Dragonholder (5 page)

In Agrigento the Kernel's “Sight” saved his life late one night as he was returning from a
staff meeting. In daylight he and his driver had taken the same route they were retracing
late at night when the Kernel had his premonition. Peremptorily ordering the driver to stop,
the Kernel got out of the jeep in the pitch darkness and, walking to the front, discovered
that the bridge had been blown out. He later ordered the bridge rebuilt by Army engineers
and it was known as
Ponto del Caffreo
.

Shortly after this incident a young reporter arrived to get some background color on the liberated Italians. He was directed to Agrigento and Colonel McCaffrey. He stayed on for a long while. During his stay, General Patton started an advance out of Agrigento and was enraged to discover that the road into Agrigento was used by the local water carts. Patton ordered that no more carts could use the road.

Agrigento sits up above the sea, with a road leading in from the sea and road leading inland. All the water for Agrigento came up that one road. Without the water carts, the thirty thousand inhabitants of Agrigento would be forced to leave their town. It would be hard to convince people — particularly the public at home — that, having liberated the Sicilians, the US would force them to leave their homes.

The Kernel made a hard decision. He countermanded General Patton's order and ordered that the water carts continue their operations. When Patton heard about this he was furious. General Mark Clark agreed with the Kernel and so the Kernel's counter-order remained in effect but the Colonel who countermanded a General's orders remained a Colonel for the rest of his life.

To placate Patton, the Kernel was removed from Agrigento. In his place a Navy captain took over and continued in the same tradition. Ultimately the captain arranged to get a bell to replace the town's church bell which had been shattered by the allied artillery. The reporter — John Hersey — stayed on and later wrote
A Bell for Adano
— for which he won the Pulitzer Price. His Colonel Santori is a blend of the Kernel and the captain.

W
hile her father was leaving Agrigento, Anne was leaving Stuart Hall. The McCaffreys are not intimidated by authority and Anne was no exception. She finished high school back in New Jersey, being shunted from good neighbor to good neighbor, becoming as independent in bearing as she was in inclination.)

The Kernel got his spirit of independence from his father, the Irish cop who was so honest
that he arrested John “Honey Fitz” Francis Fitzgerald — John Fitzgerald Kennedy's
grandfather for electioneering. The Kernel went to Harvard with Joseph Kennedy — both
majoring in government.

So it was natural enough that when Anne went to Harvard's sister college, Radcliff, she met Robert Kennedy and went to parties at the Hyannis Port compound. She was partial to him thereafter and his assassination in 1968 was a deep personal blow to her.

Over some objections Anne majored in Slavonic languages and literature — “because the Dean of Women didn't think I was smart enough.”

She continued her stage tradition, performed at the college radio station but found plenty of
time for “real life” — that is, hanging out with friends at various restaurants around
Harvard.

Hazen's was the most popular hangout for Anne — it was on the way from her dorm to her classes. And while Anne sat with her group of friends, Bobby Kennedy sat with his group of friends — mostly members of the college football team.

She was joined by her brothers after war ended for her last two years of college during which
time they were known as “Big Mac”, “Mac”, and “Little Mac.”

A
s the war finished the Kernel found himself working on the details of the military government of Austria. He had interrupted a high-level briefing which General Mark Clark commanded, to report that the famous Lippazaner mares which had been moved to Czechoslovakia at the start of the War were now in danger of falling into Soviet hands. Mark Clark, himself a rider, recognized the importance at once and authorized the Kernel to dispatch an armored column to snatch the mares out of Czechoslovakia just in front of the advancing Soviets.

The Kernel had managed to pull rank on the medical officers from Algiers, where he had his
first coronary, and again in Sicily, London, and Vienna, but he couldn't hide the diabetes
that resulted from the years of intense work, inadequate food, and stress. A severe attack
suggested he'd better resign.

He returned to the States just before Anne's graduation. The war had changed him so much that neither Anne nor Kevin recognized him. They rushed right by him while searching the crowd of returning soldiers.

The Kernel was a man of high standards. Occasionally he overstepped himself. Anne's
graduation ceremony was one rare occasion where he earned the wrath of his wife. Seeing that
Anne had earned her degree “
cum laude
” — with praise — he harrumphed
and said, “It should have been
magna
.”

Anne's mother was incensed. “Who is this man?” She asked rhetorically. “I don't know him.”

W
ell, there now — that was a bit more than a whirlwind tour, wasn't it? I hope now you know somewhat more of Anne as a child and young woman. Perhaps you've also a better insight into how she gets her ideas.

So, where were we? Voice. That's it. Back again.

Again on voice — as a little girl, when Anne wasn't going to be a writer, rider, or
movie star, she was going to be a singer. As a child, she'd belt out songs when she was
looking for attention. As she got older, her interests firmed.

At Stuart Hall she was the Major General in Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Pirates of Penzance
, at Radcliff it was Oscar Wilde, Sartre, and Chekov. Anne didn't just sing and act, she tried to write an operetta based on the Irish
The Dream of Angus
and wrote a whacky song of which only this fragment remains:

“Chickory, chiggery chill

there's an awful lot of coffee in Brazil!”

 

A
nne also added her voice to several radio plays on the local Radcliff radio network.

After Anne graduated, she worked through a number of secretarial jobs in New York City until she secured a job at Liberty Music Shops — as an advertising copy layout artist. Anne roomed with a radio actress and commercial writer, Betty Wragge of
Pepper Young's Family
, in an apartment catty-cornered from Carnegie Hall and dated a concert pianist. Customers at the Liberty Music Shops included Rita Hayworth, Raymond Massey, Merle Oberon, and Tallulah Bankhead.

Tallulah was the most memorable. Anne was in the elevator with her and her boyfriend when the salesman mentioned that the new record players could play four and a half hours of music. Tallulah turned to her boyfriend with a twinkle in her eye and asked in sultry tones, “Dahling, do you think that will be long enough?”

In the summer, Anne did more theatre work with the Lambertsville Music Theatre — the
first of the many tent theatres that became popular in the early 1950's. Anne worked with
Wilbur ‘Wib' Evans, helping him to scale down operettas for smaller casts and choruses so
that there would be a minimum number of people on the stage. But a stage wage was not as
steady as her regular work, so Anne wrote off thoughts of a career on Broadway.

Wib and his wife, Susanna Foster, were some of the many people who were constantly introducing Anne to eligible bachelors. But it was still another elder couple who introduced her to the handsome journalist who also had a penchant for music, opera, and ballet. He loved the
Beggar's Opera
and wooed her with it. When H. Wright Johnson proposed in September 1949, Anne accepted.