A year passed.  After being thoroughly beaten by the general's military tactics, the enemy surrendered.  The war was over.  The general, perhaps reacting to the sudden release of incredible pressure, snapped at his staff, then apologized profusely.  He quietly approached Neal Jackson. "Find Jackie.  I want to go for a long drive."

Neal nodded, and put in a call to her room.

"Jackie, the General wants you to take him for a drive."

She exhaled a breath in surprise.

"He didn't give me anything on the schedule for today, Neal."

"I know, Jackie.  I think it's that he has just had a bad day and he needs a break.  You're always so even-tempered; he just needs to get out of here for a while."

"I'll be there in ten minutes, then.  I'll just bring my book."

Jackie met the General in their usual spot, waited for him to slide into the car.  He climbed in quietly, sighed heavily. She thought he looked sad. She hadn't seen such sadness in any man's eyes since before her time in the service when she had met someone she had wanted to marry. She kept her eyes on his face for a moment, suddenly remembering him. It seemed as if she had been taken from this Army base to another place, when two people had met, sparks had flown, and after some turbulence the two had parted company.  Her hands froze on the wheel.  The General seemed to sit quietly under her scrutiny, or maybe it was that he was too involved in his thoughts to notice the shameless way in which Jackie Small looked at him.

"Jackie?"

They both seemed to notice at the same time that her gaze had lingered slightly too long.

"Oh, I'm sorry, General.  It's just that you reminded me briefly of someone."

Jackie slid the key into the ignition, resuming her professional stance.

"Please forgive my indiscretion, sir."

"It's alright," he said, the tension of the day and the exhaustion plainly visible on his face and heard in his voice, "not to worry."

There was no more conversation for a while.  Then she spoke quietly, her eyes on the road.

"General, you look sad."

He spoke to her from far away, not bothering to open his tired eyes.

"I'm tired. It's been a long war.  I think it's just the pressure: the release of it, I mean.  I miss my wife, and I just lost my temper with everyone.  Let's go on the North Highway for a while.  Just keep driving."

"Sure, General."

Jackie smoothly pulled the car onto the North Highway.  But something made her look at him.  He had his hands pressed against his eyes, tears were slipping between his fingers.

"General?  Is there something I can do?  I don't usually ask.  You know."

She heard him sigh, catch his breath.  Then he pulled his hands away from his face, let her see his eyes.  He returned his gaze to the window without speaking.

Soon they came to a wooded area.  He turned his gaze to her.

"Okay. Here."

Jackie drove the car to the side of the road, and let him out.  He walked quickly toward the trees. He leaned heavily against one of them.  Sure there was no one around, he lay his head against the bark and began to sob uncontrollably.  During the past eighteen months he had experienced different feelings: sadness, responsibility, separation, but today it had all overflowed and in one moment he had finally realized he needed to get away.  He felt the pressure, the tenseness release as the tears which came so easily coursed down his cheeks. Slowly, calm returned.  He walked through the trees, breathing in the refreshing air, the scents of nature's renewal. When he had regained control, restored his sense of equanimity, he returned to the car.

Jackie had remained at a discrete distance, engrossed, as usual, in a book. Now, she got up, fitted the key into the trunk, and removed a blanket, a bottle of water, and some Kleenex.  Returning to her side of the car, she quietly handed these things to the General.  He took them, nodded.

"Thank you."

"Of course, sir.  Back to base?"

He turned his face to her.  She saw the tracks the tears had made, saw the dirt streaks, something perhaps none other had seen.  He didn't seem to mind that she had seen him in his unguarded moment.  Quietly, he nodded yes, and then set to restoring his composure.  Jackie took the blanket which still lay between them, and with sure hands, used to such tasks, unfolded it, and covered him with it. The Kleenex and the water she left in his hand.  He turned to her once again.

"Thank you.  You are very kind."

"General, I have spent many hours with children; I know when comfort is required.  Get some rest, sir, we have about a two-hour drive, and that should do you good."

Jackie put the key into the ignition.  She eased the car onto the road and looked through the corner of one eye.  The General's head was against the window, his eyes closed, and she knew he slept.

The day after surrender, the General caught cold.  Jackie had a week to put her life in order while he recovered. She couldn't say she wasn't happy about this; for in the time she had spent traveling the countryside, her papers had become somewhat disarrayed.  Besides, she was preparing to return to her country.  Her time with the Army was over; her heart now turned toward home and her small holdings there.

The days were full of organizing and demobilization, so it was inevitable, three months after surrender, when all the General's troops had been returned to their former stations, that the General, too, would go home. Finally, the call from Neal Jackson came, and Jackie prepared to drive the General to the airport.

The General slid easily into the car, a position which had grown comfortable for him over the last eighteen months.  He deposited a bag at his feet.

"Shall I put this in the trunk for you, sir?"

"No, Jackie.  I want to keep it here."

Jackie slid her key into the ignition and began the three-hour trip to the airport.  She noticed that the General seemed rested, alert.  Gone was the distracted countenance of the preceding months.  He looked out of the window, taking in the hills, the green scenery.

"Spring is coming," he commented, looking at some grazing cattle.

"Yes."

The war had done relatively little damage to this area, and Jackie thought that drinking in the beauty had begun to restore him.  Sadness briefly descended over him as he said, "There are so many who will never see spring again; not only in our Army, but the other one.  It is a sad thing that men have to fight each other.  A sad but unfortunately necessary thing; so I suppose we must excel in this activity."

Jackie didn't say anything.  She signaled for a lane change.

Soon, without much further conversation, they arrived at the airport. Jackie got out and took the General's bags out of the trunk.  She brought them to him.

The General got out of the car, and hesitating for a moment, removed the bag which he had placed on the floor.  He took out a book and extended it to the woman.

"I want to give you this before I leave the base."

Jackie took the book from the General's hand, turned it so that she could read the gold lettering on the black cover.  She gasped.

"Eisenhower's work on the battlefields of Europe!"

She fairly shrieked with unprofessional joy.  For the first time in a long while a smile spread across the General's face and his eyes sparkled.

"Thank you, sir," she said, almost choking on the words, "I never thought to read such a book."

"In the last days of the war I contacted the school and had the librarian there send me Eisenhower's book.  They probably wondered why in the world I wanted Eisenhower's work on Europe, but I'm a four-star general in supreme command so I suppose they thought it wise to send me the book."

She reverently touched the book, and as the General turned to meet his plane, she thought she could have hugged him.

"Thank you for all your work; all your hours, and most of all, Jackie, your silence."

He took her hand, and for the first time she saw on his face unrestrained gratitude.

"This war was hell, but somehow I knew when I got into that car for all those trips that we'd make it.  Amazing what a simple act of silence can accomplish."

"It was an honor, sir."

Their eyes met, perhaps for the longest gaze they had held in their eighteen-month relationship, and in it was sealed a lifelong bond of friendship.

"Please come and see us when you have a chance, Jackie.  I'm sure my wife will like you very much."

"Thank you, sir."

The General turned and walked toward the airstrip, and Jackie, as she had so often done, got into the car and slid the key into the ignition.

Copyright © Shelley J. Alongi 2003