Wings in the Dark Page #2

sanction a man

going out to commit suicide.

I see.

Sorry, Ken.

I don"t have to ask you

if you did this?

What do you think?

Well, there goes

the bubble, Mac.

Four years we"ve been working,

isn"t it?

MAC:
And a few months.

Sort of hits you financially,

too, doesn"t it?

Lt"s all rotten.

Just because somebody wants

to spill a lot of type,

l"m grounded by

an eight-column banner.

Hey, Mr. Gordon, carload

of guys with a dame moved

in on us outside.

Who are they?

I don"t know.

Some of them"s got cameras.

Oh, they have?

We tried to keep them out

but they piled in anyway.

Fix that tie, babe. Here.

There we are. Now, keep that

nose up. Sheila,

keep that nose up.

That"s it, that"s it.

Tilt your hat a little bit.

That"s the idea.

Show them you can look

as well as fly.

All right, boys.

PHOTOGRAPHER:
Smile,

Miss Mason.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Look at the plane, honey,

like you loved it.

Like you belong to it.

Fine. Great. That"s the girl.

GORDON:
Just a minute.

PHOTOGRAPHER:

What"s the idea?

Get those things

out of here.

What"s the matter?

You heard me. Get out.

Ken, you"re kicking

everything in the pants

after I had it all fixed up.

You"ve caused enough harm

for one day.

Now, take your little

whatever-she-is and get out.

NICK:
Ken, don"t act that way.

Just a minute, Mr. Gordon!

We may have done something

wrong, I don"t know.

Maybe Nick can explain.

But whatever it is...

I don"t think I know you.

It"s Sheila Mason, Ken.

Sure you know her.

Oh, yes, I believe I do now,

by reputation. Where do you

fit into this?

You mean you didn"t expect me?

Nick.

Now, wait a minute, Sheila.

Give me a chance.

You see, Ken, it"s this way.

I heard you were making

this flight to Paris blind,

and thought it was a great

chance to cash in.

Sheila"s good copy,

and a swell flyer,

and doing it together would

make it the biggest

stunt since Lindbergh.

There"s a million in it.

I see.

I thought Nick had already

arranged it.

Sure, Ken. It"d be terrific.

So you thought l"d take

something like this

and turn it into one of your

cheap ballyhoo stunts?

Take her along, huh?

When I can"t even take a man

like Mac, who"s worked

every step of the way with me.

Well, it might interest

you both to know that

l"ve been refused permission.

Oh, no.

What do you mean?

The government happens

to have the same dislike

for cheapness that I have.

REPORTER:
You mean to say

you"re not going?

You heard me.

Well, what are we doing

around here?

Come on, let"s go.

MASON:
L"m really sorry.

NICK:
Yeah, me, too, Ken,

but how was I to know?

You"ve said quite enough.

Now please get out of here.

Nice tie you got there, Chief.

Might as well

cover her up, Mac.

Right.

Like a cup of coffee?

No. Cover her up and go home.

They"ve got a new

shooting gallery

down at Coney Island.

Good night, Mac.

What is it, Mac? What is it?

I thought you left

with the others.

What do you want?

I stayed behind

to tell you again

how sorry I am.

Rather late for that,

isn"t it?

I know explanations don"t mean

very much, but I do hope

you can forgive me.

It"s all right.

Forget it.

Thanks.

Hadn"t you better run

along now? Your friends might

leave you here.

They"ve gone already,

but I can take a streetcar.

Well?

Ken Gordon, you weren"t after

publicity on this trip,

were you?

I think you know that

by this time.

Nor glory, particularly.

No.

All you wanted to do was

to prove that it could be made

safe to fly an airship

anywhere regardless

of fog or weather.

That"s about it.

Then why don"t you?

Why don"t I? Perhaps you

haven"t heard,

I was denied permission.

A piece of paper, wasn"t it?

A pretty important

piece of paper.

Of course. Only it occurred

to me that the man

who laid the air track to Rio

when the whole world said

it couldn"t be done,

and did a lot of other things

that nobody else would tackle,

well, that man would hardly

be the one to wait

for a piece of paper

in order to do something

a great deal more important.

Mac, Mac, Mac,

are you still here?

Coming, boss.

How soon can I take off?

You"re going anyway?

Right away. Don"t want

to lose this weather.

Get your maps, man.

You"re on your way.

What are you going to wear?

Heavy flying suit,

moccasins, gloves.

Where are they?

In that locker.

L"ll get those.

You get your maps.

Say, you"re a pretty good

sport to do this after the way

I treated you today.

Forget it. If I can"t go

with you, at least I can

see you off.

These moccasins

are torn.

That doesn"t matter.

You know,

you"re nothing like

what I thought you were.

What did you think I was?

Well, l"ve always heard

of you barnstorming,

flying under bridges,

doing stunts for the movies.

In other words,

working the aviation racket

for all it"s worth.

Well, yes.

Where do you keep

your coffee?

Mac has it ready on the stove.

I didn"t mean to be

as rotten to you

as I was today.

This coffee"s cold.

L"m not often

as wrong about people

as I was about you.

You just didn"t

understand, that"s all.

You see, I want to fly,

but I haven"t the money.

Do you realize how little

women can do in the air?

We can"t fly for the Army,

we can"t fly the mails.

Even the good transport jobs

are closed to us.

How do you light this thing?

L"ll show you.

I wasn"t fair. I hope you"ll

let me see you when I get back

to sort of make up for it.

Watch that match.

You"ll burn your fingers.

Isn"t it always the way

when you"re in a hurry?

Mac! Mac!

Oh, my dear!

What"s happened?

Get some olive oil,

butter, any kind of grease!

Hurry!

Let me see. Let me see.

Let me see.

I can"t see. I can"t see.

Mac, hurry! Hurry!

Just as we thought after

the first examination.

There are no surface burns.

The explosion did its damage

within the eye.

Then l"m blind.

The chief injury"s due to

a major disturbance

of the eye fluid, Mr. Gordon.

Tell me the truth.

Will I ever see again?

That"s hard to say.

But as long as the optic nerve

is uninjured,

there"s always hope,

but we can tell nothing yet.

How long before you can tell?

A long time, l"m afraid.

You mean weeks? Months? Years?

Months, at least.

Now, let me get this straight.

L"m blind now

and it"ll be months before

you can tell me if l"ll

ever see again, is that it?

Sorry, but l"m afraid

that"s about it.

Thank you.

Goodbye, Mr. Gordon.

Goodbye and thanks.

You"ve been very kind.

Here, Ken.

Thanks, Mac.

All right, Mr. Kelter.

Thanks for not trying

to tell me that everything

will work out swell.

Right.

L"m going away, Mac.

Away?

Yes, I have to.

I don"t want charity

and I won"t stand

being pitied.

L"m not down yet.

Of course you"re not.

You"ll have to get

another job, Mac.

But I wish you"d keep

an eye on the ship.

Right.

I don"t want you to tell

anybody where I am, nobody.

L"ve got to have time

to think this thing out alone.

Right.

No, Mac. He"d rather

do it himself.

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