- Hawkeye starts inexplicably sneezing uncontrollably until Col. Potter suspects it's psychological in nature and calls in Dr. Freedman.
- A wounded soldier who has been laying in stagnant water is brought into the Mash O/R. The smell is noticed by Hawkeye and seems to strike a personal chord. Afterwards he starts sneezing uncontrollably day and night. When Sydney Freeman is called, they both discover an intense memory from Hawkeye's past about a childhood accident that he has creatively "re-written' to hide an ugly truth.—Sam Shollenberger
- A wounded soldier who has been laying in stagnant water is brought into the Mash O/R. The smell is noticed by Hawkeye and seems to strike a personal chord. Afterwards he starts sneezing uncontrollably day and night. Potter is worried that Hawkeye might be contagious and orders a battery of tests (chest x-ray, blood tests), all of which come negative. The officers suggest other remedies such as Eucalyptus oil, Camphorated oil, garlic cloves or taking a shower to wash off any allergies etc. Still no relief. This stumps the entire doctoral staff. Hawkeye even throws out anything unfamiliar from his tent, which includes his fresh laundry, the weeds growing outside the swamp (weeds make pollen) and a new cologne that Winchester got from his mother. Still no change. In a day, Hawkeye develops sores, his hands are swollen, has rashes all over his body and face ashen. Hawkeye is now convinced that he going to die. Potter thinks the problem might be mental, than physical. He calls in Sydney. Hawkeye is quarantined in the VIP tent till the mystery of Hawkeye's condition can be unraveled.
When Sydney Freedman (Allan Arbus) is called, they both discover an intense memory from Hawkeye's past about a childhood accident that he has creatively "re-written' to hide an ugly truth. Sydney notices that Hawkeye's sneezing started after treating the wounded from the other night. Sydney checks out the personal effects of the soldiers that were brought in the night before Hawkeye started sneezing for the first time. Sydney finds that the patient Hawkeye treated had fallen into a ditch with moldy water. The entire box has a distinctive moldy smell. Syndey is convinced that something triggered inside Hawkeye that night and he needs to find it
He sits down with Hawkeye and dwells into his past. Hawkeye talks of a pond in his town of crab-apple cove. He went fishing with his cousin Billy. Hawkeye loved Billy like a brother he never had. Billy was the town favorite and a popular kid. Billy saved Hawkeye went he went into the water from the boat. Hawkeye was 7 yrs old, when Billy and he went to the pond for fishing. He says he fell out of the boat, caught a lungful of water, sank right to the bottom and Billy saved him. But Sydney keeps pressing to understand how Hawkeye went into the water, after waffling for a while (he stood up in the middle of the boat), Hawkeye cries that Billy was horsing around on the boat and pushed Hawkeye in. It is a painful memory for Hawkeye as he almost died. Hawkeye loved Billy and from that point on he hated Billy..
Hawkeye is even more pained that even after Billy pushed him in the water, Hawkeye always thanked Billy for saving his life and remained grateful to him for the rest of his life. Billy convinced him that Hawkeye was being clumsy and that Billy saved his life. Sydney is confident that the soldier's moldy clothes triggered Hawkeye's memory of this incident. soon, Hawkeye's inner conflict is healed and he is on the road to recovery.
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