A Late Encounter with the Enemy

Central Georgia, 1949. Sally Poker Sash, who is 62 years old, prays that her grandfather, who is a 106, will live until she is able to graduate from college with a B.S. degree in education. She has attended summer school each year for the past twenty years, and fears that she might be cheated out of her triumph. Her goal is to have her grandfather, George Poker Sash, on stage when she receives her degree in order to show the world of “upstarts” what kind of venerable heritage is behind her. Similarly, old man Sash is willing to sit on stage in his Confederate general’s uniform so that everyone can see and admire him. For both Sally and her grandfather, the most memorable event in their lives was the world premiere of Gone with the Wind, which they attended as honored guests ten years earlier in Atlanta. It was then that “General Tennessee Flintrock Sash of the Confederacy” had been created by the Hollywood publicity agents, uniform included. (Old man Sash was probably no more than a foot soldier during the Civil War, even though Sally claims that he was a major.) The triumphant memory of this otherwise false, artificial reality continues to be the focal point in the lives of both “General” Sash and his sexagenarian granddaughter. On the August day of Sally’s graduation, everything goes well—until she discovers that her ten-year-old nephew, John Wesley Poker Sash, has not taken his great grandfather onto the stage as he was directed to do. Instead, John Wesley has allowed the aged man to sit in his wheelchair in the hot sun—sporadically touching the top of his head in discomfort—while the boy himself stops to drink a Coca-Cola. Once Sally reprimands John Wesley, he takes “General” Sash to his place on the stage. As the ceremonies begin, the latter attempts to ignore the commencement speaker, but he is unable to do so because of his increasing cranial discomfort. Having repressed his real past, which includes his family as well as his actual wartime experiences, George Poker Sash attempts, as he sits there on stage, to recall his only moment of glory—preening atop a horse in Atlanta in the middle of a float full of beautiful girls—only to be distracted by head pain, the commencement speaker, the reality of his own imposture, and the flood of graduates. As those graduates, including his granddaughter, move forward to receive their diplomas, the elderly fellow quietly dies, unnoticed. After graduation, Sally Poker Sash leaves the auditorium to wait for her grandfather outside. Unbeknownst to her, John Wesley has wheeled “General” Sash back to the outdoor Coca-Cola machine, where the boy stands in line with his great-grandfather’s corpse—waiting to make a purchase.