Chapter X
Jamie and Helen had the contents of Clarence’s package spread out on Jamie’s dining room table. They could not believe it. There were black and white photographs of a spaceship, tiny people tethered to it dangling in space. This was something that would grace the cover of a science fiction novel. But according to Clarence’s letter, this was the mockup of the Orion Space craft. Clarence explained that the project had ultimately been shut down on August 5, 1963, when a nuclear test ban treaty was signed by the US, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. There would be no nuclear testing in space. Without the ability to test the propulsion system, the Orion project could not continue. The scientists were moved to other departments, the secretaries re-assigned, the cost accountant moved to another department. Clarence had found the photos and what looked like engineering drawings for parts of the craft in a dumpster. He just couldn’t let this part of history die so he’d taken it home.
They organized the ephemera and created a timeline, starting with Jerry’s birth in 1936 and ending with his disappearance on May 11, 1960. The fifty-year break to the discovery of his remains in the Soviet submarine. They packaged everything carefully and took it over to Jamie’s grandparents’ house. Maybe Jerry’s brother could fill in some of the missing pieces of Jerry’s path.
Grandpa George was studying everything the kids had left for his review. Grandmom Clara was equally fascinated. The kids had done an impressive job of putting together a comprehensive timeline. Their research included not only what they knew about Gerald, George just couldn’t think of his older brother as “Jerry,” they’d also included some world facts that George knew he knew but didn’t remember until he saw them. Facts like this Project Orion was started in 1958 by Ted Taylor the same year the term Aerospace was coined.
George took a deep breath and blew it out. When they were growing up, George had always looked up to his brother. They’d started working together in the family store: Breen’s Greengrocer. When it became obvious that Gerald was brilliantly smart, it was determined that he would get a college education. All of the family savings was put toward making sure that Gerald could fully concentrate on school and not have to worry about how to pay for it. The unspoken agreement was that Gerald would, once he was working, take care of his family. George was slated to take over the family business. When he was a young man, he lived in the apartment over the store, that’s where he and Clare were newlyweds. Eventually, after he’d taken over for his father, George and Clare moved to the family home, to take care of his aging parents.
Gerald, on the other had gotten into college when he was only seventeen. He had a PhD in Mathematics from MIT by the time he was 20. Ted Taylor had recruited him right out of college. George had driven out to California with Gerald the summer he moved. They’d done a lot of talking. Gerald had tried, in his clumsy, quiet way, to his younger brother that he, Gerald, liked men. George had been not only shocked. He still felt disgust that his brother would choose that path.
George adamantly believed God would not make people *that* way. It had to be a choice. And George could not understand why anyone would choose to travel the road to perdition. And then there was the fact that his brother was found in a Soviet sub. Was it possible his brother was not only a traitor to his family, but a traitor to his country. Part of him wished his grandson had never opened this can of worms.
Clare, who had been a nurse before they retired, had tried explaining to him that people really were born homosexual or heterosexual. He just couldn’t believe her. Even if he was certain that she’d never told more than a tiny white lie in the years they’d been married, he just couldn’t believe that was fact. She had insisted that it was medically documented, and that he shouldn’t hold it against his brother. She knew it was hard for someone to let go of long held prejudice.
Clair slipped her hand into Georges and gently nudged him in the direction of the bedroom. It might take some time, but she was sure that George would wind up on the right path.
— Lkai
Jamie and Helen had the contents of Clarence’s package spread out on Jamie’s dining room table. They could not believe it. There were black and white photographs of a spaceship, tiny people tethered to it dangling in space. This was something that would grace the cover of a science fiction novel. But according to Clarence’s letter, this was the mockup of the Orion Space craft. Clarence explained that the project had ultimately been shut down on August 5, 1963, when a nuclear test ban treaty was signed by the US, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. There would be no nuclear testing in space. Without the ability to test the propulsion system, the Orion project could not continue. The scientists were moved to other departments, the secretaries re-assigned, the cost accountant moved to another department. Clarence had found the photos and what looked like engineering drawings for parts of the craft in a dumpster. He just couldn’t let this part of history die so he’d taken it home.
They organized the ephemera and created a timeline, starting with Jerry’s birth in 1936 and ending with his disappearance on May 11, 1960. The fifty-year break to the discovery of his remains in the Soviet submarine. They packaged everything carefully and took it over to Jamie’s grandparents’ house. Maybe Jerry’s brother could fill in some of the missing pieces of Jerry’s path.
Grandpa George was studying everything the kids had left for his review. Grandmom Clara was equally fascinated. The kids had done an impressive job of putting together a comprehensive timeline. Their research included not only what they knew about Gerald, George just couldn’t think of his older brother as “Jerry,” they’d also included some world facts that George knew he knew but didn’t remember until he saw them. Facts like this Project Orion was started in 1958 by Ted Taylor the same year the term Aerospace was coined.
George took a deep breath and blew it out. When they were growing up, George had always looked up to his brother. They’d started working together in the family store: Breen’s Greengrocer. When it became obvious that Gerald was brilliantly smart, it was determined that he would get a college education. All of the family savings was put toward making sure that Gerald could fully concentrate on school and not have to worry about how to pay for it. The unspoken agreement was that Gerald would, once he was working, take care of his family. George was slated to take over the family business. When he was a young man, he lived in the apartment over the store, that’s where he and Clare were newlyweds. Eventually, after he’d taken over for his father, George and Clare moved to the family home, to take care of his aging parents.
Gerald, on the other had gotten into college when he was only seventeen. He had a PhD in Mathematics from MIT by the time he was 20. Ted Taylor had recruited him right out of college. George had driven out to California with Gerald the summer he moved. They’d done a lot of talking. Gerald had tried, in his clumsy, quiet way, to his younger brother that he, Gerald, liked men. George had been not only shocked. He still felt disgust that his brother would choose that path.
George adamantly believed God would not make people *that* way. It had to be a choice. And George could not understand why anyone would choose to travel the road to perdition. And then there was the fact that his brother was found in a Soviet sub. Was it possible his brother was not only a traitor to his family, but a traitor to his country. Part of him wished his grandson had never opened this can of worms.
Clare, who had been a nurse before they retired, had tried explaining to him that people really were born homosexual or heterosexual. He just couldn’t believe her. Even if he was certain that she’d never told more than a tiny white lie in the years they’d been married, he just couldn’t believe that was fact. She had insisted that it was medically documented, and that he shouldn’t hold it against his brother. She knew it was hard for someone to let go of long held prejudice.
Clair slipped her hand into Georges and gently nudged him in the direction of the bedroom. It might take some time, but she was sure that George would wind up on the right path.
— Lkai
Very sweet side-story! What an achievement you are engaged in! Keep going!
ReplyDeleteMe too on "very sweet side story!" I like the further exploration of the place of homosexuality in that time. I think it's important to remember that history as a boost to keeping us from falling back into those prejudices. I'm over here cheering for you.
ReplyDelete