A Boy and His Corpse Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t see how you can take this so lightly.”
    “I’m not taking it lightly, Tom,” the President said, stopping. “But I’m not going to make a statement that’s going to land us in World War III. They’re just going to have to work this out themselves.”
    Tom Mitchum raised his blond eyebrows. “We’re talking about Israel and Pakistan, right?”
    “Yes,” Rosewater said.
    “The Jews vs. the Muslims?”
    “Yes,” Rosewater said again, sighing heavily. “The Jews vs. the Muslims.”
    “You do know they’ve been going at it for centuries now, right, sir?”
    Rosewater crossed his arms and stared his advisor down. “Don’t patronize me, Tom.”
    “Sir, I’m just trying to say that this isn’t going to work itself out on its own. Not this time. You need to take action now.”
    “Not without proof, Tom, and not without the U.N.’s support.”
    They began walking again until Rosewater stopped at a picture of Theodore Roosevelt. Both Roosevelt and Rosewater wore the same round-shaped glasses, but Rosewater only wore them for aesthetic purposes. He had perfect 20/20 vision. Behind the spectacles, he had pale gray eyes. At the age of 52, he still had the sharp cheek bones, rigid jaw line, and stunning smile that made him such a successful model in his younger days. Even his hair, now a masculine salt and pepper shade, still looked fantastic. People Magazine even considered naming him Sexiest Man of the Year.
    What would you have done in a situation like this, Teddy ? Rosewater wondered as he stared at the painting. His advisor cleared his throat. Rosewater looked at him.
    “Look, sir. I’m just looking at this one day at a time. Senator Daly doesn’t care if you start World War III or not. He just wants to make you look indecisive. And you will look indecisive if you don’t say something soon. Everybody’s walking on eggshells right now. The public needs some kind of indication that you’re ready to handle this.”
    The President shook his head again.
    “Not without the U.N. going in with us, Tom. I won’t put America in another war it can’t win.”
    Mitchum rubbed his eyes as they started walking again. “You’re putting me in a tight spot here, sir. What am I going to say when I go on Meet the Press this Sunday?”
    Rosewater didn’t have an answer for him.
    When they finally arrived at the Oval Office door, Rosewater looked Mitchum right in his green eyes and felt a dullness in his chest. He hated that he had to put him through all this, but he didn’t have any other choice. If he had the military shoot missiles at Pakistan and its surrounding countries, then it would start World War III, no question. That said, if the U.S. didn’t aid Israel, then they would potentially launch their own missiles at Pakistan, which would enrage the rest of the Middle East, and force them to counter-attack. This, too, would pull the U.S. into a confrontation they probably couldn’t win on their own. So it was either attack now or attack later. Those were his options. And it was all because some punk decided to blow himself up in Tel Aviv with a backpack bomb, killing over two hundred people during Yom Kippur. It didn’t help that Pakistani president, Armand Raad, didn’t show any remorse whatsoever about the incident. Instead, he smiled about it when questioned in an interview. “Worse things have happened,” he said amidst all of the flashing cameras and journalists asking him to explain himself. Honestly, Rosewater was surprised that Israeli President, Eli Lempel, hadn’t already ordered a retaliatory strike.
    Two days after the bombing Lampel called Rosewater directly. “Are you with us or against us?”
    “Please just give me some time. Let me engage the UN before I engage American troops.”
    “Time?!” Raad attacked us on our holiest day of the year.”
    “Do you have proof it was him?”
    “Of course it was him! Who else would have set this up? His men have been making threats for the