Mother, Mother Ocean, Father Father Sky

The Freya insisted on Jimmy Buffet and so they say “A Pirate looks at 40.” as they crossed the top of Alabama and made for the coast. Vanessa sang with gusto since her dad’s favorite singer had been Jimmy since she was a girl and he would serenade them to and from football games as a girl.

            “Mother, mother Ocean. I have heard your call.”

            Flynt almost cracked up, when they got to being a pirate 200 years too late.

            Then Flynt began singing “Changes in Latitudes, changes in Attitudes.” They all sang that as the Freya climbed above the clouds and skimmed their tops. Flynt sang the lines about needing to laugh or go insane with gusto until Michelle broke down into giggles. StoneGrim harrumphed and went below shaking his head.

            Kat and Flynt went down to the galley to prepare lunch, while Michelle pulled down a beaten straw cowboy hat from above her chair. She tossed her customary cap off to her right, leaned back her pilots seat, droped the hat on her head and propped her feet up. Quest walked over and haded her a stem of long grass. She grinned up at him accepting it and stuck it in her mouth. Looking very relaxed in full hick mode she leaned back and appeared to doze off.

            Quest crossed over to Vanessa and offered his hand. Curious she took it and he lead her back to the rear of the flight deck to a short ladder and led her up into the dome on the top of the Freya. He said it was the spotter’s dome. It was called other things by the original crew of the plane but Michelle called it the crow’s nest which pleased this crew.

            Vanessa sat in the chair which was mounted so that it could spin a full 360 degrees around. Right below the glass and metal of the bubble was a series of instruments. She peered at them intrigued until Quest asked if she would like to try a few. Their closeness at this moment struck her as comfortable rather than intimate or unwelcome. She wondered if it was the bond they had formed when she was a child.

            She tried out a pair of glasses with scopes on it that turned out to be some kind of steam-punk version of binoculars. Quest attached a cable to them and she found herself with great increased vision. After she had a good look around with them, Quest showed her that the cord allowed her to see through a turreted telescope system about the middle of the plane. There were several similar cords next to the one he had used. He said that they were connected to other sensory equipment in different parts of the Freya. She was about to ask a question when the bell for lunch came through. She promised herself she would be back to learn what the rest of those cable led to later.