The sound of voices drew his attention to figures silhouetted against the bright sunlight at the entrance to the hangar. “Verbal, is that you?” Duffy squinted in the glare.
“Brought some company.” Duffy recognized Verbal’s drawl. “Thought you’d like to meet the family.”
As they stepped into the shadows, Duffy could see a tall, plain woman and two small children. “This here’s Annie, and these are the brats, Spike and Charlie. Say hello to Uncle Duffy, fellas,” he said.
The youngest wrapped his arms around his father’s leg, but the other boy, dark-haired and blue-eyed like his mother, stuck out his hand. “Hiya,” Spike said.
Duffy shook his hand solemnly and nodded to the woman. “Glad to meet you,” he said.
Verbal turned to Annie and gave her a hug. “Wait in the car with the kids and I’ll be along in a minute.” He peeled Charlie from his leg. “Go with Mom now,” he told him. “And we’ll get a treat on the way home.”
“Nice boys,” Duffy observed as he watched them skip away.
Verbal pulled some crinkled papers from his briefcase. “They’re a handful, alright.”
They walked over to the workbench and Duffy pushed aside some tools and odd parts to make room to lay out the invoices.
“What have you got going, now?” asked Duffy.
“Couple of Geologists lined up for Wednesday next week. Want to be dropped up at Bearclaw Lake for a three-day stint. They’ll have camping gear and equipment—the usual.” He drew some papers out of a large brown envelope. “This is for you to sign. I filled it all out, except I need the serial number on the Cessna.”
“What for?”
“Just government red tape. Miles of paperwork, like always.” Verbal sighed at the burdens inflicted on the common man.
“Yeah, but I don’t get it. What have we got to do with the government?”
“We should look to expanding the operation in the future,” said Verbal with a broad grin. “Hell, we could get contracts clear down to Mexico. But we’d need authorization for the borders. Once we get the word out we have a wider range of delivery, there’ll be no stopping us. Maybe even get a bigger plane for you—like one of them deHavilland Beavers. For now, we’ll try to cover all the bases.”
Duffy stared at him, brow wrinkled. Maybe he hadn’t heard properly. Verbal put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t look so worried,” he said. “We don’t have to do a thing we don’t want to do. We’ll just dip our toes in the water and see if we want to go swimming. No pressure—no commitment. But we won’t want to miss an opportunity, either.”
“I dunno—” Duffy scratched his head and tried to ignore the feeling that he was stepping off a cliff into thin air.
“Look. Don’t jump onto a horse that ain’t saddled yet. We’re just going to be ready for any opportunity that comes up. We may never get a contract to fly south, but if we do, we’ll be able to try it on and see if it fits. But if we don’t have the paperwork, we might lose an opportunity.”
