Note: This story occurs at the same time as 'The Endless O.R.'

River Bend, Missouri, December 29, 1954

The Children and GrandChildren were gone. So, for that matter, was Sherman. It would be sad to spend New Year's without him, but the Reunion in Tokyo had become so important to everyone from the 4077th. Besides, it gave Mildred a rare, actually unheard of chance to duck the New Years' Party Circuit and actually have the house to herself. Though Soon-Lee would drop by, solitude would be the norm for a woman who once desired nothing more than for her man to come home.

The worst of the dishes and pans were still soaking, and in this one instance Mildred was content to let them soak an extra day or four. The grease was hard to get off, and she didn't have to be concerned with the house's appearance as much as she normally would. Feeling like a little girl, she went to play with her new toy.

"All I can say is, Thank Heavens for the Winchesters and their overly generous nature when it comes to friends. This tape recorder will help me to no end when it comes to keeping my thoughts. Tape is honest, and is hard to edit, unlike memory. I'm going to remind myself that, in this year of Nineteen-Hundred And Fifty-Four----No One Much Liked My Writing. It was a bitter pill to swallow. But at least my friends and family were honest. Not that I saw it that way at the time."

"So what do you think, Max?"

Max Klinger loved being a free man, and he loved the Potters. Mrs. Potter had been exactly the woman the Colonel had always described. So it was that Max loved her far too much to be anything less--than totally dishonest.

"Boy, oh, boy, Mrs. P---this is THE best thing I have ever read. Even better than Captain Marvel! The way you took that minor incident with that con artist and turned it into a full-blown trial just--just--just---"

"You didn't like it, did you?"

Max shrugged thoughtfully, and gave up.

"Its not that its bad---after all, I did backslide in the mental department a little bit--not as much as the guy in your story--but I sure put Soon-Lee through it. Now, I didn't end up in jail---"

"You almost did."

"Because being in any---altercation violates my parole. You have me in the psych ward---as a permanent, not outpatient patient--Soon-Lee and me homeless. You have little Wally unnamed for better than six months."

Mildred had put too much work into altering Max's story-character to let it go without a fight.

"Fact-Max, you did almost lose your vets benefits to that scam artist. Fact--Until that witch, Dorian Taylor, showed up, you were in the psych ward more often than not. Final Fact---you and Soon-Lee fought like tigers until arriving at Walter Sherman Cy Young Klinger. My story is just an extrapolation and interpretation of those facts."

Max tried to be gentle as he withdrew.

"Mildred--there was no trial, my 2nd bout with Nutsville didn't last more than three months, and The Wife And I didn't fight more than any other couple when it comes to Wally's name. Oh, and you can stick your attitude about Doctor Taylor--Maam. That lady is a certified genius. Her methods of -- what'd she call it, genetic acceleration, are gonna change the whole wide world. She says there's a Eugenics War coming, and we better all be on the right side of it."

Max then stalked off, with both himself and Mildred quite upset.

"She's a certified something, Max!"

"Max's anger made me overlook his more valid criticisms--I should never have mentioned Dorian Taylor. I can't help it, though. When Sherman and Max and Francis aren't listening, she talks very plainly and matter-of-factly about building better people. Says she wants to make a Great Khan to rule the whole world. I don't doubt that she could. That frightens me, almost as much as poor Max playing guinea pig to her experiments. Now, on to Soon-Lee. I thought she would like what I wrote. She did not."

"Mildred--is this how you see me? A shrill caricature with an accent? A little fool who would stand by even the Max you have in this story? If I were married to such a man, I would sooner take Wally and return to Korea. I have worked so very hard on my grammar and diction. I still have a far path to travel, but I no longer speak like this---greenhorn--you have written me as."

Mildred's efforts at countering the unintended slight went nowhere fast.

"My dear child, you have come so very far so very fast. But your struggles with our language and our way of life were an inspiration to me in my efforts to capture your character. Its charming and heartening. Soon-Lee, I love being a teacher to you when you need help figuring out this topsy-turvy US of A. It makes me feel I'm making a difference. Tell me, did I do it, did I make a difference?"

Trying to calm down, Soon-Lee nodded.

"Yes. It--was fun."

"Least I could do for the Captain Of Our Bowling Team--oh, my, where did I go wrong, Soon-Lee?"

"Very simple. I am no longer that woman. I am far from being a perfect American wife, this I know. But take the character of the Secretary who tries to seduce my Max."

"Now just wait a minute, Soon-Lee. She's for real."

"Yes, she is. But Max actively avoids her at work, and I see now she is no threat to me, so long as I keep my eyes open. She is a lonely nothing, far closer to the character I have in your stories than I could ever be. Please, Mildred--think how far I have come, merely in calling you Mildred rather than Mrs. Potter. Give me my due. I am not selfish and I ask no more than that."

"I have to keep the story interesting, Soon-Lee."

Soon-Lee would likely never storm out. But the lack of comprehension on Mildred's part had her very close to just that.

"What she failed to tell me, and what I failed to realize, was that the character changes I was making were causing the story to become less, not more, interesting. Sometimes, a surprise tweak can take the whole story onward and upward. But it must all be in character. If Hawkeye Pierce grows a horn, he must react to it in a Hawkeye-manner. That's what Dan Pierce told me anyway, when he placed his Christmas call. Its just about a recognition of basic realities. People remain who they are, almost no matter what. Oddly, though Francis--Father Mulcahy--changed the least in my stories, he had some of the most pointed things to say about them."

"I'm sorry, Mildred, but it glosses over far too much harsh reality for my tastes."

"Francis, not long after Sherm got back, a young soldier threatened us with a gun in our own home, fearful of being sent back to Korea. That's all the harsh reality I care to deal with. I'd like to know just what it is you're talking about. I tell the basics in a very straightforward manner."

"Do You? Forgive me, for I certainly don't mean to be unduly harsh. But Mildred, you edited out the altercation that sent that young, angry surgeon and that surly older surgeon out of the hospital for good. Both Wainwright and the other administrator were embezzling us silly. Their partner-in-crime? The seemingly 'wacky' Alma Cox. The wacky is here, to be sure, but the dark turns--like trying to steal Max's job when hers fell through. You've turned that into a simple seniority issue, burdening Sherman with someone he does not like at all."

Mildred sighed, feeling almost under assault.

"Father--I concede much of my humor derives from Sherman's trials and travails owing to his no longer being head man. But that is quite true to reality. Don't try to deny it."

"Oh, I wouldn't. No, that part is real. My worry is your efforts to find humor in it. I don't question the Lord's plan---well, too often---unless you count my Sister leaving the Order to marry that O'Brien character. Then, my questions were quite vocal. How she could choose----"

"Francis? Sherman?"

"Yes, of course. I was surprised to find that Colonel Potter was not in charge of Pershing General--but thought that surely it would bring out new facets of a man I greatly respect. But its almost as though a challenge meant to reenergize him---- ended up enervating him instead. As he has watched that Hospital mishandled time and again, his frustration has started to approach rage--true rage. Lastly-- Mildred, the chapter about Radar?"

Mildred Potter actually slammed down her hand.

"No! That boy deserves a happy ending! That little tramp had a fine catch, and turned away from him in a bigoted huff. Cindy betrayed Walter--but my character of Sandy never will. Maybe I'll even make her an Immort----"

Mulcahy's eyes went wide. He hurriedly looked through the pages again.

"Mildred, you didn't! Oh, my! No!"

The Watcher in Mulcahy took over as he tore out the 'Radar' section, and then tore it up in front of Mildred's horrified eyes.

"Francis! That chapter was two months' work! I'll have to ask you to leave."

Father Mulcahy shook his head in disbelief.

"Mildred, if you reveal that Walter is an Immortal--he won't be one very much longer. Please, forget we ever told you the real reason Cindy left him-for his sake."

Still enraged, Mildred held open the front door.

"GET OUT."

"Francis apologized for the way he reacted, but I never did. Poor Walter. If what Francis said is true, then Walter, Doctor Freedman, and probably even Henry Blake's family would have to go into hiding if they were found out. Darned fool stunt on my part. Still, the man was telling me to be more truthful on the one hand and telling me to lie outright on the other. It wasn't long after that Sherman came to me give his two bits--my Sherm has never been satisfied with a paltry two cents."

"Great Thunder, Woman! Are you deliberately trying to alienate everyone I met in Korea?"

Mildred was an immovable object.

"Sherman, they are being impossible. They are dismissing what I write almost as I write it."

Sherman was an irresistible force.

"Well, did you want them to gush all over you or give you their honest opinion? Mildred, these aren't fictional characters. They're us. Why do you feel the need to engage in this booshwa?"

"Oh? And what do you object to about your character?"

"Nothing, really. It provides a humorous perspective on a situation that's given me nothing to laugh about. I'd keep that part."

Mildred was flat-out stunned. She smiled.

"Then you liked the whole story?"

Deflation.

"Nope. Couldn't stand most of it, and one character in particular irritated me straight through to Hades---truth to tell, it got to us all."

"Which character?"

"Oh, this ditzy, addle-headed number. Shrewish, dumb as a board. Filled our trunk full of potatoes. leaving us without a spare tire. Wanted to see her thrown off a cliff, Lord help me."

Mildred made a last stand the likes of which her family line would not see again until Benjamin Sisko stood against the Borg at Wolf 359. Like her descendant, though, Mildred lost big.

"SHERMAN T. POTTER! I certainly have the right to write my own character as I see fit!"

Sherman was stone-faced. Resistance was futile.

"HORSE-HOCKEY! I will not sit back and let you desecrate the name of the sharpest, brightest, SMARTEST woman--hell, the smartest person, period, I have ever known. Mildred, we can learn to laugh at ourselves, if we try. But I Love You too much to let you sell yourself short. We all do. Honey, treat it as a first effort, and move on. Willya do that for a soldier whose always known who the smarter one was?"

"I was kissing him before we realized it. That old fool. My friends loved me too much, in the end, to give me comforting euphemisms. That includes my very best friend on the face of the Earth. I'm already on a third version. I'm going to keep improving as I go. Because that's how its done. No need for falsehoods, now. No 'guest appearances' by Colonel Flagg to generate a false interest. Truth can be stranger than....."

A phone call interrupted Mildred, so she stopped recording.

"Dan? Dan Pierce? News From Tokyo? What News? I already have the set warmed up, so let me see if its....."

She dropped the receiver, and stared at the screen.

"These scenes, filmed in Tokyo just yesterday and flown to our LA broadcast center, show the apocalyptic happenings in Tokyo. I repeat, reports are confirmed : A giant, prehistoric monster that is called Godzilla is engaged in pitched battle with overwhelmed Japanese Self-Defense Forces. The city is said to be a blazing horror. The creature is over 150 feet tall, and can breathe fire. The current death toll is estimated at well over one million people, and is expected to rise still further. US Service personnel have, for some reason, not engaged the monster. Hospitals are filled to overflowing. More as this unbelievable story continues to unfold."

Mildred replaced the receiver just as a shaking, once-again pregnant Soon-Lee Klinger came through her front door, little Wally asleep and in tow. They held one another, and they prayed hard for their men to once again return safely. Mildred stared at the tv footage, which played long past usual broadcast times.

"Oh, God. Not Again. Please, Please, God, Not Again."

Truth remained stranger than fiction, and 1954 had turned out to be a very strange year indeed. But the healers would all return home, safely.

2368 - USS ENTERPRISE - D

"Here's To the happiest couple I know, on the occasion of their first wedding anniversary, Miles and Keiko O'Brien!"

With that, Will Riker handed the expectant couple a package, and bid them unwrap it. Miles and Keiko smiled as they did just that. Keiko's eyes went wide.

"The Edited History of The M*A*S*H* 4077th---Commander, Miles and I both have ancestors who were in that medical unit---they served with the Pierces---ooh, there's a section about Gojira in 1954!"

Riker suddenly regretted not making a copy for himself.

"There is? Gojira?"

Miles looked over the credits, and puzzled.

"Well, now I know who Mildred Potter was, of course--but I've never heard of a 'Jacob Sisko'. Wonder who he was."

Eight years later, as the saying goes, the people from Starfleet Temporal Affairs had kittens--again.

This is dedicated to the stellar 1st season of AfterMash and Barbara Townsend, the actress who played Mildred Potter as we always knew her.