Chapter 14

It seemed all the military walked over to get in on this conversation. Boy, was my wife in her element, pointing to Poland, Germany, Russia, and all the hot spots she had covered.

I let this all happen, as she answered question after question.

The ticker went off:

“1939 JULY SIXTEENTH: SUNDAY ... LONDON, ENGLAND. THE IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (IRA) HAS BEGUN DROPPING BOMBS OVER ENGLAND. SCOTLAND AND WALES APPEAR TO BE NOT INVOLVED. MORE WHEN AVAILABLE...

I read this out loud, and Major General ‘Hugh’ said, to my wife, “Did you expect this?”

“No sir, the Irish have always been more neutral in the past,” she explained.

With probing questions by the different branches of the USA Government, my wife added:

“India will likely refuse to participate in this War.”

When asked why, she invoked that Mahatma Ghadi, the spiritual leader of the country would advocate nonviolence and passive resistance. She also expected him to be assassinated sometime toward the end of this ‘inevitable war.’

Two weeks later:

1939 AUGUST SECOND: WEDNESDAY ... THE EINSTEIN-SZILARD LETTER IS SIGNED, ADVISING PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT OF THE POTENTIAL USE OF URANIUM TO CONSTRUCT AN ATOMIC BOMB.

Mr. Evans came by our work area twice a day, to catch up on these, reading then taking them away. I was reading everything the moment they came in, so we would be as informed as possible.

1939 AUGUST FOURTH: FRIDAY ... NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN DISMISSED PARLIAMENT UNTIL TUESDAY OCTOBER THIRD.

1939 AUGUST NINETEENTH: SATURDAY ... ADOLF HITLER ORDERS THE KRIEGSMARINE TO BEGIN THE INVASION OF POLAND

Damn, Elizabeth was right!

That same day, our ticker machine was removed under the pretense of national security. We were officially in the dark.

Mr. Evans did come in and give out what he was allowed us to read:

“AUGUST 24, THURSDAY: In a burst of legislation, a War Powers Act is approved; and HMG order the Royal Navy to be put on a war footing, all leaves to be cancelled, and the Naval and coast defense reserves to be called up, especially radar and anti-aircraft units. In addition, the last British and French private citizens in Germany are ordered home by their respective Governments.”

“AUGUST 25, FRIDAY: The German Foreign Ministry cuts off all telegraph and telephone communication with the outside world in accordance with the plan for Fall Weiss. At approximately 1830 Central European time, Adolf Hitler postpones Fall Weiss for 5 days, after receiving a message from Benito Mussolini that he will not honor the Pact of Steel if Germany attacks Poland, and because Chamberlain’s government has not fallen as a result of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.

“AUGUST 26, SATURDAY: The Kriegsmarine orders all German-flagged merchant ships to head to German ports immediately in anticipation of the invasion of Poland.

Then, a blackout of information started until: (Received September 2, 1939)

“On SEPTEMBER 1, 1939, the opening shots of World War II and Invasion of Poland: At 4:45am Central European Time, under cover of darkness, the German WW1-era battleship Schleswig-Holstein quietly slips her moorings at her wharf in Danzig harbor, drifts into the center of the channel, and commences firing on the fortress Westerplatte, a Polish army installation at the northeastern mouth of the port of the internationalized Free City of Danzig. Five minutes previously the bombing of Wieluń in the western part of Poland had begun. Shock-troops of the German Wehrmacht begin crossing the border into Poland. Bombing of Wieluń (two air-raids) follows.”

Every notice we got, ended with Mr. Evans saying, “Elizabeth, you were right, on all of it!”

During all of this we kept to varied experiments, we stumbled on a polymer, we called Polythane. Using our peni (penises?) we had it in a liquid form, covered the plastic wrapped ‘hard penis’ with it, and let it dry.

Using gloves, we trimmed it, then unrolled it and had our first Polythane polymer condom. The first new development in condoms since latex in the 1920s. We made six of them, without telling anyone.