Tracy was moving into the dorms at State. They encouraged all freshmen to do just that. I’d talked to my uncle about it, and he told me I should live in a dorm. His reasons made me wonder about him. Uncle John said I would make friends there, it was closer to classes, and would help me transition out of living at home. I hated to break it to him, but I was about to spend half a year on my own, making the Bond movie and the two
Brook came out, and Tracy left us alone to go check on the cleanup progress.
“The dinner you made was delicious. You outdid yourself tonight,” Brook said.
“Thanks. I wanted to do something special for everyone. You all have helped and supported me. I’m just glad the steaks turned out. I was afraid they wouldn’t taste right.”
“You’ll make some woman a good wife,” Brook teased.
“I can’t believe you would say something so sexist. In today’s day and age, I thought roles were supposed to be gender-neutral.”
She looked at me for a second to see if I was serious. I was, to an extent, but I wasn’t in the mood to wind her up, so I smiled.
“You’re probably right,” Brook admitted. “I’m taking something Yuri said and applying it to you, after all.”
I nodded because Yuri was a little male chauvinist at times. His redeeming quality was that he was trainable and a good guy.
“I’m all for being a kept man, if you were wondering.”
“I could see you sitting around all day as the nanny watched the kids, and the cook made dinner. We would have to get someone to pick up my dry cleaning,” Brook pondered.
“I would blow my brains out,” I predicted.
Brook got quiet and stared at the fire.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
She came back from wherever her brain had taken her and focused on me.
“Today was a good day. Take me home and let’s make it perfect,” she suggested.
Sometimes she had great ideas. I arranged for Wolf to take Dare home, and Paul drove us back to my apartment. First, we made an appearance at the house, and I told my mom what a success dinner was. Brook shared that we had a good time, and I’d flown the drone. I told her I would have Dare come over, and he could demonstrate it for her. Mom was eager to use it for filming homes she had for sale.
We let Precious out. She seemed to prefer to go outside rather than use a litter box. I was all for that because cleaning that box was my least favorite part of having Bandit stay with me. When I was done with that, I went to find my girlfriend.
I had to agree. Brook Davis could make it a perfect day.
◊◊◊
Chapter 43 – Flying High Sunday November 6
After brunch with my family, I drove to the airport to take my first flying lesson. On Friday, I’d passed my written exam. All I had to do now was pass the practical portion of the training to get my license. I was excited to get started.
When I entered the flight school, it was empty, it being a Sunday afternoon. I found Roy Tyro, the owner, in his office drinking coffee and doing something on his computer.
“You ready to get started?”
“Yes, sir.”
He grabbed a clipboard, and we stepped through the preflight checklist. I think Roy saw I was nervous.
“Let me tell you a secret. Flying is quite easy if you learn two things: mechanical skills and procedures. For every situation, there’s a procedure. If you learn the procedures and learn them right, you’ll do just fine.”
Today’s flight was more of a watch-and-learn experience as Roy took us up and reviewed once again what all the instruments did. I was glad I’d spent time in the flight simulator because they matched up precisely with what I was seeing in the cockpit. When we reached altitude, Roy turned the airplane over to me.
“I want you to just focus on flying straight and at a constant altitude.”
Easy, right? Not so much. I would find that the plane would either float higher or lower on me due to a variety of factors. I took us on more than one roller-coaster ride as I got used to the controls. The whole time, Roy never once raised his voice. He was steady, and his voice calm, which made it all bearable.
“I think you’re ready to turn the plane. Make an easy bank right and watch your altitude,” Roy advised.
“Frick! It’s much easier in the simulator,” I complained.
Roy just smiled at me and shook his head.
“No simulator is like the real thing.”
I started to get frustrated, but Roy kept talking me through it.
“You’re doing fine. You can ease your grip on the stick,” he suggested.
I looked down and saw how tightly I was holding it. I took a deep breath and let it out to help calm myself. Then I heard Roy chuckle.
“You’re like an old man driving a car. You point the plane wherever you look.”
I snapped my eyes up and found I was slowly losing altitude. That was when the humor of it all hit me.
“I need to quit overthinking this,” I said.
