The Rangers Are Coming (48 page)

              Grace looked Catherine right in the eyes.  “We are blessed by God.  Every day for us is a miracle and we never forget to say thanks to the Lord.  For us, the life of Jesus was an example we all try to copy.  We get it wrong all the time, but that doesn’t keep us from holding the love of Christ in our hearts.  The fact is we’ve kept the world at arm’s length for a reason.  We wanted to build the kind of society the rest of the people on earth will want to join.  You tell your husband to listen to Charlie Gallagher he has a wonderful plan.

              Catherine Gladstone came out of the bedroom with Grace, wearing her dress for the evening and looking beautiful.  William jumped up and said, “My dearest, you look like a dream.”

              “Thank you, I couldn’t have managed without Grace.”  The two women hugged each other and Grace left.

              “Come along, stinky, I’ll show you how the shower works.”

              Gladstone enjoyed his shower so much he didn’t want to get out, but he finally did, and Catherine showed him how to work the hair dryer.  He liked the way his hair turned out.  Catherine told him a lot had to do with the shampoo and conditioner.  He found deodorant in the medicine cabinet, and stared for several minutes and what appeared to be a razor.  He found a can that said shaving cream and pushed a button and a lot came out.  He used the razor and was dumbfounded at how easy it was, without a single nick.  He finished up with some after-shave lotion that smelled wonderful.  When he came out of the bathroom, Catherine had laid out his clothes for the evening.  When he put them on, he decided he liked the way he looked.  Catherine said he looked very nice.

As they were congratulating themselves, the boys came rushing in with stories of the view from the top of the Washington monument and the marvelous Metro.  “It’s an underground train, father.  It was so much fun.”

              “I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves.  Now you just have time to shower and dress for dinner, so off you go.”

              Apparently the shower was not the mystery to the boys it was to their parents, although William had to show them the hair dryer.  In record time, they were clean, dressed and ready for the big evening.

              At exactly 4:30 there was a knock at the door and Cary was there to collect them for dinner.  He was dressed as they were, but his blazer was green.

              They flowed through the hotel, greeting smiling people as they went.  Apparently, the rest of the Europeans had enjoyed their afternoon as much as the Gladstone’s and were laughing and in good humor as they rode down on the elevators, and boarded the buses.  Gladstone spotted Kaiser Wilhelm and hardly recognized him without the beard.  “Your highness, you look so different, I hardly recognize you.”

              “It’s those marvelous razors,” said the beaming Kaiser, “I had a fellow come to help me with the shower, he speaks fluent German, and said he thought I would look better without a beard.  I told him I hated the beard but my skin is so tender I can’t shave every day, without nearly bleeding to death.  Then he cut off my beard, put a lotion on my face and shaved me with that new razor.  I feel wonderful!”

              “You do look handsome and much younger, “said Gladstone.

              “That’s what my wife said,” laughed the Kaiser.

              It was a noisy, happy bus winding its way with the other buses like a conga line in the hot afternoon in Washington headed for the White House.  The buses pulled through the gateway and the expansive lawns surrounding the Executive Mansion and came to a stop at the South Portico. 

Not standing on ceremony, President Gallagher, and his wife, Emily with the faithful First Pet, a large beautiful collie, named Kodiak greeted each of the guests in their own native language.  The assigned guides led their charges on a small tour of the White House before taking them to the big ballroom where round tables for eight had been set up.  Cary led the Gladstone’s to their table somewhere near the middle of the room.

They were soon joined by Leopold II, King of Belgium his wife, Marie, 12-year-old Louise, and six-year-old Stephanie.  Gladstone knew the King and rose and bowed, introducing his family in the process.  Fortunately, Leopold spoke good English, so his guide did not need to translate.  The King seemed to be in a very reflective mood, but was pleasant, as was his wife, who was quite happy.  They all sat down.  Cary and the other guide said they would be back to get them after the evening dinner and program, and left the room.  Gladstone could see the other guides doing the same.

An orchestra was set up at the end of the room, and President Gallagher, came out on the platform to the microphone.  “I hope you all found your rooms to be comfortable and your afternoon enjoyable.”

There was loud applause to this, and Gallagher breathed a sigh of relief inside.  The first step was a success.  Not only that, but the crowd seemed to be in very good spirits.  He knew jet lag was going to catch up with them all in just a couple hours, and had planned the evening to end early.  He smiled and said, “Before dinner is served, it is our custom to thank the Lord.”  He closed his eyes, put his hands together and prayed, “Heavenly Father we thank you and praise you for allowing us all to be together here tonight.  We ask your blessing for our meal.  We are your children in the universe of your creation, and thank you for your eternal love.  In the name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.”

There was a chorus of Amens through the audience, and, almost immediately a swarm of wait staff came pouring into the room, and the orchestra began to play.

Gladstone wondered what the meal would be and was very pleasantly surprised to find it was Prime Rib, somewhat rare, with a big potato, smothered with butter, and asparagus with béarnaise sauce.  It was his favorite meal.  He looked around the table and saw the looks of satisfaction on the faces of all the people.  Each had a different meal, but it appeared to be their favorites as well.  Gladstone glanced around the room and saw a very wide variety of foods were being served.  The Prime Minister was smart enough to realize that all of this was by design, and he shook his head in admiration for the intelligence services of the United States.

The music being played by the orchestra was definitely up-tempo and foreign to Gladstone but he enjoyed it very much.  The rest of the people in the ballroom seemed to feel the same.  They were tapping their feet, and the youngsters were clapping their hands.  They had no idea they were listening to a carefully chosen program of music Arcadia had selected herself, and represented the very best melodies and songs from a hundred years before Arcadia was even born.  It was filled with the happy music that was typical of Walt Disney productions.  Every few songs vocalists or groups came out and sang a song or two.  They had lovely voices and the harmonies were flawless.

As pleasant and enjoyable as the entertainment was, Gladstone suddenly felt very tired.  Almost on cue, President Gallagher came back to the microphone.  “I hope you enjoyed your meal and the music,” he said, “The fatigued feeling most of you are experiencing now is caused by the big time change you had in coming here from Europe.  That’s why we scheduled dinner so early and are going to call it an evening now.  Tomorrow, breakfast will be served from 6:30 until 9 AM in the restaurant at your resort.  Our plans for tomorrow include a tour of Washington beginning at 10, when you will board your buses.  Until then, I wish you a pleasant night’s sleep and once again sincerely welcome you to America.  Good evening.”

Gallagher bowed and left the room.  The guides flowed back in and escorted their families back to the buses.  The trip back to the resort hotel was short and Cary made sure the Gladstone’s got safely to their rooms.  He thanked them, and said good night.

The family was happy, commented to each other about the splendid meal and entertainment, but were definitely ready for bed.  They all went to their rooms, put on the pajamas that were provided.  Their beds had been turned down, the temperature of the rooms turned down to 68 degrees.  Gratefully, the Gladstone’s climbed into their very comfortable beds, turned out the lights, and were sound asleep in minutes.  It was just barely 8 PM.

In the big restaurant downstairs, the guides met.  Their supervisor asked if there were any problems.  There were none that hadn’t been handled.  “It looks like the first, very critical 24 hours went exactly according to plan.  No matter how exalted this big collection of great leaders are, they were overwhelmed by the circumstances we put them in.  They didn’t have time to think about anything except what we put in front of them.  I think they’re now all relaxed and comfortable.  They certainly seemed to warm to each other despite the politics of Europe.  Let’s keep it that way.  Most of them will sleep at least ten hours and wake up ready to be super visitors.  We have a rather easy day for them tomorrow.  We’ve put in just enough exercise to wear them out.  Make sure they drink lots of water.”

“We’ll have an informal meal in the restaurant tomorrow evening.  It will be cafeteria style, so that everyone can try a large variety of foods, most of which they’ve never seen.  After that will be the big presentation of our America the Beautiful video, and we’ll ask the visitors to begin choosing the places they want to see.  If they can narrow it down to a half dozen, it will make it easier to plan the logistics when they have to pick their four top attractions.”

“Today is Wednesday, tomorrow we do Washington.  On Friday we fly them down to the Cape to tour the facilities and see the infrastructure for the space program.  On Saturday morning, we have the launch of the ‘Enterprise’ for the moon.  That should get their attention in a big way.”

“We fly back to Washington Saturday night, for the big soccer match, and then on Sunday we show them how we spend our Sabbaths.”

“All of you have done a great job, and I thank you for your hard work.  Now get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll see you for breakfast.”

       
43

Washington, D.C.

              William Gladstone awoke and stretched luxuriously.  He couldn’t remember having a better night’s sleep.  As he pulled back the covers it seemed a little cold in the room for him.  He walked over to the pad on the wall and pushed the button to show 72.

              Then he walked into the living room and opened the curtains.  It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and Washington shined in the early light.  He glanced at the clock and saw that it was 6:30 AM.  He opened the sliding door and walked out onto the balcony.  It was not very warm yet, and he sat in a chair and admired the view.

              In a few minutes, Charlene joined him.  “Good morning, dear,” said Gladstone, “How did you sleep?”

              “I don’t think I moved all night.  The bed was so comfortable, and I slept very well indeed.”

              “So did I,” said Gladstone.  “That’s quite a view.”

              “Spectacular, I’m looking forward to seeing the city today.”

              “As am I.”

              A small bell rang on the television monitor.  Gladstone picked up the controller turned the monitor on.  The screen lit up.  It showed an image of Cary.  He smiled, “Good morning!  I didn’t know if you were awake yet, but I hope you slept well.  When you are ready, come down to the lobby and follow the signs to the restaurant.  It will be about the same weather today as yesterday, so wear light clothing.  The men will be comfortable in the light brown pants, and short sleeved polo shirt.  Mrs. Gladstone, I suggest a light skirt and a short-sleeved blouse.  All of you should wear the comfortable walking shoes, because we are going to do a lot of walking.  Don’t forget your shoulder bags, you might find something you want, and don’t forget your badges.  I’ll meet you in the restaurant.”

              The image flicked off.  “I certainly don’t know how they do that, but it’s a great tool,” said Gladstone.  “Why don’t you wake the boys?  I’m going to shower and shave.”

              In less than an hour, the family was ready to head for the restaurant.  Henry and Herbert had opted for t-shirts and were wearing shorts.  Gladstone just shook his head, and said nothing.

              They went to the elevator and pushed the button that said, “lobby”.  There were signs pointing them to the restaurant.  As they came in, they found a very large room, and Cary, waiting at the door.  “Good morning, Cary,” said Charlene, Henry and Herbert shook hands with him.  Not to be rude, Gladstone also shook hands with Cary.

              Cary pointed at the long cafeteria line.  “We have a lot of choices for breakfast.  Just take whatever you want.  There’s a cook right after you pick up your tray and utensils who can make you eggs or an omelet.  He’s a great cook.  After that is everything you can imagine eating.  I recommend the hot cakes with butter and pure Maple syrup.  It’s delicious.”

              The family went to the first stop and got a large plastic tray with compartments, and picked utensils out of a container.  Gladstone asked for a cheese and ham omelet, Charlene passed on the eggs, but Henry and Herbert had scrambled eggs, and eggs over easy respectfully.  As they pushed their trays along the rail, they realized Cary had not exaggerated.  The breakfast bar was loaded.  Gladstone took both bacon and sausage patties, and Cary’s recommendation of hot cakes with a big pat of butter and a generous helping of Maple syrup. 

              They looked around and found an empty table for four.  As they sat down a waiter came up and asked, “Tea or Coffee?”  He said, “You already have water, but we also have a good selection of juices.  Have you ever had orange juice?”  None of them had so the waiter brought a carafe and four glasses.