and Jeremiah will bring Marjorie with him when he drives up here.”
“ ‘Things to do up here,’ ” Oliver parroted. “Presumably including dealing with the drunk-on-duty Captain John S. Oliver, Jr.?”
“Among other things, yeah,” Lunsford said.
“I’m sorry, Father, for what that’s worth.”
“You should be, buddy, and no, it’s not worth much.”
“Shit,” Oliver said, and took a pull at his beer.
“On the way down there, Marjorie said she was going to see the Goddamned Widow and give her a piece of her mind for abusing Poor, Dear Johnny, driving him to the bottle.”
“Oh, God, no!” Oliver said. “Did she?”
“At the last moment, according to Jack, wisdom prevailed. They went to see the Goddamned Widow, but neither side invoked the name of John Oliver.”
“You stuck your neck out pretty far flying Marjorie down there,” Oliver said.
“We got away with it,” Lunsford said. “By the skin of our teeth, as it turned out. When we parked at Cairns, Jeremiah—he was giving a Mohawk dog-and-pony show to some brigadier from Hood—parked right next to us. If he had known Marjorie—”
“Jesus!” Oliver said. “He hates being called Jeremiah—as you obviously know.”
“How long do you think it will take the team to start calling him ‘Aunt Jemima’?” Lunsford asked. “He’s got a tough skin. I did my best to piss him off, and couldn’t.”
“He’s a good man,” Oliver said.
“Anyway, I figured I owed Jack for saving your ass. And he’s going to Buenos Aires on Friday. He’s entitled to a little time with his bride.”
“Yeah,” Oliver agreed.
“What are you going to do about the Goddamn Widow, Johnny?” Lunsford asked.
Oliver met his eyes but didn’t respond.
“The bottom line is that I’m wondering if I can trust you to handle things in Buenos Aires,” Lunsford said.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t,” Oliver said. “If I were you, Father, I would have turned me in to Hanrahan.”
“No, you wouldn’t have,” Father said. “And I need you, Johnny. But you’ve got to settle this Goddamn Widow business once and for all.”
“You ever been in love?” Oliver asked.
“A hundred times, which probably means never.”
“This is my first time,” Oliver said. “It sneaks up on you, then whacks you in the back of the head. I can’t believe the effect it’s had on me.”
“The other option, of course, is to take off the suit, settle down in a vine-covered cottage by the side of the road, and start spending your money.”
“I’m a soldier, Father.”
“Soldiers—good soldiers—don’t get shitfaced when they’re supposed to go on duty.”
“Yeah. That thought has occurred to me more than once in the last couple of days.”
“I can’t let this hang in the breeze, Johnny,” Lunsford said. “You have to get off the dime.”
“All suggestions gratefully accepted.”
“Jack will be back here tomorrow or the day after,” Lunsford said. “I’ll send you to Rucker in the L-23 to ‘check on the L-19.’ While you’re there, go see her and get this settled, once and for all.”
Oliver looked at him but did not reply.
“Option Two,” Lunsford said. “I can probably arrange for you to take that assignment with the Air Mobile Division at Benning.”
“Pass the problem of the lovesick drunk to someone else?”
“I can’t deal with it, Johnny. If I can’t have you bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and sober, I don’t want you,” Lunsford said.
They exchanged looks again.
“How does the Goddamned Widow feel about Benning?” Father asked. “Is she pissed because you came here, or with you being in the Army, period?”
“Me being in it, period. She says she can’t go through having another husband blown away—put Allan through that again.”
“It’s up to you, pal,” Lunsford said. “When Jack brings the L-23 back, you can go to Rucker with the understanding that if you can’t get your act together, you’re out of here.”
Oliver nodded.
“What have I got to lose?” Oliver said. “Thank you, Father.”
“There is yet another option,” Father said. “Which I don’t think will interest you.”
“Which is?”
“I have been satisfying my carnal hungers with the Puerto Rican nurse in C-27.”
“Good for you.”
“She has a roommate,” Lunsford said. “Who has expressed an interest in you.”
“Bullshit.”
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Lunsford said. “I’m headed there now. Maybe a little piece—i-e piece—would relieve the pressure on your gonads and clear your brain.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“I’m desperate, pal. I don’t want to lose you.”
Oliver looked at him for a long moment.
“For the absolutely last time,” Oliver said finally. “I’ll try to get her on the phone. And if what I think will happen happens, I’ll join you in C-27.”