3

"Don't exaggerate, Pierce." Potter replied and then he whispered to her: "I have to admit he's an excellent surgeon but he doesn't deserve a halo."

The girl laughed and Potter blinked at her. "By the way, I'm Colonel Potter, the chief of this crazy troop. And this jokester next to me is Captain Hawkeye Pierce."

"Hi, I'm Kyong-Lee Chao." She introduced herself.

Then she asked in a depressing tone: "Is it sure that my Dad and brother are dead?"

She tried to hold back her tears but didn't succeed. And when Potter explained nodding that Klinger and BJ had seen their dead bodies tears where running down her cheeks.

"We are sorry." Pierce said. "Do you have other relatives? We could try to find them."

Kyong shook her head. "No, the two had been my whole family around here."

"You better take a rest now." Hawkeye suggested while putting the report card back in its place.

The girl nodded. "Where's the other doc?" She suddenly asked.

Pierce had almost been out of the door.

"Which one?"

"He's blond, tall ... has a mustache. He saved my life. I have to thank him." Kyong explained.

"Oh, you mean BJ. Don't worry, you'll run into him sooner or later. Now get some sleep."

Kyong nodded and closed her eyes.

Outside Hawkeye met BJ who was on his way to visit Kyong-Lee. Pierce told him that she had just fallen asleep again.

"By the way, did you know that she talks fluent English?" Hawkeye asked him. "I don't mean this double-dutch the natives around here speak. No, without the slightest accent."

BJ looked at him astonished and shook his head.

"I didn't know. After the accident she talked Korean. And I haven't seen her since the operation. I had been so tired, woke up just a couple of minutes ago. How's she doing?"

Hawkeye informed him.

The rest of the day passed quietly. No wounded. BJ reported to his duty. This time he stayed next to Kyong-Lee, who was still sleeping, for a long time. He was glad that she had recovered pretty good from her operation but he was also worried about her temperature.

The Captain was the first one to find out why Kyong's English was perfect. After his duty he talked to her for quite a while. Kyong thanked him for saving her life.

BJ learned that Kyong-Lee had spend half of her life in the USA. And when she explained that her mother was American BJ was speechless.

"My Mom was a teacher. She gave English lessons in Korea and met my Dad over here. I grew up near Seoul, was eight years old when my parents decided to move to the states. They offered my Mom a job in a high school in Minneapolis and so we went." The girl said and the surgeon listened. "Dad opened a restaurant in the states. He had worked as a cook in Seoul. My brother Kim and I helped him during summer break to earn some money. I was 15 when Mom died and two years later Dad brought us back to Korea. I loved it here 'til the war broke out. Dad had a little restaurant and we lived on a farm in Chorwon. But we couldn't stay there, it was to close to the front. So one day we grabbed a few things and headed south. We wanted to go to Pusan, the war down there is almost over." She hesitated. "... and now, I'm alone."

"Hey, you're not all by yourself." BJ tried to cheer her up. "Everybody in the camp cares for you."

"Thanks but I know I can't stay here forever. What will happen to me when I'm back on my feet?"

"Well, for now you have to stay at least one or two more weeks. The operation wasn't easy and you can't be transported right now. -Don't worry we'll find a way." He comforted her. "You sure you don't have any relatives? Not even stateside?"

The girl began to shake her head but suddenly started to smile. She tried to sit up but soon lay back down because her wound began to hurt. "My God, how could I forget..."

"What?" BJ asked.

"I have a grandmother in Boston." Kyong said happily.

"Boston, Massachusetts?" BJ asked and the girl nodded.

"I haven't seen her for a long time, haven't even talked to her. Oh, it would be fantastic if I could stay with her!"

"I guess that shouldn't be a problem." BJ assured and was ready to stand up.

"Hey, hey, you can't leave now." Kyong-Lee said and grabbed his arm. "I told you the story of my life now it's your turn. I don't know more about you than your name."

BJ had no choice, he sat down again. They could hear nurse Kellye, who sat at the desk in the room, giggling. Then BJ started.

After the first two sentences Kyong-Lee fell asleep. And for the first time BJ saw a smile on her face while she slept. He passed his hand over her hair then left the post-op.

"Hey Beej." Hawkeye greeted his friend back in the Swamp. "Long time, no see. Where have you been? Mom and Dad had been worried. I thought we'd play a game of poker."

"I was visiting a sick friend. Something wrong with that?" BJ grinned and poured himself a drink.

Hawkeye laughed. "Oh no, she's got you, too. That girl is flirting with every guy. She's worse than me except that I prefer girls."

"Yeah but I have to admit that she has taste. She seems to prefer my company instead of yours." BJ laughed also.

The two surgeons talked for a long time mostly about Kyong. BJ told his friend her story. Later that evening they headed for the officer's club.

A loud honk and the noise of a jeep woke most of the 4077th members at 10 a.m. the next morning.

"Who dares..." Charles murmured angry. "Cretin!"

He had returned from his shift two hours ago and wanted to catch some sleep.

"Hey, Charlie. It's Radar, he's back." BJ was glad and went outside.

"Who cares?" Charles turned around and fell asleep again.

"Hi Radar!" Klinger hollered when he came out of his office. "You look really good. Wow, four days in Tokyo can change a guy totally."

Radar got out of the jeep. He wore his dress uniform and looked like he had spent the whole four days in a beauty parlor. Klinger took his duffel bag.

"I'm so glad you're back! I just can't work in an office, it's not my style." Klinger said on their way to Radar's room. "Now you can have your job back with pleasure!"

"Hold on for a second." Radar replied. "I just arrived. I'm not even totally back yet."

But when they entered the office Radar was thunderstruck. Files were lying everywhere, the floor was paved with papers.

"Holy cow, Klinger! What have you done?"

"I was just looking for something."

At that moment Colonel Potter entered the room.

"Holy moly! Tell me who bombed this place?" He asked angry. "Klinger, I only wanted you to get me a report not to paper the office."

Klinger shrugged his shoulders.

"Colonel, fire this Arabian idiot!" Radar requested.

"Yes son. Effective immediately I declare Corporal O'Reilly the old new company clerk. It's nice to have you back, Radar." He put a hand on Radar's shoulder and walked over to his office.

Radar glanced at Klinger who tried to sneak out of the door.

"Oh no, Klinger!" O'Reilly shouted. "Don't think I'll clean this mess all by myself. No way! You'll have to help me otherwise you'll never get the cloth I bought for you."

"Aye, aye, Sir." Klinger's face brightened.

Both started to work.