Chapter 18 – The Final Goodbye
The team meets at Hannibal's apartment the next morning at 8:00a.m. sharp! Face looks a little tired and not his usual fastidious self. He is dressed in blue jeans and a denim shirt, ready to get to work. B.A. pulls the truck around to the back service elevator. They take up bundles of boxes and plan to get right to work. However, they end up sitting down and just looking around, all of them missing the man, who used to inhabit this place. Finally B.A. gets up and states, "time to work!"
Face also is ready to get busy. "Okay, let's get started and get this done. Just think of it as a "plan" that needs to be accomplished."
Murdock silently stands and heads to the kitchen and opens a cabinet, where he starts removing glasses and wrapping them in newspaper. Face decides to hit the bedroom. It's going to be harder to pack up Hannibal's personal effects, so he volunteers himself for this task. B.A. grabs a dolly and starts moving furniture down to the truck. Every once in a while he asks for help and either Murdock, or Face jumps in to help him.
They finish the job in about four hours. Each has his own boxes to take away from here, but of course most of the things are being given to charity. Last, but not least, Face picks up the car keys and tosses them to Murdock. "Have you told Kelly, yet?"
"No, I was going to surprise her later. Can I park it at your place until I can fly Kelly back down to drive it home?"
"Why don't you park it at my place? B.A. offers. I can go over it and see if it needs anything done ta it before she drives it."
"Thanks B.A. I mean really, thanks a lot."
"Uh, just don't start huggin' me or anything. I can't stand that!"
"Okay, I won't, but I can't promise that she won't." B.A. walks off and goes back toward the bedroom. He is taking one last look around to make sure they got everything.
"Well, I never really felt that this was the place for Hannibal anyway. He always seemed more at home in the field." Murdock also scans the rooms to make sure they didn't leave anything.
"I know what you mean. I sure wish I would have spent more time here. I got so caught up in my life. I didn't see the Colonel as often as I should have."
"Yeah, I know. We all sorta went our separate ways, but I still tried to stay in touch. But you know Face, that's how people always feel when someone dies. You have guilt that you didn't do as much as you could have. What do you say, should we vow to spend more time together? Not let our lives get too busy?"
"Sure Murdock, I think we should try to spend more time with each other, now that we are back together so to speak. What is B.A. doing in there? Did he find something we overlooked?"
"I don't know. Let's go find out."
They walk down the hall toward the bedroom and stop at the entrance. What they hear B.A. saying, stops them in their tracks!
"Ya know, Hannibal, I think we did pretty good work. pauses as if listening Yeah, it was kinda nice being part of the team again. … I hope so. I miss the guys, but you know I'm really goin' to miss you the most. … I guess, but I will try to keep an eye on them for you. You know, watch their backs. … Bye, Colonel. See you soon."
Face looks at Murdock, and Murdock looks at Face. They can't believe their ears, but they know they need to get out of there fast, before B.A. turns around and sees them. Of course, they push each other into the door frame, so neither one of them can move.
"You guys are dead, hear me, dead!"
Epilogue
It is the start of a fairly warm day here in Los Angeles, California. The sun is shining and you can already tell it is going to get hot later on in the afternoon. Hannibal wakes up and says, "That was the most vivid dream I can ever remember having. I have got to quit eating oysters so close to bedtime."
He climbs out of bed and tries to clear his head. He needs to call the guys. They need to get together so he can tell them about this dream. He grabs his cell phone from the nightstand and punches in Murdock's number.
"Hey, Captain, are we still on for dinner tonight?"
"Sure, Colonel, you bet. Eight at Northwoods right?"
"Right, and bring Kelly. I would like to see her, too."
"Okay. I think she would love to come. Thank you for inviting her."
"Don't mention it. I think we all need to get together more often, so I am inviting Face and B.A. also. Any objections?"
"Nope, none from me. I haven't seen the two of them for a while. Thanks, Colonel. It should be fun."
"See you tonight then."
Next he phones B.A. "Hey, B.A., what are your plans for today?"
"Well, I was just headin' over ta the gym. I got a couple of new guys comin' in today. You wanna stop by and look em over?"
"Sounds great! I also want to invite you to dinner tonight. We can talk about it when I get there. I was already meeting Murdock, but I decided I wanted to see all you guys. Think you can make it?"
"Sure, Colonel. Sounds great. Well I gotta go, so I'll see you soon."
"Right, B.A. see you soon."
He hangs up and starts to phone Face, but then realizes the time. He knows Face will not be up this early, so he decides to call him later. Just as he starts to put down his phone, it sings out with Face's ringtone. No one knows it, but Hannibal's ringtone for Face is the same as Murdock's ringtone for him. "I hope he never finds this out. It's not very flattering."
"Morning kid! You're up awfully early. I was thinking about calling you, but figured you weren't awake yet."
"Well Hannibal, I met this director last night and he was telling me about this new technology, and I think it could work for you, you know to get you back into monster movies. I was going to call last night, but it was too late, so I set my alarm to call you first thing this morning."
"Really? That sounds great. When can I meet him?"
"Soon. He wants to get started shooting in a couple of weeks. I'll give him a call later and let him know you're interested. Hey, but why did you want to call me?"
"Lieutenant, I had the weirdest dream last night, and I need to talk with all you guys. Can you meet B.A., Murdock, Kelly and me for dinner tonight?"
"Sure, sounds great. I'll try to call Dave and see if he can set a meeting to get with you and I'll let you know tonight. Wow! It's been a long time since we all got together. I think it's a great idea, Hannibal. Thanks for asking."
"Okay, I'll see you tonight."
Hannibal hits the button to end the call. "Now that was easy. Why don't we do this more often. I'll just have to make calls like this and set things up in the future."
He grabs his car keys and decides to go through the drive thru at the bank on his way to B.A.'s gym. He needs to get some cash for dinner tonight. He has decided to pick up the check and he doesn't have that kind of money on him right now. He takes the stairs down to his car, since he won't be walking this morning the least he can do is take the stairs. As he steps into the parking garage, he pulls out a cigar, lights it, and heads to his car. He gets in and starts her up.
"This is gonna be a great day!" With a twinkle in his bright blue eyes and a smile on his face he says –
"I love it when a plan comes together!"