The House That Jack Built

by Patrick Ford

  He picked up Jacqui and led them out of the building. On the steps, he paused to look at the blue sky. The sun still shone. He was still alive. He started to tremble. “Susan, I thought I was going to lose you!”

  Jacqui began to cry. She clung fiercely to Jack’s neck. “Daddy, has the bad man gone? Daddy, I was so frightened. He hit Mommy and made us cry. Make him go away.”

  Jack kissed her face. “He has gone, Poppins, a long way away. He will never come back.” Just then, the paramedics arrived. Jack’s inclination was to turn them away, but he realised that Susan and the children probably were in shock. Besides, she needed her face attended to. They all climbed into an ambulance and drove to the George Washington University Hospital.

  The medics examined Susan’s face. She would have a nasty bruise for a day or so, and she had lacerations inside her mouth. Fortunately, her teeth and cheekbone were undamaged. They washed the human detritus from Jack and did their best to clean up his uniform. It posed a huge challenge come morning for the hotel’s laundry.

  Jack took the Doctor aside. He was worried about shock or delayed shock. In the end they decided that Susan and Jacqui should remain overnight for observation. Susan wanted to leave, but Jack persuaded her that it was for Jacqui’s sake.

  He picked up his son who smiled and said “Dadda.” He had slept for much of their ordeal. He would be Okay. “There are rooms for parents,” said the nurse. “You should stay too. You will be able to sit with your girls and be ready to go in the morning.” Jack sat with Susan and Jacqui. There was nothing much to say. Jack leant down to kiss Susan’s hand. He left his forehead pressed to her shoulder. “Oh, God,” he said, “I thought I was going to lose you. How could I survive without you? I pushed him too far and he nearly killed you. Thank God the pistol blew up!”

  “He spent a long time raving about God and destiny. Perhaps God had a different destiny planned for him than he thought,” she murmured. “I have you and we are together. That’s all that counts now.”

  Jacqui was nodding off in Susan’s arms. The nurse came in with a portable cot and placed her on it. She gave Susan a blue pill. “This will ensure you will get a good night’s sleep. As for your little man, we will look after him tonight. Does he have any special needs or medications?” Susan slowly shook her head. The pill was having an immediate effect. Jack kissed her lips. She whispered something inaudible, and then her eyelids fluttered and closed. Jack sat with her until midnight, then went to get something to eat. Thirty minutes later, he was sound asleep too.

  In the morning, when Jack came to Susan’s room, she was up and dressed and playing word games with Jacqui. Patrick lay on the bed, gurgling and trying to stuff a piece of toast into his mouth. He was only partially successful. Jacqui ran to him. “Daddy, we have been awake for hours. Can we go now? I want some ice cream.”

  They thanked the staff. Jack asked about payment. “Talk to Colonel Evans,” said the receptionist, looking over his shoulder. Jack turned to see the Colonel and his driver Corporal Kaplan. “No need for that,” said the Colonel, “Compliments of a grateful government. The papers are saying you saved the Lincoln Memorial. I’m here to deliver you to the Ambassador. General Glover wants to see you this afternoon, if you feel up to it. Then it will be off to Georgia tomorrow.”

  Chapter 17

  Teaching

  The next afternoon, they arrived at Fort Benning, courtesy of a Military Gulfstream from Andrews Air Force Base, and treated like royalty, especially Jacqui, who charmed the stewardess. In such an aircraft, the flight was a short one. They were greeted by the CO of Fort Benning, and taken to especially reserved family quarters for visiting VIPs. It was a sumptuously appointed three-bedroom apartment situated within the base for added security. Jack wanted Susan and the children to go back to Worcester, where they could have a quiet week and recover from their ordeal. Susan refused to go. “I want to be with you, Jack,” she said, “and so does Jacqui. She will need your assurance now for a little while.” Jack could see the sense of that, and finally agreed to their demands. Patrick couldn’t care less. He was almost a year old now, and he needed watching closely. He could crawl at a rate of knots, and pull himself up on any convenient support.

  General Glover provided Susan with a smart looking young female sergeant to be her escort and driver. They all became good friends and they enjoyed a week of sightseeing. Glover had given Sergeant Amanda Yorke a free hand, so nothing was too much trouble.

  On the Wednesday morning, Jack started in on his work. The first thing he asked for was a list of the training staff. He was not surprised to find Sergeants First Class Juan Ruiz and ‘Mo’ Moses listed as field craft and weapons trainers. He had served with these two on his initial fact finding mission to South Vietnam. The squad leaders had impressed him by their professionalism, and he had recommended them for promotion and assignment as instructors, joined here by Staff Sergeant Jimbo Baker.

  He spent most of the morning meeting with the senior training officers. Most did not know how valuable an award the Military Cross was, but they all recognised and acknowledged his Silver Star. Most of them had done their research on this interloper. They knew of his heroism, professionalism, and the story of Bien Long. He was warmly welcomed.

  Those officers who had had contact with Australians in Vietnam respected them as good soldiers and admired their coolness under fire. They were happy for Jack to tell them more about his version of operations at squad and platoon levels. However, some were not happy to have a foreigner telling them what to do. They resented his presence and his youth. Many of them would never make it to field rank and they could not understand how one so young could attain such seniority.

  Jack acquired an office, a car and a driver who doubled as a personal assistant. He set about organising the series of lectures he would deliver. He asked for the three instructors, Baker, Ruiz, and Moses to accompany him. When Ruiz and Moses reported to his office, they were pleased to see him again, and anxious to work with him. He asked them about their current training syllabus. Ruiz answered that while they had made progress in a number of areas, notably at the squad level, the lack of interest from company commanders was a problem. “They still see their role as the most important in field operations. I think they see command in the field at squad and platoon level as not desirable. In other words, they do not want to give responsibility to such junior ranks.”

  “Well,” said Jack, “that’s not surprising. If they aren’t persuaded by the reports I wrote, and by our success in the field, no amount of talking will convince them, but I have to be careful not to appear to be telling these people what to do. After all, I am very young to hold this rank. Many see me as someone who has not served his time, an upstart if you will.”

  “Juan and Jimbo Baker and I, along with some of the other non-coms,” Moses said, “have been putting out the gospel truth to the squads, and we are having a lot of success, but when it comes to the upper echeons, we do not have enough influence. However, we are happy that we are sending squads into action with a better appreciation of how it should work. I think our work is only now bearing fruit in the field. Hopefully, this will convert a growing number of platoon Sergeants and junior officers.”

  “Maybe I can arrange an opportunity for you to demonstrate your skills. Leave it with me for now. I’ll see what I can do.”

  For the next three days, Amanda Yorke gave his family a VIP tour of Georgia and the adjoining States of Alabama and Florida. They even drove to Atlanta for a day trip. Susan had not seen this part of her country so it was interesting to her, erstwhile student of history that she was.

  Meanwhile, Jack delivered his doctrine and was encouraged to see a good number of junior officers in agreement with him as he began to build his relationship with them. Maybe they would be useful if he could get the next stage of his plan accepted by the senior officers.

  Despite opposition, he convinced the officer commanding infantry training that a 24-hour exercise would be
a fine example of what was possible. He would use a platoon to demonstrate against a company selected by the officers most doubtful of his theories. They selected a thickly wooded area of the training range. Jack’s acolytes, Orange Force, took on the others in a series of hit and run attacks during the first day, and by patrolling constantly, always had the larger body off guard and vulnerable. During the night, Orange Force sent a squad under Sergeant Ruiz to infiltrate the company HQ of their opponents. They successfully got past the sentries and captured the entire company HQ, taking the company commander and his staff prisoners. At the debriefing the next day, this man had been unwise enough to complain, stating that Orange Force had had an unfair advantage because they were a smaller force, and, as a result, harder to spot and pin down.

  “Precisely,” Lt. Colonel Riordan said.

  Chapter 18

  Learning

  Marci, Sarah and the twins were overjoyed when Susan called to tell them she, Jack and the children were coming back to see them before leaving for home. Jack had spoken to Susan their last night in Georgia. “I have been thinking I would like to take up the advice that fellow at John Deere gave me. How would you like a week in Canada?”

  They said their farewells, bidding goodbye to the friends they had made at Fort Benning. Jack was a little down in the mouth because he would probably not see Juan Ruiz or Mo Moses again. But both Sergeants told Jack that his fortnight at Fire Base Romeo had been pivotal in cementing their army careers and had probably saved them from death or wounding in the bargain.

  “Carry on with the good work, boys,” Jack said. “I know we converted a few doubters yesterday. Once a few more commanding officers hear about the results of our maneouvers yesterday, things will move along a bit better. I will continue to correspond with them and I will make sure my message is loud and clear. I hope you can get to Australia one day. You would be most welcome to visit. Until then, hasta la vistas, amigos.”

  Susan and Jacqui had parted with Amanda Yorke. Jacqui shed a few tears. They presented her with flowers and chocolates and thanked her for the good time she’d shown them.

  “Mommy, can Amanda come to see us in Australia?”

  “I don’t see why not,” said Susan, “maybe we can find her a nice boy.”

  “If you can promise me another one like the Colonel, I’ll be off tomorrow,” Amanda joked. “Never say never!”

  That night Jack and Susan lay together, having loved each other half to death and glowing with satisfaction. “Despite living so close to Canada for so long, I have never been there,” Susan said, “Where exactly are we going?”

  “Well, the people I want to see are at the Morris Implement Company in Saskatchewan. They are the leaders in manufacturing machinery for this new conservation farming system that interests me. We could fly back to Worcester and have a few days with your mother before heading north.”

  “Oh Jack, that would be great. Jacqui would love to spend a bit more time with James and Anthony, me too for that matter.”

  Next day, they prepared for their flight back to Washington. Colonel Evans flew with them, waving them off at National. “Maybe we can make this a regular thing,” Colonel Evans suggested. ”Exchanging officers for short periods would have many mutual benefits.”

  Jack agreed.

  In Worcester, he and Susan relaxed with her family. The older children were playing happily. Patrick was sleeping, and in the absence of Marci, Sarah started a conversation about the old days in Armidale. She sounded a little wistful, and Jack thought she missed that wonderful climate. Perhaps she might come back, but she did not want to leave her mother on her own.

  They got out road maps and looked at the vast distances of the Canadian prairies. “It is just too far to drive all that way. I think we will have to fly to Saskatoon,” Susan said.

  “Yorkton, where the company is located, is about a three-hour drive from Saskatoon,” Jack said, “so the return trip is possible in a day with plenty of time to visit Morris Implements.”

  They decided to fly to Saskatoon and hire a car. Jacqui wanted to stay with her cousins, but it was impossible for they were to fly on to Calgary and Los Angles after the visit to Saskatchewan. Another tearful separation was the result. Sarah drove them to Boston to catch their flight to New York. Because of the airline hub system, they had to travel New York to Chicago to Saskatoon. They were exhausted when they tumbled into their beds that night.

  * * * *

  Jack had decided to treat his family to a special experience, the Bessborough Hotel. Sometimes called the castle, this hotel dates from 1932. It was the last in a series of luxury hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad in the heyday of train travel. There were similar hotels situated in Victoria, Lake Louise, and Banff. Today, they still operated as hotels, bringing to life another, opulent, and long gone lifestyle. A stay in one of these hotels was a once in a lifetime experience. Jacqui was fascinated by the dining room and its fittings, by the old brass grill elevators, marble stairs, and most particularly, by the mail chute. A glass chute ran down beside the elevators to the reception desk. When someone on a higher floor posted a letter, it fell down the chute. Jacqui thought it was wonderful to watch. Every time they went to the elevators, she made them wait for a minute or so in the hope that a letter would come sliding past.

  The next day, they took their hired car across the province to Yorkton. Jack had phoned some days ago to make an appointment and a couple of men met them at the door and introduced themselves as Robert Taylor and Ross McGann, two engineers from the new product development office. Jack had not expected Susan to be interested, but she was. “If you want me to help you, I have to have access to the same information you have,” she said. Jack was pleased by her interest.

  Morris had two products that interested Jack. One was a chisel plough that worked on 12” centres to make it easier to work through stubble. The other was a machine called a rod weeder. Jack saw these demonstrated, impressed by their performance. The biggest problem as Jack saw it was the negotiation of underground obstacles. The prairie soils were sandy loams that flowed easily through tillage machines. The prairies in their natural state were grasslands. There were few trees. The soils of Ballinrobe were not. Jack’s father had cleared the land of trees and shrubs. Many roots of those trees remained and provided obstacles for tillage implements.

  Jack could not see how these machines could overcome the roots, even though they had a trip and reset mechanism. He thought the frames were too flimsy to stand up to the harsh Australian conditions.

  Susan shared his view. They thanked their hosts and asked to be kept in the loop in regards to further development of their products. Then they drove back to Saskatoon.

  That night, Jack and Susan, lying together, discussed their tour. Susan finally said, “Jack, we have been away for a long time. I miss Ballinrobe and I miss our friends. I will be happy to be home again.”

  Chapter 19

  Down on the Farm

  Their flight arrived in Brisbane late at night. The ever-reliable Duncan met them at the gate and took them home. It had been a rough flight from Honolulu to Sydney, and they were tired out. Even Patrick had complained a lot, and he was usually such a good traveler, sleeping for much of their journey. They had flown back to Denver and connected with a flight to Los Angles. At Anaheim, they had rested for two days and taken Jacqui to Disneyland again. For her entire life, she would never tire of that place.

  They were bundled into bed and slept for about nine hours, waking to the peace and quiet of the McGregor home. They could hear magpies quarrelling in the garden and could feel the warm weather of Brisbane in late spring. It was good to be back in Australia again! A warm welcome awaited them.

  “We decided to wait for you before having a big breakfast,” Denni said. “Now we can turn it into brunch. Duncan is slaving over a hot BBQ out on the deck. He will have mountains of bacon, sausage, and tomato. All you have to do is order your eggs.”

  Grace had
been waiting for Jacqui to wake up. She had a very big day’s play planned. She had not seen her cousin for about two months. Patrick tried to keep up but found it too hard. “He will be walking soon,” Denni said, “then look out! If he’s anything like his father he’ll be into everything not nailed down or padlocked.”

  Roseanne, Denni’s new baby, was almost five months old. Grace was waiting impatiently for her to grow big enough to be interesting. Susan and Jack were happy to wind down for a day. Tomorrow, they would head back to Goondiwindi. They were anxious to return home, to recharge their spirits, and to get back into their daily routines.

  They set off very early the next morning.

  * * * *

  Home had never looked so good to these weary travelers. Helen was there to greet them. She had missed her family badly. She had spent some of the time while they were away with Denni and her family in Brisbane. That was good, but she never liked to be far away from her home and garden for too long. The summer had been dry and hot. Her plants needed her tender care. Now, Mick was invaluable; keeping them watered for her. Mostly, she missed the two little ones. As she promised, she was Jacqui’s best friend and would remain so for the rest of her life. Patrick would attain this status too.

  Jacqui spent her time for the next week in long conversations with Helen. It was always Helen, never Grandma. She talked for hours of her travels and of Aunt Sarah and her twins. She badly wanted them to come to live at Ballinrobe.

  Patrick and Tom the kelpie puppy were inseparable. Sam kept a watchful eye on these little humans she had made her special charges. She knew Jack valued them highly. She knew where her loyalty lay.

  Jack and Susan met with Ollie, Mick, and Ken the next morning. The wheat was ready for harvesting, and even as they spoke, their harvesting contractor drove up to tell them the big machines were close behind them. “Don’t worry, Boss,” said Ollie, “everything’s ready to go. We’ve serviced and checked all the machinery. We should start in the top paddock. It will be the ripest.”