Stargirl of the Edge

Ch 51 - Helicopter trip

Plot summary: The previous Friday, there was shocking news. An American and a French hostage were found murdered. The stress of coping with the kidnapping and trying to understand the motives of the terrorists becomes too much for Olivia. She has to use art therapy to cope. She hopes to continue to stay out of sight, spend time in her room, but she is about to get a shock...

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Monday the twenty-third of July should have been a quiet day. Olivia had been staying in her room a lot, reading, sleeping, trying to keep her spirits up.
Sleeping was an escape and if she was lucky she would dream about her father and places they used to go, walking side by side down by the river, or just talking, about school, space travel, or any other subject. At other times she would just dream that he was sitting there in his office, reading a book or writing an e-mail on his computer, a quiet presence, silent, deep and comforting. And then she would wake up and grim reality would return.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Liz was boiling the water in the kettle to make a cup of tea. It was about ten past ten. She was going to make a few calls to contacts, pop along to Dorothy’s to get the papers, and in the afternoon, one of the many visitors was coming round.
As the switch on the kettle went to the ‘off’ position, the phone rang. It was Marianne.  She didn’t waste any time in telling Liz what she had in mind.
“Liz, you know we were discussing how you could make an appeal to the world via the media? I have an ideal opportunity, right now, and I need to know if you and Livvy can do it”
“What were you thinking of?” said Liz.
“I’m in London at a conference centre, a press centre. I have an opportunity for you to make an appeal but it has to be today.”
“What?” said Liz, shocked, “today?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Here, in at the Heliport Centre, in the east of London. There are press conferences all day, associated with the Olympics. All the world’s media are here. There’s been a cancellation. A team from one of the countries has been delayed.  I can get you and Livvy in for a 15 minute press conference slot. You need to do the appeal, like we discussed, and Livvy needs to, you know, turn on the waterworks.”
“What time?”
“At 3pm. That means it will go out in the evening news reports in the target region, when lots of people are watching. It will be seen all over the world.  But it’s the target region we’re particularly interested in. The press centre is at the East London Heliport.”
“But how can we get there? By train? There won’t be enough time.”
“I’ll charter a helicopter for you. There’s a company near you I use quite often. The helicopter can pick you up at 1.30, heliport at 2.30, conference at 3, out at 3.30 you can be back home by 4.30 in time for afternoon tea.”
“That’s fine by me, but I don’t know how Livvy’s going to react. She suffers from fear of flying.”
“I know, but I need a decision from you in 10 minutes otherwise I’ll lose the slot.”
“Right then, I’ll phone you back in 10 minutes.”
She ended the call, climbed the spiral staircase and knocked on Olivia’s bedroom door.
“Livvy!” she said, “I need to speak to you, are you in there?”
She walked straight into the bedroom. Olivia was lying on the bed with the headphones on, listening to music and reading a book.  She pulled off the headphones and looked up.
“Livvy!” Liz shouted, “We need to do a press conference today at 3pm. Now can you get yourself ready please, they’re coming at half past one to pick us up.”
Olivia threw the headphones onto the bed.
“What? What? What? Press conference?! Why didn’t you tell me? No, no! I’m not doing it! You know how I feel about going in front of the cameras. No, I don’t want to! I’m not going to do it! You can do it. Where is it?”
“It’s in London and we’re going on a helicopter. Marianne’s arranged it.”
“What? A helicopter!  No way!”
Liz sat on the bed and leaned forward until her face was just a few inches from Olivia’s. Her voice was full of a slow burning, grim determination.
“Olivia! You’ve got to do it! You have to! Do you understand?”
Olivia shook her head, with her hands on her temples, about to scream. Liz shifted up so she was a little closer to her, and raised her voice a little higher.
“Olivia! You need to make the appeal, people have got to see you. You are the daughter of a kidnap victim and you can have a big effect on the captors. If they see it, who knows, they might release dad immediately! Who knows, he could be home by this weekend!”
Olivia kept shaking her head from side to side and covered her ears.
“No mum, you go. I can’t do it! I just can’t do it! Leave me alone! You’re the one who does everything, so why can’t you do this? Please, don’t make me have to do it! I can’t! I’ll stay here with Jessie!”
Liz grabbed Olivia’s arms and pulled them away from her head. Now her face was directly in front of Olivia’s, her veins were bulging out, her eyes were like pieces of red, burning coal.
“Look at me!” Liz shouted “Open your eyes and look at me!”
Olivia opened her eyes and looked directly into her mother’s glare. Sometimes she thought her mum was like an angry mythical creature with a white face, big red angry eyes, the black curly hair surrounding her face was a mass of snakes, all hissing and making faces at her.
“OLIVIA! YOU HAVE TO DO IT! LOOK AT ME! YOU HAVE TO GO. YOU HAVE TO DO THE PRESS CONFERENCE. FOR YOUR FATHER’S SAKE! YOU MUST DO IT!”
The persuasive force was too intense to resist.  Olivia started to cry.
“NOW TELL ME YOU’RE GOING TO DO THE CONFERENCE, SO I CAN CONFIRM WITH MARIANNE.”
Olivia trembling with emotion, nodded her head.
Liz put her arms around her and pulled her close, tears starting to well up in her eyes as well.
She whispered in Olivia’s ear.
“Livvy, you’re still my baba! And maybe Daddy will be home by the weekend, the people who are holding him captive will see how upset you are and how much you love your daddy and then they’ll let him go, I’m sure they will.”
Olivia said nothing, and just kept on sobbing.
“Now darling, just stay calm, I’ll go and confirm with Marianne and then we’ll have a bit of brekky and choose some nice things for you to put on. I’ll write down what you’re going to say.”
Liz got up, quickly went downstairs and phoned Marianne.
She answered immediately.
“It’s okay, she’s fine to do it.”
“OK, good. I’ll book the helicopter now and confirm the conference room. Oh, make sure you check with the farmer that it’s okay to put the helicopter down on his land. ”
“OK, will do, Marianne.”
“Have to go now, 1.30 okay? Be ready.”
After phoning the farmer to check about the helicopter - of course, he had no objection - Liz cooked some of Olivia’s favourite fried noodles with mushroom dumplings for breakfast.
Olivia came down, dazed. She took a couple of bites before pushing the plate away. The mere thought of going on the helicopter made her sick. In her imagination, every possible accident was bound to happen: It would lift off, tip over, and explode into flames. Or in the air it would crash into another plane or helicopter. And when it reached London it would crash into the side of a building.  If the helicopter managed to land intact, then she would have to go through an even worse ordeal. Sit in front of a room full of media people – journalists, photographers, video cameramen, and have her face broadcast all over the world. And then she would have to get on the helicopter again to fly back home.
She sat silently while Liz made her a cup of hot chocolate. She took small sips, trying to control her shaking. But the time was moving on. It was already past eleven. They would need to have a wash and get ready.
At 1.25 they were sitting in the kitchen ready to depart. Liz had asked Hippy Dave to pop round to watch over the house and keep Jessie company. He stood next to the window in his orange mechanics suit, looked up, brushed his long hair over his shoulder and with a smile said:
“Well you two, looks like your taxi is about to arrive.”
The sound of helicopter rotor blades grew louder and louder until it was deafening. Jessie was terrified and didn’t stop barking. Olivia went to her basket and gave her a hug. Liz opened the door and walked outside.  The helicopter landed on the field, the pilot opened the door and waved at them.
Olivia followed, and they both walked past the jeep and Hippy Dave’s orange coloured three wheeled truck towards the gate by the greenhouse that led into the field. Then Olivia stopped.
“Mum! Just a second.”
She quickly walked back into the house, ran up the spiral staircase to her room, pulled out the drawer and grabbed the pendant. When she got outside she showed her mum. Liz smiled and nodded.
They walked towards the helicopter, putting their heads down. The rotor sent a hurricane of air down onto the grass, blowing it flat. The pilot opened the door and they got in. Liz waved at Hippy Dave who stood outside the door with Jessie who was barking loudly.
They both got in and put on their seat belts. Olivia held onto the arm rest of the seat, and closed her eyes.
Liz looked out through the window at both sides. The farmer was over in the field on his tractor. He gave them a wave.
Then the deafening sound grew even louder, and the helicopter lifted off the ground. Olivia felt sick and kept her head down.
As the helicopter climbed higher and higher, Liz looked down onto the trees of Alderley Edge below, and the helicopter flew above Castle Rock.  From this angle, the Edge appeared quite flat. The Pennine hills to the east were small, to the west, the Welsh mountains were just visible through the haze. Down below, there were people walking along the path to Castle Rock. They looked like ants. 
Moving in a straight line towards the south, the aircraft climbed higher and higher and finally flew at a constant altitude. Olivia opened her eyes but kept them fixed on the floor. Her hands held the pendant tightly. She hoped that soon the flight would end safely.
Around fifty-five minutes later the helicopter was flying over the north east suburbs of London. Liz looked out the right window to see the towers of Canary Wharf getting closer, and in a wide, curved path, the helicopter slowed and lost height, steadily moving closer and closer to the heliport. Finally it dropped with a gentle movement and touched down smoothly.
Now back on the ground, Olivia, relieved, let go of the arm rests and Liz started to unbuckle both their seat belts. The pilot opened the door, they stepped down onto the helipad, and walked towards the terminal door keeping their heads down.
There they were met by a member of staff in uniform, and accompanied along carpeted corridors and up a set of stairs to a small but comfortable private lounge.
Marianne appeared at the door and gave Liz and Olivia a quick hug. And then she launched into her briefing.
“Okay, the wording is as we agreed, here’s the printout, just stick to it. Try to look round and speak to all the cameras. Liz, try to be respectful, not so aggressive. Speak slowly and clearly.”
She looked at Olivia, who had her eyes cast down.
“Olivia, when it’s your turn, say your piece and then make sure to get the emotion across.Your mum says you’re good at turning on the waterworks, can you do that please, but leave it till the end. Oh, and can you wear these? It’s to show respect.”
From her bag she pulled out two black scarves. They were made out of shiny black material with gold patterns along the edge. Liz nodded and placed the scarf over her head. Olivia did likewise. She looked at her mobile and up at the clock on the wall.
“Right we need to go to the conference room now. Follow me please.”
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I wanted to include a helicopter, as that was suggested by the larger-than-life character Marianne. I came up with the idea of a helicopter trip to London and back. This would be a terrifying ordeal for Olivia, who suffers from fear of flying. I  love the interaction of the mother and the daughter after she says she doesn't want to do it. I also loved describing the flight from the house, over the Edge and down to London's Canary Wharf district, although I have never flown on a helicopter. In 2003 I flew on a VLM Fokker 50 plane from Manchester to London City Airport with the Victoria Baths people to attend BBC Restoration. My sister's next door neighbour had a helicopter, which he landed in the field next to his house in Mobberley.