Emergency
By Kevin Barkman
It happened at noon. A hot, still day. Not a breath of wind to cool our hot faces. Even the fan did little to dent the heat. Dad was flying with Mr. Brain, going into -------. Mrs. Baily was doing radio. The one bright side of the day. School was horrid, I mean, who can think when it is a hundred degrees? So me, in my normal angry way was stomping upstairs to complain to my ever patient mother. When the phone rang. It seems that bad news always comes by phone. I don’t know why. But it seems that way. My mom, answering, suddenly had a very odd expression on her face, and asked in a loud voice “is the plane ok?” no, no... paper, mom will need paper. And a pen. For the info. Anger gone, in a rush, I bolted down stairs, grabbed a new note book, and a new pen, and ran with all speed back upstairs to my mother. Who was scrambling for paper. I gave her what I had, to find that the new pen did not work. I grabbed dad’s nice pen, and gave it to her. An odd thing, a new pen not working, but it seems that often, we are better with the old, tried and true, rather than the new, fancy non working things.
I knew that if dad was talking on the phone, he must be ok. And that somehow, we had to them out, and the airplane. Though first was dad, and Mr. Brian. And we must contact a ton of people, who all, I was not sure.
It turned out that Mrs Baily did not know yet, and not wanting other people to tell her mom rushed to the car, I still not knowing what happened, except there was an accident, went running with her, grabbing my cell phone, in case mom’s load ran out. Mom told me while we were driving what happened. Dad had had a prop strike, just a small one, we found out in the end, but it sounded big when we started. I was not even sure if the airplane was flipped or not. Most prop strikes I had heard of flipped. Which meant rebuilding the airplane. In the end, it was only a minor strike, due to airstrip problems.
We got to Mrs baily’s house, and mom announced the news, in very good fashion. Mom called all kinds of people. Mom needed her computer, so I walked home. I kept thinking of more things. Computer, load, phone charger, my bike, so I could run errands. Kalebs phone, incase of brown out. Which happens a lot here. I also got mom’s ipod touch, which she likes to skype with. And several note books.
In the end, mom called a million people. And dad and Mr. Brian hiked out. It Ended up they hiked something like forty kilometres. Through clay, up almost vertical slopes, and down again. And then had crazy trip by skylap, a hundred ten cc moto with platforms on the side. Then a very very long bus ride home. they were home at midnight. Very tired.
After weeks of talking to HQ we got permission to hike a prop in, and fly the airplane out to the airport.
We left at four a.m. on Tuesday something like six weeks after it all happened. We drove in Mr. Brian’s land cruiser. First destination—CDO to pick up the prop.
We arrived in CDO at seven, and picked the prop up. It was in a huge wooden crate. We had made a special wooden rack to screw it too, and we mounted it up top. It made driving a odd thing. The truck veered sharply to one side, and was hard to handle. So the rest of the trip took a while longer. 
After a seven hour drive, we drove into the place we started hiking from. Several men were there to help us hike it in. the whole thing weighed hundred and seventy pounds. And the trail very steep, and treacherously slippery clay. It is all jungle, and very beautiful, but difficult to travel through. The hike took only about forty five minutes to the missionary’s house, and another fifteen to the airstrip. But by the end I was covered in mud and my shoes were sloshing from the rivers we crossed. It took much longer with the prop.
It was almost three when we started taking the old prop off. We were just finished when the prop got to us. The skies were dark, and we worked quickly to get the prop on. But still, we were soaked by the time we had the new prop on. And it was well after dark before we got the old one apart. And back to the houses for supper.
I went to bed at seven thirty, right after breakfast, and conked out. It had been a long day.
The next day dad and I were up at five, a little before the sun. we ate a hurried breakfast, and went back out to the airplanes. There was fog all around the mountains, and it was beautiful. My feet were very wrinkled from walking half the day in wet running shoes. I made several trips to get tools, and other things. Dad and Mr. Brian did a full inspection and dad was in the air at eight thirty, and was home by nine something. Mr. Brian and I on the other hand had a long hike, and drive home. With wet shoes and clothes.
We got home around nine p.m. very tired stinky, and wet. But we had a good trip. I had no calluses left on my feet. I guess hiking in wet shoes for two days with no socks was a bit hard on them.
my dad is the one in checkered shirt. for those who dont know
i am not just standing there, i am holding the prop under my arm. i had to think of something...it was getting hard holding that thing for who knows how long!
and it rained. and rained. and rained.
this is a skylab, they haul amazing amounts of things with them.
