Chapter 41: The End of the Storm

Chapter 41: The End of the Storm

Mel Bakersfeld watched from his car as Flight Two landed and stopped safely at the end of the runway. The airport’s emergency vehicles raced towards it.

Tanya and Tomlinson were going back to the terminal with Joe Patroni. Tanya would be needed at Gate 47 when the passengers were brought off the plane. Before she left, she asked Mel: ‘Are you still coming to my apartment?’

‘If it isn’t too late,’ he said, ‘I’d like to.’

She pushed her red hair off her face with one hand and smiled at him. ‘It isn’t too late.’

They agreed to meet in the terminal in 45 minutes.

Tomlinson wanted to speak to Joe Patroni and the airline employees from Flight Two. Mel supposed that they would be the heroes of his story - not Mel and his dry information about airport management. But the young reporter would write a good and fair story, Mel was sure of that.

He watched as the undamaged Aereo-Mexican plane was moved away, to be washed and checked before it flew again.

There was no reason for Mel to stay on the airfield now, but somehow he wanted to.

Only a few hours ago he had felt that something terrible was about to happen. It had happened, although it had not been as bad as it might have been. But unless the airport changed, and changed quickly, something much worse would certainly happen.

Lincoln International was out of date. It was well managed, had fine buildings and was used by thousands of people, and yet it was hopelessly out of date.

Much had been said about the future growth of aviation, and not enough had been done. Mel knew that he must say what he thought about this. He had only one voice, but it would be heard.

He would begin by calling a meeting of the Airport Committee. He would tell them how important a new runway was, and that what had happened tonight had shown him how badly it was needed. If they did not agree with him, he would fight them as hard as he could, and he would make sure that the newspapers and the public knew all about what was happening.

People who thought that Mel Bakersfeld was finished were about to discover their mistake!

Tomorrow he would move into a hotel. It would be an unhappy time, and he hoped that neither Roberta nor Libby would see him go. Later, he supposed, he would get an apartment of his own. He knew that he would never live with Cindy again.

And Tanya? He was not sure yet what would happen. He knew that tonight he had needed the comfort of her friendship, but he did not know whether their relationship would be short or would last for many years.

Other planes were now beginning to use runway three zero, arriving in a steady stream in spite of the late hour. As one landed, Mel could see the landing lights of another flight coming nearer, and a third beyond that. The fact that he could see the lights of the third plane made him realize that the clouds had gone. He noticed suddenly that the snow had stopped falling. ‘At last,’ he thought. ‘The storm is moving on.’