"And if you want, you can tell Billy I told you that, and on my word as a Marine officer, I'll confirm it. Or you can be a good Marine officer and keep that between us."

"Yes, sir," Pick said.

"See you on the parade ground, Major," Dawkins said, and pushed the door with his hand to swing it open. It didn't, and he pushed harder, and this time it swung outward.

Captain McGowan was standing there. Mrs. Babs Mitch.e.l.l was standing behind him.

"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l," General Dawkins said, holding open the door. "Please come in. I was just leaving."

"Am I interrupting anything?" Mrs. Babs Mitch.e.l.l asked.

"No, you're not," Dawkins said. "We have concluded our business. Good afternoon, ma'am."

Mrs. Babs Mitch.e.l.l entered the room. General Dawkins went through the door and it swung closed after him.

"Was it all right that I came without calling first?" Babs Mitch.e.l.l asked.

No. Jesus Christ, those eyes!

"Of course. The general got me out of a poker game at just the right time."

"Excuse me?"

"I was playing poker at the club," Pick said, and pulled the thick wad of bills from his bathrobe pocket. "And I was way ahead, and wanted to quit, but couldn't think of a way to."

Jesus Christ, I'm babbling!

"Oh," she said, obviously confused. Then she asked, "You won all that money?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," she said. "How about you?"

I'm just trying to sort out that I'm going to get a Navy Cross I absolutely don't deserve but have to take for the good of the Corps, but that's all right, because I didn't get the Navy Cross Billy Dunn got, even though I deserved it more than he did.

And when I saw you, my heart jumped.

In addition to which, I learned, just before I went to the club to play poker so that I wouldn't have to think about it, that Jeanette's body is already here. A day early. Flown to the States, probably because of Dad, as cargo in a Lockheed Constellation Constellation of Trans-Global Airways. Too late to reschedule the welcoming ceremony, of course, so that will be held tomorrow, as per schedule. And I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to handle that. of Trans-Global Airways. Too late to reschedule the welcoming ceremony, of course, so that will be held tomorrow, as per schedule. And I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to handle that.

Aside from that, everything's just hunky-dory.

"I'm fine."

"You look a little funny, Pick," Babs said. "Are you sure?"

When she looks at me that way . . .

"I'm fine."

The door swung inward, and General Dawkins walked back in.

"Excuse me," he said.

"Is it too much to hope there's been a change in the schedule?" Pick asked.

"There may be," Dawkins said. "Depending on Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l."

"I don't understand," Babs said.

"Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l, Captain McGowan tells me that you haven't received your husband's decorations," Dawkins said.

"I told . . . whatever his name is, the next-of-kin officer, that I would prefer to get them later, that I wasn't up to two ceremonies, the funeral, and that," she said.

"If you don't like this idea, just say no. I a.s.sure you I'll understand," Dawkins said. "This afternoon, there is going to be a retreat parade at Camp Pendleton, during which a number of Marines are to be decorated-"

"Oh, I don't think so, General," Babs interrupted.

"-including Major Pickering," Dawkins went on, "who will receive the Navy Cross."

Babs looked at Pick.

Oh, Christ, don't look at me that way!

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

"He didn't know until I told him just now," Dawkins said.

"What are you proposing, General Dawkins?" Babs Mitch.e.l.l asked. "That I get d.i.c.k's medals at the parade? "

"Yes, ma'am. That's just what I am suggesting."

"Thank you, but no, thank you," she said.

"I understand," Dawkins said.

"Pick, what do you think?" Babs asked, looking into his eyes. "Wouldn't I be out of place?"

I really wish you wouldn't turn to me for advice, Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l, he thought. he thought. I'm the last sonofab.i.t.c.h in the world who should be offering advice to you. I'm the last sonofab.i.t.c.h in the world who should be offering advice to you.

"No. No, you wouldn't be out of place. You're ent.i.tled to d.i.c.k's medals. And getting them at a retreat parade would be something you'd remember the rest of your life."

She exhaled audibly.

"Maybe you're right," Babs said, and turned to Dawkins. "All right, General. What do I have to do?"

"I'm going to send an officer to escort Major Pickering, " Dawkins said. "Would you like him to pick you up, too, and take you out to Pendleton?"

She thought a moment.

"Yes. That would probably be best. What time?"

"The retreat parade starts at 1700, which means you'd have to leave San Diego at, say, 1600."

She looked at her watch. "That doesn't give me much time to dress. Simple black dress, hat, and gloves?"

"Spoken like a true Marine officer's wife," Dawkins said. And then heard what he had said. "That was intended to be a compliment, Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l."

"And I took it as one," Babs Mitch.e.l.l said. "That's what I was, until recently-a Marine officer's wife."

She put her hand on Pick's arm. The warmth of her fingers immediately went through the thin hospital bathrobe.

You really have absolutely no idea what you're doing to me, do you?

"I'll see you in a little while," she said. "I'm relying on you to get me through this. The escort officer will pick you up first, and then me, right?"

"I think that would be best," General Dawkins said.

When she took her hand from Pick's arm and headed for the door, Captain McGowan pushed it open and held it open as she pa.s.sed through it, and then General Dawkins followed. Then he went through it and it swung shut.

Major Pickering stared at it for a long time, until he realized he was holding his arm where Mrs. Babs Mitch.e.l.l had held it.

Then he said, "s.h.i.t!" and went to his bedside table and took out a bottle of Listerine mouthwash, which he had had the foresight to fill with scotch in the Officers' Club, and took a long pull, and then another.

[SIX].

THE PARADE GROUND MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP JOSEPH H. PENDLETON, CALIFORNIA 1710 2 NOVEMBER 1950.

Brigadier General Clyde W. Dawkins, USMC, rose from his chair in the reviewing stand and walked to the lectern at the forward edge. He tapped the microphone with his finger, which caused the loudspeakers mounted on poles to pop loudly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, Marines," General Dawkins began. "Two of the officers to be decorated today recently flew together off the aircraft carrier USS Badoeng Strait. Badoeng Strait. One of them is here only in spirit. His decorations will be accepted by his widow." One of them is here only in spirit. His decorations will be accepted by his widow."

There was a sudden, rapidly-growing-in-volume roar of aircraft engines.

Three Corsairs in a V formation appeared low in the sky, and then three more, and then three more.

They flew no more than five hundred feet above the parade ground and then began to pull up. The center Corsair in the third V applied FULL MILITARY EMERGENCY POWER, increased the angle of his climb, and changed course to the right, left the formation, and disappeared into the sky.

General Dawkins again addressed the parade.

"Marines to be decorated, front and center!" he barked.

The band began to play "The Marines' Hymn."

[SEVEN].

THE OCEAN VIEW APARTMENTS 1005 OCEAN DRIVE SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 1850 2 NOVEMBER 1950.

"Would you like to come in for a minute, Pick?" Mrs. Babs Mitch.e.l.l asked as the Marine-green Chevrolet pulled into the driveway.

I would gladly sell my soul to Satan, or whoever else would have it, to go up there with you and never come out.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm a little weary. Call me?"

"Of course."

The escort officer walked Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l to the lobby, watched through the gla.s.s door until she got on the elevator, and then walked back to the staff car and got in beside Major Pickering.

"You all right, sir?"

"No. But I will be just as soon as we get to the bar in the Coronado Beach Hotel and I have a pick-me-up. Or three."

"Sir, my orders are to make sure you make it safely back to the hospital."

"Screw your orders," Pick said. "If General Dawkins finds out-and I can see no reason why he should-I'll take the heat. Sergeant, the Coronado Beach Hotel."

"Aye, aye, sir," the sergeant driving said.

[EIGHT].

AIR CARGO TERMINAL TRANS-GLOBAL AIRWAYS LINDBERGH FIELD SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 2025 2 NOVEMBER 1950.

"I'm not sure about this, ma'am," the a.s.sistant station manager said to Mrs. Babs Mitch.e.l.l. "He said I wasn't to let anybody in here."

"It's all right," Babs said. "We're friends."

"If you say so," the a.s.sistant station manager said, and put his key to the lock in the metal door in the hangar door.

Babs stepped through it.

There were lights in the hangar, but they were mounted high against the roof, and the hangar was crowded with pallets of air freight waiting for shipment-most of it, she saw, addressed to "Transportation Officer, 1st MarDiv, Korea"-and it was some time before she saw him.

He was standing with his hands on his hips-looking oddly belligerent-before a coffin shipping case in a far corner of the hangar.

She watched for more than a minute, and he didn't move.

She didn't want him to hear her coming across the gritty concrete, so, standing on one leg at a time, she took off her shoes before she walked to him.

And he didn't sense her presence-which surprised her-until she touched his arm.

"Hey, Pick," she said. "How are you doing?"

"How the h.e.l.l did you find me?"

"Well, I was worried about you, so I went to the hospital and you weren't in your room, and you weren't in the Officers' Club, and then I remembered hearing on the radio that her . . . her . . ."

"Jeanette's body?"

"Yeah. Jeanette's body Jeanette's body would be formally received, or whatever they said, in the morning. And I thought that maybe it had come in early, and you might be out here. So I called up and asked for you, and he said you weren't here, but I could tell he was lying, so I came out. Wrong move?" would be formally received, or whatever they said, in the morning. And I thought that maybe it had come in early, and you might be out here. So I called up and asked for you, and he said you weren't here, but I could tell he was lying, so I came out. Wrong move?"