Goodbye Sky Harbor

by Mathis, Philip Brian

  “Alright, maybe just two days. But here, you can go change in my room.”

  Genesis grabbed the clothes and walked slowly towards the back room. She caught a glimpse of Creed smiling on the couch and shot him back an unpleasant look.

  Half an hour later, Genesis slowly opened the door and peeked her head into the quiet living room. Creed had kept himself occupied by reading one of Kushala’s books that was on her shelf. He dropped the book immediately as soon as he heard the door and peered over towards her. Creed noticed that Genesis was nervous about entering the living room. “You can’t laugh.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You have to promise.”

  “I honestly can’t do that.”

  “Forget it.”

  Genesis disappeared back inside the bedroom and shut the door. Creed couldn’t help but laugh at his girlfriend’s distress.

  “Don’t go. I’m sorry, okay? I promise I won’t laugh.” Creed sat there quietly for a second but there was no response from Genesis. A few seconds passed before he finally heard the door open softly. “Genesis? I’m sorry okay.”

  Genesis slowly peaked her head out again and nervously smiled before finally inching out towards the living room. Her dark straight black hair was glistening with streams of light shining in through the window. Midway through her hair was a beautiful teal feather tied to a few strands. She was draped with buckskin clothing from head to toe and fitted nicely in her grandmother’s moccasins. Genesis’ creamy skin was glowing there in the living room. Creed’s smile changed quickly once he saw her stunning figure. He had never fully perceived how beautiful she might appear dressed in her ancestors’ clothing. She was drop dead gorgeous, Creed thought to himself.

  “You’re not laughing. So, you like it?”

  “Holy Shit.”

  “Should I take that as a yes?”

  “You’re absolutely beautiful?”

  “I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or serious?”

  “It’s just –”

  “Alright, you two, you guys about ready?” Kushala barged into the room with purpose. Creed and Genesis just stood there smiling at one another before they were interrupted by a knock. Kushala frantically walked over to the front door and opened it. It was Sharon. “Oh good, you’re right on time. Come on in.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Hi Sharon.” Genesis remembered Sharon from when she was little. It was like having two grandmothers’. Sharon and Kushala even sometimes acted like a couple. Sometimes yelling at each other and fighting over who would take care of what. Genesis always got a kick out of their relationship.

  “Hey Genesis! Awe, you look beautiful.” Sharon commented while she walked inside the house and towards the young teen to give her a hug.

  “Thank you, how’ve you been?”

  “Oh, we’re are doing just fine. Who’s this handsome boy?”

  Creed stood up from the couch and reached out his hand. Sharon reciprocated quickly while smiling profoundly.

  “This is my friend, Creed.”

  “Oh my, very, very handsome indeed.” Sharon replied.

  “He’s Genesis boy – ugh, friend. It’s her friend.” Kushala yelled out.

  “Oh, okay. Well then, are you guys ready to go? You must be so excited.”

  “I think so. I don’t know. I’m kind of nervous.”

  “Don’t be honey. This is your family.”

  “Well, are you coming too?”

  “No, unfortunately I am in charge of preparing the feast for this sufferable community.”

  “Did you call Bodaway?” Kushala asked Sharon while she continued rummaging through her kitchen.

  “Yeah, he said he was going to meet you guys there.”

  “Wait? Who? Who’s Bodaway?” Genesis asked.

  “He’s the medicine man.” Genesis again peered over towards Creed with a sense of sudden panic. All Creed felt like he could do was simply smile and just go with the flow. The only time Creed had ever heard about a medicine man was in books. Never in his wild imagination did he ever imagine he would ever get to meet an actual medicine man in real life.

  “Alright I think I got everything, let’s go guys.” Kushala had finally finished up in the kitchen and was making her way towards the door in a hurry. “You got everything Sharon?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  Sharon opened the door and the group all piled out of the house. Sharon hugged Genesis one more time before they all packed into Kushala’s old ’97 Plymouth station wagon. Sharon began waving before the car was even started and continued until they were out of sight.

  The drive out to the ceremonial fields was almost as beautiful as Genesis and Creed’s yearly drives out to Sky Harbor. They only drove about a couple miles down the old farm road until Kushala finally turned into a random field. To Genesis’ shock, there were already a couple dozen cars parked along the road, and a group of people setting up tents.

  “Oh my God Grandma, are they all here for me?”

  “That’s right. And they’re all very excited to see you.”

  “This is so embarrassing.” Genesis whimpered.

  “Don’t worry, it’s going to be just fine.”

  It didn’t take long for the car to become bombarded with people as soon as they recognized who was pulling up. One by one, everyone that had gathered there began greeting Genesis and Kushala for what seemed like over an hour. Bodaway was the last to arrive and immediately began setting up with a few of the community’s musicians. There were four musicians and they each carried a beautifully designed drum, dressed up with the same type of buckskin as their clothing. The stick they used to beat on the drum looked like one of those silly spoons that would double as a straw you would get in those kids’ cereals.

  The festivities began smoothly with most of the community spread out in a large circle around Genesis. Kushala stood right beside her the entire time and would constantly have to show Genesis exactly what to do as the ceremony went on. The celebration started out easy enough with everyone in the circle marching in place while the drummers banged on their drums, one note at a time. Genesis held onto a staff decorated with flowers and bells which would jingle each time she took a step. As the celebration progressed, Genesis would occasionally look for Creed in the crowd of on-lookers. Each time her eyes would meet with his, they would both exchange an awkward smile.

  “Changing Woman.”

  Creed jumped once he heard a prominent voice coming from behind him. It was an older gentleman who was standing diagonally from Creed. The old man was wearing some old wrangler jeans and an even older cowboy hat. “I’m sorry?” Creed inquired.

  “A long time ago, Changing Woman survived a massive flood in an abalone shell, she wandered the land as the waters finally receded. She was soon impregnated by the sun and gave birth to a son. A short time later, she was again impregnated, this time by the rain, and gave birth to another; A son of water.”

  Creed avidly listened while simultaneously peering over towards Genesis as the ceremony progressed. The song had briefly changed by now and Kushala had Genesis on her knees, swaying from side to side while dancing in a sitting position.

  “However,” the old man continued. “The world the people live in is not safe until Changing Woman’s son kill’s the owl man giant who has been terrorizing the tribe. When they return from victory, Changing Woman expresses a cry of triumph and delight which will be echoed during the ceremony. She then is guided by spirits to establish a puberty rite to be given for all daughter’s born to her people. When she becomes old, Changing Woman walks east toward the sun until she meets her younger self, merges with it, and becomes young again. Thus repeating, she is born again and again, from generation to generation.”

  “Wow.” Creed professed.

  By now in the old man’s storytelling, Kushala was now guiding Genesis to lie on her belly. As soon as Genesis was flat on her belly, Kushala moved on top of her and started to massage her. Just the
n, the older gentleman pointed towards the pair.

  “They massage the girl, molding her into Changing Woman.”

  Creed continued watching in genuine amazement as the ceremony continued, all while listening to the older gentleman explain the story. The massage only lasted a few minutes as Kushala was now prompting her granddaughter to run to the right, just like the old man had said in the story. Genesis eventually ended up running in all four directions before she was finally able to rest. While Genesis was running, a few other members of the tribe brought out a few buckets of what looked like yellow paint. Eventually a few of the guys picked up some weird brushes and began covering her with the mixture, from her head all the way down to her feet. Genesis couldn’t help but chuckle a few times during the process. She felt silly being out there on full display without any type of understanding of what was going on. After a few more songs, and Genesis completely drenched in this yellow liquid, the songs stopped, and the crowd began dispersing. Kushala whispered something into Genesis’ ear before finally making their way over to Creed.

  “Is that it?” Creed asked as they approached.

  “Apparently, but that’s just the first day.”

  “What’s that all over you?”

  “It’s a mixture of cornmeal and clay.” Kushala responded.

  “Nice.”

  “Shut it.”

  “What? It looks good.” Creed smiled while leaning towards Genesis to give her a kiss on the lips. He began wiping some of the mixture off of her head. Genesis pushed him away.

  “Don’t do that.” Genesis instructed.

  “What?”

  “I’m supposed to keep it all on until the end of the ceremony.”

  “You’re shitting me?”

  “No.”

  “Awe man, you do realize you’re going to stink bad by the end of all this?”

  “Yeah and you’re going to have to sleep next to me too.” The two of them broke out into laughter as they made their way to the car.

  “Alright you two, let’s get going.” Kushala had already put down some blankets on the seat before letting Genesis sit down.

  The group piled back into the car and made their journey back to the house. By this time the sun had already been setting, the burnt rocks were hard to see as the clouds were coated by a purple and orange glaze. While they had set out back on the road towards the reservation, Creed couldn’t help but become so intrigued by the day’s festivities that he had completely forgot about his parents, and the situation back at Sky Harbor. For the next three days, all Creed could focus on was how beautiful his girlfriend looked painted in cornmeal and all the wonderful people he had met during their time there. It was a unique cultural clash to say the least. An experience not many people would ever get in their lifetime. Creed even started wishing they could just stay there as the ceremony went on. An equanimity only felt from being so far away from the countless disparities that plagued the country at the time. They had successfully escaped the growing travesties of the war. A war ignited by poisoned men. Creed naively hoped that if nothing else, they could at least remain dormant there until the war would eventually end. Unfortunately, the Army had other plans. Now that they were aware of his impressive abilities, they weren’t going to rest easily until they found him.

  CHAPTER NINTEEN

  It was Friday the 15th of September, officially two weeks after the break out of this heart wrenching war. China’s forces were now making their way into Virginia, after neutralizing the northeastern sea front. From Boston to New York, all the way down to Pennsylvania and Maryland, were all currently in control by the Chinese government. The United Nations were desperately fumbling in their countless attempts to encourage an immediate cease fire between the two conflicted countries. Canada and Mexico were not pledging any type of allegiance to the United States, but nonetheless were sending endless military equipment and personnel. For a moment during the scrimmage, the United States military had halted their Chinese counterparts and rendered a standstill near Alexandria. Gen. Philip Cox and his amassed infantry made an impressive sweep towards the southeast from the Michigan/Ohio region, flanking the Chinese ground units by surprise. This counter didn’t last long as the Chinese Navy continued to swarm the eastern seafront and even made additional landfall back around the western coast of the United States, storming Chula Vista and neighboring San Diego. Unfortunately, other than a few posts made up of mostly the National Guard and the Coast Guard, a clear majority of the Armed Forces were unknowingly sent to help with the invasion over in the East. So understandably, it didn’t take long for the Chinese to start moving swiftly up the coast of California through to Los Angeles and surrounding cities.

  Meanwhile back at Sky Harbor, Col. Posey was proficiently trying to keep up with the unending requests from his superiors regarding supplies and vehicles. More importantly however, the colonel was beyond excited about his new-found discovery. He figured the war would be over within minutes after releasing his new weapon upon the enemy. The last twelve hours, Col. Posey’s had set up courses over by countless hangars at the airport, with each test being completed above expectations. Now all that was left to do, was get clearance from the President to release his budding star and the rest would be history. In his delight, Col. Posey didn’t fully realize how insane this scenario might sound to anyone, let alone the president. As anyone could probably imagine, he wasn’t getting any type of green light with his plans. The colonel figured he’d give it one more day before breaking protocol and releasing his little flying war soldier for a test spin. Before that could happen however, there was a knock on the door that would be accompanied with some bad news.

  “Come on in.” Posey instructed. Capt. Romano opened the door and emerged into his office. Rey saluted the colonel whom ignored the gesture once again. “What can I do for you Captain?”

  “The blood.” She began.

  “What about it?”

  “It’s not holding.”

  “What do you mean captain, what do you mean it’s not holding?”

  “The effects are wearing off.”

  Col. Posey looked up at Rey, stunned. He couldn’t stand to hear yet another disappointment at this point. The colonel paused in anticipation, hoping Capt. Romano would break out into a heap of laughter and tell him it was all a joke.

  “The effects?”

  “Yes sir.” Rey assured.

  “Wait, so at this very second Captain, you’re telling me that Pvt. Childress is no longer able to fly?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “He can’t pick up a large truck and fly it in the air, throw it across a substantial distance?”

  “No sir.”

  “Fuck. Well how long was that Rey, how long did it last?”

  “Two days sir.”

  Rey stood there while the colonel furiously stood up and threw his coffee cup against the wall. She had never heard him call her Rey before. It was a common nickname amongst her friends and co-workers, but this was the first time a superior of any type had ever called her that.

  “Well please enlighten me captain? How do you explain it? You’re the expert.” The colonel hollered.

  “I have no idea to be honest Colonel. I’ve never seen blood like Creed’s, this whole situation and what we’ve been doing, injecting the private, everything; it’s all been unprecedented, it’s literally a scientific expedition from here on out as far as this boys concerned.”

  Col. Posey paused, he looked over at the phone and eventually picked it up and started dialing. “Mitchell, get in here.” A few minutes later Col. Mitchell walked into Posey’s office to find Capt. Romano sitting down, and his superior doggedly flustered.

  “What’s going on Richard?”

  “We need that boy.”

  “Which boy sir?”

  “You’re kidding me, right? Creed, the boy, you remember? Flying around.”

  “Wait, I thought you wanted me to call off the search ever since we found out that we could trans
fer his abilities to Pvt. Childress?”

  “I called off the search?” The colonel sounded irritated. “Why would I do that Mitchell?”

  “I don’t know sir, it must have been my mistake. I’ll get right on it.”

  Col. Mitchell promptly stood up and saluted the colonel before excusing himself from the office. Capt. Romano lingered in the chair across from Col. Posey.

  “Are you sure you want to do this Colonel?”

  “Do what?”

  “Why is this so important to you?”

  “All I’m doing is exactly what anyone would do in my situation Captain. He could help us win this war. I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but we’re losing this damn war; considerably. You can’t honestly expect me to believe I’m the only one that’s putting two and two together when it comes to this kid.”

  “Yes, I realize that sir. But he’s still only sixteen, do we really want to exploit a teenager like this?”

  “Goodbye Captain, that is enough for now.” The colonel sternly remarked.

  “Yes sir.” Capt. Romano stood up from her seat and paused there for a second in front of the colonel’s desk, before finally saluting the colonel. As always, he brushed her off and Rey turned and exited Posey’s office with a harrowing feeling growing in her stomach.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The same night Creed and Genesis left to visit Kushala at the reservation, Kuruk ended up returning to Sky Harbor to inform Creed’s parents that he was okay. Kuruk once again left his father that evening and returned to the dreaded airport where he quickly found Creed’s parents still nestled in the same spot as when they had first arrived.

  “Hey guys.” Kuruk greeted them with a smile and questionable enthusiasm.

  “Kuruk, where have you been?”

  “Oh, just went to check on my dad. The old stubborn geezer didn’t want to leave his house.”

  “That could’ve been dangerous Kuruk.” Mrs. O’Connor said.

  “Oh no it was fine. Plus, there was no one on the roads so it didn’t take long at all.”