The Charm School

driven over the gravel. On the right side of the garage was a man of about fifty, stacking a cord of firewood. A child of about five swung in a tire suspended by a rope from a tree limb. Hollis walked up the drive, followed by Lisa, and the man turned toward him. Hollis said, “Hello, I’m new in town.”
    The man looked at him and at Lisa. “Sam Hollis! I heard you were here. And that must be Lisa Rhodes.” The man wiped his palms on his corduroy slacks and shook hands with Hollis. He spoke in a Texas twang. “I’m Tim Landis. I think we know each other, Sam.”
    Hollis was momentarily taken aback. “Yes… by God, you were a flight commander in our fighter group.”
    “Right. We attended some wild briefings together. I remember you used to give old General Fuller a hard time.” Landis said to Lisa, “Sam got ticked once at all the target restrictions and told Fuller we should drop water balloons so no one would get mad at us.”
    Hollis introduced Lisa, and she shook hands with Landis. She asked, “Is this like dying and going to purgatory, or is it a living hell?”
    Landis seemed to understand. “Well, that depends on how you wake up in the morning, what you dreamed about in the night.” Landis rubbed his forehead. “You see, I’ve been nearly twenty years here, and I don’t feel like it’s home, but I don’t know what home is supposed to feel like anymore.” He added, “Except sometimes when I wake in the night and can remember all of it and feel it again.”
    No one spoke for a while, then Landis smiled at Hollis. “Hey, Sam, I’m glad you didn’t get downed.”
    “Well, I did. Over Haiphong harbor. Last run of the war. But I got fished out of the drink.” Hollis hesitated a moment, then said, “My copilot was Ernie Simms. Is he here?”
    Landis replied, “Not anymore.”
    “He was here?”
    “Yes.”
    “And?”
    “Well… let’s see… it was back in ’74. He’d just got here from Hanoi. In fact, now you mention it, it was you he was with. He said you blew out too, but didn’t know what happened to you. So he got fished out of that same drink, I guess. Artery got opened, but the Zips fixed him up, and he was fine by the time he got here.”
    “What happened to him here?”
    “They shot him.”
    “Why?”
    “Well…” Landis seemed suddenly uncomfortable. “Well, he told them to fuck off. He told the honcho here, a Red Air Force shit whose name I can’t remember now, that he wasn’t playing ball. So they shot him.”
    Hollis nodded.
    Landis said, “They had all the pilots they needed from the Zips then, so if you got testy with them, they shot you. Then the war ended, and the KGB started taking over. You know about all that?”
    “No.”
    “You want to know?”
    “Some other time.”
    “Okay. Hey, sorry about Simms. But there are probably a few other guys here you know from our bunch. Jessie Gates?”
    “‘Crazy’ Gates?”
    “Right.” Landis rattled off a dozen other names, and Hollis recognized three or four of them. Landis said, “Say, let me introduce you to my little guy.” He turned to the boy and called out, “Timmy. Come here and meet an old friend of mine.”
    The boy jumped down from the tire and ran over to them. Landis said, “Timmy, this is… what are you now, Sam, a general?”
    “Colonel.”
    “Terrific. Timmy, this is Colonel Hollis and Miss Rhodes. This is Timothy Junior.”
    Everyone shook hands, and the boy smiled bashfully. Landis said, “Timmy is almost six. There are a few other kids his age here but not too many. He likes the older kids anyway. Right, kiddo?”
    The boy nodded. “Joey Reeves is my best friend, and he’s nine.” He looked at Hollis. “Are you from America?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m going to America someday.”
    “Good. You’ll like it.”
    “I’m going to go there to work for peace.”
    Hollis didn’t reply.
    “America is a good country.”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “But bad people run the country.”
    Hollis glanced at Landis.
    Lisa asked the boy, “Do you speak Russian?”
    “No. We learn things about Russia but in English.”
    “What do you learn?”
    “Russia is a great country that works for peace. Someday, Russia and America will be friends. Then Dad, Mom, and me can leave here and live in America if we want. Or in Russia. Russia is close to here. America is far away.”
    Lisa knelt and took the boy’s hands. “America wants peace too.”
    “But bad people run the government.”
    Hollis put his