“May I assist you with your packages, ma’am?” the young man asked politely as Carrie bustled inside. Although he was in his earlytwenties, the smattering of freckles across his pale cheeks and nose made him look like an adolescent. Despite his youth, he was as prompt and courteous as the rest of Vera’s well-trained staff.
“That would be exceedingly helpful,” Carrie said as she handed over the parcels. “We’re heading directly to the basement workshop. IknowI can’t wait to start tinkering!”
Carrie directed the last statement at Mattie with a broad smile that Mattie just couldn’t return in equal force. With what she feared was a rather poor facsimile of one, she asked, “How are your parents?”
“Wonderful.” Carrie linked her arm with Mattie’s. “It’s always great to see them, and I’m glad I squeezed in a visit before the Flying Flappers take off on our western tour. Dad was especially excited when I told him about the power generator at Fete Castle. He is extremely curious about all the radio equipment I asked him to purchase, but don’t worry. I didn’t spill the beans, even though I generally tell my parents everything.”
“Thanks,” Mattie said, and despite her melancholy, she meant it. It was odd, working with others on this project. But Sadie had helped direct her thoughts, and Carrie, who’d grown up working in her father’s bicycle enterprise, could use a lathe better than Mattie. And she would rather rely on these women, who had stood up for her in the speakeasy, than on one of the various machinists that Vera employed to maintain her vehicles and the estate’s equipment.
“I normally like flying better than I do working in the back of a shop,” Carrie said as they wound down the stairs to the lower level, “but I can’t wait to get started on this project of yours. It is brilliant in its elegant simplicity.”
“You can thank Sadie for that. My original plans were much, much more complicated until she gave me advice to try a more straightforward approach.” Mattie really wanted to confide her latest conversation with her brother to Carrie, but not when the servant carrying the packages was still within earshot. It was a discussion that required privacy.
“We’ll have to let Sadie know that I’ve returned. She’ll want to join us.”
“Of course,” Mattie said, although she wasn’t completely sure if she wanted to start the project immediately. Maybe she should beg off and go flying instead.
Carrie shot her a questioning look, clearly realizing something wasn’t quite right. She didn’t say anything, though. Instead she switched the conversation back to her parents. “My mother was fascinated by the business end of the Flying Flappers. She does my dad’s books and handles the customers, and she has no idea how Vera intends to make a profit.”
“I don’t think she expects to actually earn money,” Mattie said, trying not to sound too absent.
“Oh, it’s clear she doesn’t.” Carrie waved her hand. “That is what really fascinated my mother.”
“I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be part of the Flying Flappers.” After all, Mattie’s generous salary might be the only way for her to contribute to saving the flight school, since it was looking doubtful that she’d be able to sell her invention.
“So am I,” Carrie agreed as they finally reached the machine shop, which was tucked in next to the power station and the battery room. The servant left the collection of boxes on the well-worn worktable. It was past hours, so the maintenance staff had left for the day. Mattie appreciated not having to fight over work space... or endure the half-amused, half-displeased eyes of the machinists.
After Carrie had given the young fellow instructions to let Sadie know they were about to begin work, the servant left. As soon as he softly shut the door behind him, Carrie turned in Mattie’s direction, her expression no nonsense.
“What’s eating at you, Mattie?” Carrie asked. “I thought you’d be tearing into the parcels by now.”
Mattie sighed and scrubbed her face. “I had a discouraging phone call with my oldest brother.”
Frowning, Carrie leaned her back against the wooden workbench and folded her arms over her chest. “He’s the one who’s a mechanic for the US Airmail Service?”
“Yup.” Mattie kicked a little at the basement floor in frustration. “He was supposed to be testing the reaction of his bosses to a new means of navigation.”
“And they’re not taking too kindly to the notion?” Understanding threaded through Carrie’s voice.
“Not when they found out who is coming up with the idea.” Mattie scuffed the back of her heel, feeling trapped, as she so often did. Living at Vera’s had been freeing—a mad whirl of adventure in a fairy-tale world where women soared—but reality had returned, harsh and unyielding.
“Do you know what the greatest lesson my parents taught me was?” Carrie asked, and when Mattie shook her head, she continued. “That each time someone saysno, you just have to tell yourselfyesand keep repeating it until you believe it body and soul.”
“And you and your parents have wrongly been toldnoa lot,” Mattie said, thinking of all the places that displayed signs forbidding entrance to Black folks or how in the South it was common to have different train cars depending on the color of a person’s skin, with the ones for whites invariably newer and more nicely appointed. The Supreme Court had come down with an unfair decision about “separate but equal,” but nothing was equal or just about it.
“When my dad set out his shingle on the edge of where mostly white people shopped, everyone thought he was crazy except my mother. Committees full of ‘good-hearted, civic-minded’ crusaders tried time and again to force his business out, but he stayed on. He offered better products and better service than anybody else, and my mother is like Vera when it comes to advertising. My parents made a good life forthemselves and for me, and they’ve built a solid enterprise, with Dad adding new products like radios and now starting to offer auto repair services. They still hearnoall the time, but they haven’t let it stop them.”
“And there’s you and Brave Bessie,” Mattie said.
“If it weren’t for my mentor leaving the racial prejudice in America and traveling to Europe to get her pilot’s license, I probably would not have had the opportunity to obtain one myself. That’s why you can’t let a few men force you into thinking that you’re defeated. What you have in mind isn’t just a brilliant convenience. It can actually save lives. Don’t let naysayers stop you from pursuing it.”
“My twin brother died after flying deeper into German territory when he thought he was on his way back to our side of the lines during the war. His plane was badly damaged, and we don’t think his compass was working properly.” The words rushed out of Mattie, something she’d never said aloud to anyone apart from her family and Leo.
Carrie’s entire face softened as she straightened from her leaning position. “Oh, Mattie, that’s why you feel so strongly about making planes safer!”
“It was getting dark, and that probably contributed to him losing his way,” Mattie admitted. “I know I can’t save him, but my other brothers are flying mail routes, and they’ll be going through all sorts of weather and facing poor visibility.”
“Then youhaveto make this prototype,” Carrie said. “For them. For yourself. For all of us. You don’t need your brother’s bosses to tell you it’s a good or bad idea. Youknowit is a great one. I know it. Sadie knows it. And all of us Flying Flappers will cheer you on every step.”
