Red State Hero

I'M BACK

When I signed off last summer, I said I was going to the beach and I would see you in the fall. However, I had a heart attack at the beginning of September which, of course, caused some delay. In spite of the heart attack, Cape Cod Today published my latest novel, A RED STATE HERO which I subtitled, Oil, Money, Sex and Republicans. My wife and I were editing chapters even while I was in the hospital and the result was very good. We have received nearly fifteen thousand hits to date and the book is still being read. The last chapter titled Key West has had over a hundred readers in the last week. The entire book is still up on capecodtoday.com.

Now let me segue into an announcement of a new novel. It's the first in a series of five books, books that are about everything-I mean everything; but more specifically, the first book is about a young boy from the Midwest whose life is saved by a survivor of Auschwitz, Dr. Isaac Gershon.

Nostradamus, according to some, predicted that the world would end on December 21, 2012. The LONG BRIDGE RUNNER is a series of books everyone must read before the end of the world.
On a lighter note, one of the better things that has happened to me-since my heart attack-has been the physical rehabilitation program at The Cardiovascular Specialists in Hyannis. Under the direction of Jason and his assistant, Sharon-Arthur, Paul and Paula, John and Todd and myself have strengthened our bodies on treadmills and stair-climbers and bicycles etc. etc. I have also managed to loose a lot of weight, something I've been trying to do for years, but I won't get into that; I'm not Oprah.

I hope in the year to come that I can turn out readable blogs on a regular basis. My next one will be titled TREASON. Guess what that's about.

Regards, David Rojay

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Chapter 84 KEY WEST

Poetry is many things-the reflection of a mood, a state of mind, a memory, a hope. Often poetry is a place. When a place is combined with history, tradition architecture and a little romance it becomes poetry in itself. America has a few of these places and one of them is Key West, a sun-dappled island fettered to tropical lushness. Aswarm with parrots and wild chickens that commingle with the facades of nineteenth century New England, the place is like a fine wine that owes its bouquet to a process of fermentation. Key West is fermented by centuries of exploration, shipwrecks and piracy. From this fine distillation of myth, fables, stories and facts does poetry grow and in the end the history, the place and the people speak poetry as a matter of course. It was these cadences that Hemingway sat in the GREEN PAROT and listened for. Tennessee Williams came too and between bouts of studification and debauchery wrote many of his plays.

The poetry of Key West is a broad thing with cheesy edges. It is not like the fine tea of Provincetown which is often called its twin. There are bars without fronts in Key West that feature singers braying Willie Nelson tunes ("Maybe I didn't love you half as good as I should have"). There are, to be sure, tonier places, places with garden settings; and there are shops on the streets that sell hand-rolled cigars piled high on tables under the sun. Galleries line one end of Duval Street, trendy galleries, displaying wares not very representative of the place. But more imposing than the town itself, is the huge Carnival Cruise liner moored at its docks; Mickey Mouse starring down from its stacks.

"Quite a sight," Derrick said still straddling his Harley.

"It sure is," David agreed, "It sure is something."

They leaned their bikes leftward and rode up Duval Street. The original plan was to have the buffet at the HYATT but it was $29.95 per and the two millionaires balked at that.

"Let's go see Hemingway's house first and then we'll grab a bite," said David.

So as they rode they kept their eyes open for a place to eat.

"That's it," shouted Derrick pointing to MAGGIE'S. We'll come back here."

The Hemingway House was not what Derrick had expected but he had little interest in it to begin with.

"Professor Corey told me to be sure to come here," said David, "we've been reading OLD MAN AND THE SEA. You know, Derrick, if you had told me thirty years ago I would be going out of my way to see Ernest Hemingway's house, much less reading books by Hemingway, I'd have said you were crazy."

Derrick laughed in agreement as he aimed his digital camera. Dave had made a long journey out of the hills of West Virginia to Viet Nam and back and in those thirty years he had made great strides. He had made money, to be sure, but his real achievement had been to transform himself. He searched out knowledge and self-improvement with a bright open honesty that one could only admire.

Hemingway's house did not impress in the way that the two men had hoped. Its furnishings were staid and conventional. There was no writing room with a view of the ocean and the smell of the tropics, as one would imagine. The kitchen was utilitarian with appliances of the time including a primitive television. They took the tour and learned from the guide that the house had been built by a slave trader. They followed everyone up the steep stairway to the bedroom where Hemingway and Mary Welsh had fought and quarrelled, often over money. She was the one behind the swimming pool in the backyard, the swimming pool with the nickel imbedded in its concrete. Hemingway was reputed to have said, "She spent my last nickel to build this damn pool."

Hemingway had little use for swimming pools and such, he liked to spend the endless sunny days at the GREEN PAROT, a tavern a few blocks away where it was said he didn't talk much but was mighty good at listening. Descendents of Hemingway's cats still lived at the house and they maintained the names of their forbearers, one was called "Gary Cooper" another "Lauren Bacall" and a large tabby was named "Bogart".

Derrick could tell David was a little disappointed after the tour and David reinforced this by saying, "It wasn't what I expected. I mean, I didn't expect a brick house with a brick wall around it."
"I think maybe what we expected," said Derrick, "was more like his house in Cuba. Did you see those pictures of FUENTAS on the living room wall?"

"You mean the OLD MAN AND THE SEA?" said Dave.

"Yeah, that son-of-a-gun lived to be ninety-eight according to the caption under one of the pictures, out lived Hemingway."

Later at MAGGIE'S Derrick had black beans and rice and David had grilled grouper.

"Everything's grouper down here," David said taking a bite.
"Grouper and crabs," Derrick added, "If you go up Daniel's way, up to the Cape you can get cod and flounder and sole and haddock and sea bass and bluefish and halibut and tuna and mako shark."

"And lobster," David added, "all the lobster you can eat."

"And big sea scallops," Derrick said holding his thumb and forefinger two inches apart.

"And steamed clams," David tossed in, "cherrystones, they call ‘em."

"But it's cold up there," Derrick said as an anecdote.

"It's cold a lot of the time I bet," David nodded in agreement.

"By the local standards it's cold about ten months out of the year."

"But they're New Englanders," David said, "and a tough bunch. You know that used to be whaling country up there. The badest cowboy that ever lived was a sissy compared to those whalers. I mean they got in rowboats and killed ninety foot long whales with harpoons; think about that."

Derrick grinned at his old friend's exposition of knowledge.

They were quiet for a while and Derrick paused and looked off as if in the distance. "You know what day today is?"

David looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Dad passed three years ago today," Derrick said with tears welling up in his eyes.

"You know that's right; I had forgotten the date."

"Talking about the Cape, we were all up there the year before dad died and it was cold up there that summer. It was cold every day right in the middle of July and Daniel got dad out to the television station with Caroline."

"That's Daniel's wife?" asked Dave.

"Yeah, Caroline interviewed dad and mom. "Did you ever get a copy of that?"

"Well, I think I did but I don't recall ever seeing it."

"When we get back up to Boca I'll play it for you. You know, dad said some things in that interview that just stick in my head, simple stuff but true stuff."

"Well, that's the way Glenn was-simple and true," said Dave.
They got back on their bikes and rode down Main Street. David caught the nod of Derrick's head and looked over to see the hostess of a sidewalk café sitting on a high stool defiantly shooting a beaver.

They rode back down Front Street, past Truman's winter white house and Derrick wondered out loud why a staid mid-westerner like Truman would pick Key West as a second home.

As they rode on out past the southern-most point, the closest place to Cuba, Derrick studied David's back. David had been the smart one, he had gotten out ahead of Glenn and now he was in the environmental business of all things; helping to clean up the mess that he and Glenn had made and he was doing it for a lot of profit. Thinking about this made Derrick grin.

"I guess," said David as they stopped at the southern most point, "that Truman; he was looking for a little magic."

They turned the bikes around and headed out of town. At the last stoplight Derrick said to David, "We're all looking for a little magic."

A Word of Thanks

I wish to thank the readers of A RED STATE HERO. The eighty-four chapters of A RED STATE HERO received thousands of hits and as time went on the readership grew. For a writer, this is very gratifying.

In the course of publishing this book on-line, I have learned a great deal. Normally, it is difficult to get feedback on an artistic work without an audience. Publishing on-line has given me an audience; in some cases, an audience that cares enough to critique the writing and offer opinions and suggestions. "Ned" has been consistent in this. I also appreciate what I have heard from Mattapoisett and the "Mountaineer" from Connecticut.

A RED STATE HERO is my latest book but not my best book. My best book, or should I say series of books (there are five of them), is titled THE LONG BRIDGE RUNNER. I began this giant writing exercise in 1979; and if all goes according to plan, the first book, subtitled THE MIDWEST, will be published on-line in late January. I hope the people who read A RED STATE HERO will keep an eye out for THE LONG BRIDGE RUNNER.

Once again, dear readers, thank you very much. David Rojay

 David Rojay is on YOUTUBE reading
Chapter 73-REPUBLICANS. (Search: Red State Hero)

Watch David Rojay on the Dan and Dad Show, Saturday nights at 9:30 on Channel 17. Find David Rojay on Youtube, Find David Rojay on Google. Watch the Dan and Dad Show at capemedia.org (The Rojay Show).

To Contact David Rojay: therojays@verizon.net

To read previous chapters from A RED STATE HERO, go to Cape Cod Today's HOME page, scan down to The View From Cape Cod, Click on Oil, Money, Sex & Republicans and work your way back to the first chapter by clicking on Older Posts to go backwards or Newer Posts to go forward.

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Chapter 83 A RED STATE HERO

Glenn's funeral was held in the church he built. Dorothy had been the driving force behind the Mountaineer Baptist Church but it had been Glenn's money. What had been a small brick building was now enlarged enough to be one of Sterling's most impressive churches. It was all the more impressive because of the view afforded by its mountaintop setting. The entire panorama of the town of Sterling could be seen from its southern aspect. The forest on its north side, which often as not shielded Cannabis plants, made its setting seem jewel like.

October can be hot in West Virginia and the day of the funeral was a hot day, although a slight breeze mediated the heat. Even yet, most of the men standing on the steps of the church had doffed their Jackets but these were, on the whole, not Jacket-wearing types. Overall their Jackets don't button over their fulsome girths; but another group of men were in attendance-slender, aristocratic looking gentlemen who wore expensive suits and had gone into the church proper to take advantage of the air conditioning. Among them was the town mayor, various other politicians, the sheriff, county clerk, the publisher of the newspaper and at the top of this pyramid the Lieutenant Governor and his friend, Tom O'Neil, Glenn's long-time financial advisor. Tom would deliver the establishment eulogy. Reporting on all this would be a writer from the Wall Street Journal.
Dorothy did not take notice of who was there beyond her immediate family. She was more concerned with the ceremony of it all. Her chauffeured arrival, her procession up to the front pew and after that her diligent monitoring of the music and makeup of the service.

Amazing Grace was the first hymn, although Dorothy would have preferred it latter in the service had it not been that the Elm Grove Quartet was booked for another event that same afternoon. Had Daniel been there he would have analyzed the quartet's harmonization but later when he studied the videotape he realized that it had a Celtic quality with its parallel fourths and fifths. There was dissonance in places that reminded him of Bulgarian Folk Music but this would have only occurred to him. He was thankful that the hymn wasn't played by a piper as it would have been on Cape Cod.

Afterward the congregation sang Til We Meet Again; Rev. J. Wendell Lloyd, the new minister who had depended on Glenn for half his salary, praised him and spoke not only to his own anxiety but that of the entire community, a community that had for many years been employed by Glenn in one capacity or another, a community that had been a recipient of his largesse. And there were concerns of other kinds-the bank manager wondered if the Reeves assets would be transferred to a bank in Florida and to a lesser degree the pharmacist, the hairdresser and the town's only jeweller had the same kinds of concerns-concerns that were exacerbated by the arrival of a Wal-Mart in Sterling. And of course, there were those who liked Glenn and who would genuinely miss him and there were those stricken with grief but even they thought about money and the consequences of Glenn's death. Glenn Reeves would have been happy to know that his funeral was a ‘must attend' event. Everyone who was anyone in Sterling was there.

Bruce Perry, the best-known singer and guitarist in the Sterling area performed a song that Daniel had written out and faxed to him the day before. It went as follows:

Good Bye, old friend, It's not the end
It's just forever more
And knowing you, you'll drive straight through
Til you reach that distant shore
They'll be country and western, stock cars too,
Cornbread and cat fish and bar bee que
Good bye old friend, it's not the end
It's just forever more
Good Bye old friend around the bend
Lies blessings evermore
And knowing you, you'll drive straight through
Til you knock on heaven's door
They'll be Hank and Ernie, the whole country crew
Hilda, Mansfield and Ellie and little Tommy too
Good Bye old friend, it's not the end
It's just for evermore

Chorus:
Head for the sun, take a left at the moon
Make our reservations, we're all coming soon
Good Bye old friend, it's not the end
It's just for evermore.

Edith was in the back of the church holding her cell phone up so Daniel could hear from his bed but half way through the song she could hear Daniel laughing with delight so she put the phone against her breast until the song was done.

Following this came the eulogies. Derrick talked about the time his father had taught him to drive an eighteen-wheeler on the way to Oklahoma. Jason paraphrased country and western lyrics in praise of Glenn. Daniel's eulogy was read by Tom O'Neil. It made reference to the Plantagenet Kings. One line said, "ermine is taken from the winter underbelly of a wild stoat, a rare and precious thing, like Glenn Reeves' soul." The whole thing was very poetic. No one there understood it, but it was from the depths of Daniel's heart.

Last to eulogize Glenn was Dave Brooks. He recounted the early days, how Glenn had thrown him a life preserver when he needed one the most. He recalled Glenn's pain in his final hours. He recalled how Glenn had said to him, "I don't wish this on anybody."

"You know, I didn't know what to say when he said that and as I was leaving I said, ‘Glenn, you know if you need anything give me a call.' Thinking back on it I guess I said that because I didn't know what else to say. But I want to tell you today that I'd give anything to get a call from Glenn Reeves. ‘Hey buddy; you want to go have breakfast? Hey buddy, you know that well down in Clendenin, Hey buddy, you want to come over for dinner this weekend?' I'd give anything for any one of those calls."

"It occurred to me earlier that Sterling has lost three of its best citizens this week. Joe Cradock, our Fire Chief, a man who spent his life helping others, helping the youth of our town, helping to protect all of us-passed away. And our legendary former Mayor Smiley, the man who paved the gravel roads and fought and argued and cajoled to find a way to finance and build the infrastructure of this town passed away also. And we'll miss them.
Glenn Reeves brought about five hundred jobs to Slone County, five hundred families made a good living because of him. Every business in this town benefited because of him and the tax base generated by Blueridge Gas helped to build more roads and more schools and more of the things that every town needs. But, you know, Glenn stayed out of the limelight. He never ran for anything, he never grandstanded, he was a humble man in the very best sense of the word. That's why to me, Glenn Reeves was a hero, he was the hero of my life just as he was the hero of many other lives here today, a hero of this town and this place, a West Virginia hero, a Red State hero."

A smile flashed across Dave's face when he said that; he hadn't even planned to say it. There wasn't anything political in it, it just came out as natural as the truth-Glenn Reeves, a Red State Hero.
After the service and after the hillside burial over two dozen card tables were set up on the grass beside the Reeves homestead. Lauren, Derrick' wife had arranged all this with the help of her mother, Sheryl, and Billy Peterson and Matty and Matty's relations. They had put white linen tablecloths on every table and set the tables with porcelain, taken from the five sets that Dorothy had. It was intended that the food be home cooked but fearing a large turnout a caterer was added to the mix. By the time everyone was seated, by the time a prayerful blessing had been said a brisk breeze came up and the skirts of the tablecloths blew in the wind, as did the hair of all those present. But still they sat determinately as if their sitting was a gesture of respect.

Key West, the final chapter, and remarks by David Rojay Monday and Tuesday.

David Rojay is on YOUTUBE reading
Chapter 73-REPUBLICANS. (Search: Red State Hero)

Watch David Rojay on the Dan and Dad Show, Saturday nights at 9:30 on Channel 17. Find David Rojay on Youtube, Find David Rojay on Google. Watch the Dan and Dad Show at capemedia.org (The Rojay Show).

To Contact David Rojay: therojays@verizon.net

To read previous chapters from A RED STATE HERO, go to Cape Cod Today's HOME page, scan down to The View From Cape Cod, Click on Oil, Money, Sex & Republicans and work your way back to the first chapter by clicking on Older Posts to go backwards or Newer Posts to go forward.

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Chapter 82 9/11

The first big bridge was south of Fall River. "Huge bridge," Daniel thought it would take a truckload of explosives just to knock out one section. But one section would be enough. If you were driving behind a truck, probably a rental Ryder or U-Haul full of explosives, watch out!"

So he stayed well behind all these and he calculated braking time and all passing possibilities. He visualized a big explosion, a truck loaded down with nitrates, something like fertilizer and an accelerator. The fireball would envelope the entire bridge but it would contract quickly and there would be a slight chance you could go around it. Of course, the most sensible thing to do would be to stop before you got to it. He also envisioned what would happen if these contingencies failed. There would be a big hole in the deck of the bridge, perhaps a whole section would fall out. He could imagine himself skidding into the open space. He could imagine riding the car down as it fell 200 feet into the river. Was there any possibility of survival, probably not but if he was still conscious as the car plowed into the water he would try to get out and bob to the surface. Of course by the time he had run this scenario in his mind he was across the bridge and relieved.

He had projected himself into possible calamities all his life. It started in Korea where he was the only soldier in his RECON Company who carried a tourniquet at all times. He also sharpened his bayonet so that he could cut the tourniquet in two if there were two wounds that had to be staunched. Was he obsessively careful. All his wives had laughed at the door blocks that he used at home especially the ones that he used on the bedroom door. The victims who were killed in the book IN COLD BLOOD would have survived if their bedroom doors had been blocked.

Glenn chided him for being overly careful especially when he used a door block on the guest room at his parent's home. This prevented Glenn from opening the lock-free door and having a good look at what he wanted to see. Jason's ex-wife, the French one, figured all of this out and when she heard the bedroom doorknob jingle she managed to give Glenn little visual gifts. For this she received the blessings of his generosity.

But all this had nothing to do with the apprehension Daniel felt when he approached the Newburgh Bridge. It was a l-o-n-g bridge and Daniel's heart raced from one end of it to the other. He would have to deal with another bridge at Port Jarvis but it was a small one. He would turn left there and take the shortcut along the river down to Stroudsburg. Across the Delaware sat the Kittatinny Mountains. It was a beautifully scenic drive with cornfields on one side of the river, the side with a mountain backdrop. It was here, on the way back from New Jersey with Caroline and Daniel, that he had spied a fat black bear lumbering nonchalantly through the corn stalks.

As he approached the edge of Stroudsburg he was remembering this scene when a pickup truck backed out onto the road ahead. Daniel hit his brakes and was struck from behind by a Jeep Wagoneer travelling 60 miles an hour. The collision threw his car forward into the back of the pickup and he was suddenly folded up inside the accordion shaped wreckage. His knees were bleeding from their collision with the dash. He was in sudden pain up and down his spine and into his neck but still he was able to crawl out of the passenger side door. A Panasonic news camera had been on the seat beside him and he took it out of its case and filmed what was left of the rental then he turned the camera on the driver of the Jeep, a young man in his 30's who was obviously stoned. Daniel was amazed that the policeman who arrived on the scene did not administer a breathalyser test. Ironically enough the ambulance that pulled up took the perpetrator away on a stretcher as he was screaming all the while, "My back, my back, my back."

After reassuring the police officer that he was ok, Daniel was taken to the Adirondack Motel. He struggled to get his luggage and his camera into a room and there he collapsed but not before he had made arrangements with Budget Car Rental to bring him another car in the morning. But when morning came he lay abed in excruciating pain. His neck and his back and his shoulders and his arms and his chest were all tender to the touch.

At the Leigh High Valley Hospital he was diagnosed with multiple soft tissue injuries and a slight fracture of the atomic vertebrae in his neck. A battery of tests were performed to ferret out internal injuries.

The next day he was released with the admonition to "see your doctor as soon as you get home". He was sporting a neck brace. Between the brace and the Oxicoton tablets, he knew he could not drive. Rabbi Weber drove over from New Jersey with his son Joshua and they took turns driving Daniel back to Hyannis.

"You couldn't drive on to Metro City?" Caroline asked.

Her question left Daniel incredulous. "I can't drive to the corner," he said.

"Well, your mother has been calling night and day and Glenn has been asking for you. He asked your mother, ‘Is Daniel coming to see me?'"

But amazingly Glenn was never told about Daniel's wreck. Jason said it was because it would have upset him.

"What the hell is Jason talking about?" Daniel screamed.

Meanwhile in Metro City, Glenn had seen the news reports of 9/11 on CNN and had removed his respirator tube and gotten out of bed and hurried to the nurses' station to warn them of an attack. "They're coming," he kept saying, "they're coming right now."

He was sedated and put back in bed but hours later when he awoke to find Derrick and Lauren and Dorothy and Jason beside his bed. He once again pulled the respirator tube out of his throat and began shouting, "They're coming, they're coming."

Everyone tried to calm him but it was Derrick who finally made him realize that all that had happened had happened in New York; and Derrick seemed relieved to hear Glenn mumble the words "New York" on his own. Then he looked around as if checking for nurses before saying, "I'd like to talk to Derrick alone."

Once the room was clear, Glenn took Derrick by the hand and said, "Son, I want you to get everyone together--Lewis, Sam Warner and Sonny Barger and Ron Moore and Tommy; see if you can find Tommy, and call Lyle and see if we can get everyone together for the last time cause, son, I'm going on down the road. It's time to go."

Derrick said nothing and Glenn looked up and searched his son's eyes and said, "Ok?"

"Yes, dad," said Derrick, "I'll get everyone together."

"And bring ‘um here," Glenn interjected.

"Yes, I'll bring ‘um here."

And so it was after that that Glenn seemed at ease and the nurses said he was doing better and they let him keep the respirator out. And when everyone returned after dinner Glenn seemed at peace, although half asleep in a groggy sedated way. Suddenly his expression brightened and he said to Derrick, "Did you make those calls?"

"Yes, dad, I did," Derrick replied.

"Is Daniel coming to see me?"

"Yes, dad, he's on his way."

When visiting hours were over they stayed in the waiting room in shifts as they had before. Jason stayed until midnight and was relieved by Derrick and his mother. After a while a nurse came for them and said that Glenn was asking for his wife. Dorothy went in with Derrick and found Glenn in a calm, wakeful state.

"I love you, mom," he said as he reached out to place his hand upon Dorothy's.

"And I love you too, son," he said with a smile, "but I want you to go on home and get some rest. I'm feeling better and I'll see you tomorrow. We'll have lunch together; we'll have something good to eat. I guess it won't kill me," he joked.

And so Derrick and Dorothy left to make the long drive home to Sterling where they would sleep a long sleep as Glenn had told them to do. Glenn lay awake after they left. He remembered a visit from Dave Brooks the previous week. Dave had been to a seminar in Washington. "They said, with China and India coming on line, the price of oil will reach one hundred dollars a barrel."

Glenn smiled a huge smile and said, "I remember when we were lucky to get ten dollars a barrel."

As Glenn remembered this, he smiled a final smile. Just before morning, at the time of the cock's crow, Glenn Reeves died. He was at peace and he was alone.

The next chapter, which will run Wednesday and Thursday, is A RED STATE HERO followed by the last chapter, KEY WEST.

David Rojay is on YOUTUBE reading
Chapter 73-REPUBLICANS. (Search: Red State Hero)

Watch David Rojay on the Dan and Dad Show, Saturday nights at 9:30 on Channel 17. Find David Rojay on Youtube, Find David Rojay on Google. Watch the Dan and Dad Show at capemedia.org (The Rojay Show).

To Contact David Rojay: therojays@verizon.net

To read previous chapters from A RED STATE HERO, go to Cape Cod Today's HOME page, scan down to The View From Cape Cod, Click on Oil, Money, Sex & Republicans and work your way back to the first chapter by clicking on Older Posts to go backwards or Newer Posts to go forward.

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Chapter 81 THE GRAND TOUR

August, 2001

Derrick was the first to arrive at the hospital. He found Glenn in a jovial mood making light of what had caused his hospitalization; but Dorothy set the matter straight. "I told him not to go out there and fool with that fence but he wouldn't listen."

She was talking about the fence around the swimming pool which was being removed so the pool could be filled in. Since his heart condition had worsened, Glenn lacked the stamina and the patience to maintain the pool. The heater had to be adjusted, the filters had to be changed and the deck around the pool had to be scrubbed down. Of course, he could have hired someone to do all these things but Daniel had his own take on the matter. He said to Caroline, "You know, a liberal is someone who wants to have fun and wants everybody else to have fun while a conservative is someone who never has any fun and doesn't want anyone else to have any fun. And since Glenn is a conservative, for sure, if he's not going to enjoy the pool he doesn't want anyone else to enjoy it."

The grandchildren who came every summer and partied at poolside would be out of luck from now on. Of course all this had nothing to do with the facts as Dorothy laid them out. "He hadn't been out there over an hour when he came in the house just shaking like a leaf and freezing cold, sweat pouring everywhere. It's a good thing we got him out here when we did. He's a fillin' up with fluid and hardly able to breathe."

"I'm ok, now," Glenn said to Derrick, "They hooked me up to the tube that gets rid of water. I reckon I'll be getting a call from Daniel and Jason; your mom called and told ‘em I was in the hospital."

Derrick had a bad feeling about it all but he didn't say much. He had bought Glenn an assortment of magazines in the lobby and handed them over with a promise to be back in the morning. He intended to get a good night's sleep and contact Dr. Mendez first thing. He wanted to believe the best but there was a knot in the pit of his stomach.

Later back at the house while eating warm peach cobbler with ice cream topping he said to his mother, "I'm glad dad had a chance to see all the relatives."

Derrick was referring to the summer trip that Glenn called his "grand tour". Made entirely by car, with Matty the housekeeper driving they had travelled from Sterling to Florida to see Belinda with a stop in North Carolina to visit with Cheryl's daughter. From Florida they went to Alabama to see Ruby and then in a caravan (Ruby and her family followed them) to Mississippi to meet at Bessie's home; it was a homecoming without Bessie. D.J. had flown out from Marin County, north of San Francisco, and it was quite a reunion with a Sunday evening spent together at Bessie's church, Mt. Bethel Baptist.

Dorothy had never been in such a setting; this was the true home of the Southern Baptist and the church exemplified all their strengths and weaknesses, with a hundred voice choir, a twenty-one piece orchestra and an obese preacher whose topic was "How to have a successful Marriage".

Glenn looked back and forth at the fat preacher and at the thin attractive woman that he had pointed out as his wife and he could not help but entertain questions; but the smiling congregation including Jason, Ruby, Mack and Dorothy did not seem to grasp the incongruity of it all. Glenn did notice that D.J.'s mind seemed to be elsewhere during the service-perhaps in California, a place as different from Mississippi as if it were on another planet.

Later at Bessie's home as they stood around a kitchen table laden with pastries, D.J. said, "You know I'm an architect and I specialize in building churches; at the same time I recognize that the church thing-more than anything else-is a business."

Glenn was nibbling on carrot cake but he stopped long enough to say with a little grin, "Everything is business."

From Mississippi they drove on out to Houston with a stopover in New Orleans. Glenn had never been to the French Quarter, although he had heard about it all his life and he was determined to see it even though Dorothy frowned on the idea. Their last visit had been all business, except for dinner at Popeyes. Dorothy ended up watching TV at the Ramada Inn with Matty while Glenn, Derrick and Lauren prowled the clubs.

"He sounds like Daniel," Glenn said about one of the Dixieland trumpet players; but his real interest was not in Dixieland or in music, his real interest was in the strip bars. Derrick indulged him in this and held onto him as he walked several miles each evening. He was amazed at Glenn's endurance just as Daniel had been amazed in the fall of 1999 when he followed Glenn around the Wal-Mart in Ripley. It seemed that if his mind was on something he wanted to do, his physical powers were heightened.

Houston was hot and muggy when they arrived-very hot and very muggy; but the news was good when it came to Meghan. Her and Andy's catering business was thriving. Derrick and Lauren were much surprised at the progress that had been made. The skinny little brunette with a gap in her front teeth had grown into a purposeful business lady. "We get a lot of Enron business," she said with satisfaction.

Glenn had talked about going to Lubbock while in Texas, "Just for old times' sake" but Derrick discouraged this. "Dad, if you think it's hot here, it's a hundred and ten in Lubbock."

The end of the trip began in Illinois. The Reeves house sitting atop Reeves Hill was all boarded up and Glenn learned that Mansfield's heirs-Ellie's children-were fighting over the property.

"That's a shame," Glenn muttered as he shook his head from side to side.

This humble house in which he and nine other children of Mansfield Reeves grew up was the last structure standing in Scottsville, a place that had disappeared from the face of the earth. Replaced by industrial farming, there were endless fields of corn and soybeans. Even the schoolhouse that the Reeves children and Daniel had attended-the same building that for decades had been used for corn storage was gone. Golden Gate was the same, a handful of houses and a strangely out of place Coca-Cola machine was all that remained of a once thriving village.

As their car sped up the gravel roads to the highway, Glenn felt that the whole place, the whole countryside was like his life "used up and nearly gone". He slept until they reached Benjamin Dickens' and in this sleep he dreamed dreams of youth-farm girls seduced under the Wabash River Bridge, races with the sheriff's cruiser in his fifty-one Ford-the "laws" never caught him, not once. It had been glorious-all of it; and it was ending in wealth and success and sadness, an ineffable sadness, and when he awoke at Benjamin Dickens' farm he could not put the sadness away.

Although he was in bad shape, fighting prostate cancer, Benjamin was very solicitous of Glenn. He could afford to be, he had lived ten years longer. He had had ten more years of selling antiques and writing poetry and supervising the farm. For ten years longer he had loved Lena in a way that Glenn had never loved Dorothy and besides all this he was scion of one of Fairhaven's leading families, a family that went back before the Civil Way. He could afford to be kind and considerate and Glenn appreciated this even though Benjamin's ancient sister, Alicia, struck a raw nerve in him-her prissiness, her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution, her use of German when discussing music-all of it annoyed him. But when she played Traumerei on the piano he was deeply moved. Her rendition of Schumann's melody burrowed its way into his soul and when it was over he lit up in a great smile and said, "That's the music that Daniel used for my interview."

Alicia was surprised by this but touched also to realize that some of the German culture she had inherited from her mother's family had found its way into Daniel's life.

Derrick was oddly affected by the evening's events also and he took a walk with Lauren out to the farm's impressive lake. "This place is something," he said.

The farm, the lake, the massive barn, the grand Victorian house filled with mementos of the lives of Illinoisans. It was, in sum, Derrick realized, what the Mid-West claimed to be. This farmer was no softie, he had fought and been wounded in World War II fighting Germans, the very people his mother had called "Mien Kinder".

A full moon hung high over the lake and reflected itself with splendor. As Derrick and Lauren walked back to the house, Derrick knew he would not forget this night.

When they re-entered the living room, Benjamin was recounting his first meeting with Lena. Benjamin took Lena's hand into his own, smiled at his wife and said, "It was at Aunt Sarah's many long years ago, right after the war, that Dorothy set me up."

Dorothy and Lena laughed softly; Dorothy continued on, "I invited Benjamin out to Aunt Sarah's and I went out there with Lena and we all had lunch together. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we ate in the gazebo by the pond. I could tell that they liked each other right away."

"She was so beautiful," said Benjamin, "just gorgeous really and I commented on her hair, how nice it was and she said that Dorothy had taught her how to wash it in rain water."

"It was an old time beauty secret," Dorothy interjected.

Then Lena spoke up and said, "I asked Benjamin when he had washed his hair last and he got very red in the face and said he hadn't been able to wash it since he was discharged a week before and I said, ‘Well, I'm gonna wash it for you.' And sure enough Aunt Sarah had a barrel full of rain water against the corner of the house and I washed it in the sink with that water and dried it with a towel and started combing it back. He had beautiful blond hair."

"That's the German in him," said Dorothy with a laugh as she turned to Derrick and Lauren, "His mother was German you see, a World War I bride."

"Well, in any case," said Benjamin, "while she was standing in front of me combing my hair I looked up at her. See, I was on a chair, and I said, ‘Are you available?' and she put her hands down on my shoulders and squeezed as hard as she could and then she said real slowly, ‘Yes---- I----- am----- available.'"

Everyone laughed at this; Benjamin wiped his eyes with his handkerchief. "I've written a poem about that day and I'd like to read it to you."

A Midwestern Summer's Dream

Lemonade by the lake
A lazy summer's noon
Poetry read aloud
Beside the green lagoon

Alicia at the piano
Playing Traumerei
The music is so beautiful
It can almost make you cry

"The ear can kill the human heart
As surely as a spear"
That's what Emily said
And Emily is near------Or so it seems
As the hours pass slowly by
In Midwestern Summer Dreams*

At the end of the poem Lauren, posing as always, batted her eyelashes and said, "Who's Emily?"

"Emily Dickinson," said Alicia with great earnestness.

"Is she a relative?" Lauren asked innocently.

Derrick understanding his wife's faux pas said with a voice full of laughter, "Lauren is a big cut up."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later in the week they reached LaSalle. The Reeves' family reunion was the next day.

"She's got her nose out of joint," Glenn said to Derrick referring to the expression on Dorothy 's face. Not everyone at the reunion accepted Dorothy as the Queen Bee, although she was married to the Reeves family's patriarch.

Dorothy's anger was not as much news as was Glenn's falling down again. This fall happened in the vestibule of Cheryl's home in front of the entire family. Glenn refused an ambulance and later things seemed back to normal but they weren't. Glenn was noticeably weakening with each passing day; but he was determined to see things through and only on Monday, after the weekend and the reunion had passed, did he allow himself to be taken to the hospital. A day later, only slightly improved, he began the journey back to West Virginia. His "grand tour" was coming to an end and he knew that soon afterward his life would end also.

Throughout the trip everyone had remarked as to how well Glenn looked. Glenn had had his Grand Tour, he had seen everyone, he had said "goodbye".

The trip had been a success. He managed to speak to every member of the Reeves family at the reunion and from this he garnered much information. Some of those present praised him lavishly and seemed to adulate and flatter. They would inherit the least if anything. Others were quite natural, open and honest. He would consider their reward. The nearness of death had brought great clarity to his mind. If Daniel had been there he would have acted as if Glenn had no money at all; he would have acted like a friend. But Daniel had never been to a Reeves family reunion and he was not missed at this one. On the trip back to West Virginia Glenn thought about all this and he felt good that he had said a proper goodbye to kith and kin. There were some other goodbyes to be said, for sure-to Sam Warner and Reggie and Lewis. "Oh, no," said Glenn to himself, "Lewis is already dead." And he muttered out loud, "Lewis is already dead."

"Yes, honey," said Dorothy as she patted him on the hand in such a churlish tone of voice that Glenn wanted to separate himself from her. He heard his predicament in her voice-in the tone of it. He heard it in the words that were not said, "Lewis is already dead as you will be." It was as if the angel of death had spoken through his wife's mouth. A deep well of bitterness swelled up inside of Glenn as he lay his head on his pillow and called out in silence, "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi."

This was the Tuesday that preceded his fence-mending catastrophe. He lay alone remembering this. All his visitors had gone; all that remained was a barely audible picture from CNN on the TV screen. It occurred to him that even though he wanted to know the outcome of several news events, it was quite possible he would not know the outcome. The world would proceed without him; he hated this feeling. As a man that had wielded control over his entire life he now felt trapped by his predicament. Before falling asleep he wondered what would have happened if I had gone up to Daniel's, "Gone to Harvard like he wanted me to," and he reached further back to ask himself, "Where would I be today if I had not brought on my diabetes through gluttony and excess."

Sam was older than him, several years older, and the last time he had seen him he was at the Plaza Lounge resplendent in a pinstripe suit and navy blue tie. He was in great shape; he still ran two miles a day. Glenn thought about this and rebuked himself. He almost felt like crying but would never allow himself that luxury and so he fell asleep.

That night he dreamt that he was in an ambulance but he could see the ambulance as if he were following it in a car. The ambulance had no flashing lights, the siren was not in use and he realized that this meant the ambulance was transporting someone deceased. That couldn't be me, he thought at which time the ambulance morphed into a hearse, a hearse that carried his casket up to the hillside plot that he had bought for himself and Dorothy. He was satisfied that the hearse had gotten to the right place but when he saw his casket being lowered into the ground he awoke with a start. The room was dark and the clock on the wall said "3:30". He lay motionless for a while paralyzed by fear and then he called information. He was unable to spell "Hyannis" and his call was transferred to a supervisor who located Daniel's number.

When Daniel answered the phone he said, "I know you stay up late so I decided to give you a call."

His manner was very casual but Daniel knew something was seriously wrong. "Did your mom tell you I was in the hospital?" he said.

"Well, I found out when I got home from work tonight but that was just a couple of hours ago."

"Well, I'm here all right," Glenn said, "it's my heart."

"What do the doctors say?"

"Well, Dr. Geralitis said ‘if we work together we could beat it' and I'm gonna beat it Daniel."

But there were false notes in Glenn's voice and Daniel could hear them. "Say positive things," he thought and he began to praise Glenn for the good things he had done in life. "If there's nothing you can do about this then there's nothing you can do. On the other hand you have your life as a testimony."

"You sound like a preacher, Daniel."

"Well, I don't mean to, Glenn. I just don't know what to say. I wanted you to come up here but I don't know what to say now."

"Well, I don't know what to say either, Daniel. Maybe I fucked up."

"Well, what I do think, Glenn, is that you need to get out of that little hospital in Sterling and get into Metro City; better yet, get into Huntington. I know a bunch of the doctors there; I know them from when I was Cantor at the Synagogue. They're probably the best in West Virginia."

"Would you put in a good word for me, Daniel?"

"Of course; I'll make some calls in the morning."

After that they talked about the trip, just enough to be polite and Daniel said, "You know, everyone I spoke to remarked about how good you looked."

"Well, I guess I fooled ‘em, huh?" Glenn said.

"Well, that sounds like a good deal," Daniel answered, "I'll get on the phone in the morning and get a call back to you."

But when he hung up he said to himself, "Why did you do that, you used Glenn's old phrase on him, ‘Well, that's a good deal,' the same phrase Glenn had used hundreds of times when he wanted to end the conversation. But that didn't really apply here. The guy called you up because he needed to talk and you cut him off, wrapped it up, shut it down, you said ‘that's a good deal.'"

Daniel began to make phone calls the following morning first calling Rabbi Weber in New Jersey to ask, "What was the heart surgeon's name that did David's briss; he was one of the best, wasn't he?"

Weber replied in the affirmative and after hearing Daniel's reason for calling suggested that he call the Rabbi in Huntington and see what kind of help he could get. Rabbi Mueller was very helpful and suggested that in addition to Dr. Lowenstein he contact Dr. Turner. Both doctors returned Daniel's calls promptly after hearing that they were recommended by the Rabbi.

"Our Cardiac Unit is much better than anything they have in Metro City," Dr. Lowenstein said.

Having heard this Daniel called Sterling. Jason answered, "You're too late," he said after hearing what Daniel had been up to, "Glenn's already in Thomas Memorial Hospital in Metro City. Everything's taken care of." Jason said this in his authoritative voice, the same kind of voice that policemen are trained to use when they want people to think they know more than they do. Daniel was unimpressed, he had a booming voice naturally, he didn't have to work at it.

It was clear from the rest of the conversation with Jason that he had been excluded from all decisions concerning Glenn. He was angry when he hung up the phone. He felt helpless but Glenn was as much a part of it as anyone; he had always discounted Daniel's opinion mainly because of money or God knows what. There was no perspective in his attitude. Compared to the multi-billionaires of the world, the president of the United States is a penniless pauper; but he's still the president. This reasoning didn't apply to Daniel; he could be an officer of the Jewish Federation, the best known entertainer on Cape Cod, a guest lecturer on musical composition in several colleges and universities, the Cantor of his Synagogue, a writer, a television producer and on and on and on and it meant nothing without money. In this way Glenn was like most Americans and so Daniel let go of it. Ultimately the decisions were Glenn's and ultimately these decisions would prolong his life or take it from him.

From the beginning Derrick was there and Lauren was there and Dorothy was there when she was able and Jason was there. Jason was the gatekeeper, controlling information in and information out. When Daniel was unsuccessful in his attempts to reach Glenn or even his mother, he was reminded of THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. The wise novel by Dostoevsky about death and inheritance and the little war between brothers.

But just as before, Glenn called him. Caroline answered the phone; Daniel was not at home. Glenn began to tell her about the tremendous pain he was experiencing. He was in such pain that he sobbed as he spoke. The doctors had administered Heperin the previous day and it had led to internal bleeding. His abdominal cavity was full of blood and he was in excruciating, mind-numbing agony. It seemed as if Glenn was calling out for help, as if he wanted to be rescued and before hanging up he told her that he loved her. Caroline was stunned.

Daniel was at the studio when Caroline called. "Glenn sounded desperate," she said.

But when Daniel got hold of Jason he was told, "Everything's under control; they'll get the blood out of his guts and he'll be fine but he can't take calls. I know you understand that."

"Well, I understand that he called me; it's odd that he can't take calls."

"Well, cuz, that's the way it is," said Jason, "and I'm gonna have to get going now; I'll keep you up to date."

In the following days the news from Metro City was conflicting. Glenn was doing better according to Dorothy but Daniel had found a way to penetrate the veil of secrecy-a Jewish nurse. She told him that Glenn was failing. She said, "You should come to Metro City as soon as possible; the inevitable result of the internal bleeding is uraemia. Glenn's kidneys will fail."

The next afternoon Glenn was put on dialysis with mixed results and that evening Jason told Daniel, "He's not gonna make it, cuz. Everything is worn out and he's not gonna make it-no way."

This news did not bother Daniel so much as the tone of Jason's voice. He had expected the news but the tone of Jason's voice was full of a peculiar satisfaction.

"Is it me?" Daniel asked himself, "Is that what this is about? Everyone involved is going to die; someday they're going to be in Glenn's shoes. They ought to think about it." But beyond these thoughts Daniel was too tired to struggle any longer. He would rent a car because the old Lincoln wouldn't make it and he would drive to Metro City to see what was going on.

The night before he was to leave he took two Sominex. He hoped he could sleep. He always had insomnia before long trips but that night he slept well even though he dreaded the drive to Metro City. He was in a good mood when he woke up and saw that it was a sunny day. He could hear the birds in the trees above the cemetery next door and he arose with a good appetite.

About that time the phone rang, Caroline answered it, soon hung up and said, "Jason said to turn on the news, he said it was urgent."

The first image they saw was the face of Aaron Brown. One of the towers of the World Trade Center was in the distance behind his head and it was engulfed in flames. A plane, a jetliner had flown directly into it. No one seemed to know what was going on; Aaron checked the monitor to his right and said, "Oh, my God."

The picture switched to the image of another jetliner striking the second tower of the Trade Center. There was a massive explosion this time caught on tape at close range. Something was definitely wrong even though it took some time before the word "terrorist" was used. And then Rudy Giuliani came on the screen and said, "We're under attack."

Commentators and public officials began to talk about bridges and tunnels. This rang all the bells in Daniel's head. There were some big juicy bridges between Cape Cod and Metro City and some tunnels also. As the morning wore on the population was warned against unnecessary travel.

*From Mirage, a book of poetry, lyrics and prose by David Rojay

Due to its length, this chapter will run through the weekend.  The final three chapters of the book will run two days each in the coming week.

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Chapter 73-REPUBLICANS. (Search: Red State Hero)

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