Freedom will prevail!

Title:

Fly Away Old Glory

Author:

James O’Connor Sargent and Arthur Nelson Thornhill

Grade or Market:

Young Adults to Seniors.

No. Of Words:

111, 403.

Keywords &Market Focus:

Navy Pilots, Old Glory Lost, End of Traditions, Sex, Love, Romance, Adventure, New World, Victims/We must fly on wings of hope beyond a past that is dead into a future of great promise.

SYNOPSIS: Fly Away Old Glory

BOOK ONE - We Are All Victims
This book chronicles the insidious ways we have seen "Old Glory" fly away. From seat‑of‑the‑pants flying to video game blips on a computer screen. From teenagers in love to adults in their thirties who have not found it in several failed marriages. From pride in what we do to boredom and apathy. From the heroes this generation grew up with to the "season of the anti‑hero". From safe sex to AIDS. From "increase and multiply" to"make love and die."
The story is about a group of navy flight instructors and their families who are all victims of staggering changes in their world's values. Together they reflect our generation which is forced to cope with unprecedented insecurity if they are to survive with any hope for the future.
Their families and other people they come to know represent the best and the worst of their generation of "...pacifists, permissive(s), potheads...and pilots... who are being asked to straddle two differing generational philosophies" while being victimized by the most violent and explosive changes our world has ever known.
Sweeping acceptance of previously unheard of sexual taboos and methods of making great fortunes in a flash through countless unsavory means, selling everything from drugs and porn to lung cancer and emphysema, to empires built on greed and trickery with cunning and deceit replacing hard work and integrity as what it takes to succeed.
This story is also about love. As we get to know and love these people, they struggle and cope with all the issues we face, and then they fly "On Wings of Hope" as they strive to find lasting relationships in a world that can take it all away in a moment of carelessness and neglect. The dramatic lessons they learn in tired old birds "made up of 60, 000 spare parts put together by the lowest bidder", with students who do not yet know how to fly but must fly well if they are to master the skills needed to hit a tightly‑strung cable on a bobbing‑boat, are often in direct conflict with what they come to know from being constantly attacked by the onslaught of pseudo‑experts, who can't even run their own lives, but come greedily into our homes on hundreds of channels with their false claims that they have definitive answers for the rest of us.
The miracle of life is that in a world teeming with people each person is unique, and ultimately lies alone. Included in this group are characters who reflect the complexity and rich variety of every aspect of contemporary society who are virtually screaming to be heard as they live and die, love and hate, laugh and cry their way through these turbulent times . Among them are a small number of truly unforgettable lead characters who share their lives with all readers with raw and brutal honesty as they find great sex, betrayal, brutality, true love and finally romance to rival the grandest lovers in literary history.
Our hero is JAMES ADAM NELSON. He has a knife in his brain, a critical eye, and the wisdom of his mountain Mama, when he comes down to join the mainstream.
He pulls a classic southern belle ‑ WENDY BRADFORD ‑ out of the magnolias and marries her and begins to increase and multiply, having three offspring with her JENNIFER, MELLISA and deaf son BRAD. Seizing every opportunity in his path, Nelson becomes a Navy pilot and is a seasoned US Navy flight instructor with the rank of Lieutenant when our story begins. The first sentence quickly establishes Lieutenant Nelson as a loner, a leader, a deep thinker and a keen observer of the people around him:
‘Being there first, as is his habit, the lone Lieutenant has time to think. Caroline is on his mind a lot lately. She is attracted to the crust of him.
But he, James Adam Nelson, is much more than crust.
He is an immigrant from Appalachia, more primitive than she once had accused him of being. He is mill town, Deckhands Café, ‘swabby', ' with the scars of rats and snakes on him. How she would recoil from a replay of those years between high school dropout and summa cum laude, years when he walked alone on dark, crime‑infested streets across acres that even Satan wouldn't claim. He is pool hall, saloon, brothel, and within him is a sculptor and artist trying to be born.
He has seen blood in all the wrong places – rooming house lobby, YMCA shower stall, behind an oil‑stained, cinder block garage where six over‑sized bullies chose to tackle one kid alone, and looking up from the sand where he and a nameless waif had made love just as a long‑delayed dawn was breaking over the flag at the Oceanview Amusement Park It was blood no less than when, from five‑thousand feet above an outlying practice field, he and his student watched in horror as a close friend and his fledgling crashed into a ball of flame below, leaving behind little more than a good watch encased in charred flesh. His dreams too often were childhood‑oriented screaming blood‑chilling nightmares. ‘When I die, Hallelujah, by and by... I'll fly away."
The Dance: Nelson's point‑of‑view introduces some members of his inner circle as he attends a farewell party at the Sevier Field Officer's Club where he is joined by several of his fellow flight instructors and their wives. He dances with the lovely‑ CAROLINE BRYAN STEELE‑ a strikingly beautiful woman that he has been physically attracted toward since he first met her years ago when he became best friends in flight school with her husband ‑ RANCE STEELE ‑ who is such a perfect teddy bear that everybody loves him and accepts anything he does because HE does it. Nelson's dialogue with key players also begins to quickly acquaint the reader with them.. His discussions with Caroline at the party reveal their growing desire to become closer as well as their shared sense of disappointment in the navy and their lives in general. Nelson ponders the comradery of men who fly and his loyalty to Caroline's husband, Rance. Nelson is torn by his raw physical attraction to Caroline and his belief that Rance is worth a hundred of her.:
The Frenchwoman: With his marriage to Wendy in trouble, Nelson leaves the party sexually frustrated and begins cruising the local bar scene, often frequented by young girls with navy wings on their clits. He has a chance meeting with a Frenchwoman named ELEANOR DOMINIQUE L'HOMMEDIEU who is casing bars looking for her alcoholic husband, ED ENSLER. Nelson is fascinated by this woman from the moment he lays eyes on her and, later that night, she rams into the back of his car as he stops for a red light on a deserted crossroad. He quickly learns that her beautiful name has been Americanized to Lee and joins her on her trek to find Ed. Here begins one of the greatest romances in American literature. Lee is a devout French Catholic who represents traditional values that are being forced out of contemporary society by the sweeping changes in morality. Of course, she must die, but first she is destined to change Nelson's life forever.
Nelson misreads Lee's pilgrimage, helps her find Ed and gets the helpless drunk home, where he begins to discover that Lee is much more than he imagined.:
‘She had gone ahead to light the kitchen, and when she turned and saw him looking at the diplomas, he felt caught in the private act of reassessing not only her but his earlier cock surety. She had heard the popping of his over‑inflated ego‑balloon. For a moment, he felt as denuded as the carpeting he studied in order to avoid her penetrating glance.'
"It's called downward mobility, Jim, Jim."
In the first chapter Nelson introduces the reader to the "Gobbler Code" used by flight instructors to get around the rules against lewd remarks being exchanged between pilots in the air. After talking with Lee until the wee hours, he calls to ask Rance to fill in for his squadron duty so that he can stay with her the next morning. He comments with the code about the fact that Caroline will be furious:
"Oh well, " Nelson grinned, "Nine‑OH‑TWO, my dear, – You obviously have me confused with somebody who gives a shit."
The Steeles: Caroline chastises Rance for covering Nelson, and begins showing far too much interest in him. She begins to question the true value of her own beauty.
Caroline had been molded day after day for twenty years by BEBE OLIVER as few mothers ever would want to do or dare. She had to forego a normal childhood. In that unreal tinsel world, the winds of change that had been lashing the United States for more than two decades eventually would settle. When TVs came into every parlor, the old Star system bit the dust.
Bebe and her troupe had produced an Eldorado at a time when bigger‑and‑better was out and the VW Beetle was in. Miss Caroline Bryan was as beautiful as any sixty's Miss America and as wholesome as any campus Homecoming Queen. But the clean look is out too. The natural look is in and seems to be without comb and soap. It generates matted hair, scuffed shoes, bunioned toes, and faded dungarees. Girls are spending big money to look like ghetto waifs.
And in the purses of young women, where cosmetics used to rest, were pills, mini‑douches, grass, cocaine, something protective, preventive, defensive, and didn't the damned Girl Scouts teach you anything, Miss Bryan? This too, shall pass away. It'll all be over in no time at all.
Caroline saw that everything that restrained women went first – brassieres, girdles, tuck‑ins‑nip‑ins, hats, gloves. Everything that made them look different from boys and men followed – dresses, long hair, jewelry, high‑heel shoes. How odd, she thought, that married couples like the MacElroys shared the same deodorant, cologne, hair spray, hair dryer; and one morning it occurred to her that in her drab neutral pantyhose, she was hardly the equal of Rance, decked out in his lower‑than‑hope, multicolored, see‑through bikini jockey shorts..Forlornly, she wondered if Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor had felt anything like this when biding her time here in this very city, the wife of a young Naval aviator Lieutenant. Wally at that time was still thirteen years from meeting the bachelor Prince of Wales, who when he became King Edward VIII would abdicate his throne for love of her. Did the Duchess of Windsor – she had been Mrs. Spencer then – look into her mirrors, wonder about her future, and cry?
Somewhere not far away, Jim Nelson was caressing and fondling some woman with no more scruples than he. Would she touch the copper‑tinted head? Those capable hands, always active, would he move them over that bitch's body? She would receive kisses from that mouth, which despite its broad and warm smiles, contained something of cool aloofness. In the same condition that she had just seen Rance, Nelson would be standing by some bed; and horrible as it was, Caroline permitted her mind to dwell on the primitive biology of it. Her breasts knew pins and needles; and looking into the vanity mirror, she saw that the heat of arch desire could register itself on her face.
"I hate him. Loathe, despise – may he crash into the flames of hell."
"Honey, " called Rance.
The Enslers: Lee refuses to have sex with Nelson and, still frustrated, he goes home to an argument with Wendy then returns to the base to sleep alone.
What a night! First Caroline had to fuck it up, now this holy Hannah.
The Eagle: He has a restless night dreaming of bad childhood memories filled with guilt symbolized by the Eagle and yellow jacket stings that killed his baby brother.
Nelson has more words with Wendy and knows his marriage is entering a tailspin. He leaves home with trouble in mind and goes to his job as a flight instructor.
The Flight: The next day, Nelson introduces the reader to the T‑28 Trojan as he prepares for a training flight with a student who has just returned from an emergency leave due to family problems. The young student ‑Steve Laird ‑ is distracted and dangerous. He makes a serious mistake and cuts off the engine at low altitude. Nelson saves their lives with superb flying skill and demonstrates his insight and ability as a teacher by completing the hop and getting Steve over his "dangerous tendencies" and back on track.
"There goes Steven Laird, , " Nelson might say one day. "Admiral Laird, Senator Laird, Commercial Pilot Laird, Laird the leader of the Blue Angels, He and I almost died together one long ago day in September."The two men shook hands, live flesh to live flesh.
"Sir, ."
Nelson turned. "Yes, Steve?"
"I know you saved my life up there, "
Nelson nodded. "I'm sure you do, , "
"You haven't even talked about it, ?"
"Well, Steve, you figure out what I should have said and then tell it to yourself three times before you go to sleep tonight, "
"I will. But the first thing I‘ve got to do is make a long‑distance phone call. I made a big decision after my life was spared today. I'm going to get married. I'm going to say no to my parents and get married, "
"Is it a good idea to make a big momentous decision in the face of death, Steve? I'm not one for death‑bed promises, so I don't know, "
"The girl I got pregnant is the most wonderful person I know. She served time for soliciting men like my father – that's all."
The Rendevous: After the flight, Nelson gets a note to call Lee. As he leaves the hangar, he sees the broken pieces of a T‑28 on the back of a flatbed truck and reflects on the flying skills of a friend, .who flew it into the ground and walked away with his student. He calls Lee who had a premonition that he had been in danger. He tells her about his narrow escape and his friend's crash. He gives up on trying to bed her but does begin to call her often and spend a lot of time with her. He defines a good pilot for her daughter as "One who has approximately the same number of landings as takeoffs." It will take another year before Nelson realizes that Lee is "The One." Caroline is furiously jealous of Nelson spending his time with Lee and takes it out on Rance with steady criticism and complaints
The Home Place: Mac and Regina talk about married men ‑ Rance and Nelson. Nelson is having a hard time with Wendy and the kids and their complaints about how he spends his time.  He tries to make peace with Wendy by making love to her. It doesn't go well, and Wendy has been digging up bones, viewing old photos of her and CALVIN MOYERS, to whom she had been engaged when she met Nelson. She takes the kids on a visit to Rowena and begins to spend time with Calvin who has been waiting years for his second chance with her. Big changes are afoot at the Courtney home when Vivi decides it is time for her to do her own thing and attacks her typewriter.
The Reward: Nelson gets to know Lee's children, CHARLES and RONNY. He takes Charles on a visit to the airfield where he notices how bright Lee's son is. They meet Ensign JOHN LINCOLN who thinks Charles is Nelson's son. They continue to bond as he spends more time with Lee and her children. Meanwhile Caroline is voicing more and more concern about Nelson to Rance. The COURTNEY family is beginning to heat up and assume an increasing role in the story and the lives of the other characters. The teen daughter IMMACULATA called MAC is showing keen interest in Rance and moving in with her AUNT REGINA who has bolted from a convent and is actually less knowledgeable about men than Mac.
Nelson and Wendy argue when he comes home, she is planning another trip to Rowena, South Carolina to"visit the folks back home". Vivi's decision that her time has come has resulted in changes in the Courtney home that shock her daughter, Mac.
Nelson is selected as Instructor of the Year and is honored at a ceremony attended by all at the Officer's Club. Caroline presents him with a statue of Richard the Lionhearted on the lawn in front of his house and calls him her brave and perfect knight:.
Edna Drews is bludgeoned to death by drug dealers on her way home from speaking to the Stargazers of Beulah Bay.
The Spy: Mac Courtney is showing too much interest in Rance. Caroline comes by to let them know of Edna's murder. All the hacker families attend Edna's funeral in Beulah Bay. Caroline tells Vivi about her feelings for Nelson. Caroline rents a car and waits to spy on Nelson when he leaves the O'Club, but when she tails his MG, he drives it home. She phones him and asks him and Wendy for dinner and he tells her he is tied up. She waits and follows him again and this time he goes to Lee's house. Caroline's feelings take over and she pounds the steering wheel so hard she hurts her hands. Caroline is furious at Wendy and Rance because they do not seem concerned about Nelson's behavior. She makes another bold move and goes directly to Wendy to tell her that Nelson is having an affair with Lee. Wendy is indifferent and Caroline is  left mortified. Her behavior is puzzling to Rance.
.Nelson's behavior doesn’t  make sense to anybody:.
The Dark Cloud:The Nelson family is in Washington to visit the Galludet School for the Deaf when Jennifer mentions "Uncle Calvin" alerting Nelson to the familiarity his children have acquired with Wendy's old flame in Rowena. He confronts Wendy by telling her the story of a wheels up landing and advising her not to wait until she's on her back with her feet straight up in the air before realizing that she is making a big mistake with "Uncle Calvin." Wendy confronts him with what Caroline has told her about him and Lee. Nelson returns to his instructor duties and other than the training of a few Iranian students and being assigned to train the first females to become Naval Aviators, his routine seemed rather uneventful until he came face‑to‑face with Rance, Ray and Axel at the O'Club on his third day back at the field. He looks them directly in the eye and tells them how hurt and disappointed he is that they had allowed their wives to spread vicious rumors about him and Lee that are simply not true. Rance was visibly shaken:
"Hey, Jim, ., " called Rance from behind him.
Nelson pretends not to hear him, but Rance catches up quickly and he has to look directly into his teddy bear face. Neither of them know what to say. He wants to take Rance off the hook and he tries to control his own face, but the no‑tooth smile is there and he knows there are tears in his eyes.
"I believe you, , " Rance says, his voice no more right than Nelson's. But, thank God, Nelson could see belief deep in those azure eyes. Rance could still believe the truth; Rance could believe, Rance was untouched by the shit all around him, even by his wife's shit, as much as he adored her.
The weather is clear and sunny the next day. Nelson is sitting under a clear canopy, basking in the sun, while his student sits in the back seat under a canvas bag practicing instrument holding patterns. With nothing above but clear blue sky, the cockpit is abruptly shaded. Nelson bent his head back and looking straight up he was staring at another canopy upside‑down directly above his plane. Hanging from his straps canopy‑to‑canopy with his head bent back and his visor up was Rance Steele grinning from ear‑to‑ear. Nelson gives him the cut sign and Rance flips the flat of his hand under his chin and breaks away. When the student asks him what happened, Nelson replies, "Something extraordinary, a very dark cloud just rolled past us, my good friend."
Tis' The Season: Rance is fed up with Caroline's antics. Even she now knows that she went too far and everyone she knows seems to confirm it. Nelson is now spending a lot of time caring for and being with the Ensler children. He has some poignant moments with Lee and when alone, she ponders the quotation from Alice Maynell her classmates had selected for her photo in a Catholic High School yearbook:
"She walks the lady of my delight,
The shepherdess of sheep,
She is so circumspect and right,
She has her soul to keep..."
After leaving her, Nelson is lost in his thoughts of Lee and speeds along carelessly, going nowhere in particular. He suddenly brakes and does a u‑turn back to her house.
Lee’s reverie is snapped by a sound drawing her attention to a hand outside on the bedroom window. They embrace and the floodgates are opened. They are totally consumed by their passion for each other and enjoy unbounded pleasure without a trace of inhibition for hours that felt like days of pure unadulterated joy. These moments are so perfectly written that they simply must be read in their entirety to fully appreciate the power of the creative ways they express their emotions. All sex was merely prelude to this union of body, spirit, mind and soul.
With Christmas fast approaching everyone seems to be involved in the spirit of giving, Rance is finally beginning to ease up on Caroline and is allowing her to spend again. The Courtneys get a bonus when Vivi gets a check for her writing, allowing Mac to get a car. Lady Crangle gets an answer to her eternal question ‑ "Is he coming?"‑ when Nelson tells her Santa is coming.. As Nelson makes plans to bring Brad home from Washington for Christmas, Wendy makes secretive plans to have Caroline keep his children as a special surprise for him. The night before Wendy leaves, Nelson finds her asleep on the davenport and leaves her a note telling her he is going to get their son and gives her full custody of Brad. Caroline arrives early the next morning and takes Wendy to the airport. As she leaves, Wendy asks Caroline to tell Nelson that he can open his present from her tonight. Caroline is unaware that she is the gift. Lee intercepts Nelson at the same crossroad where they met and they check into a cheap motel where he tells her, "Our love will shake this old world, Lee. I promise. I promise." Then they appear to be doing just that.
Nelson has a knack for bringing flight humor into a down‑to‑earth situations. On occasion, he will relate a flying story to what is happening with people in his life on the ground. He begins by saying "I've never talked very much about flying with you...just didn't think you had much interest. But I want to tell you about something that happened one time..." Then he goes on with a funny incident and relates it to what the other person is doing. After the first time Nelson does this, when he starts to use it again the reader knows something humourous will follow
Nelson returns home late that evening to find Caroline seated on the davenport, a gothic novel in hand. He gets clean underwear and, as he leaves her, he tells her a story about a flight instructor telling his student to pull the D‑ring on his chute after a very bad flight. As the chute billows open he tells the student, "Now you've screwed everything up."
" The morale of this story, for you, Caroline, is that after all the mistakes you have made lately, the only thing left for you to do is to pull the D‑ring, Sleep well."
He crosses the street and rouses Rance who has no problem with the change in sleeping plans. Rance has seen his car parked at the motel and is very angry and disappointed with him. They argue and Nelson tries to explain his bond with Lee, to no avail. Rance rejects all explanations and says he will never believe him again.
The next day, Nelson prepares three trees for the kids, but Wendy has trumped him and brought Brad home herself. Brad has already learned to speak a few words and brings tears from all with his bittersweet success. Everyone gathers at the Courtney house for drinks which has become a Christmas tradition among the hackers.
Wendy and Nelson return home late and set up the gifts for the kids. He and Wendy have a powerful talk during which he tells the truth about all he has done to hurt her and she feels a remarkable calm and peace. The die is cast for the end of their marriage. Wendy will marry Calvin Moyers and Nelson will be alone. Alone, he ponders the events of the year and cries softly for all the victims of this cruel world.
No matter who or what they were, no matter what they did or weren't able to do, he felt sorry for them all tonight.
And so he cried. It would be another Christmas before any of tonight's crying might make sense. For now, he would spread his tears over a past that was dead and a future that had been newborn a few days ago.
He slept.
END OF BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO ‑ On Wings of Hope
The Takeoff: Nelson kicks off the new year on an early morning flight with a brilliant young officer, JOHN LINCOLN, who has overcome a rather weak academic education, and racist attitudes, to meet the high standards demanded of US Navy pilots.
For this instrument procedures check flight, Lincoln lowered the back seat and drew the canvas hood over his head, snapping it in front of him, eliminating all outside references. Nelson saw the tent go up by way of the thick plexiglass canopy, made reflective by the dark outside and the warm red glow from his instrument lighting. He would give Lincoln a few minutes to get out his charts before turning the controls over to him.
Lincoln flew magnificently from Sevier to Beulah Bay Airport. Two flawless instrument approaches too, and fifteen minutes of smooth, precise instrument flying over the airport's navigational beacon. When they crossed Beulah Bay and headed home, Lincoln signed off with the Beulah Bay air traffic controller.
"Great work, Mr. Lincoln. Pop the bag and relax."
As Lincoln unsnapped the canvas cover, it sprang back in accordion folds to its stowed position behind his seat. For the first time this morning, he could see the view outside the aircraft. It was a dramatic change from the artificial representation of his relationship to the world to the stirring reality of it. "Man‑oh‑man! That old gyro gets you from place to place, but without the beauty along the way."
The sun was breaking the horizon dead ahead and the light cloud layer beneath was distributing Sol's panoramic rays in a pattern that the world never had seen, nor ever would see again. Always as different as human fingerprints.
"After this?" asked Lincoln. "Can anybody ever be the same again?"
It was flying into the dawn's radiant emergence from darkness that must separate forever those who fly from those who don't.
Nelson had been a part of it for years. Learned long ago that a dawn patrol took you into Cosmos. You were one with the stars that orbited about this colossus. Ever after, he had been conscious of the atoms of the sun within his very being, in his fingertips, in his loins of creation. This view prepared him to foster new life, to erupt seeds of life as Vesuvius under some similar compulsion shot off hot lava.
Had an Indian ancestor, after undue exploits, thought himself brother to the Sun? And before, there had been primitive ancestors, who indeed had worshiped the sun, "Behold you cavemen, I have achieved immediate awareness of your deity. I have come to the altars of your god. I am melting as Icarus before this burning splendor."
"I think we must be distant cousins, Jim. Why not make our ancestors proud by doing your barrel roll, that I've heard so much talk about?"
"Alright, ." Nelson rolled the plane on its side, left wing pointed to earth. With his head on a swivel, he checked all around for other planes. He made a quick circle, holding his altitude with constant back stick pressure, then rolled out, heading straight toward the rising sun. "Note that my heading is zero‑nine‑zero. Altitude is five‑thousand feet, airspeed one‑hundred‑eighty knots. The slightest mistake in control coordination will bring loss of airspeed or altitude and a drift in heading. HERE GOES!"
The aircraft moved harmoniously; rates of pitch and roll synchronized perfectly as they flowed rhythmically up and to the right, breaking through the brilliant horizon in the inverted position, and then rolling fluidly into a gentle turning dive to arrive with precisely the same speed, height, and direction with which the flawless maneuver had begun.
"YEEEEE GODS! Mister James Adam Nelson – will I ever be able to do that?"
"You can bet yore ass on it, Mister John Mercer Lincoln."
A moment later, John was given a bonus – extra stick time. Jim told him to fly them home.
Alone, Nelson might have executed other maneuvers immortalized by men such as Max Immelmann, last of the chivalrous Germans, whose will to survive fairly in earth's final romantic battles, plus a sharp instinct and much daring inventiveness all combined to produce, without doubt, combat flying's greatest chapter.
Air supremacy in the days of the Great War shifted back and forth due to the feel maneuvers developed the night before by Britons like Edward Manoch, Frenchmen like Rene Fonck, and Germans like Immelmann. Such men mastered their machines. They lived days of impossible dreams realized, heroic exploits that defied the imagination. Days of drama, originality, and creativity when humankind took its paramount stretch from the primitive cave toward the conquest of space. To the moon and beyond.
Now, the machine has become deity, and the larger the craft, the less creative its occupants.
Did John Lincoln realize how lucky he was in beating the Navy's clock? There was some good potential in this last group of students – Lincoln, Laird, and plaster‑nosed Neil Eliot De Lisle. Good men for a final fling at seat‑of‑the‑pants flying. The black and the white, the poor and the rich. Lincoln, pulling himself out of the ghetto by his own shoelaces; Laird, breaking his bonds to the great American Middle Class myths, and De Lisle, who had everything that big money could buy but would soon learn that money and privilege often mean nothing in this tricky environment where the riddle of naked self must be quickly solved.
Yes, thanks to their Trojan time, these three would still be able to identify with the pioneer airmail pilots and circus hot shots of the 1920's. They could still appreciate the flyers who took the same go‑to‑hell spirit to every theater of war. They would show up illegally in Britian and form the Eagle Squadron. They tagged along after Claire Chennault in China while America was still neutral and still providing Japan with the wherewithal to conquer Asia. They would hallow their names in foreign annals, but many of them would leave their shoes and ass all the way from Peking to the White Cliffs of Dover.
Nelson could only guess what the younger man behind him was thinking. John had in effect become a pilot this morning. Did he have any idea that he was at the tail end of one of those quests for ultimatums that men can know?
Men went fishing; they carried high‑powered rifles into forests; they swam, climbed mountains, boated, motorcycled, and figured out all manner of sports involving a ball. They sought to prove some indefinable, intangible truth to themselves. They searched for self‑knowledge. American males during most of their life hewed to one long walkabout that the Australian aboriginal got out of his system at puberty. And men flew like birds – also in search of ultimatums. Nelson and Rance identified closely with the pilots of flying's renaissance, with the dog fighters of World War I. Inherent in their chivalry was a basic recognition that each person is valuable. From Rance, he had come to love the chivalrous attitudes of those dog fighters over France. Christ, if he hadn't known Rance, would he ever have been ready for Leonora?
Suddenly, he saw that they were over the runway, for John had snapped the stick to the right and pulled back on it, rolling the aircraft into a steep turn to commence their spiral back to earth.
"No debriefing, John; that was the best flight I've ever had with a student."
What he did not share with Mister Lincoln were the erotic memories of Lee that made it his best.
When he joined her later to share this sun‑burst hop, it might just turn out to be the best day of his life. From best flight to best sex; was it possible for him to have a day when everything went right?
Holding Lee tightly, his kisses full of the sunburst passion that had permeated his body while flying into dawn, he announced that both of them were free for the day.
In an elegant motel room, they embraced in an unwieldily fashion down to the floor. Naked, they rose, her feet resting upon his in an act that took on its own special meaning to each of them He sensed her urgency to make this splintered time of rendezvous count. His body responded alarmingly to her kisses. Their passion erected impenetrable walls about them. Time and place became ill defined. It was a case of experiencing all so that obscure truths were revealed if only for a moment. Veils were lifted, the riddle was solved; crown, throne, God and then oblivion.
This day, they never would forget. Nor would they know any future need to speak of it vocally. All sex before had been merely dress rehearsal. Mind, soul, body refurbished, each tried to get in a few words about half‑mad quests for this knowledge in textbooks and classrooms, conversation, and association with others, including the very acts of love on their part which had conceived new lives.
"I would love to be able to tell the world. Lee, ."
"Yes, the psychologists, poets, priests, doctors, "
"The men who lust in their hearts, Lee, and still never know this, and the women who want to please and be pleased, poor nymphs, saints, housewives, "
"Poor nuns on their knees at vespers, Jim‑Jim."
"Southern preachers, Lee, who look for fornicators on the banks of rivers and beg over the boob tube to fund their own visits to cat houses."
"Tell the Doomsday Prophets, who count earth's inhabitants, and say that this little baby must die."
"I want to find the words, Lee, and write them on the Pyramids, the Wailing Wall, in the catacombs beneath the Vatican, "
"Flash the words across the Stock Market Board, Jim‑Jim. Love is the only currency. Because I love and am loved, I am healed."
‘As high as love can soar...' thought Nelson.
The Confession: As her illness worsens, Lee takes a trip to Washington, D,   for specialized treatment, and has a full confession with a young Catholic Priest. She tells of her affair and her pittance is to use Nelson to help get her husband ED recovered and well.
The Heritage: Rance and Ray are on a drinking binge at joints around the square in the historic heart of Gulf City when they are joined by student DeLisle and barmaid Amy Masterson, who have left under‑aged Ronny Ensler outside while they are going into bars hunting Ed Ensler. Rance has had too many beers mixed with too many problems with his wife and he is incorrigible. He follows them across the street to the park where he gets arrested while trying to relieve himself in the bushes. He resists and in the scuffle with the local cops is hit in the head and cuffed to a bench. Amy knows the cops and is able to get all charges dropped. When he finally gets home, Rance is livid when he learns that Caroline has left a note that she has flown to California.
The scene cuts to her mom's mansion where Caroline has just discovered that her father was a very wealthy movie tycoon named Zig. Through an attorney she learns that she is his sole surviving heir and entitled to a huge amount of money and property. Even more important to Caroline is the fact that she has learned that she has a proud Jewish heritage.
No more dress up pretty and make‑believe image! Now, she can "be for real." She has a proud history. There is a new Caroline, a strong Caroline, a wealthy Caroline, a powerful Caroline. And the whole damn world had better just get out of her way!
The Response: Next, another assertive woman steps into Caroline's living room when she tells Mrs. Steele that she has questions to ask about Lieutenant Nelson. ZITA KELLER is a social worker assigned to investigate the Ensler family. After getting an earful from Caroline, Zita barges in on Nelson at the Ensler home forcing him to battle with her over the chaos of Regina, Delisle, Ronny, Amy, Ed and the Crangles in the household.. Zita's interest in Nelson goes way beyond the duties of her job. Her social work leads to Ed being taken forcibly to a rehabilitation center. Zita separates the Crangles taking the Lady to live with her until a suitable retirement home could be found. Dick would have been left out in the cold , but Nelson decides to take him in and gets Regina to take care of him and Vivi to feed him..
Lee returns home briefly after undergoing major surgery and has a bittersweet reunion with Nelson and many questions about what has happened to Ed and the others.
Ed gets out and Nelson gets him a job at a local mall.
Vivi cautions Nelson about Caroline and Rance.
Rance disguises himself, sneaks out on a dark night, and with the help of a friend lulls C.W. out of his house and gives him a much‑deserved, and long‑overdue, beating he will never forget.
As Rance is washing up after slipping back into his house, Caroline awakens. She prepares him a good meal and when he joins her they have a tender abating of the tension between them. He tells her he wants more children and he holds her tightly flooding in her again and again until she is certain that she will give birth to an entire football team of baby Rances, and they will be born with their crash helmets on their heads and flippers on their feet.
The story hits afterburner at this point. Rance gives Nelson a check flight that was setup long before the cloud between them grew into a severe storm. When it seems the friction is at its peek, their wing is hit by bullets fired at them by hunters angry because the plane has spooked their deer. Nelson's flash response saves their lives and they make it safely to an airport where Rance gives Nelson his Naval Academy ring and tells him, “Who can say that I won't let the fucking world get to me again, Jim. If I do, send me this ring. It's a Sixteenth Century idea, Elizabethan, but I've always loved it."
Nelson's unity with Lee is now all‑encompassing. He shares everything with her and tells her all about these events.
The Rejection: Nelson is consumed with pervasive thoughts of loss. His reflections on the deep fears of loss offer superb insights into this fragile subject as he attempts to cope with the impending death of Leanora. He is comforted by his good friend, Vivi.
Ed is recovering and Lee tells Nelson they must end their affair. Nelson is devastated.
Meanwhile, Rance has cleared the air with Caroline by discussing Nelson frankly and openly with her and the reality of his love for her is clearly evident.
Caroline has paid her pricey L.A. attorney to draft a letter on Rance's behalf, which combined with his own trip to D, C, , is going to result in his long overdue promotion to Lieutenant Commander. Even better, it is to be backdated to his earliest eligibility date.
The flow of Rance's life is not fated to be gently squeezed down. The swift current stops abruptly ‑ dead at age thirty‑four. Kenny, Derry, Mother crying...Caroline and Nelson inheriting the earth. Just like in the Bible. And that girl on the tennis court, love in her eyes, so sweet, that girl, that girl...."
Killer student Quinn heard nothing of his instructor's anguish. The last sound to penetrate his muddled brain was the thump of the speed brake, which he activated spastically when he realized that nothing was going to stop the ground from coming up and eating him.
Mac Courtney tells her dad, Ray, of her love for Rance and he cannot console her.
The God: Nelson and Gene, a neighbor and flight instructor friend, go to the base and clean out Rance's locker. They discover a secret check book Rance has used to help Mac get her car. Nelson tears up a valentine from Mac where she let it all hang out. He gives Kenny the Annapolis class ring, telling him that it was in his father's locker. He gives Caroline an ATM  card for money in the checkbook, telling her Rance had been putting aside some extra cash to get her a special gift.
Rance's sister Sarah is in town playing petty tyrant and directing everyone who will listen to her. When Nelson and Caroline finally put her on plane back to New York they breath a sigh of relief. Nelson gets drunk on double Southern Comforts in the back yard and begins to describe the various kinds of Gods people around him worship. He makes humourous comments that have a distinct ring of truth about many popular denominations.
Nelson begins to cement his relationship with Caroline as she turns to him for solace. Caroline has been in steady pursuit of him since the night of the party and has been fanatically jealous of his relationship with Lee. The reader has witnessed her unrequited love and the raging emotion it creates in her. However, their timing is poor and they both are unfulfilled.
Caroline discovers that sister Sarah has left Rance's ashes in the house.
The Spin: DeLisle is assigned to Nelson for continued training. On their first flight together, Neil freezes and locks his leg on the rudder in a spin. Once again, Nelson averts disaster and uses the close call to teach a vital lesson. The two of them are beginning to bond as Nelson sees DeLisle's potential, and Neil now understands how Nelson has earned the respect of everyone who has flown with him.
Nelson drives to Caroline in torrential rain and with a storm raging, they un‑lease all of their pent‑up passion for each other. Their love‑making may well be the most truly erotic sex scene ever put on paper for the world to enjoy.
Lee is preparing her children for a life without her. Nelson is in a quandary and is avoiding Caroline as much as possible due to his commitments to the Enslers, and his need to protect her honor among their close friends and family members.
The Survivors: More about the Enslers. Caroline and Kenny meet Lee. Kenny loves her. Caroline is critical.
Lee is Lee. Her wisdom, her remarkable insight, and her love for others set her apart from everybody.
Nelson sees Daisy Crangle die at Zita's apartment.
He plays matchmaker for Regina and Glenn Lamphier.
Nelson and DeLisle crash in the swamp near Cape Kennedy. Nelson has a broken leg and other less serious injuries.
The Victory: DeLisle gets serious about Ronny. Nelson visits his kids in Rowena and learns that Wendy is expecting a baby girl..On the day after Regina's wedding, Lee's concern alerts someone to check on Dick Crangle and he is found dead alone. Lee also arranges for the veteran to get a military burial. Murial cleans and gets the stink out of Nelson's house.
Lee visits Nelson at his house where they make love for the last time. Everybody is worried about them. They stay in his house so long that eventually DeLisle comes looking for them. Lee is frank with Ronny and explains nothing. Strong scenes with Ronny and her mother then with Ronny and Nelson. Ronny confirms that Lee is dying and Nelson breaks down then composes himself for Lee. They plan a visit to see Ed and her sons in Washington.
With his leg in a cast, Nelson is assigned to the boring task of Runway Duty Officer. He explains to Lee the dull downside of being an RDO but the upside is that he gets to spend a lot of time with her as the job requires minimal responsibility.
In Washington Lee gives her final advice to her children which is, indeed, the best advice they, or any children, are ever likely to hear.
While biding her time and spending a lot of it at the Courtney home, Caroline discovers that Vivian's book has been dedicated to her.
Ray visits Amy Masterson who has aborted his unborn child.
Nelson's cast come off. He is caring for Lee as she continues to weaken. DeLisle helps.
Caroline learns that Kenny has memorized a poem to recite for Lee. She visits Nelson and Kenny has been there crying about lee. She offers to help the Ensler family. Ronny finds Lee crawling to get to the bathroom. Nelson urges Lee to go into a hospital. She tells him soon, but not yet. After she is hospitalized, Leonora lives almost a week. Close to dawn on the third day, while holding Lee's hand, she speaks his name.
Kenny has tender moments with his mom while fighting to overcome his grief for Rance and Lee. Hurricane "Frederic" does well over a billion dollars damage along the Gulf Coast. When the hurricane strikes, around 1:00 a.m., Leonora's eyes open widely. Nelson whispers in her ear and her last word is "Love..." as she breathes a sigh and is gone.
Her sons learn of Lee's death. Nelson thanks Caroline for her help. They share thoughts in praise of Rance and decry what happened to him.
Nelson reflects on the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley that was first quoted to him by Lee saying that poem was him. He drives to the field noticing preparations for the hurricane along the way. He passes the crossroad where he first met Lee. He goes to the almost deserted airfield, puts on his flight suit, and takes an airplane as he has done so often that the few people around take no notice of it. He flies directly to the grave site where Lee is being buried. Nelson does a death spiral down over her grave to draw attention to his loss.
The crowd at the cemetery ‑ friends, fellow instructors and their families, and many of Nelson's flight students are mesmerized as the plane seems to stop for a moment, shuttering, and then begins to rise up bellowing with a deafening roar as it soars through a victory roll and appears to vanish into the clouds as it climbs up and away.
On the ground all is dead quiet, peaceful and still. A single voice in the crowd begins singing "I'll Fly Away" and is joined by each person there until there is a loud chorus that seems to rise up from the grave site to fade into the heavens above. The T‑28 Trojan is destined to be replaced with a sleek little turbo prop marking the end of an era. Yet all present will never forget that day, that plane, that pilot and that woman. Fly away Old Glory.
The story ends and begins anew with Nelson, Caroline and her son ‑ Kenny walking away from the past and into a future filled with great promise ‘as high as love can soar, ...as far as dreams can see.'
***** THE END *****