Cuba's Mid-October: A Short Story

954 Words2 Pages

Cuba, Havana, 1962, Mid-October

The American man sat at the table. He was fat, ignorant and loud. He gave off the impression that he thought he was close friends with everybody and he was liked by everybody. He wore a white shirt with short sleeves with faded floral patterns decorating the shirt. He yelled out for all to hear “Hey you! Waiter! Waiter! Uno Club Soda! Capiche?” He looked at his chunky gold watch on the inside of his forearm, 1:43 pm, he pulled a blue handkerchief out of his pocket and swiped away the beads of sweat on his forehead. The waiter returned with his drink, which he yearningly snatched to quench his thirst, another man strolled towards his table and momentarily lifted his sunglasses. They both reached into their left …show more content…

He re-checked his pocket to make sure he was still carrying the package, his hand safely landed on the crisp yellow paper of the envelope, reassuring him that he was doing his job well. He entered the stairwell and made his way up the four flights of stairs to the conference room, half-way up the second flight of stairs he was struggling, by the end of the third, patches of sweat had appeared under both armpits, his back and under his breasts. He ungracefully burst into the room wheezing and sweating like a pig. A man in a blue suit and brown tie spoke coldly and rapidly, “Did you lose it? Show it to me? Did anyone see you? Jones speak” Jones intermittently replied “Yes Mr Patron … it is all here … I didn’t … notice anyone”. At this point he was bent over with his hands on his knees gulping in profound breaths as he reached into his pocket and emerged with the yellow envelope in his outstretched hand. Mr Patron moved forward and plucked the envelope from Mr Jones hand. Jones cautiously asked, “and my end of the deal?” “Ah yes, bottom left draw, in the corner over there” Patron replied kindly, appearing to be pleased with the message contained in the envelope. Jones walked to the corner of the room and bent down and opened the draw, “It ain’t here” “Your other left Mr Jones … that’s better, well …show more content…

The sounds of his footsteps echoed down the concrete hallways of the Pentagon. He quietly entered the meeting room and passed the piece of paper onto a man dressed in full military uniform, he whispered something into the Military man’s ear. The Man dressed in his green military uniform rose from his seat, “Gentlemen, We have reports that there are now 2 more missile bases capable of hitting as far north as DC” He paused and then took his seat. The rabble of noise quickly arose as discussion became heated and frantic.
“I’m telling ya, nuke these ba****ds before they do the same to us”, one voice erupted from one side of the table.
“Now hold on now, If we launch at Cuba, the Soviets I can guarantee will hit Turkey, East Berlin, Munich and other city in Europe they deem to be strategic”, his tone was reasoning and calm.
The Head of the CIA stayed in his seat as he spoke, “I agree, we’re powerless, F*****g powerless, the risk we would have to take is too substantial, the Commies can match us now, maybe even have more missiles than we

More about Cuba's Mid-October: A Short Story

Open Document