Community — Still Here
Copyright© 2022 by oyster50
Chapter 15
Cindy’s turn:
We’re choking on success, at least 3S Transport is. Oh, the robotics thing turns in the big bucks, and the pure engineering biz brings in a very positive chunk and our field services do, as well.
Trouble is, I’m involved in robotics and occasionally, engineering, but flying has been eating deeply into my time.
And now we have a daughter and I, wanting to be a proper mom, need to be home more. I can only pull that ‘Kelly is my co-pilot’ so many times. She probably will benefit from me being around a bit more, but honestly, she’s like a spring lamb released into an open field for the first time, literally gamboling around the place, taking off with one or more munchkins on an adventure, or sticking with the New Batch as Mizz Lee guides them. And the New Batch have already adopted her as the missing big sister.
Like this one. Place in Houston that does high-tech things that are useful in the oilfield. Client is in Alberta, which, according my understanding of geography, is in a whole different country. Don Matzke spun me up on the customs issues. The shipper should have everything as far as paperwork when we pick up the shipment.
I have a dual goal in mind, Katie having become part of our operation. That means I give her a warning call for early morning departure from Birmingham, and I lay out the rough itinerary for her.
“I got this, Cindy,” she said. “Just get yourself here. I’ll have the Platypus 24 waiting when you get here.”
I like this girl!
Lots of flight time over flat (boring) topography, and we started talking some.
I told her, “Katie, you became PC-24 rated in Ellington. There never was much doubt about you handling the bird, so we just needed a few take-offs and landings at airports. I still want to send you to training in Dallas, though.”
She nodded and smiled, so I continued, “And it was REALLY smart of you to get a return load -- nearly doubles the revenue for this flight, and you deserve a reward.”
BIG smile from her, so I said, “Here’s what I’m thinking: You have that BBA from college, so let’s put it to work. If we pay you a simple bonus, it’ll just mean a big tax hit, so let’s spread it out some -- you could be our new Business Administrator.”
Squeal! Then, “So, what do you want me to do, Cindy?”
I said, “Well, you should wear a tiara, but beyond that, I don’t know. I guess you figure out how to make us more profitable, and how to stay that way. Work it out with Geno and Don and Teresa, I suppose. I never knew what business administrators do anyway. Do you have to learn some kind of secret handshake?”
She grinned, then sighed. She said, “Cindy, I almost learned the secret handshake one time, but I wrecked it.”
I asked “How so?”
She said, “I was still in high school, and I went out on a date with a boy who was sorta cute. He offered to teach me the handshake, and I didn’t know what it was.”
“And?” I knew there was a twist coming.
“He unzipped he trousers and said, “Put your hand down here, darlin’”.”
I grinned, and she said, “I told him, great idea! Just a second while I get out my sandpaper.”
Explosive laughter! Had to wipe my eyes.
“We already have office staff, though,” she posed.
“And they’ll free you up to keep flying, but I think you have a head on your shoulders that might be a good fit in that admin slot. Part time. You can still toss your name on the board. Means I get to be a bit more of a stay-at-home mom.”
“Kelly’s a cutie. Did you, like, fill out a form with your specifications?”
“Sometimes time conspires. Or it’s a back eddy in the sweep of general atrophy of the universe.”
“So the rumor mill’s true. You’re fostering a nine-year-old...”
“Almost TEN,” I chuckled. “Just ask her. And we’re talking ‘adoption’.”
“That’s a big step. What’s your husband say?”
“It’s as much his choice as mine. We’ve had a few weeks with ‘er as a foster child. You know she hit the ground running. Fits in. No issues. She’s the one who brought up adoption. Dan and I were a bit surprised. Between us, that was a conversation we had right after I brought ‘er home.”
“You and Dan had to change your routines, I imagine...”
“A little,” I said. “A bit of a concession to modesty. Dan wears pajamas or t-shirt and shorts after the shower, no more nude strolls around the house, that sort of thing...” Snicker. “Unless Kelly’s out somewhere else in the community. She knows not to just barge in...”
“So that part of your marriage is still a thing? I mean, Dan’s in his fifties. I never...”
“Dan’s still up to the challenge. Yes. Very much...”
“Yaknow,” Katie said, “watching the bunch of you renews my faith in humanity. I actually come off with a positive outlook on marriage.”
“Yeah, I think we do it right. Unconventional, but right.”
Katie sighed into her microphone. “I saw so many disasters – too young. Wrong reasons. Divergent interests. Unrealistic expectations. Who knows how long the list is. I got invited to a dozen or more of those full blown, princess for a day events, and sadly, none of the ones I kept track of made it past a few years. But you people...”
“People’re messy,” I told her.
“I can’t begin to explain it. Things just came together. Dan and I, I guess we got together about the same time as Tina and Alan and Nikki and Dan 2.0. We ran into Tina and Alan at a concert, Tina knew Nikki from high school, Susan came along with Jason in the middle. She was Tina’s classmate and Jason was technician on Alan’s project. Actually, it really is kind of random. Not like we put an ad on Craigslist and did interviews.”
She did a scan of the flight display, then said, “But that sorta doesn’t explain the pTerridactyl and Jerry or Rachel and Derek, or Mandy and Captain Jack...”
“But it does. For some reason each of them weren’t LOOKING but The Man showed up. Well, Derek showed up first for Rachel when he and Tara joined us. But Terri and Mandy? Guy shows up who is particularly suitable, they were willing to make a serious commitment, so, me and several others having gotten married at a young age, we lacked the ability to stage a credible defense against the question.”
“Yeah,” she said. “My boss was married at fourteen. Hang on, let’s watch the autopilot make this next waypoint.”
Two pair of eyes, mine and hers, paid attention to the flight display as the next waypoint showed up, notable for both an indicator of progress and a point where our flight plan called for a change in altitude. The autopilot performed flawlessly.
Edmonton, Alberta is a long way into Canada, almost 2200 miles from Birmingham, so we had a refuel stop two-thirds of the way there.
Edmonton customs was a breeze -- they have you taxi over to a customs/cargo facility -- almost as nice as Signature!
About a ninety minute break for unloading, refuel, load the new (actually old) stuff headed (ultimately) for Mobile, then a long day back to Birmingham, where she had made arrangements for US Customs to meet us at OUR hangars.
Easier for them because they can watch it being unloaded and inspect it when it’s on the ground.
So why not just take it directly to Mobile? She said, “I told ‘em they could have a truck meet us at Birmingham -- it’s already going to be a long day, Cindy.”
“Call and see if Mobile still works for them. Clients. We coddle them.”
“Okay,” Katie said. “Good point. I was thinking ‘us’ more than ‘them’.”
We watched the autopilot handling an altitude change called out on our flight plan. Flawless, as expected.
Katie turned to me. “So, how’s that ‘mom’ thing working for you? I mean, you and I are close in age. I can’t imagine taking in a nine-year-old...”
“Almost TEN,” I smirked. “Just ask her.”
“She has needs. Dan and I can meet those needs. Everybody in the Sisterhood has kids except me. God saw that and said, “Cindy needs to step up.” And here we are. If she didn’t have a full schedule this week she’d be here with us.”
“Pushing me out of the cockpit, no doubt.”
“She may have asked you, but you’re a pilot. She gets enough right-seat time and she will take ‘no’ for an answer. ‘Sides, she likes you. And she’s got a few years before she can be a serious pilot.”
“But that whole ‘mom’ thing,” Katie posed. “She’s almost ten years old...”
“Just ask ‘er,” I snickered.
“Yeah, that. You’re twenty-five. You’d’ve given birth at fifteen.”
“Well, I was married at fourteen, so I’m in that range.”
“But you’ve had ten years of just you and Dan. Now, all of a sudden...”
“Yes, and ever since the beginning of this community I’ve been aunt, big sister, babysitter to all the Munchkins, the New Batch, and nobody’s got any complaints. I suppose the good Lord decided it was time. So, BINGO!! Here’s Kelly.”
Katie laughed. “Well, if you’re going to invoke the deity...”
“I cannot, with any assurance, account for the things that have happened to us as a group and me in particular. Why do YOU think you were sitting there at the FBO when I walked in?”
“Random perversity of the universe?”
“From MY vantage, I’ve been rolling the dice and coming up with seven EVERY time. Can’t replicate that on a computer, so I ascribe it to God.”
“Okay. When you put it like that, I can’t argue with you.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, it’s pretty hard to argue with God.”
“So how did you meet Dan? I heard you’ve been married a decade...”
“More than that. Since I was fourteen.”
“Is that even legal?”
“Not normally, but we had a judicial waiver to make it possible.”
She gave me a curious look. “But how did you meet?”
I snickered. “Well, it wasn’t a windowless van with a sign that said ‘free candy’.”
“I didn’t imagine that you logged into snaganengineer.com.”
“Nope. I was living in a travel trailer with Mom. She left me alone a lot...”
“Not the same mom with the two little ones and Mandy...”
“That’s the one. Now THAT is a redemption story. But back then she’d leave me by myself all the time. The RV park we were in had a pool, so one day I walked down there for a swim and there was this guy. Nice guy. Didn’t scope me out and start drooling. Hardly talked at first, but we both kept showing up. School started and I needed help with school work, so I asked him. He wouldn’t do it until he cleared with my mom.” I sighed. “Mom came to the pool one afternoon and tried putting the moves on him. He didn’t take the bait. That moved him up several rungs on the ladder. I mean, at that stage of the game Mom was pretty easy and Dan just shrugged it off with a couple of comments.”
Katie was paying attention. “So he turned down an easy bounce?”