My
Journal
By
Harriman Nelson
~In
God We Trust~
33
With
Lee’s safe return to terra firm, of course, Jiggs and I celebrated a bit too
much last night, as did the entire crew although they didn’t have the benefit
of Crewman Walker or Mr. Glen Livet.
“Need
something for that hangover?” Will asked me from his Wardroom table as I winced
from the Wardroom’s lighting.
“Excuse
me, sir,” Cookie approached setting down a new tray of scrambled eggs, “we have
some fish left over, I was wondering if you might like
some fish chowder tonight?”
“I
think I’ll leave that decision to you,” I managed, pouring myself a mug of
coffee, “or to Captain Morton.”
“Well,
he did like the idea when I mentioned it to him.”
“Then
let’s go with chowder tonight.”
“Aye,
sir.”
“Breaking
news,” Sparks said over the PA and the monitor went to full screen.
“...We’re
here outside the Stormont Vale Hospital in Topeka, Kansas, where former President,
Captain Nelson-Crane, spent the night at the request of the Secretary of the
Navy. Injured from his crash landing in a corn field, was examined, treated,
and kept overnight for observation....”
“...The
news exaggerated the fires,” Jackson, having emerged from the entrance, in
rumpled khakis that he’d worn under his flight suit, explained. “The fuselage
and the cornfield caught fire yes, but it wasn’t an explosion. And yes, Lee was
injured as I
was from some of the fire and shrapnel from the missile and our Raptor’s damage.”
“...Our
sources tell us Nelson-Crane received a phone call from Admiral Nelson, still
aboard Seaview last night. Can you tell us about that? We’re told the admiral
chewed him out....”
Silence
in the Wardroom as everyone stared at me, aghast.
“...I
wouldn’t know about that,” Joe was saying, “it was a private call.”
“...But
Pre...Captain Nelson-Crane is being released today, isn’t he?”
“..Already
has been. On the phone with the SecNav...that’s the Secretary of the Navy.”
Just
then Lee, lightly bandaged and rumpled, was wheeled out by an orderly and
helped up as soon as an Air Force sedan pulled up, the driver hopping out to salute
and open the back passenger door.
Lee
returned the salute of course as Joe returned the one given him as the crowd
applauded.
“Mr.
President?” the reporter tried to be heard. “Did Admiral Nelson chew you out?”
Lee
flushed sheepishly.
“...I
wouldn’t exactly say he chewed me out, but he was pretty upset about me using
up more than my nine lives....”
“...What
do you think about the rumor that your F-22 had been sabotaged?”
“...Well,
I did consider it...but pretty short notice for it, especially on a military
base.”
“...What
did the Secretary of the Navy want?”
“...Glad
you asked,” Lee grinned and took out a crumpled fax, waving it. “We’ve been assigned
as Navy liaison officers to the C-130 squadron at Forbes Air Force Base in
Topeka. Will save the taxpayers a lot of time, trouble, and money transporting us
to a Navy base which probably wouldn’t have any available aircraft anyway.”
“...Do
you know how to fly a C-130?”
“...Not
yet,” Joe said. “We’ll have to have some training, but that may be awhile. The
birds are pretty busy.”
“...I’m sure we can qualify for the flight crew already, however,” Lee said.
“And I’m really looking forward to any JATO we do.”
“...That’s
Jet Assisted Take Off. Pretty spectacular,” Joe added, using his hands to
demonstrate a level plane suddenly climbing almost vertically.”
“...Hope
we can get some actual pilot training in, especially for that,” Lee said, “But
like I said, that’s pretty doubtful and neither of us want to disrupt the
squadrons.”
“...There’s been some talk that when you were
president you should have bombed Peking right after we were first attacked.
Wouldn’t that have mitigated this entire war?”
“...As
I made clear at the time, any such an action would have placed a great deal of
the globe in a nuclear winter and devastation from retaliatory ping pong
between us. There would have been no end in sight and fatalities in the
millions. You also have to remember at the time Admiral Nelson had not yet
invented his anti-radiation formulation and....”
“...Don’t
you listen to the second guessers,” an elderly lady interrupted, breaking
through the crowd, said, and ruffled Lee’s hair, careful not to touch the
stitches in his patch of bare scalp, “most of us trusted you then, and we trust
you now. And you hurry up and get back in the White House.”
Applause.
“...Thank
you. And I hope to,” Lee smiled. “In fact the Security Council’s requested a
new MRI which was just taken here, the results of which some of the doctors say
are encouraging. The MRI’s have been sent to the AMA for a more detailed
examination.”
“...We’ll
be praying for you, sir,” someone in the crowd said.
“...And
I’ll be praying for all of you,” Lee said, no one doubting his sincerity as he
and Joe entered the sedan and were driven away.
“...It’s been said,” the reporter gave his closing statement, “that due to our
military superiority the war will be over soon. But I’d like to say, if I may,
that it will also be due to the courage and skills of our military, and the ingenuity
of Captain Lee Nelson-Crane. We’ll keep
you posted as current events unfold.
“...Before
we return you to our regular programing, we have a clip of a Jet Assisted Take
Off from an airshow a few years ago.”
“You
really chewed him out?” Jiggs asked me as the monitor showed a Hercules roll
down a runway, suddenly making a 45 degree angle launch into the air, like one
of Seaview’s emergency blows. Yes my boy
was really going to enjoy that, member of the flight crew or even as a pilot,
if the squadrons had the time and availability to train him as one for the
‘workhorse’ aircraft.
“He
sure would like to do that,” Cookie said.
One
of our Jr. officers, I don’t remember his name, raised
his coffee mug, “to the once and future president!”
Fists
pounded on the tables, including mine.
“It’s
all up to the AMA if he can return to the White House,” Will said.
“No,
Will,” I said, “it’s up to the Almighty.”
“And
we know whose side He’s on!”
More
pounding, and applause.
“You
know, Harriman,” Jiggs said, “Somebody ought to make a movie about all this.”
“Perhaps
they will,” I said as I raised my coffee again to toast my boy.
~***~