Read Online Lucky Bastard by Charles McCarry - Free Book Online Page B

Danny said.
    He ordered a boilermaker and drank it down in a gulp, then swept Cindy onto the dance floor. The tune was “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” Danny was a terrific dancer. He held her close, whirling theatrically to the music. Fred and Ginger. It was all a joke—a signal, Cindy knew, that Danny did not want to get serious on his last night home.
    As soon as they sat down, Danny called for another boilermaker. Cindy did not usually drink, but tonight she had two or three gin-and-Squirts—a lady’s drink, the bartender said. Jack drank Coca-Cola as usual. Danny was soon quite drunk, and as the evening wore on he became steadily drunker.
    Danny, doing imitations of friends and teachers, told stories about their high school days. He made them laugh.
    Finally Cindy interrupted. “I don’t want to talk about the past,” she said.
    Danny said, “Is that right? Well, let me tell you something, Cindy. I don’t want to talk about the future.”
    â€œI know you don’t. That’s why Jack is here. Will you listen to him?”
    â€œI know what Jack has to say,” Danny said. “It’s an immoral war. The U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines are just one big lynch mob, napalming the poor harmless Viet Cong who never did nobody no harm. It’s my duty to oppose this war, not take part in it. We’ve got to oppose the system in order to change it. Right, Jack?”
    Jack said, “You seem to understand the issues.”
    Danny reached across the table and grasped Jack’s lapel, pulling him toward him. “What I understand, Jack, is that all that’s just a bunch of bullshit,” he said. “You and your pals don’t give diddly-squat what happens to the Vietnamese or anybody else except yourselves. You don’t want to go because you’re afraid to go. You think you’re too good to go. Too noble, too fine, too educated, too fucking valuable. Every time you open your mouths you tell the whole world how much better you are than everybody else. That’s why you’re so willing to let the niggers and the white trash die for you. ‘This guy didn’t even finish high school, so blow him up—it isn’t like he’s got a future anybody would want to live through anyway.’”
    â€œDanny,” Jack said, “that’s fascist propaganda and you know it.”
    â€œYeah? Well, I guess I’ve been brainwashed into a fascist by the army.”
    â€œYou said it, not me. Let’s talk sensibly for a minute, okay?”
    â€œSo you can tell me what?” Danny said. “That only a bonehead like me would go to a war like this? That I can get out of it just like you did, no sweat? All you have to do is lie, cheat, and let some other poor dumb son of a bitch be a war criminal on my behalf? No thanks.”
    â€œDanny, it’s the government that’s lying and cheating and sending young men to useless deaths. Why should you be one of them? You’re worth your weight in moral gold. Don’t let Nixon murder you.”
    â€œNixon?” Danny said. “How about your old man? He started it, right?”
    Jack jumped as if he had been struck. Color drained from his face. He said, “Thanks, Danny.”
    Cindy was puzzled by Jack’s reaction. Danny had kept Jack’s fantasy about his parentage a secret from her.
    â€œSorry, Jack,” Danny said. “That was a low blow. But I just don’t want to hear any more crap about this. I’ve been listening to it for four years at Kent State. Those fuckers aren’t conscientious objectors who can’t bring themselves to kill. They want the other side to win—that’s what they really want. And I don’t want to listen to it on my last night with you two.”
    â€œDanny,” Jack said. “Nobody’s asking you to join the Movement. Just don’t get yourself killed for the wrong reasons. That’s all Cindy