NaNoWriMo 2022

Protocol

American Kingdom: Day 25.2

Previous scene:

Duke Francis turned up just as we were finishing lunch, attempting to linger over coffee. I’d been trying to draw Hazel out on how she’d read my mind earlier.

“Easy. Just pay perfect attention to someone, read their face. I’d already been down that logical path myself, so it was just a matter of watching to see if you thought of the same thing. And you had. Your face looked like it had caught the light for a moment.”

Just then, one of the staff drivers opened the door for the Duke. I rose to my feet, followed by everyone else in the room.

“Hello, Molly!” he said “How are you settling in? Got enough of Sun Tzu yet?”

Goodness, Hazel wasn’t the only one who read minds. I smiled as I bent my head.

“We must have a chat later, see how you are going. Sir Duane, my friend, good to see you again.”

He moved over to the instructors’ table. Of course they called for more coffee as they swapped news of doings in Charleston and central Missouri. Much as I enjoyed the rural views here, I did miss my dawn stretches looking over the river. I wondered if my career in the Kingdom would take me back to South Carolina and that sweet little city of heritage and history I loved so much.

Not if I were in the Regent’s Palace, I supposed. I didn’t know where that was but probably not Charleston, where I might have expected a bit more formality when I took the pledge.

“We’ve got a list of graduates,” Nathan said. “One of us must know one of them. All we do is ring up and ask.”

“I can do that,” I said. “I spotted one of my recruiters on an 05 class page. I haven’t got his direct number but I can ring his wife. But would he know, or remember the details if he knew? It was seventeen years back. Some days I can’t remember what I had for breakfast.”

“Worth a try,” Hazel said. “I thought you had an inkling when we discussed it before, talking about odd numbers. Like a penny dropping but not quite all the way down.”

“It was just an idea. I found a mechanism that would explain the odd numbers. But it makes no sense.”

“Out with it,” Nathan said. “We agreed to share everything.”

“It’s just a theory right now, not based on solid information. If I’m right, it’s going to screw up what we’ve got, and nobody will get everything they want. If I’m wrong, then we can keep on going as we are, maybe find a way to make everybody happy.”

“I still want to hear it.”

“And you will. I just want to give Sir Brian a call. He may be able to confirm or deny my idea. It’s not anything that immediately affects selecting a course winner, anyway.”

“I’m with Nathan. We share everything,” Hazel said.

“Look, just give me five minutes to duck back and get my phone. We’ve still got twenty minutes before class begins. Meet me in the classroom and I’ll put the call on speaker. Maybe you can follow my thinking; I’m not the brightest in this bunch.”

“Ah,” Hazel sighed. “I did think of something. But it was so stupid I didn’t give it any weight.”

I left, walking briskly back to my room, thinking furiously while Nathan turned on Hazel. This might end up — probably would end up — in tears.

When I returned to the classroom, phone in hand, Nathan and Hazel were glaring at each other. I guess that meant I wasn’t going to top the course.

I’d already entered Marion’s number in my contacts; it was just a matter of scrolling down the list of friends and family, each name reminding me that my life had entered a new chapter.

She answered almost immediately, “Molly, how are you?”

“I’m good, thanks, Lady Marion. I’m here at Camp Whiffie with a couple of friends, fellow students actually. I need to ask you something and then I’d like to speak to Sir Brian, if he’s available?”

“Of course he is; we’re just having lunch together. Beautiful day here. You must come visit when they let you go.”

“Of course. We’ve only got a couple of minutes; Duke Francis is here, about to give a lecture.”

“You’re in for a treat. Now what was it you wanted?”

“You remember when we were having lunch with him a couple of days ago?”

“Of course, a rare pleasure.”

“You mentioned role-playing at one point. Have you talked about that particular detail with anybody else since?”

“No, of course not. I wasn’t serious, you know that.”

“Okay, just checking.”

Now that I thought of it, I wanted more details of those two role-playing. I’m sure it was Oscar-winning material.

“Brian, dear, here’s Molly, she wants to pick your brains in thirty seconds. Bye, Molly. Have fun!”

The phone made a few whispering sounds. I could clearly hear Brian’s voice now. “Shouldn’t take that long, got it. Molly, you there?”

“Yes, how are you, Sir Brian?”

“Good, good. Now what’s this about?”

“I’ve got a couple of fellow students with me: Nathan, ex-Navy, and Hazel, ex-Air Force but really nice. Can I put you on speaker so we can all hear?”

“You’re at Whiffie, are you? Shouldn’t be a problem. Go ahead.”

I pressed the button.

“We were just wondering about how they pick the graduate for the Palace. Each course has one.”

“Lord, I can’t remember back that far. I don’t think they ever told us, anyway. Some little instructor secret. Could be anything.”

“Sir Brian?” Hazel spoke. “Were any of the students in relationships?”

“Just one couple, as I recall. Eddie and Jane got on together, she moved into his room, and the rest of us envied them. There were two of the girls were good friends, and they shared a room, but I don’t think they were, you know, they just liked to talk. Left the three of us men a bit out on a limb.”

“Did you share a room with anyone?”

“You know, that’s been bugging me these last twenty years. There was Taylor, another helicopter driver — Army, but not a bad chap — and he had a room on the south side of the block. I wanted a bit of morning sun and we could talk about the old days, so I moved my things in with him for company, and the next day they ended the class. I could have saved the effort. And the embarrassment.”

“I can understand that, Sir,” Nathan put in. “The other guys would have made comments.”

“We’ve got tough skins in the Navy but still… Anyway, they sent Mike off to the Palace. He was big on the books, always in the classroom when everyone else was having a beer. Maybe that was it; they wanted someone intellectual?”

“Anything else you can tell us? Oh crap. Gotta go. Bye Sir Brian, Lady Marion.”

Duke Francis had just walked in without so much as a sergeant.

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Notes

Hmmm. Anyone know how an American kingdom would run protocol and manners? Not me. Just guessing here. Dorothy Parker would be a help.

Semi-serious in the manner of Civil War re-enactors, I guess.