Chapter Six: The news and lodge superintendent
Crow and I stared at the park below us as we all made our way back to base after training. Suddenly, Dusty began speeding up, eyeing a trail of smoke in the near distance. Our girls eyes widened when we saw what Dusty was doing. "Dusty, wait! That's not—"
Too late. Dusty dropped some of his retardant right onto fire…and the campers sitting in front of it.
"Good job." Blade said. "You just saved those folks from a nice vacation."
Dusty groaned.
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"Propwash Junction to Dusty, Crow and Ashley. Come in Dusty, Crow and Ashley! This is Propwash Junction!" Skipper's voice said over the radio in their hanger.
Dusty hurriedly answered. "Hey, Skipper!"
"Hey! How's it going?" Skipper asked.
Dusty sighed a bit. "This is tougher than I thought, but it is so good to hear from you."
"Well, we wanted to radio—" Skipper started.
"Hey, Skip! Let me tell 'em!" Chug called excitedly.
"Oh, all right, Chug." Skipper said.
"Tell us what?" Dusty asked, hoping it wasn't more bad news about the airport.
"Okay!" Even over the radio, Chug sounded like he was ready to burst from excitement. "That….we….." He couldn't stop chuckling hysterically. "Oh, I can't! You tell 'em, Sparky!"
"So, okay, there's this fella out in California." Sparky explained.
"California!" Chug repeated.
"The Skipper and I know him from back when we were stationed in Coronado."
"Near San Diego!"
"We all used to go down to Baja."
"Near Coronado!"
Sparky laughed. "Oh boy, there was this one time we went to this bar, and Skipper put a hula skirt and coconuts on his—"
"Sparky!" Skipper barked, silencing the forklift.
Hula skirt? Coconuts? Crow and I exchanged an odd look and a snicker.
"The point is he has one of your gearboxes!" Sparky said.
"We got the gearbox!" Chug said happily.
"You got the…..you got the gear….." Dusty's face broke into smiles. "Are you kidding me?!"
"Oh, wait! It gets better!" Sparky said. "He's gonna ship it out tonight!"
"We'll have it in a couple of days!" Chug called.
Crow and I cheered, hugging Dusty.
"This is the best news!" Dusty sighed happily. "This is just what I needed to hear right now."
"We'll let you know as soon as we get it!" Dottie called from the background.
"Hey Dusty, girls! Listen to my new siren!" Mayday called. A second later, a strange squeaking sound came from the radio. Dusty stared, blinking a bit, while Crow gave me a look and tilted her head to one side in confusion. The sound stopped after a moment. "Huh?"
A pause, then Dottie came on. "Yeah…..I haven't actually hooked up his siren yet."
"Can't wait to see ya!" Sparky said.
"All aircraft, be advised, Superintendent Spinner has entered the base. I repeat, Superintendent Spinner has entered the base." Patch said over the intercom. Someone was honking their horn loudly in the distance.
"Hm, something's up." Dusty realized. "Gotta go, guys!"
Bye everyone!" I called, we moved out to investigate.
Maru was doing tune-ups on Dipper and Windlifter.
"Hey, what's with all the ruckus?" Dusty asked as we approached.
"Eh, park superintendent." Maru scoffed.
"He waxes himself. Daily." Windlifter said causing snickers from Dipper and Maru.
A Cadillac drove up to the base, a Piston Peak National Park logo on his sides and his paintjob a glistening, sparkling white. He looked far too pristine for a park manager, more suited to the city than a forest.
"Honk-honk, beep-beep!" The Cadillac called obnoxiously. "Park Superintendent coming. I sign your paychecks! Anybody gonna greet me? Yes, you are!"
Maru rolled his eyes. "I got some oil pans to change." He drove off; clearly not keen on sticking around much longer.
"Blade, Blade, Blade." The Cadillac said as he approached the fire chief.
"What do you want, Cad?" Blade demanded.
"That's a big hill." Cad sighed. "Listen. Do you think I like driving all around over here and up there, over there just to complain? Answer: no, I don't. But I heard from some campers that one of your staff just soaked them with that red fire phosphorescent stuff that you use. The deodorant."
"Yeah, I'm sorry. That was my fault." Dusty piped up.
"The team needs to train." Blade told Cad. "There's gonna be some mud spilled along the way."
Cad apparently found a sudden great interest in us.
"Are you kidding me?" Cad laughed.
"No, that's the way it works." Blade growled, rolling his eyes and turning as Cad made his way over to us.
"No, you are not!" Cad said happily, looking to Dusty, Crow and me. "Blade, you're hiding a world famous racer right here at Piston Peak! Ripslinga!"
Dusty, Crow and I blinked.
Dusty cleared his throat. "It's…..Crophopper."
"Crophoppa!" Cad corrected.
"Dusty." The former crop duster introduced. "And this is Ashley Jakins and Crow Patterson."
We just glared.
"Aw, right! They are your cute little pilots!" Cad cooed.
I hate it when people say that Crow and I thought and glared at him.
"Me, Cad Spinner." Cad introduced. "You, one fast plane! What are you doing up here?"
Dusty perked up a bit in pride. "Well, I'm getting certified—"
"Doesn't matter." Cad interrupted. "Tomorrow night. The lodge. Grand reopening party. You're invited! And your little pilots can come too. I'm thinking high-speed flyover. What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking it'll be…it'll be dark." Dusty noted, remembering what Blade said about flying low at night.
"And I think you are a total numskull idiot!" I snapped at Cad and I heard Dipper and the smokejumpers who were listening behind the hanger snicker.
Cad didn't seem to notice the insult I had said. "Hey! There's gonna be a lot of VIPs. 'Very Important Planes.' How would you like to rub tires with the Secretary of the Interior of the United States…..of America? I smell photo op! Flash! Cha-ching! Ya gotta do it, come on!"
"I smell somethin' else." Blade noted, mostly to Windlifter and Dipper beside him.
Cad rolled his eyes, looking to the fire chief. "Blade, Blade, Blade. Can I explain something? Yes, I can. Look, spilling mud on people makes for sad campers. Big party at my lodge makes for happy campers! You understand?"
"You've packed too many 'happy campers' into the park." Blade snapped. "And way too many into that lodge."
"Oh, we've got a structural fire engine down there protecting it." Cad assured.
"This isn't just about protecting the lodge." Blade protested. "There's low humidity, a lot of dead wood, and we're already short on resources as it is."
Dipper moved over to us and the four of us watched Blade and Cad argue. She whispered, "He got the Park Service to shift eighty precent of our budget to his lodge restoration project."
"This base is held together with baling wire and duct tape!" Blade snapped. "Maru had to rebuild that old tower himself!"
In the distance, Maru called, "It's better than new!"
"Hear me, fellow forest friends, dirty though you may be." Cad called, clearly not taking an interest in Blade's words. "This is an historic weekend." A ringing sound rang out, and an antenna rose from Cad's headlight. "Cad, you got thirty seconds. Go. Ah, I don't care how much it costs! Yes! Get the crystal glasses! Yes, fluted! Were you born in a barn? Come on! The lodge is only gonna be grand-reopened once. I'm not gonna—" He caught sight of the firefighters glaring at him. "Could you hold on a second?" He reversed and drove over to park next to some dumpsters. "Then fire the old lady and get somebody who can get them!"
Cad finally returned, a smirk on his face. "You're not the only ones who can put out a fire, right?" He looked to Dusty. "So will I see you at the party? Yes, I will!" He clicked his tongue. "Superstar!
"Can you believe it? Dusty Cropslinger! He and his pilots are even more famous than you, Blazin' Blade!" Cad said as he drove off.
Blade watched Cad leave before sighing in frustration and rolling off.
Dusty looked to Windlifter and Dipper. "'Blazin' Blade'?"
"Shh!" Dipper said hurriedly.
"What, me shush?" Dusty asked, Dipper continuing her efforts to silence him. "I just said 'Blazin' Blade'."
"Kilawu!" Windlifter finally said. Past experience showed this translated to "Quiet!"
"What?" Dusty whispered.
"Tonight." Windlifter said. "Main hanger. Tell no one. Especially Blade. And you can bring your horse."