Ordinary Heroes

"Anne you are now the chief pilot, and Bert you are now in charge of making sure the planes are properly maintained, but I expect you, Bert, to keep flying to set a good example for our other employees."

Anne said, "Chief pilot?"

Bert said, "Planes?"

Ian expanded, "I told Christine, the soon to be new owner of Gawain Air service, that I would only do it if we had two CL-215's and a Cessna 337 to act as a spotter if necessary. Oh, and Maureen and I are getting married in a year!"

Maureen coughed on her drink and squeaked out, "We are?"

"And I..."

Maureen interrupted, "We"

Ian continued, "WE would like the both of you to be the first to know."

*** Ian received a call from Christine Brown the next Monday telling him that she had arranged a meeting with the owners for the negotiations Thursday of that week. She asked him if he could be there at 10:00 am to advise her, particularly making sure that nothing was overlooked.

When the call ended, Ian picked up the phone and called Anne to see if she could get free to meet Christine. Anne and Bert had both obtained work with a small general aviation company across the airfield from Gawain's hanger. Anne had been flying some charter flights but spent most of her time at her old job of flight instructor. Anne asked what time Ian wanted her to come across the field. He asked if she could make it at 10:00 a.m. so he could introduce her to the new owner. He then mentioned he should go as he still had to call Bert to see if he could make it at 10 as well.

"Don't worry about Bert, he came over for dinner tonight and is still here. He's nodding his head that he can make it as well."

Ian looked at his watch and saw it was 9:00 p.m. Odd he thought, that Bert would still be there but then dismissed the thought.

"You two better give your notices; as if everything goes as planned you will be back on Gawain's payroll as of Sunday."

Curious Anne asked, "Why Sunday?"

"Christine was told Drencher is ready to return to service and I want you two to catch a flight to Montreal Sunday, overnight there, NOT at the Ritz Carlton, and fly Drencher back here Monday. With that long a flight, you should have time to spot anything that needs to be fixed before we put her into service."

There was a pause while Anne relayed the information to Bert. When she finished, Ian heard a loud "Woo Hoo" coming from the background.

He smiled and said, "I take it by that noise Bert is okay with this plan."

Anne laughed, "How did you guess?"

Ian said his good-byes and hung up. When he turned from the phone, he saw that Maureen had wandered in and sat in the room while he was talking.

"Can I come too?" She asked. "I would like to see where you will be working. I'm sure Doctor Jones can do without me for the morning. I'd also like to meet Christine; she sounds like quite the woman."

Ian walked over knelt beside her and whispered in her ear, "I would love for you to come." Then he stuck he wet tongue in her ear.

"Yuk, I'll get you for that." But by the time she got out of the chair Ian was already out the back door and headed down to the lake.

When she caught up to him, he was sitting quietly on the shore looking at the full moon's reflection on the lake. She sat down beside him and held his hand.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"I was thinking about the emotional roller coaster ride I've been on these past few months. When I compare what I've lost to all I have gained, most importantly meeting you, I find it almost hard to believe how blessed I've been."

Maureen leaned against him, "I know I feel blessed as well." They sat that way for the next hour, just content to enjoy the view before them, the haunting night-time sounds of nature and the pure clean smells of the forest. Most of all they enjoyed the feel of the one they loved next them.

After an hour they stood up, walked back to the cabin and went to bed without saying a word, as they both felt the night spoke for itself.

***

When Ian and Maureen arrived at the airfield at quarter to ten they saw Anne and Bert coming across the tarmac towards them. They had just finished their greetings when Bert said, "I wonder who that is?"

The others turned towards where Bert was looking. They saw a woman of average height, about the same age as them, wearing blue jeans, white sneakers and a white polo shirt clearly heading directly to where they were standing.

When she arrived she introduced herself with, "Hi, I'm Christine Brown," she continued, "and you are Ian Cameron, I recognize you from the pictures. That means you must be Bert Sharpe," then turning to Anne, and "Anne Svenson."

Then surprising everyone, "Which can only mean you are Maureen Smith."

Maureen was the first to react, "How did you know who I am?"

Christine replied, "Sweetie, I didn't become as successful as I am without doing thorough background checks on the key personnel of businesses I intend to acquire."

Turning to Ian she said, "Now show me around Gawain's facilities. I want to know exactly what I'm spending my money on."

As Ian led the group to the hanger the others fell back a bit. Bert summed up what all three were thinking with, "Holy shit, she is not at all like I was expecting."

Anne replied, "I know what you mean, I was expecting some sort of sour-faced number cruncher in a power suit."

Maureen's only input was, "She's beautiful."

The tour of the facilities took about 45 minutes with Christine surprising them with the questions she asked which showed a depth of knowledge of the air industry none of them had expected.

When the tour was over they returned to where they had started.

Christine said to Anne and Bert, "I expect you two had better get back to work, I dislike hiring people who have been fired for just cause and not being where you're supposed to be is just cause, so git."

As Anne and Bert started walking away Christine turned to Ian and asked, "I take it they're on the payroll again starting Sunday so they can go get Drencher, correct?"

"Yes."

"Don't look so surprised Ian, I like to keep on top of things, now you take this lovely young woman to an early lunch and meet me back here at one o'clock."

With that said, she turned and walked purposefully to the parking lot.

At lunch the sole topic of conversation between Ian and Maureen was Christine.

"I'm not sure I want to do this anymore. She seems to know an awful lot about what's going on, both in the business and my personal life. I don't like the idea of her looking over my shoulder all the time." Ian said with a worried expression.

Seeing and hearing his doubt, Maureen replied, "I don't think you've anything to worry about. If you were about to invest the enormous amount of money she is, wouldn't you want to know about the key personnel who will be running the enterprise?"

"Well, what about her prying into our personal lives?"

"Ian, this was the first time the two of you met in person, outside of what she would have seen and heard on the news, how else was she to tell what kind of person you are? In her shoes I'd want to know about the emotional stability of the person to whom I was literally handing a multimillion dollar enterprise."

"And that last bit about checking to see if I had Anne and Bert on the payroll Sunday?"

"Okay, that was a small test. I'm sure in her discussions with the owners she would have known Drencher would be ready Monday. Remember how she said, 'I take it' rather than ordering you to do it. Knowing what she did about Drencher, she would have decided what the correct action to take would be. She knew you would do it, but wanted to know if you were the type to stand on formalities, such as actually having the job, before acting. She was also telling you that she approved."

"How did you get that idea?" a puzzled Ian asked.

Maureen sighed, "For a bright man you can be awfully thick about some things. You told her that you had told Anne and Bert before you were officially hired right?"

"Yes," he agreed, "so?" "Did she admonish you for doing it? No, she did not. In fact in putting the question the way she did, she was telling you that's what she would've done."

"Ah, I see."

"Men," Maureen laughed, "it's a wonder humanity got out of the Stone Age with you lot in charge."

She continued in a serious tone. "Don't worry honey, you two will get along famously."

Ian dropped Maureen off at Dr. Jones' clinic and arrived at Gawain 5 minutes early. He saw a Lincoln rental car pull in the parking lot, and when the driver got out he was shocked. He barely recognized Christine.

When she reached Ian she winked and asked, "How do I look?"

"You look like you're ready to tear these guys to pieces," he replied.

"Ah, you say the nicest things," she teased. "That's the look I wanted. I want them to see it coming, and I will chew them to pieces."

"So why am I here?" Ian asked.

"Well, truthfully you're here mostly for window dressing. I want them to see that what was their most valuable noncapital asset and a person who knows the business, and their business thoroughly, now works for me. You're also here as insurance in case I miss something."

The negotiations went as Christine suspected and in no time she was the new owner of Gawain Air services.

Their conversation was interrupted by the roar of a Learjet landing, then taxiing to the apron in front of the Gawain hanger.

"That's my ride." she said, going to the trunk of the car a getting out her luggage.

Ian carried her bags and walked out to the jet. Christine waited outside until Ian came back from taking the bags into the plane.

"My first, and likely only, order I have for you as your boss is to take that lovely young woman of yours out to dinner to celebrate. If you two weren't so perfect for each other I might have taken a run at you myself."

She kissed him on the cheek then boarded her plane and flew off.

When he looked at his watch he saw he had 45 minutes to kill until Maureen got off work so he walked across the tarmac and invited Bert and Ann to join him and Maureen for the celebration dinner.

As he told them about his and Christine's maneuvers that afternoon, they howled with laughter.

"Imagine Mr. couldn't hurt a fly trying to act intimidating," said Bert.

Ian gave them his best scowl but couldn't hold it and laughed along with them.

After dinner on the drive back to the cabin Maureen turned to Ian and asked, "Did she really say she would have taken a run at you?"

Sensing where this was going he answered, "Yes, but that was after she said you and I were perfect for each other."

She followed up with, "Do you think we're perfect for each other?"

He took his eyes of the road briefly to look directly at her and responded, "Absolutely. Which one of us wants to wait a year to get married? I'll give you a hint, it's not me."

Reassured she snuggled up to his arm and remained there until he needed to shift gears.

Just before they went to sleep Maureen couldn't contain herself and whispered in Ian's ear, "I told you that you and Christine would get along famously."

***

Almost to the year of the date Maureen and Ian moved in together they got married. Bert was the best man and Anne the maid of honor.

A year after that Anne and Bert got married. Had Ian looked into the rooms that morning in Montreal, rather than just pounding on the doors he would have found them sleeping together in Anne's room. Instead he was totally surprised when they announced their engagement.

For their wedding, they switched roles, Ian as best man and Maureen the maid of honor.

*** As the years went by Anne and Bert tapered off their operational flying. Bert stayed on the ground making sure that the planes were always ready when needed. Anne's flying was reduced to training crews, and with a compliment of competent crews on staff the only CL-215 flying she did was check-flights after maintenance. Operationally she would fly the Cessna 337 acting as a spotter when both CL-215s were in the air.

After the incident at Widow Maker Ridge, Ian thought that relying on ground control to direct the air assets was inefficient. His view was the job could be done far better from a plane where the overall view would allow the observer to see trouble spots before they became a real danger to the people on the ground. He had told his idea to the authorities, but their response was they didn't have the budget for that.

He decided that if a fire became so big that it required both Gawain CL-215s, he would have Anne in the 337, on the scene to spot problems to assure the safety of the ground personnel. When he told Christine his decision she was all for it.

This plan turned out to work perfectly over the years. That was until a week before the funerals.

Gawain had Soaker, one of the two Cl-215s at a fire. They received a call to get Drencher there as quickly as possible as the fire was starting to get out of control.

Unfortunately, the flight engineer and the Captain were sick with some sort of stomach virus. But always ready to answer the call, they decided that Anne and Bert would fly in the CL-215 with the healthy co-pilot, and Ian would fly the spotter plane. If the FAA asked, he would say he was just sightseeing.

When they entered the fire zone, Ian was overcome with such a feeling of dread, it gave him shivers. As it eased he decided it was just nerves at being back for the first time since the incident that lost him his commercial license.

"Drencher to control, CL-215 call sign Drencher and Cessna 337 call sign Spot entering fire control zone," Anne radioed.

"Control to Drencher, roger Drencher and Spot you are cleared to begin operations."

The air-fire people work in a somewhat tight knit group with many of the same people being at the fires. Shortly after Anne's call, Ian heard, "Control to Drencher, Anne is that you? What the heck are you doing back on operational flying?"

"Drencher to control, yes it's me, and Bert is flying flight engineer. The regular crew came down sick and we were the only ones available."

"Control to Drencher, if you're flying Drencher, who's flying Spot"

"Oh, just some management guy, sightseer, you know how they are."

They flew through the morning and into the afternoon without incident. The operation had reached the point where the extra plane was no longer needed. Ian was about to call control and tell them they were leaving, after Anne dumped the load she had on board, when a call came over the emergency frequency.

"We have a crew trapped on the south side of Dogstar Ridge is anyone able to assist?"

Ian then heard, "Roger, Drencher loaded." After that there was a chorus of negatives from the other aircraft.

He then heard Anne radio, "E.T.A. five minutes."

Ian was closer and the 337 was considerably faster. He radioed Anne, "Spot to Drencher, I'm going to do recon at Dogstar and radio vectors for approach."

"Roger Spot, will await vectors."

Another shiver ran up his spine so Ian called Anne, "I've got a bad feeling about this, be careful."

Her response was, "Okay hotshot, but just you remember who taught you how to fly."

Ian circled the scene and radioed what he believed to be the best line of approach. As Anne started her run in, he moved one hundred feet above them and followed about two minutes flying time after them so he could radio for more help if Drencher's run was unsuccessful.

He saw their approach was perfect, and heard Bert's bombs away, so familiar from those years long ago. When he arrived over the scene, he saw they had placed the load perfectly.

He radioed, "Spot to base, Drencher on target, ground units are safe and leaving the danger zone."

He had taken his eyes off the CL-215 to see and report the results and when he looked up again he didn't see Drencher where he expected them to be.

When he cleared Dogstar Ridge, he had to say the hardest words he had ever had to speak, "Spot to Control, Drencher down, north side of Dogstar Ridge, repeat Drencher down north side of Dogstar Ridge."

"Control to Spot, roger Drencher down."

Then a moment later, "Control to Spot, we have a chopper just finished refueling, they're on their way with E.M.S. personnel, what is the situation Ian?"

Ian was so totally engrossed with what he saw he failed to notice that the fire zone controller used his name.

He responded, "The plane cleared the fire zone, but I don't see anyone moving. I will circle the area until the chopper arrives."

He saw the E.M.S. rappel down.

He saw them winch the stretchers up to the chopper three times.

He saw them leave the area.

He I flew to the firebase airfield as Spot was low on fuel.

Just after he landed he heard the chopper radio from the hospital, "All three Drencher crew D.O.A."

He walked to a copse of trees.

He sat down and cried.

At dusk, when flying operations had ceased, Soaker, instead of flying back to Walla Walla landed at the firebase, having received a call from the controller.

Soaker's co-pilot walked over, led Ian to the 337 and flew him back to Walla Walla.

Maureen was there to meet him. She hugged him then drove him home, stripped him, put him to bed and snuggled up behind him and held him until Ian fell asleep.

Ian didn't find out until much later that the fire zone controller, seeing the condition Ian was in, had radioed Soaker to return to the firebase to collect him, then phoned Maureen so she was aware of what happened.

The next morning she made all the calls and looked after the funeral arrangements.

Ian spoke the first words he had spoken since landing the 337 at the fire base. He told Maureen that he should be making the calls.

She responded saying, "As a critical care nurse I learned how to function when faced with death." She kissed him and whispered in his ear, "Let me do this for you?" and then after a pause, "Please?"

***

So there they were at the cemetery saying their last goodbyes. It was at the cemetery that Maureen released her emotional control and finally grieved her lost friends. It was Ian's turn to provide the comfort.

Anne and Bert did not get their wish, to die in the arms of their thirty something lovers in their old age. Instead they died together, and they died doing what mattered. They died heroes.