"They don't spice their food very much," Clete said, hoping that the Old Man's comment was not the opening line in a conversation about his father.
"I was wrong when I asked you, with Needham there, about your Navy Cross," the Old Man said. "I know what you did down there was classified, and I shouldn't have asked."
Clete shrugged, signaling it didn't matter.
"You can tell us now," the Old Man said. "We're alone."
Clete put another oyster in his mouth and shook his head resignedly.
"The Senator told me," the Old Man went on, "that the citation read, 'for conspicuous gallantry, above and beyond the call of duty'-"
"They all say that," Clete interrupted.
"'... at great risk to his life.'"
"I didn't hear that part, either, honey," Martha said. "Can you tell us about it?"'
"I'd rather not," Clete said.
"Please, Clete," Martha said.
"The Germans were supplying their submarines from a neutral vessel in the Bay of Samboromb¢n-in the river Plate estuary," Clete said, knowing there was no way he could get out of an explanation. "We took it out."
"Took it out,' meaning you sank it?" Martha asked.
Clete nodded.
"How?"
"That's classified."
"The last time I looked, it was not this side of your family which could be fairly suspected of being Nazi sympathizers," the Old Man said.
"That's not true, Grandfather, and you should know better."
"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."
"OK. And this is classified. I could get in a hell of a lot of trouble if they found out I'd told you about this."
"Our lips are sealed."
"We found the allegedly neutral supply vessel-it was flying a Portuguese flag. Tit for tat, the United States violated Argentine neutrality by sending a submarine into Samboromb¢n Bay, Argentine waters, and the sub took out the supply ship."
"There's more to it than that. They didn't give you the Navy Cross for find-ing a Portuguese freighter."
"Yes, they did."
"How did you find it?"
"With an airplane."
"Where'd you get an airplane?"
"It was my father's."
"He's changed sides, has he?" the Old Man asked, and then went on with-out giving Clete a chance to reply. "You said 'was.' Past tense. What happened to the airplane?"
"It went in the drink."