Oslo Overtures

by Marion Ueckermann

  Anjelica released the straps from her mouth and wrapped them around her hand so she wouldn’t lose the camera.

  Their progression was much faster through the water with the wingsuit off. Soon they reached the steps of the wooden landing jetty at the lighthouse. A boat bobbed in the water, moored to the jetty. Were the owners inside the small building, oblivious to the drama taking place on their doorstep? Or had they yet to arrive? It was still very early…couldn’t be much past five-thirty.

  Luke scurried out of the water and up the few stairs.

  Anjelica remained behind, cradling Kyle in her arms. She screamed for help. Nobody came.

  Kneeling at the edge of the jetty, Luke reached down for Kyle. He gripped him under the arms and heaved. Before Luke had Kyle stretched out on the deck, Anjelica was out of the water and kneeling beside him. Luke started CPR, while Anjelica performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

  Don’t you dare die on me! Breathe. Come on, breathe.

  Kyle spluttered, and water splashed from his mouth like a miniature fountain. They turned him on his side, allowing the fluid to trickle from his mouth. His eyes flickered open before closing again. “Whe—where am I?” he asked, his voice weak.

  “Shh…it’s going to be all right. You’re going to be all right.” Anjelica trailed her fingers through his wet hair and swept it back.

  Kyle opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Luke placed his palm against his chest to stop him, but Kyle shoved his hand away. “I’m OK. Just let me sit.” With a groan Kyle propped himself on his elbow and leaned to one side, coughing.

  Anjelica stroked his cheek. “Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself? Anything broken?”

  He pushed himself into a seated position. Anjelica looked on, concerned, as he patted his chest, and then wriggled his arms and legs. “Far as I can tell, the only thing broken is my wingsuit.”

  “I’m sorry…we had to let it go. We had to get you out of the water in a hurry, and it was dragging you down.” She shivered as the shock of the situation, and the cold, settled into the deepest parts of her.

  With a weak smile, Kyle added, “And my ego, of course. That’s in tatters.” He turned to Luke. “Maskil…what gives? That would’ve been a monumental landing. I had it in the bag…right up until the moment I saw the deck wasn’t clear. I thought you had everything arranged?”

  Luke bit his lip and gave a sheepish grin. “I did arrange everything…except…” He shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry.”

  Anjelica began to shake like one possessed. The more she tried not to, the more the shaking increased. Her hands collided with Kyle’s chest. He fell onto his back to where relief and anger met head-on. Hard. She didn’t know which emotion would emerge the victor.

  “You stupid…” She shoved at him as he tried to get up. “Idiotic…” Another shove. “Fool.” Her pushing and shoving morphed into full blown pounding. “This was all planned? What were you thinking? You could’ve killed yourself.”

  “Angel…” Kyle soothed.

  She glared at him, and then turned to include wide-eyed Luke in her glower. “I can’t go there again. I can’t—” Anjelica fell onto Kyle’s chest, weeping.

  Lifting her head, she turned to Luke, certain her tears couldn’t extinguish the blaze in her eyes. “This is your doing, isn’t it?”

  Kyle pulled her back to himself. “I’m to blame. I started this thing. I know now it was foolhardy, but I was desperate.”

  She pushed away from him. “Desperate for what?”

  “To be with you at church.”

  Anjelica felt her confusion chiseling its way into her face, carving out lines not there before. “I don’t understand. You were going to be at church with me.”

  “I know. It seems so stupid now.” His sigh was so deep, Anjelica was afraid he struggled to breathe. But when he offered a weak smile, she knew there was no reason for concern. “I was afraid to be alone with you. I wasn’t sure I could trust myself. And I was worried about Erick being there.”

  “Because you thought we were together?”

  “Yes,” he whispered.

  “I still don’t understand.”

  “I made a pact with Luke so he’d come to church with me.”

  Luke cleared his throat. “I hate to break up this little tête-à-tête, but we need to go.” He looked to the sky where the helicopter hovered.

  “Go where?” She couldn’t believe Luke.

  “We need to get back to the chopper.”

  Anjelica turned her head upward. The rope ladder still dangled like a loose cable, tossed about in the draught created by the swirling blades. “You’re not serious? He can’t climb after what he’s been through.”

  Luke shook his head and tipped it toward the small boat. “We’ll row across to the mainland. It can’t be more than five hundred feet away. When we planned the dive, I noticed on the computer mapping program there was an open field just off the beach, big enough to land a chopper.” He pushed a shock of wet hair away from his eyes. “I’ll motion the pilot once we’re out on open water.”

  She tried to suppress the anger that boiled inside her. She failed. “Do you realize how much trouble you’re going to be in when we get back? And now you want to add boat theft to your list of crimes?”

  “You got a better plan?” Luke challenged.

  Anjelica leaned against the wooden wall of the boathouse. She had no other plan for them to get out of there. Neither did she have a plan to get out of being in love with Kyle. But this incident made her realize that perhaps she needed one. Maybe Erick was right—sooner, rather than later, this sport would kill Kyle. She couldn’t be around to see that. Not again.

  12

  Determined to remain unshaken by the morning’s events, Kyle buried his feelings and unpacked his spare rig. Perhaps no one would notice the difference. Yeah right, like that would happen. He’d be the only person in his team not dressed in black. He’d stand out like a beacon. The only part of his backup look that was black was along the length of his arms—and his mood. He’d loved that wingsuit. Now it was fish fodder.

  Kyle slipped into the red outfit, looking more Spiderman than Batman.

  Luke grinned. “I like it. Just your color. It suits you.”

  Kyle grabbed his helmet and headed for the door. He might not be able to do anything to match his team-mates, but he certainly could do something about his demeanor. He swallowed his choler at Luke’s devil-may-care attitude to everything and forced a smile to his face. “C’mon. Got to get back on the wheel when one falls off, not so?”

  “True, Bro.” Luke patted Kyle’s back.

  Kyle swallowed hard, again.

  They’d hardly stepped onto the bus when the questions began.

  “Hey, Kyle, what happened? Get your suit messed up with lipstick?” Laughter filled the bus while other questions filled the air.

  Kyle merely smiled, not giving them the satisfaction of any answers.

  Luke kept his lips zipped.

  Anjelica didn’t say a word.

  Who knew what trouble their stunt could get them into?

  Soon they’d be airborne and the questions would stop.

  The afternoon passed with three successful jumps. Kyle felt more confident the last time. And less irked at Luke. But the morning’s events seemed to have taken their toll on Anjelica. She only did one barrel roll on their first jump, none the second and third. The last thing he wanted was for his mishap to affect her performance.

  Kyle, Anjelica, and Luke strolled down the grassed airfield, chutes stuffed beneath their arms.

  Jeremy White strode toward them. The scowl on his face did not bode well. Red-faced, he pointed at each of them. “You, you, and you…in the conference room the moment we’re back at the hotel.” He turned and marched to his car.

  They didn’t speak as they rolled up their chutes. Neither did they talk on the bus ride back to Refsnes-Gods.

  ~*~

  Anjelica had never seen someone so angry.


  Jeremy’s face was red from his outburst.

  She hoped nobody could hear past the conference room walls. “Jeremy, you have to understand…Kyle isn’t the only one to blame here.” Jeremy seemed to like her. She’d make him see reason.

  Kyle placed his hand over hers and squeezed. “It’s entirely my fault, Jeremy. Nobody else in this room is to blame.”

  “No, no, no,” Luke interjected. “I’m as much to blame, if not more, for this jump going wrong. I screwed up. Your flight was perfect, Kyle. And your landing would have been perfect, too, if not for me.”

  “That’s right, Kyle. Luke messed up, not you.” Anjelica would not let Kyle go down on his own.

  Jeremy paced the floor on the other side of the table. He stopped, placed his hands on the wooden surface and stared at them. “I don’t care who did or didn’t do what. All three of you were on that chopper. Did you really think you’d get away with this unnoticed? Didn’t you realize the pilot would have to file an incident report, and news of that would get back to me?” He straightened and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You could’ve been injured, Kyle. Or worse, killed. You put this entire event at risk.”

  “S—so now what?” Normally, Anjelica wasn’t easily scared, but Jeremy’s stance was menacing. This wasn’t going well. Were they all in trouble? And how much?

  “I’ve a good mind to disqualify you all from the bigway—”

  Kyle shot to his feet. “No! Anjelica had nothing to do with this. You have to leave her out of it. She shouldn’t have even been on that chopper. It was a mix-up.”

  “Fair enough. But as for you two—”

  “Do what you have to, Jeremy, but do it to me. I’m the one who took the flight, despite knowing the risks.”

  “But—” Luke started.

  Kyle swung around to him. “Enough. As your team leader, that’s an order.”

  Luke huffed and folded his arms. It was strange not to see him frivolous. Anjelica hoped he was coming to grips with the gravity of the situation. She blamed him fully for this mess.

  Jeremy sank into his chair.

  Kyle followed his example.

  “I’ve no choice but to make a report and recommendation to the International Parachuting Commission of the FAI,” Jeremy said. “But I’ll do so after Friday. We’ve all worked too long, too hard, and it’s cost us all plenty to get to this moment. We can’t throw it away at the eleventh-hour. It’s not fair on the others.”

  Anjelica didn’t like the sound of this. “What recommendation?”

  “Won’t you get into trouble for waiting?” There was no mistaking Kyle’s concern.

  “What recommendation?” she tried again.

  “That both Kyle and Luke are banned from all wingsuit, sky-diving, and BASE events for one year. They cannot compete or participate.”

  Luke threw up his hands. “Ah, man. Do you know what that will do to our sponsorships?” He raked his fingers through his hair before placing his hands on the conference table. He leaned over toward Jeremy. “Look, nobody got hurt. This doesn’t have to go any further than this room.”

  Jeremy shook his head. “I’m sorry. There was an incident…I have no choice.”

  “Jeremy, don’t worry about it,” Kyle said. “Do what you have to. But this was my idea, this was my flight. Don’t penalize Luke for my decisions. Ban me for two years if you want, just don’t put this on Luke. Can I ask this one favor?”

  For a while the room was quiet. Finally, Jeremy stood and walked toward the door.

  “I’ll see what I can do.” He stopped and turned. “All that way? Over water? And you planned to land on a lighthouse?” He shook his head, a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips, then turned and closed the door behind him.

  ~*~

  “That went better than expected.” Kyle folded his arms behind his head, leaned back and smiled.

  Anjelica stared at him.

  He shrugged and laughed. “What?”

  “How can you take all the blame?”

  Kyle wasn’t sure if she was angry with him, or proud. He took her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it. “Because what’s done is done. And it’s the right thing to do.”

  Luke shot out of his chair. “Bro, no. You can’t do this. Your sponsors might still be interested in you after a year, but two?” His arms moved in all directions as he protested Kyle’s decision, his eyes pleading more than his words.

  This don’t-worry-be-happy space Luke always occupied felt good. Kyle wiped the corners of his mouth, an unsuccessful attempt to contain his grin as it spilled past his fingers.

  Luke turned to Anjelica. “Angel, talk some sense into him.” Poor Luke squirmed in the unfamiliar territory of being the responsible one.

  Her gaze darted between Kyle and Luke. “I—I can’t. I’m sorry.” She pulled her hand out of Kyle’s and fled the room.

  Again, Kyle wondered if he should pursue her or give her space. Again, he chose the latter.

  Luke leaned on the conference table. “What will you do if they ban you?”

  “I can still fly, just not professionally.” Kyle smacked Luke’s leg. “Besides, I think I might stick around Norway a little longer.”

  “How much longer?”

  A grin broke across Kyle’s face. “At least a year or two. Maybe a lifetime.”

  ~*~

  Leaning against the closed bedroom door, Anjelica caught her breath.

  “Is that you, Angel?”

  Brandy. She should’ve known she wouldn’t find solitude in her room at this time of the day. But where else could she go to escape? With deep breaths and slow steps, she walked into their room. “Yes, it’s me.”

  Brandy sat on the bed, feet up, nail varnish in hand. Apart from her pedicure, she was ready for a night with the boys again. “Is everything all right? I heard that you, Kyle, and Luke had a meeting with Jeremy, and that he wasn’t happy.”

  Anjelica forced a smile to her lips. “Everything’s fine.” It wouldn’t help if word of what happened got out. “Just some final plans and instructions. You know…lead fliers…” Forgive me for lying.

  “So why wasn’t Erick there?”

  Shrugging her shoulders as high as she could, Anjelica grabbed her gown off the bed. “I have no idea.” She walked into the bathroom and turned on the taps. A good soak would rid her of today’s stress. After throwing a capful of bubble bath into the running water, she stuck her head around the doorjamb. “I’m going to take a bath.”

  Brandy looked up. “Enjoy it. I’ll see you downstairs later?”

  “Hope so.” Anjelica doubted it. As much as she wanted to be with Kyle tonight, she didn’t want to see him right now. If she left this room, she would.

  Tonight it would be the paperback novel, these four walls, and her.

  Clothed in bubbles, Anjelica sank deeper into the water. It felt warm and safe there, yet she shivered at the memory of the cold waters only thirteen hours ago. Fresh fears assailed her mind. What if, without the professional side of the sport to channel their energies into, Kyle and Luke became even more reckless, tried even more dangerous stunts? She had buried one man she’d loved. She could not bury another.

  She had to end things with Kyle before they got too serious. But not just yet. Not until after the bigway. She had to allow him at least one victory before he faced another loss.

  13

  Two days of intense training passed and they were ready. The excitement amongst the one hundred and eleven participants was intoxicating. It was easy to be drunk on the emotions of this day. But the bittersweet memories of last night kept Anjelica sober.

  She leaned against Kyle as the Skyvan took to the air for the last time on this journey. It was an enthralling moment; a sad moment. Kyle’s arms around her felt good. He held her tight and she closed her eyes. For a few moments more she wanted to remember their dinner together last night, how they’d quoted psalms to each other between bites, and kissed beneath the oak trees. Spoken wor
ds. Unspoken words. Both as special.

  Soon she’d have to focus on this flight, and thereafter end things with Kyle. But only once the victory dinner was over. He’d not feel like celebrating if she told him before. And he deserved to celebrate.

  Was she right to let him go?

  Kyle whispered in her ear, “Almost time to go. You ready?”

  How she wanted to kiss him again, wish him luck, but their helmets wouldn’t allow it.

  He kissed his fingers and pressed them against her lips. With a wink, he slipped a pair of goggles over his eyes. Good thing he travelled with backups of everything.

  “This is it, fellers.” Luke’s voice boomed through the cabin. “I’d say ‘break a leg’ but I wouldn’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt.”

  Did it really make a difference? She hadn’t heard him say that when Kyle had jumped, and yet he’d almost drowned. Surprising he hadn’t broken a leg, too.

  The belly of the plane opened. Anjelica gave herself a last once-over, tightening her helmet strap and checking all the zips on her suit. She was ready.

  “Let’s do this,” Kyle shouted.

  Erick grinned. “Bigway Norway.”

  Nineteen voices rose in unison. “Bigway Norway.” No doubt the same sounds consumed the other planes, too. They began to fill the sky, as wingsuiter after wingsuiter tumbled out of the planes.

  We can do this. That was all Anjelica could afford to think about. Thoughts of Kyle were replaced by concentration on the event and her role as lead. Unlike Tuesday’s failure, she’d managed five perfect rolls at yesterday’s final practice. She had to have the confidence to repeat that today.

  Five planes tailed their own across the sky, away from them. All the participants were in the air, diving to their positions. Soon they’d fly over Oslo city. Soon it would be time for their star to shine.

  This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. The Sunday school song swirled in her head like the barrel rolls she prepared to do. She felt so free flying through the air. Pity she’d reunite with her troubles back on earth.