Chapter 47

In the morning I woke up when I heard somebody giggle. I looked, and saw Linda in a robe walking towards the kitchen. I also realized that Grace was curled up next to me, with her hand on my chest.

I got up and used the bathroom, then joined Linda as she was starting the coffee. “Aunt Linda, it’s not what it looks like.”

She smiled at me and nodded. “George, I know you and Grace have slept together since you were babies. I was not around then, but your mom has shown me the pictures. And I could tell all the two of you were doing was sleeping, don’t think I have anything else in my mind. I simply thought I would never see that, and it was kinda cute.”

I smiled and nodded, and we could hear Grace getting up and heading to the bathroom herself. Linda headed upstairs, and I poured four cups of coffee and two glasses of orange juice. And after Grace came out in her uniform again, I went into the office and did the same thing. And after breakfast, Pete and I put all the luggage in Linda’s mini-van.

Then he returned the car as the rest of us drove to the airport. Once there I grabbed a cart and loaded everything, and was inspecting the outside of the aircraft as Grace did the inside. And the fuel truck was just finishing as I saw everybody heading towards us on the tarmac.

We all exchanged hugs with Linda and Sherry, then I headed in to start and warm the engines as everybody else got settled in. And Mandy smiled as this time I took-off without her hand on the back of mine, and said I did it perfectly. And once we were headed towards home, she and Grace swapped places again.

We talked for most of the flight, and before we knew it I was calling the tower for clearance to land. Grace and Mandy traded places again, and complemented me on the landing. Once the inspections were done and the plane tied down, Pete said he would arrange to have it fueled before they flew it again. And after exchanging hugs, he handed Grace and I envelopes and they got into their car and drove home.

We called our parents, then drove into town to get something to eat. Grace was amazed that there were $500 in the envelope, and I suspected mine was the same. “George, why did they pay us? I mean, Mandy was up front a lot of the time, I was not really needed.”

“Grace, Pete always pays me if I’m flying, why should he treat you any differently? Plus, it let him and Mandy both relax for most of the flight. Just enjoy it, I know I am.” We went to a diner, and I saw more than a few people look at us when we were waiting for our seats. And as we were eating, this girl came up and she started talking to Grace. Asking her why she was dressed up like that.

Grace told her we had flown a charter down to San Diego, and it was obvious the girl did not believe her. And I got the sense that the two of them were not really friends. I simply cut in and said that Grace had indeed been the copilot on a charter to San Diego, then to LA before returning. And that I had been the pilot.

I held out my hat, and pointed out the name badge that did have “Pilot” below my name. She then looked at Grace’s chest, and commented she did not have a hat or badge.

“Well, that’s because she is not eighteen yet. She can’t be an official pilot until then, but she is already working on her commercial and twin engine ratings. What, you did not know that Grace is a pilot?”

Grace then nodded and smiled at me, and asked me to go get her case. I quickly trotted out to the truck and returned with it. Where she spent several minutes showing the girl (who I learned was Heather) her flight log, and all the different aircraft she had flown in the past two years. Our food finally arrived, and Grace politely asked the girl to leave to we could eat.

“God, I hate that cunt” she softly said as Heather left, and I laughed as I started eating. “She’s the one that ended up with Barry after we broke up. Even bragging how I had no idea what I was missing, as he was a great fuck.”

I looked at her, and she took a bite of her steak and nodded. “She likes to pretend she’s more mature simply cause she’s been doing it since she was fifteen. But to be honest, I just see her as a slut. And I think most of the guys see her the same way. But thanks, you standing up for me really seemed to shut her down.”

I reached out and held her hand, and said I would always stand up for her. “Grace, you know I have your back, always. Barry, he was our old bass player’s little brother, right?”

“Yep, we used to talk or dance back when you all had the band. Eventually he asked me out, and we started dating.” She then lowered her voice and almost whispered “He kept pestering me for more than blowjobs, and I finally had enough of him not respecting my limits.”

I am pretty sure I was blushing, but managed to nod. “Grace, they are your limits. And you should only do what you feel comfortable doing.”

She took another bite, and said even doing that was not comfortable as it was often in the front seat of his car. I just shook my head, and changed the conversation back to flying. Listening to Grace talking about giving guys blowjobs was making me more than a bit uncomfortable.

Finally we were finished, and after taking her home she gave me a big hug before going inside. I went ahead and headed home, and saw my dad was watching TV so after a shower and changing I joined him.

We talked about the flight, and he told me how proud he was of how much I had been doing. “Oh, and I picked up the parts yesterday. We can finish the TV tomorrow if you want.” And I said we would do that, as we had been waiting on those.

When Darla and Dave’s TV arrived, we had opened the back and looked inside. And sure enough, the speakers were completely dry rotted. And two of the tubes for the TV were cracked. After talking it over, we decided to just replace all the tubes. And as the speakers that were in it were only eight inch speakers, we decided to put in twelve inch speakers. Dad did the wood work and cut and drilled the front so it would sound right, and mom replaced the fabric with a newer one that still looked right.

The next morning after breakfast dad and I headed back to the lower barn. And I saw he had done a bit more, repairing and covering all the scratches and dings so it looked brand new. And as he replaced the tubes, I put in the new speakers. And together we desoldered the wires from the audio and video outputs and inputs and ran them to splitters. This way they could add more devices for sound or video coming in or going out.

We went to the house for lunch, then he grabbed an old VCR from the closet and we went back down. And he smiled when he put in a tape, and Apollo 13 was playing. “You know, George, we all watched the real thing on this very TV when it was happening. This is not as good as the DVD, but it sure looks better than the real thing did. And it sounds a lot better also.”

“And with those inputs we added, they can even play DVD on it if they want. That might be something that some would enjoy. The parents can explore the town while the kids watch something on this.”

He agreed, and got out his phone and called Dave. And I found myself agreeing to bring it back the next day. I was just pulling my truck to the barn when Grace came to join us. She helped us load it in the back, then marveled at how good it looked as dad and I were covering it and tying it down.

“Actually, that is about what it looked like when they first got it. But now, it’s even better. George, you actually have some talent there. With a little more experience you could probably make a decent amount of money doing this for others.”

“What, rebuilding old TVs? How many would want that done? Hell, err, heck, the last TV repair shop in town closed years ago.”

“Yep, but I think some would like a job like this done. Look for ones like you got, with quadraphonic. For most purposes that is almost as good as surround sound. And this can be what they call ‘retro’. Repurposing something old for the new age.”

I actually found myself nodding, and decided to file that idea away to revisit later. And I saw Grace looking at me, so I found myself inviting her to come along when I delivered the TV. She gave my dad and me both hugs, then went to clear it with her mom. But I knew that would not be a problem with Kim or Darla.

And when she came back, she asked when our next date was. And as I knew there was skating that night, I asked her if she wanted to try that again. And Grace smiled and nodded, simply saying that if I skated more than three songs with another girl she would get upset.

As she went in and we headed up the hill, dad asked what that was about. “Oh, I screwed up right after I got here. I invited her to go skating, and spent most of the night with Trudy. And yes, I know that was wrong and won’t do it again.” He reached out and squeezed my shoulder and nodded.