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Message by Sparky
The phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
Snuggled under the cover, Radar tried to ignore it. Golly geez, it was the middle of the night! Couldn’t a guy get some sleep?
It kept ringing. With a deep sigh, he got out of bed. Sudden enemy advance, wounded coming? Why it couldn’t wait till a decent hour like 5 a.m. was beyond him.
“Radar? Radar, would you get that?”
What Colonel Blake was doing in his office that late was weird; but Radar simply called back, “Got it, sir,” and picked up the receiver.
“You’re getting a special delivery this afternoon, Radar, you lucky guy.”
“Huh?” Radar tried, one-handed, to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Reaching up, he turned on the light over his desk. “What was that, Sparky?” He fumbled for a pen.
“It’s going by helicopter, flying straight over the Sea of Japan.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t forget. You’ve got to salute when you see it come.”
“Salute. Right.” Grabbing a pad of paper, Radar wrote the message down. “Is that all, Sparky?”
“All is all, Radar, sure. This is going to go great, you know. In the end.”
“End?”
“Over!”
“Yeah, right. Over.” Still half asleep, Radar stared at the receiver for a moment. Geewillikers, whatever was going on? He shook his head at the weirdness of others he hung up. Then, with only one longing look back at his bed, he put down the pen and pushed through the double doors to the Colonel’s office.
“Got your coffee, sir,” he said. He put the steaming mug down on the big desk, a bit to the right of Henry Blake’s hand so that he could grab it easily. “Oh, and there was a message.” He fumbled in his pocket and brought it out. “Here, sir.” He handed it over.
The hat with its fishing lures dipped as Colonel Blake read the message. “Welcome home?” he said, bewildered.
Outside a bomb landed in the compound outside. It exploded loudly, and both jerked in surprise and fear. A rain of small gravel pattered against the panes of the window; and Radar went over to look out. “I don’t see anything, sir,” he reported. Then, as he turned back, he blinked. Seated in the Colonel’s chair was Major Burns.
“What’s this coffee doing here?” demanded the Major.
Radar rubbed his eyes; but it was still Frank Burns. “Did I come in here with a message, sir? Where’s the Colonel?”
“I’m the Colonel,” declared Major Burns. “And you’re an idiot.”
“Yes, sir, Colonel,” said Radar and added cheerfully, “You’re an idiot too, sir. It’s going to be a lovely day tomorrow.”
Rolling over in bed, eyes still tight shut, he clutched his teddy hard.
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