At breakfast the morning after her return from Seattle, Ashley learned the bad news.
“She got here Saturday, but has only visited me once,” Jenny said. “She’s staying for two weeks — said she conned the office into combining her September week and her October week so she wouldn’t have to do so much traveling. Would you pass me some cantaloupe?”
“Are you glad she’s here?” Ashley asked, holding the serving bowl as Jenny stabbed herself several chunks of fruit.
“Oh, I guess. I know she doesn’t want to spend much time with me, and that’s okay. I have things to do. There’s a planetarium show I want to see this morning, and we’re doing a re-take of Voice Three this afternoon. Brother Chad is changing my computerized recorder so it’ll shift octaves like a flute.
And I’m having dinner with Brian tonight and then we’re going on a walk.
Want some bacon?”
“Just one. Thanks. Brian’s sweet, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. I’m glad you already have a boyfriend, ‘cause he’s the same age as you!”
Ashley sat for a moment in silence, remembering her bitter-sweet weekend. “Tim is enough for me. With gymnastics and classes and everything, I’d never have time for two!”
They both snickered.
“Brother Chad is teaching me how to use the editing computer when we’re
tired of recording. I never thought it would be so tricky! I’ve recorded Voice One three times now, and every time the computer finds places where it isn’t quite the same as the other times, I have to decide which is right. I’m starting to be able to fix those places myself while he does other things like work on my recorder.”
Just then a man stooped down between Ashley and Jenny.
“Hi, Doctor Kenneth!”
“Hi, Jenny! You have hydrotherapy at nine o’clock today, right?”
“You mean swimming? Yep! I’ll be there, as long as I’m done by ten so I can go to the Planetarium!”
“No problem. Ashley, I just posted a private message to you. Nothing urgent, just some information I wanted you to be aware of.”
“Okay, I’ll read it right after breakfast.”
“See you ladies later!”
“Bye, Doctor Kenneth!”
“I like him a lot,” Ashley said, “but mostly I go see Brother Howard, ‘cause he knows all about muscles and bones. Would you pass me that pitcher of O.J. please?”
“I made another friend in the Hospice Center! A lady who’s working on finishing a book before she dies.”
“Wow! You’re friends with everyone there, aren’t you?”
“All except the really quiet man who goes to the labs every day. It sure is different then the nursing home. Everyone’s smart and nice.”
“Like you!” Ashley said.
Jenny
blushed.
When Ashley stopped by a computer screen and learned that Brother Kenneth had managed to put Jenny’s mother on a diet without her realizing it, she laughed out loud. He had set up a system where she could either have large portions and no between-meal snacks, or medium portions with snacks.
And most of her food was being specially made to be low-calorie and high-fiber, all without it looking any different from anything else being served.
He also noted that Jenny loved the hydrotherapy, and that it helped to keep her from wanting to work on her music all day long. But he didn’t expect
it to change the growth rate of her tumors. He still had hopes for some new herbs, however, that Sister Marscha was trying. He would keep her posted.
Ashley sent a note back to Brother Kenneth thanking him for the information, and headed for Procedures class.
The final days of September had turned rainy, but the three friends were all in good spirits. Between coaching and weekend missions, Wednesdays were often Ashley’s only days to go to dinner with everyone else, and so the trio of friends had established a tradition of sitting together on that day of the week. On other days Liberty might be found with Nancy or Jason, Shawn might sit with Jacob, or with Rachael and Sarah. But Wednesdays were just for the three who had dragged each other through evaluation week and been accepted together.
On that particular Wednesday the three friends received a special surprise at dinner time.
“Brothers and Sisters, it is my great honor to introduce to you three new members of Lyceum. Brother Aaron, please stand up.”
Everyone clapped, but Liberty, Shawn, and Ashley especially were grinning from ear to ear, remembering all the help and support the quiet man had given the three youth during their shared evaluation week. Shawn especially remembered his patient explanations of engineering concepts during their construction project.
“Sister Ludmilla, please stand up.”
Liberty was excited, remembering the gentle yet competent organizational skills the lady from Russia had shown. It made her want to work even harder in her Russian language class.
“Brother Roland, please stand up.”
The applause continued. The three youth did not remember Roland so clearly, as none of them had had any unique personal contact with him during their evaluation week, but they shared in the general welcome.
The meal was an excellent one, and the trio reminisced about their evaluation week together, which now seemed so long ago, as they enjoyed tasty spare ribs and corn on the cob, salad and home-made bread. They all planned to attend the reception that evening for the three new members.
Several announcements were made that were either routine or didn’t effect the three youth, but one brought their heads up.
“Here’s something that effects everyone, Brothers and Sisters. Our sometimes beloved, occasionally dreaded Inspector, Brother Carlos...” the announcer said, smiling at a Hispanic man sitting near, “...would like us to have a few days without electricity.”
The four hundred and twenty-two members fell silent for more details.
“He believes, and he is right, that we have become a little too dependent on the Power Grid, and need to practice our procedures for switching to local reserves. We also need to update our awareness of what services we can and cannot provide with our own power. Finally, we have some new high voltage transformers to install, and it will be an excellent time to get that done as well.
This black-out drill will take place from noon, November sixth, a Monday, to noon, November tenth, a Friday. A detailed schedule of the drill will be on the computer system by tomorrow, and it will include simulations of several things that can happen on the Grid, like brown-outs and voltage spikes.”
A moan ran through the room.
“Yes, Brothers and Sisters, we will lose some pieces of sensitive equipment, unless of course we get them properly protected first. We have almost no reservations during that week, and we are contacting those to make alternate plans if the drill would be too inconvenient. We will only be accepting new reservations with a complete understanding of what will be taking place...”
Liberty and Ashley looked at each other. “Sounds like fun!” Liberty said.
Shawn was rolling over in his mind how it would effect him. The Library could probably stay open in the evening by candle light, but he wasn’t sure about the Labs. Then he had a terrible thought.
“Ashley, what about Jenny’s music? She won’t want to miss an entire week of working on it!”
“You’re right!” Ashley said.
Liberty knew the answer. “Her recording and editing just requires powering one computer. I’m sure they’ll put it on one of the emergency systems. There are three of them. There’s a jet turbine that’ll power the whole place, but it drinks fuel like I drink mango juice.”
Ashley laughed, knowing Liberty’s intake of mango juice since she quit
coffee.
“Then there’s a ten kilowatt system that can be powered from a propane turbine or from the solar panels on a bright day. And there’s a one kilowatt system that can be kept going all the time with panels and batteries, but it’ll only handle the security computers and important things like that. It can even power the lights on one landing pad long enough to get a helicopter down.”
“Some of my classes will be by candle light!” Shawn said.
“Mine, too,” Ashley said. “I’m sure glad there are skylights in the gym!”
The other two laughed.
The rain let up somewhat in early October, and the Pacific Northwest even received some unexpected sunshine. By that time the deciduous trees were well into their color changes, from the browns and reds of the maples, to the deep purples of the plum trees.
In the Horse Barn, Lyceum’s oldest and most gentle pair of horses stood saddled and ready, nonchalantly chewing some molasses-coated grain.
Liberty sat on a bench, breathing deeply. Jason sat beside her, making use of the nearly infinite patience he had learned by working with animals.
Liberty got up and went to the horse named Toby for the third or fourth time. “I feel so silly! And to think this was my idea. I feel fine just standing here, looking straight at old Toby, like I was getting ready to brush him or something. But then I look up at the saddle, and think about climbing into it, and my stomach starts twisting, and I start sweating. I’m sorry, Jason. I’m just wasting your time.”
“I like wasting time with you. You have me for two and a half more hours, and then I have to go to work.”
“A horse just isn’t like a helicopter. In the simulator, I touch the controls, and it goes where I want it to. But a horse has a mind of its own! I keep imagining the horse wanting to go off at a gallop, leaving me impaled in a tree!”
That image gave Jason an idea. “So, you want to fly real helicopters someday, right?”
“Yes! I take my first training flight this month.”
“You want to be a good pilot, right?”
“Of
course!”
“Well, someday you’re going to be up there in your helicopter, maybe with a bunch of people you care about as passengers, and something’s going to go wrong. Something’s going to break. All of a sudden your helicopter isn’t going to fly like it’s supposed to, it isn’t going to do exactly what you want.
You, the pilot, will have your life and all those people’s lives in your hands.
You’ll have to figure out what your broken machine can still do, and figure out how to get it safely to the ground with those impaired abilities, and figure all of that out FAST.”
He paused to let his analogy sink in.
“Think of the horse as a simulator for an imperfectly working machine.
There are several levels of difficulty in this simulator. Toby is level one.
Blackberry over there in the pasture is level nine.”
“Isn’t that Sarah’s horse?”
“Sort of. There are three people who can ride her, but Sarah takes care of her most of the time. That horse has never been saddled. I would not want to be the person to make the mistake of trying to put one on her.”
Liberty stood up and looked at Toby again. Level one, huh? She didn’t feel jealous of Sarah. She had absolutely no fantasies of ever riding a horse like Blackberry. But she did very much want to be the best possible helicopter pilot. She put her left foot in the stirrup, grabbed the saddle horn, closed her eyes and pulled herself up.
Jason didn’t laugh... much. It took a couple of minutes to get Liberty from laying across the saddle like a sack of potatoes to sitting upright, but he managed it. Toby didn’t take a step during the whole process. Jason was glad, but surprised. He considered taking the horse’s vital signs, but then figured that since the large animal’s mouth was still chewing his grain, he must be alive.
He looked up at Liberty, who appeared to be steeled for some dire fate.
“You okay?”
“I’m more comfortable on the end of the tall ladder up on the ceiling of the Ecumenical Temple juggling three spotlights!”
Jason chuckled as he swung himself onto his horse.
“Will I ever be able to do it like that?” she asked.
“Yeah. Next time we ride. Day after tomorrow.”
“Oh,
really?”
“Yep. Don’t forget, I know your schedule almost as well as you do!”
She
giggled.
“That’s it, loosen up! You look stiff as a barn board!”
One of the reasons he had placed Liberty on Toby was because Toby would always follow Rosie, the horse he was riding. He reined Rosie toward the barn door and, as he expected, Toby followed.
“Oh my God! He’s moving!” Liberty said in a panic.
“Yes. That is the general idea of riding horses.”
Jason walked Rosie slowly around the pasture as Liberty got used to her first mount. She wasn’t sure she breathed during the first lap, but finally discovered that at least that level of survival was possible on horseback. Air back in her lungs, she turned to solving other problems, like convincing herself that the saddle wasn’t going to slide off and dump her between the horse’s legs.
By the fourth time around, Jason could tell that she was loosening up a little, so he guided Rosie toward the gate. “Opening and closing a gate from a horse’s back is very tricky. Don’t try it until you’re much more comfortable in the saddle. It’s easy to hurt yourself or the horse.”
“I promise,” Liberty said, content to let Toby take her where he would, which was always directly behind Rosie.
For the next hour and a half they walked their horses through the woods of Lyceum. Jason spoke little, knowing Liberty had to work through her own fears about being on horseback. He was becoming very fond of that girl, and everyone at Lyceum knew that they saw each other often. He didn’t quite understand how she could be so good at animal care and so afraid of them in other situations, but he was glad she was willing to learn.
By the time they returned to the Horse Barn, Liberty was looking much happier. To Jason’s relief, she was even able to dismount without mimicking a sack of potatoes falling to the ground. When both horses had been unsaddled, brushed, and fed, she stood facing Jason, a humble look on her face.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re
welcome.”
She took a step closer to him, kissed him on the cheek, and ran off toward her residence hall.
If someone who knew of Liberty’s past had witnessed her slowly unfolding relationship with Jason, they would have thought she was just pretending to be sweet and innocent for some manipulative purpose. They would have been wrong. Liberty Buchanan desperately needed to be a young girl again, falling in love for the first time. Her peace of mind and her sense of having a future to look forward to depended on succeeding at that renewal effort.
Lyceum was helping, by being a new place where no one knew the details of her past love life. She had no deception or manipulation in mind. She had passed the Group A Virus Test, and that allowed her to forget all the dirtiness of the past. She genuinely was going through a complete transformation, even to the point of forgetting the names and the faces of the many lovers she had known.
She had just kissed Jason for the first time. She truly wanted the memory of that kiss to linger in her heart for many days and weeks.
As the video came to an end, Shawn sat in awe of how much was known about the sub-atomic universe. All the different particles were fascinating to him, and how they had different energy levels, represented by size in the video, and different affinities for each other, represented by colors. It all seemed so real, like he had actually been shrunk down to sub-atomic size and had just wandered amongst protons and neutrons, electrons and positrons, muons and neutrinos. It was all so beautiful, so perfect, so revealing of the hand of God.
“The particles you have just seen do not exist,” Sister Sheena began as the lights came up.
Shawn
felt
wounded.
“They were an attempt to understand an unseen, unseeable level of reality during the last century. They were a model, a theory. As experiment after experiment revealed new particles, the model became more and more complex, less and less elegant, more and more at odds with other
observational data, such as quantum experiments. The situation was almost an exact parallel to the early models, centuries before, of how the solar system worked. Every time a planet was not in the exact place it was expected to be, a new theoretical epicenter was added to the model of its orbit. Eventually we discovered, of course, that other gravitational bodies, most notably undiscovered planets and moons, were effecting the observed orbits. We can even go back to a time, if we want some comic relief, when the apparent retrograde motion of Mars was thought to be a real twist of some kind in the Red Planet’s orbit!”
Most of the class laughed. Shawn and the other two new students didn’t.
“Let’s watch it,” the teacher said, selecting a disk from a rack, and sliding it into the player. The lights dimmed, and the class watched a thirty second accelerated-time showing of Mars moving across the sky. Near the middle of the screen it slowed and stopped, did a shallow loop backwards for a few seconds, and then looped again and continued on its way. Several chuckles were heard. The lights came up.
“Sister Heidi, would you please come to the board and explain the apparent retrograde motion of Mars for us?”
“Me? Um... I barely understand it myself.”
“I know. Teaching is the best way to nail down your understanding of something.”
Sister Heidi came up, with some trepidation, and drew the sun, Earth, and Mars. About ten minutes later, with help from others, she was able to explain the illusion of Mars moving backwards in its orbit. Shawn sat with his mouth open. He could so easily imagine someone watching the sky back in biblical times and thinking that if they saw the ‘red star’ change direction, it surely must have done so. Who, without a modern science background and a passion for the truth, would have guessed it was an illusion?
The discussion returned to the mythical epicenters of the planets for a few minutes to clear up some questions, and then to the more recent sub-atomic particles. The teacher brought out a chart showing them all, and it looked like the genealogy of one of Europe’s royal families. They spent most of the remainder of the class period discussing how myths are formed from imaginary constructs of the human mind to fit the available evidence, whether
those constructs are Gods, or epicenters, or particles. Sister Sheena ended the class with a warning.
“Now that we have gone beyond the myth of the sub-atomic particles, we accurately understand what’s happening in the microcosmos, right?”
Several heads nodded. Several didn’t.
“Wrong. We have a new set of myths, our best guesses and models that we must have in order to think about and talk about things at all. But someday they too will be relegated to the trash heap and laughed about by our descendants. With that humbling thought, have a good morning, Brothers and Sisters.”
On his way to Choir, Shawn decided he was going to like his Physics class.
“Where are we going?” Ashley demanded as she followed her two gymnastics team mates along a walking path through the woods.
“To make use of your latest clearance!” Karen said.
“Brother Faelan entered it in the computer system yesterday... at our request. Haven’t you seen it?” Tabitha said, a huge smirk on her face.
“I just got a message from my friend Julie this morning, but I didn’t see anything about a new clearance!”
“It’s on the miscellaneous information screen in the semi-private area of your file,” Karen said.
“I’m not sure I’ve even seen that screen!”
“No matter,” her team captain said. “We have arrived.”
The path did a loop and continued on in the direction of one of Lyceum’s retreat centers, but a short branch of it ended in a wooden gate set in a moss-covered fence that zigzagged off through the woods in both directions. They approached.
A sign announced that the gate led to the Garden of Endor, and went on to explain that use was by reservation only. The gate was locked, with a keypad for those knowing the proper access code.
“You know,” Ashley said, “I have two history classes, but I’ve never heard of ‘Endor’ before...”
“It’s some little town in the Bible, but our garden is named after a planet in an old space movie where little fuzzy things lived,” Karen said. “You have to
have clearance and a reservation to go inside.” She dug a piece of paper out of her pocket and tapped in the number she had written down. The gate clicked open.
“I can understand why you’d need reservations, but why a clearance?
There’s no other garden at Lyceum that requires a clearance!”
“Because
it’s
dangerous!” Tabitha said in a spooky voice.
Ashley’s eyes got big as she followed her friends inside. The click of the gate as it closed and locked itself behind them was ominous.
“Um... how dangerous? I have a kitchen shift tonight...”
Karen smiled. “No more dangerous than a gym. Come on!”
After only about fifty yards, the path ended at a small clearing. The undergrowth was thick and no one would have been tempted to continue on foot without a machete. In the clearing were several benches and a wooden shelter that contained a picnic table, a plastic map of the entire garden, and an emergency telephone. Tabitha reached behind a large maple and a thick rope swung into view. Ashley looked up. About thirty feet above them it ended on a sturdy branch of the huge tree, and a narrow board walkway could be seen winding its way from there into the branches.
“Wow!” Ashley said.
“There’s not a lot of straight rope climbing, but the first section was done like this to discourage people who don’t have the skills for it,” Karen said, going to the map on the wall in the shelter. “The entire course goes higher than a hundred feet in the air, and there aren’t any mats or safety nets under you. Now do you see why you need a clearance?”
“Yeah,” Ashley said, studying the map. “Looks neat!”
Even as Karen and Ashley looked at the overall plan of the challenging course, Tabitha ascended the first rope. “I’ll wait at the first platform!” she called down.
“Never come here alone, or go farther from your companions than one platform!” Karen said.
“I promise!” Ashley said, walking back out to the rope and taking ahold. It was a perfect climbing size, just like the ones in the gym. She worked her way up and onto the narrow walkway. It was sturdy and had rope handholds, but was definitely no place to goof off, Ashley decided.
She waited until Karen was up the rope, and then moved along the walk where she soon found Tabitha sitting on a wooden platform that would hold five or six people. It had a strong railing with two gaps in it, one for the walkway from which they had come, another that just led out into thin air.
“Now where?” Ashley asked when they had all gathered.
“See the string?”
Ashley looked. A thin cord did indeed swing out from the railing beside the other gap.
“Pull on it,” Karen said.
Ashley did. Soon a thick rope came into view. She kept pulling until she had the rope in her hands. A knot was tied in it near the end. She smiled.
“This isn’t a climbing rope, it’s a swing, Karen said. “Never hold on anywhere but the knot, or you could miss the landing, and it’s forty feet in the air.”
Ashley looked across. She could see the landing platform on the side of a tall pine tree.
“And always make sure the string is laying loosely with no one standing on it,” Karen continued. “I’ll go first this time.”
The team captain piled the pull-back cord loosely on the platform and looked at her companions. “Clear?”
“Clear!” they both said.
She got a good hold on the rope just above the knot and lifted her feet off the platform, allowing herself to begin sailing through the fifty or sixty feet of space between the two trees. Ashley watched as she landed gracefully on the far platform, letting the rope fall back toward the watchers.
“Always let the rope go when you land. It’s heavy enough to jerk you backwards off the platform if you try to hold onto it!” Tabitha said.
Ashley nodded, and then pulled on the cord, piling it loosely as she had seen Karen do. Then she took hold of the rope and looked back at Tabitha.
“Clear?”
“Clear!”
Just as she had watched her thirteen-year-old friend do, she lifted her feet and let the rope take her. She was amazed at how quickly she swooped across the intervening space, and before she knew it, she was approaching the
platform.
“Release!” Karen called, and Ashley instantly obeyed. Her landing wasn’t as graceful as Karen’s, but she immediately knew why. She had let go of the rope an instant too late, and it had given her a slight backwards tug. She would correct her timing on the next swing. She watched Tabitha’s landing to firm up her mental image of what she needed to be doing.
Next came a stair that wound its way up the pine tree, a rope handhold along the outside. Easy, but still not a place to be careless. When they arrived at the next platform, they were about sixty feet in the air.
This platform was larger and included a partial roof and another telephone, and it had two ways they could go, one a swing and one a traverse that sloped down to a lower platform in a maple. As Ashley was feeling fine, they picked the swing.
This time Karen purposefully missed her landing to show Ashley the rescue procedure for someone stranded on a swing. As the human pendulum began to settle toward the middle of the space, she climbed up the rope so that she could rest with the knot under her feet. After a couple of minutes the swing was almost completely still, with Karen standing in mid-air about fifty feet above the ground, thin cords going off in both directions. Climbing up would accomplish nothing but bring her to a lone branch about ninety feet up in a pine tree.
Then Tabitha started tugging on the pull-back cord, just a little each time, to start Karen swinging back and forth. With each swing she added a little energy, until finally her friend was nearing the platform where Ashley watched.
“About two more!” Karen called, climbing back down to the hanging position. “One more!” she said as Tabitha gave a last tug. And on the next pass, Karen let go and landed safely back on the platform.
“Hooray!” Ashley yelled, clapping and jumping up and down.
“The first time it happened to me, I didn’t know what to do,” Karen said.
“I was scared. Luckily the person I was with knew.”
The demonstration rescue complete, they all swung across to the next platform and found a rope ladder that took them higher in the tree, then a narrow walkway to another small platform, and then a short swing. By then
Ashley’s landings were looking very good. A small sign informed them they were eighty-eight feet from the ground, and a small shelter contained another emergency telephone. Again two ways were possible, a metal slide that snaked downward, and a balance beam with rope handholds that crossed to the next tree. Tabitha brought three apples out of the little pack on her back.
“I don’t care if you’re Nadia Comaneci, we don’t do any tricks on that balance beam!” Karen said.
“Noooo problem!” Ashley said, peering over the edge at the ground far below. “Where does the slide go?”
“All the way down,” Tabitha said. “We’ll take it later. There are no more swings until we get down lower — it’s ladders and ropes from here to the top!”
Their apples finished, they crossed the beam, one at a time, and then climbed about fifteen feet straight up a rope. They were now higher than many of the tall trees, but there were several old giants in that part of the forest that went still higher. They came to a rope walk that gave Ashley the creeps.
“Spooky looking, isn’t it?” Tabitha said, sitting down beside her on the platform.
“Yeah. How high are we?”
“About a hundred and five,” Tabitha said. “It’s not as bad as it looks. You just walk sideways, hold onto the upper rope, and don’t do anything dumb.”
“Use the same technique that mountain climbers use,” Karen said, starting across the rope. “You’ve got four things to climb with, two hands and two feet. You have to move one of them to get anywhere. Another one might slip, and that leaves you two. So never purposefully move more than one thing at a time.” She arrived at the far side and hugged the tapering trunk of the tall tree.
Ashley started across. They were right — it was easy. Then she looked down. She almost expected to feel dizzy, but didn’t. A question came to her.
“Hey Karen, if I fell from here, what’s the best way to land?”
“I don’t know. Please don’t try it. No mats, remember?”
“I was just curious.” She continued across and also felt compelled to hug the tree on the far side.
Tabitha crossed and they gathered around the rope ladder at the other side
of the small platform.
“Up there is the top. You want to go first, Tabby?” Karen said.
“Sure. After a rest. That rope walk always makes me super-careful for awhile.”
“Me too,” Karen said, holding the platform rail with one hand.
A couple of minutes later, Tabitha slowly climbed up the rope ladder.
Ashley followed, and finally Karen, and they all squeezed into the little crow’s nest of a platform at one hundred and twenty feet above the ground. There was no shelter, and a fresh breeze blew in their faces. They could feel the slight sway of the tall pine tree, which went up another twenty or thirty feet.
None of them spoke, as words seemed unnecessary in such a challenging, potentially dangerous place. They looked at each other and smiled. They had worked together almost every day to hone their bodies for gymnastics, and now they had ascended far higher in the trees than most people dared, aware that any one of them could have made a mistake along the way, a mistake that could have been fatal for self or friend.
And they still had to get down. They had trusted each other with their lives, and would continue to do so today and back in the gym tomorrow.
After they had gazed and pondered their fill at the very top of the Garden of Endor, Ashley was somewhat glad to discover that there was an alternative to the rope crossing. Another, longer, rope ladder went down on the opposite side of the tree, and this they took, one by one.
A few minutes later they were back at the top of the long slide that went from eighty-eight feet to the ground. It had high sides so there was no danger of falling off. “Weeeeee!” Karen yelled as she slid to the bottom.
Standing on solid ground again felt very good, but after a rest, they again took to the trees to swing and traverse to new platforms, balance on different beams and ropes, and slide down other slides. It wasn’t until four o’clock was approaching and Ashley had to get ready for work that they finally shimmied down the last rope and went through the locked gate. They sang an old walking song as they approached the main campus, and embraced each other before heading off to different activities.
That evening after her kitchen shift, Ashley was curious. She stopped at a
computer and accessed her files. There it was, in the semi-private area, on the miscellaneous information screen, dated the day before and bearing Coach Faelan’s initials: Garden of Endor Clearance. She smiled, pressed the Reset key, and headed off to Fantasia Hall to watch a movie.
When Shawn had accepted Sarah’s invitation to go horseback riding, he had imagined the slow, spiritless ponies at the county fair that his parents would let him ride every year from about age five to age eleven. At age twelve, they had started to look pretty small and uninteresting.
Now he stood with Sarah in the pasture, brushing the two tallest, spunkiest mares he had ever seen, not counting rodeo bucking broncos and wild horses themselves. He didn’t at all feel sure of himself, but Sarah’s confidence in herself and in him seemed to be complete, so he was doing his best to keep his doubts under control.
“I can tell Raspberry likes you already. She doesn’t let just anyone brush her, you know.”
“What does she do when she doesn’t like someone?”
“Her ears go flat, and she stands up on her hind legs and paws the air, and if you know what’s good for you, you leave. Keep talking to her so she can get used to your voice. Blackberry likes you too, but she’s even pickier about who she lets ride.”
“You sure are a pretty animal, Raspberry. I’ve always admired the strength and gracefulness of horses, and both you and your friend Blackberry are about the strongest and most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Would you like to have your front legs brushed too?”
At that moment the mare made a low sound in her throat and lifted the front leg nearest Shawn. His mouth fell open. “Am I imagining things, or did she answer me?”
“She
said
yes, just be careful around the left knee. It’s still sore from a bee sting.”
“Oh,” Shawn said, feeling it was best to play along. “Well, Raspberry, I’ve had bee stings too, and I know how much they can hurt. I’ll be very careful.
Which do you like better, Raspberry, English or Western saddles?”
Suddenly the horse darted forward several yards, almost knocking Shawn
over. Sarah giggled. Blackberry was looking directly at Shawn, as if taking aim.
“Are you okay?” she asked through her giggles.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“Yep! Blackberry and Raspberry don’t use saddles. They only allow bareback riding, and then only people they like. Now you have to apologize.”
Shawn considered the situation. At first it felt silly to apologize to a horse.
Then he reminded himself that said horse was taller, faster, and far stronger than he, and could easily catch him before he could get to any fence and pound him into mush. Also, said horse had a friend who was still staring at him and was capable of doing the same. He decided humility was best.
“I’m sorry, Raspberry. I’m just a city boy who isn’t used to these things.
Sarah is teaching me about you guys, but I don’t know everything yet. I would love to be able to ride with Sarah, but if you’d prefer I didn’t, I’ll understand.
It doesn’t matter to me whether I use a saddle or not.”
Raspberry, to Shawn’s amazement, ambled back over and made another low noise, at the same time revealing a mouthful of huge teeth that Shawn mentally added to his list of reasons for humility. “Have I been forgiven?”
“You can tell.”
“I think I have been. Thank you, Raspberry,” he said, stroking her neck. “I will never do anything to knowingly offend you, or Blackberry, or Strawberry, or Sarah, or any of your other friends, and if I occasionally say something wrong out of ignorance, I beg your forgiveness.”
Sarah walked over to Raspberry. “The nice thing about riding a smart horse bareback is that you don’t have to know anything. If they want you on their back, you’ll be fine, and if they don’t, you’re in trouble, no matter how much you know.”
She stroked the mares cheeks silently for a few moments, gazing into the black, fathomless eyes of the tall animal. “Come, Shawn. Ask her.”
Shawn also touched the mares cheeks and gazed into her eyes. He was surprised at the words that came out of his mouth. “As one humble creature of God to another, Raspberry, I ask your permission to ride, and in return, I’ll do whatever I can for you.”
The horse stretched her neck forward and nibbled on his shoulder, making
a slight sound.
“Carrots,”
Sarah
said.
“Huh?”
“She wants you to bring her carrots.”
“Right
now?”
“No. When you have a chance. Right now you can ride.”
“Really? Wow. How do I... get on?”
Sarah giggled. “If you want to, you can start from the fence.”
“Um... sounds like a good idea.” He walked over to the nearest fence and climbed to the top. Without a word from anyone, Raspberry walked over and stood beside him. A moment later he was on her back.
“Remember, you’re riding, not driving. Raspberry decides where she’s going, when to go and when to stop. She doesn’t like people yelling ‘giddy-up’
and ‘whoa’ and things like that.”
“My lips are sealed!”
“Watch as I get on. You reach over the neck ridge and pull your body up, just slipping your leg over. Stay flat and close to the horse until you’re all the way on.”
“Looks
easy.”
“I started with the fence, too,” she said with a smile.
Sarah opened the gate, and side by side they walked the trails of Lyceum.
Sarah showed Shawn how to lay forward and grip the horses neck in case the animals decided to run somewhere. Not long after that both horses broke into a cantor, coming to a stop when they had arrived at a favorite patch of grass.
Sarah laughed. Shawn tried to see the humor in the situation.
By the time they returned to the pasture, Shawn had been introduced to several trails, a stream, and numerous seemingly delicious patches of grass, all of which were new to him. He thanked Raspberry cordially and slid off her back. She whinnied loudly.
“Don’t forget the carrots!” Sarah translated.
Shawn was back within ten minutes, pockets bulging with orange roots.
He gave one to each horse, but had an entire half dozen for Raspberry. That, he thought, was the humblest, and safest, thing to do.
Shortly after the middle of October, the rains returned to the Pacific Northwest in earnest. Jenny’s mother had gone back to Rapid City more than a week before, and Jenny was working on the initial recording of Voices Four and Five.
It was three o’clock and Ashley and her fellow elite gymnasts had just finished their warm-ups and basic skills work. Coach Faelan stepped out of the gym office, a letter in his hand.
“Find a mat, ladies. I have some important news.”
They all plopped down on a mat off to one side and nonchalantly did some stretching. After getting Sister Shannon from the far end of the gym, he joined them.
“Have you all heard of the Chunichi Cup?”
“Of course,” Karen said.
“Early December,” Tabitha said.
“Tokyo,” Ashley added.
“Televised,” Tabitha remembered.
“Strictly invitational,” Karen said.
“Prizes up around one hundred thousand for the medallists,” Sister Shannon added.
“You are all correct,” the coach said. “Very prestigious. They can invite whoever they want, and only who they want. They always invite several leading Russian gymnasts, a sprinkling of other Europeans, and of course plenty of Asians. Few American gymnasts are seen there. This year they are inviting four Americans, our national champion... and you three.”
Open mouths slowly changed into grins.
“Oh my God!” Karen said. “The Chunichi Cup. How... how on Earth did we get invited?”
“Some members of their committee just happened to be at Disneyland when you did that demo. Pure accident. They were very impressed by your show, and when I told them you were full-time members of an international service organization that worked with the United Nations, they were even more impressed.”
“We get to go to Japan?” Ashley said, incredulous.
“You have been invited. If you want to go, it means serious training for the
next six weeks, training that’ll make your regular schedule look like breakfast chores. It’ll mean serious elite routines on all four apparatus. And it’ll mean all of you. I won’t put out the effort and the expense for just part of a team.”
“I’d be happy to put in some extra time,” Sister Shannon said. “If they make good use of it.”
The three gymnasts looked at each other. All three were smiling.
“My parents are visiting in late November, but they know I’ll be busy,”
Ashley said. “I’m game.”
“I was going to go home for a week in early December, but I can do it some other time,” Tabitha said. “I’m in.”
“My dad’s coming for Thanksgiving, but he can’t stay long,” Karen said.
“Let’s make it a team!”
“Okay!” Coach Faelan said. “I’ll accept the invitation. You all have Saturday morning free as I remember. How about Sunday afternoons?”
Tabitha nodded her head.
“I get off work at one,” Karen said.
“I go to work at four,” Ashley said.
“Okay. Block out Saturdays eight to noon, Sundays one to four. Karen arrives a few minutes late, Ashley leaves a few minutes early. You all realize what this means, don’t you? Serious international, world-class exposure, ladies. This could lead to other invitations, possibly professional contracts, hopefully earn you back that chance at the National Championships you missed, Ashley.”
“Wow!” Ashley said, grinning.
“Okay, we have routines to plan and work to do!”
“Let’s go!” Karen said.
October 21st
Dear Kim,
We’ve been invited to the Chunichi Cup! I’m so excited. We’re going to have to work really hard for the next six weeks. Our coach says it could lead to other invitations. We’re all planning new routines, and working on them seven day a week.
I still feel really lucky that I got to meet you on the train. I hope I get to see you again someday. If you are ever in Portland, please stop by. You would be my guest and get everything for free. The Chunichi Cup is televised, so you’ll be able to see my new routines!
I picked out a gift for you at the Lyceum Gift Shop, and it was made by a lady who lives in my residence hall. I hope you like it!
Love,
Ashley Riddle
Liberty approached the helicopter.
It was Lyceum’s smallest bird, an old four-passenger single-engine model that they didn’t use very much anymore. It sat on one of the outdoor landing pads, in a back field behind the cemetery. Its short rotors were still dripping from the rain that had just stopped.
Actually, the rain hadn’t stopped, just turned into a mist, Liberty decided.
She reminded herself that rain had no effect on a helicopter.
“Every machine has a different feel to it, even though the controls are essentially the same,” Sister Erica said as they walked across the last stretch of wet grass. “Now it is time to forget what the simulator feels like. You are about to have a Boeing Vertol M-500 at your fingertips. She has sixty foot rotors, about five hundred and ten horsepower, a maximum velocity of one hundred and eighty miles per hour, and a service ceiling of seventeen thousand feet. The most important difference to remember is that she’s real.”
Liberty looked at her teacher and smiled. “I’ve been waiting for this day.”
“I’ve watched you counting the hours. How’s your stomach?”
Liberty breathed. “Good. I had a cup of my special tea just before class.”
Sister Erica unlocked the main door and they climbed in.
“The name of the game during your training flights is everything happens out loud. For example, if you need to check your tail clearance and you don’t do it out loud, I assume you didn’t and I take control. Clear?”
“Clear.”
“Strap in and begin your pre-flight checklist, out loud.”
Liberty worked her way down the list, checking maintenance dates, fluid
levels, instruments, and controls.
“How far do I get to go today?” Liberty asked when pre-flight checks were completed.
“See that pile of rocks on the far side of the field? That’s about your limit.”
Liberty
frowned.
“Flying high and fast is easy. As my student you will start by learning to fly carefully and precisely. You will learn to maneuver your craft with your landing struts three feet off the ground, you will learn to know where your rotor, tail, and struts are at all times, and you will learn to set your bird down exactly where you want it, in the precise orientation you want, without your passengers being able to feel it. When I am done with you, you will be able to fly your craft into a hanger under rotor power if necessary. If you can’t do all that, flying high and fast won’t do you any good at all.”
Liberty swallowed. “I understand. I want to be the very, very best pilot I can be.”
“Good. Start-up checklist, out loud.”
Liberty checked batteries, engine indicators, environmental instruments, and did a visual inspection of the area around the craft.
“All
green.”
“Start and monitor, out loud.”
Liberty pressed the engine-start button, and rattled off all critical engine specifications as the five hundred horsepower jet turbine came to life above her. About a minute later it reached operating temperature, and all other indicators were green.
“Engage
rotor.”
Liberty again checked the area, slowed the jet engine, and pulled the rotor clutch lever. The sixty foot blades began to turn.
“Increase power for lift-off. Target altitude is ten feet.”
Liberty slowly twisted the grip on her control stick. The rotor spun faster and faster, and finally she could feel the landing struts begin to lift from the ground. A big smile appeared on her face, but she didn’t let it break her concentration. She continued increasing power slowly and smoothly until she judged that her struts were about ten feet from the ground.
“Altitude ten feet, speed zero, heading forty-five degrees.”
“Good work. You are flying a helicopter. How do you feel?”
“Like I was born to do it. And it certainly is easier than riding horses!”
Erica laughed. “Not to most people. You are now about to execute the most dangerous maneuver any pilot can do. Land.”
Liberty slowly reduced the power until she felt her landing struts contact the ground. Then she dropped the power down to a smooth idle.
For the next half hour, Liberty raised and lowered the helicopter, and under her teacher’s direction, carefully maneuvered it around the field, never higher than ten feet off the ground. While hovering, she faced it different directions as instructed, and flew sideways and backward as well as forward.
The only tricky moment came when Liberty was hovering beside a spindly tree, as directed, and then her teacher told her to make a new heading of seventy-five degrees.
Liberty was about to act, but suddenly had the feeling that something was wrong with the request. She held the craft steady, scanned her instruments and the environment with her mind, and quickly realized what it was.
“Can’t. My tail will mow that poor little tree.”
“Good thinking. Cancel that request,” Sister Erica said with a smile.
As the end of the hour approached, Liberty set the bird down for the last time and went through the shut-down checklist. Once outside the helicopter, student and teacher embraced.
“Thank you so much, Sister Erica! Did I do okay?”
“Let’s just put it this way, Liberty. I’ve been teaching helicopter piloting for almost ten years. You are the first student I have ever had that has gotten all the way through their first flight without me having to take the controls even once!”
Liberty grinned from ear to ear and pranced circles around her teacher on the way back to the port building.