A Short Romance Story involving EDC Gear

ericjohn

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
574
Location
1 Alpha Louisiana
I initially wrote this on February 3, 2018, but have had it floating around in my head since about 2014. It is also available on my blog.

I hope everyone enjoys it, many of my Facebook friends did...

Here it is:

My girlfriend and I are going out with her friends, a married pilot couple, for a nighttime flight. I am meeting them for the first time and quite nervous, because of the influence they have on her. I've got enough strikes against me, being a special needs thirty-four-year-old. My girlfriend seems to be quite accepting of me, but not too many others are. She is one and a half years my senior and so perfect for me.

She is driving me to the hangar where her friends wait on us. I hold her hand gently. My SwissGear EDC backpack is between my feet. I hope her friends don't mind me bringing it on their plane because I keep my medications in there.

Finally, we are at the hangar and my girlfriend parks her car, a 2014 Buick Enclave.

I look at her and say, "I'm so nervous; I hope your friends accept me."

She looks at me with loving eyes and says, "Don't worry, just be yourself. Once they see how sweet you are, they'll want me to keep you."

"I hope you're right," I tell her with a kiss.

We step out the car.

My girlfriend grabs her keys then purse and I grab my backpack.

She locks her car.

The sun is almost completely set as we walk into the hangar. Her two friends are readying the plane for flight.

It's an older production Cessna 172.

She introduces them to me. I warmly shake their hands.

All of us climb into the plane. They didn't even mention anything about my backpack; I'm definitely relieved.

We are all settled in and fasten our seatbelts. The plane is now heading towards the runway.

The man calls up the control tower and gets permission to take off.

He then tells my girlfriend and me, "We are going to be flying over the deserts of the Southwestern US."

The plane takes off and is climbing.

Finally, we reach cruising altitude.

"So, what do you do for a living?" The woman asks me.

"I'd really like to be a professional blogger, but I'm on disability as of now. I do have my own blog, but I don't get paid for it."

There's an awkward silence in the plane.

My girlfriend then comes to my rescue and says, "He's dependent on several medications, but as long as he takes them, he's okay." She pauses then continues,

"He treats me like a queen, with the little bit that he has, plus he's really smart and sweet."

I hold my girlfriend's hand gently, kiss her cheek, then say to them, "I have known her since I was a young child, but then lost all contact with her. We recently found each other again. Ever since that reunion, my heart has been filled with ecstasy."

"What do you do all day while she works?" The man asks me.

"I do research online, write for my blog and read. Sometimes I also write fantasies for her which I read when we are lying in bed. It keeps me busy while I patiently await her arrival every day. When she gets home, I lovingly greet her with a hug and a kiss."

"I guess if you two make each other happy, that's what counts, right?" The woman says.

"It's like night and day when I compare him to my ex-husband," My girlfriend says.

"I'm divorced too, and I cannot say what I think about my ex-wife because there are two ladies present right now, but know that it's nothing good," I add in.

It is now totally dark and we are flying over the middle of nowhere.

The woman switches on the dome lights. They come on for a split second, but then go out.

The instrument panel lights also go out.

"I think some fuses must have blown; I can't see a thing." The man says.

I feel around in my backpack pull out my NiteCore MT20A flashlight and my Leatherman Style PS, then say, "I'll be glad to help, I've got a flashlight and a pocket tool."

"Don't turn your flashlight on; it will ruin our night vision," The man sharply says.

"No need to worry," I calmly reply, "It has a dim red light built in, which is perfect for night vision."

I activate the red light on my flashlight and then shine it on their instrument panel.

He briefly shields his eyes, but then is happy to see the red glow.

"Do you have any spare fuses?" I ask them.

"Yes, but they are in a sealed package," The woman says.

"I'll cut that package open with my scissors implement, then I'll hand my Leatherman to you, so you can pull the spent ones out with my pliers implement and then plug the new ones in," I tell her.

Carefully we replace the fuses by the dim red light of my flashlight. Finally, the dome lights and the instrument panel lights are back on.

We continue flying.

"I was wondering why you had that backpack, but it's a good thing you do," The man says.

"I have it mostly to carry my medication, but I have other cool stuff in there as well," I reply.

Suddenly, a severe thunderstorm pops up. We begin to experience heavy turbulence.

The man attempts to call for any nearby airports to land at.

The plane's airband radio ceases to function before he can get a reply.

I pull my Midland HH50B Weather Radio out of my backpack and load a weather RADAR app on my smartphone.

I hold the weather radio to my ear and listen while simultaneously keeping an eye on the app's weather RADAR images. This allows me to give them directions out of the storm's path.

"I need to land but I have to get clearance from the controller first but I can't because the radio is acting up."

The woman says, "There's a portable airband radio in our flight bag."

"Get it and call the nearest tower," Her husband says.

She switches it on but gets no response.

"The battery is dead," She says nervously.

"By any chance would you have an Alkaline battery tray for that radio?" I ask her.

"Yes. It's in the flight bag too, but I have no batteries."

"I've got batteries though," I tell her, "Right here in my backpack."

I then hand them to her and she installs them.

Afterwards, she calls the tower and we get special permission to do an emergency landing.

I continue to assist the man in navigating away from the storm.

My girlfriend is beaming brightly at me as we finally approach the runway.

At last, we land.

As soon as the plane comes to a stop, we it and head to the airport lounge. There is some thundering in the distance. After we are seated, the couple buys us dinner.

The man says to my girlfriend, "I was very wrong about him. I'll admit that I thought he would be a loser like your ex-husband, especially when I heard about him being on disability, but he sure saved our butts during this flight."

My girlfriend kisses me sweetly.

The woman then adds in, "He's a keeper. You need to marry him and never let him go."

I blush brightly, then hold my girlfriend's hands as she rests her head on my chest.

Soon our food is served.

We eat as it begins to pour down...
 

etc

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 19, 2004
Messages
5,777
Location
Northern Virginia
> "I'd really like to be a professional blogger, but I'm on disability as of now. I do have my own blog, but I don't get paid for it."



IMO, it's not really necessary to mention your status at all. People will either know or not, but you point it out to them. It's not necessary. People are accepting anyway.

Yeah, interesting story. Normal ppl don't get it. You have everything with you but the kitchen sink. I am the same way when I travel.

You did (possibly) forget the most important thing. The GPS. You cannot rely on the phone and need a Garmin that works off the satelite.
 

ericjohn

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
574
Location
1 Alpha Louisiana
Way to go man, your preparedness quite literally saved the day (night)! Best of luck to you!

This is purely a work of fiction that I had been thinking up since about 2014, but in a pocket of my edc backpack I do have a Leatherman Style PS, a NiteCore MT20A and a Midland HH50B...
 

ericjohn

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
574
Location
1 Alpha Louisiana
> "I'd really like to be a professional blogger, but I'm on disability as of now. I do have my own blog, but I don't get paid for it."



IMO, it's not really necessary to mention your status at all. People will either know or not, but you point it out to them. It's not necessary. People are accepting anyway.

Yeah, interesting story. Normal ppl don't get it. You have everything with you but the kitchen sink. I am the same way when I travel.

You did (possibly) forget the most important thing. The GPS. You cannot rely on the phone and need a Garmin that works off the satelite.

This is purely a work of fiction, but the narrator is heavily based upon myself.

The phone I had in mind indeed has a built in GPS receiver. Unfortunately, the Midland Weather Center App is no longer available...That was my favorite Weather app too...
 
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