Part 2 (1/2)

Mark spoke very quietly. ”You'll take care of Helen?”

”Certainly.”

”I won't say be a good father to the children. They love you and they think you're swell and you couldn't be anything but a good father to them. But I will say this, be kind to Helen. She's-” Mark was having trouble with his voice.

Randy tried to help him out. ”She's a wonderful, beautiful gal, and you don't have to worry. Anyway, don't sound so final. You're not dead yet.”

”She's-more,” Mark said. ”She's my right arm. We've been married fourteen years and about half that time I've been up in the air or out of the country and I've never once worried about Helen. And she never had to worry about me. In fourteen years I never slept with another woman. I never even kissed another woman, not really, not even when I had duty in Tokyo or Manila or Hong Kong, and she was half a world away. She was all the woman I ever needed. She was like this: Back when I was a captain and we were moving from rented apartment to rented apartment every year or so, I got a terrific offer from Boeing. She knew what I wanted. I didn't have to tell her. She said, 'I want you to stay in SAC. I think you should. I think you ought to be a general and you're going to be a general.' There's an old saying that anyone can make colonel on his own, but it takes a wife to make a general. I guess there wasn't quite enough time, but had there been time, she would've had her star.”

Randy saw Lieutenant General Heyc.o.c.k walk from the Operations building toward the plane. ”It's time, Mark,” he said. They got out of the car and walked quickly toward the gate, and Mark swung an arm around Randy's shoulders. ”What I mean is, she has tremendous energy and courage. If you let her, she'll give you the same kind of loyalty she gave me. Let her, Randy. She's all woman and that's what she's made for.”

”Stop worrying,” Randy said. He didn't quite understand and he didn't know what else to say.

Heyc.o.c.k's aide fidgeted at the end of the ramp. ”Everybody's in, Colonel,” he said. ”The General was looking for you at lunch.

The General wondered what happened to you. He was most anxious-”

”I'll see the General as soon as we're airborne,” Mark said sharply.

The aide retreated two steps up the ramp, then waited stubbornly.

They shook hands. Mark said, ”Better try to catch a nap this evening.”

”I will. When I get home shall I call Helen and tell her you're on the way?”

”No. Not much use. This aircraft cruises at five-fifty. By the time you get back to Fort Repose, we'll be west of the Mississippi.” He glanced down at his bare knees. ”Looks like I'll have to change into a real uniform on the aircraft. I'd look awfully funny in Omaha.”

”So long, Mark.”

Without raising his head, Mark said, ”Goodbye, Randy,” turned away, and climbed the ramp.

Randy walked away from the transport, got into his car, and drove slowly through the base. At the main gate he surrendered his visitor's pa.s.s. He turned into a lonely lane outside the base, near the village of Pinecastle, and stopped the car in a spot s.h.i.+elded by cabbage palms. When he was sure no one watched, and no car approached from either direction, he leaned his head on the wheel. He swallowed a sob and closed his eyes to forbid the tears.

He heard wind rustle the palms, and the chirp of cardinals in the brush. He became aware that the clock on the dash, blurred, was staring at him. The clock said he had just time to make the bank before closing, if he pushed hard and had luck getting through Orlando traffic. He started the engine, backed out of the lane into the highway, and let the car run. He knew he should not have spared time for tears, and would not, ever again.

Chapter 3.

Edgar Quisenberry, president of the bank, never lost sight of his position and responsibilities as sole representative of the national financial community in Fort Repose. A monolithic structure of Indiana limestone built by his father in 1920, the bank stood like a gray fortress at the corner of Yulee and St. Johns. First National had weathered the collapse of the 1926 land boom, had been unshaken by the market crash of 'twenty-nine and the depression that followed. ”The only person who ever succeeded in closing First National,” Edgar often boasted, ”was Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 'thirty-three, and he had to shut down every other bank in the country to do it. It'll never happen again, because we'll never have another s...o...b.. like him.”

Edgar, at forty-five, had grown to look something like his bank, squat, solid, and forbidding. He was the only man in Fort Repose who always wore a vest, and he never wore sports clothes, even on the golf links. Each year, when he attended the branch Federal Reserve convention in Atlanta, two new suits were tailored, one double-breasted blue, one pin-stripe gray, both designed to minimize, or at least dignify, what he called ”my corporation.”

First National employed two vice presidents, a cas.h.i.+er, an a.s.sistant cas.h.i.+er, and four tellers, but it was a one-man bank. You could put it in at any window, but before you took it out on loan, or cashed an out-of-town check, you had to see Edgar. All Edgar's loans were based on Character, and Character was based on cash balance, worth of unenc.u.mbered real estate, owners.h.i.+p of bonds, and blue-chip stocks. Since Edgar was the only person in town who could, and did, maintain a mental index of all these variables, he considered himself the sole accurate judge of Character. It was said you could gauge a grove owner's crop by the way Edgar greeted him on Yulee Street. If Edgar shook his hand and chatted, then the man had just received a big price for his fruit. If Edgar spoke, cracked his face, and waved, the man was reasonably prosperous. If Edgar nodded but did not speak, nemotodes were in the citrus roots. If Edgar didn't see him, his grove had been destroyed in a freeze.

When Randolph Bragg burst into the bank at four minutes to three, Edgar pretended not to see him. His antipathy for Randy was more deeply rooted than if he had been a bankrupt. Bending over a desk as if examining a trust doc.u.ment, Edgar watched Randy scribble his name on the back of a check, smile at Mrs. Estes, the senior teller, and skid the check through the window. Randy's manner, dress, and att.i.tude all seemed an affront. Randy had no respect for inst.i.tutions, persons, or even money. He would come bouncing in like this, at the last minute, and demand service as casually as if The Bank were a soda fountain. He was a lazy, insolent odd-ball, with dangerous political ideas, who never made any effort to invest or save. Twice in the past few years he had overdrawn his account. People called the Braggs ”old family.” Well, so were the Minorcans old family-older, the descendants of Mediterranean islanders who had settled on the coast centuries ago. The Minorcans were s.h.i.+ftless no-goods and the Braggs no better. Edgar disliked Randy for all these, and another, secret reason.

Edgar saw Mrs. Estes open her cash drawer, hesitate, and speak to Randy. He saw Randy shrug. Mrs. Estes stepped out of the cage and Edgar knew she was going to ask him to okay the check. When she reached his side he purposely ignored her for a moment, to let Randy know that The Bank considered him of little importance. Mrs. Estes said, ”Will you initial this, please, Mr. Quisenberry?”

Edgar held the check in both hands and at a distance, examining it through the bottom lens of his bifocals, as if it smelled of forgery. Five thousand, signed by Mark Bragg. If Randy irritated Edgar, Mark infuriated him. Mark Bragg invariably and openly called him by his school nickname, Fisheye. He was glad that Mark was in the Air Force and rarely in town. ”Ask that young man to come here,” he told Mrs. Estes. Perhaps now he would have the opportunity to repay Judge Bragg for the humiliation of the poker game.

Five years before, Edgar had been invited to sit in the regular Sat.u.r.day night pot-limit game at the St. Johns Country Club in San Marco, county seat and largest town of Timucuan. He had sat opposite Judge Bragg, a spare, straight, older man. Except for a small checking account, the Judge banked and did his business in Orlando and Tallaha.s.see, so Edgar knew him hardly at all.

Edgar prided himself on his cagey poker. The idea was to win, wasn't it? Judge Bragg played an open, swashbuckling game, as if he enjoyed it. On occasion he bluffed, Edgar deduced, but he seemed to be lucky so it was difficult to tell whether he was bluffing or not. In the third hour a big pot came along-more than a thousand dollars. Edgar had opened with three aces and not bettered with his two-card draw, and the Judge had also drawn two cards. After the draw, Edgar bet a hundred and the men who had taken only one card dropped out and that left it up to the judge. The judge promptly raised the size of the pot. Edgar hesitated, looked into the Judge's amused dark eyes, and folded. As the Judge embraced and drew in the hill of chips, Edgar reached across the table and exposed his hand-three sevens and nothing else. Judge Bragg had said, very quietly, ”Don't ever touch my cards again, you son of a b.i.t.c.h. If you do, I'll break a chair over your head.”

The five others in the game had waited for Edgar to do or say something, but Edgar only tried to laugh it off At midnight, the Judge cashed in his chips and said, ”See you all next Sat.u.r.day night-if this tub of rancid lard isn't here. He's a bore and a boor and he forgets to ante.” That was the first and last time Edgar played at the St. Johns Club. He had never forgotten it.

Randy walked into the bank's office enclosure, wondering why Edgar wanted to see him. Edgar knew perfectly well that Mark's check was okay. ”What's the trouble, Edgar?” he asked.

”Isn't it a little late to bring in a big check like this, and ask us for cash?”

The clock said 3:04. ”It wasn't late when I came in,” Randy said. He noticed other customers still in the bank-Eli Blaustein, who owned Tropical Clothing; Pete Hernandez, Rita's older brother and manager of Ajax Super-Market; Jerry Kling, from the Standard station; Florence Wechek, with her Western Union checks and receipts. It was their custom to hurry to the bank just at three.

”It's all right for business people to make deposits after closing hour, but I think we ought to have more time to handle an item like this,” Edgar said.

Randy noticed that Florence, finished at the teller's window, had wandered within hearing. Florence didn't miss much. ”How much time do you need to cash a check for five thousand?” he asked. He was sure his face was reddening. He told himself he must not lose his temper.

”That isn't the point,” Edgar said. '”The point is that your brother doesn't have an account here.”

”You don't doubt that my brother's check is good, do you?” Randy was relieved to find that his voice, instead of rising, sounded lower and steadier.

”Now, I didn't say that. But it wouldn't be good banking procedure for me to hand you five thousand dollars and wait four or five days for it to clear all the way from Omaha.”

”I endorsed it, didn't I?” Randy loosened his shoulders and flexed his toes and fingers and looked intently at Edgar's face. It would squash, like a potato.

”I doubt that your account would cover it.”

Randy's account stood below four hundred. This had been little to worry about, with his citrus checks due on the first of the year. Now, considering Mark's urgency, it was dangerously low. He decided to probe Edgar's weakness. He said, ”Penny-wise, pound-foolish, that's you, Edgar. You could have been in on a very good thing. Give me back the check. I'll cash it in San Marco or Orlando in the morning.”

Edgar realized he might have made an error. It was most unusual for anyone to want five thousand in cash. It indicated some sort of a quick, profitable deal. He should have found out why the cash was needed. ”Now, let's not be in a rush,” he said. Randy held out his hand. ”Give me the check.”

”Well, if I knew exactly why you had to have all this cash in such a hurry I might be able to make an exception to banking rules.”

”Come on. I don't have time to waste.”

Edgar's pale, protruding eyes s.h.i.+fted to Florence, frankly listening, and Eli Blaustein hovering nearby, interested. ”Come into my office, Randolph,” he said.

After Randy had the cash, in hundreds, twenties and tens, he said, ”Now I'll tell you why I wanted it, Edgar. Mark asked me to make a bet for him.”

”Oh, the races!” Edgar said. ”I very rarely play the races, but I know Mark wouldn't be risking that much money unless he had a sure thing. Running in Miami, tomorrow, I suppose?”

”No. Not the races. Mark is simply betting that checks won't be worth anything, very shortly, but cash will. Good afternoon, Fish-eye.” He left the office and sauntered across the lobby. As Mrs. Estes unlocked the bank door she squeezed his arm and whispered, ”Good for you!”

Edgar rocked in his chair, furious. It wasn't a reason. It was a riddle. He repeated Randy's words. They made no sense at all, unless Mark expected some big cataclysm, like all the banks closing, and of course that was ridiculous. Whatever happened, the country's financial structure was sound. Edgar reached a conclusion. He had been tricked and bluffed again. The Braggs were scoundrels, all of them.

Randy's first stop was Ajax Super-Market. It really wasn't a supermarket, as it claimed. Fort Repose's population was 3,422, according to the State Census, and this included Pistolville and the Negro district. The Chamber of Commerce claimed five thousand, but the Chamber admitted counting the winter residents of Riverside Inn, and people who technically were outside the town limits, like those who lived on River Road. So Fort Repose had not attracted the big chain stores. Still, Ajax imitated the supermarkets, inasmuch as you wheeled an aluminum cart around and served yourself, and Ajax sold the same brands at about the same prices.

Randy hated grocery shopping. None of the elaborate surveys, and studies in depth of the buying habits of Americans had a cla.s.sification for Randolph Bragg. Usually he grabbed a cart and sprinted for the meat counter, where he dropped a written order. Then he raced up and down the aisles, s.n.a.t.c.hing cans and bottles and boxes and cartons from shelves and freezers apparently at random, running down small children and b.u.mping old ladies and apologizing, until his final lap brought him past the meat counter again. The butchers had learned to give his order priority, for if his meat wasn't cut he didn't stop, simply made a violent U-turn and barreled off for the door. When the checker rang up his bill Randy looked at his watch. His record for a full basket was three minutes and forty-six seconds, portal to portal.