Part 48 (1/2)
”General,” Hart said, ”would it be too much to ask Mrs. Pickering to call my wife and tell her we got Pick back? She's been holding her breath. Actually, she's been praying.”
”Of course not,” Pickering said, reaching out his hand for the telephone.
”Good night, sir,” Hart said, and walked out of the room.
”Patricia?” Pickering said to the telephone.
”Flem?”
She sounds sleepy.
Jesus Christ, I have no idea what time it is in the States. Did I wake her up?
”How many other calls do you get from men at this time of day?”
”Quite a few, actually,” she said. ”And two minutes ago I got a telegram from the Secretary of the Navy . . .” She paused, and he had a mental image of her picking it up and reading from it. ”. . . who is 'pleased to inform you that your son Major Malcolm Pickering has been returned to U.S. control' and that 'further information will be furnished when available.' ”
”I guess the system kicked in,” he said.
”Have you seen him? Where are you?”
”In the Imperial. We got back here a couple of hours ago.”
”Thank you for calling me immediately,” she said sarcastically.
”I was with Ernie,” he said, trying to explain and apologize. ”Trying to get her to see a doctor.”
”What's wrong with her?” she asked, concern replacing her anger.
”I don't think anything is. But when Keller told her about Pick, she fainted.”
”What did the doctor say?”
”She wouldn't see a doctor,” he said.
”Tell her that her mother and I are on the way,” Patricia said.
”Here?”
”No, to Acapulco.”
”I don't think that's such a good idea, sweetheart.”
”My son has just been rescued after more than two months and my pregnant G.o.ddaughter has just pa.s.sed out, and it's not a good idea that her mother and I come over there? What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?”
”As soon as he's up to it, they're going to fly him to the States. You're going to be asked to which hospital he should be sent.”
”How do you know that?”
”Harry Truman told me.”
”Spare me your sarcasm, Flem.”
”Just before he took off from Wake Island, the President told me that he has ordered that Pick be sent to the States as soon as his physical condition permits.”
” 'As soon as his physical condition permits'? What do you know that I don't? When Ernie called, she said he was in great shape.”
”He's in the sick bay on the Badoeng Strait. Badoeng Strait. Patricia, he spent seventy-seven days running around Korea avoiding capture; they haven't found anything wrong with him, according to McCoy, but they . . . they want to make sure nothing is wrong with him.” Patricia, he spent seventy-seven days running around Korea avoiding capture; they haven't found anything wrong with him, according to McCoy, but they . . . they want to make sure nothing is wrong with him.”
”So something is wrong with him.”
”I expect a full report on his condition in the morning. As soon as I get it, I'll call.”
”Elaine and I will be traveling by tomorrow morning,” Patricia declared. ”She's on her way here from New Jersey.”
Elaine Sage was Ernie's mother.
”Ernie doesn't want her mother over here, she told me.”
”She's pregnant-she doesn't know what she wants.”
”Obviously, I can't stop either of you, but if you come over here, it will be one G.o.dd.a.m.ned big mistake. What's probably going to happen is that when you get here, you'll learn that you pa.s.sed Pick flying in the other direction in the middle of the Pacific,” Pickering said.
There was a long pause.
”So what are you telling me you think we should do, Flem?” she asked finally.
”Go to San Francisco. To the apartment. By the time you get there, I'll have more information. I'll call and give it to you.”
”Elaine's determined to go over there.”
”Talk her out of it, sweetheart.”
”You'll call me at the apartment the minute you hear anything?”
”Of course I will.”
”You sound tired, Flem.”
”I am tired.”
”Get some rest.”
”I will,” he said, then added: ”Patricia, would you please call George Hart's wife in Saint Louis and tell her.”
”I will, but-”
”George said she's been praying for him. Call her, please, Pat.”