Chapter 1: Flight 689

June 14th, 1989

When Joey and I were little, we played all sorts of pretend games. Sometimes when would find a big piece of cardboard, Joey and I would put it down on the driveway and make it our ‘garage’. We would pull our tricycles or big-wheels up onto the cardboard and let whoever was the ‘mechanic’ fix whatever ailed our vehicle. Then when we got our bicycles, we started mimicking what we had seen Joey’s dad doing to his Olds, and by the time we got our ten speeds, we had learned enough through general experimentation that we could disassemble, clean and lube the parts, then reassemble our bikes without getting too much grease on our clothes.

I guess everyone doesn’t ride bikes like we did. Our bikes gave us the ability to go to other kid’s houses and later even ride into town where we could roller skate or go to the mall. But Joey and I also just liked riding them around pretending to be all sorts of things, between Colonial Viper pilots flying through space shooting down Cylons, to Superfriends and other TV shows where we could imagine flying or racing in high-tech machines. The best times were in the spring and fall, especially after a rain shower. You know, puddles. Heh. Nothing like the zzzzzzzz sound of rubber going through water.

Anyway, we were always thinking up something to pretend to be or do, and our bikes became lots of different things during our ventures into the realm of our imagination. Joey and I used to argue about what we would be when we grew up, and we always ended up racing our bikes or something to prove we would be the best at whatever it was.

The memory of Joey and I trying to make our ‘jets’ jump higher in the air while chasing and evading pretend Soviet bogies from our patrol route flashed through my mind as the T-38 Talon I was in went vertical.

Joey and I watched Top Gun I don’t know how many times when it came out in ‘86, and we had even talked about me using my abilities to get us both a ride in one, but nothing ever came about it with Suzi being around to bring us both back down to earth.

Anyway, my dad had this ... friend in the Air Force who my dad did favors for from time to time. My mom and dad went to his daughter’s wedding about a month before my graduation and somehow they got onto the subject of a graduation present for me.

Instead of the navy’s F14 Tomcat featured in Top Gun, I was in the trainer’s seat of an Air Force Northrop T-38 Talon trainer Jet.

Shit. Up until the moment I felt I don’t know how many G’s pressing down on me, I had been thrilled with the idea of flying in a real fighter jet and experiencing some of those fancy maneuvers like in the movies first hand. But then when we started tilting backward ... as in upside down, I started feeling nauseous and yeah ... a bit scared.

“You okay back there?” Leroy said with some difficulty over the intercom in the helmet I wore.

“Uhhh...” I managed to peep out before my eyes caught the horizon just above me and my stomach did a couple of extra twists.

I wanted to close my eyes and just shut down until it was over, but I could feel Leroy’s own excitement over sharing what he felt was the greatest experience a man could have in his life, so I kept my eyes open and tried to keep breathing while my fingernails dug into the seat’s material.

Man, was I glad I didn’t close down. Despite the fact that the entire world was hanging above me instead of below me, I couldn’t help but feel that thrill coming back with great force.

I had mixed feelings when Leroy continued doing the roll and brought us back to being horizontal ... right side up. He was afraid I was going to lose my cookies in his cockpit, and while there was no chance of that actually happening, I didn’t try to stop him, for I knew I was going to be late getting to the airport as it was.

I gave Leroy the exhilarated response he had hoped for, and I didn’t fake it one bit. And I didn’t feel as big of a chicken when Leroy explained that you had to get scared in order for you to get the big rush that made it so great.

I convinced Leroy I was up for another maneuver, and that time we flew inverted for over a minute. You can imagine how disappointed I was when after only ten minutes of such acrobatics, he had to quit, and before I knew it, he radioed the tower and started our descent for our landing.

I couldn’t believe how shaky I still was when I unfastened my mask and belts and tried to raise myself up to get out of the cockpit. I managed to do it on my own on the second try, and even got down the ladder without a problem, but then my legs started to shake like they were made of spaghetti. After thanking Leroy pathetically sitting on the ground, I ended up having to be helped off the airfield.

I felt better when I checked to see how big of a wimp Leroy thought of me as and found that he was still grinning to himself from realizing how big of a thrill it must have had been for me to cause that kind of shakiness afterward.

“About time,” Joey said urgently as I passed through the Air force’s checkpoint inside the airport’s terminal. “Come on. They’re probably prying Suzi from the door so they can take off now.”

When I just stood there gaping at his crewcut, he grabbed my hand and started pulling me quickly down the terminal. Somehow I managed to keep up with him despite feeling the unsteadiness of my legs.

“There they are,” I heard Suzi’s urgent voice just as we turned the corner and witnessed the terminal’s door that led to the airplane being shut.

After commanding them to let us board, I was in a daze while trying to catch my breath and leaning heavily against the wall as the attendant processed our tickets and reopened the door.

They had already disengaged the ramp from the aircraft, but there was only about a foot gap open between the airplane’s open door and the end of the ramp. Suzi agilely leaped across like a cat, Joey just stepped over like it didn’t exist, and I ... hesitated.

When Joey noticed I wasn’t directly behind him, he said impatiently, “Come on. What are you waiting for?”

Still puffing from the run, I admitted, “I feel like I’m ready to faint.”

“Shit,” he said while rolling his eyes and tossing his and my on-board bags to the ground behind him.

Everything just suddenly blurred a moment, then I found myself planting my feet to hold myself up while Joey’s hand released the grip he had on my shirt just below the collar. It took me a moment to realize I was inside the airplane, and then I dazedly followed Joey down the aisle as they sealed the door behind us.

I was staring over at the door as they finished that when Joey said something I didn’t catch. That drew my attention to the fact that they had stopped and I managed to avoid walking into him.

I asked him, “What?”

Suzi repeated for him, “Do you want the window seat?”

“No ... I’ve ah ... already seen everything I could want to,” I said with a weak grin while gently grabbing onto the back of another seat to steady myself.

Suzi sat down in the window seat they had offered me then motioned for me to sit in the middle.

As I carefully moved to take my seat, Suzi asked with concern, “Are you okay?”

I collapsed into my seat and said, “I will be. Just give me a minute.”

I closed my eyes and focused on relaxing, and then a minute later felt a cool damp paper towel wiping off my face.

I waited for Suzi to finish before opening my eyes and thanking her, then accepted her peck on the cheek and gave her one back in return.

When I looked over at Joey from his “echem,” he playfully moved his head closer to make his cheek more accessible.

“Uh ... Thank you too,” I said while giving his chin a pretend punch with my fist.

“Shit. I was the one who dragged him through the terminal and then had to pull him through the door before he could...” Joey muttered before sighing and saying, “Suz, are you sure you don’t want first-class seats?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she said firmly. “It’s only an hour and a half flight, Joey.”

“I know. Oh well. I guess it will just make us appreciate the first-class seats on the flight to England and back,” he said while running his hand over his crewcut.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but...” I began just before the engines roared and the plane started speeding down the runway.

I dug my fingers into the armrests out of excited anticipation, but once we were off the ground and the acceleration tapered off, I sighed with disappointment, then made a “hrmph” sound before noticing they were both watching me closely out of curiosity.

“What?” I said with a sheepish grin. “I’ve only flown commercial once before, remember?”

Joey said, grinning, “Yeah, but that fighter plane ride must have really been something.”

“Shit. You can say that again,” I said while stretching my arms above me. “What took two hours on the train going there only took less than thirty minutes coming back, and some of that was upside down.”

Suzi asked, “What were you going to say before the takeoff cut you off?”

“Oh yeah,” I said while putting on my best straight face, turning towards Suzi and taking her hands in mine consolably. “Suzi, I don’t know how to say this but ... I think Joey’s been cheating on you.”

“What?” Suzi said, surprised.

Joey said from behind me, “What did you say?”

“No, he hasn’t,” Suzi said with a slight frown. “He couldn’t have...”

Joey said a bit alarmed, “He couldn’t have what?”

I said in a serious tone, “I know, I know, it’s hard to believe he could, but...”

“Hey, now!” Joey said sternly. “What am I being accused of? Tim, turn around and tell me before I...”

I turned around to face him, then couldn’t help but let out a snicker before blurting out, “I seem to remember the last time you got a crewcut, you swore you’d kiss a cow’s butt before you’d get another one.”

“Shit,” Suzi exclaimed before slapping me on the side of my shoulder a couple of times, saying, “I KNEW you were joking.”

I ignored the sting in my shoulder as Joey’s blush reached his bare legs, then after he sat back in his seat without even a single cuss, I got concerned and playfully ran my hand across his fuzzy head.

“I was only trying to joke around,” I said apologetically. “It really surprised me. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

All he did was sigh, then kept looking over at Suzi while I waited for him to make some kind of reply.

I suddenly understood it had been Suzi’s idea, and I got the impression he had done it without objection when she had asked him to do it.

I crooked my head and put on a thoughtful look while studying his new look, then admitted, “Actually, it doesn’t look bad at all now that your ears aren’t too big for your head.”

“What do you mean?” Suzi said, trying to see around me and finally just stuck her head above my crooked arm. “I think it’s sexy on him.”

“Maybe now, but one summer a long time ago Joey and I both got crewcuts, and Joey got made fun of because his ears looked too big.”

“They weren’t too big,” Joey said a bit exasperated. “They just stuck out away from my head more than ... others.”

I had sat back to let Suzi silently study his ears easier, which only made Joey blush again. But then he tried to make it seem like he didn’t care when she announced his ears looked fine.

I was pretty tired from all the excitement, so I just sat back and closed my eyes to relax some more. Suzi watched the scene out the window while Joey silently rubbed his hand over hair, trying not to be too obvious that he really was measuring how far his ears stuck out from the sides of his head.

I was in the middle of recalling the cockpit of the Talon when one of the stewardesses asked the people in the row ahead of us what they would like to drink. I decided I felt better after I stretched again, then nudged Joey and said, “She’s right, you know. It does look sexy.”

“Yeah?” he said, letting his eyes follow the stewardess’s ass as she walked back to the refreshment cart. “So, you’ll get one before we leave for England?”

“Uh...” I said hesitantly, then bit the bullet and said, “Sure, why not? But I don’t think it will look as good on me as it does you.”

“Why’s that?” he said while giving the stewardess an enchanting smile as she approached to ask us what we’d like to have to drink.

“I just don’t have the muscle head build,” I said with a little sigh and watched his already smiling mouth twitch a little due to his amusement to my words.

“So, how was the wedding?” Suzi asked after we were handed our drinks and Joey got us some extra crackers with his charm.

Joey inserted, “Yeah really. And why were you so late?”

“I can’t tell you the ending first,” I said, amused. “It would ruin the story.”

“Uh-huh,” Joey said before munching on a cracker.

I took the last gulp of my soda then reached out to the stewardess with my mind to get a refill before beginning.

“The train ride over there was neat. I spent most of the two hours in the passenger car talking to this German girl and her mom. I think I’d like to travel and see the world a bit this fall. The images I got from their minds were amazing.”

Joey asked, “How old was she?”

I replied, “Jess was thirteen I think, and her mom was in her thirties.”

“Oh,” Joey said with a little disappointment.

“Go on,” Suzi prompted me.

“When I got to my stop, I didn’t see anybody I recognized, so I did a pulse to find out who was supposed to be there to pick me up.”

Joey said, “I thought Jerry was supposed to do that.”

“He was. And he did, but only because I had done the pulse and hadn’t called a cab. Jerry came running in about a half-hour after I arrived without a shirt on dripping wet with sweat and marks all over his chest and back.”

“No shit?” Joey said with a lecherous smile.

“Isn’t that bad luck?” Suzi said, trying to suppress her own smile. “I mean I take it Dana and he ... That has to be bad luck, doing it two days before their wedding.”

“Maybe the day before, but I don’t think it’s considered bad luck two days before. Hey, you saw them a year ago. Was Jerry a little overweight or anything?”

“No,” Suzi said, squinting her eyes like it helped her to remember. “At least I didn’t notice if he was. Why, is he heavy now?”

“No. Oh, duh. I know what it was. Shit. Why didn’t I think of it before?”

“What?” Joey and Suzi both said.

“Oh, it’s just that later when I saw more of him, I noticed what I thought were stretch marks on his legs and stuff. But that must have been from when they burned the tattoos off.”

“Burned?” Suzi said with a shudder just before Joey exclaimed, “They had to burn them off? How? Why?”

“Well, I didn’t find this out until I had dinner with Dana’s parents that evening. From what I understand, the only way you can remove tattoos is either by surgically removing the skin, or sanding or burning the skin down past where the ink is. They had their faces sanded to get rid of those right away, but then after Dana had her baby, the rest were burned off using some kind of laser.”

Joey and Suzi sat there stunned for a few moments, and I recalled my own reaction and thoughts when Dana’s father mentioned burning the graffiti off in passing at the dinner table and I had peeked in his head to see what he had meant by it.

“How long were they miserable from it?” Joey said, breaking the silence first.

“About six months, but they...”

“Six months?!?” Suzi moaned. “Did they have it done all at once? Or did they do it a little at a time?”

“A little at time. And they didn’t really feel much discomfort from it because my dad made them sort of like it. I didn’t know this, but my dad’s been taking care of their medical bills and stuff. I guess that’s why their parents were so nice to me and all.”