Texas Nights - Book 13 of the Damned of the 2/19th

Appetizers for Body and Mind

Officer's Club
Fort Hood, Texas
CONUS
26 September, 1991
2000 Hours

The room was full of clinking of silverware, the chime of crystal and glass, and the low murmur of conversation. More than a few of the officers had stared at me when I entered, and I felt like I was an imposter, like I shouldn't be there, as the high and mighty, the precious metal of the military world, all stared at me. A one-star general, with his staff and their wives, were sitting at a large dining table, obviously having some kind of staff dinner, stared at me as Captain Jane, Major Cribbs, and I were shown to a small table.

I wondered how much of it was the awards I was still wearing on my chest.

Major Cribb had ordered skinless chicken breast and salad, Captain Jane had ordered something that I had missed, paying attention to the menu. Both stared at me when I ordered two 12 ounce steaks, two mashed potatoes, a salad with bacon bits for an appetizer, with a side of cheese covered broccoli.

They both ordered drinks, Cribb asking for a name brand expensive whiskey, Jane ordering white wine.

Both gave me an odd look when I ordered seltzer water with a lemon twist and ice.

The drinks arrived first, and we were silent until the waiter moved away.

"I took you for a drinker," Cribb said, sipping at his own drink.

"I used to drink pretty heavily," I told him bluntly, honestly. "I was enlisted, and a medic, so it was kind of expected. Plus, everyone around me drank, there was no age limit because we were in Europe. We all used to self-medicate away the side effects of our medication regimen with alcohol."

Cribb frowned. "Medication regimen?"

I shrugged. "At the time they were experimental drugs to give us increased resistance to nerve and blood agent, radiation exposure, and debilitating weapons. Not to mention the massive amount of inoculations and vaccinations we received," I sipped my drink, "Those little white pills were the fifth iteration of the primary medication we took."

Have a drink. Nobody will care. You haven't had told them you were a recovering alcoholic, you could be sitting here with a glass of Jim Beam and Coke. With two cherries. You could even tie the cherry stems in knots. Remember doing that? Remember how everyone would laugh? Remember the fizz on your tongue, the slight bite of the alcohol, the feel of the ice bumping your teeth and the slick feel of the glass against your lip?

It was good, wasn't it?

I pushed the voice away. It was my own voice.

Captain Jane shook her head, sipping at her wine.

"We used alcohol to mitigate the muscle cramps, the pounding headaches, the stomach cramps, and the muscle tremors," I said, shrugging. "It's kind of funny, right now the Army is pushing abstinence from alcohol, and I spent five years being encouraged to drink."

I gave them both a grin, "It wasn't considered alcoholic behavior at the time."

"No business, just dinner and conversation," Captain Jane said after a moment of awkward silence.

I nodded, and so did Major Cribb after frowning for a moment.

"Just remember, there's some things I can not answer or talk about," I said, shrugging.

I could tell that Major Cribb was just dying to ask me questions about my old unit, about where I had earned my awards, and get details that were redacted in the records he was privy too.

Captain Jane surprised me.

"Are you single, Heather?" She asked, sipping at her wine.

That made me laugh. "Yeah. Nobody wants to date the fat girl," I smiled. I curled my arm, flexing my biceps, which strained the cloth of the BDU's. "Plus, the fact I'm a power lifter seems to deflate a lot of egos," I smiled wickedly, "As well as other, more important things."