Payroll by William James Johnson Chapter 18

Their plane crossed into the state of Colorado just north of Denver. Without realizing it, the drastic change in geography was creating a problem they had not anticipated. The altitude required for safe flying in the mountains put them well above the ten thousand foot level, the usual height where oxygen is required in an unpressurized aircraft. Rona was the first to notice the effect.
"I don't know about you, but my head is starting to feel strange. I'm breathing hard, but I don't seem to be getting enough air."
Silky checked the altimeter.
"We're almost at twenty thousand feet. You're body is probably feeling the need for oxygen."
"Doesn't it bother you?"
"Of course. I didn't mention it because I didn't want to worry you."
"Well I am worried. Those mountains out there are for real. If we start having problems thinking straight because we aren't getting enough oxygen, who knows what'll happen."
"I'll take it down a few thousand feet. That should help."
He descended slowly toward the craggy mountain tops. Immediately they could feel an improvement in their oxygen supply.
"Hey! Slow down. Now you're gettin' a little too close for comfort."
"We gotta stay lower. I just remembered something. NORAD has its headquarters in Colorado. It's a cinch they probably have an early warning radar system with a fighter base to protect them. I'd hate like hell to be picked up on their scanner and be forced to land, after coming this far."
"If you don't pull it up some, they'll be picking us off one of those mountains. You said yourself, your depth perception is no hell."
"I guess you're right. We better change seats."
Their movement up front woke up Sandy, who looked lazily at his friends and went back to sleep. He was feeling the need for oxygen too, but his inactivity reduced his body's requirements.
"Keep an eye on things while I take a look out back and see if Ivan has an oxygen supply on board. If he had prepared to take us to the coast, he must've considered that."
"Yeah, 'if ' he was gonna take us to LA, but you saw the chart yourself. It only went as far as Alliance."
"That's true, but I'm still going to take a look."
He opened the rear compartment door. All he could see in the small washroom was Ivan's old canvas parachute bag and his hangup suitcase. Tapping the panels he was able to move the one which covered the back of the compartment. Pulling it out from the top corner, he found mounted on the bulkhead, a large oxygen tank. Turning on the main valve he heard the gas being released to the line which went under the floor to the pilot's cabin. He was feeling pretty good about his discovery when he returned to the co-pilot's seat.
"Well that solves that problem. You see that tube on your left?"
"This one?"
"Yes. It's clipped on to the frame. Normally you would have an oxygen mask with a tube to connect it. Since we haven't got any, just unclip the tube and pull it up to your mouth."
"Okay. Then what?"
"First turn on that valve beside the tube to 'Oxygen Demand System.' Now put that tube in your mouth and suck on it."
"Really Silky..." She smiled at his suggestion.
"Put it in your mouth and suck on it . Go on."
Putting the tube in her mouth, she began sucking on it, moving her hand sensuously up and down the tube.
"Cut out that fooling. This could save your life."
"Okay lover. You know what I'd rather be doing."
"Can you feel the oxygen flowing?"
"I sure can. Wow! What a difference."
"The system is set up, so that you get a mixture of air and oxygen. When you go higher, the ratio is changed. This way we'll only use it if we need it. We still have a lot of mountains to cross, and I sure as hell don't want to screw up because we aren't getting enough oxygen."
"It's hard to believe all this is happening," said Rona.
"That's for sure. What is really amazing, is how well we're doing with this plane."
"Your foster dad must've taught you a lot about flying."
"He taught me a lot about everything. He was that kinda guy. Sometimes I wish I could've stayed with him."
"What happened?"
"I'd rather not say...kinda embarrassing."
"What could be so embarrassing after all we've been through?"
"You're right. There's no need to have secrets between us. I've never felt this way about anyone else. I'm nuts about you Rona."
"I love you too Silky...Now please go on. Tell me what happened."
"I was only fourteen at the time. I had been in and out of so many homes by then. His was just another break from the lousy business of trying to survive in a provincial orphanage. I hated living like that, but what could I do. I was just a kid."
"Fourteen...?"
"Right...fourteen. I really liked this man. His name was Warren...Warren Sparling. Helluva smart guy. Made piles of money selling medical insurance plans to large businesses...you know, the kind they buy to cover their employees in case of sickness or accident. Everyone liked him."
"Well anyway, the trouble began when he took me to Gimli, north of Winnipeg on a fishing trip...We were going after gold eye. That area is famous for it. But the weather got so bad, we were stuck in our cabin, just the two of us. That's when it started. He tried coming on to me."
"What do you mean coming on to you?"
"You know. Touching me. Talking to me about sex things, and love. Trying to convince me he really loved me, and wanted to show me how much."
"You mean the guy was a fag?"
"Sorta. Apparently he liked both sexes. He's what the army guys call ac/dc."
"So what happened?"
"I hated it. I told him to keep his hands to himself, and then he tried to force me. It was scarey. I managed to pull away, and dashed out the door. He chased after me yelling he was sorry. He said he only wanted to make me feel good. And then he begged me to give him another chance. He was calling me son. Jeezus Rona, it still hurts when I think about it."
"You mean he hurt you?"
"Not in a physical way. It had been so hard for me to trust anyone, and he had been such a nice guy until then. That's what hurt so much. I had finally learned to trust someone, and he let me down. That's why I have so much trouble making friends. It's bad when you lose your sense of trust. You feel completely alone."
"That's horrible. I feel so sorry for you Silky...what did you do after you split?"
"It was pissing down rain, and it was cold. Somehow I hardly noticed at the time. I finally got out of the bush and made it to the main road and hitch hiked back to Winnipeg. I didn't know where to go...I was only fourteen like I said, and I was scared. I found a cop, and asked him to take me to my social worker."
"And that was it?"
"They wanted to bring charges against him, but I refused. What the hell, he had been the closest thing to a father I had since I lost my parents. I just couldn't do it."
"I'm glad."
"Glad?"
"Yeah. I'm glad you didn't rake the poor bastard over the coals. And I'm glad you had someone you cared for, who obviously cared a lot for you. In a way you were lucky."
"How?"
"At least you had parents when you were little. I never knew my parents."
"Why? What happened?"
"Most of it I didn't learn about until I was a teenager. My mother was a young working girl who got knocked up in the small mining town of Fort St. John. Some say it was the superintendent of the mining company who was my father. I never could find out for sure. She had been abandoned by her mother, who had the same kinda problem. Then like you, my mother grew up in a home for kids whose parents had died or disappeared. You'd be surprised at how much of that went on up north. I think it had to do with all the drinking and isolation, back in the bush. When she got old enough to earn her keep, she was hired out to work as a domestic. That's when she got pregnant. No one offered to help her so she was left alone to fend for herself. They told me she lived in a tiny cabin which was on the mining property. When it came time to have me, no one was there to help her. Apparently they found me still connected to her after she bled to death. She died and I lived. That's if you can call what I was doing, living."
"I don't understand."
"It's like history repeats itself. I wanted so desperately to have someone to love me, I'd do anything and everything to get their attention. I was fair game for any lech who came along. There's lotsa miles on these old bones."
"Why would you abuse yourself like that?"
"A shrink said it was my way of working off the guilt I felt because I believed I was the reason my mother died. He said I hated myself so much for causing her death, I did all those hateful things to punish myself."
"Jeezus. And I thought I had it pretty bad."
"All that's gonna change when we get into Mexico with all our money. Me and you and Silky, we're gonna live like royalty." He interrupted their conversation as he saw the giant peaks getting closer.
"Looks like we're going to have to take it up if we want to clear those mountains ahead."
"Right you are Captain..."
"And I think we should stop talking for awhile, and save our energy. If you begin to feel faint at all, use that oxygen."
"You really are a take charge sorta guy aren't you?"
"No more talking...not now anyway...And thank you Rona."
"For what?"
"Letting me get that story off my chest. You have no idea how good I feel right now."
"Me too. You and I sure haven't had the best start in life. But I know it's going to be better."
"No more talking."
He got out of his seat and leaned across the controls to kiss her full on the mouth. Her tongue teased his, and her hand squeezed the swelling in his groin.
"This is better than talking, " said Rona, chuckling.
"Later my love. Later...right now, we've gotta save our energy."
He returned to his seat and studied his map. Their course was to take them to St. George, Utah. The landing this time would be in a mountainous region in the south west of this rugged state. Map reading was extremely difficult. There were so many huge peaks, identification became almost impossible. He relied on his compass providing him with a consistent heading, but he had no idea what the outside wind was doing to his track.
A couple of hours later Rona recognized the brilliantly coloured rocks she had seen many times in films, and television.
"I hate to say it Captain, but over there on the left looks a lot like the pictures I've seen of the Grand Canyon."
He leaned across her to see out her side window. "Goddamn it...you're right."
"Really."
"Gotta be. And that must be Lake Mead over there."
"What happened do you think?"
"Must've been getting a north west wind that has pushed us a helluva way off course."
"So what do you think we should do?"
"At the head of the lake is 'Sin City, USA'."
"Vegas?"
"You got it. We'll land at Vegas, which shouldn't be any problem for a skilled pilot like you, and we'll decide what to do after that."
"You think that's smart, with all those people."
"No one's gonna notice two more crooks. The place is crawling with them."
Rona headed the Cherokee towards the lake and then went northwest to the desert strip outside of this famous entertainment centre. There were several private jets on the tarmac and the runways were clear. She took her time scouting the approach.
"Do it real good sweety."
"I'll do my best. The ground looks smooth enough."
"Of course it does. It's concrete. Just don't stall it in. Fly it on, if you have to."
"I don't even know what that means."
"Just let me handle the power. You just get us down okay?"
"I don't know why Silky, but I'm scared this time."
"Don't be. You know you can do it."
A hundred feet up and five hundred feet off the end of the end of the runway, he gave her more power. He was afraid she was going to touch down too soon. She was taken by surprise as the aircraft surged forward, and she dropped it too suddenly. The nose wheel crashed against the runway with so much force, it collapsed, and the front of the plane tipped forward, scraping the bottom of the nose.
"Cut the power Silky...Now...Stop it now."
It all happened so suddenly, Silky was confused. Rona reached over and pulled the power off and just about drove her foot through the floor putting on the brakes.
"Jeezus Silky...Where did you ever learn to fly?" she shouted, gradually getting the aircraft under control.
"I thought you were putting it down too fast."
She continued taxiing the plane, the small fuselage bobbing up and down without its nosewheel. Pulling between two private planes, she parked the Cherokee.
"I'm sorry Silky. I didn't mean to holler at you."
"You were right. I shouldn't have interfered...But you did it Rona...You got us down again."
"Well you know what they say, any landing you can walk away from, is not a bad landing."
"Let's grab our things and get outa here before someone comes."
"Too late. Here comes a guy in a jeep."
"Gawd...that's all we need."
The scorching desert air hit them squarely in the face as they stepped down with their bags. A mechanic in white coveralls, stopped his jeep and jumped out.
"Got a problem?"
"Looks that way. Smashed the hell outa our undercarriage."
"Must have caught a gust on landing. The winds around here can be awful tricky. But that's not what I was referring to."
"Oh! What's that?"
"Tower wants to know why you didn't use your radio, and I guess they didn't get a flight plan on you either."
"Look. We've got electrical problems. We're going to be spending a couple of weeks in Vegas. That will give us a chance to get everything fixed up."
"Hop in. I'll take you to the terminal. Then you can do what you've got to do."
"Thanks. I sure do appreciate that. Come on Rona, Sandy."
Silky wanted desperately to change the man's attention.
"Where do you think we should go first to check the action?"
"In Vegas?" It's all action...what do you want? Gambling. Women. Drugs...and on top of it all, the biggest names in show biz."
"I just want to get into a cool shower, and freshen up."
"You're lucky. We've got that too."

Read other blogs by William James Johnson in the archives at http://noozoon.blogspot.com