Clear and a Million by Kent McInnis

Author:Kent McInnis [McInnis, Kent]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roan & Weatherford

CHAPTER THIRTY

“WHAT DID HE ask you?”

I was on the phone with Mr. Jensen, trying my best to sound calm.

I was failing.

“He implied I was a baby killer.”

“Tell me again exactly what Stanton said.”

“Well, sir, he asked me, ‘How do you feel, killing all those innocent women and children?’”

“How did you answer?”

“I didn’t answer. I told him the question was offensive and that our interview was over.”

“Is that all you said. Did you insult him?”

“No! I only told him I had pride in serving. I may have told him something like ‘no one would dare call me that.’”

“What he asked is unacceptable, I agree.”

“Sir, what is society coming to? Are we all going to get this constantly? I didn’t even get a chance to fight in Vietnam. We all get the same insults.”

“Anything else you want to tell me?”

“The interview went well until he popped his question. It came out of the blue. He was interested in my idea. The only thing that made me wonder what was going on was that he came outside and waved to me as I drove off. I wasn’t about to stop.”

“Okay, Rob. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to call him and ask what in the world he was thinking?”

“Why bother?”

“Because he is a genuinely nice man and honest as they come. I don’t know what he was thinking. He’s an Army veteran. He saw combat in Korea. I want to know what he was doing following you outside.”

“I didn’t want a fight in the parking lot.”

“I understand, but you drove away, instead of beating him to a pulp. That’s in your favor.”

“I doubt if I could have. He’s a big man.”

“True, but let’s pause a moment. Let me make a call. I’ll be the heavy on this. You sit tight.”

“Yes, sir.”

We hung up, and I chose to wait in my apartment until he called back. I switched on my cheap BX-purchased black and white 12-inch television to watch anything I could find on my four channels that was cheerful. In previous days on CBS News, Walter Cronkite reported several events that were often depressing. Of interest to me was the inaugural flight of a new fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Where did they come up with these cumbersome names for airplanes? I knew about it from classified briefings I received two years before. Oil rationing was still a worldwide problem, with even the West German Autobahn reducing max speed to 100-kph. The Irish were still bombing the Brits. Patty Hearst, granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by one of those lunatic groups in California. The world had its first close view of Venus, thanks to Mariner 10 photos. The movie Blazing Saddles was all the rage. Just as nutty, an Army private buzzed the White House with a helicopter. Israeli forces were leaving Egypt’s western Suez. It was the news guaranteed to put me in a mental slump.

The worst news of all was the start of impeachment proceedings for my Commander in Chief, Richard Nixon.

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