Chapter 54

The next few days quickly passed. I talked with Dad about using the plane, and he said that it was okay. It’s only about two hundred and fifty air miles to Las Vegas, but I hadn’t flown it by myself before, so I had to listen to him tell me about the trip. He made me study the chart, and he me asked questions to see if I’d paid attention the next time we talked.

I got Amy and Mom alone, and asked them if they felt okay without me around. I was a little embarrassed when I said it, because I thought that they might tease me for trying to act like the ‘Man of the House’, but they surprised me by thanking me for my concern, and seriously saying that I was only a short flight away if they needed me.

Karen stopped me at school, and told me that her dad said that our STD tests came back fine. She assured me that she was on the pill, and we talked a little about unprotected sex. It was sort of embarrassing, so we didn’t dwell on it, but I was secretly looking forward to being with her without a condom. She asked me where we were going a hundred times. I kept making up silly stories about overnight camping in the sewer system, and hitchhiking trips to Alaska.

President’s Day is a three-day holiday with Monday off. I had the room booked for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, so I told Karen that we were leaving right after school on Friday.

She threatened me with bodily harm if I didn’t give her a hint what to wear on Wednesday. I told her to pack light. Dress casual, but to bring one nice outfit and a bathing suit. The bathing suit threw her. It’s a little too cool to go into the ocean around here this time of year, so she peppered me with questions about where she was going to wear it. I told her that we were going to a place that had public steam baths.

I was in my room putting my stuff together Thursday night when I grabbed the two one-hundred-dollar chips that Brandy had given me, and stuck them in my wallet. Amy tapped on the door a little later. She came in and sat on the bed, watching me. She seemed down, so I asked her, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just talked to my mother. She’s not doing well.” It startled me for a minute, until I realized that she was talking about her biological mother. I put my arms around her and held her. She snuggled against me, and after a while, she said, “She’s going downhill, Pete. I don’t think that she’ll be around much longer.”

There wasn’t really anything I could say with words, so I just continued holding her. I finally asked, “Are you okay with me being gone for a few days?”

“Uh huh. I’ll miss you, though.”

“Does it bother you that I’m going with Karen?”

“A little, but Karen is a nice girl, and you’ll have a good time.”

Amy left a few minutes later, but what she said bothered me. I would be more than a little bothered if she went away with someone. I then realized that she and I had played this game long enough. We were going to have to make a decision about our relationship.

I gave our plane a going-over after work Thursday. Dad keeps it in good shape, so there wasn’t much to do beyond the routine prep that any good pilot performs.

I began to get excited about the trip as I was cleaning the windshield. I had flown to Vegas with the family before, but never as ‘Pilot-in-command’, plus Karen and I hadn’t actually been together all that much, and I started really looking forward to the time I would be spending with her.

It’s a little over a two-hour flight in our plane if there are no headwinds. Sunset this time of year is around six PM. The air route between LA and Las Vegas flies over a lightly populated area, and it’s very black at night. I don’t mind flying at night, but I was afraid that Karen might not like it, so I knew that we should leave no later than three-thirty if we wanted to get to Las Vegas while it was still light. It would be best if we skipped our last class, so I reminded myself to get a note from Mom and have Karen get one, too.

I checked with Flight Service while I was at the field. The weekend looked okay; calm winds and unlimited visibility on Friday. A chance of rain showers in the Vegas area on Saturday, but clearing in the evening, and a nice day on tap for Sunday. That was fine with me. I don’t mind flying in the rain, but I figured that we would be on the ground Saturday anyway, and the trip home looked fine. I called the helpful lady at the hotel, and told her that we’d be there between five-thirty and six on Friday. She asked if we were flying commercial, and she asked for our plane’s tail number when I said that we’d be in our own plane.

Friday

Karen stopped me a bunch of times at school. I had never seen her so excited, and she kept pestering me about where we were going. I was getting a kick out of teasing her, and when I passed her in the hallway once, I said, “I just checked the weather; there’s a hurricane blowing. Do you have a lot of hairspray?” There were some girls with her, and I could her excitedly telling them what was going on as I continued walking.

I met her coming down the hallway at the time we were supposed to leave. The next-to-last class had just let out, and she was with some of her friends. She ran to me and laid a big kiss on me when she saw me, then waved to her friends, put her arm around my waist, and we walked outside. It was obvious that it was a show for her girlfriends, and I asked, “What’s going on here?” when we got to her car.

“I’ll tell you later. What’s the plan now?”

She had told me that she was packed last night, but I asked again, “Are you sure that you’re ready to go?”

“Yes, yes, yes! Now, tell me where we’re going before I kick your ass!”

I broke away, laughing, and replied, “I’ll be at your house in thirty minutes. Be standing outside, ready to go, or I’m leaving without you.” She gave me the finger and jumped into her car.

I hurried home and grabbed my stuff, then went inside the front house. Mom was lying on the couch when I came in. She patted a place next to her, then she hugged me and said, “I’m not going to tell you to be careful flying because I know that you’re a good pilot. All I’m going to say is that we’ll miss you, have a good time, and come back safely.”

Karen was standing on the front steps when I got to her house, and so was her father. He carried her bag to the car, then he kissed her and held the car door for her. She got in and her dad watched us as we drove off.

She immediately started pestering me about where we were going, but I didn’t answer her. I was thinking about something that had just occurred to me. I’d gone away with girls before. I went to Bakersfield with Sam, but it was before we were dating, then I went with her to Mexico, but my folks were along. I went away with Kristen, but she was older and had traveled a lot. I was with a girl my own age, and I was completely responsible for her this time. It was a kind of strange feeling, but it felt kinda good.

I was brought out of my reverie by a sharp pain. She had hit me on the arm, and was glaring at me.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“You’re ignoring me, that’s what. Dammit! I want to know where we’re going!”

Her house is not far from the airport. I grinned and said, “It’s a surprise. Can you hold on for five more minutes?” She crossed her arms, got a petulant look on her face, and plopped down in her seat.

Van Nuys airport is situated right in the middle of San Fernando Valley. It’s a huge airport with two active runways. It’s one of the busiest airports in the country in terms of takeoffs and landings, but one and two story commercial buildings surround it, and you can’t see the runways from the ground until you’re almost on top of them. You can hardly tell you’re near an airport even from one street away. I drove down a side street, turned into an access road, and we were weaving our way through parked airplanes only seconds later.

Karen gasped and said, “What are we doing here, Pete?”

I didn’t answer her until I pulled up to the fence next to our plane. As I got out, I said, “Come on, young lady; your chariot awaits.”

She got out, and stood with her mouth open when I opened the doors to the plane and started loading our bags.

I locked the car, and removed all the plane’s tiedowns when I finished with the bags. She was still standing there watching me when I looked at her, so I picked her up in my arms, carried her to the plane, and slid her into the passenger’s seat. I got in, started the engine, and was letting it warm up, when she finally stuttered, “Uhh, what’s going on here, P-Pete?”

I pretended that I didn’t know what she meant by innocently looking at her and saying, “Gee, Karen, what do you mean? You said that you wanted to go away with me, didn’t you?”

I picked up the microphone and asked ground control for taxi clearance to the runway without waiting for her to answer. They immediately cleared me, and she cried, “What are you doing, Pete? Whose plane is this? Do you know how to fly?!” as I reached for the throttle.

“Sure, I read all about it at lunch today. I noticed that this plane had keys in it. I’m sure the owner won’t mind.” I had started taxiing toward the runway when she screamed, “Peeeet!” Dad has a registration card with our name on it clipped to the sun visor. I pulled it off and handed it to her.

The flight was fantastic. The air was smooth, and the fields of winter citrus below us were brilliant green. We passed over the field at Cantil and I pointed it out to Karen. I noticed that the hangars were coming along nicely. It looked like the field would be up-and-running before long. The best part of the trip was watching Karen. She had her nose glued to the window the whole way, constantly pointing at things, and asking me questions about what they were, and where we were.

I trimmed the plane out when the air was exceptionally smooth at one point, and told her to put her hands on the controls. She looked at me with a pained expression, then gingerly touched the wheel. I showed her how minor control inputs affected the plane, and I put my hands in my lap after a few minutes. It wasn’t long before she got the hang of it, and kept the plane going, more or less the right direction, and at close to the correct altitude. She started grinning, and it looked like her face was frozen that way after a while. We must have had a slight tailwind, because it was less than two hours later when I spotted and radioed Las Vegas Tower.

You preface each conversation with the tail numbers of your plane when you call a tower for landing. It lets them know which plane they’re talking to. The hotel must have told them that we were coming, because I pulled onto a taxiway after we landed, and I was about to switch to ground control for directions where to park, when a van with a big ‘Follow Me’ sign painted on it pulled in front of us. I followed it to a parking area near the terminal. Two guys jumped out, and one of them pointed to a set of tiedowns.

He opened my door after I shut the engine down, and said, “Welcome, Mr. Baker. I’ll secure the plane for you,” then he went around and helped Karen from her seat. The other guy put our bags on a cart, and we followed him into the terminal. I arranged to have the plane gassed up, then I asked how much the tiedown charge would be.

The attendant told me, “Oh, that’s taken care of by the hotel. Have a seat, Sir; the limousine will be here shortly.”

Karen had been awfully quiet since we landed. She looked around when we sat down, and said, “Las Vegas, huh?”

“Yup. Have you been here before?”

“Sure, with Dad, but never in a small plane, and never like this.”

I grinned, and said to her; “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” A guy in a chauffeur’s uniform came up to us just then, and asked, “Mr. Baker?” I nodded, and he led us to a shiny limousine. He loaded our bags, then he drove us to one of the Miracle hotel’s side entrances. The driver must have called ahead, because there was a porter and a guy in a suit standing there. The suit said, “Welcome to the Miracle, Mr. Baker, please follow me.”

He took us up to a suite on the same floor where we had stayed before, and handed us each a room keycard, along with some brochures showing what was going on in town, and asked us if we would like to dine in the hotel this evening. I mentioned the steak house that I remembered from when we were here last, then I asked about a fabulous show that I had heard about. It was an R-rated, circus-like show, all done underwater, and the tickets were supposed to be almost impossible to get.

He said, “Of course, Sir. Shall I put you down for the eleven PM show this evening?” I nodded, but the porter showed up before I could say anything. The suit wished us a good time, said that he would arrange for dinner at eight o’clock, and he excused himself. The porter hung our clothes up then headed for the door.

Karen cleared her throat to get my attention. She was making a rubbing motion with her fingers to indicate that I should tip him When I looked at her. I just raised an eyebrow, in what I figured was a superior manner, and shook my head. She said, “You don’t even tip these guys?” as soon as the door closed.

“Not here.”

“Okay, Smart Guy, I’m impressed! Tell me what the FUCK is going on? Did you hit the lottery or something?”

I put as innocent a face as I could manage on, and replied, “Why no; I just told them that I was coming here with the most beautiful girl in the world. They agreed to roll out the red carpet as soon as I mentioned that it was you.” She stood there looking at me as I picked up the phone to call home and tell them we were safely here.

Karen did the same, then scolded her dad for not telling her where we were going, and that we were flying in a small plane. She was smiling when she said it, though. Then there were a few minutes of silence, and her expression changed to one of surprise. She thanked him, told him she loved him, and hung up. I asked, “What’s the matter?”

There were tears in her eyes when she answered. “It’s my dad. He told me that I was a young woman now, and that he loved me. He said a bunch of great things about respecting me and trusting me. He promised that he would be the dad who I wanted and deserved as long as I needed him. My dad and I don’t talk much. This was amazing and wonderful.”

She seemed to want to be quiet for a minute, so I went to the service bar and opened a bottle of champagne. The sun had just set, and the lights of the strip made a fantastic contrast against the black of the sky. It almost looked like a video game. We sat quietly, enjoying the champagne, until she finally said, “Okay, I have to know what’s going on here. Are you gonna tell me?”

“All right, but you tell me what was happening when you laid that lip lock on me in the hallway at school today first.”

“What’s the matter, didn’t you like it?”

“Of course I did, but you’re evading the issue.”

She grinned at me, then snuggled against me. “You don’t have any idea who you are, do you! You’re the best-looking guy in school, and you’re the one most people talk about. Every guy is jealous, and every girl would like to date you. I get a big kick out of letting them know that I’m one of the girls you go out with.”

I kissed her on top of the head, and said, “Thank you, but there are better looking guys than me at school, and I’m not going out with any other girls!”

“Not now, but a ‘10’ will come along before long, and you will.”

“Why do you say that? You ARE a 10. You’re smart, beautiful, poised, and wonderful to be with. You’re everything that a guy could want!”

“No, Pete. Thank you, but I’m not a 10. I’m a pretty girl with a nice shape, but I’m not in the same league as the girls you’ve dated.”

She started to say more, but I grabbed her and kissed her, then I said, “I don’t care what you say, you’re my 10 for this weekend. Now, let’s get cleaned up for dinner. I’ll tell you what this is all about while we’re eating.”

We started for the door after individual trips to the bathroom and quick hair combings. Karen had put a different blouse on. The color suited her, and she looked very pretty. So pretty, in fact, that I realized that I was staring at her. She blushed when she saw me and said, “C’mon, we’re gonna be late.”

Another couple joined us in the hallway, and we waited for the elevator together. The guy was about thirty, and kind of heavy-set. He kept sneaking glances at Karen, until I stepped between them and stared at him. The girl was a little younger, and very pretty. She was wearing a low-cut blouse, and the bulge of her tits was amazing. It didn’t look like she was wearing a bra. You couldn’t see through the material of the blouse, but you could see the bumps her nipples made. However, the bumps were sort of lumpy looking. She was wearing a lot of jewelry, including large diamond earrings and a huge wedding ring.

She saw the glances her husband was giving Karen, and frowned at him. He saw the frown, but he didn’t seem to care. The two were obviously staying in one of the other suites on our floor, and I wondered who they were.

We got off the elevator at the same time, and walked to the restaurant together. We were first at the hostess table, and she quickly said, “Your table is ready, Mr. Baker,” when I gave her my name, and seated us.

There were a few loud words when she went back to the other couple. I saw the guy point to us, and he seemed upset. I don’t know what was said, but I saw the hostess point them toward the bar. The waiter tried to hand us menus, but I waved them away and asked Karen, “May I order for you?”

She nodded, so I ordered giant lobster dinners for each of us.

The waiter said, “Yes, Sir, now what about dessert?”

“What do you recommend?”

“Shall I surprise you?”

“Sure, that’ll be great!”

The waiter left, and Karen said, “This is driving me crazy, Pete. I’ve been in this restaurant with Dad. You could buy a small car for what you just spent on dinner.”