CHAPTER 37

   While Nate would have been perfectly comfortable taking a cab, since his car was still sitting in front of his apartment back in Atlanta, he was kind of surprised that Janet had picked him up in one. On the drive into DC, she explained that it was easier than finding a parking space and probably cheaper too. The federal triangle was quite short on parking but, as Nate had noticed, there were no shortage of cabs down there. While Nate accepted his dates explanation with a "go figure" he still found the situation funny.
He gestured at what he had on and commented, "I just never thought I would be going to something like this, dressed like this, in a cab. You look very nice by the way."
Janet thought it was funny too, and she giggled, and then remarked, "well thank you very much and, if I might add, you look very handsome in that get up. My dad had a suit kind of like that only, come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever saw him put it on. My dad hated getting dressed up."
Since Nate knew her father and had served under the man, he could believe that. He also had to wonder, "maybe it wasn't the getting dressed up part? Maybe he just had to pay as much for his as I did for this thing. I'm going to go out on a limb here Janet, and mention, that I had to call my mom and borrow some money to put this little ensemble together, this afternoon.”
When he told her what it cost her eyes got big and she whistled before saying, "God and I thought us women had it bad."
"Not trying to impress you here girl," replied Nate. "If I wanted to do that I probably would not have mentioned a little part about borrowing from mom but," again he gestured to the dress blue uniform and said, "you kinda have to go to a tailor with these things. Like everything else in the army, for some reason, they don't come standard. I never quite figured that out but, then again, I think the Army wants it that way.”
As Janet giggled again and found that she was genuinely amused since, she too was familiar with the army, she watched as Nate reached inside his coat and checked his phone yet again. He apologized for the text but then explained, "it's Sarah again. She's still getting settled in down there in North Carolina." He tapped out a return message with his thumbs and then told Janet, "she still hasn't called her mom. I'm just reminding her again. That should give us a little time before I get another text."
Janet could only shrug at that and told Nate, "I'm not sure I can blame the girl. At the least, I certainly understand."
"If you ever met her mother you certainly would," replied Nate.
That made Janet laugh and when Nate looked at her funny she told him, "well you are probably going to meet mine tonight, so, that will double your wisdom."
Nate was in a little shock but, mostly because of the way Janet put that. He also had to add, "you know I actually think I met her already but, not really if you know what I mean." When Janet developed a disturbed look Nate added, "remember, your old man used to be my CO. I think she showed up one day back at Stewart."
Janet knew the time frame that Nate had served with her father. This revelation made her a tad bit curious, so she asked, "if you don't mind me asking, um, what happened?"
This question made Nate feel as if he had been put on the spot. He squirmed as he thought how to answer and then he said, "well you know it's an army base, right? Well, there was a tank battle." Janet developed a strange expression on her face and then Nate informed her, "and when your parents were done we held an exercise, only we just pretended to fight."
It had the desired effect. Janet laughed and then dropped the subject. Fortunately, as Nate sought, that subject did not come back up again until they had already passed three different security checkpoints around the White House. The line, they had to stand in, was full of people that were dressed even fancier than they were. It was long, slow moving, and Nate had never thought he would see so many celebrities that were dressed like royalty and having to be patted down like they were trying to get on an airplane. Nate even commented on a few of the women's outfits and had to remark, "where would you hide anything in a getup like that?"
When they finally reached the door and presented their identifications to a Secret Service agent, with a clipboard, Janet verbalized her thought with, "maybe I should have called mom and gotten us in another way. I sure didn't expect any of this."
As if her statement had an effect, the agent actually called someone on his radio, and then asked Janet and Nate to stand to the side and wait. Nate actually got nervous and asked, "uh, did we do something wrong?" The agent laughed at him even if Nate was not making a joke. As they nervously waited, Nate began to speculate out loud, "I wonder if all them websites has got me on some kind of no-fly list."
Even if Janet knew he was being completely serious on the matter, she still nervously laughed and, also, she knew something else that he did not. She took his arm and snorted out, "I think you're safe. This has got my mother's fingerprints all over it." Janet turned out to be right.
A couple of guys who were actually dressed in uniforms, that looked kind of like police, took them somewhere in the house. Nate was not really sure who these guys were and found it interesting because he never realized that the White House had its own police force. He also realized that he had no idea where they had taken him but, it did not look anything like a prison cell, so, he figured he might be safe after all. Still, it was actually kind of worse. Nate was afraid to touch anything in the room because all of it looked like it cost more than he would make in his entire military career.
Janet saw the effect and understood it all too well. Once again, she took her dates arm and casually told him, "don't worry. My mother is just trying to intimidate us." Then Janet thought about it a little more and added, "well probably just you but... You get what I'm saying, right?"
This did not exactly put Nate at ease. It did not get any better when Mary Moore actually walked in the room and sent the police packing as if it were nothing. Nate actually wanted to ask the woman, "you can actually order them around like that?" He decided that it was not a good idea and this was probably the best place for him to learn the value of being silent. Besides that, Janet's mother was doing enough talking for everyone.
Mary crossed her arms, looked Nate over from head to toe, and then just said, "so you're the infamous Caldwell? You look a little more presentable than you did at Coven Hill. You know, I've heard of quite a bit about you major."
This caused Nate to cough and Janet to get defensive. The doctor stomped her foot, gritted her teeth, and her eyes spit daggers when she told Mary, "mom!"
Mary seemed confident and even developed a little smile when it was apparent that she had made her point. Nate kind of figured that he was being told, "I can do better than a shotgun buddy." He also had to remind himself that they did have nuclear launch codes somewhere in this building. Fortunately, Mary said nothing like that. She became gracious and told the two kids, "well you two go have a wonderful time."
It was of no surprise to Nate that the two cops had only gone as far as the hallway. They were escorted back to another checkpoint and then vanished once Nate and Janet were on the other side and back in the line for people. The difference between this line and the one outside was that there were no more security pat downs waiting for them. In fact, this line barely moved at all and seemed to be due to the fact that they had more people in here than the building could hold.
This led Nate to another question for his date, "what exactly is all this for? Maybe they just do this kind of thing for the hell of it? I don't know, I really don't pay attention to stuff like this."
Janet was a bit overwhelmed herself and she told Nate, "and you think I know?" She dug into her purse and pulled out the two invitations that her mother had given her the other day. She read what was on them and then put them back as she told Nate, "some kind of thing for an ambassador from someplace I never heard of." Then Janet thought about it for a second and added, "then again, I think I heard something about this on the news but, it's not like I pay any attention to any of that crap."
They finally managed to reach the room that Nate assumed was the focal point for this little shindig. It was as crowded as the lines outside would indicate. This also led Nate to another observation that he had not had much time to think about until now. This was the White House, for Christ sake! Shouldn't it be bigger than this? He now thought about his first look at it from outside and realized the place just looked smaller than it did on television. The inside did seem to be a bit roomier than what the exterior would suggest but, still? It certainly was not big enough to hold this many people.
These thoughts faded quickly when Nate began to think more about who was in the crowd as opposed to how big it was. He actually began to get excited when he realized the kinds of people he was rubbing elbows with. He had actually seen some of the movies that some of these people were in! Nate did not realize that people like that came to things like this. Of course, there were plenty of people here that Nate did not know. He kind of figured they were the people who were important in Washington and he was not much of a C-SPAN fan. Nate and Janet began trying to join little circles of conversation that centered around the movie stars but, Tommy Mack showed up and drug Nate away from one.
Nate actually had to point back to where Janet was still getting to enjoy herself and point out to the former general, "you know I actually saw that girls movie three times. You can probably guess why."
Mack took that with a grain of salt and was actually amused as he replied, "trust me son, people like that are best worshiped from afar. You get to know them and it spoils everything. Besides that, that's not why I got you here tonight." It took a second before Nate realized what Mack had really said and, as Nate thought about it, he realized this did not quite jibe with the first story he had been told. Was there a conspiracy afoot? Nate really began to wonder about that when he found himself shaking hands with a man that Tommy introduced as, "this is Senator Ted Washburn, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.” The former general then introduced Nate and added, "the good major here served with your son in Feyland.”
This really put Nate on the spot because he did not remember anyone by the name of Washburn. Fortunately, the senator did not bring it up and only asked Nate, "I am proud to meet anyone that served. Tell me major, I am curious, what do you think of the war?"
This was another kind of trap and Nate picked his words very carefully as he replied, "well I was chased up one hill and down another by those orc things and, if we can keep them as far away from here, as we can, then that's probably for the best."
The Senator actually nodded in appreciation and commented in passing as he excused himself, "well said major. I couldn't put that better myself now if you'll excuse me."
Nate actually breathed a sigh of relief and Tommy just patted the boy on the back and laughed, "you handled that really good boy. You answered without saying a damn thing. I knew it, you're a natural for this job."
Nate tried to reply and stumbled over his own words until he realized exactly what Mack had said. He then backpedaled and asked with a hint of confusion, "job? Is there a used car lot around here that I don't know about?"
Mack remained jovial as he told Nate, "son, that's about the only job that half the elected officials in this town could get if they weren't up on the Hill spending our money.” What was this guy trying to tell him? Was he saying what Nate thought he was? Nate found that he had a hard time believing that and Tommy let it go for the moment when he asked, "a little bird whispered in my ear and I hear tell that you actually met the Reverend Emmet Shoals. Tell me Nate, how did that guy strike you?"
"Um,” Nate thought about it and then continued with, "he was in a makeup chair." When it was obvious that Tommy wanted more, Nate related the entire story to him, of how they met in an Atlanta hotel one time. Then the he simply asked Mack, "is that kind of what you wanted to know? He was not exactly what I thought he would be."
Tommy Mack was rubbing at his chin and digesting the information. He finally told Nate, "no, that sounds about what I figured him for. So, he wanted you to be a face man. Didn't that tell you anything?"
"Yeah," Nate replied, "it told me I probably needed to go back to the real world. After having been in Feyland, I think I have had enough of fantasy land to last me a lifetime."
It had been hard enough to carry on a conversation to begin with. The constant rumble in the room made it very hard to hear but, when the band began playing 'Hail To The Chief' that rumbling ceased. The music was loud enough to make it impossible to speak and not just difficult. Nate was thankful because he was not sure the conversation he was having was going someplace that he wanted to. He had to wonder how different Tommy Mack was from Emmet Shoals. Both men seem to have designs on Nate and he was uncomfortable with that. The real question in Nate's mind was why did Tommy Mack?
As a voice on a loudspeaker gleefully announced, "ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States," Nate clapped along with everyone else. He was also deep in thought and the only answer his mind could conjure up was that Tommy's interests had a name and it was Kate.