"OK listen up, we only have one flight this week and it's on Thursday" announced Carolyn the CEO of MJN Air.
"Ooh where are we going this time?" asked her son Arthur the airdot's steward as Carolyn says you cannot put one jet in a line.
"Well the good news is that it's a cargo flight to Australia, which means no passengers for Arthur to scare and I won't be stuck in a metal tube with the three of you for an entire day" said Carolyn a smile spreading across her face as she did.
"You mean we get to spend a whole day up in the air flying?" asked Arthur with more enthusiasm than is necessary for a twenty nine year old man.
"Actually, Arthur we will need to stop off somewhere along the way to refuel and also so that Douglas and I can have a rest" answered Martin the Captain of the aircraft although nobody ever believes him, even if he is wearing his uniform, heck people still probably wouldn't believe him if he had "captain" written across his for head in lip stick.
"Oh right skip" said Arthur, who in all honestly was a little disappointed to hear this, ever since his mum had divorced his dad and got G-ERTI, Arthur loved to fly, it offered him a means of escape from his past it's not that his dad ever hit him or anything, he just wasn't a very nice person always putting him down, saying how he'd never accomplish anything. Oh well thought Arthur, Australia is a long way away, so it's still a long time flying, not forgetting it was also a cargo flight which meant that Martin or Douglas would do an interesting Cabin address, and if they had to stop off halfway through that meant two of them, four including the journey back to Fitton.
"And what precious cargo do we have the pleasure of flying all the way to Australia?" asked Douglas the first officer of the plane. He was also almost twice Martin's age and twice the pilot unfortunately however, his "trading" had gotten him fired from Air England, so no other company would hire him (and for MJN the term was debatable). The reason he wasn't captain of MJN Air was because unlike Martin, he was not willing to work for free.
"Well you remember Abu Dhabi?" asked Carolyn knowing full well they did. "Well it's like that only this time the client is not an oil merchant and neither luckily does he have a cat" finished Carolyn.
"Ah yes Abu Dhabi, how could we ever forget that?" replied Douglas
"Yes, well even for you three, killing a client's cat is unusual, although I can't say I was one hundred per cent surprised to find out you had, the three of you do love to make my job difficult don't you?" said Carolyn
"It's not that we enjoy it, it's just that sometimes these things happen" said Martin, who was shocked at his own boldness.
"Yes well, you remember the condition for the flight to Abu Dhabi?" Carolyn asked her two pilots, again knowing full well that they did.
"Of course 'you are going cheap. You will fly the most no-frills, most cost effective plane it is possible to fly. You will make easy jet look like Air Force One" recited Douglas smugly.
"Precisely, which is why your refuelling stop is Kazakhstan, it's cheap, unbelievably so, I almost jumped for joy when I found out just how much so" replied Carolyn just as smugly.
"There is a very good reason for this Carolyn, namely the mafia, who like to steal the fuel to sell on the black market." Said Douglas
"Well then don't annoy the mafia" replied Carolyn, thankful that she didn't have to fly to Australia via Kazakhstan.
If there was one thing Martin Crieff loved it was flying, so when Carolyn had told them they only had one flight that week he'd been rather disappointed although he had cheered up a bit when she told them, that it's a cargo flight to Australia. The reason Martin loved to fly was because it offered a means of escape from his past which was filled with hate and abuse, and also from his present where he was forced to live in an attic in a house he shares with students from the local college. Flying was the one thing he wanted to do his entire life, and even though it had taken him seven attempts he finally passed his CPL exam, however, because it had taken him so long nobody would hire him, which is why he had ended up working for Carolyn for free, this in turn was the reason during his time off from MJN he worked as a man with a van.
"Ah filling out the flight plan for Perth I see" said Douglas as he walked into the office he shared with Martin.
"Yes and don't worry I'll do your paperwork as well. We both know that you'll suggest a bet, I'll lose it and end up doing it all, this way just saves time" replied Martin exasperatedly, fed up of his unbelievable run of bad luck.
"Well thank you Martin" said Douglas.
"You're welcome" replied Martin. As the sound of a mug breaking filled the air.
"Fourth time this month?" asked Martin
"Fifth actually" answered Douglas
"You know what amazes me" said Martin
"And what would that be then, Sir?" asked Douglas who was trying to sound more interested then he actually was.
"The fact that Arthur is so clumsy when we're down in the ground and yet when we're up in the air he's perfectly fine, well apart from you know the whole Arthur thing" answered Martin, knowing that Douglas probably didn't care.
"Actually, now you come to mention it I've noticed it as well" replied Douglas.
With that the two pilots went to help Arthur clear up yet another cup of broken coffee.
Arthur loved MJN Air, being a steward, the pilots even if they did tease him at times they were never mean or horrible to him, but the one thing Arthur especially loved about MJN was all the flying he got to do, to places he would have never have known existed otherwise.
There was another reason why Arthur Shappey loved to fly so much especially on board G-ERTI, and that was because his mum had gotten the plane when she divorced his dad, it meant that they no longer had to rely on him, or deal with the way he liked to control his mum or him. His dad had always wanted him to take over his company one day, but Arthur knew this was never going to happen, he much preferred being around people and helping them, then being all on his own at the top of a company, and to be honest he'd be bored as well.
So at age fifteen Arthur Shappey finally, plucked up the courage to tell his dad and by the end of the week his mum was filing for divorce knowing that her husband wouldn't let her son have his own way and not take over the business one day. It was also why the only thing she had insisted on in the divorce was the airplane, she was determined that she would help her son become an airline steward and prove her piece of work of an ex-husband wrong.
The only problem that Arthur had with flying to Australia was that that's where his dad lived so there was every possibility that they'd run into him at whichever airport they would be flying to.
Of course Arthur hadn't been paying attention to what he was doing, and was bought back to the present by the sound of a mug breaking. Not again he thought, they weren't even halfway through March and that was the fifth he had broken, and right on queue Douglas and Martin came into the little kitchenette in the Port cabin.
"Hi, chaps, sorry about that. I was thinking about the flight to Australia and well…" Arthur explained
"We see" replied Douglas
"Need a hand clearing up, Arthur?" asked Martin
"Yes please Skip, dust pan and brush are in the cupboard" answered Arthur cheerily
"OK I'll sweep up the mug, Arthur get the mop an clear the coffee up, and Douglas can you please go and inform Carolyn that we're down to two mugs" Martin said, this wasn't the first time they had had to clear up after Arthur had broken something, in fact pretty early on in his career with MJN Martin had learnt not to let Arthur clear up any sharp objects and that it was usually better if Douglas was the one to tell Carolyn.
"Of course Sir" said Douglas sarcastically, Martin however, knew that Douglas was more than happy with his role in Operation Clear Up as he didn't have to do any manual labour, heaven forbid that Douglas would ever have to anything of the sort.
"Skip?" Arthur asked once Douglas had left.
"What is it Arthur?" Martin replied as he finished putting the broken mug in the bin.
"Well you see the thing is umm…I was just wandering which part of Australia we would be flying to?" he asked
"Oh Perth, why do you ask, I thought you liked finding out at the last minute with these cargo flights" answered Martin
"Well you know it's like they say 'curiosity killed the cat'" replied Arthur, knowing this was only half of the truth and now he had to hide the fact that actually he wasn't looking forward to the flight to Perth, last time he had spoken to his dad, that was where he had been based and that was only a few months back, so there was every possibility of running into him.
"Yes, as apparently do pilots who forget to turn the heating on in the hold" joked Martin.
"What is it we're playing?" asked Douglas as he joined the Captain and the Stewart
"Oh no we're not playing anything, Arthur here was just wandering where about in Australia we'll be flying to tomorrow" answered Martin
"Ah I see, well I've talked to Carolyn, who has decided to take the cost of replacing the mugs out of my wages, which I hardly think is fair" Douglas said clearly unhappy that he was the one losing out on pay due to Arthur's clumsiness.
"Douglas you know full well that Arthur and I don't get paid, seeing as though Arthur lives with Carolyn and she can't afford to pay me because she has to pay you" replied Martin who in all honesty would love the opportunity to be able to afford to pay to replace the mugs that Arthur had broken.
"Alright fair enough" Douglas replied. "And by the way the lemon is in play"