Chapter 14- Corn Festival

Corn Festival Day! At last! I was awake in a flash and, despite having only one good arm, managed to get dressed pretty quickly, into my favourite jeans; work boots and the souvenir T-shirt I got from last year's Corn Festival. Plus, for the first time since the inferno, my new contacts!

I was in a very good mood as I made my way downstairs. It was Corn Fest Day; the Piston Peak Air Attack Team were coming out; TMST were going to reopen the airport (I was sure of it!) and, as I was leafing through the mail, I found a letter from West Virginia. Immediately, I opened it.

Dear Mr. Hazelwood,

I got your address from the note you gave ACAFCA and I am writing to thank you for saving the life of my granddaughter, Harper, and for your efforts to save my daughter, Kimberly. Please don't blame yourself. We understand that you did everything you could and we know that Kimberly would feel the same way.

I hope you have not been too worried about Harper. She has settled happily into her new foster home. Although my husband, Gordon and I are unable to keep her due to his heart condition, we visit her regularly. Her foster parents, Martin and Lisa Murphy, both of whom are cars, are very loving and caring people. They have four other foster children, so Harper is making friends.

Would you consider visiting West Virginia? We can no longer travel and my husband and I would love the opportunity to thank you personally.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Jo Sutherland.

I smiled, knowing that I would never part with that letter. I would keep it in the wooden box I'd made myself at school, where I keep lots of other special things.

"They're here!" Dusty shouted.

I followed his voice to find the air attack team coming into land on the highway.

"Hey, guys!" I greeted them enthusiastically as the aircraft rolled up and the Smokejumpers, Maru and Wildflower emerged from Cabbie. "Good to see you again."

Blade gave a crisp nod. "Likewise."

"Glad to see you're taking care of yourselves", Maru noted.

"AUGGHHH!" Dipper squealed. "Celeste Wright?"

I turned around to see Celeste standing behind me. "Uh... Hi?" she replied. She looked around. "Which one of you is, uh, Maru?"

"I'm Maru-" Maru started before Celeste leapt up and threw her arms around him.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried. "We love the new gearbox! Thank you so much for it!"

Maru tried to look disgusted, but he was grinning.

"So, where's the Corn Fest at?" Drip wondered.

Dusty grinned. "Well, there's one thing we gotta take care of first..."


Later that morning, Ryker inspected Mayday's updates carefully. If I were him, I would die of embarrassment, being inspected like that, but Mayday seemed to handle it okay. Then Ryker requested to see Dusty's certification, which Blade handed over. Ryker peered at them for a long time with an unreadable expression. My heart pounded. For the first time, I was beginning to doubt that the airport would be reopened. Now, what?

Before I could lose my mind, Ryker gave his verdict. "In accordance with CFR title fourteen, volume three, chapter one, section 139, sub-paragraph B, Propwash Junction is recertified and open for operation!"

This prompted wild cheers from the crowd, except for Wildflower, who was crying. My friends had done it! Propwash Junction was back in business!

"Hey, Dusty!" Chug hollered, sounding ecstatic. "I won, I won! Hey, Duster! Guess what?"

Celeste smirked. "You won?"

"I've been crowned official Corn Colonel!" Chug announced.

"And I'm his Private Niblet!" Sparky added happily.

"Can I wear my official hat to your race next Saturday?" Chug requested.

"Absolutely, Chug", Dusty promised. "As long as the boss here will give me the day off."

Mayday nodded. "Anytime."

"Okay, Niblet! Time to hit the festival!" Chug commanded.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Sparky responded.

"Not quite!" Celeste shouted.

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"What's up?" Dusty wondered.

"Me and Emma have something to say!"

Emma blinked in surprise as Celeste took her hand and led her to the front of the crowd. "We do?"

"Actually, no; we don't. I do."

With those words, Celeste got down on one knee. The whole crowd gasped almost in unison and tears filled my eyes.

"Oh, no! I'm going to cry!" Emma sniffled.

"Emma Proulx... will you marry me?" Celeste held out a shiny diamond ring.

"Yes!" Emma shouted. "YES!"

The two of them kissed, making everyone clap, honk, cheer and cry.

We all broke away, asking questions about the wedding, although, of course, they couldn't answer them all just yet. Only Dusty and Mayday hung back.

"Oh, Dusty, we're all so proud of you", I heard Mayday tell him.

"Thanks, Mayday.""

"What you did for me, for all of us," Mayday went on. "I want to thank you."

"You don't have to thank us", Dusty insisted modestly.

"Yes, yes, I do", Mayday stated firmly. "To do what you did… it takes a special kind of plane."


"Ladies and gentleplanes", Chug announced over the speakers once everyone had gathered in the bleachers and Dusty had confirmed that they were all set, "turn your attention to the skies for today's aerial presentation. The Propwash Junction Corn Fest is proud to present the Piston Peak Air Attack team and our very own world champion racer and firefighter, Dusty Crophopper! And his human racing partner, Celeste Wright!"

The crowd watched in awe as the Smokejumpers parachuted out of Cabbie, streams of water trailing behind them. When they landed, they raced around on ramps, whooping and hollering. Meanwhile, Blade, Dipper and Windlifter dropped water as the crowd oohed and ahhed.

Finally, it was Dusty's turn. With Celeste riding on him, he streaked across the sky. Even from my spot in the bleachers, I could tell that he and Celeste were grinning because his alarm didn't go off.

Along with the rest of the residents of Propwash Junction and Wildflower (who still had tears in her eyes), I smiled proudly as Dusty performed a loop. Then, for his grand finale, dropped his load of water, spraying the audience, much to our delight.

The Piston Peak team and Dusty received thunderous applause- and not just for their performance today.


"That was awesome!" Chug shouted when we met up with Dusty and our new friends.

Everyone gathered around and chimed in with similar comments. We munched on varied corn snacks, like corn on the cob and popcorn, talking and laughing. I looked around me: Mom, Dusty, Chug, Celeste, Dottie, Sparky, Skipper, Mayday, Rebecca, Emma, Blade, Windlifter, Dipper, Cabbie, Dynamite, Blackout, Pinecone, Avalanche, Drip, Macca, Dragon, Wildflower, Maru and even Susannah in her wheelchair. Plus, of course, my unborn son. Surrounded by so many people whom I loved and cared for and that loved and cared for me, I would never think of my family as just me and my mom again.

"That was quite a performance", I added.

"Still can't convince you to change your mind about firefighting?" Blade asked.

I shook my head.

"How are you doing after what happened to Kimberly?" Wildflower wanted to know, sounding very concerned.

"Better." I nodded. "I started seeing a therapist last week. I've only been once and, already, it's helping."

"So, if not firefighting, what does the future look like for David Hazelwood?" Windlifter wanted to know.

"With everything you've ever done for us, I think it's well overdue for you to go after what you want", Mom added.

That got me thinking. I had been trying so hard to make other people happy that I'd barely considered my own happiness. Until now, I had assumed that that would be selfish of me, but then I thought, Why do you think everyone else should follow their dreams and you shouldn't? This was my life and I had a right to do what makes me happy. That's when I remembered what Leadbottom had said about destinies. Then there was what Kimberly had told us: "The minute I stopped being what people expected me to be and followed my own heart was the minute I felt happy."

So, what would make me happy? I wanted a profession where I could help people, but I couldn't be a firefighter after what happened to Kimberly. I had some experience in mechanics and could help people in that way, but, for some reason, that field just didn't speak to me. I wanted to help people in a different way...

That's when it came to me. "I wanna be a therapist. I want to help people who have been through trauma like I have."

Dusty nodded in approval. "You'd be good at that."

"Yeah", everyone agreed.

"I'll look into it once the baby's born", I vowed, "but in the meantime, I need a drink. Let's go to Honkers!"

So, we went. I was nervous to be drinking again, but it was time to give myself a break and embrace my imperfections.