JAA Ch. 01: Aftermath

Susan just scowled as Cappy was charming the pants off the Major. Before he could get his little head into her, Sue would give her a once over first, that was for sure.

"So there he was covered in mud," Cappy said almost laughing too hard to go on, "and Waylon looks down at him and says, 'Chung you're such a Ham!' and the name stuck."

"And what does this name Ham mean...I always thought that a Ham was a pig's rear leg?"

"Well it is but, a Ham is also a comedian, someone who does something funny," Cappy explained. "And Chung is a funny guy."

"Chung funny? He's hilarious, the funniest man I have ever met," Waylon roared, making Ying jump and fall over backward in her chair.

Waylon laughed even louder once he saw that she was all right.

"Ying, if Chung didn't have the name I would bestow it on you," Waylon said between guffaws.

"Very funny, I fall over and almost break my neck and you laugh. Is this how you treat all your guests?"

Cappy started to laugh along with the rest of the men in the chow hall. Ying looked around at them all and scowled. Waylon squatted down and offered his hand to her, winking. He pulled her petite form up and stood looking down into her eyes.

Ying said three words in Mandarin and the Chinese soldiers stopped laughing. Waylon looked at Cappy.

"That's enough guys," Cappy shouted.

"Thank you, Waylon."

"You're welcome Ying."

"All right," Cappy started as Ying and Waylon retook their seats, "what to do with you lot?"

"I think they should come with us," Waylon said softly.

"I was thinking the same thing but, is it prudent?" Cappy said.

"What do you mean?" Sue asked. She had been quiet throughout most of the meal but had liked Ying almost instantly once they had sat down in the mess hall. At first, Sue thought Cappy was trying to...but then realized that Cappy had no interest in Ying Lee. She did notice a particularly avid interest by Waylon though. Ying would still get the once over before any hanky-panky could develop, along with her men.

"Would the rest of our group be able to accept them as they have accepted Ham? He is but one foreigner they are many. Would they be trusted? These are all valid questions."

"There are the rest of the men who came with Ham. They were integrated into our community," Waylon said.

"True, but that was over a year ago and they are tucked away in a far corner of the valley," Cappy replied.

"Well, I for one liked Ying from the beginning," Sue lied, "even when you still had your suspicions."

"And I trust your intuition implicitly Sue, I do. But not everyone back home does." Sue gulped as he called her on her lie.

"We know who you mean and they are not a threat, I'll see to that," Waylon said softly sitting next to Ying.

"And I'll vouch for my men. I can assure you they will obey me and Ham to the letter." Ying turned to her men and spoke in Mandarin.

"You will obey every order given you by Lieutenant Chung and myself. You will do nothing to, ever, disrupt our relations with the Americans. Is that clear?" Ham translated for Cappy and the rest. "The men have answered 'Yes'."

"Ying, you have to explain to them that in order to stay with us they will have to learn English. They will have their skills assessed. And they even might have to teach us what they know that we don't."

Ying turned back to her men and spoke to them. Cappy shook his head at Ham when he went to translate what she was saying. Ying spoke for a good three minutes. She asked each man something and answered her questions without hesitation. When she was finished, she turned to Cappy.

"They all agree and understand. You should know they are all volunteers, each of them missing a close friend or relative over here. They also knew that this was probably going to be a one-way trip. Most of them already speak some English and with me and Ham to teach them they should be fluent in a couple of weeks."

"I figured as much," Cappy answered her. He then switched to Mandarin and spoke to her and her men. Ying eyes lit up and a sly smile crossed her lips as Cappy welcomed her and her men to America. Ying's men smiled and nodded their heads as the American, in their native tongue, welcomed them.

Waylon then stood and spoke in Mandarin to them all, telling them he would be in charge of their training and welcoming them to America. Ying smiled up at him and then glared at Chung. Ying's men shouted their acceptance.

"Why didn't you tell me they spoke Mandarin, Captain Chung?" Ying asked.

"You did not ask me, Major Lee," Ham answered her with a smile on his face.

"You taught them, I recognize the accent?"

"Yes, I did. It seemed prudent at the time."

Cappy spoke in Mandarin again. He told Ying's men that there were barracks next door and to get some sleep before they left in the morning. Ying turned and reiterated Cappy's statement.

"Sue you're with me. Waylon post the guard again. Rotate shifts every two hours, make sure everyone gets some sleep. We have a lot of vehicles to drive out of here tomorrow."

"Right Cappy," Waylon answered.

"Sue, take Ying and do what it is you want to do. Ying, Susan is a doctor, a real doctor, not just a medic. In fact, before the eruption, she was my doctor. I believe she wants to give you the once over before things go any farther."

"What things?" Ying looked alarmed.

"I just want to make sure you and your men are healthy and are carrying no disease." Sue smiled at Ying.

"I see. I suppose I have no choice?"

"Not really. And you will be getting a series of injections, boosters to your immune system."

"Okay, where do we do this?"

"I have an infirmary set up in the next building. If you would follow me please," Sue said turning and walking away. Ying smiled at Cappy as she hurried to catch up.

Cappy turned to face the mess hall and found everyone gone except two of Ying's men. Cappy walked over to where they were sitting. They were sharing a cigarette. They both smiled at him and offered him a puff. He told them no thank you. They told him it was their last one and asked if he knew where to get some more. Cappy told them there were no more and they should get some sleep.

"Cappy, you should be getting some sleep, I can take care of everything," Waylon said as he strode into the mess hall.

"I know I just need to go over what we'll be taking back with us. Have a seat."

"Okay," Waylon said as he sat across the table from Cappy.

"Now," Cappy started, pulling a piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket, "we have twelve men...people. Ying's group is thirteen in all. That gives us twenty-five people. I think Ying and Sue are out as far as driving is concerned. You agree?"

"Yes."

"Good, then that leaves us with twenty-three drivers. Three to drive the trucks, three more for backup, that leaves seventeen for humvee drivers, right?

"Yep, I'm with you so far."

"But I don't want to put singles in each Humvee. Now if we double up that means nine humvee's all together."

"Okay, sounds good and we can use all of them back at base. Larry said he found the parts room for the vehicles. I'll have him load up some of the humvee's with the extra parts."

"Good idea. Okay then we're all set, go pick out the humvee's we'll be taking and get them loaded."

"Sure thing Cappy," Waylon answered standing. "They're already loaded and lined up outside."

"What?"

"I figured just as you did. I also figured who rides where. Me, you and Sue in the first humvee, Ham and Ying in the last humvee, the rest split evenly among the rest of the vehicles, with one of ours and one of Ying's men."

"You figured that out all by yourself did you?"

"Sure thing," Waylon smiled at Cappy's dig.

"Okay, you get a gold star, I'm going to bed."

Cappy walked away to the sound of Waylon's laughter. Cappy entered the barracks, found himself an empty room, and flopped down on the bed there. He quickly drifted off to sleep. A soft body snuggling up to him woke him sometime later.

"Go back to sleep, I didn't mean to wake you," Susan whispered in his ear. Cappy smiled as she hugged him and they both were softly snoring within minutes.

"Waylon says it time to get u...sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," Ying's voice trailed off to a whisper.

"You're not," Susan said as she stopped her good morning kiss with Cappy.

Sue rose and stood next to the bed where Cappy still laid with a big smile on his face. Sue kicked the bed frame.

"Get your lazy bones out of bed."

"Lazybones, we only got to sleep an hour ago!"

"We did not. He's laying it on thick just for your benefit Ying. We have both been asleep since nine last night."

"She's right, I remember now, it was nine last night. In fact, she woke me crawling into bed with me."

Ying just stood there with her mouth open, her gaze shifting between Sue and Cappy in disbelief. Sue stood there smiling down at Cappy as he sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

"They told me that things were decadent over here..." Ying's voice trailed off as the smile on Sue's face disappeared at the implication Ying was making.

"They are?" Sue asked coldly.

"What I mean is..." she halted once again as Cappy started to laugh. Sue soon followed suit.

"You ruined it again. Why can't you keep a straight face anymore? You loon," Sue yelled at Cappy as she swatted him on the head with her open hand.

"I'm sorry, I really am. God, I feel good this morning," Cappy roared as he stood and hugged Sue. He then walked to where Ying stood with her mouth hanging open and hugged her.

After Cappy released her, she stood there staring at Sue. Sue just smiled at Ying as she picked up her pack and weapons.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it around here," Sue told Ying as she passed her on her way out of the room. Ying turned immediately and ran after Sue.

Cappy walked out into the sunshine. Sunshine! He stopped in his tracks looking up into the sky. There was a patch of blue with the sun shining through to hit the flight line. Sue ran into Cappy as she was pulling her pack on and did not expect him to stop where he was.

"Damn it Cappy!"

"Yipe," Ying squawked as she almost ran into Sue.

"The Sun," was all Cappy said in answer.

"The sun? Holy shit it is the sun!" Sue almost dropped her rifle as she stared up into the sky. "And I see blue. The sky is turning blue again." Sue was jumping up and down as she squealed like a little girl.

"Cappy, what's wrong?" Ying asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all, Ying. This is just the first time the sun has broken through the ash cloud in almost eight years."

"Oh."

"Aren't you excited?"

"You forget I just recently saw the sun as we flew here and other times that I have flown places. Also, I have just recently returned from Australia to my homeland before coming here."

Sue went running down to the flight line where she could see Mark standing staring up into the sky.

"Where is she going now?" Ying asked.

"Down to say good morning to her husband," Cappy said watching Ying's face.

"Husband! Her husband is here and she slept with you?"

"Yes and the keyword is slept, that's all we did is sleep."

"But her husband..."

"Was most likely on sentry duty when she went searching for a bed, she probably didn't want to sleep by herself so she climbed in with me. Is there a problem with that?"

"Ah, I guess not."

"Besides we were lovers before she got married," Cappy said as he walked away from a horrified Ying.

"Wait, you two were lovers? Does her husband know?" Ying asked as she caught up with Cappy.

"Yes, he does. Now, no more questions." Ying shut her mouth loudly as they walked up to Sue and Mark.

Cappy slapped Mark on the shoulder and walked to the front of the line of vehicles were Waylon waited for him and Sue. Ying stood there, mouth agape as Sue kissed her husband, turned, and ran to catch up with Cappy. Mark turned and smiled at Ying as he walked to the truck he would be driving with one of Ying's men.

Mark yelled something in Mandarin to his passenger as he climbed into the cab. Ying barely caught what he said yet knew she should hurry to her humvee at the end of the line. She walked slowly, yelling words of encouragement to her men as she passed them. She was finally at her vehicle and climbed in next to Ham.

"Tell me everything you know about Cappy, Ham and don't leave anything out."

"Okay, but all you have to do is ask him and he'll tell you exactly what I'm going to tell you."

"That may be, but you don't have Susan hanging around with you."

"Ah...that's what you want to know." Ham laughed as he started the humvee and put it in gear. The vehicle lurched forward following the rest of the column.

The drive back to the valley was uneventful. The group stopped at the same rest area they had on the way out to San Antonio for the night. The next afternoon arriving at the valley fortress, the valley citizens welcomed them. Michelle was at the head of the crowd as Cappy's humvee pulled to a stop in front of his office.

As he jumped out of the hummer Michelle and two dogs, Rudy and Sunny, assailed him. When Max jumped down from the hummer both Rudy and Sunny froze until Susan stood beside him and petted his head, then greeted him in typical dog fashion.

"It was all we could do to keep them here," Michelle told him as she kissed his cheek.

"I'm glad you did. Waylon get these people back and organize a party to unload the supplies. And tell Ying I want her up here ASAP."

"Right away Cappy," Waylon said, turning his head and yelling. "Ying, front and center!"

Ying heard Waylon's voice as her humvee pulled to a stop. Ham just looked at her, shrugged his shoulders, Ying jumped out of the vehicle and went running toward Waylon's voice. She skidded to a stop in front of Cappy.

"Ying, may I introduce Michelle, Michelle, Ying."

"This is why I ran up here?"

"No. Get you men over here so we can introduce them to my people."

"Sure, nice to meet you, Michelle."

"Nice to meet you too," Michelle smiled at Ying as she turned to yell something in Mandarin.

Twelve men came running to form up in front of her. A yell from Waylon signaled that he had commandeered some of Ying's men for unloading duty. His roar of names echoed throughout the compound.

Soon everyone from the village gathered around the men standing in formation in front of Cappy's office. Cappy looked around him and smiled at Michelle as he took the podium that was always standing on the porch of his office.

"Ladies, gentleman, we have some new residence that I think you should meet. They come all the way from China to help us in our endeavor to survive. The woman standing in front of the formation is their commander Major Ying Lee. She speaks excellent English and most of her men speak enough to get by for now.

"I would like you to welcome them as part of our family and treat them as well as you have treated Ham and his men. Major Lee and Ham will be teaching them English and I would like everyone to lend a hand by being patient with them as they are learning. Major Lee will assign them tasks once we get them settled.

"As you will notice they are all officers so they are highly educated and most if not all of their knowledge will be of use to us in our survival in our world today.

"I also want to ask you all...did you see the sun this morning?"

A cheer went up from the crowd at the mention of the event that morning. Ying turned to her men and dismissed them, telling them to go help unload the trucks. Ying then turned and walked where Cappy, Susan, and Michelle were standing fielding questions from several citizens. Ying stepped up on the porch and stood next to Susan.

"Yes, she's a very nice person, here she is, why don't you ask her that yourself?" Sue said to the woman who looked to be in her late sixties. The woman looked at Ying and smiled then turned and hurried away. Susan laughed as the woman waddled down the path.

"Why did she not ask me the questions she was asking you?"

"Don't worry about her, she is one of those complainers. But she won't confront the person she complains about."

"Ah, yes, we have those types of people too. Very..."

"Withdrawn?"

"Yes, that would be the nicest word that we can use." Ying laughed as Susan smiled at her little joke.

Cappy shooed the rest away, except for two men. He turned and walked into his office.

"Sue, Michelle, Ying get in here. You two wait." The two men had started to follow him inside. The three women followed Cappy inside. Sue closed the door as she entered last.

"What's up?" Ying asked.

"Michelle out the back, go get Waylon and George and bring them over here."

"Be right back," Michelle said as she hurried out the back door.

"Problems, that's what's up," Cappy answered Ying's question.

Waylon and George followed closely by Michelle all entered the back door. Waylon walked straight to the front door, opened it and stepped out, closing it behind him. George stood, with his arm around his wife as they all waited. The door opened and Waylon and the two men walked in.

Cappy seated behind his desk, did not rise as the two men approached. The two men stood staring down at Cappy.

"What do you mean bringing all those chinks here?" Bill Parker queried.

"Excuse me but, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Her and her men, why did you bring them here?"

"Oh, you mean the Chinese. I'm sorry...what was the question again?"

"Why did you bring them here?"

"Well, let's see. Do you want the real answer or do you want me to lie to you?"

"You son of a bitch!" yelled Bill.

Waylon grabbed Bill by the back of his collar and hauled him to the door. Opening the door, he threw the man out into the street.

"You were told not to swear or cuss in here. Now you wait outside," Waylon told Parker as he lay in the street.

"John, he has a valid point although he does have a problem expressing himself properly," Jim Taylor said calmly.

"He has no point. Bigotry and prejudice can no longer be tolerated and you know it as well as I do. Seventy-five percent of the people still alive in the United States are other than Caucasian. That's three out of four."

"I know, I know but, how, why did you bring them here?" Jim asked again.

"They needed a place to live, that's why. We have plenty of room here and they will contribute greatly to our community. They all volunteered to come here to see about their comrades, such as Ham. They brought supplies which we can desperately use."

"I see," Jim said then was silent as he thought. He looked at Ying then back to Cappy. "Major Lee, is it?"

"Yes, but you may call me Ying." Ying stepped forward and offered Jim her hand.

"Ying," Jim started, taking her hand in his. "I would like to personally welcome you and your men to our community."

"That is very nice of you Mister Taylor."

"Jim, please."

"Jim then," Ying smiled at him.

"Waylon let Bill back in, please?" Jim asked.

Waylon went to the door Bill Parker was standing waiting. This had happened before so Waylon was not surprised to find him standing there. Bill pushed past Waylon and strode to the desk.

"Who do you think you are?" Bill asked Cappy.

"Me? Who do you think I am?" Cappy was playing with him.

"Bill shut the hell up and welcome our new resident," Jim told him as he stood beside Ying.

"What? You are buying this load of..." Bill stopped before he was thrown into the street again.

"Bill, they're here and they're staying." Bill's head snapped and he glared at Cappy.

"Well it was nice meeting you Ying, I hope we'll be seeing you around." Jim shook Ying's hand again. "Come on Bill, we're finished here."