Spencerville

retirement. Now you have to deal with the new situation.”
    “
This
is the new situation. Here. Back there is the old situation. You know, I
was
pissed off, but I’m not anymore. You guys did me a favor. You can’t
make
me go back, so stop the bullshit.”
    “Well… you know, you’re still in the military. You haven’t worn a uniform in about fifteen years, but you’re still a reserve colonel, and the president is commander in chief.”
    “Speak to my lawyer.”
    “The president may call on you from time to time to discharge the duties of your office, and so forth. The time has come, buddy.”
    “Don’t try that with me.”
    “Okay, let me try this. Save my ass. Come to Washington with me and tell them Adair gave it his best shot, but you’re there to tell them personally to fuck off. Okay? I know you want to do it that way. You don’t owe them anything except a face-to-face fuck-off. But you owe me a few favors, and all I’m asking to square our account is that you come to D.C. with me. Then I’m off the hook, and you can say what’s on your mind. Fair? You bet.”
    “I… I can’t go with you…”
    “You owe me, Keith. I’m here to collect, not to beg, threaten, or cajole. To collect.”
    “Charlie, look—”
    “Bucharest. Not to mention the messiness in Damascus.”
    “Look, Charlie… there’s a woman—”
    “There’s always a woman. That’s how you almost got us beheaded in Damascus.”
    “There’s a woman here—”
    “
Here?
Christ, buddy, you haven’t even been here two months.”
    “From long ago. You know, high school and college. I may have mentioned her in a maudlin moment.”
    “Oh… yes. Yes, you did. I see.” He thought a moment and asked, “Husband?”
    Keith nodded.
    “Well, we can’t help you with that.” He winked. “But we can work something out.”
    “I’ve already worked it out, thank you.”
    They came back into the farmyard, and Charlie sat on the small garden tractor. “Can I smoke on this thing?”
    “Yeah. It’s just a tractor. It doesn’t fly.”
    “Right.” He lit another cigarette and seemed to be thinking. He said, “I don’t see the complication.”
    “She’s married. How would it look if a presidential aide was living with a married woman?”
    “We’ll get her a divorce.”
    “That could take years.”
    “We can pull a few strings.”
    “No, you can’t. You can’t do whatever you want to do. You
think
you can, but you can’t. There are laws that govern this.”
    “Right. Well, did you intend to live with her anytime soon?”
    “Yeah. Real soon.”
    “So we get her a separate apartment in Washington. Why are you making such a big deal of this?”
    “Charlie, this is not what she and I had in mind. I am not that important to global peace. The world will do fine without my advice. The danger has passed. I did my duty. My life is important to me now.”
    “That’s good. It never was, but I hear you. You know, you can have a life
and
a career. Done all the time.”
    “Not
that
career.”
    “It won’t be as crazy this time. Sure, the hours are still long, and you might have to fly here or there now and then, but you don’t have to go behind the Iron Curtain anymore. It blew away.”
    “Yeah, I was there.”
    “Right.” He studied the controls on the tractor and asked, “You know how to run this?”
    “That’s how it got out of the barn.”
    “I thought these things were bigger.”
    “This is a garden tractor. Sort of a utility vehicle for around the yard.”
    “No kidding? Where’s the big one?”
    “My father sold it.” Keith said, “So thanks for stopping by. Say hello to everyone. What time is your flight?”
    Charlie looked at his watch. “Return from Toledo at two-fifteen. How long will it take me to get to the airport from here?”
    “Maybe an hour or more with traffic. You may want to leave now to play it safe.”
    “No. I have time for a beer.”
    “Come on inside.”
    Charlie got off the tractor, and they went into the house through the kitchen door. Keith said, “I’m out of beer.”
    “It’s a little early anyway. I’m just thirsty.”
    “I don’t doubt it. You’ve been blowing steam for the last half hour.” Keith opened the refrigerator and got a jug of water. He poured two glasses. “This is genuine spring water.”
    Charlie drained off half the glass. “It’s good.”
    “There’s mostly limestone under the soil. This was a prehistoric sea. You know, a billion years of