Chapter Two: Fill N' Fly Fire
Dusty spent the rest of the day moping in his hanger. Crow just listen to me play the songs I knew on my guitar and we did a bit of archery. Later that night, Skipper insisted we joined him at Honkers to cope with the bad news. It seemed to help a little bit as the planes sipped cans of oil, but Crow and I couldn't stop frowning as we lounged on Dusty's wings.
"Dottie's an excellent mechanic." Skipper reasoned. "You know as well as I she wouldn't have said what she said unless she was sure."
Dusty sighed and us girl hopped off his wings.
The four of us looked up as Chug and Sparky called for us, hurrying into the bar and almost ploughing down a waitress on the way. "Dust, listen!" Chug said excitedly. "We just got off the radio with Ethan up in Grand Flaps."
"Old Grand Flaps Ethan!" Sparky chimed in.
"He's got the gearbox?" Dusty asked hopefully.
Chug and Sparky chuckled. "No."
"But his buddy owns twenty-one service hangers!" Chug said. "And he's gonna check his inventory, and he's gonna put the word out for you, Duster! It's a good start, right?"
"It's a great start!" Sparky said. "Can you believe it?"
"There's hope for us yet, Dust Storm." I agreed.
"Because if that gearbox is out there, we're gonna find it for you, buddy!" Chug said determinedly.
"You guys are awesome." Crow said gratefully. "You hear that, Dusty? We'll be out on the race course again in no time having fun!"
"And hey!" The six of us glanced over to see Leadbottom making his way towards us. "If you don't, it's all right! Because the answer is yes!"
"'Yes'?" Dusty repeated.
"What?" Chug blinked.
"Yes?" Skipper raised an eye frame.
"Huh?" Sparky asked.
"Yes, of course you can have your old job back!" Leadbottom said cheerily. "Don't even have to bother asking. That's just the kind of guy I am."
"Leadbottom, I'm sure Dusty appreciates your offer…." Skipper said, trying to sound civil despite how much the biplane annoyed him.
"Of course, you've got to start back at minimum wage, and you lost all your vacation time, gotta go through orientation again." Leadbottom noted.
"Leadbottom, please!" Skipper snapped, casting a look to us girls that told us to keep out of the conversation.
"Once you acquire the taste for Vitaminamulch, you can't live without it!" Leadbottom said confidently. "It's like Mama's jalapeno chilli. Spicy!" His sprayer seemed to backfire, sending a cloud of Vitaminamulch spray flowing behind him and a small forklift fell backwards. "Twice!"
"It's just that now is not the best time." Skipper said.
"Come on, Skipper!" Leadbottom urged, causing the Corsair to groan and roll his eyes. "I can get his sprayer back from that Germany place. Have it cleaned up and bolted back on him in no time."
"I'll tell you what, let me buy you a can of oil." Skipper offered.
"I'll tell you what, Dusty is the best duster I've ever known!" Leadbottom said firmly.
"And I'm telling you that Dusty don't crop dust no more!" Chug countered, he and Sparky coming up to defend their friend.
"That's right!" Sparky said. "No more!"
"He's a racer!"
"A racer!"
"And he's gonna be back to racing in no time."
"In no time!"
"Right, Dusty?"
"Right, Dust?"
Silence.
Everyone turned to the table, only to see a lack of Dusty Crophopper.
"Nice going, you dolts." I said
"What'd we do?" Sparky shrugged.
"You all got him freaked out." I said. "Mostly Leadbottom. But seriously, do you guys think Dusty wants to consider going back to his old job? I don't think so."
"Look, kid's, I mean girls, I admire your support for Dusty." Leadbottom said. "But we all knew this was coming and besides you and Crow turn thirteen at the end of the year and he can't race."
"And what makes you say that?" Skipper demanded, glaring at Leadbottom.
"The guy wasn't built to race!" Leadbottom said.
"He proved everyone wrong when he won the Wings Around the Globe Rally." Skipper firmly.
"And his gearbox being busted only further proves he wasn't supposed to race." Leadbottom said.
"Why should some people be forced into a job while others get a choice?" Crow demanded.
"Some vehicles are built for certain jobs." Leadbottom explained. "It's just how things work. It happens to humans too; some are born for certain jobs and are different."
"Based on that logic, I should've expected to be a regular human girl not the only one in the world who is cursed! It's just how things worked out." I snapped giving him a glare.
Leadbottom opened his mouth to protest, but he immediately shut his trap. Chug and Sparky looked down, but Skipper raised an eye frame at me. Everyone knew that once I brought up curse mark like that, the conversation was over and not to talk back as it might become an argument.
Looking satisfied I rubbed my arm, just below my left shoulder right where my curse mark was and turned to leave.
"Where are you going now?" Sparky asked.
"I'm going to the Fill N' Fly to keep an eye out for Dust Mop. Coming Crow?" I walked out without waiting for an answer but I still herded someone yell 'freak' after me.
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I hate being different! I thought as I kicked a stone as I walked to Fill N' Fly.
"Hey slow down!" Crow called as she tried to catch up with me.
I stopped and let her catch up.
"Do you think I'm odd and freaky?" I asked as she came up next to me.
"Well you are different from everyone else so you are sort of odd but people are wrong when they say you are freaky as you are someone extra special so don't let me hear you say you are freaky again!" Crow answered.
"Thanks Crow" I smiled at my best friend then jumped at the sound of a plane coming into land.
We looked up to see a familiar orange and white plane coming in for a landing. We jumped away from the runway realizing that Dusty's glide was unsteady and jerking. Dusty hit a couple of the lights on the runway. His landing gear hit the tarmac and he bounced a bit before swerving off and towards the Fill N' Fly. Dusty hurriedly applied his brakes. When that didn't work, he tried turning at an angle to use the friction to stop him. We stared in shock and then flinched in surprise and sympathy when Dusty rammed into the support column for the Fill N' Fly. The orange and white plane panted a bit, looking a bit overwhelmed.
"Dusty?" Crow called, beginning to move forward. "You okay?"
Crow, Dusty and I paused when tiny pieces of the propeller-shaped beam bounced off Dusty's nose. We looked up and stared in shock as the column creaked before falling away. Without the support, the prop-shaped roof began collapsing.
KA-BOOM!
We gasped as an explosion erupted, flames bursting to life.
"Fire! Fire!" Dusty shouted as we moved away from the blaze.
We sighed in relief at the sound of a wailing siren and Mayday suddenly screeched to a halt in front of the fire. Somewhat dilapidated fire engine he may be, Mayday still impressed everyone with how quickly he snapped into action.
"Now listen up!" Mayday barked. "We gotta cool this down before it spreads!"
Dottie and Sparky immediately got to work helping, hooking up Mayday's hose to the fire hydrant nearby. Mayday began spraying the water onto the flames. But then, his hose began leaking terribly. Then again, the duct tape that patched up the holes in the old hose was old itself, and when Sparky tried to press his wheels and forks onto the holes he ended up getting tossed aside by the water pressure.
"I got you!" Chug reached his fuel nozzle out and caught the smaller forklift.
"Thanks." Sparky said gratefully. But they all stared in terror as the water stopped streaming from Mayday's hose.
"What now?" asked Chug.
Mayday didn't answer for a second. He had to get the fire down to a controllable level. Then his eyes caught sight of the water tower next to them. "I'm gonna need some help!"
Sparky and Dottie quickly got to work pulling up the large screws that kept the water tower anchored to the ground. Then they helped loop the hose and a couple strong cables around the supports of the tower, hooking the other ends of the lines to Mayday, Chug, Skipper, and Dusty.
"Now pull!" Mayday ordered. "Pull!"
The four of them revved their engines, pulling with all their strength. Finally, there was a creaking sound as the water tower's supports broke and the entire thing began to topple over. Water crashed into the Fill N' Fly. The water snuffed out the flames in seconds, but also made quite a mess of the garage. The water washed away and left only a few large patches of smouldering embers. Skipper thought it may be a good idea to take us girls back to Dottie's hanger to get over the excitement and go to bed. Mayday and Sparky helped him push us along as we did not want to go.
"Dottie, Chug, and Dusty, I need you to watch the fire to make sure it doesn't start up again." Mayday ordered. "Pour some water on it if you feel it necessary, but do it carefully."
"Yes, Mayday." Dottie, Chug, and Dusty said at once.