Chapter 53

A long week end in Arizona

Roger grinned at his towering companion as he got off the phone.

Freya had listened quietly while he had discussed taking their Martin Mariner PBM-5 sea plane down to Phoenix, Arizona for a labor day week end airshow.

Tom Sanders, the head honcho at the Commemorative Flight Museum had called to propose they bring their big seaplane to the show where it could be placed alongside the other vintage military aircraft on static display.

The museum had recently completed their own Martin Mariner restoration project and wanted the two to be seen together.

Tom's offer to pay for the fuel costs to and fro had pretty much clinched the deal and Roger had quickly agreed to be there the Wednesday prior to the show, when the museum's aircraft would also be arriving.

With a smile he looked at her and said, "So...What do you think? We can fly our bird down to Phoenix, park it for the long week end and go visit everybody for a couple of days before school starts. We can also check out the show while we're there, if you'd like."

Freya looked thoughtful for only a moment, then a warm smile brightened her pretty face.

"Soonds loch a busy week end, but Ah'll get tae visit with me friends doon thaur fer at least a coupla days. Sure, why not? Ah'd rather fly meself than squeeze intae a wee chair made fer wee fowk an' be gawped at."

Roger smiled at her reply, at 13 she now stood well over seven feet tall and was finding it harder to fit into the school desks designed for average size children. Riding in a passenger car was almost a joke now if she had to share the back seat with anyone, the 'wee fowk' world was simply not scaled to someone who would grow to be around nine feet tall.

"Sae when dae we leave?" she asked.

"Next Wednesday morning actually. That gives us a week to start packing and get ready." replied Roger.

"Me, I'm gonna check over the plane, drain the fuel filters, start preheating the oil, that sort of thing.

"I'm gonna insist that you get some strong sun block and WEAR it this time!"

Freya smiled shyly at him and replied,"Nae worries thaur, Ah wullnae make 'at mistake agin! Aw th' skin a'peelin' aff me back an' shoulders...Ugh!"

Roger chuckled at her reply and said, "You could always wear that sun blocking swimsuit Emma Granger made you when school let out."

Freya rolled her bright blue eyes and retorted, "A swim suit in th' desert? Whaur wull Ah gae swimmin'?"

Roger grinned at her and replied, "Didn't I tell you about the irrigation system they've added to the place? They took a nearby spring there, dug out a large pond and added water plants, fish and crayfish to make it like a natural pond. The pond now holds nearly a million gallons of water and they can and do swim in it!"

Freya smiled and replied, "That's maur loch it, a pond fer swimmin'!"

Roger smiled.

George had sent him some pictures of the water system and it looked quite inviting, the added pictures of Mia, her sisters and their children playing in the water were quite the eye opener.

Then again, Roger often got quite the eyeful himself when he saw Dena, Freya or Anastasia when she was in town, strolling to the shower quite naked and utterly unconcerned about him seeing them.

It seemed that seeing naked ladies was now a factor in both their lives and they'd best get used to it.

The next day, Roger headed to the airport and he began going over the bulky seaplane.

The engines had recently been serviced and only required an oil level check and fuel filters drained as a precaution.

Still, eighteen cylinder engines needed to be checked before any flight.

With the engines looked at, he looked over the wheels and tires, their hydraulics looked good and he looked at the electrical system briefly, the batteries were fully charged and the instrument lights all worked.

Before he left, Roger turned on the engine oil preheating system.

With some 75 gallons of thick lubricating oil to heat up, the engines took a long time to start and to warm up to flight temperature.

The preheater would bring the oil temperature up to about 100 degrees, drastically shortening the warm up time and saving about 50 gallons of fuel per flight as a bonus.

By Wednesday morning the oil would be up nice and warm for the flight.

Returning home, Roger found himself being confronted by a two foot tall wood elf named Dena.

"Whit's thes Ah'm hearin' 'at ye'll be harin' aff tae Arizona wi' Freya an' leavin' me aw aloyne?"

Roger, momentarily taken aback, hastily replied, "Y, Yes, that's the general idea. We're gonna fly to Arizona where our plane will get put on display while we go visiting our friends."

Recovering his composure he remarked drily, "I wasn't aware that we needed your permission?"

Dena paused a moment then retorted, "It's true ye dornt need mah permission tae gang aff tae Arizona. Still, ye shoold've speart me if Ah wanted tae come too?"

Roger stifled his smartassed remark and said gently, "I wasn't aware that you'd be interested in coming along and leaving Sasha behind. I didn't mean to exclude you if that's what it looked like."

Dena smiled and said simply, "Ah cannae gae aff tae Arizona, Sasha wull pine fer me an' get intae mischief if Ah'm nae haur tae watch o'er 'er."

Roger rolled his eyes in exasperation and asked, "Then what was all that drama for if you couldn't go anyway?"

The tiny wood elf smirked and said teasingly, "Ah jist felt loch it!"

Roger sighed and facepalmed briefly before saying quietly, "Girl, I swear you're gonna be the death of me...I oughtta start locking my bedroom door at night to keep pesky little elves out of my bed on cold nights."

Dena 'hmphed' and said tartly, "Ef it'll keep a growin' lassie oot too!"

Roger grinned and retorted, "I just said I oughtta, not that I'm gonna!"

In reply, Dena folded her shapely arms over her well rounded bosom and turned her slim back to him, but not before turning her pretty head so he could see her lovely profile and her bright blue eye glancing at him just before she 'hmphed!' and turned her head away from him.

Roger smiled slightly, Dena was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, even if she was only two feet tall and centuries older than him.

She was undoubtedly a knockout by anybody's standards.

He heaved an exaggerated sigh and said glumly, "It really is too bad you couldn't come, my friends would love to meet you and Arizona is lovely this time of the year!"

Slyly, he watched to see how she would react and said, "Oh well, maybe next year we can land near their house and we can bring Sasha too."

"'at woods huir uv a braw an' Ah'll hauld ye tae it!" came Dena's muttered reply.

Roger smiled, they were still friends.

He would ask Helen Larsen if he could 'borrow' her daughter Anita, for the Labor day week end.

Anita knew both Dena and Sasha, her giant wolf companion.

Although lately, it seemed like Sasha had grown closer to Roger than to Dena.

Anita was also a frequent visitor when Anastasia Karloff, AKA Anna Karlsen, popular author and secret 258 year old vampire, was staying at the house where she had her own room.

Anita could watch over the house and keep Sasha and Dena mostly out of mischief, while Roger and Freya went to Arizona for the holiday week end.

"I'm going to ask for Anita to stay here next week end and keep an eye on things while we're gone.

"Conversely, I'm going to ask you to not get into too much mischief while we're not here, as a favor to me." Remarked Roger.

Dena turned around and with one adorable eyebrow raised, she smiled wickedly and purred in her piccolo of a voice, "An' whit pray teel, ur ye gonnae dae fur me?"

Roger chuckled and muttered, "I'm gonna live to regret this..."

He sighed and said, "I promise I will never lock the door to my bedroom...Ever."

"Ur bathroom!" added Dena.

"Oh, come on! A man's gotta have a little privacy!"

"Say it!" came the squeaky demand.

Knowing he was effectively cornered, Roger muttered in resignation, "Or bathroom...Happy now?"

Dena's pretty face brightened into a dazzling smile.

"Och aye, huir uv a much sae!" she quipped.

Dena grinned as she hopped up to his lap and snuggled against him.

She was still there when Freya came in and saw them together.

She remarked,"Ah dornt think she'll enjoy Anita's lap as much as she enjoys yoors ur sharin' 'er bed either."

Roger smiled and asked, "Anita can stay here next week end?"

"Yea, she can, Ah spoke wi' 'er mammy an' she waur fine wi' 'er stayin' haur while we're oot an' aboot."

Dena piped up, "Dena wull nae be sharin' 'er bed wi' Anita. Dena oanly shares 'er bed wi' th' laird an' lady ay thes hoose an' 'at woods be ye twa."

Roger smirked and said with a hint of sarcasm, "I guess she can lock her bedroom door at night then?"

Dena commented, "Wa woods Ah wish tae sleep wi' sic' a scrawny lassie? She's barely twice mah size!"

Roger started laughing and after a moment said, "So, there is a size requirement then?"

Dena, with a perfectly straight face, replied,"Och aye, thaur is. Ah require mah scratcher mates tae be big enaw tae keep me warm aw nicht lang."

Freya interjected, "Ah hates tae break up thes wee loove fest ye twa ur havin'...Hoo is th' plane camin' alang, is she ready tae fly?"

Roger, privately thankful for the change of subject replied, "Everything checked out just fine. We'll be pulling it out of the hangar tomorrow and topping it off with fresh fuel. Tom Sanders'll pick up the fuel costs once we get there.

"You're welcome to come along tomorrow and see if I missed anything. We can stop at Casita Taco afterwards for lunch!"

Freya grinned at his suggestion and commented, "Ah loove their food, coont me in!"

That night, Helen Larsen dropped Anita off at the house a day early.

Anita as always, came with her writing tools carefully packed into her shoulder bag.

In it were her lap top and some notebooks, a small packet of her favorite teas and very carefully packed, her 'lucky' tea cup and saucer.

Anita swore it helped her write better, although Roger suspected it was mainly because Anastasia had given it to her on her 13th birthday.

Again, as always, Anita ensconced herself in the breakfast nook with her writing tools arrayed within reach, with hot water and nibblies only steps away.

Having established her work area, Anita went and gave Sasha a very thorough ear rub and rump scratching while Sasha's giant form lay sprawled in front of the front parlour's cheery fireplace with its ever present glow.

Tuesday morning Roger and Freya, left the house early and headed to the airport to see about a plane.

Arriving at the hangar they shared with another group involved in restoring a B-17 bomber that had once sat atop a filling station, they entered the cavernous building and flipped on the lights.

There sat their airplane, a world war two era seaplane, a patrol bomber once made by Martin Aircraft and called the Martin Mariner PBM 5A.

Freya smiled as she looked over her baby, the massive seaplane had been extensively modified to accommodate her future growth potential and was now fairly civilized inside.

The five gunner positions had been removed or glazed over and in the case of the waist gunner positions, given comfortable seats for any passengers to enjoy the view.

The bulky Radome and searchlights were gone to reduce drag and the engines had been upgraded from twin row 14 cylinder Wright R-2600 engines to the bigger Curtiss-Wright R-3350 18 cylinder engines with fuel injection.

Auxiliary fuel tanks gave the plane a much greater range and a non stop flight from Hawaii to Guam was quite possible now.

Painted white, it bore the "Museum of Cryptozoology" logo on its fuselage and bore little resemblance to its former self, a long range patrol bomber with an 11 man crew capable of delivering up to 4,000 lbs of bombs, depth charges or two Mark 13 torpedoes.

With the plane opened up, Freya sat in her seat and flipped the lights on and off as Roger directed.

Next she operated the flaps, vertical stabilizers and turned on the radio before checking the GPS connection.

Everything looked good and a quick check on the oil temperature showed it was at 85 degrees and slowly climbing to 100 degrees.

Everything looked ready for Wednesday morning.

For lunch they stopped at a hole in the wall Mexican eatery called Casita Taco, it had become their go to place for Mexican food after any visit to the airport.

Rosa, the lady who owned the place smiled as they entered her establishment

She had gaped the first time she saw Freya looming over everyone in the place at just over seven feet tall and marveled at her thick accent when Freya had placed her order.

Roger and Freya were now considered regulars and only newcomers gawped at her height.

Rosa smiled warmly as Freya ordered an enchilada combo plate with a side of soft steak tacos while Roger ordered his usual, a steak taco special.

Finding two seats proved to be difficult, the place was fairly popular and finding any seats at lunchtime could be frustrating.

They waited for their order and when two seats opened up, Freya pounced and held onto them while Roger picked up their order after placing another order of steak tacos to go.

Anita would be getting hungry about now and Dena loved the food from Casita Taco, he would pick it up when they left.

Roger sometimes wondered what Rosa would think if she learned that a tiny wood elf named Dena Greenwood enjoyed her cooking.

Dena had acquired her last name when Danny Chen, the maker of smartdoll fashion dolls had sent her a box of sample clothing after he had seen her at an anime convention, when Freya had stopped to admire his dolls and clothing line.

Danny had nearly gone into shock when he realized that the 'doll' perched on Freya's shoulder was in fact, a living being named Dena.

The package had been addressed to a 'Dena Greenwood' and the moniker stuck.

Wednesday morning at 5 A.M. Roger disentangled himself from the limbs of both Freya and Dena.

They had both decided they would sleep with him Tuesday night and he was too tired to argue about it.

Anita had smirked knowingly when the three of them trooped off to his bedroom and Roger didn't bother to say that in her own way, Dena was being a chaperone of sorts. Her presence kept things strictly platonic while they were at home.

Freya had already kissed him several times and likely would have allowed Roger to take it further, much further.

Freya may have been only 13 but she was certainly capable and he had to be the limiting factor, the adult voice of reason, the one who kept a tight rein on his emotions.

Dena simply made it a lot easier with her presence and she was quite the distraction with her curvy little self sleeping next to him in the nude.

They had a light breakfast at home and cleaned everything up before leaving for the airport.

Dena waved a teary goodbye as they drove away leaving Freya to mutter,"Ah wonder if Anita wull find herself wi' a bed mate tonicht?"

Roger shrugged and replied,"It's hard to say, Dena does like to sleep with someone, though she did say that Anita was too close to her own size...I'm guessing she slept with your grandmother?"

"Ah woods nae be surprised if she had, Ah've heard tell 'at wuidguidwives wull dae 'at if they abide wi' a body...Ah dunnae abit th' kissin' a body part."

Roger could only shrug, Dena had begun kissing him when she and Sasha had arrived in Portland and Roger had found them, half starved, filthy dirty and hiding in the basement of Anastasia's mansion.

What had been a spontaneous reaction had become an enjoyable habit.

The bulky seaplane gleamed in the early morning sun, a few puffy clouds dappled the morning sky and Freya said with a big grin, "Whit a bonny day fer flyin!"

She took out her key to the plane and soon, her luggage was stashed in the book cage they had not bothered to remove.

Roger's luggage joined hers and soon, they were running down the preflight list and checking off the salient points, one by one.

Roger started the left engine first and soon, the deep coughing and stuttering became a full throated roar as the engine warmed up.

A short time later, the right engine had joined the noisy chorus of engine sounds disturbing the early morning workers and other tenants of the airport.

Soon, the massive seaplane was following the ground guide vehicle with its flashing amber strobes warning lesser aircraft to make way for the big Martin Mariner.

A short time later they were airborne, the engines roaring as they defied gravity and rose into the cloud dappled morning sky over Portland, Oregon.

Leveling off at 9,000 feet, Roger set the course for due south and engaged the autopilot.

Cruising at 200 mph they enjoyed the scenery from their lofty perch and sipped their freshly made coffee, just perked fresh in the coffee maker that had come from a C5-A galaxy.

The small galley onboard came in really handy on long flights with its two burner electric stove and tiny refrigerator.

The coffee maker had been a real score on Roger's part when he literally snatched it out from under a collector of vintage aircraft bits' nose.

When he objected, Roger retorted, "You're just gonna display it, I have a use for it!" The man relented after Roger showed him pictures of the Martin Mariner, and said how that coffee maker would be really nice to have on a long flight.

Freya's question from out of the blue snapped him out of his reverie, "Cooldnae we save a lot ay time flyin' straight tae Phoenix insteid ay followin' th' coest doon tae San Diego 'en headin' eest?'

Roger looked at her and replied,"You're right, we could save several hundred miles and a few hours by going straight on a compass heading. The problem is, there are several very large military bases we'd be flying over and they don't take too kindly to unauthorized aircraft flying over them. I for one, don't feel like getting run off by a fighter jet sent to intercept us."

"Ah! Ah was wonderin'"

"There'll be radio beacons warning us if we get too close to restricted airspace so don't worry about straying into forbidden territory."

He finished with a smile.

Their flight path got altered somewhat when Roger decided to fly around a storm front hanging over San Jose.

The weather radar showed lots of thunderheads and heavy rain with gusty winds, he chose to avoid subjecting the vintage aircraft to unecessary drama and flew around it.