Wings of Fire Ch. 06 - Teaser (Patreon)

“Told you he had a thing for blondes,” Raeni giggled.

“Not surprising, given how whenever we were on shore leave, the ladies in the Republic always turned our boy’s head,” Ernie Sr. laughed.

“Lots of blondes in the Republic are there?” James asked, curious about what life was like over there.

“Especially tall ones. Them and redheads. Honestly, it’s like they grow on trees out there,” Ernie Sr. told the man.

“Redheads? Like our old neighbor, Liza MacMillan?” Raeni questioned with a gleam in her eye.

“Very much so! I have a feeling that once we get to the Republic, sweetie, you will see just how much better it is than what we had before,” Ernie reassured his wife.

“I look forward to seeing it! Especially those beaches you told me about!” the woman enthused.

“I’ve only read about them in the books I had access to back home. Is it true that the waves coming in can get to ten feet high?” James wondered, never having seen the sights on the west coast.

“They can get higher than that! Much higher! On the most ideal days, they can get to nearly twenty-five feet in height! Perfect conditions for surfing!” Jr. enthused.

“Surfing?? You’ve been surfing?!?” James questioned, blinking in disbelief.

“Whenever we stop by that area, yeah. Have a few friends I go with whenever we make berth in Los Angeles,” Jr. told his new friend. “They are all total surf bums, by the way. I swear, it’s like sometimes, they just live on the beach.”

“I hear that’s what they actually do. Bill Tompkins told me that his son, Nolan and the others you hang with, bought a house right by the beach,” Sr. told his son.

“They did??” Jr. asked, taken aback for a moment.

“Yup. You surprised, given how much they love doing it?” he asked.

“I heard them talk about it, but never expected them to do it! Did they get the land surrounding it as well?” Jr. queried.

“As a matter of fact, yeah. Why?”

“I thought what they were talking about was a pipe dream, but I guess they got their acts together and are making it happen! They often would talk about buying a rundown old home by the beach, then fixing it up so they could all live there. Rebuild the house so it would be bigger and everyone could have their own space,” Ernie Jr. explained.

“Looks like they are building their dream, one piece at a time,” Sr. smiled, thinking about the dream he had, which he now realized could become reality. “Be sure that you have your dream in your mind, so you can achieve it one day.”

“I know, pop. I know,” Jr. replied with a smile. He turned his gaze back towards Ottilia and winked at her, causing the girl to blush some more as she went about her work.

“Also, make sure that you don’t go ahead and make me a grandmother, yet,” Raeni told her son.

“Mmooooooommmm!!” Jr. groaned as he finished his oatmeal and coffee. “Do you have to talk about that right now?”

“Just making sure that you have your priorities straight, young man. It is a mother’s right to worry about her son,” she told him.