I was Gonna Learn to Fly

I saw Carl almost every day so I didn't notice it until Lori said something. "Honey, Carl's looking awful peaked lately, is he okay?"

"He is?"

"You haven't noticed? He looks pale and he's definitely losing weight."

"Now that you mention it, yeah, he is looking a little scrawny these days. I guess I just figured he's getting older. He's getting up there, honey. He's going to be sixty-three in another couple of months."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "It's more than that. There's something wrong."

"I'll see him tomorrow morning before I take off for Portland. I'll ask him if he's feeling okay."

"I think you should insist he sees a doctor, honey. I have a bad feeling."

I confronted him the next morning but he put me off, saying we'd discuss it later. I brought it up a couple more times during the week, but he kept stalling. Lori was getting on my case, saying I should throw him in the car and drive him to the doc's myself. Then, one night he called, said he checked the roster and saw I had nothing up the following Thursday afternoon and told me to meet him at his lawyer's. I'd been there with him on several occasions for various things so I knew where it was.

That Thursday, I walked into Jim Castner's office and joined Carl who was already there. I took a seat beside him and waited to find out what it was all about. It turned out to be the furthest thing from my mind.

Carl turned toward me. "Harry, I'm retiring."

I was so shocked it took me a minute to process what he'd just said. "Carl, I...what do mean retiring? You're not even sixty-five yet. You've got a lot of good years ahead of you...You..."

"It's no use trying to talk me out of it, Harry. I've made up my mind."

I was dumbfounded and just sat there staring at him.

"I'm selling the whole kit and caboodle to you..."

"Carl, there's no way I can afford to buy..."

"...for one dollar," he said, finishing what he was saying before I interrupted him.

This whole thing didn't make any sense. "What do you mean a dollar? We're talking about four airplanes and the business you've built up over decades of hard work. There's no way you can sell all that for a dollar."

"Actually, there is. That's why we're here. Mr. Castner has drawn up a contract to make it all nice and legal." He slid the document over to my side of the lawyer's desk. "He and his secretary have already signed as witnesses. All you have to do is sign on the dotted line, give me a dollar, and you'll be the new owner of Sky Blue Charter."

I just sat there without even reaching for the contract. It was absurd. There was no way I was going to take advantage of him like that. I wondered if he'd lost his mind; maybe his problem was more mental than physical.

"Carl, I'm not signing. If I can't talk you out retiring then I'll find some way to buy the business for what it's worth. I'll see about taking out a loan. If worse comes to worse, we can work out a deal where I pay you from the profits."

He looked at his lawyer. Castner just shrugged his shoulders. "I told you he wouldn't go for it. You've got tell him, Carl. He deserves to know anyway."

Now I was alarmed. "Know what?"

Carl sighed. Whatever it was, he really didn't want to tell me.

"I...I'm dying."

Talk about being stunned. I froze in my chair. I couldn't move, couldn't talk, I just sat there staring at him.

"I have pancreatic cancer. The doctor gives me four months on the outside. You've been like a son to me, Harry. For almost twenty years, your family has been my family. Everything I have, I've left to you, Lori, and the kids. It's all in my will.

"The business, however, I want to sell to you outright. I don't want you to have any legal hassles or problems with inheritance taxes. Hopefully, you won't anyway, my will is pretty well spelled out, but I don't want to take any chances. Jim says this is the easiest and most sure fire way to make sure you get the business free and clear."

My mind was going two-forty. It was hard to think. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. "I'll do it under one condition," I finally said.

"What's that?"

"You buy it back for the same price once you beat this thing. If anyone can beat it, Carl, it's you. I know you can do it, and when you do I'll sell Blue Sky back to you for the same dollar."

"You got it," he said with a smile.

I signed the contract then took a dollar out of my pocket. I wrote on the back of it, This dollar to be held in trust for the purchase of Blue Sky Charter.

On the drive home that day, I wondered how I was going to tell Lori and the kids. He was part of the family. I decided to tell Lori first, then we'd all get together and I'd tell the kids. Everyone took it about how I had expected, we all bawled our eyes out.

Over the next couple of months, Carl spent as much time with us as he could. He was always upbeat and never let the smile leave his face. Then one day Lori called me to the phone.

"Honey, it's Eileen from the flight office. She sounds worried."

I took the phone and said hello.

"Harry, I need you down here right away," she gasped.

"Where, the flight office? Why, what's going on?"

"I don't want to say anything over the phone. Please, I need you."

"Okay, I'm on my way," I replied. I told Lori where I was going but had no idea what time I'd be back. I jumped in the car and was walking into the flight office twenty minutes later. "Now, Eileen, what's going on?"

"It's Carl, I...he took off a little while ago and...Harry, I...I don't think he's coming back."

"What do you mean he's not coming back? Where's he headed?"

"I don't know. He showed up about an hour ago in an old beat up Piper Cub. It didn't even look like it was airworthy. When I asked him about it, he said it was good enough for what he needed it for. We talked about old times for a little while then I got busy. The next thing I knew he was taking off in that rattle trap."

That didn't sound like Carl. He was always a stickler for maintaining his aircraft. "Let me see his flight plan."

"He didn't file one, Harry. I've been trying to reach him on the radio but he won't answer me."

Okay, now she really had my attention. Carl would never take off without filing a flight plan. I grabbed the radio mic and Eileen started trying different frequencies as I yelled out his name. I finally heard his voice.

"Hi, Harry."

"Carl, where are you?" I asked in a panicky voice. "I need you to get back here, now!"

"Sorry, old buddy, no can do."

I knew Eileen was right. I could hear it in his voice. He wasn't planning on coming back. "Carl, please don't do this. Don't rob your family of what time we have left together. For me and Lori, for the kids, please, please turn that thing around and come back."

"She's here, Harry. Lisa, she's sitting right beside me. I can feel her presence."

By then I was crying so hard I could barely talk. "Please, please Carl, come back."

"I love you, Harry. I love you and Lori and the kids with all my heart, but now I want to be with my Lisa. Please tell everyone I said goodbye."

The radio went silent. I knew he had to be headed out to sea. There was no way he'd chance going down in a populated area. I called the Coast Guard, but without Carl filing a flight plan I had no idea of his altitude, how much gas he had, or even in what direction he was headed.

After hanging up, there was no way we could keep it together. Eileen and I broke down in each other's arms. It was an hour before I felt I could drive home. Lori took one look at me when I walked in.

"Is it Carl?" she asked.

I still couldn't talk. I just nodded my head. She threw her arms around me and sobbed into my chest while I held her.

The Coast Guard launched a search but gave up after a week with no sign of the wreckage. I arranged a memorial service about a month later. A couple hundred people showed up, some told stories and gave tribute to a man they liked and admired. I had gone over to his house and found an old photo of him and Lisa together. I had it blown up and displayed it with a note saying, "Together again." Somehow it made things a little easier.

Later that year, my son, Kyle, got his private pilot's license just before graduating high school. He had a head on his shoulders and had a clear cut plan for his future. He wanted to go to a college that offered a good business curriculum so he could help his old man run the charter service. Since Carl had left education trust funds for both the kids, I thought it would be a fitting tribute to him.

Jeanine was no dummy either. She wanted to be a teacher and the trust fund from Carl would insure it. She was only a grade behind Kyle in school, so within a year of each other, both kids had left the nest for college. Of course, they both returned for the summers. Kyle got in enough flying time that he had his commercial pilot's license before getting his MBA.

Jeanine met a guy in her sophomore year and it appeared I was going to be popping for a wedding soon after she graduated.

A couple years later, with both kids out of the nest for good, Lori spoke the five words that strikes fear in the hearts of married men everywhere, "honey, we have to talk." I followed her into the den where she already had a bottle of wine and two glasses waiting for us. She was smiling when we sat on the love seat together, but looked more serious after we both took a sip of wine.

"Honey, have you given any thought to retiring?"

"Retiring? Honey, I'm still in my fifties, why would I think of retiring?"

"For me, Harry, or I should say, for us. The kids are gone, half the time your trips are overnighters...I'm lonely, honey. We have plenty of money. You're always bragging about how well Kyle is running the business—fine, let him run it. I want to enjoy the rest of our lives together while we still can. Honey, none of us have any guarantees for tomorrow. Our silver anniversary is coming up. Let's use it as a launching pad for the rest of our lives."

It actually sounded pretty good. I'd never retire from flying, but the business... I named myself as CEO and my son as the president. I took a moderate salary but the rest was his.

For our anniversary, Lori and I took a two week cruise. We dined on gourmet food, danced till our feet hurt, and made love till dawn every night. It was literally heaven on earth...or should I say-sea.

From there we saw Paris and London. Copenhagen was next, damn what a beautiful city. A couple months after that, I borrowed the three-ten, and we puddle-jumped our way across the country on our way to Nova Scotia. There we rented a car and just drove, stopping when we got tired, and eating when we got hungry. What an incredible piece of real estate.

As it turned out, after seeing what she wanted to see, Lori wanted to cut down on our travel. We had only been home five months in the last two years. She said she still wanted to take a nice vacation now and then, but she missed the kids and our own bed. That was all right with me, but I needed something to do. I couldn't just stay home and watch daytime TV. I had to be busy doing something.

I tried going into work at Blue Sky. Kyle had a beautiful down town office set up for me but everything was so different. While I was gallivanting around the globe, he was busy at work. We now had fifteen planes and he was in the process of buying the whole damn airport. Even with his encouragement to become involved again, the kind of management decisions he was making were way over my head. I couldn't help but feel I was just in the way.

I was just leaving my office when I spotted an old friend I hadn't seen in decades, Sal, the dispatcher from my cab driving days. He was, of course, much older looking. His Italian black hair was now snow-white, he had a few more wrinkles here and there, and he was slightly hunched over, but there was no doubt it was him. I called his name and he turned to look. I saw him smile.

"Well I'll be, if it isn't the flying cab driver, how the hell have you been?"

"I've been good, Sal, you look good."

He laughed. "Sure, for an old man."

"Hey, you got time for a cup of coffee? There's a Starbucks right around the corner. It's on me."

After getting our coffees, we sat and talked. He was retired, but like me, was looking for something to do. Unlike me, his motivation wasn't boredom, it was money. I gave him my card and told him to ask for Kyle. I was sure he could find something for an old friend of his dad's.

As we talked, I told him I, too, was looking for something to do, nothing big, just something to occupy some of my free time.

"Why not drive a cab?" he said. "You always loved it when you were young. In fact, out of all my drivers, you were the only one I knew who really enjoyed it."

"I did enjoy it," I admitted, "but I'm not looking for a full-time job. I need something where I can set my own hours and leave for an extended vacation when the wife gets the wanderlust bug again."

"So buy your own cab. From what you tell me, you can certainly afford it."

"Sal, a quarter of a million bucks for a medallion is a little more than I'm willing to pay for a part time job," I joked.

"That was in the old days," he replied. "Uber killed the market. You can buy a medallion these days for a song, and I know for a fact that you can buy a used cab for next to nothing."

I remembered the fun I used to have talking to people from all walks of life. I talked it over with Lori and a month later we were making room in the garage for my very own cab.

*****

I turned in at the gate and pulled up the drive of sixteen Parkside Lane. Sue leaned forward and reached over the seat with a twenty in her hand. "We have to get together for coffee sometime, Harry."

"Absolutely," I agreed as I started to make change.

"Keep it," she said as she started to get out. I watched as she made a mad dash for her front door. She turned with a sad smile and waved before going inside.

I hadn't thought of Sue in decades but couldn't get her off my mind for the entire ride home. The comment she made about Derek was very telling. She was not a happy lady. I never did see any of her films, although I do know from scuttlebutt that she was in a few. She sure never became the star she wanted to be. I had no idea why, she was a talented actress. I imagine it had to do with the roles she took. From what I'd heard, she showed a lot of skin on the silver screen.

Lori took one look at me when I walked in and thought better of greeting me by throwing her arms around my neck like she usually did. "You are soaked," she said as she stretched up for a peck on the lips. "Why did you even bother staying out there on a night like this? How much did you make?"

"Ah, forty-two dollars," I told her, "but those people were really glad to see me."

"I'll bet...and how many homeless people did you pick up and drive to shelters for free?"

I had to smile. This woman knew me so well. "Ah...a few," I replied.

The smile on her face stretched even wider. "Why don't you run up and grab a quick shower while I get your hot chocolate ready."

That sounded like a pretty good plan to me, but I wasn't long. About ten minutes later I came back down to join my lovely wife in the kitchen. There was something on the table where I usually sat. "What's this?"

Lori had just poured us both a steaming cup of rich hot chocolate. It was always my favorite on a cold, rainy night like that. "Oh, did I leave that travel brochure for Monte Carlo laying there? Silly me," she said with grin.

Damn, I loved that woman.

The End.