In The Skies

2. Glenn

2

Glenn

Wiesbaden, American zone

Glenn was squinting his eyes against the sun and launched the basketball. It flew in a perfect arc and dropped through the basket with ease.

“Wow. How can you do this?” John asked him, awe-struck.

Glenn caught the ball and passed it on to his best friend’s son. It was nice to be admired, even if only by a seven-year-old. “Plenty of practice. And it obviously helps to be tall. Now it’s your turn.”

They continued to run, pass, dribble and throw for another fifteen minutes, until Glenn’s best friend Charles Gardner came into the garden of his villa. “Dinner is ready.”

John put down the ball and raced into the villa faster than Glenn could blink, but Charles caught him by the shoulder and admonished him, “Wash your hands first, or your mother will be very angry.”

“Is he always that fast?” Glenn asked.

Charles laughed. “Not where school is concerned, but say the word food and he’s the first one in line. This kid has a huge appetite.”

“We were the same, don’t you remember?”

“That was a long time ago. Although I guess you never changed,” Charles teased his friend. They’d grown up together in the Midwest, had even joined up together, but Glenn had become a fighter pilot, while Charles was an army engineer.

Charles’s wife Catherine peeked out of the door, carrying little Lisa on her hip and furrowing her brow at the sight of her dirt-covered son. “Good gracious, Glenn, what have you done with him?”

“Nothing.” Glenn grinned at the woman and pretended to want to hug her.

“Get off me, you sweaty good-for-nothing,” she protested, holding the baby like a shield between them. “And wash your hands before dinner.”

“Yes ma’am!”

“And your face, too!” She sighed and turned toward her husband. “How come Glenn hasn’t grown up one bit in all these years?”

Charles laughed and kissed his wife. “That’s what everyone’s puzzled about. Thirty-one years and still behaving like a rowdy teenager.”

After dinner Glenn and Charles retreated into Charles’s study. “How’s life treating you in Oberpfaffenhofen?”

“Not bad,” Glenn hedged, but since he’d never been able to hide anything from his friend, he shrugged. “It’s kinda boring, really. Not much flying. We mostly hang out and party.” He glanced toward the closed door. “Drinks, girls, you know…”

“I forgot.” Charles chuckled. “I’ve been with Cath so long, I barely remember my wild days.”

Glenn never understood why his friend had been in such a hurry to marry his high school sweetheart when there were so many willing girls out there. Not that Cath was a bad woman, she was fantastic, but tying yourself voluntarily to just one woman? Complete folly. Akin to deciding to only ever again fly one kind of aircraft. “Honestly, I don’t know how you do it. Don’t you ever get bored staying with the same woman?”

“Never.”

“I would. I mean, where’s the adventure when you know exactly what’s waiting for you every night?” Glenn sighed. He was getting bored with the other s*x, not because he’d tied himself to one woman, but because they were all interchangeable. Same thing, just with a different wrapping.

“That’s because you haven’t met the right one. It’s difficult with the recent war and you stationed overseas and everything. Have you thought about asking to be demobilized?”

“Nah, I actually asked for a transfer to Korea. With the upcoming elections there and everything, they’ll need pilots and maybe…” Glenn secretly hoped for another war, so his talents as a fighter pilot would be in demand again and he wouldn’t have to languish away in boredom. Ober’huffin’puffin, as the men had nicknamed the airbase next to Munich, was nice, in a beautiful landscape, relatively undamaged from the war, but it was much too tranquil for his liking and he spent most of his time with some stupid theory stuff instead of being behind the yoke.

The door opened and Cath entered the study, carrying a tray with coffee and whiskey. She placed it on the table and then flopped down on the couch. “Uff. The kids are finally in bed. I never seem to have enough time to do all the chores.”

“What happened to the new maid? Wasn’t she supposed to start working with us already?” Charles asked.

“Yes, yesterday.”

“And why isn’t she here?”

“That’s what I’m asking myself. She left Berlin two days ago.” Cath shot her husband an indignant glare and Glenn felt the tension rising like mist on a chilly night. One more reason never to get married.

Since he was their guest for the weekend and would have to suffer if the bad mood prevailed, he jumped in to calm the waves, “Maybe she got held up. You know how bad the transport between Berlin and our zone is.”

“She could at least have called.” Cath’s voice was pure venom and Glenn almost felt sorry for the missing housemaid. That girl would have a difficult start.

“Maybe she couldn’t find a functioning public phone.” Glenn wanted to tell Cath that she lived in a happy bubble in Wiesbaden, where barely a building had been destroyed during the war and which looked like any normal town back in the States. He wanted to tell her how lucky she was to live in an actual house and not in a heap of rubble like the people in bigger German cities. But a sideways glance and a quick shake of the head from Charles kept him silent. Apparently, this was not a topic he should discuss.

“I’d better get to sleep. Thanks for the fantastic dinner,” he said and made his way to the adjacent guest room. Once in bed, he couldn’t sleep for a long time as thoughts about his future kept him awake.

He didn’t want to be bored to death with the easy peacetime job at the godforsaken airbase in Oberpfaffenhofen, but he also didn’t want to be demobilized just yet, because there wasn’t much for him to do back home. He wanted to fly. Day and night. Every day. There had to be a job for him somewhere, where he could do just that.