The Sec Def
It was a Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration breakfast. The Sec Def decided to show up at the last minute. I was scheduled to interpret for the breakfast at the Pentagon. Security was tight. I had an escort. The escort leaned over to me at 6:45am that morning and said, “You realize, don’t you, that you will be interpreting for the Sec Def this morning, right? The Sec Def is our nickname for the Secretary of Defense. You know who the Secretary of Defense is…?” I glanced at him with incredulity. Of course I know who the Sec Def is, “Donald Rumsfield,” I responded. I had watched the Iraq war coverage for months on TV.
Rumsfield walked into the Pentagon executive dining hall through a side door followed by his assemblage and shook hands with two or three, including me. “Good morning Mr. Secretary. Happy New Year Mr. Secretary. How are you this morning Mr. Secretary?” He responded to the greetings, “Better than average, thank you.” Then in a short pause I attempted to make a connection, “Mr. Secretary. I will be your interpreter today.” “In what language?” he replied. Proudly I said, “In American Sign Language.” “Oh, I thought you’d be interpreting in Kazakstani or something like that.” With that he mounted the stage and allowed the cameras to flash on him. For that brief moment, my TV world and my real world coincided.
