The Boxcar Blues (35 page)

Roseann unwrapped it and her face glowed
with joy. “Oh, Luke. It’s so beautiful. This is the prettiest
present I’ve ever had. Thank you.” She ran off to play with her
present.

After dinner his Momma asked, “What are your
plans now, Luke?”

He said, “I’m going back out to New Mexico
in a few days. Momma.”

His Mother looked forlorn and said, “I
thought with Barney gone you might stay here.”

“
There’s nothing for me
here. I might be able to find a flying job out there.”

“
I hope you find
happiness, son.”

Catwalk didn’t say anything, but thought
about Rosemary. He hadn’t told his Momma about her because he knew
what she’d say if she knew he even talked to another man’s wife
behind his back. Nevertheless, he thought about Rosemary often—and
they were pleasant, comforting thoughts.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Catwalk arrived at the farm in New Mexico
one week later. As expected, the place seemed empty without
Barney’s presence. Over coffee Julio told him about Barney’s last
days. “About six months before he died, he started getting sick
more often. The nurse told me the end was near because his body
wasn’t strong enough to fight off the sickness. She was right.”

“
At least he didn’t
suffer.”

“
No, he didn’t; that’s one
good thing.” Julio lit a cigar, then said, “He left me the farm in
his will, with the provision that you and Curly have a home here
anytime you want to come back. I’ll certainly honor this, but I’d
rather have you here than Curly. He’s a little on the wild
side.”

“
You might not have to
worry about him. He got shot down over enemy territory. I don’t
know if he survived. He was coming back to marry Billy Sue, but
now, who knows?”

“
Do you think that would
have been good for her? Last time I talked to her, she said she was
doing real well. I don’t know if she needs him or not.”

“
I think it would be good
for the child to have a father.”

Julio nodded in agreement, “Yes, I can’t
argue with that.”

“
The farm looks like it’s
doing well. How long ago did you leave Rocky Mountain?”

“
I resigned shortly after
Barney died. The airline management expected the maintenance men to
save money by cutting corners. I told them I wouldn’t do it and
they threatened to fire me. I resigned and came back to run the
farm full time.”

“
The airline is in
trouble, isn’t it?”

“
They’re hanging on, but
only because Davis’ group keeps getting bank loans to bail them
out.”

“
Are there a lot of
disgruntled employees?”

“
Oh, yes. After Davis took
over, discontent spread through the airline like a wildfire. The
people became indifferent in their work; turn-around times and
passenger complaints increased. No one in management could figure
it out.”

“
I’m glad I sold my stock
when I did.”

“
Me too. It’s nice not
having to worry about how you’re going to pay the bills.” Julio
stood and stretched, “Well, I’ve got some things to do. Make
yourself at home, Cat.”

When Julio went to finish his chores,
Catwalk walked down to the oak tree to visit Barney’s and Sam’s
grave. He told Sam that he’d met her sister, and he poured out the
conflict he was feeling after seeing Rosemary. He then told Barney
how much he appreciated all he’d done for him and Curly. When he
left, he felt cleansed after talking to the people who’d meant so
much to him, but he also felt an incredible sense of
loneliness.

Catwalk then called the Levitz farm. With
relief, he listened to Curly’s brother, “Curly’s fine. He survived
in a POW camp, then after being discharged he came home for a few
weeks. He left for Albuquerque about a few days ago. He said he was
going out there to get married.”

Catwalk said, “Thanks for the good news. If
you should talk to him, tell him to call me at the farm. He’ll know
where that is.”

Over the next few days Catwalk stayed busy
helping Julio. It felt good to be working in the old familiar
surroundings, but he hoped he’d find a flying job so he wouldn’t be
facing a steady diet of farm work. Three days after he’d talked to
Curly’s brother, he got a phone call and heard his old friend’s
familiar voice. “Cat, I got your message. What are you up to?”

“
Right now, I’m helping
Julio. How about you? How did the Germans treat you?”

“
We weren’t treated too
badly, but the food was lousy. It’s good to be back in the
USA.”

“
Curly, I’ve got some bad
news; Barney died a few months ago.”

“
Oh, God no. Cat, we owe
everything good in our lives to him.” As Curly said this he thought
about the time he’d resigned in a fit of emotion. He regretted that
this was probably how Barney had remembered him.

“
Yes, we do. They got a
nice marker for him and buried him near Sam and Mary under the big
oak tree down by the creek. I went down to his grave this morning
and thanked him for giving us the lives we have.”

“
That was his favorite
place on the whole spread. Is Julio running the farm
now?”

“
Yes. He resigned from
Rocky Mountain shortly after Barney died. He said they wanted the
maintenance section to cut corners and he wouldn’t do
it.”

“
I don’t blame him. Billy
Sue said she’s thinking about moving to another carrier because of
the way they’re running Rocky Mountain. Are you out here looking
for work?”

“
I haven’t started looking
for work yet, but I’m going to soon. How about you?”

Curly said, “I’m in Albuquerque. I drove out
to ask Billy Sue to marry me.”

“
Well, when is the
wedding?”

“
It ain’t. We had a long
talk and she said she thought we should wait a while, until I find
out what I’m going to be doing. I think what she meant was, until I
settle down some, maybe mature some more.”

Even though David wouldn’t have a daddy,
Catwalk was somewhat relieved to hear that they’d postponed the
nuptials. “I’d say that’s a wise decision.”

“
Yeah, I know where she’s
coming from. How long you gonna be at the farm?”

“
I’m not sure. I’m helping
Julio and working on one of the Jennys to get it back in shape.
They’ve been neglected for the past couple of years.”

“
I’ll drive out there. I
should be there by late afternoon.”

Later that day, Catwalk talked to his old
friend while he changed the tail wheel on the Jenny. “Flying is the
only thing we know, Curly, except farming and neither of us wants
to go back on the farm.”

“
You got that right, but
where do we start? I don’t want to go back to Alaska and it ain’t
like we can go out and buy a Connie, or even a DC-3 to start our
own outfit.”

Julio said, “People are buying old planes
for personal use now and there are a ton of old military aircraft
for sale. You can sell the Jenny. That should give you enough for a
down payment on a surplus B-25. Start by hauling cargo.”

Curly looked around the nose from where he’d
been installing the propeller he’d just balanced. “Can we make any
money doing that?”

Catwalk said, “There’s only one way to find
out. Julio, you want to throw in with us?”

“
Nah. I like it being
retired here on the farm. I don’t need that pressure
anymore.”

Catwalk and Curly spent the next week
talking to old contacts and researching the air freight business.
They discovered that their timing couldn’t have been better because
there were several growing industries in the west and southwest
that needed the services of a reliable cargo airline.

Two weeks later, at March Air Force Base,
Catwalk watched as Curly signed the paperwork making them the owner
of a twin-engine B-25. On the flight back to Albuquerque, he said,
“You did most of the research on the various industries that rely
on air freight. Did you find a business that’s growing fast and
needs reliable shipping service.”

Curly didn’t hesitate. “The oil business in
west Texas.”

At hearing that Catwalk groaned, “Curly, you
could’ve said anywhere but Texas.”

“
I know how you feel about
Texas but that’s the fastest growing industry in the
country.”

Ten days later, flying under the name of
Aztec Air Freight, they hauled a load of drilling mud from Midland,
Texas to the new oil fields in Santa Barbara, California. The
choice to feed off the oil industry had been a good one. Due to the
fuel demands from increased automobile and aircraft usage, the oil
business was booming and spreading out, both domestically and
internationally. Over the next few months, they routinely flew
supplies to places like Puerto Barrio, Guatemala; Managua,
Nicaragua; and Colon, Panama, as well as several stateside
destinations. Their success, however, resulted in long hours in the
air, which was taking a toll.

They’d just taken off from a refueling stop
in Monterrey, Mexico, when Catwalk said, “Flying twelve and
fourteen hour days is killing me. We’ve got to buy a couple more
aircraft and hire some pilots.”

“
I think you’re right,
pard. You think we should stick with the B-25?”

“
They sure are cheap and
easy to get. Why don’t we buy two more and then find a couple
DC-3s. We’ve got enough cargo contracts to keep several planes busy
and the DC-3s will be better for the long term.”

Curly said, “I just hope we can find some
reliable pilots.”

Catwalk said, “That shouldn’t be a problem.
There are thousands of ex-military pilots looking for work.”
Nothing was said for a few minutes while Curly went back to check
on the load of refinery pipe that sounded like it had shifted.

When he returned, Catwalk
said, “I’ve got an idea. The airlines are hiring many of the
ex-military pilots, but they’re not hiring any black pilots. I’d
rather hire combat tested pilots than take a chance on pilots fresh
out of flying school. We can hire the black pilots, many of whom I
flew with in the 99
^th
.”

“
If they fly cargo
anything like they flew our escorts, I’m all for it. But, just
because they’re black doesn’t mean they get a free pass. They’ve
got to meet our standards.”

“
That goes without saying.
I’ll take out an ad in a few newspapers and we’ll see what kind of
response we get.”

Word spread among the community of black
pilots and hundreds of applications poured in. For the next several
weeks, whenever he wasn’t flying, Catwalk interviewed pilots over
the phone. He enjoyed the luxury of having so many pilots to choose
from, but he could only hire so many at a time. He had to send out
a lot of rejections and each one broke his heart.

His efforts to help out
the black pilots didn’t go unnoticed. Four months after they hired
the first one, a reporter for Life magazine showed up to interview
him. The June issue featured Catwalk on the cover. The article
explained how he was building a successful freight airline with the
black pilots who couldn’t find work elsewhere. The article, which
called this a win-win situation, also focused on Catwalk’s history,
from almost being hung by the Klan, being removed as President of
Rocky Mountain Airways, the serum run in Alaska and his success as
a fighter pilot with the 99
^th
. It was a flattering
article, but in a racially insecure country, it met with varied
reactions. The hard-line traditional southerners still had a
problem with a black man achieving success.

In a darkened lounge in Austin, Texas a
bespectacled man in a dark suit addressed four other men at the
table. “Did you see the cover of Life magazine? I can’t believe
they put a colored boy on their cover and then told the whole
country that he was running his business out of Midland. That
article made it sound like we welcome those negras with open arms.
We’re gonna have a migration of uppity coloreds who think they can
move here and do as they please.”

Claude Givens, Texas Secretary of Commerce,
said, “They won’t last. Give ‘em a year and they’ll all be working
as Pullman porters or bell hops.”

“
Bullshit, Claude. This
Jackson fella’ is expanding and buying more aircraft. Their damn
airline is going to be bigger than Lone Star if they keep growing.
Ever since Truman signed the executive order to integrate the
military, they think they got the same rights as
whites.”

A tanned man in a grey suit signaled the
waitress for another round, then said, “Unfortunately, they have
the right to go into business like anyone else, and there ain’t a
thing we can do about it.”

Another man said, “I’m not so sure about
that.” Silence fell over the table, then he continued, “They’re
flying old World War Two aircraft, that are probably unsafe. The
guy heading the Dallas office of the Civil Aviation Authority owes
me a favor. I’ll arrange for the feds to hold some spot inspections
on their airplanes—some real tough inspections. We’ll send these
boys a message that they’d be better off doing business somewhere
other than Texas.”

In the Collinsville Federal Prison, Alton
Jones had never visited the prison library. The one time he walked
in there, it was to bum a cigarette from another inmate. He saw the
issue of Life magazine with Catwalk on the cover and snatched it
off the shelf. “That son of a bitch!”