Top Gun Rooster

Chapter 5: Belong

Her world collapsed early Sunday morning
She got up from the kitchen table
Folded the newspaper and silenced the radio
Those creatures jumped the barricades
And have headed for the sea, the sea
Those creatures jumped the barricades
And have headed for the sea
She began to breathe
To breathe at the thought of such freedom
Stood and whispered to her child, "belong"
She held the child and whispered
With calm, calm, "belong"
"Belong" - REM

Pete strapped Amelia into the jump seat behind the pilot's seat in his P-51, showing her how the straps adjusted. He had put in a cushion into the seat, for comfort. The seats in the plane were normally just bare metal, and even though he had the normally bare metal covered with leather he thought an extra cushion would be better. He hoped that it would be comfortable enough. There was no parachute in the jump seat, as the person in the jump seat wouldn't be trained in the use of the parachute anyway, and the cushion that the pilot usually sat on was his parachute. He sat on his parachute out of habit and tradition, even though he didn't expect to need it. In the P-51, in order to use a parachute, it would require a barrel roll, to essentially dump the passenger out of the seat into the air. This, plus knowing how to maneuver in the air, to turn right side up and to release the parachute correctly was not something that a passenger was likely to know to do. This was unlike the ejection seat in a modern fighter jet that propels the passenger or pilot up out of the seat into the air, and hopefully out of the way of the plane or any debris in the air. This was the mechanism that lead to Goose's death Pete recalled grimly. Remembering that, Pete caught his breath, but with force of habit, moved past that thought and finished strapping Amelia in.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked Amelia, not really expecting an answer.

"Can we go to San Francisco?"

"We could, but we might not make it back in time for dinner," Pete responded. "How about we go up the coast a way and see how far we get? Or we can fly over Palm Springs toward Arizona."

"Coast," Amelia said decidedly.

Pete smiled. "Coast it is."

He got into the cockpit, jumping in and buckling down with the ease of familiarity. This, he thought, is where I belong. This is where I'm meant to be. But there came the little voice that said, But not today's fighter planes. Those aren't for you, and you won't be doing any dogfights anymore. This plane is an antique, and so are you. With that thought, he got the plane onto the runway and took off into the sky. Amelia let out a little whoop of excitement as they left the ground, and there was nothing but open air above them.

"This is crazy!" Amelia yelled over the noise of the propellers, and Pete laughed remembering what it was like when flying was new. He could barely remember the first flight he took, and the memories became confused with time, so that he wasn't sure if what he was remembering was his actual first flight, or another flight, or a combination of them.

As they gained altitude, the ride smoothed out and although there was the steady drone of the propeller and engine, it did get somewhat quieter.

"Are you having fun?" he shouted back to Amelia. She gave him a thumbs up, eyes wide. It was too loud to have much of a conversation, so he flew them first by Catalina Island, flying low enough and to the side of it so that she could see some of features. They then flew inland, seeing the vast metropolis of Los Angeles, before heading back out over the waves and over the Channel Islands. By the time they got out toward Lompoc, Pete knew that he had to head back to make it back in time for the dinner that Penny had planned. He gradually turned the plane around, to head back to San Diego.

Even though he was glad to be in the air, the monotony of straight flying over the ocean, and watching the coastline slowly go by was not Pete's idea of fun. In fact it was downright boring.