Serving in Time by Gordon Eklund

Author:Gordon Eklund [Eklund, Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0373720068
Publisher: Laser Books (Harlequin Enterprises)
Published: 1975-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It came as no surprise to Jan when, shortly after their arrival in 1963, Kirk crept over to him and said, in a confidential tone, “I hope you didn’t pay attention to anything Gail might have said. She gets a bit carried away sometimes but as far as I’m concerned you’re the boss here and that’s fair with me.”

“You don’t think it ought to be you.”

“I only want to do my duty to the corps. I’m not chasing after power and glory.”

“But what about all those lies? The ones I told Horatio about you?”

Kirk shook his head in stunned disbelief. “Did Gail tell you that? I really don’t know where she gets some of these crazy ideas. Not from me. I can guarantee that.”

“Sure, Kirk,” said Jan, barely resisting an impulse to spit in his face.

“Then we’re still friends. Right?” Kirk extended his hand in testimony.

“The same as we always were,” said Jan, who managed successfully to pretend he had not noticed the hand.

They had come to a city called Dallas in a state named Texas on the evening of November 21, 1963. Although Jan remained nominally in charge of the party, it was Elinor Bateman who took the lead immediately following their arrival in a conveniently vacant lot. “I’ve been here before,” she told Jan. “I think I can find us a suitable place to stay.”

Their old and worn clothing, presumably chosen by Horatio for the usual reasons of anonymity, did not permit a whole lot of leeway in the choice of domicile.

Elinor guided them into a dirty and tired corner of the city, where they first stopped and purchased a suitcase each in a bright pawnshop. Then, around the next corner, they rented adjoining rooms in a dilapidated but clean hotel.

After depositing their empty baggage, they met again in the corridor. Elinor suggested stepping out for a quick meal. Jan and Kirk were agreeable, so she led them to a large drugstore nearby and found them seats at a crowded counter. They ordered hot beef sandwiches, which proved upon delivery to taste even worse than Jan had expected.

After a few tentative bits, Jan shoved the sandwiches aside, drank the glass of milk that had come with it, then asked Elinor why, if this place was a drugstore, it seemed to have everything in the world for sale except drugs.

“Oh, they have them, too,” she explained. “An enormous quantity, in fact. You just have to know where to look.” Lowering her voice to avoid attracting the unwanted notice of their fellow diners or the various bustling waitresses, she went on: “The economy of this time was predicated upon the assumption that overproduction, for everyone meant instant wealth for all. And overproduction, of course, required over-consumption and since consumption was confused with wealth, the system seemed to be working remarkably well. It was both America’s grandest glory and also a significant aspect in her subsequent decline. Still, I ask you, where else in history can one find a hundred

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