Ben and his friends are enjoying the Sunday afternoon double-header at Yankee Stadium against the visiting Cleveland Indians. They are sitting out in the bleachers past the fence in right field. Bob and Billy are guzzling beer and chowing down on hot dogs with mustard and sauerkraut.
Ben is moving back and forth in his mind between focusing on the game he loves and the beautiful woman who has recently entered his life. He can't totally concentrate on one nor the other. At one exciting moment in the game, all the fans around him, except him, stand up to cheer what's happening on the field. Ben missed the play. Joe DiMaggio had hit a triple to left center field, clearing the bases. At that moment, he was thinking of Rita, who was better looking than DiMaggio. But just a moment earlier, Ben was anticipating the at bat of the "Yankee Clipper."
Also at that same moment, Rita and Miguel are in their American Airlines plane flying back to Mexico City. Miguel is sleeping in his seat on the aisle. Rita looks out the window, lost in thought, thinking of the man she met in New York.
Two rows behind them, a well-dressed passenger named Jon sits alone in his window seat, looking at a dossier titled, "U. S. Army Intelligence Report Number 5767." Inside is a photo of a short, elderly, overweight man with grey hair combed on his right side plus a mustache. The attached document reads:
Name: Julius Karchevsky
Age: 60
Nationality: Belarusian, USSR
Religion: Jewish, non-observant
Education: Ph. D. in Physics from Polytechnic in Zurich, Switzerland; was classmate of Albert Einstein.
Politics: Communist - an ally of Leon Trotsky; was part of entourage that moved with Trotsky from USSR to Mexico in 1937.
Experience: He worked for fifteen years on scientific projects at various universities in the Soviet Union; many had military components.
Currently: He is working on a top-secret research project at the National Autonomous University in Mexico; funded by the Mexican government. Focus of project is unknown, but suspicious. Needs to be further investigated.
Jon closes the dossier and looks out the window.
Later that night, Ben and his friends are on board a train heading home to Oswego. Bob and Billy are laughing, talking, and drinking beer. Ben is not. He's lost in thought, also gazing out the window of the train.
Some days later, Americans all across their country are listening to a radio broadcast which brings frightening news right into their living rooms:
Yesterday, September 1, 1939, Germany unleashed its blitzkrieg against Poland, a country not prepared to defend itself against mechanized warfare. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler said, "Our strength is in our quickness and in our brutality. Be hard and be without mercy." Great Britain and France, because of their treaties with Poland, were forced into the war against Germany. They will suffer greatly. President Benes of Czechoslovakia said, "Freedom will never belong to those who will not die for it."
A week later, Ben is in his classroom at Oswego High School which is full of attentive students. His demeanor is serious and he's trying to be objective. Behind him is a map of Europe.
"As happened twenty-five years ago, in August of 1914, Europeans have started shooting at each other again. The question for us is whether, like in 1917, we, the United States of America, should get involved. Should young American men fight and die in Europe? Or should those same young men stay home and stay alive, leaving Europe to the Europeans? Who would like to comment?"
Many students raise their hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment