The next day, after they were back in Phoenix, she had a discussion with Angela and Stan. There were several trips on the schedule for the next month or so; she would also be looking at one, and possibly two Redlite runs, and some other messing around of her own. "I could – probably should – lease that Skylane for the month and be done with it. We’ll spend about the same amount of money to rent it piecemeal, and run the risk that someone will have already scheduled an hour of dual with it so we get messed up on a two-day trip."

"In the short run, since your airplane is laid up anyway, we might as well," Stan conceded. "But I’m wondering if the time is coming that it might not be a bad idea to be thinking about getting a little more formal. The company is putting a lot of hours on your airplane, Jennlynn, and I’m not sure that you’re getting a fair price out of it, especially since it looks like we’re going to be using it more and more. Maybe we ought to think about getting a company plane. That would allow us to have a twin-engine plane that people might be a little more comfortable with."

"I’m not uncomfortable with the way we’re doing this," Jennlynn said. "After all, I do use the Mooney myself a fair amount of the time. It might not be very cost-effective for either of us if I have a plane to fly for me, and another one to fly for the company."

"You might have a point," Stan conceded. "It’s nothing we have to rush into. But even if we were to get a plane and even hire a pilot, we’d still have to have you administering things since you know about this stuff. There’s another angle we ought to look into, too – the tax angle."

"I don’t follow you," she frowned.

"Look, I know that with the kind of money you’re making, you pay a hell of a lot of income taxes, mostly because you don’t have much to deduct or fiddle with. I’m just guessing, and we’d have to run it past a good tax accountant, but just for the sake of discussion, what happens if you form a little corporation of your own, and we charter the airplane from you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you could take an operational loss and come out money ahead when the tax man gets done with you."

"Stan, on that you might have a point," she said. "It’s something that definitely needs looking into. You’re right, with the Mooney down, it’s not imperative, but there’s a month or so to give it a look."

Over the next few weeks, Jennlynn thought about it and investigated it even more. There were some interesting points brought out, and one was becoming pretty obvious: while she enjoyed the flying, it was still secondary to her real job, and there were times that it was difficult to be two places at the same time. But insurance and other legalities kept her from just hiring a pilot temporarily to fly for her as a private individual on what amounted to a charter. They’d gotten along pretty well so far on an informal operation, but as Stan had said, if Lambdatron’s use of an airplane continued to increase, it was just going to become a worse pain in the butt to continue the way they’d been going.

Looked at from that viewpoint, Bob and Stan’s concern about the single engine of the Mooney had some merit. Multi-engine planes were not intrinsically safer than singles, and in fact have some safety issues of their own. But she’d just had Soiled Dove’s engine eat a valve. Aircraft engine failures were vanishingly scarce; she knew a lot of pilots – even old ones – who’d never had one, and losing the engine in the Mooney up at Kingman had made her a rarity in that field. Still, the math held: one minus one left zero, while two minus one still left one, and she knew what it was like to be on the short end of that mathematical formula.

With the concerns of getting Soiled Dove back in the air again, the rumblings about changing the way she flew for Lambdatron, and maybe even trading the Mooney in on a twin were in the back of her mind for the next two weeks, she still had a lot on the front of her mind. In addition to flying several Lambdatron trips, there was a major project she was responsible for that was going through a difficult time. The only solution was to throw a lot of hours at it, and she did. Even on the Wednesday before she was scheduled at the Redlite again, it looked like she’d be too damn busy over the weekend to make the trip and she’d have to cancel. But then, a couple of things started to work, and late on Thursday afternoon her team was ready to ship the completed project off to the customer for evaluation.

She was looking forward to the weekend at the Redlite, and she needed it. The stresses of the last few weeks had been high, higher than normal; she looked forward to heading up to Antelope Valley and in many ways acting like she was a kid without a care in the world.

Working at the Redlite really was her only hobby, her only relaxation. She could play around, enjoy herself, play dressup, tease people, and generally have a good time. Even the flying in the Skylane the last two weeks had been a little bit of a drag since it took her away from other things that she really ought to be doing. Lately, she’d felt her ability to manage the stress get very shaky; she got very icy and snappy and took it out on her co-workers. The short temper that she’d managed to keep covered up for the last two years lay far less beneath the surface than normal, exacerbated by the close timing of the recent project.

Stan could see the stress level rising in her. It wasn’t hard for anyone to see, for that matter, but there weren’t many other people in the company who could give her a flat order with her in that condition and make it stick. "Jennlynn," he told her late on Thursday, "You’ve done a hell of a job on this Mark 7 project, but I can see you’ve torn yourself up on it. It’s time for you to take a break."

"I am taking a break," she protested. "I’m flying up to the Redlite tomorrow."

"I mean a real break," he snorted. "I know your stuff up at the Redlite is a hell of a safety valve for you, but even that’s wearing thin. I’ve looked at the records. You’ve maxed out your allowable vacation time and you can’t accumulate any more. You’re just losing it. You need a real sit-down-on-your-ass vacation."

"I could call Shirley," she offered, "And extend my time at the Redlite for a few days."

"I don’t mean that, either," he said. "I know you work just about as damn hard up there as you do down here. It’s a different kind of work and I know you enjoy it, but I think you’re getting a little stressy there, too. You’ve been here over three years now and not taken any extended vacation. So: I don’t want to see you in here for the next week or two. Go find a pool, get drunk and stay drunk and get a sunburn. Go take a cruise. Go up to Vegas and drop some money in the slots. Go to Hawaii and learn to surf or scuba or something. Shit, I don’t care, take some time OFF!"

"Stan," she shook her head. "Other than working at the Redlite, I don’t know what I’d do."

"Then it’s more important than ever that you learn how; take some time off, figure out what else you can do for sheer goddamn relaxation. You’re burning yourself out, Jennlynn, that’s not good for the company. We have a vacation package so people can take vacations. Now, take one."

"But, Stan . . . " she protested.

"Don’t ‘But Stan’ me," he said. "Jennlynn, you make a lot of money here and at the Redlite, sure. But what do you do with that money other than put it into the stock market and continue to work yourself to death? Jennlynn, if you were to work yourself to death, who winds up with your money? Your parents?"

"Oh, God!" she moaned, his point striking home. "All right, Stan, I’ll think of something. Maybe Shirley or one of the girls up at Antelope Valley will be able to think of something."

"That’s better. Now, I don’t want to have to have this discussion with you again. In the future, plan on taking some real time off now and then."

The flight up to the Redlite in the Skylane the next morning was one of the more difficult flights she’d ever made. Not because it was technically challenging, because it wasn’t; even in the still somewhat-strange airplane she could just about do it on automatic. It was the difficult problem she was confronting that had her tied up in knots.

Looked at objectively, Stan was right; she had been far too busy. Even back in high school she’d put a lot of time and work into her studies. She wasn’t much to run around with the kids or pal around with friends, and it wasn’t all because her father was a minister. Caltech was a tough school, and it had demanded a lot of work. It had been there that she’d discovered the thrill and satisfaction and relaxation of sex, and she’d almost let it get out of hand. No, she and Roseanna had more than let it get out of hand, but they still had a work ethic and kept their grades up in spite of the partying.

And, then, the breakup with her parents and the Mustang, and even the sex had become a job. Not a drudgery, though, a job she enjoyed intensely and would probably continue to do even if there were no money involved.

But the advantage of the Redlite was that it kept the sex in place, kept it from getting out of hand. Once in a while, she’d thought that it would be nice to have a boyfriend and give up the stuff at the Redlite, but where would she find time for one in her busy life? Boyfriends took more care and maintenance than the most fussy airplane! Besides, she’d come to realize that she was a loner at heart, and really didn’t care if she had people that close to her.

Other than Shirley, Claudia and Cindy had been her best friends in the Redlite part of her life. She’d known them for years, learned a lot from them, and they’d done much to shape her life and personality into what it had become. Some parts of her success at Lambdatron came from things that the two had taught her, and she had much to be grateful for. Yet the two had disappeared into the vast unknown, and while she knew they were gone, it would be hard to say that she missed them. As much as she respected Stan, liked Sam and Maureen, they really weren’t that close as friends. If she were to leave Lambdatron she’d miss them no more than she missed Claudia and Cindy!

Shirley was perhaps an exception to the rule, but only slightly. After all, there’d been a period there when she’d walked away from Bettye’s and Shirley, figuring she’d never see her again. Really, it hadn’t bothered her much. It was good to get back together with her, but if it hadn’t happened, if she’d wound up doing weekends at some other place, she really wouldn’t have missed Shirley that much.

It would be neat if she had some other talents, something else to pursue. Sandy and Dayna sprang to mind; Dayna was a soulful guitar player, or at least had been, and Sandy had been practicing a little two weeks before, so Jennlynn knew she was no slouch. She could imagine the two playing at a Renfaire, teasing the crowds, having fun, making beautiful music. But no, she could just barely manage to play the radio and usually didn’t.

Flying was fun; she enjoyed it. About the only vacation idea she’d been able to come up with was to fire up the Skylane once the Redlite weekend was over with and go somewhere with it. Take a few days flying to New England maybe, checking out the scenery, then turning around and flying back. In a way, that would have been more fun in Magic Carpet, low and slow, down where she could have a look at the scenery, get a better feeling for the country she was passing over – but the little Cessna was long gone. Where was it now? No idea. Was its new owner taking good care of it? She hoped so.

But flying was showing signs of turning into a job, too. After all, the point of flying was to go places more quickly than you could on the ground, but about the only places she went were those for Lambdatron, or to the Redlite. Which is to say, work related. So, right at the moment, maybe she needed to get away from the airplanes for a spell, too, just the same as Lambdatron and the Redlite.

But what? Stan had thrown out some ideas. Maybe that one about going to Hawaii had some potential. She wasn’t much of an athlete, except in bed, but it might be fun to try surfing, and scuba had always had a little appeal since it seemed a little like flying without wings. She could lie around on the beach in a bikini, too, although she still felt a real reluctance to pick up some guy without the controls she would have had at the Redlite. But somehow, a Hawaii trip seemed a little forced and forlorn; it didn’t seem right, for some reason she couldn’t understand.

Oh, well, maybe Shirley, or George, or one of the girls might have an idea that would stick. She had all weekend to work it out, after all.

* * *

"I understand the part about people not taking a break," George commented from behind his desk in his office far in the back of the Redlite. "You’re not the only one around this place who needs to get away for a while. Shirley, when the hell was the last time that you went up to the ranch to see the kids?"

"I get up there every now and then," the gray haired woman snorted.

"I know you do," he agreed. "If I recall correctly, the last time was Christmas. You drove out of here before dawn and were back the same day. And that is one hell of a drive. You were there, what? Two hours? And Will’s home from Kuwait. The only time you’ve seen him was when he came in to party, so it must have been all of five minutes. If either of you had any sense, you’d hop in Jennlynn’s airplane and be out of here so fast that all we’d see is a streak."

"But George," she protested. "There’s no one else to manage the place."

"The hell there isn’t," he said. "You’re just as bad a workaholic as Jennlynn. I’m certified with the county as a manager, and you’ll remember that we had Sarah certified, just in case we got into a real pinch."

"Neither her or you can handle the door, or handle the girls if something gets out of hand," she protested again.

"We’ll fake it," he snorted. "Sarah and I qualify from the county’s viewpoint, so that makes it legal. I don’t have to be back to Houston for days. We really need to have a reserve floor manager we could call on, anyway. I’ll bet there’s three or four girls in the building who would love to give it a try for a day or two, just for the sake of doing something different. I can handle the cashier side, no problem with that."

"I have to admit," Jennlynn mused. "Heading up to the ranch is probably a better idea than anything else I’ve had. I wouldn’t mind seeing Duane and Ellen again. Will, too, for that matter. I used to really enjoy riding the horses at Bettye’s but it’s been years."

"There’d be plenty of horses up there," Shirley nodded. "I know Ellen was saying she’d wondered what had happened to you and would like to see you again sometime."

"There you go, both of you." George said. "It may not be the perfect answer, but it’s a step in the right direction. Jennlynn, you go help Shirley get her stuff together, haul her up to the ranch and don’t either one of you come back for a few days."

* * *

Ellen was just getting a horse saddled when the Cessna 182 appeared out of the south, circled the ranch once, and swung around to make a landing. She’d heard from Shirley that Jennlynn had replaced Magic Carpet with a fast, sleek low-wing plane. This one wasn’t low winged, but no one else had ever landed a plane there, so it about had to be her.

It had been almost two and a half years since Jennlynn had been out to the Bar H Bar, mostly because of Soiled Dove. Back in Magic Carpet days, the little Cessna was easy to land in the rough field near the ranch – with flaps out and power on, she could touch down just at about the point the airspeed indicator quit registering, about forty miles an hour; the spring-steel fixed landing gear was tough and could take hitting a rock or a hole at that speed. The Mooney was a different story – setting it down gently while hanging on the prop was closer to seventy-five miles an hour, and the retractable gear just didn’t seem up to the beating, so she’d never considered it.

In spite of the Skylane’s speed, it had big Cessna flaps and could be landed at a speed not much more than Magic Carpet, and its spring steel fixed main gear was similar to the 150’s but even tougher. It was, in fact, the same landing gear that was used on the toughest Alaska bush planes, so Jennlynn wasn’t terribly concerned when she touched the big high-wing plane down and taxied it up to the cabin that served as the headquarters of the ranch.

Jennlynn shut down the engine and opened the left-side door just as Ellen came walking up. Given the passage of time, it still seemed very familiar, very down-home, a different world than she’d been used to. "Jennlynn! Momma Hoffman!" Ellen cried as she got within earshot. "What brings you out here?"

"Long story," Shirley smiled. "George thought we both needed some time off, and that we needed to come out here for a bit."

"Jennlynn, does that mean you can stay for a few days? You don’t have to head right on to somewhere else?"

"If you’ll have me," she smiled. "My boss in Phoenix said that I had to take a vacation, and when George suggested it this place, it sounded good to me."

"Well, of course you’re welcome to stay with us, if for no more reason than you brought Momma Hoffman back for a spell. We don’t see enough of her, and we don’t see enough of you."

"So, how’s everyone?" Shirley asked.

"Just fine," Ellen reported. "Will and Duane are up the wash; they spotted some strays up there this morning. They ought to be back any time, now. Will has to head back to Kuwait in a few days, but it’s sure been nice having him home. He’s grown up on us, now."

"Well, my, he should," Shirley laughed. "When he came into the Redlite a few days ago, I was going to remind him that he wasn’t twenty-one yet, but then I stopped and thought about it and realized he was. Time passes, Ellen. All too quick. Sarah and I giggle once in a while about our Social Security checks getting sent to a cathouse. It’s hard to believe how fast time passes."

"Ellen," Jennlynn said. "If I’m going to stay for more than just a few minutes, I need to rig something to tie this plane down."

"I saw you had a new plane, but that isn’t the one Momma Hoffman was telling me about, is it?"

"No, this is a rental," Jennlynn said. "My own plane blew up its engine a couple weeks ago. It’s costing me about eight thousand dollars to get fixed."

"They’re not cheap, are they?" Ellen laughed. "Well, let me think. If we get a strong wind here, it’ll be out of the west, you want to have it pointed into the wind, right?"

"If possible," Jennlynn nodded. "I’ve got a tie-down kit in the plane I could use, but I don’t think I could get it into ground this hard."

"No big deal, I can get some steel fence posts from the barn, take a driver and a sledge and drive them in pretty good. Do you think that would work?"

"Probably better than a tie-down kit," Jennlynn agreed.

There was a certain amount of hunting around to find the fence posts and the tools, and by the time they were all gathered, Duane and Will were back. Like Ellen, Duane and Will greeted them with hugs all around.

It had been two and a half years since Jennlynn had seen Will, and he had indeed grown up – tall, lean, wiry, and very handsome in a very rough-cut way. "I see the Air Force has been good to you," Jennlynn grinned as she gave him a friendly hug.

"Kinda dull," he grinned. "But I see that place down in Phoenix has been good for you. Miz Swift, you’re just as pretty as a picture and welcome as rain in a drought."

"Oh, you lay it on thick, Will," she laughed. "So how’s Kuwait?"

"Miz Swift, I thought I knew what a desert was until I went there. This is like a jungle, almost."

"Duane, Will," Ellen said. "Momma Hoffman and Jennlynn are going to stay with us a few days, but we need to drive some posts so there’s something to tie the airplane down to. You think you two can do that while I get started on some lunch?"

"Sure thing, Momma," Will nodded. "Dad, I can take care of this. Why don’t you help Momma haul Gramma’s and Miz Swift’s stuff into the house?"

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