Rusty my all purpose coffeeboy had been watching all this,and
after seeing Christine turn into a God Honest Dragon he'd edged his
way to the secret shelf where I keep some medicinal moonshine,
that some of his hillbilly cousins ship over from time to time.
After Rusty had his stiff drink and got his nerves settled and
rejoined me and Christine,he said
"So boss,do we take the railroad down to Miami or
should I fire up the Pearce-Arrow?"
I thought about that one a minute.After the Great Crash of
1929 most construction on the new coastal highway came to a
stop.Taking the company's Pearce -Arrow down could take us a week
just to get from here down to Florida.
We could take the the Presidential,and save a few days
tavel time,but in these tough times I didn't have the money for a
speedy railroad trip.
And as you know,the Revenuers impounded my speedboat when I
lent it to Al Capone a few months back.
I was stumped.
At that point,like a Gift From Heaven,Charles
Lindberg walked in my office and greeted Christine like a
long lost friend.
It turned out that in his 1927 solo Atlantic crossing,the
Spirit of Saint Louis had developed engine trouble,and Charles
would have gone into the drink had Christine and her husband not
come flying over and held the stricken plane aloft whilst Charley
climbed out of the cockpit and fixed the engine.
Lindberg owed Christine a favour...