Chapter 19

“Holy shit! That’s a Sandy,” said Mr. Neuport 25.

I had taxied right in to the pad and tucked under the giant’s wing.

The Camel pilot took a second look, “That is a very long canopy ... looks like a T-33 canopy.”

“She’s a two seat trainer,” I said.

“Douglas didn’t build any two seat trainers.” Mr. Camel said.

“David Anderson in Holland Michigan has 4 more ... the story he tells is that the minus Q was built as a nuclear toss bomber. The plan was for the guy in the back to spell the pilot so the pilot could rest on the way to Moscow. Wave top height and treetop the rest of the way.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope ... at a pre-caculated spot straight up ... reach a predetermined altitude let The Weapon go and dive for the deck. Pray you got far enough away to not get caught in the fireball. The AirForce had the original idea ... F-51 Mustangs. Flood the air with ‘em and hope some got through.”

“Holy shit ... Is that true?” asked Mr. SPAD.

“It was top secret until the 1990’s.” I said.

“And just how do you know?” asked Mr. Camel.

“The Powers that Be told me,” I said.

“How come I never heard of this?” Mr. Camel again.

“Congress,” I said.

“What?”

“Congress voted to kill the toss program ... AirForce lost theirs too.” My phone rang,

Flintkote Farms.

“Hold on,” I said. “I need to take this call.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Mrs. Zájara. Bud said you called.”

That was when she told me how much it cost.

“Great!” I said.

She babbled a bit more and I said, “No. I told you anything under 2 million was your bonus.”

A longer spiel from her end.

“No ... I won’t split the difference ... you earned it.”

“No. If you do that I’ll just include it with your Christmas bonus.”

By now, the three pilots were staring at me like I was nuts.

I was polite ... closed off my phone and looked at them.

“What?”

“How much did she pay for the property?” And they all looked it the smooth flat and level next door acreage ... the perfect grass airstrip ... except for the fences.

“Half a million,” I said.

The gasp heard around the world.

“You GAVE her a million and a half,” If they’d been triplets they couldn’t have done it better. A choral group ... with a director and a script ... and a months practice could not have been more precise.

“No ... I placed a value... 2 million bucks ... on the property. I would have been willing to pay that for a 48 acre grass landing field. Now I have one. Want to walk over the ground?”