Silver Wings for Vicki, page 15
Vicki sat alone in her Memphis hotel room, surrounded by a sea of newspapers, and absolutely appalled. Captain Jordan had ordered the newspapers sent up to her, along with lunch “—in case you don’t feel like facing the public just yet, Vicki.”
She certainly did not feel like going down into the lobby, where she would be stared at. Captain Jordan, Dean, and Jean Cox had had to work their flight back to New York, and had gone without her. Vicki rather dreaded returning to New York, facing the other stewardesses’ questions, the inevitable publicity, the airline officials’ questions. She was tired after this great adventure. Her eye fell again on the screaming headlines.
“What’s being blonde got to do with it?” Vicki fumed to herself. “I hate all this fuss! Gosh, it’s still only me.”
At that moment the telephone in her room rang. Vicki shut her eyes in chagrin and braced herself for official questions. But it turned out to be Ruth Benson, who blessedly said: “Vicki, I’ve just heard the whole story this morning. Congratulations! We’re all very proud of you! But I know you must need a rest. I’ve arranged a breathing spell for you. Don’t come back to New York. Go right home to Fairview from Memphis. Federal will give you a free flight, of course.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Miss Benson chuckled. “I thought you’d like to be home after all this excitement.”
Vicki was greatly relieved. The more she thought about the immediate prospect of seeing The Castle and her family the more delighted and excited she became. She wasted no time in phoning the Memphis airport and asking if they could find space for her on the very next Federal plane. They could. She wired her family. Vicki wasted no time on packing either—she had only her toothbrush and nightgown to pack. Most of her clothes, the nice things she would have liked to wear at home were hanging in the closet of the New York apartment. Well, she would just have to arrive home in her flight uniform.
“Perhaps that won’t be so bad,” Vicki thought, as she dashed out into the hotel corridor and kept her finger on the elevator buzzer. “The family’s never seen me in uniform—they’ll be interested, even if amazed.”
From Memphis Vicki flew to Cleveland, and at the Cleveland airport changed to another plane for the long flight to Chicago. It was evening when she arrived. She wired her family that she would be home in short order, then hopped the local train down to Fairview. Knowing that Professor Barr had probably cooked the fatted calf in her honor, Vicki was careful not to eat so much as a peanut.
As the train slid into Fairview’s little railroad station, Vicki glimpsed through the train window her family standing on the platform. Professor and Mrs. Barr were both bundled into their topcoats, eagerly scanning the cars. Ginny wore a great red hairbow for the occasion. Freckles sported a red bow on his collar but was trying to chew it off.
Vicki jumped off the train and ran straight into three pairs of waiting arms.
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you all!” she exclaimed.
“So happy!”
“How are you, Victoria?”
“How are you?”
“Look at Vicki in her flight uniform!” Ginny shrieked. “It’s stunning! Makes her look like someone I wish I knew! Can I try it on?”
“Well, not here on the platform, baby.”
“I’ve cooked a magnificent dinner for you, Vicki!”
“Come, get into the car.” Betty Barr laughed. “Someone catch Freckles—he’s so excited, he’s running in circles.”
Home at The Castle, they feasted and talked and laughed until late into the night. Her family could hardly believe what an adventure Vicki had just been through. Vicki was concerned because it worried her parents, and had to reassure them over and over again—particularly Professor Barr—that stewardess work ordinarily was not risky. “And it’s at least as educational as college!” Vicki asserted.
Mrs. Barr shook her short curls. “I expect you’re learning a great deal,” she agreed. “Vicki, I almost envy you. If I were twenty years younger, I’d apply for stewardess work myself!”
“I wouldn’t let you go.” Professor Barr smiled.
“I’ve lost one of my girls—isn’t that enough?”
“You can’t lose me, Dad,” Vicki said, getting up and going around the table to hug him. “What are you going to cook for me tomorrow?”
Betty Barr said firmly, “I am going to cook tomorrow, and all this week. Dad had his field day tonight. Besides, Vicki, I suspect tomorrow you’ll be too busy to think of menus.”
“What’s up?”
“Tell you tomorrow, dear. Now, don’t you think it’s time you and Ginny went to bed?”
“Good heavens,” said Professor Barr, “has anyone noticed that it is now one-thirty in the morning?”
“That’s because we’ve been having fun,” Vicki said happily. “Good night, parents,” she added, kissing them. “C’mon, Ginny.”
The two girls trudged upstairs, Ginny lugging the spaniel. In their blue room, it took them a very long time to get to bed. First, Vicki had to inspect the hooked rug Ginny had made, and the place where Freckles had scratched the woodwork. Then they had to hang out the window and have a look at the garden, and the lake beyond. Then Ginny had to try on Vicki’s flight uniform. It was too large for her in some places, and too tight in others, so Vicki obligingly pinned here and draped there. Thus Ginny was able to admire herself in the dressing-table mirror and declare:
“Just wait a few years! Then I’m going to give you some real competition.”
They climbed into their twin beds at last. But Vicki crawled out again, remembering a sheet and envelope of airline stationery she had picked up for Ginny on the Chicago plane. Then Ginny remembered that she wanted to show Vicki her new high-heeled shoes, her first, a far too important matter to wait until morning. Then, with lights out again, Freckles decided to play tag by himself across both their beds and stomachs. It was three o’clock by the time they all finally settled down.
Vicki slept late. She awoke to find her blue room flooded with sunshine, Ginny’s bed empty, and her mother peeking in at the door.
“He’s here!”
“Who’s here?” Vicki demanded.
“Didn’t I tell you last night? Mr. Peter Carmody. He flew out to get an exclusive interview with you for his; newspaper.”
Vicki leaned back against the pillows and howled with laughter. The spectacle of herself and Pete acting as dignified public characters, interviewing and being interviewed, was too much.
“Tell him I’ll be right down,” she gasped.
“You will be down in due time,” said her father edging into the room. He bore an enormous breakfast tray and set it on Vicki’s knees.
“Lewis!” exclaimed his wife, laughing. “There’s everything on that tray but the crown jewels!”
On the tray was a profusion of individual casseroles, Mrs. Barr’s best silver coffeepot and linen, the luster “thousand faces” dishes from China and—compliments of Ginny—a geranium.
“It’s beautiful, Dad,” Vicki said gratefully.
“Thank you ever so much!” She peeped into the casseroles. “Looks marvelous! I suggest we all have lunch on what’s on this tray. Including Pete—where is he?”
“Ginny is entertaining him,” her mother said.
“She has him back in the garage fixing her bicycle, I believe,” Professor Barr said. “Try the kidney stew, Victoria. Pete and Ginny were talking about giving a performance with the Walkers’ pony next.”
Knowing that Pete’s high-jinx could match even Ginny’s, Vicki peacefully went to work on the tray. Some of her father’s concoctions were on the exotic side, particularly for an empty stomach. But knowing that he would feel hurt if she did not appreciate his efforts, Vicki ate until she was ready to burst. Then she bathed and dressed and went downstairs in search of Pete Carmody and her little sister.
The telephone interrupted her. It was her roommates, extravagantly calling long-distance with their congratulations and questions.
“Miss Barr, we think you’re pretty special,” came Jean Cox’s merry voice. “So do your passengers. Why, flowers and candy and gifts are simply pouring into the apartment and into Miss Benson’s office for you—even from passengers who rode with you months ago!”
Vicki gulped and asked Jean to eat the candy for her.
“Vicki!” Charmion came on the wire next. “Vicki dear, I’m so proud of you! And do you know what? Ruth Benson is giving you a new assignment... No, I’m sorry, I don’t know what it is, but Benny says it’s grand ... Well, yes,” Charmion admitted modestly, “I’m getting a new assignment, too. Here’s Tessa, hold on—”
Tessa was almost shrieking with excitement.
“Vicki! Vicki Barr! Why aren’t you here in New York? How can you walk out on your big scene? You don’t really want to turn your back on the spotlight?”
There was a pause and jumbled voices came out of the receiver. Mrs. Duff’s crisp voice came through.
“Lass, I’m glad you’re home. It’s bedlam here. Get a good rest now, mind!”
“Thanks, Mrs. Duff, I will.”
Dot Crowley boomed over the wire. “Vicki, I do congratulate you. With a feat like this to increase your prestige, why, you can push your career ahead by leaps and bounds!”
By this time Vicki’s head was in such a whirl that she began to laugh. “Thank you, thank you, all of you! Eat the candy and wear the flowers and tell Miss Benson that I can hardly wait to find out what she has in store for me!”
“So long, sweetie,” Jean called. “See you soon!”
Vicki sat for a moment beside the telephone, at the foot of the tower stairs, thinking affectionately of her friends. Then she remembered that Pete and Ginny were waiting for her.
They were talking sedately with Mrs. Barr in the long living room. Pete stood up politely when Vicki entered, but he could not help clowning just the same.
“Vicki, what a place this Castle is! Marry me and we’ll live here. No, no, really, Mrs. Barr, I’m just joking!”
Betty Barr grinned. “We might take you in on approval, Peter, providing you promise not to cook. One fancy chef is enough.”
The chef-professor himself entered and looked benignly at Pete. “This young man is his paper’s expert on economics and industrial relations. Bet you didn’t know that, Vicki.”
Pete looked embarrassed but pleased. “Only the second expert, sir, and I generally write up rather dry stories. But since I know Vicki personally, my paper agreed to send me out here to interview her. You know, Vicki, you promised me a story!”
“I did indeed.”
Vicki told her story, guided by Pete’s questions, in fuller detail than she had related it to her family last night. Her parents listened to every word, and Ginny listened popeyed.
“Did he actually trap you in the galley?” Ginny demanded. “He threatened you— Vic, did he pull a gun?”
Vicki giggled. “No gun. What do you think this was, baby, the movies? But it was bad enough.”
The young newspaperman was impressed too. He wrote down Vicki’s account and when she had finished, he said gravely:
“You were a brave girl, Vicki. And you used your head. There’s no question but what you made a valuable contribution toward solving that case.”
“I wish,” Mrs. Barr remarked, “that you had stayed in the hotel as the FBI instructed you, and not wandered out to Chickasaw Street.”
“But then she never would have been in on the surprise raid!” Ginny said excitedly. “Gosh, Vicki, I’ll bet the FBI loves you!”
“Well, I love you for giving me this marvelous story,” Pete said. “Now tell me, what are you going to do next? New assignment? New adventures?”
Vicki smiled tantalizingly. “Ruth Benson hinted there’s something new in store for me. As soon as I get back, in a few days. Wait and see!”
Professor Barr announced, “For the time being Vicki stays right here at The Castle and rests!”
But that would be for only a few days, Vicki knew, and already she was wondering about the next flights, the next experiences, to come. Pete was flying back on the early evening plane. When he said good-bye to Vicki, he wore such a long face that she had to laugh.
“This isn’t good-bye, Pete. This is only au revoir—because I have lots of unfinished business. Give my love to Dean and the girls and tell them I’ll be back—soon!
THE END
Image: Nelly Diener, the first air stewardess in Europe, in 1934.
Did you love Silver Wings for Vicki? Then you should read The Clue of the Gold Coin by Helen Wells!
In The Clue of the Gold Coin, flight attendant Vicki Barr jets to Tampa, Florida where she gets entangled in a plot to steal a case of antique gold coins.
Helen Wells, Silver Wings for Vicki
