Chapter TWENTY-FIVE… HONEY’S TALE


The report of the stand off near Kandahar, had trickled through the grapevine, reaching the troops based at Ramstien in Germany, so when they landed and deplaned there was a little crush of military newsmen and photographers and the survivors were treated like visiting royalty. The Divos had hoped that this bit of news wouldn’t reach Simon quite yet….not that they didn’t want him to know…they just wanted to watch him explode when he heard how close his Divos had come to being blown away.

But when they saw the stills that the photographers had taken they gloated a bit….they really looked the part, in fatigues, dirty, tired and wounded, all walking beside Honey in her wheelchair with her arm in a sling and feet wrapped in large dressings

“I can just hear the ladies on the forum when this gets posted,” Honey laughed as she showed Urs the photo of them, two on each side of the wheelchair, looking deadly serious, tough and full of testosterone, in full stride walking to the hangar, duffle bags over their shoulders, Urs and David with one hand each on the handles of the chair.

“Well we just have to hope no-one that reads military papers is a forum member,” he said as he pulled his shirt off, getting ready to shower.

She looked at him in wonder, thinking that he couldn’t be that naïve after being in the public so long.

“Want to bet that it’s already been posted?” she said with a grin and opened the laptop that one of the officers had loaned her.

“You’re on…what am I going to win?”

“A surprise…I know how you love them.” She grinned as she logged in on the forum and clicked on the Gallery, then Urs Pics, went to the second-last page on the site and the first photo that came up was of the guys getting off the plane, followed by the one of them walking with the wheel chair, then another but this time a closeup of Urs with his stitches and tiny plasters, looking serious and dangerous. They read the comments aloud and though Urs blushed a bit at all the ‘Thud cushion and Drool bib’ comments she could tell he was pleased.

“Maybe we should trade in the Armani for fatigues,” he said as he shucked off the rest of his clothes and headed for the shower.

Honey watched him, that special athletic walk, the acres of lovely skin…..she had to look away before she would need a thud cushion. When she looked back at him he had paused in the doorway and turned his head to look at her, smiled and wet his lips.

“Coming?”

She smiled as she left the photos for the real thing.

**
Before they left for the hangar where they would put on the night’s show, Honey e.mailed Carol and Miles, sent another to Simon, and one to Katja and Anya, hoping that Katja had continued her earlier lessons on the computer.

Once again the guys were dressed casually, not fatigues this time but casual pants and shirts, by Armani but not quite as dressy as the dinner jackets and tuxedos. They insisted that Honey accompany them, though she only had borrowed fatigues to wear until one tiny nurse rescued her with the loan of a pretty skirt and top that suited her complexion and red hair.

They repeated some of the performance from Kandahar but it wasn’t totally the same and not nearly as long. Honey sang a few tracks with them and the crowd, who of course knew the story behind her appearance, was very enthusiastic. All too soon it was over and the happy audience collected autographs and had pictures taken then let the singers go.

They went from the hangar to the mess tent for a late snack and spent an hour talking about the trip, how enlightening it had been, how Simon would be freaking over the news and Honey caught up on some of the news.

“Didn’t the girls give you lot a hard time when you volunteered to go to Kandahar? I can’t imagine any of them being really happy about it.”

“Well, Holly is too far along to do any flying and she made me promise not to get killed,” David said with a grin, thinking of the lecture his very pregnant wife had given him.

“Gerald was really pissed that she couldn’t come too. But I’m glad she didn’t. She always acts so strong, so tough, but really she’s a softie…some of the things we saw or did would have upset her greatly.”

“And Anna had a friend killed in Afghanistan. He was with NATO so she begged me not to go, then gave in and told me to be careful. I talked to her just before the concert tonight. She was with Maman and they both cried for the whole call.”

Honey took Urs hand and looked around at the men who meant so much to her.

“I don’t want to tell the girls about my 11 months, not the whole truth. But I need to tell you, I need to purge myself of some things I’m not proud of, some that almost feel like they happened to some-one else and I was just forced to watch. Will you listen to me or would you rather not know?”

They looked at one another and nodded in agreement.

“Baby, if it’ll help you clear your mind, then we want to share it with you, but not here. Let’s go back to the barracks.”

They all went back to Urs and Honey’s quarters, using a wheel chair this time since the roads were paved and there were sidewalks here. Carlos left, dug through his gear and came back with a bottle of brandy but they had no glasses so he opened it and they shared by passing it from one to the other. Honey took a sip and they all got comfortable, sitting on the floor on blankets or on the bed, Urs on the floor leaning against their back packs and with Honey between his knees, huddled in his arms for strength. He could feel her trembling slightly.

“When the Helicopter was hit, the pilot just had time to yell that we were going down and we all braced for the impact. I was in between two very large soldiers and they kind of made a cage around me, trying to protect me. I blacked out when we hit and it was a while before I came to. I looked around me and saw that the fire from the crash was nearly out so it must have been a while. I tried to stand but my leg was pinned through the calf and I couldn’t get loose.

“I heard someone talking and looked again. This time I saw a man and a woman. They were searching a body, taking the clothes and weapons, piling everything neatly near a small sled then moving on to the next. It seemed that I was the only one alive for they stripped the pilot and co-pilot then the two soldiers and then came to me. They took my jacket and boots. The woman got very excited when she saw my bump. She put her hand on me and I held up two fingers, and she understood, got even more excited and jabbered away at her husband and then they stared at me some more.

“They were both very old, withered and wrinkled from hard work or hard lives. They seemed to come to some sort of agreement and the man came over to me, inspected the metal rod that was through my calf and quickly yanked it out. Well that was it for me. I think I screamed but the world went black and it was a while again before I came to.

“We were in a hut of some kind, very dirty and smelly, made of skins stretched over branches, a firepit in the middle and a small herd of goats penned up along one side. Later I learned that it was actually a ledge on the mountainside, not really a cave, just kind of a lip of stone. They had stripped me, put one of the under slips on me and tended to my leg. The woman came to me and helped me sit up and gave me some soup and I slept again.

“We formed a sort of relationship over the next 3 months. The old man went away somewhere for a few days right after I woke and when he came back he was very happy…so was I when he came back alone. I thought he had gone to tell the rebels about me.

“I learned a bit of Farsi, enough to get by with them and they weren’t unkind to me, just a little distant and cool. They had very little, lived mostly on goat’s milk and cheese, once in a very long while smoked goat meat, rice and some root vegetables that the old man got from a cellar outside of the hut. I seldom got outside, they refused to give me any clothing except the shift that goes under a chadur and the snow had been very heavy so it was very cold. My only trips out were when nature called and those were very fast, believe me….they had taken my boots and didn’t replace them with anything. It was a definite relief when the weather improved and the snow began to melt. I worked hard at keeping as fit as I could, eating everything they allowed me, even some ghastly stuff made from fermented goats milk.

“When I went in to labour, I knew it was too early but there was nothing I could do but try to deliver healthy, living babies. The old lady had taken my watch but I looked at it once when she was out side and kept track of the date after that on a branch at the bottom of the floor space where I slept.

“I didn’t say anything at first but she noticed and took a pot to place on the fire with some snow to melt, threw in one of their skinning knives and lay some relatively clean cloths out beside the pallet where I slept all the time. It took a long time….all that day and night, far into the next night but finally I could feel the need to push. I was so exhausted but not ready to give up, I wanted our boys so desperately. When it was time, she showed me what to do, the way the women in the fields delivered and both of the boys came not even two minutes apart, first Lucas and then Peter. She cut the cords with the knife she had boiled over and over, wrapped them in the rags on the floor and left me to finish up and get clean. That was May 14th as near as I could tell.

“I was really weak after and only saw the boys when she brought them to me to nurse or when she left me alone in the hut with them. She fed me well so I would be able to feed them and I regained my strength but I was really worried. They talked a lot in the evening and didn’t realize how much Farsi I had picked up.

“They were waiting for someone to come, someone they were going to sell the boys to. Apparently twins are considered a gift from Allah and very prized. Then they wouldn’t have to share their food with me anymore.

“Strangely I understood why…they had nothing, I was nothing to them, neither were the twins and they needed to survive. But I needed to survive too and with Luke and Peter, so I got ready for this mysterious someone to arrive.

“He came the day Luke and Peter were six weeks old, his wife was with him, all bundled up nice and warm in a cart pulled by one of the fat, shaggy ponies that are favored in those parts.” She stopped for a moment and Carlos motioned with the brandy. She nodded and took another small drink.

“The two men came in the hut, the women stayed outside by the cart. The men stood over the boys talking, then turned away and I saw money being exchanged …….” Her voice had dropped now to almost a whisper and she was shaking violently as she tried to continue.

“I don’t really remember swinging the axe the first time, I don’t even remember picking it up, but suddenly the rich man was sagging to the floor with his head split open and the old man was staring at me with fear. I swung again and he followed the rich man to the floor. I wanted to throw up but knew that the women would flee and tell someone and all three of us would be as good as dead. So I took the knife the old lady used when they slaughtered a goat, quietly went out to where the women talked and… killed them too, quickly, so they wouldn’t suffer.”

Urs arms had tightened around her now so she almost couldn’t breathe. She was trembling so hard that her mouth didn’t want to work properly making her words nearly inaudible. She was crying as she told them, not aware of it but her face was wet with tears, her eyes were unfocused, like she was far away reliving what she was talking about.

“After I cried for a bit and threw up several times, I gathered all the food I could find, a few knives, blankets that I made into a sling for the boys, my watch, a flint and stone and loaded everything into the cart. I cut all my hair off so no one would accidentally see it and threw it in the fire, then put on the old woman’s heaviest chadur and veil, put the jug of goat’s milk near my skin so it would keep warm and wrapped the boys up, put them together for warmth in a sling and after I dragged the two women inside, chased the goats outside and set fire to the shack, we left.