Corpsman and the Nerd (31 page)

Pointing to the screen, she said,
“That’s my son.” The admiral leaned closer to peer at Ryan. He
smiled. “That’s a fine looking young man there.”

“
Yes, he is,” KC agreed
proudly. “That’s my partner, Max Morrison. He’s a brother to Major
Monahan’s wife, Lainy.”

“
He looks like a
Morrison.”

KC grinned. “Yes.”

Also on the platform stood a small,
regal, silver-haired lady. KC pointed to her. “Aunt Emma. Otherwise
known as General Emma.”

Admiral O’Riley’s face set into lines
of concentration as he watched her movements. The camera quality,
while not perfectly clear before, now looked downright terrible. KC
frowned. Usually the videos were clear and of excellent resolution.
Why wasn’t this one? General Emma’s face blurred.

“
I’m sorry about the camera
quality,” Lainy’s voice said. “We’re having technical
difficulties.”

“
Ah.” Question
answered.

“
What’s wrong?”

“
I don’t know, but normally
the resolution is better. So far, all of the videos I’ve received
have been of excellent quality. And Lainy, the woman you heard
speaking, is an electrical genius. This is strange.”

“
I see.” KC didn’t think he
took his eyes off Emma. She stopped the smile attempting to spread
across her lips. Now was not the time to quiz him on his intentions
toward Max’s aunt. Actually, since she was in the Navy,
never
might be a good
time to bug him.

Maybe she should let Max or Lainy or
someone else grill him on his intentions. Not that the admiral was
likely to take her interest wrong, but she still decided to err on
the side of caution. She took a bite of her brownie and savored the
burst of chocolate.

Ryan bobbed up and down and KC watched
as Mitch, wearing his Marine dress uniform, carried in a box. The
room, noisy and chaotic when the DVD started, now fell to a hushed
tone. A large, capable hand moved calmly to Ryan’s shoulder and her
son looked up at Max with a huge grin. Max leaned down and scooped
Ryan into his arms and KC blinked back tears. Max was wearing one
of the sweaters she and Lainy had bought him and he looked extra
yummy.

Now that Ryan was secure in his dad’s
arms he could obviously see better, because he craned his neck to
peek into the box Mitch carried. With the near quiet in the room,
KC could hear squeaks and yips and little puppy barks. She smiled
as many of the children in the audience wriggled much like her son.
Glancing around the room, she noticed Ryan wasn’t the only kid with
a better view, thanks to Dad. She wanted to be in his dad’s arms
too.

General Emma raised an arm, much like
a queen would to her subjects. Her gesture had the same effect. The
room quieted completely and she smiled benevolently to her
audience.

“
Welcome to the First Annual
Bent Rock Foundation Blow-Out!” Deafening applause rocked the room
and she continued to smile. When the clapping dissipated, she spoke
again.

“
As many of you know, this
foundation transpired because Dr. KC Gilmore who is my nephew, Max
Morrison’s partner, is in Kuwait. She’s working as a Navy surgeon,
under the direction of Admiral Richard O’Riley. They’ve seen some
very sad things in their time there.” Her mouth pulled down and her
eyes lowered. Her voice easily reflecting her sorrow, KC imagined
her face did too, but her visage was too blurred to tell, even her
voice was a bit distorted. “Dr. Gilmore lost her first patient her
initial week there. Corporal Lance James. For obvious reasons this
saddened and alarmed her. She wrote Max and he contacted me. KC was
concerned about Corporal James’ family. Who would take care of
them? How would they cope? What will they do now?”

Looking out over the crowd, KC
identified her same sorrow reflected in their faces. The second
bite of brownie lodged in her throat. She swallowed. Some of the
solemn faces staring at the stage she recognized, but for every one
she knew, she saw two more unfamiliar visages. Yet all were
saddened by each loss of war.

General Emma paused and her
eyes trailed around the room. “Excellent questions, each of them.
Dr. KC Gilmore’s job is to mend the wounded. She cannot aid those
who die so bravely in battle. Nor can she assist their families. As
you might expect, she was feeling despair and had lost hope. So,
she wrote to one she loved. Max came to me. What she could not
do,
we can
. From
there The Bent Rock Foundation was formed.”

More applause erupted as her voice
grew stronger and Emma laughed. A silvery, musical, amazing laugh
that made KC wish the audio wasn’t distorted. KC glanced at Admiral
O’Riley, who looked enthralled. She expected no less from General
Emma. A force of nature and KC was very happy Emma was on their
side. KC reflected again on how well suited Rich and Emma were for
each other.

“
If you were wondering, Bent
stands for Bentley. Bentley is a dog owned by Captain Mitchel
Monahan of the U.S. Marine Corps. My niece, Lainy Morrison Monahan,
kept Bentley for Mitch while he was in Kuwait last year. Mitchel
told us of more of the men and women fighting with him who had to
give up their pets, as he did. One of the worst parts of his story
was the many men and women fighting for us who weren’t certain what
happened to their pets.”

She looked sternly at the crowd and
shook her head. “We couldn’t have that!” she shouted and the room
broke into applause again.

“
We set about finding those
people’s animals. As many as we could and we placed them in homes
to wait for their brave masters to return. Emails went out to the
men and women informing them of this fact.

“
A paperwork glitch made it
such that we nearly lost one pet, Admiral Rich O’Riley’s dog,
Rocky. I managed to locate her myself,” a ripple of laughter
rippled through the Morrisons in the crowd. Max’s lip curled up and
KC grinned.

“
Yeah, she
managed
to locate Rocky
herself,” she said dryly. Admiral O’Riley laughed.

“
Moved mountains, you
think?” His wry tone and comment made her laugh.

“
Upon finding Rocky, I moved
her into my home. With the help of Mitchel, I was able to locate
Admiral O’Riley. Unfortunately, Lainy and I weren’t able to keep
Bentley and Rocky, who fell in love, apart. Not once, either, but
this is their second batch of puppies.”

More laugher surged through the crowd,
as many of them either knew the story or appreciated the dry wit in
Emma’s voice.

“
Since Bentley and Rocky are
both dogs of military personnel who willingly gave up their pets,
it seemed fitting for us to name the foundation after their pets.
The first order of business is to auction off the result of their
love – eight puppies. But first let me introduce you to the
parents. I give you Bentley and Rocky!”

As she spoke, General Emma threw out a
hand and indicated the area behind where Max and Ryan stood. Lainy
walked around them, holding a leash. Bentley trotted beside her,
his tongue lolled to the side as though he grinned at the crowd.
Behind her appeared Melly, also carrying a leash. Rocky stepped
daintily into the room and took the applause as her due.

“
That’s my girl,” Admiral
O’Riley said fondly, grinning at the beautiful blonde dog on the
screen.

“
She’s gorgeous.” KC had to
agree. Rocky was beautiful. And because of her, Corporal James’ and
other’s families would be helped by the day’s proceeds.

When the clapping and
catcalls died away, Emma continued. “We’re going to auction off a
puppy now. Please be reminded that the Bent Rock Foundation will
aid the families of those who died in battle or as a result of
injuries they sustained while fighting for
our
country and
our
freedom.” Her extra inflection
to
our
was mild,
but effective.

Her statement met with silence as
those listening thought about what she said. “She’s incredible,”
the admiral breathed.

“
Yes. That’s why I was so
happy Max went to her with his ideas. She can pull anything
off.”

“
They’re going to bring in
more money than they can spend.” She heard the admiration in his
voice and smiled.

“
That’s the point, isn’t
it?”

“
I suppose,” he answered but
an auctioneer moved to take Emma’s place and Mitch, with Ryan’s
help, pulled out the first puppy.

They held up the little guy, with a
deep brown coat who looked just like Bentley. The bids opened high
and climbed higher.

KC stared in awe.

“
Do I have a thousand? A
thousand fifty? A thousand fifty. Two thousand? Two thousand – two
thousand fifty?” And so the bidding rose. The first puppy sold for
close to eight times more than expected. And from what KC could
gather, the other bidders only dropped out of the bidding race
because of the little girl bouncing anxiously on the shoulders of
the man who won the bid. Her squeal of delight and joy brought
smiles to the faces of many in the room when Mitch handed the puppy
to her.

General Emma and the auctioneer
exchanged places again and her voice boomed out of the speakers.
“The next puppy will be auctioned off in half an hour. In the
meantime, there are many here who have served in Kuwait and Iraq
and other wars who will be happy to answer any questions you have.
There are also booths set up for you to peruse, and the concession
stand will be opening within the next few minutes. We have several
other donated items to auction off.” She paused to glance at a list
in her hand.

“
The first car will be sold
in five minutes. A schedule as to when each item is to be auctioned
is posted near the concession stand. There are more being posted at
various places around the room.” She went on to announce a clothing
drive and the various items needed for care packages that people
could donate. General Emma also pointed out where families could
sign up to adopt a military person’s pet.

KC watched as Max and Ryan sped
between booths, helping to put out literature, cared for the
remaining puppies, helped out at the concession stand and generally
took care of business. None of the Morrisons appeared to escape
taking direction from the petite, silver haired general who rapped
out orders with the aplomb of any seasoned military
officer.

By the time all eight
puppies had been auctioned off and placed into the arms of the
excited new owner, and the other items were bought and paid for,
the Bent Rock Foundation was much richer. “Not only have we earned
money from the sale of Bentley and Rocky’s puppies, but
corporations and private citizens,” and General Emma sniffed and
closed her eyes, obviously making an attempt to maintain her
emotions. She succeeded, but her voice was husky when she
continued, “have generously contributed large amounts of money to
this foundation. Numerous families have connected with a military
person in this room who fought with their lost loved one. And we
have enough money to help
every one
of the families who have applied for aid from
us.”

The approval from the crowd was
deafening. KC didn’t try to stop the tears from falling. The
Morrison family had once again improved the lives of those who
fought. A war they hadn’t started, but willingly gave their
energies, even their lives, to their country and
countrymen.

Admiral O’Riley reached out and
grasped her hand, and KC, humbled by his simple gesture, gripped
his offering in gratitude. She thought he was as moved by the video
as she. This video should go a long way to raising hope in the unit
again. Even though they were overworked and understaffed, knowing
others cared would help to improve spirits.

Glancing to her left, KC was also
thankful for their excellent leaders.

Chapter 39

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject:
Thanks!

Dear Max and
Ryan,

A most sincere thank you
for the Bent Rock Foundation Blow-Out video. Admiral O’Riley and I
watched it together and now he’s showing the
DVD
round the clock. Both here and
throughout all the other bases and compounds here and in Iraq. (He
had copies made – out of his own pocket – so everyone could see the
video.) I think nearly everyone here has seen the Blow-Out multiple
times!


Many of them recognized a
few of the military persons circulating through the crowd there.
Seems that for as large as we are in the military, it’s still a
small world! We could almost feel the strengthening in morale here.
Everyone smiles a little easier today. (We’ve made several phone
calls and the same is true for the other units we’ve spoken
to.)

I was certainly happy to
see how active the two of you were at the event. Not that you could
have escaped, but I noticed neither of you were grudging about the
work required of you. (This is good, since I’m watching you!) Even
though I’m thousands of miles away, I still know what you’re
getting up to.
