Chapter 8

Instead of heading out in a car, they loaded everyone ... cats too ... in the back of the Estate Wagon (old pickup truck) and popped and sputtered all the way to the airfield.

There were a bunch of old guys there ... including a fella with a B-26.

"If we pay for the gas, oil and your time, will you ferry the bunch of us to Franklins in Lansing?" Grace asked.

The old guy said, "I hope to shout! I been needing to talk to Ben. Buy the gas and oil and my time is free."

He called for a tug and a tow to the pumps ... filled up and towed back.

David paid. "Why do I always have to pay, Grace?"

"Because you love me ... and that couch is pretty lonely."

That got a nod.

So ... we all loaded up in the narrow winged aircraft and hot rodded over to Lansing.

"Don't mention us. It's a surprise," said Grace.

"You got it. Nick to Ben ... Nick to Ben."

"Hey Nick."

"Hey Ben, got time to shoot the shit and do a hundred on ol' Betsy?"

"You bet ... what did you do ... rob a bank?"

"Costs more to fly every time I turn around ... just a couple of them new fangled inconvenient stores. Banks are bad news."

"Come on down, Nick. You might have to stay the night. Harold is about all I trust on a twenty-six and he's inspecting some new used aircraft. You'll like it."

"Ten minutes, Ben."

"Ben out."

"Nick out."

"Lansing tower to Nick and Ben. I done told you fellas about this before. The war is over ... we do have rules."

"Good Christ on a Stick ... is that you, John?"

"'Lo Nick."

"John has a jjjjooobbb? Sorry ... I hate that word."

"Life ain't worth a damn since the war, Nick. The VA said I wasn't crazy after all. So they decided to see how I'd do with the most stressful job in the world ... Air Traffic Controller."

"It's what you did in the Army, John ... they try and fit the crime to the criminal."

"Hey ... fuck you and the horse you rode in on."

"I always knew you were kinky, John ... but an animal activist?" Nick laughed... "I thought you were into goats."

"That's a lie, Niiiiiccccckkkk ... Sheep ... it's always been sheeeeeep ... Glass of water and a piece of ewe. Nice landing, Nick."

When the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp twin-row, 18-cylinder, air-cooled radial aircraft engines, shut down, the cats were the first ones out. They found some sand and used it. Hineahuone dropped out next ... Harold was impressed. Then Grace graced them with her presence and David followed.

Nick was last.

"What's the tariff, Mr. Nichols," asked David.

"You paid to get here. She's staying. I can't afford her. Ben ... she's for sale. I need a J-3 or a Taylorcraft. Something cheap."

"How much?" asked Grace.

"How much, what?"

"For the airplane?"

"Needs a lot of work," Nick said.

"David has a lot of money," said Grace.

David made a face.

"Couch..."

"Yeah ... how much?"

"Enough to buy a Cub or something like it."

"Ben? Do you still have that old J-3."

"The one I got from you?"

"You got it from the Austins and they're dead."

"Then how do you know I have a Cub?" Ben said, "I thought that would shut you up."

"Not to change the subject ... but where are the Alphabet Soup?" asked Grace.

"They're looking for you," Ben responded.

"For us?"

"They thought you'd be coming by car and they have roadblocks."

"What ever for?"

Charles stepped out of the hangar accompanied by a pair of Sheriffs Deputies, and the Drug Squad of the State Police. They were followed out by several older men in suits... "Deputy United States Marshals, Ma'am," said the the oldest. "We have an ongoing investigation and it looks like you're part of it."

"Why?" Grace asked.

"Anonymous tip. Tips are never anonymous ... it's David's uncle. He claims David is a drug smuggler and the proof is in those shipping crates. And that's all I have to say."

"Really? Why aren't the crates open?"

"The Washington Drug people wanted you here when the containers were open. That's part of our investigation."

The Washington people are dirty, thought Piper. They have heroin in tubes stuffed up their assholes.

"Yes," said the agent in charge. Then he asked, "Who said that?"

"What?" asked everyone else.

"The Washington people have heroin up the ass," he stopped. "Did I really just say that?"

"Yes," said Grace, David, Charles, the Highway Patrol, the rest of the Deputy United States Marshals, and the Sheriffs Deputies. So did Nick, Ben and Harold.

Ever heard a Canadian Lynx mix chuckle out loud?