“Well,” she said, “don’t you want to know where I work?”
Jake smirked. “Sure. Of course I do. I’ve been wondering about that.”
“Since you asked, I work at the American consulate.”
“What do you do there?”
“I do a variety of things. But mostly I examine the cases of mainland Chinese refugees who want to obtain visas to the U.S.”
“Do you like the work?”
“It’s okay. The State Department requires a lot of paperwork for these visas, and sometimes I feel as if I were papering over the human misery of the Chinese refugees. These people have risked everything to escape to Hong Kong.”
“Paper shufflers! Well, they’re everywhere. They’re the ones who’ll really inherit the earth.”
“Too true. Listen, Jake. I really do have to go. And you need to get back to the Peninsula.” She picked up her bag and put her arm through the straps.
“Callie, could we get together for lunch?” She shook her head.
“How about dinner?”
“Thanks, but I’m afraid I can’t make dinner.”
“Why don’t we take a walk this afternoon, maybe see some sights?”
“It doesn’t look like a good day for it.” She sighed.
“Tell you what. I could meet you for tea.”
“For tea?”
“Haven’t you ever met anyone for tea before?”
“Nope, but I’m game. Where do we meet?”
“At your hotel. In the lobby. They do a lovely tea there. Four-thirty?”
“Four-thirty would be fine,” said Jake. “I’ll be there.” She walked away briskly, into the drizzle. When she was half a block away she stopped and turned. He was still watching her. “Don’t just stand there!” she shouted. “Go get some dry clothes on.”
Jake waved. “See you at the Peninsula!”
He walked away in the opposite direction. After a few minutes he broke into a trot, and he didn’t really mind that he was cold and creaky.
“At least you could’ve asked her if she had a girlfriend,” Sammy called from the bathroom where he was shaving.
Jake stood by the window watching the rain and the low gray clouds scudding across the harbor. The water was so calm and dark it appeared oily, and the clearly defined wakes left by sampans, barges, and ferries were like ripples made by toy boats on a pond. After he returned to the hotel, he had spent a long time luxuriously soaking in the tub. Now his calves were beginning to tighten up. “I wish this rain would stop.”
“If it had been me, I would’ve asked if there was a spare girl stashed somewhere for you. The world is full of lonely women pining for a chance to meet some swell guy with a wad of bucks. Here I am, eligible, hand some, modestly well-heeled, and you didn’t even give one of those languishing females a chance. Now I as you, is that friendship?”
Jake turned his head toward the bathroom. “Hey, I was lucky to get a date.”
“A date? You call meeting a girl for tea a date?”
“It was the best I could do.”
“Did you ask if she had a friend? Huh? Bet you didn’t even fucking try.”
“It wouldn’t have worked, Sammy.”
Sammy came out of the bathroom in his skivvies “Okay, Grafton, I’m beginning to get the picture. You just don’t want me around mocking up things between you and your tea-and-crumpets girl.”
“Nah, that’s not it. Like I said-“
“Just forget it.” Sammy dismissed Jake with a wave of his hand. “I can find a date for myself. I don’t need your help with my romances. I’m just pointing out this little blot on our friendship.”
He wore a hurt expression. “But I’ll never forget this, Grafton.
Never.
I might even tell Parker that you’re the guy who stole his towel and locked him out of his room.”
“But you did that!”
“Yeah, but when roommates get on the outs they start telling lies, and who knows where it’ll stop.”
“Better not,” Jake said, “or I might have to tell him you’re the Phantom.”
Lundeen shot him a hard glance, and went over and sat on his bed.
He looked at Jake and grinned. “That just happens to be true.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I’m the Phantom,” he said, laughing. “You never suspected, did you?”
“Are you crazy? They’re looking for some pervert to ship to a mental institution. If they catch you, you’ll go back to the States in a straitjacket. My God….
You’re kidding me, right?” He carefully examined Lundeen’s face. “You’re pulling my leg again.”
“Nope. It’s the truth. I am the Caped Crusader. No, that’s Batman and I don’t have a cape, although I could use Cowboy’s towel.” He stood on the bed and struck a pose. “I am the Winged Wraith, the Ghost of Bureaucratic Stupidity.” He sat down heavily. “No, I gotta think of something else.”
“You’ve flipped out, you stupid jock. Why in the name of God did you do an insane thing like that?”
“Why did you throw that guy in the alligator pond?
Because you were fed up with senseless blockheads like him! Well, I’m a little fed up, too. ‘Lieutenant Peckerhead skillfully and courageously avoided heavy, accurate enemy opposition and pressed home a devastating attack on the Bang Whang Tree Farm. His courage and tenacity reflected great credit, blah, blah, blah, and were in the highest traditions of the naval service.”‘ His voice rose to a shout. “I’ve had it up to here with that kind of crap.”
He stared at Grafton. “So I got to thinking about all this shit and decided to take a shit. And I got a big laugh out of it and I felt a lot better about the whole thing and I wrote another half dozen recommendations for medals and sent them to Rabbit Wilson and the jerk loved them and I didn’t puke.”
Jake turned toward the window. Through the mist he could barely make out the batwing of a junk.
He watched a merchant ship with sampans and bardges clustered around it, unloading goods. “Everybody’s a fucking hero,” he said.
“That’s the crazy part of the whole thing,” Sammy said. “All those guys are heroes. They’re out there risking their asses on every damned flight.
They dodge the flak and SAMs, they press the targets, they put the bombs right on the money. Flight pay sure doesn’t cover it. They deserve the medals.” He stood up and kicked the footboard of the bed.
“For what? Tell me what! I sure as hell would like to know.”
“I wish I knew . . .” Jake turned to face Sammy “You ready for lunch?”
Sammy didn’t answer right away. “Yeah. I guess so.
They were alone in the elevator. “I didn’t do that last job,” said Sammy.
“I retired before the skipper of the ship got really pissed. Somebody else did that last one.
“I hope you stay retired.”
“Yeah, I think I’m gonna. I like to fly too much. The elevator doors opened at the lobby level but Sammy didn’t move. “Maybe there’SAReason for it all-some kind of reason that makes sense-and I’m just not smart enough to figure it out.”
“I hope so,” Jake said, thinking of the flak, the missiles, and of Morgan. “I really hope so.”
They walked into the lobby. “I wish you had asked her if she had a girlfriend.”
“Next time.”
Jake munched on a cookie that was too dry and sweet for his taste.
He was thirsty but the darkening tea was still too hot to drink. He wanted a beer. His eyes wandered to the ivory-colored pillar behind her.
It was as thick as four men and mounted on a marble base and gilded at the top. The high ceilings were gilded as well “I can see you don’t want to talk about it,” said Callie. Her chair faced the same direction as his and
