My
Journal
By
Harriman Nelson
~In
God We Trust~
21
Cookie
had prepared spaghetti and meatballs for supper. Not exactly a favorite of mine
as the meatballs were made out of Spam. I had to satisfy myself that there was
at least garlic toast served with it along with canned parmesan cheese on the
side.
“How’s
it coming along, sir?” Chip asked me as he entered the Wardroom, without the
need to clarify what he’d meant.
“A
ways to go, I’m afraid,” I said.
“And,”
Jiggs added, “he still needs to synthesize our fungi
friends. For this theory to work, we need a working formula all of our armed
forces can use to spray on their missiles and intercepts and...”
Breaking
news,” the duty Sparks, who happened to be Ski this watch, interrupted over the
PA.
“...We’re
here inside Dulles Airport,” the Fox reporter was saying, “where former
President Nelson-Crane is assisting his mother at the Delta desk. Airport
Security has asked the crowd surrounding them to give them some space to
conduct their business. As you may know from previous newscasts, the two have
left Blair House at the suggestion of the president. Could it be that access to
the Secret Service has also been rescinded at his request, as there don’t
appear to be any accompanying them?
“...It
is rumored that only Mrs. Crane will be leaving Washington D.C. and returning
to her home via a connecting flight from Boston to Cape Cod. But it is also
rumored she may take a Greyhound bus from Boston to get her home. It is also
rumored that Edith Nelson may have booked the same flight to Boston.
“...It
looks as if mother and son have concluded their business....”
“...Mr.
President? Mr. President?” reporters from various news agencies began to badger
him, interrupting each other while Mrs. C. leaned her head on Lee’s shoulder
and began to cry.
“...It’s
shameful, just shameful!’ she said as Lee tried to escort her toward the
relative safety of gate’s waiting area. “Well, it is!” she pouted and turned
toward the crowd. “The president kicked us out just because Lee got himself a
new MRI!”
“...What’s
the verdict on it?” someone shouted.
“...Will
you be accompanying your mother to the Cape?” a reporter asked.
“...Well,”
Lee answered, “as for the MRI, the report’s not in
yet.”
“Not
what I heard,” Jiggs whispered to me.
“...I’ll
be joining Mom in Cape Cod in a few days, a week at the most. I still have some
business to attend to Washington.”
“...What
business is that?” one of the reporters asked.
“...Will
Edith Nelson be on the same flight with your mother?” a departing
passenger asked.
“...How
will you pay the bill for the damaged plane?” CNN asked.
“...What
do you think about what Sgt. Caderwaller did? Will he
be dishonorably discharged?” Fox asked.
Lee
held up his hands to quiet the deluge of questions.
“...Regarding
the sgt., I’m afraid there are consequences for not
following military rules, though I think a dishonorable discharge would be too
harsh. In fact, I have a feeling that Edith may have mentioned her curiosity
about my patient records, without actually asking Sgt. Caderwaller
to show her the file. I think he was simply showing off. And they were
intoxicated. Frankly, if I’d placed Edith and Harry on the standard kinship
right to know form to allow either of them access to my records, Edith’s curiosity
could have been satisfied by email long before she’d even met the sergeant and
mentioned it. In all fairness, I should
assume the blame for the entire mess. And the Army has my statement to that
effect. No response yet, though.”
Just
then the PA announced Mrs. Crane’s flight to board. Lee was about to turn when more
questions erupted in spite of the announcement.
“...Mr.
Nelson-Crane, if your MRI proves the first was
incorrectly read, will the president relinquish the presidency back to you?
There is the matter of your alleged near death experiences that could have been
a result of impaired judgement that didn’t show up on the scan....”
“...I’m
pretty sure the amendment’s provision for me to return to office was legally
scrapped when the surgeon general said I had brain damage. Re-instating the
amendment will probably require judicial and congressional deliberation.”
“...If
the surgeon general’s interpretation is proven incorrect, and congress has no
problem with your near death experiences being delusions, will you return to
office?”
“...I
don’t belive the delusions as you call them were
delusions. However you can believe as you wish. As for returning to office, I’d
do so in a heartbeat..
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d really like to say goodbye to my mother before
her flight....”
With
that he grinned, waved, and taking his mother’s arm, walked with her toward the
flight’s gate and out of sight.
When
CNN returned to covering the latest in a potential cure for the common cold, either
Ski or another duty Sparks remotely turned off the monitors.
“I
doubt leaving Blair House was a ‘suggestion,’” Jiggs said.
“Does
Sgt. Caderwaller have a snowflake’s chance in hell
being cleared from a court martial and a dishonorable discharge?” Chip asked.
“With
Lee’s impassioned speech?” Jiggs asked. “The secretary would be hard pressed to
follow the uniform code of military justice with Lee defending the drunken
soldier. ”
“What
about a presidential
pardon?” someone, I don’t know who, asked.
“Not
until Lee’s back in the Oval Office,” I said.
“God
willing as soon as that new MRI disproves the surgeon general’s reading,” Jiggs
said.
“Will’s
positive it was in error?” Chip whispered to me hesitantly.
“As
positive as he can be.Up to the AMA now,” I said, and
absently helped myself to a meatball, momentarily forgetting it was Spam. But I
finished chewing and swallowing it, drowning the taste with a big slice of garlic
toast.
***
“Well?”
Jiggs asked as I ran a double blind test of my radiation eating formula against
two pieces of metal I’d had placed next to the reactor.
“Both
formulations, organic and synthesized, area showing limited results,” I said. “unless the damn buggers like to take their time eating the
radiation. Or,” I sighed, “it’s useless for what we need.”
“Take
a break...we can check back later. It might still be helpful to reduce or limit
residual radiation from a blast. Maybe even destroy any bio hazards....”
“Not
good enough!” I interrupted. “The idea is a failure. I’m a failure! I’d hoped
it could help end the damn war! I wanted it for all of us! I wanted it for
Lee!”
“Yes,
but, Harriman, you made an inroad. Remember what Thomas Edison said when asked
about his failed experiments? I remember the quote, “I haven’t failed. I’ve
just found 10,000 that won’t work.”
“Well,
I certainly hope I don’t have to make that many failures to find the one that
will work!”
“How
about a drink? The hard stuff.”
“You’re
on.”
And
so we headed to the Observation Nose and I pulled out an unopened Glen Livet.
Seaview’s
bow’s headlamp certainly illuminated the bubbles against the view port and
despite me being down in the dumps, they managed to perk me up a bit. It was
always a magnificent view.
“Evening,
sirs,” Ski said approaching. “The late news is coming on soon, if you want
Sparks to play it in here? Might be something about the skipper on it....”
“That’s
true,” Jiggs said, trying to cheer me up. Indeed, what a long way he’d come
from deriding Lee on that mission some years before, to unadulterated
admiration, though I think some of it was out of respect for me.
“Yes,
Ski, have Sparks go ahead.”
A
talk show was on and indeed, the topic was Lee, sort of.
“...So,”
one of the guests was saying, “why can’t the
Smithsonian just purchase the damaged plane....”
“...Because
it’s a government agency,” the host replied. “They only way I can think of is the
rental agency selling it to a non-profit museum or something,
which probably wouldn’t be able
to afford it anyway. Or maybe auction it
off to someone with deep pockets.” “...Perhaps ‘daddy’ can
help Nelson-Crane pay for the damage or a new Citation for the rental company. Nelson
has pretty deep pockets....”
“...I
get the feeling that Nelson-Crane wouldn’t hear of it...man of principal that
one. And speaking of Nelson-Crane, he could have demanded the George Washington
ring back but he didn’t. As he never put his acceptance of the ring only as
president by word or mouth, there would be some legal
recourse for its return to him.”
“...We
don’t have much time left, but while we’ve been on the topic of the former
president, let’s see what he did today....”
Video’s
came up...
“...After seeing his mother off from Dulles, he left via a back exit by taxi,
and was later seen entering Walter Reed. Possibly to visit Sgt. Caderwaller, still serving as an MRI tech until the army
decides what to do with him.
“...Then,
using a local bus, he headed to the Juvenile Detention Center, where he visited
the boy who shot him.
Afterwards
he visited the Chief Justice. Possibly to get the child absolved of all
charges.
“...He
lunched with friend and former aide Joseph Jackson at McDonald’s, where the two
posed for fellow customer’s pictures. Then
the two headed to the same airplane rental company, and somehow managed to rent a Cessna Skyhawk
172, a propeller two seater airplane. Destination, Cape Cod, where the two will be will
be staying with Mrs. Crane for an undetermined time.”
“I’m
surprised the business owner would be so willing to rent a plane when the damage
to the Citation is as of yet unpaid for as far as we know.”
“Well,
the owner has said that while he still expects remuneration, he wasn’t going to
prevent a
former president and war hero a way home after the president kicked him and his
mother out of Blair House. And he is also reported to have said that some
aviation and space museums have been in touch about possible deals, and that
he’s also begun to receive loose change from children to ‘help the ‘savior of
the Statue of Liberty’. Mostly pennies, the loose change is adding up, but it’s
doubtful if
American and NATO country children can raise any significant amount of money.
“Here’s
a video, no sound, of Nelson-Crane and Jackson landing at the one of Cape Cod’s
small craft airfields, where after securing the craft and unloading it, they
headed to the small business terminal and hired two motorcycles. Yes, both have
motorcycle licenses, and were soon on their way. Out of respect for Mrs.
Crane’s and former President Nelson-Crane’s privacy, our news team did not
follow. It’s doubtful we could have, as local police cordoned off the road and
have set up temporary gates to protect the beach front row of residences. Good
night. ”
When
the broadcast switched to a food show and the merits of processed mayonnaise vs
home-made I had Sparks turn it off.
“You
think he had any luck with the Chief Justice?” Jiggs asked. “For the boy and
Sgt. Caderwaller?”
“God
only knows,” I sighed, stretched my legs, finished my last swallow of the amber
brew, and with Jiggs, returned to the lab.
To
say I was disappointed that there had been no improvement would be an
understatement. And so I went to bed to get a fresh start in the morning.
~***~