Mitla Pass - Leon Uris [180]
“I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused. I’m sorry,” Gideon said.
We were deeply, deeply troubled and knew the lad had to stay under our wing. Neither Molly nor Danny could apply for legal guardianship because of their financial situation.
With a little inside help from Dominick, Gideon’s case was placed in the hands of a sympathetic judge, Paul Sklar. Dom and I had to confide in Paul that the boy’s father had tried to force him into the Young Communist League and Leah had legally deserted him. Gideon was called into the judge’s office to confirm this.
The case against Leah was open and shut. Tears fell down Gideon’s cheek as he confirmed her many absences.
“And your father tried to coerce you into becoming a Communist?” the judge asked. “Is that true?”
Gideon’s mouth clamped shut.
“It’s all right, son. It won’t go any further than this office.”
He refused to speak.
“You want to stay with your Uncle Lazar, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well?”
“Nobody’s going to make me rat on my dad,” Gideon answered.
“Wait outside,” the judge ordered. He turned to Dom and me and we nodded that it was true. The judge shook his head and signed the decree for me to be his guardian, but God alone knows what damage had been done to Gideon in those two minutes.
December 7, 1941
WAR! WAR! WAR! WAR! WAR!
JAPANESE ATTACK PEARL HARBOR! FDR ASKS CONGRESS FOR A STATE OF WAR. SNEAK ATTACK CAUSES MASSIVE DAMAGE. CASUALTIES HIGH. BATTLESHIP ARIZONA SUNK.
I turned off the radio, but could not stop looking at the newspaper. Awful! Awful! Simone’s eyes were rimmed with red as she patted my back and stroked my hair. The woman had been so badly damaged by war, and now, so soon again. I reached back and touched her hand.
“Pierre called from Boston,” she said. “He’s talking about enlisting.”
“I’ll get back to him right away. Pierre has always listened,” I said. “They don’t want college boys. It’s just not his time to go. I assure you, darling, he will finish his postgraduate work.”
“God, the madness. I’ll cut Pierre’s finger off before I let him go.”
No use talking to her when she got like that. I poked through the icebox. The hell with it. I needed a drink.
“Here, I’ll fix it for you,” she said.
Molly entered the kitchen with Danny limping behind her. She looked the color of a corpse.
“Gideon has enlisted in the Marines,” she blurted.
I banged on the table. “That’s crazy! He’s just turned seventeen!”
“He’s up in his room packing,” Molly said shakily. “He says that if you don’t sign his papers, he’s going to run away and enlist somewhere where he can pass for twenty-one.”
“He’s got to prove his age and he only started shaving last year.”
“He’s got an altered birth certificate and they aren’t checking ages too closely.”
Oh boy, oh boy, Gideon was going to be one tough customer.
“You want me?” Molly and Danny said together.
“Let me see what I can do,” I answered. I went up to the room he used when Pierre was away, knocked, and entered. He was filling up a suitcase on the bed.
“Going someplace?”
“Did Molly tell you?”
“She mentioned some chozzerai about you trying to enlist in the Marines.”
“I have enlisted. There’s a consent form on the desk. If you sign it, I can leave from Baltimore tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll just keep going from city to city until one of the recruiting stations takes me.”
“An ultimatum? You are talking to your Uncle Lazar, young man. You don’t give me ultimatums.”
Gideon sighed and relaxed a bit, but those blue eyes of his were penetrating. They said, “Don’t stop me.”
“Uncle Lazar, I love you. I don’t want you to have to get mixed up with this. It’s better if I just go.”
“What’s going on? I’m no longer your guardian? I’m a bum off the streets?”
“Cripes. Look, you and Aunt Simone have been wonderful to me, better than anybody in my life, except Molly. I know if you sign for me, my dad and mom are going to raise blue hell. Why don’t you let me make it easy for you by just slipping out?”
“From Nathan Zadok and Leah, I don’t exactly tremble with fear. Can