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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c h a p t e r fiv e ........................................................... are airplanes here to stay? After that night on the Pali, my world revolved around Lee. All my waking moments were either with her or planning how I could be with her. From that time on, other girls were friends or acquaintances, period! Things were a little different with her, though. She continued to date other guys although not quite as often as she once had, and I began to see less and less of that damn motorcycle when I came to pick her up. While my acceptance by Lee was lukewarm, I did manage to win over both Jean and Jane. I tried my best to convince them that I was the only guy for their roommate , and I brazenly solicited their help. Lee did seem to enjoy being with me. She tolerated my clumsiness on the dance floor, but it was clear that I had two strikes against me. First, she wanted no part of the military service, particularly the Army. And second, she didn’t particularly care for airplanes. She felt that they were the invention of the Devil. She considered them loud, dangerous, and useless . People who flew them were not to be taken seriously. Other than that, she seemed to figure I was okay, but she made it clear that she had no intention of letting me become a serious factor in her life. There was no question that I had a couple of pretty high hurdles to get over. Lee and I continued to see each other, and we had fun together. We went to the beach, drove around the island. We had Sunday brunches, and our Saturday night dates became so regular that she came to expect orchid leis as a matter of course. I had a civilian pilot’s license; time after time, I invited her to go out to John Rodgers Airport and go for a flight with me in a little airplane. I told her that she could see for herself how much fun airplanes were and how beautiful Oahu was from the air. She was tempted a few times, but she always came up with an excuse at the last moment. All my efforts seemed to be useless. Lee was sure that I might have been acceptable in some ways, but airplanes were no darn good, and anyone whose life was built around them was someone to be avoided. ...

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