| They were 4-F, or enlisted men, or majors in the Air Corps, or top-secret work in Washington or even in CO camps, but all the men he had known in prep school were now ensigns or lieutenantsA class of men born to wealth, accustomed to obediencebut that made it incorrect alreadyIt wasn't obedience, it was the kind of assurance that he had, or Conn had, or Hobart, or his father, or even the GeneralA trace of his resentment returned againIf not for the General he would be doing now what he should have doneAn officer had some excuse only if he was in combatAs long as he remained here he would be dissatisfied with himself, contemptuous of the other officers, even more contemptuous than was normal for himThere was nothing in this headquarters, and yet everything, an odd satisfaction over and above the routine annoyancesWorking with the General had its unique compensations
Once again, resentment, and the other thing, awe perhapsHearn had never known anyone quite like the General, and he was partially convinced the General was a great manIt was not only his unquestioned brilliance; Hearn had known people whose minds were equal to General Cummings'sIt was certainly not his intellect, which was amazingly louis vuitton replica bags spotty, marred by great gapsWhat the General had was an almost unique ability to extend his thoughts into immediate and effective action, and this was an aptitude which might not be apparent for months even when one was working with him
There were many contradictions in the GeneralHe had essentially, Hearn believed, a complete indifference to the comforts of his own person, and yet he lived with at least the luxuries which were requisite for a general officerOn invasion day, after the General landed on the beach, he had been on a phone almost all day long, composing his battle tactics off the cuff, as it were, and for five, six, eight hours he had directed the opening phases of the campaign without taking a halt, indeed without referring once to a map, or pausing for a decision after his line officers had given him what information they possessedIt had been a remarkable performanceHis concentration had been almost fantastic
Once in the late afternoon of that first day, Hobart had come up to the General and asked, "Sir, where do you want to set up headquarters bivouac?"
And Cummings had snarled, "Anywhere, man, anywhere," in shocking contrast to the perfect manners with which he usually spoke to his daytona rolex officersFor that instant the fa?ade had been peeled back, and a naked animal closeted with its bone had been exposedIt had drawn a left-handed admiration from Hearn; he would not have been surprised if the General had slept on a bed of spikes
But two days later, when the first urgency of the campaign was over, the General had had his tent location moved twice, and had reprimanded Hobart gently for not having picked a more level siteThere was really no end to the contradictions in himHis reputation in the South Pacific was established; before Hearn had come to the division he had heard nothing but praise for his techniques, a sizable tribute for those rear areas where gossip was the best diversionYet the General never believed thisOnce or twice when their conversation had become very intimate, Cummings had muttered to him, "I have enemies, Robert, powerful enemies The self-pity in his voice had been disgustingly apparent and quite in contrast to the clear cold sense with which he usually estimated men and eventsHe had been advertised in advance as the most sympathetic and genial officer in a division command, his charm was well known, but Hearn had discovered quite early that he was a tyrant, a designer louis vuitton denim bags knock offs tyrant with a velvet voice, it is true, but undeniably a tyrant
He was also a frightful snobHearn, recognizing himself as a snob, could be sympathetic, although his own snobbery was of a different order; Hearn always classified people even if it took him five hundred types to achieve any kind of inclusivenessThe General's snobbery was of a simpler orderHe knew every weakness and every vice of his staff officers, and yet a colonel was superior to a major regardless of their abilitiesIt made his friendship with Hearn even more inexplicableThe General had selected him as his aide after a half-hour interview when Hearn had come to the division, and slowly, progressively, the General had confided in himThat in itself was understandable; like all men of great vanity, the General was looking for an intellectual equal, or at least the facsimile of an intellectual equal to whom he could expound his nonmilitary theories, and Hearn was the only man on his staff who had the intellect to understand himBut today, just a half hour ago, the General had fished him out of what was about to explode into a dangerous situationIn the two weeks since they had landed he had been in the General's tent talking with him almost knock off rolex watch every night, and that sort of thing would get around very quickly in the tiny confines of this bivouacThe General had to be aware of it, had to know the resentments this would induce, the danger to moraleYet against his self-interest, his prejudices, the General held on to him still and, even more, exerted himself in unfolding the undeniable fascination of his personality
Hearn knew that if it were not for the General he would have asked for a transfer long before the division had come to AnopopeiThere was the knowledge of his position as a servant, the unpleasant contrasts always so apparent to him between the enlisted men and the officersThere was most of all the disgust for the staff officers he concealed so unsuccessfullyIt was the riddle of what made the General tick that kept Hearn onAfter twenty-eight years the only thing that interested him vitally was to uncover the least concealed quirks of any man or woman who diverted himHe had said once, "When I find the shoddy motive in them I'm boredThen the only catch is how to say good-bye And in return he had been told, "Hearn, you're so goddam healthy, you're nothing but a shell
In any case it was not easy to find the shoddy motive in the chloe handbag lookalike General |
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