Third Time Is a Charm

by Ed Nelson

  Dad explained what it entailed.

  “Rick, the only place that has hangar space available for your new plane is out at Ontario and that is a long drive. On the other side of the park there is a World War II airfield that was used for training purposes. The whole facility is just sitting there.”

  “I made some inquires and it seems the US Forest Service would love to have it as a general maintenance area and as a base for water-tanker planes and their crews during fire season. It would also be a designated rest area for the ground fire crews. The only problem is they don’t have the money in their budget.”

  “We struck a deal, Jackson Enterprises your company would pay to refurbish the runway and barracks. They would take care of the rest of the infrastructure. In return we get to place your hangar there and fly in and out.”

  “Wow that’s neat, by road it is what? About fifteen minutes?”

  “About that, but the good part is that it is only two miles from here as the crow flies.”

  “I know that area from my runs, there is a deep ravine that runs between us.”

  “That’s why part of the deal is that they build at our expense a roadway that connects us and a trestle bridge over the ravine.”

  “That means I could be in the air quickly.”

  “It also means that you can fly the family out of here in need, without anyone knowing, and that the next stop could be at Ontario where we will hanger the family jet.”

  “That will really confuse the papa-rats-eyes.”

  As I said that, I thought about Judy and how they had up set her, I had better call her today and wish her a Merry Christmas. It would have to be later as I knew with the time difference they would be in church.

  The staff had the day off, so we made do with a cold smorgasbord brunch.

  After that I called Judy, her mother answered the phone. When I asked for Judy her mother told me that she wasn’t available.

  “Could you have her call me when she is?”

  “Rick I hate to tell you, but she probably won’t be calling you.”

  With a sinking feeling I asked, “Why not?”

  “We had a very bad experience in church today. We sat in our normal pew. There was a stranger, a boy about Judy’s age sitting there. We didn’t think anything of it. Judy went in first as usual and sat next to him. He grabbed her quickly and forced a kiss. As this was happening a man in front of us turned and started snapping pictures.”

  They both then ran out of the church. We know these pictures will end up in the scandal sheets.

  “Tell Judy that I’m not upset with her.”

  “We didn’t think you would be, after you heard the truth. However, her father, Judy and I don’t want this life, living in fear wherever she goes. She is mailing your ring back. Would you please have your publicity people know that she is no longer dating you.”

  I was in the middle of an emotional storm of anger and grief at the unfairness of it all. I still managed to remain polite and told her Merry Christmas as I hung up. That was the most unfelt Merry Christmas I have ever given.

  I had made the call from my room so there was no one present to see me pound on the arm of my chair. Of course they did hear my scream of anguish.

  I had a roomful of family within a minute.

  I explained what happened.

  Mum told me she would call Susan Wallace and make certain that the full story got out.

  That ruined the Christmas spirit for me. I spent the rest of the day escaping in a story about flat cats.

  Boxing Day, the day after Christmas we had the house open for our local employees and their families. It was a casual dress day to make everyone comfortable.

  There were refreshments set up in the reception. We gave guided tours of the house. The noisiest group was Eddie’s. He had all the boys about his age. They ran everywhere they went sounding like a thundering herd. They ended up down in the basement game room and that was the last of them for a while.

  Denny’s group appeared to be all the girls that should have been in Eddie’s. I noticed he was giving one blonde a special guided tour. By that I meant he was squiring her around with her arm over his.

  My group consisted of all older kids plus the girls that were Denny’s age. Several of them were flirting outrageously, but I ignored them. The older girls were much more reserved. When they looked at me, I felt like a bug under a microscope. As a group we settled in what I thought of as the Olde English sitting room.

  We had grabbed soft drinks from the kitchen. I started the conversation by making certain I caught each name of the nine of us. That was the last thing I had to do. The grilling, uh, the questions started.

  “What is it like being in the movies?”

  “Who have I met?”

  “What is Judy King like, and do you get to see her very often?”

  That one stopped me.

  “Not at the moment.”

  I went on to explain what had happened yesterday. They all agreed that it was unfair.

  “So are you looking for a new girlfriend?

  This was asked by a girl that looked like she was twelve.

  “I haven’t had time to think about it, but not for a while.”

  “Okay, I will leave my phone number for when you start dating again.”

  Talk about shutting a conversation down. The older girls looked like they wanted to sink into the floor. Several of the boys asked for her number. I guess straight questions can open doors.

  There were small gifts for all and an unannounced Christmas bonus for their parents.

  I think the highlight of the day was Jim and Connie describing the great water fight. The way they told it, it was the funniest thing they ever had been involved in. Jim also let everyone know they had been lucky to keep their jobs and that it wouldn’t happen again.

  The whole thing must have been a setup because Mary had a special gift for each of them. The squirt guns from the fight had been mounted on a plaque with the date and participants of the great water fight.

  These were going to be mounted on the wall of the guard hut. All in all it was a good day for us.

  Sunday was spent riding, horse back in the morning and cruising in the afternoon just to do something.

  I had a serious talk with Mum and Dad about my immediate future. I didn’t plan to try to date anyone. I wanted to get high school out of my way. I needed to finish up my current movie and singing projects. After taking and passing the O-Levels and maybe some A-Levels I would have to make a decision of where I would go to school.

  We all agreed that more information was needed before that decision was made.

  Christmas week had been fun, but at the same time tiring and stressful. I was looking forward to next week where I could just bum around.

  Chapter 55

  I was up and at it on Monday, I wanted to get my exercise in and then check out the airbase on the other side of the park. After my physical workout instead of running my usual trail, I drove the T-Bird up the hill on the winding road to the airbase.

  My estimate of fifteen minutes was off by ten minutes. Using the road it took twenty-five, I didn’t drive slowly. The suspension on the T-Bird was not the best for this sort of twisty road. Mum’s Morgan would be better. Luckily there were no police on the way.

  The turnoff to the airbase was marked by a wooden sign which must have been impressive many years ago. Today it was a half fallen over rotten wreck. If you didn’t know what it was supposed to identify you couldn’t tell.

  The only reason I knew it was the correct turnoff is because I had looked it up on a map of the area. The road back to the base was broken asphalt with plants and in one case a good size tree growing in the road. I was able to drive around the tree.

  About a mile off the road was a parking lot for visitors who weren’t allowed to take their vehicles on base. I parked there as the main gate to the base was padlocked shut. This wasn’t an impediment to entering the base.

  The ma
in gate was in fairly good shape. However, the fencing next to it was down so I was able to walk around the gate onto the base. I jogged the internal perimeter of the whole base. The runway was over a mile long. You could tell it was the runway because the concrete was in pretty good shape.

  The winters weren’t harsh like the Midwest so there wasn’t the freezing, thawing effect. There was no apparent earthquake damage so it didn’t look like a major rebuild would be needed.

  I wondered why it hadn’t been used as a drag strip. It would have been ideal. I bet a few illegal drags had been held here. My theory was supported by a fire pit and thousands of beer cans at the end of the runway next to the hangars. From the way it was all grown over it had been many years ago.

  The buildings were another story altogether. To me it looked like it would be better to level the existing structures and start over. They had been thrown together quickly during the war and had little maintenance since.

  The barracks may have been painted at one time, but were bare wood now. The roofs were collapsing. Not much to recommend them.

  I was able to look inside one of the barracks. It had a sizable bat colony attached to the ceiling. From the amount of white guano on the floor it had been there for a long time. I decided not to try to go inside.

  The only buildings that looked like they were worth saving were the large metal hangars at the near end of the runway. Aside from needing rust removal and repainting they were still sturdy looking.

  A man door was open on one of the huge doors used for aircraft. A look inside revealed a big open space and nothing else. I guess I had been hoping for an abandoned aircraft from World War II. Maybe a hangar queen that wasn’t worth moving.

  There was a headquarters building which had been maintained. The door was locked and had a large sign stating it was property of the US Forest Service, Keep Out.

  Peeping through a window it looked like it was used for equipment storage. Whatever utilities for power there had been were long gone. There was a huge metal water tower that looked intact, but it gave no clue as to the water supply of the base.

  I ran closer to the water tower and almost stumbled on a sunken trench. It was most likely the remains of a collapsed septic system. This was going to cost a small fortune to rebuild. Since it would be through my company it would be my small fortune.

  Having learned enough how things were expensed in the business world I suspect Uncle Sam would actually pay. That seemed reasonable to me as the US Forest Service would be getting the most benefit.

  After an hour of nosing around I headed back to the house to get cleaned up. I had an appointment with my singing coach. Today we were actually going to record the song.

  When I got home, Denny was there and all excited with his latest news. He had a call from Sam Neilsen. The studio had been hired by Mr. Larson to take the photographs for the ad campaign and Denny was to take the pictures.

  He was being driven to Sam’s studio to accompany him to LAX to the flight school to get things ironed out. How many kids his age are chauffeured to work? I was thrilled for him and what it might do for his budding career. It was beginning to look like Mum and Dad wouldn’t have to worry about their retirement.

  Helen Marshall and Louis Spohr were waiting for me at the studio. We had a small recording studio reserved for the day. It was nothing fancy. It was a room lined with dark grey acoustical tiles with no frills.

  There were two windows, one for the sound engineers to see us from their recording room and another for any audience we might have.

  The engineers were surrounded by banks of equipment. It was a wonder they could turn around. The heat from all the tubes in the equipment must have made it extremely hot in there.

  The room for the spectators wasn’t much better. No chairs, just a place to view the singer. This facility was made for work and not show.

  We spent the first hour doing sound checks. They needed to know where to place the microphones for me and Louis.

  They fiddled around; the sound engineers not Louis, for over an hour before they were happy. At the engineers signal we started to play and sing. I didn’t get through the first verse before it was shut down.

  Another half hour or more was spent on additional sound checks.

  And so it went, false start after false start.

  Finally the engineers were happy, now it was our turn. I would start to sing the song and lose the thread. Louis would be playing fine and hit a false note or loose the beat when he played the part of the soldier march or the young lady running.

  We took a late break for lunch. I moaned about how bad it was going. Mrs. Marshall was quick to correct me.

  “Rick, this is going smoothly compared to many a session I have been in. Everyone was on time and sober. The sound checks went faster than normal. What did you expect?”

  “I thought we would walk in, sing the song once or twice and be done.”

  “You have done other songs. Did it go like that for them?”

  “Pretty much, the Beach Boys like to party and it showed that day.”

  “What about Frank Sinatra?”

  “He wasn’t there. I did a couple of run throughs, sang the song and they blended us later.”

  “None of those were normal this is easy compared to most sessions.”

  Lunch was pleasant. We ate at the commissary with the usual mélange of actors in costumes. I think I saw every superhero but Batman walk down the street. It would be neat if they made a movie about him someday.

  I turned when I heard my name. It was Mary and Mum. They joined us for lunch. Mary was here to rehearse for her role in our movie. We would do some filming tomorrow. They had started several weeks ago, but they hadn’t needed me for anything. Most of the scenes for Lew Wetzel would be performed by an unidentified stunt double.

  I was glad to see that Mary was wide eyed at the people and bustle around us. I would hate to think that she was blasé at her age.

  I may have had that thought too soon.

  “Mum, my tiara is better than hers.”

  The young lady, referred to was dressed as a Princess. Were they doing the Cinderella story?

  “Now Mary it isn’t nice to compare dress in public.”

  “Okay I will say bad things about her when we get home.”

  “Why would you say bad things about her?”

  “Look who she is walking with, that must be the Evil Prince, and she isn’t even talking to Prince Charming.”

  “How do you know he is the Evil Prince?”

  “Well he is shorter than her. His hair looks greasy and he has one of the eye-glass thingy’s that only has one glass. Only bad guys wear those, and he is dressed in a black uniform. Prince Charming has a blue coat with white pants plus he is a tall blonde.”

  You couldn’t fight that five year old logic. After all that is how all the stories went.

  “Do you want me to report them to Mr. Monroe?”

  “No Rick, maybe she really loves him. You never know what goes on behind the scenes.”

  Louis looked a little shell shocked, I know I was. Mum and Mrs. Marshall were trying not to laugh.

  After that pleasant interlude it was back to the salt mines. Well, the recording studio.

  Someone had left the sound studio door ajar on the way out, and apparently it destroyed the acoustics in the room. We spent another hour doing sound checks to get it back correctly. Since no one accused me, I didn’t volunteer that I was the last one out at lunch.

  Finally we were back to singing. After several successful run throughs I thought we had it. Apparently not, we did several more. It was like we had peaked and were going downhill. Each repetition was rougher.

  Finally I had it.

  “Stop, we are getting nowhere!”

  “Say that again Rick.”

  “Huh?”

  “Shout like that again.”

  “Stop, this is stupid.”

  “Shout once more please.”

  I d
id and my voice which was getting tired, cracked. My shout came out hoarse.

  “Now please sing the song again.”

  I thought she was crazy, but I did it. All along I had been doing it with my British accent, the high tone version, not the born within hearing distance of Mary-le-Bow.

  She had them play it back. I couldn’t believe what I heard, it certainly wasn’t Rick Jackson. Since it wasn’t me it was good. I mean really good. It was a different sound than I had ever done before.

  I thought using the accent made it acceptable. My voice being hoarse put it over the top.

  Suddenly, I felt alive and was enthusiastic about this project again. Louis was smiling. One of the sound engineers gave me a thumb’s up.

  We performed the song once more, and of course I screwed it up. Altogether we had to run through it another nine times before I was told, that’s a wrap.

  It was a good thing, my voice was about gone.

  By the time I got home it was time for dinner. I barely had time to change shirts and put on a jacket and tie. Murphy was alive and well as I grabbed the mustard stained tie. I really had to see if a dry cleaner could get the stain out.

  Dinner was a round of roast beef along with mashed potatoes and gravy. The nice clear gravy, not the flour thickened stuff I hated. Dessert was a dish of butterscotch pudding. I would have to check out the kitchen later to see if any was left over.

  Denny and I talked about the photo shoot for the flight school ad. He wanted to do it Wednesday or Thursday. I told him we could try for Wednesday but with the film schedule it would probably be Thursday.

  Mum and Dad talked about a New Year’s Eve party they were attending. I had no plans for the night. That left me and my brothers and sister home alone. It would be a quiet evening for us. Nothing would go wrong.

  I was at a loss at what to do after dinner. I had no school work, nor flight manuals to read. It seemed odd after the last few months.

  I sat down to watch TV, but couldn’t get interested in anything. I went to the basement and demonstrated once more how futile it was for me to play pool against Denny. After that I went to my room and thought about something I had to arrange. There was a paparazzi, I owed some revenge for costing me my girlfriend.