The Boxcar Blues (18 page)

“
I hope so.”

“
If she gets married, will
she still fly with you?”

“
I wouldn’t want to work
with another man’s wife; traveling around and all.”

“
Good
thinking.”

Catwalk had just finished breakfast when
Curly walked into the kitchen. “Morning,” was all he said. He
poured a cup of coffee, lit a cigarette and sat down.

Catwalk asked, “So, when is the date?”

“
What do you mean? What
date?”

Catwalk chuckled, “The wedding date, Curly.
Last night when you two came home, you said you were getting
married, but you didn’t say when.”

Curly looked at Catwalk with disbelief
written all over his face. “Oh shit. Now I remember. Damn it, I
wonder if Billy Sue remembers.”

As if on cue, Billy Sue walked in, gave
Curly a peck on the cheek and said, “Hi, Cat. Hi, honey. You don’t
look too good this morning.”

“
Yeah, too much whiskey, I
think. How do you feel?”

“
I feel wonderful. I
haven’t danced like that in ages.” She twirled and danced around
the kitchen, reliving her fantastic night of partying.

Curly said, “I don’t remember too much of
last night. Do you remember everything that we did, Billy Sue?”

“
I sure do.” She said with
a grin.

Curly looked at Catwalk, who raised his
eyebrows. Then Curly asked, “Did we, ah, did we talk about getting
married?”

“
We sure did, honey. You
said we could get hitched right after you get your next pay raise.
I’m so excited. What do you think, Cat?”

“
I think it’s wonderful,
but I’ll have to find another wing walker.”

“
Why?” She asked with a
hurt expression. “I can still work with you after I’m
married.”

Catwalk poured a cup of coffee, then said,
“Billy Sue, I just don’t think it would be right to be traveling
around with another man’s wife.”

Curly said, “I don’t mind. If Billy Sue
wants to keep working with you, I’m fine with that. If I can’t
trust you, Cat, who can I trust?”

Billy Sue said, “There. See. He don’t
mind.”

Catwalk shook his head. “Billy Sue, I like
working with you, but it’s different now that you’re spoken
for.”

Curly, who wasn’t as excited about the
upcoming nuptials, seized the opportunity. “Well, maybe we should
postpone the wedding for a while so you can fly some more.”

Billy Sue countered, emphatically, “No way,
Buster!” She sat down and looked Curly in the eye. “Are you having
second thoughts?”

“
No, Billy Sue, but….” He
never got to finish.

“
But, what? Do you want to
get married or not?”

“
Well, I do, Billy Sue.
But, maybe we’re rushing into this.”

“
Oh, now I get it. Last
night it was I love you, Billy Sue, and Billy Sue, I can’t live
without you. But, today after you got laid, it’s a different story.
Now that you’ve ridden the horse, you’re not so sure you want to
buy it, right?”

“
No, Billy Sue, that’s not
it at all.” He ran a hand through his curly red hair. “I just think
we made a decision last night that should have been made when we
were sober.”

Billy Sue turned to Catwalk and said, “When
is your next show?”

“
I’m going up to the
Douglas County Fair in Colorado Springs, day after
tomorrow.”

Emphatically, Billy Sue said, “I’m going
with you, and I’m not spoken for.”

Catwalk looked at Curly who shrugged his
shoulders. He said, “O.K. I’ve got to help Julio with some
maintenance. I’m taking the Boeing up later if you want to go.”

“
Sure, Catwalk, I’ll go
anywhere as long as he’s not flying.”

On his way to the hangar, Catwalk thought
about the scene he’d just witnessed. He liked Billy Sue, but she
and Curly were two of a kind; wild and prone to making
irresponsible decisions. He wondered if they’d end up together,
even though she hated him now. Then he thought about Sam. Her
questions used to catch him off guard, but she was easy to talk to,
and he felt if they’d had the chance, they wouldn’t have gotten
married until the time was right. It was times like this that he
realized how right they had been for each other, and how much he
still missed her.

At the hangar Julio asked, “When is the
date?”

“
Curly had second
thoughts, then they had a fight and now the wedding is
off.”

“
Was Billy Sue ready to go
through with it?”

“
She was, but now she’s
pretty upset.”

Julio shook his head and said, “Curly gets
into that booze and you never know what’s going to happen.”

Catwalk didn’t want to belabor this, so he
asked, “Do you want me change the plugs on the Boeing?”

“
Yes, on engines two and
three. I did number one yesterday. Then we’ve got to clean the fuel
filters and you can take her up for a test flight.”

“
Good, I miss flying
her.”

Julio asked, “Are you ever going back to
Rocky Mountain, or are you going to keep barnstorming?”

“
I want to go back to
flying for the airline, but not if it’s going to affect the
passenger loads. I don’t want to be the cause of Barney going out
of business.”

Julio put down the hammer and wiped his
hands on a rag. He looked at Cat and said, “Listen to me, son.
Barney would rather go out of business with you flying for the
airline, than stay in business with you doing something else. He
wants you to be an airline pilot because he knows how much you want
it. Personally, I think you should go back and don’t worry about
the passengers. If they want to fly with you, fine. If they don’t,
to hell with them. Over time people will accept colored pilots, but
you can’t let the ignorant ones ruin your dreams.”

“
Thanks, Julio. I
appreciate your support.”

Three hours later Catwalk and Billy Sue went
up for a test flight in the Boeing. Billy Sue didn’t say much,
except that she thought it was the most magnificent airplane she’d
ever been in. Catwalk kept up a running dialog about the Boeing
because he didn’t want her to talk about her fight with Curly. Even
so, she finally asked, “What do you think I should do, Cat?”

“
I don’t know, Billy Sue.
It was you and him that decided to get married while you were in
your cups, so you’ll have to work it out with him.”

“
Do you think he loves
me?”

“
Well, he’s only known you
for one day. Maybe Curly can fall in love in one day, I don’t know.
If you want to work things out with him, you should do it when
you’re sober.”

“
You must think I’m pretty
daffy, but I had such a good time last night. I can’t tell you how
long it’s been since I had that much fun; we did the Charleston and
Black Bottom for hours. I guess that’s why Curly and I hit it off
so well.”

Catwalk didn’t comment and Billy Sue looked
out the window until she asked, “Well, can I still fly with
you?”

“
I think I’m only going to
do two more shows, the one in Colorado Springs and then one in
Garden City, Kansas. You can do those if you want to, but then I’m
going to see if Barney will let me go back to fly with Rocky
Mountain.”

“
O.K., I’ll do those with
you and then maybe come back here and talk to Curly. Maybe after
he’s had some time to think things over, we can work things
out.”

Catwalk said, “I hope things work out for
you, Billy Sue.” He was thinking, however, about his return to
Rocky Mountain Airways. It was easy for everyone to say he should
just ignore the passengers who didn’t want to fly with him, but
they didn’t have to stand there and feel the revulsion, or look
into their eyes and see the hatred, knowing their feelings had
nothing to do with his flying ability.

But, those passengers were standing between
him and his dream and he resented it. So, now it was time to make
everyone proud by stepping up and staring the problem in the face.
It was time for him to show the world that he had the ability to
become an airline pilot and there were no obstacles that he
couldn’t overcome.

He returned to the field and made a textbook
three point landing that brought a compliment, “Nice grease job!”
from Billy Sue. He told Julio the plane was ready to go back on the
line and then wrote a six page letter to his Momma.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Catwalk flew the two air shows with Billy
Sue. They both paid well, which helped build his savings that had
been dwindling due to parts he had to buy for the Jenny. After the
last show he flew Billy Sue back to the farm, so she could talk to
Curly. Not wanting to get in the middle of their squabble, he took
off for Albuquerque, determined to shed the life of a barnstormer
and resume the life of an airline pilot.

When Barney saw him sitting in the
operations office, he didn’t mince words. “I hope you’re here to
work.”

Catwalk stood up to shake his hand and said,
“I am.”

“
Good. In two weeks I’m
adding two trips daily to our schedule. I’ll be putting both birds
in service and buying a third. I’m going to need a couple more
pilots. I’m breaking in a new pilot for the next two days, but
starting on Wednesday you can fly with me through the end of the
week to get back in the swing of things?”

“
I’d like that,
Barney.”

“
Good. In the mean time,
you can help out on the ramp. I’ve ordered uniforms for all the
employees. The ramp personnel will have tan coveralls with Rocky
Mountain Airways on the back. The pilots will wear white shirts and
a tan jacket with the airline symbol on the pocket. When we get
everyone fitted out, I’ll hire a photographer to come out and take
a group picture.”

Over dinner that night Barney talked
non-stop about the changes President Roosevelt was making, in an
attempt to revive the economy. “FDR’s got this guy named Harry
Hopkins who is going to run the Federal Emergency Relief
Administration, and he’s the type that will get things done. The
plan is to establish over fourteen hundred camps for the Civilian
Conservation Corps, where they’ll employ two hundred and fifty
thousand people. The Civil Works Administration is employing eight
hundred thousand people with plans of employing close to four
million. Now, the most of the jobs in these programs are temporary,
but when people start working they start spending, and that will
fuel the cycle of economic recovery.”

Catwalk asked, “All of those plans sound
good, but how soon do you think more people will be flying?”

“
We’ve already seen an
increase in passengers, but a few things have to happen before the
increase is continuous. More businesses have to open, so more
business people will be flying. People have to accept that flying
is safe and they have to learn how much quicker it is than taking
the train. One of the problems we’re facing is the railroads serve
meals and drinks in their dining car, so hell, the people are
traveling in comfort and luxury. They’re not about to give that up
if they think airplanes are unsafe.”

“
Why can’t we serve meals
and drinks on our airplanes?”

Barney said, “I’ve heard the some of the
pilots at Transcontinental and Western are taking thermoses of hot
coffee for the passengers. I’m going to have to keep that in mind
because the day is going to come when planes are going to be flying
long distances and passengers have to eat.”

“
I agree, Barney. Why
don’t I get us a couple thermos bottles for coffee. That’s a
start.”

“
Good idea. Damn, it’s
great having you back.”

Catwalk agreed.

Back at the farm, Curly and Billy Sue
weren’t making any progress toward a meeting of the minds. Billy
Sue was ready to get married, but Curly was more hesitant than
ever.

Tired of arguing Billy Sue finally asked
him, “Curly, do you want to get married, or not?”

Curly had been thinking about this. He liked
Billy Sue and wanted to continue their relationship, but not on a
permanent basis. He said, “I don’t want to get married right
away.”

“
O.K., when?”

“
I don’t know, Billy Sue.
Maybe in a few months.”

“
I don’t think you want to
get married at all. I think you don’t have the guts to tell me
you’re against it.”

Curly lit a cigarette and said, “I like you,
Billy Sue, but I’m not ready to get married to anyone right now. I
might feel different in the future, but for now, I’m not getting
married.”

“
Well, I’m heading back
home. I guess my uncle was right.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
About a year ago he told
me, ‘Billy Sue, as you go through life remember one thing; if it’s
got tires or testicles, it’ll give you a lot of
problems.’”

Curly laughed and said, “That’s good, Billy
Sue. Can I give you a ride to the bus depot?”

“
Sure. I’ll take a
ride.”

On Wednesday morning Catwalk showed up for
work an hour early. He stowed his lunch and charts in the cockpit,
helped the ramp crew clean out the plane, then preformed the
preflight inspection. When Barney arrived they got the weather
briefing and waited to load the passengers.

Ten minutes before their departure time, he
and Barney took their place at the bottom of the stairs. Nine
passengers lined up with tickets. Two said something about having a
black pilot, but as soon as they did, Barney advised them to refund
their tickets and thanked them for making room for more passengers.
Only one person refused to fly. The other one got halfway back to
the terminal, then turned around and joined the end of the line.
Barney winked at Catwalk and climbed the stairs to the cabin.