Part 21 (1/2)
Hall finished his shave and dressed, toying all the while with the notion of walking down the corridor to Jerry's room before she had a chance to leave. Pepe would heartily approve, he thought, and, besides, since that hour in the woods on top of Monte Azul, Jerry had not exactly indicated that he would be unwelcome if he made a try. But while he speculated, Jerry phoned him again from downstairs. ”Daydreaming?” she asked, and he answered, ”Yes, about you.”
She met him at the elevator in the lobby. ”Come on,” she laughed, ”let's go to that place in back of the Cathedral. The little Dutch drip was around here a second ago. He wants to tell you the story of his life, he told me.”
”O.K. Let's just keep walking.”
She took his arm as they left the hotel. ”Miss me?” she asked.
”I did.”
”You're a liar.”
Hall winced. ”Is that the best you have to say? How about the magnificent doctor?”
”He's really good, Matt. I'm not kidding. I've worked with some corking medics in my day, but this guy is tops.” She told Hall about the masterly way in which Ansaldo had taken command of the situation, kicking all the San Hermano doctors out of the sick room and examining Tabio only in the presence of Marina, Jerry and Tabio's son.
”What's the matter with him?”
”Ansaldo has an idea. But he has to make certain.”
”What does it look like to you?”
”It could be many things. What's good to drink here?”
”Anything. Scotch and soda?”
”Oke. But really, Matt, you should have seen Doctor in that sick room.”
She launched into a long and enthusiastic account of the doctor at work.
The girl was on the point of repeating herself when Hall cut her short.
”Listen,” he said. ”Let me tell you something about Anibal Tabio and his generation of young democrats who walked out of jail and started to make history.” He told her of the schools and the hospitals which had been built in the country in the last decade, of the minimum-wage laws, of the work of Tabio followers like Dr. Gonzales.
He told her how he first met Tabio in Geneva. ”His was supposed to be just a small voice in the League; a little South American dressing to make the whole show look good. But a month after he got there, Mussolini started to pop his goo-goo eyes at Ethiopia. h.o.a.re and Laval and Halifax were so nice and ready to give the Italian steamroller a healthy shove downhill to Addis Ababa. Then one afternoon Litvinov got up to fire some heavy shots. But that was expected. Then del Vayo started, and the fun began. Because, when Vayo was through, it was Tabio's turn. And lady, what Anibal Tabio did to hot shots like h.o.a.re and Laval without even raising his voice was just plain murder.”
Jerry put her hand on Hall's arm. ”I suppose I read about it in the papers at the time. It didn't mean much to me then. I'm afraid it didn't mean much to me until right now, Matt.”
”Weren't you interested in what happened in the world?”
”Not too much, I'm afraid. I was interested in myself. I was making up my mind to go to Reno, and then I sat in Reno for six weeks cramming on my old school books, and then I was off to nursing school.”
”Didn't Ethiopia, and later Spain, make any impression upon you?” Hall's question was very gently stated.
”Of course it did, Matt. I was sorry for the Africans and I was sorry for the Spaniards. I wanted Mussolini to get licked and I wanted the Loyalists to win. But most of all I wanted to get through nursing school and then earn enough money to study medicine.”
”In other words, if Geraldine Olmstead got her M.D., all would be right with the world, eh?”
She avoided his eyes. ”It sounds stupid and mean,” she said. ”But I guess I deserve it. I'm afraid that was the idea.”
”When did the idea die?”