“Then what the hell is this all about?”
He breathed out and looked down. He slowly moved his coffee cup to the side, placed his arms on the table, looked her in the eye and continued. “China has been covertly attacked. Whatever trust has been built up between our two countries over the years has been severely violated. We will be covertly attacked in return.”
“So this is war,” she replied.
He cringed. “It is, and it isn’t.”
“That doesn’t make any sense — either it is or it isn’t; it can’t be both.”
“Well, it can,” he replied.
She leaned back in her chair with her mouth open. “How can it be both?”
“We attacked them in a covert operation, of that I am certain. They will respond the same way — covertly. It becomes a war only if we escalate the conflict by attacking China again.”
“And if we do?”
“China is preparing to defend herself.”
“With nuclear weapons?”
“If necessary. That’s one of the reasons I’m out here.” He looked out the window. “The trees should absorb a lot of the radioactive fallout.”
She blew air out of her lungs and glanced out the window at the trees before looking at him again. “So let me see if I have this straight: We are going to be attacked by China and we’re supposed to look the other way? Exactly how is that supposed to work?”
“It won’t be as difficult as you think. The attack will look like a natural event — a natural disaster. You respond to it on that basis only. If we don’t escalate the conflict, it won’t come to a nuclear war.”
“What, in the mind of the Chinese would constitute an escalation?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. I wouldn’t kill any more Chinese people, or attack anything Chinese. That could easily be interpreted as an escalation.”
“I don’t really have any control over that. The Secretary of Defense does.”
“I know,” he replied. “He’s been here. I told him the same thing.”
“And?”
He shrugged again. “It’s out of my hands. I have given you my best strategic opinion. What you guys do with it is up to you.”
CHAPTER 27
Willa walked the streets of Dolphin Beach deep in thought. Her sister’s bill had passed both houses and the President had quickly signed it into law. People had adjusted to not having some things as the economy gradually shifted away from products made in China.
It had been a month since Jason was here. The blue chalk arrows from the evacuation practice had disappeared. Dolphin Beach was mostly back to normaclass="underline" The tourists had filled the Ocean Grand Hotel and only a few of the B & B’s had any rooms left. All in all, through the ups and downs, it was still going to be a decent year.
Members of the city council had gathered and their monthly meeting was about to start. Willa would be there and she knew what she had to do. She walked confidently into the room and called the meeting to order. After the committee reports had been read and old business completed, Willa made her pitch.
“Despite the complications we had last month, the practice evacuation was a success. Participation was over 60 % and I have received many positive comments about the blue arrows that marked the evacuation route. While we have six signs marking the general evacuation route, we now know that the route for individual people is going to be different, and with the probability of dead ends, the blue arrows were the one thing that made the entire process clear in everyone’s mind. The blue chalk markings have since worn away. I know how to get out of my house and which way to go and I think all of you do, too. But what happens if we need to evacuate next year, or three years from now, or even ten years down the road? Will we all remember then?”
The city council members looked connected to her line of reasoning, so she continued. “What I propose, is that while the memory of where the blue arrows were is still fresh in our minds, we make the blue arrows a permanent part of our streets. We can paint the blue arrows just like the chalk arrows were placed. That way none of us has to remember which way to go. We just follow the blue arrows.”
“Kind of like Dorothy and the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz?” Mr. Jenkins asked. At 81, he was the oldest member of the city council. Willa smiled at the reference to the old movie.
“Yes,” Willa replied. “Just like Dorothy, but instead of a yellow brick road, we follow the blue arrows. The same color blue that is already on the evacuation signs.”
“There’s no money in the budget for an expense like this,” a council member said.
“Actually, there is,” Willa replied. “After Frank Gillis disrupted our evacuation practice, he paid a heavy fine to the city. We have enough money to at least pay for the paint.”
“But what about the labor? That’ll be the most expensive part of the project,” another council member said.
“Yeah,” another agreed. “That part we can’t afford.”
“What if I can get volunteers to do the painting?” Willa asked.
The city council members quickly discussed the matter and made their decision. “If you can find the volunteers for the labor, we’ll spend the money on the paint.”
“All in favor?” Willa asked. They all raised their hands. “Resolution adopted.”
Since Jason’s presentation the local hardware store had gone through four large shipments of half-inch galvanized steel pipe, cut into two foot lengths. Now volunteers were stripping the hardware store out of small rollers, while the City of Dolphin Beach was paying for 5 gallon buckets of enamel paint, tinted to what was now known as tsunami blue.
Willa, holding Jason’s original drawings, supervised the location of every tsunami blue arrow on the streets of Dolphin Beach. Several tourists had taken photos of the whole process and created humorous videos which were then placed on the Internet.
Frank Gillis stormed into Willa’s office and screamed, “You’re shaming our town. You and this stupid tsunami thing are now a national disgrace. How could you be so stupid? Actually you’re not only stupid, you’re INCOMPETENT.”
Willa backed into the corner of her office, glancing out through the glass windows into the main reception area of the City Office, hoping that Chief Dolan was on his way to rescue her. But that was not to be. Frank continued his tirade until he was finally interrupted by Gladys from the Dolphin Beach Chamber of Commerce.
“What’s going on?” Gladys asked, giving Frank a vicious look.
“Frank thinks I’ve brought shame on Dolphin Beach by painting the blue arrows on our streets,” Willa replied.
Gladys glanced down at the piece of paper she held and looked straight at Frank. “We’ve been friends for years, Frank, but I have to side with Willa on this one.”
“Did you see what she has done?” Frank yelled. “Her and her blue arrows are all over the Internet. Dolphin Beach is now the laughing stock of the country.”
“As I said, Frank, I have to side with Willa,” Gladys replied. She handed a copy of the report to Willa, who handed it to Frank after she read it.
“Internet inquiries for everything about Dolphin Beach are coming in so fast, we can’t respond to them in a timely manner. We’ve even booked a few more rooms as a result of the inquiries. It looks to me as if this is a good thing for Dolphin Beach.”
Frank crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it at Willa, bouncing it off her shoulder as she tried to duck. He turned and stomped out of the office, slamming the door on his way out. Gladys turned to Willa. “Honey, you just have to give him some time to calm down. Once he starts getting more reservations for his hotel, he’ll feel better.”