Читать книгу Peggy Wayne, Sky Girl - Betty Baxter Anderson - Страница 5

3
FIRST TRIP

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Peggy spent the next three days memorizing the “general information” section of the Skylines’ schedule that had been sent with her letter and pass. As Peggy waited at the Des Moines airport on Wednesday with her parents, Jane, and the nurses who’d come to see them off, she mentally checked off the items in the folder.

“Forty pounds of luggage—I wonder if our trunks will get there tomorrow? I emptied my fountain pen, because it said that at eight thousand feet or more they’d leak. Do you suppose we’ll go that high? Why, let’s see, that’s almost two miles up in the air! Daddy bought our trip insurance when he got his ticket—”

She had to forget her mental review, for at that moment Inez Hunt made a characteristic last-minute appearance.

Doctor Black’s roadster stopped with a shrieking of brakes in the airport’s parking lot. He hurried to the group waiting at the gate. He was carrying Inez’ smart patent-leather hat-box. The girl was stunning in a new black-and-white print dress, a thin wool black coat, and a dramatic broad-brimmed chapeau.

“We made it, Ben!” she cried, laughing.

Doctor Black, scowling a little, dropped her bag with the other luggage piled in readiness for the plane. He didn’t answer, but hurried on to greet the Waynes, and Peggy and Jane.

“I thought you weren’t going to make it,” Peggy’s voice was cool and her eyes held a hurt look.

Ben, in his white interne’s suit, frowned again. “I found I could. Just as I was leaving, Inez hurried up and said her cab was late. She asked if she could come along.”

“Here it comes!” Jane cried.

The great silver plane was losing altitude as it began a wide, sweeping circle overhead.

Peggy had always been thrilled at the sight. But never before had she waited with this eager expectancy. When the Skyliner took off this time, she’d be with it!

The big plane glided to a landing at the far end of the field, then taxied down the concrete runway to the passenger gate.

The fueling truck was waiting and so was the mail truck. Peggy, however, had eyes only for the members of the ground crew who rushed the gangway into place.

The airline hostess was the first to appear. She stood just outside the door, checking the passengers’ names from the flight list she held as they stepped out of the plane. “Good-bye, Mr. and Mrs. Martin! We’ll be looking for you again, soon!”

Inez Hunt murmured to Jane, “Neat uniform, but a trifle plain, don’t you think? Still, that soft ivory shade is particularly becoming to us brunettes.” Her last remark was louder, unmistakably meant for Peggy’s ears.

“The blondes will have their innings in the winter,” Peggy retorted quickly. “I understand the heavier uniforms are blue.” She chuckled and added: “If we get through the training course, and have a chance to wear them!”

The plane was scheduled to leave at 11:58 A.M. Peggy noted that it lacked only five minutes of that time when the hostess signalled for them to embark. Jane was the first one up the steps, giving her name to the pleasant, smiling girl. Mrs. Wayne followed a little timidly and then came Peggy.

Inez lingered pointedly, for a last-second farewell to Doctor Black.

Peggy and Jane had adjoining seats, just back of the Waynes. Of the seven passengers already in the plane, the girls noted that two others were of their own age and size.

“More applicants, you suppose?” Peggy murmured.

“Let’s ask the hostess. You take the seat next to the window so you can see more. After all, this is your very first trip.”

Peggy smiled and glanced eagerly looking about the plane. The forward door to the cockpit was closed.

“Isn’t the hostess charming?” Jane whispered. “Oh, Peggy, do you suppose we’ll ever be so assured and efficient?”

“Her name is Sally Rhodes. I saw it on a little metal plate on the side wall near the door.”

A lighted signal flashed on over the cockpit door. “Fasten seat belts please,” one line said. “No smoking,” the other one read.

“Wonder why the ash trays, then?” Peggy asked.

The smiling hostess said, “May I help you with your seat belts?” She showed them how to adjust the webbed strap, and answered Peggy’s question at the same time. “After we’re aloft, the co-pilot will turn off those lights. The passengers may then unfasten the belts and smoke, if they wish. But you’ll be learning all about this in a few days.”

“How did you know?” Jane demanded.

Peggy giggled. “I suppose our excitement is sticking out in knobs, all over.”

Sally Rhodes shook her head. “It was written on the manifest that three of our Des Moines passengers were candidates.” She nodded and smiled at the two young passengers Peggy had noted previously. “Two other girls in your class are on the plane, from Denver.”

Inez Hunt, in the single seat across the aisle, had fastened her own seat belt. She looked up to inquire in a bored tone, “How’s the air today?”

“Delightful. Not a ripple. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the trip.”

They heard the subdued roar of tuned-up motors, scarcely noticeable in the sound-proof cabin. Miss Rhodes hurried down the aisle, checking on all the occupied seats as she went. A few seconds later she was on her own jump-seat, her seat belt fastened.

Peggy caught a glimpse of Doctor Black beyond the fence. She waved gaily and smiled as the big ship rolled swiftly down the runway.

She noted the gentle backward pressure against the comfortable seat. She didn’t think of being frightened; she didn’t pause to check her sensations; she just had a grand sense of beginning a great adventure.

Almost before she realized it, the transport was off the ground, circling above the roof of the hangar.

Peggy pressed her nose against the window glass, in eager, little-girl fashion. Doctor Black, in his white interne’s coat, was just a speck below, fast disappearing. The cars crawling along the highway looked like some strange beetles. Trees and bushes were blurs—

She looked up to see the hostess bending over her mother in the seat ahead. “Take a sip of this,” she was saying, extending a glass, “and you’ll feel better in a moment.”

“I’m—I’m all right now,” Mrs. Wayne replied, embarrassed. “I guess I must have been a little upset.”

“You may unfasten your seat belts now,” the hostess said, nodding toward the glass plate, blank now because the light was out. “Would you like to smoke, Mr. Wayne?” She extended an individual pack of five cigarettes in a box marked Courtesy of Skylines, Inc. “You may smoke any time you wish, until we start down for the landing in Chicago. I’m pretty sure we won’t run into anything bumpy enough to forbid it, before.”

The color had flooded back into Mrs. Wayne’s cheeks. “We scarcely seem to be moving. I thought we’d be going so fast we’d be frightened to death.”

“Our ship is doing better than one hundred and sixty miles an hour,” the hostess told her. “It’s impossible to realize it because we’re nearly a mile above any speed-comparing object, like telephone poles, or other cars on the highway. You’ll get the feeling of speed only on taking off and landing because you can check our forward motion with objects that are stationary.”

“Do you like your work?” Jane asked impulsively.

“Immensely. There’s nothing quite like it,” the girl answered swiftly. “I’m a veteran, too. Over two years—and this trip, I’ll pass the twenty-five-hundred-hours-in-the-air-mark!”

Inez leaned across the aisle to join the conversation. “Is the training course tough?”

“Not if you’re interested. You’ll be a bit bewildered at first, with A and N beams, connecting airlines, map reading and compasses and de-icing equipment. But it doesn’t take long to get it in order in your mind if you’re genuinely interested.”

Inez shrugged, and Miss Rhodes went to answer the buzzer from Seat Seven. Peggy and Jane watched while the hostess took an air-map from the pocket of the seat ahead. She pointed out a thin ribbon of water far below, and then checked a spot on the map with her pencil.

“Let’s see if we can locate ourselves,” Peggy suggested, unfolding her map. It was covered with spidery lines, identifying the major airlines of the United States.

“Here’s Des Moines on the Skylines’ route. Look, it says to check off one of these little marks every fifteen minutes. It’s twenty-five after eleven. We should be almost over the Mississippi.”

“Right.” They looked up to an admiring grin from Miss Rhodes. “Perhaps you’ll see a long coal barge, going through the new lock-and-dam. This is an aerial road map. But you’ll get all this soon enough. How about a spot of lunch, or is it too early for you?”

“Why, no! I’m starved,” Jane answered with a surprised note in her voice.

“Flying is good for jaded appetites,” Miss Rhodes assured her. “And you’re in luck. We have turkey today.”

It was an odd, gay luncheon, served above the clouds. There was a cup of delicious hot soup, then a main course of slices of hot turkey, mashed potatoes and well-seasoned fresh peas. The Waynes chose coffee, and the girls had iced tea. The aluminum trays were adorned with neat linen cloths and napkins and gleaming silver. The cups, glasses, and square dishes were of unbreakable ivory plastic material.

Miss Rhodes moved with swift efficiency. She refilled coffee cups and removed the trays as soon as the passengers had finished.

“Do you suppose we’ll ever learn to serve meals so quickly and with so little fuss?” Jane asked.

“This isn’t at all bad,” the hostess told her. “Only a dozen passengers. Wait until you travel on one of the Skysleepers, and everyone wants breakfast in bed, with hot rolls instead of toast, or tea made especially with carried-along leaves. Or a five-course dinner on the non-stop to New York for a full load of twenty-one passengers. Then, you really have to hop!”