Gump and Co - By Winston Groom Page 0,56

order, but ain't none to be found. I looked over at little Forrest an knowed right then an there I made the right decision. An I also decided that whatever else happens, I am not gonna take the fall for nobody, noplace, nomore - an that's that.

Like I said, sometimes a man's just gotta do the right thing.
Chapter 9
Chapter 9

For a while, it looked like I was off the hook, but of course it turned out that was wrong.

Not long after my testimony they carted Ivan Bozosky an Mike Mulligan off to prison. The judge, he thowed the book at them - literally - big ole law book, hit Bozosky square in the head. Next day, a knock come at my door. Standin there was two military police in shiny black helmets with billy clubs an armbands.

"You PFC Gump?" one says.

"That's my name."

"Well, you gotta come along with us, account of you is AWOL from the United States Army."

"AWOL," I says. "How can that be? I was in jail!"

"Yeah," he says, "we know all about that. But your hitch runs two more years - that's what you signed up for with Colonel North. We been lookin for you everplace until we seen you in the newspapers in this Bozosky trial."

The MP hands me a copy of the New York Post, which reads:

Dullard Rats out on High-Rolling Financial Men

A man with an IQ described as "in the low 70s" yesterday finked on two of this newspaper's most popular subjects, resulting in their sentencing to lengthy prison terms.

Forrest Gump, who sources close to the Post described as being "dumber than a rock," testified before a federal judge in Manhattan that in his capacity as president of the insider trading division of Bozosky Enterprises, he had absolutely no knowledge of any insider trading at the company.

Gump, who has had an apparently checkered career as an encyclopedia salesman, inventor, animal refuse engineer, and sometime spy for the U.S. government, was not immediately available for comment. He was not convicted in the trial, which lasted several weeks.

"So what you gonna do with me?" I ast.

"They probly gonna put you in the stockade till they figger out somethin," the MP says. About this time, little Forrest come up behin me, tryin to see what's goin on.

"Who's this?" the MP ast. "This your boy?"

I didn't say nothin, an neither did little Forrest. He just glared at the MPs.

"You give me a minute with him?" I says. "I ain't gonna run off or nothin."

"Yeah, I reckon that'd be okay. We'll be outside here - Just don't do nothin funny."

Fact was, funny was not on my mind at this moment. I shut the door an set little Forrest down on the sofa.

"Look," I says, "them fellers come to take me back to the army, an I gotta go with em, you know? So's I want you to get a bus back home an be ready to start school when it opens. Okay?"

The little guy was statin at his shoes an not lookin at me, but he nodded his head.

"I'm sorry about this," I says, "but that's just the way things go sometimes."

He nodded again.

"Look," I tole him, "I'm gonna try to work somethin out. I'll talk to Colonel North. They ain't gonna keep me in the stockade forever. I'll get this straightened out, an then we'll make a plan."

"Yeah, right," he says. "You got a lot of great plans, don't you?"

"Well, I made my mistakes. But somethin's gotta work out. I figger I've had my share of bad luck. It's about time things start to break good."

He gets up an goes back to his room to start packin. At the door, he turn aroun an looks at me for the first time.

"Okay," he says. "You ever get out of the slammer, you look me up. An don't worry about it, hear? I'll be all right."

An so I gone on with the MPs, feelin pretty low an pretty alone. Little Forrest is a good-lookin, smart young man by now, an I done let him down again.

Well, just like the MPs said, when we got back to Washington, they put me in the stockade - thowed in jail again. But ain't long afore they come an turn me loose.

When I got there, I done sent a note to Colonel North, say I think I'm gettin a raw deal here. Couple of months later, he stops by the stockade.

"Sorry about that, Gump, but there ain't much I can do," he says. "I