That Summer with Kate

"I was going to ask you about that." I kissed her, my hand moved between her legs.

"The water must be cold, I can't find him." That wasn't entirely true, her hand was holding him and rousing his enthusiasm, not a hard task I have to admit. We adjourned once more to the cave.

Following some pretty sensational love making, at least to me it was sensational, having had absolutely no previous experience, we ate the packed lunch, made love again and went for another swim before reluctantly getting dressed and heading back down the creek to home.

It was obvious from the looks that we got on our return, that the rellies knew exactly what we had been doing up in the bush. That and the fact that we walked hand in hand along the farm track in full view of the farmhouse.

I had a quick shower and shave, got dressed in my best casual clothes, said good-bye to the rellies and, with Kate's hand back in mine, headed off across the paddocks to her family farm.

Dinner with the Browns was pretty much as I would have expected, good wholesome meal made with farm fresh produce including the ice cream that went with the apple crumble. Not content with the calorie intake of the dessert, Mrs Brown smothered it liberally with fresh cream from this morning's milking. I was invited to stay the night and, for the first time, I was treated to the wonders of Kate's bed. For some reason I had come to the conclusion that Kate, with a little help from her parents and my rellies, had conspired to get rid of Stephanie and allow Kate every opportunity to entice me into the realisation that I was in love with her.

For the next three weeks Kate and I spent every moment that we could with each other. Nothing was said by her parents or my rellies, when it became patently obvious that we were making love at every opportunity. When it was time for me to return home to prepare for my entry into Duntroon, Kate had her bags packed and came with me.

"Hi Kate, I see that you've convinced Adam that he has no chance of escaping from you."

"It wasn't as hard as I had expected, especially once we got rid of Stephanie, or whatever her name was."

"She hasn't given up without a fight it seems. She has blamed Adam for causing the split. According to her, at least what she has been going around telling everyone at the youth group, is that she came upon the two of you having sex in your room."

"That's interesting, and so far from the truth as to be laughable." I told her.

"Are you trying to tell me that you two haven't been making love? You had better not be, because I know better. Your cousins were never good at keeping a secret."

"No. It's obvious that we are very much in love and yes, we have been making love. But that didn't start until after Stephanie chucked her hissy fit and demanded to be taken to the station."

"So what are you going to do about all of this?" Mum asked us.

"Not a lot. We will go to the next youth group meeting and I will introduce Kate as the new love of my life, and explain to them that we have known each other for a long time. I will then explain that we did not become an item until after Stephanie had spat the dummy and left, and that Kate had nothing to do with that particular outburst. I will then announce that, on reviewing my situation, Stephanie and I would not have lasted because we had different interests, and that we both loved the same person, her, whereas Kate and I think very much alike, and are in love with each other."

It sounded like a good idea at the time, but things didn't go as planned, at least not at first. Stephanie had made a move on Grant, the minister's son, and he was going around telling everyone that would listen that the two of them had been secretly planning on her dumping me, because I wasn't making her happy. The plan was that, at the first opportunity she would get upset and demand to be taken to the train so that she could return home.

"That's interesting." Kate said. "That's not the story that I heard from Adam's cousins. Stephanie had made herself so unpopular with her petulant behaviour, that they had already decided that she was too selfish and self absorbed, and that she was not the right person for a good guy like Adam. It was then that they decided that she should be convinced that the world did not revolve around her, so they rang me and we came up with a plan that involved Adam coming over to my parent's farm and getting her jealous by staying longer than necessary. It worked better than expected because we also managed to make Adam see that she was not right for him. His mother had realised that ages ago and started the ball rolling with his cousins."

Stephanie made a fundamental error of judgement, she reacted badly to Kate. "I see that Adam has brought you home with him, you must be good in bed or something for him to choose you when he could have had me."

"He came to the conclusion that, even if he stayed with you, he would never really have you. No-one will ever have you because no-one could ever love you as much as you love yourself."

"What have you offered him, marriage to you and slave away on your family farm in the hope that he will one day inherit it. He doesn't strike me as the farming type."

"If you must know, we are both going to study Aeronautical Engineering, we have both decided, without even discussing it, to join the RAAF and go to Duntroon. You are hoping to become a Nurse, granted it's an honourable profession, but I hear that you can't even stand the sight of blood, especially not your own blood. What will you do if Nursing doesn't work out for you? Marry Grant here and become his wife and mother of his kids, I don't think so."

The looks from the other girls in the group that this statement got was surprising, this was the first time that anyone had talked to Stephanie like that. They had been in awe of her beauty and self-assurance, and the fact that, to be seen with her earned them popularity by association. As Kate spoke they could see the self-assurance drain from her face. "Take me home." She ordered Grant.

"No."

"What? Are you refusing me?"

"No, well yes, I guess that I am. As you know, I am the leader of this youth group and, as such, I have to stay here. You have two choices, you can stay here with me and the rest of us, or you can go home. It's your choice."

"Oooh! You're impossible!" She stormed out. The business of the youth group resumed, with Kate now the centre of attention. My standing with the others rose significantly.

Kate stayed with me for another two weeks before we went back to her place for another couple of weeks. It became obvious that both families approved of our relationship, because the topic of marriage had begun to enter into family conversations. We both told the families that it was early days, and that we needed to get ourselves established in our careers before we would even consider marriage.

I will never forget my summer with Kate, and the four subsequent summers. We both graduated with distinctions and were looking forward to our initial postings. That was where fate stepped in. Kate was posted to RAAF Richmond near Sydney, while I was posted to RAAF Edinburgh near Adelaide. "I would love us to get married before we take up our postings." I whispered to her as we came down from the euphoria of lovemaking at her family farm on our last leave before taking up our new careers.

"So would I, but I need to know if I can handle the separation. I know that we should be able to get to see each other on a regular basis, but short bursts of passion is not what I was looking forward to. We can talk to each other by phone every day, but that's not the same as being with you." She kissed me with all of the passion that she showed me way back on that first summer. "Let's put marriage off until we are sure of ourselves. Maybe in time we can arrange postings at the same base."

"We have another alternative."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I could resign from the RAAF and get a job as a Ground Engineer with QANTAS. I wouldn't be the first to go down that path. If I get a job in Sydney, we can be together, and get. . . ." My hand was between her legs and fingers in her pussy, causing her to squirm. She made no attempt to stop me. "Then we can get married. What do you think?"

"This isn't fair, how am I supposed to think straight when you're doing that to me?"

"The last thing I want is you to think straight. I want you to say yes."

"You know that I can't do that. The RAAF is your career, the RAAF is your life. I'll not be responsible for taking that away from you."

We did try, but fate it seems was against us. We spoke every day for the first six months and then it was every second day, and then the fickle finger of fate stepped in once again. I was transferred to RAAF Tyndall in the Northern Territory because of my experience with the Orion long range surveillance aircraft that was being used to patrol the Indian Ocean for people smugglers. Keeping these planes in the air was an almost full-time job. Then fate once more stepped in.

The Boxing Day tsunami that devastated Indonesia and South-east Asia resulted in an escalation of aircraft activity in that region. Planes were being forced to operate under conditions that stretched their capabilities to the limits and beyond. I was sent to Banda Acer to take charge of the emergency maintenance of aircraft, some of which were flying on a prayer and not much else.

One of these suffered undercarriage failure and collapsed near the end of the hastily constructed runway as it turned to return to the unloading point. This meant that, until it could be moved, around 300 metres of the end of the runway was unserviceable. The margin for error for some planes coming in was going to be very tight. This margin was about to be tested big time.

"We have a Herc (RAAF C130 Hercules) requesting permission to land. What do you think?" I was asked by Tony, the duty controller.

"Let me speak to the pilot." He handed me his headset. I slipped it on. "Banda here, we have a problem with the runway, there is a plane blocking the end couple of hundred metres. Whether permission can be granted depends on several factors. What is your gross weight, how urgent is your cargo, and do you trust your Loadmaster?"

"Banda this is Hercules," A woman pilot, not that this should be a problem, just a surprise. "We are fully loaded with urgent medical supplies, and lives will be at stake if we have to abort. How much runway is available?"

"It would have been tight for you before we lost a couple of hundred metres. We now have around 550metres of runway. What do you think, will you be able to stop in time?"

"Normally, with this load we need around 750metres, but if I'm on the ground at the very beginning of the runway, I should just about make it. As for my Loadmaster, the load will not shift, I'll stake my life on it."

"Okay, the weather here is light winds around 10-15Kph, holding steady in your face. Here's what we'll do, I'll position myself at the beginning of the runway. You come in as low and as slow as possible. I need you to do a low level wind-shear landing, I'll let you know when your wheels are over the beginning of the apron, and you can drop it on the ground and back peddle like mad." (In low level wind-shear conditions, usually caused by sudden temperature and wind speed changes caused by low level inversions, the planes come in as normal until they are some 5-6 metres above the runway, and, in order to negate the affects of wind-shear, they are literally dropped onto the runway. (Because the low level inversions did not apply in this situation, she could come in even lower. The landing is heavy, but the alternatives can be catastrophic.)

"Okay, will do. I guess I'm in your hands. Give me a heads-up when you're ready."

"Give me five minutes."

I'll give her this, she was good, no, scratch that, she was brilliant. I watched her line up for her approach, she was carrying as much flap as she could and had throttled back until she was almost down to stall speed. "Lower, lower."I told her and the Herc dropped until it was just metres above the ground. A quick mental calculation of her airspeed and I began to count her down. "Five, four, three, two, one, drop it now." The wheels hit the ground at the very beginning of the apron, and she had the brakes full on immediately. The Herc had around fifty metres to spare when she turned it around and began to taxi back to the unloading point. I walked back towards where she would stop.

It was some five minutes after she had shut down that I saw her emerge from the rear loading ramp. "That was brilliant." I said as I held out my hand to her. "I'm Adam, I'll be going over your plane before you leave, just to make sure that she is serviceable. Did you notice anything amiss after you landed?"

"No, it all seems to be fine. I've done wind-shear landings before, both sim and real life. I have you to thank for getting me down when you did. I was beginning to be concerned there for a while, but my margin worked out thanks to you knowing what to do and when." I noticed her name tag, 'Underwood'. She noticed me noticing it. "My name is Michelle, my friends, and that I think now includes you, call me Micha." (If this name sounds familiar, that's because she is a character in my Flight Emergency stories.)

We walked back to the control room and she contacted Darwin to fill them in on the situation that we found ourselves in, and advise them that it would have to be air drops only until further notice. We then checked to see what she would be taking on the return journey. There was nothing urgent, so it was decided that, given the circumstances, she should return empty.

We then went to the temporary mess and had a meal before I walked her to where she would spend the night. I had to admit that Micha was easy to talk to. I learned a lot about her and why it was that she wanted so desperately to become a pilot with the RAAF. Flying seemed to be in her blood and it came as something of a surprise to find that, while she qualified in jets and could easily have flown FA18's, she chose to fly Hercs. "I was never cut out to be a combat pilot, the idea of killing just doesn't sit well with me. This job is great, most of my flying is humanitarian. Saving lives is better than killing people. Troop deliveries to Afghanistan can be a little hairy, but we haven't lost any planes or personnel over there."

I walked to the end of the runway where the crews were ready to drag the offending plane away from where it had come to grief and to the workshop where we could begin repairs. It belonged to one of the aid agencies that were working in the area and there were some delays while they sourced the necessary parts, so it would be at least a week before it was able to fly back to its base for a full overhaul.

Once the runway was cleared it was safe for her to leave. I said good-bye to her, watched as she took off the next morning.

The pilot on the first humanitarian flight by a Herc, once the runway was cleared, and repaired, was Micha. Even if I'd known it was her, I hadn't needed to be there to direct her in, besides I was much too busy to even think about greeting her when she had parked.

"I missed the reception committee." This voice said from below me as I worked on an engine. I looked down to see her smiling face.

"Sorry, I am a little busy at the moment."

"I'll go then."

"No. Don't go." Suddenly my priorities had changed. I wiped my hands and climbed down from the platform that I was standing on.

I was going to shake her hand in welcome, I even had mine out, but she decided that this was not enough. She put her arms around me and looked deep into my eyes. "I think I know you well enough to give you a hug, don't you?"

"You won't hear me complaining." I smiled my best smile at her. "I have some coffee here if you'd like a cup. It's the best that I can do until I, we, head to the mess for some lunch."

"Coffee's fine, for now." I poured her a cup from my flask and handed it to her, pointing to the milk and sugar. She poured a splash of milk in and sipped it. "What do you do for entertainment around here? I won't be leaving until the morning."

"We may have to amuse ourselves, Sydney it ain't."

"This sounds exciting, I can't hit the piss because of regulations, not that I would anyway, drinking is restricted to leave, and then usually at home with my parents."

It looks like dinner and early to bed for us then. I thought of Kate and what she would think if she knew what I was thinking of right now. The last time I was with a woman was the last time that we had leave together. This thought brought a smile to my face.

"You're smiling, why?" Micha asked.

"I was remembering a happier time."

"I bet there is a woman involved."

"Yes, if you must know. Her name is Kate and we are to all intents and purposes engaged. But fate has had a nasty habit of kicking that in the goolies. She's stationed at Richmond."

"And you're stuck up here with no way out. The local talent doesn't do it for you?"

"Oh I could be tempted, believe me. But no,"

We had dinner of sorts in the mess tent and I walked her to her quarters. "Thank you for an interesting evening. I wish that I could tell you that I had a happy childhood like yours. The first half was pretty horrendous until Dad and Julie got custody of me, and then it was great." She stopped and turned to me, her gaze held mine for quite a time. "I have never felt this comfortable talking to a man as I feel right now. Don't take this the wrong way." She kissed me, really kissed me. There was a pent-up passion in that kiss that took my breath away. "Okay, you can take it the wrong way, Adam I need you so bad."

"But. . . . Kate. . . "

"Pardon the French, but fuck Kate. What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"But, this is so sudden, we hardly know each other."

"Let me tell you something. My father and Julie made love the first day that they flew together. He was a QANTAS pilot and she was Flight Crew. They had an in-flight emergency and had to turn back to Adelaide, and having landed were unable to take off again because of the curfew, so they spent the night together. I have never seen a couple so much in love as them even now, so don't tell me that this will be too soon." She kissed me again to re-enforce her point, and dragged me to her room.

I did not think of Kate until after Micha had left to fly back to Darwin. Guilt set in big time.

Every two or three days Micha flew in and we got together in a non-sexual way. No, that's not right, there was a sexual tension there, but we didn't act on it, apart from kissing, and cuddling and touching in an intimate way through our clothing. We did not get the opportunity to spend the night together. That was until I received my orders to return to Darwin.

"I have a special passenger this trip they tell me." Micha said as we greeted each other on her arrival.

"Oh?"

"You know full well who it is. How would you like to fly in the pointy end?"

"That would be great. I can see you in action, as well as get a feel as to what the Flight Engineer does. You never know, I could like it enough to ask for a change of posting."

"Don't you go getting my hopes up, mate."

"I've been thinking about it for some time now. I feel that it's time for a change." I had given it some thought but needed to speak to Kate about it first. I hadn't spoken to her for some time, the lines of communication for anything other than emergency traffic between Australia and Indonesia was dodgy at best and non-existent at worst, I'd call her as soon as I got to Darwin.

Sitting up front with Micha was a revelation. There was so much for the pilots to do in the take-off and landing processes, but once we were airborne and stable she was placed on autopilot and Micha turned her attention to me. After introducing me to the flight crew as the man of her dreams, she grabbed flask and served us each a mug of coffee."This is a milk-run compared to the flight a couple of weeks ago when we needed your help to get down."