When he kissed her on the mouth, her mouth was Open under his, and he found her tongue, which was at the same time gently moving against his. Then she unbuttoned her blouse and slipped it off, and then her bra. And in a few seconds more, she was naked, In a few more seconds, so was Ed Bitter, Later he drove her back to The Lodge. When they were alm(st to the road at the front of the house, she said: "Let me out here, and I'll walk. Then nobody will know we've been off together.- He stopped the car and she got out. He watched her as she walked toward the house, staying in the shadows of the trees. en -d on the veranda, be put the Buick in gear and she finally appear, Wh drove to the barn and parked the car. He turned the engine off and sat there for a couple of minutes, happening; and then he got Out of t trying to Put together what was he car and walked Out of the barn toward the river. It was pleasant to sit there at night in the dark and the quiet and watch the river flow by, as it had for-what, a million years, two mijlion?
He sat down or, the bank and glanced at the boat. Some damned fool had left a light on in one of the cabins. The master cabin. He forgot whether or not he had plugged in the shore power line when they'd tied up that afternoon. nected, the lights would drain If the shore Power line was not con- @@ I the battery.
Fnim A.#LW-F naftuba The Time out was docked with her bow downstream. The shore Power connection was aft, just inside the cockpit. The stairs to the wharf put him on the wharf by the Time Out's bow. As he walked past the ports of the master cabin, he thought he saw movement inside. The first thing he thought was that a thief had boarded her. He moved as quickly and quietly as he could to the porthole. The curtain had been drawn, but not completely. There was enough of a crack for him to see inside.
He didn't believe what he saw at first. It was the most shocking thing he had ever seen in his life.
Dick Canidy and Sue-Ellen Chambers were in the master bed, naked as j aybirds, Sue-Ellen on top, straddling Canidy, playing with her breasts as she moved up and down on him. The look on her face was absolutely wanton.
In turmoil-angry and confused-he went back up the stairs onto the lawn, and then up the lawn to the house. There were lights over the veranda, and the foyer lights were on, but the playroom was dark. Everybody else had apparently gone to bed.
He looked at his watch. It was quarter past twelve. Had he been gone that long with Sarah? Time seemed to have simply vanished.
He entered the playroom the way he had left it, by the screen door to its Tear. There was a light switch by the door, but he remembered another light switch under the bar. Ed went over and turned it on, picked up a bottle of whiskey and a few ice cubes, and made himself a stiff drink. He took a large swallow and put the glass down. Supporting himself with both hands on the bar, he bent his head over between them.
What to do about Sue-Ellen and that god damned Canidy?
His cousin's wife was a whore and an unfaithful wife and a sexual degenerate, and his "friend" was faithless. A gentleman would not dishonor... "Is it that much of a problem for you?" Sarah Child asked.
"What are you doing here?"
"I watched out the window," Sarah said. "Until I saw you come back from the river."
"Oh," he said. Sarah was wearing a bathrobe. He sensed frorn her movement that she wasn't wearing much under it.
"If you're worrying about me, don't," Sarah said. "You're not obligated to me."
"To tell the truth," he said, "I was thinking about somethin else."
"China?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied. That should close that subject. He thought of what Canidy had told him about lying. Like screwing, it got easier with practice.
"Come on," he said to Sarah. "Let's get out of here before we wake everybody up."
She smiled and nodded. He turned out the light under the bar and then guided her through the darkened playroom, through the dining room into the foyer, and then up the stairs.
He had no idea where her room was, of course, but he was surprised when she followed him down the west wing corridor. He would have thought that Aunt Jenny would have put the girls in the east wing and the boys in the west wing. He came to his door. Jesus, it would be nice to get her in there!
An insane idea!
"Good night, Sarah," he said, and leaned over to kiss her.
She avoided his mouth, but wrapped her arms around him. He was confused. And then, after a moment, she said:
"Hung for a wolf as a sheep."
"Jesus!
She just smiled-a sweet, trusting smile.
He opened the door and she followed him through it. He turned around and fastened the latch. He turned to face her.
"Jesus Christ, you're beautiful!"
"I'm glad you think so," Sarah Child said. She met his eyes and then she pulled the cord of her bathrobe open and let it fall off her shoulders.
That, she thought, was easier to do than I thought it would be.
THE LAST MERGES so I was right, he thought, when I thought she wasn't wearing rnuch under the bathrobe. She had worn nothing under it.
,s arah, I..." he began. She shut him off.
"Let's not either of us say anything we might not feel like re-peating in the morning Sarah said. She turned around and walked to the bed and slid under the sheets.
: Transient officers" Onarters Anac0stia Naval Air Station Washington, D.C.
1645 flours 16 June 1941
At 0815 that morning the admiral's aide had handed Lieutenants (j.g.) Edwin Bitter and Richard Canidy an envelope containing tickets on the Pennsylvania Railroad from Washington, D.C., to New York, and a slip of paper on which two addresses were typed:
Commander G. H. Porter Special Actions Section BUPERS Room 213 Temp. Building G-34
CAMCO Suite 1745
Rockefeller Center 1230 Sixth Avenue New York, New York Then he drove them, in the admiral's car, to Base Operations, where he waited to make sure nothing unforeseen would keep them from getting seats on the courier plane, an R4-D, the Navy version of the new Douglas DC-3 twin-engine airliner, which made an every-other-day round-robin flight from Washington to Key West, with stops at points of naval interest, including Pensacola, in between.
They landed at Anacostia a little after two, checked into the THE LAUT UKNU&ft NA transient quarters, and then took a taxi to Temporary Building G-34, one of the buildings on the mall which had been built to provide temporary office space for the Navy during World War 1.
It soon became apparent that Commander Porter knew only that higher authority had decided that Lieutenants Bitter and Canidy were to be honorably discharged for the convenience of the naval service-and as quickly as possible. Commander Porter was not aware, Canidy thought cynically, that the two of them had volunteered to sweep the Japanese from the skies over China in defense of Mom's Apple Pie and the American Way of Life, and thus he had reasonably concluded that the reason they were being dischargedand as quickly as possible-was to spare the naval service the inconvenience of court-martialing them for having been caught with their hands in the till of the officers' club, or in the pants of some brother officer's wife.
Commander Porter therefore treated them with icy courtesy, according to the book, and informed them that while the paperwork was being prepared to effect their separation, they would undergo a complete physical examination at the naval hospital. It did not matter, Commander Porter told them, that they had six weeks before been certified as physically fit for aviation duty. That was an aviation physical; this was a separation physical.
When they went to the naval hospital, they were told that separation physicals were given at 0800 in the morning, and they should return then.
"Look at the bright side, Eddie," Canidy said as they came out of the naval hospital. "With a little bit of luck, we can get laid."
"Christ, is that all you ever think about?" Bitter snapped.
Something was bothering Bitter, Canidy knew. It was probably that Naval Academy graduates who wished to become admirals did not leave the Navy. Commander Porter's ic
y disdain had given weight to his fears.
"Let's go get out of our uniforms," Canidy said, "and then treat Ourselves to a good dinner. And maybe a movie."
Bitter gave him a weak smile.
When they returned to the Transient Officers' Quarters at Anacostia, a tall, handsome Army Air Corps second lieutenant was waiting for them. He was wearing a green blouse, to which were pinned silver pilot's wings. There was a glossy Sam Browne belt. He wore pink riding breeches, and rested his glistening riding boots on the low table in front of him. His uniform cap, perched on the rear of his head, exposed light blond hair. The stiffener had been removed from the crown of the cap, and the cap itself looked as if it had been driven over by a coal truck. The crushed hat was the mark of the fighter pilot.
The handsome young officer was Jim Whittaker, who displayed a lot of white teeth and a warm smile when he saw Canidy, but he did not get up.
"What the hell are you doing here, Jim?" Canidy asked, smiling broadly. He went to him and shook his hand.
"I came to save you from this nautical squalor," the young aviator said, gesturing around the almost elegantly furnished foyer. "But the question is, what the hell are you doing here? And I don't mean 'why aren't you at the house?... "Eddie," Canidy said, "this is Jim Whittaker. Jim, Ed Bitter."
Bitter smiled, but not warmly. He had, he was sure, just come across yet another Canidy, that is, someone who would embarrass him somehow within the hour.
They shook hands.
"Are you involved in what he's done?" Whittaker asked. "Of are you his guards"
"We're together." Bitter smiled uneasily.
"How the hell did you find me here?" Canidy asked.
"When I called Pensacola," Whittaker said, "and got a mysterlous runaround about you, I called back and led them to believe I was an aide-de-camp to an unspecified general officer who absolutely had to get in touch with you. After some hesitation, they said you could be found here. I came straight from the airport. What the hell is going on?" ,We,re going to China," Canidy said.
"Dick ' " Bitter protested. "China?" Whittaker said thoughtfully. "I don't think you can get go to San Francisco and take to China from here. I think you have to the Southern Pacific and Yangtze River."
Canidy laughed. "What are you doing here? Better late than never?" ,I,m sorry about that," Whittaker said. "The Air Corps was being beastly to me. Does the Navy use the phrase 'exigencies of the service'?"
"All the time," Canidy said. nd "In the Air Corps, it means, "Fuck you, you're Reserve seco lieutenant you don't get no leaves, whittaker said.
Canidy laughed. enior of them a full Ed Bitter cringed as three officers, the most s commander, sitting at a table across the foyer glanced their way in disapproval.
"Tell me about China,"Whittaker said.
"I probably know less about China than you do," Canidy said. "But I'll have a go at it. What exactly would you like to know?"
"Why are you going there, wiseass?"
"For a discharge from the Navy, and six hundred bucks a month," Canidy said. said. "They were "The American Volunteer Group 9 11 Whittaker recruiting at Randolph Field, too." dy said.
"Regular little Charley Chan, aren't you?" Cani "Chesty and Bill Donovan were in Texas, is how I found out," e contract for expanding the place, Whittaker said. "The firm's got th and for satellite airfields. Anywayl they had me to dinner at the novan, the base commander, and me. My Main Club. Chesty, Do squadron now treats me with a lot more respect."
Bitter laughed.
"So I asked what the volunteering was all about, and Donovan told me."
"What did he tell you?"
"That patriotic, courageous, highly skilled, and ergo not too bright pilots were being recruited to go to China and pretend they Ir, the Chinese Air Corps until Roosevelt can get us in the war. He didn't put it in quite those words, but stripped of the bullshit, that was what he meant."
Canidy chuckled.
"Not that I was asked," Whittaker went on, "but I wouldn't touch the AVG with a ten-foot pole. What did you do, go crazy?"
"I told you, it got me out of the Navy," Carridy said. "I figured if I stayed until my four years was up, there'd be a war on and I'd never get out."
"From what Donovan told me,"Whittaker said, "the American Volunteer Group is a euphemism for throw some Christians to the Japanese lions."'
"We should not be having this conversation in a public place," Bitter said. "If we should be having it at all. I don't want to sound stuffy, but that's-"
"I always try to be kind to naval aviators," Whittaker said. "But this ringknocker sidekick of yours is trying my patience. Does he always interrupt serious conversations this way?"
"He means well," Canidy said. "And he's probably right. Let's 90 to our room, so we can get out of these uniforms."
"So you can pack," Whittaker said. "You're not going to spend the night here. Either of you." He saw the look of confusion on Bitter's face, and explained. "I've got a house here. Plenty of room for everybody. It will be easier all around."
"Not only that, it's free," Canidy said. "Say "Thank you, Jim,' Eddie."
"Thank you," Bitter said.
He had decided that prudence dictated he join them. For he did not wish to have to tell Commander Porter, at 0800 the next morning, that he had no idea where Lieutenant Canidy was. Since Whittaker and Canidy were two of a kind, together they were liable to do anything.
As they walked up the wide stairway, Whittaker touched Bitter @s arm. "No offense about the ring-knocker remark?
"Not at all," Bitter said. "We ring-knockers always make an allowance for civilians in uniform "It does have a sense of humor," Whittaker said. "I think I like it." -screw you " Bitter said. He had to laugh. The word to describe Whittaker, he thought, was "effervescent." It was impossible to take offense at anything he said.
"And you have my sympathy, Sour," Whittaker said. "I have trod where you are treading."
"Bitter" Bitter corrected him, before he realized his leg was be ing pulled. "Trod where, Whitefish?"
"Sleeping with Canidy," Whittaker said. "It isn't so much the snores as it is the smell."
"Well, we do have something in common, then, don't we?" Bitter said.
"Dick and I go back a long way," Whittaker said. "I was his hack at school."
"I was at Phillips Exeter," Bitter said.
"Small world, ain't it?" Canidy said dryly. Then he thought of something. "Jim, do you remember Fulmar?"
"Monica Carlisle's shameful secret? Yeah, sure. How could I forget the charming prick?"
"I was just out to see my father," Canidy said. "He told me Fulmar's in Morocco."
"What the hell is he doing in Morocco?"
"Don't know," Canidy said, "but I can imagine... "You bet!" Whittaker said with a knowing look.
Curiosity got the better of Ed Bitter. Monica Carlisle was a movie star, possessed of spectacular breasts, blond hair worn hanging over one eye, who always portrayed the innocent about to be violated.
"What about Monica Carlisle's shameful secret?"
"He's an old pal of ours, and he was at St. Mark's with us for a while," Whittaker explained. "He's as old as we are. That's the shameful secret. America's innocent sweetheart either bred at eight or nine, or she's a lot older than her public believes. And considerablv less virainal."
"No fooling?" Bitter said, genuinely surprised.
"His father is German," Canidy added, "and he went to college there. Since I imagine they'd want to draft him if he stayed there, or else we'd draft him if he came here, it's likely he's come up with the not unreasonable notion to sit the war out with some Arab friend in Morocco."
"Good for Eric," Whittaker said. "That's what we should be doing, instead of going off to the mysterious Orient."
"We should be doing? What's with the 'we'?" Canidy asked.
"I'm on my way to the Philippine Islands," Whittaker said "You're not kidding, are you?" Canidy asked seriously after a moment. Whittaker shook hi
s head no.
"Is that what you're doing in Washington?"
"More or less," Whittaker said.
They went into the rooms. Whittaker immediately lay on the bed, his battered cap now pushed down over his nose, his hands under his head, and his riding boots resting on the foot board, as Canidy and Bitter packed.
"Actually, Richard," Whittaker said, "I'm in Washington to have dinner with our Commander in Chief. He may well be, as Chesty says, a traitor to his class, and there is no question that he did me dirt, but I didn't have the heart to turn my back on the sweet old guy."
W E B Griffin - Men at War 1 - The Last Heroes Page 10
