“I’m not that bad.”Ernest winced as he noticed Rick’s glare.“Okay…maybe a little.I stopped the insurance payments, but the car’s in his name now.I didn’t see the point in fighting it.Look, can we talk about the matter at hand?Rehashing how badly things went with Pierre isn’t going to solve our current problem.”
“I can’t believe you gave him the damn car, but all right.So the council has been advised?”
“Yes, although the man I was speaking to said there wasn’t a map or anything, like they have in other states, showing where hot air balloons could land or not.Pierre’s is the only company operating balloons in this area.When I explained about the seedlings, the clerk also mentioned that it would be unrealistic of me to expect a balloon pilot to ascertain the state of a field when they were deciding to land, but that they were supposed to get permission from the landowners before putting a balloon down on private property.”
“Pierre doesn’t have that, and you’ve also gotten a trespass order taken out against him.Did the police let you know when that would get served on him?”
“That should’ve already been done.”Tapping his chin with his finger, Ernest added, “I did read the online information provided by the F.A.A.about this—the council kept me on hold forever—and balloonists won’t land where there are obstacles in the fields, or livestock, or things like power lines.”
“There’s no power line out toward the hills where the paddocks are, and livestock is just going to ruin the plants as well.However, we can stop the chase crew coming in.”Rick grinned.“A chain and a couple of padlocks on the front gate mean they can’t get in.There’s no other drivable access to the flower paddocks at all.”
“That’s good.That’s good.”Ernest gave a passing thought to the covers he’d neglected to order when he should’ve done.They would’ve stopped a balloon from landing on the fields.He did order them, but they would not arrive before the weekend.
“The issue, the way I see it, is that anything we put in the paddocks to stop the balloon is going to wreck the plants just as much.I’ve got to admit, it’s worrying me sick.”Ernest rubbed over his belly.“I’ve barely been able to sleep.I’m not eating.And for an elephant shifter, that’s really not a good idea.”
“What about some electrical fence tape?”Rick suggested.
“That stuff used to keep cows out of the paddocks?How would that work?I didn’t even know we had any.”
“Yes, we have some.Remember when we had an issue with the cattle from the neighboring farm until you offered to help them fix their fences?There’s at least six big spools of the stuff over in the shed.We could,” he started gesturing with his hands, “we could tie the tape to the corner fence posts of each paddock and run giant diagonal lines across the top of the plants.We could walk along the fence lines, no need to be in the fields at all, and if we did that, there is no way a balloon pilot—aka fucking Pierre—could miss seeing them.If he were that blind, he shouldn’t be flying.”
“That would make it plain the paddocks were protected, yes.”Nodding, Ernest pictured how that would look from the air.“The large crosses would scream ‘keep out,’ surely to goodness.That’s a great idea.”Then he winced as he remembered something else.
“What now?”Rick demanded.“You won’t even lose the tape.We can just roll it up and put it back in the shed when this whole balloon business is over.”
“It’s something I remember Pierre telling me, and I read about it on the F.A.A.site as well.Balloons don’t just drop from the sky.If Pierre is planning to land in one of my paddocks, he’ll have planned his descent and will be lowering the balloon for up to half an hour before he gets here.By the time he realizes we’ve marked off the paddocks with those big crosses, he could be low on fuel, and if we push him to find a different landing spot too far away, he could crash.”
“Well, shit,” Rick grumbled.“I don’t give a fuck about him, but he carries at least a dozen or more people in those baskets of his.”
“Exactly.Saving our next harvest is one thing, but I’m not hurting others to do it.”
“The field over by the old airstrip,” Rick said suddenly, his pointing finger waggling in Ernest’s direction.“We let the three fields at that end of the farm lie fallow this year, so it won’t matter if he lands there.It’s well away from the house, it’s nowhere near our operations here, and because that airstrip gets used sometimes, there is another short gravel road that services the runway.His chase crew can get to the balloon from there, and none of them have to come anywhere near here at all.We won’t even have to see him.”
It's a damn sight better than nothing.Ernest nodded.“That sounds great, thanks.Er… so… do you have any plans tonight?Only that means we have twenty paddocks to put crosses on, and then we need to find a padlock and chain for the front gate.We can’t use any of the machinery, so there’s going to be a fair bit of walking to do.”
“Meh, the exercise won’t hurt either of us.”Rick chuckled.“You might actually get some sleep tonight if we get this done.”
“It’s one way of working up an appetite,” Ernest agreed.“You know,” he added as he and Rick left the greenhouse, “we’re going to look like damn idiots if Pierre doesn’t fly his balloons in this direction at all.”
“If he’s not in the area, then he’s not going to see what we’ve done,” Rick pointed out.“But you tell me, do you honestly think he’ll leave this farm alone?”
Ernest didn’t answer.There was no point.He’d been with the man for weeks, and he still didn’t know the limits of Pierre’s manipulation.And I don’t need to know,he reminded himself firmly.
Chapter Five
Toby
He couldn’t believe his luck as he stared at Remy, who had caught up with him as he was trudging to the waiting Uber he’d summoned to take him home.The glass of fizz he’d drunk had hit fast without any food in his belly.And there was all the exercise from squishing the enormous balloon to get the air out and rolling it back into the bag.
“Really, you’re offering me another balloon ride in the morning?”It didn’t seem real, and with the giddiness of the champagne and all the possibilities of trying again to see if he could find his mate, Toby didn’t want to get his hopes up.They’d already gotten dashed this evening, as much as he’d had a wonderful time,before they’d landed.
I’m not doing this again.My feathers are still ruffled,his bird was adamant.
“Absolutely, you didn’t seem to enjoy this evening balloon ride as much as the others.”Remy glanced at the emptying car park.“You also didn’t complain about the bumpy landing.”He chuckled, abashed.
Toby suspected that by how pale Remy was when they exited the balloon to help store it away, he’d not been prepared for the bumpy—hard—landing.Surely that meant it hadn’t been like that before.
“I’ll give you my place in the balloon, and you’ll get to experience the flight at sunrise.I have to say it was my favorite,” Remy enthused.
