When thinking about the Hogan's Heroes universe and how it could possibly be crossed with other various universes, there may be several obvious choices that come to mind. This is not one of those. In fact, it is a pretty unlikely crossover, but I think it works … especially with Carter in the starring role.

The standard disclaimer applies – I make no claims to any non-original characters or situations that are used in this story. It is written purely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Sergeant Andrew Carter pushed his rake across the pile of gravel that Newkirk had shoveled into the pothole in the road. He raked until the hole was completely filled and then tamped the gravel down to tighten up the fill. He and Newkirk were not the only prisoners working to make the road passing by Luft Stalag 13 a smoother and less bumpy ride. Colonel Hogan always volunteered a work detail to maintain the road – though not because he wanted to make things easier for the Germans who used the road. Colonel Hogan always had other motives … one of which was heading towards them from the direction of the town of Hammelburg.

Carter looked up to see the produce cart heading towards them. "It's about time," he muttered to Newkirk.

Newkirk glanced in the direction Carter was indicating and saw the cart heading towards them. "Colonel, the produce cart is here," he said loudly.

Hogan looked in the direction the Englishman was pointing. He clapped his hands together and began rounding his men up. "All right fellas," he said. "It's time for a short break." The men stopped their work and gathered around their Colonel.

"Colonel Hogan!" Sergeant Schultz exclaimed as he pushed his way through the men to get to the American officer. "Kommandant Klink said there would be no more breaks on your details," he said.

"Come on, Schultz," Hogan said. "Five minutes won't hurt anything."

"No, no, no!" Schultz replied. "My orders are very clear. You are to work until the job is done." The produce cart pulled to a stop in front of the men. "You are not …" Schultz spotted the cart filled with many types of seasonal fruits and vegetables. "supposed to …" He licked his lips hungrily. "I suppose five minutes wouldn't hurt," he said, reaching for a bright red apple.

"Please take!" the produce farmer said in his heavily accented broken English. "Many fruit. Many vegetable. First apples of year." The farmer looked over at Hogan and nodded slightly when he said, "Cucumbers very nice." He farmer tapped his finger on a large cucumber on top of the pile.

Hogan recognized the signal for him to take the vegetable. He quickly snatched it up before Schultz could grab it and add it to his ever growing pile of produce in his hands. He moved away from the noisy crowd around the cart and extracted the message from inside the vegetable.

Meet new contact tonight in my barn at midnight.

Hogan crumpled the message and put it in his pocket. He made eye contact with the farmer and nodded slightly to show that he understood the message.

- - - - -

Carter stepped up to the cart and grabbed three apples from the pile before the mob of prisoners surrounded the cart. He retreated to the front of the cart to eat his snack in peace. The cart was pulled by a beautiful gold palomino, which looked at Carter with large black eyes. Carter reached out and scratched the animal behind the ears. "Hi there, boy," he said pleasantly. The horse raised his head and whinnied in response.

Carter leaned on his rake handle and munched his apples. After a moment, he heard a whisper.

"Pssst," the voice said.

Carter looked around to see who was trying to get his attention. There was nobody close by and in fact, none of the other prisoners were even looking in his direction. He shrugged and continued eating his apple.

"Pssst," the voice whispered again. "Are you going to eat that whole apple?"

Carter jumped and looked around. His fellow prisoners were scattered along the side of the road, but he again saw that none of them were near enough to be whispering to him. "Who said that?" he asked.

"I did," the voice whispered back.

Carter jumped again. The voice seemed to be coming from the horse! He stared at the horse in amazement. "I think I've been out in the sun too long," he muttered.

The horse's upper lip began to move and the horse spoke again. "And I think you should be nice and give me one of your apples," he said.

Carter felt his jaw drop. "I must be crazy," he said. "Horses can't talk."

The horse snorted. "Well this one can," he said. "Now can I have one of those apples or are you going to be selfish?"

Carter held out his hand containing the half eaten apple. The horse gingerly took it from his palm and began crunching it.

"Can you really talk?" Carter asked, leaning forward to get a closer look at the horse.

"That's a pretty dumb question to ask," the horse replied after swallowing the mouthful of apple. "Of course I can talk. Can't you?"

"I'm a human being. We're supposed to talk," Carter said. "Whoever heard of a talking horse?"

"Probably the same person who feels the need to ask that question of a horse," the horse countered. "What's your name, Sergeant?"

"Carter," Carter replied. "Andrew Carter. How did you know I was a Sergeant?"

The horse whinnied and nuzzled the stripes on Carter's uniform. "I can see as well as talk," the horse replied.

Carter couldn't be sure, but he thought he could detect a mocking tone in the response. Before Carter could reply, Newkirk walked by and slapped him on the back. "Come on, Carter," he said. "Let's get back to work."

Carter reached out and grabbed Newkirk's arm. "Hey Newkirk," he said. "You have to see this. This horse can talk!"

Newkirk stopped and stared at his friend. "Are you balmy, Carter?" he asked. "Horses can't talk!"

"This one can," Carter replied. "Watch this." He held out another apple for the horse. "Do you want another apple?" Carter asked. The horse snorted and bobbed his head up and down before reaching out and snatching the apple from Carter's palm.

Newkirk started laughing. "I guess you're right," he replied. "He did nod his head before eating the apple!"

"I tell you he spoke to me," Carter insisted. "Aren't you going to say anything horse?" he asked pleadingly.

The horse pricked his ears and shook his head, causing Newkirk to laugh harder. "You're a regular Doctor bloody Doolittle, you are," he replied. "What's next? Are you going to have him do arithmetic? Hey horse, what's two plus two?" Newkirk continued laughing as he stomped a foot on the ground four times.

"Four!" the horse replied.

Newkirk stopped laughing. He had heard the response, but hadn't seen Carter's lips move. The Englishman quickly looked around to see if anyone was trying to play a trick on him. Seeing nobody, he began laughing again. "I get it now," he said. "You're learning to be a ventriloquist and want to try it out on me."

"No," Carter insisted. "I didn't say that … the horse did!"

Newkirk continued to laugh. "Hey everybody," he shouted. "Carter here says this horse can talk! Come and 'ave a listen."

The men began laughing and teasing Carter. He heard many types of mocking animal sounds coming from his fellow prisoners. And among the oinks and whinnies and quacks, he thought he heard the horse quietly laughing at him.

"All right, break it up!" Hogan ordered, causing the men to scatter. "Break's over – let's get back to work!"

Carter went back to raking the gravel that Newkirk shoveled into the potholes. The Englishman teased him all afternoon, but Carter didn't pay attention. He kept thinking about the horse … a talking horse!