Chapter 16: Saturday at Plummet Field

The next morning I woke with Adam's arm draped across my side. Eventually I couldn't hold still any longer and then he woke up too.

"You doin' OK?" he whispered.

"Yeah, weird but OK, I guess."

"Olivia's just a friend. You know that, right? And it was Friday the thirteenth..."

"Yeah, shower buddies," I recalled, silently regretting I'd ever proposed that arrangement. Then oh well, I thought: better the trouble you know. Gently I grabbed his cock.

"You better be careful, there," Adam cautioned quietly. Then I had him in my mouth, then Olivia woke, then she dropped onto his face. I suppose I could have asked her for equal treatment but I let it pass. Friday the thirteenth usually goes from morning to morning, not midnight to midnight, but I'm not into that. With girls, I mean. I got what I wanted from Adam, and Olivia knew it.

Adam's alarm went off at six thirty. The three of us realized as one that the bathroom was quiet and we rushed in as one to shower and clean up. I began to wonder more and more about the whole shower buddy arrangement. Adam certainly seemed to enjoy doing it with two girls at once. Showering, that is. Or was it more?

Adam went looking for Walt but the bedroom was empty. We eventually found him in the foyer saying goodbye to Cynthia's sister, Natasha Robinsong, and to Tanya Hayward, an agent Cynthia worked with at Bogswamp.

Next to leave were three clothed people who'd apparently been in the guest room. Walt then introduced Molly, a supply manager from the airline, Meghan her masseuse, and Maynard, a trucking inspector from out of town. I guess Walt, Tanya, and Molly had started the evening together, then met the others at a club and mixed things up.

Out in the front yard six younger kids were running, rolling, bumping, and snuggling. Two were Adam's younger brother and sister, a pair of new twins named Effie and Jeffie. The other four were two more new pairs who'd spent the night with them. Curious.

Once Walt's visitors had left he, Adam, Olivia and I got in the jeep and headed over to Finer Diner for breakfast. When we arrived Nate and a full crew of helpers were double-checking a flatbed semi trailer equipped with a fifteen-foot wood-fired grill, a twelve-foot commercial range, two deli stations, four fry vats, an order window, a waiting line, and a pickup window. Workmen are filling a full-length refrigerated trailer with fresh meat, sausages, fruit, vegetables, milk, and cheese. Nearby were a dozen palettes loaded with bread, buns, flour, frying oil, ketchup, mustard, pickles, salt, pepper, and other seasonings. One palette held nothing but exotic spices and toppings. A semi from the local soft drink bottler was idling at the curb.

Despite this hubbub of activity, Nate immediately stopped what he was doing and guided the four of us into the Finer Diner. Once inside, he led us to a reserved table and then disappeared into the back room. Moments later he returned with our breakfast.

Keying off Adam and Walt's last name, Jonson, Nate had prepared a Swedish breakfast special. Most of it rested on three glass and stainless steel tea carts, each at one corner of the table. At the fourth corner, Nate stood behind a portable range and proudly announced his creation.

"This mawnin' we have four traditional Swedish drinks," he began. "First is Kaffe (the Swedish word for coffee) fresh ground from Zoégas brand Ekologiskt Odlat-100% Organic beans. Next is authentic Gothenburg Tea, taken straight. Third we have Pommac, a fruit-flavored soft drink. And finally there's Filmjölk, a thick, slightly sour milk you can take with or without sugar.

"We have quite a selection from the bakery this mawnin'. This is Limpa, a rye bread seasoned with beer, honey, cardamom, caraway, aniseed, and orange peel... Next is Lucia, a white bread seasoned with saffron. These Ableskiver are basically pancake balls. We also have Swedish pancakes and waffles with fresh lingonberries or lingonberry syrup, Swedish apple pancakes, breakfast crepes with fruit topping, and several kinds of quiche, all delicately flavored. The rest of these are standards: traditional Swedish coffee braid bread, muffins, and cinnamon rolls.

"Of course we have fresh fruit. These are fresh lingonberries, which come from the cranberry family. They're quite popular in northern Europe for making jams and preserves. We also have apples, pears, plums, cherries, imported bananas, oranges, and kiwis.

"How can you have Swedish breakfast without cheese? This is Graddost, Sweden's most popular cheese, deliciously mild and very creamy. It's laced with small to mid-sized holes. Served with fruit and wine, its also an excellent dessert cheese. Here we have Herrgard, Sweden's second most popular cheese. It comes in large wheels and has just a few small holes. It has similar characteristics to Cheddar and the color is pale yellow. The taste is slightly sweet and nutty. Havarti you may already know. It has a mild buttery and creamy taste and a semi-soft texture. Most people find it very appealing. I also have it seasoned with dill. This is Hushallsost, Scandinavian farmer's cheese, and this is deep fried Jarlsberg Cheese with Lingonberry Sauce.

"There's no better way of staring the day than a bowl of hot and hearty soup. Here we have Havregrot, a type of oatmeal porridge. This is Fruktsoppa, and old fashioned Swedish fruit soup. Next is Gerstensuppe Engadine barley soup, a cream soup made with made with tongue, beef, barley, haricot beans, diced potatoes, and cabbage. In here I have Swedish cheese soup, made with Emmenthal, Appenzell, and Gruyere cheeses. If you'd rather have something cool, try the chilled blueberry soup or the watercress and pear soup made with shallots, chicken stock, and double cream.

"Eggs, I can make any kind you like right here at the table. I particularly recommend omelets or eggs benedict any way you like them, including tomato and watercress, crab cake and smoked salmon, and the boiled eggs with red & black cod's roe.

"For our selection of meat this mawnin' we have Swedish meatballs in a sour cream gravy, honey roast ham, potato sausage, assorted cold meats, and assorted Swedish sausages.

"Fish, of course, is a staple of Sweden. Here we have smoked salmon served with fresh dill & lemon, smoked herring, pickled herring, herring in mustard dill sauce, crispy cod bites with tartar sauce, crayfish tails in dill mayonnaise. This is Jansson's Frestelse, which means Jansson's Temptation. It's shredded potato cooked with anchovy fillets & cream. Fantastic. Here at the end we have Gravadlax: salmon cured with dill & rock salt served with mustard sauce.

"I've mentioned potatoes already but this is Pytti Panna, a hash of potatoes, sausage & bacon, served with a fried egg. In a simpler vein we also have potatoes sautéed with onion and lightly fried hash browns.

"For condiments we have all the standards plus grape pudding, Swedish rice pudding, Filmjölk, a kind of sour-milk yogurt, Prawns mayonnaise, and Lingonberry jam.

"And finally, if none of that appeals to you, we have the most popular breakfast cereal in Sweden: Cheerios. Now, what can I serve you?"

"We'll have one of those also," a family of six told Nate from the next booth.

"All right, just let me check one thing," Nate replied, heading into the back room. Adam, Walt, Olivia, and I were speechless anyway. I could have spent all day just making up my mind.

A moment later Nate returned with a sorrowful look on his face. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "We're all out of those. You're in luck, though; today's special is the chuck wagon egg skillet. I can give you six of those for the price of five."

"Maybe they'd like to share," suggested the mom, her mouth obviously watering. "They seem to have plenty, and we'd gladly pay our share."

"I'm sorry; health regulations don't allow that," Nate maintained.

"Well, OK, we'll have the skillets," the dad finally decided. I really felt sorry for him. He was trying to do something nice for his family, and because of us he ended up being the goat. So, before we left, I asked Nate for a piece of paper and then got the dad's attention.

"Uh, look; I'm sorry about what happened with the food here," I told the dad.

"No, that's all right. I'm sure it wasn't your fault," he told my left tit. Of course, he was sitting and I was standing, perhaps a little too close. The mom was giving me dirty looks.

"Well, look; we're going to be giving jeep and dune buggy rides this afternoon at Bushie's Off-Road. If you give 'em this note, you can each have a free ride," I told the dad. Then, I wrote, "Free pass, specials all-around, all-day, family of six," signed it, and dated it. The dad didn't seem convinced, though.

"There's gonna be some other things going on, too," I encouraged him. "Bands, outdoor food vendors, some pompom girls..." Of course, when I got to the pompom girls, that's all he needed to know. He took the pass.

After that, Nate called me over to the counter. "Do you want a box for those leftovers?" he asked jokingly. Of course, we'd hardly made a dent in all that food.

"I don't think it would fit in the jeep," I replied.

"Well, I'd hate to throw all this out. Would you like it delivered somewhere?" Nate suggested.

"How about the Jonson's?" I suggested.

"No problem," Nate replied. "You got the address?"

I did, right there in my PDA, so I beamed it into the cash register and patted Nate on the butt. "Bang!" I whispered.

"Yeah, Bang!" he replied. "See you this afternoon."

"Yeah, this afternoon," I confirmed, and then I joined the others and got in the jeep.

The weather was beautiful as we headed out to Plummet Field, the general aviation airport. I drove just fast enough to arrive perfectly on schedule at eight.

The moment I parked Walt stood and went rigid. His eyes were locked on a genuine old biplane coming in for a landing. Other than going glassy, his attention was complete. To say he was transfixed wouldn't convey the half of it.

"Are you OK?" I asked, then again, "Walt, are you OK?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he mumbled, not looking away for a second. "You know, my whole life I've dreamed of flying a plane like that, but that they're so rare I've never even seen one. This is like a dream. Look at that. Oh my. Just look," then he had to wipe his eyes again.

Walt remained transfixed as the biplane taxied over to the spot where the four of us were standing. It was painted olive drab with concentric red, white, and blue circles that looked like bulls-eyes on the fuselage and wings. As soon as the engine stopped, Olivia and I ran out to fix the tie downs.

Walt remained by the fence, slack-jawed and frozen. Then, after getting a nod from the pilot, he approached the plane gingerly, and then glided his fingertips all around it without touching. Every detail fascinated him: every screw, every hinge, every pulley, every cable. He couldn't take his eyes away. Adam was fascinated as well, but not the way his dad was.

After about five minutes I interrupted and introduced both guys to the pilot. "Walt and Adam, meet Teddy Rickenbacker. Ted's an old friend of mine. He's in town to help me with a few things."

"Nice to meet you, Ted," said Walt, who nevertheless couldn't keep his eyes off the plane. "Is... Is that what I think it is?"

"It depends what you think," Ted teased. "Genuine Sopwith Camel, one of 5,140 ever built. This is number 4037, built over a hundred years ago in 1918. 150 horsepower Gnome rotary engine. Nine cylinders. Of course we've braced the wings and fuselage, and we've added an electric starter and all the legally-required flight instruments. Miniature versions, of course. I have no idea who installed the trainer seat and dual controls but we left them in. Every few years we have to replace the fabric."

Walt stood transfixed but seemed to be taking it all in.

"So Walt, as a professional pilot, do you think there's much interest left for these old planes?" Ted asked.

Walt just about jumped out of his skin. "Oh yes, I'm sure there is," he uttered with a squeak in his voice. Then he just kept staring at the plane.

"Would you like to go up?" Ted asked Walt.

"Could I? I gotta tell you, Ted, this is a boyhood dream. That would be fantastic."

"Consider it done," Ted replied, giving me a wink. "Viv, would you do the honors?"

With that, Ted tossed me the keys and Walt nearly left his skin again. Adam sat down and held his forehead.

"Sure," I replied, snatching the keys out of the air. "What about Adam?"

"I'll make sure he doesn't get bored," Ted replied.

This time it was my turn to wink but I kept silent and let Ted have his fun. I was just pumped to be flying again. I headed straight for the Camel.

Walt was suddenly uncertain but I knew what I was doing and set out to prove it. Without looking I pulled a kit bag out of the front seat, picked out a leather helmet, goggles, poncho, and scarf, and then helped Walt find similar equipment his size. The helmets had two-way radios built in.

Next I helped Walt into the front cockpit, making absolutely sure he was strapped in properly. Then I climbed into the rear and fastened my straps as if I'd done it a hundred times before. OK, as I'd done a hundred times before. Ted and Olivia freed the tie-downs and then I started the engine. Oh, yeah! There's no other sound in the world quite like that big nine-cylinder rotary starting up. As quickly as possible I blinked, dried my cheek, and collected myself.

Safety first, of course. I tested the cables and flaps, checked the flags and windsock, called for tower clearance, taxied to the end of the runway, and asked Walt if he was ready. Walt gave me the thumbs up, then I hit it. As in both the throttle and high C.

"Whoooo-ooh! We're runnin' baby! Yeeeee-ha! Eat ground! Yeeeeeaaa! We're rollin; baby! Rollin... Rollin... Tail up! Ooooooh baby! We're rockin'! We're rollin'! Hang on! Almost! Almost! Hang on! Airspeed! Airspeed! Elevators up! Vhwoooom! Yeeeee-haaaaa! Goodbye dirt, hello sky! I got wings, baby! I'm walkin' on air! I'm on top of the wooooorrrrld! Just me and the clouds! Yeeeeeah! Yah-hah! Whooooo-ee!"