Chapter 19
1128 Words
Chapter 19
He slowly turns her over to reveal her stunning beauty. He gently kisses her forehead then her sweet lips. He takes her breath away. Again she swoons. “Oh, Jack, I love you so much.” Then Jack positions himself on top of her and slowly enters her womanhood as she wraps her long silky legs around his hips, grabs a hold of his cheeks and pulls him into her more. They hold each other until they fall asleep in each other’s arms.
***
Suddenly there’s the sound of the stewardess; her voice is frantic on the intercom speakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a bit of a problem.” She then takes a deep breath, trying to keep her composure, then she announces, “The captain and co-pilot are both ill from food poisoning. If there is any one here who can fly a plane, please come to the cockpit.” James looks around the plane to see if anyone comes forward. There is no one. He then realizes it is up to him. He was a pilot in the Air Force during the Vietnam War; He had flown over a hundred combat missions during his tour of duty. He stands up and takes a big breath. And says “I guess I’m your Man.”
He reaches over to Chloe and tells her not to be afraid. And that everything will be all right. He motions for one of the stewardesses to come and sit with her. “Miss,” he says, “will you look after her please?”
“Of course,” replies the stewardess, “Like she was my own little girl.”
At one point there is so much turbulence that the plane starts vibrating so hard the passengers think it was going to break apart. Chloe squeezes the stewardess’s, hand whose name is Terri,
“It’s okay, baby,” she says.
“I know,” says Chloe. “Mr. Harper is a good man.”
“Oh,”
Says the stewardess, “he’s not your father?”
“No,” replies Chloe. “He’s taking me to my father. My father is John Fontana.” “Oh,” replies the young lady. “And what does he do?”
“He is a very important man,” replies Chloe. The stewardess nods her head and smiles.
“That little vibration was pretty rough.” James had returned to see how Chloe was. “You okay, kid? I mean, Chloe?”
“Yes, we are fine, Mr. Harper.”
“Okay,” says James. “It won’t be much longer; I can fly this thing with my eyes closed.”
He turns and heads back towards the front of the plane.
Once he is in the cockpit, he looks over the instrument board panel. Not
Much different than a Mig-19 Farmer, he thinks to himself. He then sits in the captain’s seat and takes a deep breath to gather his thoughts. “You can do this, James,” he says out loud.
“It’s just like riding a bike.”
James then takes hold of the controls and takes the auto-pilot off. He now has control of the plane.
Helen, one of the stewardesses,
Steps in the cockpit to see how he is doing. James tells her to sit down in the copilot’s seat. “I may need your help,” he tells her.
She is not sure that is a good idea. She screams, “No! I can’t.” Her heart is beating so fast she can hardly catch her breath.
James reaches over to her, grabs her hand and tells her to calm down. “I need your help. What’s your name?”
“Helen Brown,” she stammers. “I can’t do this without your help,” he says to her.
She settles down and does what he asks. “Now,” he says, “what does the air speed say?” Helen looks a little puzzled. “Air speed?” she yells back. “What is that?” “It’s the panel that has ‘air speed’ on it!” replies James.
She looks at the panel again. “Oh, it’s at 184.”
“That’s good,” says James. “Is the compass heading steady at 87?” “….87, yes,” she replies.
“Okay, this looks pretty good,” says James. They are about 25 miles outside of LA International Airport. The control center on the ground are aware of the situation and are working with James as he is approaches the runway. He checks the descent panel, it’s perfect. “Easy, does it,” he says out loud as he lets the landing gear down.
He looks over to Helen. “Is the landing gear light on?”
“Yes,” she replies. Helen is scared out of her mind. She says aloud, “Will I ever see my little girl again?” Angie is her ten-year-old daughter.
“Sure you will,” replies James. He keeps her talking. “What grade is she in?” “Fifth,” she whimpers back. She begins to cry.
“Hang in there, Helen,” says James.
“It’s just that the other day, I had a little spat with her,” she says as she forces out a little smile. “It
Was nothing really, I scolded her for not finishing her dinner, and told her to go to her room, and no TV. This morning I left for work without kissing her goodbye and telling her how much I loved her.” She begins to cry again. “What I wouldn’t give to live that day over.”
“Don’t worry about it,” says James. “You will see her again, I promise.” He pats her hand. Helen nods her head in agreement as they approach the runway.
“All right, Helen. Here we go. Keep your panties on.” There is the sound of brakes screeching on the runway. The plane then comes to a grinding stop.
The passengers are amazingly calm and relaxed as they make their way to the exits. After they have all exited the plane, James and Chloe leave. He takes her small hand as they walk down the steps. Chloe looks up at James and says, “Are you a good detective, Mr. Harper?”
James smiles down at her and says, “It’s investigator, Chloe! And only in my dreams, kid!
Only in my dreams.”
***
Jack wakes up in a cold sweat and looks over at Jennifer. “What’s wrong, Jack?” she says with great concern.
“Baby,” he says, “I just had the craziest dream.”
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