Protect and Survive: The Last Game

Status
Not open for further replies.
Brky2020

Brky2020

Tuesday, February 14

Lexington, 4:04 a.m.

"Hello?"

Cliff Hagan was awakened from a sound, if short, sleep by the phone ringing at his bedside.

"Yes it is....okay....the board is what?.....Wednesday...okay, Wednesday afternoon....in secret? Meaning what?.....don't tell the press....yeah...and they'll announce it afterwards? Okay....really??? What makes you think that?....uh huh...alright....the board wants to go forward, thru the end of the week....they're looking at Monday....shi--shoot, I mean, what if Ogarkov decides to drop a bomb before then?....they want us to play....uh huh....now hold on -- who suggested scheduling Louisville for next week????? No, no, NO....doesn't the General Assembly have more important things to do right now????...sure, sure....listen, can all this wait until after lunch? I really need to get some sleep...sir, I have business to attend to, in a few hours, and I need....wait a minute....no, YOU wait...hold ON. We will NOT put our student-athletes in danger, even for basketball...it's 4 in the fucking morning, and this is NOT the time to discuss this! There is a time and it's not right now. I'll get back to you. Goodbye."

Hagan hung up his phone, and looked at his alarm clock. He had an hour and a half before he needed to start his Tuesday. He got back in bed, pulled the sheets over...and took the phone off the hook.


****************************************************************

Frankfort, 4:17 a.m.

OPERATION EXODUS NOW IN EFFECT

The Senator looked at the note: "a few weeks too late," he thought to himself, sitting at his desk.

He glanced at the very unofficial, very real, 272-page notebook on his office desk, detailing how the Commonwealth would deal with the worst.

The Senator wondered if he could get himself, and his family, to the safety of Mammoth Cave if the worst happened, if they could survive, and for how long.


****************************************************************

Louisville, 4:57 a.m.

The Louisville Times newsroom

The reporter, aware of the Valentine's Day peace protest planned for later on in Omaha, Nebraska, was following up on spin-off protests planned locally: the biggest one in Louisville, starting either at the University of Louisville campus or in the city's west end, and smaller ones in Lexington; Bowling Green; Richmond; Murray; Frankfort; Morehead; and Bloomington, Indiana.

****************************************************************

University of Kentucky campus, 5:15 a.m.

The students moved the materials into the three vans, each of which would drive across Fayette County to a barn. If worse came to pass, and the city and campus were bombed, it was hoped their project would be able to do some good, for as long as possible...
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

Tuesday, February 14, 1984

Lexington, Kentucky, University of Kentucky

Wildcat Lodge, 6:30 a.m.

Sam was a well-conditioned, healthy, athletic man in his early twenties, but even he needed more than three hours a sleep per night.

But three hours is all he got, having not gotten back to the lodge until 10 past 3 in the morning, due to the unplanned, impromptu celebration and festivities that happened after the basketball team's game several hours ago.

Senior Night, Fan Appreciation Night, and Team Appreciation Night, all in one. Students, partying at downtown Lexington bars and restaurants into the early hours...some still partying, even as dawn approached.

No one saying why everyone would do such a thing, and why the team, its coaches, and the university would go along with it.

There was no need to say it. Turning on a television, or radio, would suffice.

Even in basketball-mad Kentucky, where the University of Kentucky Wildcats served the same function socially that say, the local professional soccer (football) club did in places like Barcelona, Liverpool and Munich, war pushed its way onto the front page of the morning newspaper:

The Lexington Herald

HAGAN: CATS WILL PLAY ON

Kentucky beats Florida 67-65

OGARKOV THREATENS NATO

FORT KNOX, FORT CAMPBELL RAMP UP FORCES

So much for bread and circuses.

Sam, like most of his teammates, got those three hours of sleep.

Some didn't.

Roger had nightmares, and finally got up at a quarter to six. James couldn't quite sleep, and ended up calling home to Marion, Indiana; he was still on the phone, talking with his family.

Bret never went to sleep. While Sam and other team members got ready for breakfast, Bret was watching CNN.

6:45 a.m., campus

Heather, unlike many of her fellow students, didn't participate in the previous night's revelry. Instead, she slept in, as she had an 8 a.m. class to get to.

But first, the sophomore communications major from Kent, England, was on the phone, talking to her mother in Newcastle, where it was 15 minutes until noon.

"Mum, what's the news like there?"

"Well, honey, it's probably the same as it is there. Nothing but this dreadful...conflict or whatever you wish to call it. News on pretty much all of the channels now."

"Really? My roommate, she's watching the basketball team's highlights from last night, on channel 27--"

"They're playing sports in America??? Still???"

"Well, of course, the team had a game last night, and has one coming up this weekend--"

"You know the Football Association called off all the matches here indefinitely, don't you?"

Heather wasn't much of a sports fan; her mother's love for football, and for Newcastle United, apparently didn't pass down to her daughter. "No, mum, I didn't."

"No football, no sports, just the news and bloody Protect and Survive. Do they have anything like that, in America?"

"No, not Protect and Survive, at least that I'm aware of--excuse me...Mallory?....................sorry mum, Mallory wanted to know what Protect and Survive was, so I explained it to her, at least the short version."

"I would suspect they would, or will, if this thing gets any worse....honey, you and I need to talk about you. What you're going to do."

"Well, mum, I'll be going--"

"That's what I wish to talk to you about. I want you to consider staying there, in America."
 

Unknown

Newcastle, eh?

Her mom might survive the attack itself, if not the aftermath, since Newcastle was somewhat spared the worst.

Hope they aren't Irish, though...
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

Heather: "Well, mum, I'll be going--"

Heather's mother: "That's what I wish to talk to you about. I want you to consider staying there, in America."

"What??? There, there is no way I would even consider that...if things get bad, I want to be home, with my friends and family. With you."

"And honey, I appreciate that. I do. And I love you with all my heart. But listen to me. Things are starting to get bad here...I haven't told you this. But Gran is staying with Libby in Shildon....they cleared the home she was in three weeks ago, for 'other uses'. Gran was lucky, because physically she could handle the strain, and emotionally I think she prefers to be with Libby and her family. Some of the other residents, I'm afraid, weren't so lucky--"

"Gran? How is she?"

"She's doing fine. Your Uncle Arthur got a nurse to come in and check on Gran, every day so far she's been able to make it. We're worried about the nurse being called in, and getting Dr. Longridge--"

"MUM!!! WHAT IS GOING ON THERE???"

Now, Heather was shaking, just a little, with a tear falling down her cheek; Mallory, having overheard the conversation, had gotten up, brought over a box of Kleenex, and had her arm around Heather's shoulders, for support.

"Heather Anne." Mum was now speaking in the tone of voice she used when trying to emphasize something she thought to be very, very serious to her daughter.

"All of the schools here in England are closed. The care homes, like the one Gran was in, are closed. The hospitals were cleared of some of the most ill patients - the wife of Mr. Dowling, down the street, died Sunday. She was in hospital for cancer treatment. The government has instituted the Emergency Powers Act. I have to walk to work, because I can't catch the train because it's being used for official purposes. We're not under martial law, but we might as well be.

"I don't think you've heard this in the American media, but the military is on the highest possible alert it can be: Bikini Red. Here, in Newcastle, they've begun the transition, to wartime government. They came and got Donna. This country--our country--is gearing up for war.

"Now listen to me, please. I know you want to be here, with me and Libby and Arthur and Gran and everyone else. I know you're worried sick about your father. He and I haven't talked, since the divorce, as you know, but we talked yesterday and we decided that it would be better for you to stay where you are, in Kentucky, in America, than to come home.

"When--if the worst comes to pass, Britain will be bombarded, and there likely won't be any place to hide from the radiation, if not the destruction. America is a large place, and based on what I know I don't believe the Soviets have enough bombs to totally destroy the entire United States. You can hide. You can be safe. You will be safer there, than you would be here."

"Mum...I don't believe you."

"Honey, I wouldn't make this up. I wish, I wish to God things were different, and I hope that I'm wrong on this, but my training, my education, everything I am hearing tells me the military and government are expecting the worst. That even if things don't escalate globally, that Britain in some way will probably be attacked, and it will be bloody bad.

"Now...I must go, because it's getting very close to noon, and I have to go out on patrol. I haven't heard anything about the phones being turned off, anytime soon, so when I finish tonight around eleven I'll give you a call. Promise me you'll be there, to talk to me?"

"...okay...I promise...mum, I love you."

"And I love you, darling. Your father should be trying to call you sometime around midday, your time, so you'll want to be there around six, our time, which is one, your time. And I'll expect you there at 11, my time, and six, your time, alright?"

"Alright....mum, I love you."

"I love you too. I have to go. Talk to you tonight."

After Heather hung up the phone, she collapsed in a heap, bawling. Her cries were heard by everyone on the floor, and by most on the floors above and below.

It was 7 a.m.

This is WKYT, Lexington.

This is the CBS Morning News. I'm Bill Kurtis.

And I'm Diane Sawyer. The White House has yet to officially respond to statements by General Nikolai Ogarkov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet military and current leader of the emergency committee running the USSR...
​
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

Here's a teaser, focusing on the five characters I expect will provide our POV as the story progresses.

Heather is going to come to grips with the fact that she probably will never see her family in England again. Her father will wire her £300,000 - more money than she's ever dreamed of - although who knows how much good it will actually do her. She'll use some of it, too, in the next week; as a communications major, she's part of the student team that is working on the pirate radio station project. As her mother fell back on her career after the divorce, so the daughter will fall back on the project to cope with her personal loss.

Sam, too, will come to grips with the fact he likely will never see his family again. Like most people, he is holding out hope that Reagan and Ogarkov will step back before its too late; as the war in Europe erupts, that hope disappears. Basketball is his way of coping, but after the Vanderbilt game, how will he handle things?

Most students and professors, indeed, most people are watching news 24/7 now. Cliff is too busy to watch the news; he's too busy trying to run an athletic program. But global events already are, and increasingly will, affect that job and his life - from coaches sending their athletes home to the tug-of-war between activists and boosters/legislators in regards to shutting the whole thing down. Cliff is already stressed out (though he doesn't yet acknowledge it, chalking it up as 'part of the job') and events to come won't lessen the strain.

The Reporter, who've we've met in the flash-forwards, will stay at his job until the very end - indeed, he files his final story after the Kessel bomb for the special edition that hits the streets an hour before the Exchange begins. We'll see, among other things, how the local media reacts to ongoing events.

We've met the Senator briefly. He's from the Bowling Green area, is married with kids, and, currently is in the state capitol of Frankfort, where the General Assembly is currently in session. He will, among other things, find himself embroiled in the controversy that erupts over the UK Board of Trustees' decision to keep the school open through the weekend - allowing the basketball team to play on Sunday.
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

Tonight, my friend.

A teaser, of sorts:

DAYBREAK....DAYBREAK IN THE MORNING

Coming up we'll hear from Fred Wiche on the special Department of Agriculture meeting Wednesday in Frankfort, also Van Vance on sports, including UK's win over Florida and the press conference afterwards, and UofL's loss at Virginia Tech. Dick Gilbert's in SkyWatch 84 with traffic, and much more. Here's Ken Schultz:

It'll be a mostly cloudy day with light rain around midday, with a high of 62 degrees. Right now it's cloudy and 38.

Time for the news.

This is the one you depend on for news....WHAS 84 -- Louisville.

WHAS News at 7 o'clock, good morning, I'm Mary McCarthy. Amidst tensions between the United States and the USSR, the University of Louisville Board of Trustees will meet this morning in an emergency session to discuss a potential suspension of operations. Dan Burgess reports:

The UofL Board of Trustees will meet this morning at 10 to discuss closing the university and suspending classes. Although the General Assembly in Frankfort has tabled a bill shutting down public schools and universities in Kentucky, the UofL Board is not waiting. A short press release provided to WHAS by the university an hour ago states that the Board will be meeting to discuss "the potential for suspension of classes and other operations in light of the situation between the United States and the Soviet Union, and what would be done in various scenarios." Some students, specifically international students, have reportedly left campus. A coalition of student activist groups have been calling upon the university to close down and send students home since last Wednesday, and a large group of students reportedly will gather in front of the library at UofL's Belknap Campus at 11 a.m. in a 'march for peace' that will end in front of the Mayor's Office downtown. Dan Burgess, WHAS.
​

Now that protest march at UofL will coincide with another protest march starting in Louisville's West End. The Reverend Louis Coleman of the Justice Coalition Center will lead a group of pastors and Christians representing mainline and African-American churches in the West End, the Highlands and the East End for their own 'March for Justice and Peace'. It will begin at 10 a.m. at 34th and Market and end at the Mayor's Office.

Louisville police expect neither march will have little affect on morning rush hour traffic, but streets in the West End and around the Belknap Campus will be closed beginning at...
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

February 14, 1984, 10 a.m.

Now I've been happy lately
Thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be
Something good has begun
I've been smiling lately
Dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be
Something good's bound to come

For out on the edge of darkness
There runs the peace train
Peace train take this country
Come take me home again

Peace train sounding louder
Ride on the peace train
Hoo-ah-eeh-ah-hoo-ah
Come on the peace train
Peace train's a holy roller
Everyone jump upon the peace train
Hoo-ah-eeh-ah-hoo-ah
This is the peace train

Get your bags together
Come bring your good friends too
Because it's getting nearer
Soon it will be with you
Come and join the living
It's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer
Soon it will all be true

Peace train sounding louder
Ride on the peace train
Hoo-ah-eeh-ah-hoo-ah
Come on the peace train

I've been crying lately
Thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating?
Why can't we live in bliss?

For out on the edge of darkness
There rides the peace train
Peace train take this country
Come take me home again

Peace train sounding louder
Ride on the peace train
Hoo-ah-eeh-ah-hoo-ah
Come on the peace train

Come on, come on, come on the peace train...

"That was Cat Stevens, with Peace Train. This is 96WQMF, The Show With No Name, and I'm Terry Meiners, and this is Ron Clay and it's 10 o'clock. The peace rally is starting at UofL and we're going to see if we can get downtown and join up with them."

"Yeah, Terry, normally we do our goofy stuff, but today's a little different. Playing a lot of anti-war and peace songs, because things are getting a little, ah, scary and no one wants to, ah..."

"We want to keep doing our goofy stuff in the mornings."

"Yeah."

"Bring in Reagan and Ogarkov, you know, maybe invite them to the studio, have a barbecue, beer, the works."

"Sure, and spread the fun and goofiness into Russia."

"Well, hopefully they'll work things out, and in the meantime Ron and I are going to call it a day and go marching and see how things go. Duke's taking over, and QMF will be playing the peace songs throughout the day, in support of the marches from UofL, and the West End, and that big march in Omaha. We'll see you tomorrow, Duke is next. This is 96WQMF, Jeffersonville/Louisville."

************************************************************

Lexington

"Heather, you okay?"

Heather sat in the classroom, barely paying attention to the professor...or anyone else in the room, including her friend Jessica, who was trying to get her attention.

There were a few more empty seats than usual in U.S. History 101 this Tuesday morning, on the University of Kentucky campus.

Some were by students who decided to join an impromptu March for Peace, organized by a group of UK and Transylvania College students as a response to the big march in Omaha and similar marches starting on the University of Louisville campus, and at Eastern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University, Berea College, Centre College and Morehead State University.

Some were by students who had left campus, and weren't coming back.
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

Jumping ahead, to 2/21/84:

The Courier-Journal
The Louisville Times
SPECIAL EDITION
Tuesday, February 21, 1984 25c

KESSEL NUKED
US, USSR deny responsibility
First war-time use of nuclear bomb since Nagasaki
Local, national reaction

EUROPEAN FRONT RAGES ON

SLOANE ORDERS CITY OF
LOUISVILLE EVACUATED
Similar orders for Jefferson, Oldham,
Hardin Cos. Ky; Clark, Floyd Cos. Ind.

GOVERNORS DECLARE STATES OF EMERGENCY FOR INDIANA, KENTUCKY

C-J & T printing from Shelbyville

WHAS KNOCKED DOWN TO LOW-POWER
EBS LIKELY TO BE ACTIVATED
List of frequencies by area

From staff dispatches
In anticipation of the takeover of broadcast media by the federal government, WHAS-AM powered down to 1,000 watts this morning, from the 50,000 watts it had broadcasted at for more than 50 years.

As of 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, WHAS was still broadcasting locally with continuous updates from CBS News and wire services.

The powerdown of the station's transmitter was the final step before the activation of the Emergency Broadcasting System. If and when that occurs, WHAS is the designated AM station for the Louisville area to carry official news and information, provided by the federal government and by the Kentucky state government.

WAMZ-97.5 will provide the same service on the FM dial. It also has been powered down, to 2,500 watts.

The Emergency Broadcasting System...

A list of frequencies, by area:

Elizabethtown/Hardin County - WIEL-1400, WASE-103.5
Shelbyville - WQEL 105.9
Bardstown - WBRT 1260
Lexington - WVLK-590, WVLK-94.9
​
Locations of refugee centers in Kentucky and southern Indiana

FEMA, CDC recommendations in event of an attack

Continuity of state government by region

Editorial: What now?
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

In the next post, we'll jump back to the week before (the 14th).

The overall storyline will go chronologically, from the 13th through the 21st, but every so often I'll jump ahead.
 

TheKinkster

Banned
It is my sad duty to inform you that BrianD is now being held hostage in my basement until he comes up with more updates to this thread. Real life? Pshaw. Updates we want! :)
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

TheKinkster said:
It is my sad duty to inform you that BrianD is now being held hostage in my basement until he comes up with more updates to this thread. Real life? Pshaw. Updates we want! :)
Click to expand...

No, I'm not.

Next update deals with:

* the Board of Trustees meeting - on or off?

* Heather talks to Daddy and Mum

* The Senator talks with a friend down near Horse Cave

* The Peace marches in Kentucky

* and, for those of you who have lived in the Bluegrass for awhile....THE BIG BLUE LINE.

"You're on the Big Blue Line with Coach Hall."

"Hello, Cawood, and Coach Hall? This is Earl in Leitchfield."

"Earl, nice to have you tonight. Do you have a question for Coach Hall?"

"Well, not really a question, more of, well, we've got a lot of Kentucky fans down here in Grayson County, which is pretty much everybody, and we're all watching the news and concerned about what's happening with Russia. But we watched the Florida game last night and that really helped lift people's spirits, not just that Kentucky won, but that Kentucky played. Now I wouldn't want anybody to be put into any danger, and I hope, like I'm sure you all do, that they get this thing settled--"

"We do too, Earl."

"I know you do, Cawood, and I know you do too, Coach. But if at all possible, especially if things get worse and there's any way to do so, I hope they let you keep playing basketball for as long as possible...but don't put the kids in danger. Well, I'll get off the phone, but I just wanted to thank you, Cawood, and you, Coach Hall, for what you've done over the years, and thank the players, past and present, for what they've done, and go Big Blue."

"Well, Earl, thank you, for your support, and take care down in Grayson County. There's good people down there, and they're like us, I'm sure, that they want the leaders of both countries to do what's best for everybody and settle their differences, and we all can go back to our normal lives and we here can play basketball. We're not going to put the players or anybody else in danger. Whatever happens with this board meeting, we're confident they'll do what's best for the university. Hopefully, we get to play on Sunday, and we're preparing for that game, and we hope, that things calm down and get back to normal."
​
Being that this is the Protect and Survive universe...things won't get back to normal...and things can get real bad in a hurry...in fact, bad things may happen sooner than everyone thinks...
 
Brky2020

Brky2020

Tuesday, February 14

11:14 a.m.

"...the marchers have left the Belknap campus, and are marching north up -SKRAKKK- treet, towards downtown. They represent a large, diverse group of students and local citizens; Louisville police tells me they're estimating the crowd to be between seven and eight thousand people..." - special report, WHAS radio, Louisville

******************

Ninety miles away, in an apartment very close to the University of Kentucky campus, Anthony Belanger finished typing up his paper on evolutionary theory and human DNA.

It was an acceptable paper, he thought to himself, one that Uncle would have to take note of.

To Anthony's neighbors, fellow students and professors, Anthony was a sophomore biology student from New York State, orphaned, uncertain who his family really was, raised in Catholic orphanages, and at UK on a scholarship.

They did not know that Uncle was in fact a biology professor and an expert on Darwin.

In Kiev.

Nor did they know that Anthony was, in fact, Anatoly. And that he was here on a mission. One that the weak, foolish, Americans would soon learn...even as they killed one another, thinking they themselves were the true threat...paving the way for the Red Terror to finish them off.

But, first things first.

The Kentucky Kernel newspaper had a story about a hastily organized peace protest to begin at noon local time, on campus. Many would-be participants were up in Louisville, the story said, but leaders hoped for several hundred to march to the mayor's office, calling for peace.

Anthony would show up, wearing his Democrats for Peace sweatshirt. Maybe he would do something additional, that day as well. Or, his mission would wait until the next day.

In any case, he likely wasn't going to deliver that paper on Friday, as scheduled. A shame, too, he thought. Uncle really would have approved.

***********

11:23 a.m.
Memorial Coliseum

Office of Athletics Director Cliff Hagan

"I want all of the coaches, here, at 2, and that includes you....we'll talk about how to proceed. What the board's going to do, student and coaches' safety, games this week, all of that....I'm on a conference call at 1 with the other conference ADs...no, not right now...yes, I'm aware of the Big Eight. I'm also aware seven other ADs and presidents feel that it's precautionary on their part and not necessarily something we're obligated to do--sorry?....we would not put the kids in danger...well, we both agree on something at least....no, you don't--you don't have the authority to send those kids home on your own. That is something that will come from me, either on direction from the President and the board or in consultation with...I know...no really, I know, and you're not the only one who thinks that...just be here at two. We need to plan this out, and make sure that everyone's safe above all things and not put in an unsafe position....good. See you then."

That coach is going to be the death of me, Hagan thought. If the Russians don't beat him to it.

**********

11:26 a.m.

"You WHAT?"

"Heather, dear. Listen to me. Four hundred thousand pounds. In your American bank account. Use it wisely, as I know you will. Just watch those bloody parties...and if you drink, do drink a pint of Guinness, and not that dreadful American piss."

Heather: a UK student from England, on the phone with her father, an affluent banking executive working out of London, who just told her he had wired a significant sum to her American bank account.

And, not to waste any of the money.

".....dad?....excuse me?"

"Guinness. You know American liquour is subpar."

"Money?"

"...yes, lots of it. You'll need it more than I will...although I stubbornly hope for an optimistic ending, for all of us on both sides of the pond. Now: I want you to visit Mrs. Sanders at the bank downtown--you don't have any classes this afternoon, do you?"

"Er, no."

"Then it is settled. Get yourself some lunch, and catch a cab to the bank to see Mrs. Sanders. You've met her, once; she picked you up from the airport and took you to the dormitory. She'll talk you through the transaction, and some options on how to invest the money."

********

11:34 a.m.

THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY BOARD OF TRUSTEES WILL HOLD A SPECIAL MEETING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15 AT 11 A.M. EASTERN TIME. THE PURPOSE OF THE MEETING WILL BE TO DISCUSS THE CONTINUANCE OF UNIVERSITY OPERATIONS IN LIGHT OF THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SITUATION AND OF DECISIONS BY SOME MIDWESTERN STATES TO SHUT DOWN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES. PRESIDENT SINGLETARY AND THE BOARD WILL SPEAK TO MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES FOLLOWING THE MEETING, WHICH WILL BE HELD AT...

*************

11:38 a.m.

The Reporter was working on his story for tomorrow's newspaper: the ethics of the university holding athletic events, and basketball in particular, in light of the Big Eight's suspension of play.

Kansas coach Larry Brown was the only name coach to speak on the record: he didn't say what the Reporter quite expected him to say, but he did shed a bit of light on what was going on in that part of the country.

The phone rang. It was the sports information director for men's basketball at Mississippi. No, Ole Miss's AD wasn't available to comment right then. Yes, the AD did say that the Russians could stick it up their asses. And, yes, that particular phrase was uttered. Yes, if it was safe, Ole Miss would play, but no, he didn't really mean it if, to quote, "the bombs fell." Yes, the AD said the SEC was in a different situation than the Big Eight. No, no comment on what the Vanderbilt AD and administration might think, differently or otherwise. Yes, all Ole Miss athletic events, and the school, are on as scheduled, certainly through the end of the week.

Now, let's call Vandy, the Reporter thought, and see what they have to say.

************

11:43 a.m.
Frankfort, Kentucky

The Senator was quite a busy man, as was his fellow Senators, and the members of the House.

Today had taken on an urgency he hadn't before seen. As if everyone was starting to rush to get things voted on as quickly as possible.

No one was saying anything, in public, and out loud.

Some were whispering, of course, that the Russians might try something before the end of the week.

The state government wasn't admitting to it, but it, too, was preparing as if that were the case.

The Senator had just gotten off the phone with a constituent - a tobacco farmer, from Hopkinsville - who asked him about the special Department of Agriculture brochures dropped off at his farm, detailing how to deal with contaminated top soil in planting crops. Is something going on? Are things worse than the media and Washington are letting on?

Truth be told, the Senator didn't know about any impending war plans by Russia to invade the United States. He did know about Frankfort's contingency plans, and that nobody was sure that half of the proscribed measures would even work.

So he lied: he told the farmer that it probably was a mistake, likely overkill, and something Agriculture should not have sent out, but even if it wasn't, better to be prepared for the worst than not prepared at all. And, he didn't know of any Russians or Cubans preparing to nuke the Bluegrass - which wasn't a lie, or a lie he was aware of.

As the Senator prepared to finish his sandwich and go back to the chamber, he got another call: another constituent, and a lifelong friend, calling from his home near Horse Cave. Hello, how are you, how's the family, how are things up there, hope they get things calmed down in the next few days. And hey, if you can get away for a few days this weekend, we've got a place on Barren Lake you and the family can visit us at. Just give the word and we'll set a few extra places at the table for you.

Which was code for the safe place at Mammoth Cave has been set up, and we're ready for anything. See you there.

Hopefully, the Senator thought, if the boss doesn't have other plans.

********

11:53 a.m.
The crowd gathered on the UK campus numbered in the high hundreds, between 700 and 800. The turnout was much lower than expected by the student organizers, even with several hundreds of students having drove to Louisville to participate in the march up there.

Of course, that march had been organized over the past three weeks, while the UK march was four days in the making. And, what good would a march in Lexington do? Louisville was the biggest city in the state, near a major Army base, and would garner more media attention.

The students who were at the UK peace march were just as committed as their counterparts in Louisville, at the other universities in the state, and at other marches around the country. All morning, the news was talking about a huge march in Omaha, Nebraska, following on the heels of a march in England. The Louisville march was organized in response to the one in England, which also was an inspiration for the UK march organizers who wanted to make a local statement.

The Lexington-based march, unlike the one in Omaha, was almost exclusively made up of students, although there was a diverse representation of the student body within those who had gathered.

Among them: several dozen student-athletes, representing all of the varsity sports, including men's basketball.

******

11:59 a.m.

Anthony would have to catch up to the protest.

That phone call he got before he was about to leave his apartment set him back a few minutes--and changed his plans coming up.

He jogged to the parking lot, where he met an acquaintance, Marcos, obstensibly a student from Costa Rica - in a manner that would suggest to observers they just happened to run into one another.

Marcos slipped him a sheet of paper - the press release on the board of trustees meeting the next day.

"The party's tomorrow," "Carlos" said. "Make sure you stop by Perkins' and get the beer. And don't worry, Chuck's driving. He'll take care of you. Later."

That would wait until later that night. Once he got the beer, he'd hold on to it until Wednesday - the board meeting.

And, once the party was started, Anatoly hoped his ride would get him the hell out of there to the next phase of the mission.
 

Unknown

BrianD, good update.

Here's hoping Kentucky wins the NCAA tournament this year.

Looking forward to the next update.
 
Top
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top