February through April was the time of year for rain. John nodded greetings to some of the other pilots as he made his way to the dorm. He saw someone in the darkness approach from the direction of John’s building.
“I guess Steve has told you the good news,” said Jason’s
tall silhouette.
“Yes, he has. Thank you,” replied John.
“You’re welcome. If you fly as well as you are determined
too, that’s great. I let you fly because I trust you with the lives of locals,
missionaries and possibly my family. I have to know I can put my life and those
of others in your care.”
“You’re all safe with me,” John said.
“I hope so. There are people all over the world trusting me
to make the right decisions with their family members. That means choosing
carefully who will pilot them. If anything happens, I answer to these people.
That means total concentration on the work at hand, nothing else. From the time
your training begins, I want you to promise all your focus will be from flight
to flight. If not, I will ground you. I can’t fire you, but I can make your
life so miserable as to contemplate resignation. Do we have an agreement?”
Jason asked.
He thinks he has it all figured out, thought John. It rubbed
him the wrong way. “I appreciate your concern, but don’t ride me. I do well at
the yoke, and I come with more than a thousand hours of flying under dangerous
conditions. This is nothing new.”
Both men stood head to head in the dark, neither knowing
what to do next. After a few moments, Jason spoke up. “Why don’t we just call
it a night? Just remember what I told you. The responsibility for these people
lies with you.”
Jeffrey W. Bennett, is the author of Commitment-A Novel and other non-fiction books, novels and periodicals.
No comments:
Post a Comment