Chapter 17

I woke up at precisely five-forty-five. I was going to run by myself, but Dora sat up and said, “I want to run with you.”

She dressed and went outside to stretch out with me, and then we began walking faster and faster until we were jogging and then running. As we reached a good pace, Dora said, “You taught me this and I’ve been running for a lot of years now. I feel close to you every time I run, Chuck, and know that you probably feel the same way. I’ve always known we were special, and Mercy and Missy confirmed it. We are two very special people aren’t we?”

“Oh yeah. Sis. The more I learn of our heritage, the more I wonder how crazy our parents were.”

Dora intentionally bumped into me, and said, “They were special, and still are even though they’re gone.”

We were able to cool down and use the gym room to do our lifting regimes although Dora only used the machines. Our shower was full of teasing, but didn’t get out of hand because I was pushing to be at the airpark early.

We had coffee with Steve, Glenda, and Chuck, and then left the patio before the sandwiches arrived. We stopped at a Mickey D’s to get a breakfast sandwich and were at the airpark by seven. The lady at the desk handed me a logbook and said, “Your aircraft is already out front. Go finish your requirements.”

The 172 was sitting there ready, but no instructor was in sight. I went ahead and did the preflight and had put Dora in a rear seat when Steve walked up, and said, “I wanted to be your final instructor, so let’s get this thing in the air.”

Two hours under the hood wasn’t tough, but Dora was having trouble knowing that I was comfortable flying blind. I landed, and Steve took over and then took off on a vector to another location. Steve said, “You’ve done everything anyone could ask for, and you’ll now be instrument rated,” when we landed at our home field,

Dora asked, “How does that help him to his goals?”

Steve told her, “Chuck can now fly for us to get more hours while doing courier work. He can begin learning helicopters when he has spare time. It’s all important and will all count toward his ultimate goal.”

I wish I knew what that goal was.

A man said, “Come upstairs and do the written exam on the PC up there,” when I brought the airplane logbook and my personal logbook into the office. “We might go for a short flight under the hood afterward.”

The written exam was on what was in the book and what I had been doing. The Examiner read the grade when I finished, and said, “I need to fly with you at least once, so let’s get something and go flying.”

He told Betty at the counter that he wanted an airplane without a hood. He smiled and said, “He says he’s checked out in a King Air. Give us one of those.”

The man was trying to interrupt me the entire time I was doing the external preflight, but I was using the binder with the individual inspection points pointed out. I had him sit when we went inside the cockpit while I shut and secured the door. I had the first checklist and went through it a step at a time. The startup was smooth and I kept reminding the Examiner to fasten his seat belt. The man didn’t listen and he acted like he was flipping me off when I pointed at the seatbelt.

I went through the shutdown procedure and got up from the left seat. I told the man, “I’ll have to request another Examiner who will follow a command pilot’s directions. I cannot allow you to fly with me without wearing the appropriate seatbelt and shoulder harness.”

The man smiled and said, “You did everything exactly right. I would be a passenger with you anytime. Congratulations on passing your instrument rating.”

I was grinning as I watched the tow motor push the King Air back into the hangar.

Steve came to me, and said, “Come on, your sister has your luggage on board and we’re all waiting for you so we can take off. You’re going to experience something that very few will ever have opportunity to be a part of.”

Dora and I were seated in seats facing the back of the plane, but we were in front next to the galley. The cockpit door was open and I heard the chatter, along with the opening of the flight plan that was confirmed at flight level six zero zero straight through to Honolulu, Hawaii. This wasn’t a massive aircraft, but must have space for a huge amount of fuel. The times the pilot was giving were ridiculous as there was no way for us to be at those checkpoints by the stated times.

We were quickly off the ground and seemed to climb forever, and then something happened that made us feel as if we were in a vacuum. The sound softened, the little guys in car seats seemed to be at ease, and the passengers were all chatting and discussing Hawaii.

Chuck came to sit on a couch across from us, and said, “I think we’re already above Mach 2. Isn’t this awesome to know that the military can’t fly above Mach 1, but we can. This aircraft has the ability to slide through the air and not disturb it the way other aircraft do. Let me check with the cockpit and see how we’re doing.”

Chuck went to the cockpit and spoke to the pilots and then came to sit with us again. “We are at Mach 2.77 and the pilots are thinking we might skim 3.0. I’m hoping the skin temp stays low enough to handle the speed. As it is, we have to use extensible vortex generators to kill our lift and bleed off speed when we’re ready to land, because this aircraft is so slippery it wants to keep on flying.”

I was astounded. “You’re saying this plane is flying over two thousand miles per hour, Chuck?”

Chuck nodded and said, “Amazing, isn’t it?”

I told Dora, “It’s got to be about five thousand miles from Tampa to Hawaii, but we’ll be there in two and half hours. This is too much for my addled brain to absorb.”

Dewey came forward and said, “What are the odds that this crate might have some booze? Just thinking of how fast we’re going is giving me the creeps and a thirst.”

Brandy and Tiani were immediately up and fixing drinks. Some mothers were getting the toddler-sized kids some sippy pouches while other mothers were nursing the tiny ones. Some were soon crawling around on the floor making you smile to see how active they were. I heard guitars playing in the back of the plane, and realized that a lot of kids had guitars out and were playing some blues.

I looked at Dora and said, “Now do you understand why I love these people so much? Here we are flying with them as if we were part of the family going to Hawaii for who knows what reason. This is special, Sis. We have more to do in this life, but I don’t know what it is for me yet. Let’s enjoy it.”

I looked around and saw Mercy’s smiling face as she thought to both Dora and me, “Enjoy us as your family too.”

We landed in Hawaii at three o’clock Tampa time, which was six hours earlier or ten in the morning in Honolulu. It actually wasn’t Honolulu International, but another CS&S owned busy airport outside of the city near resorts. Two buses met us to take us to the house that was going to surprise me in size and what it represented.

I was introduced to several people, and one was a very large woman who had a very large partner, husband, boyfriend, or someone, but very large person named ‘Bear’. She was Crystal and said to me, “I’m supposed to have someone give you flying lessons in one of our whirlybirds. Have someone call me to tell me when, and I’ll set it up.”

Dora looked at me and said, “You’re really going to begin learning how to fly helicopters?”

“I wasn’t planning on doing it here, but I might as well. No sense in wasting time.”

The house we went to was massive, with a detached garage, and a couple more nice homes separated from the big house. There was a building near the house that I was told was a music studio, and I wondered why they would need that.

The inside of the house was amazing as it resembled the big trailers Steve lived in and the patio, but larger if that was possible. The view out the back was spectacular. Dora and I went out to sit in a couple of chairs next to each other and sat staring at the ocean. Dora said, “Can we just move here and look at that view forever? I want to see the sunrise from right here tomorrow morning. This is magnificent.”

Dora went to help the women get some food ready to snack on and begin feeding everyone lunch. They kept trying to shoo her away, but she said she was required to help whether they liked it or not. The more she associated with Chuck’s women, the more she began to fit in as she was a sexy bisexual who knew how to stimulate other women.

Dora later asked me, “How long do you think we’ll be here?”

“I’m not sure, Sis, but I’d say two or three days at a minimum.”

Mercy came to us and said, “We’ll go back in three days. We’re here to drop Chuck, Lisa, Bonita, and Lizzy off. They need to work on some music. That means all of Chuck’s women will be staying too, of course. You can stay if you want, but there will be some intense music production going on.”

Steve came over to us and said, “I want you to get your first couple of lessons from a guy who is a real guru when it comes to helicopters. I’ll also pair you up with some more awesome instructors when we get back home. DeDe will be lining up some of the courier flights meanwhile. You’re going to be so busy that you’ll have to ask someone what your name is.”

Dora grinned and said, “I guess that kills the idea of talking you into coming to work with me.”

I was taken to the airfield for my first helicopter lesson in the morning. A guy who looked to be old enough to be my grandfather was crawling all over a small helicopter when I arrived. He bounced off the side of the aircraft and stuck his hand out. “I’m Charlie, and I’m going to give you your indoctrination flight. I’m told you can fly fixed wing pretty well, so let’s begin.”

Charlie explained this was a turbine driven aircraft the same as some fixed wing were turbine assisted propeller driven aircraft known as turboprops like the King Air. The turbine couldn’t be very big because the entire aircraft could fit in the luggage bay of a big aircraft. Not quite, actually, but it seemed that way.

I was given a card to do a preflight inspection and didn’t have a clue as to what everything was. I was shown and made to go over each item numerous times, repeating what it was and it’s function. It took over an hour to get through the preflight, but I understood the importance of learning the way I was being shown.

I thought I would be like a co-pilot when I was seated in the right seat of the helicopter, but that’s when Charlie let me know that helicopters are different and the pilot normally flies in the right seat. He said ‘Fly us’.

That made me laugh, as we did a repeat of the external preflight, one step at a time, and repeat. Charlie showed me how to gently move the controls and to think of what we were going to do and how we would be doing it when we finally had the engine started and the rotors spinning. I almost peed my pants when the aircraft seemed to leap into the air, but latched onto things with a death grip. Charlie held the aircraft steady and then went to a small grassy area where he set the aircraft back down on the runners, and said, “Let’s try that again. Remember, gently, and move your hands and arms even more gently. I suggest you rest your right forearm on your right knee and just hold the stick with your thumb and one or two fingers. And don’t try to physically move the stick. Just think about doing it and it’ll happen. That will help avoid the overcontrolling that the death grip you put on the stick is causing. When you hold the stick that hard it’s tough to stay in the same county for a minute, much less hover steady in one place.”

I must have sweated a bucket by the time we made it back to the front of the hangar where we started. I now had to learn the post flight inspection which was as detailed as the preflight. These crazy things were complicated. Charlie took me to the cafeteria in the operations building where we each had a sandwich and a cup of coffee. We talked about why I wanted to learn to fly helicopters, and to fly in general. I had to admit that I didn’t know what my final goal would be but there was a lot to learn before I could get there.

After lunch we fueled the helicopter and then I did the preflight inspection in the detailed manner he had shown me earlier. He had me go through each step to start the turbine and what to watch for on the gauges. Some were similar to the King Air, but most of the gauges were totally different. I talked to ground control this time, and was given a position to access the runway instead of going out to the grassy area.

Charlie explained that they needed to keep track of all aircraft, including helicopters, if the airport was busy. I was to access the runway and fly down the centerline, and then lift off to climb and turn onto my flight path. I’m not sure how it was happening, but I was actually flying this thing and Charlie was watching me to make sure I was doing exactly as he had been showing me.

We went to a very large open field and practiced landing at various spots that Charlie pointed out. I spent about an hour hovering and attempting to keep the helicopter from rotating. Charlie had me point north, then rotate 90 degrees at a time while staying in one place. After a few minutes of that my hover control settled down and I was able to avoid overcontrolling the pedals, which rotated the nose of the helicopter, as well as the stick. Charlie’s tips and tricks really made it a lot easier. We made a couple of flying dashes from one end of the area to the other with a full stop, rotate, and fly the other way.

I was wrung out again when we landed back at the airport, and went through the post flight inspection and refueling by the numbers. Charlie said, “Okay, be here at eight in the morning and we’ll work on some other facets of flying these birds.”

The little girl chauffeur showed up and drove me to the estate in an Escalade. She told me that most of the women had gone into Honolulu for a quick couple of hours shopping trip today. I was mentally thinking, ‘who cares’ after the grueling day I had learning to fly something without wings. Well, with “swing wings”, which is what Charlie called the main rotor blades, because those are the real wings of a helicopter. He called regular airplanes “stiff wings”. Huh.

The first things I did were take a shower and put some shorts and a t-shirt on. I was greeted by Dora, Trixie, Dixie, and Etta when I walked out to the patio area. I smiled as Dora handed me one of this group’s favorite drinks. Trixie and Dixie told me, one at a time, that they had been teaching Dora about her gift. Etta told me, “You have the gift the same as your sister. We want to teach you to use it.”

Dora grinned at me, and I heard in my head, “You can’t hide from these kids. They have some form of antennae that tracks you down like a GPS.” I just stared at her, and then Etta told me without speaking, “And we can usually hear and see with you. Think of something to each of us and you’ll see.”

I did a mental ‘Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo, ‘ and all four females began laughing. Etta asked, “Are you making your mind up about who you will choose?”

Without making a lot of it, I asked, “So I can converse with others who have this gift without making a sound? What else can I do with it?”

Etta said, “See that woman playing with the two tiny boys? Tell her to do something that would be out of the ordinary from what she’s doing.”

I didn’t know what to tell her, so I mentally thought to her, “Look all around you for something you think you’ve lost. Smile and go back to playing with the boys when you have completely turned around.”

Holy smokes. She began looking for something and ended up turning completely around, smiled, and then went back to playing with the little guys. Marion and Virginia came up to our group, and sat with us. Marion verbally asked, “Are you learning how to use your gift? We saw how you told that woman what to do. Have you listened to someone yet? Listen to Dewey; he always has something going on in his head. It’s usually too boring for us to listen to, but you might like it.”

I stared at Dewey and listened. He was working on some numbers in his head that would justify the expansion of one of the local hotels. The more I listened, the more I realized this could be used with anyone. I was being amazed when Etta said, “Each of us will teach you a little at a time. I want you two to know that you can talk to each other over long distances. You have two women in Miami who you are close to, Dora. Focus on them and listen to what one or the other is thinking. Do it now.”

I closed my eyes too when Dora closed hers, and focused on what she was thinking. I was seeing a magnificent restaurant with chandeliers and waiters in tuxes. The woman whose eyes Dora was looking through was telling a man in a tux to make sure the people in the corner were treated special.

Dora’s eyes popped open, and she almost spilled her soft drink. “I could see the restaurant and knew exactly what was going on. How is that possible?”

“Your gift is strong, Dora.” Etta told her. Use it for a better way to understand others. Use it to be a better lover with these women. I think all of us here who have this gift are excited that you’re a part of us. Come, let’s have supper.”

Dora and I sat at the table, stunned at what we had just learned. Dora said, “This is almost too much, but I’m now searching your mind for all those things I don’t know. I have to stop, and you have to find out how to block me and others. How can this be, Chuck? I know Mom could always find us and always seemed to comfort us. I know that I felt Mom telling us that we would be taken care of and that she loved us when she and Dad were taken from us in that hurricane. It was as if she was there with us. I now know that she was.”

I reached out to Peanut to see how she was doing. The little darling was lonely and feeling down. I tried to fill her with my love and thoughts. The tiny person was soon smiling and getting ready for bed, knowing that she would have a good day tomorrow. I needed to do that often so my little race car driver was at the top of her game.

Someone was wedging into my head, and I thought black thoughts. Just the color black and I seemed to be able to reach out to turn the sound off. Missy came up behind me, and whispered in my ear, “So now you’ve learned how to keep others out.”

The evening was nice being able to visit with all those who were there. Chuck, Lisa, Bonita, and Lizzy weren’t there, and it was explained they were in the studio with Elmer, the recording and sound engineer. I told Dora that I had to be at the airport at eight in the morning, so we went to bed early. We worked on discovering what made each other happy, and loved each other for what was probably not that long a time.

The next day was busy, as I spent all morning doing one exercise over and over again, and then I did another maneuver over and over until I could do it all with my eyes closed after lunch. What amazed me was how I could almost control the aircraft by thinking about what I wanted to do. I was beat by five once again. Charlie told me, “You’ve learned well and will learn even more back on the mainland. Fly with Joy whenever you can, because she has the best touch. You’ve learned fast and will be able to fly on your own very soon. Listen and learn, my friend.”

The folks going back to the mainland talked about when we would leave that evening. We wanted to takeoff from the airport no later than eight in the morning. We would stop in Friday Harbor to let Dewey and family off, and then fly home. Steve said he had meetings and Sue said she was due to go to Ireland to check on an expansion going on there. These people were movers and shakers.

Dora told me, “I really need to go back to South Beach. I’ve had my break and I’ve satisfied my itch for my brother. Don’t let our fun keep you from finding that one and only, Chuck. I would be looking, but my two girlfriends are about as complete as my life can be. I might send one of them at a time up to visit with you. I know that they both think they might be the one to capture you.”

We were on the bus and then at the airport very early the next morning. I tried to pay attention to the cockpit preflight, but the two men up there were really fast. We were in the air before eight and had reached FL650 very fast. The two women who were attendants came around with breakfast sandwiches for us. Dewey demanded all the men be served Bloody Marys. Some of the women objected and wanted some too.

I was amazed that the plane could land and takeoff on the short runway that Friday Harbor had, thanks to the speed-killing vortex generators. I promised Dewey that I would be back soon to enjoy a salmon meal at his favorite place to eat and drink.

We were landing at our little airport a short while later. It was already late in the afternoon, but Dora insisted that she needed to get home. I had her call for transportation and requested a King Air to take her home. DeDe took me to the pilot’s room and said, “You can drop a courier envelope off in Key West after you drop Dora off. I’ll have a courier pickup meet the plane. You won’t need fuel, so take off and come home. There isn’t supposed to be anything returning. You will usually have someone who handles the packages so that all you do is fly. Finish up tonight and come in by eight in the morning for your courier flights tomorrow.

A limo was at the airport to pick Dora up, so we kissed goodbye and promised we would get together very soon.

I lifted off and was soon settling in Key West. The courier van was there and the man had the iPad that showed me he was the right guy. I was back in the air within ten minutes and landed back at home before eight.

My car was in the parking lot, so I could take care of a need. Hunger had me go to Park Place diner and have a decent sized steak. This was perfect as now I had actually worked for CS&S and was scheduled to do more tomorrow. When I went into the Holiday Inn Express at the business park I was told, “Sorry, we are full up. I know you’re Steve’s friend, but we don’t have any spare rooms.”

Well shoot, what to do, what to do?

I went to the patio and it wasn’t but nine. There were people there, but the person who I was happy to see was Sue’s mother, Beth. I explained that the hotel was full and asked if I could stay in a room here. She was excited to have me stay, and I was shown to a room that she pointed out was next to hers. She said that Steve and Sue had immediately gone to bed because of how tired they were. I could hear how tired they were from the moans, groans, and screams that came from that end of the house.

I instantly was in shorts, T-shirt, and flip flops, sitting at the bar having a clear liquid drink with Tiny and Ruth. Tiny said, “I hear that you’re going to take the first few days of the courier flights. That is a great way to get some time. I think you’re going to be surprised at how much you will travel. We’ll continuously have three separate aircraft in the air delivering packages. You should be home at least one out of three nights.”

I wanted hours; I was going to get them.

I finally turned my phone on and was astounded to find that the mailbox was overflowing. The text messages were equally jammed. They were all from Sandra.

I dialed her number and waited. Her voicemail greeting came on and I left the message, “I’m back on the mainland. I’ll be awake for another half hour. Call if you want to talk, otherwise I’ll talk to you later.”

My teeth were barely clean when the phone rang. “Where in the hell have you been? I’ve needed you and you weren’t available.”

“Nice to talk to you too, Sandra. I think we already had a conversation about what you and I wanted.”

“You asshole. I need you right now when I call you, not in a week or longer. I had to have my men do things they didn’t like to do. This is crazy; why do I have to beg?”

“You don’t, Sandra, you only have to ask nicely, and then tell me what and why. If you’re dealing with people who are going to hurt you, quit dealing with them. I’m not in that business and don’t want to be in that business. I’ll give you a number you can call but you have to pay them some big bucks to do your dirty work.”

“Why are you being so difficult, Chuck? I thought you loved me. Can’t you do this for me?”

“I like you, Sandra baby, and thought we might have a future, but you’ve taught me to not love you. I enjoy your family, but I don’t enjoy how demanding you are and the way you want to pull my string and I become Chuckie on the spot. I’m trying to learn some new life choices. I think we’re done for tonight. Goodnight.”

I ended the call and shut the phone off. Enough of that shit. I used my gift to search for Sandra and found her in Miami throwing things around because of her temper. Her mind was filled with not nice things that I listened to while she kept going back to wanting to kill someone. Well, I wasn’t going to do that for her. I had already done enough for her to give me a long stay in the slammer. No more.

I was settling down to sleep when Beth came into the room and mesmerized me with her enormous chest. I love playing with her long nipples and huge breasts, and she enjoyed my ever ready love instrument that kept filling her with what she called magic elixir.

Waking at five forty-five with a luscious mature version of Sue Sharp is certain to get your blood flowing. I couldn’t help but feast on her magnificent breasts and I moved farther south to enjoy making her liquid center Niagara Falls while she squirmed and moaned. Beth was continuously coming when I finally wedged myself into her snug female center. Her hip motor was really working as she was thrusting up to me faster and firmer than I could push into her. The inevitable happened and I sprung a leak that was captured by her internal plumbing.

Beth gave me some of the most intense kisses I’ve ever had. It’s amazing that this woman was so blessed with raging hormones, although moving toward being a senior citizen. She passed out, so I did my triple S and dressed for a busy day. Not knowing whether I would be back tonight, I put some extra jeans, knit shirts, underwear, and socks into a gym bag and went to the patio.

Glenda was having a cup of coffee with Tiny, so I joined them. Tiny said, “Are you ready for some flying? This is going to be busy and almost non-stop. Remember to stop, get a room, rest, and sleep when you reach ten hours. Steve and I talked about this and we figured that you should take a week off every three or four weeks. Besides getting your hours, you’re going to be making some really nice money that’ll make up for the cost of the training you’ve had.”

“I’m excited to do this, Tiny. You don’t know me well yet, but you should know that I’m very intense when I have a direction. I’m going to enjoy this, but I’ll have to go to a store to get some decent clothes. I’m sure the company doesn’t want me to only wear jeans all the time.”

Tiny laughed, and said, “The owner of this company conducts business with some world leaders in jeans and a T-shirt, so you should be fine.” Tiny got a credit card out, and said, “Use this for fuel, meals, hotel, and any other expenses you may have. I’m told you will have a military aide with you as an escort while carrying some packages. You’ll also occasionally have someone along for the ride between two points. Remember to call me if you have any problems.”

Glenda smiled at me and said, “You look happy this morning. I’m glad that Tiny told the hotel to tell you they were full up so you would be staying with us. Steve has an early meeting in DC this morning and left here at five. Sue was also gone already this morning.”

Tiny said, “Grab a couple of sandwiches and get out to the airpark. I’m sure your King Air is sitting there waiting for you.”

I drove to the airpark thinking about how sneaky it was of Tiny and Steve to do that, but it did put me in a room where I could leave my other clothes. My pistols and money were safely tucked into the secret pockets of the car.

I parked the car with the other pilots’ cars, and walked to the office. A girl I didn’t recognize was there, and she said, “Your schedule is changed a little,” as soon as I introduced myself. “You’re to fly to MacDill AFB and pick up an escort as well as the courier package. Your flight plans are all detailed on this sheet of paper. Here are your logbooks and there is your airplane. Good luck today.”

I did the preflight outside and inside and went through the startup procedures by the numbers. I punched in the information to get to MacDill and realized that I needed to fly around Tampa International’s airspace to get to MacDill. I’ll bet the air traffic controllers for the two locations went nuts.

Landing at MacDill was neat, as there were fighters on the ramp as well as a line of tankers and a variety of aircraft. I was directed to taxiways that brought me to a building off to one side of the operations area. I was told not to shut down as the courier would come to the aircraft. I set the parking brake and opened the door to let the steps down. A car brought a man who was armed out and who had what looked like a salesman’s sample case on wheels. He got into the aircraft, and I directed him to either sit in the comfortable passenger seats or the right cockpit seat. He chose the cockpit seat and buckled up while I shut and secured the door. I scanned the gauges and then requested taxi instructions as soon as I was back in my seat and buckled up. I leaned back and reached around to push the button for the coffee maker. I told the passenger, “It’s your job to get me coffee while we’re on our way to Oklahoma.” He smiled and nodded.