“Rumors that the Goony Bird dropped the stick not in Honduras, but a hundred miles to the south, in a different country, where they were in the middle of a hostile Communist army and surrounded by drug runners. Rumors that it took them three days to get to a place where they could catch a dustoff, all the while avoiding the Sandanistas. And especially any rumors that the dustoff had to take place at an occupied drug running airfield, which needed to be captured during a nighttime combat assault. If you ever hear rumors like that, you should immediately report them to higher authority, so they can track down these total untruths. Got it?”
“Shit!” he whispered. Anna Lee was kind of staring at us both. Marilyn had a little half smile on her face.
I smiled. “It wasn’t all that impressive. The combat assault simply rousted out a bunch of stoned out drug guards, or so the rumor says. Now remember, those are simply rumors. The truth is that we were on a training mission in Honduras. Hey, it’s over. We made it home, I got to a hospital, end of story. I’m a civilian now, and now you can tell me lies about what you are doing to protect the homeland from the godless Communist hordes.”
We talked some more. With any luck, Harlan would have his chance to shine in a few years. With some real luck, Harlan would be able to grow old without having that chance to shine. My little taste of something that wasn’t just a training exercise was more than sufficient for me. I was now a devout pacifist!
“So, what are you doing now? You got out in January. What have you been doing since then?” asked Anna Lee.
Marilyn answered excitedly. “Well, we moved back home, Carl’s home, not mine, in Maryland, and now we’re building a house! Next time you are back there, you’ll have to come and visit us!”
“You’re building a house?” asked Harlan.
I nodded. “That was kind of the deal. I didn’t want to move to upstate New York and she didn’t want to live near the city, so we made a deal. I would buy some rural property and build her a house. We closed on it this spring and they just started the framing. I am hoping to move in this fall sometime. Hoping, anyway.” I knew enough construction to know it always took longer, and cost more, than the most pessimistic initial estimates.
My friend gave me a bit of an odd look and said, “So, who do you do for work now?”
Marilyn started to answer that, but then she shut her mouth and looked at me. I answered obliquely. “I went into business. I’m with an investment company with some people I knew from before I got into the army. Now that I’m out, it’s what I do.”
“An investment company? You mean, like stocks and bonds, that sort of thing?”
I nodded and shrugged at the same time. “Sort of. It’s mostly investing in different companies, some startups, that sort of thing. I’m in operations and planning. Speaking of which…” I turned and looked at Marilyn. “Before we left, I was talking to John. There’s a good chance I might need to fly out next week for a day, to sign some papers. It’s not definite yet, though. I left the number to the room with the office, so they might call us.”
“And what are we supposed to do?”
“Honey, it’s not like I’d be stranding you in the desert. Heck, you and Anna Lee can go and sacrifice Charlie and Roscoe to the volcano gods. Maybe you can get a two for one deal going.” That earned me a raspberry.
One amusing moment came when Harlan tasked me to help him harvest some mangoes. They had a mango tree in their yard, and it turns out that mango trees are very fruitful and if you don’t pick them and do something with them, the ripen quickly and start rotting and the fruit flies are incredibly bothersome. We were to take a big bag of them back to the Royal Hawaiian with us. We hung around the rest of the afternoon, and as the day ended and turned towards evening, Harlan set up the grill and we did some burgers. Charlie was still working on formula plus some rice, which looked like something out of Oliver Twist. More gruel, please! Roscoe, on the other hand, was eating a hamburger and bun, though very, very sloppily, and drinking from a sippy cup. More to look forward to.
It was starting to get dark when we broke up the party. We made plans for the Buckminsters to come down to the Royal Hawaiian tomorrow and go swimming with us. I would be able to show them the plans for the new house, which I had in my briefcase. Later, during the week, Harlan would get me into the base and I would have a chance to see his command. This would be interesting to me, but not to Marilyn. I still wouldn’t be able to see his M109s. According to Harlan they were simply too powerful and long ranged to be fired on Oahu, so they were mothballed. When they wanted to fire them, they would barge them over to the Big Island and take them up into the mountains, where it can get damn chilly, surprising everybody.
Otherwise, we goofed off. We were on vacation. I teased Marilyn a number of times about how the next trip we made, without Charlie, was going to be different, and that I had Taylor looking for clothing optional resorts. That definitely got her saying “NO! NO! NO!” (Just like Roscoe was starting to say!) but I just laughed at her. Then I told her that there were actually resorts for swinging and swapping, which pretty much blew her mind! I didn’t know if the Hedonism resorts were up and running yet, but it didn’t matter, since we would never have gone to one in any case. Still, it was fun to watch her reaction! I told her I could compromise, sticking to the clothing optional package, but she wasn’t even buying that idea. She kept protesting and I kept laughing.
We didn’t spend our entire time with the Buckminsters. We spent several days just on our own, sightseeing. Also, a couple of evenings we left Charlie with our friends and went out to dinner on our own, and we returned the favor, taking Roscoe while Mommy and Daddy had a date night. Roscoe wasn’t thrilled about that (“NO! NO! NO!”) but we ignored him and he settled down. One of those nights for us, we went to see Don Ho at his new domed showroom next to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Taylor had gotten us tickets. The show was nice, and Marilyn certainly enjoyed it. Me, well, it was nice, but Tiny Bubbles was never all that big with me. Cute dancers, though. It was just good to get out for the night!
I stayed in touch with John during the vacation. It was easier if I called the office at 9 AM Hawaii time, which was 3 PM Eastern time. If John wasn’t in the office, I would try him at his old office, where he was tidying up old business. That was when I confirmed I would need to fly to Seattle again, before my vacation was over. Closing documents needed to be signed on Tuesday. I had him let Taylor know, and she would arrange transportation. I wanted a quick day trip, without any staying over. She could call me with details and send me an itinerary and whatever I would need. Likewise, John could send me any paperwork I needed to take with me.
On Friday and Saturday several envelopes showed up by way of FedEx, then known as Federal Express. One envelope had some documents related to the investment, with John’s comments jotted in the margins; I would sign the clean versions on Tuesday. Another envelope was from Taylor, and had instructions for my flight to SeaTac and back. That I looked at with considerable interest.
For her part, Marilyn was not amused by the flight plans. It was about a five or six hour flight from Hawaii to Seattle, and because I would be traveling west to east, I would add another three hours to the trip. If I was to arrive in Bellevue at 9 AM Tuesday, I needed to fly out around midnight Monday night. I could catch a cab and leave the Lincoln for Marilyn. I kissed her good-bye and told her I would call when I got there.
The only airport big enough to handle international traffic was Honolulu. Even travel back and forth from the Mainland required that you go through a Department of Agriculture screening station, sort of like Customs but a lot less invasive, since they can’t allow any new species on the islands, and fruit flies from the islands can’t be allowed loose on the Mainland. The charter base was across the runway, on the other side of the airport, from the main terminal.