Modern Day Cavegirls - Jane

Almost all of the time.

In the US, anyway.

With nobody yelling at her and with the help of the other two, Jane excelled at school. Her grandfather did what he could, but it had really been the boy and the girl who had taught Jane to walk and talk, ride a bicycle and use rollerblades. It was nineteen years later and they still behaved like three people who'd grown up in the same family.

And they still loved each other to death.

Like the older pair, Jane had grown up on the same two adjacent farms. She was no stranger to hard work and it held no fear for her. That, her family genetics, and her love of playing the drums got her the muscular build. Jane wasn't more than five nine and she didn't look like a bodybuilder. But she wasn't a stick girl either.

She'd gotten her pilot's license just four days after her sixteenth birthday. In the three and a half years since, she'd also gotten her instrument rating as well as her multi-engine and night ratings.

Jane had a job waiting for her.

To that end, it was the reason that she was here in the Southeast. She was about to start the last week of her crop dusting course. Her grandfather had done the job for decades with nothing. Jane wanted certification.

Her thoughts returned to Tina as she descended to three hundred feet over the water. Cars held no fascination to Jane. Aircraft did.

Tina was Jane's sports car.

Agricultural aircraft are slow compared to a lot of others. They don't need to be fast to do what they do. Tina had a high-compression engine and she could cruise at one hundred and thirty-six miles an hour. Not exactly a rocket, but Jane didn't care. She could fly four hundred and fifty-two miles in three hours and twenty minutes at that speed in her own aircraft.

Not bad for a nineteen year-old.

The hoppers and tanks had been taken out and the space was used for cargo - specifically, Jane's clothing, her books, and her e-bike while she was here for her course.

So agricultural aircraft are slow.

But they're built strong to withstand heavy stresses, like flying flat-out with your tires in the weeds to pull straight up and come around to do the next swath in the opposite direction.

All the damned day long.

Tiny Tina was a relatively small aircraft with a wingspan of just under thirty-nine feet, but she was one tough little bitch.

Jane liked that about her.

She thought that if she'd ever seen him, Tina would probably have liked the cropduster in those animated movies about planes. They looked a lot alike.

But overall, Tina liked girl planes, mostly.

Because Jane liked girl ... uh, girls.

Mostly.

She came around to head due south toward Monroe Regional Airport. Once on the ground and with Tina parked, Jane pulled out her e-bike and rode off to get something to eat for lunch before heading to her hair dresser appointment.

She liked what she saw in the mirror back at the hotel later on.

When Jane had come here, she'd had long, very slightly wavy, light brown hair with a reddish tinge to it. It went with the peaches and cream complexion and she was a little tired of it.

She found that she was the only female in the small class of nine. She wore her flight suit to class and out on the flight line, but it didn't help to minimize the garbage that she had to hear.

Over the next weeks, she'd had to endure the most insipid come-ons from two of the others. She mentioned it to one of the instructors, telling him that she'd paid good money and the noises were taking the shine off her day - every day. It was also taking the shine off her impression of the school in general.

Nothing had changed, so now Jane didn't have that long hair anymore. And she'd found a T-shirt place that offered to print anything on your shirt.

Her hair was one-eighth of an inch long everywhere on her head, but the top. There, it was most of an inch long and at the front, maybe two inches long. What was on her head had been dyed black. What was on top was white-blonde and spiked to stand up.

When she walked in on Monday morning, she didn't hear much of anything for once.

She'd left the flight suit at the hotel.

She wore jeans - tight jeans with work boots. Between the hair and the jeans there was her tight-fitting tank top - brilliant pink.

The words on the shirt read, "If you're a man here to hit on me, then I'M A LESBIAN."

Below that, it read, "If you're a woman here to hit on me, please tell me that you're shaved."

They stared a little at her biceps, not as big as they had perhaps, but not bad for a girl.

One of the two bright bulbs said, "Hey, you know what? I'm a lesbian too!"

Jane regarded him with a straight face and one raised eyebrow for a count of three, "Well I'd already guessed that you were dickless weeks ago.

If it helps your confusion any, you're an overweight and obnoxious cracker who's a disgrace to all the good men in the South. I'd just about bet money that no matter what your Momma tells you on Mother's Day, deep down inside - she probably wishes that she'd been a lesbian back when it mattered."

-------------------------

By the end of the week, Jane had her certification. Actually, it had happened by ten on the Friday morning. She ducked out of the little celebration that the school put on and biked to the hotel to get packed.

She was almost done when her phone rang.

"Hey Bobbi," she smiled, "I got it done. I'm just finished packing. I just want to have a quick shower and then I'm off to the airport to head home. I can probably be there by five if I don't dawdle too much."

She heard the woman chuckle, "You sound pleased and I always like that, Janey. I was going to ask you for a favor. I just don't know if you can get here any quicker.

You remember when I said that I was looking for some help with our books and in the office?"

"Yeah," Jane nodded, "did you find somebody?"

"I did," Bobbi said, "She's on her way now. I just spoke with her. She called me from the cab on the way to the airport about five minutes ago.

Is there any way that you could pick her up at Santa Fe Muni? She could sit in Tina's jump seat for the ride back. Her flight ought to get there by six or so. I'd owe you if you could."

Jane sighed, "I've got the jump seat, but Tina's stuffed with my clothes, my bike and my books. There's a little room left but she's gotta be bringing some luggage, right? I doubt I could jam in a full-sized suitcase in the locker and once there's somebody in the jump seat, there's no room at all in the cockpit."

She chuckled, "Even if she did agree to sit on my lap."

Bobbi groaned, "Crap, you're right. I've been in the air all morning myself and I just got in. I wasn't expecting to hear from her today, so the Otter's down for it's monthly as of two hours ago, and I can't just have it put back together for this.

Ok, just fly home with a little less dawdling.

If you don't mind too much, could you fly right seat in the Caribou when we go get her and left seat on the way back? I want to spend a little time talking with her. We'll all head into town after for dinner. Would that be alright?"

Jane smiled, "I dunnooooo ...

I'd have said no ordinarily, but it just happens that 'dinner' is the magic word today, so I'm in. I'll see you at the hangar then."

----------------------

There was almost no headwind which surprised Jane and she made good time, getting to the company ramp by a little before five. She shut down and left everything in her plane and walked into the hangar for a pee and then met up with Bobbi just as the fuel truck was pulling away.

Bobbi hugged Jane since though she'd been flying back on weekends; it had still been a week. But she stepped back and stared for a moment and then grinned, "Look at you! What happened to all that hair?

"

Jane shrugged, "I got tired of the two idiots in the class hitting on me constantly. I was also looking for a change, so ..."

"Well you found one," Bobbi laughed, "It's a little severe, but I like it a lot on you. Did it help any?"

"I guess," Jane said, "I took them both to be a couple of real asses, the kind that figure that if they hit on every woman, they gotta luck out sooner or later. It won't help in their case, though. Not unless the woman is using the Helen Keller method to meet men."

She looked at her watch, "Hey, we ought to be cranking if we're gonna have a hope."

Bobbi nodded and asked one of the hands to get the plane turned around with a mule. Jimmy Weiskopf hooked up and laughed at Jane, "Nice Janey! Very nice. Now I know why I can't get a date with you. Thanks for uh, clearing that up for me."

"This has nothing to do with it, Gorgeous," Jane laughed out of the co-pilot's window, "To get a date, you've actually gotta ask me. Oh, and it would improve your chances a LOT if you were SINGLE!"

"Shit," Jimmy grinned.

"Yeah," Jane laughed, "Tell Donna I said hi and that I hope she appreciates her fantastic luck."

He laughed some more as he got unhitched and sped off on the low tractor to get out of the way.

------------------

In the air and climbing, Jane was busy with a lot of the things that flying a plane like the Caribou just required from the co-pilot in that phase of a flight since she was there and all. A Caribou could be flown by one, but it could be a stretch to get to some things that way. So here she was handling the radios and the landing gear as well as the flaps for Bobbi. At the moment, she was set and all that remained was just the raising the flaps the last bit when Bobbi called for it.

She did get a few seconds now and then to talk to Bobbi.

"So? Are ya gonna tell me about the new girl?"

Bobbi chuckled, "I'll tell you what I know. She's sure that she can help. That's all that I needed to hear, Janey.

Other than that, she's on a contract through that agency. The little that I know about her I got from her resume and by squinting at my laptop screen during her interview. Her birthplace didn't mean a thing to me, but I saw that she grew up in Seoul, so I'm guessing that she's a pretty urban girl.

She's ... a little older than you I'd guess, maybe twenty-one, twenty-two. I'd say that it's hard to tell, but I don't want to sound like a racist or anything.

It was hard to judge her age and it wasn't important to me. I just know that we stared at each other nervously for the first couple of minutes but after that, she interviewed well - really well. I was impressed."

"Wait," Jane said, "what do you mean?"

Bobbi shrugged, "The video wasn't the best that day - when I'd have wanted it to be. I just saw a young Oriental woman. Her resume said she was from South Korea. She's got plenty of accreditation and experience for the job, just nothing yet on this side of the ocean. I just wonder if I was clear enough when I said that this isn't maybe the kind of job that she's probably used to.

I hope she's not expecting an office tower. The best I can do is the top floor offices in our hangar - though the stairs can seem a little long to me some days, depending.

I also got that she seemed to be a bit shy, so I'm a little worried about her coming here. I'd hate it if she turned out to be incredibly good but didn't like it here because she felt isolated. That's why I want to take her to dinner to make her feel welcome.

She speaks English pretty well, though it's not as smooth as it might be if she was here for a few years. She's got a green card and she's been here for seven months."

Bobbi smiled over, "So is there anything else you'd want to know, Sherlock?"

Jane shrugged, "As long as you're happy that she can do the job for us, I'm good, Bobbi. What's her name?"

"Gonna give me a challenge, huh?" Bobbi grinned, "I'll have you know that once I knew that she was on her way, I've been carrying a piece of paper with me all day to make sure that I had it right myself. You ready?"

Bobbi was leveling off at their planned altitude and Jane nodded, "Shoot."

Bobbi grinned, "Amy."

Jane laughed, "I thought it was gonna be something hard."

Bobbi nodded, "It IS hard, well, all of her names. But for our purposes, her name is Kim Su-jin. Kim is her last name. It's the most popular last name in Korea. About a third of the people there have it."

Jane looked over, "So her first name is - "

"Su-jin," Bobbi smiled.

Jane shook her head, "So how the hell do you get Amy out of that? Is that their way of saying Amy or something?"

Bobbi shook her head, "Sorry Einstein, it's just a western name that she picked to make it easy for people like us. Lots of Oriental people who come here choose an English name for that reason."

Jane tried it and she smiled, "I like Su-jin, actually. I kind of think that's an awesome first name, but I hear what you're saying. I'll stick to Amy if I forget."

"Sooo," Bobbi began, "Can I ask you to help her and show her around some? I mean, a tour of the whole town and area shouldn't take more than about a half hour, aside from the driving from one side to the other. I want her to feel included right from the start."

Jane looked over and laughed, "I knew there was something coming up in there somewhere. I'd call it a deal - if I can have the weekend off. I just got back from crop duster land. Is there anything on the board for this weekend for spraying?"

"No," Bobbi smiled, "Lucky you.

Ok, it's a deal. Take her under your wing and do what you can to get her moved in and shown around. I really need this to work, Janey."

They landed and took up a slot in General Aviation parking. Unfortunately, it was out pretty far since it was Friday afternoon and evening.

Bobbi headed off at a fast walk, since she was worried that they were a few minutes late. Jane did a little thinking and was glad that she'd brought her flight helmet along. She used it for when she flew Tina because the Tina's cockpit was a little narrow and it sometimes helped the old noggin during quick maneuvers if she wore it.

On the way over, she'd used one of the headphone sets in the Caribou. But there were only two of them, and it got loud on the Caribou's flight deck with the engines running. She took the headphones off and searched for a moment before she found the alcohol wipes and worked over the headset for Amy's use.

After that, she looked at the position of the sun and popped open the top hatch, climbing out to sit on the wing up there for a little fresh air. She hadn't needed the assholes in her class, but overall, she did manage to enjoy the course and she'd learned a lot too.

It was a bit warm up there, so she unzipped her flight suit to get a little air and she leaned back against the side of the fuselage, thinking that if Amy hadn't been coming this weekend, she could be up for a little sun tanning up here. Ah well.

-----------------

Amy's flight had come in a few minutes late as well and she was just walking with her two drag-alongs and her carry-on bag. She went a little slowly this time. Her arrival in the states had been under circumstances which had prevented any real looking around.

One minute she was walking pretty much as she was right now and the next, her 'uncle' had shown up and then it was a high-speed dash for no reason other than the wanted to get the hell out of there and back to making money.

She didn't know a thing about Santa Fe, but she liked the way that the airport terminal looked to her.

It took her a little while to notice that someone was calling her name. They were paging her by her proper name to go to the information counter. She looked around and made a guess and headed in that direction. Then she saw Ms. Sorrenson there waiting for her with a big smile.

She put her carry-on down and held out her hand, "Hello, Ms. -"

"Bobbi," the woman grinned as she grabbed Amy's hand, "Please just call me Bobbi. It's really good to see you again, Amy. How was your flight?"

They chatted as they walked and Amy felt better already. She'd spent the past two days with butterflies filling her stomach. It had all taken a lot of subterfuge, getting away when no one else was at her uncle's home. As far as she was concerned, he could die and rot for constantly reminding her that he was doing her a favor by charging her rent at a lower rate. She wondered what the hell he was talking about. It wasn't like he was running a hotel. And it took most of her tiny pay to make the rent.

She was also done with her family. A drunken kiss with a tightly-wound drama queen wasn't worth what had happened in her book. It had all been ridiculous.

But it had changed her life, no matter what.

She thought about someone else that she'd once known and forced her thoughts away. Now wasn't the time for more recriminations.

They neared the doors out to the ramp and things looked a little odd to Amy, but Bobbi explained to her that for the last part of her journey, she still had one more ride on an airplane in the place of a taxicab.

"I've got to apologize for the transportation today," Bobbi said, "If I'd known that it was going to be today, I'd have brought an aircraft which has a nice interior and decent airline seats. But you said that it would be a little sudden when you'd call and I've tried to respect that, Amy."

She chuckled, "That plane is now in for it's monthly checks so I can't fly you in style today. I tried to get Janey to pick you up, since she was coming home from a course in Arkansas today, but now I'm a little pleased that she didn't have the space on her plane for you and your luggage on top of hers and everything else. We came with our Caribou. We could probably haul you and all of your earthly possessions in one trip."

Amy got most of it, but didn't really have a reply. She had pretty much all of her earthly possessions with her right now. They walked on, with Bobbi pulling one suitcase and Amy with the rest.

"The ... scenery here is very nice," Amy said, "I expected more ... flatness?

Who is Janey?"

"My kid sister" Bobbi smiled, "She'll be flying the plane on the way back so you and I can talk."

-----------------

Jane was a little bored. She was sitting cross-legged on top of the fuselage now, looking in the direction of the terminal and enjoying the curious feeling of having her bottom warmed by the metal.

After a while, she thought that she saw Bobbi off in the distance and she reached into one of her cargo pockets for the compact binoculars that she almost always carried whenever she flew. It turned out that it was Bobbi out there, so she looked at the other person.

Bobbi had mentioned that she'd told Amy on the phone that she ought to just dress for comfort, and that jeans would be absolutely fine. She'd also smiled at Jane and said that she didn't really expect to see Amy dressed like that.

"She's new in the country and she was probably raised very properly. Put those things together and I'd lay my money on her showing up in a business suit anyway, no matter what I'd said."

Jane smiled as she looked through the binoculars.

Shoes that were probably getting Amy's feet to tell her that they'd be fine without all of this walking forever over miles of pavement. And there it was too - the charcoal-grey business jacket over a matching business skirt.

Dang, Jane thought, white blouse and everything.

She tried to get a better view of Amy. What she saw actually pleased and astounded her a little bit. Amy turned out to be pretty lovely actually - as far as looking at her through the lenses of binoculars went. She seemed pleasantly trim and Jane wondered if she ran or worked out.

As long as she was ogling, she told herself, she checked out Amy's legs and really liked what she saw. She watched as Amy turned her head to speak to Bobbi. Her hair was so long and ...

Janey blinked for a moment. So long and it was in two colours. Black and red.