"Actually, I thought you careening down the drive on my bike was hilarious," his wife said.
General Wilson raised his eyebrows at that, then said, "It's not the sort of behavior general officers should display before a group of young officers, and I'm well aware of that. But the sky is not falling, and I am being punished, as your mother points out, for my sins."
"Randy says he was always doing that, trying to humiliate his betters," Beth said.
"You knew him at the Point, Tom," General Wilson said. "Was he?"
"Well, he was one of the prime suspects, the other being Dick Miller, in 'The Case of Who Put Miracle Glue on the Regimental Commander's Saber.'"
"Really?" Mrs. Wilson asked, as she laid a plate of scrambled eggs before him.
Prentiss nodded. "He couldn't get it out of the scabbard on the Friday retreat parade. Talk about humiliation!"
"And then he lied about it!" Beth said. "Randy told me all about that."
"What they did was claim their right against self-incrimination, Beth," Prentiss said. "That's not the same thing as lying."
"Randy said he lied," she insisted.
"I was there. Randy wasn't," Prentiss said. "I was the tactical officer supervising the Court of Honor. The court knew they did it, but they couldn't prove it. Nobody actually saw them."
"So they let him-them-go?" Beth said.
"They had no choice. Nobody saw them do it."
"Was that the real reason?" she challenged. "It wasn't because his father won that medal?"
"You get that from Randy, too?" General Wilson asked softly.
"Randy said that the only reason they weren't thrown out of West Point was because Castillo's father had that medal…that the only reason he was in West Point to begin with was because his father had that medal."
"Sons of Medal of Honor recipients are granted entrance to West Point," General Wilson said. "Staying in the Corps of Cadets is not covered."
"And he said that no one had the courage to expel the son of a black general," Beth went on, "no matter what he'd done."
"And what does Randy have to say about Lieutenant Castillo's Distinguished Flying Cross?" General Wilson asked, softly.
"He said it's impossible to believe that someone could graduate in ninety and be through flight school and flying an Apache in the Desert War when Castillo says he was unless a lot of strings were pulled."
"I am in no condition to debate this with you now, Beth," General Wilson said. "But just as soon as the Castillos leave, you, Randy, and I are going to have to talk. While the Castillos are here, I don't think it would be a good idea if you were around them."
"You're throwing me out?" Beth said somewhat indignantly.
"I'm suggesting that you spend the day, and tonight, with a friend. Patricia, maybe?"
"I've got a date with Randy tonight. Where am I supposed to get dressed?"
"Doesn't Patricia have a bedroom? Take what clothing you need with you. I don't want you around here when the Castillos are here."
"Yes, sir," she snapped, and jumped up from the table.
"Tom, would you take her to the Gremmiers'?"
"Yes, sir," Prentiss said, then added a little hesitantly, "General, I was sort of hoping I could get Beth to help me at the VIP house; make sure everything's right. And I know Mrs. Wilson is…"
"Get her to help you at the VIP house, then take her to the Gremmiers'," Mrs. Wilson ordered.
"I'm perfectly capable of driving myself," Beth said.
"We're probably going to need both cars," General Wilson said. "End of discussion."
[-V-]
Magnolia Cottage
Fort Rucker, Alabama 0845 6 February 1992 Camp Rucker had been built on a vast area of sandy, worn-out-from-cotton-farming land in southern Alabama in the opening months of World War II. It was intended for use first as a division training area, and then for the confinement of prisoners of war. An army of workmen had erected thousands of two-story frame barracks, concrete-block mess halls, theaters, chapels, headquarters, warehouses, officers' clubs, and all the other facilities needed to accomplish this purpose, including a half-dozen small frame buildings intended to house general officers and colonels.
After the war and the repatriation of the POWs, the camp was closed, only to be reopened briefly for the Korean War, where it again served as a division training base. Then it was closed for good.
Several years after the Korean War, with Camp Rucker placed on the list of bases to be wiped from the books, the decision was made to greatly expand Army Aviation. United States Senator John Sparkman (Democrat, Alabama)-to whom a large number of fellow senators owed many favors-suggested that Camp Rucker would be a fine place to have an Army Aviation Center. His fellow senators voted in agreement with their esteemed colleague.
Thus, the facility was then reopened and declared a fort, a permanent base. Another army of workmen swarmed over it, building airfields and classrooms and whatever else was needed for a flying army. They also tore down most of the old frame buildings-most, not all.
Chapels and theaters remained, and the warehouses, and the officer's clubs, and the post headquarters building, and four of the cottages originally built in the early 1940s to last only five to ten years for the housing of general officers and senior colonels. Two of these four-including Building T-1104, which had been renamed "Magnolia Cottage"-were near the main gate, outside of which was Daleville.
They were fixed up as nicely as possible, air-conditioned, furnished with the most elegant furniture to be found in Army warehouses, provided with a kitchen, and became VIP quarters in which distinguished visitors to the post were housed.
When Captain Tom Prentiss pushed open the door of Magnolia House and waved Beth Wilson into the living room, they found the place was immaculate. There were even fresh flowers in a vase in the center of the dining table.
"Looks fine to me," Beth Wilson said.
Prentiss didn't reply directly. Instead, he said, "I've got to make a telephone call. Have a seat."
"That sounds like an order," she snapped.
"Not at all. If you'd rather, stand."
He used the telephone in the small kitchen and, not really curious, she nevertheless managed to hear Prentiss's side of the conversation:
"Tom Prentiss. I'm glad I caught you at home. I need a big favor.
"Could you come to Magnolia House right now? It shouldn't take more than a few minutes.
"No, don't worry about that. He's not here.
"I stand in your debt, sir."
Beth Wilson wondered what that was all about, but was not going to ask.
When Prentiss hung up the phone, she said, "Will you tell me what you want me to do, so I can do it and get out of here?"
"There doesn't seem to be anything that needs doing," Prentiss said. "But we're going to have to wait until somebody comes here."
She locked eyes with him.
He went on: "You upset your dad with that recitation of what your boyfriend had to think about just about everything. I suppose you know that?"
"Is that really any of your business?"
"Let me explain where I'm coming from," Prentiss said coldly. "I admire your father more than I do anyone else I've ever met. If you were to look in a dictionary, there would be a picture of your dad in the definition of officer and gentleman."
"Maybe you should have thought of that when you let Castillo get him drunk and make a fool of himself."
"You're right. I should have," Prentiss said. "But your question, Beth, was 'Is it any of my business' that you upset your father by quoting your boyfriend to him and making him damned uncomfortable. And the answer is, 'Yeah, it is my business.' It's my duty to do something to straighten you out."
"Straighten me out?"
"Yeah, and your boyfriend, too. He's next on my list."
"I can't believe this conversation," Beth said. "And I don't think my parents are going to like it a bit when I tell them about it."
"I'll have to take my chances about that," Prentiss said.