The warm days of August continued in the Pacific Northwest, and on that Friday, less than two weeks after she had been accepted as a member of one of the most comprehensive and demanding service organizations in the world, Ashley was warming-up with her two team mates in the gym, getting ready for a day on which she felt sure she would be able to do the Korbut Handstand on the balance beam without a spotter.
They were about ten minutes into their warm-up time, and Sister Shannon was pushing them to get all possible stretching mileage from their pairs rowboat exercises. Coach Faelan was looking at the schedule board just outside the coach’s office. The telephone chimed, and he slipped into the office to answer it.
Less than half a minute later, he poked his head out of the office, hand over the telephone’s mouthpiece, and yelled. “KAREN! TABITHA! ASHLEY!
Over here, ON THE DOUBLE!”
They looked at Shannon, and she shrugged and motioned for them to comply. They hopped up and ran for the coach’s office, gathered around the open door and listened to his conversation.
“...yes, I have two National Championship ribbon-holders, one with fifth and ninth places, one with sixth place all around, and I have a State Championship gold medallist... Oh, yes, they can put on an excellent show, and demonstrate just about anything you could want... Just a moment, I’ll ask them.”
He looked at his elite gymnasts. “I have a program manager from Disneyland on the line. He has a gymnastics demo scheduled for five o’clock in the Tomorrowland Pavilion, and the team he had lined up can’t make it, and no one else he’s called seems able to get their members together on such short notice. Want to do it?”
The three looked at each other with bulging eyes.
“Sure!” Karen said.
Tabitha and Ashley confirmed their team captain’s decision with excited nods. Ashley wasn’t sure if this was for real, or some kind of joke, but she figured it would be safest to assume the best.
“They’re willing, as you heard,” the coach said into the telephone. “If you’ll stay with me for one more minute, I’ll find out if we can get ourselves there in time... Yes, I’ll make sure it takes no more than one minute.”
He looked at his gymnasts and flashed them a smile, then pressed some keys on his telephone.
“Hello, Sister Larissa. Are you working the Travel Desk today?... Good. I have someone on the line, and I need a piece of information in forty-five seconds or less, preferably thirty. Can you get four of us to Los Angeles by 4:30?... Yes, I know that will be a challenge. Do your best.”
The seconds ticked by. The three girls in the doorway were like little time bombs about to explode. Tabitha was beginning to jump up and down, but Karen grabbed her arm and the younger gymnast relaxed a little. Ashley had her fingers crossed.
“Yes, I’m here... Oooo. That’s cutting it close, but it might work. Stay on the line please.” He touched a button. “I can get us to LAX at 4:45. Can you transfer us from there?... Excellent!... Yes, they’ll be dressed and ready to go...
yes... right... Five thousand? I think that should cover our expenses. Can you throw in passes for the weekend, hotel, and meals?... Great. I’ll have someone call you as soon as we know our arrival gate number... Yes, you’re welcome!”
He touched another button. “Larissa? It’s happening. When and how do you want us to go?... Ten minutes? Okay. I’ll need you to coordinate everything here. I need mission documents, cash, debit card, coverage for our work schedules, everything... Thank you!”
He turned to the girls. “You DO NOT have time to go to your rooms. Get
your sweats, performance leotards, and street clothes from your lockers, and be at the heliport in FIVE minutes. Go, go, GO!”
The gymnasts ran for the door.
“Shannon, grab me a little bag of chalk and some tape!...”
As they all three worked to cram everything into their gym bags at their lockers, Ashley finally had a chance to ask for the reassurance she needed.
“This is really happening, isn’t it?”
Karen answered while slipping into her shoes. “It sure is. You’re a member of Lyceum now, remember? And what is Lyceum’s primary purpose?”
Ashley knew the answer. She had heard the word hundreds of times during each of her evaluation weeks. She had finally learned to incorporate the word into the answers she gave to questions that were put to her during evaluation week, during Mrs. Hutchinson’s funeral, and at other odd times when she had contact with the public. She was now being forced to think about the meaning of the word. “Service,” she said, zipping her gym bag closed.
“That’s right. Let’s go!”
They ran, still in their leotards, through the Recreation Center, down the long corridor that led to the Education Complex, and finally into the Main Lobby, then along the wide walkway to the Lodge, through its lobby and on toward the heliport, arriving slighted out of breath but by no means exhausted.
Through the glass doors to the landing port they could see and hear that one of Lyceum’s helicopters already had its engines running, and its rotor was just being engaged. It turned slowly at first, then faster and faster.
Then two other people arrived. A black lady wearing a communications headset burst through the door from the control room, and Coach Faelan came running up the corridor carrying a gym bag and a shoulder bag.
“Okay,” the lady with the headset said as soon as they were all together,
“you’re on a real tight schedule, so we’re bending the rules by boarding you with the rotor going. We can’t legally open the main doors, so I’ll take you through the service room, and we’re booking you all as crew members. Just
remember that you’ll be stepping into a hurricane!”
They all nodded and she led them through a little door to a small room that was directly under the control room. It was full of emergency and rescue equipment. Then she prepared to open another small door that led out to the landing port.
“Ready?”
They all got a good grip on their bags, and she opened the door.
Ashley found that walking through the strong rotor wash was not nearly as bad as the feeling of fear that welled up inside her when she saw the rotor slicing the air not that many feet over her head. For a moment she could clearly see in her imagination what it would do to her body if she and it were, for some reason, at the same level.
She hadn’t realized it, but she must have frozen. Suddenly she felt a firm hand on her arm urging her forward. She looked into the face of her coach, a gentle man that she had already trusted with her life many times as he spotted her on the elite skills she was learning. That was a necessary part of being a gymnast, and they had entered into that relationship, that bond, without ever discussing it or questioning it.
Now he urged her forward. She forced her legs to walk.
A moment later they were all inside the helicopter and the passenger door was slid closed. The wind stopped, and Ashley could see that she was now safely separated from the spinning rotor.
“You turned green on me for a moment there, kid,” Brother Faelan said.
“I’ve never been in a helicopter before.”
Overhearing, the co-pilot handed Brother Faelan an air sickness bag. At the same moment, the helicopter lifted from the ground, and the pilot did not have the luxury of making it extremely slow and smooth, as he knew he had to deliver the foursome to the Eugene Airport in about fifteen minutes flat. As soon as he had cleared the port building, he tilted the bird forward and drove the jet engines to their maximum output as soon as all his indicators told him it was safe to do so. Everyone was pressed into their seats as they quickly accelerated to one hundred and ninety miles per hour. Ashley closed her eyes.
“How’re you doing, Ashley?” her coach, purposefully sitting beside her, asked.
She answered without opening her eyes. “So far, so good. Glad I ate a light lunch. Tell me when we get to Disneyland.”
“Before that happens, we have to land in Eugene, get on a small passenger jet, fly to Los Angeles, and be transferred to Disneyland in another helicopter.
And, of course, between Eugene and L.A. we have to plan our show. Think you’ll make it?”
Ashley thought about it, eyes still closed. Disneyland. An elite level gymnastics demo. Los Angeles, California, one of the largest cities in the world. All of those things fit into her dreams too well to let a stupid fear of rotor blades, or a queasy stomach, stop her. “I’ll be okay in a minute.”
Brother Faelan put the air sickness bag in Ashley’s hand, and then went through the luggage he had brought. Karen and Tabitha were doing the same, taking those few minutes to fold their clothes. A few minutes later the co-pilot happily announced that he had confirmation from the airline that the plane wouldn’t leave without them. The pilot allowed the helicopter to drop down to a slightly more reasonable velocity, knowing he would be entering a speed-limit zone in a few minutes anyway. Brother Faelan added several items from the on-board snack supplies to his gym bag.
Ashley opened her eyes. This is one of the ways people get around, especially people who want to speak lots of languages and see lots of places.
I’ll just have to get used to it.
They soon found that it was several degrees hotter in Eugene, located in the lowlands of the Willamette Valley, than it had been at Lyceum. They clamored out of the helicopter, yelling words of thanks to the pilot and co-pilot over the hum of the engines, and dashed into the small terminal building.
A man met them, and at a fast walk they headed for the gate where the small transport plane waited. As they walked, Brother Faelan verified with the man that their tickets had been taken care of by Sister Larissa.
“It’s not a popular route. Everyone likes taking the train these days, so the plane’s seldom half full. We would have waited even longer. She’ll only be taking off five minutes late.”
Brother Faelan, with some dread, realized that taking off late probably meant landing late. It was going to be very close. The man walked them right
through the gate so they wouldn’t have to endure any formalities with the gate attendant. Everyone else was already on the plane and it’s engines were roaring. As soon as they stepped inside, the hatch was closed and the boarding tunnel began to withdraw.
“Good afternoon!” the flight attendant said. “I just got word that your office has arranged for you to have seats in the Executive Section. They said you have some planning to do.”
“Great!” the coach said. “We sure do!”
As they got settled in their seats, which were two pairs facing each other with a table that could be folded down in between, several heads were turned.
Not often did athletic young ladies wearing leotards invade the corporate sanctum of the Executive Section. As soon as the flight attendant saw that they had their seatbelts on, she spoke on an intercom, and a moment later, the plane was moving.
“How are you doing, Ashley?” her coach inquired.
“Better. I’ve flown on these before... and larger. It was just the rotor over my head that spooked me. Thanks for making me stick with it.”
“What are coaches for?”
They smiled at each other.
On the two hour trip to Los Angeles, Ashley drank fruit juice and nibbled on crackers, but ate little else. They lowered the table and planned a number of demo routines that were designed to dazzle the audience, but stay within the abilities of the gymnasts. They didn’t have to worry about any vaulting, but had to assume they would be doing everything to music, music that they might not have a chance to practice with. Brother Faelan had a selection of disks in his shoulder bag, hoping the technicians at the demo would be willing to use them.
During the last half hour, the table was stowed, and the girls took turns using the space between the seats to stretch and limber themselves. Ashley was feeling fine, and was determined that the helicopter transfer to Disneyland wasn’t going to bother her.
They began to descend over the sprawling city, approaching from the east.
It had a very different feel than New York, Ashley thought. New York was
stacked — Los Angeles was... splatted. She chuckled to herself.
As they approached the airport, the Pacific Ocean, which Ashley had not seen until then, was directly in front of them. She glimpsed some small islands not far out, but couldn’t remember their names. Soon the small jet touched down onto the runway, and its engines roared as it slowed to taxiing speed.
As the plane approached one of the long rows of terminal buildings, the flight attendant stopped at their seats. “I don’t know how you arranged it, but there’s a helicopter waiting for you right beside our gate, and the captain says you four should be the first ones out.”
“Thank you,” Brother Faelan said, not showing any surprise. He was well aware of Lyceum’s ability to predict what would be needed and make the necessary arrangements, and he imagined that Disneyland could show a similar degree of foresight.
As soon as the boarding tunnel was in place and the hatch opened, the gymnasts dashed through, following their coach. He led them to the stairs that the flight attendant had described, down to the ground level, and out toward the waiting helicopter. It had the design of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle on the side. All three young ladies smiled.
A lady in a blue uniform greeted them, slid the door closed, and the uniformed pilot lifted the helicopter off the ground. Coach Faelan looked at his watch. It was 4:47.
The ten-seat craft, just slightly smaller than Lyceum’s largest, dashed across the city eastward. Brother Faelan wasn’t sure they were sticking to the speed limits, but he had to assume they knew the city and its ways better than he did. His watch said 4:56 when they touched down near the front gate to the Magic Kingdom. The gymnasts could glimpse an old-fashioned train station with a passenger train just coming to a stop, and crowds of people carrying balloons and other souvenirs going in and out of the main gate.
A small electric car buzzed to a stop beside the helicopter. The flight attendant opened the door, and they jumped out and hopped into the car without stopping to exchange words. Everyone involved knew that every second counted. The car went down a ramp and entered a concrete tunnel, where it picked up speed and buzzed into the unknown underworld of the
fantasy theme park.
A minute later it screeched to a stop, and a man in a blue uniform beckoned to them from an open stairwell door. The coach’s watch said 4:58.
Up they climbed, and while so doing, Brother Faelan arranged for the disks he was carrying, and a list of which songs to use and in what order, to be rushed to the technicians booth. They reached the top and stepped out into the daylight. It was one minute before five.
They were in a backstage area of the outdoor stage. Coach Faelan peeked through the curtain, and could see that the stage was completely matted, and toward the back were the bars and the beam. A collection of actors dressed as cartoon characters were currently doing skits. The audience sounded large.
All the landing mats looked good. All he needed to do was check the tension on the cables that supported the uneven parallel bars. He turned to his gymnasts, who were already warming-up. He spoke as they stretched.
“Your floor is about thirty by fifty, but there’s a three foot drop on the right side. Stay clear of it. Cancel the circle routine — we don’t have the space. The beam and bars look good, but I’ll double check.”
A uniformed man entered the backstage area, and Brother Faelan soon found that he was the very man who had called Lyceum earlier. They shook hands, and the coach told him about the music they had brought. The man pulled a communications pager from his side.
“Sound Booth, this is Harvey Sims.”
“Sound
here.”
“Tony, keep this channel open. I’m going to lend my com to the coach for the gymnastics. Work with him on the music.”
“Will do. The characters are about twenty seconds from a finish.”
The uniformed man handed the pager to Coach Faelan, who then spoke to the technician. “After an introduction, go right into the first piece on the list.
Scratch the fifth piece.”
“Got it. Intro in ten... nine... eight...”
Even as Coach Faelan received that message, he heard the audience applauding the skit that had just finished.
“Tabitha, get ready for your Beethoven tumbling entrance.”
She did some final arm rotations and stepped to the curtain.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, from Lyceum in Oregon, Elite Champion Gymnastics!” the loud speakers announced.
The music started slowly and tentatively with violins plucking out a simple melody. Tabitha stepped through the curtain and tip-toed melodramatically toward the center of the stage. Several people laughed. She tuned them out and sized up her tumbling space and surface. The first bridge played and she leisurely gave them a simple routine of cartwheels, handsprings, and walkovers. She received a luke-warm applause.
Perfect, she thought, they think that’s all I can do. Again she tip-toed to the violins.
Suddenly the music changed, being joined by the entire orchestra in opening crescendo, and Tabitha showed them what gymnastics was really all about, launching herself into a tumbling pass of somersaults, twisting aerials, punch-backs, and double back flips. The audience was stunned into silence.
Suddenly Tabitha froze in posture and Karen burst onto the stage with her own, seemingly very different, tumbling routine. Soon she too froze in posture on the opposite side of the stage from Tabitha. The audience roared with approval.
But they soon realized the piece of music wasn’t over, and a moment later Ashley appeared, giving them a good part of her gold medal floor routine to a long passage of good dance music while her team mates remained as frozen statues.
Then as the music again quickened, Tabitha came to life and both she and Ashley tumbled, in opposite directions, mirroring each other perfectly as they both knew the routine by heart, passing in the middle of the stage. And finally, as the piece approached its final crescendo, Karen came to life, and all three tumbled and danced in complex interaction. Finally, upon the last note, they all froze in final postures.
The audience exploded with cheers and clapping, many of them standing.
On Karen’s signal, they all came together at the front of the stage, held hands, and bowed.
“Ladies and gentleman, holding a sixth place ribbon from the National Championships, from Phoenix, Arizona, Miss Tabitha McDonald!”
They cheered and Tabitha bowed.
“Holding a gold medal from her state championships, from Rapid City, South Dakota, Miss Ashley Riddle!”
Ashley bowed to an equally loud applause.
“And the team captain, holding fifth and seventh place ribbons from the National Championships, from Monticello, Maine, Miss Karen Sundberg!”
Karen bowed to a thunderous applause, and as soon as it started to fade, another piece of music began, and both Tabitha and Ashley quickly trotted off the stage. In stark contrast to the Beethoven, the new piece was a highly rhythmic modern composition of synthesizers and electronic instruments, and Karen performed her own elite floor exercise tailored specifically to the music’s tempo.
Tabitha followed, presenting her balance beam routine to pleasant but dynamic strains of piano music, and Ashley did her uneven parallel bar routine to music by Moussorgski, knowing she was taking a risk because it would be so hard to re-capture the rhythm if she once lost it. She did get out of sync once, but compensated by substituting a skill of shorter duration for a giant circle, and ended with an elite level dismount that she had become comfortable with only that week. The audience didn’t seem to notice her substitution, and both she and Tabitha received loud applause.
Karen and Tabitha did a choreographed dance routine they had been practicing together for over a year, and then Ashley presented her balance beam routine, which was currently her pride and joy. Karen took to the bars, and managed to keep her routine timed perfectly to the music. They finished with a floor routine involving all three gymnasts, and the audience gave them a vigorous applause and seemed well satisfied.
They took their final bows, and Karen pulled Coach Faelan out so he could also share in their limelight. The announcer quickly responded.
“And finally, ladies and gentlemen, the man who made it all possible, Coach Faelan Satterthwaite!”
The clapping was sufficiently vigorous to make Brother Faelan feel very good about his efforts at Lyceum. But he knew he owed much, very much, to the work of others — Sister Shannon, the dance instructors at Lyceum, and the girls’ previous coaches, especially Ashley’s coaches back in South Dakota.
As she had only been a member for two weeks, he knew he could claim very
little credit for her gymnastics prowess.
As the crowd dispersed to go on rides, find places to eat dinner, or locate other entertainment, the three gymnasts and their coach sat around in the back stage area, talking and laughing about the imperfections in the routines they had presented, and just plain unwinding from the tension of the trip and the exertion of the demo. A few minutes later the man in the blue uniform entered. He received his communications pager back from Coach Faelan.
“Well, I am impressed. That was no gymnastics demo like I would have gotten from one of the local schools. You folks have a good sense of showmanship. Am I paying you only five thousand? I think I got a very good deal.”
“Lyceum always tries to give a very good deal,” Brother Faelan said, smiling with pride.
“I can’t change the amount now, but I’ll certainly do better next time you come. Here are those passes and vouchers I promised, and a bunch of extras in case you have some other people who are down this way.”
“Thank you,” the coach said. “Our people are in and out of Los Angeles all the time.”
“Can I do anything else for you?”
“Recommend a good eating place,” the coach said.
“What do you like?”
“Salads!” all three girls said at once.
He laughed. “Any of the dining rooms. Try the one in New Orleans Square. They have some good seafood salads as I remember.”
“Yum!” Tabitha said.
The uniformed man headed back to his duties, and Coach Faelan stepped out to give the girls privacy as they changed into their street clothes for the first time since they had entered the Lyceum gym that afternoon.
“Did he say ‘I’ll certainly do better next time?’“ Ashley asked.
“He sure did!” Karen said.
“Five thousand dollars. I wonder what happens to that money...” Ashley pondered out loud.
“Probably most of it goes for our plane fare!” Tabitha said.
“And even if we make a little money on some things,” Karen said, “it goes into things that don’t make anything, like international relief missions.”
Soon they were dressed and made their way out of the Tomorrowland Pavilion. They found their coach just outside talking to some important-looking people. The girls only caught the tail end of the conversation, but it seemed the adults had been talking about a gymnastics meet. When they inquired, all he would say was that they were potential contacts.
Tabitha had been to Disneyland before, but both Ashley and Karen looked around in wonder. From their current vantage point they could see almost everything in Tomorrowland. A monorail streaked by on an overhead track even as they watched.
The four Lyceum members conferred, and they all agreed that it would be best to just walk around and look at things that evening, as they were all burdened with large gym bags. The rides and indoor exhibits and entertainment could wait until the morning. Tabitha suggested they go the long way around, through all the theme lands, eventually arriving at New Orleans Square and the suggested dining room. The others agreed.
Ashley’s gaze feasted on everything she saw, constantly plying Tabitha with questions about what would be found inside this or that building, what was this or that ride like. She looked long at the Matterhorn Bobsleds, just as Karen peered with fascination at what she could see of the miniatures in Storybook Land. They all smiled as they saw children playing on Tom Sawyer’s Island, and looked forward to the cool waters of Splash Mountain.
Brother Faelan spotted their goal, and they were soon seated on a terrace overlooking the Bayou swamps of southern Louisiana. Boatloads of people passed by below them as they ate shrimp salads and nibbled on hot cajun chicken wings. They all talked about the things they had seen that they wanted to return to the following day. They agreed that two days should be enough, and if they returned home Sunday night, they wouldn’t miss their Monday classes.
After dinner Brother Faelan gave them each twenty dollars to spend in the Adventureland Bazaar, while he sat with their bags and gazed up with fond memories at the Swiss Family Robinson’s Treehouse. All three girls emerged from the Bazaar with T-shirts baring jungle animals and necklaces of
imitation tiger’s teeth.
They journeyed through Main Street U.S.A., stopping to play arcade games and buy an ice cream bar, which they shared three ways. Finally, at about nine o’clock, they returned to Tomorrowland, and Ashley grinned from ear to ear when she learned that they would be taking the monorail right to the hotel.
The sun had set and lights glittered everywhere as the sleek monorail first gave them an elevated view of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, and then streaked out of the theme park and across a busy avenue to the hotel. Brother Faelan used their vouchers to get a room for the girls and a room for himself, and after showers, they all explored the shops and gardens and playgrounds that the hotel offered.
It was close to midnight when they finally fell into bed, dreaming of all the things they would see and experience during the following two days.
August 13th
Dear Mom and Dad,
You won’t believe where I’ve been for the weekend! We were just warming-up last Friday, and our coach got a call from Disneyland. They needed three elite gymnasts that same day! We flew down there and put on a demo that went really well, and we earned $5,000 that will help Lyceum with international relief missions and stuff like that (after air fare, of course).
Disneyland gave us free passes and meal coupons and hotel rooms, and we took the monorail to and from the hotel! I thought I was going to like the bobsleds and the other fast rides best. They were okay, but what I really liked best was Great Moments With Great Leaders, where you could sit right in the same room with people like Lincoln, and Ghandi, and Gorbachev, and they would talk to you, and you could ask them questions, and they seemed so totally real...