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feet on a course that would take them to Guadalcanal.
FRD6. KCY. AKN. CLR.
Detachment A, this is Pearl Harbor. Your transmission is acknowledged.
Pearl Harbor Clear.
KCY. FRD6. FU2 AND GOOD AFTERNOON. FRD6. CLR.
FU was not in the list of authorized abbreviations, but it was not difficult for the United States Pacific
Fleet operator in Pearl Harbor to make the translation; every radio operator knew what it meant. He had
just been told to attempt a physiologically impossible act of self-impregnation. Since regulations did not
permit the transmission of personal messages and/or greetings, the Pearl Harbor operator concluded that
wherever FRD6 was, and whoever he was, he had really stuck his neck out by getting drunk on duty.
[Two]
FOSTER LAFAYETTE HOTEL
WASHINGTON, D.C.
1525 HOURS 4 SEPTEMBER 1942
Because Fleming Pickering ate lunch late that afternoon, when there was a knock at Senator Fowler's
door, he thought it was the floor waiter come to remove the remnants of the tray of hors d'oeuvres they
had sent him from the Grill Room.
But it wasn't the floor waiter, it was the concierge. He was helping a mousy-looking little man carry two
large stacks of cardboard boxes. Each box bore the corporate insignia of Brooks Brothers.
He knew what they were.
"Put them in that bedroom, please," he said, pointing.
When he signed the receipt the mousy-looking man handed him, he said, "Please tell Mr. Abraham that
I'm grateful for the quick service. And for sending you down here personally."
"Our pleasure, Captain Pickering," the mousy little man said. "You told Mr. Abraham, `as soon as
possible." And I had a nice lunch on the train." Once they were gone, Pickering looked at the boxes now
neatly stacked on the bed and the chest of drawers, shook his head, exhaled audibly, and went back into
the sitting room.
Yesterday afternoon, after Pick and Jack Stecker's boy left, Dr. Selleres got him to the office of an
orthopedic surgeon.
Selleres' pretext was to make a more comfortable cast for Pickering's arm. But his actual motive was to
have the arm X-rayed-which was done. Then it was placed in a much less substantial cast than the Navy
had given him at San Diego.
Though Pickering had been reluctant to go, he was now pleased that he did. For one thing, Selleres got
on the phone afterward and assured Patricia that her husband's arm was well on the way to recovery...
and not about to fall off or develop gangrene. But more important, he could now put his arm through a
shirtsleeve.
Pickering, who was wearing a light seersucker robe, boxer shorts, and a pair of the Foster Lafayette's
throwaway cotton shower slippers, went back to the leisurely postprandial rest that the man from Brooks
Brothers had interrupted. He poured himself another cup of black coffee-the last the silver pitcher
held-sat down on the couch, put his feet up on the coffee table, and picked up The New York Times.
There came another knock at the door.
That has to be the floor waiter.
"Come in." He heard the door open and sensed movement in the room, but no one appeared to roll the
room service cart away.
"Get me another pot of coffee, would you, please? I won't need any sugar or cream."
"General Pickering, I'm Captain Sessions, Sir, from Management Analysis." Pickering looked over his
shoulder. A tall, well-set-up young man was standing in the open door. His black hair was styled in a
crew cut, and he was wearing a well-fitting, if sweatdampened, green elastique summer uniform. He
carried a heavily stuffed leather briefcase and a newspaper.
"I thought you were the floor waiter," Pickering said.
"Come in, please." Then he blurted what he was thinking: "That's the first time anyone has called me that.
`General.,
"Then I'm honored, General."
"I'm about to order some coffee. Can I get you anything?"
"Would iced tea be possible?"
"How about a cold beer, Captain? That's what I really want."
"A general officer's desire is a captain's command, Sir."
Pickering chuckled.
Nice kid. He's not much older than Pick.
Pickering picked up the telephone. "This is Captain-strike that-General Pickering. Would you send the
floor waiter to clear things away, please? And have him put a half dozen bottles of Feigenspan ale in a
wine cooler with some ice." He stopped. "That all right? Feigenspan?"
"Just fine, Sir."
"Thank you," Pickering said to the telephone and hung it up. "What can I do for you, Captain?"
"Colonel Rickabee's compliments, Sir. He asked me to express his regrets for not coming here himself.
He's playing golf with the Deputy Commandant." Playing golf, Jesus Christ!
"War is hell, isn't it, Captain?"
"General, with respect, Colonel Rickabee regularly meets with the Commandant; or if the Commandant is
not available, with the Deputy Commandant. The back nine holes at the Army & Navy Country Club is a
fine place to hold a confidential conversation."
"My mouth ran away with me," Pickering said. "Sorry."
"I can understand why it sounded a bit odd, General."
"We're back to, `what can I do for you, Captain?"
"There's a good deal of paperwork to be signed, General-"
"I'll bet," Pickering interrupted.
Sessions smiled, and then went on, "-but first things first.
Has the General seen The Washington Star?" Pickering shook his head and reached for the newspaper
Sessions extended to him.
"It's on the lower right-hand corner of the second section, General." Pickering found what Sessions
thought he should see:
SHIPPING MAGNATE ENTERS MARINE CORPS
Washington Sept 3 - The White House this afternoon announced that it had been advised by the Senate
of its consent to the appointment of Fleming Pickering as Brigadier General, USMC Reserve.
Presidential Press Secretary Stephen Early said that Pickering, an old and close friend of the President,
will head the Marine Corps Office of Management Analysis, which has responsibility for increasing
efficiency of Marine Corps' supply acquisition and distribution.
Pickering, who before the war was Chairman of the Board of Pacific & Far East Shipping Corporation,
has been serving as a temporary Captain, U.S. Navy Reserve, and only recently returned from the
Pacific, where he was a Special Representative of Navy Secretary Frank Knox on logistics matters.
"Both the President and Secretary Knox felt that Pickering would be more effective as a Marine officer,"
Press Secretary Early reported. "He brings to his new duties not only his extensive shipping experience, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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