Jim's Book - A Time to Love, A Time to Fly
This is a tale of a boy, and a girl,
and an airplane.
At least it starts out that way.
For the most part, it is true. Some names have been changed to protect the guilty. Well
There aren't many that have been changed.
It starts out like this:
"Wright, front'n center," came over the B-box in the barracks. I jumped and ran, wondering
what could Sgt. Thompson be wanting with me. A few seconds later in the orderly room I
panted, "Pvt. Wright reporting, sir." "At ease, Wright, and I told ya, drop the 'sir.' And
siddown."
I took a seat. "I hear some disturbing rumors, Wright." "What?" I was aghast. "I hear that
you are planning to fly this trip to California IN YOUR OWN PLANE."
"That's right Sgt." I said with a relieved smile. Good, it wasn't something serious.
"Don't do it, you'll kill yourself. Take a airline, or train or even a bus, but don't do something
that foolish."
"Sgt., I have a private license and almost 150 hours flying time. And I'm going to fly right
over Highway 66 over the mountains. I'll be OK."
"Look Wright, let me put it to you this way. When we talked about this, and I said that I
would bend the rules slightly and give you a weekend pass and your leave papers to start
right after, both at the same time, so that you could get goin' Saturday and have your official
leave start Monday, I thought you were going to go by some sensible way."
"But Sgt. I don't see what difference that makes to you." I was truly puzzled.
"When you crash and they examine the body, they'll find both sets of papers on you, and I'll
be in trouble, you lame-brain."
Now don't tell anyone, but I made it, and here is the picture of my Cub parked behind my
girlfriend's house on Bonita St. in Las Vegas. Sorry they're not in color, but that would
have been way beyond our budget in 1953!
So, if you're ready to start reading, Go for it!
If you would like to listen to the book, Go here!
And if you decide you would like a copy in WordPerfect, let me know and I'll e-mail you a copy.
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