Whispers of a New Dawn (35 page)

You walked on the beaches of Galilee and you walk on the beach here. We honor you
.

Becky reached Raven on the fourth verse of the song. He took her hand, kissed it quickly, and continued to sing. She joined him. It was not the final stanza. Pastor Thor had added several extra ones she had hardly ever heard.

The Lord has promised good to me
,

His Word my hope secures;

He will my Shield and Portion be
,

As long as life endures
.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail
,

And mortal life shall cease
,

I shall possess, within the veil
,

A life of joy and peace
.

The world shall soon dissolve like snow
,

The sun refuse to shine
;

But God, who called me here below
,

Shall be forever mine
.

She bowed her head as the hymn came to an end. The beach was silent. Even the gulls did not cry out for a few moments. When she looked up the sun had set and the sky to the east in front of them was the color of a crimson rose.

“
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight
.” Raven continued to hold her hand. “It’s good to see you here. You and the stone look magnificent.”

She smiled her thank-you. “Harrison plays so well.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you hear David singing?”

“If it was that rich and deep male voice—”

“That was him. He really surprised me. Billy Skipp should think of asking him to lead us in some of the carols at Christmas.”

“Well, if we heard him I’m sure the colonel did too. He’s over there with your dad and Flapjack.” Raven gestured with his head. “And the wives are all together by the shore.”

“What are Flapjack and Skipp both doing here?”

“I don’t know. To hear Harrison?”

“They could hear him anytime. And this isn’t ‘In the Mood’ or ‘Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy.’”

“Maybe Shooter bet they wouldn’t show and they did to make sure he lost a lot of money.”

“Ha. Knowing Shooter, he set them up. Dared them to come but acted like he knew they wouldn’t. Probably bet against the odds. Laid his money on Flapjack and Skipp showing up to spite him.”

“Could be. But they’re here now. And they don’t look like they’re going anywhere.”

“Where does Flapjack get his shirts? Now it’s yellow and orange and purple.”

“And Thor’s is red and black. He obviously didn’t use that ten we left for him last time.”

“You wanted blue?”

“Prayed for it.”

“Maybe God likes red as much as the pastor does.”

Pastor Thor prayed and then spoke for about ten minutes. He tied his message into the hymn they had just finished and spoke about the love of God.

“A lot of things come our way in life. There are many ups and downs. Few things endure. A great deal collapses or fades or falls apart. Our buildings do, our machines do, our bodies do—even our lives come to a stop. But the love of God is unending. The love of God is ceaseless. In a world where so much does not last, his love is the one thing that does. It’s why I steer people to Jesus. His face is the face of God—his warmth, his kindness, his strength, his courage, his power. You measure a man by his character and his actions and his words. Some of us can size a man up just by looking in his eyes. If you do that with Jesus you see God and you see greatness. You see a bright, clear, and steady dawn.”

Raven started walking her away from the crowd of worshippers as Pastor Thor asked Jude to pray a final prayer. Becky kept her eyes closed, listening to her father’s words, feeling Raven guide her over the sand and to the edge of the water so that the surf ran over her sandals and toes. Soon she could not hear Jude’s voice but still kept her eyes shut.

“You can open them now if you want.”

She saw Diamond Head in the last trace of rose and scarlet with the night sweeping in like a strong dark sea.

“It’s rock steady.” Raven stared at the volcanic cone. “Like God. But God is more than Diamond Head. So is my love for you. I want you to know that.”

“I do know it.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Becky. And there’s no one else. You’re my lady. This is our one-month anniversary and there’s going to be a thousand more.”

“I believe you.”

He ran a thumb slowly back and forth over her lips. “I’m not going to ask you to stay up all night again. You’re at the airfield early for your
students like you were always at the airfield early for me. I just want you to stand here and hold my hand and wait until the moon rises out of the sea. Okay? That’s how I’d like our anniversary to end.”

“Can I say I love you?”

“I’d like that.”

“And I’ll see you at church tomorrow? For sure?”

“You bet.”

“Because you’ve had a habit lately of not showing up.”

Raven grinned. “Skipp is in a flat calm now. He’s had us flying in circles for weeks but today he had the fighters defueled and the ammo removed. They’ll sit on the runway pretty much all weekend. I’ll be at church tomorrow morning, beauty.”

“Then I’ll stay until the moon is over the water and blazing like gold.” She counted the stars that began to glint against the black. “I used to think you and I alternated between being spiritual and passionate. Now I know our passionate is spiritual and our spiritual is passionate.”

He glanced down at the aquamarine gem around her throat and twined the gold chain in his finger. “Forever, Stardust. That’s what I’d like for you and me.”

She put her hand on his. “That’s what I want too, Thunderbird. Even if the world dissolves like snow and the sun refuses to shine.”

T
WENTY
-F
IVE

B
ecky woke at five-thirty and prayed a prayer while she lay in her bed. Dressing quickly and quietly in a clean T-shirt and jeans she left Ruth asleep as she stepped softly down the stairs to the washroom and had a shower. Pulling her clothes on again, she went into the kitchen and glanced at the calendar on the wall, running her finger down the items penciled in for December seven—flying instruction until ten-thirty, a break for church, the next student at twelve-thirty, lessons through to five, a rehearsal for the Christmas dance band at seven. She bit into an apple and wrote in
Thunderbird, The Black Cat, nine-thirty
.

She closed the door slowly behind her because everyone was sleeping in, and she climbed into the jeep. Before she started the engine she threw on her leather jacket and pulled the aquamarine gem from one of its pockets, drawing the gold chain down over her head.

When she pulled up next to Flapjack’s hut, he met her and handed her a sheet of paper.

“Meteorologists are giving us a typical morning. As the land warms up the trade winds will be offset. In the afternoon the effect is going to be lessened, but the trades won’t be strong enough to make flying the J-3s difficult.”

“Okay.”

“Nothing special going on with the military, no exercises, but there will be a flight of B-17s coming in. You won’t have trouble spotting them or staying out of their way.”

“Right. I’m taking Kalino up first thing.”

“Manuku’s already landed from two lessons and he’s taking off again in ten minutes. Sunday’s the craziest day of the week and I don’t have your mom and dad. I’m giving you church, but you may have to fly until six or seven.”

Becky wrinkled her face. “Oh, come on, Flapjack. The band is rehearsing for the Christmas party tonight. I promised Batman and Juggler I’d be there.”

“Well, we gotta teach the students and bring in the moola or no paychecks for the Whetstone Flying Circus.” He gestured with his chin. “Nice stone. Find it on the beach?”

“Sure, Flapjack. It was a gift from Thunderbird. My birthstone.”

“Love the color. Chain’s nice too. Guess he finally did fall for the gal with two fangs and horns—you know, the ugly one who ate concrete for breakfast?”

“Ha ha. That’s me.” She opened the door and looked out across the airfield. “Kalino’s already by the plane. See you later.”

“You bet.”

Becky gripped Kalino’s hand when she got to the yellow Piper. “
Aloha
. You’re going to get in a lot of solo time this morning. Do you feel good about that?”

“Really good. My goal is to take Lockjaw up for Christmas Day.”

“Oh, you’ll be in great shape by Christmas. I hope you plan to throw a few barrel rolls into the flight plan.”

“I do.”

“One thing about some of these combat pilots. They don’t like stunts unless they’re doing them. Maybe you’ll get him to turn green.”

Kalino laughed, tossing her gleaming black hair. “Now wouldn’t that be a treat?”

Becky’s watch was strapped on with the face under her wrist. She flicked her hand over and glanced at it. “Five after seven. We should get going.”

“Okay, Stardust.”

“Stardust, hm? I see word’s getting around. What do you think of it, Kali?”

“It’s kind of magical. It works for you.”

“Yeah? Let’s do our sky prayer.”

They held each other’s hands and lifted their heads, praying out loud together. “Lord Jesus Christ, touch us so that we mount up with wings like eagles. Keep us strong, keep us safe, keep us wise. Bless us as we find your life in your sky. Amen.”

Becky slapped Kalino on the back. “Let’s go, Kali.” She leaped up into the front cockpit. “You know, you never told me the call sign the guys gave you.”

Kalino shrugged and smiled an awkward smile. “
Diamonds
. But they don’t mean the jewels. They say I’m like the dance of the sun on the ocean. Especially on the back of a perfect wave.”

“That’s beautiful. Didn’t you tell us Kalino means bright one?”

“Yes.”

“So your call sign is perfect.” She waved at one of the ground crew. “Sam, can you get the prop?”

“Sure thing, Stardust.”

“Oh, Sam, does everybody know that name now?”

“Yessir. And we all love it. It’s you, Becky. Ever seen the stardust of the Milky Way? How it shines and covers over the dark? It’s you.”

“You’re going to make me blush. Thanks, Sam. We should touch down again around eight-thirty.”

“I’ll have my eye out for you.”

Once they were up, Becky waggled the stick and jabbed her thumb at Kalino. “Take over, Diamonds.”

“Sure thing. Where do you want me to go? Out over the water?”

“No. Go inland. There’s mist over the highlands. I want you to practice flying in that.” Becky pointed with her whole hand, fingers held together. “Head north for the Ko’olau Mountains.”

“Roger.”

Kalino banked the J-3 and took it north. High white cumulus clouds kept the distant mountaintops out of sight. Other yellow Pipers popped up all around, as well as a number of blue Culver Cadets from a different flight school. Kalino sailed smoothly between them, waving once at Manuku, who was on their left. He gave her a thumbs-up.

Becky twisted around in her seat to speak to Kalino. “Go for some height as we get closer to the range. Not all at once. Just a few hundred feet at a time.”

“All right.”

The mountain slopes and white clouds drew nearer. Kalino was slowly ascending as they flew from one end of Oahu to the other. Some Cadets and Pipers were following them, most at a lower elevation—but a few, like Manuku, were farther ahead and higher up.

Fighter planes began to dart out of the silver mist.

Flapjack, you said there wouldn’t be any military activity except for the B-17s!

“Kalino! Go higher! Now!”

“Becky—”

“Now! Pull the stick into your stomach!”

The nose of the Piper jerked upward sharply. Olive green aircraft veered to the left and right of them as the Piper lifted. Angry at the recklessness of the pilots, Becky tried frantically to take in their markings so she could report them to Billy Skipp. She read the numbers on the tailfins out loud but realized there were no stars and the paint was not army green.

“Red suns!” Kalino was shouting. “Red suns on the wings and fuselage! These planes are Japanese!”

Becky craned her neck back to see where the formation was going. Two of the planes broke away from the main group. One dove toward a blue Cadet. In moments the smaller plane was throwing off sparks and smoke and falling out of the sky. The fighter roared through the smoke and bore up on the tail of another Cadet. The small blue plane turned toward them and Becky could clearly see the winking lights on the wings and cowling of the fighter as it followed. The tail of the Cadet snapped off and it went into a spin as flames blazed over its fuselage.

“They’re shooting!” Becky could hear herself almost screaming. “They’re shooting the trainers down!”

Kalino was staring at the mountains and clouds and didn’t look to see what was going on behind them. “What?”