I was Gonna Learn to Fly

We were taking advantage of the little free time we had one night, by grabbing a bite to eat at Plato's. "I saw on the roster, you're taking Senator Hayes to Tucson tomorrow morning. Ever met him?" Carl asked.

"No, have you?"

"Oh yeah, he's a jackass with capital ass," he replied. "I sometimes fly him and his buddies to Vegas. He likes playing Mr. Bigshot by chartering the flight, himself."

"How can he afford to do that? Fricken state senators don't make that much, do they?"

Carl chuckled, "No, his family has money. I'll say this for him, though; he has excellent taste in secretaries. I've seen him with two or three different ones and every one of them was a knock out. My guess is he hires them to bang. I doubt if any of them can take dictation."

"He's not married?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he is, but that never stops men like him. Hell, not having a beautiful mistress would be bad for his bigshot image," Carl chuckled again.

The next morning, I met Senator Hayes for the first time. I'll say one thing for Carl, when he's right, he's right. Accompanying the senator was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. She had raven black hair with sparkling, deep blue eyes. She stood about five-eight, but she was wearing three inch heels, and even with the conservative business suit she was wearing, it was easy to see her figure was that of a goddess. When I introduced myself, she gave me a smile that would melt the polar ice cap.

"Hi," she said, shaking my hand. "I'm Lori."

"Nice to meet you, Lori." She looked a little scared. "Have you flown in a light aircraft before," I asked her.

"No, I'm a little nervous."

"I assure you the plane is in excellent condition and I'm about the best pilot in the world," I said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh, you are?" She laughed. "Are you as good as you are humble?"

Before I could answer, the senator joined the conversation. "Yeah, yeah, come on, I have to be at that meeting by eleven. Let's get going,"

Lori looked like she didn't want to go but put her head down and followed her boss outside. Hayes, obviously having no idea what it was to be a gentleman, was the first one in the plane. I helped Lori in before taking the pilot's seat. As we buckled up, I told her we'd be flying over the Sequoia National Park and the tip of Death Valley during our trip. It seemed to relax her a little, at least until take off. I heard her as our wheels left the ground.

"Oh God!"

Once I got to cruising altitude I looked over my left shoulder. She seemed to have calmed down and was gazing out the window. It was a beautiful day, just as clear as it could be. I turned the other way and saw Hayes. His briefcase was sitting open on his lap and he was reading some papers. I assumed they were notes for his meeting.

We'd been in the air for about an hour. Up to that point, the flight had been smooth as glass...then all hell broke loose.

A Gulf Stream overtook us from above and dropped down in front of us while descending. I didn't even have time to react before flying right into his vortex. The little Cessna rapidly lost altitude and was forced into a violent, hundred and eighty degree role to the left. I heard all kinds of commotion behind me, including a defining scream from Lori, but I was too busy fighting to get the plane stable again, to be able to do anything about it.

It was the kind of thing I trained for in flight school, but never thought I'd have to use. I forced myself to stay calm and pushed the yoke forward to relieve some of the drag and get the nose up, then applied full ailerons to complete the roll and upright the plane again. Once I saw a level horizon line, I eased the yoke back to gain some altitude and banked until I knew for sure I was above the vortex. As soon as I knew it was safe, I levelled off and engaged the autopilot so I could check on my passengers.

"What the fuck happened," Hayes yelled.

I ignored him to check on Lori. She was out cold and had a nasty cut above her right eye. The senator's briefcase was lying on the floor and papers were scattered all over. It wasn't hard to determine what happened. The briefcase went flying and hit Lori just above her right temple. It also looked like she hit the other side of her head against the fuselage.

I grabbed the first aid kit and dressed the wound as good as I could. She still hadn't awakened.

"She'll be okay," stated Hayes. "I'll make sure she sees a doctor when we get to Tucson."

Again, I ignored him. I got back in my seat and took stock of where we were. Bakersfield was nearest airport. I radioed their tower and reported the Gulf Stream and the resulting wake turbulence. I told them I had an injured passenger aboard and needed a new heading. I was going to divert our course for an emergency landing. I also requested an ambulance be waiting for us when we touched down.

"What are you doing?"

"Senator, I'm sorry, but I'm not flying for another two hours with an injured passenger aboard. We're going to land at Bakersfield and get her to a hospital. I also have to get the plane thoroughly checked out to make sure it wasn't damaged."

"You listen to me, I paid you to get me to Tucson, and that's where we're going or I'll sue you and your partner for every fucking penny you've got," he bellowed.

"I'm sure that'll look great in the headlines. Senator sues pilot for making emergency landing with the senator's injured secretary aboard."

I dialed in our new heading. Ten minutes later Bakersfield had a cleared runway and a couple of fire trucks waiting for us, just in case. I held my breath the whole way down and didn't exhale until we were safely on the ground. Two guys approached with a gurney.

"Where are you taking her?" I asked.

"Memorial," one of them answered. She was still unconscious as they put her in the ambulance.

"You can kiss your pilot's license goodbye," yelled the prick. "I'll make sure you never fly again."

By then, ignoring him was becoming a habit. I walked into the flight office to make arrangements to have the plane checked out. I was also trying to remember Carl's schedule. I had to call him and let him know what was going on.

I finally tracked him down in Portland and gave him the whole scoop. He told me I did the right thing and not to worry about Hayes. When I was done with the call, Peg, the girl behind the desk told me asshole was able to talk another pilot into taking him to Tucson for the right price. I have to say, I was relieved I didn't have him to deal with any longer.

When I got back outside, I was informed by the maintenance crew that they wouldn't be able to check my plane out until the following day. I asked one of them how far the hospital was and grabbed a cab.

When I got there they asked if I was a relative. I told them no, but I was there when the accident happened. The next question was if I knew who her insurance was with. I told them she worked for the state and that her boss was a state senator. That seemed to appease them. When I asked about her condition, they told me that the cut above her right eye took five stitches and she had a concussion. They were admitting her overnight to keep an eye on her. If there were no complications they'd release her the next day. They said I could see her if I wanted to wait until they got her situated.

It was almost an hour before they said I could go up to her room. That beautiful face had taken a beating. She had a big bandage on the right side of her head but I could still see the shiner she had. Her eye was almost swollen closed and was an angry color of purple. I just gave her a big smile. "Hi, how're you feeling?"

She looked surprised to see me. "Okay, I guess. What happened? Where's Senator Hayes?"

"Ah, he found another ride," I replied.

She looked a little stunned. "He just left me here? How am I supposed to get home?"

I wondered how well she knew him. "How long have you worked for him, Lori?"

"Two months," she grumbled, "two long aggravating months."

"It sounds like you're not a fan of the good senator," I commented.

"He's a pig," she retorted. "I hadn't been there a week before he started hitting on me. He's a married man with two kids, for Pete's sake."

I pulled a chair up to the bed and took a seat. "I, ah...I know your maiden voyage was anything but reassuring, but I'm going to be stuck here overnight as well. I'd be happy to take you home."

She looked like she was thinking it over. "What happened anyway?"

"Ah, another plane—a jet, cut right in front of us. When a plane is flying, it causes wind turbulence at the wingtips called a vortex," I told her, moving my fingers in a rotating motion to simulate the air current. "They call it 'wake turbulence.' When our plane hit it, it threw us into a roll. Hayes had his briefcase sitting on his lap. It flew across and hit you. I don't know if you hit the other side of your head from that or the roll of the plane, but either way you got a double whammy."

"Does that happen often, this turbulence thing?"

"No, no...it should never happen. I have no idea what that other pilot was thinking, but I'm pretty sure he'll be grounded for a while."

She just lay there staring at me for a few moments. She finally made up her mind. "Okay, if it's no trouble to take me home, I'll go with you tomorrow."

"No you won't," we heard from a third voice behind me. "If you're talking about going home in a plane, I'd highly advise against it. You have a concussion, young lady. Flying can aggravate it. You need to stay out of airplanes for at least a couple of weeks."

"Doctor, I live in San Francisco. How am I supposed to get home?"

"There are plenty of trains and busses," he replied. "They'll take you anywhere you want to go."

That was disappointing, but I certainly didn't want to jeopardize her health. "They probably have Amtrak here. I'll check the schedule and let you know tomorrow. Don't worry, Lori, we'll get you home," I told her.

"Doctor, do you know what time you'll be releasing her?"

"If there're no overnight complications, we'll let her go at eleven tomorrow morning," he replied.

The next day, I was up early. I called the airport to see what time they were planning to check out my plane. Peg told me they were already on it, but she hadn't heard if they found anything yet.

Next I walked to a little family restaurant for some breakfast. I asked the waitress about trains and she pointed me in the direction of the Amtrak. I took a cab over and got a schedule. It was a little past ten when I got to the hospital. I didn't see her when I walked into her room, but she heard me enter and poked her head out from bathroom door. She was all dressed and just putting on the finishing touches of makeup.

"Hi, Harry. You didn't have to come by. One of the nurses told me there's an Amtrak station not far from here. I'm just going to grab a cab and wait for the next train."

"Hey, you're my responsibility until you're safely home," I said with a smile. "I've got a schedule right here. The next train leaves a little after noon. That gives me time to buy you lunch. It's four hours to Oakland and I don't think they offer food."

She finished with her lipstick and joined me in the room. "You really want to be seen with me in public?"

"I would be honored," I said. "If anyone says anything about your shiner, we'll blame it on the senator."

That gave her a good laugh. "Now that sounds like a plan," she chuckled. "Okay, but I should be the one buying lunch."

"No way, like I said, you're my responsibility until you walk through your own door."

As I got to know her better over a couple of hamburgers, I really liked her. She was funny and cheery, kind and thoughtful. For the first time since my break up with Sue, I found myself wanting to spend time with a woman.

After lunch, I ran her to the train station and stayed with her until she left. As soon as the train was out of sight, I high-tailed it to the airport. I saw the head of maintenance who told me everything checked out fine. I gave the billing info to the office and by one-fifteen I was in the air. I was bucking a head wind during the whole trip, but I still made it in plenty of time to get to the train station.

It was the first time I'd been there since dropping off Sue. It felt a little strange as I walked in. A sudden sadness hit me like a hammer. I checked my watch and saw I still had fifteen minutes, so I walked into the washroom and rinsed my face. I remember looking up into the mirror and imagining Sue standing behind me...a ghost from the past. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them again she was gone.

Through the door, I could hear them announcing the trains as they pulled into the station. Number seven-fifteen, that was Lori's. It had only been a few hours, but I felt my heart start to beat faster as I thought about seeing her again. I was waiting for her as she stepped off the train. She was genuinely startled to see me.

"Harry! How...I mean what...I mean...I wasn't expecting to see you here. What are you doing here? How did you get here so quick?"

"I have an airplane, remember?"

"Yes, but...I just didn't expect..."

"Lori, please believe me, I'm not stalking you or trying to crowd you, but I do feel responsible for what happened and I just want to make sure you get home safe and sound."

She looked at me a little hesitantly, but then came that gorgeous smile of hers. "Okay, and for the record, I didn't think you were stalking me. I just don't want to put you out like this. I know what happened wasn't your fault."

It was my turn to smile, but I think mine was more of a big, goofy grin. "Let me help you with your briefcase. My car is right around the corner."

We talked some more in the car. She told me she was going to start job hunting again, because she was giving Hayes her two week notice as soon as she got back to the office. I told her I flew a bunch of corporate big-wigs around all the time, so I'd ask around for her. When we pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex, I turned and gave her a big smile.

"Can I help you with your briefcase?"

"No, I think I can handle it from here," she replied, while returning my smile. "I really do appreciate everything you've done. You're very kind. Your wife is a lucky lady."

Ah ha, I thought, she's fishing. That must mean she's at least a little interested. "No wife," I explained. "How about you, you got a big handsome guy waiting for you inside?"

"Not unless you count my cat."

"In that case, I still owe you a flight."

"I'm sorry?"

"A flight--your boss paid for a flight and we can't really count yesterday, so I still owe you. The doc said two weeks, so how about three weeks from Sunday. I'll pick you up here and take you on a sightseeing tour of the bay area like you've never seen. How about it?"

"I don't know, Harry, I'll have to think about it," she said with some reluctance in her voice...and just when I thought she really liked me, but I wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Okay, then, let me take you out to dinner between now and then and try to convince you."

Again, she hesitated, but finally brought her briefcase to her lap, opened it, and took out a business card and a pen. She wrote on the back of the card and handed it to me. "Here's my home number, Harry, call me."

That's how it started, a little bumpy in the beginning but what a ride. We actually went out to dinner twice in the following two weeks. Getting her up in the plane again was a little more challenging. She was extremely nervous. I couldn't blame her after what happened.

"Promise no more of those whirlybird things, right?"

I had to chuckle. "You mean wake turbulence?"

"Whatever, just keep this thing level this time."

"I'll do my best," I said as I started pulling back on the yoke. It was a beautiful day and within minutes we were surrounded by nothing but blue sky. She was in awe as we flew over the Golden Gate. From there we headed south along the mountain ranges.

I felt her tap me on my shoulder and leaned back to be able to hear her better.

"It really is beautiful down there. Where are we?"

"We're about a hundred and twenty miles southeast of Frisco," I informed her. "In a few more minutes we'll turn west. Have you ever seen the Monterey coast line?"

"Once," she answered.

"Well, you're about to see it from a whole new perspective," I told her. A few minutes later I made an easy bank and headed for the Pacific. Once we cleared land, I banked north and followed the coastline at an altitude of five hundred feet almost all the way back home. I kept hearing ooh's and ah's as we passed along the rocky shores. Once I got close to the city, I had to gain altitude again.

After touching down and taxiing to a stop, I exited the plane first so I could help Lori down. As soon as her feet hit the tarmac she wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss. Up to that point, she'd given me a couple pecks on the cheek after dinner, so this was a total surprise.

"Oh, I have to take you for rides more often," I said, with a big grin.

"Harry, that was amazing. Thank you so much. I'll never be afraid to go up with you again." And she wasn't.

We also started dating on a regular basis. It was strange, at no time since breaking up with Sue, had I felt anything for another woman, but Lori had rekindled feelings that I hadn't felt in years. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I was infatuated. The more I was in her company the harder it was when we were apart.

The first time we made love was incredible. Before Lori, I dated some and even got laid now and then. I agreed with the old adage that even bad sex is good sex, but sex isn't the same as making love. I'd almost forgotten what that felt like.

Just seeing her undressed made my heart pound. She stood before me, bared in body and soul. The touch of her skin was like the dawn of new day. Every kiss burned my lips with passion. I wanted to explore every inch, discover every secret her body possessed. I wanted to make her my own. I wanted to show her she needed no other lovers.

With each gentle kiss, each caress of my fingers tips, Lori shook with passion. Her nipples stood proudly at my touch. My cock was hardened steel as I entered her. Cries of ecstasy echoed from the bedroom walls over and over again. By the end of the night we both knew we would spend the rest of our lives together.

When the lease on my apartment was up for renewal, Lori asked me to move in with her. Six months later we made it legal. It was a small wedding; friends and family totaled about thirty-five people. Carl was my best man and Elsa, Lori's best friend, acted as her maid of honor. As a wedding present, Carl gassed up the three-ten and told us it was ours to use for the honeymoon so we flew out to Catalina Island for ten glorious days.

As the years marched on, we had a son, Kyle, and a daughter, Jeanine. Thank God, they both took after their mother in looks and intelligence. Kyle, however, was interested in flying almost before he could walk. He was most definitely a chip off his old man's block.

Carl was their godfather, but they both called him Uncle Carl from the time they could speak. He became a staple in our home and we became the family he never had. It was a shame he never had kids of his own because he would have made a wonderful father.

Over time, Carl added two more planes to the fleet and asked me to interview pilots. When I gave him my recommendations he hired them on the spot without even interviewing them first. Throughout the following years he gave me more and more responsibility, along with more money. As long as I could stay in the air, I had no problem with it.