Friendships Ch. 04

"Joshua!" Sarah wrapped her arms around the young man.

By then David and Joy reached the door and were taking off their shoes.

"Moe, grab three more chairs, we got company!"

As soon as Daisy and Molly saw who it was, they were on a dead run to the door. They sang in unison, "Miss Joy, Miss Joy!"

Molly during dinner said, "Miss Joy, Daisy did a sonogram on 'Spirit' today. She is going to have a colt."

"That is nice Molly . . . oh . . . oh my . . . you don't mean . . . congratulations Molly!"

Joshua said, "OK, I am missing out on something obvious aren't I," Everyone around the table was clued in.

David said, "Dear I think our son missed out on the sex-education seminar. I may have to have 'The talk' with him."

Joshua said, "Huh?"

Sarah said, "Joy, you may want to put him in a better school, one that teaches about friendships."

Joshua said, "Wait. . . duh Joshua, 'Angel'."

David said, "That took you fifteen minutes. I hope they don't give you a test with ten questions on it, you would run out of time."

Joshua said, "I get it Dad. I will never live this one down, and you and Mom will remind me as much as possible, including every girl I meet."

Joy said, "I am sure there will be a lot of them also. At least I hope so, hint, hint."

"Not you too!"

Then came out the desserts, the three milkshakes first, as it would have it they were served in three large pewter goblets that David's 'Gran' had. Sarah purposely made the top one inch bland in taste so when the following flavors hits it, they would be more intense.

Sarah handed out the milkshakes to Daisy, Krynn, and Molly. "Everyone watch this before you get your dessert."

Krynn tasted the top part, "Hey Sarah, if this is all the game you got, I feel good about keeping my throne."

Daisy screeched, "Hey, what was that? It was yummy cherry I think."

Molly said, "Tangerine, was that a sprinkle?"

Krynn said, "I got watermelon. It covers your whole tongue doesn't."

Daisy announced, "Coconut and sprinkles, sorry Krynn, this is the best milkshake ever."

Molly had stopped speaking, it was too good to stop eating.

Sarah said, "That is Pina Colada Daisy," Sarah did her happy dance.

"Don't worry Krynn, two can play at spiking milkshakes."

"Did you see how I 'Rope-a-doped' them. I made the top inch really bland, so when the flavors hit, 'BAM' right in the kisser."

"What was that odd flavor? I know it, but just can't place it."

"You must mean the egg nog. I put that at the bottom to revive any flavors that may sink to the bottom."

Krynn said, "This took you a while to fix, all the special flavors and something had sprinkles in it, but creamy also."

"Let's just say I don't like to be dethroned."

All the rest were eating their choice of ice crème. Some had a glass of egg nog, Krynn included. Joy had been in the ice crème aisle enough over the years to know exactly what ice crème Sarah used. She had to have blended it so you just had the vanilla in scoops. She did not know about the flavor packets, they must be new.

After dinner everyone was relaxing, all the two-year olds started to squirm out of their mother's laps. One mother went to pick up her child but Dawn said, "No, just watch this". Soon all four were cuddled in Joy's lap.

"OK, how did she do that? My kids don't go to anyone; now they are asleep in Joy's lap."

Another mother said, "I don't care how she did that, I am just glad mine is asleep."

Molly said, "Joy seems to have a kindred spirit with kids, it is a true spirit. Kids can sense a fake one a mile away."

"I loved it when Miss Joy came to the club, sometimes she brought books to read and made funny faces and noises just to make us laugh."

"Miss Joy where is 'Buddie'?"

"I had to return him, it was a very sad day. We were told he will not train with anyone else. We are working with the hospital to get David settled in one spot, then we can buy a house near a nursing home and I can get recertified with 'Buddie'; the training center can't wait."

"Miss Joy, I know where there is a little house with a white picket fence and a hospital and a nursing home nearby."

"David?"

"I can call St. Luke's tomorrow, we seem to be at a stalemate as it is now."

David called the following day, the administrator was in so the call was forwarded. "Hello, this is Dr. David. I am looking to settle down to a permanent hospital and being transferred from my current one.

"David how are you? I can give them a call and see if we can do it. If we do, it will have to be ER duty, but with surgical rights, just in case we need one."

The transfer happened in a week. David was on call for the first week so he could get settled in. 'Buddie' was flown to the local training center. He was being very uncooperative. Then Joy walked in, "'Cap' attention, were you being uncooperative with my helpers? Is that any way for an officer to behave?"

Joy just stopped talking and just eyed 'Cap'. He did not flinch.

"Ma'am what are you doing?"

"Well Sir, believe it or not, you are looking at a Captain of the US Army. He is military trained. He would take you down in an instant if you tried to do something to me. He also knows you can't break attention. I am here to get recertified for a pet therapist. At ease 'Cap', 'Buddie love'.

"I think everything would go more smoothly if you just test us."

Two hours later 'Buddie' and Joy were certified. Shortly thereafter, Joy walked through the doors of the nursing home and 'Buddie' ran over to his favorite.

"'Buddie', how are you boy? We have all missed you."

Joy and 'Buddie' were almost home when a young man knocked an old lady down into the street and stole her purse.

Joy said, "'Cap' corner!" 'Cap' charged six feet in front of the young man, turned and just eyed the young man. He never made a sound. The young man found himself walking backwards for every step forward 'Cap' went, always remaining six feet away until the young man backed into a wall.

The police were called and they arrested the young man, some of the many observers helped the woman up off the street.

"Miss did you call the dog 'Cap'?" the woman was weeping as she dug into her purse and retrieved a picture. She showed it to Joy.

It was a picture of a young man in uniform with 'Buddie' by his side.

"I am sorry for your loss Ma'am. Ma'am could you tell the officer the story?"

"Officer, you are looking at a true patriot. He is a Captain in the US Army and currently helping this woman as a pet therapist, I assume. He only is trained to kill only in the defense of our country. My son was shot in Afghanistan before 'Cap' could kill the enemy.

As you saw, he did his job by being six feet away. Six feet is close enough to jump and knock a gun out of a stupid person's hand, but far enough away to cut off any escape someone would try."

Joy said, "Ma'am just how does he know you by?"

"Mama"

"'Buddie', love Mama," 'Buddie' trotted over to give affection to Mama.

"What a lovely command."

The officer holstered his weapon, and gave 'Buddie' a salute, to which 'Buddie' nodded.

Joy said, "Officer, I was at the nursing home shootout. 'Buddie' tackled one murderer who fell on top of the other one. He made it well known it was in their best interest not to move. We had to turn four conference rooms into morgues before help could come. I did my best to pray for those who would soon pass.

"Officer, would it be possible to drive Mama up to 'Image of God'? Sarah will give her a hot meal and a warm bed."

"Of course, I will wait for a car to come."

"Ma'am I am so sorry for your loss. 'Gold Star' families have my deepest respect."

Joy said, "May I ask a question? What happens to me if 'Buddie' gets called up?"

"As his handler, you go with him of course. In the military you go where they tell you to. Yes, that could mean front line duty. I suggest you stay fit and eat well. Go to a firing range once a week."

That night, David and his family went up to 'Image of God'. 'Buddie' went straight to Mama.

Joy said, "I hate to bring this gruesome subject up, but Mama said if 'Buddie' gets called up, he has to go to where they send him, I go with him. I need to learn to shoot. Can you teach me and can I store it up here?"

"Sure Joy, I pray you never need to use your skills. I can call my teacher about what kind of semi-automatic you would need. Sorry Joy, that's what they use in the military. We can use normal ammo though."

Mama said, "Are you a good shot Sarah?"

"I am a sharpshooter ma'am, pistol and rifle. I never use my pistol, and I am glad to say I never had to shoot at anyone, just the odd animal and the warning shot when someone tried to steal 'Angel'; the police had to have it for a brief period."

Mama said, "Have you killed very many deer?"

"Ma'am, I go to the butcher for my meats. My Dad taught me how to track, so I think I would be good at it."

Molly and Ceres got to the ranch late that night, Molly insisted they ride as much as possible. They had a late, important meeting. It was a very successful meeting, they made many contacts and learned important information. Ceres took reams of notes. She was going to get this right in year one.

The next day Sarah called her teacher, "Hi Teach, how are you doing?"

"Sarah, how is my brightest student?"

"I got a problem 'Teach'. I have a friend who is the handler of 'Cap', normally it would be a military person with a military dog. She is a civilian who is a pet therapist with 'Buddie'. She would have to go with him if he were called up. I want your input as to what she would need to learn to shoot. Would she need a semi-automatic?"

"Probably, so she can handle what they would give her. I will text you two or three."

"Thanks, 'Teach', I knew I could count on you."

Sarah organized her workers to create an earth mound to absorb all the shots.

Joy hated holding a gun, it wasn't her. Taking a life was wrong.

"OK Joy, we need a baseline for you before I start teaching you. Joy, this gun is like what they had at the nursing home.

"Hold it firm to your shoulder or it will kick you like a mule."

Joy emptied the clip, the target, still intact.

"Load a clip for me, so I can see if we need to change anything."

Sarah took a shot, it missed wildly. It took two clips of adjustment before she got a center mass bull's eye.

Joy tried again, no bull's eyes but a good grouping

"OK try focusing on your breathing. Do you feel a gap just after you exhale and before you inhale? That is when you are still; the gap will get bigger when you can control your breathing."

After an hour of shooting, Sarah switched to her handgun. She wanted to reduce the amount of ammo she had. After thirty minutes, day one was complete.

Ceres had two farms adjacent to each other. She was making a complete obstacle course for Joy; she loved making the mud crawl.

In one week, it was a surprise for Joy, her first obstacle course. 'Buddie' was with her and two hands that could help her in certain areas, but Joy didn't know with what. Her decisions affected her fellow comrades; the harder the mistake the worse the injury. If she got a number correct the comrade would rejoin the group.

Joy had three clips, each of her comrades had one. Right away Joy made a mistake, a comrade went down with a leg wound. Joy remembered the phrase 'never leave anyone behind'. She asked her other comrade could they carry him, correct answer.

Three towers were constructed. They gave observers a place to tell Joy what she had to do, just not how to do it. Next came the mud crawl. Joy knew she had to bury herself in the mud to get low enough to crawl through. Correct answer.

Next was the wall, unfortunately. The wounded comrade was to help Joy from the top, the other from the bottom. As a sub, Joy often asked others for help. Joy would have to go first, but did not know how to get up the wall but her comrade did. Joy asked, she got a boost and then used the information to get to the top. The wounded man came up next so there were two people to help the last. Joy got three correct answers for that.

Near the end Joy was exhausted when they climbed to a tree fort only to find a zip cord. Joy did not know she was approaching a 'Kill Zone'. Half way down the zip cord they started to be pummeled by paintballs. Sarah gave strict instructions for Joy not to get killed; the exercise was for her to learn how to keep her head down. Mama was having a blast as one of the shooters, all shots were to be high, her comrades could be killed.

Joy remembered what Dawn said about minimizing injury from a fall from a horse. "Spin and Roll!"

Sarah went on the bullhorn, "Welcome to the 'Kill Zone', to make it fun you have to shoot the target that is the greatest threat. You will be able to see their number from time to time and the targets are scattered. You do not know how many live targets there are, there may be some that hold their fire until you make a run for it. Oh, did I mention the area may or may not have mines. If you run out of ammo you need to find another way to complete your mission."

Joy knew her comrades could be killed so some were shooting that them. Sarah was watching Joy, but didn't know what her hand signals meant, but her comrades did.

They were to separate themselves on the right side and alternate shooters so the enemy did not know who to shoot at. They would shoot using random shooting patterns, so it was not predicable as to when they would switch or how often then would shoot.

Molly was on the end buried behind sandbags and her target was very hard to hit, but there was a way. It would be risky. Molly's job was to pin Joy down so she could not get a shot off. Joy had no intention to get a shot off.

Joy threw her ammo clips to her comrades.

Molly saw Joy was rolling behind the same two trees for cover. Joy worked her way to the left under the cover of leaves; Molly lost sight of her target.

Joy worked her way to the extreme left, now she was moving forward.

The enemy was very confused as to what target they should shoot at.

Joy was now behind enemy lines. She creeped up behind Molly, covered her mouth and slit her throat with her rubber knife. Molly knew she should get killed by getting her target hit, but she was indeed dead.

Joy could hear two people walking her way, it was Mama and Dawn, Mama first. Joy said, "'Buddie' love Mama," when he jumped on Mama, her gun went flying. When Dawn came over the ridge she was immediately adorned with a large yellow spot on her chest. Dawn was dead and Joy slit the throat of Mama, she collected both clips.

Joy and 'Buddie' were now directly behind the last two. Joy knew it was not right to shoot people in the back. Joy picked up a stick and said to 'Buddie', "Go fetch", Joy threw the stick to the right. When both heard the movement behind them, they both turned only to be hit with two purple paint balls each. Joy popped her head up over the barrier and said, "All clear, move out to finish, go around the minefield."

From her position, all the targets were easy to hit, she splattered the remaining ones with paint and joined her teammate to cross the finish line together.

Sarah came down from her tower and told Joy, "You fail because you used an illegal move."

Joy rebuffed her, "You said, if I ran out of my ammo I was to find another way to cross the finish. As you can see I do not have my rife or ammo clips. I just had my knife and 'Buddie'. I instructed my teammates to separate and alternate who was shooting. They knew how to stay alive. They were to draw as much fire as possible, and not to hit a target. This made the enemy to focus on my teammates and not me coming from behind them.

"Molly's job was just to pin me down; no others were to cover me. Her target was too difficult to hit. Once I got past her vision, I moved forward and snuck up behind her and slit her throat so she did not make any noise.

"I told 'Buddie' to love Mama, that knocked the gun away and I then shot Dawn with Molly's gun. I then slit Mama's throat and collected both clips. I loaded Dawn's clip into Molly's gun. I moved behind the last two, I told 'Buddie' to 'Go fetch', both turned when they heard the movement; I killed them with two shots each."

Dawn said, "It may be semantics, but you have to go by what you said, not what you meant to say. By her account I do not see where she did something illegal. In fact, she didn't leave her teammates in the woods they came in as a team and she warned them about the minefield. She should get extra credit for making command decisions to complete her mission. She did not lose one teammate which included them slowing them down because of a wounded teammate."

Sarah was defeated, Joy used her options as to how to complete her mission. Even with an early mistake that wounded a teammate, she brought them with her and got bonus points for getting each teammate across the finish line, and to eliminate all enemies.

Mama said, "She used classic military tactics, her teammates were the feign attack. She outflanked her enemy by being camouflaged. She used our own weapons against us. Then she used misdirection with 'Buddie' on two occasions. She used all the resources available to her."

Sarah threw her clipboard in the air, this area was supposed to see how good she can shoot, only half the targets were hit.

Molly said, "I must admit, getting my throat slit was an odd feeling. You do not die right away."

Joy said, "My husband is a surgeon. He had to do that kind of stuff for school, and he told me about it."

Ceres loved building the courses, Sarah told her what she wanted. She then thought about testing several ways with her farming.

Sarah asked for a jungle shooting gallery they would test Joy's shooting from 25, 50, 100, 150, and 200 yards. Joy has only shot from 25 yards. Joy would only be armed with a short-ranged weapon to begin with.

On test day, as Sarah was explaining the course and tree forts with people firing at you and you must fire back. Joy dropped her gun on the ground, ammo belts, knives, ammo clips, pistols, camouflage uniforms into a great pile. "I'm done, try to get a decent price for my rifle."

"'Buddie', time to go to the nursing home," Joy got in her car and drove away. Sarah just stood there stunned.

The next day Joy made a phone call she wished she made long ago.

After lunch, Joy said I am taking 'Buddie' for a ride, not sure when we will be back.

Three hours later Joy came to the gate "Miss Joy and 'Cap' to see the General."

"Yes, ma'am he is expecting you, go straight down that road until you get to the mansion."

"Thank you, young man."

Now Joy was standing in front of a large desk.

"General, 'Cap' has served his country with distinction and has gone 'above and beyond the call of duty'. I am his handler and we are pet therapists for children and seniors. I think it is time 'Cap' should get an honorable discharge with back pay; I am sure you pay your officers. No amount of money can make up for the loss of her grandson. It should be sent to Mama as she was his caretaker.

"In fact, the 'Sullivan Act' should have made her grandson ineligible to join. He was the only son of his parents and only grandson of his grandmother. Now Mama and her son are a double 'Gold Star' family."

The General was not used to getting a dressing down by a civilian, or anyone else for that matter. The 'Sullivan Act' went into effect in WW II; it was defiantly military protocol. Gaps will need to be addressed. The General agreed with everything Joy was saying.

"I agree Miss Joy, let's start the paperwork right away." His driver brought the General, Miss Joy and 'Cap' to various departments. The General told Joy, "I hate waiting to go through 'Red tape', I pull rank and you would be surprised how fast you can get things done.