Chapter Nine #2
Vivian glanced around her, the crowd breaking out into applause as President Kennedy spoke of America’s history of growth and taking risks, how the nature of the nation depended on progress.
He managed to achieve the delicate balance between portraying space exploration as a hopeful adventure that would benefit society writ large while simultaneously painting a terrifying image of what the world could look like if a hostile or nefarious power conquered space.
It was a rhetorical skill done so artfully that Vivian had to admire the president’s speechwriter for their prowess.
And more than anything, perhaps, what she admired about President Kennedy was his willingness to acknowledge the things that had gone wrong in the space program, to accept accountability.
She appreciated that he recognized the enormity of the $5.
4 billion annual space budget—an amount so vast she couldn’t wrap her mind around it—and admired the skill with which he got out in front of the criticisms that had been levied his way regarding the staggering sum that the nation was spending on this dream to go to the Moon and send man to space.
Her gaze drifted around the audience—at the men and women sitting behind the president, at those in the less well-appointed seats who had come here today to be part of history being made.
America would go to the Moon.
What the president proposed—he was speaking of technologies they’d yet to develop, speaking of a journey filled with complexity and danger—seemed too audacious.
That the United States was going to build a rocket the length of the football field standing before them was an incredible thought, and even though she had watched Alan Shepard’s launch on television, it was hard to visualize what the scope of such a rocket would be in real life, and how very small a human being would seem standing in its shadow.
President Kennedy called it the most dangerous adventure man had ever taken, and she thought of Joe and his dreams of space, his desire to become an astronaut, and as much as she felt bad for him and how his hope of being an astronaut had been dashed, a part of her was relieved he wouldn’t be in harm’s way, even as she felt guilty for putting the thought out into the universe when she knew how badly he’d wanted it.
The president finished his speech, and the crowd rose to their feet with gusto, despite the overwhelming heat of the day, which Kennedy had more than aptly compared to being on the surface of the sun.
She wasn’t surprised that President Kennedy received a standing ovation, and she imagined whatever obstacles he faced in Congress would pale in comparison to the support the president had from the American people.
The excitement in the air was infectious as President Kennedy left the stage.
It wasn’t the first time he had announced his ambitions to take Americans to the Moon, but there had been something about this speech that felt portentous, as though they were on the precipice of some great change that would open possibilities beyond anything they’d ever imagined.
The world around them was changing more quickly than Vivian could wrap her mind around, and after standing there watching history be made, she couldn’t help but feel like some of that change might sweep through her life, too.
Vivian stood to the side, watching as Brian and the cameraman, Chuck, shot some more footage with reactions to the president’s speech.
They wrapped up, and Vivian hung back for a beat after Brian and Chuck left, not quite ready to move on from this incredible moment in time and the feeling that she had just been part of an event that would reverberate throughout generations.
Someone tapped her on her shoulder, and she turned around just as a familiar voice said—
“Vivian.”
Joe stood before her, wearing a navy military uniform, a hat atop his close-cropped blond hair, colorful ribbons and medals on the breast of his jacket.
Vivian blinked, not quite reconciling what she was seeing in front of her, completely caught off guard by the fact that he was here.
In the United States.
In Texas.
Right in front of her.
And then her mind caught up with the sight before her, and the full impact of Joe in his military uniform hit her.
She hadn’t been lying when she told Polly that a man in uniform wasn’t the sort of thing that would normally elicit a reaction, but there was something about Joe in his uniform, or maybe more importantly something about Joe, period, that had her feeling more than a little off-kilter.
“What are you doing here?” Vivian blurted out, glancing around them at the mostly dispersing crowd, and then back at Joe. “I thought you were in Italy.”
It had been nine months since they last saw each other at Polly and Frank’s engagement party. Polly and Frank both mentioned him in passing, and neither one of them had said anything about him returning to the United States.
After the engagement party, Vivian had anticipated seeing him at Polly and Frank’s wedding, but Joe’s request for leave from his military assignment in Italy had been denied, and so another one of Frank’s pilot buddies stood up at the altar next to Frank, and Vivian accepted that she probably would never see Joe again.
“I’m still stationed in Italy. For now, at least.”
Vivian absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair, belatedly realizing that the hot day had likely done a number on her. How did he look so fresh standing in this interminable heat in his heavy uniform?
“I’m here for work,” Joe replied. His voice lowered slightly, his words for her alone. “I came for some meetings at NASA.”
He said it solemnly, quietly, as though he were sharing something intensely private with her, as though he wanted her to know this about him, and she understood the significance of what he was saying, how he dreamed of going to space.
She knew how much this meant to him, and strangely, where a few minutes ago she’d listened to the audacity of President Kennedy’s speech and felt relief that Joe wasn’t going to the Moon, now she felt a burst of hope for him, the strength of the emotion catching her off guard.
“Are you going to get a chance to join the space program?” Vivian whispered.
“I don’t know, but after hearing a speech like that, I hope so. They’re changing the requirements for becoming an astronaut. You no longer need to be a test pilot.”
“Oh, Joe, that’s wonderful.” She moved without thinking, instinct taking over as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. “I’m so happy for you. You’re going to be a wonderful astronaut. And to think that you might go to the Moon—”
Joe caught her mid-embrace, sweeping her up in his arms, holding her close.
“I’m so happy for you,” Vivian murmured, her lips inches away from his ear.
“Thank you.”
She could feel his breath on her skin when he said the words, in the curve of her neck, and then they both realized how close they were, and Joe released her, taking a step back, and then another, putting space between them.
“It was a wonderful speech, wasn’t it? Even for a skeptic like me.” Vivian smiled despite the nerves fluttering inside her. “He seemed to have written that speech with you in mind. So now it’s not just space, but the Moon that you’re chasing?”
“Maybe I’m chasing all of it.”
She flushed at the way he met and held her gaze as he said it, at the undercurrent and undeniable intent contained there.
She still hadn’t recovered from the shock of seeing him, hadn’t been prepared for him to show up where she was like this.
Vivian shook her head, unable to believe this was happening.
Joe cocked his head to the side, studying her. “What is it?”