CHRISTMAS 1973
They
were letting him out for Christmas. For the first time since he had been
committed to the VA, they were letting him out, and Murdock made sure to tell everyone who would listen.
The
nurses all took it in good humour, and even the orderlies didn’t try and get him to calm down
too much. He was just excited. Christmas with his friends,
away from the hospital.
The
first Christmas at the VA, he
had a very vague recollection of Face coming to talk to him, but that was about
it.
Then
last Christmas they had driven half way across the country from where they had
lost Colonel Lynch to be with him and make sure he wasn’t alone. It had been
nice, although they had had to come in disguise to make sure they didn’t get
caught, and they hadn’t been
able to stay long. But it had been worth it.
This
time though he got to spend the whole of a few days with them. He wasn’t sure
how they had managed it. Three wanted fugitives couldn’t exactly walk in and
ask for a weekend pass for him. But they had promised so he knew they would be
able to pull it off.
“Mr
Murdock, will you please get down from up there.”
He
glanced down as he perched on the top of his dresser, a guilty smile on his face as if he had been caught with
a hand in the cookie jar.
“What
*are* you doing up there?”
He
lifted up his hands in an attempt to explain, and coloured streamers flew
everywhere as a result.
“Decorations,”
he tried to clarify. “I was just trying to put them up.” He hoped his innocent expression
would be enough to warm the older nurse’s heart. It worked.
“Well,
I’m sure there a less dangerous ways of doing it than perching on the dresser, again,” the nurse replied
gruffly, “and anyway, your visitor’s here to take you out.”
His
eyes lit up at the prospect and he quickly jumped down from the dresser, grabbing his jacket and bag
as he tried to bolt for the door.
“Where, where?”
The nurse smiled slightly as she was almost knocked
over by the over eager pilot.
“If
you calm down, I’ll take you to him.”
Biting
back his excitement, Murdock tried to contain himself, wondering just who it
was who was coming to take him out. Walking through the corridors, he was a
little surprised by who he saw.
“Hey, Murdock.”
“Ray?”
Reaching
his old friend, he pulled him into a tight bear hug.
“Uh,
Murdock, need to breathe here.”
He
let his friend go, holding onto his shoulders so he could get a better look.
Ray looked the same, maybe a
little older, but just the same
as he remembered him.
“Nice
to see you haven’t changed,” Ray said with a grin, glancing over the pilot’s
shoulders at the watching nurses. “It’s okay, I’ll
take him from here.”
Still
grinning, Murdock found himself led out into the parking lot. Then he frowned
as something hit him.
“Wait
a sec, I thought I was spending Christmas with the
guys.”
“You
are,” Ray reassured him. “No wait, correction, *we* are. I got a very
interesting phone call from a certain Lieutenant Peck a few weeks ago asking if
I was interested in spending Christmas with them for old time’s sake, and then asking if I was willing to
get you out of the VA. I had no idea you
were in a VA, Murdock, or I would have come and visited you earlier. I knew the
other three were on the run, but
“Yup,
sounds like
“Peck…
Face thought you’d like it,” Ray said. “I can’t believe you still call him
‘Face’.”
Murdock
grinned. “Yeah, it kinda stuck after you went.
Meaning’s changed a little though.”
“Oh?
You mean he no longer wants to beat you up about it then.”
“That’s
right.”
“So,
what’s the new meaning then?”
“Well,”
Murdock replied slowly, “I think it has to do with his scamming abilities, the
fact that he has the type of ‘face’ where people will say yes to him before
he’s even opened his mouth.”
“Ah,”
Ray nodded, pretending to look thoughtful, “makes sense. Better than the other
meaning then. I swear, there was a time when I thought
he would deck you if you did just one more dramatic recital of ‘is this the
face that launched a thousand slicks’.”
Murdock
smirked. “So where we going then, muchacho?”
“Oh,
some house that uh, Face scammed apparently. Got some
decorations to put up, even a little tree that the big ugly mudsucker
managed to from somewhere. Rumour has it they only invited me for two
reasons. One so I could get you out of the VA, and two so I can
cook you lot a proper Christmas dinner.” He flashed Murdock a grin.
“Well,”
the pilot replied with a matching grin, “you did really well with that chicken
back in ‘
Ray
rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, the ‘definitely not turkey’…”
“Or
dog,” Murdock interrupted.
“Too true,” Ray laughed. “The ‘definitely not turkey, or dog, chicken.’ Hey, did Peck manage to get you a turkey
for the next year?”
“From
what I remember,” Murdock replied softly. “I think they spent a lot of the time
either propping me up after dragging
me from the bar, or prying the bottle out
of my hand.”
Ray
looked up in surprise. “You started drinking that heavily?”
“Yeah. After the camps I was, I was a bit of a mess.
They wanted to send me home, but I begged
“That
the truth?” Ray asked softly.
“Part
of it,” the pilot admitted. “I just didn’t want to leave. I had… have no home to go back to, no family. They were the only
family I had. As long as I was with them I was fine. Drinking
heavily, but fine. Then they got caught for the bank job and I fell
apart.”
Ray
nodded his understanding. “So why didn’t the others go home then? Surely you
were all entitled to having been
POWs and all that.”
Murdock
nodded. “
“Boy,
you lot almost make me feel guilty for getting out when I could,” Ray joked
lightly.
Murdock
just smiled slightly and shook his head. “Naw, your
tour was up, you’d already done two and you had a pretty girl to get home to.
If I had been you I would have been out of there faster than you could say
‘incoming’. How is she, by the way?”
“Who? Trish?”
“‘Who? Trish?’ Who else? Boy, do you have that many
girls?” Murdock teased.
“Yeah
and don’t you forget it,” Ray laughed. “Yeah, Trish’s okay. Still won’t marry
me, but I’m working on it. She’s gone to stay with her folks for Christmas.
That’s okay. They didn’t want me there anyway, so I had the perfect chance to
meet up with you guys.” He flashed Murdock a toothy grin. “I’m gonna get her though. Mark my words.”
“Well
you better do it quick, you’re getting on a bit, aren’t you, man,” Murdock
joked, leaning over to pretend to check Ray’s head for greys. “Yup, just as I
suspected, you’re going grey.”
“Am
not,” Ray protested, before glancing critically in the mirror. “Where?”
“Right there.” Murdock pointed to some imaginary grey hair
stands.
Ray
rolled his eyes. “I’ll have you
know, I’m still young. I’m only thirty-three, plenty of time still.”
“Ah ha.”
“And
anyway, I bet that when you get to my age you won’t have nearly as much hair as
I do. You’re losing it already.”
“I
am not!” Murdock pouted. “It’s just receding down my back. See.”
“Murdock,”
Ray laughed, “I do not want to see your back, hairy as it may be. Gawd, no wonder they lock you away.”
“Yup,”
Murdock affirmed, “I’m crazy and proud of it. Hey, that must be the place.”
Nodding,
Ray pulled over. “Yeah, how’d you know?”
“That’s
BA’s new van.”
“What,
that black hunk of junk?”
“Yup,
but I wouldn’t let him hear you say that. The big guy can get very possessive
over his little baby.”
“I
can imagine.”
Joining
Murdock on the curb, they stood there for a moment, just looking at the house.
“You
know what, Murdock?”
“What?”
“Merry Christmas.”
Murdock
smiled. “Merry Christmas to you too.”
*-*-*
