"I swear to God, it was the strangest thing I've ever seen," would have been the reaction of anyone who witnessed the crash landing of one decomission WWII transport plane named Bertha. But there was no one to witness it. So no one did.

The pilot had known what he was doing ( [eh?] ) to some extent. As the plane began to decend over the vast blue ocean, he pulled the nose up a little and began to sing:

"O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!"

The hull of the plane smacked onto the water. The passengers were tossed about as the pilot kept singing while being jerk about in his chair, restained only by his seat belt:

"America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good
With brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea!"

The plane miraculously skipped like a flat stone in a pond across the waves. Grimm was thrown to the back of the plane. Priest flipped head over heels and back down to the floor. Dirk bounced up, hit the roof against his back, and was harshly greeted by the floor below. Tayden had gotten tangled up in some mesh netting that seemed to serve no purpose at all but to keep him from harm. And still the pilot sang on:

"O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul
In self-control,
Thy liberty in law!"

A hard thud slowed the plane incredibly and launched Grimm, Priest, and Dirk forward. The plane was finally at rest. The pilot undid his seat belt, picked up a small pack and a rifle from the floor of the co-pilot area and headed outside still singing:

"O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success
In nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!"

"How many lines does this song have?" Grimm asked as everyone regained their composure, exited the plane and stepped onto a patch of soft ground a few feet from the beach.

Once again, had anyone see it, they would have said, "When it got to the beach, it just bounced in the air like a friggin' frog! It had to have gone thirty feet before it hit!" Once again, there was no one to do that.

The pilot adorned the plane with memorabilia from it's days in serve. Helmets from Nazis stormtroopers to pictures of her old crew now sat across her wrecked body. And still he sang:

"O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good
With brotherhood
From sea to SHINING SEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAA! "

The pilot then saluted the plane, aimed his rifle in the air, and gave Bertha a 21 gun salute (minus 20 guns).

"Someone up there still likes you," Dirk said to Tayden as he popped his neck.

"Yeah," he responded. "I know."

[ 02-11-2003, 03:31 PM: Message edited by: thedoctor ]