Long Distance Runaround.
Voice: Ma'am, could I speak to... Jade Riordan, please?
Oh, Jesus oh JesusohJesus...
Deb: Who's calling, please?
Like I needed this?
Voice: This is William Hawkins. She left me a message. Where am I callin'?
Deb: Minnesota.
Hawkins: Damn if I don't have an appointment up there to see the same doctors who treated King Hussein. Hell of a lotta good they did him. Minnesota. Can you get the lady for me, ma'am?
Deb: Hold on, she'll be right with you.
I put the call on hold, dropped the phone like a clod and went looking for Jade. I went through the house, hissing, not raising my voice for some dumb reason. Bill had done another disappearing act in the small hours, Sam had left early after a phone call woke him, Ryan was soaking the previous days aches and bruises out in the steady warmth of the hot tub, and Elmore could sleep through a bomb blast. There was no need for quiet. It was as though I was trying to keep a secret.
Deb: Jade... Jade!
Jade: What?!
She was in the room Mick and Nuala still shared, folding and putting away a load of laundry.
Jade: What in hell are you hissing for? You sound like a damn old snake. What do you want?
Deb: Phone.
I was unconsciously launching into that game again, the one that could drive Bill to homicidal flights of fancy, twenty questions.
Jade: There's a few around here. I heard it ring. What about it?
Deb: It's for you.
I couldn't help myself.
Jade: Goddamnit, then who the hell is it?
Deb: General Hawkins. He's waiting on hold.
Jade: Oh.
She looked like she'd been caught looking at a naughty book, as though she hadn't expected her stunt to pan out and so hadn't thought of anything to do next.
Jade: My
Her eyes were shining. Ryan Gaerity was her dearest love, but Hawk Hawkins was her idol.
Jade: God.
She headed for the stairs.
Jade: You get on your extension.
Deb: He's askin' for you.
Jade: I'm not talkin' to Hawk Hawkins by myself! Get on that damn phone and help me! Bill's your man, not mine!
Deb: Hell.
Jade: Coward!
Deb: Exit, stage right, even.
Jade shoved me toward my bedroom and gave me a fierce look to keep me from bailing on her. She galloped downstairs to where the cordless was waiting for her.
Jade: Pick it up, damn you!
As I did, I heard General Hawkins talking to Jade.
Hawkins: Ma'am?
Jade: Not you, sir. I was yelling at Deb, the one who answered the phone.
Deb: Hi, sir.
That was intelligent.
Hawkins: Hello again. Well, tell me, what can I do for you ladies?
Dead silence for a moment. I was waiting for Jade, Jade was waiting for me, Hawkins was waiting for both of us. Finally, he whistled, briefly and piercingly.
Hawkins: I could say I was a busy man.
His tone was infinitely gentle. His meaning was obvious. Even if he was convalescent, he could find better things to do with his time than listen to a couple of idiots breathe.
Jade: Oh, yeah... we're sorry, General Hawkins...
Hawkins: Hawk, please. That 'General' business... just a bone to keep the congressional hound quiet. What do you need?
Deb: We'll try to make this quick, sir. It concerns William Strannix...
Hawk: I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't know anybody by that name.
Jade: We know that. Deb, you goon. She means Eliot Gerard.
Hawkins' response was immediate and gratifying.
Hawk: Hell, yes! I remember Gerard... might've been Navy by I don't blame him for that... damn near had that boy talked into flight school. You ladies know him? I wouldn't mind havin' a beer with that silly sonovabitch, talk over the old days.
Jade: We know him, sir...
Hawk: Hawk, darlin.
Jade: Sorry... Hawk. We... well...
Deb: He turned into William Strannix.
Hawk: You lost me there, honey. He 'turned into' this Strannix character? How'd that come about?
Jade: It's going to be hard to explain... neither one of us really knows where to start.
Hawk: So start anywhere. We can find our way.
Deb: We have reason to believe you spent some time in an NVA prison camp.
Hawk: Not my finest hour, I'm afraid, but yes. I was Charlie's guest for a while. Why?
Jade: According to our sources, Eliot was with you. Besides, we all know what your finest hour was.
Hawk: And you can stop that shit right there. I did my job, young lady, no more and no less. Eliot and I helped each other along, yes. It was a common occurrence. I don't think this is leading up to a guest spin on 'This is Your Life', so why don't you tell me who this Strannix character is and where my young friend fits in.
Deb: The information we have says he had a head injury at some time before his exchange...
Hawk: Oh, shit.... they beat hell out of 'im not a week before we were released. They had to send a chopper after Eliot, he was still unconscious for the turnover. And I remember he told me he'd turned down an offer from the Shop. Are you sayin' he 'turned into' this Strannix, or he was turned into him?
Jade: You figured it out, sir. And now he's having a very hard time reconciling his memory with the information he recently received. He's discovered that he has family...
Hawk: Boy I knew would have found that comforting.
Jade: He's afraid of how his mother might react if he visited her... she's in her eighties... and he has a brother...
Hawk: I remember, Sam.
Deb: Right. Sam. As Bill Strannix, Sam Gerard has been a huge thorn in his side.
Hawkins chuckled briefly.
Hawk: And now he's gotta start thinking of him as a brother, somehow.
Deb: Right. And he'd rather vote the straight Republican ticket than do it.
Hawkins roared for a minute. Even when he started to calm down, snorts and whoops escaped at random.
Hawk: That's a damn punishment, girl. Now... how can I help?
Jade: We're not sure, sir.
Deb: He talks once in a while about... flashing... on things, especially names. He'll read or hear a name and stuff will just flood back. I think it scares him. He can read the official record of Eliot's life...
Hawk proved his quick intelligence again.
Hawk: Those 'personal' files are pretty short on personal experience. Seems to me what you're tellin' me is that he knows what he did, but he doesn't remember who he was when he did it.
Jade: Something like that.
Hawk: D'you think it would help if I met with him?
Deb: It might. He had the strangest look on his face when we were watching you...
Hawk: Yeah, yeah. Anything else I should know?
Deb: Bill... er... Eliot... is a new father.
Hawk: Christ on a pony! This is a regular Charlie-Foxtrot if I ever saw one.
Deb: Actually, sir, it's more like a JANFU.
Hawk roared again, but the full-throated laugh died quickly, turning into a series of deep coughs that slowly petered out.
Deb: Sorry, sir.
Hawk: Happens. So... I'm startin' to think I should talk to the both of 'em. D'you ladies agree?
Jade: I was going to ask if you'd be willing.
Hawk: Well, hell. It won't do us a damn bit of good to get Eliot up to speed if Sam ain't willing to meet him halfway. And this baby... by the way, boy or girl?
Deb: Boy. It seems to be all my body will produce willingly.
Hawk: Ma'am?
Deb: It's Bill's first, but my fourth..
Hawk: Damn! Congratulations. Anyway, as I was saying, seems to me if the boy has his daddy and his uncle, he deserves both. Can you think of anything that'd make it hard for Sam to accept the little guy?
Jade: Well, there's his name. Bill doesn't even really identify as Eliot, he's been Strannix for so long. So Rainer's last name is Strannix and Sam's not too fond of that.
Deb: True enough, but when I suggested a hyphen Bill went through the roof, asked me if I thought I had a baby or a chemical ingredient.
Hawk: Boy's got a mouth on 'im, always did. What'd you wind up naming the little guy that it would satisfy Bill and annoy Sam?
Deb: Well, as a rule my kids have a few extra names. When Bill put his foot down, I just eased Gerard in as a middle name.
Jade: Rainer Michael Aidan Gerard Strannix? Damn, that's a mouthful.
Jade was snickering. It was always fun to put one over on Bill, especially when the stunt was a relatively harmless one. Rainer's name was bigger than he was, but the relative excess of letters wasn't hurting anyone. And knowing it might help Sammy.
Hawk: Hm.
We let him think. It seemed like the thing to do.
Hawk: We should get together before I see either one of them. I should know more about their relationship, what's goin' on in their lives... it'll take the surprises out of their reactions.
Jade: I thought you thrived on surprises.
Hawk chuckled.
Hawk: When I push the envelope. It's a matter of control, ma'am. Now, where can I meet you?
Jade: We could come to you, sir. It might be easier, and Bill and Sam are both gone, so there won't be any questions.
Hawk: Very good idea, young lady. Now, I'm about eighty miles south of Salt Lake, so let me know when you'll be in and I'll be able to meet you there. Borrow a little four-seater.
Jade: You'll ... fly... us?
I could read her mind. Hawk Hawkins? An American legend... piloting the likes of us? I kept thinking of Wayne and Garth in front of Alice Cooper.
Hawk: Why drive when you can fly?
We had no response, save giggles.
Hawk: Uh-huh, uh-huh. I had a young fella out here talkin' about makin' a movie about Daedalus... fictionalized, so they can kill somebody off, I suppose. I told 'im I wanted Clint Eastwood to play me... there's a legend, by God.
After a few minor pleasantries, and an assurance that we would call when we had a flight number and arrival time, we hung up. Jade instantly called our telephone company and had the charges reversed. It only seemed right to both of us.
I turned to the box and opened it up. Hawkins had suggested we bring things, any sort of things, to give him a feel for Eliot-who-had-become-Bill. I hadn't been in the box since I'd gone through it the first time and I figured it might take me a minute. Instead I found a file folder across the top, and when I glanced at the contents I saw a lot that would be helpful. I gathered up a number of the documents and a stack of photos. Some of the snapshots were thirty years old, ranging forward in time to one taken within the preceding month.
I flipped through the pictures after tossing together a few things to take along. Jade was supposed to be downstairs telling Ryan he was going to be responsible for all four children. I thought I'd better give her some time.
There was Eliot's photo, taken in dress blues, in his midshipman's uniform as well as another of an older, more assured Lieutenant Gerard in dress white and officer's insignia. There was a snapshot of his first command, a hysterical one he must have taken from Sam's private collection of Sam and Eliot, home on leave, one in Army fatigues and the other in Navy denim and chambray, both of them obviously feeling no pain, being pinned to the grass by an older man who looked like them both and who was proud enough to burst. Mike Gerard. Daddy... oh, god... Rainer had Michael Gerard's eyes. There were various and sundry photos of Bill as the years passed. In most of them, Eliot Gerard's eyes regarded the world warily, humorlessly, but in one particularly, the bursting pride was back. Bill was sitting on his birthday present with Rainer on his thigh, pretending to explain the controls to the baby, who was more interested in the face above him. Bill was curved protectively over Rainer--it had been windy that day, if I recalled rightly--and his big hand wrapped almost completely around the boy. I hadn't seen this picture, Jade had taken it with the digital camera, but Bill's commitment to Rainer was plain in every line of his body and obvious to anyone who looked in his eyes.
The last of the snapshots was unnerving, to say the very least. It consisted of a simple white marble headstone, government issue, identical to the ones over my own grandparents. 'Eliot William Gerard, U.S. Navy' it said. There was a line of abbreviat9ons that were unfamiliar to me. Whether they denoted his rank and area of expertise or were just bullshit from the Shop I didn't know enough to say. They noted the conflict he'd served and 'died' in'. 'April 20th, 1948 - September 15th, 1972.' Oh, you bastards! Sam's birthday! You fuckers!
I folded the paper carefully around the photos and put them into my bag. I'd given Jade more than enough time to finish buttering Ryan up. I went downstairs.
Jade: Do you know who I was talking to? Do you know? Do you realize who that was?
There was a great deal of sputtering and splashing.
Ryan: I haven't a clue and I doubt I'll find out if ye insist on drownin' me!
Jade: General. William. "Hawk." Hawkins.
Ryan: Well. I'll be fucked.
There was dead silence on the deck. I had to sit down. He'd stopped her in her tracks. Finally, Ryan broke the silence.
Ryan: Your space boyo? And was he what you'd hoped?
Jade: Yes, he was.
Her voice dripped with wounded dignity and quivered with suppressed laughter. She knew he was fooling with her.
Ryan: Good. And did he know who you were talking about?
Jade: Right away. He wants to meet with us....
Ryan: So, when do you leave?
I heard the distinctive sound of a cheek being kissed.
Jade: As soon as possible.
Ryan: Well, leave young Rain-man. You'll accomplish more in less time. We'll be fine here, long as Punch and Judy are gone. And I'll give the wee man his first taste of the dark lady.
Deb: Like fuck you will!
I steamed out to the deck and was met with a vision--Ryan wearing nothing but the ratty old shorts he used in the hot tub, hair slicked back, water beaded on smooth skin, a powerfully muscled piece of work slopping all over my redwood.
Ryan: though ye'd be listening.
Deb: Bite me.
Ryan: The one time I did ye squalled like a baby.
Deb: Shut up, you.
I glanced at Jade. She knew about my single... aberration... but it still made me uncomfortable to have it mentioned in her presence. But Jade was grinning and digging Ryan in the ribs.
Deb: We thought we'd have to twist your arm to get you to agree to mind the kids.
Ryan: Is me name William? No, lass... I like the wee ones, ye know that. And it'll do ye a world of good to take a break. Ye should leave now. Less chance of our friend getting word.
Jade: Cole?
Ryan: Aye. And may the cat that eats his arse be eaten by the devil. Go on, now. And let me know ye've arrived, so I know you're safe.
Ryan embraced Jade wetly and I turned away. Just when I was convinced that he had become a hopeless goof, stereotypically feckless Irishman, he did this and reminded me why several nations hoped devoutly that he was part of the choir invisible. He thought on his feet effortlessly, and he had a way of knowing what we needed before we did, and providing it. It only made him look lazy. I left them to their farewells and got on the phone.
Deb: I'd like to leave on the next possible flight to Salt Lake.
Vanguard: Booked up.
Fuck you.
Deb: I'd like to book two seats on the next possible flight to Salt Lake City.
America West: Booked up through Saturday.
Fuck you.
Deb: When's your next available flight to Salt Lake?
United: We connect through O'Hare.
Fuck you.
Deb: Could I get to Salt Lake anytime soon?
Northwest: We have a flight leaving tomorrow morning.
Fuck you. Northworst is right.
Deb: Salt Lake is one of your hubs. Could I book two seats on anything leaving today that will land there?
Delta: Can you be here in two hours?
Hallelujah!