by Earl Nelson
I lead them to the back of the house to the weapons room. There racked were the estate's shotguns and hunting rifles. Also, my bow and arrows were there.
“Please notice Inspector these two bows are not longbows and the arrows are field points.”
The guy in the suit asked how we could tell if it were a longbow.
The Inspector answered, “Any longbow used by Sir Richard would be almost as tall as he is, much taller than you.”
“As far as the type of point these are very distinctive field points as opposed to hunting or war points. Those are designed to rip and tear flesh, both going in and out. These will not.”
“Confiscate them anyway.”
I spoke up, “Inspector I would like a receipt for anything you take.”
“Certainly, Sir Richard.”
“Be very clear that these arrows have the fletching and markings of the Shawnee Indian Tribe.”
“How can I tell that, Sir Richard?”
I led him and his entourage to the library where I pulled out one of my books, which described the arrows used by the various tribes.
The Inspector was very meticulous in writing down the author, title, edition, and publisher of the book along with the description given.
“These arrows match the description.”
The guy in the suit spoke up again, “Enough of this, toss the house, is how I think you say it.”
The Inspector got a very pained look.
“Sir Richard, I’m afraid we have to do a thorough search of the premises as Mr. Ramsey has stated.”
“Just who is Mr. Ramsey?”
“He is with the Home Office, they are acting on instruction from the Foreign Office…”
I finished for him, “And they are acting on a request from the East Germans.”
He nodded.
“Inspector, did you get a chance to read this warrant thoroughly.”
“No, Sir Richard, this was sprung on us this morning.”
“Please read the part of what search is authorized.”
He read it and with a barely contained smile told the man from the Home Office.
“This warrant specifically states a search may be made of the weapons storage at the estate known as The Meadows.”
I thought the man from the Home Office was going to have a fit but the Inspector would not budge.
The Inspector speaking to me asked, “Sir Richard do you own a longbow and arrows with hunting or war points.”
“Yes, I do.”
The man from the Home Office jumped at this, “We got you! Where are they?”
“They are in storage where I always keep them.”
The Inspector had to ask, “Where is that?”
“They are kept in the Yeoman’s armory in the Tower of London. I’m certain that when you check you will find they have not left the armory for some time now. I have been delinquent in my practice.”
I thought about the actual bow I had used in Germany. It was broken and buried in a ditch in the forest. The fletching was pulled off the arrows and drifted in the wind. The war points were at the bottom of a pond. The wooden bodies of the arrows were in another ditch.
The man from Home Office gave a nasty laugh, “If we are lucky they will be in his garage which has been searched by now. They will have torn the place apart.”
“If you have a car there they will have dismantled it.”
When you don’t want to show weakness you pretend indifference.
“It is only a Ferrari. I’m sure your department can have it repaired. I know of a good shop in London.”
The Inspector looked like he had swallowed a green apple. Mr. Ramsey turned red in the face. Several of bobby’s in the background had to stifle their laughter.
I was given a receipt, the police then packed up and left. I noticed that all the police had wiped their feet so they wouldn’t mess up the carpeting. Mr. Ramsey didn’t. Just one more item on his debt.
I drove back to the garage. The police had searched the place but hadn’t damaged the car. I mean, where could you hide a six-foot longbow and yard-long arrows in a Ferrari?
Chapter 4
Tuesday morning I skipped classes and straightened up my garage. The police hadn’t destroyed it, but they had dismantled anything that looked like it might conceal a longbow. Well, I would have to buy a new couch as they had ripped out the seams on the back.
I also called everyone that I could think of that might be interested. Everyone, but the press that is.
Mr. Norman was the most interested. He spent time questioning me about Mr. Ramsey. He thought he knew who he was. From the direction of the questions, I got the impression he didn’t have too high of an opinion of the man.
He told me he would file a complaint with the Home Office on my behalf about issuing a warrant with no grounds. He wanted to keep stirring the pot, plus put them on warning the Palace was interested.
Mum was home, Dad wasn’t. She told me to keep on my normal routine and watch my back. She didn’t doubt that I was being followed.
“They are out to get you, Rick, have no doubt.”
They being the Soviets and their partners. What had I ever done to them, except upset their plans for world domination?
In the afternoon I kept my appointment with the aircraft leasing company. They were very amiable and ready to accommodate my every wish. I wondered about that because every serious business I had dealt with before had balked at my youth and possible ability to pay.
When I mentioned that the Managing Director chuckled.
“We get enough people trying to con us out of an aircraft that we automatically run a check on them. It was easy to find out who your bank is, and from there a simple phone call told us we wanted to do business with you.”
I thought that was a wonderful approach and wished more would practice it.
He walked me through how they approach my request. The interior of the aircraft would be done in modules bolted to the floor. Very much like my cargo handling containers.
When I expressed that thought he said, “Exactly. We copied your thought. all it is a series of your containers set up as each room.”
“To accomplish this, we are having to lease an aircraft that was built to serve as a cargo aircraft or a passenger line, depending on the needs of the moment. That’s the only way we could set it up to get the prefabricated interior modules in more or less intact.”
“The lease of the aircraft will be different than the containerized rooms. Those you can buy outright for your reserved use or you can lease them from us, and we will lease them to others at request.”
“I will purchase them upfront. That way they won't get damaged from others using them.’
I also privately thought, and no one will place spy devices in them.
“When not in use I will want them sealed and placed in a bonded warehouse.”
“We can do that. I think I understand what you are implying and that is an interesting perspective. We could sell some units based on that concept. Some people are very concerned about their privacy.”
He then invited an engineer and an interior designer to discuss the specifics of what I wanted.
I hadn’t given it any thought beyond the functional items, bedroom, office, kitchen, dining area, and sitting area.
Working with a long narrow aluminum tube was somewhat limiting but it all could be done. I remarked it would be nice if someone produced a wide-body jet. They agreed it would be nice but didn’t know of any in the works.
As far as the interior design went I asked the designer to tour my suite in London at the Plaza. It would give him an idea of what I liked. He thought that was a great idea, so I called the hotel then and there to put him on the allowed visitor's list on a limited basis.
They assured me that they could have everything in place by the required term break. I had explained I had to do a quick trip to many worldwide locations bu
t didn’t want to get behind on everything else while doing so.
The engineer asked, “Where do you want your secretary's office and quarters?”
That question floored me. I had never had a secretary that would travel with me. I had a secretary pool in California but not a dedicated person who went with me.
A picture of a pretty female flicked through my mind, then Nina’s reaction. This was followed by a motherly and then a grandmotherly type, with my reaction to them. A fine-featured man appeared and disappeared, with me almost shuddering.
“I don’t think I will need one, I haven’t needed one in the past, so I don’t want to start now.”
We played around with configurations for another hour. It ended up from front to back first a general first-class seating area, then a sitting room, adjacent to a dining area, followed by a kitchen, then the office, after that my bedroom, and then a large closet.
The office would have hookups that could plug into local phone systems. The closet would be almost a full container in itself as I would have another copy of my wardrobe made and placed there. I had learned you never knew what clothes you would need. I did plan to leave out my Scout and Civil War uniforms.
Wednesday was a day of lectures. I enjoyed the learning and the company of people my age. I was jealous of the time it took.
I spent Wednesday afternoon typing up papers that would be due later this term. I had a real advantage over most of the other students in that I had my library so reference books were available in need. I didn’t have to chase books down that might be loaned out or wait in line for them, or have them restricted to library use only.
The copy machine was a wonder. How did we work without one in the past?
As I typed I wondered how Prettyman was doing with my prototype. It would do no good to call them as all they could say was that it was in process. If there were any problems they would contact me.
I called Nina in the evening. She was all excited because her pictures had been taken and Mary’s production company had approved her as the lead model.
The key to that statement was ‘the lead model’. It turned out that they wanted her help in picking out other girls to model with her.
Talk about social power. She could recommend classmates. They would have to fit the criteria, but she got to put them forward.
They wanted all sizes and looks so that girls her age would identify with one of them.
Paybacks were going to be hell. Her words, not mine. I asked her if she had talked to Mary about this. She had, Mary had given her the term. Patty was really in the doghouse.
Thursday and Friday were school days. It felt strange doing nothing but going to class or homework. You would think I was a student or something!
Saturday I spent at Pinewood Studios. I was doing the voice-overs for the documentary on the new containerized shipping business and what it would do to world trade.
It was strange sitting in a studio and reading a script without any pictures to go with it. Some of it was hard to put together but I managed. At least I managed to read the script smoothly without odd stops and starts.
At one break I was asked to stop by the office to talk about the scripts that they had given me. I expressed interest in the bookstore owner part and playing the young prime minister.
We talked about the fact a stir would be created by a ‘Yank’ playing the part of a British Prime Minister. It gave us a chuckle and we all agreed that it would give the movie a good buzz.
They would send contracts for the two movies to Sharon Wallace for her and legal’s to review. If all went well we could start work next week on the first one with a preproduction meeting. That would be ‘Edgware’, about the bookstore owner.
From Pinewood, instead of returning home, I drove on into London and spent the night in my suite. For some reason, I was more relaxed there than at The Meadows. It may have something to do with I never knew what my Grand Mum and her expanding circle of friends might be up to.
It is very disconcerting to walk down the backstairs in your underwear to grab a midnight snack and walk into a roomful of old ladies performing a séance.
Later I was told that I had been the highlight of their evening and that I could prance around like that anytime I wanted.
No thank you.
Sunday after a late brunch I drove over to the Tower and asked to be let into the armory. The duty Sargent had my name so he retrieved my bow and arrows.
I checked that the arrows were all there and nothing had been tampered with. I explained what was going on to the Sergeant and he made a note that no one was allowed to see much less touch them without my express approval.
If someone showed up with a warrant, they were to contact Mr. Norman at the Palace. I added that they could feel free to keep that person in the dungeon but was told the dungeon no longer met prisoner housing requirements. No telly.
We laughed about that. There are no real dungeon cells as we thought of them in the Tower.
Chapter 5
I drove back to The Meadows late Sunday to be ready for school on Monday. There was a small package waiting for me in my office.
I opened it to find an invitation to the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy as the 35th President of the United States of America on Friday, January 20th, 1961. There would be a ball at the Willard House that evening, I and one guest were invited to the function. RSVP.
Wow! I had just barely met the man. I certainly would be going. I filled out the RSVP at once and got it ready to mail. I did make a copy of everything for posterity and to make certain I relayed the details correctly to Nina who I planned to invite as my guest.
Almost as an afterthought, I called Jackson House for Mum and Dad. I relayed the exciting news. They congratulated me. Then they let me know they would be attending the inauguration ball at The White House.
I didn’t know there were multiple balls that evening. It seemed there were like seven of them. My parents were invited to the most prestigious, I was at number two. I asked how you got invited to each level. They didn’t know all of them.
They did know that the highest level was for major donors and strong supporters. My level was for people who Kennedy wanted to turn into major donors and who had high social influence.
It descended to level seven. These were the people who had knocked on doors and planted yard signs. At that level, they had to pay to attend.
The President and Jackie would make appearances at all seven balls. What a hard night for them!
“I didn’t know you guys were such strong supporters of the Democrats.”
“That would be your Dad. That is why we are invited.
“What if Nixon had won?”
“Then the invitation would have been to me as a strong Republican donor.”
“So it’s both ends against the middle?”
“Now you understand politics Rick, you have to have a foot in both camps so that no matter who wins you have a voice.”
I didn’t know quite what to make of that, so I dropped that part of the conversation. Mum let me know that Nina and I could stay at their house in Georgetown.
I didn’t even know the family had a house in Georgetown. We agreed to keep in contact with the arrangements.
After hanging up I called Nina. I played it coy. I told her if she didn’t have any plans for January 20th, a Friday, I would like to take her on a date.
“I would be delighted, Rick. Where are we going so I know what to wear?”
“Not much, just an inaugural ball for John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C.”
I love it when I can drop a bomb like that.
“What?! Yes, but I have to go shopping. What do you even wear to an event like that?”
“I’m sure that Mary’s collection has something in it, the latest in pinafores or whatever.”
“Men!”
“Or you could call my Mum. She and Dad are attending one of the balls
.”
I then had to explain my new knowledge of the different inaugural balls. And that we would be staying at my parent's house in Georgetown.
“Please take care of the travel arrangements and I will take care of my outfits and ensure you have the proper wear.”
That sounded like a good division of labor to me.
After that, the conversation went onto more mundane subjects of how the East Germans had connived to have my house searched for the longbow and war arrows that had killed those two guys.
She asked me what I was going to do. I told her there was nothing I could do. They had made a legal request which was honored by Her Majesty’s government. I did wonder how much influence the communists had in the government.
Nina in turn told me how the snobs were practically begging her to be models. It was so much fun. The news about the ball would be the icing on the cake.
She wondered if she could get a picture of herself with Jackie. I made a mental note to make arrangements with the White House.
I just hoped her school wasn’t into hair pulling and eye scratching.
Tuesday was a regular school day. That is, I attended my lectures. It seemed I missed as many as I attended but the notes kept me up to date on those classes I skipped. I was fortunate in that the classes I had stuck to their notes fairly well.
I had learned to be careful in picking my classes.
Wednesday I drove over to Pinewood Studios, this was the day of the preproduction meeting. The cast would get to know each other a little. We would go over the shooting schedule and do a run-through of a draft of the script.
The movie, ‘Edgware’ didn’t have a large cast. There were the male and female leads and then some supporting cast. No one could be classified as a second lead. The movie had a lot of dialog between the actress and me.
It quickly became apparent that everyone but me had worked together before. It was like an old home week for them. They also appeared to a snobbish bunch as they did no more than acknowledge my presence.
I had run into similar situations in Hollywood, so I didn't let it get to me. The schedule was discussed, and the Director kept deferring to me as to my availability. This finally resulted in several snide remarks.
