Test Pilot's Daughter II: Dead Reckoning (36 page)

“Michael?”

He heard something, barely a whisper.
Nancy?
He hesitated, afraid to turn around.
Oh God, a witness.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Three years had passed since her dad was buried at Edwards. Christina had spent much of that time under psychiatric care at Atlanta’s prestigious Emory Clinic. Progress fighting so many demons had been slow, but she had come a long way.
Life doesn’t always work out the way you think
, she mulled,
a real crap-shoot.

Once she accepted the help of a shrink, she knew her career at NASA was over. It was a tough call, but Michael encouraged her to get the help she needed.
Her dreams had changed. No longer was Mars the mission, she just wanted to find her smile. It had been a long struggle, but she discovered a great deal of comfort in teaching. Dr. Christina Matthews taught an introductory course to sophomores at Georgia Tech called
Electro-Optical Engineering.
The students were so bright and full of life, it gave her encouragement and a reason to go on. Even better, she had finally passed her Class III physical, and she was, once again, certified to fly.

The mundane job of college professor was accented by a truly fun vocation: flight instructor in the Georgia Tech Ramblin’ Wreck aviation program at Peachtree-Dekalb airport--PDK. Her old flight instructor, John Furgeson, the man who had watched her solo, died the year before, and she had approached the University about taking his place. Of course, they were thrilled to have someone so famous work in their little flight school.
Wow, a real astronaut teaching in a Cessna,
Christina had to laugh. After she came aboard, the program grew to be so popular, they had to turn students away.

She was sitting at her desk in an old, beat up office by the main hanger when a young lady came sauntering down the hall. The girl was dark, tall and attractive, and Christina didn’t know why, but her heart skipped a beat.
Jesus, that was me only ten years ago. Seems more like a century.
The young female carried herself with a great deal of verve and walked right up to her with a smile.

“Hello. Sorry, guess I’m a little lost,” she chuckled nervously.

“Where ya headed?” Christina asked.

“Actually, I’m looking for my flight instructor. Can you believe that?
Me? Flying?
Supposed to be down here somewhere.”

“A woman?”
the girl gasped. “Do
you
know how to fly?”

“The name’s Christina Matthews. . .that’s astronaut Christina Matthews.”

“Oh my!”
she swooned, bug-eyed. “The Christina Matthews? The one I saw on CBN? Hello. . .what an idiot,” she shook her hand. “My name’s Kathy Waters.”

“You got it, Waters. This is your lucky day. I’m gonna teach you how to fly.”

“Super! I’m all ears. When do we start?”

Before she could answer, someone else came down the hall. It was Michael. He walked right in and stood beside Christina putting his arm around her waist. Michael was also teaching at Georgia Tech, and he often met her for lunch at PDK.

“How’s it going, sweetheart? Hungry?” With a puzzled look, he turned to the young girl.

“Bad timing, Michael. Meet my new student, Kathy Waters. Miss Waters, this is astronaut Michael Jacobs.”

“My God! Can’t believe it! Two astronauts in one day? I was pretty excited about flying, but I never expected
this
.”

“I’ll get out of your hair, sweetie,” Michael said. “I’m on my way to the tax office to sign our homestead agreement. It’ll cut our property taxes.” He started out the door.

“Wait,” she called after him. “Would you pick up some bananas and milk on the way. Oh yeah, how about one of those lemon-pepper, chicken roasters from Publix? I love those things. I’ll be home around six.”

“You got it babe.” He turned and walked down the hall.

“Hold it right there,” Christina yelled in a desperate tone. She laid down her logbook and ran after him. He looked a little confused when she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. It wasn’t just any kiss. She kissed him with reckless abandon, like he was going away to war. It was a kiss filled with passion. She kissed him again and again lifting her right foot off the floor. Then, just as quickly, she let him go, “See ya later flyboy.”

The young girl looked astonished. “What a hunk.
Wow, you must really love that guy.”

“Yeah I do, love him with all my heart.” She watched him walk down the long hallway and sighed, “He brought me back from the dark realm. . .back from the dead.” There was a long pause as she stared at an empty hall.

The girl was persistent. “So what do we do first? Can we go flying now?”

Christina shook her head and tried to concentrate. She struggled to remember what Furgeson had told her the first time they met. Suddenly it came in a flash. “Let’s start with some basic blocking and tackling. Here, sit down at the simulator. There’s only one difference between flying an airplane and driving a car, or even riding a bike for that matter. You have to coordinate the movements of your hands and feet in all three. Flying is really quite easy, but it takes a little more coordination, because it’s three dimensional.”

The girl looked kind of bored. Christina envisioned Furgeson sitting there going through his long, introductory lecture while she was so antsy to fly. It gave her a nice warm feeling as though her old flight instructor was standing behind her egging her on.

Do it right, girl, you’re the instructor now. Don’t let her rush you.

She continued, “See how easy it is. That’s the yoke; it’s kind of like the steering wheel of your car, but it’s three controls in one. You use it to activate the ailerons. Turn right and you roll to the right, left, left. You also use it to go up and down. Pull back and you go up, push forward, down. Or as some smart-assed pilot once said, ‘Push forward and the houses get bigger, pull back and they get smaller, unless you keep pulling back, then they start getting bigger again.’ Last but not least, the yoke is like a throttle, pull back and you slow down, push forward, you speed up. Air speed is everything in flying.”

The girl’s face contorted in a huge frown. “Why can’t we just go fly?”

Deja vous!
Christina stood up quickly, lightheaded, and for a brief second thought she might faint. It was like some kind of time machine.
My God, girl, that’s exactly what I said when I walked into this office.
She put her hand on the girl’s shoulder and said, “Okay, kiddo, I tell you what, let’s blow this joint and go have some fun. You like flying, do you?”

“Well, I don’t know, but I’m ready to find out.”

They walked out on the tarmac, and PDK was a beehive of activity. She led her new student to a bright and shiny, Cessna 152. After a quick preflight inspection, they climbed into the cockpit and buckled up. She skipped the lecture on radio procedure and instrumentation, and helped the girl start the engine. She showed her how to use the rudder pedals to taxi to the runway. After running up the engine and checking the flight controls, Christina got clearance to take off and rolled out to the end of the runway.

“Okay, Waters, let’s see what ya got. Use the rudder pedals to keep it pointed straight down the runway, and put the pedal to the medal. No, no here, the throttle’s up here, and this is your airspeed indicator. Don’t worry about all those other instruments. Just watch the runway and your airspeed. Push the throttle full forward and, when your speed hits 60, ease back on the yoke and let ‘er fly.”

It took her a few seconds to get the hang of the rudder, but the girl finally found the centerline, accelerating. When the airspeed hit 60 she eased back on the yoke, and the Cessna leapt into the air.

“Jesus!” she screamed. “Can’t believe it; I’m flying!”

Christina helped her find the attitude necessary for a respectable climb, and they were off to the practice area over Lake Lanier. She felt like Furgeson was in that cockpit beside her, and she could hear his soft but reassuring voice.

You got it, girl, you got it.

My God,
Christina thought.
So hard to believe;
I’m thirty-two years old, and my life has come full circle. What a ride it’s been
,
what a ride!
For the first time in her life, she had a true feeling of contentment and realized something very important: she had found her smile. As a matter of fact she was grinning ear to ear watching the girl struggle with the controls. After years of therapy, she was at peace, and her world seemed to make sense. She loved her job, she loved her husband and most of all she loved teaching young people how to fly.

Another generation of pilots,
she thought.
Just what this country needs.

The End