RUNAWAY ROSE
Chapter Sixty-Two
It was September before Esther was satisfied
that Rose was ready to fly. She drilled Rose over and over in the use of the different
controls, explaining repeatedly how they were used, trying to beat into Rose’s
mind the importance of safety, and of always paying attention when flying. Rose
listened, hearing Esther repeat the same lessons until she was ready to scream.
She knew that the old woman was only concerned with her safety, but she had
always been a fast learner, and repeating the same lessons over and over
annoyed her.
Still, she was learning. She sat in the
pilot’s seat, learning the controls, learning how to work them, long before she
was ever allowed to fly. Esther gave her a proper cap and goggles to wear, and
finally, early in September, Rose flew for the first time.
Esther was with her, sitting in the front
seat of the two-seater plane. The controls were in the back seat, and Rose sat
there, going over the controls, making sure everything was working, before she
took off.
Her first flight was short. Esther clutched
her seat until her knuckles turned white as the plane jerked and dipped in the
air. After about ten minutes, she had Rose circle around and land, coming down
a bit roughly. Nothing was damaged, however, and Rose was thrilled with her
first flight.
In the weeks that followed, they went out
often, and Rose’s ability to control the plane improved greatly. She loved the
feeling of soaring above the earth, looking down on the valleys and hills. Late
in September, she made her first flight to San Diego, attracting a crowd when
she landed. Airplanes were still uncommon in the Southern California city, and
the sight of a woman flying was even more surprising. Rose and Esther were
featured in the local newspapers, and a photograph was taken of Rose standing
alone beside the plane. She managed to get a copy of the picture, and placed it
carefully with the picture of herself on the beach in Santa Monica, taken
almost a year earlier.
Early in October, Rose made her first flight
to the mountains, and then over them to the desert. She looked down at the
changing landscape, amazed at how far one could travel by air in a single day,
and how much a person could see from so far above the ground. She landed near
the Salton Sea, getting her first close look at the desert, before heading back
west.
It was in the middle of October that Rose was
finally allowed to fly alone. Esther felt, after six weeks of flying with Rose,
that her young student knew what she was doing, and no longer needed her
supervision.
Rose took the plane out alone, reveling in
the solitude so far above the ground. The countryside spread out before her,
the hills and valleys appearing tiny from so high up. Below her, tiny houses
and outbuildings spread out, and cattle in the fields appeared as dots. From
this altitude, she imagined that she could see forever. Small towns were
visible from miles away, and in the clear, not yet smoggy air, she could see
down into Mexico to the south and to the Pacific Ocean to the west.
The thrill of freedom filled her, and she
laughed joyously as the wind roared around the plane. She remembered another
moment, more than four years earlier, when she had flown on the Titanic, the
wind in her hair and Jack’s arms around her.
"I’m flying, Jack! I’m flying!" she
called, her voice inaudible above the rush of the wind. "Just like we did
on the Titanic. I’m free, and I’ve learned to fly."
She banked the plane downward, looking at the
autumn-browned landscape below, before moving upward again, passing through a
low bank of clouds and emerging above them, the sunlight gleaming on the plane.
Slowly circling around, she headed back
towards the ranch. As she passed the cloud bank, and the sun shone over the
land below, she sang as she had that night so long ago.
Come Josephine in my flying machine
And it’s up she goes
Up she goes
Balance yourself like a bird on a beam
In the air she goes
There she goes
Up, up, a little bit higher
Oh, my, the moon is on fire
Come Josephine in my flying machine
Going up, all on, good-bye.
Rose looked down at the earth below, wiping
away an unexpected tear. She had long since said her good-byes to Jack, but
sometimes something would bring back the memories and the sorrow that had never
completely faded.
I can fly, Rose thought as the ranch came into view, and I have
found a home, but in many ways I am still alone, still separate from all those
around me. The freedom she had found was wonderful, but a part of her
longed to be a part of those around her, and she would have given up some of
her freedom to fulfill that very basic human need to belong.
But she hadn’t really belonged anywhere in a
long time, and much as she loved flying, and living with Esther, she knew that
it would only be a matter of time before she moved on again, always a stranger.