Page 21 of Flyboy

“Hey now, what’s this?”

“That’s all it was to you? Work?” She looked away.

“What do you want from me? Work or play? Because I can usually do both just fine. But you’re messing with my usual.”

She stepped closer, and he waited. Her eyes were open, expectant. Was she going to touch him, fall into his arms? Apologize? Agree? Disagree?

“Well? Are you gonna go in?” She reached around him and turned his hand on the knob. The door opened, and Omar waved. “We just finished the video. Excellent timing.”

Colton stood taller and clipped to the front of the room. “Very good.”

They stayed in the classroom all day. The new pilots seemed knowledgeable, and that always helped. Their own country had already trained them well.

Toward the end of the day, they were about to release the pilots. Colton stood at the front of the room again. “Tomorrow, we are going to start taking you up a few at a time for in-flight training. You will learn from Top Flight how to fly with precision.” He grinned. “And, we pride ourselves in helping you see how some maneuvers can be utilized in unconventional ways.”

“While still following the book,” Ivy piped in from the back.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Ivy Hatfield, our book follower.”

They laughed, and Ivy frowned.

“Obviously, I’ll be the one instructing you on when to toss the book out the window—”

“Surely, we never train them to toss it out. I understand a need to take some risks sometimes, to prevent death, but it’s not as though we are recommending a total disregard to the general and internationally accepted rules of safety in these planes.” Ivy obviously tried not to frown, but it wasn’t working well for her, eyebrows coming together and all.

“We are saying precisely that sometimes the rules must be broken to save lives.” He laughed, trying to keep the tone light. “And to have a little fun.” He switched off the screen monitor. “You are dismissed. We will see you bright and early at 0800.”

Everyone filed out, and when they were gone, Colton called out, “Omar, could you close the door?”

While he waited, he tried to formulate a congenial response. He locked his fingers behind his back in a semi-relaxed stance, but inside he was tense, every string in his body taut.

Omar got the conversation started for him. “You can’t be at odds with each other.” He crossed his arms. “Well, you can. You can do whatever you want outside of this room. But that little sparring match, that was unprofessional. And you lost the respect of everyone in the room, one way or another.”

Ivy’s face paled. “But we can’t be encouraging pilots to break the rules. They’re new. They’re green. Their country won’t thank us.”

“They will thank us, Ivy. You aren’t on the board. You didn’t write the mission statement of Top Flight, and you don’t know as much as you think you do. Ace, Bear, Mustang, and I hire specific trainers, like you and Omar, pilots who know that sometimes the safest way to fly a plane is to break a few rules.” He stared into her face.

“I can see that. I know intuitively there are moments when you do what you have to do, but how many moments of those actually exist in real life? Isn’t it better to just fly by the rules?”

He stared at her for long enough that she turned away. “I already know your answer to that question. Look.” She gathered her things. “It’s one thing for you to fly the way you do. You’re dangerous, and I can’t do anything about that. But if you encourage other pilots to do the same, now you’re risking lives. More lives.” She shook her head. “And I’m not comfortable with that.”

She made to step away, but Omar held out his hand, resting it on her arm. “Ivy.”

She shook her head and stepped out of the room.

Omar turned back to him. “You should tell her.”

“About what?”

“About Afghanistan.”

“I don’t think it will do any good.” He slumped down in a chair. “I’d hate to lose Ivy. But I don’t know what else to do to show her that good flying is good flying and sometimes just being in control of your plane is the safest way to be, rules or no rules.”

“I think she knows. She’s just not looking at it that way.”

“You should have seen her up there just now. We did a massive free fall for hundreds of feet, then she pulled up and out of it like it was nothing.”

“See, she understands.”

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