Read Online The Kitchen Readings by Michael Cleverly - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Cleverly
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remains wired, the blades on the overhead fan are the rotors of a gunship, unexpected sounds suggest danger. On his second morning on Bali, Loren was startled awake at 4:00 A.M . to the sounds of battle. Was it in his head? No, it was in the room. There was Hunter, standing by the door with one of his high-tech tape recorders playing, at full volume, the war in Vietnam. Loren was less than amused. Hunter thought it was funny as hell.
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Hunter had flown to Bali with a beautiful blonde. In the blondeâs makeup case was a jar of face powder. Not really. The jar was full of organic mescaline; the two look much the same. The three of them spent the next week on the beach consuming it. Hunter had missed the battle but made it to the after party.
Hunter and Loren, more than a few years after their adventures at war.
GRENADA: THE GREAT WRITER, THE HAND, AND THE FIGHT
Loren Jenkins was the only journalist to bring a date to the invasion of Grenada. In October of 1983 he was working for the Washington Post. When the United States invaded Grenada, the Post sent Loren to Barbados, which was the closest you could get to the island after the initial wave of Marines moved in. The navy kept the press away for four days after the invasion, and then would fly in groups on C130s for three or four hours at a time.
The invasion followed the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. The soldiers who invaded Grenada had been heading for Lebanon and were diverted to the island. Loren thought the whole thing was a face-saving move to secure a victory after the tragic loss of 241 lives to Hezbollah terrorists.
Loren Jenkins at the Floridita Bar in Havana, drinking with a statue of Ernest Hemingwayâwhich is not at all like drinking with Hunter, Braudis, and Cleverly.
Still, on October 13 there had been a bloody coup on the island led by Marxist Barnard Coard, who then installed himself as deputy prime minister, with crony Maurice Bishop as prime minister. This didnât sit well with the Reagan administration, or jibe with its war on communism. When improvements were started on the Grenada airport, the administration decided that the airport was being brought up to military grade, that the Grenadan government wasnât just trying to improve tourist capacity. There was a Cuban military presence on the island, and some engineers, not to mention a thousand U.S. medical students. That was good enough for us.
The result was operation âUrgent Fury.â Twelve hundred Marines stormed the island and initially met with heavy resistance. By the time our force reached seven thousand, the resistance had dissolved, and whatever fighters were left were fleeing into the mountains. When the press corps was finally allowed to occupy the island, most stayed at the St. George Hotel in the capital. When Loren realized that heâd probably be there for three or four weeks, he called Missie and urged her to join him; the water was fine. Hunter got wind of the fun to be had and convinced Rolling Stone that this was an assignment custom-made for you know who. He left for the island a day before Missie, and arrived two days after she did. Where Hunterâs missing three days went, he wouldnât say.
A few days later, Loren encountered the great writer V. S. Naipaul, who had just checked into the St. George. When Loren next saw Hunter, he told him that âhe wasnât the most famous writer in the hotel anymore, that V. S. Naipaul was staying there.â Hunter replied, âWhoâs V. S. Naipaul?â Later Hunter and Naipaul met and became great friends. Before long, the press corps tired of the St. George and its location in the middle of the capital city, so they, en masse, liberated a small beachfront hotel called Hidden Bay. There they spent their days swimming, drinking, and attending briefings at which the military would try to convince them that they were busy hunting down commies in the mountains.
One day Hunter,
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Hunter had flown to Bali with a beautiful blonde. In the blondeâs makeup case was a jar of face powder. Not really. The jar was full of organic mescaline; the two look much the same. The three of them spent the next week on the beach consuming it. Hunter had missed the battle but made it to the after party.
Hunter and Loren, more than a few years after their adventures at war.
GRENADA: THE GREAT WRITER, THE HAND, AND THE FIGHT
Loren Jenkins was the only journalist to bring a date to the invasion of Grenada. In October of 1983 he was working for the Washington Post. When the United States invaded Grenada, the Post sent Loren to Barbados, which was the closest you could get to the island after the initial wave of Marines moved in. The navy kept the press away for four days after the invasion, and then would fly in groups on C130s for three or four hours at a time.
The invasion followed the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. The soldiers who invaded Grenada had been heading for Lebanon and were diverted to the island. Loren thought the whole thing was a face-saving move to secure a victory after the tragic loss of 241 lives to Hezbollah terrorists.
Loren Jenkins at the Floridita Bar in Havana, drinking with a statue of Ernest Hemingwayâwhich is not at all like drinking with Hunter, Braudis, and Cleverly.
Still, on October 13 there had been a bloody coup on the island led by Marxist Barnard Coard, who then installed himself as deputy prime minister, with crony Maurice Bishop as prime minister. This didnât sit well with the Reagan administration, or jibe with its war on communism. When improvements were started on the Grenada airport, the administration decided that the airport was being brought up to military grade, that the Grenadan government wasnât just trying to improve tourist capacity. There was a Cuban military presence on the island, and some engineers, not to mention a thousand U.S. medical students. That was good enough for us.
The result was operation âUrgent Fury.â Twelve hundred Marines stormed the island and initially met with heavy resistance. By the time our force reached seven thousand, the resistance had dissolved, and whatever fighters were left were fleeing into the mountains. When the press corps was finally allowed to occupy the island, most stayed at the St. George Hotel in the capital. When Loren realized that heâd probably be there for three or four weeks, he called Missie and urged her to join him; the water was fine. Hunter got wind of the fun to be had and convinced Rolling Stone that this was an assignment custom-made for you know who. He left for the island a day before Missie, and arrived two days after she did. Where Hunterâs missing three days went, he wouldnât say.
A few days later, Loren encountered the great writer V. S. Naipaul, who had just checked into the St. George. When Loren next saw Hunter, he told him that âhe wasnât the most famous writer in the hotel anymore, that V. S. Naipaul was staying there.â Hunter replied, âWhoâs V. S. Naipaul?â Later Hunter and Naipaul met and became great friends. Before long, the press corps tired of the St. George and its location in the middle of the capital city, so they, en masse, liberated a small beachfront hotel called Hidden Bay. There they spent their days swimming, drinking, and attending briefings at which the military would try to convince them that they were busy hunting down commies in the mountains.
One day Hunter,
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