Educational Experience

Chapter Eight

This is a really rough chapter that goes "off outline," so it's going to need heavy editing later. But this is the "kitchen sink draft" so enjoy and rest assured that I know it's not nearly finished.

8.

 We didn’t do a lot of talking while we were up above the city. A helo like “Pegasus” (that’s our code name for our little EC130) tends to be kind of noisy. But I coded it to Big Man because Bobby, our on call pilot that day, had to set that sucker down in a school parking lot. And we couldn’t afford to take any chances in a school zone.

Once we were airborne, though, Lakesha and Taylor were too busy just gawking to talk, actually. Every now and then they’d look at me or each other, and then lean to check out the view again. Taylor seemed to be trying to memorize the moment—I studied her for a while, as she was gazing down at the city so intensely.

I could totally understand why she was mesmerized by the view. Tucson sits within a ring of really picturesque mountains—four ranges, the Catalinas being the biggest and most beautiful. You can ski up there. In fact, sometimes on one “winter” day you can ski in the mountains and then come down and have a barbecue by the pool. I’m not joking, we’ve done that for Thanksgiving and Christmas both a few times. Crazy cool, right?

And beyond those mountains is an endless, wide open stretch of pale pastel desert. Which is what I love about living here most. Yes, the people annoy the hell out of me sometimes, of course. Arizona has a reputation for being back asswards on most issues. Only if you come here, you’d be surprised how many people are pretty damned righteous—there are idiots in every state in the union, not just ours.

But the land itself…there’s nothing else like it anywhere. My favorite thing to do is go ‘way the hell out away from the city, which is still very easy to do here, and just…sit. Especially if I can get ‘way up high and watch the colors fire up just as sunset begins. It’s so effing awesome. Like God just totally showing you who’s the Boss, you know? You can’t get too big headed with all that to remind you you’re just a dust speck in the universe—I remember the first time I saw the Grand Canyon and just sat right down on the ground, put both hands on top of my head and went, “Seriously?” Spectacular, stupefying stuff.

But I wasn’t checking out the desert vistas this time. I was staring at this woman--ridiculously beautiful. Notice, I’m saying “beautiful,” not pretty anymore. Because in the bright sun and framed by that picturesque background…it was like a magazine shot. Even with the bruise, that face was stunning. Finely chiseled--she reminded me of that actress in that movie 10, I think it was called. You know, that Bo Derek babe that Dudley Moore was all obsessed with. Features like that.

But I was picking up something underneath all that--that part of her that ran away from the people who were trying to pull her back into their world. And while she was ‘way up above it all, she looked like she didn’t want that flight to end. Like she wouldn’t care where we went or for how long or anything.

I don’t think know why that made me sad, though. Usually wildness excites me. But I had heard her scream that one time, when she thought someone might open that bathroom door. Like a wild thing, cornered—we were up in the sky because I’d wanted to save her. But there was something in how she couldn’t take her eyes off the horizon that said it’d take a whole lot more than a helo ride to make her feel safe. Or free. Or…whatever those eyes were searching for.

“You gon’ be teacher’s pet fo’ sho’ now,” Lakesha teased me. And Taylor, in a way.

And Taylor turned that gorgeous face to us and said, “You own this?”