"Have a seat, Fletcher. Champagne?" I pointed at a seat facing back towards Marilyn and me, and motioned the steward over. "Another glass, please."
"Yes, sir."
He was back a few seconds later, and promptly poured some champagne into it. I immediately protested, "Hey, wait, that's the good stuff! He's a reporter. He can't tell the difference between champagne and swill!"
Fletcher grabbed the glass before the steward could take me seriously. "Ignore him. He's heading back to America, where the people don't like him nearly as much as the Kurds do."
Marilyn laughed at that. "That is cold, Fletcher!", she said.
"But true, so true. What's up?", he asked.
"Fletcher, I have decided to take pity on you for teasing you about jumping out of planes. I am going to bless you with an exclusive!"
Marilyn gave me a curious look, but Fletcher's ears twitched and he suddenly got a look like a pointer aiming for a quail. "An exclusive?"
"You are going to get one day, maybe two, before the rest of the world gets informed of one of the most momentous events of the Buckman presidency!"
He looked over at my wife and said, "Why do I have the funny feeling I am being set up for something?"
"Because you're smart?", she answered.
"Nuts to the pair of you! Okay, Fletcher, actually it's not going to be that helpful to you, but your editor and publisher might appreciate it.", I said.
He sipped about half his champagne. "Oh? While that might be enjoyable to the average reporter, I don't live in Baltimore any longer. I moved to D.C. a few years ago, so I don't have to see them all that much. What's going to make them appreciate me?"
"Maybe the Sun's Society page editor might like you." I shrugged. "Anyway, I figure the Sun is our hometown paper, so you guys might as well hear about it first. Molly just got engaged. We just found out tonight."
Fletcher grinned and said, "Congratulations! Who's the lucky fellow? Anybody I know or might have heard of?"
I poured Marilyn and myself some more champagne, and gave her a funny look. "You know, he might know him, after all." I turned back to Fletcher. "Actually, I think you do know him, or at least his family. It's Bucky Tusk, Tusker and Tessa's boy. I know you've met them."
"Ummmm, your business partner, long red hair? Him?"
I nodded. "It's got a lot of gray these days. That's Bucky's dad, and we weren't exactly partners. I was simply an investor in his bike shop. We've known Bucky since he was a baby."
"Bucky and Charlie were business partners in a race team for a bit.", added Marilyn.
"Huh. How's that going?"
"Pretty good, I guess. He's defending his national championship again. We're planning on going to see a few of his races at some point. There's one up in New York at Unadilla where we can go see the races and see some of Marilyn's family at the same time.", I said.
"So, when's the wedding?"
I had no clue, so I shrugged and looked at Marilyn. "Nothing definite, but she graduates next May, so it will probably be next summer.", she answered.
"Are you doing the big White House wedding?", he asked, as he poured himself some more champagne.
That finished the bottle, and the steward brought out another bottle. I thanked him and said, "No idea. When was the last one? Didn't one of Nixon's daughters get married at the White House? Or was that just the reception?"
"My daughters are getting married in a church!", announced the bride's mother.
I glanced at Fletcher. "I guess that settles that! Listen, we'll be issuing a formal announcement after we get home and talk to the kids and the Tusks. Feel free to give your people a head's up. It will all be official in a day or two, tops."
With that I yawned, and Fletcher took the hint. He stood up and then refilled his glass. "I think I am going to take this back with me and make everybody in the press section jealous."
I laughed at that, and after he left, Marilyn and I headed towards our room at the front, and we took our glasses and the rest of the bottle with us. Time for a little Mile High Club action.
Over the next few days, I needed to consider my schedule. It was now the middle of the summer, and we had a mid-term election to win. There were a few advantages to winning a war. My approval ratings had shot back up following Kurdish Dawn and Kurdish Dragon. I was now in the mid-80s, which I hadn't seen since Enduring Freedom had destroyed Al Qaeda and the Taliban. I had a full schedule of campaign appearances across the country, assisting various Congressional and Senatorial candidates either hold their seats or unseat those pesky Democrats. That was going to take up the balance of my summer and go on into the fall.
One of the first things that happened, though, was a joint interview with the various armed services journals. Army Times, Proceedings of the Naval Institute, Air Force Magazine, Coast Guard Magazine, and Leatherneck all wanted to speak to me about the Kurdish War and my efforts on behalf of my fellow veterans. We agreed to a meeting in one of the conference rooms. The service magazines had an interesting readership. If you are in the service, you have probably run across them, and might even have a subscription, but otherwise the odds are you've never even heard of them. Certainly long term veteran non-coms and officers would be familiar with their own service's magazine. In addition, the writers and journalists are often ex-military, or if civilian, would have decent knowledge and familiarity. I wouldn't have to explain the difference between a tank and an armored personnel carrier, for instance.
I think a big part of the interview request was that Al Jazeera had managed to tape my meeting with the Kurdish soldier in the hospital in Erbil. They had broadcast it throughout the Muslim world, translated into the local language, and the original English language version made its way to the American networks. American commentators mentioned that this was similar to my long efforts to ramp up employment and education opportunities for American veterans. Now reporters wanted to know my thoughts on the subject.
Each reporter had their own list of questions, but I suspected the interview would be reported in each magazine almost verbatim. I tried to give thoughtful answers.
Q: "Were you aware, when you spoke to the Kurdish soldier that your response would end up going world-wide?"
A: "Not really. Oh, I am always aware that just about everything I say or do is being recorded, and I knew there were reporters along, but otherwise never gave it too much thought. I was just trying to cheer up a wounded soldier, one ex-soldier to another."
Q: "And what do you feel about the response to that, here at home and world-wide? It has been played in just about every VA hospital in the country."
A: "What I told that soldier applies to any wounded or injured soldier, in any country. Many years ago, when I was injured, I received the same talk from another soldier. We are only as handicapped as we think we are. Life does not end when we leave the service. That service just takes a different shape."
Q: "You have often told veterans and people ending their service to go into politics. Why is that?"