the house leaving the front door open only to immediately see movement in the front window to the right of the now open front door. The drapes are moving in the window. This brings back memories of this morning inside their own house.
The drapes pull to the side. I skid to a stop as I realize I am now looking at Robert standing in the window pulling the curtains to the side. He looks over at me and smiles knowing full well what I was just doing. I shake my now hung head slowly, turn, and walk back to the Jeep, holstering my gun once again. Any more adrenaline pumped into my system today and I will either launch free of earth’s gravitational pull or just fall down face forward. Back at the Jeep, I turn back to the house in time to see Robert finishing with the other side of the curtains.
I start to think they are perhaps building a gun from raw materials when Michelle appears in the doorway carrying several objects in her hands followed by Robert carrying several more. She has what appear to be two handguns, one a revolver, the other a semi-automatic, and several boxes of ammunition.
“This is all I could find,” she says handing the pistols to me.
Both handguns are holstered and have trigger locks on them. I must have frowned somewhat looking at them because she sets the boxes of ammo on the front seat and reaches into her front pocket, pulling out a couple of keys on circular, wire key ring.
“Looking for these,” she says smiling at me. “My dad keeps them in his sock drawer.”
A sense of humor and an apparent good head on her shoulders. My favorable impression meters climbs substantially. I remove the handguns from their holsters and set them on the seat with the boxes of ammo. A shadow appears across the seat and an arm appears in my vision as Robert sets two more boxes on the seat. I pick up the semi-automatic and fit the first key to the lock. Of course, it isn’t the one I need. The second key fits in and a slight twist later, I remove the trigger guard. It is a nice Colt Commander .45. I remove the magazine and glance on the side to find it’s filled to its capacity. I set the magazine on the seat in front of me. Shadows fill the seat as Michelle and Robert each observe over my shoulders.
I crack the chamber of the .45 to find it empty and work the slide several times. Smooth action. It seems to be very well taken care of. Inserting the mag back in, I chamber a round and flick on the safety. I pop the mag back out and press down on the rounds still remaining. The spring still seems in good shape. Inserting the mag, I release the safety and ease the hammer down into its second safety position. I set the gun back on the seat pick up the other handgun. It is a very nice Smith & Wesson six shot .38 revolver. I see from the butt end that it is loaded. I take a key to remove the trigger guard.
“Damn,” I mutter going 0 for 2 on the keys.
Removing the trigger guard on the second try yet again, I flip the cylinder to the side, and dump the ammo in my hand. All rounds look in decent shape. I flick the cylinder back into place and dry fire a couple of times. Yes, I know, you shouldn’t dry fire. Nice, it is double action and is smooth. Replacing the rounds, I set it in the seat.
There are 4 boxes of ammunition on the seat and I open each one. One contains full 50 round box of .45 ACP 230 grain ammo and another has eight rounds missing.
“Do you know how to use these or shoot, Michelle?” I ask setting the last box back on the seat and turn around.
“My dad took me to the range a few times but I’ve only fired the .38.”
I turn slightly reaching back to the seat, pluck up the .38 and slide it into the holster. “Okay, this is yours for now I guess,” handing it to her.
She takes the gun, looks down to her right and then her left, apparently searching for some place to put it. She shrugs, lifts the back of the red t-shirt she is wearing, and slides the holster into her waistband. Looking over at Robert, I holster the .45 and hand it to him. He unfastens his belt and draws it through the loops looking a little sheepish. Picking up the gun, he fastens it to his belt and reverses the process.
“Okay, let’s go,” I say. Robert starts around the Jeep and Michelle stands uncertain. “Other side is easier,” anticipating that she isn’t sure which side to get in on.
I am putting the ammo boxes in the center console when I hear the rear gate door open. “What are you doing?” I ask looking over the seats to the rear.
“Putting the shotgun in back,” he replies.
Robert shuts the back and walks to the passenger side. He reaches inside and lifts the seat forward. I am curious as to what he will do next. Without hesitation, he climbs into the back pulling the seat back once he is there.
With all of us buckled in and Michelle’s bags situated to make room for Robert, we leave. When we arrived, I contemplated leaving the Jeep running to enable a quick exit but wanted to be able to hear any noises. Nothing except the occasional sound of a bird greeted us during our entire stay.
“Time check,” I say looking in the rear view at Robert.
“Ten to two,” he responds.
I don’t wear a watch except when I am running so I am forever asking Robert. I usually use my phone for the time but am going to have to rectify that very soon. As a matter of fact, I might as well do it now. There is this one watch I have wanted for quite a while but didn’t want to spend the money. Plus, it has a very useful aspect to it that comes to mind right now. It has a flight calculator on it. I wore a similar one many years ago in the Air Force and found it to be a great tool many times when flying. It even helped save my bacon once. And I had a lot of bacon to save back then.
I was an instructor pilot and we were flying to Colorado Springs. Just a bunch of other instructors who were in my class and doing this as kind of a reunion flight and get together. The plan was to fly there, get skis and passes from MWR, cars from the motor pool, and go skiing up at Breckenridge. Our current wing DO (Director of Operations) was in my class and therefore along with us. It was actually his idea to do this so we had no trouble getting the aircraft and didn’t foresee any problems with the motor pool upon arrival. It was nice having a full bird colonel along with us. There were ten aircraft in total so we divided up into (2) four-ship formations and (1) two ship. I was only one of two Americans; the rest were German pilots. I think I was the lowest ranking as well.
So, off we went, stopping at Amarillo, Texas for gas before heading on. I was the lead for our 4-ship at that point. It was a gorgeous day and we landed at Colorado Springs without incident. The skiing was great as well except for the time I found myself on a double black diamond slope. Yeah, that was the last time I let the Germans ‘guide’ me up a lift. They just powered down the slope: the term slope being a relative term. I am pretty sure skiing is most effective if there is some sort of slope involved. This ‘slope’ looked like it actually angled back in towards the mountain in places and the moguls looked like Volkswagens were parked under the snow and glued to the side of the mountain.
The German’s just tipped their skis over and performed some sort of ballet through the moguls and down the slope. I couldn’t very well cry mommy and slide down on my ass so I tipped my skis down as well. That was a freaking nightmare. I arrived at the bottom checking myself over because I was pretty sure I had lost an arm, a leg, both kidneys, and expected my intestines to be trailing behind me along with most of my gear.
Our DO pulled up next to me. “You ski pretty well for an American,” he said and off he went.
I looked quizzically after him. I didn’t know if he was joking or what because I must have looked like a one- legged goat doing an interpretive dance while falling down a cliff. I remember only touching snow like three times as I ricocheted my way down and looked up at the slope expecting to see a yellow trail marking my route down. “That’ll never happen again,” I remember telling myself as I pushed off to catch up.
Well, that was Saturday and we met at base ops Sunday morning for the trip home. It was overcast with clouds around the mid altitudes.
