Light Snow Falling, Dave Robinson [different ereaders .txt] 📗

LIGHT SNOW FALLING


Chapter One
“Takeoff!”

November Alaskan mornings are always crisp, “Great time to fly,” said Cappy Benson as he loaded supplies in his airplane. “The air’s cold and thick. The plane climbs faster, flies faster and the air is smoother,” he continued.
Fourteen year-old Alex Makenna stood on the dock at the sea plane base and nodded as Cappy continued his chatter about supplies, air currents, fuel, emergency kits and all sorts of other airplane talk.
Alex had come to Cordova, Alaska, for a few days with her girlfriend, Bailey. Bailey invited Alex to come along as she visited her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was a bush pilot and used his airplane to fly supplies and passengers out to remote logging camps, villages and sometimes lodges.
Alex had only been in an airplane one time, flying from Portland, Oregon, to Cordova. She thought it was pretty cool, but it still made her nervous. She had never been in a small plane before, and Cappy’s plane looked old. The paint was faded and a glance inside showed some torn upholstery.
“Runs like a champ,” Cappy must have read her mind. He was proud of his airplane and he loved to fly it. “It’s called a Beaver,” he added, “probably older than your daddy, maybe even your granddaddy. They were built especially for flying the back country. Some years ago, even the military used ‘em. I’m gonna repaint her one of these days, but she’s been rebuilt from nose to tail. Could use a couple of new radios, but she’s in great shape.”
Cappy had been an airline pilot. Airline captain actually, that’s why everyone called him Cappy. He had thousands of hours of flying experience and had never even scratched an airplane. Today’s trip was going out to a logging camp with a load of groceries and supplies.
“Did you bring that bag I told you to bring?” Cappy asked.
“Right here,” Alex replied and hefted her backpack. Inside was a few sandwiches, a couple bottles of water and an extra sweatshirt, besides another coat. For Alex, her backpack was more like any other woman’s purse; she had all kinds of odds and ends, even her iPod and her ever-present cell phone.
Earlier that morning, both girls were getting ready to go with Cappy. While they were eating breakfast, Bailey suddenly bolted for the bathroom and Alex couldn’t help but hear as she deposited her eggs and toast in the toilet.
“I don’t feel so good,” Bailey reported as she came out of the bathroom, her face as white as a ghost.
“Young lady, you’re staying home today,” her Aunt Bess decided with authority. “How about you Alex? Do you feel sick too?”
“I’m fine,” Alex did a quick inventory. She felt just fine, except she didn’t relish the idea of flying across the Alaskan wilderness in a small plane.
“Well good, I guess you can still go flying with Cappy and keep him company today if you’d like,” Aunt Bess decided.
“Uh, sure,” Alex answered, then glancing at Bailey, “I’d love to.”

“Toss your pack in there, right behind the seat,” Cappy suggested.
“Is it ok on top of this box?” Alex asked.
“Sure,” Cappy said, “that’s the survival kit that every bush plane is required by law to carry.”
“Survival kit?” Alex said only mildly alarmed.
“Yep, it’s got blankets, food, a tent, a flashlight, matches, even a .22 rifle and some shells for it along with a whole bunch of other stuff.”
“Why do we need that?” Alex pressed the matter.
“Every year, several bush planes go down out in the mountains and it can take days to find them. Alaska state law says we have to carry an emergency kit so we can survive if it takes a few days to find us. IF we have to go down unexpectedly, that is.”
Alex stepped onto the float and reached for the door handle. “But we’re not going down, are we,” it was a statement, not a question.
“Nope,” Cappy replied with confidence. “I’ve made hundreds of these trips with no problems at all. We’ll be just fine.”
Alex climbed up in the plane and reached for the seat belt. Pulling it tight, she glanced nervously around. The back of the plane was chuck full of plastic tote boxes.
“What’s in all the boxes?” she asked.
“Supplies for the logging camp,” Cappy said. “Groceries mostly. There’s a new chain saw back there somewhere and some other supplies. Just some stuff that they need.
They call in by radio every week to their main office in Cordova and the company picks up what they need and then they hire me to deliver it to them.”
“How far is it from here?” Alex asked.
“It’s about 250 miles,” Cappy replied. “It’ll take us about an hour and a half or so, depending on the wind direction and how hard it’s blowing. Are you ready?”
“No way,” Alex thought to herself, but she looked at Cappy and bravely nodded her head. She hoped she looked eager to go flying.
Cappy grabbed the short rope that was hanging from the wing and pulled the plane away from the dock and slowly turned it around. Giving it a push, he stepped onto the float and pulled himself into the cockpit. He slammed the door shut and buckled his seatbelt. Cappy flipped on the master switch and the instruments and radios came to life.
He fiddled with some gizmo on the dashboard and then pushed a big button. The big propeller on the front of the old bird began to turn, accompanied by a groaning and grinding that sounded a lot like Alex’s dad’s truck that time the battery went dead.
“Oh great, maybe it’s not going to start,” she thought to herself.
Suddenly the engine coughed and roared to life. Cappy pulled the throttle back to ‘idle’ and the engine settled into a smooth rhythm. Alex glanced at Cappy, he was sipping his coffee as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
The plane was pulling away from the dock and as it did so, Cappy pushed in the throttle ever-so-slightly. The engine picked up a little and Alex watched as the floats plowed through the water, little waves splashing over the sides of the pontoons. Cappy taxied out to the take off area and spoke into the microphone. He glanced around to check for other airplanes and slowly pushed the throttle all the way to the knob.
“Here we go!” he announced.
The big bird picked up speed and the floats climbed up on top of the water, Alex looked off in the distance and watched the town flashing past, then back to the water. The ride grew gradually smoother as they left the water behind and began climbing out of the little bay.
Cappy banked the airplane and kept climbing, now up the valley and headed away from town. Alex turned her attention to the mountains ahead. “Wow”, they were beautiful. Valleys, rivers lakes and glaciers. It was all so pretty. She almost forgot about her nervousness.
“See that river down there?” Cappy yelled over the sound of the engine.
“That one?” Alex pointed off to the left side.
Cappy nodded, “That’s the Rude River. It flows off Cordova Peak. That’s Cordova Peak in the distance,” he pointed to a mountain ahead and slightly to the left.
Alex watched and nodded without speaking. It was an effort to speak over the noise.
“Once we’re past that, there’re no more roads, towns or civilization until we land at the logging camp.”
Alex nodded again.
Cordova Peak slid past the left wingtip and Cappy seemed to set his course both by a mountain in the distance and the chart on his knee. The sky was still pure blue, no clouds, just like Cappy said, smooth flying.


Chapter Two
“Logging Camp”

“There it is!” Cappy announced pointing to a tiny lake in the distance.
Alex leaned forward in her seat to peer over the instrument panel. She saw a blue dot in the distance.
“Doesn’t even look big enough to land a plane,” Alex mused silently. “But if he’s done it before, I guess he can do it again.
Cappy pulled the throttle back a bit, the engine slowed and Cappy pushed the nose forward. A small river flowed down a valley and emptied into the lake. Cappy dropped down into the valley and took aim on the lake at the mouth of the river. The sound of the engine slowing down was alarming to Alex.
She didn’t think it was what she would do if she had anything to say about it, but wisely, she kept her mouth shut. She was slowly relaxing about this flying-thing.
Cappy reached for the flap lever and pulled it to the first notch, the plane lurched slightly upward. Cappy made a smooth correction and pulled the throttle back even further. The ground was coming up fast and the lake looked way bigger now that it had a few minutes ago.
“We might survive this after all,” Alex said to herself and mustered a smile at Cappy who was intent on landing the airplane.
Another notch of flaps and the Alex thought the airplane was going to stop in mid-air. Cappy added a little throttle and the floats kissed the water so smoothly that Alex didn’t realize they had stopped flying until she saw the spray coming out from the sides of the floats.
She spotted the logging camp in a small cove at the side of the lake as Cappy turned the plane toward the dock. Two men were walking down the dock as the big plane settled down into the water and coasted up to the T-shaped dock. One of the men grabbed the rope hanging from the wing and secured the plane to the dock.
“Got yerself a new co-pilot, Cappy?” one of the men teased when he saw Alex.
“Yep,” Cappy replied as he swung down from the cockpit. He winked at Alex and turned his attention to the two men. They all pitched in and unloaded the cargo onto the dock.
“Got time for coffee?” one of the men asked Cappy.
“Sure,” Cappy replied and motioned for Alex to follow.
Alex climbed down on to the dock and followed the others in the direction of the cookhouse. She looked around, there were a couple of long buildings that could be bunkhouses, a tool shop and then the cookhouse. Something that had to be a water tower was on stilts between the bunkhouses and cookhouse. The inside of the cookhouse looked like the dining hall at last summer’s church camp. Some tables, chairs, a kitchen, a long counter and bare wood floors. A short-round lady introduced herself to Alex.
“Hi” I’m Patsy,” she stuck out her hand. “I’m the camp cook.”
Alex shook hands and said, “I’m Alex, I’m with Cappy.”
“Yep, saw you come in,” Patsy said. “Would you like something to drink or a snack?”
“Sure,” Alex said politely and glanced around.
“Apple juice ok?” Patsy pulled a bottle from the fridge and poured a glass as Alex nodded.
“I just