Neither of the newlyweds dwelt on things they could do little or nothing about.
Dan’s parents were in Oxford England — his father was Ambassador to the Court of Woodstock — and therefore at the nexus of the transatlantic political firestorm, very much strangers in a strange land.
Dan’s older brother Walter was onboard the Kitty Hawk in the Persian Gulf; and although it was impossible to imagine anything really bad befalling him on the biggest, most powerful warship in the World, Gretchen and he still worried about him.
In fact Dan suspected his wife was more worried about Walter than he was. Gretchen and his brother had formed the foundation of an enduring friendship last year when she had hidden out in the family’s Boston house to escape the rapacious DC press corps. Dan had never really gotten to the bottom of it but Gretchen wrote regularly — most weeks — to Walter and he always wrote back with, what was for Walter, revelatory candor and loquacity. None of which had ever been any kind of secret; Gretchen shared every letter with Dan but he was wise enough to know that despite the happiness of their marital situation Gretchen would always carry a small, unrequited flame in her heart for his brother.
The Brenckmann’s settled in their reserved seats, held hands and looked one to the other. Fifteen yards away technicians were testing the battery of microphones on the rugged platform perched on the steps. There were Philadelphia PD officers and crisp-suited Secret Service men everywhere.
In the distance there was muted cheering and clapping.
The March was coming; led by its handsome, charismatic leader it was as if the Pied Piper was guiding the faithful towards their unknown destiny. America was changing all around them and there were suddenly tears in Gretchen’s eyes.
“We should start having babies,” she said in a whisper, oblivious to the other people moving into their seats all around her and her husband.
Dan smiled, squeezed his wife’s hand.
“Yes,” he agreed, smiling broadly.
“Seriously,” Gretchen sniffed. “If we come through this we should start having babies as soon as possible.”
The man leaned towards her and planted a soft kiss on her lips.
He had loved Gretchen Louisa Betancourt from the moment he laid eyes on her at that dire ‘Partnership At Home’ afternoon ‘get together’ in Quincy over a year before the war. Quincy had been blown away that awful October night that he Gretchen had sat on veranda of her father’s house in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
They had thought they had survived the end of the World.
Now it was all happening again.
But at least they had each other.
Chapter 58
“I cannot imagine welcoming the Reverend King and his marchers for freedom on a day when America faced such grave danger.”
Nathan Zabriski and Caroline Konstantis had turned on the radio to hear the speeches from Philadelphia an hour ago. There had been delay upon delay, with announcers filling time with the frightening snippets of news and hearsay circulating in the capital. There had been two great naval battles in the Persian Gulf, heavy bombing raids and some kind of massive ‘clash of armor’ in the deserts of southern Iraq and Iran. In the Mediterranean there was a quote ‘tense standoff’ between the British Royal Navy and the US Sixth Fleet. The governments of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal among others had condemned ‘American’ and ‘Soviet’ aggression in the Middle East. There were unconfirmed reports that nuclear weapons had been used — it was not known by whom — in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf.
That all this was happening on Independence Day; the day when the March on Philadelphia reached City Hall, the temporary home of the US House of Representatives was… surreal.
Not to mention very, very frightening.
Caroline met her younger lover’s gaze.
Her life was chaos and she had embraced that chaos. She had returned to California and every night since she and Nathan had slept entwined in each other’s arms; the most unlikely Romeo and Juliet in town. He was a few months younger than her son. He had been through Hell. She was turning grey and to look at had never been any kind of movie star and yet, she did not want to be anywhere else and if she left she knew it would destroy him.
And now they were listening to the prologue to the end of the World, again. They had been through this before in October 1962 and the only thing that was different was that this seemed much more dangerous, and it was happening much faster.
They had expected to listen to the President’s reassuring drawl.
But the voice on the radio was not that of JFK.
Lyndon Johnson could not have sounded any graver.
“I hope and pray that in the days, weeks and years to come that Americans will remember this day as the dawn of a new age. An age in which no American’s character will ever again be judged on account of the color of his or her skin, religion or origin. This event was planned as a celebration of everything that we share in common in this great land; but we meet on a day when the future of Mankind hangs again in the balance.”
The transistor radio on the table between the man and the woman buzzed, static filled the void for some seconds.
“This morning President Kennedy collapsed at the Philadelphia White House. His doctors tell me that he suffered a seizure of some kind. At this time the President is fighting for his life in hospital and it is too early to know if he will make a full recovery.”
“Oh, my God,” Caroline sighed.
Without conscious volition Nathan had taken her left hand in his right hand.
“Earlier today I consulted with Chief Justice Earl Warren and Congressional Leaders, informing them that until such time as the President is able to resume his duties the heavy burden of the Presidency of our nation must fall upon my shoulders.”
More static.
“In the coming hours and days you will hear many rumors, half-truths and lies broadcast in good faith by the nation’s newsmen. Franklin Delano Roosevelt once talked about having ‘nothing to fear but fear itself’. Never was that more true than now. I have told the Russians and the British that America does not want war. The United States has not used nuclear weapons in the Middle East, nor will it use nuclear weapons against any foe unless the North American continent is attacked by such weapons.”
“Did he just say what I thought he just said?” Nathan muttered, stunned.
Caroline nodded jerkily.
“At the time US naval forces in the Persian Gulf came under attack the Governments of the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were on the verge of signing an unconditional non-aggression pact. Under this pact both parties undertook to take the steps necessary to end hostilities in the Persian Gulf and to respect each other’s legitimate commercial and strategic vital interests in the region. Peace remains the only policy of the American Government… ”
There was a sound like muted thunder through the static.
Lyndon Johnson broke off in mid-stream.
“Are those explosions?” Caroline asked numbly. “And is that gunfire?”
People in the crowd in front of City Hall were screaming.
Lyndon Johnson’s voice, grimly unflustered broke through the ether.
“Please stay where you are!”
When this failed to have the desired effect the Acting President bawled commands.