Chaper 49: Man On The Floor!

[Victoria Steele]

Thanks for the response LindaB.

Of course , now with the New Year celebrations almost behind us, I am wondering what will happen in the story next. (Thursday Paul???)

I was thinking about the relationship that it seems Linda Brown and her Morgan had experienced up to that point. Oh, I know that the passions ran high but actually how many days did they have together, all told? Not counting school days of course. No, counting from the evening he first kissed her. I wondered how many days that they had spent together as lovers. From that moment to the time that he came up those stairs at college lets see, a visit in Florida for Christmas vacation in 1964 ( maybe four or five days, considering that he would have only had his vacation from school and he hitched down and back which was probably really tough.) Then their one evening in Zanesville during the spring of 1965, and then I assume a couple of weeks during that summer, then .... well, other than sitting together in her room ( pointedly with the door open to keep things "proper" ), maybe the two of them have had a whole twenty days to get to know each other.

Not a whole lot of time to develop the basis for a lifelong relationship. So it can't possibly end here like this, or in NYC? Can it? Morgan has just asked her to join him up there on New Years Eve and she has said yes, so maybe if we are lucky we can add a couple of more days but is that going to be the end of it for them?

If that was the case, well, maybe it could have been called a "fling" and maybe Morgan didn't have to do a whole lot of difficulty "disengaging himself " from his relationship with Linda Brown. She was probably,( lets face it ), just one of many and he was supposed to be giving up on his other girlfriends too and I'll just bet he had some pretty interesting situations going with others. Its just that this strange girl, with the ability apparently to see his own visions for his future (and with a Dad who offers him this fantastic job remember), well, all thats hard to ignor.

I just want to know how it came about that he was able finally to shed himself of her too. New Years Eve in New York City in 1966. Yup, a great time to say goodbye. He is in NYC, she is going to school in Virginia and living in Florida. Her Father wants him to dump her, her mother has advised that he dumps her. So what actually did he do? Victoria

[Paul S.]

Of course , now with the New Year celebrations almost behind us, I am wondering what will happen in the story next. (Thursday Paul???)

Yes, "Thursday," but... not THIS Thursday.

--PS

[Bulwark]

I was lost in my meditation the other day and just really off an a sojourn and recharging my batteries and just giving thought to some of the posts on here. Recent ones involved women. You know, we men, we're always booking out, we join armies, frat houses, baseball teams and all to the exclusion of our fair sisters. And in one of my darkest moments I'll tell you something, in that segregated, celibate world of men, a divine hand reached down, grabbed me by the belt strap and gave a hard yank. And to whom did this awesome hand belong? Woman.

Here's a quote:

O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee
To temper man: we had been brutes without you:
Angels are painted fair, to look like you;
There’s in you all that we believe of heaven,
Amazing brightness, purity and truth,
Eternal joy, and everlasting love.

Was Morgan ever tempered?

Bulwark

[twigsnapper]

Bulwark,

Must be something in that brisk Alaskan air.

You asked about Morgan being "tempered" by a woman and I think I can, maybe I can, answer that. Yes, he found one that tempered him. Made him stronger and finer than he could ever have imagined.

Alas there are such women still out there.

Its just , I agree, most of us never actually find them.

I surrounded myself with interesting sorts when I was a young man and I am embarrassed slightly now to admit that I was not much of a gentleman in regard to the ladies. For me, being alive and staying alive was what counted!. The edges I had on my personality I needed for that quest. I kept them honed and sharp. I probably wasn't as strong as a fine woman could have made me. I didn't go through the heat of all that passion and change. But for me it worked better to be cold forged. A lot of hammering..

In Berlin in 1954 and 1955 it was sort of the wild west of the intelligence world. There were precious few rules. The Berlin Base was decidedly the punchcard that most of the American officers needed to get ahead once back in Washington, so they tried to learn from us (and of course that was a little difficult. For all of our tea at four oclocks we were a nasty sort.) Especially when it came to using women to our advantage. I think Trickfox early on asked about the running of prostitutes ..... and it was true. We imported many girls that would have turned heads on a Vegas chorus line. When new American station head showed up with two GORGEOUS TWIN SECRETARIES of course I immediately recruited them in everywhich way I could imagine! Basically they would find a lonely Soviet officer, put him through the hoops, collect the intimidating information, then to buy his way out of the mess he would spill the beans to me of course, and when I was finished with him I would turn him over to someone we referred to as our “ American Uncleâ€