excerpt
POODIE STOOD WITH President Truman as the
train pulled away from the depot. They waved
at the people. Mayor Torgerson and Chief
Spanger broke out of the crowd and ran after
the train, pointing at Poodie. The chief had a
pistol in his hand and the mayor screamed at him. The chief shook
his head, then stopped running. As they grew small, the mayor was
still running, waving his arms. The President smiled at Poodie and
ushered him from the observation platform into the car. Mrs. Truman
and Margaret asked Poodie to sit, and a man in a white jacket
served tea and cookies. Mrs. Truman read to him from a book that
she held in her lap, read with a soft voice that he could plainly hear.
As she read, her face became his mother’s face, and now and then
she put down the book and sang to him. He and Margaret conversed
in French. The President sat beaming at Poodie. They
crossed mountains, skimmed along the ocean shore, passed
through cities, rocked over rivers and through endless fields of
wheat. When the train stopped in front of the White House, the
President helped Poodie get his wagon down the steps, and the
four of them walked inside. In the President’s office, Poodie sat in
a chair facing the desk. The President interrupted his telephone
conversations to ask Poodie what he thought about communism,
how to help Europe recover from the war, what to do about making
the Army treat black people better, whether he could beat
Thomas Dewey.
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