Duxford Airfield (the band)

"Wendy Weeds is Danny's ex-wife, isn't she?" I asked.

"Yes and as Wendy well knows, Danny's practical jokes and stories were cute most of the time but sometimes he could take things too far and then it was extremely annoying at times, the guy never really grew-up in some ways." Andrea explained quietly.

"Is that what happened in Las Vegas at the Dunes, - he took a gag too far and it wasn't funny?" I asked, remembering the poker chips which had been in the large manila envelope that Wendy Weeds had given to Andrea and Helen that evening.

Andrea didn't answer me directly "Angels had gone solid gold just a few months before and Danny suddenly had a ton money for the first time in his life - Danny never really cared about money or material things and he certainly had no idea what to do with all the money that was suddenly coming in. To be honest, he never really knew how to handle success either.

...One night Helen and I accompanied Danny and the rest of the band to a nice dinner that evening and somehow Danny, Helen and me all ended up at the poker table in the Dunes casino later that night. All of us drank way too much that evening and we blew through about fifteen grand in an hour, I think.

We were down to three $100.00 poker chips when Danny suddenly suggested that we leave the casino and charter a Learjet for Paris France - I don't remember any of that part but apparently I thought it was a grand idea and I do remember waking up in a Learjet several hours later with Danny and Helen, somewhere over the ocean that morning. Danny gave Helen and me, each, one of the leftover chips from the Dunes to commemorate the adventure with as we began to try and sober up during the flight. I still have that poker chip by the way, Tim, and Helen still has hers. I also vividly remember when he said - 'If you're ever down on your luck in Vegas, then have a meal at the Dunes casino, on Danny Wickersham' he'd said with a laugh, flipping the chips at us...

France is a long-ass flight but by the time we landed all of us were somewhat sober and ready to party again. We got a cab to a decent hotel and then found a casino in Paris but thirty minutes after we got there Danny suddenly took interest in a little French prostitute and essentially left Helen and me standing alone with no way to get back to the States - and Helen and I both needed to be at work on Monday which was only two days away. Back at the hotel room, Helen finally managed to get her and me a commercial flight back home, at our own expense, but we couldn't board the plane for a day - which would be cutting it close to say the least.

She and I both made it to work that Monday morning but just barely....After that I didn't speak to Danny again for a long time, probably close to seven or eight years, even though he sent Helen and me flowers and cards numerous times in apology. Helen forgave Danny after a while but I refused to take his calls and that really tore the guy up,...I wanted to tear him up, Tim, - I was pissed. Then one day he called again and I answered, we made peace with each other and I'm glad we did now." Andrea said quietly as she stared off into the distance.

"The life of a rock star" I responded quietly.

"...Something that's always bothered Helen and I about that trip, Tim, was that for some reason Danny suddenly looked scared when we entered into that casino in France, I mean really terrified for some reason and Danny didn't scare easily....(sigh) Then he got busted on the way back with a suitcase full of dope - you probably don't remember when his disheveled photo appeared on every newspaper in the country then. I don't know how, but his lawyer got him off and the charges eventually went away. Duxford Airfield disbanded for the last time after that. All that being said, yes, I loved the man and always will. Anyway, now you know the Dunes story, Tim" Andrea said as she set down Horse Feathers with one final kiss.

"...Yeah... the old Dunes casino, long gone now" I said in reflection.

"I helped resell that piece of land to the new owners once the Dunes was torn down and The Bellagio was built, Tim, - worked our asses off on that project" Andrea said proudly.

"I know you did, and I'm proud of you, wife" I answered.

...The Bellagio doesn't have the same feel to it as the Dunes though..." Andrea pondered aloud in reflection and staring off into the distance again.

"Walking in with Danny Wickersham, you and Helen must have turned every head in the Dunes that night, Andrea" I replied smiling.

I only care that I turn one head now" Andrea said reaching up and touching my face with her hand.."

"Horse Feathers, you mean?" I asked jokingly.

"Yes, him too, Tim. You ready to go back to bed?" She asked yawning.

...

The storm during the night raged with strong winds and heavy rain, almost as if The City of Angels was somehow in a desperate act to try and cleanse herself of weariness and decades of bondage to sin - the wind and rain now somehow washing all the history of crime and corruption down aqueducts and storm drains, never to be seen or spoken of again. Whereupon in the morning she would awaken to bright sunny skies and be brand new again, pure and clean like a young bride or the freshly driven snow covering a pristine mountain peak in Montana during a crisp spring morning.

Holding Andrea and deep within peaceful sleep, I listened to the storm outside the darkened window of our bedroom and could hear the tranquil sound of discarded aluminum cans occasionally clattering along the cement sidewalks with their unmistakable pitter-pattering monotones. The gusts of wind now urgently ushering them along in haste, almost as if they were late for some important event that was about to take place which required their presence. Some of these anonymous sojourners were apparently travelling alone while others seemed to be moving in small groups of twos and threes, seemingly with a determined and predestined final destination in mind.

Deep within the night I could also hear the occasional angry hiss of heavy rain slapping the bedroom's window pane with each renewed gust of wind. I thought of my little brother now bundled up in old plastic tarps and worn blankets inside the sheltered inspection hole on one end of a grain car as it travelled through the darkness and into the same raging storm, the old railcar rolling ever onward to it's own unknown destination somewhere deep within the night.

I also knew in my heart that Ricky's journey aboard a freight train would be more therapeutic for him than anything a physician could ever prescribe in the way of therapy or medication. My little brother was doing exactly what he needed to do for himself and I was suddenly at peace with the choices in life which he had made for himself. He would return home to Brenda once he had worked out everything within his own mind, and Brenda knew this...now I did too.

Holding Andrea within the spooning position, I thought again of the Mystery Girl on the last page of Duxford Airfield's Angels album jacket. She hadn't been known to the world yet as A.J. West, the famous model, but she soon would be and the entire world would fall in love with her...I know I had. I also knew that Andrea, and Helen, were currently caught up within a time warp, a whirlwind of memories, people, places and events from their long ago past which their minds now associated with Danny Wickersham. I had experienced such emotions myself with sudden and periodic chance meetings or the passing of old friends from long ago.

With such encounters one could so vividly recall the earlier times of their own youth when last involved with the specific person now before them again. Unexpected recollections of which films had then been playing in movie theatres, which apartments we had been living in at the time, the jobs and girlfriends we'd been involved with and even the specific car we had been driving at the time. Suddenly, out of nowhere, all of these forgotten memories would come roaring back like a title wave that one would be unable to stop or control.

Often times such reunions would give a person the illusion that these events had occurred only within the last week, when in reality they had in some cases, occurred more than thirty years before. My mother had once remarked that these strong sentiments were a sign that a person was coming to terms with their own mortality and that these feelings were normal.

Danny Wickersham's passing had brought these feelings and emotions home for Andrea and Helen with abundant clarity.

Listening to the raging storm outside the window now seemed to reaffirm the fact that Helen, and Andrea, both needed a quiet day of rest. Their minds needed time to settle and let the mental fog clear a bit. According to Andrea, The Gentle Giant had been madly in love with both ladies, apparently to his last day on earth. I understood this. I also knew in my mind that the ladies were struggling right now with strong and sometimes conflicting feelings of love, disappointment, happiness, heartache and utter joy associated with the band Duxford Airfield and specifically the man they had known as Danny Wickersham.

These jumbled and mixed feelings, all whirling around within their minds at once, were a normal part of the grieving process that couldn't be slowed or rushed with any amount of self will - these emotions just simply had to run their own course, over their own time schedule and sometimes sleep was the best medicine for healing such things. Mom's passing, a few years prior, had taught me that much. I held my wife closely as we rode the ebb and flow of sleep, relishing her warm sensual curves.

...Yeah, you'll do just fine, for me, Andrea Millhouse.

_________(2)________

More to follow.