The Siege of Tel Aviv by Hesh Kestin

Author:Hesh Kestin [Kestin, Hesh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781945814839
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Published: 2019-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

57

IN THE READY ROOM of USMA Forward Attack Squadron Wildcat, the three pilots watch as Damian Smith announces what has just been agreed in the president’s meeting with the Saudi monarch. “According to White House sources,” Smith reads from a teleprompter, “gasoline prices at the pump are expected to fall slowly but steadily, possibly to pre-Mideast war prices, as existing more expensive oil stocks are depleted. In related news, the six-ship aid flotilla chartered by an American church group to bring humanitarian aid to the population of cut-off Tel Aviv continues to steam toward that beleaguered city.”

The screen goes to an aerial shot of an old freighter leading five smaller ships in a long line moving across the Mediterranean, then to a stand-up of a blond woman costumed by Dolce & Gabbana as a French sailor—espadrilles, white linen culottes cut above the knee, horizontally striped blouse, and, just to bring it all home, a sailor hat topped with a red pompom. Past her at the taffrail, the other vessels bob in and out of view.

“CNN’s Connie Blunt, looking very nautical indeed, is on the lead freighter. Connie, what’s it like on board?”

Blunt takes Smith’s tease as a compliment. “Damian, spirits remain high here on board the CV Star of Bethlehem, a former Greek vessel registered in Liberia. That’s CV for Christian Vessel, though I have discovered a surprising fact: Christians are not the only religion represented aboard this vessel of mercy.”

The camera falls back to reveal a group of four individuals arrayed against the rail.

“Hi there!” She offers her mic to a red-haired twenty-five-year-old, who is obviously thrilled with the chance to be on television. “What’s your name, sailor?”

“Taylor C. Briggs, ma’am.”

“And where are you from, Taylor?”

“Kansas City, ma’am. Just outside.”

“Taylor, you may have heard this before, but you’re not in Kansas anymore, are you? Care to tell us why you’re here?”

“Well, ma’am, in church my pastor called out to volunteers for a Christian mission. I’m a diesel mechanic back home, tractors mostly. This here’s a diesel ship. I got chose.”

“Very good. And you, madam?”

The woman is about fifty and wearing a flowered kerchief against the wind, which she immediately removes. “Mary Beth Shostak—with a K? Lovelock, Nevada. A lot of people never heard of it.”

“I can’t say I have, Mary Beth. Where about is Lovelock, near Las Vegas?”

“Oh, my, no. That would be the other side of the state. We’re just about seventy miles due southwest of Winnemucca.”

“I see. Now tell us, Mary Beth, how it is that you’re here, so far from Lovelock and, uh, Winnemucca.”

“Well, I’ve been an ER nurse for twenty years. I guess that’s why I’m aboard. Kind of a just-in-case thing. Never been out of the US ever. We don’t get too many big ships in Nevada.”

“Well, Mary Beth, let’s hope your services are not required. And you, young man. I can see you’re not a churchgoer.”

In the studio, unseen, Damian Smith cringes.

“You mean because of this little thing on my head? Yeah, there’s a large Jewish contingent, more on the other ships.

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