“Do you have any questions about the specials?” asked Alice.
They both shook their heads no.
“Okay. Here are your menus, let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be right back with your waters.”
As the waitress walked away, Leona turned to George. “George, do you think we’ll ever be able to go to a really nice restaurant?”
“Yeah, but not in the Norfolk area. You know it’s against regs for us to fraternize. Someone would be bound to see us.”
“Well, I wish we could…. It would be so nice and so much more convenient.”
“I know. I wish we could, too, but right now it’s a dream, Leona.”
Leona sat silently for a few moments as if sulking. Then, changing the subject, she asked, “Speaking of dreams, have you had any more of those nightmares? You know, those disaster dreams you mentioned?”
“My Daily Double? Oh, just one or two a week, whether I need them or not!”
“Wow, that’s pretty often. Are they always the same?”
“No, sometimes they’re set on a submarine, but not always. I guess if I really analyze them, they do have a common thread.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, I’m always in a situation that’s hopeless, like we’re all going to die for one reason or another, and there is nothing I can do. It’s totally beyond my control, or anyone else’s in the dream.”
“So you’re all doomed?”
“Yeah, that pretty well sums it up.”
“Oh George, I’m worried about you. Maybe you should see a doctor.”
“A doctor? I’m not having any medical problems. I’m just having a couple of bad dreams every week.”
“Well yeah, but sometimes that’s a sign that subconsciously something is bothering you. Maybe a counselor could help.”
“A counselor? Is that what you meant by doctor?”
“Yes.”
“Jeez, Leona, I haven’t gone batty! I don’t need a shrink to tell me the source of the dreams or what’s bothering me. It’s perfectly clear.”
“Washington DC?”
“Yeah. It’s remembering the horror of those scenes after the blast and being powerless to do anything to avenge the murders. I lost good friends in that attack, but there was no way to strike back. No way to demonstrate to those who perpetrated the attack that the costs are too high for them to ever do it again.”
“That’s why everything in your dreams is beyond your control?”
“That’s part of it. I spent my entire career becoming as good as I could possibly be at defending the nation against nuclear attack, and it wasn’t good enough. Thanks to me, we probably let the submarine slip past that delivered the warhead.”
“George, you don’t know that! It’s just speculation. You shouldn’t feel guilty about Washington DC — it wasn’t your fault. The system wasn’t designed to protect against that kind of attack.” Leona reached out and put her hand on George’s. “You could be the greatest submariner of all time, and you probably are, and it wouldn’t make any difference.”
“Thanks, you’re making my next point for me,” George responded. “It’s not so much guilt about DC as it is the realization nothing has changed. It’s the hopelessness and helplessness of continuing to be held hostage by Islamic terrorists. It’s the knowledge it could happen again, any day, because our national policies have not addressed the core issues. Submariners continue to study and learn and make personal sacrifices to go on patrol, when the patrols are just as futile today as they were five years ago.”
“Can I get you something from the bar?” The waitress interrupted their conversation as she placed two glasses of water on the table.
“Yeah, Alice,” answered George. “Could you bring us a couple of glasses of white wine?”
“You got it. Are you ready to order?”
“Not just yet,” answered George. “Could you give us a few minutes?”
“Sure,” Alice sighed, looking around the nearly empty dining room. “I’ve got all night.”
“Thanks,” said George as she turned to leave.
George reached out and held Leona’s hand. He looked her in the eye and in a deadly serious tone said, “I asked you to meet me here tonight because I have something important to talk to you about.” He paused, looking down as if searching for the right words.
Leona picked up her napkin as if wiping her mouth, but it was really to hide her nervousness and confusion. What is George doing now? Oh my gosh, don’t tell me he’s going to propose to me in the Crossroads Bar and Grill! He better not — I’ll kill him!
George continued, leaning on the table with both elbows so that he could get closer to her and speak softly. “How do you like your life?” he asked.
Leona laughed a nervous laugh. “What kind of question is that?”
“An important one.”
“Well, I don’t know how to answer it. How about giving me a little hint as to where this is going?” Leona didn’t like the sounds of this. Was George asking her to marry him or breaking up with her?
George looked at her intensely, leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and let out a long sigh. “I’m thinking about doing something that would completely change my life, and if you’re willing, it would completely change yours, too.”
Leona raised the napkin to her mouth again. Oh my gosh, he is asking me to marry him. Not here — not in the Crossroads Bar and Grill… “Well,” she answered, “I can’t tell you whether I’m willing to do something unless you tell me what it is.”
As Leona waited, George fidgeted nervously with his fork for what seemed like a couple of minutes. Finally, he leaned forward again and in a soft voice said, “I have a plan I have been working on for a number of years. It involves a solution to the political problems we just discussed.”
Now this was really getting confusing. This didn’t sound like a marriage proposal. “What kind of plan?”
“A plan to solve the problem of terrorists and nuclear weapons.”
“That would be great, George, but what does it have to do with you and me? And what do I have to be willing to do?” She asked, totally bewildered.
“Well, tell me, if we could do that — if we could solve the problem of terrorists and nuclear weapons — would you be willing to give up everything you now have and start over with a new life in a new land?”
Leona let out an exasperated sigh. “George, you’re being really weird. What are you talking about?”
“Okay, okay. I’ll come right out and say it. I have a plan that will be similar to the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction. It’s our best hope of deterring the radical Islamists and stopping nuclear terrorism in its tracks, but it’s too politically difficult for any country to undertake. For those of us involved, it will mean going into hiding and living our lives with new identities. We will be hunted by those who want to stop us, so we will have to be constantly vigilant for signs we have been discovered.”
“Are you serious? I thought all of your political discussions were just talk. Just complaining about the establishment.”
“I’m totally serious. And I have a team ready to join me. What I want to know is whether you will join me, too. If we do this, we will have to leave everything and everyone we know behind. And I don’t want to leave you. If I start a new life, I want you to be part of it.”
Leona’s heart was in her throat. It wasn’t really a marriage proposal, but then again it was. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought about the proper way to answer this question. She had no close family ties. She was an only child, and her parents had divorced when she was twelve. She hadn’t seen her father since she graduated from high school, and her mother had passed away just last year. She loved George, but never thought she would be interesting enough to satisfy a man like George. Here was a man ready to shake the world. A man ready, willing, and able to take matters into this own hands to solve one of the world’s most complex problems. And he wanted her by his side. He wanted to live the rest of his life with her.