Duxford Airfield (the band) Pt. 03

"Wild goose chase? Not Danny Wickersham, Helen, - nooo" Andrea replied sarcastically.

"(***sigh***) I've got a mountain of research to do now that Danny's gone and I'm starting at essentially ground zero, Andrea. Beginning next Monday Danny was going to start sitting down with me in the afternoons and finally reveal his past to me and the world - an exclusive, for this book. I don't even know where I'm going to start now but that key and those poker chips are starting to ring bells in my head - you knew Danny's logic as well as I did, everything was a game to him" Helen said as she closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair.

We began walking again.

"So you think maybe he knew ahead of time that his days on earth were limited and that this is all a riddle or some kind of maze that he dreamed up?" Andrea asked.

"I'm not sure yet but I've considered the possibility and that's what we're about to find out with this trip to Texas," Helen said with a certain resolve in her voice as we neared her front gate.

I needed to say something and now seemed like the time.

"Helen, are you still carrying a big stash of that green stuff with you?" I asked seriously as I quickly glanced all around us to make sure we weren't within earshot of someone else.

"I sure wish I was, Tim, I'd share some of it. Would a glass of wine do instead?" Helen asked with humor.

"Honey, I'm being serious, if you are carrying a large sum of money then I'd like to know so I can be on guard," I said patiently.

"I thought of that too, Tim. I wasn't concerned because we were only going the short distance to Kelly and Diane's shop, this is a safe neighborhood," Helen said.

"Is the neighborhood so honorable that Kelly and Diane need a safe for their money?" I asked cynically.

"Not everyone in L.A. is a convicted felon or a plastic flake, Tim, there are some fine people in this town," Helen said slightly heated.

"Helen, I know that but you're missing the point. I'm concerned for your safety - and ours, money brings out the worst in people," I replied calmly, holding up my palm.

"Kelly and Diane have an armored car service they call that comes and collects any large sums they might receive and sometimes I use them myself," Helen said, without answering my question.

"Why didn't you just write them a check this afternoon, Helen?" I asked, slightly exasperated with Helen's naive logic.

"Yesterday's News does get an electronic check from me, every month as a retainer, its write-off for me on my taxes anyway. The reason I gave Kelly and Diane cash today is that people buy and sell information in this business the same way other people buy and sell stocks, and cash is king, baby. Kelly and Diane need to have cash on hand to give to their anonymous sources, and those sources are a fickle breed that will usually only deal in cash. Sometimes for various reasons, like this project, for example, I simply can't do all my research alone, I need help and some of those anonymous sources are very reliable. I'm going to need every one of them if I want this book to be a quality piece of work and have any kind of substance to it at all" Helen explained.

This made perfect sense to me now but it still didn't fully answer my initial question.

"I understand, Helen, but are you carrying a lot of it right now?" I asked for the second time.

"(Sigh) ...no, honey, I've got about fifty bucks left on me right now" Helen answered closing her eyes, obviously trying to be patient with me now.

"OK, but please let me know if you do carry any more large amounts. ...Helen, people shouldn't have money like that laying around and they shouldn't be carrying any large sums on their person, either" I replied, looking Helen in the eye.

"You sound like Danny Wickersham now, Tim," Helen said pulling me closer to her. The tone in her voice said that the subject was now closed.

Andrea said nothing now as we walked through Helen's front gate and into the yard.

...

I sat at Helen's kitchen table and just stared at Ricky's text message. "Crew change, I sat here for 4 hours. Rolling now" Staring at my phone, I glanced at the photo of a prosaic railyard filled with dozens of rusted railcars and piles of gravel. God only knew where the damn place even was. Ricky had also sent a movie from the moving train he was on now which I watched for a few brief seconds. I closed my eyes and massaged the back of my neck firmly.

"How is he?" Andrea asked as she sat down beside me.

"He's above ground and not in jail. Maybe I should text him back and say - 'Great job, Ricky, all of us are proud of you that you're not dead or in jail" I replied as I flipped my phone onto the table with disgust and closed my eyes.

Andrea leaned toward me and kissed me. "He'll be OK, Tim."

I waved my hand in dismissal of the subject. I didn't want to talk about Ricky anymore today, I was already burning up a lot of mental energy just worrying about him as it was. His text message would give me a reprieve from that for the rest of the day, I reasoned with pragmatic logic.

"How's Helen?" I asked quietly as I nodded my head towards Helen's bedroom.

"She's resting now but she'll get her second wind in the next day or two and then you and I will be running just to keep pace with her, Tim" Andrea answered, knowingly.

"Something tells me that little girl has some spunk in her, Andrea" I answered.

"You've gauged her correctly, Tim. Once she does her homework and lays out her groundwork, she can write a book about as fast as most of us can read one, she doesn't play around." Andrea said proudly.

"The people here seem to really love her, Andrea," I said.

"They do, Tim, this is her town. That's a nice shirt, by the way," Andrea nodded at the antique Jaguar shirt which I was now wearing.

"Thank you, honey, it's good to be out of a suit and tie again for a while, Andrea" I acknowledged.

"I understand, Tim. Brenda says hello by the way" Andrea said.

"Oh, when did you talk with her? How are Pippi and Wolfie doing?" I asked.

"We talked for a few minutes this morning and everyone's good. Duffy and Brenda have been walking Pippi, and Wolfie is wondering where the hell everyone is" Andrea answered.

"I imagine he is," I said.

...My other suit arrived at Helen's door an hour later, after my having had a bowl of oatmeal. The courier then hurried off with the suit that I'd been presently wearing. By now the time was going on five o'clock and I was becoming restless. I hadn't bicycled in four days now and I could feel the nervous energy within myself for not having done much exercise in the recent few days.

We'd be heading to the airport in four hours which was too little time to really do anything but an awfully long time to just sit and wait. I didn't want to take another walk so I just grabbed a bottle of water and sat on Helen's porch swing. I wished I could have spent the day bicycling and digging Andrea's swimming pool, hard work always cleared my head and I hated to leave a project unfinished.

I walked out to Helen's storage shed and peeked inside out of nosiness. About the only things in her shed were gardening tools and some outdoor lawn furniture. Hmph! not even an old broken lawnmower that I might tinker with for a few hours. I closed the shed and just walked around Helen's backyard for a few minutes.

I eventually wound up spending forty minutes taking a closer look at Helen's Buick in the garage. The car was in great shape, it wasn't pristine by any means, but it could be with a fair amount of effort. It was a refreshing change to see a muscle car of this vintage that hadn't been hacked up by some kid. This term meaning that holes hadn't been cut into the floorboards or hood for an after-market manual transmission or hood scoop, etcetera. The Buick had a moderate amount of common wear and a few minor dings but it was otherwise a "virgin" car. The Buick Riviera wasn't my dream piece by any means but I would enjoy driving it and it was a pretty machine.

I liked it a lot.

Walking back into the house I noticed that Andrea was packing her check-in luggage.

"Did you remember Danny's key and poker chips?" I asked.

"Yup, already put'em in" Andrea nodded as she zipped up the long zipper.

I silently thanked God that Andrea always traveled lightly, and I suspected that Helen did too, ...at least I hoped she did. My ex-wife Susan had been almost unbearable to travel with I recalled now. My God, she'd traveled with everything including the damn kitchen sink it seemed.

I remember once when we'd gone on vacation that she'd had a check-in bag that weighed eighty pounds, we'd been charged extra for that bag and that wasn't even including all the carry-on crap she'd loaded me with. I'd finally gotten to the point where I'd send Susan a day ahead of me whenever we'd go someplace, just so I didn't have to deal with all the accessive baggage. It had been exhausting to travel anywhere with her, but then my whole marriage to Susan had come with a lot of "baggage." I hadn't been able to see it at the time though.

In a way I felt sorry for my ex-wife, Susan had always been an extremely beautiful woman but she'd never had any compassion or empathy for anyone but herself. Susan viewed everything in life as expendable and this included people. This view of the world was a perfect recipe for loneliness and it was my opinion that Susan was the loneliest person in the world. This genuinely saddened me yet I was also extremely thankful that Susan was someone else's problem now and not mine.

Now she wanted me back, no thanks, I shook my head.

"What, baby?" Andrea asked, looking at me.

"I'm just glad that I'm going someplace with you and Helen, not Susan," I said in earnest.

"Me too, let's jump in the shower now," Andrea said as she kissed me.

...

By eleven-thirty that evening the ladies and I were sitting quietly at our departure gate within LAX en route to Midland/Odessa MAF aboard American Airlines. The flight was expected to be two hours and twenty-two minutes Andrea and Helen had explained to me.

Helen's spirits seemed much better now that we were finally beginning our journey. This trip will probably do her a world of good I pondered, glancing at her. Apparently, Helen had met Andrea during their jet-set days of knocking around with Danny Wickersham and the rest of the band, Duxford Airfield. I still didn't know the whole story yet and I was certain that the ladies would undoubtedly omit a few of the more sultry details of their past lives, but didn't we all?

Helen took a photo of Andrea and me together and I texted this photo to my friend Andy, noting specifically the shirt I was wearing and asking if Andy even remembered owning the shirt. Andy Andrew owned a Peterbilt as I did, or at least he had owned one the last time I'd seen him. We'd worked several construction jobs together and we'd even hauled flatbed loads to a mine in Alaska once. The name of that mine was now lost to me and it had since been shut down.

Andy hadn't liked hauling gravel and he'd eventually found a decent freight gig running the AlCan, otherwise known as the Alaska Hiway. I hadn't seen Andy in years and was in hope that his phone number was still good. Everyone had liked Andy and he was a good hand.

Andy had married Ann London from Eagle River Alaska, affectionately known as "Annie."

...The ladies and I boarded the aircraft an hour later and our flight was filled with all the normal amenities of any other commercial flight. The stewardess stood at the head of the cabin and went through her safety checklist, showing us how to fasten our seat belts and where the exits were located.

Once airborne we were provided with coffee or soft drinks and also liquor for those caring to make the purchase. After this, the cabin was darkened and most of the other passengers chose to doze while a few of them watched movies on their own electronic devices. It wasn't a long flight so I decided to just stay awake and let my mind drift. Helen and Andrea, beside me, both reclined their seats and closed their eyes. These two were old pros at flying.

Upon arriving at Midland/Odessa, we exited the airplane and retrieved the ladies' luggage from the baggage claim carousel. The three of us then walked to the outside curb and quickly hailed a taxi. By one fifteen in the morning Andrea crawled into bed with me and turned off the bedroom lamp above our bed.

The adjoining motel rooms we had reserved were just right, not too fancy but not too generic either. Andrea had left the door leading to Helen's room slightly ajar to provide Helen with a sense of comfort. Helen's demeanor had vastly improved over the last two days but she was still somewhat fragile, Andrea explained quietly.

"Everything will be just fine, Andrea Millhouse," I said pulling my wife closer to me. It felt good to lay down in a nice warm bed with her.

"My name isn't Andrea Millhouse, Tim" she replied.

"I love you, Andrea Millhouse," I said on the verge of sleep.

___________(4)_________

more to follow...