Sheldon, Sidney - Windmills of the Gods by Sheldon Sidney

Author:Sheldon, Sidney
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2006-04-23T03:20:27+00:00

Chapter Eight

THE day Beth and Tim were to start school, Mary got a call at five a.m.

from the embassy that a NIACT-A night action cable-had come in and

required an immediate answer. It was the start of a long and busy day,

and by the time Mary returned to the residence, it was after seven p.m.

The children were waiting for her.

"Well," Mary asked, "how was school?"

"I like it," Beth replied. "Did you know there are kids there from

twenty-two different countries? This neat Italian boy kept staring at

me all through class. It's a great school."

"They've got a keen science laboratory," Tim added.

"Tomorrow we're

going to take some Remanian frogs apart."

"well, I'm glad you had no problems."

Beth said, "No, Mom. Mike Slade took care of us."

"What does Mike Slade have to do with your going to school?"

"Didn't he tell you? He took us there and introduced us to our

teachers. He knows them all."

"He knows a lot of kids there too," Tim said. "And he introduced us to

them. Everybody likes him. He's a neat guy."

A little too neat, Mary thought.

THE following morning when Mike walked into Mary's office, she said, "I

understand that you took Beth and Tim to school."

He nodded. "It's tough for youngsters, trying to adjust in a foreign

country. They're good kids. And speaking of kids, we have a sick one

here you'd better take a look at "

He led her to a small office down the corrido;. On the couch was a

white-faced young marine, groaning in pain.

"What happened?" Mary asked.

"My guess is appendicitis."

"Then we'd better get him to a hospital right away."

"Not here. He has to be flown either to Rome, Zurich, or Frankfurt. No

one from an American embassy ever goes to a hospital in an iron curtain

country.

"But why?"

"Because we're vulnerable. We could be put under either or given

scopolamine. They could extract all kinds of information from us. It's

a State Department rule. We fly him out."

"Why don't we have our own doctor?" Mary snapped.

"Because we're a C-category embassy. We haven't the

budget for our own

doctor. An American doctor pays us a visit here once every three

months. In the meantime, we have a pharmacist for minor aches and

pains." He picked up a form from the desk. "Just sign this, and he's on

his way."

"Very well." Mary signed the paper. She walked over to the young marine

and took his hand in hers. "You're going to be fine , she said softly.

"Just fine."

Two hours later the marine was on a plane to Frankfurt.

MARY SPENT EVERY possible MOMENT she could with the children. They did

a lot of sight-seeing. There were dozens of museums and old churches to

visit, but for the children the highlight was the trip to Dracula's

castle in Brasoy, located in the heart of Transylvania, a hundred miles

from Bucharest.

"The,countThe count was really a prince," Florian explained on the drive

up. nnce Vlad Tepes. He was the great hero who stopped the Turkish

invasion."

"I thought he just sucked blood and killed people," Tim said.

Florian nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, after the war Vlad's power went

to his head. He became a dictator, and he impaled his enemies on

stakes.

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