They sat scribbling the translated messages transmitted by the instructor at the front of the class, their hangovers worsening at the incessant beeping and concentration required to make sense of the noise. Every now and again Lily's stomach would flip as she looked up and caught blue eyes looking thoughtfully at her.
When she had eventually gotten into bed the previous night, she had tried to process her emotions and had realized that she was being unfair to Helen. It wasn't Helen's fault that she was confused about her feelings towards the other woman. Lily had decided to stop projecting her anger and frustration and just accept that she was confused. She'd had had a friend in the orchestra who had gone to an all-girls school and she'd mentioned once that it wasn't unusual to grow attached to other females in that sort of environment. So it seemed to Lily that what she was experiencing wasn't unheard of, she just needed to get beyond it and not destroy the friendship she had with Helen in the process. She made up her mind to apologize to Helen for her recent behavior when she got the chance.
However, that chance was not coming any time soon. As if to compound their wretchedness, their schedule then had them in the Link trainers for an hour.
“I'd go back to Physics class and Math like a shot,” Lucy whimpered as they walked towards the classroom that housed the mechanical beasts that simulated flights to allow them to practice instrument flying.
“I have no idea what I wrote during that class,” Adrienne remarked from behind her sunglasses.
“Can y'all still hear the beeping?” Adele asked waggling her finger in her ear.
Marjorie and Lily shared a smug look. “Well you now know why they call it the demon drink,” Marjorie sang as she skipped ahead of them. “And just think now you have a whole hour in the dark being spun around.”
“Just breathing in the hot stale air inside the Link,” Lily added. “Hot stale alcohol-fumed air.”
The four hung-over women groaned as they entered the room lined with the wooden boxes painted in the blue and yellow colors of their trainer planes. They each walked to a Link, climbed inside the small compartment, and waited for their instructor to speak to them. After receiving their initial instructions, the instructor closed the small side door and lowered the lid on the Link plunging the occupants into darkness; the only light coming from the instrument panel in front, which seemed to lurch forwards in the gloom. The women put on their headsets and waited for the first radio waves to be sent to allow them to respond and fly the plane blind.
After an hour of the electrically operated simulators tossing and turning them, their Link time was up. The instructors opened the lids revealing in some instances some rather green looking faces and provided the cadets with their charts, showing the course that they had 'flown', and going over where errors had been made and what actions would have corrected them.
Helen felt surprisingly better following the Link training. Whether it was having to concentrate so her brain ignored the physical discomfort her hangover was putting her through or the fact that the heat that built up in her simulator meant that whatever alcohol was still buzzing around her system was immediately sweated out, she wasn't sure. However, some of the others hadn't faired so well; the moment they had cleared the classroom the Addies sloped off to find a quiet area to gracefully throw up.
After lunch the effects from the previous night were starting to lessen which was probably just as well as the women were now sitting on the flight line waiting for their turn to ‘shute’ up and go up in their new nemesis the BT 13B Vultee Valiant, or ‘The Vibrator’ as it was more commonly known as by cadets. Having passed their army checks in the PT planes, they had now advanced to the more complicated and powerful BT. They'd had a week of flying it so far and the more complex instrument panel meant more pre-flight check; it felt as though they had about a million things to remember before they'd even left the ground.
Checking the instructor list Helen groaned inwardly she was with Stark again; the little man seemed to take great delight in finding fault with her flying. She had a range of bruises on the inside of her thighs from where the annoying little weed would rattle the stick back, and forth, hitting the sensitive area of her legs when annoyed with an action she'd taken.
“Hollywood, you and me again,” Stark yelled from the door of the hangar.
Helen pulled on her parachute and started to run so that the instructor would be less pissed with her before she had even gotten near the plane. They walked over in silence towards the plane and just before Helen climbed up onto the wing walkway. Stark said the same as he did each time they went out, “Try not to kill me.”
She rolled her eyes, climbed up and slid open the canopy, settling into the bucket seat she adjusted her position so her parachute was in place.
Once she heard Stark settle in his seat behind her she released the control yoke and secured it with the spring clips then fastened her shoulder and safety harness giving it a quick tug. Helen checked the carburetor heat, the oil cooler shutter and the mixture, before pumping the wobble pump handle, priming the engine. She cracked the throttle and turned the ignition switch, she used her foot to move the starter switch pedal then flipped the starter switch. The plane started to hum as the engine grumbled into life and she worked the wobble pump to smooth the engine. As she waited for the oil temperature to rise she radioed in to the tower to check that she had permission to taxi.
Once settled on the runway she completed her take off final checks. Stark's voice came into her ear, “You keeping your canopy open Hollywood?”
“Sir, yes, sir,” she responded. “Like to feel the wind in my hair,” she lied; the desire to leave the canopy open had more to do with her wanting to wash away any residual cobwebs from the night before. She cranked the flap handle and slowly advanced the throttle, the difference in the BT to the smaller lighter PT places was marked. The Vultee accelerated much faster along the runway giving her less time to prepare for the actual take-off.
She curled her hand around the pistol grip of the stick as they trundled along the runway. The tail started to lift and the plane started to feel lighter as it started to defy gravity, she applied a little backward pressure to the stick, and the nose of the plane lifted skywards.
As they cruised, gaining altitude, Helen looked out of the side of the plane down towards the cotton fields below and listened for Stark's instructions. As he yelled ‘Stall’ through the radio, she immediately took the necessary actions to place the plane into a controlled stall; pulling the stick back and climbing for what seemed an eternity into the clear blue sky. When the canopy started to shake indicating that the plane was about to stall, she released the backward pressure and allowed the nose to drop leveling off.
“Good Hollywood.”
Helen raised her eyebrows,
that’s a first
, she grinned to herself waiting on her next instruction.
They performed a series of loops, snap rolls and a half-roll reverse and were just completing a spin recovery when Helen felt her harness loosen during the spin, her eyes widened as the clasp released while she popped the stick to recover. The negative g-force propelled her out of the cockpit. Her headset ripped off, taking her helmet with it. The last thing she saw of the plane was Stark's wide eyes and open mouth as she spun out into the Texan sky.
She felt the air pass by her at rapid speed as she freefell towards the ground. A calmness descended upon her as she was buffeted by the air before her training kicked in and she pulled her ripcord. Her parachute shot out and immediately her descent slowed. Floating towards the ground Helen gave out a loud whoop.
“I'm flying!” she yelled. Her laugher was cut short however as she looked down toward the rapidly approaching ground.
“And now I'm landing!” she groaned, as the cotton field beneath her got closer.
She landed ungraciously in a heap, her canopy floating down to cover her beneath a pile of silk. Lying on the mud and with no other outlet for her exhilaration, she pounded her arms and legs on the ploughed earth like a toddler having a tantrum.
“I'm alive!” she shouted laughing hysterically as she twisted onto her back.
She lay underneath her parachute for a moment savoring the emotions then reluctantly released the catches of her harness and started to crawl out from underneath the material. She stood up and placed her hands on her hips looking around trying to work out the direction she was from the base. Squinting at the sun she worked out that she was east from where she needed to be, she leaned down and started to pile up her parachute for the long walk home.
***
Lily stood on the flight line taking a long drink from her bottle of cola, laughing as Adele and Adrienne rejuvenated from their flight were now standing singing WASP songs replacing the words for rude versions. Lucy looked up shielding her eyes, watching the next plane line up for landing. “That's Marjorie coming in,” she remarked bringing her hand back down. “Just Helen to come.”
The women had a rule that no-one left the flight line until their bay were all back on safe ground. They watched as Marjorie had a bumpy landing, before their attention returned to the sky where Helen's plane was now lined up to come in.
“And there she is, all present and correct,” Lucy smiled.
They waited for Marjorie to taxi and waved at her as she wandered over towards them walking awkwardly, grumbling that she had taken a stick hit from her instructor during the flight. Lily watched Helen's plane carefully as it parked up.
Her eyes narrowed as she couldn't see the blonde in the front cockpit, she dismissed the thought, opting to think that her eyesight was playing tricks. However, when only Stark got out of the plane and leaned into the front cockpit she felt panic start to rise.
“Guys, there's something wrong,” she padded the back of Adrienne who turned to look toward where Lily was looking with wide eyes.
“What?” Adrienne asked.
“Stark’s back and Helen's not in the plane,” Lily yelled over her shoulder her feet already propelling her towards the instructor. “Where's Helen?” she grabbed the man's shoulders looking wildly between him and the plane in the vain hope that Helen was still in it.
“She…” the small man looked as though he was in shock, he shrugged. “Her harness, the clasp broke, she bailed out!” he said looking up wide-eyed at a distraught Lily. They had been joined by the others and shouts of disbelief surrounded the instructor. “She just fell out,” he added numbly.
“Where?” Lily asked trying to get him to focus on her. “Where did she fall?”
Stark pointed up towards the sky and Lily rolled her eyes.
“I know she fell out up there, but where might she have landed!”
He shook himself out of his reverie, his thoughts filled with the surprised look on Helen's face as she dropped out beneath the plane, “About eight miles east.”
Lily released him and grabbed Marjorie pulling her along behind her.
“Aaahhhh, my legs. Lily, What?.. Wait. Where are we going?” Marjorie yelled as Lily dragged her along by the collar of her overalls.
“To get Helen!”
***
Helen heaved the heavy parachute up, gathering the lose material that had slipped to her knees threatening to catapult her forwards again for the sixth time. She grumbled to herself as she made her way back towards the base along the deserted road.
She was on her second verse of the WASP song to keep her occupied when in the distance amongst the heat haze rising from the road she could make out something coming towards her.
“Oh thank God,” she breathed, continuing to walk.
Lily sat forward on the seat, pointing in the distance.
“Is that her?” she asked Marjorie, as the car got closer and Lily could make out the figure of Helen clutching her parachute she started to bounce on the seat. “It is her…she's alive!” she thumped Marjorie's arm excitedly. “Slow down,” she yelled as they got near. Lily pulled her feet up onto the car seat ignoring Marjorie's shouts of protests and before the car slowed to a stop, she jumped from it and ran the final distance to Helen, engulfing her in a tight hug.
“I thought I'd lost you,” she said breathlessly, holding a grinning Helen tightly.
***
Lily sat on her bed, her mind working through the event of the day when the sounds of squabbling from Marjorie and Lucy invaded her thoughts. She looked over to where Marjorie had been pinned to her bed by her younger sister who was desperately trying to grab a photograph that Marjorie was holding at arm’s length.
“Lily help,” Marjorie squawked. “Lucy has taken a photograph of herself in her long johns that she's going to send to Peter.”
Lucy's eyes widened. “Are you just going to tell everyone?” she gasped.
“Nope I'm going to show everyone,” Marjorie giggled, twisting so that her hand and its contents were still out of Lucy's reach. “Lily, you wanna see?”
Lily laughed and stood up and plucked the photo from Marjorie's grasp she looked appraisingly at the photo.
“Nice, Lucy,” she grinned.
Lucy looked from her sister to Lily. Her eyes narrowing, she tensed her muscles and Lily's face registered that she had realized that the younger woman was about to pounce. Before she could grab Lily, the taller woman had taken to her heels and was standing on one of the cots. Lucy gave chase as they bounded across the cots, Lily finally landing on the floor and throwing the bathroom door open.
Helen lay in the bath trying to block out the fact that Adrienne was sitting on the john, her trousers puddled around her ankles and her nose deep in one of their text books, while in the shower Adele was singing 'I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas', still wearing her overalls.
The warm water was soothing her sore muscles from her day's exertions and she had just closed her eyes when the bathroom door flew open. Opening her eyes she sighed as Lily entered the room with Lucy and Marjorie on her tail. Lily held one hand aloft dodging back and forth as Lucy tried to jump and grab whatever Lily had in her hand. The smaller woman was determined and backed Lily towards the bath; the sides of the tub hit the back of Lily's legs causing her to stumble. Lucy's eyes glowed as she realized that she had an advantage. She lunged at Lily tumbling her
into the bath on top of Helen. Lucy snatched the photograph, sniffed haughtily at Lily, and turned to exit pushing at her sister on her way past.