By Jennifer Doak
*=episode title
Standard Disclaimer: The A-Team belongs to SJC and company,
but the events in this story are not related to anything in real
life, any appearance of such is totally accidental.
Vacation Time?
The guys and Sparks could hear the people shouting in joy
at their arrival: "*The A-Team is Coming, The A-Team is Coming."
They were all thankful for the fact that The Team (Hannibal, B.A.,
Murdock, Face, and Sparks) had saved them: they were all *Alive at
five in the afternoon -- it was a miracle, because it had started
as a really *Bad Day on the Border, it was truly a *Black Day at
Bad Rock. As far as some of the religious leaders of the community
were concerned, they had survived a *Judgment Day. But amidst the
*Blood, Sweat and Cheers, they knew that things had moved beyond
just a *Theory of Revolution and that the metaphorical call "Timber!"
at the fall of the tyrannical local government had removed the fear
of such irrational deals as: *Lease with an Option to Die. Soon
they would have to leave to help others in need they would have
to *Battle of Bel-Aire or *Body Slam a *Beast from the Belly of
a Boeing. But after *Beverly Hills Assault missions, they needed
to *Breakout of their routine. They needed a *Holiday in the Hills.
They began to travel on the *Road to Hope; *Knights of the Road,
looking for a *Nice Place to Visit. They had gone from Coast to
Coast; they'd seen the high *Steel of New York and did a *West
Coast Turn Around away from the *Heart of Rock and Roll, the land
of *Hot Styles and became *Moving Targets, doing *Deadly Maneuvers
and did not find a place to escape the *Big Squeeze of City Life.
Most everywhere seemed to be *A Desert Out There. Except for
Sparks' brilliant *Road Games, they were so unhappy they could
have been *The Grey Team. After all the *Trouble On Wheels,
they decided to try rafting, to relax, but it was *Harder Than
it Looks. They passed *the Bend in the River, to a lake. In
the middle of the lake on *The Island, they saw a woman, *In Plane
Sight, calling for help, they sailed across, with *Water, Water
Everywhere between them, to find her having *Labor Pains. *One
More Time they had to help someone -- no time to consider the
*Pros and Cons of the situation or vote on *White Ballots --
they decided upon a *Mission of Peace.
After fighting off all the moss *Beneath the Surface of
the lake and the *Double Heat of the sun, they were past *The
Point of No Return. They took the woman to a *Little Town
with an Accent, where they could hear *The Belle's of Saint
Mary's, *The Only Church in Town, ringing. Sparks tried to
comfort the woman and help her as the guys went looking for the
doctor, because *The Doctor is Out. Being *Out of Towers, they
tried to move past the *Incident at Crystal Lake and find one
of the two doctors in town. The scary part was they were
waiting for a wack-job -- they were *Waiting For Insane Wayne
and the head Doc: *Cowboy George. But there was *Trouble
Brewing -- they were out helping people who had eaten the same
*Recipe for Heavy Bread that was like *Pure-Dee Poison and also
people who were hurt during a *Fire. Several houses caught on
fire and Poof *There Goes the Neighborhood. They went back to
help Sparks help the woman. On the way they saw a place to get
*A Cup o' Joe, where they could eat *Without Reservations, 'maybe
that'd help.' they thought.
When they got back, they found out is was a false alarm.
She told them about how her husband, a former member of the
*Sheriffs of Rivertown, had earned a *Bounty that been stolen
from her by the *Children of Jamestown and "*The Spy Who Mugged
Me" she explained. He had earned a *Crystal Skull after winning
a *Showdown with more bad guys that were selling' *Diamonds 'n'
Dust and gold that had already been tried in the age old "*Trial
by Fire." They tried to run to save their *Skins – he had had to
*Waste ‘em. After that *Small But Deadly War, all that could be
heard was the *Sound of Thunder in the distance. He died, but
he was the *Champ! 'We are apart now,' she said, 'We'll never
have a *Family Reunion, because we parted at his death, because
we swore '*Til Death do us Part.'"
Soon they reached the restaurant. But they should have
know that *There’s Always a Catch; they soon found that *Members
Only could enter w/o reservations, but today the *Wheel of Fortune
was turning in their favor. After *Trouble with Harry (he had been
in favor of the policy *Say It With Bullets) and an incident locally
referred to as *The Say Uncle Affair, which the owners would not
explain, they were allowed to go on in and watch the cook cut the meat.
He was so fast he was on a *Chopping Spree. "I'm so hungry," B.A.
said, "I could eat the *Rabbit that Ate Las Vegas. They ate and
watched the show -- after the *Curtain Call they watched the *Dishpan
Man do his job and wash the dishes. Later, he introduce himself by
his nick name: *Duke of Whispering Pines. After some *Semi-friendly
Persuasion, they left the woman in the Duke's care and finished their
vacation. On their way out of town, little kids would follow them
around call the only English phrase they knew, "*When You Coming Back,
Range Rider?" (Range Rider was what these kids called Americans.)
They relaxed doing *Mind Games, playing football and
inventing new *Quarterback Sneaks and taking *Mexican Slay Rides.
Face thought about all the *Bullets and Bikinis that he had seen
because of their missions. Asleep on the shore of the lake, B.A. dreamt
about driving around with his uncle and telling him, "*Uncle Buckle-Up."
Murdock sat and wrote a new Humphry Bogart script: "*The Maltese Cow."
Although Sparks and the rest were content to relax and enjoy the break,
Hannibal was restless and in need of jazz, of excitement. At one point
he looked up at the volcano that had formed this tropical island and
called in frustration at the quiet, "*Where’s the Monster When You Need
Him?" All too soon for the rest, it was time to return to work, to
step up to the *Firing Line, back to stopping *Taxi-Cab Wars and other
such problems that escaped the attention of abilities of local
constabularies.