The Rangers Are Coming (52 page)

              “This is just an example.  Today we wanted you to see the power source of our electricity, the source of our steel production, and examples of our assembly lines that make products.  I’m sorry you ladies didn’t get to see the textile mills and those plants that make all the clothing we ship abroad, but they are clear down in Atlanta and we just didn’t have the time.”

              “As it is, it will be late before we get you home tonight, but I think you are going to enjoy it.  The Voyager has reached the moon and is now in orbit.  This evening you will get to watch the first men in history walk on the moon.  So, if you are ready, let’s drive back to Washington.”

              They got back to Washington in time for a late supper.  Everyone was hungry and the food was particularly good.  The Europeans had seen an eyeful that day.  All of them had wondered how the United States could run the titanic industrial production they did.  Now they knew.  Every leader was thinking of ways to increase his own country’s production, using some of the wonderful innovations they’d seen today.

              After dinner, the big screen covering most of a wall lit up and live coverage of the moon landing got underway.  The Command Capsule and the moon rover was safely lifted out of the shuttle bay.  The three man crew aboard reported that everything was a “go” for orbiting and detaching the moon rover.  The cameras showed the command capsule maneuver to a lower orbit, and the moon lander broke away with its two-man crew.

              Within an hour the powerful cameras were showing the lander make a soft landing on the moon with puffs of moon dust floating up.  Soon the astronauts were climbing down the ladder and stepping onto the surface of the moon.  “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind,” said the astronaut.  Arcadia had insisted on those words.

              The entire North American Continent, every citizen, American’s all, swelled with pride at the sight.  The remainder of the world was represented by 320 Europeans, who had the same feelings.

              It was late when the show was over.  President Gallagher thanked the visitors for being there to see this event with him.  “Tomorrow is a day for rest and recreation.  We have been driving you nice folks pretty hard the last ten days, so I think you need a day off.  Go swimming in the pool, sleep late, go shopping see the sights of Washington you’ve missed.  Do whatever you want, because the day after tomorrow you’ll be leaving on your tours to see the wonders of our country. 

              The group took him at his word and scattered.  Charlene and a bunch of ladies headed for the Emporium.  Henry went to see Mount Vernon, the home of Washington.  Herbert had a rather special offer from a certain green-eyed girl to spend the day with her, go to the National Zoo and have dinner at her home with her family.

              William Gladstone, decided to try the swimming pool, which he enjoyed very much, especially the hot tub, he read a newspaper, he sampled one of films on the movie channel.  It was called Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowell.  He really enjoyed that experience.  Then he took a nap.

              The following day, the Europeans split into small groups, and took off by plane, train or bus, to see America. 

              Charlene and three other ladies and four teenage girls went by bus to Niagara Falls.  They went first to New York City and stayed to sightsee and shop for three days in America’s biggest city.  Then it was on to Niagara Falls, which they all enjoyed very much.  Next, they got on a train and went west through the Canadian States and saw Banff and Jasper national park.  Even though she had done different things then were on her list, Charlene could not have imagined a more enjoyable time and became fast friends with her travelling companions from Austria, Prussia, Italy and Spain.

              Herbert had a thrilling time with the Lakota Sioux, and enjoyed the traditional ceremonies they presented.  However, the biggest thrill was racing across the prairie in an ATV and shooting a big buffalo from amongst a herd of millions.  He went on to Yellowstone to see the geysers, and the big falls.  The Grand Teton’s, were like magic.  One of his French friends told him that Teton was French for breasts. 

              Then they flew to the Grand Canyon.  Herbert was offered a four- day float trip on a big raft down the Colorado, instead of his last choice, and he was never more glad to have made that choice.  The wild ride on the rapids of the river was unforgettable and he really liked sleeping on the ground in a tent, by the flowing waters.

              Henry saw Yellowstone and the Tetons.  He was overwhelmed by the Giant Sequoias.  He loved the Grand Canyon, but only took a burro down to the river and back.  He thought the highlight of his trip was a visit to the mysterious cliff dwellings of the Anasazi, the Ancient Ones, at Mesa Verde.

              William Gladstone took three days to make the trip on the railroad across the entire continent.  He stopped in a small town in Iowa.  He got there on Sunday, and was enchanted with a repeat of the Sabbath activities, on a smaller scale.  He was deeply impressed with the people’s dedication and love of God.  He ended up in San Francisco, enjoyed that boisterous gold-happy boomtown, and took a plane back to Washington.

              When the entire group was joined together again at the resort, almost two weeks later they had a grand banquet in the restaurant with a thousand tales to tell.  They were sunburned, had all sorts of scrapes and bruises, their clothes were torn and tattered, but they came to the dinner, the way they came back and wore all their experiences like badges of honor.

              Wonderful new friendships had been made; bonds of comradeship that would never break were forged.  There were now six new couples among the group of young men and women who had found love in their time together.  Actually, the number was seven.  Herbert invited his green-eyed beauty to have dinner with them.  Her name was Andrea Marie.  They were clearly in love and agonizing over what they would do when the time came for Herbert to go home.

              The orchestra was back, as was the President and all the guides.  Gallagher had gone out with the groups and managed to see most of the visitors at some point on their adventures.  He hopped up on the stage, grabbed the microphone and said, “Well, what do you think of the United States NOW?”

              The yelling and foot stomping and applause went on continuously for ten minutes.

         
46

Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Arcadia met with President Gallagher often during the previous three weeks the Europeans had been in the country.  They had reviewed a hundred hours of surveillance tapes capturing the secret conversations going on among the families.  They also had tapes where groups of men and women were together.

              “The whole point to showing our hand here is to overwhelm these galoots with a world they don’t know exists,” said Arcadia.  “I would say we have accomplished that in a way that’s beyond our expectations.”

              “The status of women in our society hasn’t been lost on the European women,” said the President.  “Most of them are badgering their husbands to give them the same rights.”

              “Listen to this piece of conversation between the Czar of Russia and the French Chancellor,” said Arcadia.  She punched up the conversation and they watched.

              “There is no way we can compete, catch-up, or conquer the country,” said the Frenchman.

              “They must have some motive for revealing all these wonders to us,” said the Czar, “I wonder what it is.”

              “Obviously, they know we’re going to want everything they have.  I can’t imagine what the price will be.”

              “Nothing short of overhauling all our countries, I would guess,” said the Czar.

              “The trouble with that,” said the Frenchman, “is I don’t think it’s such a bad idea.”

              “That’s pretty typical of what we have recorded,” said Arcadia

“We are enjoying a period of good will among these nations they’ve never known,” said Gallagher.  “The idea of going back to the plotting, scheming and warfare is something none of them really want to do.  However, so far, only Gladstone has had a glimmer of the idea, we’re planning to give them a better choice.  He said it the other day, “Wouldn’t it be sensible to turn all this good will into a way to get together and talk about our differences?  How can one look on all this and remain unchanged?”

              “He’s getting close,” said Arcadia.  ”When the time comes to roll out our plan, he might be the first to endorse it.”

              “OK,” said Gallagher, “One more giant ego boost the day after tomorrow and then we will get down to business and see if we can pull this off.

              The ego boost was the successful return of the astronauts from the moon and a big ticker tape parade down Broadway in New York.  The media was playing up the fact it was actually the Europeans who were there to send them off.  Therefore, as a special treat for America, a chance to see all the great leaders of Europe together for the first time riding in the parade on special floats built for the occasion.

              At dinner the night before they flew up to New York, the Europeans talked about what they should wear on an occasion of such pomp and circumstance.

              “I’m wearing my buffalo hat, the Lakota gave me,” said Herbert.

              “I’m wearing my new dress, I got at the Emporium,” said Charlene.

              “I’m wearing my shorts and my USA shirt,” said Henry.

              “I’m certainly not going to dress up,” said Gladstone.  “I’m hoping to look like a typical American.  It’s the very least I can do.”

              The same kind of sentiment filled the room.  People had collected special articles on their visits and were wearing them.  There would be lots of shorts, even among some of the men, and a lot of the women had taken a liking to the sleek jeans.  They would be varied, but colorful.

              It was a lovely day in New York when the plane landed and the buses took the Europeans to the place where the parade would begin.  They had a joyous reunion with the astronauts and words of praise for their achievement and bravery.  President Gallagher made a little speech.

              “You folks were the only crowd to see our fellows off, except the ground crew, plus you’ve been travelling around the country making lots of friends, but the country has not gotten to see you altogether or in person yet.  So we’re making this a special double occasion.  I hope you all enjoy yourselves.”

              Gallagher got a cheer.  He walked over to the float representing America.  Actually all the floats were covered trucks pulling a flatbed that had a scene built on it by volunteers.  It was very colorful, but so were the floats for each of the countries represented from Europe.  They were told America would go first, but that all the other countries were fairly represented in alphabetical order, and the people along the parade route knew that. 

              With so many immigrants from Europe, there was a sizeable contingent of rooters from every country.

              A company of Rangers let the way in dress blues and with the flag of every nation represented.  Arcadia had wisely ordered Rangers to line the parade route and be on the lookout for anything that might be embarrassing.  She thought that was enough.  Nobody, including ordinary Americans, were anxious to cross a Ranger.

              The parade began.  People had been streaming into New York for days for the big event, so the route was jam packed for two miles with tens of thousands of people and hundreds of buckets of ticker tape was ready to shower the procession.

              The Rangers clicked into order and began to precisely march.  The American float with the President and the Astronauts came next.  Then the colorful European floats flowed down the parade route.  Gladstone’s family was sort of in the middle as Great Britain.  They marveled at the crowd and the piles of ticker tape flowing down.  They smiled and waved at all.  Herbert kept taking his buffalo hat on and off.  Charlene was really lovely in her purely American peach dress.  Henry got lots of applause with his shirt made to look like a flag.  William Gladstone wore a simple pair of trousers and had on a t-shirt that said “Thank You, America” on it. 

              When the Gladstone’s passed the section filled with those who had immigrated from Britain, there was a huge outburst of applause and cheers.  There were more British than any other group.

              The other delegations received similar applause from their countrymen.  They waved and smiled happily.  It was just a great day.

              The group flew back to Washington and watched themselves on television on the news reruns and specials at dinner in the restaurant on the big screen.  There were lots of jokes and good-natured comments on how everyone looked.

              President Gallagher came up, took the mike and said, “Before the orchestra starts playing, I want you to know we are going to teach you all a special American Dance.  It’s called a line dance, and you do it in rows of 20 across.  The staff are pushing all the tables to the side so there will room for you all, young and old.  I want you to know how proud I was of you today.  Give yourself a round of applause.”

              The group did so and added a bunch of cheers.

              “The last thing I’m going to say is this.  We are coming to the last part of your trip to America.  I know a lot of you have been wondering why we did this.  Well, I have some things to say about that.  I have a little business to discuss with you.  We’ll do that tomorrow morning starting at 10 AM in the Capitol in the House of Representatives.  This meeting is for everyone, except the small kids, so don’t sleep in.  Goodnight.  See you tomorrow.”