The High and the Mighty Page #3

It won't be long now and blooie.

Congratulations.

Professor, we all appreciate the fact

that you've been under enormous strain.

We deeply regret

that a man of your calibre

no longer sees fit to cooperate with us.

Cooperate?

I had a seat on a nice little campus

even if I wasn't making much money,

or my students didn't know

what I was talking about.

And I played pretty good golf

and I slept nights.

I was happy because I figured

it was still God's business

to monkey around with the universe.

He can fix a star

so it'll burn for a billion years.

Keep going and you'll find out

how to burn one up in a minute.

Did any of you ever bother

to look at the lagoon out there?

It's beautiful and blue,

and the people around it

are brown and kind

and they did know

how to laugh and sing.

Only now all the fishes

in the lagoon are dead.

And the people are scared forever.

They don't sing anymore.

You found a way to blow out a window

65 miles away from the impact point.

Only, suppose there's a mother

standing in that window

with a baby in her arms?

Professor,

I suggest you go to your tent

and rest for a while.

I'll arrange transport back to the States

for you at the earliest possible moment.

Yeah, do that.

I want to find a shepherd in the hills

or a mountain in the mist,

and paint their picture

before it's too late.

So, you'll please forgive me

another question, Captain.

Aren't you sometimes a little afraid?

I've made almost 200 flights

across here

and I feel a lot safer

than if I were driving my car.

I've got a lovely wife and two kids,

another on the way.

I wouldn't be doing this

if I didn't think it was safe.

You hedged, Captain.

You didn't answer my question.

Come now,

be a good honest fellow

and tell me exactly what frightened you?

They were technical incidents. I don't

think you'd understand, Mr Pardee.

I understand perfectly.

For some reason,

you were afraid you wouldn't reach

your Biblical span of life.

Which is precisely what's bothering me

at the moment.

I'm convinced I couldn't swim

from here to the nearest shore.

You won't have to swim, Mr Pardee.

Suppose one of your motors

ceases to function?

We'd just go back to Honolulu. These

ships fly beautifully on three engines.

If it should happen

beyond our point of no return

we'd simply continue

on to San Francisco.

Suppose two of your motors

became uninterested in further toil?

Each engine is entirely independent

of the other.

The chances of two quitting during the

same flight are one in several million.

Even if that should happen,

we could still fly,

lower and much slower,

but we'd get there.

You are very reassuring.

Why is it I read about so many crashes?

The newspapers always exaggerate

the importance of an air accident.

It would be very important to me

if I were in one.

You won't be, Mr Pardee.

Just relax. Enjoy your flight.

Please, Captain. I'd like to talk to you

for just a minute.

It can only be a minute,

then I'll have to go back to work.

I'm afraid I'm going to embarrass you.

I used to work in reservations

for Pan American.

That's fine. I'm glad you decided

to try a flight with us.

Aren't there two exits to this plane?

One up forward,

where you

and the rest of the crew leave?

Yes.

Could I leave the plane that way?

With you and the crew?

Please, it's very important to me.

It's not what you're thinking.

I am going to be met in San Francisco,

but not by the police or anybody else

who could get you into trouble.

It just wouldn't work.

Confused, Captain?

Why, no. That's you.

It was me, eight years ago.

A fellow in the States saw that picture.

He wrote me.

I was lonely, so I answered.

There were a lot of letters,

beautiful letters.

And then last month,

I agreed to marry him.

I never got around to telling him

the picture was eight years old.

I don't want to bore you

with my troubles,

but that dream kept me sane

for a long time.

I know I'm a

mess.

I'm so much older than he thinks I am.

But

if I could just see him

and then leave without meeting him.

Please understand, Captain.

What you're asking

is not exactly in my line.

Let me think it over. I'll let you know.

- Newspaper?

- No, thanks.

- How's AT&T?

- It's up a point.

I hope you don't mind,

I couldn't help watching you.

You remind me so much of a man

I once knew.

My name is Ken Childs

and I don't mind at all.

Fourteen minutes behind

on the last fix, Skipper.

So?

We should make it up.

The wind seems to be shifting around.

Good.

You know it's nice having

a guy like Dan Roman up here.

For a change,

I don't feel like a grandfather.

I was just saying to my wife

the other day,

I never had it so good.

Easy job, no strain,

and I'm pretty lucky in having

a girl like Susie.

It makes all the difference in the world

what kind of a wife a guy has.

Don't you think so, Skipper?

Now, you take a girl like my Susie.

I guess a lot of people

do think it's funny,

because I do the dishes

and the cooking, too,

but they forget

how much younger Susie is than I am.

And as for an extra martini

once in a while...

And so you'll please forgive me

another question, Captain.

Aren't you sometimes a little afraid?

...it's spirit.

You know, she once called me...

Are you?

Are you now, for no reason at all...

You wait till you see what she does

with that hardwood tray I bought her.

...after almost 2 million miles...

...maybe beside the little bar

she bought...

...afraid?

...to keep herself company

while I'm away.

She'll show it to everyone

who drops in

to keep her company when I'm away.

But it's there.

It's like a heavy bundle in your belly.

You can almost touch it.

She spent most of her time

riding around in it

so she wouldn't get too lonesome.

Guess she drove a little too fast...

It's come like it has to so many others

for no reason at all...

And besides...

...except maybe the wear and tear

of those 2 million miles.

...because they look like they're going

faster than they really are.

Like what the bartender told me

last December

when she was picked up

for being drunk in and about...

They'll give you a certificate

for those 2 million miles

to hang on a wall at home.

Only, the certificate doesn't add up

to the wear and tear.

...but the wrong word.

It's spirit she's got.

Dan knows about it.

All the old timers say

it's only temporary,

like growing pains.

Like this note she left me

on my last trip.

And now, it's here for no reason at all,

and you've got to fight it,

all alone.

"Welcome home, fatso.

"Got sleepy and couldn't wait

so you take a taxi.

"Don't make any racket when you come

home banging around the kitchen,

"and don't wake me up

in the morning. Love, Susie. "

What a sense of humour.

Someday, they're going to invent

a stool for navigators

that'll come somewhere near

fitting the human frame.

Ask Hobie if he can't synchronise

the props a little better.

I don't know

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