The Great Santini by Pat Conroy Read Free Book Online Page B

yeah. Your mother always slacks up on you when I go overseas. Give me the ones you know."
    "To walk my post in a military manner, keep always alert, and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing. To spread the alarm in case of fire or disorder."
    "You skipped about a hundred of 'em. You ought to know those if you're going to be on duty. I'll give you a week to relearn 'em once we get to Ravenel."
    "I haven't looked at them for a long time, Dad."
    "Never make excuses."
    "Yes, sir."
    For the next ten miles the car was silent. Colonel Meecham chewed gum belligerently and Ben watched the white lines until he was mesmerized by their repetitiveness. Both of them wanted to speak but could find no common ground to bridge the abyss that separated them as father and son.
    "The Red Sox won," Bull said finally.
    "How did Williams do?" Ben asked.
    "Knocked three runs in with a double."
    "Good."
    "I flew with Ted Williams in Korea. You knew that didn't you?"
    "Yes, sir. Dad?" Ben said, beginning a conversation he had fantasized when his father was flying from the carrier off the French coast. "Are you ever afraid when you fly?"
    "That's a good question. Yeah. I'm always a little afraid when I fly. That's what makes me so damn good. I've seen pilots who weren't afraid of anything, who would forget about checking their instruments, who flew by instinct as though they were immortal. I've pissed on the graves of those poor bastards too. The pilot who isn't a little bit afraid always screws up and when you screw up bad in a jet, you get a corporal playing taps at the expense of the government."
    "What are you most afraid of when you fly?"
    "Most afraid of Hmmm," Bull whispered, plucking at his left ear lobe. "Good question, sportsfans. When I'm flying a jet, the thing I'm most afraid of is birds."
    "Birds?" Ben said letting a quick girlish giggle escape in his surprise.
    "Yeah, birds," his father answered defensively. "You hit a bird going five hundred knots and it's like being hit with a bowling ball. Do you remember when Rip Tuscum was killed in a plane crash about five years ago?"
    "Yes, sir."
    "Well, he had his head taken off when he hit a buzzard."
    "Birds, eh, Popsy," Ben intoned. "I can see the headlines now. Bull Meecham killed by a parakeet. War Hero Brought Down by a Deadly Sapsucker."
    "Go ahead and laugh, jocko, but I break out into a cold sweat when I spot a flock of birds up yonder. The bad thing is that they're usually past you by the time you see 'em. I mean they are behind you before your brain registers that you've just passed a bird. You'll know what I mean some day."
    "How, Dad?"
    "When you're a Marine pilot flying your own plane."
    Ben knew he was in familiar terrain now, old territory where the teasing had grooves and furrows of ground that had been plowed before.
    "I think I'm going to be an Air Force pilot, Dad."
    "If you want to fly with pussies it's O.K. with me," Bull flared, then remembered that his son had teased him about the Air Force many times before. "But if you want to fly with the best, you'll fly with the Corps, simple as that."
    "What if I really decide not to go in the Marine Corps, Dad?"
    "I want you to go in for a four-year hitch at least. If you decide not to make a career out of it, it's your decision. But I want to pin the wings of gold on you after flight training. You'll be a good pilot, son. You're athletic and have the quick reflexes. The coordination. The only problem I see is you have a little too much of your mother in you, but Quantico will ream that out of your system."
    "I'll have plenty of time to decide whether to go into the Corps or not when I'm in college, Dad."
    "That's negative," his father replied. "I've already made that decision. You'll decide whether to stay in after four years."
    "That's not fair, Dad."
    "Who said your ol' Dad's ever been fair? Look, Ben, you'll thank me one day. Christ, the way the world's going now you may even luck out and get your wings