Read & Enjoy!
And feel free to sign my guestbook and let me know how you liked them!
(c) 2003 by Susan Sloate & Kevin FInn
From Pages 25-26
It was a famous photograph, one I'd seen many times. In the center of the photograph was a tall, burly man, with thinning hair slicked back, a large face, big flappy ears, right hand raised piously, facing a small brisk woman with dark hair and glasses. On the man’s right, crowded next to him, seeming crushed by his vitality, was another small dark woman, her face blank with conflicting emotions.
But the man, for all his bulk and heartiness, was not the magnetic force in the photograph. The woman on his left was. Younger than anyone else, with dark glossy hair, in a bulky light suit, her profile regal even in her anguish, blood spattering her clothes, she stood watching sightlessly. Her beauty and grief drew all eyes. Her pain was almost visible on the photo itself.
“This is the swearing in of Lyndon Johnson as President on Air Force One in Dallas, on November 22, 1963. His wife is on his right. Jacqueline Kennedy stands on his left. Sarah Hughes is the judge administering the oath. John F. Kennedy had been assassinated only a couple of hours before.”
“I know the photograph, George.”
“Good for you. Look here.” He pointed carefully at the almost invisible edges of the book under Johnson’s massive hand. “Johnson, of course, needed to be sworn on a Bible. Here it is, being held by Mrs. Hughes.”
“You want the Bible Johnson took the oath on?”
“I do. That Bible belonged to President Kennedy.”
I looked up in surprise. “It was Kennedy’s Bible? I didn’t know that.”
“It was the only Bible on Air Force One. Kennedy supposedly traveled everywhere with it. When they were scrambling to find a Bible – Johnson insisted on taking the oath before he left Dallas -- they remembered Kennedy’s Bible and used that.”
“Well, why can’t you buy the Bible from the Kennedy family? Even though I can’t imagine they’d give it up.”
“Well, now, that’s a problem. The Bible disappeared right after this picture was taken.”
I hated to admit it, but that intrigued me. It was getting harder to remember that I’d just lost my job a few hours before. “How could it disappear?”
“Well, the story goes that Sarah Hughes actually had it in her hands when she left Air Force One in Dallas. You have to understand – that day, the whole country was in a state of shock, and people did crazy things without realizing it, half the time. Coming down the ramp, Mrs. Hughes met a man dressed in a suit and tie and sunglasses, a man she believed to be a Secret Service agent. He asked her for the Bible. I don’t think she even realized till that minute that she still had it in her hand. She thought he intended to return it to the Kennedy family, and of course, immediately gave it to him.”
He paused. I was riveted. “At least, that’s what she said. But the Bible disappeared that day and was never seen again.” George paused again and gave me a devilish grin. “JFK’s own Bible, used to swear in Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One ... what do you think an item like that would be worth?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t imagine.
“Nobody can,” he said softly. “Do you understand now? As a piece of history, part of one of the twentieth century’s most pivotal events … that Bible would be beyond price. And I intend to have it.”
(c) 2003 by Susan Sloate & Kevin Finn
FROM Pages 201-202
The man in the doorway was yawning, and his bright chestnut hair, threaded with
gray, was tousled. He wore half glasses down on his nose and held a thick
typewritten report in one hand. His silk tie was pulled down, his white shirt
was rumpled. His eyes, though bloodshot, focused on us politely.
I was face to face with President John F. Kennedy.
He looked at us, puzzled. Looked around the empty hallway. The agents he was
accustomed to seeing were missing.
I knew if I didn’t speak that I’d never have another chance, but I couldn’t
think of a thing to say. The President looked at us, raised an eyebrow.
“Mr. President, my name is Cady Cuyler.” Beside me, I felt Lee start at the
words. “I’ve come a long way to speak to you. Please, it’s very urgent.”
He was still puzzled. “Where’s my Secret Service detail?”
I took a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound. ”They’re out drinking at
a nightclub called The Cellar, here in Fort Worth. They left a couple of Fort
Worth firemen to guard you. We got rid of them. Your agents won’t get in till
very late tonight.”
Kennedy looked down at me. His eyes were a bit brighter, though it was now
close to 2 a.m. He looked over at Lee, who gave him a tense smile, and stood
almost at military attention. He looked back at me and asked quietly, “And how
do you know this?”
It was time. His hand was on the doorknob. Almost imperceptibly, he was inching
it shut.
I took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you, but you’re not going to believe me.” I
waited; he waited too. But he was listening; I still had a chance.
“I’m from the future. I don’t live in Dallas in 1963. I live in New York in the
year 2000. And I’m here to warn you, and save you if I can. If you don’t listen
to me now … you’re going to die in less than 12 hours.”
