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Ninety Days Inside The Empire: A Novel by William Appleman Williams

Squalls Along the Flight Line

Page 20

"Well, they're comin' home and I have to meet them but you said we needed to get straight on what we're doin' so let's do it."

She flipped the switch on the coffee, and wedged herself into the corner between the counter and the door.

"If I understand what the hell is goin' on here, and I think I do, then you are on your way down a road that don't get you to that fourth stripe. And I figure that I got some say in that."

"Maybe."

"What the shit you mean maybe?!? You got a child and a woman and your precious morals is supposed to count them in. My Daddy framer down there in Florida did just as much for the Negroes as you people up there in Wisconsin. And if you want to know, Mister Commander, you ain't all that special. You like bein' a big man in an airplane. So what's this crap about maybe!?!"

She dumped her drink into the sink.

"I just meant...."

-- Oh, my, weather, weather everywhere.

"...I just meant that the road don't necessarily lead away from that fourth stripe."

"You really don't care, do you?"

He sat there thinking about Maggie and the drainage ditch and his daughter and Jack and The Reverend. He took a full swallow of booze and filled the glass from the bottle. Could Cat get 'em home and could Run-Run land them in a squall?

"Maybe you got it wrong, Caroline. Maybe I care too much."

She banged a hip against the counter. "This one I got to hear, Mr. Here."

-- That's pretty good cracker Florida girl smart-ass sarcasm. Not bad. He kind of halfway smiled in a salute.

"I believe in all that stuff I got in Wisconsin, Caroline. And maybe even half of what I learned at The Navy's School for Wayward Boys. And from all those men in the planes. And I know your Father did brave things. And I like loving with you and makin' Nancy with you. Hell, I even believe in The Grace of God. So I got to do what I think is right. If I don't do that then you won't like me very much. And even if you do I won't like myself too much. End of speech from The Hero."

"So you really don't care about the stripe."

"The stripe's got to mean the right thing, Caroline."

"I guess I know why my Daddy liked you."

She made herself a new drink and took a long slow pull on it.

"Well, I liked him, too, Caroline. We sometimes thought we were damn fools but we liked each other."

"I think it's time this crazy radical Nigger-Loving man from Wisconsin took his Grace of God to bed with his redneck wench from Florida."

She began to unbutton her blouse.

He helped her.

She put her hand down on him.

"Maybe this is the fourth stripe."

"It's a squall."

"Show me, Mister Commander. I want Force Nine."

He entered her and flew happily into the storm.