“Honor, sir.”
Loethen walked over to where Wake still remained in his chair. The admiral sat down at the table. Morris sighed, quietly left the window and walked out of the room. Loethen’s left eyebrow raised slightly and his features hardened as he considered Wake’s answer.
“Honor, you say?”
“Yes, sir.”
Loethen narrowed his eyes and raised his voice, sounding as if he was bellowing into a gale. “Explain that, Lieutenant Wake.”
Wake took a shallow breath and spoke, trying to keep his voice controlled despite the anger welling within him. It was all so damned wrong, he thought, as he tried to form the words to convey his point.
“By honor, Admiral, I mean that the sacrifices of the men who are actually fighting the war should never be forgotten or misspent. Their blood is the currency of this war, and we, as the leadership, both in the army and the navy, should never waste or dishonor it on a frivolous military purchase or for some later social bragging rights. My command decisions have always had that as a guiding principal, and always will as long as I have to make those decisions. No one, neither army colonel nor navy admiral, can say that I have wasted lives with that type of dishonor, sir.”
Loethen’s face softened but his voice was still neutral. “What about your personal life?”
“No apologies for loving and marrying a decent woman, Admiral. It was my honor to marry her, and I hope I can be the kind of husband she deserves. Simple as that, sir.”
Loethen sighed and rested his chin on his hand as he examined the junior officer. “I see. Is that all you have to say after what you’ve done to the image of this squadron? Just some drivel about honor and love?”
Wake was picturing Hammersley cowering in the hut at Claresville as the enemy gunfire was ripping through the village, and whining afterwards, vowing to get the naval lieutenant. Maybe he had after all, Wake thought, as he surveyed the older man across the table.
“Yes, sir. That’s it. And I don’t consider honor to be drivel, sir.”
Loethen made no reply, but remained ominously quiet. He rose and walked to the door, calling in a monotone for the yeoman outside to summon Commander Morris. Afterward, Loethen maintained the uncomfortable silence in the room by sitting at his desk and going through papers, shuffling them into several piles and ignoring the lieutenant sitting eight feet away.
Wake kept still, realizing that he had just sealed his fate by acting arrogantly superior to an admiral in matters of honor. Shaking his head and looking at the floor, he went over what he had just said. The text of what he said was not wrong, he knew that in his heart, but he felt the manner of the delivery had probably offended Admiral Loethen, the most powerful man in Key West. He wondered what decrepit old scow they would assign him to now. Some harbor barge probably. His career was finished, and he would serve out the remainder of the war in a minor role where he could do no more damage to the image of the admiral, the squadron, or the United States Navy. After the war they would cashier him immediately, and his hopes for a life of fulfillment in the navy would be a sad joke for the rest of his life. All because of how he had handled a simple question.
Morris walked in carrying a sheath of papers and laid them on the desk in front of the admiral. A sudden gust of the trade wind rustled the palm trees outside and came through the window to stir the papers Morris had just set down, sending a memorandum off the side of the desk. Morris reached out and caught it, smiling when he saw its title.
“Trade winds are piping up, sir.”
Morris reached over and straightened the scattered piles of reports and correspondence on the desk, handing the errant memorandum to Admiral Loethen, saying, “I presume we don’t want that one to fly out the window, do we Admiral?”
Loethen took the memorandum, smiled as well, and leaned back with his chair tipped against the wall. “No, it wouldn’t do for that one to fly out the window, would it? What would young Wake here do then?”
“It just occurred to me, Admiral, that Lieutenant Wake won’t have to rely on trade winds anymore. He’ll have the luxury of being independent of them.”
At the mention of his name, Wake looked over at the desk and tried to see what type of report or memorandum they were speaking about. He couldn’t tell but could see their demeanor had changed. Both appeared more relaxed. The admiral motioned to Wake to come over to the desk.
“Step over here, Lieutenant. Don’t make an admiral come to you, you young pup. You’ve already antagonized half the officers on this damned island. Now don’t aggravate me.”
The words were stern but the admiral’s manner was not. The man was smiling. Wake came over and stood before the desk, where he said the only thing expected at that point from a junior officer. “Yes, sir.”
Loethen handed the memorandum back to Morris. They both looked at Wake, the admiral speaking. “Lieutenant Wake, you have stated your case well. You have also done your duty well. Decisions in our profession have profound consequences. They will always be debated and analyzed by those who never have to make a decision of half the importance. A leader cannot make decisions on what he feels
