Shining Through Page #3

sight of a sealed document on Ed's desk,

- Addressed to J Edgar Hoover.

- Hi, Jimmy.

In April, Ed's staff started interviewing

recently arrived German refugees

to get details about life

in Hitler's Germany.

And by fall of that year,

Ed Leland's whereabouts were

completely unpredictable.

He'd vanish for

weeks at a time,

returning as abruptly

as he'd left,

to dictate letters that

made no sense at all.

Naturally, it set a girl's

mind to wondering.

Please report that my wife

Sunflower and I and her...

new dog Rover

just returned

from the seashore,

where we saw a flock

of birds-sea birds.

A flock of 14 sea

birds diving for fish.

Excuse me, are those pelicans?

You said they were diving.

I've asked you not

to interrupt me.

Sorry, Mr Leland,

but the German language is very specific.

You wouldn't say seabirds,

you would say pelicans.

Unless, of course, this is

all just some kind of code,

in which case you should just tell me,

so I'd stop bothering you

Why would you say

something like that?

No, I'm curious.

Why?

Well, your wife's name

is not Sunflower.

You don't even have a wife.

I mean, not one that

I know of anyway.

Therefore you assume

that this is all a code.

I don't have to turn around

to see that your overnight bag is full

of woollen sweaters and heavy socks.

Not exactly the kind of thing

you take to the seashore.

At least not a

vacation-type seashore.

More like the

English Channel, I'd say.

- Anything else?

- No.

- OK. Where were we...?

- Except that the code is a dead giveaway.

I mean, 14 birds diving for fish!

Is obviously a fleet of 14 submarines.

You're gonna get caught

with a code like this.

The Germans

aren't stupid, Mr Leland.

My God, they do it better in movies. Did you

see Espionage Agent with Brenda Marshall?

No.

When she talked about submarines,

she talked about her "rose garden".

- Her rose garden?

- Yeah. So there'd be no connection.

And for airplanes,

she talked about figs and dates.

Figs and dates?

Figs were Fokkers and dates...

I can't remember

what dates were.

Well, I guess I'd better go to the

movies to see how they do this.

My wife,

Susan, who I call Sunflower.

This was taken a year before I put

her in a sanitarium in Switzerland,

a mental institution,

which I visit often,

and which I'm afraid

that she'll never leave.

D'you understand why is easier for me to let

people think that I have never been married?

I'm sorry.

- God, I feel so stupid.

- No, is... is all right.

I feel so stupid that

I don't understand why I can't

make carbon copies of your letters.

Or why I have to turn in my steno pad

for a new one each time I've finished.

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