Last Witch Standing (Mountain Witch Saga) (2 page)

She looked up when Dan entered. “I wonder how much this
engine can pull.”

“I don’t know. Wouldn’t try too much, you could break it,”
Dan cautioned.

“Kids, wake your father,” Patricia called from the kitchen.
“Breakfast is ready.”

Katie ran to their father and grabbed his leg near the knee.
“Time to get up.”

He smiled down at her and let Katie lead him into the
kitchen.

Monday, December 27, 1971

Earth

“Katie, please. Back off. I need to concentrate.” Dan
Edwards carefully adjusted the decal over the wing of his model airplane. It
was almost done; he couldn’t mess it up now. Fore and aft of the fuselage were
painted bright yellow to increase the model’s visibility as it flew – or if it
crashed in a field somewhere – making it easier to locate.

Katie stepped back further on the bed where she stood
looking down on her brother as he worked. The fan on Dan’s desk blew some of
the fumes of modeling paint her way.

Dan set the plane on the desk and stood to examine his
work. It looked straight, but he backed up to see it from a distance. The decal
was slightly off, but not more than a few degrees. Good enough. He could use a
straight edge and razor blade to shave a centimeter, or so, on the bottom to
bring it level. It was too late to move as he had detached the backing on the
sticker and it was now firmly adhered to the wing of the craft.

The plane smelled strongly of modeling glue. A night spent
by the heater had dried the paint, but Dan needed to file down the parts where
he had used too much adhesive. That could wait, though. What mattered now was
getting it into the air.

He collected the parts and put them into the wood toolbox he
and his father had constructed when Dan was seven. It had been the first of
many projects the two would complete over the years and Dan had recently sanded
it and re-stained it with redwood sealant. Into it went the radio controller,
gas can, glue and twine.

“I’m gonna try to fly this today. Do you want to come?” Dan
asked his sister who was staring down at the plane with wide blue eyes.

“Yes!” She jumped off the bed.

“Let me call Jimmy. He can meet us at the school.”

The two walked together:  Dan, carrying his plane and
toolbox, and Katie behind, struggling to keep up on her Big Wheel. The sky was
overcast and a mild breeze chilled them. But Dan was not about to go back home
for their jackets. Not now. Not until he had seen his new toy fly.

“You have to get off,” Dan said when they reached the
street. “You can’t cross on your Big Wheel. Drivers can’t see you and you could
get hit.” He waited for her to catch up and they crossed together. Dan put his
toolbox on the seat of the Big Wheel and pulled it along behind them.

The lot was empty. Normally, there would be several kids on
the slides, rings and swings. Good, Dan didn’t want anyone getting in his way.
He took Katie because she would fuss if he didn’t. Their mother wouldn’t like
him leaving her behind, anyway. In any case, she did move out of the way when
asked, and every now and then, she came up with a suggestion that saved him
time. Like the time the Johnson’s truck got caught under an overpass. It was
Katie who suggested they let the air out of the tires and push it through.
Brilliant. He didn’t like to admit it, but he knew his kid sister was smarter
than him.

Jimmy pulled up and stood beside them on the playground, straddling
his bicycle. Katie, the Big Wheel next to her, peered over her brother’s
shoulder as he knelt on the asphalt, filling the plane’s tank from a small,
red, galvanized steel gas can. Some spilled and the fumes drifted in the air
around the trio.

Dan turned the props and the engine sputtered into life.
Katie backed off from the noise as it pierced the damp morning air.

“Cool.” Jimmy pushed the kickstand down and came up to Dan.
Katie let go of the handle of her Big Wheel.

“I’m gonna try to taxi a bit before I take her up.” Dan
held the controller in his hand and pushed the lever. The prop engaged, the
plane shook, then moved forward, gaining speed as it sped across the lot.

Dan adjusted the controller and the plane circled back
towards them as it taxied. He needed to know how responsive it was, how tightly
it cornered. When it neared them, Dan turned it back. Then he had it go in
circles, then zigzags as he gained proficiency operating the controls.

“Want to try?” Dan handed the controls to Jimmie. He used
Jimmie’s BB gun so this was a good opportunity to show that he shared as well.

“Sure.” Jimmie took the controls.

“Just don’t touch that one.” Dan pointed to the elevator
control.

“I won’t.” Jimmie gunned the throttle and the plane shot down
the walkway, towards the street. “How do I stop it?”

Dan took the controls back and turned the craft before it
left the lot. He didn’t lower the throttle as he could see it was stable even
at this high speed. As it reached them, he pulled back gently on the elevators.
The P-51’s nose angled upwards and the model climbed into the air.

“It’s flying!” Katie pointed at the Mustang as it rose,
then chased it across the field, her golden hair fluttering in the breeze.

“Yep. That it is.” Dan grinned. He turned it towards the
field as he didn’t want it to land on someone’s roof and be lost.

“Wow. I didn’t think you’d get it in the air like this the
first time,” Jimmie said when the plane landed.

“I want to try this time!” Katie jumped up and down.

“I’ll let ya, if you’re careful.” Dan paused to figure out
a way to let his sister fly his prized model without wrecking it. Maybe if he
got it high enough first, he would have enough time to grab the controls and
recover it. No, she was too smart to consider that a turn. He would just have
to bite the bullet and let her take off – and hope it didn’t crash.

“I will.” Katie smiled.

“Just for a second, we can’t let it get too far.” He turned
to Jimmie. “We’re going to have to take it to the park next time. There’s not
enough room here.”

Dan taxied the plane to the far end of the parking lot and
turned it until its propeller faced them. He handed his sister the controls and
stood behind her. “Push where I tell you. Slow and gentle or it‘ll crash and
bust and we won’t be able to fly it anymore.”

“Okay,” Katie said.

Dan motioned her to pull back on the throttle. She did, and
the plane taxied towards them. After it gained flight speed, Dan said, “These
are the controls to make it take off. Slowly, and I mean slowly, pull down on
this.” He gestured toward the control.

Katie pulled back. The plane edged up, then back.

“Okay, good. A little bit more, Katie.”

Katie obliged and the craft rose into the air at a perfect
45-degree angle.

Jimmie punched Dan lightly in the shoulder. “She’s better
than you.”

“Okay, Katie, I’m gonna turn it for you.” Dan adjusted the
ailerons and the plane turned back towards them before reaching the street. He
allowed his sister to circle the plane several times before landing it for her.

“Good job,” Dan said.

“Yeah, Katie. You should be an astronaut!” Jimmie grinned.

“Listen, we’d better head back,” Dan said. Mrs. Edwards was
in the front yard of their house waving at them.

Sunday, April 2, 1972

Earth

“What are you doing?”

Dan flinched. “Don’t do that!”

“Do what?” Katie asked.

“Sneak up on me.”

“I’m not sneaking!” Katie looked up at her brother.

“I’m straightening the top.”

“Are we gonna fly it today?”

“How? How are we going to fly it, Katie?” Dan turned
towards the window, where the rain beat down in torrents. “It would be ruined.”

“Don’t they fly airplanes in the rain? It was raining when
we went to pick Dad’s friend up from the airport and they were flying planes then.”

“Don’t be stupid. Those were real planes. This is a model.
The rain would kill it. If the wind didn’t tear it apart first.”

“I am not stupid!” Katie put her fists on her waist.

“Sorry. You’re not stupid, Katie. Could you please go and
let me work on this alone?” Dan forced a smile.

Katie hopped off the bed and left the room without a word.
A few moments later, Dan could hear his little sister on the stairway making
plane sounds. She was probably pretending to be a plane taking off.

“Dinner, children,” their mother called from downstairs.

Dan put his model down. The imperfections had been filed
out, the decals straightened, and a second coat of paint added. It looked good.
Now, if only he could fly it. He looked out the window. The wind whipped the
nearest limbs of the oak in the front yard against the house; rain came down in
a flood, nearly horizontally. Even if, by some miracle, the weather cleared, it
would still be too wet to risk flying.

“Darnnit!” He stood up and started for the stairs.

The places were set. That should have been Dan’s job, but
his mother probably recognized his preoccupation with the model airplane and
discouragement at not being able to fly it.

The macaroni was still steaming, and after saying grace,
Dan served himself a large helping. In the flower decorated crockpot mini
sausages kept warm, the aroma of the barbecue sauce marinade inviting. For
vegetables, they had a mix of corn, peas and carrots.

“Katie, slow down,” Patricia Edwards said, after watching
her daughter skewer one sausage after another and put it into her mouth.

Katie put her fork down and chewed and swallowed what
remained in her mouth. She was a definite carnivore, Dan observed for the hundredth
time.

“You want to play a game?” Katie turned to Dan.

“No.” Dan put another bite of macaroni in his mouth.

“Now, Dan, you can play one game with your sister.”
Patricia Edwards covered the remaining macaroni with tin foil.

“Mousetrap! I have a new idea I want to try.” Katie stood
up and moved towards the closet that contained the family’s board games.

“Great. Katie gets to make a new creation.”

“Now, remember you were four once,” his mother reminded
him.

“Four and a half,” Katie corrected.

“Four and a half,” Patricia repeated.

“Okay. Just one game, and she can’t move the pieces until
it’s her turn.”

“I don’t!” Katie protested.

Dan had to grab a stool from the kitchen to reach the game,
which was on the top shelf of the closet, lodged firmly under
Battleship
and
Candyland
. He wiggle it sideways to loosen it, before pulling it out
with one hand and using the other to prevent the top games from sliding off.
Finally, he had it and brought it to the coffee table. Katie opened the box and
started setting it up while he closed the closet and returned the stool to the
kitchen.

An hour later, Dan was behind four mice. Almost every time
the cage lowered it was on one of his mice; rarely did it land on one of
Katie’s. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were cheating some way, Katie.”

“I’m not cheating. Just winning.” Katie grinned. “We can
play
Which Witch
if you want.”

“No way! You slaughter me on it.”

The scent of popcorn drifted in from the kitchen. “Mom’s
making popcorn,” Katie said.

“Good.” Dan didn’t look up. He was concentrating on the
board. Only one of his mice remained.

A few minutes later, Patricia Edwards entered the living
room carrying a large yellow Tupperware bowl filled with popcorn. The butter
and popcorn smell was too inviting to ignore and Dan looked up from the board.

He dipped his hand into the steaming popcorn. A moment
later, he lost his last mouse and with it the game.

“
Which Witch
,” Katie said.

“Okay,” Dan answered. May as well lose another game while
he ate popcorn—

Houston,
Apollo 11 . . . I've got the world in my window.

- Astronaut
Michael Collins

May 1, 1972

Earth

“Oh, my goodness!” Katie scooted closer to the television
set.

“That’s really Mars?” Dan asked.

“Must be,” Keith Edwards answered from the couch. Beside
him his wife leaned forward in her seat.

“I never thought I’d see something like this in my
lifetime. First the Moon and now Mars.” Patricia stared at the pictures from
the Mars probe, Mariner 9. The black and white picture on the screen was the
central caldera of the Martian volcano Olympus Mons.