 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
(Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) It's 1965, and we're still in the Philippines, but this time with William "Skip" Sands. Skip is a young CIA recruit and nephew to Colonel Francis X. Sands. Skip lives in the "staff house" in San Marcos on Luzon. He drives around at night with his Filipino friend Major Eduardo "Eddie" Aguinaldo, hunting for Huk guerillas. In the morning, he gets his haircut, has breakfast, and reads lurid stories in the local newspaper. He watches Anders Pitchfork, an English entomologist who is no doubt really a spy, play golf on their undersized golf course. He watches a German guest eating breakfast in pajamas; Skip thinks the German is an assassin brought to the Philippines to kill someone. He draws this conclusion because he's seen the German ostentatiously practicing with a blowgun, shooting darts into a target on a rubber tree. The German and Skip have lunch with Eddie Aguinaldo. Skip questions the German about his blowgun though the German seems reluctant to discuss it. Skip gets the impression that Eddie and the German know each other, but Eddie later denies it. Eddie gives Skip a paratrooper-style M1 carbine as a going-away gift as if he knows Skip will soon receive a post elsewhere. But he claims to know nothing about Skip's future. He does mention that the colonel, Skip's uncle, will arrive at the staff house today. Returning to the staff house, Skip finds the colonel who gives him several jars of rubber cement. With resignation, Skip goes to his quarters where the colonel's massive card-catalog system resides. Skip's primary duty is to keep the colonel's notes, clippings, and cross-references all pasted together in the proper order. Skip remembers how his hero-worship of the colonel caused him to join the CIA nine years ago. Skip and the others have an interminable dinner: the colonel, Pitchfork, and Eddie Aguinaldo. The colonel blathers for 14 straight pages! He pontificates about President Kennedy, he tells a long Filipino folktale, and he talks about Alaska. On page 57, Skip says improbably, "All we have to do is hang on until Communism collapses under the weight of its own economic silliness. The weight of its own insanity." (I don't believe for one minute that anyone in the CIA would have said this in 1965.) We do learn that the colonel and Pitchfork first met in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. Finally, Eddie Aguinaldo has to leave. Skip then asks his uncle about the German. The colonel claims that the German is "Eddie's man" and not his own employee. Skip points out that Eddie claimed earlier that day not to know the German, and the colonel calls Eddie a liar. Skip begs his uncle to release him from card-catalog duty and get him reassigned to Saigon so that he can experience whatever is currently heating up in Vietnam. The colonel blathers and blathers, and blathers some more. Finally, the colonel promises to do so if Skip goes to Mindanao in the southern Philippines on a fact-finding mission. Skip must investigate an American-born Catholic priest named Thomas Carignan who may be running guns to the Muslims. The colonel hints heavy-handedly that Father Carignan might need to be assassinated. Skip presses excitedly for clarification on this issue, but the colonel clams up and gets coy, reminding Skip that he is to observe only. We then get a 1.5-page section that is out of sequence: Skip arrives in Manila in late September before the Kennedy assassination. Skip takes a cab to "the officers' club at the Seafront compound" and thinks patriotically and sentimentally about how much he loves the United States. |
|
|
|
Zen, candles, herbs, bookshelves, bookcases, fine furniture, perfume, jewelry, New Age, mind body connection, cooking, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, handmade books, cooking, blank books, art, home decorating, carpets, furnishings, pottery, wine, Zen, gourmet foods, spirituality, tabletop fountains, wind chimes, terrariums, houseplants, Tao, handcrafts, handmade furnishings, artisans, shabby chic, meditation, incense, bells, angels, spirits, tribal arts, Tibetan, Zen, Asian art, India, nature, nature crafts, cooking, aromatherapy, music, folk art, dye, weavings, tapestry, Tao, calligraphy, Tibetan Buddhism, cooking, wind chimes, earth mother, earth goddess, gemstones, garden, talisman, labyrinth, maps, treasures, art objects, fine leather, serious readers, tools for serious readers, Buddha, Krishna, weavings, tapestry, calligraphy, Tibetan Buddhism, earth mother, earth goddess, home decorating, americana, carpets, cooking, library, cooking, gourmet food, wine, kitchen supplies, pasta maker, pens, pen set, stationery, book collecting, photography, sauté pans, baking goods, garlic press, cookbooks, cooking gadgets, cooking tools, chef, gourmet chef, pastry chef, coffee, tea, coffee press, teapots, teacups, coffee mugs, pie, baking supplies, grilling, grills, reading glasses, magnifying glasses, potting shed, gardening supplies, bird watching, bird feeders, birding, bird supplies, cooking, gourmet food, wine, kitchen supplies, pasta maker, pens, pen set, stationery, book collecting, photography, sauté pans, baking goods, garlic press, cookbooks, cooking gadgets, cooking tools, chef, gourmet chef, pastry chef, coffee, tea, coffee press, teapots, teacups, coffee mugs, pie, baking supplies, grilling, grills, reading glasses, magnifying glasses, potting shed, gardening supplies, bird watching, bird feeders, birding, bird supplies, cooking, gourmet food, wine, kitchen supplies, pasta maker, pens, pen set, stationery, book collecting, photography, sauté pans, baking goods, garlic press, cookbooks, cooking gadgets, cooking tools, chef, gourmet chef, pastry chef, coffee, tea, coffee press, teapots, teacups, coffee mugs, pie, baking supplies, grilling, grills, reading glasses, magnifying glasses, potting shed, gardening supplies, bird watching, bird feeders, birding, bird supplies, Valkovalin.com |