The Old Man in the Swamp

“I’ve got about fifteen minutes before you bring him in to my office, so I’m going to need the intelligence brief on the old guy, ok Susie?  Oh, and I need a diet coke too.  So, he pressed his diet coke button and got it.

The Chief of staff then opened her brief case and pulled out a single sheet of paper and timidly handed it to POTUS.

“One lousy peace of paper on an old man of 103, that you say I need to talk to?”

She sat down in front of his desk and watched his eyes as he quickly scanned the intelligence brief on Ollie, pretending that she was looking for other information in her briefcase, then worriedly checking her secure phone for updates on his arrival.

“Susie, this has been a tough week, and we lost a good friend, and Christian patriot, but it must have been tough in the agency too.  I mean, this tells me next to nothing about this man.  It says, Phil Johnson served his country with honor and dignity in multiple theaters and services for the United States in multiple wars and conflicts. Including clandestine air and land operations, received the purple heart for a leg Injury in combat, silver star, multiple distinguished flying crosses and also was put up for the medal of honor by the men who worked under him and loved him, however, his commanding officer and the brass, refused to give him the medal of honor, apparently because he disobeyed orders. The details of this event have been deleted completely from the record and much of his record has been expunged for security reasons, and we are not sure of his birthdate or place of birth. However, he has been an advisor to multiple presidents over the years, and now in his later years appears to be living as a loner and we know of no family.”

“Sir, yes, well, this is about all the director could give us, or I guess, would give us on this old character. There is the 100 year rule that the intelligence community applies to some intelligence information regarding previous sensitive operations.”

“I am the president.  The agency cannot keep useful information from me.  That would be treason. As far as that 100-year rule, hell, he’s already over 100.”

“Sir, they are not keeping anything from you.  His record is essentially a ghost.”

“I respect old heroes and for God’s sake, he’s old and seen a lot.  But remind me again, why did you send him to me?”

Susie looked at her phone, read the text, and her face became crimson as she said, “Sir, the secret service says there is a delay.  Ollie has asked them to drop him off in downtown DC.  He said to them that he wants to walk around Franklin Park and talk to the people then go to the Dubliner Bar for some Guinness.  He said he hasn’t been to Washington down town in a while and wants to relax a while before you meet.  Says things are safer now but he doesn’t like the swamp. Something about his last visit here resulted in him going to jail.”

The president hesitated for a while and thought about it, drank a swig of his diet coke and said, “They put a 103-year- old man in jail after visiting the ex-president? So now he’s named Ollie? and why did the secret service listen to him?”

“Sir, we think he’s had many aliases over the years.  This must be his latest one, and they told me they seemed compelled to listen to him for some reason. I wasn’t happy with them.

“Ok, right, well then, he is right though. The people sure are safer in Washington DC.  We fixed that with the National Guard!  By the way, this old man is the first person to be late for a meeting with me in fact, sounds like he stood me up.  Amazing.  I’m not happy right now, but then, there’s something that intrigues me about him, I don’t know what it is.”

Susie looked down then looked back up at the President.  “There’s one more thing.  Ollie says that if you want to join him later at the Dubliner bar, he would be honored to meet you there If not, perhaps we could meet another time.”

The President laughed.  “No, I will use these thirty minutes I saved for this Ollie guy to call my granddaughter and talk to her about her golf game.  She’s really good you know. Nice swing. After that I think I’ll call Bibi Netanyahu and see what’s happening over there. As far as Ollie, I think he lost his opportunity.  Seems arrogant.”

After about three hours…

Ollie was now on his second Guinness at the bar, with his cane hanging on his right side, on the rail and the owner suddenly got a call, then dropped the phone and ran around the bar telling all his clients: “The secret service says that the President is coming here with the secret service.  You can all stay, however, you will all have to be searched, and the Secret service will run you through Image and metal detectors if you want to come back in.  They requested that no one can sit at the bar except that white-haired guy, so you’ll have to stay at the tables.”

Each mouth in the crowd widened as the surprised jaws dropped.  No one left but they stared hard at the old man with the chaotic blizzard of white hair, alone at the bar, happily drinking Guinness.

The owner walked up to Ollie.  “Excuse me sir. Are you Ollie?

“Yes.”

“The President says he is coming here and wants to sit at the bar next to you, it seems.  He says he is checking the safety of Washington DC personally and thought he might visit with you for a short time, while he is here inspecting the city.”

Ollie smiled, looked at him and said, “That’s why I saved a seat.” Ollie thought to himself, another president. I hope he’s different.

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