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  Suddenly there was another flicker of the instrument panel and all of the dials went dark. This time they didn’t come back on. To make matters worse, there was a distinct odour of something burning. Alan was now in full panic mode. But Edward maintained his calmness and reached beneath his seat and pulled out a flashlight and shone it on the instrument panel. They showed nothing. He then shone the flashlight underneath the dashboard and started pulling at the wires to see if he could see where the short was.

  “What the hell?” Edward said. He could see that they had been tampered with as several of the wires had been stripped and others had burned through their casings. “We’ve lost our instruments, but the plane seems to be flying OK. If we keep flying in the same direction, we should be out of the storm shortly and then I’ll be able to fly by sight again. We’ll be OK. Remember, I always have a backup plan.”

  It was hard to determine if Edward was saying that to calm Alan down, or to reassure himself. He tried the radio, but it was dead as well. They both stared out of the plane into the snow and the darkness. It was like they were staring into the abyss.

  *** Chapter 15 ***

  David was overly excited on Saturday morning as he got ready for his first training session with the Under-19 team. It was still a little before 8AM but he had been lying in bed awake for at least the last hour and a half. He decided he should just probably get up and start getting ready.

  “Hi Dad,” he said as he walked into the kitchen.

  “All ready for your big day?” Henry asked. Henry was excited about David’s first training session as well. “Have you got everything you’re supposed to bring today?”

  “Oh shit,” David replied. “Everyone is supposed to bring their own soccer ball but I forgot to ask the coach to loan me one of the team’s balls. Mine is pretty beat up from kicking it around on the driveway.” David hesitated before he spoke again, as if trying to anticipate the answer before he asked the question. “Do you think Uncle Alan would mind if I used the soccer ball he got me for my birthday at the tryout?”

  “I think he’d be thrilled,” Henry replied. “I think he’d rather see you use it than just keeping it in a box on your shelf.”

  David went to his bedroom and pulled the soccer ball down from the shelf that held all of the various soccer trophies he’d won since he was little. When he pulled it from the box, he could see that it was actually a high quality leather ball. If only it had the Adidas logo rather than the Goliath logo. Oh well, he’d just tell the others it was just a practice ball if anyone asked.

  Henry and David headed out of the house about half an hour later to start the drive to the soccer dome in Vaughan. There shouldn’t be as much traffic on a Saturday so Henry didn’t think it would take them that long to get there. As he headed out the door, Henry grabbed the newspaper that had been shoved into his mailbox. It would be nice to have something to read if the practice got too boring.

  When they got to the soccer dome, David went to the registration table to check in and he was given a binder and told which part of the field he should report to. The field was divided into four sections and it seemed like there were more coaches and trainers than there were players.

  Henry climbed into the small seating section with all of the other parents to watch the proceedings. In one part of the field, the players were being timed by the coaches as they ran what looked like about a 40 yard dash, first forwards and then backwards. In another part of the field, players were doing long jumps and jumping over small hurdles from a standing start, again with coaches measuring everything.

  The third section, which is where David had been sent, was the only section where they were actually using a soccer ball as the players dribbled a ball around pylons. Henry watched closely when it was David’s turn to run through the drill. He thought he was one of the fastest he had seen do the drill, until he lost control of the ball while going around one of the pylons and almost fell. Henry was sure that David’s nervousness accounted for the mistake. The coach that was working that section patted David on the shoulder and told him to try it again. This time David completed the drill without making any mistakes, but he was noticeably slower than the first time he’d tried it.

  The fourth section had players being weighed and measured, others doing sit-ups and push-ups, and others riding stationary bikes wearing all kinds of contraptions that Henry assumed were measuring heart rate and lung capacity. This wasn’t what Henry was expecting at all. This wasn’t just a bunch of kids kicking a soccer ball around the field with some coaches watching the proceedings. Everything seemed to be being measured and quantified.

  After about 20 minutes, someone blew a whistle and the players moved to the next station. Henry watched as David completed the various activities. He had no idea how David was doing in comparison with the other kids. When David got to the section measuring speed, he could see that David was one of the best. There were a few who could match David’s speed running forward, but many almost stumbled when they tried to run backwards.

  When they had completed each of the sections, the coaches gathered all of the kids together and seemed to be explaining the next steps, but Henry couldn’t really hear what they were saying. Henry was sure the coaches had deliberately gathered the players together on the far side of the field so the parents couldn’t hear. In too many cases, the parents considered themselves coaches as well.

  The kids had now been out there over two hours and Henry was sure they were tired. He knew he was, and he had just been watching the proceedings. Since he couldn’t hear the coaches anyway, Henry pulled out the newspaper that he had brought with him to see what was going on in the world. There was the usual picture of some celebrity doing something embarrassing but it was the headline near the bottom right of the front page that caught Henry’s eye.

  “Edward Bronson Plane Missing,” read the headline.

  The story explained that Edward Bronson’s plane had taken off from the Toronto Island airport the night before on a planned trip to New York, but it had never arrived. There had been no reports of a crash and there was now a search underway along the planned route to try to find any signs of the plane. So far, nothing had been found but the search was continuing. The article indicated that Mr. Bronson had taken off in a snow storm but was an experienced pilot and had flown in such weather before.

  Henry had just finished reading the article when he saw David and Alex walking off the field toward the stands where he was sitting. Henry knew that Alex was also supposed to be at these tryouts as well, but hadn’t really noticed him out on the field.

  “How did it go out there guys?” Henry asked as they got closer.

  “I’m exhausted,” David replied. “Dad, can we give Alex a ride home? His mom had to leave to head to another appointment, but I thought we’d be able to give him a ride.”

  “No problem,” Henry said, gathering up his things.

  On the drive home, David explained that the coaches would be back for another session in five or six weeks. “They’re running similar training camps in the Maritimes, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia which is why there are the big gaps in time. In the meantime, we’re supposed to follow the individual instructions that they gave us. The players for the team will be picked for a few “Friendlies” to be held over the next several months.” Henry knew that “Friendlies” was the term that soccer teams used to describe exhibition games that weren’t part of a competition like the World Cup, but he also knew that these games were extremely important to the players on the teams.

  David and Alex locked into their own conversation as they compared each of their results that were recorded in their binders. Henry was only catching portions of their conversation.

  “What was your time going through the pylons?....Yeah, I sucked at that one….I thought I was going to puke after doing the sit-ups,” went the conversation back and forth.

  “Dad, there are about a million release forms you’ll have to sign,” David said
, bringing Henry back into the conversation. “And they want both Alex and I to work with a trainer to put on some weight. I think they pay for everything.”

  “I doubt that,” Henry said.

  “Yeah, I’m not really sure,” David said. “It’s all in the binder. You can look at it later.”

  Henry looked in the rear view mirror and noticed that both David and Alex had now slumped into their seats. Their excitement had now been replaced by exhaustion.

  *** Chapter 1 6 ***

  On Monday morning, Henry headed off on a two-day trip to the Chicago office. Things were actually running quite smoothly in Chicago since the merger was finalized.

  Henry was also looking forward to seeing Laura again. He had arranged to head over to her place for dinner that evening. Samantha would be there as well as she was still staying at Laura’s condo to help out until Laura was fully recovered. Henry had offered to take them both out for dinner, but Laura said she wasn’t ready for a night out on the town just yet. Henry stopped at the flower shop and picked up some more daisies on his way over.

  Laura’s condo was on the north side of Chicago and she had suggested that he take the train because her condo was fairly close to the Clark/Division stop, but Henry had decided to take a taxi because he didn’t really understand the color-coded system used in Chicago and was afraid he’d get on the wrong train or miss the stop. That turned out to be a mistake because they had encountered an accident on the way and the taxi driver had to navigate his way through the back streets to get around it. Henry checked his watch as he buzzed Laura’s suite and realized he was about twenty minutes late. He hated being late for anything.

  “Hi, it’s Henry,” he said into the speaker when she answered. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “No problem,” Laura said. “Come on up, tenth floor.”

  Henry felt surprisingly nervous as he rode up the elevator. He put on his best smile as he knocked on her door, but it was actually Samantha who opened the door.

  “Hi Henry,” Samantha said. “Come on in. Laura’s just finishing preparing dinner.”

  Henry apologized again for being late as he stepped in. Laura’s condo was much larger than he expected, or at least appeared much larger than it really was. The living room, dining room and kitchen were all really just one room, with an island with four stools separating the living room from the kitchen, and a big green plant separating the living room from the dining room. The window in the living room was enormous and included patio doors that led out onto a narrow balcony. Although Laura’s condo was several blocks from the lake, you could clearly see Lake Michigan as the surrounding buildings didn’t obstruct her view.

  “Nice view,” Henry said.

  “It was one of the main reasons why I purchased this place,” Laura said from the kitchen.

  Henry continued to scan the condo. Everything seemed so clean, with a white leather sofa and chair, glass and silver end tables and beige, almost-white carpet. Henry quickly checked his shoes to make sure he hadn’t tracked in any dirt.

  The whole room looked like the cover photo of a Modern Homes and Gardens magazine, with one exception. At the far end of the room sat a large glass and silver desk with a white leather chair. That fit the profile of the room, but the desk was covered in what looked like a year’s worth of newspapers, magazines and books. There were more than could fit on the desk as evidenced by a pile of newspapers that had obviously slid off the back of the desk onto the floor.

  “I’d just like to point out that I’m making no promises about my cooking,” Laura said as she placed the meal on the dining room table. “It’s only spaghetti, but I’m worried that I may have over-cooked it.”

  “My favourite,” Henry said as he approached Laura and tried to give her a hug. Laura pulled her sweater around her and held her hands in front of her as Henry hugged her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. It was obvious Laura was still very self-conscious about how she looked.

  “Let me get you a vase for those,” Laura said as she pulled away. Henry was oblivious to the fact that he had been walking around carrying the flowers since he’d arrived. Laura quickly returned with a vase and placed the flowers in the centre of the table.

  “This is my contribution,” Samantha said as she pulled some garlic bread from the oven and placed it in a basket on one side of the table. “I bought it myself,” she said grinning.

  “Everything looks delicious,” Henry said as he sat down.

  As they ate, they continued to make small talk about the view from Laura’s condo and how good the meal was. It was apparent they were running out of things to talk about and they knew they’d hit rock bottom when they started talking about the weather. After an incredibly long pause in the conversation, Samantha broke the silence. “So Henry, Laura tells me you were married before. How long were you married? Do you have any kids?”

  Laura looked at Samantha with amazement as to how she could be so intrusive.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Samantha said. “You know you want to know as much as I do.”

  “So spill the details,” Samantha said, turning her focus back to Henry.

  Henry put his knife and fork down and smiled. “We were married almost eighteen years. Mindy and I met in our first year at university and got married in our second year. She dropped out in third year when she got pregnant with our first son, Robert, who’s now almost twenty. Our second son, David, just turned eighteen. Both boys live with me in a suburb west of Toronto. Mindy passed away almost three years ago but my mother also lives with us part of the year, which is a real help. She spends about five months a year down in Florida and spends the rest of the year either living with us, or with my older sister, Jenny. I also have a younger brother, Alan. My dad passed away about twelve years ago.”

  “And you work for a law firm?” Samantha asked.

  “Gawd!” groaned Laura. “Give the guy a break. She won’t stop until she’s got your medical history and your last three tax returns,” continued Laura, giving Henry a look of sympathy.

  “Yes, I work for a law firm, but I’m not a lawyer,” Henry said. “I’m the Information Technology Director. We just merged with a Chicago firm which is why I’m here every few weeks.”

  “So do you both work for the Tribune?” Henry asked, turning the conversation in the other direction.

  “Yes we do,” Samantha replied. “I work in the Lifestyles department - you know things like Health, Travel and Fine Dining. But Laura has a very interesting job. She’s an investigative journalist. Why don’t you tell him more about your job, Laura?”

  “I’m not sure I want to play this truth or consequences game you’ve started,” Laura replied. “Besides, I have to clear the table,” she said as she rose and started carrying stuff into the kitchen. She grabbed Samantha’s plate out from under her, even though she was clearly not finished.

  “The meal was delicious,” Henry said, picking up his own plate to carry into the kitchen.

  “You don’t have to clear,” Laura said. “You and Samantha can retire to the living room. I’m sure she wants to continue with your interrogation.”

  Laura continued to clear the table while Henry and Samantha went to sit on the white leather couch in the living room. When Laura looked in a few minutes later, she noticed that Samantha was now showing Henry pictures from one of her photo albums. “What are you into now?” Laura asked as she headed into the living room and sat on the leather chair.

  “Well, if you’re not going to tell him all about yourself, I thought I’d give him your life history in pictures,” Samantha said, teasing Laura.

  “Just kill me now, please,” Laura said, obviously embarrassed.

  “This is her mom and dad,” continued Samantha pointing out the people in the pictures. She continued turning pages of the album, explaining them as she went. “Oh, this is a good one,” continued Samantha. “This is when she was crowned the prom queen at her high school. How old were you in this picture Laura,
seventeen or so?”

  “OK, that’s enough of that,” Laura said, grabbing the photo album from Samantha. But Henry had already seen the photo. He’d also seen the date on the photo and doing quick calculations in his head, had determined that Laura was probably only thirty-four or so, nine years younger than he was. He suddenly felt quite old.

  “All right,” Samantha said. “But at least show him the photo of the group of us from work.”

  Laura flipped several more pages of the album and then came and sat with them on the couch. “This is obviously me and Sam,” Laura said pointing at the picture. She then rhymed off the names of the others in the picture.

  “They’ve all been asking when you’re coming back to work,” Samantha said. “They ask all of the time how you’re doing.”

  “I’m not ready yet,” Laura said. “Don’t forget, I start my radiation treatments next week. I need more time before I head back to work.”

  “That reminds me,” Samantha said. “I have to go out of town next Wednesday and Thursday so I won’t be able to be here to help you out if you need it. Henry, any chance you could be here on those days to check up on her?”

  “Absolutely,” Henry said. “Just tell me what you need.”

  “Don’t I get a vote in this?” interjected Laura.

  “Yes you do,” Samantha replied. “But so do Henry and I, and we can out-vote you two to one. Besides, if you don’t agree to let Henry help you out, I’m going to cancel my trip and it will be your fault if they fire me.”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine by myself,” Laura replied, but she already knew she wasn’t going to win this argument.

  “Settled,” Samantha said. “You can stay in the second bedroom. I’ll just move my stuff out of the way for a few days.” Samantha looked quite proud of herself for orchestrating this solution. She excused herself on the pretext of needing something from the bedroom, but it was obvious she just wanted to leave Henry and Laura alone.