Landslide
Just a short one…but also a reminder, I am working on these as fast as I can. I will try to add something to Spring Break Baby and maybe A Valentine's Adventure today as well. Enjoy! SMB
Chapter Three: Almost Heaven
Don started awake, confused by the straw filtered sunlight falling on his face. He surpressed a smile as he realized he must have nodded off beneath the Stetson Charlie had plunked on his head at the start of their drive. He could hear his younger brother singing along with an old John Denver song at the top of his lungs. He had forgotten what a sweet, pure singing voice Charlie had. The two of them had often sung along with the music of John Denver growing up because their mother loved it so much. Nice association to wake up to. He listened a moment, to be sure he knew which chorus they were at, before he began to sing too.
"Almost
heaven, West Virginia Country roads, take me
home All my memories gathered round
her Country roads, take me home I hear
her voice Country
roads, take me home Country roads,
take me home
Blue Ridge Mountains
Shenandoah River
-
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the
mountains
Growing like a breeze
To the place I belong
West Virginia, Mountain Momma
Take
me home, country roads
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty,
painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my
eye
To the place I belong
West
Virginia, Mountain Momma
Take me home, country roads
In the morning hour, she calls me
The radio reminds
me of my home far away
And driving down the road, I get a
feeling
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday
To the place I belong
West Virginia,
Mountain Momma
Take me home, country roads
To the place I belong
West Virginia, Mountain
Momma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country
roads
Take me home, now country roads"
Words
and music by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver
As the song drew to a close, Charlie hit a button silencing the machine. "Welcome back, sleeping beauty. Have a nice nap?"
"Uh, yeah." Don pushed the hat up so he could look at his brother. "Sorry about that."
"Why? If you needed a nap, it's a good thing you got one now. When we get to the trailhead, you won't be able to nod off hiking up to tonight's campsite! Conserve energy while you can, Don. I had fun singing along to my tunes. Didn't seem to bother you that I was singing so loud."
"Remember how much Mom used to love JD's music?"
"Come on, Don. Be honest. We all loved John Denver's music."
"Yeah. Still bums me out sometimes that he is gone."
"Well, at least he died doing something he loved, you know. I had been concerned about what I saw as a design flaw in the fuel transfer system of the Experimental Aircraft he was flying. We had talked about it on the phone just a couple of days before…"
"You never mentioned you had spoken to him that close, Charlie…"
"We weren't exactly on a daily exchange of information at that point in our relationship, Don. Anyway, the FAA questioned me. They knew when we had been brainstorming different modifications to overcome a fuel transfer problem. I gave them the three work arounds we had brainstormed trying. Turned out it was something else entirely that was the actual cause of the crash…vacuum leak…any way…it was very technical. It really irked me that people thought he was careless about the level of fuel. It wasn't anything like that…" Charlie's voice trailed off, a slight frown on his face as he remembered. He shook himself out of his reverie. "There is a reason they call the Experimental Aircraft. It was cutting edge stuff. John Denver didn't have a death wish…he just liked to dance on the edge of the wind. It was one of his great loves. It's those of us left behind who are the poorer for his early passing. John is up there somewhere, soaring on Eagle's Wings, now. Hey, let's sing that one…." He hit a few buttons and the song began…
"I am the Eagle; I live in high places, in rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky.
I am the Hawk and there's blood on my feathers, but time is still burning – they soon will be dry…"
Don joined in and the miles flew by as the little blue Prius clawed its way up steep mountain roads heading for a summit, a place to park…and the location where the brother's adventure would really begin….
