Operation Wolfe Cub: A Chilling Historical Thriller (THE TIME TO TELL Book 1) (42 page)

Eddie shouted in the direction of the kitchen, “Hey, they’re making new plants for these bombs and employing one hundred twenty-five thousand people. I’m gonna to have to tell my dad about this. Maybe he can get a job in his backyard!”

President Truman continued:

“—but the greatest marvel is not the size of the enterprise, its secrecy, nor its cost, but the achievement of scientific brains in putting together infinitely complex pieces of knowledge held by many men in different fields of science into a workable plan. And hardly less marvelous has been the capacity of industry to design, and of labor to operate, the machines and methods to do things never done before so that the brainchild of many minds came forth in physical shape and performed as it was supposed to do
.

“Both science and industry worked under the direction of the United States Army, which achieved a unique success in managing so diverse a problem in the advancement of knowledge in an amazingly short time. It is doubtful if such another combination could be got together in the world. What has been done is the greatest achievement of organized science in history. It was done under high pressure and without failure
.

“We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan’s power to make war
.

“It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July twenty-sixth was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware
.

“The Secretary of War, who has kept in personal touch with all phases of the project, will immediately make public a statement giving further details. His statement will give facts concerning the sites at Oak Ridge near Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Richland near Pasco, Washington, and an installation near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although the workers at the sites have been making materials to be used in producing the greatest destructive force in history, they have not themselves been in danger beyond that of many other occupations, for the utmost care has been taken of their safety
.

“The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a new era in man’s understanding of nature’s forces. Atomic energy may in the future supplement the power that now comes from coal, oil, and falling water, but at present it cannot be produced on a basis to compete with them commercially. Before that comes there must be a long period of intensive research
.

“It has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or the policy of this government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge. Normally, therefore, everything about the work with atomic energy would be made public.”

Eddie leaned over his foot stool, blatantly speaking into the radio’s speaker, “What? You’re making secret bombs to blow half the world up and you’re going to make it
public?
For God’s sake…what kind-a-shit’s that?
Aaaaah shhhh
—that’s Truman for you.”

Chantain poked her head back into the living room while wiping off a dish. “This is supposed to be stuff you like… you’re angry. What’s wrong?”

Eddie didn’t say a thing. He just glared at the radio as it continued with the broadcast:

“—but under present circumstances it is not intended to divulge the technical processes of production of all the military applications, pending further examination of possible methods of protecting us and the rest of the world from the danger of sudden destruction
.

“I shall recommend that the Congress of the United States consider promptly the establishment of an appropriate commission to control the production and use of atomic power within the United States. I shall give further consideration and make further recommendations to the Congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence toward the maintenance of world peace. This is Harry S. Truman—”

Eddie went from being angry to being shocked. He carefully lifted himself from his chair to reach over and turn off the radio. He then slowly sat back down while holding his cane with both hands. “There it goes…that is going to change history for a
loooong
time.”

Doll somehow felt Eddie’s sadness. While wearing almost the same lonesome face as he, Doll got up off the floor to offer him his brand-new spinning top.

Eddie gently took it from his little fingers and studied it sincerely for just a moment. He shook his head, then kindly handed it back. “Thanks, Doll, but you better hang on to this yourself. Go play, okay?”

Chantain spoke out from the kitchen, “Why’d you turn the radio off?”

Eddie didn’t answer. He just kept staring at the radio.

Chantain came into the room, wiping another dish. “What’s wrong? Is the speech over? Dinner’s ready in five minutes…better clean up.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say it’s over. We just unleashed some secret bomb that unlocks the universe…now the President says he wants to make all of the secret work
public
—in the name of
peace
.”

“Oh? That doesn’t sound right…what’s he thinking?”

Eddie got up out of his chair and began pacing the room while stroking his hair. To kill more time, he looked at Doll playing with his toy, then stared straight into Chantain’s eyes with the sorriest of looks. “This war’s not ending.”

“But didn’t the radio say it would keep the Japanese and others from making more war, or something like that? I heard it.”

“No, no, no…you watch. If anything, wars are going to continue…how long, I don’t know…forever’s my guess… time will tell.”

“Time will tell? What do you mean
time will tell
. Sure it’s over, Eddie. Open your ears. Truman said so. Germany already announced their surrender a while ago. It’s over for good.”

Eddie stood in the middle of the living room, tapping his cane nervously. “No…you don’t get it, Chantain. I’ve been there. I know what war is.”

Chantain dropped back into the kitchen clanging dishes. “There you go again, thinking you know everything just because you’ve been there.”

Eddie kept staring toward the kitchen with a wretched look. “Can’t you see? No, you don’t see it, do you. All we do in this country is go out and kick-ass.” He went on, “Then we dust off their clothes, supply them with Band-Aids…get this, Chantain…we give them back their country after that too… brilliant—real brilliant!”

“Well that’s the right thing to do.”

Eddie stroked his hair. “
Sheesh
, what? I’ve got news for you. I bet we give Japan back their country after this is over. Tell you what…Germany gets to keep theirs too. All these little peon countries do is stir up trouble—can’t you see? We need to control the wackos.”

“
Ha ha
, very funny, Eddie. You sound like a dictator.”

“Who said I was trying to be funny?” He pointed to the kitchen with his cane. “What do you think is going to happen when we go blowing up every country in the world then let ’em go? Shit, that’s worse than being a dictator. That’s insane.”

Chantain walked into the living room, wiping her hands with a dish towel. “No, it’s not…it shows compassion, Eddie. Something you clearly don’t have.”

“Oh yeah? The next time an ax murderer comes into our home, remind me to kick his ass, give him back his ax, and send him out the door with an icepack on his head and a cup ‘o warm milk.”

Chantain busted up laughing, “You’re funny sometimes. Don’t be ridiculous. You didn’t even hear what I said.”

As she walked back to put the rest of her dishes away, she yelled, “I don’t know about you, Eddie…sometimes I think that war injury of yours affected you in more ways than one. Why don’t you become one of those new pranksters I heard about. An
activist
, I think they call them.”

“An activist? They’re just fly-by-night, starting a new thing. But holy bajeez, somebody’s got to get it right around here, and it won’t be me…I can tell you that right now. Don’t worry—an
activist
, she says.”

“What do you think America should do, Eddie? Take over the world?”

Eddie sat back down and grabbed up his newspaper. He looked like he wanted to read, but put the newspaper down instead. “We took over the Native Indians, didn’t we? Nobody had a problem with that. You don’t see us signing our country back over to them do you?”

“That’s different, stupid.”

“Stupid? You mean like your activists becoming popular? Where you coming from? Wait a minute…can you imagine that? We kicked the Indians’ asses, and then set them free on reservations smaller than their tee-pees. There’s another problem we have. They’re still scalping us with all their bullshit even now—and you call it stupid? I don’t think so! They’re separate countries now—right here in the middle of the country we took!
Sheesh
, for Christ sake…bad enough…if you’re going to start something, by God, I say
finish it
.”

Chantain yelled back, “You’re getting a little too hot under the collar, so you should really stop it or—”

“We screwed up. That’s what we did…we’re still screwing up.”

“Very well, then, be stupid…Indians are nice people now…we helped them, and you can’t say different.”

“We helped them, all right. We gave them blankets with diseases inside and told them to go home to their reservations and be warm, shit…wait a minute…after the massacres, only the angriest, toughest ones survived. Then we put them on little pieces of land and said, ‘Be good now.’
Ha
!”

Eddie ruffled up his paper in front of his face, carrying on, “Now we got President hair-trigger Truman saying we got king bombs, and we’re goin’ to make the energy
public
for Christ sakes—in the name of peace?! Smoke a peace pipe on that one, my dear.”

Chantain stopped what she was doing. “
Hmmm
, now that you mention it, maybe that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Thank you…none of it’s a good idea. Truman should’ve kept his mouth shut…kept it secret or something. This way he could’ve at least spared us—our children.” He paused, but then he started up again. “You know what else Truman said not long ago?”

Chantain paused in the kitchen looking sarcastic. “Let me see now…that he was a Democrat, and you hate his guts… am I right? Food’s on the table.”

“No, no, no…he sounds so right about what he said now…the loon said he never gave anybody
hell
and that he just told the truth. They just thought it was hell
³²
. He really said that. I heard him.”

Chantain rolled her eyes. “We’re the ones with the bomb, silly, not them. Nothing’s better than that. What could possibly go wrong? Now come on and eat.”

“Didn’t you hear? He’s taking it public—
ahhh
forget it. I’m done talking. Throw in ten or twenty years—then talk to me about it.”

The telephone rang in the kitchen just then. Chantain picked it up then put her hand over the receiver and yelled toward the living room, “It’s Torrance Holt. You want me to take care of it?”

Eddie hobbled quickly to the kitchen. “No...I’ll take it. Hand it over…thank you.”

He went on, “Yes, Mr. Holt…yes, we heard about the bomb. Just listened to it on the radio…I’m glad you’re glad…. what’s the news? You got any? Yes, I know…no…nooo. I can’t believe it.”

Chantain walked away, smiling behind his back as Eddie kept his ear tightly against the receiver. “Noooo, wait, you mean…oh my God, you’re kidding me...yes, I know…I know it’s hard for me—that’s it, I guess…okay then…all right. I’ll keep it to myself…I have to hang up now so I can tell Chantain.”

Eddie quickly hung up when Chantain touched him on back of the shoulder. “Oh, Eddie, I’m so sorry. It’s too bad that—”

Eddie turned around, grinning from ear to ear. “Sorry, what? We get to keep him,
ha haaa
! Can you believe it?
Ha haaa
.
Woooohoooo
! I just can’t believe it,
ha haaaa
.”

Chantain sat down at the table and then quickly dished out the fried chicken, potatoes, and gravy. “Calm down…sit down, will you? I guess I’ll get our you-know-who from the living room.”

She stomped off. “Doll, get your butt in gear now. You’ve got food on the table! I’m not picking you up this time, so march in here on your own.”

Just as Doll came around the corner, Chantain grabbed him by the arm and stuffed him into his high chair.

Eddie suddenly stopped eating. “Hey, easy there. You’ll dislocate the little guy’s shoulder.” He quickly got up. “Here,
let me help you, Doll. Looks like your foot’s caught in the seat…there, that’s better…have some potatoes, big guy. Here you go.”

He continued as he sat back down, eating, “Hey, guess what, little feller? You’re a Coolidge kid now. An official member,
ha
! We’re your family. Ha! A real family!”

Chantain kept playing with her food as if she’d lost her appetite, while Eddie wasn’t quite so finicky with his plate. He got a hold of a big spoonful of potatoes and kept eating like he hadn’t eaten in days. But somewhere between his appetite and manners, he noticed Chantain’s silence.

He grabbed his napkin, clearing his voice, “
Um
...sorry for getting so excited. Did you hear everything on the phone?”

“Part of it…we get to keep him so… that’s great. So
um
—how long?”

“How long? Oh, Mr. Holt said
um
, all we have to do is sign some papers and Doll is—he’s ours for good. I can’t believe it. He’s finally ours!”

He paused for a reaction. “Something wrong?
Ahem
… Chantain…say something because—”

“Oh no. It’s just going to take me a while for it to sink in. That’s all—really.”

“You don’t look too happy. You’re happy, aren’t you?”