Dare County Regional Airport

Initially, he couldn't find anybody who knew how to get there...yes, by car for sure.  And another one mentioned something about a bus...God knowing how long that would take.

No.

He needed to get there, faster than most humanly possible.  No commercial airlines were able to get any closer than Norfolk but that still required another couple of hours by car.  The thought of sitting in tunnel traffic made him feel almost nauseated.  He couldn't imagine sitting idly in a car trying to get to someplace fast.

So he called a friend he knew in college...a friend who constantly posted on Facebook pictures of his progress in becoming an amateur pilot...hell he was even building his own plane.  The only awkward part was it had been 30 years since he had last spoken to him...but they picked right up where they had left off...well not exactly but close.  You see the last time he had really been with his pilot friend was at William & Mary, as juniors on a weekend trip and he had to sit calmly and quietly in a girl's sorority lobby while the pilot friend loudly hooked up with said girl in the bathroom.  Nearby.  It was an awkward yet bonding experience for sure.

So the pilot friend laughed at the memory and while not completely understanding the motivation, he agreed to fly him down to get as close as possible as speedily as possible.




Flying in a small propeller plane is nothing like commercial airlines....the winds are more impactful and flying at a lower altitude makes the scenery more compelling...he flew down the coastline so to his left was the initially light blue darkening to an almost purple as the Atlantic spread out away from him.  The surf in its white streaks scribbled up and down the beaches and people dotted the landscape with colorful umbrellas and blankets.

As he felt the plane move inland and start to lower he knew he was starting to land.  It was very noisy in the plane and he had taken off his headphones so he wouldn't hear the mindless chatter of the pilot and air traffic controllers.  It was a white noise though...soothing.

Like catching her in a lazily sleeping braless moment.

He watched the treelines starting to get larger, knowing as his ears popped that they were descending.  The ocean was now at their backs and the inlet waters, green and sparkling with dots of sunlight were now beneath them.

From the air, Dare County Regional Airport looks like two white lanes against the terrain, just a small terminal and it nestles on an island near the barrier outer banks.

Somewhere, on that ocean, she was nearby.  Somewhere, right on the waterline.  She might even notice a small plane, or hear the drone of its engine.  Never would she guess he was coming to see her.

He watched as the plane oriented itself along the axis of the runway, watched the ground start its ascent towards them and the slight bump when the wheels touched down.

The plane taxied a short ways, pulling up near the terminal and he shook his friend's hand and gave him double the cash he originally quoted.  His friend protested but he shook it off and made him take it.

He opened the door, the sun exploding on him and the breeze carrying the scent of the ocean and wax myrtles, and he remembered those trees blooming in Spring and being "daintily aromatic".
The sky was a blue that you only saw near the ocean and he felt like he was a bit in an undertow...her presence nearby, her gravity pulling him towards her.

He remembered a Roxy Music song and hummed it as he waited for his cab.