Life after the Lottery Ch. 74

"Okay!"

"Being away from the city lights will be a good test, but I don't think any of you will have a problem."

After we ate, Stan and Jeanine went over some of the training materials with Dawn and Samantha. Linda and I were in the kitchen getting more wine for everyone.

"Jeanine told me what you were planning on buying for Dawn. She called the people in Germany that I went through for mine. She told me that the lead time is 12 to 14 months," Linda said.

"Hmm. I was really hoping we could get it by fall."

"I might be able to help out. If you are serious...what are you doing Wednesday and Thursday?"

"Nothing I know of."

"Jeanine said if you could get it delivered earlier, you wanted to keep it from Dawn."

"I was just hoping it would be here when she was ready to start instrument training."

"When would that be?" Linda asked.

"From what Jeanine has outlined for a schedule...maybe July at the earliest."

"Okay. What about Wednesday and Thursday? Could you get out of here for two days and not tell Dawn where you are going?"

"I don't know about that. Let me think about it."

Linda and I grabbed a bottle of wine and headed back to the den. We sat on the sofas and listened to all the talk about flight school for a bit.

"Dawn, can you go with James and me Wednesday and Thursday?" Linda asked.

"Where are you going?" Dawn asked.

"I'm flying to New York Wednesday to one of the hospitals I own part of. I wanted James to go with me so he could look over the psychiatric part for me. You want to go and look over it with us?"

"When will you be back?"

"Late Thursday night...maybe."

"I have a ton of work to do on my research outline. I better stay here...if that is okay?"

"No problem. We are just flying up early Wednesday morning and coming back late Thursday night."

"You two go ahead."

"Can I go?" Samantha asked.

"You have cases?" I said.

"Bummer..."

Jeanine was looking over at Linda like she had missed something.

"Okay, then I'll meet you at the airport at 8:00 Wednesday morning, James."

"No problem..."

Linda winked at me and went back to sipping her wine as we watched and listened.

Linda, Rachel, Stan, and Jeanie were leaving about 8:00. I was walking them out to their cars.

"Bring your passport," Linda said and kissed me.

Amy and I left Dawn and Samantha still looking over all the class materials and went to bed at 11:00.

*****

Saturday evening about 7:30, we heard the helicopter approaching. We went outside and watched as it landed. They shut it down, and Stan and Jeanine got out and walked to the house.

"Are you ready?" Jeanine asked.

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Good. Everyone can go, but I will have to put one of you in the co-pilot's seat then fly around. We'll come back, and someone else will move up front."

"Let's go!" Samantha exclaimed.

"Okay. First, turn off all the outside lights."

I turned off all the lights outside, and then we followed Jeanine and Stan to the helicopter. There was a little moonlight.

"Who's first?" Jeanine asked.

"Dawn volunteers!" I said.

We all got in, and Dawn got upfront in the left seat. Jeanine talked to all of us for a few minutes then started the helicopter. She radioed we were taking off, then we did. We headed south away from town as she climbed.

"So far, is everyone okay?" Jeanine asked.

"We're good," Samantha told her.

Jeanine talked to Dawn for a minute then I knew Dawn was flying. We flew for a while, then Jeanine took over. She radioed that we would be dropping off the radar.

Jeanine nosed the helicopter down, and we took off descending fast. We got a few hundred feet off the ground, and she made a hard right turn for a minute, then pulled out straight. She made a hard left turn and climbed fast. We were just sitting back and holding on. I saw Dawn talking and laughing.

"Everyone okay?" Jeanine asked.

"We're good!" Samantha said and giggled.

Jeanine looked back over her shoulder.

"Stan, put the hood on her," Jeanine said.

I watched as Stan picked up an oversized helmet and moved between the seats, and put it on Dawn's head. He moved back and sat.

"What is that for?" I asked.

"With that on, you can't see anything but the instruments. She can't see outside to get oriented," he replied.

We flew for a few minutes as Jeanie talked to Dawn.

"Are you ready?" Jeanine asked.

"I guess," Dawn replied.

"Okay. Take the stick and fly us straight."

Dawn took the stick and flew us straight for a bit as Jeanine explained what to look at on the gauges.

"Are you okay?" Jeanine asked.

"I'm good."

"Okay. I am going to help keep us at the same altitude, but I want you to start making a slow right turn."

Dawn pushed the stick to the right a little, and we began making a gradual right turn. Jeanine talked her through watching the gauges and returning us to level flight. After that, she had Dawn climb for a bit then turn left.

"Are you good?" Jeanine asked.

"I'm good."

"Are you getting the hang of looking at the gauges?"

"So far."

"Okay. You know this is the altimeter," Jeanine said, pointing at a gauge. "How high are we?"

"Two thousand feet," Dawn replied.

"That's right. This is what I want you to do. I'll make sure nothing goes wrong, but now I want you to push the stick forward until you feel us descending. Watch the altimeter, and when we get to 750 feet, you pull back and return us to level flight. Okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"Go ahead. I'll make sure we are good."

Dawn gently pushed forward the stick. Jeanine was holding the other control.

"A little more," Jeanine said.

Soon we were descending rapidly.

"Watch the altimeter. When you pull back, don't climb, just level out at 750 feet. Start pulling back at 850 feet. Got it?"

"Got it."

I was holding my breath until Dawn pulled back, and we were flying level.

"Perfect!" Jeanine exclaimed. "Now climb back to 1500 feet. Once we are there, look at the compass and turn us to the right until we are heading 010 degrees."

We climbed for a minute or so, and Dawn began making a turn. Samantha was looking at me with big eyes. Once we seemed to be heading back to the house, Stan took the helmet off Dawn.

"That was great!" Jeanine told her.

"Did I do okay?"

"You didn't puke or pass out!" Jeanine said, and we all laughed.

We flew for several minutes until we were near the house again.

"I want you to try something," Jeanine said. "I have the throttle. I am going to put us in a hover over the house. I want you to see if you can keep us there."

Jeanine moved us until we were hovering over the front yard about 400 feet up.

"See if you can do it," she said.

Dawn took the stick and held it. I could feel us drifting a little.

"This is hard. How do I keep us in one place?" Dawn asked.

"Look at your artificial horizon here. Get it level. Now, look at your climb rate gauge. Keep it on zero."

Dawn held the stick as she watched the gauges closely and tried to hover in one spot for a few minutes.

"Not too bad. This is one of the hardest things to learn."

"It's hard."

"Now...look straight ahead and do not look at the gauges and keep us in one spot," Jeanine said.

I saw Dawn look out the windshield. We drifted up and down and little and side to side a little.

"Not too bad! This really does take a lot of practice."

"How do you do it without watching the gauges?" Dawn asked.

"You just develop a feel for it. Are you ready for one more thing?"

"I guess."

"Try and hold us steady."

Jeanine flipped a few switches, and all the lights inside and outside went off.

"Oh, my!" Came from Dawn as we drifted.

"See if you can feel it," Jeanine said.

It was dark, and no way to tell if we were level or not without looking at the gauges. Jeanine talked Dawn through it, and she got more comfortable.

"Very good! Can you hold us in place?"

"I think so."

"Okay. I am going to turn on the landing lights," Jeanine said.

She flipped two switches, and some really bright lights came on under and in front of the helicopter. We began sliding to the right.

"Keep us level, Dawn."

Dawn worked and got us level.

"Okay. I got it, now," Jeanine said.

We slowly descended until we could see the lights on the front yard. She stopped us about 50 feet from the ground.

"Do you think you can hold us here?" She asked Dawn.

"I don't think so."

"Okay."

We settled the rest of the way until we landed. Jeanine went through shutting everything down.

"Are you okay?" She asked Dawn.

"When you turned the lights on...I got a little disoriented...did I fail?"

"No! You did great! I wanted to see how you reacted when the lights illuminated the tips of the rotor."

"The white tips going by messed with my head."

"It will do that."

"How do I keep that from happening?"

"Landing in the dark can be tricky. People want to look up at the rotor flashing by. You eventually get used to it because you will be concentrating on looking at the gauges, and out the windows...you'll learn that landing involves a lot of just feeling the aircraft. You did perfect, though! Who is next!"

I switched places with Dawn. Jeanine took me through a little more of just flying before she ran me through all her test. Dawn was right, landing with the lights on felt disorienting.

"Your turn, Samantha!"

Samantha was a little apprehensive or nervous as she got in the left seat. Jeanine talked to her for a while before we took off. Jeanine let Samantha fly around for a long time to get her comfortable. For a 19-year-old, she was doing well. Jeanine finally got her laughing.

She was doing well making turns and climbing as she watched the gauges. Jeanine asked her if she was ready for the helmet. Stan put it on her, and Jeanine let her fly for a while, then had her try the maneuvers. She did well.

When we came back over the house and Jeanine was letting her try and hover, she seemed to have a little more of a problem.

"Sam, don't make big corrections when you think you are drifting. Make little ones and just feel the aircraft moving."

Samantha kept working at it and finally got more comfortable.

"Okay. I am going to turn on the landing lights. Remember, I am watching everything."

She flipped on the landing lights, and we drifted right hard.

"Level us out," Jeanine said.

We drifted back to the left, then up and down a little.

"Small movements, Sam."

We still drifted a little from right to left.

"Sam, I want you to do something. I will make sure we are good, but close your eyes and see if you can keep us in one place," Jeanine said. "That's it..."

We settled down and stopped drifting as much.

"You are climbing just a little..." Jeanine said.

We seemed to level out.

"Perfect! Now keep us here!"

We hovered for a minute.

"Very good! I got it!"

Jeanine let us drift down until we landed. She shut everything off, and we got out. I walked around the front, and Samantha was talking to Jeanine.

"...but I can't fly with my eyes closed," Samantha said.

"What happens when you close your eyes is...you stop over correcting. That was how I had to learn in the beginning," Jeanine said. "With your eyes closed, you fly by feel."

"Oh."

"You did fine." Jeanine looked up. "Amy, you want to try it?"

"Nope!"

"Am I too young?" Samantha asked.

"Of course not! I started at 19 also."

We went into the house and talked a while before Stan and Jeanine flew off.

*****

Monday and Tuesday, Dawn and I worked on getting our lives back to a normal schedule. Amy and Samantha were back on their schedules for classes and their Krav Maga classes.

Tuesday, I went to see Linda's tax attorney, and we worked on setting up the corporations.

Tuesday evening, we were having dinner.

"All three of you make sure you get caught up if we are flying to St. Barts this weekend," I told them.

"We will, Dawn said.

"I can use the break," Amy said.

"We have been busy," Dawn replied.

Samantha started telling Dawn more about us tricking her donor whale.

After dinner, I told Dawn I had to go pack. I went up to my room and grabbed my small bag, then snuck my passport out of the safe. I was almost finished about 8:30 when Dawn came into the bedroom.

"Have you got everything?" She asked.

"I think I do."

"Good. Now, what are you going to New York for?" Dawn asked, not really asked, but like why are you lying to me asked.

I was thinking that I wasn't going to be able to sneak this by Dawn.

"I'm really not 100% sure? While you all were talking to Stan and Jeanine, she asked me if I could go with her tomorrow and Thursday. She said she needed my help evaluating something at one of her hospitals in New York."

"Hmmm. I wonder if that is what she really wants you to do?"

"Who knows. You can call her and ask her tonight."

"Guess not. She may have some kind of surprise for you."

"I hope not."

By 10:30, I had to get Amy and Samantha to turn off their lights. They had been in their rooms studying since dinner.

"Were they still studying?" Dawn asked as I got in bed with her.

"Yes. See if you can find out if they got behind in school the last week."

"If they won't tell you, they won't tell me," Dawn said.

"Yes, they will. They may need our help if they are behind."

"I'll ask in the morning," Dawn said, and I turned off the light.

*****

I was up Wednesday morning about 5:00 to get ready. After I showered, I found Dawn in the kitchen cooking some breakfast.

"You have time. Sit and eat something," Dawn said.

It was just after 6:30. I had time.

"Thanks, honey. I wasn't going to have time to cook for myself."

Dawn brought our plates to the table and sat with me. I had hoped to avoid breakfast with her so she wouldn't go fishing again. I was eating a little fast and looked up, and Dawn was looking at me as she bit on the corner of a piece of toast.

"You don't need to be in such a hurry. You have time," Dawn said.

"It may take an hour to get to the airport in morning traffic."

"Could..."

"Why are you staring at me?" I asked as I ate.

"Just thinking..."

"About what?"

"Not sure," Dawn said. "Just wondering..."

"About what?"

"Just wondering about something...and you..."

"Okay. What's up?" I asked.

"I'm worried you don't think the whole helicopter idea is a good one. You didn't seem very interested in all the things for flight school they brought."

"I'm interested. You and Samantha were going 100 miles per hour with Jeanine and Stan. I didn't want to interrupt you because I thought it was hilarious. I'm all for the "helicopter idea." You know I am. I am just worried about it taking 12 or 14 months to get our helicopter here. Linda said she was going to touch base with the people she worked with."

That was mostly true. I thought Dawn would pick up that and not me hiding something.

"You think she can help?" Dawn asked with more interest in that now.

"Honey...you know Linda. I am sure she has some pull."

"Oh, I hope so! Find out while you are with her."

"I'll see if she knows anything yet. But, just be prepared for it take a year or so."

"I hope not, but Jeanine did say that the EC 135 was a new and very popular helicopter. I hope I don't have to wait a year. But, you know what Jeanine told me?"

"What?"

"She said that if we get our visual flight license quickly on the Bell Ranger...she said Linda would let us cross-train on her helicopter!"

"You'll cross-train on it. I have no desire to fly her big ass $10,000,000 helicopter!"

That got Dawn to giggle, and I didn't have a desire to fly that thing.

"But, if Linda will be letting your train on it, just tell her we want to reimburse her. Just find out what it cost to operate that thing for an hour?" I said.

"Okay! I'll ask Jeanine."

*****

I walked into the private jet terminal and saw Linda and Rachel talking to someone. I walked up to her.

"Sorry, I'm late. Had a little traffic and a lot of questions."

"From Dawn?" Linda asked.

"Of course. You know it is impossible to hide anything from her...and I know how!" They laughed.

"So, what is the story?" Rachel asked.

"I went with yours...so let's make up a good one about going to New York."

"Well...we are going to New York first," Linda said with a smile.

We were in the air 30 minutes later. Linda got up and retrieved a rolled-up set of blueprints and tried to roll them out on the table between us.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Carl wanted me to give it to you. He said you want to get your hanger in early. You think that may tip Dawn off?"

"Nope. Carl is making up a story."

We rolled out the blueprints.

"Oh, I like this," Linda said. "It looks like your house."

"I didn't want a big ugly metal building."

"He told me to look at these. I see why now. These exterior drawings look fantastic. I'll have to do the same thing."

We looked over the plans for a few minutes.

"Are you going to build one as big as mine?" Linda asked as she looked.

"May as well. I am going to get a tractor and some things to work around the property. Need somewhere to put it."

"Good idea."

We talked and looked over the blueprints while Rachel sat on the other side and worked on her phone and computer.

"Carl suggested we borrow your fuel tank," I said.

"Oh, really."

"Until we decide about burying one..."

It hadn't been an hour and a half when Jeanine announced we were preparing to land.

"Are they in a hurry?" I asked.

"Yes. We have to move quickly."

"Once we are on the ground?"

"No. I'm just picking someone up, and then we are off to Germany?"

"Germany! Why!"

"I need to see the President of Eurocopter about something," Linda said and smiled.

In ten minutes, we were landing. We taxied for a bit and stopped near a terminal.

"Be right back," Rachel said as she dropped the steps and went outside.

"We will need to fuel up and get going if Daniel is on time," Linda said.

Stan came out of the cockpit after we heard the engines shut down.

"It's cold. Would you like for me to pull up the stairs?" Stan asked.

"How long will we be?"

"Twenty minutes."

"I think we are okay."

"I'm going to hurry them along on the refueling," Stan said and headed down the stairs.

"You didn't have to go to Germany for us?" I said.

"I had to go anyway...I just moved it up."

"You think you will have any luck with the President of Eurocopter?"

"Probably...we'll see." I got a smile.

We heard someone coming up the steps.

"Hey, Daniel," Linda said.

"Hey, Ms. WIllaims."

"Were you able to finish up the plans? I know I moved things up on you all of a sudden."

"Got them right here."

"Good, we can go over them while we are flying. Daniel, this is Dr. James Smith. He is a psychologist and my company consultant."

"Hello, Dr. Smith," he said, and we shook hands.

"Daniel, sit over there."

He sat down and opened his briefcase on the other table.

"Would you like to see the final numbers?" Daniel asked.

"Sure."

He dug a couple of pieces of paper out and handed them to Linda. She took them and flipped through them for a few minutes.

"Is this for all twelve hospitals?" She asked.

"Yes. With the plan, there will be an average of three per hospital, but, you know it will be one in some places and five in others."

"This looks about $12,000,000 more than we had before?" Linda asked.

"About $2,000,000 is for a couple of newer pieces of medical equipment that came out this year."

"What is the other ten?"

"Well, I went ahead and added to our budget..."

"For what?"

"Bell Helicopter is raising hell about all the imports from Eurocopter. Looks like there will end up being a 10% tariff by the time the order is delivered," Daniel said.