Kinch's sombre prediction turned out to be false - Carter met LeBeau on the way out of the radio room.
"Have you heard?" he greeted his French friend. "A story about Klink saving lives won! I thought we were supposed to be the heroes!"
"Quoi? Klink saving lives?! By Jove, what is this war coming to?" Shaking his head, LeBeau descended into the tunnel. "Mon Colonel," he began as soon as he entered the radio room.
But a gesture from Kinch silenced him, and he watched eagerly as their radioman scribbled away on his next blue note.
"Here." Kinch handed it to him. "Better go and have this broadcasted right away."
"Yes, but... Klink saving lives?"
"LeBeau..."
"Oui, mon Colonel?"
"Shut up."
LeBeau grinned. "Okay, I'm off. Let's see who the winners in the next category were." He glanced at the paper. "The Long Story category - yes, that's right." He grinned. "There - at least Carter gets some of the spotlight, too. He'll be happy. And..." A frown. "Schultz? Incroyable..."
So a minute or so later, Katie's voice boomed out over the compound, "These are the winners of the Long Story category:
BEST LONG STORY
.
Gold:
THE KING'S SPEECH
by Belphegor
.
Silver:
Enough is Enough
by Sgt. Moffitt
and
Unsung Man, Unsung Hero
by Book'em Again
.
Bronze:
There's No Place Like Stalag 13
by Goldleaf83
There was an ominous crackle when that last story was announced, followed by an earsplitting shriek over the comsystem.
"Murder in Stalag 13," Newkirk chuckled. "What seems to be the problem, luv?"
Katie shook the microphone, and put it down. "I don't know. Maybe it's broken?"
"It better well not be." Newkirk came over to inspect the thing, but technical stuff wasn't quite his expertise. He switched the microphone on and off a few times, calling, "Testing, testing, one two three." But it was obvious that the speaker system did not blare out his words over the compound.
"Maybe Sergeant Kinchloe can fix it?" Meghan suggested. "I heard he's quite good with radios and stuff."
"Kinch is busy with the administration of the Papa Bear Awards," LeBeau reminded her. "Perhaps Baker can help."
"Baker? Yes, sure he can. But where is he?"
LeBeau shrugged. "How should I know? He came here to set up the stuff for the girls, and then..."
"Well, we better go find him. Or the natives will get restless if they don't hear the rest of the results soon." And turning to the girls, "You two just sit tight, okay? We'll have you back on the air in no time."
"Perhaps I can get in a little interrogation in the meantime," Hochstetter purred.
"Uh! Over my dead body, major!" Klink announced expansively. Only to cower away when Hochstetter gave him a quick once over before snarling, "Don't tempt me..."
Author's note: Yes, and here it's well past 11 p.m. so I'm going to call it quits for tonight. Tomorrow will see the rest of the winners announced (if they can find Baker in order to get the speaker system repaired of course...)