Monday Morning With The Admiral

"Sir."

Cat was not there, but Mitch met him down the hall and gave him the carrier wave-off signal meaning wait until you're called. The Admiral's yeoman caught that, waited a full minute and then called Cat.

"Reporting as directed, Admiral."

"At ease, Lieutenant. What would you like to talk about?"

Cat let that pass. Here we go, plebe year all over again.

"I am here at your orders, Sir. I did not ask for the appointment."

Breckinridge had not expected this degree of control. He respected it but it made him snappy.

"Do you understand that your action on the flight line caused some trouble?"

"No, Sir. It was settled very quickly. The men agreed to share the ground walk around and that was that. I took off and flew the exercise and they checked and secured the plane. They were laughing when I taxied in."

"You're not aware that it upset a good many rates?"

"I heard that, but it didn't seem to make any difference the next week. There were lots of mixed crews working after that. I think it did some good: got it out in the open so people could forget about it. After all, Sir, the Negroes help pack our parachutes."

Breckinridge remembered pictures of house slaves suckling his ancestors.

-- I'm losing control of this.

"Where did you learn about Negroes, Lieutenant?"

"Sir, I grew up with them. Some of them who worked on the railroad through my home town stayed on and we all went to school together from kindergarten right on through high school."

"Did you like them, Lieutenant?"

"No different than the rest of us, Admiral. I liked some of them, didn't like a few of them, but was mostly indifferent. My mother and grandmother taught me...."

Breckinridge had had more than enough history for one morning.

"Forget that, Lieutenant. You think that way works down here?"

-- Shit. I've messed it up good. Mitch ain't going to like this. So get on with it.

"Well, Admiral, it's never been tried so far as I know, but I don't see any great trouble from what I did."

"You may be right, Lieutenant. But you have to understand that you have a responsibility to avoid causing bigger trouble here. It's not like when you ran that ship during the war. It's not even like when I ran a ship. The war is over. The Navy needs support from the civilians. In a certain way we are guests here. If the civilians think we are messing with the way they like things they won't vote to pay for our airplanes. You do want to keep on flying, don't you, Lieutenant?"

Cat was back stuck in the black sand at Iwo. He was down in the water with 150 pounds per square inch in the hose trying to blast air under the ship so they could get the hell out of there and the mortars were bouncing him around like marbles in a pin ball machine. He was with Susan when she cried and said she wanted to try again for a baby. He was in church yesterday humming the music till he learned the words. He lost it.

"I thought that was what the war was all about, Admiral." He gave a little duck to his head. "Maybe I get in too much of a hurry, Sir. I'll do some practice on taking deep breaths."

He started up to salute and leave.

Then the Admiral lost it, too.

"I hear you were against the bomb, Lieutenant. Surely you didn't want to lose more men?"

Wye caught it instantly.

-- I'm tracked.

Table of Contents

• Introduction

1. Maggie and Mr. Hank
2. The Reverend
3. Squalls Along the Flight Line
4. Flying Home to Church
5. A Visit with The Judge
6. Communion
7. Afterthoughts
8. Monday Morning With The Admiral
9. Into the Dining Room
10. On Toward Walking the Streets
11. Glimpses of An Election
12. The Dream and The Reality of Violence
13. The Admiral Loses More Than a Few Good Men
14. Down That Lonesome Road

• Cast of Characters
• Credits and Acknowledgements