It wasn't till I was down in the street, looking for a cab, that I
realized she'd said "them," not "him."
I didn't take the first cab that came along, nor the second. And when
I hailed the third I said nothing about the White House. I told the
driver to take me to a bus that would get me to Baltimore.
* * * * *
9 A.M. Railroad station, Baltimore. Television. Image of Gov: "My dear
fellow citizens...."
* * * * *
1 P.M. Pennsylvania Station, New York. Loudspeaker: "My dear fellow
citizens...."
* * * * *
1:15 P.M. IRT 7th Avenue Subway. Newspaper headlines.
_Post_: "GOV TELLS NATION: I'M ME; BEWARE RUMORS."
_World-Telegram_: "PRESIDENT SPIKES KIDNAP FEARS; HITS 'ENEMY LIES.'"
_Journal-American_: "WHO'S IN WHITE HOUSE? 'GOV' SAYS HE IS."
* * * * *
2:20 P.M. I got off the subway in Brooklyn, bypassed the St. George as
being too well known, and registered at the Towers down the street as
Edward Lang.
* * * * *
3:40 P.M. Hotel switchboard operator: "I'm sorry, sir, that number
still doesn't answer. Shall I keep trying?"
"No, thanks. Get me room service, will you?"
* * * * *
4:45 P.M. Having eaten and sent my clothes to be pressed, I arranged
to buy a white shirt and rent an electric shaver. I left a call for
midnight and went to bed. The last voice I heard on the five o'clock
news on WNBC was that of the man in the White House, whoever he was,
saying "... the great interstellar alliance for peace we have lately
forged on Ultra...."