Page 292 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

His affection for Maria was definitely not that of a brother. He found her sexy and alluring, and had ever since that bus ride to Alabama. He felt about her the way he felt about Skip Dickerson's wife, who was gorgeous and charming. Like his best friend's wife, Maria was simply not available. If life had turned out differently, he felt sure he might be happily married to her. But he had Verena; and Maria wanted no one.

They went to the Jockey Club. Maria wore a gray wool dress, smart but plain. She had no jewelry on, and wore her glasses all the time. Her hairpiece was a little old-fashioned. She had a pretty face and a sexy mouth, and--more importantly--she had a warm heart: she could have found a man easily, if only she had tried. However, people were beginning to say that she was a career girl, a woman whose job was the most important thing in her life. George did not really think that could make her happy, and he fretted about her.

"I just got a promotion," she said as they sat down at the restaurant table.

"Congratulations!" said George. "Let's have champagne."

"Oh, no, thank you, I have to work tomorrow."

"It's your birthday!"

"All the same, I won't. I might have a small brandy later, to help me sleep."

George s

hrugged. "Well, I guess your seriousness explains your promotion. I know you're intelligent, capable, and extremely well educated, but none of that counts, normally, if your skin is dark."

"Absolutely. It's always been next to impossible for people of color to get high posts in government."

"Well done for overcoming that prejudice. It's quite an achievement."

"Things have changed since you left the Justice Department--and you know why? The government is trying to persuade Southern police forces to hire Negroes, but the Southerners say: 'Look at your own staff--they're all white!' So senior officials are under pressure. To prove they're not prejudiced, they need to promote people of color."

"They probably think one example is enough."

Maria laughed. "Plenty."

They ordered. George reflected that both he and Maria had succeeded in breaking the color bar, but that did not show that it was not there. On the contrary, they were the exceptions that proved the rule.

Maria was thinking along the same lines. "Bobby Kennedy seems all right," she said.

"When I first met him he regarded civil rights as a distraction from more important issues. But the great thing about Bobby is that he'll see reason, and change his mind if necessary."

"How's he doing?"

"Early days yet," George said evasively. Bobby had been elected as the senator from New York, and George was one of his close aides. George felt that Bobby was not adjusting well to his new role. He had been through so many changes--leading adviser to his brother the president, then sidelined by President Johnson, and now a junior senator--that he was in danger of losing track of who he was.

"He ought to speak out against the Vietnam War!" Maria clearly felt passionately about this, and George sensed that she had been planning to lobby him. "President Kennedy was reducing our effort in Vietnam, and he refused again and again to send ground combat troops," she said. "But as soon as Johnson was elected he sent thirty-five hundred marines, and the Pentagon immediately asked for more. In June, they demanded another one hundred seventy-five thousand troops--and General Westmoreland said it probably wouldn't be enough! But Johnson just lies about it all the time."

"I know. And the bombing of the north was supposed to bring Ho Chi Minh to the negotiating table, but it just seems to have made the Communists more resolute."

"Which is exactly what was predicted when the Pentagon war-gamed it."

"Did they? I don't think Bobby knows that." George would tell him tomorrow.

"It's not generally known, but they ran two war games on the effect of bombing North Vietnam. Both showed the same result: an increase in Vietcong attacks in the south."

"This is exactly the spiral of failure and escalation that Jack Kennedy feared."

"And my brother's eldest boy is coming up to draft age." Maria's face showed her fear for her nephew. "I don't want Stevie to be killed! Why doesn't Senator Kennedy speak out?"

"He knows it will make him unpopular."

Maria was not willing to accept that. "Will it? People don't like this war."

"People don't like politicians who undermine our troops by criticizing the war."

"He can't let public opinion dictate to him."

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