I know it's been a long time since the last chapter...I hope that this one is worth the wait.
Corporal Tommy: I hope you will find this one to your liking
Christian Knight: You should like the romance in this too...Young love is so cute.
Chapter 6
26 May 1945 Houghton MI
It was a bright sunny day, warm and dry. A good day to let little Mary play in the back yard Margaret watched the toddler through the kitchen window as she washed dishes. The child was smart for her age she had started to walk at ten months and talk at a year. Now at fourteen months she already had a vocabulary of over a dozen words and was a bit of a chatterbox. She finished the dishes and went to the back door to call Mary for lunch. The toddler came immediately as soon as she was called which was normal for her. Sandra noticed that she was carrying something holding what ever it was with both hands. As she approached Margaret realized that Mary was holding a baby turtle and had a tight grip on it. She knelt down and held out her hand.
"Let me have it."
"NO" Mary barked out as she turned aside.
Margaret was surprised by Mary's reaction normally she was very obedient and never disobeyed. Her firm refusal came as a surprise.
"Mary it's little you might hurt it." She told her.
'NO! MINE!" Mary retorted. She had a blue glow and manifested the traits of the turtle and threw up a shield!
Margaret recognized what had just happened immediately since the manifestation was identical to her niece Wendy's. Margaret's main concern at this point was the poor little turtle that Mary had in a vise grip. She was worried that the toddler might accidentally suffocate it. At this point she had an idea that might work. Mary, Would you like to see Aunt Sylvia?" she asked.
"Otay" Mary said with a smile.
Margaret knew that Sylvia would be very happy to see her favorite niece. She had been rather lonely since Wendy had gone to the Conch Republic about a week prior to help train a new witch… Boy was she in for a shock! It was a rather short walk to Sylvia's house. Margaret knocked on the door Mary was still clutching her turtle with both hands when Sylvia opened the door and saw Mary. She knelt down.
"Hi Mary, What you got there." She said as she reached for the turtle.
Mary immediately called up her magic and threw up a shield.
"MINE!" she barked out.
Sylvia was surprised when the tiny tot threw up a shield.
"I don't believe it!" She exclaimed. "Mary is a witch! How old is she now?"
"She's fourteen months." Margaret said. "She is just beginning to talk. I'm worried about that poor turtle. I'm afraid that she is going to accidentally hurt it. I don't think she realizes that it's little."
"I think I can save that turtle." Sylvia said then turned to Mary. "You want to see Wendy's turtle?"
Mary nodded "Otay"
The toddler followed Sylvia to Wendy's bedroom and the tank where her turtle was kept.
"You know Wendy's turtle has been really lonely since she went away." Sylvia announced. "I think she would like it if your turtle visited her. You think she would like that?"
Mary looked at the turtle in the tank then at her turtle and nodded. "Otay" and she held up the little turtle.
"Here I'll let you put it in." Sylvia said as she picked Mary up. The tot placed her turtle next to Wendy's. Margaret breathed a sigh of relief.
"I was worried that since she does not understand what is happening that she might hurt the little guy with out meaning to." Margaret noted. "I don't think she fully realizes what has happened."
"Yeah I don't think so either." Sylvia agreed. "I don't think she is ready for broom or striker flying either, not for a while yet."
The two women watched Mary watching the turtles. It did seem that Mary had understood that she could not carry her turtle everywhere with her. Then there was a thump from the front of the house. Sylvia groaned.
"Not again!" she exclaimed. "That is the third time this month that's happened."
They went outside where a clearly injured bird was on the ground struggling after hitting the picture window. Mary saw it and toddled over to where the bird was. Margaret started to go after Mary when Sylvia stopped her.
"Let's see what she does first." She suggested.
Mary manifested her familiar's features as she approached the dying bird and knelt down next to it then she placed her hands over the tiny creature and they started to glow and a magic circle formed under her. The bird stopped struggling and just laid still then it stood up. Mary leaned down and kissed it on the head. The bird flew up and landed on the tiny witches shoulder.
"She's a healer like Wendy" Sylvia observed." though I don't remember a bird flying up and landing on her shoulder like that."
They watched the tiny witch as she reached up and petted the bird on her shoulder.
"Diana is supposed to becoming home today I think we should let her know about Mary when she gets home." Sylvia suggested.
"Yeah I'll need some help dealing with a new witch." Margaret conceded.
26 May 1945 main CRAF base Conch Republic.
The Lockheed Vega was sitting on the tarmac a ground crewman was loading the boxes that contained the new uniforms for the girls up north. General Cabanas, Major Evans and Captain O' Brian walked up to the plane.
"Well it looks like they are loading the plane in time this time." Diana said sarcastically.
"Well those boxes are a lot lighter," Wendy added.
"This is true." Diana agreed.
"Now ladies be nice." The general told them. "I know it's difficult But I know you can do it."
The loader quickly finished and fled the area.
"You girls can be mean sometimes." General Cabanas observed.
"Yeah we can't be nice all the time." Wendy said with a giggle.
"Well it's time to go I want to get to Michigan to see how Megan held up." Diana said. "She has had to run things up there by herself for a week now. I'll see how she does running two flights."
"Yeah I think she will do OK even if she does swear a lot." Wendy said.
"Well you are going to be in command of the 555th unit down here now Wendy." Diana told her.
"I'm ready" Wendy replied.
"Good, We'll soon know how you do running two flights." General Cabanas declared.
Wendy froze the smile dropping off her face and she looked at the two superior officers with a look of dismay on her face.
Are you talking about putting me in command of Gamma flight too?" she asked
"Yup I think you'll do well." Diana told her.
"B…But they're adults I'm a little kid" Wendy said in dismay "They won't listen to me."
"I think they will Wendy." General Cabanas replied. "Don't sell yourself short. You'll do alright."
"Yes General" Wendy said.
Wendy watched the senior officers board the plane and taxi to the runway. She slowly turned and walked over to the hangar and sat down on the sill of one of the personnel doors folded her arms on her knees and put her head down.
"This won't work." She said to herself.
Jasper Ross was leaving the hanger after doing a check over of his plane when he heard Wendy lamenting what had happened.
"What won't work?" he asked.
"They want me to be in command of Gamma Flight too." She told him with out raising her head. "They won't listen to me."
"What make you say that?" He asked her.
"They're adults." She said raising her head. "I'm just a little kid."
Wendy looked up at Captain Ross with a sad look on her face. He looked down at the little girl.
"I'm willing to listen." He finally told her. "You seem to have a good head on those shoulders. I'm willing to give you a chance if you're willing to take it."
Wendy sat and thought about what he had said. She was only five would he really give her a chance?''
"I'm only five." She told him. "You're not bothered by that?"
"Wendy in a couple months we are going to be facing mankind's most dangerous enemy." He told her. "I have already seen what you are all about. You took command and more importantly responsibility in the bully incident and handled it well Major Evens let me see your report. It's impressive. It read like somebody who has been in a command position longer than you have been alive did it. You are a natural not many people are."
"Well I always try to do my best," Wendy said blushing. "Even if I don't like what I have to do…And I HATE writing reports.'
"So do I." Jasper said." We have something in common."
"Yeah,"The little girl replied. "Now we need to figure out how to work together."
"Yes we do. "He replied.
"Well you guys don't have shields so the first thing we should do is come up with tactics that team your planes with witches so we can use our shields to protect you." Wendy told him. "I don't want to lose any of your people."
"That's another thing we have in common" He said with a smile. "I don't want to loose any of my people either." He held out his hand offering to help her up. "I think maybe we need to discuss this further."
Wendy took his hand and let him pull her up.
"Yeah let's go to my office." she told him.
The two Captains headed to Wendy's office to start working out the best way the witches could protect the planes so they could deliver their ordinance.
Cockpit of the CRAF Lockheed Vega
Where Darla had been fascinated by flying in the plane Diana was almost bored. Having been flying strikers since before she had been five she was unimpressed by flying in an aeroplane. She slumped back in her seat looking out the windscreen.
"You want to try your hand at flying a plane?" General Cabanas asked her.
Diana shrugged. "Sure why not?"
General Cabanas spent the next few minutes explaining how to read the gauges and showed her how the controls worked before turning the controls over to the young girl. Diana had to pull the seat all the way forward and still had to stretch to reach the peddles. She showed good control of the plane.
"So how do you like flying a plane? He asked her.
Diana shrugged "It's okay I guess but I like strikers better."
Yeah, I understand General Cabanas replied. "But you know you will lose your magic when you turn twenty."
Diana lowered her head "Yeah I know." She said quietly.
"You should learn to fly a plane before then." he told her. "Mio Sakamoto of the 501st has so has Shirley Yeager."
"Well I turn eight next month." Diana stated "I got like twelve years before I age out."
"That's true." He admitted."But if you learn to fly a plane you can carry passengers and cargo, something you can't easily do with strikers."
"Yeah maybe I might when things settle down." Diana replied.
"Well we have a long flight so you will get some practice on the way." General Cabanas told her"
With a refueling stop it was a long flight almost 13 hours. The general had considered stopping for the night but was concerned that people might get wrong ideas if a man spent the night with a cute grade school age girl who was not related to him. They arrived
at the UPASRC rather late most of the girls were now in bed save for a rather cranky Megan Wilson. General Cabanas radioed ahead.
"This is General Cabanas to UPASRC we are on the way in ETA is about half an hour."
"It's about fucking time!" Megan griped. "It's almost fucking ten! I should be fucking in bed, I'm fucking tired."
Diana and Fred chuckled at Megan's grumpiness.
"So anything new and exciting happen while I gone?" Diana asked.
"Not much." Megan replied. "Just that Wendy's fucking cousin Mary bonded with a fucking turtle like Wendy did. She's a fucking healer too. She runs around healing fucking EVERTHING! Fucking bugs, mice, squirrels, birds, she even healed a fucking skunk! Everything but the fucking bugs fucking follow her all over the fucking place! Try to get in her fucking way if she goes to heal something or mess with her fucking animals and you get a face full of fucking shield! She's a fucking pain in the fucking ASS!
"Ah, how old is she?"Fred asked.
"She just had her fucking first birth day a couple months ago." Megan replied. "`She just started to fucking talk."
"She's pretty smart." Diana added. "She started walking about the first of the year and actually talks pretty good especially for somebody so young."
"So when do you plan to teach her how to fly a striker." Fred asked with a little concern in his voice.
"Well I think she should be at least two before we teach her to fly." Diana told him after thinking a bit. "She will have to be potty trained too."
Fred gave an audible sigh of relief.
"That's good." He responded. "I'm not sure that strike witches that are still in diapers would be well received."
"Well Meggie is pretty good at potty training" Diana giggled.
Fred just groaned. After twenty minutes he radioed ahead for Meggie to turn the runway lights on. Shortly after they landed and taxied to the hanger area. Meggie came out grumping.
"It's about fucking time." she griped as she saluted "Now I can get some fucking sleep!"
The two senior officers returned the salute.
"Oh come on now captain, It's not that bad. "Fred teased. "Besides we got the uniforms for the rest of you with us"
Meggie walked over to the plane and opened the cargo door. Six boxes lay in the back.
"There are four sets for each of you.." Fred informed her. "Does that make it worth staying up late for?" He asked her.
Meggie found the box with her name on it and opened it up and smiled.
"Yeah I fucking guess so." she replied as she held up one of the tops. "Is it okay if I fucking go to bed now?"
"Yes captain you're dismissed" Fred replied.
Megan saluted and picked up the box with her uniforms and left as the senior officers returned the salute. Fred turned to Diana after Megan left.
"Does she always swear like that when she angry?" he asked her.
"Yup, she swears like that when she's not angry too." Diana replied. "I would not be surprised if the first word she said when she started talking was 'fuck'"
Fred rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"I'm not sure if the world is going to be ready for you kids." he said.
"Well ready or not...Here we come." Diana replied with a smirk."Look out world!"
Fred looked over at the young witch and shook his head. "indeed."
Diana grabbed her luggage out of the plane and yawned.
"Meggie's not the only one who needs some sleep." She said. "I think there is some stuff for sandwiches here in the refrigerator."
Diana opened it and found some ham, cheese and lettuce. She looked in a cupboard and found some bread and mustard.
"Yup, we have dinner." she announced as she pulled the food out. "I'm afraid I don't cook well like Darla.. She says I'm the only person she knows who can burn water."
They quickly made some sandwiches so they could have something to fill their bellies before going to bed.
"I hope we have something good for breakfast tomorrow." Fred said.
"Don't worry Caroline and Kim are pretty good cooks. Not as good as Darla but not bad." Diana responded. "It won't kill you."
"Thanks. That is so reassuring" He told her.
"You okay for tonight?" Diana asked."Your room is prepared for you."
"I think I can take it from here" He replied.
"Okay I'm going to bed the girls can get their uniforms them selves in the morning." Diana told him then she saluted and grabbed her bags.
Fred returned the salute and grabbed his over night bag and and went to the apartment. He needed a shower then some sleep. It had been a long flight and he was tired even with Diana giving him a couple breaks from the controls. Soon they had all showered in their respected quarters and were soon asleep.
27 May 1945 UPASRC
The lower ranking girls woke up before the officers since they had gone to sleep early while Megan had stayed up late to make sure the runway was ready for the plane to land. Diana and Fred were very tired from the 13 hour flight from the Conch Republic. Caroline being the ranking officer took command and had the plane unloaded. The girls took the remaining five boxes of uniforms back to the barracks where they changed into the uniforms. Cindy was already wearing hers since she had gotten them a couple day's prior. With their new uniforms they looked more like a military unit in spite of their extreme youth.
Once the girls had put on their new uniforms and put away the remaining ones Caroline decided it was time for breakfast. She had Lynn help her prepare it while she sent the other girls to get the senior officers. Susie went to get Megan. She gently called to her CO to let her know that breakfast was being prepared. Megan rolled over and responded with her usual stream of obscenities before slowly getting out of bed. Anne was sent to get Diana up. Anne gently shook Diana's shoulder to wake her up. Diana groaned and slowly sat up and pushed her way out of bed. Cindy was sent to get General Cabanas. She decided the best way to do it was to bounce on the side of the bed. Fred suddenly sat up and looked at the cute smiling face of Cindy as she stood and saluted him, He groggily returned her salute.
"Cawowine told me tell you bweakfast will be weady soon." She cheerfully announced.
"Okay." he responded. "Tell her I'll be there shortly."
"Otay." Cindy replied as she darted out the door.
Once the door closed he slowly got out of bed having decided that it would not be a good thing for Cindy to see him in his underwear. He slowly got up and after splashing water on his face to help wake up he shaved and got dressed. Once he was dressed he went over to the barracks where Diana and Megan were. He knocked on the door.
"You guys decent?" he asked.
"Yeah." Megan replied.
She opened the door and Fred noticed that Diana was on the phone. She hug up as he entered . Diana saw him come in.
"That was my Mom." Diana told him "She coming over with some of the clothes I out grew. Tracie and Wendy asked me to send them down for Tonya"
Fred chuckled
"That sounds like something they would do.." He said.
"Yeah. It really bothered Tracie." Diana stated "I have never seen her get actually pushy about something like the way she did about she did about the condition of Tonya's clothes."
"I know they act like sisters already." Fred observed. "And they just met."
"Well I have a lot of clothes that don't fit me anymore ." Diana told him "So it's no problem to send them down for her."
"You mean have me take them down." Fred dryly responded.
"That too." Diana replied with a smile.
"Well I think that Tracie feels like she knows Tonya from testing her striker as Darla built it." Diana noted. "She got a pretty good idea of Tonya's limitations from that."
"She did seem concerned that Tonya would not like that striker based on her experience with it." Fred added. "Though Tonya did surprise Tracie with her power."
"I think she surprised everybody except Darla." Diana told him. "Nothing surprises my sister though."
"Yeah not even fucking Cindy." Megan added.
A rumbling sound from Diana's belly reminded her and the others that breakfast was waiting
"You're not the only one who's hungry." Fred dryly responded. :I did not get to eat much yesterday either."
The three senior officers arrived at the cafeteria as they entered Caroline called out "Attention!" as she and the other girls there snapped to attention and saluted. The three senior officers returned the salutes.
"At ease.." Fred said.
He looked around the room at the girls in their uniforms.
"You are definitely looking like a real military unit now," He complimented them. "So if you take your seats we can eat then I can fill you in on what's gong on in the Conch Republic."
The girls quickly took their seats and waited. Platters of pancakes and sausages were quickly placed on the table and the food dished out to the hungry people. There was a lot of chatter especially about little Mary triggering as a witch and her attitude especially about healing. There was quite a bit of talk about how well Cindy was doing, being much younger than her wing-mates he was happy to hear how good she was doing. In spite of her small size she was looking like she would be a very formidable fighter. She had a good attitude and was a hard worker. She was a bit scary though with her determination to as she put it "Kill aw neuwoi for my daddy."
After breakfast there was a talk from Fred to fill the girls in on what was going on down south. He told them that Tonya was doing even better than they had hoped and that Beta flight with with Tonya's addition to it was now a very powerful group, with very heavy firepower from Tonya with the twin Browning M2HB heavy Machine Guns and the 6 HVARs she carried on her striker. He also mentioned that she had lost her father to the neuroi. Cindy's eyes opened wide when he mentioned that. He also told them that the CRNS Calypso would be ready to go into action in August. They would be on station by September. Basically they would be going to war in three months and be in the battle zone in less than four. They had a lot to do to get ready. But he told them he was very confident they would be ready by then. What he had seen and heard gave him a lot of confidence in the girls and he was looking forward to when the unit was all together. Ten witches and four fighters make a formidable force.
He watched as a car pulled up He dismissed the witches and went out side pretty sure he knew who it was. He watched as the driver came out. An attractive blond that looked to be in he thirties and went to the back of the car and opened the trunk. He was pretty sure that was Mrs. Evens, that was confirmed when Diana walked up and hugged her. He watched a younger woman who looked to be in her early twenties get out of the car on the passenger side with a little red haired girl that looked to be under two and bore a resemblance to Wendy as she was put on the ground she suddenly came up with turtle parts that looked even more like Wendy when she called up her magic. The little girl darted around behind the car and squatted down. A magic circle formed under her and he could see her put her hands over something. She picked it up and he could see it was a snake that she kissed and it crawled up her sleeve and shortly after that it's little head came up through her collar next to hers. He walked up to them.
"So she must be our newest witch." he stated.
"Yes her name is Mary." The red haired lady said. "My name is Margaret O' Brian."
Mary smiled and raised her right hand opening and closing it in the way toddlers do as they are learning to wave.. Fred waved back at her before turning to her mother and holding out his hand.
"I'm Frederick Cabanas." He told her "Commanding General of the Conch Republic Air Force, pleased to meet you Mrs. O' Brian."
He looked over to the blond woman. "And you must be Mrs. Evans.
"Yes General." she replied nodding her head. "I'm Barbara Evans, But please call me Barbara, Mrs. Evans makes me feel old."
"Yup Darla said the same thing when she was introduced as Miss Evans." he said with a mile. "And you can call me Fred."
"And please call me Margaret too." Mrs. O' Brian added.
"Very well." He replied."Barbara you should be very proud of your daughters, and you should proud of your niece Margaret. They have taken on a huge amount of responsibility and handled it well."
Both women nodded. "Thank you."
General Cabanas watched as a Monarch Butterfly Mary had just healed flew away.
"I have a feeling that it won't be too long before somebody else will be making her parents proud." He said nodding toward the chubby tot who still had the snake she healed under her shirt.
Mary wandered off followed by a number of small animals she had healed.
"Yeah I think things are going to get rather interesting with her now.' Margaret said with a sigh.
"Yeah I have a feeling you are going to be right." Fred said with a chuckle, He turned to Diana. " I still want you and the other girls learning to fly planes as soon as you can."
"Okay I'll start taking lessons as soon as I have time." she replied.
Diana and her mother took the boxes out of the trunk and put the boxes in the plane and secured them. Diana writing a letter and putting it in one of the boxes. She held up a blouse with a pretty flower pattern on it.
"This was my favorite blouse until I outgrew it.." She said. "I hoped she likes it."
Diana put the blouse back in the box with the letter and closed it up. She strapped the boxes in place and shut the door.
General Cabanas pulled the door on the right front open and started to climb in.
"Well I have to go I have a long flight ahead of me." He said. "Diana I still want you to learn to fly a plane too."
"Yeah as soon as I get things straightened out I'll try to find some time to learn." She replied.
Fred nodded as he sat down and closed the door. As he started to do the pre-flight check the left front door opened and little Cindy bounced in the door and sat down in the other seat.
"Teach me fwy pwane." She said "Me want fwy pwane."
Fred looked over at the toddler as she settled in the seat her feet barely hanging over the edge. He knew that there was going to be a problem with her request.
"I think there might be a problem." He told her as she buckled the seat belt around her. " I don't think you are going to be able to learn to fly a plane right now."
"Why?" she asked.
"Can you reach the peddles?" he asked her.
Cindy squirmed a bit trying to push her little legs out, "No" she replied.
Fred pushed the steering control column all the way forward and pointed to the one on her side."What about that?"
Cindy stretched forward as far as the seat belt allowed, "No" she sadly said.
"I'm afraid you will have to grow some." He told her. "But as soon as you are big enough to reach the controls I will teach you."
"Otay." Cindy said with a little smile.
"Well now I'm afraid you have to get out of the plane." Hes said. "I have a long flight ahead of me and I need to leave now."
"Oh otay." Cindy replied with a pouty expression on her face as she unbuckled herself and climbed out.. She smiled and waved though as she walked clear of the plane.
Fred waved back to the little girl and waited until she was clear and fired up the engine on his plane and slowly taxied over to the end of the runway and took off. He thought about the blond toddler as he flew off the two year-old was cute and smart for her age, but as he thought about her while she was cute and sweet there was also a rage in her as well over the loss of her father.. He could tell that she was going to be a formidable fighter and he expected her to do great things. He felt a pang in his heart as he thought about the little girls he would soon be sending to war, the commanding officer of the 555th is a second grader about half the girls were in kindergarten and most of the rest had not even started school at all yet. He mused over what he was doing...Was this the right thing? Then the thought about the tiny tot still in diapers and barely talking. She had just come out as a witch with healing powers...When was she going to be joining her cousin in the war zone. Was he doing the right thing sending girls so young off to war? Time would tell
27 May 1945 skies over the Conch Republic
Jasper and Wendy had spent a considerable length of time in her office discussing the strengths and weaknesses of airplanes verses strikers. Now they were in the air over the Conch Republic with the rest of their flights testing out various formations. After some experiments they worked out that the best formations had Tonya in the front of the formation with the planes gathered around her with Wendy and Tracie flying heavy mobile cover since the strikers had a speed advantage of Seventy-Five Miles an Hour and Tracie and Wendy were also more maneuverable. They spent several hours working on formations until the planes were low and fuel and had to land. Wendy dismissed Tonya and Tracie when they landed and Jasper did the same with his pilots. After they landed Wendy and Jasper went to her office to discuss the session and figure out what worked and what did not.
27 May 1945 CRAF base.
Once they landed The witches and pilots after having been dismissed by their respective Captains had pretty much dispersed, while Jasper and Wendy went to her office to discuss the training session.. They discussed the mock combat session in depth working out what Jasper and Wendy observed in the air. They worked out a number of ideas for tactics based on that.
27 May 1945 555th Hanger Southern Base
While the officers were working out tactics Darla was busy in the hanger servicing the strikers It was a warm day and Darla not used to the heat had slowly been lowering the zipper on her coveralls and it was down to her waist when Raymond Cabanas came to start teaching her what she needed to know to get her pilots license...He was in for a bit of a surprise.
"I'm ready to start teaching you what you need to know to learn how to fly." He told her
Darla turned around quickly and stood up her coveralls opening up and giving the young major a good shot of her budding breasts.
"Hi." she called out as she turned.
Raymond got a good shot of her budding breasts and turned about six shades of red . She looked at him for a moment as he stammered and turned away pointing at her chest. Darla looked down and saw that she was exposed and turning red her self quickly zipped up.
"S...Sorry " she stammered. "I...I'm not used to having guys around when I'm working."
It took a few moments for both teens to recover from the shock then Raymond spoke first.
"Yeah My father told me you Yooper girls like to show off your bodies." he said.
"Well it's not quite like that." Darla said with a blush. "It just seems that Southern guys are good at catching girls when they are exposed."
"Well it's mostly you Yooper girls that we mostly are seeing." He replied "and The ones that are southern are witches like Tonya. So I guess it's a witch thing."
"But I'm not a witch." Darla protested.
"Yeah I suppose, But you are rather pretty." He told her. "You are the prettiest mechanic I have ever met."
Darla blushed rather deeply
"I'm probably the only female mechanic you have ever met too" she replied.
"Yeah You are but you are still really pretty.' He told her then he laid a book bag on a nearby table. "But I still have to teach you all the rules and regulations about flying a plane."
"Yeah" Darla agreed at she sat down and looked at the books on regulations. She already had some idea from the work with strikers and what had to be considered when they were in the air. Soon both teens were engrossed in the lesson.
27 May 1945 Captain O' Brian's office
After the first joint practice between Beta and Gamma flights. Jasper and Wendy were working out how things had gone and what could be done better. They were drawing diagrams on a chalk board Wendy had to use a stool to reach the upper parts of the board because she was so short, something that amused Jasper. But while she was not very old she definitely had a clear understanding of combat tactics and noted that she did not get overly complex.
'Yep' he thought to himself 'Wendy did have a good head on her shoulders.'
The two of them spent a lot of time discussing the training and while Wendy did not have any real combat experience sh id seem to have a mind for it and seemed to come up with a number of good if simple ideas. They were working out when the phone rang. Wendy listened for a moment and squealed .
"I'll be right there." She said with a big smile on her face and hung up the phone. "Rufus fished making the striker cradle at Ruby's and Pauly is already there!"
"Yeah go see your boyfriend" Jasper said with a chuckle.
Wendy practically jumped out of her seat and ran out the door. Jasper chuckled as she ran toward the hanger. Wendy burst through the door into the hanger.
"Rufus finished the cradle for my striker at the ice cream shop and Pauly's already there!" Wendy announced as she burst into the hanger and jumped in her strikers.
Moments later she was flying out of the hanger. Raymond watched her go, he turned to Darla.
"What was that all about?" He asked.
"Pauly lives next door to Tonya." Darla informed him "He had fallen through an old window in the back yard and cut his leg wide open. Wendy went over and healed him up. She probably saved his life. I think they fell in love."
"Why do you say that?" Raymond asked.
"Well after they did their gunnery practice yesterday Tonya and Tracie parked their strikers but Wendy stayed in hers." Darla said "She said she was going to check on Pauly. When she came back a couple hours later she had this big grin on her face and said she was in love."
"Maybe I should meet this kid." Raymond suggested.
"Why?" Darla asked.
"Well he is dating one of the officers here." He replied. "I think it might be a good idea for us to go to that ice cream shop to see how they act."
Darla thought for a moment, "Or maybe you just want to go to the ice cream shop with a pretty girl? She said with a sly smile.
"That could be a contributing factor." He admitted.
Tonya rolled up in her wheelchair with Tracie in her lap.
"You going to get ice cream?" Tonya asked. "Can we come too?"
Darla gave Raymond a look he smiled back.
"Sure." he replied with a shrug.
"Hey." Darla said "You get to go to the ice cream shop with three pretty girls now."
Darla helped Tonya get in the car while Raymond loaded her wheelchair in the trunk When he was done he grabbed the books off the table
"As long as we are there we might as well continue the lesson." He stated as he climbed in the car as Darla climbed in the passenger seat.
Once the girls had settled in Raymond started the car and headed out to Ruby's Ice Cream shop.
27 May 1945 Ruby's Ice Cream shop
Wendy flew her strikers over to Ruby's and hovered for a moment by the new Striker cradle looking over the new cradle. Pauly was standing nearby watching her. Wendy slowly maneuvered her strikers in and docked them and powered down. She climbed out of her strikers and checked out the cradle.
"This is neat"! She exclaimed "Now I can come here when ever I want."
She ran over and hugged Pauly who returned the hug. Rufus walked up to the little couple.
"So you happy with your striker cradle?" He asked her.
"I love it!" Wendy squealed "Now it's a lot easier to park my strikers here."
Raymond drove up at that point and noticed the striker cradle. He parked the car and got out.
"So that's the new striker cradle?" He asked.
"Yeah." Wendy replied. "It's going to make it a lot easier when I take my boyfriend here for a date."
"Is he your boyfriend?" Raymond asked looking at the little boy Wendy was hugging.
"Yeah, isn't he cute?" She replied as she kissed him on the forehead and rubbed the top of his head. "I like his hair too."
Raymond had to agree with Wendy, Pauly was cute and they did make a cute couple though Wendy was about four inches taller and was almost double his weight. In a way in spite of the fact they were different races they seemed more like a big sister with her little brother.
"Hey Pauly you got an older girl for your girl friend?" Tonya asked
"Yeah." He replied. "I like her."
"Wendy you cougar." Darla teased "Going out with a younger guy like that."
"Yup and now I'm taking my boyfriend to buy him some ice cream." She declared.
With that Wendy took Pauly by the hand and led him into the ice cream shop up to the counter to place their order. In the mean time Darla had unloaded Tonya's wheelchair and helped her into it.
"Ice cream sounds good right now." Darla added
"Right" Raymond agreed.
Tracie climbed on Tonya's lap and they headed to the door of the ice cream shop at a pretty good speed...until Tonya hit the door ledge with enough force to dump Tracie. Fortunately the only thing hurt was Tracie's pride. Darla and Raymond rushed up and she helped Tracie up Raymond went to the back of Tonya's wheelchair.
"You okay?" she asked Tracie.
"Yeah I'm alright." Tracie assured them.
"You need help getting over that step?" he asked
Tonya bumped her front wheels up against the door ledge.
"Yeah I think so." she replied.
Raymond went behind her wheelchair and grabbed the handles and pushed down lifting the front wheels then he pushed it forward the larger back wheels able to roll up and over the ledge. Once it was up and over the ledge, he released it and Tonya took control again.
"Thanks." she said.
Wendy was ordering a Super Giant Banana Split and a chocolate shake for herself and and triple chocolate cone and a coke for Pauly when Tonya and Tracie came in.
"Hey Wendy!" Tonya called out. "What's good?"
"Get the Super Giant Banana Split." Wendy replied. "It's got twelve scoops of ice cream four each of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla two bananas sliced in half with three cherries each on a mound of whipped cream. It's really good."
"Sounds good to me." Tonya replied.
Tonya ordered one of those and a coffee black with no sugar. Tracie ordered a large double chocolate sundae with a coke. Tonya smiled when she saw Tracie with the bowl that had four scoops of chocolate ice cream covered with chocolate syrup and whipped cream with a cherry on top. That she knew would be a bit fattening. Darla and Raymond both had small sundaes and a coke as they sat down and Raymond brought out the books as he continued the lesson. Ruby served the drinks first and followed with Pauly's ice cream cone and the sundaes she did the two Super Giant Banana Splits for Tonya and Wendy last because they took so long. She had just enough bananas for them.
"You like your sundae?" Tonya asked Tracie.
"Yeah." Tracie replied "I love ice cream!"
Ruby brought the giant banana splits over to Tonya and Wendy
"So do I." Tonya said as she plowed into her banana split.
As Wendy plowed into her banana split Rufus watched her and the other girls eat he had a pretty good idea that he was going to need to build more striker cradles. That was confirmed shortly by a comment by Tracie.
"We got to come here again." She said "I like ice cream."
"Yeah That's a good idea." Tonya replied. "You need to eat more and ice cream is supposed to be fattening."
"Yeah I'll eat a lot of ice cream if it makes you happy." Tracie said with a smile.
Raymond had continued with the lesson on the rules of airplane flying as he and Darla ate their ice cream. Both of them pausing occasionally to watch the younger kids. Once Wendy had finished her ice cream she reached over to hold Pauly's hand.
"I think that Wendy is in love with Pauly." Raymond observed "She sure acts like she is."
"I wonder if Pauly is in with love Wendy." Darla asked.
"One way to find out." Raymond replied then he raised his voice a bit. "Hey Pauly you in love with Wendy?"
Pauly responded by putting down his ice cream cone wrapping his arms around her and kissing her on the cheek.
"Yup I'm going to marry her." He responded and kissed her again.
"I think he just proposed to her." Darla replied. "You going to accept his proposal?"
Wendy paused in eating her ice cream, pulled Pauly in her lap and gave him a big kiss on the lips.
"Yup!" she declared.
The two teens watched the pre-school lovers make out.
"Aren't they cute?" Darla gushed.
Raymond looked at the two youngsters with Pauly sitting on Wendy's lap.
"Yeah they are kinda cute." Raymond agreed "Though I do find it curious that it's Pauly in Wendy's lap."
"Hey Darla." Pauly called out and pointed at Raymond. "Is he your boyfriend?"
Both teens blushed at the question.
"We just met a couple hours ago we haven't had a chance." Raymond replied as he looked at Darla.
"Well you're not going to sit in my lap." She deadpanned.
Raymond looked over at the younger girl sitting next to him.
"Yeah, I don't think I would fit as well as Pauly fit's on Wendy's lap." He responded.
"I think that we should be getting back to the base." Raymond announced noting that everybody was finished eating and anticipating that somebody was likely going to suggest Darla sit in his lap decided to cut off that idea.
Rufus looked at the girls that were there,. He had a pretty good idea what they were going to want next. Moments later Tonya confirmed it.
"We are going to have to come here more often." She said."Maybe they can build a striker cradle for me too."
Rufus looked over at his sister who nodded and smiled then over to Raymond who shrugged his shoulders. Rufus sighed.
"I'll meet you guys back at the base to get the measurements I'm going to need." He told them.
Rufus climbed into his truck while he loved his younger sister dearly he knew that this latest project was going to need more materials than he could get by just salvaging them.
Raymond knew that there was going to be a lot of materials needed to do what was already planned He decided to check with his father about providing some money to pay for the work.
Raymond packed Tonya's wheelchair into the trunk of his car after helping Tonya get into the back seat while Tracie climbed into the other side and Darla climbed into the front passenger seat. In the mean time Wendy had climbed into her strikers and had Pauly climb onto her back and she flew back to the hanger. She arrived a bit ahead of the people who had come in cars or trucks. She settled her striker in it's cradle and Pauly hopped off her back and she climbed out right after that. Pauly looked around at the other striker cradles there were four that looked like the one Wendy had parked her strikers in and one that had a set like hers and two that were empty they were to the right of Wendy's, on the left of hers was one that held a single striker that was larger than the pairs in the other ones. He stopped in front of the one that held Tonya's striker and pointed at it.
"What's that?" He asked.
"That's Tonya's striker." Wendy replied, anticipating Pauly's next question she added. "Tonya can't move her legs because she had polio when she was little so that's why her striker does not look like mine or Tracie's"
"Who are these for?" Pauly asked as he pointed at two empty Striker Cradles.
"Those are for Diana and anybody she want's to bring with her from up north to check us out." Wendy replied.
By this time the vehicles had arrived back at the hanger and everybody in them piled out Rufus with his tape measure in hand headed over to Tonya's striker cradle to get the measurements he needed. Raymond pulled Tonya's wheelchair out of is trunk and once it was out Darla helped Tonya get out of the car and into her chair. While she was helping Tonya the phone operator ran up.
"Raymond Your father called. He's in Knoxville Tennessee." She told him "He want's you to call him I got the number."
"Okay I'll be right there." He told her as he followed her back to the office.
Soon she was connecting him to the phone at the motel his father was in. At the same time Rufus was taking the measurements he would need to make a copy of Tonya's striker cradle. He Talked to his father once the connection was made. He told the general about how he was starting to teach Darla about the rules and regulations of flying a plane...keeping quiet about the flashing. He noted that Darla was picking things up fast and should be ready to qualify for a license in a few weeks. Frederick told his son that Diana had said she would take airplane flying lessons eventually but was not sure when. He chuckled when he told Raymond about Cindy wanting to learn to fly a plane. Raymond mentioned the trip to the ice cream shop after Rufus had completed the striker cradle for Wendy and was measuring Tonya's to make one for her and speculated that they would likely want a couple more for other girls as well. Raymond then suggested that it would be a good idea to give Rufus some money to cover the costs. Frederick agreed and authorized a payment of two hundred dollars and Raymond said he would. Frederick also mentioned that he also had a couple boxes of clothes Diana had out grown to give to Tonya. They hung up after that and Raymond took the needed money out of the cash box and headed out. Rufus finished taking the measurements he needed to make a cradle for Tonya's striker, as he walked away from it Pauly ran up to him.
"You going to make one for Tracie's strikers too?" Pauly asked him.
"I think that would be a good idea." Raymond said as he walked up to Rufus and handed him the wad of $20 bills. "This should help."
Rufus had started to groan...Before Raymond handed him the $200...He had not expected that. He stared at the money for a moment.
"This is a lot more than I need to get the materials." He finally told him.
"I know," Raymond replied. "Maybe you could add a few things and what is left over is yours for doing that work."
"But I'm doing this for my sister's business." He said.
"Look in three months those girls will be facing mankind's greatest enemy."Raymond told him."If they want to have some ice cream while they are training, I want it to be as easy as possible for them to get it."
Rufus smiled as he climbed into his truck.
"I better get going." He replied "I have a lot of work to do."
With that he waved and drove off. He had a lot of money to work with now. He was going to build a nice hanger for the girls now. Raymond smiled as he watched him drive off. He knew that the work was going to be done quickly and well. But now he had some teaching to do, His father had made it clear that he expected Darla to have her pilots license soon.