Canidy’s eyebrows went up, and then he understood. “I remember,” he said.
“I was your best man. How could you have forgotten? “She’s really a fine woman, Dick,” Bitter said. “I know she is,” Canidy said. “Thank you, Dick,” Bitter said. Canidy was embarrassed. He was being thanked, he understood, for his unspoken promise not to tell anyone, should the occasion arise, that Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. Bitter had not been married when Bitter went off to the Flying Tigers.
Quickly, Canidy said, “So tell me all about your little nest. You got a picture of the kid?”
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Bitter took several from his wallet and handed them over.
“Unfortunately, he looks just like his old man,” Canidy said. “I’m happy for you, Eddie.”
“Come see us, Dick,” Bitter said. “That would be difficult, Eddie,” Canidy said. “We’re in the Willard Hotel,” Bitter said in a rush.
“We absolutely couldn’t find a place to live, so Sarah’s father turned his apartment in the Willard over to us.”
“You get along all right with Sarah’s father, huh?”
“Our mothers are the ones who give us trouble,” Bitter said. 4ioh?)) She’s in and out of mental hospitals. And “Sarah’s is-well, crazy. mine-disapproves.”
“She’s probably sore you didn’t tell her you were secretly married,” Canidy said.
“She’ll get over it.”
“I really would like to talk to you, Dick,” Bitter said. He means about my cowardice in China. He wants an explanation. That’s touching. But I can’t tell him about that. That would violate the Donovan’s Dilettantes code of honor “Tell me, Eddie, did your kid inherit your undersized wang?” Bitter shook his head in resignation, but then, surprising himself, he said, “He can lie on his back and piss on the ceiling.”
“Here’s to a kid who can piss on the ceiling,” Canidy said, lifting his hand high, then, “Eddie, I have to go.” They shook hands again, and Canidy went to the weather-room door to motion to Fine and Ellis to come with him. Whentheyweregone,Wezevitzasked, Oldpalofyours?”
“We were at Pensacola as IPS before the war,” Bitter said. “And now he’s in the Air Corps?”
“He left the service in 1941,” Bitter said. “Now he’s an Air Corps major flying a V.I.P transport for the VD comic-book people,” Wezevitz said.
“Seems like a hell of waste of a naval aviator.” Bitter, not quite sure he had heard correctly, asked, “Sir?”
“What the Coordinator of Information does, Commander,” Wezevitz said, “is publish those “Use a Pro Kit’ comic books they issue to the white hats. Why they need an airplane to do it is beyond me.”
Bitter looked at him curiously but didn’t say anything. He thought it was highly unlikely that the Navy would assign a C-45 to airlift VD comic books. It was even more unlikely that the Air Corps would commission as a field-grade officer someone with Canidy’s record. At the same time, he remembered a cryptic remark from Doug Doug lass once when Canidy’s name had come up, that people should not jump to conclusions before they had all the facts. Doug wouldn’t say anything else, but he obviously knew something else. When I get back to the office, Ed Bitter decided, I will get to the bottom of this. While there’s a hell of a lot wrong with being an admiral’s dog robber, it has certain benefits. When you call somebody up and identify yourself as the aide to a vice admiral, you get answers a lieutenant commander wouldn’t be given. Two hours later, when he walked into the office, the admiral’s WAVE said the admiral wanted to see him immediately.
“Close the door, Commander,” Vice Admiral Enoch Hawley said. When Bitter had done that, he went on: “I’ve just had a strange telephone call about you, Commander. You will consider the following an order: From this moment on, you will make no attempt to contact Major Richard Canidy, U.S. Army Air Corps. Nor will you discuss him with anyone, nor make inquiries regarding him or the Office of the Coordinator of Information. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Sir,” Bitter said. “Whatever this is about, Ed,” the admiral said, “it doesn’t seem to bother you. You’re smiling.”
“In a way, Sir, it’s very good news.”
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