"It is appearances, characteristics and performance that make a man love an airplane, and they are what put emotion into one. You love a lot of things if you live around them, but there isn't any woman and there isn't any horse, nor any before nor any after, that is as lovely as a great airplane, and men who love them are faithful to them even though they leave them for others. A man has only one virginity to lose in fighters, and if it is a lovely plane he loses it to, there his heart will ever be."
— Ernest Hemingway, 'London Fights the Robots,' written for Collier's, August 1944
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"My soul is in the sky."
— William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V. Scene I.
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"If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why oh why can't I?'
— lyrics from 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow,' as performed by Judy Garland in 'The Wizard of Oz,' 1939
The phone call came out of the blue. An offer too good to refuse. But Marisol did refuse, because it was so spur of the moment and impulsive and she needed time to think. She thanked the caller and took down his number and stood staring at the phone with a faraway look in her eyes that Angela noticed.
"What was that about?" Angela asked. She was sitting at the table with Melody on her lap, a brand new box of chunky crayons and a Disney 101 Dalmatians coloring book on the table in front of them.
"An air force buddy of Nick's—my brother-in-law—just offered to take me flying."
"Oh really? Is he on the up and up?"
"Sure. He says Nick called in a favor, and he's happy to help me get the last flight hours I need."
Angela gently worked a black crayon out of Melody's mouth and patiently wrapped the baby's little hand around it, showing her again how to scribble on the paper. "So when are you going?"
"Well, that's the thing. He's free this afternoon, but I can't just take off with no notice."
"Nah nah nah!" Melody protested when Angela prevented the crayon from reaching her mouth again.
"Why can't you? Today would be perfect, wouldn't it? I'm already here. I can stay with the baby."
Marisol stared out the window, imagining getting behind the controls of a plane on a gorgeous day like this. Picturing the way the sea would sparkle from above, the way the treetops would undulate in the breeze, the landscape unfolding below like an enormous patchwork quilt. She shook her head softly.
"For one thing, I don't know how to get in touch with Paul to tell him...and he... well, he doesn't really like me flying."
"What do you mean he doesn't like you flying?"
Marisol gave a half-hearted shrug. "I don't know, he just said now that we have a baby he doesn't think..." she trailed off, not really wanting to admit that she couldn't do whatever she wanted now because she was engaged.
"Oh, I can just picture exactly how that went down."
"It wasn't a big deal."
Angela looked at her, a brow arched. "I can completely see him putting his foot down and saying, 'No, you shouldn't do that anymore because we have the baby, and by the way, I'm Paul McCartney'."
YOU ARE READING
Above Us Only Sky (Paul McCartney/Beatles Fan Fiction)
Fanfiction*sequel to In Your Atmosphere* 1966 was a year of seismic changes for the Beatles. By the end of the year, the last single Beatle, Paul McCartney, was on the verge of saying "I do" to his California sweetheart, Marisol Hemingway. And then life happe...
