I was thinking to myself that maybe Jesus wouldn’t make
Culpepper City his first priority and perhaps Mrs Watson would have to wait
some. But then what did I know?
Culpepper wasn’t really a city, in fact it took a huge stretch
of the imagination to see it even as a town. We had one main street and nothing
much else. The founding fathers had big plans for the settlement and had decided
on calling it a city from the word go, as a signal of the things that would
come to pass. To be honest, we’re still waiting.
The railroad had built their tracks about 100 miles to
the north even though Culpepper had sent the great and good to convince them
otherwise. There was talk that the city council had even tried bribery, but
these rail folks were being bribed by bigger fish than us and so it made no
difference.
When Captain J. Welbeck announced in the papers that he
was going to fly from Maine to San Diego in a craft that he had designed
himself, well it was all we could talk about, try as hard as we might not to.
Culpepper City was in the middle of nowhere, and we only
got on the map ‘cause the Pony Express had once used it as a place to change
horses. Now the Mayor felt that if the Cap’n (as he called him) proved that
Culpepper City was a natural stopping off point for these here flying machines,
then maybe we’d grow to be a real city in two shakes of a tail.
The Captain’s people had telegrammed ahead with
instructions on what the flying machine needed in the way of landing. A flat
surface, not too stony, not too grassy that ‘stretched for a good distance’. No
one knew how far that was, but the whole of the town got to clearing the long
field behind Dee’s farm. Every stone was lifted, every bush cut and every blade
of grass tamed within an inch of its life.
Some of the better off ladies in town sent for new
dresses from a catalogue that Mrs Miller kept in her store. I even heard tell
that some of the women of Culpepper were hoping that the Captain might be
single and ask one of them to marry him. No one had seen a picture of the
Captain, but the women were willing to take their chances given that the
alternative was dying an old maid and being buried in the unmarried section of
the cemetery. Culpepper did all it’s sorting in the graveyard to save the Lord
some time on judgement day, at least that’s what the Pastor told us at Sunday
School.
So the big day arrived and all of the townsfolk had been
standing beside the long field since sun-up which at that time of year was
about 4.30. We didn’t see the machine until late in the afternoon and yet no
one had moved an inch in case they missed the most important thing to happen to
Culpepper since Billy the Kid had robbed the Culpepper City Farm Friendly Bank.
And then there it was, coming out of the sky and heading
for the line of flags that the folks had put down as instructed in the
telegram.
There was whooping and hollering and young Bessie asked
her Mom if it was an angel. I had never been so excited in all my life and as
it got closer and the noise got louder, my heart started to beat real fast. No
one had ever seen a flying machine before and some folks fell to their knees
and started to pray and there was a lot of ‘thank you Jesus’ as if we were
witnessing a miracle – which we probably were.
It fell slowly on to the long field and as the wheels
touched the ground safely, everyone started to ‘cheer’. Then the flying machine
bumped back into the air and the townsfolk all went ‘ohh’ because they were
thinking it was going away again. Then it landed, bumped, lifted into the air a
couple of more times all followed by ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the folks until it
came to a stop at the end of the field. Any further and it would have flattened
Jake’s prize bull.
Captain Welbeck got out to a hero’s welcome. He was
carried back to where the Mayor was standing on a box with a speech in his hand.
“Good people of Culpepper City,” he started, as the
Captain remained sitting on the shoulders of the townsfolk. “It is my privilege,
nay, it is my honor to welcome the brave flyer Captain J. Welbeck to our great
city”, and while the Captain was sitting on the shoulders he took off his
flying hat and glasses and it was then that we realized that the Captain was a
woman.
“Captain Jenny Welbeck,” she told the crowd who dropped
her to the ground in shock. The single ladies, tutted, shouted ‘well really’ and
stormed off home.
Mrs Watson said that Jesus would get to hear about this,
and if she was any judge, he wouldn’t be happy. Women weren’t meant to fly and
that was an end to it.
The Mayor’s wife, who had had the bedroom repainted
several times until she was happy with it and one she assumed would be fit for
a flying hero suddenly changed her mind and said the Captain could stay at
Culpepper City Hotel as she was expecting visitors any day now. I’m thinking
that the fact that the Captain was young and pretty didn’t help her case much.
The Mayor asked if I would escort the Captain to the
hotel on two accounts, I reckon. One was that the hotel belonged to my Mama and
two, the Mayor’s wife had suddenly felt faint and demanded to be taken home
that instant. “No ifs or buts, Jacob, take me home - now!” And that was that.
Mama gave Jenny the best room in the house, and told her
that no way was she accepting any payment for the room. Jenny tried to insist
but she ain’t seen my Mama when she’s in full flow. It’s her way or else.
After a good meal, Jenny said goodnight but that she
might have a surprise for us in the morning. I couldn’t get to sleep that night
thinking what the prize might be and then over a big plate of grits and eggs the
next morning she asked if me and Mama would like to go up in the flying
machine. Mama said God hadn’t given her wings. She said thank you kindly but there
was no way she was getting in that contraption. I looked at Mama and she just
said ‘No!’ but she knew I wouldn’t shut up until she said ‘yes’. Which is what
she did, eventually.
There was an excitement in the pit of my stomach and my
breathing got real hard but I was determined that I was going up. Jenny made me
sit in the front seat (after she’d cleared out all her stuff) and then went to
the propeller and pulled it real hard. Once it was started and whizzing around,
Jenny jumped in.
She took the machine up to the end of the long field and
then got out and turned the thing around then just as easily jumped in again.
Jenny shouted “Are you ready?” I stuck my thumb in the
air to tell her I was and soon we were shooting down that field, fast like. Then
a weird thing happened, the ground fell away and we were flying. Man it felt
good. I looked over the edge to see Mama crossing herself. She’d be asking God
to take care of me. If we climbed any higher, I could probably tell him myself.
Nothing in the world can get you ready for flying, it
ain’t like anything you’ve ever experienced and the first time is extra
special. We flew over town and I could see that Jenkers was lying on his roof
without a stitch of clothes on. I always wondered what he did up on that roof.
I could see the guys rounding up the cattle over on the Four Circles ranch. The
wind was blowing in my face and hair and I didn’t ever want to come down. That
is until Jenny said we’d need to head back on account of the fuel getting low.
That was the best day of my life, ever.
Jenny left that afternoon and headed somewhere south and
west and I wondered if they too, thought she was a man.
A few years later, Jenny flew across the Pacific alone
and broke all kinds of records.
One day - a while back - out in the middle of Arizona,
she disappeared. They never found her body.
thoughtcontrol ltd
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