Chapter 48

The last week was mostly spent doing some last minute things. I pulled the trailer up to the top of the hill, and dad and I spent an afternoon getting everything secured. I admired how the bike looked, as he had done more than I had expected. He had replaced the tail lights with some of those new LED ones which were brighter. And it had been cleaned of the years of mud and dirt I had gotten on it over the years.

We got it tied down in the back, then secured everything else that was back there. We even hooked up the truck, as I would be using the ranch truck until I left. And the night before I left they had a big dinner for everybody at the Big House.

Afterwards Grace and I were talking out by the river, and she admitted she would miss me. And I said the same, realizing it was true. And when we got back to her house she gave me a long tight hug before heading inside.

This time when I drove out in the morning, it was just mom who saw me off with an egg sandwich and a thermos of coffee. And even though this trailer with everything in it weighed more than my last one, being a fifth wheel it towed a lot easier. And I saw that I was again going the reverse of traffic as I drove the final leg from the Mojave Desert into LA and saw all the traffic going the other way.

I pulled into the trailer park, and quickly had my rig parked. I had to do it a second time, as the first time I parked the pop-out for the awning was where a pole was. This left the nose a bit uncovered by the awning, but more of the lift was covered so it was a decent trade-off.

The manager came up and admired my new rig as I was hooking up the utilities, and said this looked even better. And she smiled when I lowered the lift and rolled out my bike. I got it fueled up from the gas can by dad gave me, and it started up on the third try. She checked it all out inside, and said it looked like a solid rig.

As I stood on the lift and looked around the park, I finally noticed something. I looked to the manager, and asked where Luna had gone. And she told me she had moved out at the start of the month. “Don’t know where she went, her and her boyfriend rented a truck and just packed it all up and left.”

I nodded, and said she was a good neighbor. Although that also meant that my occasional fuck buddy was gone. And as I had not gotten any since Trudy had left, I had been looking forward to getting it on with Luna again.

I spent the next day getting the trailer how I wanted. A trip to the store to get food, and starting to set up the back how I wanted. And on Thursday I had dinner with Linda. We were sitting on the couch talking after Sherry went to bed, and there was a knock on the door. Linda answered it, and Becky came in.

She gave me a hug and welcomed me back, and joined us as I filled her in on how the vacation had been. And I was a bit surprised when she asked what I was doing in two weeks. And when I told her I had nothing planned she smiled.

“OK, great. OK, I got shanghaied this year into helping run the San Fernando Street Festival. And I had a band lined up for Saturday from ten to midnight. However, they called me two days ago and told me they could not make it.”

I shook my head, and asked if they had gotten a better paying gig. “Oh no, nothing like that. I know them, they are not like that. But their lead singer is in the hospital. His appendix burst, and he is also lead guitar so they had to cancel. That leaves me a gap of two hours I have to fill now.”

I thought, and said I did not think it was enough time to get the girls to join me and she agreed. “Oh, I did not want to hire you to actually perform. But you got everything needed to DJ, so how about that? The pay is $250 for two hours of work, the only thing you will need is your DJ equipment and music.”

I told her I would do it, and she said they expected a mix of music from the 80s to today. “Nothing too hard, that would drive off the older folks. Not all too old or the kids will get bored. I’m sure you can find a good mix of the two.”

And shortly afterwards I drove on home, as Linda and Becky helped me back up and hook up my trailer. The next day one of the neighbors helped me unload the TV into the back. I set it up against the large sliding door, and soon had my synths set up next to it, and between the two my DJ stack. I even set up the futon on the other side as a couch. And as it was starting to get warm I headed out to see Keith. We jammed for a bit as we smoked some grass, and he smiled when I gave him $100. He went into his house, and returned and handed me a baggie.

I told him about my new trailer, and that I was using the back as kind of a studio. “But man, it kinda sucks unless I’m using headphones. It is like an echo chamber back there with the rear hatch closed.”

“Yeah, that can be a problem. But there are things that can help a bit.” He suggested I go to a moving place and get a bunch of the thick quilts they use for wrapping furniture and appliances in. “They’re butt ugly, but thick enough to deaden a lot of the sound. For the ceiling, get some of those sticky cork board tiles. Cover the ceiling with that, and put a carpet or rugs on the floor. It will not be perfect, but that will go a long ways to stopping that.” I said I would do that, as it was a good idea.

And on the way home I found a place that sold the quilts. They also had a lot of other things, one of them was a commercial pedestal fan. The thing was huge, but sat about four feet off the ground and seemed it would be perfect.

I had also gotten those self-stick hooks, as the quilts all had strings on them for tying together. And after about an hour I had the walls all covered. I even added some hooks over the lift so I could add or remove the blankets there if needed. And the fan made a huge difference, and it felt a lot cooler in the back.

And on Wednesday I went to CSUN and got registered for my fall classes. At least I was still on track to graduate in two years, even if I could not get back in the legal program. After talking with my parents, I had agreed that was the best course to follow.

The surprise though was when I was having dinner at home and Harve called. I told him I had my certifications for twin engine, instrument flight and commercial and he said that was great.

“I’m actually calling because of that. Pete told me you got them all, and if you are not busy this weekend I can use you.” Turns out one of his regular co-pilots had to bail out, and he had a charter that weekend. “Nothing major, a two day layover in El Paso, then return. We fly out Friday afternoon, fly back on Sunday. Eight hundred, and as usual we cover all the expenses.”

I told him it was a deal, and he said to meet him at Van Nuys at eight in the morning. And after walking to a fish and chips place nearby I turned in for the night.

I was at the airport checking the weather at 7:45 when Harve came in. We shook hands, and walked into the pilot’s lounge. He asked for my logbook, and smiled as he went over it. “Nice, the Seminole is a good choice for that training. Now the Commander is a fair bit faster, we’ll be doing just under 300 knots.” He told me where we would be staying, and I asked him what there was to do around there.

“Well, it’s both a college town and a military town. There is a huge Army base there, right next to the airport in fact. Then on the other side of town is a University. But not much different, other than lots of clubs scattered around. And there is Juarez, but I wouldn’t go there.”

And when I looked at him, he said that unlike Tijuana, Juarez was not a safe city. “There are a lot of murders there, as well as kidnappings and just people vanishing. The gangs run the city in many ways, and even the cops will not help you and are corrupt. Most of the time the city is even off-limits to the military. But when we get there, I’ll take you to dinner and show you the area.”

We quickly had the flight plan filed, the inspection done and the plane fueled. He had me start her up, then once the engines were in the green we got permission to taxi to the end of the tarmac and back. And it again struck me how different this was than any of the other planes I had flown. As the wings were up high and the cabin under them, it felt a bit like my ass was dragging on the ground.

And when the passengers arrived, I was not surprised I recognized one of them. He was a big actor at one time, but now doing action movies that seemed to go straight to video or cable. His girlfriend has obviously surgically enhanced breasts, and along with them was his daughter from his previous marriage.

I smiled as Harve told me to take off. And once I was at altitude and heading east, he engaged the autopilot. “George, that was a hell of a lot better than before. All those hours have given you a real good feel for the plane.”

“Well, I must have taken off and landed in the Seminole fifty times at least. This is different of course, and I’m going to want to watch you land it more closely. But taking off, this is not all that much different, other than it accelerates faster.”

When we were about to cross over into New Mexico he had me take over again, and as he was getting landing clearance I started our descent. We were in the holding pattern for about ten minutes, and when they gave us the OK to land, Harve took over and landed us smooth as silk.

I saw a chauffeur waiting by the door with a cart, and waved him over then started unloading their luggage. The guy said he would see us Sunday afternoon, then shook our hands. And he was as smooth as his character on the screen, I did not even see him palm the money he left in my hand after shaking it.

I helped Harve tie the plane down and do the inspection, then we grabbed our luggage and headed to the terminal. He had a rental car already reserved, and we were soon driving off. I pulled the money out of my pocket, and saw it was two hundred dollars.

I was a bit surprised when a few minutes later Harve asked me for my ID. I pulled it out, and noticed he was pulling into a military gate. He handed a guy in uniform our ID, and after checking them he waves us on through. “This here’s Fort Bliss. This is where they train all the guys that work on the PATRIOT missile, and most of them are based here.” And I was a bit surprised after driving a bit it looked like a small town. There were houses, warehouses, even a gas station. And I saw what looked like large but old motels.

When I asked what they were, Harve said those were the barracks. “Oh, those are old ones, built in the 1950s I think. The newer ones are more like four star hotels, those are the old cheap ones.” A short time later he said we were on “mainside”, and I saw fast food places, a coffee shop, and we pulled in front of what looked like a mall. We got a lot of looks as we walked in as we were both in uniform, but not the uniform everybody else was wearing.

And inside, it was like a small mall. A store selling video games, a health food store, even one selling electronics. And at the end where it looked like a department store was the food court. He took me to one, and I had to admit I had never had a Philly Cheese Steak before. But he bought both of us one, and it was pretty good. And as we ate he opened a kind of thin newspaper he had grabbed when we came in.

“OK, here. This is what I wanted” he said, then turned it so I could read where he was pointing. It said “Off-Limits Establishments” in bold letters over about two dozen businesses. And I saw they were all kinds of places from bars, strip clubs, car lots, restaurants, even a pawn shop and a liquor store.

“I suggest that if you go anywhere, avoid all of these places. And trust me, if they place a business on the off-limits list, it is for a damned good reason.”