Collaborative Writing please join in the story

While Sally was driving the ATV she had time to reflect on what had happened this last week and also spend a considerable amount of thought time on Jay's actions, or no actions. Sally was used to guys fawning over her and basically wanting to kiss her butt, which she hated. Even when she had come out of the lake with the wet shirt she had not noticed the proverbial rise out of Jay as he was all business. Maybe it was the baggy pants she mused to herself. She knew Jay liked girls as she had seen him with many different ladies at social functions and even a few times with him going to an airshow or someplace in one of his aircraft; he owned two ! Probably why he was not married..... again she smiled to herself..

Sally knew Jay was very task orientated as she had watched him practice and practice his acrobatic routine 100s of times over his Farm burning enough gas at yesterday's gas prices..... that could have bought a really nice car for herself instead of the Aviation gas.. Yep a woman would have clipped his wings for sure....she chuckled.

Jay was an Airline Captain and had more free time on his hands than most working people could only ever fantasize about.
He would be gone for three or four days a week and then he would have three or four days off. Sometimes he would leave and come back the same day flying what he called turns for the airline. Fly to someplace and drop off the passengers load back up and return to his home base all in a days work. Jay was a check airman which paid more than just a line Captain could make but even so she had seen his paycheck receipt on his home desk once that was an astounding $21,000 for a months work. She figured that amount was actually for 14 days actual work. Sally was envious of the money but she knew Jay had worked long and hard sacrificing much to get to his station of life before everything went to hell.

The Wind Sock airport was coming up on their left so Sally slowed to give them enough time to survey the place from the road. She could not see any movement at the airport so she slowly drove the ATV upon the airport grounds. There was an automatic gate that would open after pressing a code into a security box but the auto portion was not working. Jay got off the ATV and released the latch for the auto function and slid the gate open upon its rollers. The fence and gate were mostly to keep the deer and the critters away from the paved runway and the grass strip which was also used by certain aircraft. There had not been a case of thievery in many years at Wind Sock as Ben the owner was known to shoot first and ask questions later. Again she drove slowly trying to will the ATV to make as little noise as possible .

As she drove down hanger row everything looked normal except there were no hanger doors open with people working on their aircraft or socializing with other Wind Sock based flyers.

After finding the number of Roger's hanger and seeing the door was closed Jay said to go ahead and drive to Ben's hanger house, which she headed for after clearing the last hanger on hanger row.

As she pulled up before the hanger Ben came out on the upper story deck with what looked like a 30.06 scoped deer rifle slung under his arm. He took one look at Jay and Sally and gave a thumbs up as he disappeared back into the top story of his house to come down stairs and open the lower story house door. His home was built two stories high in this large hanger which could comfortably fit his 3000+foot house and at least 8 aircraft depending on their size. Jay kept his two aircraft in Ben's hanger under Ben's protective eye..

"Damn I am glad to see you guys ! I have not seen or heard of anyone for maybe 6 days now except for Roger Sims a couple of days ago. No traffic no planes and no one coming to the airport. All the cell phones and land lines are dead." Come in, come in, and have something cool to drink..... please as my ice is just about gone from the ice machine so we might as well use it or lose it."

It was good to see Ben and be around his bubbly type personality. While Ben was getting the drinks Jay excused himself to go and look at his aircraft which were covered in sheets in the hanger. Jay and Ben returned within a few seconds of each other; Ben with a big smile and three glasses of ice tea and Jay with a look of dejection.

Ben while looking at Jay said, "Let me guess you tried the battery switch on your birds and they were both dead"?

Jay nodded his head and replied, " I did not check the wiring but I assume it is toast like all the other wiring harnesses I have checked.

Ben agreed as everything he had checked to include his house wiring had been fried and turned to carbon. Ben had been extremely surprised and happy to see what he assumed was Roger's ATV as we approached so, now it was story telling time. Sally told Ben everything except about the guy who had ended up with his brains fertilizing some grass back at the lake.

When she finished Ben just shook his head and like all of us wondered what was going on.

We all three walked the 100 yards to Roger's hanger and the anticipation was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Once I opened the hanger door and approached the cockpit of the Maule for a power check I looked a Sally and Ben as they both had their fingers crossed.. Battery switch on and there was "POWER" just like Roger had promised !

I could have kissed this ugly bird as there was a time in my life I would not have been caught flying something like a Maule. They were great bush aircraft, short field take off (as long as the engine did not quit) and landing capable but were slower than anything I cared to fly as most of my trips were out of state so I wanted something that could at least do 200+ .... The only way you could get a Maule up to 200 would be to point the nose straight down and rip the blasted wings off it !! But beggars can not be choosers unless the Camel Fleas come upon them in their sleep.

Roger's Maule did not have the tundra tires which surprised me but did have the standard Maule tires. The bird would be great for getting airborne and doing some scouting as i could land the Maule just about anyplace with wing clearance. I grabbed the Maule's handbook/flight manual and thumbed through the pages I was interested in. After I checked the fuel and oil I was pleased to find the bird was indeed topped off on fuel and was a half quart low on the oil; perfect.

Ben and Sally helped me pull the aircraft out of the hanger and once clear I got inside to start the beast. Sally wanted to go but I told her to stay and come get the body if I crashed...She had a puzzled look on her face and then just shook her head and said, " If you crash do not worry about the airplane as I will shoot you myself " as she began to shut the door she paused and looking concerned said, "You know I was just joking don't you" then she blew a kiss at me and moved away.

Humm

Mixture rich, Battery on, fuel pump on with fuel pressure rising, and the bird started on the second turn of the prop. After checking the engine gauges and assuring myself everything was in the green or approaching the green I started to taxi out to the paved runway. I checked the controls for freedom of movement and did a Mag check at the recommended 1700 RPM. I then ran a quick before take off check list and lined up on the runway after broadcasting on 122.80 of the Maule's VHF radio of my intentions to the world. youtu.be...

I only flew the Maule for .8 of an hour according to the hobs meter which keeps time when the engine is running. I stalled the bird with flaps down got some airspeed numbers I could use if I needed to get into a tight short landing spot; the stall warning with full flaps came on around 50 at the present weight but the aircraft would stall at 43 knots. After three takeoff and landings I figured I had Roger's Maule figured out well enough that I would put Sally in the aircraft with me. I taxied to one of the 1000 gallon fuel tanks and let gravity fill my tanks. Ben and Sally were there to assist me especially Ben as he produced a ladder I could stand on while refueling 768KF; blasted high wing aircraft are a pain to refuel but I kept my mouth shut just in case any Camel Fleas were listening. I needed to insure I would include a folding step ladder if Sally and I were going to travel cross country and need fuel.

We put the Maule to bed in Roger's hanger and closed and locked the hanger door. We then retired to Ben's place.

I asked Ben if I could heat some water for a hot shower and borrow a pair of scissors to trim my beard short enough so I could shave. Ben gave me two 5 gallon buckets he had been using to heat his water over his barbecue pit grill. He also furnished me with two plastic bowls I could dip the water out of the buckets and run it over my body. He even had a bar of soap to use ! I heated both buckets; one for me and one for Sally and we both took our dip and splash showers in about 30 minutes time. I was finally able to shave my remaining beard off which made me feel like a new man afterwards. When I came out of the bathroom Sally took one look at me and hollered for Ben to come quick as there is a handsome stranger using the bathroom shower"!

Ben was someplace out side so he never heard her or he might have come with his deer rifle or the 1911 .45 he favored as a side arm on the run to see what Sally was hollering about.

Sally patted my Cheek and disappeared into the same shower area I had just vacated for some dip and splash of her own..

I went and retrieved my back pack and pulled the package out that Roger had given me from Mark. There was a map of the United States and a red circle drawn around a place in Texas called Corinth and a name" Atlas F Missile Silo 578-12."

There was a hand written note folded inside the map that said; "Some of us bought this Silo 3 years ago and together we have spent close to $750,000 making it a great place to ride out just about anything to include a nuclear war. We are well stocked with food and ammo and there is a good fishing lake not to far away. There were only 21,000 people in Corinth before this SHTF was forced upon us. You are welcome..... and feel free to bring 4 or 5 of your flight attendant friends if they want to spend some time with us, our wives, and kids plus 3 hairy legged single guys. You are always welcome regardless."

Signed Mark Biscome.

The note must have been written before Mark and his wife were fried in their bed ? Roger had only said Mark left this for me to to give to you. He left something similar for Julie and me.

Sally came in as I was reading the note so I showed her the map and note. "What do you think," I asked.

"You are my ride to where ever so it is up to you. Where ever you go I follow white man," the last bit she said in her best mimic of an India Squaw.

"Sally you do not have to follow me anywhere as you are under no obligation to me."

I could see the blood rising to her cheeks as she said, "What is wrong with me that you find so unattractive"!

Now that caught me totally off guard and I had to stop and think for a moment before i answered. "Sally I am 35 years old, 11 years older than you... I have no doubt a pretty girl like you has guys eating out of her hand at College and just about anyplace a man sees you. I never once thought you would have any kind of interest in an old guy like me so I tried to treat you with respect and a fatherly type warm friendship."

She cut me off with, "First of all you are not 11 years older only ten and a half. The Chinese say the perfect age for a woman to marry a man is half his age plus 7 years.... half your age would be 17.5 plus 7 years would be 24 years and six months to be perfect except I am 24 years and 8 months which in you archaic mind may make me to old for you" !!

I smiled and said, "This is good Sally as I do not believe I have ever seen you this worked up or mad about anything"!

"Look Jay I have known you since I was 15 years old... I have always liked and admired you... You hurt my feelings at the lake when I was almost nude and you did not even seem to notice; all you wanted were my long shirt sleeves to tie those ridiculous pants up so they would not fall down around you knees."

I raised my hand for silence and said, "Sally you could take a picture of you nude and put that picture on a Playboy magazine cover and they would sell more copies of that monthly addition than they ever have in the history of Playboy as far as I am concerned. You are beautiful and I have not found one thing that you do, that pisses me off. You are smart and a good traveling companion, with a great head on your shoulders and would be a great pardner or mate for anyone I figure."

She raised her hand like I did, as if we were in a class room setting, "Then Why do you make it so hard for me to get close an intimate with you"?

Long pause on my part before I said,"You know where I am sleeping and after you think it over you are always welcome in my room Sally."

"What do you think I have been thinking about since I was 15"! Sleep hell ! I want to go now and make you appreciate a woman who has loved and liked you for longer than you will ever know."

"Well since you put it that way," I said rising.

Hand in hand we left the den area and went to my sleeping quarters. I was glad we both had our dip and splash shower and I had managed to shave.... There really was no sleeping that night until the early morning when finally we both passed out in each others arms totally exhausted.

We awoke to Ben saying and knocking on the bedroom door that, "Breakfast is ready."

The following is right before our Ops hero began his journey....


There was a bustling of activity from the Chinese forces who were massed along the coast. The chairman had sent word to his commanders of strategic forces a one sentence order. Decapitate the eagle.

Half a world away US centcom was preparing to deploy the strategic bomber wing to the area to support the taiwanese military and to try and prevent the invasion of taiwan. Alarm bells rang out,and klaxons blared. Suddenly there was a hypersonic bogey on radar. It was too late to scramble fighters or fire interceptors. The generals could only watch as the missiles homed in on their targets.

“Those bastards!” The general yelled loudly.”Commander devroe!!” A woman in air force blues Snapped to attention facing the general,”sir!” She said sharply.”what are the generals orders sir!”
The General looked at his monitor and puffed on a cigar. He then turned back to the commander,”I want you to pass on this order to all forces worldwide commander,” All restraints are lifted except nuclear warheads.” The commander's face went white as a sheet,”But sir...are you sure that's wise to,” The general cut her off,”did I freaking stutter commander?”He yelled.

The commander snapped back to attention and regained her composure,”NO SIR! She said. She saluted and ran down the hallway to communications.The general sat down and watched the screen. “3 more minutes….Till it all goes to hell,” he thought to himself. He almost felt sorry for the chinese and russians who were going to burn in retaliation.”Well they wanted a war...i'll give them a slaughter”

Meanwhile up in Utah at area 53 the call came in to deploy the craft against America's enemies. All forces are to destroy targets of opportunity,,infrastructure,civilian residence,military troops and hospitals as warranted in the Russian and Chinese nations.

Then suddenly there was a bright flash of light in the sky,and all unshielded vehicles stopped working. Comms were lost,but were quickly restored as they were ready for just such a situation. The Chinese and Russians had deployed their non-nuclear weapons to knock out the grid in preparation for an invasion of Taiwan,Ukraine,Israel and Japan since the US was their biggest obstacle.

Suddenly...the hangar doors opened,and out floated a squadron of triangle shaped craft....

The Chinese and the Russians had been aware for several years that America had the triangular ships. The code name for the American program was Black Mamba which was a subset of the Solar Warden program; yet after trying everything they could think of, they were incapable of cracking the security around the Black Mamba program, therefore the name of the program was almost all they really knew for sure. Gathering anything useful for their own programs had been a frustrating dead end operation. In times past it had usually been easy to buy a traitor in the capitalist dog's security apparatus if you had the money and will power; yet this time all efforts had failed; but not for the lack of trying.

Their satellite plan "B" had been to orbit satellites that could beam a form of microwave energy of such intensity that anything with a wire or electronic component which fell under the beam would be fried. The first pass of the Satellites had been for infrastructure only as the beam had to be adjusted to a different frequency to burn and kill people along with all other living things. The initial EMP blasts from the three war heads of the hypersonic missile had been used to destroy communications and electrical power supplies through out the continental United States. That mission had succeeded without a hitch just as other western alliance countries got to experience this new form of warfare almost simultaneously. by sub launched missiles..

Another low beam phase of the satellites had been tested at the lowest power setting available on a narrow beam width carrier wave which was not to kill but to incapacitate. The results of the test, while not exactly as desired, had been named the Cuban Syndrome by the American foreign devil dogs. It was entertainingly funny watching the devils try to explain the beam away to their populations once the word got out of diplomats becoming ill when stationed around the world and even in Washington D.C.

Both Russia and China planned that most societies would become disorganized hell holes within a matter of weeks without power and pumped water so they had decided to sit back and judge the first satellite phase developments before releasing the second burn phase of the war upon anyone who thought they would stand before Russia's and China's combined technological military might.

Their alliance was one of 'my enemy is your enemy so lets work together to destroy them', yet there were factions in both Russia and China already working on how to gain control over their current allies once the Western allies were decimated.

The first phase at 100% satellite beam would fan out to cover a square area of a maximum of 150 N.M. and would burn any structure not covered in metal, concrete, or a couple of feet of dirt. All the satellites were nuclear powered and before the attack there had been placed 47 satellites into orbits that would cover most of the northern hemisphere while the few polar orbiting satellites could be moved to clean up targets of opportunity in any hemisphere.

Back in the American and western alliance side the three large (over a mile in width) unmanned, back side of the moon parked, Black Mamba ships would be getting a full complement of crew within the next 4 hours from three smaller troop carriers and resupply ships which has just departed Area 53. The larger ships mission was to detect and either capture or destroy all foreign satellites in orbit around the earth that possessed a nuclear power supply. They would then be free to join the other 20 Black Mamba ships if the war was still active.

The crew compliment for the big ships was no where near as large as one would assume with such massive ships because the ships were basically operated by A.I. and could function autonomously if needed. The crew that would be stationed onboard would be mostly highly paid civilian engineers and mechanics with a few military officers stationed to different compartments and in command.

The remaining 20 Black Mamba ships were to divide their numbers and proceed to China and Russia to start their on form of military warfare payback. All of this had commenced without a peep from the current crop of politicians in Washington as their plans for Continuity of Government had fallen apart after the first EMP blast along with a satellite beam scan using the Cuban Syndrome phase power that had been increased in output by 29% in its narrow band width beam; not strong enough to burn and kill everything but certainly strong enough to fry the synapses and arteries of most living things under the narrow beam unless protected by several feet of dirt, metal, or concrete . Thus Washington was full of non functional undead or dead .

Before the SHTF at CENTCOM and the White House :

As previously stated; the present commander of CENTCOM was already ordering the reposition of both Naval and Air Force assets to Guam, Japan, Philippines, and Australia as a sign that America and its allies would not stand idly by and watch Taiwan be invaded.

The orders had just been issued when there was an urgent emergency klaxon alarm that brought all eyes to the big monitor in front of the room. It appeared the Chinese had just launched some type of hypersonic missiles and the projection was for the missiles to either fly over the continental USA or worse yet ??

After issuing orders to Commander Devroe General Dikes took a moment to compose himself and think. Was this a bluff and another show of force by the Chicoms or was this the opening of a full out attack ? He would know in 11 minutes which way this would play out, one way or the other. The Red phone to the White house was lifted and the phone began to automatically ring. It was a full 2 minutes before a female voice picked up the phone. 2 minutes for the commander of CENTCOM to watch the projected track of the inbound missiles and 2 minutes for him to get so mad he could barely contain himself as he paced back and forth at the limit of the wire line connecting the red phone to its base and the White House..

Finally a female voice answered the phone sounding almost out of breath, " So sorry I was in the bathroom which took me a minute to get the phone".

With all the control General Dikes could muster he said, " I need to speak to the president "NOW" or one of the joint Chief's of Staff"!

"Uh I am sorry sir they are on the White house lawn giving a speech about build back better to the nation." I can run outside and get someone in maybe 5 minutes if you want to hold."

"Patch me through to the desk commander of the Secret Service," was all he said.

"Sir I say again everyone is outside, even the desk commander, as this is the first cool morning we have had."

Dikes did not explode at the female Sargent on the other end of the red phone but very quietly told her that they, CENTCOM was tracking at least 3 hypersonic missiles inbound that should be overhead in less than 7 minutes.... "Standby the missile war heads have separated with at least 3 war head packages inbound."

General Dikes hands were tied by the treaties that America would not be the first to use any nuclear device on an opponent; America would absorb the first strike and then release the dogs of war upon any opponent that dared to attack; besides without the codes contained in the president's brief case a nuclear equipped ICBM (both land and sea) could not be launched . He directed those around him to send out "Defcon 1 Confirmed" to all the services and he check to see if the Sargent had heard him issue the orders too.

"Sargent I suggest you get word to the president as soon as you can and have him call me when he is available." Dikes tone of voice was so low with controlled rage that the Sargent could feel the angst though the phone on her end.

"Yes sir," as she slammed the phone down and hurried to the White House lawn. She had just exited the cover of the White house when there was a flash way up in the sky to the east. The time was 07:30 in the morning. She urged her trembling legs to and even faster run towards the President and people who were gathered some 40 yards away. Then something happened as she lost all control of her legs and body as a splitting headache consumed her while she fell to the ground dead.

An areal view would have shown everyone on the White House lawn and anywhere within 5 square miles there was no movement just bodies collapsed and cars stopped or crashed along the highways; everything and everyone immobile .

Dikes knew the war heads of the missiles had released an EMP attack evenly spaced over the North American continent and had issued another call to area 53 to mobilize under full response to code "BLACK" action plan "ONE" under sub paragraph "ABSOLUTE."

It was within 20 minutes when the side of a mountain hanger doors opened and the Black triangular aircraft started moving away at incredible speed.

Dikes and his command were unaware of the second attack by the satellites beams until one of their own satellites passed over Washington and was able to see the destruction and deaths scattered about the streets and the White House lawn.

The Chinese and Russians were elated at the high resolution pictures they received back at their deep underground command and control head quarters. They had no idea what was coming their way or the elation would have evaporated into a concern that bordered on fear.

The reports came streaming in to lunar base epsilon at around 8 in the morning. Huge fires and carnage in the washington DC area and across the North american continent. In a dark room sat a group of 12 men and women watching the reports stream in over the Highband. On one side typical men in black,and the other RK officers.

"This meeting of Majestic 12 will now come to order." "ladies and gentlemen today we are faced with the collapse of the CUrrent world government" The Smoking man,His codename lit up a smoke and took a drag." I want a strike team prepared and the mamba carriers outfitted for space warfare and orbital bombardment.", Suddenly the RK rep stood,"sir we suggest
restraint in this situation due to the sensitive nature of our departure schedule..." Smoking man crushed out his smoke.

"let me get this straight,V... you want us to use restraint because, it might push your leaving back a few years?" V started to loosen his neck on his suit slightly," yes...thats what i am suggesting we do smoking man." Smoking man walked to the monitor and pointed towards the dead everywhere."look! do you see now the price we have paid for waiting like you had suggested V?" V stammered and started to protest,"so what if a few normal humans died they are not important to me or the rest of the RK's."

Smoking man sat down and lit up another smoke."Duly noted V, But under order 1634211 dash A subsection b paragraph 2 your opinion on this matter does not mean CRAP!. SMoking man passes a paper to one of his aides,Mr White."mr white see to it the preperations are made in a timely fashion and do try to be restrained."

V got up and walked to the door after White left the room. SMoking man leaned back in his chair reading the projections of death tolls."hmm..almost to pre 1980 levels,give or take a billion." His phone suddenly rings and he picks it up." All preperations are now complete sir." SMoking man smiles,"thank you mr white. I shall take it from here. Oh! before i forget...put a tail on Mr V...it seems he may become a problem.'he hang up the phone,flips off the lights and lights up another.

After breakfast we all decided to do a walk around the hangers and airfield just to check and see if anything was amiss. There was a small shed on the other side of the runways that I asked Ben, "What is that used for" ?

"That is where I keep the fireworks for the yearly 4th of July celebration. I guess there will not be much to celebrate this year by the way things are going."

Ben always had a spectacular fireworks display which looked like something Disney would put on at the Magic Kingdom. Fireworks going several hundred feet into the air an bursting into globes and other shapes of every color was always a sight to see.

"Ben you have already stocked for this years celebration"?

"Yep there is an estimated $4000 dollars of the big boom stuff and another $1000 worth of small stuff for the kiddies."

I looked at Sally and then at Ben while saying to both, "I think some of that stuff might come in quite handy."

After surveying the fireworks shed it was determined there were 20 canisters that would be useful for what I had in mind. We then went to Ben's junk pile and gathered nails, bolts, nuts, and anything else we figured would work as a homemade Beehive round or fragmentation grenade.

We worked all the rest of the day making pouches that would fit over the business end of the firework canisters and streamer chutes that would keep the same end pointed down if dropped from an aircraft. The directions on the canisters had warned that they contained 40 second fuses and the dangers of being anywhere within 50 feet when detonated, blah blah blah. I needed and wanted to be able to drop these bombs from above 1500 feet to stay out of small arms fire and I figured with these fuses I could be above 2500 feet or higher for the desired results.

When we finished we loaded everything into the back seat and storage area of the Maule along with a 3 foot step ladder and a 30 foot hose I could use for refueling if needed. There were already 3 quarts of oil stored in a civilian cargo net at the rear cargo area of the Maule. The firework bombs weighed 212 pounds or about as much as a healthy passenger with baggage. I figured with Sally's and my stuff plus full fuel 768KF would still have room for another 180 pounds of supplies to bring it up to max gross take off weight.

As Sally and I walked back to Ben's, " Do you think we will need all those firework bombs" ?

"I do not know, but IMO it better to have and not use than need and not have. They are extremely dangerous to drop out of an aircraft as once they go off I figure the canister will be shot in the opposite direction of the shrapnel and....I would hate for us to shoot ourselves down. They would be more effective if slightly elevated and placed against a wall or building and used like a mortar. Hopefully we will not have to find out one way or the other."

There was silence as we continued our walk back to Ben's until I said, "Sally after we eat I want to take you up in 768KF and teach you how to fly."

"I am not sure I can learn to fly Jay as I am afraid of heights. I always sit in an isle seat when I fly someplace."

"I am kinda afraid of heights too as when I stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon my butt nearly ate my jeans off my backside. Flying is totally different as you are surrounded by the bird which will keep you safe and not let you fall. Do you know there are two things when flying that can kill you...one is fear and one is doubt. Fear can freeze the body into inaction just as doubt can have the same effect on the mind...... You can drive the ATV and any car or truck so flying won't be that big a deal once you get rid of your fear and doubt. All flying does is add the up and down instead of just left and right. "

Sally was looking down at the ground as we walked back to Ben's and when she looked up she said, " I think you left out impacting the ground but I will try; just no guarantees on my ability."

"All I can ask for you do, is try Sally."

"I am actually excited to try."

Back at Ben's I got a ruler and used it to discuss and teach aerodynamics and flight characteristics on a very basic level which Sally seemed to understand . I even folded a paper airplane which I flew around the room explaining angle of attack, banks, and stalls. We sat a few yards apart throwing and banking the paper airplane at each other which gave her a sense of what is happening in a bank and even pitch angle. Within 30 minutes Sally had a good basic knowledge of why airplanes do what they do, paper or not. Most things really are simple once you remove the fear a doubt IMO.

After eating and the ground school training we went back to the hanger and emptied all the stuff out of the Maule as I did not want anything flying around inside the aircraft as we did stalls and no telling what else; it just depended on Sally's ability to relax and her performance on how far I would take her on her first Maule flight.

The Maule is a tail dragger or in other words does not have a nose wheel. This makes the aircraft more difficult to taxi, take off, and land particularly because somethings on landing are really different from a nose wheeled aircraft, but... there is a place for tail draggers as I have more fun landing and taking off one than I ever have in a nose dragger. Both my personal airshow aircraft are tail draggers.