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 Chapter Eleven



   "Mom!  Dad!  They've got TWO airplanes!" Susan squealed.

   I shook hands with Mike.  "It's not that big a deal.  Really.  The big
one's four seats, and less than an RV, and the little one's two seats and
less than a new bass boat.  Or a good used pickup truck."

   "Still, it sounds impressive," Mike said.

   We sat around the table and ordered fried seafood and talked while we
were waiting on its arrival.  Kathy dove right in.  "Susan said you RESCUED
Tina at gunpoint?!?"

   "It's not nearly as heroic as you make it sound," I said.  Tina and I
recounted part of the story.  "She ended up with no place to go, and I
offered her a place to stay until she got sorted out."

   "I was stuck.  No relatives.  Evacuating ahead of a hurricane.  And Alan
offered.  The deputy sheriff talked to me.  Told me that if Alan treated me
wrong, to call 'im.  Alan..."

   Kathy looked at me.  "Just out of the clear blue, you offered?"

   "Yeah," I said.  "If it would've been a boy her age, I would've offered.
I was just trying to help somebody who needed helping."

   "Just sounds kind of... you know..."

   "Oh, believe me, I DO know... Last thing I wanted was to take advantage
of her.  If you think it looks strange, you oughtta see it from my side..."
I looked at Mike.  "What would YOU do?"

   Mike smiled.  "I like to think I'm that honorable."

   "You weren't when you were eighteen," Kathy said.

   "Uh..  Mommmmm!" Susan squealed.

   "I'm sorry, Alan.  Tina.  It's just, you know..." Kathy admitted.

   "I know," I said.  "The age thing..."

   "Just numbers, Mizz Kathy," Tina said.  "I've seen some absolutely
HORRIBLE relationships in my life, and the people involved were the
'proper' age for each other."

   "He bought her an airplane, Mom.  She's in high school, an' she's at the
top of her class, an' she's learning to fly.  Obviously we need to see that
he gets some pointers on exploitation." Susan folded her arms.

   I was thinking 'Way to go, Susan!"

   Mike chuckled.  "Yeah, I'd say he's missing that whole 'exploitation'
thing."

   "Okay... okay..., ya'll made your point.  I am just wrong..." Kathy
said.

   "No, Kathy,' I said.  "You're just cautious, and that's not a bad
thing."

   "Thank you for your generosity, Alan," Kathy said, "but I'm afraid my
motives weren't as pure as one would hope."

   ""But you're over it," Mike said.  "Besides, here's fried catfish. 
That's sure to bring on benevolent thoughts."

   "Tell me again why I married you?" She laughed.

   Susan rolled her eyes.

   "I think it's cute," Tina said.

   Dinner became a lot more relaxed.  We talked about college choices for
Susan and Tina and my work and Mike's and Kathy's.

   "And they're flying to Louisiana this weekend," Susan said.

   Tina smiled.  "I get to meet my sister-in-law for the first time, face
to face."

   I told Kathy, "If you think YOU had reservations, you oughtta hear what
my sister told me..."

   That got a giggle from Tina.

   "My sister is woefully conventional," I said.

   Mike snickered and got punched in the bicep.

   "Lacking in imagination..."

   Kathy eyed Mike.  "Don't!"

   He snickered anyway.  Got punched again.  "So you're flying down there
in your plane?"

   "Yep!" Tina grinned.  "We'll leave at seven and get there before noon.
And fly back on Sunday."

   "Heck of a way to travel," he said.

   "Sounds FUN!" Susan said.  "They're gonna take me flying..."

   "Is it safe?" Kathy asked.

   "Mooo-ommm!" Susan whined.

   "Safer than the drive to the airport, Kathy.  Really."

   "Safer than Cousin Robby's four-wheeler," Susan said.

   Mike said, "My nephew flipped his four-wheeler horsing around.  Broken
arm.  Caved in face."

   "Horsing around?"

   "Yeah," Mike said.  "You know the saying?  'Hold mah beer an' watch
this!'?  It was like that..."

   "There's a lot of truth in that joke," I said.  "Sometimes I look back
an' wonder how I made it this far..."

   "Him too," Kathy laughed.  "You're looking at Mister Dirt Bike... into
the door of a pickup truck." Giggle.

   "Wasn't too bad.  Twenty-eight stitches!  That scar right here." He
pointed to his forehead.

   We finished our meal pleasantly and parted ways with Tina driving us
home since we were in her car.

   "That was interesting," she opined.

   "'Interesting' is a good word for it.  I thought Kathy was getting wound
up."

   "Me too," she said.  "But she's not a MEAN person.  I think she just
wanted to understand..."

   "Maybe that's it," I said.

   The week went well.  Mid-week, Tina went to the airport and came back
giggling, showing her logbook with her first hour of instruction toward her
private license.  Milestone!  Studying for her written exam became
something we interspersed between her schoolwork.

   Friday night we got an invite from the Carters, Susan's parents, for
dinner.  Kathy told Tina, "We figured you'd rather not cook the night
before your trip."

   We accepted and had a very pleasant meal with new friends.

   Saturday morning we were up early and on our way to the airport.  Our
wheels left the ground at five minutes to seven.  With Tina in the pilot's
seat.  And me with my arms crossed.  "Just tell me when I need to take
over," I said into the headset microphone.  I saw her turn to me, smiling.

   "Just don't let me get in trouble," she said.

   At eleven fifteen we were on the ground in Louisiana and tying down when
I saw Elise's car pull up.

   "Damn!, Brother!  The pictures don't do HER justice!  Hi, Tina!" and a
hug.

   Tina was grinning.  She bobbed her head sideways near Elise.  "Honey,"
she said to me, "I don't see where they cut the horns off!  You said she
used to have horns!"

   "See, darlin'," she said.  "You lived with 'im too long already.  You
might be ruint!  "

   "OH, that's okay, Elise!  I'm ONLY your brother.  I don't mind being
ignored."

   "Oh, I already KNOW you.  I'm tryin' to see what you did to Tina!" Elise
laughed.

   I finished tying down the plane.  We got in the car.  Oddly, I was in
the back seat with the two of them giggling in the front.  "I personally do
not mind being ignored by my lovely wife and my only sister," I said.

   Half an hour later, Elise pulled into MY driveway.

   "This is OUR house?" Tina squealed.  "It's nice!"

   "Smells," I said.  "When we come down for Christmas, I'll call Elise and
get her to air the thing out."

   "I'd do that for Tina.  If it was you, I'd turn a possum loose in it."

   "Ni-ice!" I laughed.  "Let's see if our car starts." The car in the
garage was the diametric opposite of my big diesel pick-up truck.  This was
a sub-compact about the same as Tina's little Honda.  A trickle charger
should've kept the battery charged.  I retrieved the keys from the key rack
by the door from the kitchen into the garage and gave them to Tina.

   "Lemme get the charger disconnected, baby," I told her.  "Then you can
start it." It cranked right up.

   Elise said, "We'll see ya'll at the house around four or five, okay?"

   "Sounds good," I said.

   "See ya in a bit, Elise," Tina added.

   Elise left.  I showed Tina the house.  We opened windows to let the
stale air out.  I went to the bathroom and when I came out, Tina was
sitting on the bed with a lascivious grin on her face.

   "Don't'cha think we oughta..." It had been entirely too long since there
was real love in that house.  Tina brought it back.

   Afterward, we were lying nude together, drifting in the afterglow.

   "Baby, why aren't you living here?  This is a nice place.  You have
family..." She rolled onto her side and propped up on an elbow.

   "I wanted to get out of town for a while after my wife left.  I wasn't
handling things real well.  And there's good money out there.  Besides, if
I wasn't running the roads, I would have missed the love of my life..."

   "Is there a university close by?" she asked.

   "Close enough.  Why?"

   "You know why," she smiled.  "Next fall, I need to start college.  Can
you handle it?  From here?"

   "There are options," I said.  "I could keep being a road warrior, but
only go after short-term jobs, like a week or two at a time, and spend a
lot of time here."

   "I don't like that one, baby," she said softly.  "I'm not tryin' to be
greedy or clingy, but I want to be with you."

   "That's why that's a last resort," I said.  "It's always an option,
something to fall back on, if we needed to.  But another option is to get
onboard with one of the local engineering offices.  If I get on staff, the
work is steady, the pay is only okay, but out of town travel is low.  They
do contract engineers, too, the pay is better, but it's dependent on their
workload, and there are no benefits.  Or I could go to work in one of the
local industries.  That's a little more exciting than the engineering
companies."

   "But you do have options here?" she asked, her blue eyes soft.

   "Or someplace else.  There are a lot of people I know, companies that
would give me a job."

   "Look, baby," she said, "I want us to be together.  I want to go to
college, and I want to get my own engineering degree, and I want us to be
together after that, too.  I mean it.  Forever."

   "Forever," I repeated, and I kissed her.  That precipitated another
soft, tantalizing interlude, not as long, but very satisfying.

   "It's almost four," she said.  "We have someplace to be."

   "If you insist."

   Giggle.  "You promised Elise.  Don't get her an excuse to abuse you,"
she laughed.