Air Rescue by Gary Whitmore - HTML preview

PLEASE NOTE: This is an HTML preview only and some elements such as links or page numbers may be incorrect.
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.

Chapter 14

 

Inside Stephanie’s aquarium, she strained at the glass to see the airship.  She couldn’t see it and started to get depressed thinking they abandoned her.

Carlos swam by her side and noticed that she was depressed so he placed a fin around her.  “Don’t worry my darling.  I’ll stay by your side forever,” he said and inside he was dancing that the airship probably flew away.

She kissed Carlos and started to forget about being rescued.  “I would love to stay by your side forever,” she replied after their lips separated.

A splash was heard above them and Stephanie and Carlos looked up and watched while Melvin, in his airsuit, slowly floated to the bottom with the seaweed rope still connected inside the air chamber.

“He’s coming to rescue me!” she cried out.

Carlos looked depressed and Stephanie noticed.

Melvin removed his helmet the second he spotted Stephanie and Carlos by the glass.  “Stephanie,” he called out.

Stephanie swam over to Melvin.

Carlos swam after Stephanie.

“Let’s go home,” Melvin said while he held up the extra airsuit.

Stephanie looked anxious to get back home but the glanced back over at Carlos’ sad eyes with losing her.  The looked back at Melvin’s anxious eyes to take her back home.  She hesitated while she debated in her mind.  “I’m actually loving it here, Melvin,” she told him.

“Are you in love with this Latin fish?” Melvin asked her and was afraid of the answer.

Stephanie looked at Carlos who looked at her and a tear fell out of his eyes.  She looked back at Melvin.  “I’m sorry Melvin.  I didn't mean for it to happen but it did,” she said then held onto one of Carlos’ fins.

“I still need to take you back home.  Your father is worried sick and he’s going to send me to Sand Quentin for allowing the Air Aliens to kidnap you,” Melvin pleaded.

“Well he should, after what you did.  I mean lying about being a hero,” she replied.

“You should never lie about being a hero,” Carlos replied while he shook his head in disapproval.

“I know and I’m ashamed.  But I can’t correct what happened in the past.  I can only try to redeem myself,” Melvin replied then he held up the other airsuit.  “You belong back in Aquaticville,” he added.

“I love you Stephanie and want you to stay with me.  We can have a long life of Mambo dancing,” Carlos said while he did a few dance moves.

Stephanie looked at Melvin then she looked at Carlos.  “I’ll only go if Carlos comes with us to Aquaticville,” she said while she placed her fin abound his body.

“I would love to, but we don't have enough room,” Melvin replied while he handed Stephanie the helmet.

She knocked the helmet out of his mechanical hand and it fell to the bottom of the aquarium.

Melvin looked at her eyes and knew she was serious about Carlos.  “Okay, we'll take him along.”

“I’ll go,” Stephanie said then grabbed the airsuit out of Melvin’s mechanical hand.

Carlos bent down and picked up the helmet.

Melvin assisted Stephanie into the airsuit.

All of the other fish in the aquarium rushed over to Melvin.

“Rescue me!” Janet cried out with pleading eyes.

“Me too!” Penny cried out with pleading eyes.

Melvin looked at the pleading eyes of Martin, Ally, Tony, Glen, Kim, and Eddie.

“We plan on more rescue missions with a bigger airship,” Melvin said while he finished with securing Stephanie’s suit.

A few minutes later, Stephanie was dressed in the airsuit and the helmet was locked in place.

“We’re ready, Hazel,” Melvin called out into the radio net.

“Activating rope hoist,” Hazel replied from the radio net.

“Hold onto me,” Melvin told Stephanie.

Stephanie wrapped her mechanical arms around Melvin’s airsuit and then the seaweed rope started moving and they slowly went upward.

While they went to the surface of the water, Melvin started to recall those days when Stephanie hugged him.  But for some reason, he wasn’t too excited about her being next to him this time.

A little while later, Melvin and Stephanie reached the opening at the top of the aquarium. 

Melvin climbed up out of the hole and then he assisted Stephanie out of the hole.

They walked across the top of the aquarium to the airship.

The both stepped inside the air chamber.

Once they were inside the air chamber, Melvin pressed the button on the wall and the door closed.

“Stephanie is with me in the air chamber.  The door is closed and ready for water fill,” Melvin called out into the radio net.

“Activating air chamber water fill,” Hazel replied from the radio net.

Then water poured out of the small pipes near the bottom of the wall.

Melvin and Stephanie barely looked at each other while the water started to fill up the air chamber.

Down in the aquarium, Carlos anxiously waited for Melvin to return to rescue him.

The air chamber was filled with water and Melvin removed his helmet then he removed Stephanie’s helmet.

They looked at each other and then Melvin gave her a quick kiss on her lips.  But this time, it didn’t feel the same for the both of them.

“Let’s get inside the cockpit,” he told her then pressed another button on the wall and the door that led into the cockpit area opened.

They swam out of the air chamber and the door closed.

Once they were in the cockpit area, Melvin assisted Stephanie out of her airsuit and hung it up on the wall.

Hazel swam over to Stephanie and Melvin.

“Thank you little sis for rescuing me,” Stephanie told Hazel then gave her a hug and a kiss on her gill.

Hazel looked happy for the first time with seeing her sister.  “We better hurry back home,” he told Hazel while he got out of his airsuit.

Stephanie looked a little concerned when she saw Melvin hang up his airsuit on the wall.

Hazel swam over to the console and sat down in her seat.  She started flipping switches and turning knobs and wondered if Stephanie and Melvin would get married.

Melvin swam over to the console and sat in his seat.

Stephanie looked upset and swam over to Hazel and Melvin.

“What are you doing?” Stephanie asked and looked upset.

“We’re getting the airship ready to fly home,” Hazel replied then she noticed that Stephanie’s eyes welled up. “What's the matter?”

“Melvin promised to bring Carlos along with us,” she replied while her eyes welled up.  “I love him!” she added then started crying.

“Who do you love?” Hazel curiously asked to make sure she heard correctly.

“I love Carlos,” Stephanie cried out and got worried that she would never see her Cuban lover again.

Hazel looked over at Melvin.  “Melvin!  Did you promise to bring Carlos?”

Melvin didn’t respond while he flipped the engine switch and the engine fired.  He started to get a little jealous of Carlos and didn’t want to rescue him.

“Melvin!” Hazel yelled at him.

“We better go before the Air Aliens come back,” he replied.

Hazel flipped some switches and turned some knobs then she flipped the engine switch.  The engine whined down and turned off.

“Melvin, you can't break a promise.  If you said you would bring this Carlos fish, then you better go back down there and get him!” Hazel scolded him.

Melvin looked at Hazel who had her fins crossing that indicated she meant business.

Down in the aquarium, Carlos looked up at the surface of the water and started to worry that he would lose Stephanie forever.

Then Melvin, in his airsuit, splashed into the water.

He carried another airsuit while he floated down to the bottom with the seaweed rope trailing above him.

Carlos waited for Melvin with a smile while he thought about Stephanie.

Melvin reached the bottom of the aquarium and looked at Carlos.  “Here’s your airsuit,” he said and handed Carlos the suit.

Melvin assisted Carlos with wearing the airsuit and it was an extremely tight fit but he managed to squeeze Carlos inside the suit.

All the other eight fish watched and had begging eyes at Melvin.

“Please come back and rescue us,” Martin said.

Melvin looked at all their begging eyes but knew he couldn’t do anything about it now.  “We’ll be back soon,” he replied then felt good when he saw the gleam in their eyes.

A few minutes later, Melvin had Carlos dressed in the airsuit. 

“We’re ready to come up,” he called out into the radio net.

“Activating rope hoist,” Hazel replied from the radio net.

“Hold onto me,” Melvin told Carlos.

Carlos wrapped his mechanical arms around Melvin’s airsuit.

Melvin and Carlos slowly rose up to the surface of the water and the seaweed rope was straining due to the weight.

The other fish watched while those two slowly went up to the opening at the top of the aquarium.

On the top of the aquarium, Melvin climbed out of the hole onto the top.  He assisted Carlos while he climbed out of the hole.

They walked to the opened air chamber door of the airship.

They both stepped inside the air chamber and the door closed.

Inside the cockpit area, Stephanie anxiously paced back and forth while the water filled the air chamber.

The door to the air chamber opened and Melvin and Carlos walked out in their airsuits with their helmets removed.

Stephanie rushed over and planted a kiss on Carlos’ lips. 

Hazel loved the sight of the two kissing.

Melvin was still a tad jealous while he removed his airsuit.

After he hung his airsuit on the wall, he assisted Carlos out of his airsuit.

Hazel was in her seat at the console and fired up the engine.

Melvin swam over and sat down in his seat. 

Hazel reached over and touched his fin.  “I’m proud of you,” she said.

He smiled at her.  “Let’s go home,” he said while he grabbed the joystick.

From the other aquarium in the den, nine exotic fish lived in this water world.  One of those fish was Hazel and Stephanie’s mother, Agnes.

Agnes swam around the center of her aquarium and swam over to a plastic sunken ship. 

She swam over to the glass to get her hourly glimpse of the other aquarium at the other side of the den.

While she stared at the other aquarium, Airship 3 rose off the top of that water world.  Agnes suddenly looked curious about the airship and then her eyes lit up when she remembered.  “I recall Rodney talking about NASA making airships to perform rescue missions.  Maybe he’s doing them now,” she said and had hope in her eyes that she would return home one day.

She watched while the landing struts of Airship 3 retracted back into the belly of the craft.

Billy and Cooter entered the den after coming home from breakfast at the International House of Pancakes.

Billy saw Airship 3 while he hovered by Stephanie’s aquarium.  “My spaceship!  It’s flying again!” Billy called out.

 Cooter sat Airship 3 while it slowly flew away from the aquarium.  He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t having hallucinations.   “It flies!  How cool!” he said when he believed his eyes.

Cooter ran after Airship 3, which banked to the right and flew toward that other aquarium.

From inside the other aquarium, Agnes watched while Cooter ran after Airship 3.  “Oh my!” she cried out in horror afraid the airship would be caught by the Air Alien.

Inside Airship 3, Melvin worked the controls while Hazel looked out the canopy and behind them Stephanie and Carlos cuddled.

Hazel’s eyes widened in fear when she saw Cooter coming after their airship.  “Air Alien!” she cried out in fear.

From the den, Cooter ran after the airship but the second it made a sharp right turn, he tripped over his feet and fell flat on his face.

“I want my spaceship!” Billy cried out while he chased after the airship.

Cooter got up and saw the airship while it flew around the room.

Then Billy, Cooter and the airship performed a Keystone Kops chase around the room.

Inside Airship 3, Stephanie and Carlos looked scared while Melvin performed evasive maneuvers to stay out of the grips of the Air Aliens.

While Melvin performed these evasive maneuvers, Hazel spotted two windows and saw the blue skies with a few white puffy clouds.

“There’s a couple of holes to the outer air,” she yelled out and pointed in the direction of the windows.

Airship 3 zigged zagged around the room while Cooter and Billy looked like a bunch of stooges while they each tried to grab the craft out of the air.

“It’s heading to one of the windows!” Billy cried out in a panic.

Then Cooter saw a big net on a pole nearby leaning against the wall.  

He raced over and grabbed the pole. 

He raced after the airship and swung the net after the craft.

He missed and knocked over Connie’s favorite lamp and it crashed to the floor.

The airship smashed through the window glass and flew away.

Billy threw a temper tantrum and stomped his feet.

“I want my spaceship!” he screamed out.

Cooter looked at the broken window and got a larger greedy grin.  “A remote control spaceship version! I'll be stinking rich!”

He ran over with the long pole in his hand and he grabbed Billy by the hand.

 They ran out of the den while Billy sobbed about losing his spaceship again.

Cooter and Billy ran through the living room and headed to the front door.

They ran out the front door.

Outside the house, Cooter and Billy ran to his Cadiallc parked in the driveway.

Cooter threw the long pole/net into the backseat.  He got behind the wheel and started up his car.  He lowered the convertible top while he backed his car down the driveway.

Cooter raced his Cadiallc down the street while he eyed the airship while it flew away.