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OTIS CARNEY
CHAPTER VI
As soon as I was decently, out
of sight, I began to fly aimlessly
in large potbellied circles. After
twenty minutes I convinced my
self I could stay up or come down
at will. Flying was enjoyable! If
I skidded in the turns, the Glos
sup lash could not fall on my
shoulders. If I wandered off the
heading, there was no one to ob
ject. I flew over the Potomac
and circled around an excursion
boat moving slowly down the
river. My control over the plane
was absolute. I was sure of my
mastery. Could this be love? I
jammed the nose dovhi and j>Ulled
it right back up. That was the
way Jb treat the little woman.
After an hour of sleighing about
the sky, I started back to the
field. There would be no little
enjoyment in striding unconcern
edly past Glossup. This time he
would have to come to me. I
practiced a suitable monologue in
the smug dialect of the experts.
*Very nice upstairs today, Glos
sup. Very nice indeed. Smooth
at four thousand. Average t. p.
m.’s 1700, fuel pressure 35. The
left wing was a little heavy, but
that doesn’t bother us, does it,
Ace?”
I might throw in a nudge under'
his navy wings, a sort of fraternal
high sign.
I turned my attention to num
ber two-ninety-six. We had nev
er got along like this before. Per
“ haps it wasn’t too late to try again.
“Oh, you beautiful doll,” I sang,
and patted her on the instrument
panel.
The field was below now. I
followed the correct procedure and
prepared to land.
"Oh, you beautiful doll, you
great big beautiful dolll” I
courted extravagantly.
The approach was professional.
The tail struck lightly, and the
wheels'•followed immediately.lt
was a perfect landing. We rolled
swiftly down the runway.
“It isn’t generally known,’* I
cooed in a rapture at this totally
unexpected success, “but you have
the cutest ailerons on the base.
Believe me.”
There was a noticeable sway
ing to the light
“Easy, dear,” I called in alarm.
I moved the stick to counterbal
ance the disturbance. There was
no response. We skidded.' We
spun around in a circle. After
two dizzy gyrations we stopped
at a crazy angle on the runway.
The propeller/ continued to spin
absurdly.
j Dazed by the wicked turn of
” events, I pushed the goggles up
my head and looked around at my
world. The tower was busy haul
ing down the course flag. All the
cadets had gathered in a bunch
in front of the hangar and focus
ed their twenty-twenty vision on
me and my situation. The crash1
truck, with officers hanging from
every rung, was a red blur streak
ing down the runway. Above the
airport planes circled waiting to
land. I had stepped on Atlas' foot
and he had dropped the globe.
The crash truck drew alongside.
"Are you all right?” The Offi
cer of the Day asked for the rec
ords.
I nodded.
Mr. Glossup crammed his large
face into the cockpit.
“You ground-looped,’ he gasp
ed. “You ground-looped.”
“I didn’t do it. She did.” 1
pointed all over the plane.
“You unlocked the tail-wheel
too soon,” bawled Mr. Glossup.
“You idiot. You idiot!”
No amount of technical evidence
to the contrary could persuade
me that I had not been deceived
by feminine guile in a highly
mechanized form.
“I didn’t do it,” I repeated stub
bornly.
I rode sheepishly back to me
hangar on the crash truck, while
a crew pushed the plane off the
runway, and life recommenced to
flow in its normal channels.
In council it was decided that
I should solo again the following
day. Their lenient opinion was
predicated on the fact that I had
upset the concensus by returning
at all. The ground loop was
frowned upon, but still it was an
improvement over fhe anticipated
flight of the rock.
Elated by the reprieve, I still
felt that I had been purposely
sacked by number two-ninety-six.
There was something spiteful and
heaAless about that landing. I
waited until all the planes had
returned from their last flight
arid then slipped down the line
again. She stood tinted, vain,
and defiant in the evening colors.
There was about her something
wild and unprincipled.
"You St. Louis woman!” I
cursed her softly, and walked ab
ruptly to the bus.
• • •
For two weeks I struggled for
precision, learned to land in a cir
cle and how to make emergency
landings. There must have been
some progress, because planes
that formerly bolted off like school
tots fleeing the eighth-grade bul
ly whenever two-ninety-six ap
peared in the sky, now exhibited
at least dritward calm. Gradually
my status changed, and at the end
I was regarded more as a cripple
who had learned to tap-dance
than as a sort of floating hazard.
I passed my twenty-hour check
and became eligible for advanced
training, at Corpus Christi. After
the ordeal Mr. Glossup called me
aside. He took my arm and hus
tled me around the hangar. I was
used to being treated like cactus,
and gentle hands unnerved me.
“Well, I got you through.” He
Auction Sale
At my home, 4 miles east of Laurel Springs near
Pine Fork Baptist church on
Saturday, January 13 at 1 o’clock,
the following will be offered for sale:
3 Hereford cows, to be fresh in spring—5 years old.
' 1 five-year-old Roan cow with calf.
2 Jersey cows to be fresh in March.
2 two-year-old Hereford heifers, bred.
1 fourteen-months-old Hereford heifer.
3 calves, eight months old.
1 team of mares, five years old — good workers.
1 Filley, coming two years old.
1 mowing machine and rake in good condition.
Some corn.
TERMS TO BE ANNOUNCED ON DAY OF SALE
Chestnut Wood & Tan Bark
Wilkes Extract Works
Roscoe Collins, Auctioneer
Meril and Effie Pruitt
f
NORTH CAROLINA
I
i'
broke down completely in private.
It was Glossup unmasked. "And
do you know what did it? Psy
chology!” He piouthed the pass
word.
I stood mutebefore the revela
tion, deprived; of my faculties.
“Without* physchology, you’d
have been a dead duck”—he snap
ped his fingers. “I wouldn’t have
given that for you”—he snapped
his fingers again. It was the same
as being a dead duck.
‘It’s a marvelous thing”—I paid
my respects to science.
“When I saw you I said to my
self, this fellow has to be handled
psychologically. And, boy”— he
slapped me jovially—“did you re
spond!”
After a minute he said: “1
couldn’t be like this and do you
any good. You understand that”
—he explained his past behaviour.
In . the real Glossup, psychologi
cally speaking, there was ap
parently no therapeutic Value at
all.
“Yes, I’ve been using it since
childhood,” mused Mr. Glossup,
referring to his art as if it were
an old boot-jack,
“I must send you some of the
new books, sir.” It was the least
I could do. |
A new cadet sidled up, not at
all sure of his ground.
“Pardon me,” he introduced
himself. “My name is Green. I
am your new student.”
Mr. Glossup winked at me. Cun
ning lit his eyes.
“When I am talking to another,
you will not interrupt me. Is that
clear?” he asked icily.
He turned back to me.
“Good luck at Corpus Christi,”
he said under his breath.
“Oh, excuse me,” mumbled the
cadet.
“Excuse me what?” demanded
Mr. Glossup, speaking from Olym
pus. '
'Take over, Freud!” I murmur
ed, making for Fearless’ carriage.
With luck, I could pack, check out,
and catch the evening train for
Chicago. We aren’t ordered to
Corpus Christi until October six
teenth. There was time for a
three-day leave.
I arrived home on a bright Oc
tober day. A fresh wind was
stripping the trees of their colored
leaves, whisking them off the
branches and blowing them about
in swirls. Sometimes one would
flatten out on the car window, all
but in your eye, and you could
see its ribbing and the cracks in
its dried surface. Everywhere, in
driveways and lanes, in school
yards and squares, autumn fires
smoldering unattended and smoke
bent by the wind drifted, spread,
and dissolved in a blue haze.
When I reached the house, Elsa
raced outside and then inside
again.
“He ees come!” she shouted.
Mother came squealing down
the stairs. Father emerged from
the library in a cloud of smoke.
“Darling, don’t squeal like that,”
he protested, shaking my hand.
"My baby!” cried Mother,
swamping me with affection.
“Easy, dear, don’t get dewy,”
cautioned Father.
Mother disengaged herself.
“You take the front,” she said
to Father, “and I’ll take the back.”
She took a stand a few paces
oenina me.
“Now, look!" I protested.
“You just talk, dear,” com
manded Mother. “How was it?
Did they whip you?”
“No, they didn’t whip me. Are
you having a good time?”
“Wonderful. You’ve no idea
how they’ve improved your rear,”
she mused.
“She’s been well, hasn’t she?"
Father nodded.
“No, really. It’s svelte now,”
she inisted. “How’s the front?”
she called tot Father.
“Glossy,” he said.
“Talk, Lester,” Mother said.
“There was a young man from
Racine.”
“Talk about horsepower,”
Mother urged.
“You’ll love that’
Unwillingly I was launched on
a technical lecture concerning
earo-dynamics and the theory of
flight, power plants, and the
complex mechanics of the carbu
retor. Mother moved around in
front next to Father. Both of
them heard me, but neither lis
tened. They looked at each oth
er and then at me and then back
to each other with the incredulity
of two yokels gazing for the first
time upon the marvelous doings
of the latest electric icebox.
‘Isn’t that wonderful!” Mother
broke in. “He used to be so va
pid,” she said to Father. “I’ve
got to go upstairs a minute,” she
tDolodzed.
Father and I retired to the li
brary and fell to discussing the
progress of the war. He had lin
ed the room with maps, all mark
Hot Biscuits Good Around the Clock
rrtHlir Continental custom of serv
X ins tea in mld-afte/lrnoon has
something to be said for it Who
wouldn’t like hot golden biscuits
and honey with a steaming cup of
tea? One interesting English, or
Canadian tea-time custom is to
serve the foods on plates of dif
ferent patterns—including cups and
saucers!
Fluffy tender biscuits can be
whipped up in short order when
ever unexpected guests arrive.
Make them with thrifty blended
shortening for good results. Serve
with homemade Jelly, Jam or mar
malade.
Biscuit dough can also he used
as a shortcake base—with creamed
meat for a main dish, or with a
fruit topping for dessert. It you’re
in a hurry, make crunchy drop
biscuits instead of uniform rolled
ones; use a little extra milk in th,e
recipe for drop biscuits.
Cinnamon biscuits or orange bis
cuits are good breakfast hot breads,
while bacon biscuits are a treat tor
lunch. So biscuits are arouiAthe
clock. favorites.
Tea Biscuits
Yield: 12 medium biscuitt
14 cup blended 3 teaspoons
shortening baking powder
3 cups sifted flour K to % cup
14 teaspoon salt milk M
* • t
Sift together flour, salti and bak
ing powder. Blend in shortening
until mixture is the consistency of
coarse cornmeal. Stir in milk te
form a stiff dough. Turn onto a
lightly floured board or pastry cloth
and knead gently 3 or 4 times. Pat
out to % inch thickness. Cut with
floured biscuit cutter. Place on an
ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a
hot oven (425° F.) 10 to 12 minutes.
For variations of the above recipe
try: Orange Biscuits—Sift % cup
sugar in with other dry ingredients.
-Add 2 tablespoons grated orange
rind to dough.
Cinnamon Biscuits — Roll biscuit
dough out into a rectangle % inch
thick. Spread with butter or mar
garine. Sprinkle with a mixture of
hi cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinna
mon. Add % cup raisins if desired.
Roll up as for jelly roll and cut in
1-inch slices. Place in greased pan
and bake.
Bacon Biscuits — Roll biscuit
dough out and cut into squares,
i Dice 6 slices of bacon. Sprinkle
bacon pieces on top of dough. Place
squares on baking pan. Bacon will
brown as biscuits bake.
ed with vari-colored pins, and
wherever an acquaintance was
stationed his progress and feats
and the latest news of him were
duly logged.
We talked on awhile until I
heard the buzz of quiet talk in the
front hail. It sounded like the low,
unintelligible drone doctors and
nurses speak in outside their pat
ient’s room. I recognized Mother,
and then in a warm, agonizing
flash I knew the other.
“Is that who I think it is?” I
asked Father.
“That’s who it is,” said Father
sympathetically.
It happens that Mother is one of
those collectors for whom a family
photograph is “a thing of beauty
and a joy forever.” Her albums
fill bins. Casual, candid work she
did herself. However, grand oc
casions were entrusted to the pro
fessional hands of Mr. Raymonde,
a man whose highly stylized work
could be recognized as Milestones
Along Life’s Thorny Path. It in
cluded such items as the First
Birthday, Little Hunter, Achilles,
and a succession of graduations,
Mr. Raymande wore much mofe
hair than our period requires, and
about his neck he wrapped a silken
scarf that shone like chromium.
When he smiled, he looked like
a shark, which explains to a great
extent the quailing expression in
Little Hunter.
“Lester,” Mother called, “Mr.
Raymonde is here to take a few
pictures of you.”
“He just made it, didn’t he?” I
said suspiciously. “I’ll bet you’ve
had him locked £n the attic for
days.”
“Don’t be absurd, dear. He
stayed in your room last night
just to be ready when you came,”
said Mother.
"That Neanderthal Beaton slept
in my bed!” The dentist was pro
bably chained in the guest room.
“Here he is, Mr. Raymonde,”
said Mother, leading me gingerly
into the hallway.
“Ah,” said Raymonde hungrily.
“I suggest we go into the garden.”
I stood fast.
“Why Won’t you go into the gar
den with; Ml;. Raymonde?” asked
----—hr-:
Laurel Fork News
Among the Glade Valley High
School students visiting their
homes here for the holidays were
Misses Elane Cox, Ulene Hart,
Libbie Joe Long and Mr. Billy
Long.
Mr. and Mrs. Odell Keys have
announced the birth of a son,
James Stephen.
Mr. E. C. Pruitt, and daughter,
i Misses Annie and Muriel Pruitt,
who are employed in Baltimore,
Md., are visiting here.
Mr. and Mrs. Homer Long, of
Landis, visited his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. A. A. Long, during the
holidays.
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Miller, and
son, Thomas, and Mr. and Mrs.
Cecil Davis, and daughter, Lynda
Carol, of Baltimore, Md., visited
relatives here during the holidays.
Mr. and Mrs. Guy Miller, of
Wagoner, visited Mrs. Miller’s
parents, Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Pen
dry, last week.
Miss Iva Dale Pendry, who is
employed in Greensboro, spent
the holidays at her home.
Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Johnson, and
family, of Hays, visited Mrs.
Johnson’s parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Chas. Key, Sunday.
Mr. Bruce McGrady, who is
employed in Baltimore, Md., re
turned home for the holidays.
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Stoker, of
North Wilkesboro, visited - rela
tives here last week.
Mt. Zion News
By MRS. S. E. SMITH
Staff Correspondent
Miss Edna Rae Smith, of Wash
ington, D. C., is spending the
Christmas holidays with her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. C.
I
Mother in distress.
“I won’t do it"
Mr. Raymonde absented him
self by gazing out a window until
the situation settled.
“What had you planned, Mr.
Raymonde?" Mother asked.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Wanted To Buy
Dogwood Sticks
5 inches and op top diameter. Highest price and spot
cash delivered to our mill at WEST JEFFERSON, N. C
For specification and 'price, call at mill or write,
Medgentra, Ltd.
Asheville, N. C.
Smith and other relatives In the
community.
Min Logene Pugh, Bel Air,
Md., is spending the holidays
.with her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
T. E. Pugh.
Mr. and Mrs. Barnett Reeves
and daughter, Frances Anne, of
Maiden, spent Christmas with Mr.
and Mrs. Ben Williams.
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Pugh,
Wytheville, Va., visited relatives
in the community during the holi
days.
Mr. and Mrs. Guy Pugh and
sins spent Christmas day with
Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Pugh, Topia.
Mr. and Mrs. W.F.TPugh, Mr.
and Mrs. T. E. Push, Logene and
Fred Pugh, little Shirley Max
well and Zack Rutherford, spent
Christmas day with Mr. and Mr*.
Linville Blevins, at Piney Creek.
Those visiting Mr. and Mrs.
Lee Black, Monday, were Mr.
and Mrs. Oscar Moxley and fam
ily, Topia; and Mr. and Mrs. Jos
hua Fender and family, Scottville.
Dinner guests in the home of
Mr. and Mrs. S. E. Smith, Christ
mas night, were: Mr. and Mrs. H.
Clay Smith and daughter, Miss
Edna Rae, Mrs. T. E. Pugh, Miss
Logene Pugh and Fred Pugh.
KM, JANUARY ,c>
i 2 3 4 5 6
7 3 9 lo n 12 15
14 15 l6 I? 18 19 20
21 22 2,3 24 27 26 27
28 29 3o 31
y| ».-,rdbif. *®;| )•*
Start The New Year Out Right
• Pay Your Bills By Check.
• Ask Us For Credit When Needed,
a Buy More War Bonds.
DO ALL YOUR BANKING WITH US.
Northwestern Bank
' ■ • M
SPARTA, N. CAROLINA
I Will Offer For Sale At
Public Auction
AT MY HOME AT
Twin Oaks Farm, Twin Oaks, N. CL,
on Friday, January 12, at 10 A. 1VL,
The Following:
2 cows, one fresh in Jan., and one fresh in spring.
Corn, Fodder.
1 electric washing machine.
1 Singer sewing machine.
1 living room suite.
1 bedroom suite, new.
1 wood or coal range.
3 wood heating stoves.
Other household and kitchen furniture and some tools.
Terms made known on day of sale.
* F. M. ROSE
WANTED!
IVY and LAUREL RUBLE
Briarwood is craning now from North Africa and
Italy in ever increasing quantity. Dig your ivy and
Laurel stools now while the price is at the highest in the
market
OFFICE AND SAW MILL
WEST JEFFERSON, NORTH CAROLINA
Purchasing Agents:
TODD DRUG CO
West Jefferson, N. C.
Carolina
BROWNWOOB
W.H. Brown
Fleetwood. N. C.
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