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.Dunn was a hundred yards away, walking toward an enormous liveoak tree.Pickering unstrapped himself, climbed out of the cockpit, and trotted afterPage 282 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlDunn.He had to wait to speak to him, however; for as he caught up with him,Dunn was having a hell of a time trying to close the zipper of his new flightsuit after having urinated on the live oak."You want to tell me what you're doing?""Officially, I had a hydraulic system failure warning light and made aprecautionary landing.When you were unable to contact me by radio, you verycourageously landed your aircraft to see what assistance you might be able torender.All in keeping with the honorable traditions of The MarineCorps.Semper Fi.""What the hell is this?""Actually, I am planning for the future," Bill Dunn said, very seriously."Fifty years from now.what'll that be, 1992?.Colonel William C.Dunn-anybody who has ever worn a uniform in the Deep South gets to callhimself 'Colonel,' you know.""Billy.""Colonel Dunn, a fine old silver-haired gentleman, is going to stand whereyou and I are standing.He will have a grandfatherly hand on the shoulder ofhis grandson, William C.Dunn.let me see, that'll be William C.Dunn theSixth.and he will say, 'Grandson, during the Great War, your granddaddywas a fighter pilot, and he was over at Pensacola and out flying a GrummanWildcat, which at the time was one hell of a fighter, and nature called.So helanded his airplane right here where this pecan orchard is now.That used tobe a landing strip, boy.And he took out his talleywacker and pissed right upagainst this fine old live oak tree.' ""Jesus Christ, Billy!"" 'And the moral of that story, Grandson, is that when you are up to yourears in bullshit, the only thing you can do is piss on it.' ""You're insane." Pick laughed."You landed here when you knew goddamned well the strip wasn't long enoughfor a Wildcat.You're insane, too."A sudden image came to Pick of Bill Dunn as a silver-hairedseventy-odd-year-old with his hand on the shoulder of a blond-haired boy.And his mouth ran away with him."You're presuming you're going to live through this war," he said.Dunn met his eyes."I considered that possibility, Pick," he said."Or improbability.But then Idecided, if I do somehow manage to come through alive, and I didn't land hereand piss on the oak, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.So I put thewheels down.I certainly didn't think you'd be dumb enough to follow me.Thiswas supposed to be a private moment.""Sorry to intrude.""And then I realized, when I heard you coming, that I should have knownbetter.If you are so inclined, Pick, you may piss on my live oak."Page 283 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I consider that a great honor, Billy."As Pick was standing by the tree, Dunn said, "Under the circumstances, Idon't think we should even make a low-level pass over Corey Field, much less abarrel roll.Colonel Whatsisname would shit a brick, and I really don't wantto wind up in the backseat of a Yellow Peril.""Yeah," Pick said."I guess he would.""And the sonofabitch is probably right.It would set a bad example for thosekids."[TWO]Main Dining RoomThe Officers' ClubMain Side, U.S.Naval Air StationPensacola, Florida1625 Hours 2 November 1942The gun camera footage proved interesting; but Pick had private doubts abouthow accurately it represented the flow of bullets.The cameras were apparently bore-sighted: They showed the view as you'd seeit if you were looking down the machine gun's barrel.But that made shootingand killing instantaneous.And.50 caliber bullets didn't really fly that way.In combat, you didn't aim where the enemy aircraft was, you aimed where it wasgoing to be.Like shooting skeet, you leadthe target.Somewhat immodestly, he wondered if the reason he never had any trouble withaerial gunnery, in training or in combat, was that he'd shot a hell of a lotof skeet.That was probably true, he concluded.And true of Billy, too.Therewas a wall full of shotguns in his house.Knocking little clay disks out of the air with a shotgun probably had a lotto do with me being here and in one piece, instead of dead.Or wrapped in twomiles of white gauze, tied up like a goddamned mummy, like Dick.The lights came on.Colonel Porter stepped to the lectern and tapped the microphone with hisfingernail."Gentlemen," he said, "I have to confess-and I am sure that Captain O'Fallonshares my feeling-that it is somewhat embarrassing to have to stand here aftereverybody has seen proof of how Lieutenants Dunn and Pickering cleaned ourclocks."There came the expected laughter.Page 284 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"One final observation, gentlemen, and then we can begin our cocktail hour.I'm sure you all noticed how brief those film segments were.None of them lasted more than a couple of seconds.I hope you understand howthat works.The cameras were activated only when the gun trigger wasdepressed.And Lieutenants Dunn and Pickering only fired when they were sureof their target, when they knew they were within range and were going to hitwhat they aimed at."The students and some of the IPs looked at Dunn and Pickering.One of themstarted to applaud, and others joined in.I wonder if I look as uncomfortable as Grandpa Bill."To the victor goes the spoils," Colonel Porter said."Tradition requiresthat the senior officer present is served first.But I think we can waive thattonight.Waiter, would you please serve Lieutenant Dunn and LieutenantPickering?"A white-jacketed waiter appeared.He was carrying a silver tray on which weretwo glasses filled with a dark liquid and ice cubes.Thank God! I can really use a drink!"A toast, Mr.Dunn, if you please," Colonel Porter said.Bill Dunn raised his glass."To The Corps," he said.Pick took a sip.Jesus, what the hell is this?It's tea, that's what it is! I'll be a sonofabitch!He looked at the lectern.Lieutenant Colonel J.Danner Porter, USMC, wassmiling benignly at him."I think," Lieutenant Dunn said softly, "that that's what is known as'inspired chickenshit.' ""I just hope it means we are forgiven," Pick said."You mean for getting drunk?""We paid for that by being here.What I mean is for cleaning his clock."Dunn laughed, and then his face changed."I have just fallen in love again," he said."Will you look at that in thedoorway?"Pick turned."That one's off-limits, Billy," Pick said as Mrs.Martha Sayre Culhanestarted walking across the floor to him.She looked every bit as incrediblybeautiful as he remembered her.Page 285 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Lieutenant Pickering, how nice to see you," she said."It's been some time,hasn't it?""Hello, Martha.""I'm Bill Dunn, Ma'am.""I know," she said."Bill, Martha," Pick said."Do you suppose you could get me one of those?" Martha said, nodding atPick's tea with ice cubes."It's tea," Pick said.Colonel Porter walked up."Good afternoon, Miss Sayre," he said."It's Mrs.Culhane," Martha said."Oh, God! Excuse me!""My father sent me to ask when you're going to be through with LieutenantPickering, Colonel [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Dunn was a hundred yards away, walking toward an enormous liveoak tree.Pickering unstrapped himself, climbed out of the cockpit, and trotted afterPage 282 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlDunn.He had to wait to speak to him, however; for as he caught up with him,Dunn was having a hell of a time trying to close the zipper of his new flightsuit after having urinated on the live oak."You want to tell me what you're doing?""Officially, I had a hydraulic system failure warning light and made aprecautionary landing.When you were unable to contact me by radio, you verycourageously landed your aircraft to see what assistance you might be able torender.All in keeping with the honorable traditions of The MarineCorps.Semper Fi.""What the hell is this?""Actually, I am planning for the future," Bill Dunn said, very seriously."Fifty years from now.what'll that be, 1992?.Colonel William C.Dunn-anybody who has ever worn a uniform in the Deep South gets to callhimself 'Colonel,' you know.""Billy.""Colonel Dunn, a fine old silver-haired gentleman, is going to stand whereyou and I are standing.He will have a grandfatherly hand on the shoulder ofhis grandson, William C.Dunn.let me see, that'll be William C.Dunn theSixth.and he will say, 'Grandson, during the Great War, your granddaddywas a fighter pilot, and he was over at Pensacola and out flying a GrummanWildcat, which at the time was one hell of a fighter, and nature called.So helanded his airplane right here where this pecan orchard is now.That used tobe a landing strip, boy.And he took out his talleywacker and pissed right upagainst this fine old live oak tree.' ""Jesus Christ, Billy!"" 'And the moral of that story, Grandson, is that when you are up to yourears in bullshit, the only thing you can do is piss on it.' ""You're insane." Pick laughed."You landed here when you knew goddamned well the strip wasn't long enoughfor a Wildcat.You're insane, too."A sudden image came to Pick of Bill Dunn as a silver-hairedseventy-odd-year-old with his hand on the shoulder of a blond-haired boy.And his mouth ran away with him."You're presuming you're going to live through this war," he said.Dunn met his eyes."I considered that possibility, Pick," he said."Or improbability.But then Idecided, if I do somehow manage to come through alive, and I didn't land hereand piss on the oak, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.So I put thewheels down.I certainly didn't think you'd be dumb enough to follow me.Thiswas supposed to be a private moment.""Sorry to intrude.""And then I realized, when I heard you coming, that I should have knownbetter.If you are so inclined, Pick, you may piss on my live oak."Page 283 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I consider that a great honor, Billy."As Pick was standing by the tree, Dunn said, "Under the circumstances, Idon't think we should even make a low-level pass over Corey Field, much less abarrel roll.Colonel Whatsisname would shit a brick, and I really don't wantto wind up in the backseat of a Yellow Peril.""Yeah," Pick said."I guess he would.""And the sonofabitch is probably right.It would set a bad example for thosekids."[TWO]Main Dining RoomThe Officers' ClubMain Side, U.S.Naval Air StationPensacola, Florida1625 Hours 2 November 1942The gun camera footage proved interesting; but Pick had private doubts abouthow accurately it represented the flow of bullets.The cameras were apparently bore-sighted: They showed the view as you'd seeit if you were looking down the machine gun's barrel.But that made shootingand killing instantaneous.And.50 caliber bullets didn't really fly that way.In combat, you didn't aim where the enemy aircraft was, you aimed where it wasgoing to be.Like shooting skeet, you leadthe target.Somewhat immodestly, he wondered if the reason he never had any trouble withaerial gunnery, in training or in combat, was that he'd shot a hell of a lotof skeet.That was probably true, he concluded.And true of Billy, too.Therewas a wall full of shotguns in his house.Knocking little clay disks out of the air with a shotgun probably had a lotto do with me being here and in one piece, instead of dead.Or wrapped in twomiles of white gauze, tied up like a goddamned mummy, like Dick.The lights came on.Colonel Porter stepped to the lectern and tapped the microphone with hisfingernail."Gentlemen," he said, "I have to confess-and I am sure that Captain O'Fallonshares my feeling-that it is somewhat embarrassing to have to stand here aftereverybody has seen proof of how Lieutenants Dunn and Pickering cleaned ourclocks."There came the expected laughter.Page 284 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"One final observation, gentlemen, and then we can begin our cocktail hour.I'm sure you all noticed how brief those film segments were.None of them lasted more than a couple of seconds.I hope you understand howthat works.The cameras were activated only when the gun trigger wasdepressed.And Lieutenants Dunn and Pickering only fired when they were sureof their target, when they knew they were within range and were going to hitwhat they aimed at."The students and some of the IPs looked at Dunn and Pickering.One of themstarted to applaud, and others joined in.I wonder if I look as uncomfortable as Grandpa Bill."To the victor goes the spoils," Colonel Porter said."Tradition requiresthat the senior officer present is served first.But I think we can waive thattonight.Waiter, would you please serve Lieutenant Dunn and LieutenantPickering?"A white-jacketed waiter appeared.He was carrying a silver tray on which weretwo glasses filled with a dark liquid and ice cubes.Thank God! I can really use a drink!"A toast, Mr.Dunn, if you please," Colonel Porter said.Bill Dunn raised his glass."To The Corps," he said.Pick took a sip.Jesus, what the hell is this?It's tea, that's what it is! I'll be a sonofabitch!He looked at the lectern.Lieutenant Colonel J.Danner Porter, USMC, wassmiling benignly at him."I think," Lieutenant Dunn said softly, "that that's what is known as'inspired chickenshit.' ""I just hope it means we are forgiven," Pick said."You mean for getting drunk?""We paid for that by being here.What I mean is for cleaning his clock."Dunn laughed, and then his face changed."I have just fallen in love again," he said."Will you look at that in thedoorway?"Pick turned."That one's off-limits, Billy," Pick said as Mrs.Martha Sayre Culhanestarted walking across the floor to him.She looked every bit as incrediblybeautiful as he remembered her.Page 285 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Lieutenant Pickering, how nice to see you," she said."It's been some time,hasn't it?""Hello, Martha.""I'm Bill Dunn, Ma'am.""I know," she said."Bill, Martha," Pick said."Do you suppose you could get me one of those?" Martha said, nodding atPick's tea with ice cubes."It's tea," Pick said.Colonel Porter walked up."Good afternoon, Miss Sayre," he said."It's Mrs.Culhane," Martha said."Oh, God! Excuse me!""My father sent me to ask when you're going to be through with LieutenantPickering, Colonel [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]