Chapter 38 The Plague
Mackinaw Island
Three Months After Landing
It was late spring and things were coming back to life. The great flocks of migrating birds were moving on and the land that had been cleared for planting was beginning to show the beginnings of life as well.
The Colonists, as everyone now referred to themselves, had first taken up residence in the Grand Hotel but soon relocated to abandoned dwellings that the Islanders had called home. No one thought it strange. It was how things were done now.
Penny and Sheldon moved into a small cottage next door to her parents. Bernadette and Howard lived across the street. It was like a Mr. Rogers neighborhood except that electricity was only on from 5am until 9pm and there was the constant need for maintenance on so many things that they'd all taken for granted.
Penny Cooper sat on the commode and tried not to cry again.
They'd fought bitterly, neither pulling punches, each desperate to have the other see their point of view. It had gone on for several days and finally it came to a head.
"If you go on this stupid 'guilt' trip that's motivated by nothing more than what you think is your duty to your sister, then we're through. I mean it, Sheldon. Leave and I won't be here when you get back. There are a lot of single men who would love to be with me."
"Then there's no point in me returning, Penelope, whether I'm successful or not, is there? Be well, Penny."
He looked like he wanted to say something else but she had turned her back on him and stared out the bedroom window, not seeing anything through her tears.
She heard him stomp down the stairs and slam the front door.
Sheldon was leaving to search for Melissa. Despite meticulous planning for the search, Penny couldn't shake the feeling that she had just had her last conversation with her husband and that she would never see him again. That prompted another bout of tears that she couldn't stop.
Sheldon was angry and no one wanted to get between him and his destination. Normally people would greet him, stop to chat or ask a question or, more often, make a complaint, but not today. No one wanted to be set up as an imaginary target by those angry eyes.
He walked to the small airstrip and found Bomber sitting in the commuter lounge talking with Leslie and drinking some kind of hot beverage.
Leslie took one look at Sheldon and made herself scarce muttering that she'd go make coffee for them. Bomber laughed but it died in his throat when he saw the look on his friend's face.
"Sheldon. What brings you down here? Need a lift?" It was a joke, of course. The 6 small Navajos and King Airs that lined the runway were used to ferry scrounging parties to the lower peninsula or the short hop over to St. Ignace across the straits on the Upper Peninsula or UP. They'd been abandoned here when things fell apart.
"No. Don't be silly. I want you to give me a check ride in the smallest and most fuel-efficient aircraft in our inventory. I mastered Flight Simulator and can pilot anything up to a Boeing 727."
"You're joking. There's a world of difference between a computer simulation for a PC and the real thing. It takes – "
"Either you will or you won't. Make up your mind because if you don't, I'll just take the first aircraft that's fully fueled and do it myself."
"This is about going to Galveston to look for your sister, isn't it? You and Penny are still fighting over it."
Sheldon raised an eyebrow and Bomber chortled. "Hey, it's a small town and with the windows open it's hard not to hear you two 'discussing' it."
"Check ride, Hideki. Yes or no?" He'd already moved his gear over in anticipation of an abrupt departure and once again he marveled at how easily he could predict his wife's reaction.
He hadn't expected her ultimatum and now he was rethinking the whole marriage thing. She said she loved him but how easily she said she'd 'hook up' with another if he did not comply with her unreasonable demands. Obviously the woman hadn't paid attention when reciting her wedding vows.
Bomber looked up at his friend, really looked at him. He looked like he hadn't slept in days and it was obvious that something had finally driven him out of his home and to the airport. His eyes were bloodshot and his hands were in fists by his side.
"Doc, you don't want to be rash in deciding this. Take a couple of days to think this through and if you still want to fly to Galveston, I'll fly you down myself."
"Like hell you will, Bomber. If the dumbass wants to commit suicide, then by all means, let him fly it himself or take a truck or – "
"Thank you for your kind words, Leslie. Apparently Penny's not the only leopard around here."
"What the hell does that mean, Sheldon Cooper?" Leslie demanded, closing the gap between them and jabbing his chest with a finger while she yelled at him.
"The old saying a leopard doesn't change its spots. As in 'dumbass' and 'hooking up' with someone else."
"Sheldon…" Leslie blushed and wished she'd kept her big mouth shut but she didn't want Bomber flying off on a fool's errand and getting himself killed. She put her hand on his forearm but he shook it off and turned to Bomber.
"I'll take the bomber. It's a relic and need only hold together for the southern leg of the trip."
"Wait just a damned minute, dumbass. How are you getting home?" Winkle suddenly felt a chill run up her spine. 'Oh shit! What did Barbie do this time to piss him off? Honestly, sometimes I think she's the dumbass in their relationship.'
"I'm going home. You've reached safety and Penny is safely with her parents and I'm sure won't lack for those who wish to 'hook up', so the task I set for myself in Pasadena is complete and now I must discharge my responsibilities to my own family."
"Does Penny know that you're leaving?" Bomber asked. Sometimes handling Sheldon Cooper required sainthood but somehow this time the fault was mostly with Penny.
"We said our goodbyes this morning." His face was awash with tics even though what he said was the truth. Okay, he'd been the one to say goodbye. She simply refused to listen and turned her back on him both literally and figuratively.
"The check ride, Bomber? Yes or no."
Bomber hated Sheldon Cooper with a passion. The son of a bitch took off in the Cessna 150J they'd used to bomb the bad guys near the Canal as if he'd been flying for years, not minutes.
He did a few touch-and-goes before actually landing the airplane and properly shutting it down.
"How many bootleg hours do you have in this airplane, Sheldon?" He tried not to sound like he'd been played.
Sheldon glanced at his watch and replied, "I hour and 47 minutes. Why?"
"Shit. I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're a natural. I'd fly with you in this crate."
"Don't think Leslie would appreciate you tagging along on a one-way trip, Hideki, but thanks for the compliment. I know this has a STC kit so it burns regular gas but with a 35 gallon tank I'll still have to set her down to refuel from the plastic cans I'm gonna carry so I figure it's a 2 day trip if I cruise along at 100knts."
"You're an idiot if you do this, Sheldon Cooper." He would have said more but Sheldon simply said, "She's my sister and I need to know what happened to her. I can't not know, understand?"
He topped off his extended fuel tanks and loaded 3 12-gallon plastic gas tanks in the rear area behind the seats and took off for the first waypoint – Manitowoc – where he'd top off the tanks again from local stores and spend the night before heading south first thing in the morning. He had looked for her but she hadn't even bothered to come and so he just hugged Winkle and waved to Bomber.
Penny spent the night at her parent's place and her father totally ignored her after hearing what she'd threatened her husband with if he went to find his sister. Her mother wasn't much better but her dad's reaction really hurt. He and Sheldon had gotten really close since Omaha and she couldn't help but feel hurt that he'd taken Sheldon's side in the argument instead of hers.
Sheldon's plan had called for a 3-day flight down to his Meemaw's place. There was a county farm-to-market road that fronted the property and it was straight as an arrow for more than two miles. He'd hoof it into town and begin his search and be back in no more than 10 days.
He hadn't figured the effects of spring storms. It took him 8 days to reach his grandmother's place. He'd had to hole up in Ft Smith, Arkansas for 4 days because of thunderstorms and high winds. The Cessna flopped around the sky like a leaf in such weather and it wouldn't have lasted a nanosecond in tornado weather.
Cooper Farmstead
22 miles NE of Galveston
He buzzed the farmhouse but got no response. He was very careful to fly around urban areas after being shot at near Longview, Texas, but this was his ancestral home and he wasn't worried. He set the Cessna down and then brought it around and taxied up the unpaved drive to the house. It was nearly dark and he couldn't see where the rains had washed out a section of road leaving a gully nearly a foot deep.
His mind was years in the past or he would have seen it. But he was thinking about the house. He didn't plan on going in. He didn't want the memories to come flooding back. In his current emotional state, he didn't think he could handle any more grieving.
The front landing gear plunged into the gully and collapsed and the old Cessna went nose down. The propeller struck the graveled road and snapping off and the fuselage followed the rules of thermodynamics and flopped over on its back.
Sheldon was trapped upside down. His arms weren't obeying him and he couldn't reach the Koch fittings. There was the smell of gasoline and then a whooshing sound.
There was a flaring of light and a sudden eruption of heat all around him. He couldn't breathe and he wanted more than anything to see her just one more time…
The blessed cool of darkness swept over him.