Rocinante Chapter 18
| Rocinante | |
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| Chapter 18 of 30 | |
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| Time frame | June 1971 |
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Location
- Waverly West Soaring Ranch, Colorado
Characters
Summary
Jack wakes them up at 6:30 AM to see if Jackie wants to get some more flying time. They are doing touch and go landings when Fred and Bruce show up. Mark is startled when Jack shows up and he finally realizes that Jackie is on her first solo. Fred takes Jack for another checkride in the glider trainer, including a simulated towline break.
Jackie gives Bruce (who loves to fly but has never soloed) a peptalk and he flies three solo runs in the glider.
Later Jackie reflects on the words she used to encourage Bruce to control his fears and applies them to herself. Tells Mark "I told him to forget about his fears, and go ahead and do what he really wanted to do, before he had time to change his mind. I've been thinking about that a lot. ... I think you and I have had enough solo time. It's time for us to get some dual."
The next day a sudden thunderstorm provides real excitement. Jackie is sure that Mark has crashed, but as she is about to fire up Rocinante and start a search when she hears the towplane engine.
Jackie writes home again, and writes: We're planning on heading up into the mountains and going backpacking by ourselves for a few days. Mark and I just feel the need to get away from other people and be by ourselves for a while, just the two of us. We've really gotten close to each other.
