There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 28

"We've both seen new airplanes fall out of the sky, because a nut or bolt was not tightened correctly. I'm certified to fly anything in the air, except that monstrous A380 Airbus. So humor me, and check under the hood."

"Okay worrywart, I will do it just for you."

"It's not just for me; it's for three people we hold very dear."

"We feel the same way Gray. We will see you in December."

"You better keep that promise."

*****************

"What was that all about Payne?"

"Apparently Teddy feels that one of the engines on my aircraft has a problem. I'll drop you off at the hotel, and have a maintenance crew check them out, while I'm there."

"Mom, Teddy is freaky that way. A few weeks ago, she told her dad there was a problem with the egg. They didn't understand what she meant until she told them it was the egg at the NEST. They figured out what she meant because she couldn't say the word, but the spacecraft was unbalanced and everyone ran there. Even ordered the flight crew on board along with a bunch of other men, and was able to get the spacecraft in the air, before it tipped over. The whole program would have been lost if it wasn't for Teddy."

Payne said, "I think I'll check those engines out really good."

"I believe that's an excellent thought dear."

***************

As they were driving down to Austin, Zoie whispered to her mother, "How often am I allowed to put this stuff on my backside?"

"Are we suffering dear?"

"Because of you I am."

"I guess you never listen at my door again, will you?"

"How else was I supposed to learn? You would never talk to me."

"I would never talk to you? You would never listen to me. If you remember, you had an attitude problem that a tank couldn't get through."

"Yes, I remember, and I'm sorry. I do love you and dad you know, especially for not throwing me off the balcony, which many times I know I deserved."

"Well, you did help us with one thing."

"Really, what was that?"

"Once your brothers went away to college, they never returned home."

"Mother that was awful."

"It is also the truth. Your oldest brother had no interest in engineering, so your dad wanted to put him in charge of the golf course, the restaurant, and the banquet facilities. He said yes immediately.

Dad said he could live at home, until he got his feet on the ground.

Your brother asked if that was a prerequisite for the job, because if it was to count him out.

Your dad asked him why.

Zoie still lives there."

Your dad replied, "I understand completely. I'll get you an apartment in one of the other buildings."

"You know I'm going to kill Jason."

"No you're not, because he was correct at the time. He was correct until the day after we put you on birth control pills. Remember who you were, and who you are now. You are two totally different people. No one, on our side of the family, is going to recognize this Zoie Schneider on the day of your wedding."

"If I could take it all back on I would, but I can't. What am I supposed to tell them? How do you explain to people that it was a chemical imbalance that no Doctor picked up on?"

"You do it just that way baby. You apologize for your behavior, and tell them the doctors finally found a chemical imbalance in your blood they were able to correct."

"Can we get back to my main problem? My ass is killing me, how often can I put this stuff on it, and why did you tell Gordon about the paddle?"

"I'll answer the second part first. If I hit you with the paddle, you could sue me for child abuse, and send me to jail. If I let Gordon do it for me, and I get 16 years of frustration out of my system by listening to you scream. What he did to you afterwards should have turned off all your pain receptors for quite a long time as you recovered from your orgasm.

"Was I that loud?"

"I believe the people in Cleveland heard you."

"I'm going to have to do something about that while were in space. Everyone is going to be living right next everyone. There isn't going to be any privacy at all."

"You're right, but you will get use to it. Remember, you can change your mind up until the point where they take off. Gordon will go, with or without you. His life was preordained."

The second part of your question is in the very fine print. It's almost so fine you can't read it. However, it says once every six to eight hours. How badly are you suffering?"

"I feel like my ass is on fire."

"I'm sure these gentlemen would love to see it, but when you get to the room, you can put some on, or have your father do it for you."

"Oh yeah, that will be the day. I can see him with his cell phone, taking pictures as he is spreading the cream over my buttocks, and emailing it back to Even, and Gordon."

"Your father would never send those pictures to Even, and Gordon, at least not right away. He would have them blown up to wall size posters first. He would send them overnight, express mail; and have them hand delivered to both of them. Then he would wait for their phone calls."

"Are you sure he wouldn't have one of our crews fly it down?"

"There is always that possibility, depending on the quality of the photo."

"Did you ever destroy the films of those four girls you hated in high school?"

"Oh God, how and what did you hear about them?"

"I heard it the normal way, by lying down next to your door, and listening to you and dad talk. I know it had something to do with sex and you had them all on film. Dad put them through college, and I will tell you I was and I am very confused about that. If you hated these girls, and you had some sort of sex tape of them, why would dad put them through college?"

"Where is that damn paddle when you need it?"

"Mom, you don't have to say a thing. I'm leaving soon, and never coming back. If it upsets you so much just leave it, and we don't have to discuss it."

Payne knocked on the privacy glass to get the attention of one of the agents.

"Yes Mrs. Schneider, how can I help you?"

"Will you please contact the other car, and tell my husband that Zoie is coming with me to the airport."

"Yes ma'am, I'll take care of it."

"You know shortly after I was born we were in a terrible car accident and my face look like chopped meat, until I was nearly 17 years old. Your father and I were engaged when he received his inheritance. Before that, he didn't care about my face he cared about me.

While I was growing up, I had a few on-and-off friends. As soon as they turned 16, and could drive, they were no longer my friends. Now they had boyfriends galore, because they were really beautiful, each and every one of them. They turned on me, and even became vicious at times. At other times, they just ignored me.

When your father came into his money, he said to my dad, let your insurance company pay whatever they want, I will pay for the rest. The rest of those expenses were over $500,000. It took a long time for me to recover. They had to put me asleep for a month, so I would not make any facial movements. If you subtract 22 years from this face, that is how beautiful I came out of the operation. I was ecstatic. My parents cried, my entire family cried. Your father thought I was going to leave him, because I was so beautiful, and he was so plain. There was nothing further from the truth.

I was so beautiful I became the queen of the school. Everyone wanted to be around me, instead of the usual cliques.

I ignored everyone, except your father, and your soon to be Aunt Cynthia, who was dating your Uncle Steve. Your dad picked me up in a limousine every day.

As we approached prom season I came up with this idea. These four girls wanted desperately to get back into my good graces. Through my best friend, your Aunt Cynthia, I hatched this plot. I was going to take these four girls, and their boyfriends, on an all expense paid vacation to Bermuda for an extended weekend right after the prom. I picked them, because I wanted to get even desperately.

When we got to Bermuda, I took the four of them shopping on Saturday morning to the most expensive stores in the hotel. I let them buy anything they wanted. They thought I was the nicest person ever for forgiving them for being nasty to me all those years. We went jet skiing for hours that day, until their boyfriends finally joined them later. When they finally got hungry, we took them to the best restaurant on the island. Your father tempted them saying they could have anything their hearts desire it as long as they won any of the bets they would make. Three of them wanted top-notch Porsches, and one wanted the cash equal to the highest price Porsche. Your father readily agreed.

Your father is a master of deception, and his agents were top-notch. They helped us in every way possible. They told us how to stay out of video coverage, and how to entice these girls into our trap.

We had the best video cameras and sound equipment. The biggest suite in the hotel, and the best of everything. We had the girls make bets against us, they were sure they could not lose. However, three lost two of the bets, but Jessica lost all three bets. I got her, and I got her good.

Your dad told them we knew they would never show up and receive the consequences of the bets they lost, and at 7:01 PM, we would go out to dinner and dancing for the evening. They could play with their boyfriends all they wanted, because they were a waste of air.

It was a slap in Jessica's face, because she never backed down from anything. She talked her three cohorts and their boyfriends into showing up at 7 o'clock. At 1 o'clock in the morning, the four girls regretted it. Each couple had to have sex with their own boyfriend for 15 minutes. When the bell rang, the boys would switch to the next girl, and then the next. If the boy could not get an erection, that girl had to assist him orally in getting an erection, so he could continue, until the next bell. The games started shortly after 7 P.M. and they were scheduled to end 4 AM. There would be three 45-minute breaks for rest and for food, except for Jessica, who was the only one who accepted the third bet, and lost.

When the first round was over, Jessica took a shower, and returned. While her three friends rested, she had to take on the four boys at one time. She like the other three girls was an anal virgin. When this night was over, only one lucky girl was left with that hole unpenetrated. The evening of ribald sex continued until after 1 PM, when your father told them they could leave.

On the way back to Charleston, we sent the boys back on a Boeing aircraft, and the four girls, Dycke, and I came home in the Gulfstream. That's when the girls found out their lives belong to me forever. We showed them the tape of them having sex, with multiple partners, smiling, laughing, and having a wonderful time.

Their parents were pillars of the community. We threatened to put the tapes on the Internet, send a copy to their churches, to the colleges, and sororities they wanted to join, and any company where they applied for a position. They cried all the way home. Your father told them to be at his house at 8 PM the following Thursday in a dress with no bra or panties on, because their punishment would continue. The girls were scared to death.

Nothing happened to them when they got to his house, physically, but mentally they were beaten to a pulp. Your dad told them what the next four years of their lives were going to be like, and if they screwed up, they would be sold to brothels in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.

12 of our best agents were going to get them into real shape: mind, body, and soul. We started with their minds and had them shave their heads bald. The tresses they spent hundreds of dollars a month of their fathers money was given to a cancer hospital to make wigs for the women and children that needed it. We trained their bodies by sending them to boot camp for 10 weeks each summer, on a military base, in the Louisiana backwoods. We went after their souls by sending them to Saint Bonaventure University, a Catholic University in upstate New York. They didn't have to go to church if they weren't Catholic, but it had the strictest moral, dress, and honor code in the nation, including the military academies.

Their grades had to be within the top five percent of the University, or their agents would step down hard on them to find out why, and correct it immediately. We sent magazines showing these places of horror to their agents, and they would show the pictures to the girls just before exams. It was an excellent inducement to study harder. They studied hard baby; they studied very hard. They finished their college careers third, fifth, eighth, and ninth in their graduating class.

Your dad and I went to their commencement exercises and congratulated each of them on their success. With their parents standing beside them, your father offered each of them a position in one of our companies. One works in Germany, one works in France, one works in New York, and one works in Charleston. They are all very valued and highly paid employees. Yes all the tapes, including the master copies were destroyed."

Zoie's mouth was wide open, and her eyes were about to pop out of her head.

"What Zoie; what is your problem?"

"How can you call me a bitch after that story?"

"It's very easy to call you a bitch. I was a goody two shoes all my life. I never said a bad thing about anyone, or to anyone. I singled out these 4 bitches, because they picked on me relentlessly throughout 14 years of my life. When they turned 16, they went out of their way to make my life more miserable than it was before. After the success of my operation, and my face was returned to the way it should have been since birth, they wanted to become my best friends. I was now the prettiest girl in school. The boys wanted me more than they wanted them. They wanted to be where the Queen was. So I decided to do to them what they did to me all my life, but in the end, I made them better people for it. You can ask any of them where they would be now if that night hadn't occurred. I guarantee you none of them would say, I am the Executive Vice President of this, or that. I am the budget director of this or that. That night was a lesson for them. I got what I wanted out of it, and those four women received a future because of your father."

"I guess a little sex goes a long way."

"No baby, a lot of very hard studying goes a long way. Any moron can have sex."

"How high did you graduate in your class mom?"

"I was valedictorian of my class."

"No shit!"

"Zoie watch your mouth."

"Should I bother to ask about dad?"

"Your dad graduated six months early with every honor the school system had to offer. When I tell you he smarter than I am, he is smarter than almost anyone else in any room is."

"Even Doctor Luck?"

"You are talking about two geniuses in their own fields. I wouldn't bet against either of them."

"Mom when we get home I want to see a picture of you before you had your face operated on. You said that Gordon used the same words daddy said to you when he saw you naked in his parents room. He didn't care what you looked like; he cared about you. I see how he loves you today. I want to see how he loved you when you were 17. Please don't say no, because it's important to me."

"It's going to be very painful for me to show you any of those pictures. I only have a few left, because I tore the rest of them up. I don't want your pity. I want you to understand why I did those things to those four girls. Remember, when I got up in the morning every day that face was staring back at me."

"I promise."

"Okay, I'll show them to you when your father is not at home."

"Shall we play with your airplane now? We are here, and if Gordon is right, any six-year-old can fly an airplane."

"Missy, he's not here to protect you, so be good."

"You have no sense of humor."

"If I spank you, how would your sense of humor be right now?"

"It would be crying all over your aircraft."

"Keep thinking about that, maybe I'll let you wash it."

*********************

As she talked to the lead mechanic about the engines, he just shook his head.

"Look, Mrs. Schneider, I'll take your money if you want me to, but 700 hours after an overhaul is like a bird flitting from branch to branch. Did you feel any vibration or anything while you were flying?"

"No, she's a beautiful bird, and a joy to ride in. However, I promised my friends I would have the engines looked at. So please take my money, run the engines up, and let's see what happens."

"Okay, why don't you taxi it to the run-up area, and I'll take my boys over there, under your wings by truck. We will listen for anything unusual. I'll be plugged in to your radio port. Tell the tower we are there, okay."

"No problem, give me 10 minutes. Zoie come on, we are going for a ride."

"If it's only for a ride can I drive? I have that license."

"Zoie, please, this aircraft cost $73 million. Don't make me run you over with it. I would get blood all over the tires."

"Is that all you care about, the tires?"

"Some blood might get on the brakes too, but it would wear off quickly."

"So is your sense of humor."

"Close the door Zoie; you do remember how to do that, don't you?"

"Yes mother, I remember how. Do you want me to hook up the slide?"

"No, that will not be necessary. Come up here and sit down."

"Read this to me Zoie."

"Austin Tower this is 866 Poppa Sierra. Request permission to taxi from the ramp to the run-up area, over."

"Good, now can you do that with a headset on and pushing a button?"

"Sure, what's the difference?"

"Stage fright."

"Mother, when have you ever known my mouth not to work?"

"That's exactly what I'm worried about."

"Push the button and start."

"Austin Tower this is 866 Poppa Sierra request permission to taxi from the ramp to the run-up area over. You see mom it was as easy as pie. You didn't have to worry. It's just like talking on the telephone. I don't know why you are making such a big deal over this stuff."

"Zoie did you take your finger off the button?"

"Oh shit, sorry about that."

"866 Poppa Sierra is cleared from the ramp to the run-up area. We don't have any pie up here, but if you happen to have any, we would appreciate it."

"What kind would you like tower? I'll kick my daughter out of the aircraft, and have her go get some for you."

"How old is she?"

"She is 17 going on 2."

"I have three at home just like her."

"You didn't tell me what kind of pie you would like?"

"You buy it, we will eat it."

"It'll be coming your way shortly. It will be a delivery from the Schneider's."

"Thank you much."

"Zoie call your dad and tell him to have the hotel send one of every pie and cake they have at the hotel to the Austin Tower, and to do it now. I want it delivered in under 45 minutes."

"You are a very tough lady mommy."

"Air traffic controllers remember goodwill gestures, and so do pilots."

"Starting number 2." The number two engine came online smoothly, and all the numbers on the 'Glass Cockpit' screens read nominal.

"Starting number 1." The number one engine came online smoothly, and all the numbers on those screens read nominal too.

"Austin Tower 866 Poppa Sierra is on the move. I have two trucks coming with me, one under each wing."

"866 Poppa Sierra, Roger."

After settling in on the run up area, Payne said, "Zoie fasten your seatbelt, it's going to get rough in here in a little bit."

The mechanics opened the bottom shells of both engines, and shined high intensity lights inside looking for any abnormalities. They saw none, and there were no leaking fluids. Leaving the shells open, they backed away to either side, and the lead mechanic signaled from the nose of the aircraft to accelerate the number 1 engine to maximum.