An American Tune: A Novel

33 Here, There and Everywhere”

311 “Here, There and Everywhere” OnthefirstofMay,PresidentBushhadswaggeredinfullflightregalia from the jet that landed him on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, grinning, giving the thumbs up to the hundreds of sailors lining the flightdeckunderabannerthatproclaimed“MissionAccomplished.” “Combat operations in Iraq have ended,” he announced. “In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” But troop strength remained essentially the same, fierce battles continued to rage, the death count rose. One hundred thirty-eight Americans had been killed by the Fourth of July, a third of them after Bush’s pronouncement. Thousands of Iraqi civilians had died in air strikes and explosions, were injured or displaced. So far, not a single WMD had been found. Recently, a taped message from Saddam Hussein, who remained at large, had urged guerilla fighters to continue their resistance to the U.S.-led occupation. “Bring them on,” President Bush responded. “We’re not leaving untilweaccomplishthetask,andthetaskisgoingtobeafreecountry led by the Iraqi people.” He offered no timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. “Oh!” Nora said. “I guess he forgot the war was over. Not to mention the fact that he went AWOL from the Reserves when it looked like he might get sent to Vietnam.” 33 312 An American Tune Tom glanced at her sharply. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I know I’m not responsible for it. I’m just saying . . .” He smiled. “Okay, then. Progress.” They were sitting in a restaurant on Front Street in Traverse City, half-watching the news on the TV above the bar, half-watching the townspeople and tourists there for the Cherry Festival pass by on their way to the park along the lakeshore to watch the annual air show. They waved little American flags, wore tee shirts and baseball caps plastered with flags and stars and eagles. “American Patriot,” “In God We Trust,” “These Colors Don’t Run.” Usually, the air show featured the Navy’s Blue Angels in a festive, conspicuous display of aerobatic maneuvers. This year it was the Air Force, with a tactical demonstration of the aircraft being used in Iraq, including a simulated weapons deployment. “Fun and games,” Tom said. He paid the check and they walked, hand-in-hand, in the opposite direction of the crowd, toward Nora’s apartment. She could not stop looking at him. They had talked every day since she’d come back in March but had waited until this weekend to see each other. It had made her feel young again, the way she’d felt waiting for him that long ago summer, and her first sight of him the day before had brought back the boy leaning against a post at the bus station, waiting for her bus to arrive. The sense that life, everything was still all before them. “It is,” he said, when she told him that. “It’s just going to be a little shorter than we planned.” The first planes screamed into the sky as they walked, and Nora shuddered, imagining what it must be like to see them coming at you for real, how you’d draw your children to you, try to shelter them, knowing only luck would save them–or God or fate, if you believed in either. “You’re quiet,” Tom said. “Are you worried about Claire?” “A little. And Diane in Chicago, doing the same thing, waiting for Rose. She’s coming to dinner at Carah’s tonight–Rose is. Diane’s a wreck about it. I know,” she added. “Like me worrying about any of it really helps.” 313 “Here, There and Everywhere” The apartment still smelled of the cherry pie she’d baked that morning and of the little doll pies she’d made for Claire. One of four apartments in an old Victorian house, it belonged to a friend of Diane’s, an artist who was in France on a fellowship through the summer. It was on the second floor, airy: white walls hung with her abstract Michigan landscapes; shelves that held driftwood and Petoskey stones, birds’ nests, dried flowers, and branches with bright red winterberries.Abaywindowoverlookedtheneighborhood,andafter she had made a pitcher of lemonade and set out the plates for the pie, Nora sat in the window seat and watched for Claire and Dylan to come up the street after the air show. She had moved to Traverse City after Jo’s death to stay close to her daughter, found a...