The High Calling (2 page)

“Come on, wife. Let’s load up the kids and get into the car. Maybe I’ll win you a Kewpie doll at the shooting gallery.”

****

The smell of hot dogs and mustard and fresh brewed cider was in the air as Kat wandered past the booths that offered the food. The air was alive with laughter and shouting as the
fun seekers had come to Macon for the Georgia State Fair. Her dad had helped her unload Hercules at the agriculture building, and she now had the rest of the day to enjoy the fair. The livestock judging wouldn’t start until tomorrow. As she wandered among the rides, she looked up at the Ferris wheel, remembering the first time her father had taken her on one. She had been terrified by the height and still remembered how he had put his arms around her and held her tightly, promising her she would be okay.

Now as she looked up, a whim swept over her. She had not ridden the Ferris wheel for several years, for she was still not completely free of her fear of large machinery. Nevertheless, she stepped up and paid her fare, and just before the attendant put the bar down, a voice said, “Mind if I share your seat?”

Looking up, Kat saw a short, muscular young man with a sunburned face and a pair of impudent blue eyes, grinning at her. “There are plenty of other seats,” she said.

“But none with such a pretty girl on them. Come on, have a heart.”

Ordinarily Kat would have refused, but something about the fellow’s air pleased her. He had a fresh-looking face and freckles galore. “All right, but you stay on your own side.”

“My name’s Dave Tompkins.”

“That’s a nice name,” Kat said but did not give her own. The bar snapped in front of them, and the seat swung as they went upward.

“I didn’t get your name.”

“People just call me Kat.”

“Cat? That’s your name?”

“A nickname.”

Kat hung on to the bar as the Ferris wheel swept into the full cycle. As it rose, she glanced out, enjoying the panorama of the fair. They were higher now than all the other rides, and she heard people laughing and screaming as they were turned upside down and swung in circles. Far off was the agricultural building, where the livestock judging would take
place. Farther off were the tree-covered hills, which actually looked soft from this distance.

Dave Tompkins made a valiant effort to get Kat to talk about herself, but when the ride ended, he knew no more about the tall young woman than when he had gotten on. “Better give me your telephone number,” he said urgently. “I might need to call you.”

“Thank you very much, but I don’t think so.” Kat laughed at his expression and said, “You’ll find some girl to give you her number. Good-bye, Dave.”

He seemed a nice enough fellow, but she was not particularly interested in dating at the moment. She left the young man staring after her with disappointment etched on his features and forgot about him almost at once. Kat continued on her circuit of the rides and the games of chance, then happened to pass by two young women who were gazing up at a large poster. Curiosity caused her to pause, and as she looked up at the poster, a grin turned up the corners of her lips.

“He’s a dream, ain’t he?” The speaker was a rather tall, gangly girl who was wearing a bright red dress that made her sallow skin look terrible. She poked the girl beside her with her elbow and said, “What do you think, Roxy?”

“Well, I’ll tell you what I think.” She leaned to whisper something in her tall friend’s ear, which caused the girl to laugh stridently.

“Me too,” she said.

The girl called Roxy was wearing a tight dress that set off her full figure admirably. Her hair was more carefully done than her friend’s, but there was a boldness in her dark eyes. “His name’s Brodie Lee,” she told Kat. “I seen him do his stunt flying yesterday.”

“He ain’t as pretty as that picture, is he?” the other girl asked.

“Why, yes he is!” Roxy said. “He’s better lookin’ than Robert Taylor. You know what? I’m gonna see if I can get him to take me out.”

“Bet’cha can’t!”

“You hide and watch me!” Roxy told her friend with confidence. “Come on. It’s almost time for the stunt flying to start. I’ll be right there when he gets out of that there airplane!”

****

Brodie Lee’s hands moved on the stick, and his feet worked the pedals almost as if he were playing a pipe organ. The biplane flipped upside down, and he shoved the throttle forward. Even though the ground was nothing but a blur under him, he always knew exactly where he was at all times. He watched the ground grow closer and felt the shoulder strap cutting into his shoulders as he skimmed along. Most men would have wondered if the safety belt was going to hold, but Brodie never gave a thought to things like that.

Somehow skimming across the fields upside down with the blades of the propeller dangerously close to the grass filled him with a keen pleasure. He was aware that several things could go wrong that could kill him instantly, but that was something that happened to other fellows—not to Brodie Lee!

His upside-down view of the field revealed telephone wires strung between poles just ahead, and instead of flipping the plane over, he simply went under them.

“That ought to give ’em something to holler about,” he proclaimed and laughed loudly. Then he flipped the plane over, banked it sharply, and steered back toward the field, which was lined with spectators. “You got your money’s worth that time, I reckon,” he said as he brought the plane in for a perfect landing. He got out and leaped to the ground.

His mechanic was striding toward him, his face like a thundercloud.

“Don’t say it, Fred!” Brodie started.

“I will too say it! You’ve got no business goin’ under them wires! You’re gonna kill your fool self!”

“Not a chance. I was born to be hanged. Better check her out, Fred. She might need a little tunin’ up.”

Leaving the plane and the unhappy man, Brodie strolled toward the crowd and was soon surrounded by the curious and the admiring. One of them proved to be a reporter with a camera who insisted on taking several pictures while Brodie answered questions.

The questions were familiar enough, and Brodie had answered them many times. As he gave his usual answers, his eyes went over the crowd and stopped when they fell on a well-shaped girl whose dark eyes were fixed on him. She had a slight smile on her lips, and as their eyes met, something seemed to pass between them.

Brodie answered another question and then said, “That’s all for now, folks. There’ll be another performance tomorrow—same time. I’ll do something real special for you. It’d be nice if you’d come back.”

The crowd slowly broke up as the dark-eyed girl came forward.

“Could I have your autograph?” she asked.

“You have a piece of paper and a pen?”

“No, but I reckon we can get one someplace.”

This was invitation enough for Brodie. He had learned to read young women exceptionally well and grinned broadly. “All right. But first I’ve gotta go back and check over the plane. What’s your name?”

“Roxy Gentry.”

“All right, Roxy. Why don’t you go powder your nose or something and meet me back here in, oh, say half an hour.”

“I’ll be waiting.” She turned and walked away, her hips swaying provocatively.

“There’s always one at every show,” he told himself. “I wonder why that is.”

Brodie turned to go, but as he did, he noticed a tall young woman who had been standing off to one side.
Another one,
he thought,
but this one looks even better.
He went over toward her.

“Hello,” she greeted. “That was quite a show.”

“Thanks. My mechanic thought I was crazy to fly under that wire, but I wanted to give you pretty ladies a good show.”

“That was something, all right.”

Brodie made one of those instant decisions for which he was famous. He mentally cast Roxy aside and said, “How about you and I go have a bite to eat?”

“We can’t do that.”

He moved closer to her and saw that her complexion was the smoothest he’d ever seen. A summer darkness shaded it, and there was a freshness about her. “Why not?”

“Roxy will be back.”

“Oh, well, she’ll find somebody else soon enough.” He liked the way this woman’s eyes met his directly.

He was surprised when the woman smiled broadly and then shook her head. “You haven’t changed, Brodie. Still trading off one woman for another.”

He searched his memory frantically, but he could not remember ever meeting this woman. “I wouldn’t do a thing like that,” he protested weakly.

“Glad to hear you’ve changed your ways. Now you’d better wait for Roxy.”

If anything pleased Brodie Lee, it was a challenge. He saw that this woman was different in every way from Roxy. There was a liveliness about her that he liked instantly. Besides, she was prettier than Roxy. She had class!

“What’s your name?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I know I ought to. When was it we met?”

At that moment Roxy, who had turned around and seen what was happening, came back at once. “You through with your airplane?” she asked brightly and took his arm in a possessive manner. She glared at the tall young woman and then tugged at him. “Let’s go.”

“Better hang on to him, Roxy,” the tall girl said with a smile. “He’s slippery.”

“Why would you say a thing like that?” Brodie said. He
was desperately trying to remember where he had seen this young woman, but nothing came.

“If you lose him, you can always identify him by his birthmark, Roxy.”

“His birthmark!” Roxy glared at her. “Where’s that?”

“Oh, it’s on his back—just above his waist on the right side. It’s shaped like a fish. You can’t miss it.”

“And how do you know that?” Roxy snapped.

Brodie’s jaw had dropped open, and for once in his life he could not think of a single thing to say. Obviously this woman did know that intimate fact about his anatomy!

“You ought to be ashamed to know a thing like that!” Roxy declared. “Come on, Brodie!”

“We’re old friends,” Kat said. She laughed at Brodie’s expression as Roxy hauled him away. “Bye-bye, Brodie,” she called. “Good to see you again!”

****

It was late afternoon before Kat made her way toward the agricultural building to check on Hercules. A man stepped in front of her and she stopped abruptly. “Well, it’s Mr. Brodie Lee, the famous aviator.”

Brodie wore a puzzled look. “Hey, I’ve been looking all over the fair for you.”

“What did you do with Roxy?”

“Never mind her. How did you know about my birthmark? Where did we meet?”

“You can’t even remember an old friend who would know a thing like that? You must have a real bad memory.”

Kat turned to leave, but Brodie grabbed her arm. “Wait a minute. We’ve gotta settle this.”

“Is this here bozo annoying you, Kat?”

Brodie whirled to see a lanky man dressed in overalls and wearing a white broad-brimmed straw hat. Brodie suddenly let out a yelp. “Clint Longstreet, you son of a gun!”
He grabbed the other man by the hand, and Kat stood back and watched the two beat themselves on the shoulders.

“How in the blue-eyed world did you find Kat in all this commotion?”

“Oh, he didn’t have any trouble finding me,” Kat said. “The trouble is he didn’t know me when he found me. By the way, Brodie, how did you and Roxy make out?”

Brodie flushed and shook his head. Clint was amused to note that Brodie looked tremendously embarrassed. Clint had always been fond of the younger man. The two had become fishing and hunting partners after Clint had moved to Georgia with the Winslow family. Despite their ten-year age difference, they had always enjoyed each other’s company. “What’s wrong with you, Brodie? You act like you just swallowed a cocklebur.”

Kat was finding the whole situation vastly amusing. “He’s ashamed because I caught him dumping a girl—the same way he dumped me once.”

“I never did any such thing!” Brodie protested.

“Yes you did. You just don’t remember.”

“What are you up to these days, Brodie?” Clint asked.

“I’ve been doing some crop dusting up in our old stomping grounds. I do some stunt flyin’ on the side, which is why I’m down here in Macon for the fair.”

“Next time you’ve got a couple hours to spare, you should drop by the farm. Maybe we can go huntin’ or fishin’.”

“I’d like that.”

“Well, I’ve got to get back to the hotel and help Hannah with the girls,” Clint said. He and Hannah had two girls who were the pride and joy of his life.

As Clint moved away, Brodie said, “I never dumped you, Kat!”

“Yes you did. You were going to take me fishing over at Eleven Point River, but you stood me up.”

“Oh, that . . . well, I-I think I got sick or somethin’.”

“No,” Kat said coolly. “You got Margie Hunt. You left me
in the lurch and took
her
instead. I waited for you all day, but you never came.”

Brodie shuffled his feet and ran his hand through his thick red hair. “I don’t seem to remember that.”

“I do. Margie told all of us girls about it. She told
everything
the next day at softball practice.”

Brodie was a voluble young man never lacking in words. But Kat’s gray-green eyes somehow made him feel tongue-tied. “Well, I was a pretty thoughtless fellow in those days.”

“And still are—as Roxy would probably say.”

“Will you forget about Roxy!” he declared, throwing his hands wide apart. “Kat, I’m really sorry. I don’t even remember that day, but it was the wrong thing to do. I do remember how much fun we had going fishin’ and huntin’ with Clint and Josh.”

“It’s all right. I got my feelings hurt, but I was only a freshman, and Margie was a senior—and a cheerleader.”

“I wonder what ever happened to her.”

“She moved away two years ago with her husband. He’s in the army.”

“Look,” he said. “I’ll have to make this up to you. How about I take you up for a flight?”

“No. I’m afraid of heights. Besides, I never let the same man break my heart twice.” Her words might have been harsh, but her smile was warm. “Don’t worry about it. It’s all right.”