Major Boggs hadn't seen any members from the Rat Patrol since the war ended seventeen years ago. He could still remember the four men, and the Egyptian cobra, on the day they were sent home. That was the last he saw of them.
So it was quite a surprise walking down a street in Ashland, Kentucky, and seeing the four men, the Egyptian cobra, Captain Dietrich, and their families.
They were talking, laughing, and looking much happier than when Boggs had last seen them. They were a little older now—then again, so was he—but also looked like they hadn't changed a bit.
He was especially surprised to see Troy with a wife and daughter, but still retained his composure when he said, "Sergeant, it's been a while."
"Captain?" Troy raised an eyebrow. "Is that really you?"
"Major, actually, but I'm also retired. I see you all… have been busy."
"Yeah."
Boggs turned his attention to Dietrich. "What's your story, Captain? Didn't think I'd ever see you again, and certainly not with the guys I sent after you time and time again."
"Lieutenant-Colonel, now. Bundeswehr," Dietrich said. "I am not sure… you really want to hear my story." He pulled his wife closer to him, and Boggs could see past Troy that Dietrich and his wife were well on their way to becoming parents.
"We were on our way to have lunch in the park," Troy said. "You're welcome to join us, Major."
"I think I will," Boggs replied. "Clearly, I've missed a lot."
"Yeah. Five weddings, five births, one adoption. There's a lot to catch up on."
"Sure sounds like it. Lead the way, Sergeant."
The group situated themselves under a tree overlooking a river in the park. Boggs took the time to observe how the Rats and Dietrich had changed. He had never seen them in such a calm setting before, and looked over at Moffitt first, noting Anah's place around his neck. "Has that snake ever left your shoulders, Sergeant?"
"She has," Moffitt said, "but this is her favorite place to be." He gestured to his wife. "This is Vanora. We've been married thirteen years, and have one son, Jules, a few horses, and, of course, Anah."
"You still working at Cambridge?"
"Of course. I work in a research department at the university. Vanora works there as well, in one of the other campuses. Anah teaches Jules at home."
"How does that work?"
"Pretty easily. Well, it's not always smooth. Jules can be difficult sometimes, but it's worked out well. Anah's a good tutor."
"Good." Boggs turned to Troy. "What's your story, Sergeant? I didn't think I'd ever see you married."
"Oh, neither did I," Troy said. He turned to face his former superior. "Her name's Shauna. She was one of my ranch hands, and after a few years, we realized we had feelings for each other, dated for a year, and got married."
"I helped," Anah said from Moffitt's shoulder.
"Yeah, you helped." Troy sighed. "You were a pain, though."
"How old is your daughter?" Boggs asked.
"She's nine, and she's the 'one adoption' I mentioned. Shauna and I tried to have our own for years and nothing came of it. Earlier this year, we found Antheia as a runaway, and now she's ours."
"That's wonderful to hear, Sergeant." Boggs looked over at Dietrich. "So… what's his story?"
"Long. Painful. Don't ask him about it. He'll tell you when he's ready." Troy lowered his voice. "All I'll say is that he… was in a really bad place after the war, and thought the world would be a better place without him. We all helped pull him out of it, but it still comes back to haunt him every now and then." Troy glanced at Dietrich, who was cuddled up with his wife and holding her protectively. "He's going to be a great dad, even though he doesn't think so."
Boggs nodded, deciding it was best not to push. He turned his attention next to Hitch. "Private Hitchcock? You're another one I didn't expect to see married, much less with two kids."
"Yeah," Hitch said. "Things changed. I met Molly, and my girl-chasing days were over." He kissed Molly's cheek. "Only chasing I do now is when we're goofing off around the house."
They were interrupted by Hitch's youngest, Carolyn, running up from the river, holding a garter snake. "Auntie Anah! Auntie Anah, look!"
"What, dear?" Anah said. "Oh, a garter snake! Carolyn, set the poor thing down and do not pinch his tail too hard."
"Sorry, Auntie Anah." Carolyn set the garter snake down and watched it race back down to the river.
Hitch breathed a sigh of relief. "At least it wasn't another copperhead."
"Or a coral snake," Molly said.
"Coral snakes aren't found here, thank goodness."
Boggs gave them both a confused look. "What's this about copperheads and coral snakes?"
"Oh. Carolyn found a hurt copperhead and brought it in the house last summer—with her bare hands. It didn't bite her, thank goodness, but it was still pretty nerve-wracking. That earned her a long talk about touching snakes. And a couple months ago—" Hitch held up his left hand, revealing a pair of jagged scars, "I got bit by a coral snake."
"And you survived?"
"Barely. The others had to make a snakebite potion because we had no way of getting to the hospital."
"That's incredible." Boggs looked past Hitch at Tully. "How about you, Private? What've you been up to?"
Tully shrugged. "Fixing vehicles."
"I see you and Nurse Parker are still together."
"Yep." Tully smiled. "Still together, two wonderful daughters, and the best damn family anyone could ever ask for. We're all going to the lake tomorrow because the weather's nice and all the kids are off school. You can come with us, sir."
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm here visiting family of my own. I thought I'd take a walk to get some air—wasn't expecting to run into you all."
"Strange how things like that work out," Dietrich said.
"Yeah. Really strange." Boggs was quiet for a moment, hesitant to speak. "Dietrich, did your… prophecy ever happen?"
"It did. Two years ago, actually." Dietrich looked at Troy. "Should I tell him?"
"Only if you're comfortable, buddy," Troy said.
"Alright." Dietrich took a breath. "The whole time, my prophecy was about me saving the world, in a way. East and West Germany nearly went to war over border patrols getting a little too close and thinking the other was going to invade. My commander thought striking first would be the best option. I talked him out of it."
"If someone told me that back during the war, I'd think they were insane," Boggs said. "That was always… meant to happen?"
"It was. Anah knew that the whole time, ever since we met her in the temple. Now—" Dietrich looked over his shoulder at Anah, who was looking as content as she could be on Moffitt's shoulders, "she is one of us."
"And you wanted to get rid of her," Troy said, giving Boggs a lopsided grin.
"Only because I thought she was dangerous," Boggs replied.
"Technically, she is dangerous," Moffitt said, "but she doesn't go around biting people."
"That would be a waste of my time," Anah added. "I have all of you to take care of."
"We're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves."
"Are you sure? I know some of you can be a bit neglectful of basic things."
"Perfectly capable, Anah."
"We have to take care of you, too, sometimes," Troy said.
"No, you do not," Anah replied.
"Yes, we do. You have a tendency to make yourself sad and forget about actually spending time with us."
Boggs gave Troy a curious look. "I never thought I'd hear you talk like that. You were always closed off and never offered insight into… well, anything."
Troy weakly smiled, though it was laced with sadness and slight pain. "I've been working on trying to make peace with… some things. Difficult things." He tried to change the topic. "It's been good seeing you, sir. Nice little surprise."
Boggs nodded. "It's been nice seeing you, too."
"Does this mean we invite him for Christmas, Troy?" Moffitt asked.
"Only if he wants to come," Troy said. "We can make up for all the migraines we caused. After all, he was in charge of keeping us in line, and making sure we looked good in front of the rest of the brass."
"You all have kids now, so you should understand what I went through with you all," Boggs replied.
"Our children aren't nearly as bad as we were!" Moffitt laughed. "Sometimes. Troy is an awful influence."
Troy glared at him. "Me? Think back to Christmas of 1956—which one of us put a bell harness on Snowstripe and took all the kids on a 'magical sled ride' around Cambridge that turned into a race?"
"First of all, I thought Snowstripe was going to behave enough for such a thing. Second, it was Dietrich riding Icepatch alongside us that prompted it to become a race, even though he had the advantage of not pulling anything."
Dietrich grinned at them. "I could not resist. Icepatch likes to go fast, and so does Snowstripe. Besides, the kids enjoyed it and nobody got hurt."
"I got hurt," Hitch said. "I slipped and sprained my wrist trying to catch up to you guys."
Boggs shook his head, laughing a little. "So, nothing's changed. That's good to see."
"Oh, a lot has changed," Moffitt said, "but it's all been good things."
