INGRID DOWS - AN ALTERNATE STORY PART 2 - THE JET AGE by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

Le Bourget International Airport

Northeast suburbs of Paris, France

The 101 passengers filling the tubular cabins of the Hughes AIRBUS 2, a mix of American, French and other European citizens, clapped loudly when their plane landed smoothly at the vertical on the main tarmac of the airport of Le Bourget, near Paris, then started to roll towards one of the gates of the international passenger terminal. One of those passengers happened to be Ingrid, who was following Katharine’s counsel to take some vacation time. Since she was supposed to come on this trip as a vacationer, she had not insisted on piloting the AIRBUS 2 on this inaugural transatlantic flight between New York and Paris, a flight that was getting a huge media coverage, and had let Suzanne Humphreys, a veteran transport pilot from the 99th Air Wing who now worked for Air Fifinella, pilot that prestigious route, with Hazel Ah Ying Lee, another Fifinella veteran, as her copilot. Ingrid had thus travelled incognito as a simple passenger in one of the tourist-class seats of the plane and was now clapping enthusiastically along with her fellow passengers.

Since the Le Bourget Airport, like all other airports in 1949, did not have yet what was going to be called ‘jetways’ or ‘jet bridges’ in the future, the passengers of the Hughes AIRBUS 2 left the plane via its aft access staircase, stepping out on the tarmac and then walking towards the access doors of the arrival gate allotted to their aircraft.

Once inside, they found themselves in a vast hall lined with French immigration and custom controls wickets and lined up in multiple files, waiting to be received by French immigration officers. Ingrid took place in one of those files, behind an American family of five composed of two adults int their late twenties, two preteens and one toddler. That family had travelled in seats facing that of Ingrid, who had smiled and waved at the toddler, a very cute girl of about three, during the flight. That toddler had made Ingrid wonder if she was going to have children in the future. She did love children and babies but she was not sure that her busy life routine would leave her time to have children...or to find a male mate worthy of spending the rest of her life with. Right now, designing and flight-testing planes kept her very busy and, being a billionaire, she did not exactly need to marry in order to sustain herself financially. There was also the fact that testing

213

new planes was risky business and that she could die quite unexpectedly anytime she flew a prototype, leaving any potential child of hers an orphan. Thus, that question of having a child or not, either a natural one or an adopted one, was something she was not really ready yet to act on.

When her turn came at one of the immigration wickets, she smiled to the French immigration officer and spoke in fluent French to him while presenting her passport.

‘’Bonjour! I come as a tourist.’

The agent nodded his head in response and, taking her passport, examined it for a few seconds before stamping it and giving it back to Ingrid.

‘’Have a nice stay in France, Miss Dows.’

‘’Thank you, sir!’

Next, she went to collect her single suitcase and passed through the French customs checks without a problem, to then emerge in the area where relatives and friends of incoming passengers were waiting for their loved ones. There, she saw quite a few press photographers and reporters, apparently there to take pictures of or interview the passengers from her flight about their impressions on their trip from New York.

Thankfully, nobody recognized her or even paid attention to her and she was able to walk out and take place in one of the taxis waiting outside of the terminal. The taxi driver, a man of North African ethnicity, got out at once to help her put her suitcase and travel bag in the trunk of his Renault sedan.

‘’Welcome to Paris, miss. Where to?’ he asked in French.

‘’I reserved a room at the Hotel Rochambeau, at 46 Jacob Street, in the Sixth Arrondissement17.’

‘’I know it, miss: it is a small family hotel which is very well situated near the center of Paris. It is not luxurious but the service is courteous and friendly.’

‘’That’s what I like, mister.’

Ingrid then took place on the rear bench seat, with the driver starting to roll as soon as she was in.

The drive to her hotel took about forty minutes through the dense traffic of the French capital, a time Ingrid used to look around at what she could see of Paris: this was 17 Arrondissement: Term in France used to designate a district in a French city.

214

her first visit here since early in World War 2. Thankfully, war damage to Paris seemed to have either been light, or it had been restored quickly, something that pleased Ingrid, as she had loved the city for its historical landmarks, its entertainment clubs and its array of diverse restaurants and coffee shops/bars, commonly called ‘bistros’. When she arrived at her hotel, she found it to occupy a portion of a long row of buildings made of grey stones forming a continuous, four-story façade along one side of Jacob Street.

From its architecture, she guessed that it probably dated from the 19th Century but it did look well-maintained. Stepping out of the taxi and recuperating her bags, she paid the taxi driver, leaving him a nice tip, before entering the small reception lobby of the hotel, where an old woman in her sixties greeted her with a smile.

‘’Good evening, miss! Do you have a reservation?’

‘’Yes, I do, madam! My name is Ingrid Dows and I took a reservation for three nights, with an option for more if I make my stay in Paris longer.’

‘’Extending your stay here would be no problem, miss: the hotel is stil half empty.

May I see your passport?’’

‘’Of course! Here it is.’

The graying woman took her passport and examined it, writing down her name and passport number in her hotel register, as mandated by French law and regulations, then gave it back to Ingrid with a smile and a room key.

‘’Here is your room key, miss: you have Room 14, on the second floor. By the way, your French is excellent, miss. You barely have any accent to it.’

‘’Thank you, madam. Would you know a small restaurant nearby that you would counsel to me for supper?’’

‘’You have tons of them around, miss, as we are close to the Quartier Latin and to the Eiffel Tower. What type of cuisine would tempt you?’’

‘’Any type, madam: I like exploring, be it European, Asian or Middle Eastern food.’’

‘’Then, I would counsel you to go to the ‘Fleur du Mékong’: it is a small but very good Vietnamese restaurant situated at the end of this street, to your left when you will get out. It has a small dining room but the service is very friendly and the food both authentic and excellent.’

Ingrid’s eyes lit up at the mention of ‘Vietnamese restaurant’: her second most recent incarnation had been as a Vietnamese peasant living in the Mekong Delta during the 19th Century.

215

‘’Sounds like what I want, madam. Thank you for your counsel.’

‘’You’re welcome, miss.’

Going up the stairs to the floor where her room was, she found her room to be quite small but impeccably clean, while the bathroom, also small, ha a shower stall on top of a sink and a toilet. Despite now being a billionaire, Ingrid had not lost her sense of frugality and was satisfied enough with her room. Taking fifteen minutes to unpack her bags and suspending her clothes in the room’s closet next to the door, Ingrid then went back down and waved at the old receptionist before stepping out of the hotel.

Immediately turning left and following the sidewalk, Ingrid easily enough found the ‘Fleur du Mékong’ restaurant, which occupied a corner location at the next street intersection.

Reading quickly the menu posted in its front window made her mouth water and she entered the restaurant, finding less than a dozen other customers inside, then sat at a table next to a front window. A young woman, nearly a teenager, quickly came to her table, a menu and a notepad in her hands. The waitress then spoke in a good but accented French.

‘’Good evening, miss. Here is the menu. Would you like a drink while you make your choice?

‘’I wil have a cup of tea, miss.’ replied Ingrid in her fluent French. The young waitress bowed in response and walked away after putting down the menu on the table.

When Ingrid opened it, she found out that the items were listed and described in both French and Vietnamese. With the Vietnamese she had spoken in the 19th Century still flowing in her mind, Ingrid studied the menu for a minute before making her choice.

When the waitress came back with a cup and a hot tea pot, Ingrid gave her her choices of items, then asked her a question in Vietnamese, surprising the young woman.

‘’Your restaurant is named ‘Fleur du Mékong’. Is the owner original y from the Mekong area?’’

‘’Uh, my family is effectively from the Mekong Delta area, miss. We fled from Indochina when the Japanese invaded the country and took over from the French. We then used our economies to open this restaurant, which fortunately is making relatively good business.’

Ingrid soberly nodded her head once on hearing that: since the end of the war in Europe in 1944, the French government had been sending troops and ships in order to retake Indochina from the Japanese Army units stationed there, who were refusing to surrender

216

or withdraw. The French Army units which first arrived from France then found out to their horror and disgust that the Japanese had massacred the French officials and soldiers who had originally been posted to Indochina, along with many of the French settlers living in the country. Savage fighting had followed, with the enraged French soldiers showing no mercy to the Japanese soldiers and citizens they encountered.

With the Japanese rapidly running out of ammunition and fuel and deprived of air and naval support, they had quickly been reduced to dispersed pockets of resistance, surrounded and attacked by both French soldiers and Vietnamese guerrillas. Even now, some Japanese soldiers still resisted and hid in the jungles, like the ones still resisting in the Philippines. The result of all this, as far as Ingrid knew, was a heavily damaged country still in political and military chaos.

‘’My family visited Indochina many years ago, when I stil was a young girl, and we visited the Mekong Delta. From where exactly is your family from, miss?’’

‘’From a small vil age named Gia Rai, miss.’ answered the waitress, making Ingrid stiffen instantly: that village was the one where her past incarnation as a peasant named Tran Qui Khiem had lived during the 18th Century, from 1721 to 1786.

‘’Uh, my family did go through that vil age once, miss, and became friends with the Tran family. Would you know by chance if that family is stil living in Gia Rai?’’

Ingrid felt bad when the waitress sadly shook her head in response.

‘’Most of the people of Gia Rai were kil ed in 1942 by the Japanese when they retaliated for a guerrilla ambush in which five Japanese soldiers were killed near the village. That was when my family fled out of Indochina and went to France. As for members of the Tran family, there were actually two such named families in Gia Rai, one of which was our direct neighbor. Most of that family died in the Japanese attack but we managed to save one of their children, a small baby girl named Hien. We brought her with us to France and have been raising her as a member of our family ever since.’

Ingrid was left shocked and wordless for seconds: that little girl could possibly be a descendant of her past incarnation as Tran Qui Khiem.

‘’And...what is the complete name of that baby girl?’’

‘’Tran Ti Hien. Why do you ask, miss? From what you told me, she wasn’t born yet when you visited Indochina before the war.’

‘’True, but I would much like to be able to meet her after my meal. The Tran had been good people and I may want to do something for her, in honor to her lost family.’

217

‘’That is a most kind thought, miss. If you would like, I could go get little Hien after serving you and escort her to your table, so that you could see her and speak with her.’

‘’I would love that, miss. Does she speak French, or only Vietnamese?’’

‘’She speaks both French and Vietnamese and has even started to learn some English at school. She is now seven years-old, miss.’

‘’Seven... Alright, I have chosen from your menu, if you would like to take my order now.’

The waitress took note of her choices, then walked away and disappeared in the kitchen, leaving Ingrid in deep thoughts. To meet like this in Paris a possible distant, nine generations-removed descendant of her own Vietnamese incarnation was nothing short of a miracle. Was destiny sending her a message of some sort? She then did her best to mentally reconstruct the possible genealogical tree of little Hien from the children and grand-children Tran Qui Khiem had in the 18th Century. At the time Khiem lived, there was only one Tran family in Gia Rai, so any other Tran families which appeared there afterwards were most likely descendants of Khiem. However, that still led to numerous possible permutations, especially since she couldn’t possibly know about the following generations of Tran which lived during the 19th Century. Only a detailed search through local genealogical archives in Indochina could possibly answer her questions. As for doing such a detailed search in a half-ruined country that was still at war, she might as well forget about it.

When the waitress returned with the items she had ordered, she was accompanied by a very cute young Vietnamese girl with long dark brown hair and brown eyes and who was helping the waitress by carrying a bowl of rice. The waitress smiled to Ingrid as she put down the plates in front of her.

‘’Here you are, miss. This is Tran Ti Hien, the girl we saved from the Japanese. I asked her to accompany you while you eat.’

‘’She is so beautiful and cute. Thank you for presenting her to me, miss.’

‘’You’re welcome, miss.’ replied the waitress before going to serve another customer. Ingrid then smiled to the little girl now timidly standing next to her table and spoke to her in Vietnamese.

218

‘’Hello, Hien! My name is Ingrid...Ingrid Dows, and I am an American. Please, have a seat: I would like to talk with you as I eat.’

The girl didn’t say a word then but did sit in the chair opposite that of Ingrid, to silently look at her. Ingrid’s heart accelerated as she admired the child: her looks definitely reminded Ingrid of one of Khiem’s daughters. The probabilities that little Hien could be a distant descendant of Khiem thus just had increased significantly.

‘’Don’t be shy, Hien: I just wanted to see the daughter of a family I met years ago, before the start of the war. I was myself a small girl then and was traveling with my parents while they visited Vietnam. We had stopped for the night in Gia Rai after the small boat we had rented to go up the Mekong River developed a leak and your family graciously offered us a place for the night. I was just told that your family was killed by the Japanese when you were still a baby and that you were then brought to France.

First, let me say that I am saddened by the news of what happened to your family.’

The girl didn’t question the story served to her by Ingrid and simply nodded her head once while uttering a few words in a timid but cute voice.

‘’Thank you for caring about my family, miss.’

‘’Please, just call me Ingrid, Hien. So, how is your life here, in Paris?’

‘’It is okay, Ingrid. The Truong are treating me well and I like going to school.’

‘’Do they make you work in their restaurant, Hien?’’ asked Ingrid, wanting to know if the girl was being exploited in any way. To her relief, Hien shook her head.

‘’No, but I do volunteer from time to time to help clean the kitchen. They want me to concentrate on my school work in the evenings.’

‘’That is good! The waitress told me that you have started to learn English at school. How good is your English now?’’

‘’I speak only little.’’ answered Hien in English, making Ingrid smile to her.

‘’That is not bad, Hien. I am sure that you wil learn English quickly: you look like a smart girl.’

‘’And you? Where did you learn to speak Vietnamese?’’

‘’I have a special gift for languages and I studied Asian cultures in college.’ lied Ingrid. ‘’Do you plan to go to college one day?’’

‘’I would like to, but the Truong are not rich. I am not sure if they will be able to pay for college for me.’

‘’Then, I wil be more than happy to help pay for your future studies, Hien.’

That declaration left little Hien both incredulous and surprised.

219

‘’Why would you do that for me? You are a stranger from a far-off country.’

‘’Because I deeply care for others and because you definitely seem worthy of being cared for, Hien. That would be one way to honor the memory of your lost family.’

‘’But I do not want to become a burden to you, Ingrid.’

‘’You wil never be a burden for me, Hien. To be honest, I am quite rich, so paying for your studies wil be no problem for me.’

‘’You are rich? What work do you do?’’

‘’I am a test pilot and an aeronautical engineer and my company is doing very wel these days.’

Hien’s eyes opened wide on hearing those words.

‘’You fly planes?! I never flew in a plane but it looks real y fun.’

‘’It is, Hien. You know what? One fine day, I wil have you fly with me.’’

‘’Really? I would love that, Ingrid!’ exclaimed Hien in an enthusiastic tone.

‘’Then, I wil definitely have to talk with the Truong after my meal. Now, what else do you like to do, Hien?’’

Their conversation then turned into a discreet inquiry by Ingrid meant to better know and understand little Hien, whom was growing steadily in fondness in Ingrid’s heart. When she was finished eating and had paid for her meal, Ingrid did have a request for the waitress.

‘’Miss, I would like very much to speak with your parents concerning Hien. I realize that they may still be busy in the kitchen but I am ready to wait in order to speak with them.’

The waitress, surprised by her eagerness, thought for a moment before answering her.

‘’My father and older brother are effectively busy in the restaurant’s kitchen at this time but my mother is upstairs, in our apartment. I could lead you to her as soon as I have a free moment.’

‘’I can lead Ingrid upstairs!’ proposed at once Hien in an enthusiastic tone, making both the waitress and Ingrid smile down at her.

‘’Alright, Hien: you may bring her to our mother.’

Hien cheered at that, then took Ingrid’s hand as she stepped down from her chair.

‘’I wil show you the way, Ingrid. Fol ow me!’’

Followed by the amused eyes of the waitress, Ingrid let Hien lead her out of the dining room and into the kitchen, where two men were sweating it out in front of lit stoves. Hien

220

then approached the older man, who was in his late fifties, and spoke to him in Vietnamese.

‘’Father, this is my new friend, Ingrid. She wants to speak about me to Mother and you. Could I lead her to Mother while you continue working here?’

The man looked at Ingrid, clearly surprised and also a bit suspicious.

‘’You want to discuss about Hien with us, miss? What for?’’

‘’My family once met her family, many years ago, before the war, during a visit to Indochina, I just learned that her family was killed by the Japanese and that you saved Hien while she was just a baby and then brought her to France. I would like to help her, in honor of her dead family, by offering to pay for her future studies.’’

That seemed to disarm the restaurant owner, who eyed Ingrid with some incredulity.

‘’You would do that for a little girl you just met for the first time, miss? That would be mightily generous of you. Look, the restaurant will close in about one hour. Would you be ready to wait that long while staying with my wife upstairs?’’

‘’I would be most happy to wait until you could come upstairs, mister.’

‘’Then, you may guide your friend upstairs now, Hien.’

‘’Thank you, father!’ replied Hien before again taking Ingrid by the hand and leading her towards a staircase visible at one extremity of the kitchen. Waiting for Hien and Ingrid to disappear at the top of the stairs, the owner’s son whispered to him, some concern visible on his face.

‘’Would it be safe to let a complete stranger like this young woman get involved with Hien, Father? We have heard many stories of how criminal gangs trafficked in girls, to force them into prostitution.’’

‘’True, but let’s not judge this woman in advance, Minh. Once I am finished here, I wil go speak with her and will make sure that her intentions are good.’

Once on the upper floor, Ingrid was led by Hien to a woman in her fifties busy folding freshly washed and dried clothes. The woman looked with surprise at Ingrid, then at Hien, speaking to her in Vietnamese in the mistaken assumption that Ingrid could not understand her.

‘’Hien, who is this woman? Why did you bring her here to our apartment?’’

Ingrid then spoke up, using Vietnamese, before Hien could answer the woman.

‘’Excuse me for showing up like this without warning, madam. My name is Ingrid Dows and I came to have supper at your restaurant. My family once visited Gia Rai

221

before the war and met the Tran family there, well before Hien was born. I was then a small girl and the hospitality and kindness of the Tran touched me and my parents. I was told by your daughter working as a waitress downstairs that the Tran family was killed by the Japanese in 1942 and that you escaped Gia Rai while saving young Hien, then fled to France. That story deeply touched me and I in turn was conquered by Hien, who seems to be a bright and nice girl. I happen to be very well off and would like to help pay for Hien’s future education. I met your husband downstairs and told him that I am wil ing to wait here with you until he can come up after work.’

The Vietnamese woman stared at her for a second before smiling to her and nodding her head once.

‘’That is a generous thought indeed on your part, miss. Would you like some tea while you wait for my husband?’’

‘’Tea wil be fine, madam.’

‘’Then, Hien wil guide you to our family lounge, where my daughter and son presently are. I will join you as soon as I could prepare some tea.’

‘’Thank you, madam.’

Ingrid then let Hien lead her by one hand to a lounge where a teenage boy and girl were sitting in a sofa, watching some news program. To Ingrid’s surprise, both teenagers immediately stared at her with disbelief the moment she walked in, with the girl exclaiming out loud in Vietnamese.

‘’Lady Hawk? Here? How could this be possible?’

‘’Er, you know me, girl?’’

‘’They just showed a short story about you after announcing the first non-stop jet trip between New York and Paris. You are real y Ingrid Dows, miss?’’

‘’I am, indeed.’’ answered Ingrid, sighing: her wish of helping Hien in a nearly anonymous way just had been thrown overboard. On her part, little Hien looked up at her with incomprehension, then at her half-sister.

‘’What do you mean, Thien? Who is ‘Lady Hawk’?’’

‘’She’s the American general who defeated the Japanese in the Pacific during the war. According to the news program we just listened to, she also designed and built the first commercial jet airliner to fly non-stop from the United States to Paris.’’

‘’Ingrid, a general? But generals are all old men.’

Ingrid had a chuckle at that and smiled down at Hien.

222

‘’You are quite right about that, Hien, but there are rare exceptions to that from time to time. I am one such exception. Could you present me your siblings?’’

‘’Sure! This is my sister Thien and my brother Giap.’

‘’Pleased to meet you!’ said Ingrid while exchanging handshakes with the awed teenagers. She then sat down with Hien on another sofa and was immediately besieged with a barrage of excited questions, which she answered while clinging to her story about visiting Gia Rai years ago.

They were stil discussing when Hien’s adoptive mother walked in with a tray supporting a tea service. She barely had time to put down her tray on a low table before young Giap spoke to her.

‘’Mother, this is the famous Lady Hawk, the American ace fighter pilot and general.’’

‘’Noo!’

‘’She is, Mother: they just showed a news brief on her on TV. A plane she designed and built just made the first non-stop flight by a jet airliner between New York and Paris.’

Ingrid slowly nodded her head when the mature woman looked at her, still having a problem believing her son.

‘’It is true, madam. I am ex-Major General Ingrid Dows and I did fight the Japanese, then the Germans, during World War 2. I know how cruel the Japanese occupation of Indochina was and it would really make me happy if I could help support your family and Hien.’

As she said that, young Thien seemed to remember something and got up from her sofa, excusing herself before going to her bedroom. She quickly came back with a small, soft-cover book which she then showed to her mother, who saw that Ingrid’s image, wearing a military pilot’s outfit, featured prominently on the cover.

‘’This is a book General Dows wrote about her experiences during World War 2, Mother. It was a bestseller when it was published a few years ago.’

Her mother could only look at the book’s cover, then at Ingrid, awe in her eyes.

‘’General Dows, it is a true honor to be able to receive such a hero as you in our humble home. To have you ready to help us and Hien is a great gift to us. How exactly do you intend to help us?’’

223

‘’First, I would like to establish a college bursary for both Hien and your two teenage children, so that they could fully fulfill their dreams and goals in life. Second, I would like to become Hien’s godmother, so that I could help her as she grows up. Third, I would like to offer her a trip to the United States, since she told me that she never flew in a plane. I could make her visit my aircraft factory and offer her to fly with me in one of my planes during her visit to the United States. Finally, I would like to help financially your family for saving Hien from the Japanese. How well is your restaurant doing, madam?’’

The mature woman hesitated for a moment before answering her: exposing her family’s problems like this to a stranger felt wrong to her. She finally relented and spoke softly while looking down at the old carpet of her lounge.

‘’Our restaurant is doing reasonably well right now but we had to borrow heavily in order to open it, some six years ago, and the interests on that loan are severely impacting on our family budget. However, I would be loath to profit from...’

‘’How much of that loan do you stil owe, madam.’ Interrupted Ingrid, her tone firm. ‘’Know that I am a bil ionaire...in American dol ars: helping you would real y make me very happy, while it could hardly make any dent in my fortune.’

‘’Uh, do you mind if I wait until my husband is here before we discuss this in more detail, General? I would prefer to let him take these kinds of decisions for our family.’

‘’That would be fine with me, madam. One question about Hien: does she have a passport?’’

‘’Yes! The French government issued passports to all of us after we had lived five years in France. We are all officially French citizens, thanks to the fact that Indochina was a French colony before the Japanese invaded it. The French Army is presently fighting there to get rid of the last of those hated Japanese soldiers.’

‘’Then, if you would agree to it, I would like to have Hien accompany me when I will fly back to the United States, where I will make her tour my aircraft factory.’

‘’That...that would be fantastic, General. It will make Hien so happy to be able to fly and visit the United States. Is your factory in New York?’’

‘’No, it is in California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. I am the co-owner with two other women of the Hughes Enterprises, which we inherited from the famous aviator and businessman, Howard Hughes. As you can see, helping your family will be well within my means, but it would also bring me a lot of joy.’

224

Overwhelmed by all this, the Vietnamese woman started quietly sobbing, with her daughters and son quickly going to her to comfort her. As they did so, Thien remembered something she had read in the autobiography written by Ingrid and threw a questioning look at her.

‘’General, in your book you wrote that you had the very rare talent of being able to remember your past incarnations. Were you ever a Vietnamese during one of those past incarnations?’’

Ingrid nodded once; her expression now solemn.

‘’I lived as a Vietnamese peasant in the Mekong Delta region during the 18th Century. My name was then Tran Qui Khiem and I lived in Gia Rai, from the year 1721

to 1786. Little Hien may very well be a distant descendant of my past incarnation, which is why I would be most happy to become her godmother and to have Hien as my goddaughter.’

09:11 (New York Time)

Monday, June 06, 1949 ‘C’

Hughes AIRBUS 2, on approach to ex-fleet carrier ENTERPRISE

Pier # 86, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.A.

Seeing the happiness and excitement on little Hien’s face as their AIRBUS 2 was descending and slowing down while approaching the ex-USS ENTERPRISE, docked at Pier # 86 of Manhattan, on the East River, warmed Ingrid’s heart. She gently pressed the hand of the little Vietnamese girl and spoke softly to her as Hien was looking down through the deck window facing their seats. Before the crew had called the passengers to return to their seats and buckle up their seat belts for the landing, Ingrid had led Hien to one of the lateral communication tubes linking the six pressurized tubes of the AIRBUS 2, which lodged the passenger seats and its cargo hold. There, the little girl had been able to look out at New York City through one of the lateral windows of the communication tube. Now, on top of having a direct view forward and down via the deck window, Hien’s seat small projection screen, fixed to the overhead luggage bin above her, showed views from both sides and straight ahead of the aircraft. That arrangement, while unique to Ingrid-designed AIRBUS and AIRBUS 2, had very quickly gained the approval and appreciation of the passengers flying on Air Fifinella, thus vindicating Ingrid’s design solutions.

225

The AIRBUS 2, piloted by Suzanne Humphreys and Hazel Ah Ying Lee, landed smoothly in STOL mode on the flight deck of the ex-fleet carrier, taking less than half of its length before coming to a stop. It then pivoted on the spot to head to its assigned parking area. Once fully stopped, Humphreys cut off her four turbofan engines and made an announcement through the aircraft’s overhead speaker system.

‘’Ladies and gentlemen, we have now landed on the USS ENTERPRISE, at quay in Manhattan. You may now leave your seats, recuperate your things from the overhead bins and disembark. Immigration and customs officers will then process you for entry into the United States. Thank you again for flying Air Fifinel a.’’

Humphreys then repeated her announcement, using French. Helping Hien to unbuckle her seatbelt, Ingrid then took out their two travel bags from their overhead luggage bins before leading the little girl by the hand towards the aft access staircase of the plane, which was now deployed and down. Hien was all excited as they stepped on the flight deck of the converted fleet carrier and looked around her at the buildings and skyscrapers of Manhattan.

‘’Wow! New York real y has tall buildings. In comparison, Paris has few truly tall buildings, except for the Eiffel Tower. Could we go on top of one of them, so that I could admire New York from up high?’

‘’I was in fact planning a visit to the Empire State Building today, Hien. It is the highest building in the city, with a height of 443 meters and 102 stories. It in fact is still the tallest building in the World. We will take the day to visit New York, then we will return here and take another plane, this time to fly to Los Angeles, where I live. There, you will be able to swim in the Pacific Ocean from one of the beaches there. Have you swum in the ocean before, Hien?’’

‘’My family went twice to spend some beach time in August in the South, on the Mediterranean. We travelled from Paris to Nice by train. Do you have trains in the United States, Ingrid?’’

‘’Sure, we do! However, the United States is a lot bigger than France and travelling by train from coast to coast takes many days. Travelling by air is a lot faster and practical.’

‘’What do we do now, Ingrid?’

‘’We go through immigration and customs checks, then will go take a room at the transit hotel of the ship.’’

226

‘’But this was a warship, Ingrid. They have hotels on warships?’

Ingrid chuckled at that before answering her while leading her towards the superstructure that had been built in the place of the removed forward five-inch gun turrets of the ENTERPRISE.

‘’Since Hughes Enterprises bought this old warship, it has been extensively modified and rebuilt to turn it into a floating civilian airport, Hien. The space where its past military crew of 2,200 men lived has been turned into passenger facilities and living accommodations for the Air Fifinella personnel working on it. There is also an onboard museum manned by ex-U.S. Navy veterans, where visitors can see some of the history of World War 2 displayed. There are as well cabins used as permanent homes for some 240 ex-U.S. Navy veterans who were previously destitute and homeless and who were invited by my company to come live aboard what was for many of them the ship they served on during the war.’

Hien looked up with admiration at Ingrid on hearing that.

‘’You are a real y caring person, Ingrid. I was very lucky to be found by you.’

‘’Actual y, I was the one who was lucky to find you in Paris, Hien. You gave a brand-new meaning to my life.’’

Ingrid bent down to hug and kiss the little girl, watched by smiling fellow passengers, before continuing on and entering the boxy two-story structure which had replaced the forward main gun turrets. Inside, Ingrid took place in one of the six files facing the same number of immigration control boots and patiently waited her turn with Hien. The U.S.

Immigration Services officer who processed her smiled to her, as Ingrid was well-known as one of the three co-owners of Hughes Enterprises. The man in his forties smiled while looking down at little Hien, still held by one hand by Ingrid.

‘’Wow! That is one cute little girl you have with you, Miss Dows. Is she an American citizen?’’

‘’No: she is a French citizen. Here is her passport, along with mine. I brought her with me in order to show the United States to her and she will stay with me during her trip to our country. She is my goddaughter.’

Favorably impressed by that declaration, the immigration agent smiled to Ingrid and stamped both of their passports before giving them back to Ingrid.

‘’Here you are, Miss Dows.’

‘’Thank you, Jim.’

227

From there, Ingrid went down by one deck to the baggage carrousels, using an escalator built as part of the modifications made to the old warship. There, they recuperated their two suitcases before being waved through the customs checks counters. Ingrid’s next move was to go book a room at the reception of the ‘Gray Ghost Hotel’, the 140-room hotel used by Air Fifinella passengers in transit between flights or visiting New York City. That hotel had quickly proved both popular and most practical for the passengers of Air Fifinella and was actually one factor in the popularity of the airline, along with the six other ex-U.S. Navy aircraft carriers now used as floating heliports at main coastal or inland port cities around the United States. After taking the time to unpack their suitcases in what had been an officer’s cabin, Ingrid then led Hien on a quick tour of the ship, starting with the onboard Navy museum, manned by ex-crewmembers of the aircraft carrier. Next, Ingrid led Hien out of the ship and on the pier it was tied to and took a taxi to the Empire State Building. The little Vietnamese girl couldn’t help open her mouth wide as she craned her neck to look up at the monumental skyscraper.

‘’Wow! I never thought that something this tall could be built. Even the Eiffel Tower looks small compared to this.’

‘’And that is only one of the things you wil see in the United States, Hien. One day, soon enough, I will hopefully be able to get American citizenship for you, once I will have convinced the Truong to let me adopt you. Then, we will be able to live together, here in the United States.’

Ingrid then kissed Hien on her forehead before entering the excited skyscraper with her.

17:20 (California Time)

Wednesday, June 08, 1949 ‘C’

The Hughes Mansion, Hancock Park

Los Angeles, California

The big welcoming smile on Katharine Hepburn’s face when she opened the main door of their mansion to let in Ingrid, who had rung the bell, was replaced by an expression of utter surprise when she belatedly saw the little Asian girl standing next to her.

‘’Oh! Hello little one! Who may you be?’’

228

‘’She’s my goddaughter and her name is Hien. However, she stil speaks only a little English. How is your French, Katharine?’’

‘’Stil decent, however it is not as good as that of Hedy. You know those aristocratic Austrian types: they could blabber their way throughout the courts of Europe.’’

‘’What do you have to say about Austrian aristocrats?’’ asked Hedy, coming from the main lounge and using a fake outraged tone. She however came to a halt on seeing little Hien next to Ingrid. She then switched to French without breaking a sweat.

‘’Welcome to Beverley Hil s, little girl. I am Hedy Lamarr, friend and business partner of Ingrid. That tall pack of bones blocking the door is Katharine Hepburn: she used to be popular in Hollywood as an actress.’’

While Katharine took an offended air, Hien laughed briefly at Hedy’s barb towards Katharine and looked up at Ingrid, speaking in French.

‘’Your friend is funny, Ingrid.’

‘’I know! They spend their days shooting verbal barbs at each other while pretending to work together.’

Ingrid then looked with seriousness at her two friends.

‘’Girls, my vacation trip to Paris made me find pure gold: little Hien here. She was born in the same village in Vietnam than my 18th Century past incarnation, Tran Qui Khiem. Her full name is Tran Ti Hien and she is more than probably a descendant of my incarnation as Khiem. She is now only my goddaughter but the family which saved her from a massacre committed by Japanese soldiers in their village seven years ago accepted to let me start an adoption procedure for Hien. It may take some time to be completed, as it implicates both the French and the American government, but I am hoping to become her legal tutor within a couple of months. In the meantime, she will stay here with us and I will hire a private educator who can speak Vietnamese to teach her English and basic school curriculum.’’

Both Hedy and Katharine stared in silence at both Ingrid and Hien for long seconds before Katharine opened the entrance door wide and stepped out of the way.

‘’Well, one more girl in this mansion shouldn’t hurt anyone, I guess.’

229

CHAPTER 23 – TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

07:13 (California Time)

Friday, June 09, 1949 ‘C’

The Hughes Mansion, 211 South Muirfield Road

Hancock Park, Hollywood, Los Angeles

California, U.S.A.

Hedy Lamarr smiled with satisfaction as she read the business section of the Los Angeles Times newspaper: The stock shares of Hughes Enterprises had again made a significant jump in value on Wall Street, thanks to the resounding success of Air Fifinella in the commercial air travel market and to the sales of the Hughes AIRBUS and AIRBUS

2 to various commercial airlines. The first non-stop transatlantic crossing by a jet airliner at the end of May, with the new Hughes AIRBUS 2 flying from New York to Paris in a bit over six hours, had also boosted the reputation of the Hughes Aircraft Company as a maker of revolutionary designs, as well as that of Air Fifinella, for providing practical and affordable air travel to the general public. Both Ingrid and Katharine had certainly done a superb job in their respective domains, those being aircraft design for Ingrid and airline organization and management for Katharine. Now, they and Hedy were reaping the financial rewards for their work, to the tune of half a billion dollars of extra value to their stock holdings in Hughes Enterprises. A lot more could come in once sales of the Hughes AIRBUS 2 VSTOL jet airliner would start in the weeks and months to come.

Then, future military contracts for the Hughes F-9 ARROW supersonic fighter and B-12

SKYBOLT supersonic strategic bomber could add to the fame and fortune of the company, once their prototypes would be built, tested and accepted by the government.

That could stil take a couple of years but Hedy had full confidence in Ingrid’s genius in aircraft design. What very few people knew or realized yet was that Ingrid had not limited her imagination solely to aircraft design and, helped by a few specialists in electronics, rocket propulsion and chemistry hired into her design team, was also working on other aspects of military aviation too often neglected by aircraft companies or given as side projects to smaller high-technology manufacturers. Soon, Hughes was going to produce as well a family of air-launched missiles meant to enhance the

230

effectiveness of the F-9 and B-12 in their respective roles. If proven successful, those future missiles could open a new, truly huge market for Hughes. As well as missiles, a small electronics design team working closely with Ingrid was developing advanced radars, flight computers, softwares and aircraft sensors, all meant again to enhance the capabilities of the F-9 and B-12. Apart from boosting the business successes of Hughes, all those projects would also help satisfy one of the main goals pursued by Ingrid: that of enhancing the security of the United States against potential adversaries.

However, all that had not brought only new friends, partners and extra money to Hedy, Ingrid and Katharine. Success always created jealousy in some, or a desire to hurt them in order to eliminate what some, like the Soviet government, considered as dangerous adversaries or competitors. At least, big Hollywood moguls had by now stopped harassing her and Katharine with pleas to return to acting, discouraged by firm, repeated rejections from the ex-stars. Why submit again to the misogynistic whims of those Hollywood producers when you already were a billionaire and a master of your own destiny? To top the cake, the presence of little Hien in the mansion had introduced some extra sweetness in the lives of its occupants. Hedy, like Katharine, was particularly happy about how Hien’s presence had made Ingrid abandon her recent habit of overworking herself in order to complete her aircraft design projects. Now, Ingrid was back to working normal, reasonable hours, with the task of caring for Hien after work doing miracles for Ingrid’s mental balance. Now, instead of staying late at her design office, including during weekends, Ingrid was regularly going to the beach with Hien on weekends, on top of swimming in the mansion’s large pool and play with the little Vietnamese girl. Just that made Hien’s coming into Ingrid’s life a godsend in Hedy’s mind.

05:10 (California Time)

Thursday, October 27, 1949 ‘C’