She looked surprised, slightly alarmed, asthough she thought I might push her off the wall. The golden lightof the late afternoon sun made her face and hair glow.
"I am making big decisions and changes in mylife, and I would like you to be part of them. Will you marryme?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Or more succinctly, Yes." Shejumped down, threw her hands around my neck, kissed me for a longtime and then pulled her head back, looked me in the eyes and said,"That means yes...maybe, I should clarify that, Yes,Yes."
After a lovely and emotional few minutes, andsome disapproving looks from a couple of elderly grey-haired ladieswho drove up, Tina asked for the keys to the car, dug in the picnicbasket, and produced a wine bottle and two glasses.
"Easy for me," I said, "I'm the designateddriver and we have a bit of mountain road to go on before we get toour hotel."
We held hands, looked at each, conversed withtears in our eyes, as the remnants of the late afternoon cumulusclouds turned gold and faded to night.
Back to the main highway, I noticed Hesperusleading his invasion of the night sky. It seemed as if he wasn't asalone as before.
****
We arrived at CrystalAire in late afternoon thenext day. I drove directly to my sailplane trailer, opened it andwas looking inside when Dan drove up and walked over.
"Everything is OK. That FAA inspector nearlytook everything apart. That other man with him paid me to help. Yougot a free annual aircraft inspection and then some. They took theparachute away and brought it back with a certified repack. It'sback where it is normally stored. I have to ask you afavor."
"Sure, but first, I would like to introduce youto my fiancé, Tina Quail."
I caught her off guard. Dan got an 'Oh my God!'kind of stare and handshake.
"I have talked to the field owner, and he wouldlike to keep what went on out here quiet. He doesn't want othersailplane pilots worrying about the safety of theirequipment."
"Agreed, I think everyone has already forgottenabout it. I know I have."
I mused to myself that some people in the FBIand Mr. S. would be thinking about it for a whilelonger.
Dan started to walk away and turned to say, "Wehave a great soaring forecast for tomorrow. You will want to getready early."
"Great!" I replied.
****
The bright sun coming through the bedroomwindow woke me. I quietly slipped out of bed and got dressed. Iwalked out to survey the sky and I felt the warmth of the sun on myface. Not a hint of wind. I went inside and found there was anemail from my friend, the weather person, at LAX: she said therewould be strong soaring conditions for the morning with atwenty-five-knot northwesterly wind developing in the lateafternoon.
"Sounds good," I thought. 'It looks like flyingnorth up the Sierras will be good for an out-and-return goalflight.'
The Fédération Aéronautique Internatinale orFAI has awards for soaring achievement. There are silver, gold, andthree diamond awards. My goal has been to make a single flight inwhich I achieve the silver, gold, and all three diamond awards. Todo that I will have to fly out to and return from a stated goal twohundred and fifty kilometers (155 miles) away, gain five thousandmeters (16,368 feet), and be in the air for five hours. This mightbe the day.
Somehow being awarded a small gold pin withthree diamonds to wear on my soaring cap seemed rather unimportantnow. I wanted to make the flight for fun.
I said to myself. 'That's how I will do it:forget all the hard planning, the calculations, and the logic. I'lluse my intuition and simply flow with it.'
Tina and I hurried through breakfast and got anearly start so we would "put together" before it got hot. Tinainsisted on joining me for assembly, saying, "I am now going tomake sure the wings are bolted on and you don't take off withoutyour little bottle of water and lunch."
The sailplane trailer is almost twice as longas most cars, a big cylinder about five feet high, which opens likea giant clamshell. Inside, the wings are stored alongside thefuselage. Everything is mounted on dollies and is easily rolledaround and assembled.
Dan stopped by and showed me where Mr. S. hadput his surprise package. No sign of anything unusualnow.
I told him my soaring goal for the day and he,acting as an official observer, loaded the information into theflight-recording computer in the sailplane. Upon my return, hewould read the computer and officially verify that I had made theflight I planned.
He walked away and returned with a pickup witha tank in the back. I took the hose from the tank and began pouringclear liquid into openings in the top of the wings.
Tina asked, "What are you doing now. You don'thave an engine, so why do you need to add fuel?"
"I am filling these long bladders in the wingswith water to make the plane fly faster in strong conditions. I'lldrain them out later in the day if the weather weakens."
I was ready to fly. We sat under the shade ofthe wing and waited, holding hands, feeling the love flow betweenus, and having quiet time. It was midweek and no other pilots werehere this early.
At 10:15, I noticed a small whisp of a cloudover the Devil's Punchbowl.
"Look up there, above the Devil's Punchbowl.That wisp of cloud indicates that there is a thermal there. It willbe time to start soon. Let's push the plane out and get ready tolaunch."
When Dan saw me moving onto the launch area hestarted the Pawnee, taxied to the launch area, stopped a couple ofhundred feet in front of me, and turned off the engine. He unrolledthe tow cable and handed me the end that I attached to the bow ofmy sailplane. "It looks as though you can get an early start. Let'swait about ten more minutes."
I put on my parachute and climbed into thesailplane. Surprisingly,
