Finding The 4077th

Crisis

The personnel of the 4077th are enjoying their new Officers club. They got the new building after they operated on a general's son, it was his thank-you present.

Chris didn't understand but for some reason, Radar was upset about it at first and Chris didn't understand why Radar and some people weren't allowed in there. But after his dad fixed that, and everybody was allowed in, Radar seemed to love it as well.

And even though it's not officers only, it's still called that way. Chris thought it was silly, they should just call it a club. But the adults didn't agree, because they kept calling it the officers club.

Chris didn't mind. He loved this club, it had music and even a pinball machine! He had never seen one of those before and after his dad showed him, he was hooked. There was also a gambling machine but Chris didn't understand that one at all. You had to throw money in there and the thing spins one or two times, it's stupid. The pinball was a lot better, but he still needed some money for that, so his dad agreed to give him a small allowance if he did his chores and his schoolwork like he was supposed to.

The doctors just had hours of surgery done and they were trying to relax a bit before heading to bed.

At the moment, Hawkeye is playing on the pinball machine with Chris watching as he played, the boy sat on his knees on the chair to be able to see the whole pinball table better, he wasn't allowed to stand on a chair but sitting on his knees was okay, the small boy had trouble with seeing the upper playfield of the table, and it made him lose games. So Hawkeye suggested this, and it did seem to help.

They switched if the person playing lost a ball. This way Chris wouldn't need to spend his allowance all at once and they could play together.

Chris seemed to love the game, with all the flashy lights and bright colors, his excitement shone in his eyes just like the color of the flashy light reflected in them as he was drinking his Peach Nehi and watching his dad play.

Radar liked the Grape Nehi better, but Chris liked the peach ones. Radar joked that the peach flavor was for girls because of the pink peach color, but Chris liked the color very much, it was bright and cheerful.  But after Chris told the clerk that, he got a confused look back, so Chris just shrugged.

It was nearing Chris's bedtime as they headed back to the Swamp. It was freezing outside and Chris was wearing several layers of clothing, he got a pair of Long Johns from his grandfather and big fluffy socks from his grandmother, on top of that he wore thick warm pants and a wool sweater, and on top of that a jacket, wool hat, and gloves, which he received from his dad.

Chris wasn't cold at all, but the other staff of the 4077th are not that lucky. The supplies were late for some reason, and most people were waiting for more winter clothes and blankets, but not only that, but also wood, toilet paper, and oil.

So as they were walking over the compound, Chris looked around him and saw people huddled together over the open fires burning in big fire barrels, people wearing as many coats as they had or could, as they tried warming their hands.

The next morning, Henry called in an officer's meeting, everyone was already there as Hawkeye and Chris entered. As Hawkeye walked in he shouted TEN-HUT! Making everyone jump up and stand in a military stance before they noticed it was only Hawkeye. The man snickered as he got a couple of angry looks back his way.

When everyone was seated again Henry announced the supply line had been cut by the enemy and they wouldn't be getting a long list of vital supplies like firewood, winter clothing, food, blankets...and shuttlecocks.

“That does it!” Trapper said

“How do they expect us to fight a war without shuttlecocks?” Hawkeye voiced as well, acting as if he was outraged. Chris looked at his dad and it took a minute for the boy to understand his dad was joking. It was so difficult sometimes.