return to the (almost no) future: from One Minute to Midnight

[Mark Kohut]

It is Saturday, October 27, 1962. All the Soviet antiaircraft guns on Cuba are activated. An American U-2 reconnaisance plane has been locked on and fired upon. The reconnaisance was prep for a possible bombing raid and invasion by sea, Castro believes and has convinced (most of the Soviets) 

The U.S. does not know all the short range missiles are nuke-tipped. Castro is prepared for all of Cuba to 'die with dignidad" but "the people at large show neither enthusiasm nor panic". 

"Returning to his room in Vedado. [Argentinian journalist] Gilly noticed that the royal poinciana trees in his street had biurst into bloom. A beautiful girl was walking along the pavement beneath the brilliant flame red blossoms. Gilly felt a sudden stab of nostalgia [!] for a world that seemed on the point of annihilation. "What a pity, " he found himself thinking "that all this beauty is going to disappear between three and four o'clock this afternoon."

"havana seemed more timeless, more precarious, than ever. The city was like Venice sinking langourously into its lagoon or Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation, a place of heartbreaking beauty threatened with doom. All that remained was to savor the moment."

I am reminded of Pirate Prentiss as GR begins!....Pick bananas!