“I just don’t want her to be hurt anymore,”
Polaki laughed. “Now see, you are becoming more grown up too. One day, you will find someone who likes you as much as she likes Petyr. Then you will understand better. Until then, you just keep on doing what you do. I am very proud of you, son. You have been everything a man would like his son to be. And just now, you made me a little bit prouder. Now come, let’s go uptown and find a nice restaurant. Maybe we can plan a camping trip on our own,” he said happily.
A smile had returned to Rudy’s face. His father was proud of him, and said so. All was right with the world.
“This is insane. How do they expect me to keep most of our carriers and air groups at sea all the time? My guys need their time in port or they’ll go nuts!” complained Vice Admiral Josh Lineman, the Commander U. S. Fleet Forces. “Did you read this shit?”
Admiral Fred Griffin nodded his head. “Josh, I know it is inconvenient, but look at what’s going on over in Europe. We don’t live in a vacuum. I was able to read that report and I must say I agree with it. The Russians are making their moves and we have to be ready for anything.”
“But this guy, Hammond, isn’t even an aviator. He’s just guessing what might happen. If I tell my carriers to get underway and stay underway, they’ll go batty in just a few months,” said Lineman.
“You ever met Hammond?” Griffin asked.
“No. But I know he’s the President’s fair haired boy. I’d wager he is more into politics than he is being at sea.”
Griffin gave Lineman a wary look. “Well, there you’d be wrong. I’ve met the guy. He’s all Navy and nothing but Navy. He’s one of the smartest flag officers we have, and I’ll tell you another thing,” he said getting a little agitated. “He put his ship directly in between my carrier and a bunch of North Korean cruise missiles. If it wasn’t for him, I might not have a command right now. He’s got balls as big as that carrier out there,” he said pointing out the window, “so before you start putting him down, you might want to check your six. Because if you get on the wrong side of him, I don’t want to be in the same state.”
“He can’t be that good,” said Lineman.
“I’m telling you he is, so go back to your office and work out a rotation so that as many of our carriers and their groups are out doing something. He’s not saying to always be out, but he is saying to have as few of them in port at a time as we can. Besides, you aren’t the only one. I’m sending the subs out too. At least out there we have maneuvering room. Now unless you have more questions, I’m up to my ears,” said Griffin.
Lineman gave a sigh. “No, sir, I’ll get things rolling from my end. What about the Truman? She’s getting ready for sea trials next week.”
“Have the yard send workers out with her to do any repairs out there. Let’s not keep her in port more than a few days at a time. And postpone the Nimitz overhaul for a few weeks. She can get a little work done, but nothing major. If something does happen, we’ll need her,” said Griffin.
Lineman nodded. He was now convinced they were all nuts, but he would give a show of support, at least. “I’ll see to it.” He turned and left the office. He held off on exploding until he got in his car.
“What do you mean, we aren’t fully covered,” asked Patricia Hammond from her makeshift office in a trailer on the old Town Hall property.
“Well, Mrs. Hammond, your policy doesn’t cover any building that hadn’t been earthquake proofed. So we will cover any belongings and temporary quarters, but the house may be a write off,” said the agent, calmly over the phone.
“When did this change? There was nothing about this when I purchased the policy,” she said.
“That happened three years ago when the governor came into office. The state law changed and, as stated in the policy, we automatically changed the policy to fit the new laws,” he said.
“So no one was given anything in writing?”
“It is mentioned in the policy that the policy may change to match current state insurance laws.”
Patricia looked at the phone incredulously. “That means no one in my community with your earthquake insurance is getting covered from the most devastating quake of a century. Do you know how much we pay for this insurance?” she asked.
“Ma’am, my hands are tied,” he said tiredly. It was obvious he had been giving the same news a lot over the past few days.
“Very well, we’ll see about this,” said Patricia as she hung up the phone. “Get the lawyer in here,” she screamed toward the outer office. In a few minutes a young man knocked on her door.
“Yes Mayor, what’s up?” he asked.
“Dan, I want to start a class action suit against the insurance industry. Any company that is not covering the losses of our citizens is going to feel some heat. Get out to the people still out here. Get a petition signed by everyone who hasn’t been covered to be included in this suit. Then file it locally and then at the state level. Something needs to be done about this,” she said angrily.
The young man chuckled. “You got turned down too, huh? You remember that our illustrious governor used to be a partner in that company.”
Patricia’s eyes widened. “No, I didn’t. You don’t think…”
The young man took a deep breath. “It may get nasty.”
Patricia’s face broke into a smile. “He’s been the most useless governor on record. If we find out he did this for personal gain, he’ll be the one doing the sweating. As a matter of fact, once all the documents are in, let’s give the media a statement. If there’s something dirty, they’ll find it,” she said.
The President placed a new set of shoulder boards on Hammond’s shoulders. They had four stars on them. The small ceremony was in the State Dining Room of the White house and nearly the whole staff was there. Each remembered Hammond from his tour as Navy Liaison and he had made many friends. When he finished, the President said, “Congratulations, Admiral Hammond.”
Applause broke out across the large room as people were genuinely happy for the man who had been just a captain a few years before. The President held up his hands to quiet the staff.
“Roger, I am sorry Patricia couldn’t be here to do this, but when I mentioned it to my secretary, Barbara insisted we do something here. Then my Chief of Staff threatened to resign if we didn’t, so I caved in,” said the President as laughter erupted in the room. As the laughter died away he continued. “I don’t know how many of you saw his performance on C-SPAN, but I must say that the feedback I got was the most positive I have heard from the Senate in a long time. But now he has a real job to do. His first task has been completed and implemented. Now he has a Secretary of Defense on his side. So Roger, please don’t run for office before I leave.”
The laughter started again and many applauded. Then Hammond spoke. “Mr. President, I appreciate all this, I really do. It would have been nice if Patricia were here, but as many of you have seen on television, she has taken on the Governor of California and the insurance industry. Just a while back, I warned her not to do to the Governor what she did to one of her guards in Venezuela,” he said. The laughter returned for a moment. “But she has promised to take a short break and come see us as soon as she can. My son will be coming along and I want you all to see him. So don’t be surprised if he wants to come explore the place,” he said. “Again, I appreciate you doing this for me, and I am very happy to be with my friends once more.”