Love Story: In The Cloud

by Ken Renshaw

  When I neared CrystalSky, about 6:00, I found I had a thousand feet to spare. I radioed Dan.

  "I'm about a mile out, can I do a high speed pass?"

  "Go ahead, everyone with any sense is on the ground."

  A high-speed pass is similar to a victory lap in auto racing. A mile off the end of the runway, I went into a steep dive, sped up to one hundred ten miles per hour, leveled off a few feet above the ground and, flashed by four people waving at the runway side. I pulled up into a steep 2g climb, coasting up to fifteen hundred feet, and circled to land. I rolled to near my trailer, stopped, popped the canopy open, jumped out, and ran behind another trailer to pee.

  Back at my sailplane, Dan who quickly examined my flight recorder data to see that I had done as intended met me.

  "Looks great, congratulations!"

  Tina appeared with two six packs of beer and a surprisingly tearful, giant kiss and hug.

  We all drank beer while I savored the retelling of one of the great tales of flying.

  Tina clung to my arm.

  As we walked to the mobile home after the celebration at the field, I stopped several times and held Tina in a loving embrace. I was having difficulty in staying in my body, feeling that I could simply soar away, without that big thing I left tied down at the airfield.

  After a long silence, Tina said, "I think I have found a secret about Love in learning about The Cloud from you. These past few days my love for you has grown and made be unable to feel where you begin and I leave off. Our bodies are separate but we a spiritually merged. It is as though we share one heart. Our bodies are four-dimensional and our love is in The Cloud. It is not limited in distance."

  We stopped, I pulled her close, and said, "You are also starting to talk like me. Today, I felt your love from the other side of the Mojave Desert. I didn't even think about dimensions. You were simply there."

  "But, I can't think about it now. I need to get grounded!" I laughed.

  Tina replied, "I have just the thing." She steered me up the stairs to the deck of the mobile home, and pushed me into the love–seat on the porch.

  In what seemed only a second, she reappeared with an ice bucket with a very fine bottle of champagne, and two flutes. "You do the honors," she said as she thrust the bottle into my hands, and then held out the two flutes.

  "Pop!" it went and I quickly poured the foam that happens opening champagne at high altitude.

  Tina laughed in delight as I filled both glasses.

  I was only being held down from flying away by the weight of the bottle. We one arm hugged for a long time as our glasses and spirits bubbled.

  "A toast!" I said. "To you, love of my life! My guiding spirit through a most important period of change in my life! To your love and companionship I will cherish the rest of my days."

  We hugged and cried in joy. Then, cried some more.

  Tina pushed me away, and held up her glass. "And to you, love of my life who perfectly compliments me and has expanded my horizon and taught me the delight of adventure that I look forward to sharing with you for the rest of my life."

  We hugged and cried some more.

  "I've got to sit down," I said.

  "Me too."

  We both sipped our champagne and dried our eyes.

  After a long pause, when I could again speak, I said. "We should get married?"

  Tina put down her glass, took mine, and then took both my hands in hers and said, "I think we just did."

  We celebrated everything that night.