*
George Jakes entered the coffee shop at the Willard and looked around for Verena, but she had not yet arrived. However, his saw his father, Greg Peshkov, having breakfast with a good-looking man of about twenty who had a blond Beatle haircut. George sat at their table and said: ‘Good morning.’
Greg said: ‘This is Jasper Murray, a student from London, England. He’s the son of an old friend. Jasper, meet George Jakes.’
They shook hands. Jasper looked faintly startled, as people often did when they saw Greg and George together; but, like most people, he was too polite to ask for an explanation.
Greg said to George: ‘Jasper’s mother was a refugee from Nazi Germany.’
Jasper said: ‘My mother has never forgotten how the American people welcomed her that summer.’
George said to Jasper: ‘So the subject of racial discrimination is familiar to you, I guess.’
‘Not really. My mother doesn’t like to talk about the old days too much.’ He smiled engagingly. ‘At school in England I was called Jasper Jewboy for a while, but it didn’t stick. Are you involved in today’s march, George?’
‘Kind of. I work for Bobby Kennedy. Our concern is to make sure the day goes smoothly.’
Jasper was interested. ‘How are you able to do that?’
‘The Mall is full of temporary drinking fountains, first-aid stations, portable toilets, and even a cheque-cashing facility. A church in New York has made eighty thousand sandwich lunches for the organizers to distribute free. All speeches are limited to seven minutes, so that the event will end on time and visitors can leave town well before dark. And Washington has banned the sale of liquor for the day.’
‘Will it work?’
George did not know. ‘Frankly, everything depends on the white people. It only takes a few cops to start throwing their weight around, using billy clubs or fire hoses or attack dogs, to turn a prayer meeting into a riot.’
Greg said: ‘Washington isn’t the Deep South.’
‘It isn’t the North, either,’ said George. ‘So there’s no telling what will happen.’
Jasper persisted with his questions. ‘And if there is a riot?’
Greg answered him. ‘There are four thousand troops stationed in the suburbs, and fifteen thousand paratroopers close by in North Carolina. Washington hospitals have cancelled all non-urgent surgery to make room for the wounded.’
‘Blimey,’ said Jasper. ‘You’re serious.’
George frowned. These precautions were not public knowledge. Greg had been briefed, as a senator; but he should not have told Jasper.
Verena appeared and came to their table. All three men stood up. She spoke to Greg. ‘Good morning, Senator. Good to see you again.’
Greg introduced her to Jasper, whose eyes were popping out. Verena had that effect on white and black men. ‘Verena works for Martin Luther King,’ Greg said.
Jasper turned a hundred-watt smile on Verena. ‘Could you get me an interview with him?’
George snapped: ‘Why?’
‘I’m a student journalist. Didn’t I mention that?’
‘No, you did not,’ George said with irritation.
‘I’m sorry.’
Verena was not immune to Jasper’s charm. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said with a rueful smile. ‘An interview with the Reverend Dr King is out of the question today.’
George was annoyed. Greg should have warned him that Jasper was a journalist. Last time George talked to a reporter he had embarrassed Bobby Kennedy. He hoped he had not said anything indiscreet today.
Verena turned to George, and her tone changed to annoyance. ‘I just talked to Charlton Heston. FBI agents are phoning our celebrity supporters this morning, telling them to stay in their hotel rooms for the day because there’s going to be violence.’
George made a disgusted noise. ‘The FBI is worried, not that the march will be violent, but that it will be a success.’
Verena was not satisfied with that. ‘Can’t you stop them trying to sabotage the whole event?’
‘I’ll speak to Bobby, but I don’t think he’ll want to cross swords with J. Edgar Hoover on something so minor.’ George stood up. ‘Verena and I have to talk. Excuse us, please.’
Verena said: ‘My table is over there.’
They crossed the room. George forgot about the sneaky Jasper Murray. As they sat down, he said to Verena: ‘What’s the situation?’
She leaned across the table and spoke in a low voice, but she was bursting with excitement. ‘It’s going to be bigger than we thought,’ she said, her eyes shining. ‘A hundred thousand people is an underestimate.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Every scheduled bus, train and plane to Washington today is full,’ she said. ‘At least twenty chartered trains arrived this morning. At Union Station you can’t hear yourself think for the people singing “We Shall Not Be Moved”. Special buses are coming through the Baltimore tunnel at the rate of one hundred per hour. My father chartered a plane from Los Angeles for all the movie stars. Marlon Brando is here, and James Garner. CBS is broadcasting the whole thing live.’
‘How many people do you think will show up altogether?’
‘Right now we’re guessing double the original estimate.’
George was flabbergasted. ‘Two hundred thousand people?’
‘That’s what we think now. It could go higher.’
‘I don’t know whether that’s good or bad.’
She frowned in irritation. ‘How could it be bad?’
‘We just haven’t planned for that many. I don’t want trouble.’
‘George, this is a protest movement – it’s about trouble.’
‘I wanted us to show that a hundred thousand Negroes could meet in a park without starting a goddamn fight.’
‘We’re in a fight already, and the whites started it. Hell, George, they broke your wrist for trying to go to the airport.’
George touched his left arm reflexively. The doctor said it had healed, but it still gave him a twinge sometimes. ‘Did you see Meet the Press?’ he asked her. Dr King had been questioned by a panel of journalists on the NBC news show.
‘Of course I did.’
‘Every question was about either Negro violence or Communists in the civil rights movement. We must not let these become the issues!’
‘We can’t let our strategy be dictated by Meet the Press. What do you think those white journalists are going to talk about? Don’t expect them to ask Martin about violent white cops, dishonest Southern juries, corrupt white judges, and the Ku Klux Klan!’
‘Let me put it to you another way,’ George said calmly. ‘Suppose today goes off peacefully, but Congress rejects the civil rights bill, and then there are riots. Dr King will be able to say: “A hundred thousand Negroes came here in peace, singing hymns, giving you the chance to do the right thing – but you spurned the opportunity we offered, and now you see the consequences of your obstinacy. If there are riots now, you have no one to blame but yourselves.” How about that?’
Verena smiled reluctantly and nodded assent. ‘You’re pretty smart, George,’ she said. ‘Did you know that?’