Message #297134

[franksolich]

And so I got the ride, wedged in between two soldiers in the back, seeing some of the sights of industrial northern Belfast.  There seemed to be some fires going on, but I thought it best to not ask about them.

We arrived at a one-story nondescript building surrounded by barbed wire, and I was taken in to see the monogrammed gentleman's boss.

(Before I went to the socialist paradises of the workers and peasants with free medical care for all fifteen years later, I paid little, or no, attention to military ranks, and so I had no idea these ranks.  I assume, correctly or incorrectly, that the monogrammed gentleman was perhaps a major, and his boss a colonel.)

The colonel was an older gentleman who was speaking on the telephone when we arrived, and it was, uh, obvious the conversation was about me.

After slamming down the telephone, he stared at me, standing there.  He stared at me in sections; head first, then neck, then shoulders, then heart, then stomach, then abdomen, then thighs, then legs, and finally, toes.

Done taking me in, he reminded me I wasn't supposed to be there.

I replied that if someone had actually tried stopping me from being there, out of respect for my hosts, I would have not come there.  But no one had tried stopping me from being there, other than gentle suggestions and hints, no force.

And besides, I added, I had a safe-conduct, a laissez-passer.

He arched his eyebrows.  I said it was in my bag, and I hadn't opened my bag because one wasn't supposed to do that, for fear the person might be reaching for a firearm or bomb or explosive.

He gave me permission to open my bag.

I handed the letter from the captain in the Royal Marines to him.

He read it.

It was a sight to behold; the colonel went ballistic, in megatons.

a dead bird just dropped down the chimney, and William's the only cat who knows how to get up on the roof, so damn, I have to go check that--back in a bit