The Unexpected Meeting

Chapter 18

RACHEL'S POV

I walked from the mess tent to my new tent alone. I kept the letter in my pocket the whole time not wanting to open it. I knew who it was from. Hawkeye's father and my old father. He probably got that picture from Hawkeye. I placed the note on my desk and stared at it. Somebody knocked on the door and I stood up to open it.

"Hey Rachel!" Hawkeye said. He was holding a sack over his shoulder. "Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all," I said. He walked around the tent a bit, then dropped the bag on the floor.

"BJ and I put together some housewarming gifts for you," Hawk said. "Sorry he couldn't be here to give them to you. Post Op duties."

"That's alright and you guys didn't have too," I explained.

"You kidding I would think you want to lighten up this place up a bit. Other than those pretty flowers, this tent looks really drab." Hawk explained.

"Yeah it is isn't it," I said. He smiled and put the sack on my bed and started pulling stuff out of it.

"A bottle filled with our famous gin for the bad days, the paper that has it's many uses and if you get hungry, you can eat it. Or throw it at the Chinese. A book with many words, that we may have stole from Charles. Finally I bring the most important thing you need for this camp. It makes the food here taste better, it is used everyday, the only thing with color. I give you Rachel, a bottle of the mess tents best... Ketchup." Hawk said.

I can't believe they out all of this together for me. I wonder how they stole the book from Charles. He is gonna figure that out sooner or later.

"Thank you and tell BJ thank you too," I said. "Oh and I think Charles would want this back." I handed the book back to Hawkeye.

"Your right maybe that was a bit to much, but you sure? It's a great book." Hawk said with a big grin.

"When did you start reading?" I asked surprised. I was and always will be a bigger reader than Hawkeye. During his free time he would run to the pond with his cousin and I would sit in my room and read all day.

"Never, I just skimmed the back of the book," Hawk said. "The only thing I read is letters from home, nudist magazines, and the occasional shoe."

I laughed at that. "What?"

Hawk shrugged,"We don't often get books here so we read our shoe sizes and maybe even the toilet paper. That's another thing it's good for." Hawkeye said pointing to the toilet paper. "Oh and speaking of letters, dad said he sent you one. What did he say?"

I stopped and looked at the desk where the letter was.

"I didn't open it yet," I said. Hawkeye started to look anxious.

"We'll open it! I wanna know what he said." Hawk said excitedly. "You can't resist this face can you?" He pointed to his now sad puppy face. I could never resist that puppy face and still can't. Why am I such a softy? I sighed,"Okay."

HAWKEYE'S POV

I'm so happy I can plots. Dad finally got in touch with Rachel after so many years. This is the most exciting thing that has happened in my life. We'll other than that time with that one nurse what's her name in Tokyo. God that nurse was really something. Had the best figure than anybody I had ever seen.

Rachel picked up the letter and slowly opened it. When she opened it she looked at me and unfolded the letter. I sat next to her on the bed and looked over her shoulder at the letter.

"C'mon read it already! Don't keep the audience in suspense." I yelled.

"Alright alright Hawk, boy can you yell," Rachel said annoyed. She took a deep breath and started reading.