Tom climbed down from his plane and jumped onto the ground.
“Hey, lovesick for your kite?” one of the other pilots shouted as he saw him walking toward the hangar.
“Nah, just making sure she’s good to go any time.” Tom had been on standby since his last bombing mission several days ago. Grueling weeks and months of almost constant sorties to deliver his deadly cargo over Germany lay behind him. And now he used the time off flying duty to check up on his kite and polish the cockpit until it shone.
“Kinda feels strange to be grounded, right?” the other bloke, called Jeff, asked.
“We’re not grounded.”
“So what are we then? Nobody’s flying right now. All sorties have been canceled.”
Tom c****d his head. “Something big’s coming. I can feel it in my bones.”
“You and your bones.” Jeff laug
