The Rangers Are Coming

by Phil Walker

  The family was happy, commented to each other about the splendid meal and entertainment, but were definitely ready for bed. They all went to their rooms, put on the pajamas that were provided. Their beds had been turned down, the temperature of the rooms turned down to 68 degrees. Gratefully, the Gladstone’s climbed into their very comfortable beds, turned out the lights, and were sound asleep in minutes. It was just barely 8 PM.

  In the big restaurant downstairs, the guides met. Their supervisor asked if there were any problems. There were none that hadn’t been handled. “It looks like the first, very critical 24 hours went exactly according to plan. No matter how exalted this big collection of great leaders are, they were overwhelmed by the circumstances we put them in. They didn’t have time to think about anything except what we put in front of them. I think they’re now all relaxed and comfortable. They certainly seemed to warm to each other despite the politics of Europe. Let’s keep it that way. Most of them will sleep at least ten hours and wake up ready to be super visitors. We have a rather easy day for them tomorrow. We’ve put in just enough exercise to wear them out. Make sure they drink lots of water.”

  “We’ll have an informal meal in the restaurant tomorrow evening. It will be cafeteria style, so that everyone can try a large variety of foods, most of which they’ve never seen. After that will be the big presentation of our America the Beautiful video, and we’ll ask the visitors to begin choosing the places they want to see. If they can narrow it down to a half dozen, it will make it easier to plan the logistics when they have to pick their four top attractions.”

  “Today is Wednesday, tomorrow we do Washington. On Friday we fly them down to the Cape to tour the facilities and see the infrastructure for the space program. On Saturday morning, we have the launch of the ‘Enterprise’ for the moon. That should get their attention in a big way.”

  “We fly back to Washington Saturday night, for the big soccer match, and then on Sunday we show them how we spend our Sabbaths.”

  “All of you have done a great job, and I thank you for your hard work. Now get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll see you for breakfast.”

  43

  Washington, D.C.

  William Gladstone awoke and stretched luxuriously. He couldn’t remember having a better night’s sleep. As he pulled back the covers it seemed a little cold in the room for him. He walked over to the pad on the wall and pushed the button to show 72.

  Then he walked into the living room and opened the curtains. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and Washington shined in the early light. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was 6:30 AM. He opened the sliding door and walked out onto the balcony. It was not very warm yet, and he sat in a chair and admired the view.

  In a few minutes, Charlene joined him. “Good morning, dear,” said Gladstone, “How did you sleep?”

  “I don’t think I moved all night. The bed was so comfortable, and I slept very well indeed.”

  “So did I,” said Gladstone. “That’s quite a view.”

  “Spectacular, I’m looking forward to seeing the city today.”

  “As am I.”

  A small bell rang on the television monitor. Gladstone picked up the controller turned the monitor on. The screen lit up. It showed an image of Cary. He smiled, “Good morning! I didn’t know if you were awake yet, but I hope you slept well. When you are ready, come down to the lobby and follow the signs to the restaurant. It will be about the same weather today as yesterday, so wear light clothing. The men will be comfortable in the light brown pants, and short sleeved polo shirt. Mrs. Gladstone, I suggest a light skirt and a short-sleeved blouse. All of you should wear the comfortable walking shoes, because we are going to do a lot of walking. Don’t forget your shoulder bags, you might find something you want, and don’t forget your badges. I’ll meet you in the restaurant.”

  The image flicked off. “I certainly don’t know how they do that, but it’s a great tool,” said Gladstone. “Why don’t you wake the boys? I’m going to shower and shave.”

  In less than an hour, the family was ready to head for the restaurant. Henry and Herbert had opted for t-shirts and were wearing shorts. Gladstone just shook his head, and said nothing.

  They went to the elevator and pushed the button that said, “lobby”. There were signs pointing them to the restaurant. As they came in, they found a very large room, and Cary, waiting at the door. “Good morning, Cary,” said Charlene, Henry and Herbert shook hands with him. Not to be rude, Gladstone also shook hands with Cary.

  Cary pointed at the long cafeteria line. “We have a lot of choices for breakfast. Just take whatever you want. There’s a cook right after you pick up your tray and utensils who can make you eggs or an omelet. He’s a great cook. After that is everything you can imagine eating. I recommend the hot cakes with butter and pure Maple syrup. It’s delicious.”

  The family went to the first stop and got a large plastic tray with compartments, and picked utensils out of a container. Gladstone asked for a cheese and ham omelet, Charlene passed on the eggs, but Henry and Herbert had scrambled eggs, and eggs over easy respectfully. As they pushed their trays along the rail, they realized Cary had not exaggerated. The breakfast bar was loaded. Gladstone took both bacon and sausage patties, and Cary’s recommendation of hot cakes with a big pat of butter and a generous helping of Maple syrup.

  They looked around and found an empty table for four. As they sat down a waiter came up and asked, “Tea or Coffee?” He said, “You already have water, but we also have a good selection of juices. Have you ever had orange juice?” None of them had so the waiter brought a carafe and four glasses.

  The Gladstone’s thoroughly enjoyed their breakfast. Gladstone thought his omelet was the best he’d ever eaten. He really liked the hot cakes and the tasty Maple syrup, and everyone loved the orange juice.

  As they were finishing, Cary came up to the table with a bag. He handed each of them a large bottle of water and said there would be more on the bus, which was ice cold. He then pulled out baseball caps. These are for you to wear to keep the sun off their heads. He also handed them each a pair of sunglasses. This is to keep the bright sun from blinding you. Gladstone took off his own glasses and put on the sunglasses. As he half expected, the sunglasses matched the prescription for his vision, made it a little better, actually. “You chaps seem to know a great deal about us.”

  “We can’t have you not being able to see the sights when you’re wearing your sunglasses,” said Cary, with a merry grin. “How was breakfast?” The whole family chimed in with compliments for that. “Isn’t that Maple syrup the best,” said Cary?

  “Yes,” said Charlene, but the highlight was the orange juice.”

  “Are you ready to go to the bus,” asked Cary.

  “Lead the way,” said Gladstone.

  Along the way, the family stopped off at the restrooms, and picked up their bags.

  When they got out outside, Gladstone saw a sea of baseball caps, nearly everyone had taken their guides advise and worn comfortable clothes. Gladstone saw many pairs of shorts in the crowd, and not all of them were on children. The Minister of France was wearing his and seemed pleased with his choice.

  The tour of Washington took only six hours. It could have been much longer, but Arcadia knew the endurance of her visitors. They did see the Capitol and the Houses of Congress. They went to the top of the Washington monument, visited the Jefferson memorial, and the big square memorial that would have been dedicated to Lincoln, but instead had a tall statue on a pedestal of a beautiful woman in a sleek gown with a silver belt around her slim waist. Her long blond hair was intricately carved. The inscription just said “Arcadia”. There was a carved panel that had one of her greatest speeches cut into the stone. There was another inscription on the other side that simply said. “To the inspiration that made us a nation, we dedicate this memorial to the “Mother of America.”

  Gladstone read the panel. “These are great words,” he said. “I wish
I could have known her.”

  The last stop was a big store near the big train, and metro station. It said, “Emporium” on the front. As they were going in, Cary said, “You will have several other opportunities to come back here, so don’t feel you have to do the whole store at once. Take what you like, but remember it has to fit into your luggage for the plane, or else you will have to wait a month for it to come by ship. Please meet me here to get back on the bus by 4:45PM. Now go and enjoy.”

  Gladstone and the boys were not big shoppers, but were more interested than they thought they would be. Both the boys picked up wristwatches like Cary had. Gladstone could not resist a wonderful reproduction, in marble, of an “Arcadia” statue.

  For Charlene the experience was mesmerizing. She saw clothing of all colors and designs. A saleswoman helped her pick out a really elegant dress, in the style she had worn the night before, but more beautiful in every way. She saw the price tag and gasped. However, the sales woman just smiled and wrapped the dress up for her. “You folks are most welcome in America, take it with our best wishes.”

  Charlene thanked her profusely, and thanked the Lord for the magic badge around her neck.

  The short ride on the bus back to the resort had everyone on the bus showing each other what they had gotten at the Emporium. Without realizing it, the barriers of country, politics, and social differences were starting to melt away in the great stirring pot of America.

  Dinner was at 7 PM. It was the same cafeteria style as breakfast, but the menu was very different. Henry and Herbert discovered something called “tacos and enchiladas.” They whistled to Cary for an explanation. Cary expertly assembled a big taco for them. He took the corn tortilla, filled it with ground beef, added, onions, lettuce, cheese and a red sauce, and handed it to Henry. “Take that back to the table and try it. If you like it, you can come back for more. Henry and Herbert were back in about five minutes and put together a half dozen tacos each, with more hot sauce.

  In the middle of the big room was a short stage and the same group of musicians as the night before. Once again, President Gallagher came out without any pomp and circumstance and no introduction. Nevertheless, he got a very warm greeting of applause. He smiled and said, “I hope you enjoyed the short visit to our Capital today. You didn’t see it all, just the highlights. I would imagine that most of you ladies enjoyed the Emporium.” Big applause came from the ladies.

  “Tonight we have something special for you. As you’ve already been told by your guides, during your stay with us we want you see some of the natural wonders of America. We’ve prepared a special video for you that will show you many of our biggest treasures. Some of them can be seen on the travel channel in your room monitors. This is a bigger presentation. It is recorded in English, but your guide has a pair of headsets you can wear that play the same narrative in your own language. When the show is over, you will be able to mark your top six on the sheets of paper now being given you by your guides. Everyone should vote, even the smallest children. This will help us to plan your visits to these places. In the end you will have to narrow your list to four. This is not to be stingy or cheap on our part. Remember, you are in the biggest country in the world and some of these attractions are separated by thousands of miles. So, it’s simply a matter of practicality for the time you have. Now, let’s get on with the show. “

  The hour-long travel video the Europeans saw had taken over two years to produce. The music was specially written for the work and the narration was done by both a man and a woman, both of whom did a magnificent job.

  Arcadia was deeply moved every time she saw it. She’d seen the video several times.

  With stirring music and very informative narration, the Europeans saw the best that North America had to offer. Many of the national parks were featured, along with some strategic locations that were beautiful, but safely reachable. When the video was over, there was a loud ovation.

  The music began to play while each family and sometimes several families, regardless of nationality, discussed their favorites. The kids liked the idea they had a vote too. With a lot of discussion, the families began to mark their favorites. Cary and the rest of the guides explained that groups would be assembled by the attraction, not the family. They made it clear that breaking up families to see different places, was not a problem and each person would be perfectly safe. That made it easier, Henry and Herbert agreed on two places, but not six. William and Charlene didn’t really agree about anything.

  President Gallagher came back to the stage and whistled for attention. The 300 people finally quieted down. “Well, that was fun wasn’t it?” Everyone laughed. “Let’s get a kind of an idea which places are the most popular. Raise your hand a cry out when I mention some of your favorites.”

  When the straw poll was over, the clear winners were Yellowstone and the Tetons, Grand Canyon, Banff and Jasper national parks in Alberta, Niagara Falls and oddly for Gallagher, Mesa Verde national park and the home of the ancient Anasazi Indians and their cliff dwellings. At least 25 men and older boys wanted to shoot a buffalo. There were several other places that got votes. The teams watching the surveillance cameras started finalizing some basic planning. They had anticipated most of the favorites and had done some work on preparing for visitors.

  Gallagher called for attention again. “We need you to pick your top four by the first of next week, then give us another week to make camps for you and all of you will be on your way.”

  “Let me tell you about our schedule for the next several days. Tomorrow, we are going to board another plane and fly south to Florida and a place called Cape Canaveral. It’s at this place that our most ambitious project to date is about to happen, and you get to witness it. One of the biggest debates we have had is when to tell you what you’re going to see. The majority thinks we should tell you now, what this is all about, so I am going to tell you and let you anticipate this as much as the rest of us are.

  “Down in Florida, we’ve been working on a big project to build rockets. All of you have seen rockets you fire off by lighting a fuse and watching the rocket fly up and make a pretty flash. We are going to do that, however on a much larger scale. On Saturday morning we will launch a rocket with 8 men aboard. Their destination is the moon. Two of our men are going to take a smaller rocket down to the surface and walk on the moon.”

  There was a stunned silence in the room, than an outcry of emotions as people began talking to each other. Gallagher shouted, “This is a tremendously dangerous project for us, but we would rather have you see us try and fail, then to keep the secret from you. I promised no more secrets to each of you, and this one is our biggest. The buses leave for the airport at 9 AM. See you in the morning.”

  He left the stage and the room and the orchestra started to play. The music soothed the crowd, but not the lively conversation. Most of the people had seen enough wonders so far to believe the United States might be ready to attempt such a death-defying stunt, but it was so far away from anything they had expected, they were at a loss to express themselves clearly.

  After a while, the music began to encourage some couples out onto the dance floor to dance. Some of the male guides were dancing with the female guides, a bouncy step, and many of the younger kids wanted to try it. The waltzes were the most popular with the older people. Everyone enjoyed themselves, despite the huge announcement.

  The Gladstone’s talked about the day, their choices of places to visit and the news about the voyage to the moon for a couple of hours, before retiring for the night.

  44

  Cape Canaveral, Florida

  The buses took the 320 visitors to the airport at 9 AM and they were in the air in half an hour. There was another airplane filled with Americans, including all the guides, flying in formation with the Europeans. It was a three-hour flight. They landed on a big runway near the shuttle pad, and all of buildings that were part of the complex.

  They spend the rest of the day on tours through the
assembly building where they saw mock up reproductions of the big rocket, and the shuttle that would be attached to it. They were able to actually enter the shuttle, see the control cockpit and the shuttle bay.

  Outside the shuttle was a duplicate of the command capsule with the lunar lander attached to it. Some of the men wanted to sit in the command console and take the ladder down to the lunar lander. They loved the experience.

  The techs showed how the command capsule and lunar lander was installed in the shuttle bay and how the control arm of the shuttle would take the command capsule and lunar lander out of the shuttle and then retrieve it. The shuttle would then fly back to the earth and land on the same runway the airplanes had landed on. Arcadia’s team had gotten the idea to build a shuttle because the rocketry was more advanced and they could fly the shuttle to the moon with more safety and comfort than the way the original lunar missions had flown. With the shuttle in orbit around the moon, they could launch the command console and the lunar lander and let them maneuver for a landing. One of the biggest moments for the Europeans was when they got to meet the astronauts going on the mission, and the two men who would actually take the lander to the surface. Even great leaders can be impressed with an authentic hero.

  The project had been underway for 20 years. There had been several test flights of the shuttle and they had actually flown the entire mission to the moon and back, twice, successfully. However, they were not going to tell the leaders of Europe that. As far as they were concerned this was the maiden voyage of the “Voyager”. As Arcadia said, “We may be reckless, but we’re not stupid.”

  In any case, the whole complex and all the intricate machinery was enormously impressive to the Europeans. When the buses, duplicates of the ones in Washington, took them around to the big control room, the mission control center, with its rows of monitors, and dozens of technicians wearing white coats and wearing headsets at each of the stations, they were speechless.