Family ..... illgetthereoneday
"So 'm I supposed to be crossin' me legs or somethin'?" Scot asked as most of the Eagle's Arrow Crew were sitting down to enjoy some tea.
For the first time, Scot thought it be best to at least try some tea... that is, he lost a bet with Annemarie and was forced to attend a tea party Adalè and Maria were hosting. Annemarie and Maria both snickered as they took a sip of their tea. Adalè took it upon herself to decorate the room special just for this occasion. The table was dressed in new white and light pink linen; doily's adorning the plates that held the homemade snacks that Maria had made earlier that morning.
"No, you don't have to cross your legs, although it would be much appreciated in case of some sort of draft blowing through that might lift up your skirt." Annemarie replied, smirking into her tea.
Scot slammed his cup down, "How many blasted times do I have to tell ya? This is not a skirt, it's a kilt, ya nitwit!" He had taken the liberty of standing up to show it off.
"And how many times do I have to tell you, Scot, that I will not have any rough housing in my room at the tea table." Adalè said sternly, looking over the rim of her cup.
Adalè may be the fun loving type with her head up in the clouds, but when she means business she could scare the kilt off of any man, thought Scot as he shivered. With that , Scot sat back down into his chair, angrily taking a bite out of a finger sandwich and mumbling into his tea.
All of a sudden, there was a tremendous blast that shook the entire room, slamming Scot into the wall. When he looked up he noticed that both Maria and the captain had taken cover behind Adalè's trusty parasol. He cringed as Adalè finally stood up and looked around at the mess that was once her room.
The tea table had flipped over, smashing all of the cups and plates leaving them scattered in jagged pieces across the floor. Her bookshelf had toppled over, books strewn across the rug. The bed had moved a few inches to the right and her stuffed animals and dolls were thrown into a giant heap. Surprisingly, Adalè kept a calm demeanor as she clicked her parasol closed and grabbed the hand of the captain and Maria, guiding both of them out of her disastrous room.
In the hall, the girls picked up pace, Scot jogging behind them. They all knew exactly where they were going and what they would find when they entered Jameson's lab. However, it was far worse than they had thought. The room was in complete shambles. Everything had a blackened, charred stain on it, broken glass adorning every nook and cranny. Wires hung haphazardly from the ceiling, sparks sizzling every few moments from the broken ones.
And of course, the crew found their favorite doctor/inventor lying on the ground, his entire body covered in loose papers and black char.
Adalè, Annemarie, and Maria scurried over to his side and started to shake him. However, it was Annemarie that actually grabbed his shoulders and shook his entire body, Jameson's head lolling form side to side.
"I swear to gosh, if you die, Jameson, I'm going to kill you! You need to wake up and clean my ship! It's a complete mess." She yelled angrily.
"Yeah, and not to mention all of my tea cups and books you owe me now!" Adalè added, poking Jameson's cheek.
Finally, Jameson coughed and opened his eyes. Weakly he said, "Don't worry, Addie, I'll replace all your stuff."
"Ahem!" Annemarie added.
"And of course I'll clean this ship, inside and out." He smiled and sat up.
He took a look around his lab and was in complete shock. "This is not what was supposed to happen at all." Jameson stood and began to wander around his dilapidated lab.
"And when is it exactly when your inventions do go yer way?" Scot inquired, but was returned with a nudge in the stomach from Maria.
Before anyone could say anything more, another explosion came from down the hall. Immediately, The Eagle's Arrow began to lose altitude. The crew made their way out of the lab to the window and noticed smoke trailing behind them, the black snaking through what was once a clear, blue sky. They were all shocked as they turned to glare at Jameson, who looked as if he had just been shot. Well, he hadn't been shot yet.
Rogers came barreling around the corner, a wrench in his hand, oil staining... well everything.
"The explosion that occurred knocked my tool box into the engine and jammed it. I can fix it, but I need time. Captain, it's very possible she will hit the water before I can have her up and running again."
The words hung in the air like smoke. Nobody moved, they were too shocked to even breathe. Finally, the captain gathered her wits and went into action.
"Thank you for the report, Rogers. If you would please return to your post and continue working, I'll take care of things on this side."
"Yes, captian." Rogers replied dutifully and ran back the way he came.
"Scot, I need you to strap down anything that would fall over if bumped too hard. I do not want to see a single weapon not packed down tightly."
"Ay, lassie." Scot sprinted towards his weapons room.
"Maria, darling, would you please grace us with some soothing music? I think it will help the crew calm down a bit."
"Of course." Maria gracefully made her way to the music room. Not long after, the sound of her beautiful music poured through every room. Jameson had arranged the vents in The Arrow so that no matter where you were, you could always hear the music being played.
"What would you like me to do, Annemarie?" Adalè asked, hoping to get an important job and not her usual one of going around the ship and making sure that everyone was alright or wanted a drink.
The captain smiled down at her. "I would like you to come with me."
The captain led Adalè through twisting hallways and past a multitude of doors until they finally made it to the bridge. With the vast bay window that looked out through the sky, they could finally see just how close they were to 'landing'. Except for landing meant splashing into the ocean in the middle of nowhere in a giant, metal dirigible.
Adalè was scared, so scared in fact that she was shaking, but as soon as she looked up at the captain, who was staring out the window as if about to laugh at the fear, she soon gathered up her courage and stood at attention.
"What can I do for ya, captain?" Adalè asked in a voice that sounded like it was supposed to be serious, but the captain thought it didn't suit her much.
"At ease, Addie. Now, the only thing that we have to do is stop The Arrow from doing a complete nose dive, deploy the 'emergency brakes', and release the inflatable rafts on the ships bottom so that it will float giving Rogers more time to fix the engine. All of this, of course before we land in the ocean."
"Well, that doesn't sound too hard." Adalè said, an infectious smile on her face, rocking back and forth on her heels.
"I guess not." Annemarie chuckled and pet Adalè's head.
However, now was not the time to giggle. The captain strode towards the giant wheel that steered The Arrow and took hold of it, flipping off the automatic stabilizer. Immediately the ship shuttered and began to pull up, barely slowing the decent.
"Addie, do you see that yellow lever on the console over there?" Annemarie nodded her head to a wall that was covered in various knobs, wheels, and dials. Among them happened to be a large, yellow lever.
"Yes, Captain."
"I want you to pull that when I give the word." At this point, Annemarie was using all of her strength to pull the wheel upwards as to slow the dirigible. "Now!" Annemarie grunted.
Adalè pulled the lever and almost instantly the ship shuttered and began to level out, rapidly losing momentum. Adalè ran over to the window and saw the 'emergency brakes' were just an array of parachutes dotted along the top of the ship.
"Good job, Addie. Now I need you to find a green knob and turn it all the way to the right."
Adalè looked around frantically, no green knob in sight. She turned around and noticed that the water was approaching rapidly and they would soon hit. As she turned to face the console again, she found the green knob and turned it as fast as she could. Below her she could hear what almost sounded like hot air balloons. As soon as the sound dissipated, they finally landed in the ocean.
Adalè plopped down on the floor, breathing hard. Annemarie sighed in relief and made her way over to Addie. She offered her a hand.
"You did well, Addie." The captain smiled and helped pull Adalè up.
The captain walked over to the intercom and spoke.
"Well done, crew. The landing was successful, and we will be having a meeting in the foyer in five minutes. And Maria, darling, would you be so kind as to assist Adalè in fetching the crew some tea? That is all."
The captain turned the intercom off and proceeded to walk out of the bridge, Adalè right behind her. Soon after, she broke apart and went in search of Maria in the kitchen. There Adalè found her, already boiling the water for tea. Maria smiled as she lifted her head to see Adalè waltzing through the door.
"I'll fetch the tea pot and cups." Adalè offered as she skipped to the cupboards. "And your playing was beautiful."
"Thank you Addie." Maria smiled and walked right up to Adalè. She wrapped her in her arms and squeezed her, not letting go.
"What is the matter, Maria?" Addie asked, looking at Maria. She noticed that there was a lone tear that slid down her flawless face. Addie quickly brushed it away.
"What is the matter, Maria? The look of sadness does not suit your face."
"It's nothing Addie. I'm just so glad that you are alright. The whole crew, in fact." Maria said as she held Adalè closer.
They both separated as the kettle began to scream, signaling that the tea was ready. They both smiled as Maria poured the water into the pot and Adalè fetched the trolley in which they would carry over the tea, cups, and snacks that Maria had made the previous night. They walked together to the foyer. When they entered, they found Annemarie sitting in her chair by the fireplace, Scot leaning against the mantle, Jameson pacing back and forth, and Rogers slumped over on a lounge chair looking completely exhausted.
"We are all aware of our situation, I presume?" The Captain inquired as Adalè and Maria set out the trays of snacks and handed out the cups of tea.
"Aye, we were blasted out of the sky by that loon of an inventor." Scot mumbled.
Maria stomped on Scot's foot as she walked by, placing the tray filled with sweets on the coffee table in the center of the room.
"We are currently being held afloat by the inflatable rafts, our back up system in case something like this ever happened. Rogers, how long will it be until you have her up and running again?" Annemarie inquired.
"It should not take longer than 24 hours, Captain"
Annemarie nodded, "With this time, all of us should have plenty to do. Jameson, I expect your... work space to be somewhat recognizable again. Maria, if you would help me with some of the requests for future missions, I could use your help sorting through them. Scot, go polish you weapons or practice or whatever it is you do. And Addie, if you would like to fix up your room that would be lovely. We will order you a new tea set when we reach the main land."
"Yes, thank you captain."
"All right, we all have our jobs. Get to it." from there everyone dispersed as to where they were supposed to go.
As Adalè entered into her room, she couldn't help but to feel a slight pang of sadness. Her beloved book shelf was tossed on the floor, all of her favorite books scattered on the rug. She sighed as she began to pick them up gingerly, for they had already been through too much. Setting the book shelf right side up, she organized all the books alphabetically, stopping a few times to read the first chapter on a few.
After that she turned the tea table right side up, carefully picking up the shards of what was once her favorite tea set. Addie moved on to make her bed, the pillows and blankets lying haphazardly on the floor. Then her blood froze. She couldn't move. Underneath her bed she always kept a box, a box that contained her past. She had forgotten all about it. Slowly sitting down, she opened it. She couldn't help but let a small tear escape from the corner of her eye.
Inside was a picture of her family. All of them were huddled together in front of their old farm house. Just behind that you could begin to see the acres of corn fields that overtook the surrounding land. Her mother and father were at the center, holding hands. All around were her older brothers and sisters, smiling. And in the corner in front of her oldest sister, was Adalè. A little girls' innocence. Not even knowing the hardships that she would be forced to go though in only a short amount of time.
Behind the picture was a newspaper clipping. On it was a picture of a dirigible, an advertisement for the fair that would be coming to town. Adalè's mind flashed back to the time she tore this out of the newspaper. She loved going to the fair, but her favorite part was the dirigible, and that year she had saved up so she could actually ride in it! What was thought to be a once in a life time opportunity for a farm girl from a small town. Ironic how some things turned out.
She wiped the tear away, and with it the thoughts of what might have been if her family was still there. A few moments later, a few hard knocks sounded on the door. Scot walked in, wearing an apologetic look on his face. He sat down next to Addie on the bed and looked around at her room.
"I'm sorry that your things were destroyed. I know what it's like, to have your most precious things taken from you, to be broken. I guess I'm just trying to say it's all going to be alright."
Scot placed a hand on Adalè's shoulder and she smiled up at him. On this new ship with her new family, Scot, no matter how crazy he might be, was always like a brother to Adalè; looking out for her, horsing around and calling each other names.
"Thank you." Adalè responded. Scot smiled, stood up, and closed the door behind him.
The ship and crew were Adalè's new home. No more would she lament over what could have been. She was living in this moment and she had to take it for all it was worth. She placed the picture of her family and pinned it above her bed. After sorting through her room and straightening it as much as she could, she made her usual rounds of checking in on everybody and seeing if they needed help. Jameson wanted to clean his laboratory himself, the Captain and Maria were being kept busy with the stacks of request papers in Annemarie's study, Scot was practicing some weird fighting style. Addie didn't want to bother Rodgers with his engine work. Addie walked to the Library and sat down to gaze out at the vast ocean. She was at ease knowing that her home would live to fly another day and that her family was still going about their routine. This is where she was supposed to end up, she knew it. The road was arduous and full of grief, but she could not think of a better way to spend the rest of her life with the crew she now calls family.