“When is all this plastic going to be taken care of? It’s not healthy, you know.” Floyd tried to distract Valerie as she cinched up the saddle. It didn’t work. Sadly, Valerie was all business.
“There are companies that have been bidding on the job of removal all over the world. There’s plenty of work for everyone. The one coming here is called ‘Land First’. Considering last week’s events, I’d say that’s a fairly insensitive name.” Valerie slipped her fingers between Floyd and the strap and tugged. There was too much slack. He had been hopeful that she would forget to double check.
Diligence would be an asset in the days to come, but for now, Floyd found it annoying.
“Do you have your watch? Phone? Knife?” He listed everything he thought a human could possibly need.
“Yes. I’ve even braided my hair to stay out of my face, so I’m ready for anything.” Valerie led him to the mounting block. “In theory.”
“I can’t move my wings, this thing is too tight.”
“You were the one who said you wanted to see if you could open your wings with it on.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You’re not even going to try?” Valerie stood there on the mounting block, arms crossed.
“I don’t need to try. If the saddle was looser, I’d be fine.”
“If the saddle was looser, I could fall off.”
“Well, then I would just catch you.” Floyd said.
“Like last time?” Valerie frowned at him. He hated seeing her thinking face. “And when gravity is too fast for you? Because there will come a day when it doesn’t matter what you do. You won’t have time to come back for me.”
“I will always come back for you.” Floyd drew his neck up and fixed her with what he hoped was an impressive stare. Perhaps even mildly intimidating.
Valerie stood there. Perhaps she was stunned? It didn’t last long.
“Then try now. Here. At the moment, getting it right isn’t life or death. We can afford to practice.”
“It’s too tight.” Floyd stamped a foot.
“Then relax.” Valerie stared him down. Look down your nose at me if you like. But relax, and try.”
She wasn’t going to give up. He hadn’t met many humans, but he imagined not all of them were as stubborn as this one. Maybe it was because she was so short.
Fine.
He would prove her wrong. He took a few breaths, and started to pull his wings out from under the saddle.
Valerie hopped up before he could think about stepping forward. He groaned and stretched his wings as far as they could go.
“Was that so terrible?” Valerie’s smile was audible. And irritating.
“Just for that, hold on tight.” Floyd saw her arms racing to get a hold on the front of the saddle. A human had to be kept humble. A little terror never killed anyone. As far as he knew.
Floyd was inclined to try a barrel roll, but he decided it was too mean. He slowed his pace and hovered at about 400 feet. He felt Valerie working at releasing the tension in her legs. Perhaps it was better to get this over with.
“How far should we go? It has to be enough so we know that we’ve actually traveled.”
“Rain is predicted in about an hour.” Valerie looked around at the clouds. “Maybe 30 minutes is more accurate. If we went that far, we’d be in the rain, and know for sure.”
“You know meteorology is not an exact science, right?” Floyd set their destination on his watch, and waited to feel that click in his neck that told him the navigation was ready.
“What, like your teleport skills?” Valerie was smiling again.
“Har, har.” The process took a fraction longer than Floyd expected, but it was probably fine. He started the wormhole generator.
Floyd blinked after crossing through. There were clouds, but no rain. He wasn’t sure where they had gone. The ranch wasn’t below them anymore. He decided landing was the best option.
“The sky looks wrong.” Floyd stared straight up at the hazy blue. “I thought we fixed that.”
Floyd kept looking up. He didn’t pay attention to how close he was to the ground. He stumbled. And then he fell. He felt Valerie kick free of the stirrups just before she was launched forward out of the saddle.
“Valerie?” Floyd was beyond embarrassed. After all that talk about how he had it all figured out, this happened. Floyd had ended up tumbling forward with his legs in the air. He didn’t feel anything but ground underneath him. But he couldn’t see her anywhere. There was nothing and no one on the ground.
