Vietnam, 1976 -- It was quiet in the woods next to the small village of
Cua Rao. No machine gun fire could be heard anymore.  Yes, it seemed that 
the Americans work in 'Nam was finished.  With the war ending, all the 
American soldiers were starting to return. 
   
   All except for two.  Sgt. Mike Hicks and his commanding officer, Lt. Allen 
Mahoney, were missing in action for three days. The two of them were survivors
of a raid on a supply bunker for the enemy.  Every man led into that battle 
went straight to their deaths.
   
   It seemed as though the enemy had known all about the raid in advance.  
Every move the soldiers made, the enemy countered with the perfect defense.  
Hicks was standing in the line of fire when Lt. Mahoney knocked him down to 
safety. Fingering the bullet-hole in the brim of his cap, Hicks still could not
comprehend just how close to death he had actually been. Even now,
in the back of his mind, he could still hear the rat-a-tat-tat sound of the machine
gun fire, as the two of them trudged through the tall grass. They were tired and had 
to keep moving.  There was no telling if they would get ambushed or not, even 
though their real enemy was fatigue and hunger.  Lt. Mahoney was the first to show 
signs of delirium.  He began talking to himself, always keeping his hand on his gun.  
Hicks was easily frightened at first but knew he had to help Mahoney before he 
went completely insane.  He kept his eyes open for a house of some kind, maybe 
even a village.  Just some place where he could food.  

   Then he saw it. . . . . . a little shack standing in the middle of a rice field.  He 
dropped to his knees and thanked God.  But the praise would have to wait.  Lt. 
Mahoney had already beaten Hicks to the punch.  He was already standing in the 
field trying to eat the rice right off of the plants.  "Oh my God," thought Hicks, "He's 
finally lost all his marbles.  Who can blame him.  I certainly can't.  I better stop him 
before he does something rash." But again it was too late.  The mad lieutenant was 
walking into the  shack shouting and raving like a lunatic.  Hicks ran as fast as he 
could to try and stop Mahoney.  He ran right to the shaggy curtain which he 
guessed was a door and went in.  He saw the lieutenant standing on front of an old 
man in chair smoking a long pipe.

   The smoke drifted into the air and had a peculiar smell.  The old man seemed no 
danger.  He had on a long black robe and had a long beard which touched the floor.  
He appeared to be reading  a book.  But the book wasn't in his hands for long.  

   Mahoney knocked it onto the floor and got in the poor old man's face. " Listen you 
rice paddy eating old fart," Mahoney began," I want some of that rice out there!  Ya' 
hear me!!"

   But the old man shook his head in a motion as if he didn't understand. Which was 
not the answer Mahoney wanted.  He pulled his gun from his belt and fired two 
shots at the old man.  Hicks was too late to stop any thing.

   The old man looked up and grabbed the book on the floor.  He began to read aloud 
a passage and immediately a crash of thunder was heard.  A cold wind filled the 
room as the two soldiers watched the dying man cast some sort of spell.  He stopped 
abruptly and with his last breath, he died.

   Lt. Mahoney turned to Sgt. Hicks and said, "Guess he left the rice field to us in his 
little speech there." 
   Sgt. hicks stood dumbfounded.  He couldn't believe what he had seen.  All he could 
hear was Lt. Mahoney laughing hysterically in the background as he started 
putting rice into sacks to eat.  Hicks spun around and said, "Do you think your 
going to get away with something like this?"

   Mahoney looked up with a sly grin and said, "Yes I do because I'm your 
commanding officer and if I didn't see it you didn't see it."

   "Okay," Hicks began, "But what about. . ."

   "What?" interrupted Mahoney, who was now beginning to show signs of 
improvement, "That mumbo-jumbo he was sayin' back there.  I'm not worried.  He's 
just a crazy old man.  Now let's eat."