Chapter 4: North Carolina

Dave stood atop Kill Devil Hill on the outer banks, looking around at the landscape of beach and sand dunes on the North Carolina barrier island. He tried to imagine what it must have been like in the year 1903 for Wilbur and Orville Wright and their motorized glider aircraft that wasn’t much more than a kite with a clunky motor. He closed his eyes and tried to think what December seventeenth must have been like as their craft made three journeys across the dunes from the launch rail. The longest flight was fifteen seconds, but it was truly ‘one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind’.

Dave wondered whether all pilots sooner or later made the pilgrimage to the top of the hill to look over the place where aviation was born. Flying was one of the inventions that had truly changed the face of global civilization. He chuckled about how the elevator had been another, but no one went to some place in New Jersey where Elijah Otis had created the first ‘safety elevator’ in 1852; that also changed the face of civilization.”

Being a pilot, Dave felt like a devout Muslim visiting Mecca for the Hajj, or a Catholic getting a personal blessing from the Pope at the Vatican. Being at Kitty Hawk was a religious experience for the man and brought tears to his eyes, albeit over a hundred years after the monumental event that so many had tried and failed at.

Dave spent the rest of the day at Kitty Hawk, eventually driving into the touristy town to claim his reservation at the Hampton Inn. Unlike his other stops, he’d spent a small fortune at the local gift shop and gotten many souvenirs related to the founders and first location of manned flight. The receptionist at the gift shop had helped him package everything up for shipment back to Sarasota. He sent the package to Alice. She knew of his intent to worship at this sacred shrine, so the contents wouldn’t surprise her at all. He’d bought something for every pilot in the Circle plus himself.

As he was leaving the counter after having arranged for the shipment of his gift package, he turned and almost bumped into a pretty woman his age and also looking very touristy.

“Oh, dear. Excuse me,” she exclaimed. Dave had to take hold of her arms to keep them both balanced and avoid a full body slam with her or knocking her to the ground. “SORRY!” he exclaimed after releasing his hold.

She laughed, “My fault for tail-gating. I was about to say something to you.”

“I’m Dave.”

“And I’m guessing you’re a serious pilot.”

“You’re correct, but what made you draw that conclusion?”

“I saw you at Kill Devil Hill and walking around the museum, and then I see you mailing all those souvenirs home. Every one of them had attachment of some kind to either this shrine to the Wright Brothers or to aviation. Not to worry, I did the same thing earlier this afternoon. What do you fly?”

Given his casual appearance and his slight motorcycle look, he knew she expected to hear something about a Cessna 172 or the equivalent.

Dave chuckled, “I bought myself a Cessna Citation about eighteen months ago. I’ve also got some right seat in a 737-700, and time in quite a few smaller craft. I can land and hangar my planes right where I live. The neighbors and I have a flying club, too – at least for the small aircraft. We have a small private airport not even a half-mile from the neighborhood of homes thanks to the generosity of one of my neighbors.”

“Whoa! That’s great. I fly 737s and 757s for Atlantic Airlines.”

“Do you know Ken Toomey?” Dave asked with a grin. He was sure of the answer.

“Heck, yes. Don’t tell me. You live in Sarasota.”

“OK, I won’t tell you that I live in Sarasota. Ken is one of my best friends.”

“No kidding. He’s our chief pilot and signs off on my excellence in the cockpit twice a year. He’s also known to give spot checks unexpectedly, although I have yet to have him pop into my cockpit, but he will someday.”

“I’m glad to see a female first officer for a major airline.”

“Oh, thank you. I’m Sue Gaylord, by the way.” She put her hand out and they shook.

“Dave Prentiss. You should know that I didn’t fly here. I’m riding my Harley around the eastern part of the U.S. for a few months. This is kind of the trip I should have done just after high school or college, but I was too much of a nerd then.”

“Alone?” Sue looked around.

“Mostly. I might have a friend of two join me along the way for a segment of my trip. Right now, I’m alone. I’m actually staying at the Kitty Hawk Hampton Inn tonight. I was planning on eating next door at the restaurant. You’re welcome to join me if you don’t have a prior commitment or friends with you – not that they wouldn’t be welcome, too.”

Sue said, “I’d be delighted. I’m also staying there overnight. I had plans to walk the beach after dinner. The ocean is supposed to not be too cold.”

Dave speculated, “That might be because of the Gulf Stream. I think it bumps into the coast about here after coming up from the Caribbean.”

Sue nodded, “I think global warming is slowly screwing that up.”

Sue and Dave walked the short distance to the Kitty Hawk Restaurant. As they walked, Sue asked, “You attached?”

“Kind of. I have my freedom, if that’s where you were going. What about you?”

“I’m unattached. If you never analyzed it, being an airline pilot is not conducive to creating long-term relationships. You have a date, and then you disappear for ten days to two months. Repeat often, but with different people.”

Dave nodded, “I watched Ken and Patty. If they hadn’t been on so many flights together, they’d never have connected. After his accident, Atlantic owed him big time, so he asked that Patty be permanently assigned as his sidekick. They married about a year later.”

“What’s your motorcycle ride about?”

“I got the bike as a present. It’s next door, but if you’re a movie buff you probably saw it. I’ve always wanted to take a really long ride, so I’m between jobs, so to speak, and off I could go.”

“Some present. I had a boyfriend that had a Harley. I think he paid thirty-grand for it. You can get a small plane for that.”

“This one cost more because it’s kind of famous, but you’re in the right ballpark.”

“What do you mean when you say, I’ve seen it?”

“Did you see the movies Road Trip and Crystal Clear?“

“Sure. I love them ... OH! That’s YOUR bike? How’d you score that beautiful piece of machinery?”

Dave paused for a second deciding how to answer her question. He was feeling playful, so he decided to bait her. “One of my wives was in the movie. She heard the bike was going to be auctioned off, but she got there first. She has some pull.”

“Nice. You’ve been married a couple of times, I take it?”

“Nope; only once. Alice and I are still married. She wasn’t the wife that could get the motorcycle though; that was Scarlett.”

Sue frowned. “Do you mean Scarlett Johansson? She starred in the movie.” It was clear that Sue was confused by the missing pieces of the puzzle.

“That’s the one. My other wives all kicked in for the bike though. It was the best birthday present EVER. That was over a year ago.”

“Wait! What do you mean by ‘your other wives’?”

“I have ten wives, but a larger group of women that I also love and care for.”

After a very long pregnant pause, Sue suddenly blurted out, “OH! I KNOW YOU! YOU’RE FAMOUS!”

“Ssssssh,” Dave hissed and tried to turn his head away from the other patrons in the restaurant. A few people had glanced over, but there’d been no other recognition.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she looked to see whether she’d been heard. “I guess you’ve been on TV, but I’ve never seen the show, but I’ve been around people when it has been discussed. I guess there’s a book that many people have read that’s associated with it, too. The Circle or something; right?”

“The Circle.”

“And you have like a dozen wives?”

“Ten, plus many good friends.”

“Oh, yes. The Circle is like a free love kind of place.”

“You could say that but we’re kind of insular. Relationship experiences outside of the Circle require adherence to some behavioral rules to protect the rest of us.”

Sue looked puzzled. “I don’t understand?”

“For instance, if I were to forge a relationship outside of the Circle, I’d have to ensure there were no nasty germs that I might be prone to pick-up and spread to the rest of my friends. I’d also want to ensure I wasn’t going to parent an unwanted child, and depending on my partner that they were of legal age. There are a few others, but those are some of the major rules for our paradigm. We’d also want the start on a nice relationship.”

“Those are sensible. I approve. I’ve invoked most of those myself.” She paused and looked around the restaurant.

Suddenly, Sue had a thousand questions about Dave and his trip, about his wives, about the Circle, and about the TV show, the book, and many other things that popped into her head. One result was that dinner took well over two hours.

Dave made many attempts to redirect their conversation back to Sue, but her responses to his questions were relatively short, and seemed to result in deeper questions for him. Despite the one-sidedness of the conversation, they found increasing comfort in each other and the candid replies. Sue was easy to talk with and laughed a lot.

Dave was pleased with the empathy and compatibility of Sue’s viewpoint with his own. She wasn’t put off by the deviations from societal norms that the Circle practiced, and the open relationships and sexuality didn’t seem to put her off her value set.

Eventually, Sue asked, “So, based on what you’ve said, you have an open marriage with ten women ... and ... if I read between the lines, you have intimate relationships with about a hundred other women, some of whom who’ve had a child by you.”

Dave nodded, “That about summarizes my existence in the Circle. I lucked into all of this about fifteen years ago as Alice and I went through a ‘loosening up’ process attached to a revealing experience she had.

“What was that, if I may ask?”

Dave chuckled, “She drove into work one morning and after parking her car, realized that two people were fucking up a storm in the car next to hers. One of them was her best friend Dori, who then started a campaign to ‘loosen up’ Alice – and me – and get us a lot more tolerant and forgiving about our sexuality. In the process, we opened ourselves to others and I started to accumulate wives.

“The Circle had grown many times since then.” Dave described the Circle, the homes, and the relationships that were the core to the place, and the concept of being a pledge. He told one or two stories about some of the drama associated with the place, including Ken’s near disaster over Kansas when his 737 ripped apart underneath him – a story that Sue knew from airline lore.

Eventually, their waitress strongly hinted that the restaurant was closing for the night, but that the bar would be open. Sue said, “I don’t drink. I keep my system at zero percent just in case I get a call-out or something.”

Dave said, “I never asked where you’re based?”

“Raleigh. I have an apartment there. As you probably know, I could live about anywhere there’s a major airport, just so I could dead head to whatever I’m assigned. Since Atlantic Airlines uses that as a mini-hub, the location has proved very convenient.”

The two walked out of the restaurant, and walked through the lobby of the Hampton Inn. They went outside again, passed by the pool, and then ditched their shoes and socks, and walked out onto the wide expanse of beach and the Atlantic Ocean. When they reached the edge of the surf, they started to walk north allowing the wash from the surf to occasionally sweep past their feet.

They’d only gone about five steps when Sue took hold of Dave’s hand and flashed him a friendly smile. They held hands and strolled along the beach in the fading light of day. After having gone over a mile, Dave turned them back in the direction of the hotel. He estimated the night would be nearly upon them by the time they went to walk off of the beach.