Chapter 35: Return to Lincoln Airport

Chapter 35: Return to Lincoln Airport

Doctor Milton Compagno was doing his best to save Gwen Meighen’s life.

She had been near to the centre of the explosion. Two things - the toilet door and Guerrero’s body - had been between her and the full force of the explosion, and they had saved her life.

Now she lay on the floor, unconscious and bleeding. Some of the passengers were also bleeding from cuts, but they were not seriously hurt in comparison with Gwen.

It was fortunate that as she fell her arm had fallen around the base of a seat. If this had not happened, she might have been sucked out of the hole in the side of the plane.

The next great danger was from lack of oxygen. Some people managed to get to the oxygen quickly and then help others, as Vernon had seen Judy do. Mrs Quonsett, too, had helped her musician friend to get oxygen. She did not really care whether she lived or died - as long as she knew what was happening until the last moment!

Gwen received no oxygen. When Anson Harris put the plane into a fall, he saved her from certain death from lack of oxygen.

After the plane levelled out again, everyone began to think they might be over the worst. The three doctors who were travelling on the flight started to do what they could to help those who had been hurt.

It was lucky for Gwen that there was a man like Compagno on board. He seemed to enjoy helping people, and since he had become a doctor he had never stopped working. Of the three doctors on the plane he was the only one who had a medical bag with him.

He directed the other doctors to look after the passengers, and to move those who had been hurt to the front of the plane, where it was warmer. Then he asked one of the air hostesses to help him, and gave Gwen some oxygen. He cleared blood and broken teeth from her mouth, and began to control the bleeding from her face and chest. One arm was broken, but what worried him most was the damage to her left eye.

When Cy Jordan came to see how Gwen was, Compagno asked him to help for a few minutes before he told him: ‘She has a good chance, if she’s a strong girl.’

‘I think she’s strong,’ Jordan said.

‘She was a pretty girl, wasn’t she?’

‘Very.’

Compagno was silent. She would not be pretty any more.

Looking a little sicker than before, Jordan went forward to the pilots’ area.

Vernon Demerest made an announcement to the passengers. ‘As you know,’ he said, ‘we’re in trouble - bad trouble. But we’re still alive, and we hope to make a safe landing at Lincoln International in about 45 minutes. It will be a difficult landing, so you must all help us by doing exactly what we tell you to do. Let’s try and come through this together - safely’

‘That was good,’ Harris said. ‘You ought to be in politics!’

‘Nobody would vote for me. They don’t like to hear the truth. It hurts them too much.’ He was thinking about the matter of the sale of flight insurance at the airport, and wondering how Mel Bakersfeld would feel about it after what had happened tonight. He didn’t suppose that Mel would ever change his closed little mind. Well, if he lived through this, Vernon would continue to fight him with all his strength!

A radio message came through. Lincoln’s runway three zero was still out of use, but they were trying to clear it. Vernon’s face showed clearly what he thought of that!

He sent Jordan back to talk to the passengers and make sure that they knew what to do before the landing. As Jordan left, Doctor Compagno came in.

‘Your Miss Meighen is the most badly hurt,’ he told Vernon. ‘Can you radio for a doctor to be waiting for her at the airport? Her left eye will need immediate treatment.’

Vernon went pale with shock as the doctor described her wounds. He felt sick.

‘I’d better go back to her now,’ Compagno said.

‘Don’t go!’

Compagno looked surprised.

‘Gwen - Miss Meighen - she was - is - going to have a baby. Does it make any-difference?’

‘I didn’t know that, but, no, it won’t make any difference. If she lives, the baby should be all right.’

There was a silence until Harris said: ‘Vernon, could you fly for a bit? I’d like to rest before I make the landing.’

Vernon was glad to have something to do. He was also glad that Harris had not asked any questions about Gwen.

He could not stop thinking about her. She had been so beautiful, and she had told him that she loved him. Now she had only ‘a good chance’ of living. She might never see Naples.

Suddenly he knew that he loved her. There could be no question of giving the baby away or of her having an abortion now. She would have the baby, and he would take full responsibility for it.

He remembered his daughter, the child he had never seen. Before her birth he had wanted to tell Sarah about her, and suggest that they should have her as part of their family, but he had not had the courage. Now he often wondered where she was and whether she was happy. He had even tried to find her, but it had not been possible.

He would not suffer the same uncertainty again over this child. This time it would all be different. He would not lie to Sarah. Oh, there would be the most terrible trouble at home! There would be crying and shouting. But Sarah was a sensible woman, and he knew that she would not leave him. He would have two women and a baby to look after. What a terrible situation! But he was glad that he had made a decision.

He began to think about the baby. Perhaps it would be rather lice to be a father! Not that he would want to have seven children like that old fool Harris! He laughed.

‘What are you laughing at?’ Harris asked.

‘Laughing? Why should I be laughing? There must be something wrong with your ears, Anson. You should see a doctor about it.’

‘There’s no need to be unpleasant,’ Harris said.

‘Isn’t there? I think that’s exactly what we need in this situation - someone to be unpleasant!’

‘Well, if that’s what we need, I’m sure you’re the best man for the job.’

Harris took control of the plane again. As he did so, Vernon sent a radio message to Toronto. Anson Harris was right - he was good at being unpleasant.

‘Are you listening there, or are you all asleep? Tell Lincoln we need runway three zero. Don’t tell me it’s still blocked; I’ve heard that before. If we land anywhere else, we’ll have a broken plane full of dead people. So get me three zero, do you understand?’

Then he added a special message for Mel Bakersfeld: ‘You helped to get us into this situation, you stupid fool, by not listening to me about selling flight insurance at the airport. Now help us to get out of it. Wake up for once in your useless life, and get that runway clear!’