"This is really pretty," Helen had to agree, even through the funk she'd been in. "It's like we're flying into a postcard or something."
"The turbulence is kind of a bitch though," he said as the plane bumped and rocked in the unstable air.
"It's the wind coming up over the mountain peaks," Helen said. "It can play hell sometimes."
"Yeah," Jake said as another violent jolt rocked them. "I guess so."
He flew on and silence descended once again. Jake brought them two miles to the south of the main peak of Mount Cook and then turned leisurely to the northwest. He could now see the glacier going down the west side of the mountain merging with the lush green of a rainforest near the base. From there, the land sloped gently to the dazzling blue waters of the South Pacific Ocean.
"I want to live here," Jake said whimsically.
"You want to move to New Zealand?" Helen asked in wonder, not because she thought the idea strange, but because Jake was someone who could do such a thing if he wished.
"Maybe not permanently," he said. "But I'd love to have a winter house here. Somewhere near Christchurch but a little bit out of it. Maybe up in those hills that surround the city. I wonder if they'll sell real estate to Americans or if they're like Mexico and only let you lease the land."
"I don't know," she said. "It was easy enough for you to rent this plane. They didn't even check to make sure your license was valid. I suppose if you have enough money you can do whatever you want."
"Yeah, sometimes it seems to work that way," Jake agreed.
Jake had to do some maneuvering as they passed in front of the mountain and the updrafts slammed into them. The plane began to bounce and shake like a car driving down an undeveloped dirt road. He had to nose down a little to counter the increased lift and turn to the west a little to keep from being pushed toward the mountain by the wind. He was feeling more than a little nervous about the flying conditions. Never before had he encountered turbulence like this. Helen's relaxed and unworried attitude did much to ease his mind.
When they finally passed out of the updraft zone in front of the mountain, Jake reduced power and put the nose down so they could descend back down to four thousand feet or so. He would then parallel the west coast of the island northward until they reached Hokitika, a small coastal town where they would land and have lunch before heading back across the mountains.
It was an exciting adventure to be in a foreign country, piloting a small plane over a large mountain range and then navigating to a town he'd never heard of until two days before. Some of Jake's enjoyment, however, was being sapped away by the dark mood Helen was in. As the plane bounced and bumped its way downward toward the glacial wastelands and the rainforest, he decided to try talking about it with her. Hell, anything could work, couldn't it?
"So, what's the problem?" Jake asked her.
"What do you mean?" she asked, not looking at him.
"You've been giving me the silent treatment all morning. Why?"
"I'm not giving you any kind of treatment," she said.
Jake sighed. "Yes, you are," he said. "Obviously you're upset about something, so how about you tell me what it is and we'll talk about it."
"If you don't know what it is, I'm not going to tell you."
"Oh, Jesus fucking Christ," he cried, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. "For someone raised by a man, you're sure acting like a girl right now."
"I am not acting like a girl!" she shouted at him. To Helen, that was one of the worst insults imaginable.
"Then why don't you be a man and tell me what's bothering you," he said.
She finally looked at him, her eyes shooting daggers at him. "I would think you would know what upset me this morning. Did you forget about that little incident with those two sluts?"
"Ohhh," Jake said, nodding. "Is that it?"
Jake and Helen had spent last night in a luxury hotel in Lake Tekapo, a small resort town at the eastern base of the Southern Alps. This morning, after they'd had breakfast in the hotel's restaurant and had been waiting out front for the taxi that would take them to the small airport, two young women named Hannah and Dandie had come out of the front lobby and recognized Jake. They immediately came over and engaged him in conversation.
The two girls were from England and were in New Zealand on holiday. They both said they were twenty-two years old but Jake suspected that they were actually closer to nineteen, twenty at the very most. Hannah was a blonde dressed in a very revealing spaghetti strap top and a pair of short shorts. Dandie was a brunette in a skimpy brown one piece dress that left her cleavage exposed on top and the majority of her shapely legs exposed on the bottom.
After fawning over him, telling him how unbelievable it was that he was here at the same time as they were, and asking all of the usual questions about what he was doing in Lake Tekapo, how he came up with his songs, where was Matt and Nerdly, when was the next album coming out, they both pulled scraps of paper from their purses and asked for autographs.
"No problem," Jake said. "Do you have a pen?"
"Uh... sure," Hannah said, digging furiously in her purse and finally producing one.
Jake took it from her. "How do you spell your name, Hannah?" he asked.
She told him and he scrawled out his usual bullshit line about meeting the nicest two girls in Lake Tekapo and signing it. He then did the same for Dandie. Through this all, Helen stood next to him, completely ignored by the two girls, just waiting for it to be over so they could get into the taxi, which had just pulled up.
"Thank you sooooo much, Jake," Hannah told him with stars in her eyes.
"Yes," agreed Dandie, was nodding furiously at him. "We just love all of your music. We tried to get tickets to one of the shows in Christchurch but they all sold out as soon as they went on sale."
"Yeah," said Hannah. "And the bloody scalpers are asking for nine hundred dollars for even the worst seats."
"And I don't even get a cut of those dollars," Jake said.
The two girls giggled as if this was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.
"I don't suppose," said Hannah, "that you have any extra tickets on you?"
"Nope," Jake said. "Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to pass out tickets to any of the shows. It's a contract thing." This was not strictly the truth, of course. If Jake or any of the other band members or even some of the upper echelon of the road crew wanted someone to have tickets to any particular show, it could be arranged. Jake was not in the habit, however, of arranging it for young girls he met in front of hotel lobbies — even if they were incredibly cute and exuding naked sexuality.
"Oh," Hannah said, pouting a little. "Well, that's too bad." She brightened a little. "Could you sign one other thing for me?"
"What's that?" Jake asked, although he already knew. Such requests were very common.
She stepped closer to him and pulled down the left side of her spaghetti strap top, exposing her naked breast to his eyes. "Could you sign my boob?" she asked him.
"Hannah!" Dandie squealed. "I can't believe you did that!"
"Yes, what would your mother think, Hannah?" Jake asked.
"My mum would have her top down too," Hannah told him. "Hell, probably her tarty knickers as well.
"Well, a pity mum's not here, isn't it?" Jake said, getting another laugh from the two girls. He took Hannah's pen again and scrawled his signature across the downslope of her breast without actually touching it.
"Lovely," Hannah said dreamily, as she gazed at the pen markings. "I'm never going to wash this boob again."
"I really wouldn't recommend that," Jake said.