As Hawkeye drove the last of his guests back to his home where the others were waiting on them, the conversation was light and happy as they bantered back and forth, trying to catch up on what they had all been doing over the course of the past year.

“So how are things going with Soon Lee’s family? I assume that you were able to locate them.” Father Mulcahy asked earnestly.

“Yeah, we found them actually a few months ago. They had moved about 200 miles south of Ouijongbu in order to escape the shellings at the tail end of the war. We stayed around and helped them get set back up before we headed back over here to start our lives together in America.” Klinger smiled at the concern, draping an arm casually over his wife’s shoulders.

“I was at first nervous to leave my family, but once they were okay on their own, my mother told me that I should go and be with my new husband. I will be able to write to them and make sure that they are okay.” Soon Lee added.

“So tell us about this procedure you had to restore your hearing, Father.” Hawkeye said curiously.

“Well, I heard about it on the television and called to make an appointment to see a doctor. I was prepared for them to tell me that I wasn’t a candidate and it was truly a blessing when I found out that I was actually a perfect case. After the operation, I had to wait a week before I found out if my hearing had returned.”

“That must have been frustrating for you.” Sidney cut in.

“It was very frustrating. In fact, it reminded me of the time during the war that Hawkeye was temporarily blinded and had to wait a week to know if he would ever be able to see again. But when I went back to have the doctor take the bandages off, I heard him talking to his nurse before they had even finished unwrapping the bandages. I can tell you that hearing that casual conversation sounded as lovely to me as the most beautiful hymns I’ve ever heard.” Mulcahy smiled.

“I can’t wait to see what everyone says when they find out that you got your hearing back. They’re all going to be thrilled.”

Suddenly, an idea popped into Hawkeye’s head and he started laughing, startling his four passengers who began looking at him as though he had just lost his mind.

“What’s so funny, Hawkeye?” Sidney inquired, slightly amused.

“I just got a great idea on how we can surprise everybody when we get back to the house. When we walk into the house, Father, you can act like nothing is different and you still can’t hear. Then I’ll do something subtle like nod my head and then when someone next speaks, you can respond to them and shock the hell out of everyone.” Hawkeye began. “It’ll be classic to see the looks on their faces.”

“Maybe I spent too much time hanging around you when we were in Korea, but I like that idea. I really like it.” Mulcahy agreed happily.

“I guess you were right, Hawkeye. Some things never do change.” Klinger commented, causing them all to laugh as Hawkeye pulled the station wagon into the driveway and helped his passengers unload their bags.

* * * * *

“I just heard the station wagon pull up in the driveway.” Sherman pointed out as he heard the distinct sounds of car doors opening and closing.

“Good. It’s about time they got back. Supper’s almost ready in here and I was beginning to wonder if something had happened.” Margaret smiled as she and Mildred came out of the kitchen to join the others in the living room as the front door swung open wildly.

“Now we’ve got everyone here, so let’s get this party started!” Hawkeye shouted as he burst through the door.

“Leave it to Hawk to know how to make an entrance.” Trapper whispered to BJ with a laugh.
“Yeah, I know. He’d never make it as a spy, I’ll tell you that much.” BJ grinned.

As they all stood in the living room greeting the new arrivals, Hawkeye stood listening to the hum of conversation before nonchalantly nodding his head in Father Mulcahy’s direction. The young priest smiled slightly in acknowledgement and waited until someone spoke. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long.

“I’m going to go and start bringing the dishes out to set the table so we can eat. I’m sure everyone is pretty hungry.” Margaret said softly to Hawkeye.

“Would you like me to give you a hand, Margaret?” Mulcahy asked, causing everyone to cease conversation and look at him in surprise.

“Wait a minute. Father, could you hear her just now?” BJ inquired as soon as he was able to speak.

“Yes, actually, I did. I’ve actually heard what you’ve all said since we got here. I just acted like I wasn’t able to in order to surprise you.”

“When?” Charles asked in shock.

“A few months ago I heard about a procedure that had the potential to restore hearing to patients with traumatic hearing loss. I made an appointment, found out that I was a perfect candidate and was blessed enough to have success.”

“Well, this is a great surprise! Congratulations, Padre!” Sherman exclaimed as he stepped forward and embraced the priest enthusiastically.

“Thank you. Since I got my hearing back, I find myself enjoying little sounds that I used to take for granted before. Just the other night, I sat for an hour listening to a rainstorm.”

“I know what you mean, Father. I remember that time during the war when I was blinded for three days. I went through hell not knowing if I would ever see again and once I regained my sight, I looked at everything differently. Even Korea looked beautiful, nightmare though it was.” Hawkeye agreed, noticing the two shocked looks being shot his way from across the living room.

“Hey, wait a minute, Hawk. What’s up with the blind thing? I’ve never heard you tell this story?” Trapper spoke up, surprised.

“Yes, come to think of it, neither have I? Pierce, do you care to elaborate as to the reason why my colleague and I are the only two in this little gathering who haven’t the slightest clue as to what you are talking about?” Charles concurred.

“Well, the reason neither of you guys have heard about this little incident was the fact that Trapper here had already been sprung from that hellhole and was back home with his family before this happened and Charles, you never knew about it because it was before you came from Tokyo to replace Frank. Would you like me to fill you guys in now?”Hawkeye began as the two nodded, wanting to be let in on what this story was that everyone else knew. “Okay. It was in the middle of one of Korea’s infamous cold snaps and the nurses’ heater went out in their tent so they came to the Swamp in the middle of the night and woke me up to get me to fix it for them. So, I went to the rescue but when I tried to light the damn thing it blew up in my face. I had some pretty rough flash burns and I couldn’t see. Colonel Potter got an ophthalmologist out there the next day with the help of our dear friend Radar and he got me all bandaged up but said that I would have to wait three days before I knew if I’d be able to see again. I made it through the best I could but it was very frustrating to deal with. I thought I was going to go crazy.”

“How in the world did you not go crazy?” Trapper asked, shocked.

“By acting crazy, how else? I short sheeted Frank’s bed blind, I walked through O.R. with Radar’s help, things like that. My favorite by far though was the one that BJ, Klinger and Radar helped me play on Frank. He had been listening to a baseball game on the radio and the next day he placed a bet with some of the enlisted men on the same game when it repeated on Armed Forces Radio. So what we did was rig up a phony radio broadcast that forced Frank to make the wrong bet. It was absolutely hilarious to watch him run through the compound with an angry mob on his tail.”

“Pierce, as much as I found your antics in Korea childish, I must admit I would have loved to have been around to see that one.” Charles chuckled.

“Well, I did sort of bring that one on myself.” Frank admitted sheepishly, drawing a laugh from the others in the room.

“Okay, supper’s ready. Let’s move the party into the kitchen so we can eat.” Margaret called, poking her head through the kitchen doorway.

* * * * *

“That was absolutely delicious, Margaret.” Hawkeye smiled at his wife as finished his lasagna and stretched contentedly.

“Yeah, it really was.” Radar agreed as the others at the table voiced their compliments as well.

“Well I’m very glad that everyone liked it. So what do we want to do now.” Margaret smiled as she and Hawkeye cleared away the dinner mess.

“I was thinking that I could bring that card table and poker set up from the basement and we could throw together a quick game of poker like old times before it gets too late.” Hawkeye suggested with a wry smile.

A few minutes later Hawkeye had brought his card table and poker materials up from the basement and the group were sitting around the table engaged in a friendly game.

“This sure does bring back old times and all the games we used to throw together back in Korea.” Trapper said as he raised the most recent bet and traded in two of his cards.

“Those are memories of the war that I don’t mind keeping. Playing poker with you guys.” Klinger agreed.

After several games of poker, the long day of travel began to weigh heavily on the Pierce’s guests so they all decided to call it a night and get some rest for the coming day.