On that note, we thanked each other and I was transferred back to the switchboard.
I was promptly connected to the Vice-President who took my information in stride. He thanked me for the heads up. He would be certain to pass the information on to the President. That surprised me but I didn’t give Ike’s game away.
It appears Ike wanted to know who he could trust to pass the information on to him. If they didn’t that gave him some insight into them. Now I see how he was a success in Europe. You had to be able to trust your sources of information and also who would hold back.
It was harder getting through to Senator Kennedy as we didn’t have a password setup. I was asked what the call was about; I told him that I could only share that with the Senator. I had to use the Sir Richard Jackson card to even get them to accept that I needed to speak to him.
The Majority Leader, Mr. Johnson’s, office was more organized. It helped that I started out with Sir Richard. They had me hold while they checked with the White House switchboard to see if I was an approved caller.
Apparently, I was on the nice list, rather than naughty as I was put through to the Senator in fairly short order. I told him that since we had met and that he might be the next President I should share this information. Mr. Johnson wanted to know how credible my information was. I told him its origin but could not swear it wasn’t disinformation.
He thanked me and transferred me back to his chief of staff who gave me another phone number to use in the future.
I thought it significant that the Majority Leader didn’t say anything about sharing this information with the President. Of course, if you thought about it, you could assume I had called the President first. What a tangled web.
Senator Kennedy’s office called me back right after I hung up from the Speakers staff.
I was put through to the Senator who was very affable. When I shared my information, its credibility, and why I was calling him he took it in quickly.
“Have you talked to Ike yet?”
“Yes, he suggested I share it with you.”
“Interesting.”
“Interesting is that me or the three candidates?”
I wasn’t about to lie.
“It is all three of you.”
“Smart man, thank you, Rick, by the way, I have a question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“I had a background check ran on you, we do that to all people that get close to my office. I see that you are a business partner with Anna Romanov.”
“I am.”
“If possible I would like to meet her.”
For some reason, a conversation on track 61 came to mind.
“I will let her know that you are interested in talking to her.”
She is an adult. He gave me a phone number I could use in the future and asked that I please feel free to pass it on to Ms. Romanov.
Somehow I thought I might forget to pass it on. I liked Anna and didn’t want her to get any bad publicity.
By the time I had finished the phone calls it was lunch-time. Eddie was the only one at the table. It seemed Mary was posing on a fashion shoot for her apparel line. Denny was the photographer. Dad was at the office and Mum had gone shopping with Ms. Romanov.
Speak of the devil. She-devil? Now that was a thought, down boy.
I got caught up with Eddie and his scouting adventures. Scouting was certainly different in California than Ohio. In Bellefontaine, we toured Tanger airport. Here they toured LAX. There it was Hopewell Dairy, here it was Alta Dena Farms where they had the cows, then the dairy where they bottled not only milk, but made ice cream, sour cream, and butter.
He told me about a neat two and a half-gallon plastic container with a spout. The container would sit in your refrigerator and you could then open the spout and get a glass of milk without having to pick it up and then pour it.
I didn’t see where that would catch on. It would be very difficult to have a down facing spout that wouldn’t leak. What a mess.
I asked Eddie what merit badges he had. One that he didn’t was stamp collecting so we went to my room and I took him through the requirements.
My pride and joy was a stamp from Nazi Germany. You couldn’t tell it until you dipped it in benzene and a swastika would appear on the back. I loaned it to him as part of what he would share with his patrol. They then had a good practice. Each boy would show his patrol what he had gathered for his badge. This would give everyone a leg up.
We made up kits that he could share with each boy. A US stamp that was used that they could check the watermark on, and a small vial of benzene. That along with a perforation gauge, a small ruler, and hinges and they would be in business. I had enough of the stuff as I had been a merit badge counselor in my old troop.
They would have to obtain and mount the rest by themselves.
Eddie was delighted with my help. From there I went out back and saddled George for a ride. It was a great ride as the day was perfect. What made it even better is that way back on the trail in the park I came across two very cute girls who were also out for a ride.
We met at a Y in the trail, and we were now heading in the same direction. We introduced
