Chapter 3
August 30th, 2021
9 AM
Colonel Johnson sat behind his desk and happily read through the orders he’d gotten from above. The wrecked plane was no longer considered a secret. He was somewhat surprised that the orders came through as quickly as they did, but he wasn’t going to complain about it.
He quickly called Mike and filled him in. As soon as he got off the phone, he knew Mike was going to be making some calls to see if he could figure out anything new.
Speaking of figuring things out... That night, at the Johnson home, after dinner, the two colonels found out how quick their kids were.
“The plane is a Kawasaki K10, probably lost in World War II. The K10 was the last biplane that the Japanese used as a fighter. The one found in the ground even had ammunition for its machine guns.”
“Why was it here?” Chet asked. “This is a bit too far inland, not to mention north for a Japanese fighter.”
“Especially a biplane,” Margot added.
“I put out some feelers today, but I haven’t heard anything back yet,” Mike told them. “We do know that the pilot wasn’t Japanese.”
Marcia pulled out her phone and started tapping the screen. “I wish I had my laptop,” she murmured.
Darryl got up from the table and hurried to his room, coming back with his Windows machine.
Marcia grimaced. “I suppose this will have to do.” She logged in and hurried through several sites she knew.
“What are you thinking, Marcia?” Margot asked.
“Well,” Marcia said looking up for a moment, “it seems strange that a Japanese fighter would be flown by a non-Japanese person, with ammunition for the machine guns, don’t you think?”
Margot gave a snerk. “Sounds reasonable.”
“I’m looking to see when a plane like that would have gotten anywhere close to Alaska, then we’ve at least got a possible timeline,” Marcia explained.
“Check if there’s any report of a K10 lost in Alaska?” Darryl asked.
“I don’t think we’ll find anything that obvious,” Margot said. “The Air Force would have known about it if we can find anything that easy on the internet. Look for the pilot,” she suggested.
“Whattya mean?” Darryl asked.
“See if any Japanese people were found in Alaska around the time.”
“Or bodies,” Chet said quietly.
The suggestions were coming quickly from the two girls. It was like they had tuned into each others’ brains as they continued making suggestions. Margot ousted Darryl from his chair and huddled over the computer with her sister-in-law. Chet sat on the other side of the table, offering suggestions as well.
Darryl moved into the living room with the parents. He was smart, but the three working on the problem had quickly gone way beyond where he was. Every time he had an idea, someone else had already mentioned it.
He watched his sister and girlfriend with pride. Not that his brother-in-law was doing too bad either. It was clear, however, that Marcia was leading the pack.
His mouth opened in astonishment when Marcia suddenly announced. “We might have something.”
Darryl and his dad moved quickly back to the table, as did Marcia’s dad.
“We might have something, Daddy,” Margot told her father with a grin.
“Okay,” Bob replied “what might you have?”
Marcia giggled slightly, then turned serious and said, “We checked for areas where the Japanese and Allied forces fought near or in Alaska in World War II.”
Her dad sat down beside her, and the two mothers joined them as well.
“That makes sense,” Mike said to his daughter. “There were two islands in the Aleutian Chain that were fought over. The Japanese took them over, and the Allies fought them off.”
“Yeah,” Marcia agreed.
“So we looked at the possibility of a plane found there,” Margot supplied.
“I checked on that as well,” Mike said. “I didn’t find any plane found anywhere down there.”
“Did you look for a Japanese body?”
“Yes,” Bob said. “That was one of the first things we looked for.”
“I found,” Marcia said, “the records of some bones found on Unalaska Island, in the early 90s. Some kids were hiking, and they found the bones. They weren’t sure what they were, and started playing with the longest of the bones they could find.” She shuddered a bit. “I guess they were playing sword fighting.”
“And they were found to be Japanese bones?” Liz asked.
“No, but they were human leg bones. The article said a femur and tibia. They also found a fibula, but I guess it wasn’t big enough to really sword fight with.”
“They were a bit on the short side.” Chet had his phone out, and was skimming through the article. “They were clearly adult, but kinda small.”
“Before World War II, Japanese people were somewhat shorter,” Margot was looking at an article on the computer. “Interesting,” she murmured. “Especially in the legs.”
“A search was made,” Marcia went on. “They found some pieces of leather, but nothing identifiable.”
Bob nodded. “Anything more?”
“Not yet,” his daughter told him. “We’re still looking.”
-=#=-
August 31st, 2021
9 AM
Darryl and Marcia got a late start in the morning. Gloria had a doctor’s appointment, and Liz gave her a ride to the clinic. Marcia kept an eye on Amber and Sammy while they were gone, and Darryl did what work he could, but things went slow without Marcia.
At the clinic, the doctor did another ultrasound, and it appeared as though the baby was developing alright, but she had noticed that she was thirstier than normal. She was also having to go pee more often than usual, but had chalked that up to drinking more water and the growing size of the baby.
Her doctor wanted to make sure, however, and checked her blood sugar. It was higher then it should be, and she was warned to watch the carbs that she was taking in.
When she left the clinic, Gloria told Liz that she had type A1 gestational diabetes. “I’m a bit concerned about it. My dad had type 2 diabetes. I suppose I’m going to have to watch what I’m eating, even after I have the baby.”
“What did your dad do to manage his?”
“Not a lot. He managed to control it with his diet.”
They arrived home, before too long, and found the little kids playing outside, with Marcia sitting in a lawn chair, alternating between watching the kids and her laptop.
“Well, we’re back,” Gloria told her. “Are you ready to go help Darryl?” she asked her daughter.
Marcia grinned and texted her boyfriend. Almost done at Sgt Yancys house then will pick u up, came the reply. “He’ll be here in a few, Mom.”
Gloria grinned as she sat down in a chair beside her. “How have they been?”
“Great!” Marcia replied, grinning from ear to ear. “I played with them a little while ago, but I got tired. They’ve got energy to burn.”
Liz laughed from the other side of Gloria. “You’ve got to save some energy for work today.”
“That’s for sure!” She looked closely at her mom. “Everything okay?”
“It will be. I’ve just got to watch out for sugars right now.”
“Diabetes?”
“Just gestational.”
Marcia smiled, then commented. “You’re naturally sweet, Mom. It’s not a surprise that it’s in your blood.”
Gloria laughed, then told her. “Go change for work, young lady. You don’t need to scratch up your legs.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Jeans just make my legs hot.”
“I think Darryl likes that,” Liz told her, straight faced.
Marcia stared for a moment, then simply nodded, a smile appearing on her face.
A few minutes later, the women heard “He’s here! See ya!” from inside the house.
“Be careful!” Gloria yelled back.
“Take care!” Liz yelled at the same time.
-=#=-
9 AM
Bob did some checking with the engineers on the surveys for the area. They had learned a lot from the kids the night before, but when he asked how the plane had gotten underground, his daughter gave him a mischievous grin. “We can't do all the work for you, Daddy.”
He looked through the land survey of the area, and photos taken from an air survey. He glanced through them, but there wasn’t a lot of interesting things to notice. The place where the plane crashed contained a pond, formed by a beaver dam. While the photos were black and white, they were quite high quality, and he could even see the lodge.
Probably how the plane ended up underground, he thought. If the plane was sitting in that pond, it could have been covered pretty quickly.
He looked through some more, pictures, then emailed them to Mike.
He wasn't sure how it was going to go over in a report, but he decided to write one including what the kids found out the night before.
He got busy typing.
-=#=-
September 3rd, 2021
11 AM
The week had flown by, and the kids, including Darryl, had made some headway regarding the plane. They were forgoing their usual Friday night Couples’ Only time, and meeting for dinner with both families to fill their dads in.
Chet and Margot were at Mrs. Julie Smith’s house, searching the yard for dog toys and bones. When they found them, they tossed them to the edge of the back yard. Several times, Doxie picked up a ball in her mouth, and happily brought it back to Chet.
“No, Doxie. We’re not playing fetch.” he told her, laughingly. “Besides, you’ve got that ball covered with dog slime now.” He obligingly picked it up and tossed it again. The dog had a habit of picking up all manner of items, and wanting to play with them, and Chet was making headway of about two or three ‘toys’ to every throw of the slimed ball.
Mrs Smith was standing on the back porch getting a good laugh at the young man and dog. She finally descended to the patio and called the dog, who grabbed the ball, and carried it to her master. Julie bent down, picked up the ball, and set it down on the patio table. This was apparently the sign that the game of fetch was over, and the dusky sighed and lay down, her eyes on the toys the couple had tossed off the lawn.
Chet started the mower, and started making passes across the grass, while Margot continued looking for things in the grass. This wasn’t the only place they had to be careful. There were several dogs and children in backyards around the neighborhood, and all of them tended to leave things in the grass.
Chet had made several passes, when there was a loud pop from the mower. He knew immediately that he’d hit something and released the bail, stopping the engine. A few feet away, he saw Margot fall to the ground, clutching her leg.
He hurried to her, and saw the red fluid pouring from beneath her hand. Mrs. Smith, who had been an EMT for several years, hurried over, and gently moved the young woman’s hands from the spot. She was rewarded by a spray of blood.
“Looks like an artery was cut,” the former EMT said, as she pulled her belt off. “Call an ambulance Chet!”
Chet was white faced as sat down on the ground. He couldn’t dial 911, but suddenly remembered his phone was programmed to dial it if he held down the 9 button.
Julie applied a tourniquet to Margot’s leg, and took Chet’s phone out of his trembling hand.
Chet took Margot’s hand and squeezed it tight. Margot was turning white, and he couldn’t seem to do anything except hold her hand and wonder what had happened.
A few minutes later, some people hurried around the house, carrying a stretcher. They examined her for a few moments, then loaded her onto the stretcher.
All the while, Chet felt like he was in a tunnel. He wasn’t able to ride in the ambulance with Margot, and was definitely in no condition to drive, so Julie locked up her house and Chet’s truck. Chet climbed into the car alongside her, and they hurried off to the hospital.
-=#=-
Once more, special thanks to Malady for his help editing.
– Rosemary
Comments
oh no!
I'm not sure how that could happen. She would have to have been laying in the grass.
LOL. I used to work on mowers.
Both rotary and reel mowers. The rotary blades are spinning at 3600 RPM and they can pick up rocks, or other things and fling them with the power of a bullet.
Jamie and Adam tested it on Mythbusters and found that it was true. They said, that while things didn't fly with the speed of a bullet, the mass gave them the power of one.
The particular item(s) that was/were thrown (I don't want to give spoilers) was probably quite sharp, and easily able to cut into her leg.
My Dad had a riding mower, and he was cutting in front of my house. He was bagging the grass, and it picked up a rock and punched a hole in my supposedly indestructible vinyl siding, approximately two feet up. LOL. We've both moved since then, and I've inherited the tractor now. It's a beautiful old Troybilt with an opposed twin engine. Made before Troybilt was bought out by MTD, so much better quality. I have no grass in my front yard to cut, and my back yard is considerably higher, and on multiple terraces. I have no use for the tractor.
Anyone want an older Troybilt tractor? LOL!
Hugs!
Rosemary
Margot's leg.
As far as Margot's position, she was going ahead, checking to make sure they hadn't missed anything. She might have knelt down to pick something up, which could have placed her shin in a better position to be hit.
Hugs!
Rosemary
Not Sure Whether I Got This...
So the plane happened to fall into a pond when it crashed, and silt filled in the pond over the years until the ground not only surrounded the plane but covered it? Does that mean the pond was so deep compared to the land around it that it was still the lowest point even after it was filled in, so soil continued to flow in that direction?
(Does the density difference between ice and water figure in this somewhere? I guess it wouldn't matter unless the pond froze solid rather than just on the surface.)
Eric
(from San Francisco, where lake surfaces never freeze...)
Actually, much of this
Actually, much of this happened more in the summer. The plane crashed into what was essentially a beaver pond, so it was definitely deep. I believe there may have been something upstream, causing a lot more silt, yes. If there was an unseasonably warm summer, there is a chance that the tundra might have thawed somewhat. It's hard to tell.
Hugs!
Rosemary
lawnmower projectiles
On a property I was working, we had a summer when we needed extra hands to keep up with grounds work. I was busy with several air conditioning units that had fallen into less than optimal function, and was behind a condenser unit when an inexperienced operator was cutting the lawn, he had the discharge chute facing outward, instead of towards the center of the area.
On the 2nd lap, he found a small pile of stones, presumably left there by some of the resident children, but when he passed over it, a stone was launched at speed, crashing into a window about 6 feet off the ground, sending broken glass into the townhome. It had shattered 2 panes of glass.
Another time, using the same mower, I myself ran across a pine cone, which as Murphy would have it, struck a neighbor in the back of the head nearly 100 feet away (no injury thankfully). I can picture the bottom of a beer bottle being more than capable of clipping an artery, and simply saying 'ahead' of the mower doesn't necessarily mean 'in front of' just that she was further in the pathway the mower would be traveling.
Because of the two events I mentioned, our company adopted a policy (at my suggestion) that no one other than the mower's operator would be permitted to be within 50 yds of the mower during operation, and that when anyone breached that distance, the mower would immediately cease forward progress. Additionally, all cutting would be in a direction that the discharge chute would face away from buildings, sidewalks, parking lots, etc, and yes... I'd be interested in and older mower
I know what you're saying.
I know what you're saying. She was working ahead of where Darryl was, but as you said, in the path where he would be traveling. This incident will undoubtedly change the way they operate. Perhaps chaps. Or simply making sure everyone is out of the line of fire for a rotary mower. Chet, like me, loves the look of a reel mower cut, so he may double his efforts in finding one.
Hugs!
Rosemary
so if the pilot wasn't
so if the pilot wasn't Japanese I'm wondering if it was either a spy or an escaped prisoner that stole the plane trying to flee from them.
so if the pilot wasn't
so if the pilot wasn't Japanese I'm wondering if it was either a spy or an escaped prisoner that stole the plane trying to flee from them.
I suppose, if Margot is okay,
I suppose, if Margot is okay, she'll be laid up for awhile. Probably need some help looking after a toddler as well as a busy husband.
I suspect, however, that she'll have time to do some more research into the plane and pilot.
Hugs!
Rosemary
Mower accident not good
The mystery of the plane isn't as important as the body they found in the plane. If they can identify the person, or his race, then how the plane ended up where they found might get answered.
Mower accidents can be prevented but only if those mowing think safety every time they mow. Margot should never have been inline with the discharge opening. Something says the deflector wasn't in place, or whatever the object was cut its way through the deflector. Either way, Margot should have been ahead of the mower.
And it's not always possible to keep the discharge opening facing away from people or property. Even with it pointing to the center being cut, it will face people nearby, or structures, as the grass is cut on the opposite side of circle cutting, or every other pass if cutting back and forth.
More important now is Margot being all right.
Others have feelings too.
Hopefully, this can be
Hopefully, this can be stopped if Chet can get a second reel mower instead of a rotary mower. I have a very small piece of grass in my front yard that needs cut, and I have a simple, push reel style that I use on it. I learned while repairing mowers that the reel style makes a much cleaner cut also. In the backyard, I have a rotary, but I always use a bag on it. That grass isn't seen from the street, however, so I'm not nearly as worried about it. It's the section that's seen that I want the clean cut of a reel mower on.
Chet prefers a reel mower also (interesting that we both prefer them) and has a match to my antique one. They're not easy to find anymore, however. He'll probably scour the internet for one this winter.
Hugs!
Rosemary