Free The Willard by LeAnne Burnett Morse

some Commie bastard breaks wind on this island you’d better be in a dead run down here to tell me about it! Understand?”
    The chastised intern scurried from the room as Stan ripped off the tie that had been loosely hanging from his neck. His bulging veins and red face indicated he might keel over in the chair normally reserved for the Secretary of the Interior, but the outburst seemed to relieve some of the pressure and he settled down and buried his head back in the reports.
    Tom had been observing everything around him, like being aware that you’re dreaming during the actual dream. Everything felt so real and he wanted to remember it. He almost didn’t recognize his name being called from the doorway. Yet another terrified intern was beckoning him to come to the door. The boy looked like he was afraid he might be in for some of the same kind of wrath Stan had been handing out and he was visibly relieved when Tom picked up his paperwork and came to the door without a fuss.
    “They’re ready for you now,” the intern said. The badge around his neck proclaimed his name to be Ethan York. He looked to be about 18 years old. He turned to walk away and Tom stopped him.
    “Hold on a minute, Ethan,” he said. The young man turned, certain now that he was about to have his head handed tohim for some unseen slight. Earlier today he had failed to recognize the rank on a Colonel’s uniform and referred to him simply as “sir.”
    “
Sir
?” the man had asked condescendingly. “Do I look like a man who would spend years slogging through France getting shot at for pipsqueaks like you so I could be called ‘
Sir
’? You will address me as ‘Colonel’ if you must speak to me at all young man!”
    Where Ethan came from, “sir” and “ma’am” would open any door and get you a pat on the back for being a polite young man with good manners. But here, “sir” could get you dismissed from the White House intern program and he wasn’t looking forward to telling his mother he’d gotten booted his first week on the job. He vowed to study the symbols of military rank as soon as he got a break, but there had been no breaks for the last forty-eight hours and nobody seemed to know when there might be again. At least they got fed in the White House mess. They were handing out free sandwiches down there, which was good for Ethan’s budget. Speaking of sandwiches, he was getting hungry again. As soon as this guy, whoever he was, was finished yelling at him he thought he’d go down and see if there were any left.
    “Yes. . .um. . .
he’s not wearing a uniform
. . .sir?”
    “I was wondering where we’re going, Ethan. Where are you taking me?” Tom asked.
    “To the Oval Office, sir.”
    “Do you know why I’m being summoned?”
    “Sir, I don’t know anything about anything. I just learned which wing was the west one two days ago and I’ve been running around ever since. I was just told to get Tom Kelly and bring him to the Oval. One of the guys at the door back there pointed you out,” Ethan said.
    “Are you alright? You look scared, Ethan,” Tom said.
    “To be honest, sir, I am scared. I was supposed to come here for orientation for the intern program and about an hour after I got here all Hades, excuse my language, sir, broke loose. Nobody has gone home and I heard that last night the president went on TV talking about the Russians getting ready to nuke us. They don’t let us watch TV here but that’s what everybody’s saying. I’m nobody important, sir, but I would think if the Russians were wanting to nuke us, the White House would be a bad place to be sitting when it happens. I’m beginning to think I’d rather be back in South Carolina, but my mother worked hard for me to be able to do this and I don’t want to let her down,” Ethan was obviously relieved to be able to talk to someone. It seemed this Tom Kelly wasn’t going to yell at him like the colonel had so he breathed deeply and took a