Sarah - No matter how hot

From last time ...

"Nope. Never been up more than two stories. I'll have to make sure to get to the top of one of these buildings, though. Just to see."

"Yeah, Billy. You do that. Now hit it - I don't want to miss my plane."

And now ...

Sarah sat back in her seat and looked at all the busy traffic around the plane. The fuel truck had pulled away and the baggage train was just pulling up to the conveyor to disgorge its load of bags into the belly of the plane. She marveled at the size of the DC-7 - it was so much bigger than the DC-3's she had flown in when she was a Stew. There was a complete galley in the aft portion of the plane and there was 4 across seating in the passenger compartment. And the bags were UNDER the floor - in the belly - and not in a storage area at the back of the plane.

She felt the plane moving under her and she knew that the tug was backing the plane away from the terminal, out to where the pilot would start the engines and go through his checklist, out to where the plane would move under its own power.

She loved flying. She loved being in the air and feeling the plane float along, bouncing across turbulence once in a while, but always returning to stable flight and droning engines.

The plane's engines roared to life and she soon accustomed herself to the sound of the engines, 4 now, instead of 2, but quieter than the DC-3's had ever been. Pressurized cabins tended to mute the sound of the engines a bit, and that was somewhat comforting for some reason ... as if the tighter feeling and diminished sounds made it safer flying than those old rattle trap 3's.

By the time the plane had run down the runway and had heaved itself skyward, Sarah was feeling relaxed and easy and she let her gaze fall out the window over the nothing that stretched for miles in any direction. Funny thing about Vegas. It just seemed to pop out of the desert floor like a pimple. No preamble. Nothing around it but empty desert and monotonous hills, crossed at times by nameless tracks that came from nowhere with no visible destination. At least, from the air.

She thought about her Mom. About how she seemed to be losing her mind - her sharpness - and it worried her. What if I can't take care of her? What if I can't leave her? What if I DO leave her and something happens to Jerry? No. I can't do that. I can never leave her alone with Jerry. Not ever. I have to make sure there's someone with her. Thank God for Janet.

As the plane flew on and into the fading light, Sarah was lulled by the drone of the engines and slow, gently, drifted off to sleep.

She saw Giamatti. It was hot. She was sweaty. She felt as if she was standing, naked, in full view of him and yet he did not react to her, as if he did not see her. She had her rifle and she wondered why she didn't just shoot him and be done with it and yet she knew it wasn't his turn and she had to wait for him. She had to wait until it was his turn. And that would not be for a while yet. There was the list and the list blew along the ground and she tried to step on it to keep it from blowing away but she couldn't catch it with her foot and it kept moving away from her and she kept trying to step on it so she could pick it up but it kept blowing away but then she had it in her hand and she stuck it in her pocket and she felt dressed again and she pulled her weapon up to her shoulder and aimed in Giamatti's direction but he wasn't there and she didn't know where he had gone but she could see his building in the distance and in the window at the top of the building she could see him, he was standing at the window looking down on her and he was smiling.

"Miss? Miss?"

Sarah woke with a start.

"Would you like your meal now, Miss?"

"Yes. Yes, thank you. I would."

Sarah looked a little confused, for a moment.

"You've been sleeping about an hour, Miss. I have to serve you now or not at all."

"It's okay. I just lost track of time, I guess. An hour?"

"Yes, Miss. And Miss? Take this towel. You've been sweating."

"Yeah, well, it was a hot dream. Thank you."

Sarah looked out the window. It was dark. She could see her reflection in the window.

Don't worry, Sarah. You'll get him. You WILL get him. No matter HOW hot it gets.