Chapter 103

103
THE WATERGATE HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Jesus and Juan had requested transportation services the night before. The request, as usual, had set in motion a long series of preparations. Even though neither of them would have hesitated to tell the operations officer the destination, protocol had prevented his asking.

Colonel Nichols, General Tower's aide, knocked on the door of the penthouse at nine o'clock sharp, the appointed hour. Several floors down a platoon of Marines was standing by to board the truck which would take them in convoy with the 'guests.' Nichols, although a combat veteran found himself nervous at the prospects of his first one on one meeting with Jesus.

"I'm Colonel Nichols. General Tower sent me to finalize travel arrangements for Your outing today. He will be able to join us shortly." Actually Tower had given him a direct order to appear at the penthouse first. The General wanted Jesus and Juan to feel comfortable with at least one officer other than himself. To further develop this comfortability the General had further instructed his aide to make small talk, a difficult task for a military officer.

"It's nice to be able to travel around at least a little. While the rioting was so heavy we were pretty well just trapped here." Jesus commented in a friendly way, hoping to put the man at ease a little. "It is still very reassuring to have the Marines along."

"There's nothing like having the Marines around when You need them, Sir. We intend to take good care of You." the Colonel agreed, reassuringly. Nichols was having the normal amount of trouble with Jesus' speech in Portuguese being heard in English. He kept having the inclination to shake his head as if to clear it.

"Yes, Colonel. Juan and I both are very impressed with the young men in your command. They are quite different than some other soldiers I have had to deal with." Jesus smiled.

Nichols heard Him speak --again, in Portuguese, but he understood Him in perfect English. The Colonel considered this phenomenon, assumed that there was some sort of Biblical term for the process. He remained absolutely unshaken. After all, he was a Marine officer. If this phenomenon was okay with the General, it was certainly just fine with him. He made a conscious effort to not allow this to influence him either way as to his opinion of the divinity of the Man sitting before him.

Colonel Nichols, still hoping to make small talk as ordered, addressed Him. "Did the Brazilians treat You badly, Sir?"

"Oh no, not that at all. I wasn't referring to them. They were actually quite pleasant. No, I was referring to the Romans. Perhaps you may realize that I have the memory of dealing with the Romans for several decades, you know, before."

Colonel Nichols was no longer able to ignore the questions running through his mind. In an attempt to be cordial, he slowly added, "Oh, yes, of course, the Romans." He nodded in understanding, but he had the sinking feeling he was understanding less not more the longer he spoke with this strange Man.

"Sir," Nichols finally said, "I'm still having a little trouble with the language. Please forgive me if I require a few minutes to become accustomed to Your speech. I am not familiar with that particular type of linguistic ability."

"I'm not too familiar with it either. You know Colonel, until I found out who I was, I could only speak Portuguese, and even that language in the style of a barely literate Amapan native." Jesus' dark eyes seemed to bore into the Marine. "Since we have a moment while we wait for General Tower, I would like to make a special request."

"And what would that be, Sir?" the Colonel asked respectfully.

Jesus continued His piercing stare into the Colonel's eyes. The officer was beginning to feel a little cornered. "Colonel, please don't kill anyone in My Name while we are out today."

Colonel Nichols shook his head. "Nothing could please me more than to comply with Your wishes, but even though the violence has subsided, it remains our duty to keep You safe. My men are good at this sort of duty. Besides, civilians will usually not tangle with my Marines. They are well trained for this sort of thing. There is a very good probability that we'll have no trouble at all. I assure You that I will do my very best."

"No Roman Centurion would have ever said something such as that. I believe you will do your best, Colonel, and I cannot possibly ask for more than that." Jesus was beginning to feel more at ease with this military man. He hoped that the feeling was mutual. There was no avoiding the fact that this Colonel was quite a different bird than General Tower.

"Perhaps we can get to the point at hand, Sir. Where do You wish to go today?" The Colonel felt better at the end of small talk and the beginning of the mission.

At this moment Juan rose to open the door for General Tower who was already halfway through it in his usual entrance. In his shaky English, Juan greeted the older man. "Good day, Sir. I'm doing well"

Tower smiled as if it were the son he never had accomplishing this. Risking a complete communications breakdown, he complimented the young Brazilian. "Good morning, Juan. Your English is becoming very good!" Walking further into the room, he turned to Jesus, "Good morning, Sir. Colonel Nichols, Beatrice."

Jesus told Juan what Tower had said. Juan told Beatrice what Tower had said. Beatrice, who had remained quiet while Colonel Nichols was there, suddenly jumped to life, "GOOD MORNING GENERAL! I'M BEATRICE! I LIVE HERE!"

The General laughed, the Colonel smiled, and Jesus and Juan exchanged a quick glance. The logjam of serious conversation had finally broken.

Colonel Nichols spoke first. "I was just asking where, ah"

The General broke in. "Jesus. He prefers to be called by His Christian name. Jesus."

Nichols continued, "I was just asking where Jesus and His party wanted to go today."

This time Jesus broke in, still laughing, "His party is Juan. Juan also prefers to be called by his Christian name, whatever that is, just so long as it's Juan." Running His hand through His hair, He revealed their destination. Juan and I want to get haircuts before the, ah, military affairs office personnel arrive."

Colonel Nichols looked at the General questioningly, but received a "I'll tell you all about it later" look from his superior.

"Haircuts?" The General was looking at two young men with hair almost down to their waists. This one clearly caught him off guard.

"Yes, Juan and I would appreciate it if you could give us a ride to the barbershop. We will pay for the haircuts with our own money, of course. We already know where we would like to go. Juan found a business card in the drawer by his bed." Jesus turned to smile at His friend.

General Tower knew that an outing into the city was inevitable. "Of course. Allow me an hour or so to organize things. You know, of course, that there is a good barbershop here in the hotel.

Jesus answered firmly, "No, we really would like to go to this one. The name of the shop is Hernando's Snip and Style. It is in the same place as Dottie's Castle of Coiffures on South Jacinto, 1898 South Jacinto. Do you know where that is?" Jesus asked with His penetrating stare.

"Hernando specializes in long hair!" Juan interjected through Jesus. "He says so right on his card."

General Tower was already on his cell phone. Before he disconnected, a Marine helicopter was photographing 1898 South Jacinto from the air.