Fight-or-Flight

Chapter 12

"But tell me what the bigger picture is here - what is the point with this?" I begin to ask Pete as the game is back on, and they're not throwing around the guy in the t-shirt in cheers anymore. "If you're supposed to be the one to make them go faster or more slick around a curve, then what does this help?"

He grins at me, "good question. I need them to be faster and smoother, but - and you can't tell anyone this - I need a team of four planes up in air for this, so they need to work together and be a team. It's real tough up there, so they need to believe in the rest of the team, just as much as they believe in themselves."

"You might need to get some of them to check their own ego while you're at it then," Pete laughs at the scoff that I can't hold back when saying this.

From what I hear him saying right now, they need to trust each other, but I think that with that it follows that they need to believe in their own need to be reliant on another person up in the air too. They have to recognize, that they can't do it all by themselves and that their fellow pilots will actually have their back. For that they need to check their own ego. Something tells me that Jake might just be one who especially needs it. They also need to check their ego, since they seem to be too sure in themselves to be open to learn anything new.

"That too, any advice for me on that?"

"Show them that they're wrong about something. They don't think something is attainable - show them that it is."

"You have my attention."

I sit down on the sand next to Pete and lean back on my hands. While observing them playing football I continue telling him my train of thought. "Since you're going to this measure to get them ready for what they have to do in air - I assume that they're not near close to being able to it?"

"Correct."

"Can you do it?"

"With enough of my own arrogance and ego in the air - yes."

"Then do it. They probably don't believe that it can be done at all - even by you - so they don't want to listen to you blabbering on about how to do it," I state looking up at him. "I've only met some of them, but I think I can say with enough certainty, that they all think, that they are the best there is, so show them that they aren't. If they see you actually do it, they'll have to put their own ego aside and actually learn how to do the mission."

"You want me to go up in the air and virtually complete the mission, for them to see that it can actually be done in my way?" Pete's bewildered face meets mine.

"Yes."

"You don't make a bad point, but I can't just do that. There is a lot of factors involved. I'll definitely take, what you said into consideration though," even though he actually shuts down my idea, I feel like he will take something useful from what I said. Maybe he can work it out in another way. What do I actually know about all this too? I don't know anything, so I could be saying some bullshit. I don't know how pilots are to actually work with.
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Even with all of the pilots out by the water that have I have already met or seen before now and with those who knows me, Jake is the first to spot me. A big grin spreads on his face, and he's not hiding, that he's happy to see me here. I give him a small wave, that he returns as they all finally take a break from their game, and everyone starts moving up the beach towards us.

Reaching in to the basket, I stand up and get ready to hand each of them a cold beer. They cheer and hoot at sight of me and my cold drinks. I hand each one of them one, until Jake is before me and I don't have any more. My inner self curses loudly at how typical this is.

"No beer for me? I thought you liked now," he quips.

"Shut it - I'll go get you one, it seems I forgot one for myself too," somehow he makes me all nervous now and I can't help but let out a little laugh.