Duxford Airfield (the band) Pt. 07

I was starting to feel trapped again.

Damn, I wanted to go home and live my own life with Andrea and forget this wild goose chase of haunted mansions, spooky tintypes, and someone else's ghosts.

None of this strange puzzle mattered or made any sense to me and I wanted off this merry-go-round...

"- You're here to support your wife, hang on, just a little longer, son" I seemed to hear my mother say within my mind...

I found myself reluctantly nodding my head slightly at the thought, "just a little longer."

Sitting in the back seat I closed my eyes and thought of Andrea and her favorite song again. Inwardly, I sighed heavily and I opened my eyes again, just staring out the window. I really wasn't looking at anything, just taking in the scenery without really seeing any of it.

My thoughts continued to randomly bounce all over the place and I found myself thinking about Mom's house, back in the old neighborhood.

...Ricky had mentioned the old neighborhood during our conversation this morning...

The old neighborhood seemed like a long, long time ago now.

The conversation and shared laughter with my little brother had lifted my spirits and my mind was now slowly beginning to clear.

...Sometimes it just took a little while, I nodded to myself.

Helen now drove us past an antique-looking house and I suddenly remembered helping Mom mow the lawn during a beautiful summer's day once. We'd been at her little green house in Stony Brook and it'd been a Saturday in mid-August, I think. I'd been in my early twenties at the time and Mom had been wearing her cut-offs and a white T-shirt that day. She'd been wearing her T-shirt with Tony The Tiger on it, I seemed to remember.

Mom had loved that shirt...

...Every guy within two blocks of us had been transfixed by the sight of my mother in cut-offs and T-shirt. In thinking of my mother, objectively, I couldn't really blame any of them...

Pondering in further reflection, I could almost hear the sounds of a distant lawnmower and smell the vivid aromas of a can of gasoline and freshly cut grass, even now as I sat within the rental car. I could still see the image of my mother, with her long blonde hair hanging around her shoulders and wearing her cut-offs and the Tony The Tiger T-shirt as she'd pushed her noisy walk-behind mower.

The smell of freshly cut grass always took me back to Mom's house in Stony Brook subdivision, the old neighborhood. The sound of a gasoline lawnmower and the smell of freshly cut grass always seemed to make me feel that, somehow, everything within the world was going to be alright again.

Someone had once said that the sense of smell was a person's strongest connection to the past. Maybe that was true...

I suddenly asked myself how long it had been since I'd even mowed a lawn. After several seconds of searching my mind, I found that I couldn't answer this question...

My mother had been so beautiful.

...Glancing forward through the cabin of the car, I silently acknowledged how attractive Helen and Lita, both were.

Lita Romano, that sounds Italian, I speculated.

I turned back toward the passenger's window again, there were a few raindrops on the car's window now and it looked like a good West Texas dust storm was kicking up.

Lita Romano, - pretty girl, I nodded to myself, as I sipped more of my coffee and looked forward again, staring at the back of her head.

...I had never seen a woman more beautiful than my wife, but I could still appreciate the beauty in another woman without wanting to have her myself. I could look at other women objectively because none of them were as pretty as my wife.

I stared out the window again.

As my mother would have undoubtedly said, - I was hopelessly in love with my wife and always would be, that much I did know...

- Helen and Lita suddenly burst out into girlish laughter about something that one of them had just said, but whatever it was, I'd missed it completely while lost in my own thoughts...

Helen abruptly began telling a comical Danny Wickersham story and I quickly tuned her out again, preferring instead, the privacy of my own thoughts of Andrea and her favorite song...

...A singer in a smoky room, A smell of wine and cheap perfume, for a smile they can share the night, it goes on and on and on and on...

I sat in the back seat and sipped my coffee for what seemed like several minutes, just listening to the song playing within my mind as visions of my wife slowly danced before my eyes, right outside the moving car's window beside me...

Helen had chosen to take the downtown route and we were now driving by all of Odessa's quaint little shops and storefronts. The Mom & Pop stores all reminded me of growing up in the old neighborhood with Mom and Ricky. There was a bakery, coffee house, boot repair, and a little red firehouse with bright shiny fire engines parked outside. The downtown district of Odessa looked like a little storybook town, undoubtedly filled with smiling people, all living in happy little houses. Nothing wrong with that, I nodded to myself.

What would Mom have thought of Andrea Millhouse?

...Regarding my relationship with Andrea, my mother would have undoubtedly sat me down and told me "This one, you can't replace, so you better pay attention to what you're doing."

I could never replace Andrea...

...or Mom...

...Mom would have been ninety-three, a few months ago, and she probably would have -

- "Earth to Tim, are you there, Tim? Come-in please" Helen now abruptly said, bringing me back to the moment while quickly making eye contact with me in the mirror.

"Sorry, what?" I asked, looking up.

" - There's a small carnival and farmers market that's about twenty-five miles from here, would it be OK with you, if we all went there for a few hours tomorrow?" Helen asked, apparently for the second time.

"That's the best idea, I've heard, all week," I said, nodding my head and finishing the last of my coffee.

"Good! I think we can get Andrea on board then too, we're due for a break" Helen answered, waving her right hand.

"Yes," I affirmed, as I became present within the car once more and smiled back at Lita.

The ladies and I fell into a brief silence as Helen navigated the car through noon-hour traffic.

On a spur of the moment, I pulled out my phone and quickly sent Andy Andrew a text message, that only guys would understand. "WTF...over?" I then included a two-second repetitive clip of some idiot in sunglasses, yapping into the mic of a C.B. radio.

- Translated, the ridiculous text message simply meant "What are you doing, and how are you?"

Andy and I had been co-workers for years and I snickered slightly at the cleverness of my text message as I replaced my phone in my pocket. I probably wouldn't hear back from Andy for several days but figured he'd get a chuckle from the text message and eventually send me one back that was just as sarcastic - that's what guys do, I shrugged.

...Ricky had been right, I did need to spend some time around like-minded guys again, my text message to Andy had just confirmed that for me...

Helen quickly made a left turn and we pulled into the hotel's parking lot.

I glanced out the car's windshield and was drawn to the sight of Andrea, as she rolled up outside the hotel and dismounted the recumbent bicycle.

"Perfect timing, there she is now!" Helen exclaimed, tooting the horn and waving at Andrea excitedly as she pulled the car into a parking space.

Andrea saw us and waved back as she took a drink from her water bottle.

She looked gorgeous, as always...

Exiting the car, I followed Helen and Lita over to where Andrea stood. Helen and Lita both hugged Andrea in warm greeting and I soon followed, leaning down and kissing my wife. Andrea was dripping with sweat and her face was flush with color, she'd had a serious work-out on the bicycle and it showed.

"Love you, I'll take the bike inside for you, lady," I said, reaching for the machine.

Andrea said nothing in reply, just leaned up on her toes and kissed me again as we began to follow Helen and Lita back into the hotel.

"My God, you did thirty-four miles, Andrea!" I said in astonishment as I glanced at the odometer, once we were all back within Andrea's and my hotel room again.

"I needed every mile of it, babe" Andrea replied, taking another long pull from her water bottle.

"Good job, lady!" I said proudly and leaned the bicycle against the wall.

Without speaking further, Andrea now took my hand as she led me into the hotel room's bathroom. Andrea closed the door and locked it behind us as she fell into my arms.

Something was amiss with Andrea and I wasn't sure what it could be.

"What, baby?" I asked gently, stroking her damp hair.

Andrea sniffled and leaned back, wiping her eyes.

"I'm scared, baby," she said.

"Honey, why?" I asked, slightly alarmed, looking down at her.

Andrea sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair as she closed her eyes.

"I'm scared because I talked with Herb, Helen's attorney, on the phone this morning while I was on the bike. The oil company is going to have some heavy hitters at that meeting with Earl Billingsly, on Monday" Andrea said quietly.

"Lawyers, you mean?" I asked.

"Yes, high caliber" Andrea answered.

"Andrea, we already figured out that much. All we have to do is be honest and state our position in this deal - we'll walk away if we don't like their terms" I said.

"Tim, I know that, but I'm still scared," Andrea said, pressing her face against my chest.

"Honey, this is old ground for you. You're the lady that brokered several of those massive deals in Vegas back when billion-dollar casinos were popping up all over the damn place, this should be a cake-walk for you" I stated emphatically.

"It should be, but still I'm scared; Tim," she said.

...I suddenly realized that my wife really wasn't ten feet tall and bulletproof, as I had believed her to be, concerning large transactions.

My wife remained silent, just holding me.

"Andrea, we're going to sit down with Herb on Sunday night and go over all this horse shit before we even go in there on Monday. You're just overwhelmed right now, we all are. The oil company execs are probably scared too, to some degree. They probably think we're going to walk in there with a chip on our shoulder and demand some huge amount of money from them. They might be afraid that we'll drag it all out in front of the press and create a huge mess, they've been through that kind of thing before.' I said rationally.

"I know" Andrea replied.

" - I don't know what you and Helen have agreed to, in terms of money for the place, but knowing you, whatever price you're going to ask for, will be more than reasonable," I said

Andrea nodded her head.

"...Baby, I know that this whole transaction, more or less, falls on your shoulders and not mine or Helen's - it's completely out of my league, or hers. On Monday morning you're going walk into that meeting with a good attitude and do just fine, I already know that. When we do go in, Herb will be there and all of us will be right behind you every step of the way, and everything will be OK.

- Andrea, this discussion brings up another issue that I've been meaning to talk with you about, and I'm going to be perfectly frank with you now. The only thing that does scare me about this upcoming meeting with Earl Billingsly is if Helen starts running off at the mouth, she's a hot head and she could create a huge mess for us. I most definitely am, going to sit down and have a heart-to-heart conversation, about that, with her. You're welcome to be present, or not, but I am going to sit down and be completely honest with her. Honey, this MUST be done." I said, pulling my wife closer to me.

"Tim, please, let me talk with Helen myself, I understand Helen and know how to handle her," Andrea replied.

" (sigh) Alright, honey, I trust you, but don't pull any punches with her," I said.

"I can handle her" Andrea reassured me.

I held my wife for a full minute and then said "It's time for a bubble bath now"

"Tim, Lita, and Helen are in the other room, waiting for us" Andrea insisted.

"They can just wait a little longer," I said, starting the bath water and adding Mr.Bubble soap as I began undressing in front of my wife.

Andrea began to persist "Tim, we have guests in the other room now, we must-"

"-No, this is our time right now, honey" I insisted, pulling her toward me again.

Andrea reluctantly complied.

I undressed my wife and gently sat her on the bathroom's commode. I then undressed in front of her and leaned down to begin kissing her, the way I'd been wanting to for the last several minutes. Our tongues danced in euphoric delight and I also found myself kissing away Andrea's tears of fear and self-doubt. I rubbed my face against hers as I whispered "I love you" several times in her ear.

Spreading her legs gently, I then kneeled down and began performing cunnilingus on her as the bath water continued to gurgle beside us.

"Wait!" she said urgently, as she reached over and quickly shut off the water for the tub.

We began again now, without the water's distraction. With my mouth and tongue, I slowly worked my wife into a heated state of tranquility without pushing her over the edge into euphoria, just yet. Andrea's legs were still slick with sweat from her long bicycle ride and her body was noticeably tense from worry, in concern about our upcoming meeting on Monday.

I wasn't going to have any of it - if I had to pleasure Andrea for the rest of the day and into the night, to relieve her anxiety, then I would. I was in love with this woman and I was going to do everything in my power to bring calm and joy to her now.

I tightly wrapped my arms around her trembling legs and continued onward for several long minutes, keeping her as close to the edge of euphoria as I dared. Andrea's breath was coming in hot gasps now and she was beginning to coo slightly as she ran her hands urgently through my hair and began rolling her hips upward and toward me. I pushed my face into her just a little harder and Andrea quickly went over the edge with a deep moaning of delight.

I leaned upward now and started the bath water once more and then washed my face and quickly gargled with mouth wash. Taking her hand then, I helped her onto her feet and into the tub of luxurious water. I soon slipped in behind her and held her as we lay in the warm tub together. Andrea was still massaging her vagina and reveling in the glow of love, she was in orbit.

" (sigh) You're the best bellboy this damn place has ever had, I can tell you that. I'm going to put in a recommendation for you," she said jokingly.

"You're a valued client Ms. Millhouse and the hotel management just wants to show appreciation for your selection of accommodations, we want you as a repeat client. Incidentally, we also provide free orange juice and donuts in the front foyer every morning for your enjoyment!" I said, reaching down and squeezing Andrea's bottom.

Andrea laughed outright.

-That's what I'd been waiting for, Andrea's laughter told me that she was going to be OK now and we both knew it.

"Oh, baby, that was good, really good" she whispered in awe, still rolling her hips upward some and petting her vagina.

"Do I get the job?" I asked.

"You're hired!" she responded.

"We'll try that again in a few minutes," I said.

Andrea began to protest "Tim, Helen and Lita are here and we have to -"

"- We have to be true to ourselves, Andrea. Honey, we love Helen Lunsford, but the only reason you and I are here at all; is to help her research this book; and to hold her hand slightly. Lita is here with her now and the ladies can decide for themselves what to do this afternoon. You and I aren't their entertainment directors" I said evenly.

"I suppose you'll want to make love for the rest of the day now" Andrea retorted.

"Yes, we are," I said matter of factly.

"Fine!" Andrea snapped in jest, pushing back against me now.

"You're a good-looking little shit, aren't you?" I asked, kissing her neck.

Andrea giggled.

"Do you want to get rid of Helen and Lita now or do you want me to? - If you do it, please don't walk out in front of them naked" Andrea said, looking up at the bathroom door.

"They're already gone, Andrea, we've been in here for twenty-five minutes already. Tell me about Lita Romano" I said pulling my wife closer to me.

"Uh, Lita's done a little bit of everything. She's modeled some and also helped make TV commercials for a little place once, - Lita helped write the dialogue for commercials, I mean. I met her through Helen and like her, I think she's divorced again now but don't hold me to that." Andrea said.

"Too bad, because she seems like a really nice girl," I said.

"She is, I think one reason that Lita hasn't had much luck in relationships is that she's always flying off somewhere to write an article or give some presentation. I'm sure that her visit to Odessa is just one stop for her within the last few days. It wouldn't surprise me if she'd already been to Seattle or even Alaska this week. On Monday she's headed back to Phoenix again" Andrea said.

"It'd be hard to have a relationship with a non-stop schedule like that" I replied.

"Want to get out of the tub now?" Andrea asked, without answering me.

...Upon opening the bathroom door, I peeked around the edge of the door frame and found Lita and Helen to be gone, as I had suspected they would be. Helen had texted Andrea, saying that she and Lita were going out to dinner and then doing some window shopping.

Helen and Lita were giving Andrea and me our privacy.

Andrea quickly texted Helen back and said we'd see her and Lita in the morning and then go to the farmer's market and carnival, after coffee.

I found that I had also received a text message from Andy. "Wish you were still in Odessa, we could have met. Annie and I are here now for the weekend with a load of utility trailers." The text included a photo of a heavy-duty Ford pickup truck pulling a brand new gooseneck trailer with two other new trailers stacked on the deck.

I quickly texted Andy back and told him to plan on having coffee with us in the morning. I then turned my attention back to Andrea.

...I took the initiative with Andrea and made love to her for the next five hours, as selflessly as I could. We barely spoke, except for me telling her positive affirmations about herself. Like me, the past ten days had taken their toll on Andrea as well, and she needed some pampering right now. When we weren't making love, we were cuddling in each other's arms and dozing.

The wind outside had steadily increased into a full-blown dust storm and the sounds of the storm made for very tranquil background sounds inside our hotel room. The wind sounded very similar to the way it was always depicted in old Western movies, just before a gunfight.

...There would be no work done on the oil rigs in Odessa today, not with the sand blowing around the way it was. The oil workers would be gratefully hunkered down within the cafeterias or recreation rooms, playing pool, reading books, or watching movies.

Good for them!

At nine PM Andrea and I dressed and went through the hotel's lobby and out the front doors. The hotel's restaurant was closed at this hour so we walked through the rain and crossed the wind-swept street to an all-night truckstop where we each ordered a burger with fries. In a way, it was rather romantic as we sat in the deserted diner and just watched the big trucks rolling in and out of the parking lot. Some were coming in and some were heading out, back into the storm and darkened Texas night.

..."You OK, lady?" I finally asked her, after a long silence between us, once we had begun eating.