The Blockade

by Darrell Maloney

  “I asked her to sit at her desk during this meeting and I’d call her if I needed something. That’s very unusual for us because I’ve learned to trust her on pretty much everything.

  “But one thing I cannot do in front of my junior officers is show weakness.

  “All generals are this way, in that regard. When we show weakness in any way our people start doubting our confidence. And once they start doubting our confidence the dominoes start to fall. They start doubting our judgment. Then they start doubting our orders and start wondering if there’s a better way. Once that happens a unit is done for. Rumors start circulating the old man has lost it. That he’s putting the troops unnecessarily in harm’s way.

  “And that makes certain people bold enough to start thinking of disobeying my orders.

  “And that, Hannah, is when the battle is lost. It’s something we cannot have.

  “That’s why our generals cannot appear to be weak. We are people, just like everyone else. We laugh and cry and celebrate and mourn. And we make our share of mistakes.

  “We just never admit them.

  “You might find that ludicrous. But that’s the way it has to be.”

  “But general, you’ve just told me all that, and I don’t consider you any the lesser for it.”

  “That’s because you’re not one of my people, Hannah. If you were, the words would fester in the back of your mind. And one day when I gave you an order you didn’t agree with, or didn’t want to carry out, you’d remember my words. And you’d start to wonder whether this order was one of the mistakes I admitted to making occasionally.

  “You’d question my judgment and perhaps even my authority. And that’s how the military machine starts breaking down.

  “Hannah, I ask you this. I’m sure you’ve seen video of various generals during your lifetime. Hell, you may even have met a few.

  “Have you ever seen one cry? Have you ever seen one kiss his wife in public, or hug his children or grandchildren?

  “I’ll go out on a limb and guess you haven’t. Because as stupid as it sounds, those actions can project weakness in some quarters. And we can’t have anybody thinking our generals are weak. We have to be stoic as statues, as emotionless as rocks. As tough as granite.

  “Hannah, I haven’t told anyone this, but my plans were to retire the month after Saris 7 struck the earth. I’d already put in my paperwork and was looking forward to hanging up my uniform and relaxing.

  “My plans were to move to my ranch in Montana. To spend the rest of my days hunting and fishing and sitting with my grandkids on the front porch swing telling them stories and coloring with them in coloring books.

  “Saris 7 ruined all that.

  “I withdrew my papers and served ten years longer than I’d wanted to.

  “And I’m not finished yet. Last week I told the President I’d give him five additional years, to make sure the reconstitution of the military went well and we’re still the strongest power on earth.

  “All my plans are ruined now, thanks to Saris 7.

  “By the time I finally get back to my ranch I’ll likely be too old to hunt. If my back keeps deteriorating I won’t be able to fish either. I’ll be confined to a chair. Yes, it’ll have wheels, but I’ll be too tired and weak to roll them.

  “The worst part is those grandkids I wanted to color with? They’re all grown up now. One of them is engaged now. She’ll be married as soon as things thaw out and it won’t be long before she starts having kids of her own.

  “And by the time they’re old enough to color with their great grandpa their great grandpa will be gone. I want…”

  Mannix clammed up at that moment after realizing he was going too far and revealing too much.

  Hannah got the sense the general had some type of medical issue which would shorten his life. But she wouldn’t pry.

  When he checked himself he continued.

  “I think it’s entirely possible that the things Saris 7, and now Cupid 23, have robbed me of have made me a very bitter man.

  “And perhaps it’s clouded my judgment a bit. You were right when you told me I would be haunted about Colonel Wilcox’s decision to end his own life and my role in it. You hit that particular nail square on its head.

  “That’s going to be my lifelong penance for jailing two innocent men.

  “As for your contention that my jailing him contributed directly to his death, we can argue that all day. I’ve always been of the opinion that a man’s life is just a compilation of the decisions he’s made. His successes are results of his good decisions and his failures are results of his bad ones. But that every man is free to make those decisions based on his own feelings or judgments. I’m not the one who hung the colonel. He did that, and he suffered not only the consequences but the responsibility as well.

  “You, on the other hand, contend that it was my poor judgment call which drove him to make his last mistake. And who knows which of us is right?

  “I made a judgment call to jail the colonels. No denying that. I may have been right, I may have been wrong. In any event, the day will come when I’ll be judged by a higher power. Someone way more powerful than a five hundred star general. On that day He’ll decide whether I was complicit in Colonel Wilcox’s death. And if He deems me so I’ll accept my punishment.

  “In any event, He’ll be the one who judges me. The military has no provisions for prosecuting a bad decision maker. Perhaps they should, but they don’t.”

  -48-

  Mannix looked directly at Captain Wright.

  “You, young captain, listen good.

  “I have poured out my soul to this good woman because she’s not in my chain of command. And because I get the sense she is honorable and capable of keeping things to herself.

  “At least enough to resist the urge to go out and tell the world what a blathering old fool the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is.

  “I’m not worried about her leaking the details of this meeting. And for the record I’m not worried about you either.

  “The difference, though, is that you work for me. Not directly, mind you, but as an Air Force member I’m still your boss. So just to make sure you don’t whisper to your wife or girlfriend late at night that General Mannix is a soft-hearted bonehead, I’m declaring this meeting, and everything said here, to be classified.

  “It’s all top secret, need to know.

  “And nobody,” he said, emphasizing the word with a scowl, “has a need to know.”

  “Yes, sir. I understand,” Captain Wright said.

  Really, what else could he say?

  Mannix was spent. He looked like the conversation aged him ten years.

  Yet at the same time, from Hannah’s perspective, he looked relieved. Like he’d gotten something off his shoulders that had been weighing him down for a very long time.

  In any event, he was tired of talking.

  He neither wanted nor expected a response from either of his visitors.

  He declared the meeting over.

  He pushed the button on his intercom and sent a call to Captain Krebbs’ desk.

  “Captain, would you be kind enough to escort our guests out?”

  Hannah immediately said, “General, if you would, can I have just one more minute before she comes in?”

  He pressed the button a second time.

  “Belay that order, Captain. Stand by instead.”

  Mannix was expecting Hannah to make a final comment, perhaps rebutting something he’d said.

  Instead she stood up and walked around the desk. A very surprised general rose to his feet and she wrapped her arms around him.

  He hesitated a moment, then followed suit.

  She whispered softly in his ear, “I don’t care if you can’t hug your wife or grandchildren in public, general. I am neither your wife nor your granddaughter, and I will not be denied.

  “Besides, what you’re doing is a noble gesture and deserves a hug.”

  She bac
ked up, holding him by the shoulders at arms length.

  She had tears running down both cheeks.

  That made the general aware, to his dismay, that his own eyes were damp.

  He glared at Captain Wright, who averted his gaze and pretended to be fixated on a lamp in the corner of the room.

  Mannix took the opportunity to wipe his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

  He then dismissed any more nonsense by sitting back in his chair and calling Captain Krebbs back into the room.

  Once his executive officer was present he was back to being hard-case and by-the-book, which was his normal state.

  “I’ve decided to drop the charges against Colonel Medley and release him,” he said to Krebbs.

  “Yes sir.”

  If she was surprised she didn’t show it.

  “Have admin type up an order to that effect for my signature, effective date today.”

  “Yes sir.”

  As she escorted the visitors to the door the general called behind them.

  “I will call the brig and let them know the order will be there within a couple of hours. I will also tell them they’re not to breathe a word of it to Medley. I want him to hear it from you.”

  Wright responded, “Yes sir. Thank you sir. It’ll be my privilege to tell him.”

  With that they entered the general’s outer office, then the corridor.

  Hannah was a bit saddened when it occurred to her that she’d never see the general again. She had no plans to come back to the bunker and in fact had no reason to. And he certainly wouldn’t emerge from the bunker until the thaw happened. Then he’d come out to perform his duties to restore the military to its former strength.

  She was wrong, but didn’t know it at the time.

  Seven years in the future, when the world was well on its way to getting back to normal, she’d turn the television on to see a slightly older but still familiar face.

  The face of a retired Air Force general and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

  She’d watch him being sworn in as President of the United States. And although she wouldn’t be able to explain why, she’d burst into tears.

  But that was well in the future.

  On this date, she walked down the corridor thinking of the man she was close to hating when she first met him.

  Somehow, in the brief time they’d had to talk, she decided she liked him. He was a good man, and an honorable one too.

  She was surprised when he finally admitted he wasn’t infallible, and surprised again when he explained why he must appear that way.

  They reached the exit and she shook Captain Krebbs’ hand. They both knew they’d never see one another again, and the captain offered her a hug for good luck.

  As for a final goodbye from Captain Wright, that was less certain.

  Hannah was certain she’d seen something in the glances they shared.

  She was also certain the two captains would see much more of one another in the future.

  If she was right, she hoped they invited her to the wedding. After all, though she wasn’t the one who brought them together, she wasn’t above taking credit for it.

  -49-

  While Hannah and Wright were navigating the slippery streets on their way to the brig, Marty sat on the edge of his bunk contemplating, of all things, his Snickers bar.

  He understood when they showed up in force and aimed weapons at him for cutting their fence.

  He understood when they dragged him to his feet and handcuffed him and threw him in the back of one of their squad cars.

  He understood when they took him to the base detention facility and tossed him unceremoniously into a cell.

  He understood why they confiscated his wedding ring. Well, actually he didn’t. But when they explained it could cause harm to guards if he decided to fight them it made sense.

  He understood why they were upset.

  What he didn’t understand was why in the world they took his Snickers bar.

  As tasty as the bars are, they don’t make very good weapons.

  He couldn’t fashion it into a key to break out of the brig.

  He couldn’t offer to trade it to another inmate for drugs or other contraband, since he was in a one man cell.

  The only logical thing he could think of was that one of the policemen saw the bar and wanted it for himself.

  “You eat my Snickers bar and we will go to war!” he shouted as they locked his cell door.

  The man across the corridor, a colonel named Medley, perked up and his mouth started to water. But he said nothing.

  Marty laid back on an impossibly thin mattress and stared at the ceiling.

  He’d only been in jail once in his life, for a bar fight in Golden, Colorado that he didn’t start. He finished it, though, and since he was the last man standing when police showed up he was taken to jail.

  The other two men were taken to the hospital.

  There were a dozen witnesses with wildly conflicting stories, and since most of them were drunk it took awhile to get everything sorted out.

  After two days the detective assigned to the case noticed a rather odd but indisputable fact. Those witnesses who sided with the men were the same people who said they were friends with one or the other.

  Those witnesses who sided with Marty were people who either knew none of the fighters or were deemed very reliable and outstanding citizens.

  Those were the days with no surveillance cameras and no cell phones, so there was no video evidence either way. But the cops finally figured out that what Marty told them was true. That he was minding his own business when he got dragged off his bar stool and sucker punched, apparently because he looked like somebody else.

  It was a case of mistaken identity.

  The other two were charged with public brawling and sentenced to thirty days in jail.

  Marty walked, but not before he was locked up for three days.

  He remembered looking up at the ceiling and counting the tiles to pass the time.

  That wouldn’t work here. There were no tiles to count. The ceiling was unpainted concrete.

  His thoughts instead turned to his wedding ring. He subconsciously rubbed the place on his ring finger it had occupied. His finger felt naked without it.

  He hoped they didn’t lose it. It held a special place in his heart and could not be replaced.

  It belonged originally to a widow named Linda Wheelock.

  Marty got to know Linda when he was in Eden helping the town transform the old prison into a shelter.

  Linda, bless her heart, brought home-baked cookies to the site every day for Marty and the other workers.

  Linda was all alone in the world after losing her husband Walter during the first freeze. She more or less adopted Marty, telling him he was so sweet he just had to be a son she just didn’t remember having.

  When Marty and Glenna got married she gave Marty Walter’s wedding band, and Glenna hers.

  Glenna objected, of course, but Linda won the debate.

  “Walter will forgive me for removing it,” she said. “He’s looking down at me right now and telling me he approves. I know because I can see him, just as plain as the day I married him.

  “He feels the same way I do. That you can’t go into a new marriage without rings to commemorate the event. Especially these rings. For these rings are special.

  “They’re not shiny and new like the ones in the jewelry store, but that’s okay. Because they’re a lot like you two. When a relationship is new everything is all shiny and glitz because you overlook one another’s flaws and only see the good things. That’s what new love is all about.

  “After you’re together for awhile, the shine starts to wear off and you start seeing one another as you really are. You’re comfortable enough then to allow the other to see you warts and all. You’re comfortable with one another and like the rings, you start to show some wear.

  “But… and remember this… these rings have lost
their luster but not their strength. The ties that bind you are just as strong as ever.

  “Every bit of tarnish on those rings signifies hard times we’ve weathered. Each time we stayed together and grew stronger.

  “Every scratch is a good time, which left a lasting memory and makes us smile to this day.

  “Every dent is a reminder to tell the other we love them, each and every day. For if you can tell your partner each and every day you love them your love will never die. It’ll live to the grave and whatever happens after.

  “As long as you have that bond you’ll never be alone. My Walter and I are as much in love as we ever were. It doesn’t matter that I can’t hold his hand anymore. I know I will again some day.

  “This ring holds fifty one years of love and blessings. I want you two to have fifty one more.”

  After that, how could they say no?

  Marty smiled at the memory of the old woman, who died peacefully in her sleep a few months before.

  He drifted off to sleep with the smile still on his face.

  -50-

  Marty woke up a few minutes later to the racket of doors opening and keys jangling.

  “It’s about time,” he thought, assuming they were coming to spring him from jail.

  Or if he was really lucky, they’d x-rayed his Snickers bar, determined there was no file inside, and decided there was no reason he couldn’t eat it.

  He started to get up until he heard a key being inserted not into his lock, but into the one across the corridor.

  “Shoot,” he said before resuming his sleep position.

  This time he dozed off again dreaming of caramel nougat and peanuts and delectable chocolate.

  Across the hall, Hannah sat on the bunk beside Colonel Morris Medley. Captain Wright stood just inside the door.

  He let Hannah go first, for he was a gentleman before all else.

  Hannah took Medley’s hand and looked him in the eyes, her own glistening and threatening to drop a tear.

  “Doctor, I am so, so sorry I’ve gotten you into this mess. I should have kept my big mouth shut and kept my nose out of business I wasn’t involved in…”