Chapter 31

Ten hours later, they were back at their home in Oklahoma. After everything was unpacked and put away, he sat out on the porch drinking a beer contemplating his life and how drastically it had changed.

He was joined by Pixy who sat down next to him on the swinging bench seat and laid her head on his shoulder.

Putting his arm around her he said “Something on your mind?”

“I was just thinking if I hadn’t meet you, Dad would probably be dead.”

John kissed the top of her head and said “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what” she inquired?

“Don’t start what if’ing your life. It’s a rabbit hole you’ll never find a way out of. It’s good to reflect on what’s happened, but just accept it rather than question it, it’s already done and there is nothing you can do about it. We are faced with choices every day, those choices shape our future. If you’re buried in the what if loop, the past will threaten your future. Make a stand and stand by it.”

Pixy had a thoughtful look on her face after that.

“How about I make this stand” she said as she grabbed his package through his shorts.

He stood and dropped his shorts and sat back down “Please do.”

Leaning over she took him in her mouth and gave him a slow languid blowjob.

Laying his hand on her body he squeezed one of her hug tits through the T-shirt then pulled at the hem of it.

She got the hint and lifted up long enough to ditch the T-shirt. Starting over again, she took him back in her mouth while he played with her tits squeezing them and pulling on the nipple rings alternately.

Tess stepped out on the porch and said “And you tell me to share hmm.”

Tess got on her knees in front of John and turning her head so it didn’t interfer with Pixy, started licking his balls. John put his free hand to work by putting it on the back of Tess’s head.

When Pixy came up for air, Tess jumped in and swallowed him. When she got to the root, she began shaking and quivering in orgasm. John pulled Tess’s head up, and Pixy jumped back in just in time to take the first spurt down her throat. She came up coughing and another spurt caught her on the cheek. Tess jumped back in taking the rest into her mouth.

Mary walked out and saw what they were doing. She yelled inside “Marty, Mei, the party is out here.”

Tess stood, then jumped on her friend Mary snowballing the load in her mouth with Mary.

By then there was a crowd on the porch.

John stood and put his shorts back on. “Let’s go inside, we need to talk business.”

After getting to his chair, the rest gathered on the couch except Pixy, who sat on his knee.

He looked at them and said “We have a little less than six weeks until we head to Europe. Our starting point there will be Warsaw Poland. When we leave there, we will pass through part of Germany on the way to either

Harlingen, or Amsterdam, Netherlands. Henrik hasn’t told me which yet. From there we are on a boat to the North Sea. Some of you have never been out of the States, this will be hardest on you. You must remember to check your culture at the door. Everyone here needs to do some prep research. Specifically regarding what we are doing and the Cultures we will pass through. I’d like you to focus on body language.”

Using Nguso he pointed at Tess who raised her eyebrows twice rapidly acknowledging the point.

He said “Tess and I just had a short conversation using nothing but body language. Nonverbal conversation happens in every culture. Not knowing it marks you as an outsider. That can be dangerous under certain circumstances. We have six weeks to prepare, so there is no reason we can’t be ready as we can be.”

Tess spoke up “Even researching it, you will still not be ready, but you’ll at least be more aware.”

Mei replied “Agreed. It takes several months of immersion to fully understand.”

John just nodded along then changed gears.

“Next, we need to decide if we want to work any in that six weeks. I have a lot of contacts and I’m confident something can be drummed up even in this shit economy. Machinery and metal doesn’t care about the economy, it breaks when it’s ready to break.”

Pixy said “We need to work. I for one, am in need of doing some welding.”

After their impromptu meeting broke up, John started making calls to find work for them.

One of those calls was to a local company with pipeline maintenance contracts. They were working an older line that the pig inspection revealed some potential leaks, but their normal pilot for the Magnetotelluric inspection helicopter had been fired for showing up drunk. The technician for reading the data and running the machines had gone with him for the same reason. John offered up himself and Tess to fill in along with Pixy for any welding they may need to do. The client, after running Tess’s license was more than happy to give them the work.

Over dinner, John filled the others in on what was happening.

“When does this start” Pixy asked?

“We have to be at the heliport by 0530 in the morning. By the sounds of it, they want a ground crew there the same afternoon it’s confirmed. We will be using the 1070 to bring in the excavator and other equipment. Since the 1070 is rigged for welding, there’s no sense bringing a pipeline rig.”

Pixy nodded and then said “I’ve never done a repair on a live line.”

John replied “It’s not hard, the patch is two pipe halves laid over the line then welded. The *fillet weld gets MT examination, then the whole thing sprayed with insulation and re-buried.”

John looked at Pixy “For this job, Normally, the pilot is making a flat rate of 200 per flight hour. The tech in the back is at 100 per hour. For this contract it’s sold at a flat day rate for the pair at 3000. For any welding etc, it’s cost plus a day rate of 1,500 for the welder, inspector crew.”

Marty was making notes for the eventual invoice.

Tess spoke up, “What bird is it?”

“It’s a **Bell jet ranger III outfitted with an aeromagnetic survey stinger” John replied.

“I’ll probably need a check ride” she said.

“The client questioned that as well” John said as he checked his watch. “They’ll be landing on the front lawn in about 20 minutes. The guy is a former Marine pilot who flys for the oil patch services these days as an instructor for new pilots to the offshore rigs. When I asked him, he volunteered to do it for a full tank.”

As they spoke they heard the helicopter coming in. Going outside to the porch, John popped a smoke marker in front of the concrete pad he normally parked his Oshkosh on.

Soon after, the bird landed. After it spun down, a redheaded skinny man got out and walked over to them.

Sticking out his hand, he said “Long time no see John.”

John replied “Thanks for coming out Ryan” Pointing at Tess, John said “This here is the pilot. She’s former Air Force, but don’t hold that against her.”

Tess flipped John off with a grin for that comment. John and Ryan just laughed at it.

Ryan handed Tess a flight log and said, “Shall we begin?”

Nodding her head, she walked over to the bird doing a pre-flight check with Ryan asking periodic questions.

Twenty minutes later, the pair were in the cockpit spinning the bird up.

After they took off and we’re over the horizon out of sight, John turned to Pixy, “Did you see the evil grin she had on her face?”

“Yes, I’ll have to ask her what that was about when she gets back.”

John replied “You won’t have to wait long, here they come.”

The helicopter came out over the tree line then dove towards were they were standing. Seeing the same grin on her face, he knew Ryan had put her up to it. All of the girls ducked, but John just stood watching. Ryan had played this game with him before in wilder places.

After they landed and did their post flight routine. Sean got out and said “Damn you Ravenclaw, you haven’t changed a bit.”

John looked Ryan in the eye and said “I wasn’t worried. Besides, if you’d fucked up and hit one of us, Valkrie would come to redecorate your door.”

Ryan turned pale for a moment then said “Bullshit, why would she do that?”

“Because she’s married to my daughter. Technically, she’s my daughter-in-law now. Even took my last name.”

Ryan paled again and his green eyes bugged out. “No shit?”

All of the girls giggled and in unison said “No shit.”

Ryan stopped and looked at the women surrounding John and said “I suppose next, you’ll be telling me all these women are with you?” He then started looking around like he was looking for a candid camera.