Sojourners of the Sky

by Clayton Taylor

  Once the Clipper was back on course and climbing, each man silently returned to his regular duties. With the crisis behind them, the cockpit tension and soundless fear slowly and cautiously ebbed away.

  “Charles,” said John, “I just finished speaking with operations in Keflavik. I’ve informed them that we are now on course and that everything has returned to normal. And get this: right before I signed off, the ops agent told me they found Asa. It looks like he may have some frostbite, but otherwise he’s OK. He’s on his way to the hospital now.”

  “Now that’s definitely some good news,” said Charles, slapping his right knee with his right palm.

  Full-blown relief instantly exploded in the cockpit, as everyone who’d heard John’s words smiled, hooted and cheered.

  When the merriment died down, John, sounding a bit more somber added, “That’s not all, Charles. I guess that fellow in the control tower called and gave our ops manager an earful. He was angry that we took off without a clearance, after telling us repeatedly that the police were on their way to question you about our dead passenger.”

  “What? Why are the police involved? What would I have to tell them?” asked Charles.

  John shot G.R. a quick glance before saying, “I don’t know.”

  “Well, I for one am not going to worry about it. We did what we were supposed to. And as far as the guy in the tower, tell him to speak English next time,” said Charles. Then after a couple of minutes, during which time the captain tried to convince himself that he was right, he added, “John, you have the airplane. Level us off at fifteen thousand feet. I’m going to get things squared away with Iceland Radio myself, and then I’ll go back and speak to our passengers.”

  “OK, captain,” said John.

  “And Lars, I think you, me and G.R. need to have a few words later about what your forgetfulness nearly caused,” said Charles.

  Lars didn’t say a word. He simply nodded with a facial expression that was full of anger, regret and renewed fear.

  *

  Marie was relieved that the whole Sonny thing was behind her. With him gone forever, she could finally move on. The thought of killing another human being disgusted her beyond belief, but she found some solace in the knowledge that she did what she had to in order to survive. She told herself to never think or speak of it again. Marie locked the memory away. As far as she was concerned, her somewhat sordid past and what happened on board the airplane all died with Sonny.

  “Honey,” said Dirk. “I’ve been trying to figure out why you suddenly started acting funny. And after thinking it over, it seems to me that it started right after you went back to the ladies room. I remember that the guy who was sitting across from us went back a short while after you did. Something must have happened while you were both back there at the same time, but I don’t know what. I mean, the guy died and then you started acting funny. Was it the turbulence or the engine problem? Did he speak to you or frighten you? Did you hear anything while you were back there?”

  A lightning bolt of panic seared through Marie’s body. She knew if her husband noticed something suspicious then maybe someone else had, too. Glancing around, she wondered if perhaps everyone on board could tell that she was the murderer. She could almost feel them watching, leering.

  After thinking about it for a few minutes, Marie concluded that she had better put a stop to it once and for all.

  “Dirk, honey, I think I was just a little overwhelmed about getting married and then going on our honeymoon to Europe. I don’t know what happened to that poor man, but I’ve never seen him before today. I talked to him about our wedding while you were in the bathroom, but that’s all. Simply the thought of a man passing away only a few feet away, especially after we’d just spoken, has been quite disconcerting. Do you know what I mean?” she asked. “Anyway, I think I’m feeling better now,” she added. “Would you like to kiss some more?”

  “I don’t know. This all seems kind of strange,” he said.

  “Maybe later we can go into one of the bathrooms together and keep each other warm,” she suggested, while nibbling on the young man’s ear.

  That was all Dirk needed. In an instant, the young man’s mind erased all memory files concerning his new bride’s strange behavior and was refocused on the possibility of taking his wife in a public place while unsuspecting people milled about mere inches away. Dirk was reenergized. He leaned over and began once again rekindling the flame of passion.

  *

  The moment the number one engine sprang to life, Mark Small ceased rocking back and forth and ended his mutterings about various predictions of doom. Then, as each of the other engines came up to speed, Mark slowly allowed himself to relax. Eventually, the young man slipped back into his old self.

  Sue had stayed with Mark the entire time, holding his hand and whispering soft nothings in his ear. Even with the dire emergency behind them, she remained.

  “Thank you,” he said, “that was really kind.”

  “You have such warm hands,” said Sue. “The pleasure was mine.”

  “I’m Mark,” he said, extending his other hand.

  “Sue,” she replied.

  “It’s truly wonderful to meet you,” said Mark. “Tell me, are you seeing anyone?”

  “No, I’m completely free. But I’m afraid I have to get back to work right now. I can come back later if you’d like.”

  “I shall count the minutes,” said Mark.

  Mark loosened his seatbelt a little, and after staring at the engines for a while just to make sure, he smiled slightly and mumbled, “All new plugs and wires, and don’t forget to double check the gap on those plugs. You know the factory never gets it right. Don’t go cheap on the wires either because that always costs you more in the end…”

  *

  Ed Vito stood on the navigator’s stool watching for the sun as it prepared to make its ascent above the horizon. He could clearly see the planet Venus in the eastern sky, flickering like a beacon. The multi-colored planet appeared as though it was signaling a clear path for the sun to follow across the heavens.

  Throughout history, many mariners and aviators alike have mistaken Venus’s flashing colors of various intensity for another ship, an airplane, a lighthouse and even a UFO. Generally, once the second planet from our sun reaches twenty degrees of inclination, it appears much like all of the other stars in the sky. At sunset in the northern hemisphere, Venus can be seen once again before slipping below the western horizon, readying itself for another trip across the sky.

  The glittery star and thin sliver of sunlight on the horizon gave the navigator some pause. He wondered about his future…and his past.

  There were many things the Clipper’s crew did not know about their unattached navigator, and one of them was that he’d recently suffered through an ugly divorce. Ed, for his own protection, learned at a very young age to play his cards close to the vest. Indeed, no one at Pan Am ever even knew he was married.

  *

  Ed had married a woman many years his junior who, had he not been so wealthy, would have likely been far out of reach. Of course Ed knew that, but was nonetheless content to enjoy the things that only money could buy. Unfortunately, he had no idea how expensive and demanding his young bride could be.

  Elegant and fluent in four languages, Jacqueline could have had almost any man, but chose lifestyle over love. Married for nearly five years, she was quite content to look the other way whenever she suspected her husband was being somewhat less than faithful. In reality, none of it was true. Her husband’s infidelity only existed in her mind.

  “Jacqueline, what do you want me to do?” asked Ed. “What else can I say?”

  The navigator’s wife had sat silently with her eyes closed in the hour since their big blowup. Though she appeared from the outside to be asleep, on the inside she was very much awake. She debated in her mind the pros and cons of staying with her often-absent mate. She did care for him and was well-aware that the man would d
o anything for her. But Jacqueline would simply not tolerate an unfaithful husband, even though she herself had a wandering eye and had been anything but faithful. In fact, she’d taken quite a few lovers since their marriage began. It was a personality flaw that Jacqueline came to accept. Ever since she’d emerged from puberty, Jacqueline discovered that she was unable to resist the smooth muscular bodies of some of the young men, especially those at the tennis club. Her desires only increased after she’d tied herself to one man. Hypocrite was not a word in her vocabulary.

  After returning home from a long trip, Ed’s spouse found lipstick on the lapel of one of his work shirts. There was an innocent explanation, of course, but Jacqueline would not hear it. The subsequent argument lasted well into the night. Ed tried explaining that the stain was the result of an unexpected hug and kiss planted on him by an elderly passenger. But the guilty-until-proven-innocent husband could tell that his words were evaporating in the air before ever reaching Jacqueline’s ears.

  It was a one-sided decision that his debt was to be paid by purchasing his wife a huge house on the south shore of Long Island. Certainly Ed could afford it, but that wasn’t the point. He had long-been tiring of her irresponsible, spendthrift ways.

  After concluding that she’d debated it in her mind long enough, Jacqueline decided to tell her husband everything and see where it took her. She opened her eyes and said, “Edward, you have lied to me. Lying is something that people don’t easily forget.”

  “I’ve never lied to you, Jacqueline,” he argued.

  Not willing to hear his plea, she continued, “But since we are airing our souls, I feel I should tell you that I have been unfaithful to you. You are not the only one in this marriage who has failed.”

  “The young man at the tennis club?” asked Ed, stunned and yet not totally so. “Well, I suppose I sort of suspected that.”

  “Which one are you referring to?” she asked.

  “What do you mean, ‘which one’? How many have there been?” he asked with a frown.

  “A few,” she said curtly.

  “Do you mean like, two or three?” he asked in a surprised tone, staring deeply into her eyes.

  “I don’t remember exactly, but it’s not important,” said Jacqueline.

  “It’s important to me.”

  There was a very long silence, during which time Ed could feel anger welling up inside of him. He knew he had to get to the bottom of it all.

  Jacqueline sat in silence, counting.

  “I’ve had at least twelve lovers since we were married,” she stated flatly.

  “Twelve? Twelve? You’ve slept with twelve men besides me?” he asked, spinning around and plopping down into the nearest chair. He then stared at the ceiling with wide eyes and mouth agape.

  “At least,” she injected.

  “Twelve? A dozen men?” he asked in utter disbelief, unable to look at her.

  “Yes, since we’ve been married.”

  “Since we’ve been married? I thought I was the first,” he said, clearly stunned at the revelation.

  “You weren’t.”

  “Are you just saying this to hurt me because I refuse to provide you with unlimited funds to do as you please?” he asked in desperation. “You spend money like its water. I work two jobs. I refuse to borrow from my family to buy you everything your heart desires.”

  “No, Edward, I’m speaking the truth. There have been many, many men in my life,” she said. “Think about that and ask yourself if you can get over it. I have been asked by you to deal with your lies and now you have found yourself in the same boat. Forgiveness is much easier to seek than to give, isn’t it, Edward?” Jacqueline then turned to look directly at her husband, “The ball is in your court. Buy the house, or we can end it here and now,” she added in a matter-of-fact tone.

  Ed was stunned. He could hardly find the words, and the ones he could find were laced with anger and filthy names. His job with Pan Am may have kept him away from home, but he’d never violated the sanctity of their marriage.

  “I’ve never lied to you, Jacqueline. And since we met, I’ve never been with anyone else. But your words have left me unable to…I, I don’t know. Jacqueline, I simply don’t know what to say. I’m speechless,” said Ed, his words thick with both anger and sorrow.

  “Oh, save the holier-than-thou bit, Edward. Are you going to sit there and tell me that you’ve never cheated on me? Are you?”

  “Well, I…” offered Ed.

  “Edward, don’t open your mouth again unless you plan to speak the truth,” said Jacqueline. “Frankly, I’ve grown weary of your lies.”

  “How is it that you can run around behind my back for years, lie ad nauseam about it, and then sit here and look down on me? How dare you! I do not appreciate that tone,” said Ed with a lot more anger and practically no sorrow.

  “Edward, I am sorry for the past. But over the years you’ve become more and more involved in your family’s business, not to mention your little flying job. I understood your motivation, but your drive to succeed was to my exclusion. I was lonely and needed companionship. I’m not saying that what I did was right, but I can’t take it back now. The lipstick on your collar has forced me to reassess my life and I didn’t like what I saw. But it took the both of us to get here, and I will not accept all of the blame for what happened between us,” said Jacqueline.

  “Yeah, I’d say you were quite lonely. A dozen times lonely in fact.”

  “At least a dozen times. Are you going to dwell on it?”

  “Wow, such a condescending attitude for an adulterer. And after all I’ve done for you.”

  “I won’t deny that you’ve been a good provider, Edward, but a woman sometimes needs more,” she said, with more than a hint of sincerity.

  “Look, I know you could have had any man. I know that you married me mostly for my money and what I could do for you, so don’t sit there now and act like a rejected woman. I worked hard to keep you happy…”

  Jacqueline interrupted. “To make yourself happy, too.”

  “To make us both happy,” he shot back. “I always felt like I was slightly out of step with you. No matter how hard I worked, and no matter how much I provided, it was never enough. I could never make you happy.”

  “No, you never could.”

  “I suppose that’s it then,” said Ed, with a ton of regret evident in his voice.

  “I suppose,” she replied.

  Both turned and faced the walls of their exquisitely decorated living room, contemplating the end of their marriage--a marriage some might say should have never even been considered in the first place.

  Jacqueline’s face would not betray her if a passerby happened to glance in her direction. On the outside her face was rigid and determined, but inside her mind sifted through all manner of emotions. Each negative emotion she felt was struck down in her mind with reason. She finally concluded that the relationship had run its course and that it was time to move on.

  Ed spent the next hour dividing his official wealth in his mind. He calculated how much he could successfully hide and how much he was willing to divide equally with his cheating spouse. Though Ed may have been many things to many people, he was never accused of being stupid or inept. For many years he had been rat-holing money. There were little bits here and there, all scattered about and quite untraceable. It was never meant as insurance in the event of a divorce, it was more of an insurance policy against life. At that moment, he was pleased with himself for having had such incredible foresight.

  With the groundwork laid, he then allowed emotion to enter his thoughts. His face clearly showed the anger, hurt and sense of betrayal. He simply could not get over how easily she switched from love to hate, as if there was no middle ground. After all, he still loved her and wanted to keep it together, but knew it was too far gone. Jacqueline was right--he could never move past the dozen or so lovers. He could live with her, but he would never be able to sleep with her again. He felt sorrow
deep down to his core. He knew that life would never be the same, and briefly wondered if life was even worth living. He could find another woman, of that he was sure, but he could never again bring himself to trust one. No, never again.

  He ran it all through his mind until he could do it no longer. He then closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep, hoping to temporarily escape what was coming.

  Jacqueline told herself to move on--that it was all over. Though she appeared as hard as a stone on the outside, a tear appeared in the corner of her eye and subsequently rolled down her cheek. It would soon be followed by many others.

  The events of the ensuing months would become lasting bad memories for them both.

  *

  Ed didn’t realize it at first, but it was almost as if, though Jacqueline was now gone, she had permanently sapped all the brimming self-confidence out of his life. It was a very long time before it returned.

  Ed took one last look at the rainbow of colors displayed on the horizon and smiled. He wiped the moisture from the corner of his eye, cleared his throat and then climbed down from his stool to make the final calculations of their position. Soon the beacons at Stornoway and Benbecula, located in far northwest Scotland, would come into range and allow the pilots to make last minute adjustments to their track before being picked up on radar.

  “We just passed sixty-one north, seventeen degrees west, and we’re on course to the Gomup intersection. Here are the times and ETAs, John,” announced Ed. “We’re going to be a little too far west to see the Shetland Islands, but the Faeroe Islands are practically off our left wing now. I’ve got the beacon at Belfast tuned up. You can crosscheck that with the Benbecula beacon on the number two radio to identify Gomup when we get closer. And don’t forget to call Prestwick.”

  “Thank you, Ed,” said John. “I’m tuning them in on the number one radio as we speak.”

  “Now in case you guys didn’t know, I am a vampire. Therefore, since the sun is up, I shall lay down on one of these bunks and take a nap. If you get lost, don’t call me,” joked Ed.

  Lars stood to allow Ed to pass and said, “Captain, I’m going to take a bathroom break. I’ll be right back.”