Chapter 46 Chapter Forty-Six

Violet lightning streaked across the black sky, crossing and flashing long and short behind the Washington Monument.July on the Potomac was drawing to a close, as usual, in suffocating heat and thunderstorms. "I can't walk home," Victor Henry said.A gust of cold air rushed through the open window into the stuffy, damp office, throwing thick raindrops onto the wall charts.Intensive showers began to fall in the street. "Maybe it will drive the heat away," Julius said.Julius was the chief clerk and had worked with him since the Ordnance Bureau.He was a stout, stoic man of fifty with a brilliant mind for statistics.

"Not so lucky, the steam will only get thicker." Pug looked at his watch and said, "Hey, it's past six o'clock. Call me home, okay? Tell the cook to serve dinner at seven." "Yes, sir." Pug fastened his tie, put on a linen coat, and gathered the papers on his desk. "I'll have to go over the numbers again. It's kind of unbelievable, Julius." Julius shrugged his shoulders, waved his hands and said, "This is the same number as the previous batch of numbers you asked me to do." "God, if we use so many landing tools from these two oceans, how can we make anything else in the next three years?"

Julius gave him a slightly superior smile, a subordinate who knew more about a specific issue than his superior. "We produce sixty million tons of steel a year, sir. But also making so many hair dryers, refrigerators, and forty different models of automobiles, it's a problem." Pug spoke in the rain to a car parked outside the Admiralty building Take a taxi and go.A tall man got out of the car and pulled his bonnet down over his forehead. "It's—hi, it's you." "Hello!" Pug took out his wallet and took out a bill to the taxi driver. "Wait a moment, Kirby, when did you come to Washington?"

"I've been here for a month." "Come home with me for a drink. Eat with me, even better." "Thank you, but I can't go." "Just me," Victor Henry said.Kirby hesitated, "Where's your wife?" "Wandering my money in New York. She's off to put our daughter-in-law and grandson on a plane to Hawaii. Right now she's buying furniture and odds and ends. We bought a house." "Really? Did she buy the one on Fox Hall Road?" "That's it. How do you know?" "This—I met Rhoda when she was looking for a house. You were at sea, I think. I dined with her, and she took me to see the place, and I'm all for it."

"Do you have much to do?" insisted Pug. "I'm waiting for you." "Actually," Kirby said suddenly, "I'm just going to get some papers. I'll go in quickly, in a minute. I'd love to have a drink with you." After a while, they sat together in a taxi, slowly passing through the crowded Constitution Road during commuting hours in the heavy rain. "What are you doing in this stuffy city?" said Pug. "Oh, just busy." "I know you're busy!" Pug grinned, emphasizing the word "yes," which meant uranium.Kirby looked at the taxi driver's round bald head and red ears.

"Turn on the radio, driver," Pug said. "Let's listen to the news." But the driver got only jazz music and static. "I don't know what you want to hear," Kirby said, "except that the Germans are fifty miles closer to Moscow." "We were all getting nervous by the Japanese." "I can't imagine what the president's order was," Kirby said. "Looks like the newspapers couldn't either. Well, he froze their funds. Will that cut off their oil supply?" "Of course. They can't pay for it." "Will this force them to go to war?"

"Maybe. The President will have to do something about the Vichy government's secret agreement to allow the Japanese to station troops in an airfield in Indochina. In this case, Saigon is the gateway to Malaya and Java--and Australia's readily available. Springboard." Kirby loaded his pipe slowly. "How is Rhoda?" "Other than throwing a tantrum over all the mess and trouble in the new house." The scientist exhaled blue smoke and said, "What do we want Japan to do now?" "Stop the aggression, withdraw from Indochina, withdraw from mainland China, cancel the scandal of Manchukuo, and set Manchuria free."

"In other words," Kirby said, "abandon all hope of becoming a great power, admit military defeat when no one beats them." "We can beat them at sea." "Do we have an army to drive them out of Asia?" "No." "So we have the thick skin to order them to go away?" Pug hung his head and looked at Kirby from a frown.The damp weather gave him a headache, and he was very tired. "Look, Kirby, there's a fanatical warlord in charge. It's Eastern warriors armed with industry. If they jump out and win Southeast Asia, you've got a yellow-faced Germany in the Pacific. It has infinite Human power, and most of the world's rubber and oil. We've got to use strategy when we can. We've got to fight wars when we have to. The President's freeze order is a strategy. Maybe he'll make some secret pact with them. "

"A policy of appeasement," Kirby said. "Yeah, appeasement. We've shipped them oil and we've been appeasing them as long as they don't go south and attack Russia in the back. I see the President groping his way, day by day, week by week. .” "Why didn't he declare war on Germany?" Kirby said. "Why was he so indecisive about convoys? Once Russia fell, there was no last chance to stop Hitler." "I can tell you why Roosevelt didn't declare war on Germany, sir," said the taxi driver in his gruff, good-natured Southern accent without looking back.

"Oh? Really?" Kirby said. "Because if he tried to do it, he'd be impeached, and that's why, sir. He knows very well that Americans don't go to war to save the Jews." He turned his head and smiled happily on his friendly fat face and the blue eyes gleamed. "I'm not prejudiced. I'm not prejudiced against the Jews, and I'm not prejudiced for them. It wouldn't be wrong to send young Americans to die for them. Isn't that unreasonable?" "You'd better drive carefully," said Pug.The driver fell silent. "It's a great place," Kirby said.They were on the back porch and Pug was pouring a martini.The house sits on top of a knoll, with a smooth meadow and a ravine of wild trees below.A fresh breeze, smelling of damp leaves and earth, cools the porch.

"Rhoda likes this place." They drank in silence. "What about the taxi driver?" Kirby said. "He, he's just blunt. It's been said a lot in the Senate, it's all empty talk." Kirby's glass was drained, and Pug poured it for him at once. "Thanks, Pug. I've been feeling something special these days. I'm beginning to suspect that we humans, as we all know, may not be able to complete the Industrial Revolution." "I've had a bad day, too," said Pug; as the scientist lit his pipe. "No," Kirby said, slowly extinguishing a thick match in his hand, "let me explain. It occurred to me that our human customs, our concepts of right and wrong, good and bad, were It was developed before there were machines. Perhaps the Germans and Japanese adapted really well to the new environment. Their success shows this. The downfall and destruction of their opponents also proves it. Maybe we will have A Darwinian social change. Perhaps dictatorships are best suited to urban machine life—bosses with weapons, no mercy or integrity at all, they use terror to maintain order, lying and killing at every turn is an everyday policy. Most machines, though, are less than a hundred years old. Airplanes are less than forty years old. Democracy is still a fragile experiment." Kirby paused to drain his glass. "You call the Japanese the industrial samurai, that's apt. They starved themselves, ransacked the country, came to buy machines, built machines, and then jumped out of nowhere and jumped onto the center stage of history. Nazi or Bushido Thoughts, in a changing world maybe it really makes more sense. Maybe I'm just talking drunk, is there any wine in the jug?" "There's plenty," said Pug, pouring him wine, "and more in it. I feel better now. It's nice on this porch." "It's pretty good," said Bam Kirby. "Why don't you stay for dinner?" asked Pug. "What else?" "I don't want to bother you." "Steak, potatoes, and salad today. Just make two extra steaks. I'll tell the cook." "Well, thanks, Pug. I've been eating alone lately." "I'll be right back," said Victor Henry, picking up the flagon.When he came back the jug was full and the ice was still ringing. "I've put off supper," he said. "Let's have a good rest." "That suits me well," said Kirby, "but judging by my mood and the capacity of your flagon, you might as well lead me into the dining room." "The dining room is not far," said Pug, "and the furniture there is not sharp." Kirby smiled. "You know, the first thing your very lovely wife said to me was that I drank too much. Do you remember the time she bought me to dinner in Berlin and you had to fly back to see the President .At that time, I was in a bad mood and drank a lot of alcohol. She stopped me." "It's gross. How much a man drinks is his own business," said Pug, "not to mention my proud beauty sometimes gets drunk herself." "I said, Pug, what a martini you make." "Kirby, you know, what you said just now was not sold by Lin Bai①, something like the future beckoning." ① Lin Bai (born in 1902), an American pilot, successfully crossed the Atlantic in 1927 by flying alone without stopping.Before and after the outbreak of World War II, he tried his best to advocate that the United States should not participate in the European war. "Still, Lindbergh is a typical rookie, isn't he? Flying alone across the ocean in a single-engine plane! He pointed the way for many things that followed." "He's not a liar, and he's not a murderer." "Only the bosses need to do that, Henry. The rest, including scientific and mechanical geniuses like Lindbergh, and merry-go-rounders like me, just obey. Apparently that's how it is in Germany." "I'll tell you, Kirby," Pug said, swirling his glass with profound meaning, "that you don't want a leader like that. Napoleon was one. He also had a propaganda front, and before he even fired a shot, he Weakened the enemy. Yes, he brought freedom, equality, and fraternity to all Europeans. Well, now he has left the continent of Europe devastated and blood flowed like rivers. It took more than ten years for people to see through He, caught him, and banished him to a rocky island." "You think Hitler did the same?" "I hope so." "There's a difference here. Napoleon didn't have machines. If he had had planes, telephones, tanks, trucks, machine guns—all industrial products—he might have kept Europe under tyranny for a long time, don't you believe? ?” "I dare not say that. I think very little of Napoleon. You know, Napoleon About a million square miles of the best land sold to Jefferson—we The entire Midwest—from Louisiana to the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian border—sold for fifteen million dollars.Fifteen million!That said, properties in states like Iowa and Nebraska are worth a quarter of an acre.And all the iron mines in Minnesota, the gold and silver mines in Colorado, the oil in Oklahoma.I don't see why many people, even a Frenchman, could see Napoleon as a genius.He's a blood-drinking ass.All he has to do is send his little army here and defend the area, that is, two divisions to hold the Louisiana area, instead of wandering around Europe massacring and looting, and at the same time send a few thousand French to this area. There is no doubt that France will become the most powerful country in the world today, and it will not be a raped ugly old woman like it is now. " ① Jefferson (1743-1826), the third president of the United States.The Louisiana Purchase took place in April, 1803. "I didn't really think about it that way before," Kirby said, laughing at his last words. "Maybe it's ridiculous." "How's your uranium?" Victor Henry said. Kirby's smile turned cautious. "Is that why you made me drink a martini?" "If a martini can get you to spill something about uranium, Kirby, put it on an officer in the Operations Planning Division first, and stop drinking martinis." "Did the Operation Planning Division get any reports?" "No. It's still a Verne novel for us." ① Verne (1828-1905), a French writer who specialized in science fiction. "Unfortunately, worse than that." The rain began to fall again, the wind was howling, the thunder was rumbling, and a shower of rain fell over the porch railing.Pug lowered the windward canvas shade and tied it down.Kirby was still talking. "The most optimistic estimate right now, Pug, is that the bomb will work. Maybe two years, maybe fifty years if we put all our efforts into it. It's an unknown. But we haven't put our all into it. We've worked on it theoretically. Power, that's all. There are some amazing minds at work, some of whom were kicked out of Europe by the Germans, for which we can really thank the Germans. The important question is how far ahead the Germans have come so far. Far? We haven't even started. There is neither funding nor plans. There are several stages to making a uranium bomb. Some of us are afraid that the Germans have already broken through the first stage, which is to obtain enough radioactive isotopes to cause a terrible A chain reaction of control." "What kind of weapon are we talking about here?" Pug said. "How explosive is it?" "Again, the answer is unknown. The combined forces may be too great. That is, the bomb would have to split itself before it could actually work. In theory, a single bomb could wipe out New York City, or even An area the size of Rhode Island. You're dealing with a big unknown here. It's said to be capable of a fission process that could blow up the Earth. Serious people don't take it too seriously; frankly, I I don’t know much, and I’m not sure yet.” "It's really nice of you to talk about this bomb," said Victor Henry. "Hey--!" Rhoda Henry's voice rang through the spacious house, and then they heard the heels of shoes rattling on the carpeted floor. "Strange! Is anyone at home? I've been drenched, and I'm like a drowned chicken!" "Hi! I'm here, out there," said Pug. "We've got company." "have a guest?" "Hi, Rhoda," Kirby said, standing up. "Oh, my God!" She stared at the door and froze.Her purple hat had been pulled down, and she was still holding a soggy paper bag; her floral silk dress was wet on her shoulders and bosom; It was also blurred, with patches of lipstick on the pale lips, and damp locks of hair hanging on the forehead and neck. Pug said, "New York is over so quickly, isn't it? I'm asking Fred Kirby for a drink, because we happen to be—" Rhoda turned and left.Her hasty steps echoed through the house, up the stairs. "Dad, what a place! It's a mansion!" Madeline came in through the door, drenched like her mother.She laughed and shook the rain from her hair. "Hello, Meddy! Are you here too?" "Look at me! God, we're out of luck! Can't find a taxi, and—hello, Dr. Kirby." "You're both going to catch a cold," said Pug Henry. "If you give me a martini," Madeline said, looking into the flagon, "I'll survive the virus." As her father poured her a drink, she explained that because Hugh G. Riverland had business at the Department of Defense tomorrow morning, so Rhoda decided to come back to Washington with them.The girl drank the wine quickly and with tact. "Where's your luggage?" said Pug. "Go change into dry clothes." "I left my things at the Villard's Hotel, Pa." "What? Why? There's such a big house here for you." "Yes, I'm here to have a look, and then I'll go back to the hotel and change." "But why do you have to stay in a hotel?" "Oh, that's convenient." She looked at her watch. "My God, it's almost seven o'clock." Pug wrinkled his nose at his daughter, ignoring her thick skin.But she looked pretty, despite the wet hair and the crumpled pink linen dress.Rhoda worried that Madeleine's looks would become plain at twenty-one, and she had been proven wrong. "What's the hurry?" "We're having a big guy in the Army to dinner, Dad, and want to pitch him a new show that's supposed to be on. Hugh's going to visit a military unit every week. We'll get the amateurs in the Army and we'll go round the bases, Propaganda for military expansion. I came up with the idea, and I even came up with the title, which is called 'Happy Time'.The people in the company are very excited. She looked at the two middle-aged men, her eyes sparkling, and then stretched out the glass. "Give me another drink!"If the program is successful, I will have a stake.I really will.Hugh Cleveland is going to form a company and give me a share.He promised me.How about it?Maybe I'll get rich!is that right dad? She giggled triumphantly, and said, "You seem a little unhappy." " "Let me tell you," Pug said, "we may not even have an army by September. Don't you read the papers?" Madeline's face fell. "You mean the Conscription Act?" "Yes. It's 50-50, maybe not yet, and Congress won't vote to restore the bill." "It's crazy. By September, Hitler may have knocked Russia down. How far is he from Moscow now? A hundred miles, maybe?" "I'm not saying these politicians are right, I'm telling you the facts." "Holy shit, this is going to blow 'Happy Hour' into the sky, isn't it? Well, we'll see." She stood, shaking her skirt. "Why, the rain's seeping in, a lot of bad luck. I gotta get a quick look at the house, and then I gotta go." "I'll show you," said Pug. "How are you, Kirby? Let's take a look?" "I think I'd better go," Kirby said. "Rhoda is back, I don't want to disturb you, and I still have a lot—" "You just sit here," Victor Henry said, pushing Balm Kirby towards a wicker armchair. "The house bothers me, too. You have another drink, and I'll be back in a minute." "I'm too drunk," Kirby said, reaching for the flagon. Madeline followed her father from room to room, exclaiming with delight at everything she saw: "My God, look at the fringe in this dining room... oh my, what a frightening fireplace... my God , how big are these closets!" "I say, I'm not a straight man," said Pug at last, "but what are you doing 'Jesus, my God' all the time? Sounds like a scumbag." Rhoda yelled from her dressing room, "Oh, Pug, tell her! I've never heard anyone talk like that. Five minutes of her 'Oh my God' is better than an hour of preaching in church." How awful." Madeline said, "I'm sorry, it's a habit I learned from Hugh." "Oh, Pug—" it was Rhoda's voice again, her voice rising suddenly—"where did you find Bam Kirby? Did he call?" "Caught him. Leave him for supper, won't you?" "Why not? Madeline, you're not really staying at the Willard Hotel, are you? It's so special, dear. Go and get your luggage home." "It's okay, Mom, bye." Pug walked down the stairs with her and said to her, "We bought this big house just so you kids could have a place to go home." She put a hand lightly on his arm and smiled.Such humility disturbed him. "Really, Dad, I know what I'm doing. We're going to be staying late with those writers tonight." "Cleveland guy," said Victor Henry a little sheepishly, "is he any good?" Her confident feminine smile deepened. "Dad, if there's something deceiving, I'll be sneakier, won't I? To be honest, trust me." "Well, you've grown up, I understand that. Just faster." "Everything is fine. This is the best time of my life and one day you will be really proud of me." "I'll get you a taxi," murmured Pug; he was walking towards the telephone in the marble foyer when it rang. "Hello? Yes, I am... yes, General." Madeline noticed that her father's expression suddenly became tense and serious. "Yes, yes, sir. Yes, all right. Good-bye, sir." Pug called Rhoda's room inside. "Are you dressed yet?" "Five more minutes. What's the matter?" "I'll tell you when I get down." He called again for a taxi.As long as Victor Henry showed this look on his face and spoke in this tone, Madeline never asked questions.They went back to the porch, where Kirby was still lounging in the wicker armchair smoking his pipe.Rhoda came down almost at the same time, dressed in a dazzling green dress, her hair was beautifully combed in curls, and her face was dressed as if she was going to dance. "Ah! The art of rapid change," Pug said. "I hope so. I looked like the witch in Snow White when I got here." "Rhoda, I just got a call from Vice Admiral King. He's at the Ministry. Me and Madeleine are driving into town. You treat Fred to dinner first. Maybe I'll be back in time for coffee or something .Anyway, I'll call you when I know what's going on." The taxi horn blared outside.Kirby also wanted to leave, and Victor Henry didn't even want to listen to him.He likes the scientist.He invited him home, firstly for personal company, and secondly because he wanted to tell him something about uranium.Pug Henry would not have wondered what would happen between this man and Rhoda, any more than he would have suspected his wife would eat human flesh.He persuaded Kirby to stay, and he and his daughter left.As soon as the outside door was closed, Rhoda said cheerfully, "Okay! Bamu, how long has it been since you last seen? It's been a century." Kirby sat forward and put his hands on his lap. "Pug doesn't know how embarrassing he's put you. I'm going." Rhoda sat upright, crossed her legs, folded her arms, and straightened her neck, saying, "You're going to waste some good double steaks. Don't you smell the aroma? Dinner will be ready soon." "Rhoda, I really believe you are not at all uncomfortable." "Oh, Bamu, I let things take their course. Really, I'm glad to see you. How did you get to Washington?" "For a defense job. I can tell you nothing about it except that it's not going well." "You mean you live here?" "I have a flat in Waldman Park." "So, how is your factory?" "I have a first-class manager and foreman. I fly back to Denver every fortnight to check it out. I just got back." He laughed sarcastically nonchalantly, and added, "It's annoying to say that work goes on without me. It went well." "How about that house of yours?" "Very well. I didn't sell it, and I don't want to sell it now." "Oh? But now, you're here. How strange." "I wouldn't say something like 'that's weird'." Rhoda lowered his voice and said in a soft and intimate tone, "Is my letter so scary?" "This is the hardest blow I've had since my wife died." Rhoda just blinked and sighed at his rude tone. "I'm sorry." She sat there, her ten fingers crossed on her knees, and then separated again.Then she looked up and said, "I was thinking, what should I say, so I don't look like a flirty woman, but what the hell. I was sitting next to the President at the White House dinner, and he treated me very well. He liked it." Me. He had good things to say about Pug and his future. There are a lot of obstacles for a divorced man in the army, especially when he's about to rise to the rank of general. I'm very happy with that. Clear. I know what it's about. And—yes, so I did it. I couldn't sleep at night afterward, Bamu, I was such a bad bastard. But I didn't change my mind about him , I'm not going to apologize either." "Supper is ready, Mrs. Henry." A grey-haired black woman in a white apron appeared at the door, looking very unhappy. "Oh, dear, all right. What time is it, Barbara?" "It's half-past eight, Mrs. Henry." "Damn luck. I never meant to keep you so late. Of course, Bam, you're staying to eat. It's on the table, okay, Barbara? You go back." After Rhoda Henry and Bam Kirby finished their thick steak, salad and bottle of wine, the tension between them dissipated.She made him laugh when she told her ridiculous troubles about the new house.She laughed too, though, she said, these unfortunate events made her lose her temper at the time. "How about another glass of St. Julian's and some cheese, Bamu?" "Rhoda, if he comes home and sees us open another bottle, he'll frown like that." "Oh shh." She started clearing the dishes. "He and I often open two bottles of wine, sometimes three." She held a stack of plates and paused for a while. "I can't tell you how happy I am. It couldn't have been arranged. A weight was lifted from my mind." Rhoda carried the coffee and the second bottle of wine out on the back porch.The rain has stopped.Looking through the dark shadows of the trees, the sky in July has already darkened, and a few stars are shining faintly. "Ah! How nice is that, isn't it?" she said. "I think it's the porch that's why I want this place. It reminds me of our house in Berlin." "It's like a summer evening in Berlin," Kirby said, "the lingering twilight, the fresh smell of the trees after the rain—" she said, "Do you remember?" "I have a good memory. Kind of too good." "My memory is very random, Bamu. It wants to remember the good and forget the bad." "It's women's memory." Dr. Kirby drank his drink suddenly. "I want to ask you something, Rhoda. It may sound rude. But maybe we won't talk like this again. A little too much, no doubt too much. Your letter was a terrible blow. I have been thinking about it over and over again. You told me that you had never had anyone else before you met me. I Believe you. I still believe it now. But I have a question for you. How did it happen?" He intentionally remained silent for a while, only to hear the crows of Jiujiu, and he said again: "I made you angry." "No." Rhoda's voice was hoarse, but very calm. "Of course I know what answer you're looking for—it's just that you're irresistible, and that you've never met anyone even remotely like you. That's true. Still, I've had plenty of chances." , darling. I don't mean just about getting drunk in officers' clubs. There were times... But to be honest, these men are naval officers like Pug. That's the circle I'm in. None of them Can match him, not even close to him." She was silent for a while. "Don't get me wrong. I don't blame Pug for what happened this time. It was mean. But he was so repulsive! And from the beginning of the war, it got worse. Pug was a fanatic. Man, you know. Not religious fanaticism, or political fanaticism, but doing stuff fanaticism." "It's an American thing," says Bam Kirby. "I'm just as fanatical." "Ah, but in Berlin, whether you know it or not, you're after me. I fell in love with Pug when he was after me." One more thing. Although you, or all, may laugh at me. I am a good woman. At least I think so. Therefore, despite this or that, there has not been a second person. Nor Will be again. Now I'm a quiet old grandmother. That's it." They didn't talk for long.In the darkness, they were two shadowy figures, only faintly visible because of the faint reflection on the leaves of a few invisible street lamps. "Pug never called," Rhoda said quietly. Kirby's shadow rose from the wicker armchair, looking tall. "I'm leaving. I've had a very satisfying dinner. I'm visibly feeling better. Thank you," she said. "See you again when?" "Washington is a small city. Just how I met Pug." "Do you know the way out, dear?" "certainly." "It's not that I'm being rude to you. To be honest, my eyes are blurred right now." Bamu Kirby approached her, bowed his head, and kissed her hand.She put her other hand on his, and shook it softly and reluctantly. "My God," she said, "how European. But it's sweet. Just go straight through the living room, darling, and turn left and there's the door."