Author's Note.
Once again, I extend my gratitude to neuroparenthetical for his unceasing dedication to untangling the unintelligible for your consumption.
My need to tweak and twiddle, as always, may impinge on the work that he does. Therefore, any errors in continuity, grammar, or syntax are mine.
As always, please remember to rate and comment.
PM.
P.S. It is my goal to get to at least the end of this section without needing any corrections. I wonder, did I succeed?
Caleb 25 - Ness
The jet sat looking sleek and impressive on the apron at the local airstrip.
I didn't really know anything about private jets, but I'd at least heard the name 'Gulfstream.' The G500 emblazoned on the tail of the Steadmans' gave me a likely model number, but beyond that, I was in the dark. Jules had said that it cost more than fifty thousand a month just to run. Those kinds of numbers were staggering to me. Not for the first time, I wondered just how rich the Steadman family was.
We unloaded all our bags from the Uber, intent on helping Gerry carry them through the main cabin into the baggage compartment at the rear of the plane. He didn't put up much of a fuss; it was nice to know Dean didn't hire overly servile employees. When we stepped into the cabin, it was like walking into a luxurious living room. There were cream leather seats and dark wooden tables. The carpet was so deep our feet sank into it.
Gerry closed the door. "Get yourselves settled in," he said. "It's only a short hop - about ninety minutes - so make yourselves comfortable. We're only going to be climbing to about fifteen thousand feet today. By the time we get up there it will be almost time to start coming down. Once we're airborne, I'm sure Jules will be able to show you where to get a drink if you want. There are two bathrooms: one here, and one aft by the baggage compartment."
He went onto the flight deck. Jules showed us to the back - or "aft," I supposed - and we stowed our gear. As we headed back, I happened to notice that Amanda's aura was spiked with yellow.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Not a huge fan of flying," she said.
"You should have said," said Jules. "We could have driven up, no trouble."
"No," said Amanda, "I wanted to do this. I've never been in a private jet before. I just get a little nervous."
Mary and I both hit her with our power at the same time. I went with love and trust; Mary opted for relaxation and security.
Amanda giggled. "Wow! Double whammy."
We settled in as we heard the engines spooling up.
"Please take your seats," said Gerry from the flight deck. "We are ready to taxi and have clearance to take off as soon as we are in position."
The plane began to move, and in a few minutes, we were in the air. Amanda gripped my hand for a short while, but once we leveled out, she let go and relaxed. Jules got us each a bottle of water and we admired the view from the windows, far larger than any airplane window I had ever seen before.
Before we really had the chance to settle in properly, Gerry announced that we would be landing in about ten minutes and asked that we make sure we were seated and that there was nothing loose in the cabin.
Jules took our empties and put them in the galley trash, and then we settled down. I was treated to another hand squeeze from Amanda, and then, with the lightest of bumps, we were once again on the ground. The journey had taken no more than eighty-five minutes. Gerry had obviously put the pedal to the metal, or whatever the flying equivalent was.
After a short taxi, we heard the engines spooling down, and then Gerry emerged from the flight deck. Had it been a longer flight I would have been interested in getting a look in there, but there hadn't been enough time.
We carried our luggage to Gerry's car, and he drove us the thirty minutes from the airstrip to the Steadman farm. A quick calculation told me that if we included the Uber ride, the flight, and the journey at the other end, our travel time would be about two and a half hours, which was significantly less than the nine or ten hours - depending on rest stops and traffic - that it would have been by road.
As we approached the house, I could see mischief in all the girls' auras and wondered what they were up to. Gerry pulled up outside and I got out of the car. The girls all piled out. Once again there was a cacophony of barking as the four dogs came running around from the back of the house.
The girls pushed me against the car, surrounding me and 'protecting' me from the savage beasts descending upon us, giggling madly all the while. I looked across to see Pops, Cheryl, and Ness all laughing at the pantomime.
"Okay, okay," I said. "Well played."
I disentangled myself from the three girls only to get entangled in another as Ness flew across the yard and jumped up, wrapping her arms and legs around me.
"Hey, you," I said, hugging her tightly, "I missed you."
"I missed you too," Ness told me as I carried her back toward her parents. Then realized that I needed to help with the luggage.
"We've got it," said Jules. "I think you're carrying enough just now."
"Ness," said Dean. "Put him down."
Ness reluctantly released me as Dean and then Cheryl first hugged me, and then the other girls. Divested of the teen, I took some of the bags from the girls and we went inside.
"You're all in the same room again," Cheryl said, and we took our things up there.
I gasped as I entered the white room. While we'd been at uni, they had replaced the bed. Now there was one just like ours there. It dominated the room, but the room was large enough to handle it.
"Wow," said Mary as she came into the room. "We'll have to break that in." Then she blushed when she turned around to find both Dean and Cheryl standing right behind her. They both grinned.
The wardrobe and drawers had been similarly upgraded, giving us much more room to store our clothing. The last time we'd been here, Jules had had to use her room to store her stuff.
"This is your room," said Cheryl. "We'll keep it for you for when you visit."
"Visit?" I said. "I'm moving in."
They both laughed, and Ness looked at me wistfully.
After putting our stuff away, we went down to the kitchen, and Ness began cooking lunch.
"Need a hand?" I asked as usual, but she just snorted at me. None of the girls had let slip that I was now a very good cook. Cheryl and Dean still thought that I was learning just enough to make a meal on Ness's birthday, but I had decided I would spring that particular surprise this time around.
We were going to be at the farm for three weeks over the holiday period. I had to shop for everyone, since the only present I had bought so far was Ness's. My bank balance was about to take a sizeable hit.
"Jonas's family is coming over this afternoon," Dean said. "They wanted to say thank you and didn't get to see you before you left last time."
"Okay," I said. "Where can I go hide?"
He laughed. "Just be gracious and accept their accolades," he said. "You did something good for them. They want you to know it's appreciated."
"I know," I said. "I'm just not comfortable with that kind of attention."
"Then stop saving people's lives," he said with a pragmatic air. "Problem solved."
In that instant, I could practically hear Jules saying the exact same thing, in the exact same way, and it amused me. "You are your daughter's father all right," I said, and he laughed again.
We sat on the deck, just catching up. Terra seemed to have adopted me, and she sat beside my chair while I stroked her head until I felt her ears perk up. Then she was off with the other dogs, barking as they ran toward the front of the house.
"That will be them," Dean said.
We all walked out as the Bridge family was getting out of their truck. The dogs investigated the newcomers thoroughly. None of the Bridge family were intimidated in the slightest, having been up to the house many times before. The family walked over to where we were standing, and Jonas grinned at me. "Hi Caleb," he said.
"Hi Jonas," I said. "How's the arm?"
"It's good as new," he said. "They took the cast off two weeks ago. I was really glad of that 'cause it was itching like a..."
"Jonas," Gary, his father, interrupted. He had obviously known what his son was going to say and didn't think it appropriate in mixed company. I would guess Jonas got away with more colorful language when he was working with the farm hands than when he was at home.
Gary stepped forward and held his hand out to me. "We didn't get properly introduced. I'm Gary Bridge. I work for Dean and Cheryl. I never got the chance to say thank you for what you did. You saved my boy's life."
"You would have thought of something," I said.
"That's just it," he said. "We couldn't. We all thought there was no way to get the door open without getting the tractor out of the ditch."
"I was lucky," I said. "My dad is an agricultural mechanic. I saw him do something similar - although not in those circumstances."
"Well, lucky or not," he insisted, "you saved my boy, so thank you."
