Chapter 14

(Day 15, 9-1-04, Westchester County Airport, NY, 10:00 a.m.)

Grif, Tara, Tracy and Sam arrived and were met by Tracy and Sheila's father and Sheila. Dominic Del Monaco was about Grif's height. He was a little heavier with a hairline that had done it's receding several years before. He wore glasses, and being third generation Italian-American, spoke with no discernible accent one attributes to the Italians we see in the movies and on TV. His wife Beverly was a couple years younger than he was, and had short curly hair that was once reddish-blonde. She was of Polish-American descent, hence the varying shade of reddish brown hair Tracy, Sheila and their kids had. His mother Mary, was eighty-two, and was your typical little Italian grandmother who did have the accent.

"I hear there's fishing in Alaska like nowhere else on earth. Fish so thick you can't see the bottom of the river. Big ones like your leg. Is that so," Dominic asked?

"That depends on the time of the year, and the stream," Grif answered. "The King Salmon, I think you call them Chinooks, in Lake Ontario, grow pretty big in some of the rivers. They run in June and July. Then the Silvers or Coho run in August and September. Most of those would be hard pressed to go three feet. The Pike out on the Yukon backwaters now, they aren't thick but there are enough of them that a person can catch one around four feet long just about any day."

Then Dom said, "I got a thirty-inch inseam. Therefore I can say a thirty-inch Coho is as long as my leg, no?"

Grif said, "That sure works for me Dom."

Dom replied, "I always wanted to go there to fish sometime, but Beverly never cared that much for the woods. I don't know what she would do."

Tara told him, "Dom, there are a lot of women who go to Alaska, and just see the sights. Believe me they are plenty of things they can do, even on their own, and be very safe while doing it."

Dom said, "Yes but we have my mother to care for, and she is old and slow. She doesn't like to leave home."

"If you really want to go, we can put together a tour that would take care of everything they needed, and another for everything you wanted to do. They would be taken care of so you wouldn't need to worry. You just let me know." Tara offered.

After they arrived at Dom's house, and introduced Sam to the others, Tracy and Sheila sat down to discuss Sam's addition to the crew. Tracy sat next to Sam as though she was sending a subtle message to her sister not to mix business and socializing.

Grif and Tara walked with Dom out to his garden where he picked a few tomatoes, three cucumbers, and some ripe cantaloupes, which they carried for him. "This is my pleasure these days, my vegetable garden," Dom told them, "I used to fish, and hunt. Then some fool, who thought he was a deer, shot my son Tommy. After that, I lost interest in it. It was never the same after he died. Tracy never wanted to do that stuff when she was small. Sheila was a tomboy, and took after her brother! My Papa taught her to fish with flies. That girl could catch fish. There could be one fish in the whole lake. Nobody else gets a bite, but Sheila would be the one to catch it."

Dom continued, "My Papa loved her so much. That was his granddaughter, never mind my two sisters had one each, and we had Tracy. She cried for days and days when he died."

Tara could see the tears coming to his eyes, and changed the subject. "These cantaloupes smell really sweet. I bet they are good. Do you save the seeds, and plant them next year?" she asked. "My great-grandfather always used to."

"When you find something good, you stay with it," Dom replied. "Those seeds have been in the family for three, no four generations now. Would you like some of the seeds from these?"

Just then Beverly and Donna came to the door, "Hey you guys, dinner's getting cold."

Tara and Grif didn't need an engraved invitation. They washed up, and went to sit at the table. Dom sat at one end, and Sam was told as the guest of honor to sit at the other end. Then something Grif and Sam had never seen outside of the South since they were kids happened. They said grace. In New York mind you.

"Sheila," Dom said, "Would you give the blessings?"

All around the table joined hands, and bowed their heads, as Sheila began. "Lord, thank you that we are all able to gather here and share in this bountiful meal, and the love that is found in our home. Amen"

"Dick and Barry never used to come over cause we ask blessings," Dom said.

There was a big bowl of spaghetti, with meatballs and Italian sausage, a really fresh garden salad, with olives, and garlic bread and bread sticks. As they passed the food around, Mary looked at Sam, and said, "Sam, are you single?"

He answered, "My wife passed away a couple years back."

One could see the gears in Grandma's head turning. She eyed Sam with approval. After dinner, Sam, Tara and Grif were invited to stay at the Del Monaco's while Tracy went back to Sheila's house. They visited a while, and Sam asked a few questions about Tracy, although not in her capacity as his future employer.

(Day 16- Trenton, NJ 1:30 p.m. The office of Hendley Publishing)

Frank wanted to stop by and see Frank while he was near, and Sheila had a manuscript that she had been working on to submit, so they went to meet with the publisher. It was the first time Sheila and Frank ever met face to face. She had complained to him over the phone about how Dick would always re-edit her articles.

Frank admitted that he liked them better the first time around. He said, "I would be a hypocrite to say how sorry I am at the news of your husbands' deaths. They were really difficult people to deal with. This manuscript won't be subject to re-edit then?"

Sheila replied, "Not unless you people do it. This one is an expose of some of the things that go on behind the scenes politically with the funds of organizations like ours was. I don't know if you heard or not but we sold AFF the other day. We are going into the resort business in Alaska."

"Now that is somewhere I always wanted to go," Frank admitted. "I've been to Hawaii, and I have been all over Canada, but the nearest to Alaska I have been is Vancouver."

"It is really beautiful," Sheila assured him.

"I didn't know that you knew Samuel, and Griffin," said Frank. "How did that happen? I mean Samuel is in New Mexico and Griffin lives up in... oh, yeah. You just came from there. Do they work for you now?"

Grif explained how they met and what their plans were with Walker Lake Lodge. Frank offered to help Sheila design and print the brochures.

"I might be out of line in offering, but you are the first client I have met with ties to Alaska. Is there any chance we could do some sort of trade towards a trip?" Frank asked.

Tracy spoke up, "Why not? I am sure you and Sheila can work out the logistical details, later."

They had a nice early dinner, and Frank brought them to the airport where they saw his Cessna 182 Skylane, which he used to travel around the Northeast. Frank took Sheila back to White Plains, while Grif and Tara flew Tracy and Sam on to Philadelphia. Grif had scheduled his and Tara's Flight Safety Certification for the Beech King Air at the center in Wichita, Kansas. They would be gone for two weeks.

Sam opted to spend his remaining time off in Philadelphia getting better acquainted with Tracy. That afternoon, Tara and Grif flew on to Wichita. The Flight Safety for each kind of aircraft is required for commercial, charter and airline pilots, mostly for the insurance purposes, but it also insures that a Cessna 152 pilot never gets in the cockpit of a 767.

(Day 16 — Walker Lake, Alaska)

The construction project on the Walker Lake Lodge had begun on the 30^th. The survey team had the area laid out, and the Airport team was grooming a 3000-foot gravel airstrip, so that the L-100 could get in and out with more materials. Rudy had flown out in the Super Cub, which he still owned. Sheila had neglected to pay him for the plane, or maybe she was just blowing smoke. Regardless, he and Tara had come to the agreement over the EDO amphibious floats for their T-206H, and he was content to keep the Super Cub.

Rudy hoped she didn't stick his friends, but something told him it was just the enormity of so much going on that had been compressed into so few days. He took the requested photos and spoke with Joseph Whitefox, the on-side Foreman. The AVWCC Casa 212 and Dash 7 flew in while he was there. Aboard were the small, dirt-movers, and the materials that made it in thus far. Rudy then remembered the other Zodiac boats down on the Kobuk, and took off to retrieve them at the cache tower on the river.

Rudy sent Tracy the e-mail with the photos, and his time thus far. He told her that he no longer wished to sell the Super Cub, as he had made the deal with Grif and Tara for the EDO floats for his new plane. Within the hour he received the reply, thanking him for his efforts, and asking him to let her know his address, Social Security number, and if he had a Pay Pal account. If so, she would simply use that to pay him.

Tracy also asked him to go to the Chena River Lodge, and find out why she had not been sent the information on her remaining employees. While he was at the Chena, Rudy was requested to check ID's and make certain that everyone was who he or she said they were, and that there was a functional person for every employee on the payroll.

It was becoming apparent to all, that Tracy had a lot more business sense than anyone gave her credit for. The next day, the L-100 made its first run with the wood for the sub-flooring of the lodge. Construction was right on schedule. With the first snow of the season that would stay due in the next few days, the L-100 would be making two trips a day, along with the Dash 7.

(Day 19 — Chena River Lodge, northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska)

Robert Walters had just returned from Fairbanks, where he deposited $22, 134.98 in the account opened for the Chena River Lodge, $31,700.00 in the one due the retiring former owners, and $15,000.00 in his personal account from cash. The slow season was about to begin, and he wanted to be sure that his nest egg be well padded should the new owners decide to fire him.