by Tom Wilson
"I do need the Russian's cooperation."
"I will send her to replace the other agent."
"You would not have believed Gregarian today. He tried to speak Russian to General Dung, but the General walked out of the meeting."
"General Dung should be more diplomatic." Unlike most of the Lao Dong party elite, Dung was low born. Like many others, Li Binh disapproved of his crude mannerisms.
"Ho Chi Minh favors Van Tien Dung, for he is both a good general and a link with the peasants. Today he showed the Russians he is not enamored with everything they do."
"What did the Russian do when he walked out?" she asked.
"He just sputtered. Colonel Dimetriev was there and I thought he would faint. Dung showed them that we don't need them, for we can always turn to the Chinese. Of course he did not tell them that Chinese advisers never speak Vietnamese.
"I prefer the Russians," said Li Binh. "They are more useful for what I am trying to accomplish in America. They control the Communist Party in the U.S.A."
"Gregarian wishes to establish a centralized control for the defenses, and I agree. I've decided to set it up somewhere near the Chinese border, where the Americans are restricted from flying their fighters."
"Will you travel up there?"
"We leave Tuesday morning to select an appropriate location."
She thought before speaking. "Will you take my nephew?"
He sighed. "Yes, Li Binh, and I will keep him from harm."
"I know he displeased you, but he is my blood."
He started to tell her that her nephew was an inept fool, but held his tongue.
Her voice fell to a low whisper. "If anything should happen to him, husband, I would be upset beyond your wildest belief."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Saturday, December 3rd—1330 Local, Clark Air Base, Philippines
Benny Lewis
Benny eased the door open and peered in. The Bear was reading an old copy of Stars & Stripes.
"I showered and shaved so you wouldn't nag," Benny announced.
The Bear examined him. "You gotta do something about the eyes."
"You should try looking through them."
The Bear tossed the newspaper aside. "What the fuck's the problem, Benny?" A subtle soul he'd never be accused of having.
"It'll pass."
"Death in the family? Sick kid? Car and furniture repossessed? Wife fucking around?"
Benny winced. "Drop it, Bear."
"Wife?"
Benny felt a flash of irritation, then said, "Yeah."
"Hell, I thought it was something serious," said the Bear.
"How would you feel? You married?"
"Nope, but I've been there. Maybe you oughta feel a little shitty. Maybe. But you sure as hell shouldn't give her the satisfaction of living shitty."
It felt perversely good to share his misery.
"Kids okay?" the Bear asked.
"They're with her parents. Her folks think I'm some kind of military swine, but they dote on the kids."
"You've only one option, Benny."
"What's that?"
"You've gotta see how good life can be. That's sweet revenge."
"I feel like a failure, know what I mean?"
"I've been there."
Benny felt relieved, talking about it with the Bear. They hadn't been close at Takhli. But they were from the same squadron and it felt good to have a familiar face to talk to.
The Bear was grinning maliciously. "Let's get outta here and do something sinful. Maybe have a few drinks at the club? You didn't stop imbibing juniper juice when you gave up on women, did you?"
Half an hour later they had changed into short-sleeved knit shirts and chinos, and he was watching the Bear do his act at the hospital registration desk.
"What do you mean, we need a pass from a doctor. I've got nothing wrong with me, my friend's got nothing wrong with him, and we've got to get a damn pass before we can get out of this place? You ever heard of unlawful detention, lady?"
The middle-aged Filipina was unconvinced, her face stiff as she continued about her business of filing multiple-colored hospital forms. "Is too late today. You mus' get a Saturday pass sign by a doctor on Friday."
"My doctor's the little guy with the sissy mustache and bald spot. You got his phone number?"
She pursed her lips unhappily, refusing to discuss the matter.
The Bear muttered "Bullshit" and joined Benny, frowning.
Benny peered at the imperious Filipina. "I think she means business."
"I'm not done." The Bear stalked to a nearby bulletin board and moved his forefinger down the list of names on a hospital duty roster. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then brightened. "Be back in a couple minutes," he muttered, charging away down the well-scrubbed hallway.
Benny wandered to a nearby waiting area, then sat and read a five-year-old Life magazine under the occasional glare of the officious Filipina. Fifteen minutes later the Bear returned with a chunky nurse wearing major's leaves on her collar. She laughed heartily at something he said, waved him away, then stepped up to the desk where she curtly motioned to the Filipina, who immediately became more attentive.
The Bear sat beside Benny. "Head duty nurse," he said.
"What's she doing?"
The commotion between head nurse and receptionist increased in volume, then subsided. The nurse approached and handed each of them a blue card. "They're temporary, just good until midnight. Can't get real weekend passes until I get a doctor's signature."
The Bear said, "I owe you, Marty."
Benny noted that the underarms of her uniform were wet with perspiration even though the hospital was air-conditioned and cool. She regarded the Bear with sharp eyes. "Yes, you do owe me." She turned to Benny. "Remind this lummox to meet me at the club at seven sharp."
Benny pocketed his pass.
She gave the Bear a secretive smile and spoke in a lower tone. "Dinner before TLC. We'll eat, then talk over old times."
The Bear winked. "See you at seven o'clock." He grabbed Benny by the arm. "Let's go get 'em."
"You two promise to take it easy," the nurse called as they walked toward the door.
"You will never be sorry for your gesture of humanity."
"Good seeing you again, Mal," she called.
As they walked outside, Benny asked, "You know her?"
"She was stationed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, when I was at Shreveport. I used to drive over on weekends to date her roommate. Small world, huh?"
They took a decrepit black and yellow base taxicab to the O' Club, which was built at one side of a huge, lush lawn area outlined by tall trees. Benny had once been told that before the Second World War, U.S. Army cavalry officers had played polo there. The building at the far end of the field had been an indoor horse arena where officers of means exercised Arabians they'd shipped in from the States. It now housed Thirteenth Air Force Headquarters, which provided logistics support for the flying units in South Vietnam and Thailand.
The O' Club's exterior looked weathered and drab, but inside it was gracious, with walls of mahogany, exotic rosewoods, and massive, tasteless paintings. Benny led the way into the large main barroom. They were the first customers of the afternoon. The Filipino bartender recommended strawberry daiquiris.
"Good stuff," the Bear said as they leaned back in princess chairs near the window, sipping the frozen drinks and watching officers' wives cavort around the pool in bright swimsuits.
Benny thought again about Bets. "Bear, life's kinda shitty."
"A couple of days ago when we were running around the fuckin' jungle trying to get away from the gomers, I might've agreed with you. Now it's only shitty if we let it be."
Benny stared out the window at a cute redhead with a shower of freckles and a well-rounded derriere.
"Nice," muttered the Bear, also staring. "Her pussy probably tastes like Dial soap, but I've been known to relax my esthetic standards."
&
nbsp; Benny mused. "Know something?"
"What?"
"I didn't tell my wife I got shot down."
The Bear lit a cigarette. "Forget the bitch."
"We've shared most things. Seems strange not telling her."
The Bear regarded him thoughtfully. "She a good fuck?"
Benny felt a flash of anger, then laughed uneasily. "You're crazy, Bear. I ought to kick your ass, saying things like that."
"Trying to protect her good name?"
Benny felt anguish. The Bear was baiting him intentionally, trying to get him to loosen up. It wasn't working. "Come off it. She's the mother of my kids."
"Just tell me. Is she any good in the hay?"
"Not great, but she's okay. She just has trouble trying to be natural, know what I mean?" It surprised Benny that he could share such thoughts.
The Bear slowly nodded his head, wearing his I-thought-so look. "A lousy lay, right?"
"Not wonderful."
"It's the lousy lays who end up screwin' around, trying to prove it's not their fault they fuck like zombies. They think it's our fault they can't come, and that it'll be better with somebody else. Other guys are Prince fucking Charmings, ready to wait on them and be considerate and think their piss should be bottled by Chanel."
Benny grunted, wondering how the Bear had figured out his wife wasn't responsive in bed.
"I had a wife once," said the Bear. "Pretty girl. Not a scientist, but she was good-looking. When she was eighteen she was third runner up in the Miss Kansas beauty contest. She had tits so nice they'd curl your toes just looking at them, and I'm a breast man."
Benny studied Bear Stewart. He would be regarded as ruggedly handsome by women. Sort of a lanky Burt Lancaster with big ears. "How come you're not still married?"
"I enlisted in the Air Force when I got outta high school. Seventeen years old. Took my mother's signature before they'd let me in. Met this secretary in Denver when I was still going to the tech school. We got married a year later, after I'd been picked for instructor duty there at Lowry. We were awfully young."
"That makes it tough."
"I had a job all lined up when I got out, at Martin Marietta in Denver. They were going to help pay my way to get my double-E degree. I thought I was the smartest Injin around, and she thought she was always gonna be a beauty princess. But," the Bear rubbed two fingers together, "we had lousy sex."
"Too bad."
"After a while we didn't care what the other one thought, so we brought it out in the open. I told her she was a lousy lay, and she told me I was inconsiderate."
"Were you?"
"Sure I was, but I told her I'd try to do better. Anyway, she checked out a book on sex at the library. According to it, the secret to good sex lay in the ability of the male human to arouse the female human by providing appropriate attention to her pleasure points."
Benny caught the bartender's attention and indicated another drink for each of them.
"She read and I'd try to memorize everything about those pleasure points. Places like behind her knees, back of her neck, inside her thighs, the fuckin' arches of her feet, like that. Then she'd lay back and actually watch the clock when I was doing it, and when the time was up she'd say 'yeah that was good.' I was only inconsiderate if I didn't spend exactly the correct amount of time fooling with her pleasure points before I'd roll her over."
"Jesus."
"Then she told me she had the hots for the librarian who'd recommended the book. Told me she couldn't live without him, that he made her feel like a real woman. I said fuck it, gave her the furniture and car, and reenlisted to get money to pay for the divorce."
Benny paid for fresh drinks.
The Bear sipped his daiquiri and made a contented sound. "Best thing ever happened to me. I was stuck for six more years in the Air Force and wanted to do something else, so I put in for Officer Candidate School.
"You gonna get back with your wife?" the Bear asked.
"No."
They eyeballed a woman in a bright blue swimsuit. The Bear caught his breath. "Abstinence is bullshit. Let's get out of here and find some female companionship."
Benny smiled wanly. "I just got screwed by a female, remember."
"Gotta get right back on when you get thrown. You know, Benny, I got a grandmother who's half Cherokee. She's always boosting the Cherokee side, saying the People's eyes see more, and their ears hear more and such, the People being the Cherokee of course. On my dad's side I got some Choctaw, which doesn't help Grandma Bowes's faith in me. But the Choctaw are big talkers and storytellers and I like them. My favorite of the bunch was my Great-Uncle Miles, who was cantankerous, couldn't read or write because he thought it was a waste, and thought people were generally no good."
"Sounds like a sweet fellow."
"Uncle Miles was shot by a cowboy over on the Canadian River when he was caught shagging the guy's wife. He was proud of it, too. Bragged about the scar on his ass until he died of colic and meanness at a very old age. He generally acted like you've been doing lately, except his disposition was better."
"Thanks."
"Uncle Miles told me something that helps when I'm having trouble making up my mind about things. He said, 'Mal, there's two kinds of people in this world. Those who get ulcers and those who give 'em. You got your choice of which kind you want to be.' That's what he said, Benny. Put another way—my way—there are fuckers and fuckees out there, and you've got to decide which way you want to go."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Just telling you what my Uncle Miles said." The Bear stared out at the officer's club pool. "Looking at married pussy is frustrating."
"Your Uncle Miles say that too?"
"Nope. He thought marriage was just another part of the white man's plot. Said if we let them, the white man would keep on making rules and generating paper until they buried us in the stuff."
Benny laughed.
The Bear smiled to encourage him, then motioned at the officer's wife in the blue swimsuit. "Her tits remind me of Takhli."
"How's that?"
"They're both a little overwhelming." They had finished their second daiquiris and the Bear stood up. "Gotta get some female companionship."
"You know anyone here?" asked Benny.
"There's a major in Manila who works embassy duty. He's single, so he'd know a lot of women. How far's Manila?"
"Too far to get there and back tonight."
"You know anyone here?"
"I've got a buddy over at Thirteenth Air Force Headquarters, but he's married and a straight arrow, so I doubt he could help you."
"I've never been here before. Never went to snake school. They were in too much of a rush to get the Wild Weasels to Takhli." He referred to the jungle survival training most of the aircrews attended en route to combat. The school was located in the mountainous jungles behind Clark Air Base.
"It's a good school."
"When we were shot down, I sure wished I'd gone," said the Bear.
"Looks like you did okay without it."
"Yeah. Now where the hell do we find the women?"
Benny was starting to like the Bear, even if he was sort of crazy. "There's schoolteachers here," he said. "Or you could just wait for your nurse. She's lusting for your body, Bear."
The Bear's brow furrowed. "Marty'd fuck a billy goat. My lady friend at Columbus said you can tell when Marty's horny because she starts sweating. I haven't seen her yet when she wasn't."
The Bear suddenly stood up. "Be right back."
"I'll be here," said Benny, waving for another daiquiri.
After half an hour the Bear returned, looking like a cat about to feast on the family canary. "Let's go."
"Where?" asked Benny, feeling mellow.
"The base exchange."
Benny followed him toward the door.
"I made a phone call and got a date. I've gotta get her some candy or something so I can make a good impression."
They were outside the club, walking past senior officers' homes, quarters built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before World War Two.
"See that building?" asked Benny, pointing to one of the large houses that was built on short stilts and had tropical screens instead of windows. A splash of red paint marked the rear of the dwelling.
"Yeah."
"When the Japanese captured Clark, they brought American officers there for interrogation. A Filipino told me the wooden floors were so permeated with blood they had to be replaced. They think it's still haunted by the officers who died there, and some nights they can hear the screaming of the men being tortured."
"Charming."
"The Filipinos are superstitious and they won't go near it."
"I thought the people here were good Catholics."
"They are, but it's their own brand. The Spanish ran into some problems getting the natives here to accept Christianity when they arrived back in the early 1500's. In fact . . . you remember Magellan from school?"
"Sure. First guy to go around the world. I had a girlfriend used to say, you be good to me and I'll do a Magellan on you."
"He only made it halfway around. Only got this far before he was killed trying to sell the natives on Christianity on one of the islands south of here."
They were walking at a fast pace.
"The people here already had their own religion. They were animists, and believed powerful spirits lived in mountains, rocks, trees, and such. They were also afraid of the dead. The Spanish priests were in a hurry to make good Christians out of them so they let the Filipinos continue with their old beliefs so long as they bought Catholicism too."
"So they're not just Christians."
"They claim they're good Christians, but most of them are mixtures of Christian, animist, and believers in old wives' tales. The mix is different according to the area they're from."
They walked on, turning the corner toward the base exchange.
Benny said, "I thought you didn't know anyone here."
"I called the operator and got a date. Told her I was shot down in Vietnam—a poor wounded veteran—and needed to talk to the horniest operator they had."
Benny's jaw dropped. "You're shitting me."