Chapter 49

The next morning I was dressed in my uniform again, and Have had just started eating when I got to the buffet. We both had breakfast and talked about the return flight. The weather was expected to be clear, and we should be all done well before dinner.

We went back upstairs and got our things, then he drove us to base to fill up the tank of the rental car. And I did notice that even though the gas was a lot cheaper than in LA, it was about five cents cheaper than it was out in town. We went inside and filled our thermos with coffee, and grabbed chicken sandwiches and chips for the flight. Harve also grabbed two six packs of soda, both regular and diet.

We dropped off the rental, and they had a van that took us to the airport. They dropped us at the small aviation terminal, and I rolled out a trash can as Harve started filling out the manifest and flight plan. By the time he returned I had already stowed our bags, refilled the sodas in the small fridge, and had thrown away all the trash. And as I gave a good wipe down to everything Harve started on the pre-flight checks.

He gave me a rundown for the weather expected as the fuel truck started filling the tanks, and once they were topped off we ran up the engines until they were at the proper temperature before shutting them both down.

I asked him when he had been here, and he pointed off to the north. “Oh, I’ve been here many times over the years. The last time was up that way about thirty miles where they have this training area set up. It looks like a village in the Middle East, and it’s run to give those who are about to deploy experience in the area. They actually have people there from the area in authentic clothing running shops and on the streets. And an actual mosque set up, that plays the call to prayer at the appropriate time.”

I looked at him, and he nodded. “Some of them also portray bad guys, and teach us what to look for. It was pretty intense, as we spent about a month there. Sometimes leaving the compound to do combat training in the desert. For us pilots, there was also a small SERE course.”

I had to ask what that was, and he told me it was a course he had to do regularly in case he was ever shot down. “The idea is that it teaches us what to do, and how to evade capture. How to hide, how to find food and water, things like that. And also how to react and behave in the event we are captured. Like standing up to questioning.”

“Did they torture you there?” I asked, and he chuckled.

“Well, kinda. Not real torture, but kinda simulating the stress. Making us sit in a chair without moving as they screamed at us, things like that. Oh, we know if we are tortured we will talk. Almost nobody can avoid talking during torture, but we are trained to resist it as much as we can. And we learn to give the minimal amount of information we can. Make them work for the information, and while what we say can be misleading we must never outright lie. Here, it was mostly how to survive in the desert. Like how to get water, catch and eat rodents and snakes, even insects. Things like that.”

“They really made you eat insects?” I said, slightly revolted.

“Well, yes. But they do not make us. But one of the final parts they drop us in the middle of nowhere where we have to survive for three to five days. And we only get a few things, like the clothes on our back and a few items like a mirror, a poncho, and a couple of other things. Trust me, humans actually evolved eating insects. Termites actually have a bit of a nutty flavor. And after a day and a half without food, tree bark and ants, or a cooked lizard actually starts to look pretty appealing.”

And I had to admit, my opinion of Harve increased a lot at that. I mean, I knew he was a pilot in the military, but had no idea he had done things like that. And that he not only had training in how to survive in the woods, but in the desert and in arctic conditions also.

Finally our passengers arrived, and soon we were flying back to LA. I was a bit surprised when after taking their luggage to their car and getting another $200 that Harve had not tied down the plane yet. He had me climb in, and after getting clearance from the tower looked at me.

“OK, go ahead and take it up, George.” He had me do several full stop landings at both Van Nuys and Whiteman before bringing the plane back to Van Nuys. And by the time we were tying it down I actually had gotten a lot more comfortable at taking off and landing in the Commander.

“OK, now I am nowhere near to where I would sign off on you with this, but I now would be comfortable with you taking off or landing with passengers. If we can squeeze in two or three more trips like this, I would sign off with no hesitation.”

“Wow, that would be great. Any chance we can do this with the DC-3?”

He laughed, and slapped my shoulder. “Well, not quite yet. I would like to see you get a lot more twin engine experience first. However, if this was say World War II, I would already have you transitioning to that. Believe it or not, you actually have a hell of a lot more flight hours than most of the pilots back then before they saw combat. I want to say the Navy pukes had maybe a hundred hours and around ten landings and takeoffs from carriers before they were thrown into the grinder.”

I looked at him in surprise as we entered the terminal, and he nodded. “I read a biography on President Bush, the elder not junior. He flew fighters for the Navy in the war. He had maybe a hundred hours, and around ten landings and takeoffs off an old paddle wheel steamer they had converted into a training carrier in Lake Michigan. Then sent into battle on an old light carrier in the Pacific. He flew Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers, and did around sixty combat missions before he was shot down. In fact, on that mission several planes were shot down, he was just lucky enough to bail out over water and a submarine rescued him. The crews on the planes that bailed out over land were not so lucky, they were eaten.”

“Wait, I thought that’s just a myth. That the islands out there were full of cannibals.”

We each got a cup of coffee in the pilots lounge, and we sat down. “Oh, the cannibals were not natives, George. It was the Japanese that did that. Some of the soldiers had this belief that eating the livers of their prisoners would make them better fighters.”

“OK, I actually do get that. There was a mountain man that did that here, they called him ‘Liver Eating Johnson’, and he terrorized the Crow for over two decades. Eating their livers, because to the Crow that meant they could not enter heaven. They even made a movie based on him.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it. Although they did make some changes, so people would not have to see Robert Redford eating people in it.” We both finished updating our logbooks, and he promised to keep me active in his roster as a back-up pilot.

The next day I went to a surplus store and grabbed a backpack, and rode to CSUN to get enrolled and pick up my books. And it was kinda nice riding the motorcycle again, and an experience as I had never been on one on the freeway before.

The next day I drove on over the New Dawn, and as Becky had told me Mike was in charge of setting everything up I went to see him. He took me into the back room where the rental equipment was and showed me the mixer he was using for the event.

He showed me where to plug in my leads, and as it was a mono head unit and I was running it from a stereo mixer he told me that there would be a cable for me to use and what slider it would be plugged into. And that the lights would all be done automatically and to not touch them.

“Just turn everything off when your set is over, they will have security there all night. Just have fun, and you should probably go see Becky, she’s upstairs.”

I went on up, and saw the door was open so knocked as I walked in. She came and gave me a hug, and told me they would have a check for me when I arrived. “Look for Rob, he’s running the thing. Big guy, over six feet tall that will be in a green vest. He’ll help you get set up, and give you your check for the night. Also, bring a tip jar. You can’t ask for tips, but can keep all that the people give you. And the rules are like here. No dirty songs, nothing you would not hear on the radio. Stick to pop songs and oldies.”

We talked for about twenty minutes, and I told her about flying to El Paso for the weekend. And that the town was rather dull, but it was nice to get some time in the Commander. And a bit later I headed on home.

On Friday Night I had taken the truck to do some shopping, and on the way home I saw a girl walking on the side of San Fernando Road. I recognized her as Terri, one of the gals that Luna sometimes hung out with. I had talked to her a few times, and thought she might have an idea where Luna had gone. I pulled into a parking lot at the end of the block, and had the window rolled down and waved her over.

She quickly came over and climbed into the passenger seat. She was a young girl, about my age. But as I remembered she had big knockers, at least a D cup. She looked at me once she got in, and I could tell she recognized me but not from where. I asked her if she knew where Luna was, and she looked confused and said she did not know a Luna.

I then realized I had used her real name, and when I said Elena she knew indeed who I was talking about. “Oh, I remember you now. You were Elena’s friend, and helped her get the trailer. Yeah, she told me about you. Well, about three months ago she started seeing this guy, he kinda became her pimp. And after a while the two of them went to Las Vegas for a week. She told me the money there was great, and two weeks later they grabbed the trailer and moved there.”

“Well, I wish her the best of luck then” I said. We talked for about ten minutes, and I offered to pay her for her time as I was keeping her off work for a bit. What I did not expect was after offering her twenty dollars, she asked me for forty. I shrugged, and reached into my pocket and pulled out the money.

What I did not expect though was her reaching her hand down and rubbing my cock through my jeans. And about five minutes later, she had rolled on a condom and was sucking my cock. She was not as good a Luna was, but it still felt damned good. And she even pulled up her shirt and bra so I could play with her tits as she blew me. I was able to hold out for about five minutes before cumming, and it did feel damned good.

Once I had my pants back up, Terri smiled and told me to look for her again sometime before getting out and starting to walk down the street again. And I thought that I might just do that if I needed to get laid.

On Saturday evening I loaded up my DJ case into the truck and headed on over to Burbank. I found the parking lot that Becky had told me to use, and showed the cop the parking pass she had given me. I saw there was a band playing on the stage, and after asking one of the workers was directed to Rob. He was a nice guy, and when came back rolling my case he helped me move it onto the stage. And after plugging into the cable he handed me I saw I had about ten minutes until I was to start. So I went to use the bathroom a final time, and grabbed a beer from one of the vendors on the street.

We were in the downtown area, and I saw they had blocked off about three blocks. We were at one end of the area, and the crowd was mostly in the street, either listening or dancing. And as it was getting late, most of the crowd seemed to be my age or older.