Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. (C) Copyright 2002. M.C. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction for fee or profit forbidden. Copies of my stories can be downloaded from: </files/Authors/MikeC/> Send all comments and suggestions to MikeC@NSpace.net ============= James Part VIII. Lofty Goals Chapter 52 "Can I get a ride on your plane?" Erin asked. Jules grinned, still waving at the folks on departing ferry, "Hmmm, I wonder why it didn't occur to you before? Sure, but let's clear it with Angela first!" We waited until the boat was docked before heading to where Angela stood talking with a group of parents. "Angela, we're going to get some gas for the plane, do you want us to pick up some more fruit?" At Angela's nod, Jules continued, "We're gonna ask Erin to help us, OK?" Angela nodded again before turning back to the group. "You know, I'm gonna be so dead once she finds out we pulled a fast one on her!" Erin smiled. "Well, if you rather not risk it..." "No, no. I'll chance it." Erin looked at me, "You're cool with it, right?" "Yeah, enjoy yourself. I know Jules is good and the plane's safe... In fact, maybe next weekend I can come pick you up," I said, as we untied the plane and turned it around for takeoff. "I SHOULD have my license then... And also provided I survive Friday's exam, that is. Let me talk to Mom and we can fly straight to the lake and stay the day." "Oh awesome!" Erin's eyes lit up. "Thanks!" "OK, let's make this a flight lesson then," Jules said, "We'll cover the basics and then you can help your poor brother next week." then aside, "He's kinda slow at things, you know!" They shared a knowing smile. They did the walkaround, as Jules pointed out the various control surfaces and links. "Now, aside from making sure everything's tight, nothing's leaking and there's enough gas, this is the next most important thing." She climbed up and started wiping the windshield down, "From a mile away, this plane looks like a fly-splat. But in a head-on situation, that distance is covered in 15 seconds!" I buckled Erin in and adjusted the intercom over her head. "Aren't you coming?" "No, the plane only has two proper seats, and you'll need the space for the fruit." Jules helped me clear all the gear from the back and strapped herself in, giving me a kiss and thumbs up as I slid the cockpit closed. They taxied out into the lake and Jules made a beautifully elegant takeoff, did a loop and waggled her wings as she zoomed by. In a minute she had all but disappeared. I spread the beach towel out and flipped open Jules' Financial textbook. All the words appeared to be in English but nothing made any sense to me. After the first chapter I gave up and dove into the water. I swam a quarter mile out in the cold crystalline water and back crawled towards the beach, watching an osprey wheel and tumble in the clear blue sky. I got out of the water and Ami and Cara were sunning themselves, still in their leotards and watching me. "Can I have the towel please?" They jumped up and handed it to me. "Where's Erin?" Ami asked. "She's gone for a ride with Jules." I pointed downriver. "Oh, she's so lucky!" Ami pouted, "You think we..." "Not today, somehow I don't think Angela's gonna like the idea. But let me mention it to Jules and we can arrange something..." I said, then, "Where's everybody disappeared to?" "They're all on the shore side with sports and swimming." Ami pointed behind her, "We're part of the KP crew but dinner's a bit delayed because of the parents." "How come nobody's swimming here?" "It's deeper and there's more current here so we're not allowed to swim without supervision." Cara added, blushing sweetly. "You mean if I had started drowning, you wouldn't have come to save me?" "I couldn't swim that far anyways!" Cara laughed. "Me neither! I sink like a stone." Ami nodded. "That's the problem with most athletes, there's not enough fat in your bodies to maintain decent buoyancy." I laughed, "The secret is to develop a good strong kick that can keep your head out of the water. Otherwise you'll develop the bad habit of taking shallow breaths, afraid of sinking once you release it." "Can I ask you why you're, so... analytical about these things? Like the problem with my legs throwing my Tkatchev timing off, Brian said he was just noticing it!" "I think I can blame it on my wrestling training, where timing is crucial. A split second is all you have to decide if it is an attack or just a feint. I'm not as strong as some of my competition, so I have to rely on speed and leverage to win my matches, and THAT makes being able to read body language and judge timing extra critical. And I'm glad the *click* is working for you. It was a very impressive routine you did!" Ami grinned, "That was probably the best one I've ever done! Thanks to you!" I turned, "By the way Cara, that was a very lovely floor routine you did too!" "Thanks." She squirmed and blushed. "I just got it this year." "The double front at the end was nice too!" "It wasn't, really... I had to pull it - I was going to step out." Cara shook her head, "But I took that step anyways." "But yeah, look at how much you had to relearn!" Ami said, adding, "Cara grew over 6 inches the last year, mostly in her legs." "And 15 pounds..." Cara added, sighing. "And THAT was mostly in her..." "Stoppit! It's not nice!" Cara yelled and blushed. "Well, anyways, it really screwed up her centers of rotation, right?" "Yeah, I lost all my bars skills and have to redo everything starting from hip-circles." She sighed, "Last summer we went on a long vacation and I got really tired and lazy, but I was hungry all the time..." "And don't forget Josh!" "I TOLD you never to talk about it!" Cara yelled, incensed. "Anyways, it was a disaster all around. I came back 10 pounds heavier and had to get new leotards." She sighed, "And outgrew THOSE a month later." "But you had more power, right?" I asked. "I guess..." Cara looked at me, "How could you tell?" "Timing, again." I smiled, "Your run up to the vault had extra steps..." "How do you mean?" "The run up is designed to generate maximum speed for your vault trick, right?" She nodded, "Well you reached maximum speed two strides before you did your roundoff. Which says to me that you USED to need those two extra steps to get to speed, but all it means now is that you're actually starting to slow, plus it's tiring you out quicker!" Cara thought about it, "I'll try that, although we've been working on the floor tumbling lines. We've had to take 3 steps out, mainly because my strides are that much longer but, yeah, you're right, even starting on my wrong foot, I'm getting better height and speed!" She smiled happily, "I just have to watch my landings is all!" "And I'll bet I can tell you where else you've improved in!" "Where?" "Your dance! Hadn't your dancing become a lot more expressive?" "Oh yeah!" Cara beamed, "And you know, things I did before that were just cute? All of a sudden, they're... sexy!" She concluded with an excited whisper. "Hey, you wanna show him that step?" Ami pulled her friend up. "We're working on this routine with Erin for our review show. It uses a J-Lo remix." "She means Jennifer Lopez..." Cara explained, as if to a geriatric. "He knows who she is!" Ami peered at me, "Don't you?" as if to a geriatric. "Yes," I blinked, "I was young, once." "OK then," They took a stance, arms crossed in back, feet shoulder width apart, Ami hummed a beat, then counted off, "1, 2, 1-2-3-4! Hey - hey!" They launched into a sequence of intricate footwork, somewhat reminiscent of the Charleston, legs and arms flashing, along with a few very interesting parts of their bodies. They flung their hair and sang, "You gotta move it... You gotta do it... Do it! Huh! Huh! Boom-shaaaa!" They froze, heads down, just bouncing on their heels to keep time. Their limpid eyes peered out from under their hair and they slowly raised their arms at me, "You gotta do it... NOW!" They collapsed in a giggling heap. Finally Cara sat facing me, "What do you think?" She said breathily. I moaned, holding up an arm, "C-can't talk. Heart attack!" They burst out laughing again, and, after we slowly caught our breath, I added, "Do your parents KNOW what you're planning?" "Yeah," Ami laughed, "They saw parts of it before. But Dad was watching Cara all the time!" "You're both very watchable!" I concluded. "You think so?" Cara glowed, "So you think we can be models?" "Oh, for sure! Without a doubt!" "What bothers me," Ami said, "Is that I'm not a very good student." "It's not that hard - it really boils down to focus and following a schedule. And not getting distracted by TV or friends on the phone." "I don't have many friends at school. I talk to Cara and Erin more than anyone else." "Same here. They've given up on me - I could never go to the movies or parties with them." Cara sighed. "But look at what this has given you," I said, "You've traveled around, met new friends the world over, you've learned so much more about your selves and your strengths. Plus got these very watchable bodies!" I added with a big grin. "And, you know the best part?" I looked at them, "You can STILL go to movies and parties after this! So you haven't really missed anything..." Cara nodded slowly and began to smile, "Yeah, I guess, overall, I haven't missed anything I can't do later... It's just hard..." She stopped at the humming noise. I looked up, pointing, "The plane's back..." The fly-splat in the sky grew as we watched and soon we could see JulieAnn's blond hair streaming as she tugged the cockpit back. The plane paralleled the beach, 30 feet from us and about 10 feet off the surface. Jules shrugged, lifting both hands in the air. Next to her, Erin was wearing her av-shades and a shit-eating grin as she piloted them to the end of the strand and angled out to the middle of the bay. The plane drifted down on flaps, tickled the water's surface and pulled up again. Light as a dragonfly's dance, Erin repeated the routine 3 more times before allowing the plane to settle into the lake and steered back towards land. They were all smiles as we greeted them on the beach and tied down. They passed down the cases of fruit and we carried them to the commissary while Erin jumped up and down with excitement. "Didya SEE! Three touch-and-go's! Ten more hours and I can get my license!" but quickly adding "After my tests." at Jules' look. "Erin's REALLY good." Jules agreed, "Her training gives her really quick hand-eye coordination, and an incredible depth perception! Normally, we can judge distances up to about 6 feet, but I guess in gymnastics, you have to be good to 30 feet, or maybe even more." She grinned at me, "She could tell the instant we were gonna touch down." We left the crates in cold storage and sat to sample the produce. "James..." Erin started slowly, "I think I might want to do modeling too..." "No Erin!" Cara snapped, shocking all of us, as she took Erin's hands, "Don't SAY that. Don't ever feel you're being left out because you've taken up gymnastics. You have the gift, and you owe it to yourself to make the most of it... And anytime you feel abandoned, say to yourself, 'I can ALWAYS be a model, or go to parties. But NONE of the others can EVER be a gymnast, or do what I've done!' Do you understand?" Cara blinked her tears back, "James explained it to us and... feeling the way I do now, I would rather be doing gymnastics than anything else in the world! So you HAVE to be good at it, for yourself, and for us who CAN'T do it anymore!" The tears were flowing freely now as Erin hugged her back. Erin smiled tearfully at her friends, "Thanks, I guess you're right... and I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna make the National Team and take this as far as I can!" "Erin, there's nothing more valuable in life than good friends," Jules took our hands, "We all have to face many problems on our own, but they're much more SOLVABLE knowing that we have good, dependable friends to support us." She smiled, "And I think you know that those friends are here, around you..." We all hugged and got teary again. Finally Jules said, "Guys, we have to get going now, but as soon as I hear from our agent I'll let you know, OK?" Arm in arm, they walked us to the plane, then wordlessly, everybody hugged. Erin gave me a kiss and then grabbed Jules again, "Thanks, Jules, you're so COOL!" and helped us with our walkaround and prepped us for flight. I made the takeoff in the pilot's seat and I tipped the wings as I circled them and they waved and blew kisses at us from the ground as we flew over the river, homeward bound. The route took us on a South-Easterly direction and behind us, the sun was beginning to paint the sky in warm pastel colors, like a brightly colored brush drawn through still-wet blue paint. Ahead, the moon and the first stars were making a ghostly appearance, silently preparing for their command performance in a few hours. There was a pause in the activities of the land below, as if taking a deep breath, savoring the end of the day before settling to rest. I looked at Jules and sighed happily. "Did you say something?" She glittered. I looked her up and down, "I said, 'So much woman, so little time'!" She smiled widely, "I could've sworn you said, 'So MANY women, so little time'." "That too..." I took her hand and kissed it. "But nothing will ever convince me that I would ever find anybody better than you, my sweet." "Oh my!" She dimpled, "Such lovely words! Makes me want to throw myself in your arms and let you have your way with me!" She paused, "But I won't, not until we get back." "Why not?" "Because the lake is not equipped for night landings, and I would like a nice long fuck from you. No more quickies for THIS chickie today! Thank you very much." She crossed her arms over her chest. I looked at my chickie's lovely attributes and turned to rap a finger on the indicator, "Can't this tub go any faster?" ============= (C) Copyright 2002. M.C. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction for fee or profit forbidden. Copies of my stories can be downloaded from: </files/Authors/MikeC/> Send all comments and suggestions to MikeC@NSpace.net