Read Online Quartet for the End of Time by Johanna Skibsrud - Free Book Online

would have assured themselves then, their duty to protect both themselves and the principles they had been entrusted to uphold! (That Congress had eventually given in to the demands, and that the last beneficiary of the Revolutionary War had received his final payment as late as 1911—well, that was beside the point. It had been a different war, a different time, and if a “bonus” payout now was not downright impossible, as it surely seemed to be, it was at the very least—they would have reminded themselves then—inadvisable to make decisions in the present moment based on the grounds of the past.) To be connected to history by a singular narrative line, thrust through the ever-widening circles of history, was one thing—but the trajectory had, always, to be forward! Now, of all times (they would have thought encouragingly to themselves, as they retreated underground), was not a time to look back!
    E VEN MORE DIFFICULT TO imagine was how it actually came to pass, that—a month later—the United States government, led by GeneralDouglas MacArthur, stormed the Pennsylvania Avenue and Anacostia camps, smoking out ten thousand men, women, and children—including at least several veterans of the 42nd “Rainbow” Division, which he himself had led into battle at Verdun and through the Marne. In the weeks leading up to the riots, it had been increasingly difficult for Sutton to get any sense of the situation at all. Not only had she been forbidden to go down to the flats—she hardly saw Alden anymore. He began to leave earlier each day, and return later; when their paths did cross, and she pressed him to tell her what was on his mind (it was hardly like him to keep his cards like that—she told him—held so closely to his chest) he reacted violently. He had no idea what she was suggesting, he said. Indeed, he wished he could say he had some knowledge of what Pace had planned—but he did not. At any rate, he hoped it would be better than what Waters had up his sleeve. Which was (he said), as anyone could observe, nothing at all . Marching around down there—making a fool of himself, and everyone else. Anything , Alden insisted, before turning away, would be better than that.
    D ESPITE HIS PROMISES , W ATERS ’ S first political move following Congress’s negative ruling had, in fact, been to officially resign. But the words had hardly been uttered when he had a sudden change of heart. He would, he announced, continue to lead the Bonus Army—but only on the condition of absolute power.
    I’m going to be hard-boiled now, he told his men after they’d sanctioned his pronouncement with a rousing cheer. If any man refuses to carry out my orders, he will be dragged out of Washington by the military police. To hell with civil law and General Glassford, I’m going to have my orders carried out!
    He ordered military drills, beginning that very afternoon, and the formation of a force of five hundred “shock troops” à la Mussolini’s gang. The Italian leader, who had done so much for the veterans of his own country, had for some time served as Waters’s chief inspiration. Now he even went so far as to rename his men the Khaki Shirts—a move that went over especially well with the Italian element.
    Waters led his Khaki Shirts—Douglas, Chet, and Arthur among them—in their first big march on the Hill on the second of July. That same afternoon, Sutton went down to the camps for what—though she could not have known it then—would be the last time. When she arrived, she found Aida alone with the child. The men had been gone nearly three days straight, she was told. They returned only late in the evening—exhausted by the long hours they spent performing drills on the flats beneath the hard glare of the sun.
    And John? Sutton asked. He goes with them?
    She was not surprised to learn he did not.
    Oh, no, Aida said, and