Four-Crossed Lovers

When they discovered their anonymity was so thorough, they kept everyone guessing. It served them well when her ex-boyfriend did indeed arrive dressed as a Doberman guard dog replete with spiked collar. His new lady friend was dressed as an airline stewardess; her outfit may have been more a uniform than costume. Only the hosts knew Lilly was there but they agreed to keep her secret. They avoided any conversations that included the other couple and kept drifting to other clusters of partygoers.

Alcoholic beverages flowed freely and Lilly's ex quickly got hammered. He was loud and boastful. When he said something that disturbed his companion, she tried to pull him aside to settle him down. Instead of being embarrassed and apologetic, he became belligerent and insulting. Finally, his companion could take no more abuse and left the party in tears. When another woman tried to suggest his behavior was inappropriate, he turned his insults on her. Within moments, he was in a loud confrontation with several men and the hosts who combined efforts to eject him forcibly from the party.

After witnessing the altercation, Bobby realized his sister had always made friends with men who invariably turned into losers. He was glad he had stepped up for her. Beyond being her lover to show her the best life had to offer, he began to wonder if he could be her provider for the rest of their lives. If she was to join him in Hong Kong, they could easily hide their common birth parents and openly have their sexual relationship.

That night, in between love making sessions, he spoke of his ideas about her living in Hong Kong with him. She immediately agreed she would uproot her life to be with him. It would take time to settle her American life and apply for a passport. They would work out the details after he completed the seminar.

* * * *

A strong weather system was moving across the Midwest, bearing down on Chicago Monday afternoon. The storm was more typical of a mid-Winter blizzard than a rainy, Fall front. High winds and chilling rains were already producing air traffic delays at Chicago's airports. The weather would ruin trick-or-treating for children that evening. It also disrupted Monday night's football game at Soldier Field between the Bears and Packers even before the first snow of the season fell during the fourth quarter.

A blustery band of showers from the same system pushed into the Indianapolis area by late afternoon. Lilly waited in the departure area at Gate 4 with Bobby until his plane arrived late from Georgia. She was sad that her brother was leaving, ending the passion that had filled the previous days, but she had the dreams of an exciting life with him in the Orient to occupy her mind. They said their goodbyes when boarding finally began. She stood at the rain-pelted window hoping to see Bobby until the plane was pushed back for departure.

At four minutes to four, American Eagle flight 4184 lifted off the runway to begin its thirty minute flight to O'hare.

= = = =

Daisy Harvard climbed into the cab of her Mack truck in Plainfield, a small town Southwest of the airport. She made regular produce deliveries to grocery stores and had just finished her last stop before heading back to the distribution center. She turned on the heater to dry her sweater-vest and counter the damp chill the rain had brought.

Turning onto highway US40, she pointed the bulldog hood ornament of her truck toward home. Switching on her CB radio, the speaker immediately crackled with heavy communications from nearby Interstate 70. Traffic was almost at a standstill. When she learned a produce truck had overturned after colliding with a car in the rain, she grabbed her mic.

"Break one nine. Any driver got a handle for the driver wallowing with the four-wheeler? Lil Bo Peep shouting, come on back." Daisy had changed her CB handle when she learned that Daisy Duke's handle on the popular Dukes of Hazard show was Lil Bo Peep. With the same first name, it was a good fit.

Daisy listened for a response but lots of drivers and motorists were looking for answers and alternate routes so transmissions walked on others. She called out the same inquiry again. Some long-hauler with a power booster drawled an offer to bounce her call.

"My boyfriend and I drive for Acme Produce. I hope that ain't him rubber-side up. Lil Bo Peep looking for Lettuce Head. Thank ye, darling."

The hauler's distinctive 'ping' when his mic was keyed was followed by a clear voice relaying her search. She listened to her radio intently, hoping to pull the response she wanted out of the weeds. Her distraction almost involved her in an accident. A traffic light started to change at the worst decision point possible. Asphalt roads that accumulate dust and oil films are notoriously greasy when rain first begins to fall. Daisy tried to brake easy but powerful airbrakes don't grab easy; her trailer wheels locked. Her empty trailer had little traction on the pavement and threatened to jack-knife. Even as she was sliding, an impatient car shot out across her path at the first instant it had a green light.

Somehow, the car passed before her rig slid into the middle of the intersection. "When will they learn?" she lamented. Gasping to fill her lungs, she waited for two other cars to go around her before she shifted into low and straightened her rig. She decided caution was more important than getting off work early. She held her speed to 40 mph as she drove on.

"{Ping} ... Break one nine for Lil Bo Peep. Snakebite telling ya Lettuce Head is already at the barn waiting fer ya. Y'all have a safe one."

"Oh, bless your heart, sweetie. Do you come thru the Circle City often?"

"{Ping} ... Not if I can help it. Sweetie, you called me? You should talk to my ex. She gave me my handle. Snakebite out."

= = = =

As soon as she saw the traffic on eastbound I70 all but stopped dead, Lilly wished she had gone the other direction to go around. To head away from the city would not have been intuitive so all she could do now was join the traffic jam. Inching forward a car length at a time, her old wiper blades made a streaky blur of the vehicle in front of her. She couldn't see that all lanes were trying to get off onto I465 that circles around Indianapolis, hoping to get past something that blocked I70 heading toward downtown.

Lilly's thoughts were about a future in a faraway land as she mindlessly followed other lemmings down the highway. She also relived the passion she had shared with her brother, imagining many more experiences with him when they met again.

Stop and go traffic continued along the ramp and onto I465 where the heavy traffic dumping into the highway produced more slow moving congestion. An hour had passed before Lilly made her way down the exit ramp to Washington Street as US40 was known within city limits. Lilly was the first in line waiting for the light to turn green.

= = = =

As soon as the plane broke through the cloud cover, the pilot came on the public address speakers to announce flight specifics. Normal flight times meant they should arrive around 4:30 but he warned that weather conditions in Chicago were forcing increased plane separations that had flights stacking up at the busy airport.

Bobby busied himself writing notes he would use at the seminar. The flight was bumpy as turbulent air mixed around at all altitudes. The seat belt sign never went off and no refreshments were served. The 200 mile flight is known as a hop because descent begins almost as soon as cruising altitude is reached. Flight 4184 contacted the Aurora flight center for descent instructions at 4:13 p.m. They were directed into the first of four holding patterns, essentially circles in the sky that spiral down and closer to the airport.

= = = =

Lilly remembered the joy she felt when Bobby's cock was inside her. "I love you, Bobby," she said out loud. A car horn tooted. An advertising sign flashed green through the streaked windshield. Lilly's foot moved off the brake pedal and pressed the gas.

Daisy's Mack truck was already entering the intersection when she saw the small car pull out a dozen feet ahead. Even at 40 mph, her foot didn't reach the brake pedal before 20,000 pounds of steel tore into the glass and sheet metal of the driver's door.

Lilly's neck snapped, instantly killing her before her head smashed against the truck's steel bumper breaking through her car.

= = = =

Bobby's plane had just spent 10 minutes flying through a layer of super-cooled rain droplets that were forming into ice on the wings and control surfaces. De-icing boots were shedding the ice except for a ridge that formed on an aileron hinge. Just as they reached their fourth hold altitude of 8,000 feet, the plane dipped and the aileron jammed.

The plane did a complete barrel roll. The experienced pilots managed to stop the roll but before they could assess the problem or declare an emergency, the plane rolled again. This roll became an uncontrolled, inverted dive. Nothing could save the aircraft from that low altitude.

Bobby experienced ten seconds of pure terror before the American Eagle flight buried him and 67 others in the cornfields of Roselawn, Indiana.