Chapter 20

Bob called Ann's room early Saturday morning, "Ann, we'll get breakfast and then go to Orly. I'd like to takeoff about ten o'clock. Home is about six hours behind Paris so we'll land in Cleveland in early afternoon. Brenda is going to be waiting for us at the airport when we land."

When they walked into the restaurant is was crowded and they had to wait a few minutes. The maitre de saw Bob at the end of the line and motioned for him to move forward.

"Mr. Long you reservation is ready. I'll take you to your table."

As they walked to their table Ann leaned to him, "Is there anyone in Paris that you don't know?"

They sat down and Bob asked Ann if bacon and eggs, orange juice and coffee were Ok. Ann nodded and Bob asked the Maitre de to give their order to the waitress as they were in a hurry.

A waitress came hurrying to the table with their orange juice and coffee. She left the coffee pot on the table as Bob had asked her.

"Ann, I'd like to apologize for the other night when I kissed you. I guess you think that I was forcing myself on you. I apologize."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Ann replied.

Ann could see that Bob was uneasy with the way that the conversation was going, "I'll be glad when we get back home. I've really enjoyed this trip but I miss talking to Brenda. I know that she's only hours away but I feel like she's on another planet and I can't reach her."

Bob looked at his watch, "You'll see her in about eight or nine hours. We'll refuel in Gander and then fly to Hopkins Airport in Cleveland. We'll get Brenda on the airplane and fly home from there.'

Ann nodded and smiled, "I guess Dorothy was right... there's no place like home."

Bob laughed at Ann's reference to the Wizard of Oz. The waitress brought their breakfast and they ate and talked about the proposal that John and Paul were working on for the Swedes. After they finished Bob took Ann's room key and told her to wait in the lobby while he had a bellman bring down their bags.

When they started to get into the limo, Ann paused for one last look at the Eiffel Tower. As they pulled away from the hotel, Ann stretched to watch the Tower under she could no longer see it.

At five minutes after ten the airplane lifted its wheels and in a few seconds Ann heard the wheels latch in the wheel compartment. The plane climbed until they were above the clouds and then leveled off. The ride was smooth and in a short while they were over the Atlantic Ocean.

Ann looked out of the window for a while and Bob started working on some of his paperwork. After about a half an hour he put the paperwork down and rubbed his eyes.

"Would you like to fly the airplane?" he asked.

Ann gasped, "of course not. I don't know the first thing about airplanes."

Bob took her hand and pulled her out of her seat, "Come on. Landings and takeoffs are hard but it's not hard keeping it on the straight and level. Come on and try it. It'll give you something to hold over Brenda's head."

They walked to the front of the airplane. Bob explained that Ann would like to learn how to fly the plane and the pilot smiled and got out of his seat. He pushed Ann toward the seat and she resisted sitting in the pilot's seat.

"Go ahead Ms. Simmons. Roger will show you how to keep it flying."

Ann sat in the pilot's seat and Roger started to talk to her, "Now it's really not hard at all keeping the airplane in the air." You just have to remember that you make only small corrections. Now remember how, in those dogfight movies, you see the pilot pull the controls all of the way back and the plane would climb to attack the enemy? Well, if you pull the stick all of the way back and hold it there you'll do loops. This is a fine airplane but she really isn't built for acrobatics. If you want to climb pull the stick gently back and then bring the stick back to the neutral position. The plane will climb until you push forward on the stick. Remember that you always have to return the controls to the neutral position. Now take the controls."

Ann hesitated and then put her hands on the wheel, "Now Ms. Simmons, look at that instrument that has a horizontal line across it with the thing that looks like a stick airplane. Keep the stick airplane dead on the horizontal line and the plane will fly straight and level. If the airplane is above the line you're climbing. If it's below the line you're descending.

The airplane hit a patch of turbulence and the plane shuddered and Ann yelled, "What was that?"

The pilot was standing behind Ann and he looked at Bob, "Maybe I'd better break out the parachutes. It looks like we're going to have to jump."

Ann got a terrified look on her face and weakly said, "No."

The three of them laughed, "That was just a little turbulence. It was nothing to worry about. We don't carry parachutes on this plane."

Roger kept giving Ann instructions and in about fifteen minutes she was keeping the airplane flying straight and level. Bob could see that she was enjoying the experience.

Ann flew the airplane for about a half an hour before she asked the pilot to let her return to her seat. Ann got out of the pilot's seat and walked back to where Bob was going over some of his paperwork. As she sat down she had a big grin on her face.

Bob smiled when he saw the grin, "Ann, I'd suggest that you try to get some sleep if you can. You're going to be flying for eight or nine hours. You took off at ten o'clock am. When we land in Cleveland it will be about one o'clock pm Cleveland time. Jet lag is going to hit you hard if you don't get some sleep."

Ann stretched out on one of the bench seats. Bob got a blanket from the overhead and covered her up. Within minutes Ann was asleep. She woke up when the wheels of the plane screeched to announce that they had landed at Gander Airport.

They got off of the airplane to stretch their legs. The pilots checked the plane while it was being refueled.

Bob turned to Ann, "I've been doing some thinking while you were asleep, how about you and Brenda coming to the farm on the twentieth instead of waiting until Christmas. I haven't decorated the house in a couple of years and you and Brenda can decorate to your heart's content. You and Brenda can stay until after New Years."