Finding The 4077th

Happy Thoughts

His birthday party seemed a big success so far, everyone loved the cake and he got some very nice presents. He had put his lovely chicken in her box on the table while he had unwrapped the rest of his gifts but now he was just carrying her around on his arm. She seemed perfectly content with being carried and petted all the time, which Chris was grateful for as he couldn't stop stroking the soft feathers. She was absolutely perfect. He yawned widely and decided to sit down.

He was so tired, that panic attack really drained his energy. He put the chicken on his lap before looking around the room for his dad.

It didn't take long to find him. Hawkeye seemed a bit drunk as he tried to convince some nurses to go back to his tent or to invite him over but none of them seemed interested. Hawkeye just shrugged and got a refill of that spiced fruit juice.

Chris watched him as he walked over to a tipsy Colonel and a drunk Radar, who were laughing loudly over something BJ had said, before he looked back at the juice. He had always wondered what alcohol tastes like, and why adults get so silly because of it, but he knew he wasn't allowed to. He still wondered though. Adults were so weird when they got drunk, and the only explanation he got was that alcohol makes you act funny. That wasn't saying anything about the taste or feeling of it.

Chris sighed tiredly as he looked down at his lap where the tiny chicken sat snuggled deep and felt a wave of affection for his dad. He loved his dad, his dad was the greatest. He even bought him his own pet, and she was the cutest one he'd ever seen.

He decided to call her Cinderella, after that animation movie he'd seen a while back. It was the first one he had ever seen and he loved the way it was drawn, the colors and the funny mouses. He wasn't the only one who enjoyed watching it, a lot of adults laughed as well and seemed to like it. So he was glad Radar convinced the colonel to play it anyway as it was sent to their mash unit by mistake.

That ball gown looked so sparkly and pretty and his little Cinderella was just as pretty and even looked a bit like she was wearing a ballgown, if you squeeze your eyes shut slightly. So he thought the name fitted really well. His dad however did not. He had barked out a laugh and it took a while for him to be able to stop after he heard the name. Chris had glared at his dad but couldn't stay mad at him for long. After all, his dad had bought him the best thing in the whole wide world.

Hawkeye looked at his son with affection, it was good to see Chris so happy. Tired but happy. The kid had a whole pile of gifts next to him on the table but he only had eyes for that little chicken he'd been carrying around the whole evening. Which meant, he did a good job as a father. He wasn't happy that BJ and him had spent a whole hour making a cage for the chicken to sleep in. Especially after he had bought a bird cage already.

The enclosure was built next to Chris's bed and was basically a large oblong rectangular grate, large enough for her to even walk around in. They filled it with grass and such but Chris wasn't happy enough with that and spent quite some time making a bed for her. Apparently dried grass wasn't enough, she needed a blanket as well and some bowls for water and food. It was perfect for a little chicken according to the little book Radar had given Chris, but the boy still wanted to bring the chicken back to the party. To bring Cinderella back to the party.

Hawkeye snickered at the silly name, of course his son would name his pet after a cartoon drawn princess. It didn't matter as long as Chris was happy, and the boy looked very happy at the moment as he was swinging his legs and he took out his little chicken book and started reading.

Chris petted Cinderella, he was trying to read but thinking about alcohol got his curiosity peaked. It was an interesting book, and he really loved it but now he kinda wanted to know what alcohol tastes like. He looked over at his dad, but the man wasn't paying attention to him. He knew he would be in trouble if he tried it so he tried to forget about it.