The admiral finally made it onto the wharf, and Pickering raised his head above it.
“Ten-hut,” an Army Signal Corps lieutenant called out. “Pre-sent, H-arms!”
Two Marine lieutenants and a Marine sergeant, forming a small line, saluted. The rear admiral, looking a little confused, returned the salute.
That’s not for you, you jackass.
Pickering climbed onto the wharf and returned the salute.
“How are you, Pluto?” he said to First Lieutenant Hon Song Do, Signal Corps, U.S. Army, and put out his hand.
“Welcome home, General,” Pluto said, smiling broadly.
Pickering turned to a tall, thin, pale Marine second lieutenant, and touched his shoulder.
“Hello, John,” he said. And then, turning to the other lieutenant and the sergeant standing beside him, he added, “And look who that is! You two all right?” Pickering asked as he shook their hands.
“They let us out of the hospital yesterday, Sir,” Sergeant Stephen M. Koffler, USMCR, said. Koffler’s eyes were sunken… and extraordinarily bright. His face was blotched with sores. His uniform hung loosely on a skeletal frame.
That was obviously a mistake. You look like death warmed over.
“We’re fine, Sir,” First Lieutenant Joseph L. Howard, USMCR, said.
Like hell you are. You look as bad as Koffler.
“I’m going to have a baby,” Sergeant Koffler said.
“Damn it,” Lieutenant Howard said. “I told you to wait with that!”
“Funny, you don’t look pregnant,” Pickering said.
“I mean, my girl. My fianc‚e,” Koffler said, and blushed.
“Koffler, damn it!” Lieutenant Howard said.
Pickering looked back at Second Lieutenant John Marston Moore, USMCR, and asked, “What’s that rope hanging from your shoulder, John?”
“That’s what we general officer’s aides wear, General,” Moore said.
You don’t look as bad as these two, but you look like hell, too, John. God, what have I done to these kids?
“And you will note the suitably adorned automobile,” Hon said.
Not far away was a Studebaker President, with USMC lettered on the hood. A red flag with a silver star was hanging from a small pole mounted on the right fender.
“I’m impressed,” Pickering said. “How’d you know I was coming?”
“McCoy sent a radio,” Hon said.
“Have you got any luggage, Sir?” Koffler asked.
“Yes, I do, and you keep your hands off it. Hart’ll bring it.” He looked at Hon. “Where are we going, Pluto?”
“Water Lily Cottage, Sir,” Hon replied, as if the question surprised him. “I thought…”
“Who’s living there now?”
“Moore, Howard, and me. We found Koffler an apartment, so called, a couple of blocks away.”
“And Mrs. Feller?”
“She’s in a BOQ,” Pluto Hon said uncomfortably. “General, when we have a minute, there’s something I’ve got to talk to you about-”
“Major Banning already has,” Pickering said, cutting him off, then changed the subject. “We’re all not going to fit in the Studebaker.”
“We have a little truck, Sir,” Moore said, pointing.
“OK. Koffler: You wait until Sergeant Hart comes ashore with the luggage and then show him how to find the cottage.”
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
“I’ll see you there. I want to hear all about Buka.”
Pluto Hon slipped behind the wheel, and Howard moved in beside him. Moore got in the back beside Pickering-somewhat awkwardly, Pickering noticed, as if the movement were painful.
Howard turned. “General, I’m sorry about Koffler. I told him not to say anything….”
“Well, if I was going to have a baby, I think I’d want to tell people. What was that all about, anyway?”
“It’ll keep, Sir,” Moore said. “We have it under control.”
“I want to hear about it.”
“You remember the last night, Sir, in the big house? Before we went to Buka?” Howard said.
“The Elms, you mean?” Pickering asked.
When MacArthur had his headquarters in Melbourne, Pickering rented a large house, The Elms, in the Melbourne suburbs. After MacArthur moved his headquarters to Brisbane, Pickering rented a smaller house, Water Lily Cottage, near the Brisbane racetrack.
“Yes, Sir. And you remember the Australian girl, Daphne Farnsworth?”
“Yeoman Farnsworth, Royal Australian Navy Women’s Reserve,” Pickering said. “Yes, I do. Beautiful girl.”
“Has a weakness for Marines, I’m sorry to say,” Pluto said. “I can’t imagine why.”
“The lady is in the family way, General,” Moore said, not amused. “It apparently happened that last night at The Elms.”