Silver Wings (16 page)

“Wobble pump, really!” Helen giggled before her laughter stalled in her throat; replaced by a moan as Lily thrust her hips once more while using her tongue to circle the nipple held firmly in her mouth.

Lily released Helen's nipple with a soft pop. “Check! Then it's a simple matter of flicking the ignition switch.” She lowered her hand between their bodies, groaning at the swollen arousal her fingers found, she slowly started to rub small circles, biting her lip as Helen started to moan noisily and move her hips in time with Lily's fingers. “You should hear the engine start to hum and the plane start to dance with the power,” she murmured seductively as she increased the pressure on Helen, eliciting a louder moan and a slight bucking of Helen's hips. “Check! The last thing is to check the flaps and radio the tower, so Hollywood, this is Sleeping Beauty. Permission for take-off?” she smiled dipping her fingers through Helen silky arousal. Helen nodded quickly.

“Permission granted. Roger,” she groaned and gripped the bedding in tight fists as Lily's slender fingers entered her.

Lily chuckled bringing her lips down onto Helen, “Just one thing. It’s Liliana, not Roger.”

Chapter Eight

Lily and Helen sat with the rest of their bay during a lively breakfast, each stealing glances as their minds escaped the chatter that surrounded them and took them back to moments during the night. Helen sat smirking as she recalled the 'flying' lesson that Lily had given her earlier.

“Don't you look like the cat that ate the cream?” Adrienne remarked with a raised eyebrow at Helen's expression.

“She's right. For once!” Adele added, getting a playful slap from Adrienne. “What you thinking about?” she nudged the blonde woman.

Helen's eyes locked with Lily who was sitting feigning innocence while sipping her coffee.

“Just going over my pre-flight checks in my head,” she smiled.

Lily choked on her coffee, spluttering and coughing loudly as Lucy pounded on her back.

“Ladies, finish up, we should be getting back to the airfield,” Ward said coming up to their table.

***

The bus trip back was filled with Adele and Adrienne relaying their bawdy versions of the WASP songs. The two women stood in the gangway announcing that they were like the Andrew Sisters only cheaper. Helen and Lily sat laughing at their friends antics, their hands planted on the space on the seat between them, their pinkies curled around each other.

Pulling their heavy leathers on, the good-natured banter continued between the Bay Four women.

“Hey, Stotty, you think that at tomorrow's game, you might try and hit a pitch?” Adrienne yelled, referring to the regular baseball game that replaced their PT sessions.

“You wanna stop throwing no balls,” Adele countered shrugging her heavy jacket into place. “Then maybe I will!”

“They're not no balls,” Adrienne snorted. “I can't help it if your head height is everyone else's waist height!”

The women laughed as Adele waddled over in her heavy leathers to swat Adrienne with her flight helmet.

“I bet you two weeks mopping, I hit a homerun Red.”

Adrienne held her hand out. “Deal. Good job you're good with a mop!” she yelled climbing up the wing of her plane.

“I ought to be, I spend enough time cleaning up your mess,” Adele shouted in return. “Happy landings ladies,” she nodded to Lily and Helen. before climbing up into her ride home.

“Happy landings,” they chorused in return.

***

Several hours of flying later Lily was parked in the stand completing her post flight checks, when the canopy of her plane opened.

“Did you see them?” Helen said breathlessly, still dressed in her flight leathers.

“See who?” Lily asked confused.

“The Addies, you and me were the last to go, and they're not back,” Helen replied, running a frustrated hand thought her curls. “I thought maybe you'd seen them.”

“How late are they?”

Helen stepped down the wing walkway to allow Lily to climb out of the plane, “A half hour.”

Lily frowned as she jumped down onto the ground beside Helen, “I'm sure there's a simple explanation.”

They joined Marjorie and Lucy who were sitting on the wooden benches that ran the length of the exterior of the hangar. Helen shook her head as they approached, the two sister's expressions fell as the hope that Lily may have seen them disappeared.

Nodding over towards a small group of women huddled together, Lily removed her leather helmet and ran a hand through her sweat damp hair. “What's going on over there?” she asked.

They shrugged as Lucy slapped her thighs and stood up, “Might as well go be nosey while we're waiting,”

Helen sat down in her place to wait.  Lucy returned to them moments later a sad look on her face, “A newbie is late back from her first PT solo.”

“How long’s she been out?” Marjorie asked, pulling her leather jacket onto her lap to make space for her sister.

“Forty minutes or so,” Lucy replied sitting down.

They waited in a nervous silence for twenty minutes until the still of the afternoon was broken by the sound of engines approaching. Marjorie squinted into the sky.

 “That's a BT,” she said sadly.

They dropped their hopeful eyes and sat quietly again as the plane came into land. Lily reached for Helen's hand, feeling the need for her comforting touch.

Ten minutes later another engine hummed in the distance. “That's an AT engine,” Lily said standing up.

The others joined her quickly as they waited for the plane to come into view. As soon as the plane bounced along the runway, the four women started to run. The plane had barely stopped in the stand when they climbed up the wing and flung the canopy back. A startled Adrienne looked up in surprise.

“Well that's what I call a welcome!”

“Where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick,” Helen yelled.

Adrienne gave a sheepish look, “I'm not
that
late.”

“Almost an hour,” Lucy yelled from her spot on the ground behind the wing. Adrienne raised herself up and peered out of the cockpit to glare at Lucy.

“
Thank you,
” she said sarcastically
,
standing up onto the bucket seat of the plane.

“So where have you been?” Lily asked her face scrunching as she caught a whiff of something from the cockpit. “What's that smell?”

Adrienne frowned waving them away so she could climb out. “I got caught short,” she admitted. “I had to use the pilot relief tube.”

“How the hell did that make you late?” Marjorie asked her jumping down to stand beside Lucy.

“Firstly no judging, I got knocked off course,” Adrienne held a finger up to stop them responding as she climbed out and walked down the walkway on the wing before jumping down to the ground. “Secondly, I had to strip,” her eyes widened for emphasis. “And I mean strip. I was flying the damn thing wearing only my bra. Apparently undressing, and dressing, while flying will cause you to veer drastically off course!” she exclaimed. “Once I got the leather off, then the zoot suit as well as my uniform pants, I remembered the damn long johns, so the shirt had to go, then the long johns and finally my underwear,” Adrienne ticked each item off on her fingers as she listed them, “Aaaand the damn relief tube is tiny so…” she paused.

Lily's eyes widened, “The smell, it was pee!”

“You peed in the cockpit,” Marjorie asked incredulously.

“No,” Adrienne clarified with a shake of her head. “I peed in the tube, only it's not built for women,” she finished quietly looking at the faces of her friends. Finally realizing they were missing someone she looked puzzled, “Where's Adele?”

***

Darkness had fallen and the five women sat huddled together on the bench, their hands plunged into the pockets of their flight leathers trying to ward off the drop in temperature that night had brought.

Foster watched the five of them from a distance, their body language a mix of hope and despair. Heads rested against the hangar behind them, eyes stared into the distance no doubt not seeing anything, heels of their heavy boots kicked against the ground disconsolately. She took a breath then approached them.

“You should try and get some sleep,” she said kindly.

Lucy was the only one who turned to look at the officer, the others still lost to their thoughts.

 “Thank you Ma'am we're good,” Lucy replied before returning her head to rest against the hangar with a quiet thud.

“You'll freeze,” Foster tried again. “You should come in.”

Adrienne still starting straight ahead set her jaw determinedly.

“We always wait,” she swallowed hard and turned to look at Foster with eyes red from the tears she refused to shed. “We go out as one, we come in as one,” she nodded to emphasis her point. Helen took her hand gripping it tightly. “We're not going anywhere until Adele is home,” she added in a tone that left Foster in no doubt that the discussion was over.

An hour later Foster returned with another officer, bringing a tray of hot coffees and blankets, which the women gratefully received.

The sound of the first notes of reveille roused them, hands rubbed tired eyes, necks twisted back and forth to alleviate the pain from the awkward position that sleep had forced upon them. They looked up at the sound of footsteps as an ashen-faced Foster approached. Adrienne leapt up as she watched Foster's progress towards them. Helen stood slowly, standing next to Adrienne and looping her arm through the taller woman's.

“We just got a call from a farmer twenty miles east of Abilene, he went out to his fields this morning, and…”

“No,” Adrienne yelled. “Adele is a damn good flyer, the conditions were perfect. You've made a mistake!”

Foster blinked back tears as she shook her head. “He gave us the plane and her dog tag numbers, I'm sorry,” she gulped down the lump in her throat. “It looks like she and the newbie who was soloing yesterday collided,” she swallowed hard before adding another useless apology.

Adrienne crumpled to the ground. “No,” she cried into her hands as Marjorie and Lucy held each other and sobbed, each trying to comprehend the blow they'd been dealt.

Helen looked down at Adrienne, balled tightly against herself and lost in her grief. Feeling hot tears flowing down her cheeks, she turned her head towards Lily who was standing frozen to the spot, stricken by the fate of their friend. Helen pulled her by her leathers into a hug as sobs broke free and wracked both their bodies.

***

“Permission denied,” Captain Hardy said, looking up sadly at the women standing opposite his desk, their faces carrying the scars of their nighttime vigil and the grief that followed in the day.

“She was our friend Sir,” Lily pleaded.

“I know and I'm sorry for your loss, but you graduate in a few weeks and we can't allow you time you don't have.”

“I don’t care about the God-dammed graduation,” Adrienne spat. “Sir,” she added as an afterthought.

Hardy stood up, “Given the circumstances, I'm going to ignore that outburst cadet. Permission not granted. Dismissed.”

The women saluted and marched out of the office.

“I'm sick of this,” Adrienne raged. “Why won't they let us take her home!” she smacked her palm against the wall in frustration.

Marjorie rubbed Adrienne's back, “I know, we'll see what the funeral home say, when we go.”

“She was our friend,” Lucy said quietly. “We should get to escort her.”

They walked out into the parade ground ignoring the pitying looks from the class doing drill there as they returned to their bay. Entering, they immediately noticed the difference in the room they had left. Adele's bed had been stripped and her locker emptied of her belongings.

“What the hell!” Adrienne yelled, spinning and leaving the room, stomping off in search of Foster.

Lily gave her friends a quick glance. They seemed rooted to the spot, still looking at the living space that Adele had occupied.

“I'll go,” Lily said simply and set off in pursuit of Adrienne. She found the red-haired woman pointing her finger and yelling in Foster's face.

“How dare you!”

Lily grabbed Adrienne's arm and tried to pull her away.

“You had no right, she's not even gone twenty-four hours, and you clean out her stuff.”

“I was trying to help,” Foster said helplessly, “to spare you.” Her eyes pleaded with Lily who nodded her acknowledgement.

Adrienne put her face close to Foster's and snarled, “Well you had no damn right,” before storming off back to the bay.

“She's hurting,” Lily offered an explanation. “We all are,” she bit her trembling lip and left Foster, who was looking hopelessly at the ground.

***

The five women stepped into the Sweetwater funeral home, a somber older woman greeted them and asked which of the WASP they were here to see. They looked momentarily confused until they remembered the newbie, whose name they hadn't heard until just now. They were led into a room where a simple pine box with no adornment lay.

 “We're waiting on her family contacting us to tell us what they want to do,” the women said.

“What's that?” Helen asked. “That's not Adele?” she looked at the faces around her in confusion. “When it’s a military death there’s a proper coffin, and a flag,” her voice broke. “She should have a flag.”

The funeral director looked sadly towards Helen, “I'm sorry dear, but your friend wasn't military. We don't get paid for a casket or for the transportation, so…” she left the rest of the sentence hanging.

“Get her a proper casket,” Adrienne said, her eyes fixed on the wooden box. “I'll pay for it. Just put her in a proper casket.”

“We'll pay,” Marjorie corrected. “We'll all pay.”

The Bay Four women each added their contribution and selected a casket for their friend, as they stood to leave Lily whispered, “Can we?” She cleared her throat, “Can we go see her again?”

The woman nodded and led them back to the room. They walked over to the coffin, each laying a hand on the smoothed wood.

 “We live in the wind and the sand, and our eyes are on the stars,” Lily said softly, reciting the WASP motto. “Happy landings Adele,” she added, tears falling down her face splashing onto her hand.