The Banner School

Chapter One - Arrivals

     The convection oven that is the Nevada desert during the first week of June was an unwelcome companion, tolerated at best and fought against fiercely by the humans who had the misfortune to have to endure it. Hot shimmers of air radiated off the black road that connected The Banner Airport and the large, communal structures of The Banner School. The air conditioning inside the terminal of Banner Airport roared year-round, and the staff inside were grateful to the government grants and generous donors who paid for the electricity to keep the cool air constant. The airport wasn't busy most days, seeing between two and five flights daily and even fewer on the weekends. This meant that the usual hustle any airport might see was a rarity at Banner, but today's flight logs were busier than normal. This meant that loading and unloading gates and checking passengers in would be a stark difference from the staff's familiar routine of spending their day chatting and sweeping the floor multiple times to combat the desert sands that inevitably blew inside. The air conditioning was going to be put to the test today.
     "All three gates at once? That's surprising. They must be doing something at the school." Marilinda, the terminal manager, remarked as she looked over the logs for the day while having her second cup of coffee at 7:15 in the morning. Marilinda was a sturdy woman, shorter than average, and carried the weight of being a late-middle-aged mother of two. Her short brown hair was kept swept back and professional, and the masculine uniform of the Banner Airport suited her, the crisp white button-up contrasted well with her tanned olive skin. She was glad for the uniform, having spent 20-something years in the Air Force. Uniforms represented authority, and Marilinda was the prime authority in this terminal.

     The usually sparse chart was practically crowded today, with the flight numbers and passenger and crew list taking up the whole paper. The logs showed four flights incoming between 10:15 and noon, and two outgoing flights at 4:00. Marilinda looked over the pilot list and took note of the passengers' names. She read them off to her assistant manager, Gina.
"Usual guests today... But, there's a couple of new people coming in. We'll have to get the marshall in by 11 to check clearances." Marilinda instructed. Gina wrote the note on her navy blue clipboard and pushed her round glasses up her round face. Marilinda started towards the office door with paperwork and coffee in hand and looked over the log again to check which pilots and cabin crew were scheduled.
      "Which flights will need the marshall? I'll call him now so we can arrange his arrival time." Gina asked, her shrill voice cutting through the smooth mouthful of coffee Marilinda was trying so hard to enjoy.
     "That's gonna be charter 803 at 11:37 and charter 804 at 11:45. Pilots are Banner pilots so no worries there, but the passengers are flagged as first-timers. They're not going to appreciate the clearance check though, they're senators." Marilinda read off the log the names of the two men who would be flying in and probably demanding a first-class lounge lunch at landing. Gina's eyes widened at the mention of the names, high-profile guests meant something serious. Marilinda had hosted her fair share of senators flying into Banner and the situation was almost always the same thing.
     "They see the money being poured into this 'unknown' Banner School and demand to know where it's going. All the while, they rack up dinner and gift expenses into the thousands." she thought to herself. She took another swig of her now-lukewarm coffee and began her gate checks.
     Banner Airport only had three gates; 1, 2, and 3. Marilinda had to set the gates up manually, which wasn't an issue in her eyes. Her opinion was that automatic technology wasn't to be completely trusted, and having human eyes look at the hardware and software every single day felt safer with such sensitive information that the flight logs and the archives of the airport held. She walked under the faux archway displaying the sign that indicated her arrival at Gate 1.
     "Good morning, Thomas," Marilinda said out loud to the empty seating area as she ran her hand over the desk checking for dust and finding, like always, a fine coating of yellow sand. "You've got a busy day, today."

     Casually, the staff at Banner Airport had named the gates after important and beloved people who had worked at the airport. Gate 1 was warmly referred to as Thomas, after a chauffeur who spent 50 years driving guests between the airport and The Banner School. Thomas had retired a few years earlier, passing away only a short time later. Long-time staff members missed the animated conversations about baseball and the grandfatherly demeanor that he had radiated. Marilinda turned the computer on and let the screen boot before she realized Gina was still standing there, pen in hand, waiting for further instruction like a lost puppy.
     "Gina. The marshall." Marilinda barked. Gina's pen flew out of her hand in surprise, and she had to adjust her glasses again after picking it back up.
     "Right! The marshall! I'll go call now! I'm sorry!" Gina whimpered. She then turned around and started running back to the office, the smack-smack-smack sound of her slightly too big flat shoes against the tile echoing through the empty terminal.
     Marilinda rubbed her temple and sighed discontentedly, hoping Gina would gain a little confidence before 11:34 that morning. High-profile guests were demanding, and Marilinda could only host one of them at a time.
     "It's just from the gate to the door and into the car. Surely in that four-minute walk, she won't completely fall apart, right Thomas?" Marilinda sighed again and checked the scanner at the desk. She was satisfied that everything was in working order and continued on with the rest of her gate check duties. Airport staff filed in throughout the morning. It was a small staff, only about 45 people altogether. Each member performed a specific duty that kept their respective building and station running smoothly. Oftentimes, the airport was never fully staffed. On days like today, however, everyone was called to be on duty, just in case.

     At 10:12 the first flight taxied into Gate 1. It carried a single passenger, a single pilot, and one cabin crew member, as did all flights into Banner Airport. Gaining clearance to enter the airspace or use the radio frequencies that were assigned specifically to Banner was an impressive feat and unlikely would be allowed even in emergencies. Banner Airport was considered a Ghost, seen by the eye but not by the instruments. Pilots were chosen through the Air Force retirement lists and jobs were offered to those who wanted to fly as private contractors but still desired the feeling of being called at all hours of the day and night for a sudden takeoff into restricted airspace. Each flight into and out of Banner was top secret, including cargo flights that supplied the destination. Pilots entered contractual employment with Banner Airport understanding that they were virtually entering Witness Protection and that their families could never know exactly what they were flying or where, especially not who the passengers they ferried into and out of Nevada were.
     The passenger of Charter 801 exited the jetbridge into the terminal, adjusting his suit and shaking the stiffness from his legs. Ellis Collins was a financier for many of the top banks in the US. His role at The Banner School was strictly funding and budgets for the plethora of projects that the School took on. He was known in his own business by the nickname "Slick", which he thought was due to his capabilities to slide deals into profitable positions. Mostly, though, his peers called him that because of his slicked-back, greasy, black hair that he kept gelled down as though he was planning on walking through a hurricane.
     Ellis arrived at the check-in desk and fumbled through his leather briefcase for his Banner ID. The check-in agent smiled unemotionally, hoping she wouldn't have to endure the pathetic flirting and misogynistic names that Ellis was known to disperse to any female of the human species he came into contact with.
     "Sorry it's taking me so long, sweetheart, this thing's just full of money!" Ellis laughed, and smiled proudly at his own joke, still looking for his clearance papers and correct identification. The agent gritted her teeth through her decreasing smile and when finally offered the crumpled paperwork and the card to scan, she quickly processed the check-in, scanning his ID card and confirming who he was. Ellis leaned on the counter in a way he thought was suave and sophisticated; the agent recognized it as the signature pose of sleazy movie stars and she swore she saw his hair drip something wet onto his suit.
     "Thank you, Mr. Collins. Your car is waiting at the door. Have a nice time." the agent said, trying to muster up any legitimate enjoyment for the interaction in her voice.
Ellis snapped his fingers into a gun shape in her direction and sucked his teeth, pulling his sunglasses out of his blazer and putting them on. The agent waited until his 5'3" frame was dwarfed by the automatic door leading to the car awning, where a black SUV waited, to allow herself to let out a sigh of relief.
     "There must be something going on at the school. Usually, you can't get away from him." she thought. "That's the most eager I've ever seen him walk into that heat... his hair is gonna melt."
Gate 1 was immediately cleared of the small charter jet, which taxied into Hanger A, waiting to be refueled and given the all-clear to take off tomorrow morning on its return trip to Dallas with Ellis Collins aboard.

     At 11:30, Marilinda briefed Gina on the Senators that would arrive momentarily. She had printed the Banner Background Checks on both and gave Gina the papers to look over.
     "Okay, listen, Carson Massey is a lifetime politician and he's big on 'the numbers' during sessions," Marilinda advised Gina, who was visibly distressed. "I will host him and field his questions. All you have to do is calm down, wipe the sweat off your lip, and smile. Then, at 11:45, you will have to host Noah Scott. He's a first-term senator and probably won't ask too many questions. Just welcome him, check him in, direct him to the marshall, do the clearance check, and walk him to his car. It won't be hard, you can do it. You've done it before, Gina. It's gonna be fine." Marilinda placed a reassuring hand on Gina's shoulder.
     "Noah Scott, 47, Missouri, Republican. Married with two children." Gina rattled off, the worry in her voice obvious. She pushed her glasses up her nose again and looked at the papers on her clipboard.
     Marilinda had to cut any pep talk remaining short, Gate 1 was receiving Charter 803 at that moment. The jetway connected with the open plane door and Gina adjusted her hair and wiped her face with her sleeve. Marilinda laced her fingers together at her front and smiled warmly at the figure walking into the terminal.

     Carlson Massey was an imposing figure, tall and stout. His suit and tie looked like the only thing holding his mass together, the strain on the shoulder seams of his jacket obvious. He greeted the ladies with a politician's smile and offered a handshake to Marilinda.
     "That pilot you've got is great, what a smooth flight from Washington. Usually going over the Rockies is terrible in a small jet, but he's good!" Carlson praised. His comments felt genuine to Marilinda, but still demeaning, in a way.
     "She, actually. One of the best we have. A retired Blue Angel, but she prefers war zones, for some reason. She calls herself the American Night Witch." Marilinda chuckled at the surprise on Massey's face. She gestured towards Thomas's check-in desk and offered "Why don't we go ahead and get you squared away, Senator?"
They walked over to the desk, Gina trailing nervously behind. Marilinda relieved the posted agent and began the check-in process for the senator on her own.
     "You should have received order papers sometime in the last couple of days and been instructed to bring those. Could I see those papers and also your Congress ID?" Marilinda asked sweetly, smiling and hoping that this process would go smoothly.
The senator reached into his inside blazer pocket and produced the requested papers, then reached into his back trouser pocket retrieving his wallet and pulling out his special ID card. He presented both to Marilinda who accepted them with a "Thank you, Senator."
     "Looks like you guys are running pretty old stuff, here. I haven't seen the old box monitors in a long time." Senator Massey observed. "Do you not make money from tickets or have any amenities here?"
     Marilinda saw through the supposedly innocent nature of this question and his comments. He was digging for information on where the money came from. She scanned his documents and input his check-in time. She smirked at him and said "As far as amenities go, we have a small staff cafeteria and break room with a television, and as you now know, The Banner School pays for the flights in and out of the airport. When someone's presence is requested at the School, it's deemed worthy enough to budget the flight in. In fact, once you arrive at the School, the chief accountant is already there. He arrived earlier this morning and I'm sure he would love to answer all of your funding-related questions." She offered his paperwork back and made eye contact with the Senator, still smiling.
     Senator Massey pursed his lips and took the items from Marilinda. He glanced around and took stock of the two other desk agents posted on duty, the custodian sweeping the sand back outside, and watched out the window as the plane retrieval crew begrudgingly gathered in the heat outside of Hangar B to start work on the jet Massey had just flown in on. He looked back at Marilinda and smiled widely again. "Why don't you give me a tour? Meeting's not till 1!"
     Marilinda stepped out from behind the desk and directed the senator towards the office. Outside of the door was a man of different foreboding, he was in uniform, badge on his chest and gun on his right hip. Handcuffs hung off of his left side and he eyed the senator with rebuke. Marilinda began walking towards this dark figure, "I'd love to give you a tour, Senator. But first, we have to adhere to protocol. Keep those papers out, and once we've checked your clearance, we'll go meet all of the lovely people who work here. Gina, you need to wait at Gate 2 for Senator Scott."
     Gina squeaked quietly in surprise at hearing her name and nodded to the pair. She scampered off to Gate 2, clutching her clipboard. It was a short distance, the archway that mirrored Thomas on the other side of the terminal Hall brandishing the label of Gate 2. Staff referred to Gate 2 as Bettie. Bettie had been a gate agent for as long as Thomas was a chauffeur. She was an inaugural member of staff, starting work the day the airport opened. The staff oftentimes referred to her as 'momma', and airport staff members received homemade cookies from her on their birthday. Gina had never met Bettie, but hoped she was doing well.
     Gina waited patiently for the 11:45 flight to land. She checked her watch; 11:44. She woke her phone up and checked the tracking on Charter 804. The screen displayed the large, red words - DELAYED DUE TO WEATHER. New time of arrival, 1:15. She thought for a moment, it was June and he was coming from Missouri. She checked the weather radar and sure enough, large red and yellow bands were engulfing the whole of the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas. She allowed herself to relax for a moment until she realized that meant the 4:00 departing flights would be delayed due to whatever meeting the senators were attending starting late. She was going to have to be the one to tell the crews that they wouldn't be home in time for dinner.

     Marilinda walked Senator Massey to the doors at the end of the terminal towards his waiting car. The tour lasted seven whole minutes after the marshall was convinced that Senator Massey was correctly identified and had received adequate prior clearance for entry to the School. She had fielded all of his questions about staffing, stocking, and maintenance with the answer that she was only the manager of the airport, not the payroll handler. He didn't seem satisfied, but she knew he wouldn't be until he saw what The Banner School truly was.
     "It's a small airport, and I've shown you everything. The whole terminal, and the underground tunnels to all four hangars. I assume you didn't want to walk the three miles of runway, at least not in those clothes." She stood stiffly, signaling that it was time for him to go ask questions somewhere else.
      "Thank you for the information, Linda. We'll have another chat later, I assume?" Massey offered his hand to shake and she took it.
     "Oh, I'm sure it will be an interesting one!" Marilinda internally groaned at being called the wrong name, but she gestured toward the black SUV that awaited the senator outside. He accepted that it was time to go and walked through the automatic doors, stepping back in surprise when they opened for him.
     "It's a scorcher! I hope that thing has as good of air conditioning as you've got in here." Massey said, pointing his thumb at the vehicle. Marilinda smiled and nodded her head, waving gently. She watched as the senator climbed into the SUV and thought to herself.
     "Good job, Mari. Handled as cool as the air conditioning. Hosting first-timers is the worst."

     Gina slowly walked up to Marilinda, timidly delivering the news of the delayed flight.
     "They aren't expected to land until a quarter after 1:00, now. That's just if the weather cooperates." Gina whined. She had already informed Hangar D through text that their expected arrival was to be late, and that their expected departure was also, inevitably, going to be late. Marilinda seemed unfazed, still riding the high of getting through all of the pointed questions from Massey.
     "We can handle the issues delayed flights pose, here. It's fine. But has anyone told the School?" Marilinda inquired, thinking back to the Senator mentioning the 1 o'clock meeting. She determined it would have to be herself who called the School and let them know that Senator Scott was expected to arrive at 2 PM. She rechecked the log; one more arrival for the day. A regular, and one that was expected.
     "Gina, I'm going to call the school. Can you go wait for our guest at 3? She'll be a quick and easy in and out." Marilinda requested. "I'll page Felix to pick her up, he texted me earlier asking if she was still on time. It's been a while since they've seen each other."
Gina nodded and turned to walk to Gate 3 - Paris. Gate 3's namesake wasn't a person. Paris was the name of a stowaway, hidden on a cargo flight. A tiny, gray tabby kitten, having endured a two-hour flight from LA in the cargo hold. She was found during unloading and brought into the terminal where Marilinda asked repeatedly who could take the cat home or to a shelter. One of the mechanics stationed in Hangar 3 posed the idea: "Why don't we just keep her here, let her be our mascot?" And so Paris had full roam of the airport. She was a good mouser and loved to catch the desert lizards. After a couple of years, Marilinda herself took Paris home to retire. Paris thrived at Marilinda's house with the three kids and the constant attention, but the little cat tree at Gate 3 was never removed, and that was always Paris's gate.
   
     The last inbound flight of the day landed and Gina watched as it pulled to the gate. The jetway extended and the gate door opened swiftly. Out walked a very average-looking woman, in her mid-thirties. Shoulder-length blonde hair swayed as she walked, and her business casual clothes made her stand out from the caliber of guests that had arrived that day. She turned back to the window and waved her arm in big arcs toward the pilot, still resting in his seat and logging his mileage after the flight, but waving back to her with a smile on his face. The woman turned away from the window and walked towards the check-in desk.
     "Gina!!" the woman cheered. "I'm glad to see you, I was sure that after our last talk, you'd be headed back to Las Vegas. I'm proud that you stayed!" the woman said.
Sybil Langley was well-liked at the airport. She was friendly and genuinely interested in every person she met. The staff knew her well, and she knew most personnel by name. Her position at the School meant that she knew some top-secret information about certain faculty and she recognized when particular ones were struggling with their placements at the School.
     "I thought about what you had told me. About how discomfort in my position might come from a lack of confidence, and how if I'm here, it's because I'm supposed to be." Gina almost whispered the words to the woman who was already retrieving her paperwork and ID from the gate agent, already checked in. "I've been working in therapy again, and considering everything that's happened in my life to lead me to this point. I knew I had a purpose here, but it's just been hard to see since Marilinda does such a good job at keeping up with so much..." she trailed off.
     "Gina. They placed you for a reason. They don't just place people for nothing. You were suffering where you were and they chose to come get you and give you the life you were destined for. Think about all the things you've learned and mastered since then!" the woman wrapped Gina in a big hug. "Managing a whole airport is a big job, and you've only been here a year. You will be fine, Gina. Just keep believing in yourself."
     "I appreciate your faith, Sybil." Gina smiled and pulled out of the hug. The two women walked toward the exit doors where another black SUV was waiting.
Sybil waved goodbye to Gina and walked outside, squinting as the heat dried out her eyes. She glanced in the driver's seat and joy came over her. She excitedly opened the passenger front door. Climbing in, she threw her small bag into the backseat and heartily reached over to hug her chauffeur.
     "Felix! I'm so excited to see you! How are you? How's the new baby? Are you rested enough to drive this thing?" Sybil joked.
Felix was a lithe man, dressed in the Airport uniform, and his wide, brown eyes looked swollen from lack of sleep.
     "Yes, Sybil, I am fine on sleep. Baby's good, she's four months old in two days and we haven't stopped moving since we got home. My wife is exhausted but she's such a good mom. She always seems to know exactly what the baby needs. I can tell when she's hungry, but I'm still struggling with whether she's got gas or wants to sleep." Felix shared. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen. A small baby asleep in her mother's arms was his lock screen photo. Sybil squealed and took the phone from him, looking intently at the little bundle.
     "I hope you let me meet her soon. I love babies, you know that! I don't get babies anymore, I just get the big kids. Which is fun, but you can't pretend big kids' feet are goofy phones." Sybil chortled at the thought. She handed the phone back to Felix and smiled. "I guess we gotta get to this thing. I gotta be there at 1:00, I think I'm jumping tomorrow because I don't have a return flight. My brother's already there so that just solidifies that I'm probably jumping."
     
     Felix put the car into gear and they started on the short distance from the airport to the School. He gripped the steering wheel tightly to fight against the wind that blew the sand all around. Mirages appeared in the small distance in front of the car, caused by the heat coming from the asphalt. Felix scowled with worry.
     "Didn't you jump last month? I mean, I wasn't here, so I don't know," he asked. "That's so bad for you, doesn't it take like, months off your life to go through the anomalies?" The concern in his voice was palpable.
     "I ended up not jumping. Plus, that's just a myth. Remember that old guy who retired a couple of months ago? He jumped something like 30 times and retired at 77, and the doc says he's doing great! Anyway, they picked another handler and another foster because the charge was a boy. They decided that since I already have my permanent charge and she's, well, a girl, they didn't want to put a rowdy teen boy in a foster home with anyone other than rowdy teen boys." Sybil said. "It was kind of a waste of time to come out here, but it did mean that I was next on the list for any girls between ten and thirteen that came up. Which is fun!"
     "I wanna jump, man. Getting to jump seems like so much adventure." Felix declared eagerly. "I know you don't pick where you get to go but I'd love to go somewhere tropical or something. White sand beaches, coconut drinks, and a full night's sleep!"
     Sybil laughed alongside him, enjoying the time with her friend. Felix had been her designated chauffeur for the last 6 years. They had bonded over the wild opportunity to work for the School and had become fast friends. For Sybil, Felix was a breath of normalcy in the strange world she entered every time she stepped onto a plane headed for Nevada. She was looking forward to this trip. She was probably jumping, and if she had interpreted the coded memo from her brother correctly, she was jumping to Oklahoma. Jumping always made her feel uneasy, but her brother was jumping with her and they made a great team. She knew that if she was jumping, though, there was a little girl who needed someone to care for them, and Sybil would be that person. She watched the horizon as the car came upon the stately C-shaped building, and passed under the wrought-iron arches that read "The Banner School". They took the curve around the small Joshua tree in the center of the courtyard and stopped at the front door in the center of the school building. Sybil took a deep breath and looked at Felix,
     "I really don't want to get out of this air conditioning."