Two Days Of A Dream (21 page)

"I had maintenance to oversee, sir." The major didn't even flinch, his smile holding steady.

"Tough luck, well, you go get some sleep, that's an order." The major glanced over Duran’s shoulder, and Duran turned to watch with him as the petit Lieutenant McKeeyer left the shower tent.
Ah, that's why he didn't remember Larsen coming for him.
Duran’s thoughts bounced from anger, to understanding. Too tired and too well trained he didn’t say anything. His eyes became heavier as McKeeyer went around a corner. Duran didn't know what the guys saw in the stick thin Lieutenant.
Well, none of my business
. He'd bet Larsen had known what the Major was up to, but didn't say a word. Good man, Larsen.

"Yes, sir." Duran saluted, which threw him off balance.

His major caught and steadied him. "Whoa, Duran." He voice was concerned as he turned the captain to face the right direction. "Straight to your tent with you. You look terrible."

"Yes, sir." Duran blinked his eyes into focus.

The Major slapped Duran on the back and continued on his way, whistling. Duran thought he heard his bed calling and urged his feet forward. Wrong again.

"Cap!" It was Larsen.

"I'm beginning to think you're the Anti-Sleep, Sergeant. I should tattoo ‘666’ on your forehead." Duran's tongue got in the way and he slurred the last part.

"Boy, you look bad, Cap."

"Thanks, Larsen, are you gloating over your handiwork?" Duran knew it wasn't Larsen's fault but the sergeant was an easy target.

"Well sir, Graves told me to ask you to stop at the holding tent for a few minutes before you went back to your cot. He's got some parts he wants your permission to send back on the transport tomorrow."

"All right, what's a few more minutes without sleep?" Duran waved Larsen on his way and went to see what Graves wanted. He found Graves deep in the holding tent, half in a crate and muttering to himself.

"You hiding someone in there, Gunny?"

Graves jerked his head out and scowled at Duran. "I ordered five hundred of these!" He tossed a bag of bolts at him. "But I can only find that one bag of fifty. If Mickalski from motor pool has been in here again, I'm going to use those bolts to attach his sorry hide to the front of this tent."

It didn't take long before Graves laid out the worthlessness of the parts and had the much-wanted signature on the form in triplicate.

The sun blinded Duran, and he had to wait a moment in the shadow of the doorway for his eyes to adjust, since he had forgotten his sunglasses. When his eyes did adjust, he spotted Millam across the way, looking back and forth before he slipped into the tool shack.
Now what was he up to?
Duran would have to find out and take care of the problem Millam was involved in before he could get some sleep. He sighed as he shuffled his way across the compound.

Chapter Twenty-nine

There was a dream in there somewhere amid the splashes of color and jerky, rushing images. None of the images would settle down and let Kelly relax. Cap never showed up, which made it worse. She didn't want to be in this spazmotic dream if Cap wasn't there.

She tossed and turned and what little sleep she found had been fitful. Now there were voices. No way she was going to sleep if this kept up.

"She's just feeding everyone bull and I'm going to prove it.” There was scraping of metal. “This file isn't working, hand me that screwdriver." Something dropped to the ground.

Kelly opened her eyes to find Mattie lifting the lid to Coleman's footlocker. "What's up?" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, glad to be out of that awful dream.

Liz held it out to Kelly who took the gown eagerly, and pulled off the lumpy, old T-shirt that had twisted around her. The silky cloud slid over her head and down her body, immediately making her feel comfortable and pretty. With Mattie’s help, she stood to kick the sweatpants off, leaving them crumpled on the floor.

Rolling hills undulated in every direction as a pair of rabbits scampered away to a small outcropping of trees. Kelly was alone. She shouldn't be alone. Where could Cap and his mesmerizing smile be? As she scanned the expansive horizon her dream changed.

He wasn't there and Kelly could tell without even moving. The bed was too hard, and it was cold even in the heat. She couldn't sleep like this.

Her eyes popped open, and she rolled to sitting before she found her bearings. She didn't need them; she knew exactly where she was. Now, where did that man go? Once again she ended up in his tent but he had disappeared. This had to be the most frustrating dream she'd ever been in.

Next to the bed was a pair of well-used men's sneakers that probably smelled as bad as they looked, but she didn’t bend down to find out. Slipping her feet into the large shoes, she clomped to the open flaps and looked around. She didn't see Cap anywhere and had a feeling that she
needed
to find him, wherever he was in this bright, cloudless expanse. The urgency gnawed at her like a dog with a fresh bone.

Four tents down, a soldier sat on a small stool, cleaning his rifle. She hoped he might know where to find Cap. It was worth a try. Cap was worth whatever effort it took. She clomped out of the tent and onto the hot, baking sand.

She had to find her elusive captain and nearly lost a shoe each time she lifted a foot. The soldier, hearing her mutter, looked up from the big rifle he had reassembled. His chin dropped and only his eyes moved as they followed her clomping, deliberate advance to him. He was young and cute in a slack-jawed kind of way; she figured he would do.

"Do you know where Captain Duran is?"

He shook his head, just staring.

"Well, if you had to hazard a guess, where do you think he is?" As she watched his stunned expression, she second-guessed his helpfulness.

He didn't move more than a single blink. Kelly had sand in her shoe, so she used his shoulder to steady herself as she took the boat off and poured the grit out. He was still enough and solid enough to have been a statue, she mused.

Infuriated that she couldn’t get anywhere with the soldier statue, she huffed. "Is there a chance you could show me how to get to the main part of camp? From there, someone has to know where Cap is." He nodded and she took her hand away so he could rise.

Larsen turned toward her, and his eyes snapped wide as he rushed over. "What are you doing out ... dressed like that?" It surprised her how red the young man became.

"My dream changed to Cap's tent, but he wasn't there, so this nice young man is helping me find him." Kelly felt giddy. Cap couldn't be far, and she would get to see him again.

This was taking too much time and she needed to find
him
. "Come on, show me where Cap is." She tugged at his arm.

Kelly realized that this was a little like high school where you beg a friend to help you talk to a boy you like, and then you hope that friend won't embarrass you. She was amazed at how good this felt, freeing almost. She understood she could now be anyone she wanted to in this dream, even a silly schoolgirl. And she could do anything she wanted to ... if Larsen would just show her to Cap.

"I shouldn't take you to Captain Duran. He's going to get really mad."

"No, he's not," she lied, twisting two fingers together behind her back.

"I should take you back to Coleman." Larsen frowned down at Kelly, and she feared Larsen would do just that before she could see Cap.

"Ah come on, I'll just say hi and then you can take me to Va-Lee-Sha and I won't cause any trouble."

He appeared to think a moment before his shoulders slumped, and he took her arm and lead her down another row of tents. "A quick word, then we're gone," he ordered.

"I promise." She would have promised anything to see Cap. In the back of her mind -- which she ignored -- she was disgusted with herself for becoming such a sap over a stone cold man who would probably reject her.

The soldier statue followed them. At the end of another row, Cap stood by a small shack. He had one hand on the door and looked as though he were listening to something.

Kelly couldn't contain herself anymore. Hiking up her skirt, she broke from Larson, dashing toward
him
. She didn't care if her shoes fell off and sand burrs punctured both feet. All she cared about was getting to Cap. Her need urged her faster. Kelly bounded up to him still shod.

Chapter Thirty

With his hand on the doorknob Duran listened to the muted voices inside the tool shack. He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but the tones were excited and urgent.
Probably just another poker game, against the rules.

He heard running feet and looked to see what was going on. His breath caught as Kelly ran toward him, her gown fluttering behind her. Her white teeth glittered in the sun, barely hemmed by her smiling pink lips. What little resolve he had crumpled into the sand.

And then he saw it. A delicate gold band on her left hand. A king-sized four-poster bed. Her wrapped securely in his arms. Her large with child. His child, his love.

Duran shook his head. Shoving the vision to the back of his brain, but he couldn't dislodge it. It had to be the lack of sleep. He grappled with his emotions to get a grip.

"I thought I told you not to run away from Coleman?"

She came to a playful halt just inches from him. "I didn't, my dream changed."

He wanted to hold her.
NO!
he told himself. "Yeah, uh-huh." Why didn’t he care why she was here? Wrong, all wrong, but he couldn’t see anything but Kelly.

She played with a button on his shirt and it almost sent him to his knees. He was too tired to withstand her.

"I promised Larsen I would just say hi before he took me back to Coleman."

Duran looked down her body at the material that fluttered around her legs. "You keep showing up in that and you're going to wear me down." That was a major understatement. He narrowed his eyes. "Are those my shoes?" His threadbare tennies dwarfed her little feet.

Oh those eyes
, and then his thoughts leaked out. "What the heck, I could celebrate my birthday early." He didn't catch his whisper in time to shove it back in his mouth.