The Boxcar Blues (38 page)

While the men talked, Billy Sue took the
opportunity to explain a fact of life to her new friend, “Rosemary,
there’s something that might be difficult for you to understand.
I’m sure Cat loves you as much as one man can love a woman, but at
times it’ll seem like he loves his airline more. He and Curly have
worked very hard at building the airline from the ground up and
they live and breathe their business. Try to keep in mind that it’s
more like an obsession with the airline, but with you it’s true
love.”

“
Thanks, Billy Sue, I’ll
remember that.”

Rosemary adjusted well to the life in New
Mexico. She spent the first month buying furniture and redecorating
the apartment. Although Catwalk still flew a lot, when he was home,
he enjoyed the happiest times of his life. He and Rosemary went
walking in the park, to ball games, the zoo, or picnicking in the
mountains. The activities didn’t matter as much as the fact that
they were together. One day while they were enjoying a rosy New
Mexico sunset, Rosemary said, “I want to go back to work until we
have kids.”

“
O.K. How many children
are we going to have?”

“
How many do you
want?”

“
Two is a good round
number.”

She giggled and said, “So is six.”

“
It might be difficult to
find someone who’ll hire a black woman. I’ll find you something at
the airline.”

“
I’ve got secretarial
training, can I be your secretary?”

“
We’d never get any work
done, because I’d be chasing you around the office all the time.
Besides, I’m rarely in the office. I should be able to find you
something in Billy Sue’s office.”

“
You’re not going to fire
anyone to create my job, are you?”

“
Oh, no. You’ll only get
the job when there’s a legitimate opening that you’re qualified
for. We don’t run our business like the Davis’ run
theirs.”

Two weeks later, Rosemary started working in
the Operations Department. She loved learning her new job and
enjoyed the excitement the airline business, but wished that
Catwalk wasn’t gone so much. She told herself this was the price
that had to be paid for his success. She hoped once they got the
passenger airline established he’d be home more.

On September 7, 1946, Catwalk and Curly sat
in the cockpit of a DC-4, going through the pre take-off checklist
prior to Aztec Airline’s first passenger flight.

From the left seat, Catwalk said, “Battery
cart?”

“
On.”

“
Seat belt, no
smoking?”

“
On.”

“
Cowl flaps?”

“
Open.”

“
Mixtures?”

“
Idle cut off.”

“
Gear handle down and
flaps up?”

“
Check.”

“
Trim tabs set? Parking
brakes on? Hydraulic pressure?”

“
One thousand
pounds.”

“
Props high RPM? And cross
feed valves off?”

“
Check.”

“
Carburetor
heat?”

“
Cold.”

“
Main tanks on? I checked
the fuel quantity, two thousand gallons. Air speed static selectors
saftied?”

“
Check.”

“
Pitot heaters? Anti-icer
fluid?”

“
Thirty five
gallons.”

“
Generators?”

“
Off.”

“
Fire warning…test.”
Catwalk pressed a button. An alarm bell clanged behind his head and
four red lights glowed in the instrument panel.

“
Check list
complete.”

Curly looked outside and saw the mechanic
with a fire bottle, holding up three fingers. He shouted, “Clear on
number three.”

Catwalk closed the master magneto switch
while Curly energized the starter and primed number three engine.
He waited twenty seconds then pushed the switch. Catwalk advanced
the number three throttle slightly and watched the fuel pressure
gauges.

“
Switch and boost.” The
number three engine backfired once and roared to life. The other
three engines started equally well and all four settled into an
even rumble as the stewardess stuck her head in the door, and said,
“Pins aboard and twenty four passengers, Captain.”

“
Thanks,
Jonesy.”

Curly checked the free movement of the flaps
and the fuel cross feed system as they taxied to the end of the
runway. They checked the magnetos and prop feathering mechanisms on
all four engines. Next they set gyros and altimeters and uncaged
the artificial horizon.

Catwalk turned onto the runway and advanced
the throttles. At ninety miles an hour a slight back pressure on
the yoke lifted the nose off. At one hundred and twenty, Aztec
flight One-Hundred became airborne.

Catwalk lifted his palm and commanded, “Gear
up.”

As soon as they heard the knocking of the
gear locking up, and saw three green lights, Curly said, “We’re
back in the airline business, Cat.” At five hundred feet, he called
back to the cabin and said, “We’re turning off the lights, Jonesy.
You can pour the complimentary champagne.”

After Aztec flight One hundred landed in
Denver, the crew handed out mementos and thanked the passengers for
flying with them on their inaugural flight. Once their duties were
completed, Catwalk and Curly took a cab to the hotel where they
celebrated over drinks.

Cat confessed, “I’ve got to tell you, Curly,
I’ve been holding my breath since we applied for this route. I was
sure someone was going to find a reason to stop us from starting
our passenger service.”

“
Partner, sometimes I
think you worry too much,”

Catwalk laughed and said, “Working with you
someone has to do the worrying. You have to remember, I’ve been in
this business before and had it all taken away from me.”

Curly put an arm around Catwalk’s shoulders.
“Old buddy, you don’t have to worry anymore. We’re back in the
airline business and nobody can take this away from us.”

Catwalk smiled at his friend’s confidence.
He called Rosemary to tell her he’d be home first thing in the
morning, then he and Curly celebrated late into the night.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Prior to their inaugural flight, Catwalk had
covertly approached several Rocky Mountain employees. He offered
them a fifteen percent pay raise, double time for overtime, and
stock options. Within a month ten former Rocky Mountain employees
reported for work.

Catwalk and Curly hired and nurtured a
dedicated work force, just as Barney had taught them when he’d
first founded Rocky Mountain. Once the word about the working
conditions at Aztec got out, employees from other airlines were
applying for employment. The formula worked as well now as it did
then, but their growth wasn’t without problems, such as the night
Catwalk found Curly and a stewardess in a compromising
situation.

They’d been late flying back from Denver due
to weather. Curly said he’d check on the clean-up crew, while
Catwalk went inside to do the paperwork. An hour later Catwalk saw
the lights were still on in the plane. He worried that a crewman
had left them on. When he entered the plane, however, he discovered
Curly and a stewardess on the floor of the plane, in various stages
of undress.

“
Excuse me,” he
shouted.

They both looked at him, surprised and
embarrassed. The stewardess grabbed her blouse and covered up.
Curly said, “Aw shit, Cat.”

Catwalk said, “Marilyn, I’ll talk to you
later. Curly, put your pants on and meet me inside.”

Marilyn asked sheepishly, “Am I fired?”

“
No. I don’t think it was
your fault.”

Curly walked into their office and lit a
cigarette. Catwalk didn’t wait for his excuses. “There are several
reasons why you shouldn’t have done that.”

Curly became defensive. “What makes you
think it was my fault?”

“
Because I know you, and I
know how you act around women.”

“
It’s not like she’s
married or anything. We’re both single, so what’s the
problem?”

“
For starters, she’s an
employee, and we’re supposed to be a company that treats its
employees with respect. Did you ever stop to think of what Billy
Sue will say if she finds out?”

“
Are you going to tell
her?”

“
I should, but I won’t.
Not unless she asks me about it. I won’t lie for you, not to
her.”

Catwalk didn’t have to lie. Billy Sue found
out about Curly’s indiscretion through the grapevine. The next time
she saw Curly, her voice was filled with venom when she said, “You
can still visit your son, but our wedding date has just been pushed
back—to the year 2000!”

Catwalk and Curly never mentioned the
episode again, but Catwalk was troubled by Curly’s lapse of
judgment. He went back to his apartment, put on a Duke Ellington
record and laid down on the sofa. When Rosemary came home they
talked at length about the incident. Rosemary said, “I agree that
Curly showed bad judgment, but I think you might be overreacting to
something that was really human nature.”

Catwalk wrapped his arms around here. “You
think so, hunh?”

“
Yep. I also think you
might be trying to make your airline too perfect. It’s made up of
people who are not perfect.”

“
How on earth did you get
so smart?”

“
Well-l-l.” Catwalk then
showed her how pleased he was to have someone with whom he could
talk about things like this.

A week later he stopped by her office and
said, “I’m going home to get a few hours sleep. Curly and I are
flying to Salt Lake tonight. We’re returning tomorrow on
fifty-two.”

“
Have a good flight and
call me tonight.”

The flight to Salt Lake was routine and
uneventful. The next morning, however, on the flight back they’d
just crossed the four corners area when the navigator said, “Engine
number four is running hot. It’s been above normal for twenty
minutes now, but in the past few seconds, it spiked.”

Catwalk looked up from the log book and
said, “I’ll bet it’s that crack in the exhaust stack. It’s going to
be repaired after this flight.”

Curly looked out at the far engine. “Let’s
shut it down before it gets to red line.”

“
Good idea.” Catwalk
pulled back the throttle and adjusted the propeller to zero
pitch.

Curly looked at the controls, then back at
the engine and said, “Fucking thing didn’t feather, Cat. It’s
wind-milling.”

Catwalk had just recycled the controls, when
Curly shouted, “It’s on fire! Pull the bottle!”

Catwalk punched the red knob that actuated
the fire extinguishing system. He then looked out the window, but
saw very little telltale white smoke from the foam.

Curly said, “God damn it! It didn’t work.
Try it again.”

Catwalk punched the knob again. Same
results.

Watching the engine burn unabated, Curly
said, “There’s going to be some mechanics fired when we get
back.”

A stewardess came through the door and said,
“The passengers are about to panic. How bad is it?”

Catwalk said, “We’re trying to put it out.
We might have to set down at an alternate.”

After she left, the navigator said, “The
only alternate airport that can handle our weight is Gallup, but
they don’t have much emergency equipment.”

“
I’m heading to
Albuquerque. Call the tower.”

While Curly called the tower, Catwalk craned
his neck to see the engine. The fire, as he’d feared, was spreading
to the wing. Once it got to the wing, it would spread to the number
three engine, which they’d lose. Then, running on two engines, they
might have trouble maintaining their altitude, which they needed
because they were over mountainous terrain until they passed
Cabezon Peak. Also, while trying to hold their altitude, they stood
a good chance of overheating engines one and two.

Curly read his mind and said, “There ain’t
even a God damn road we can land on.”

The stewardess appeared again and said, “The
passengers are very worried. Tell me you can put that fire
out.”

Catwalk said, “The internal extinguishing
system didn’t work. Prepare the passengers for an emergency
landing.”

The fire continued to burn, but didn’t
spread as much as they thought it would. On three engines, they
were able to hold their altitude and Catwalk thought their chances
were good for making it to the airport.

Thirty miles from the airport, however,
Curly said, “It’s on the wing, burning toward number three. Damn
it, we only need eight more minutes.”

Catwalk started a gradual descent, wary of
giving away their precious altitude that kept them above the
unforgiving mountain peaks.

Curly shouted, “Number three’s on fire!
Feather that son of a bitch.”

Catwalk shut down number three and increased
power on one and two. Now he was very concerned because two engines
burning on one side could collapse the wing. If that happened,
they’d tumble into the mountains with no chance of surviving. He
turned to the navigator, “Gary, pass our fuel load and passenger
count to the tower and keep them advised of our position and
altitude.”

Curly said, “The extinguisher worked, but it
ain’t enough. The wing is burning bad. How far out are we?”

The navigator yelled, “Eighteen miles.”

Catwalk saw the airport and said, “We’ll use
Runway Nine so I don’t have to turn into the dead engines.”