderson exclaimed.
"What?" The others asked.
"TJ's brother and sister-in-law were told they'd probably have a long wait before a baby was available to adopt, right?"
"That's what he said. Do you need your hearing checked?" Gutterman answered.
Anderson ignored him and continued.
"Think about it, they want to start a family and we can help."
"What?" the others looked at him confused.
"Would they consider adopting an Asian-American baby?"
"I'd have to ask, but right now I think they'd adopt Meatball if Pappy would give him up."
"Okay then, think about it, we can get them a baby."
They were still silent looking at Anderson as if he were a few cards short of a full deck.
Then suddenly Casey got what he was talking about.
"Emily," he exclaimed. "You're suggesting they adopt Emily!"
"Yeppers, we've never located her family, the orphanage still doesn't know when they'll have room, and of course we'd have to run this by Pappy and the other guys, but I think it's a great idea."
"What do you think, TJ?" Boyle asked.
"Casey, can we try to put a call in to the States tomorrow?" he replied.
While all that was taking place right under my nose in the Sheep Pen. I was filling out my regular supply form and so far Colonel Lard had not noticed the fact that in addition to the usual, necessary supplies; for the last few months I had been ordering diapers, formula, and other various items necessary to the care and feeding of a baby. However, I had a very uncomfortable feeling that was about to change.