Killing Zone by Richard Townshend Bickers

Author:Richard Townshend Bickers [Bickers, Richard Townshend]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2015-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

Ten

On the last evening of Alain’s leave, when Archer and Dowst dined with the Boucards, Archer had for the first time the feeling that he was in any way alone and aloof from the two young men; but not from Chantal.

As a rule the differences in age between the pilots on the squadron, from the flight commanders down, were not apparent. All of them shared the same attitudes and respected the same standards and taboos, flew with the same dash. It was only on an occasion like this, when he and Trevor Dowst were isolated in an unfamiliar environment, that he was made aware of Dowst’s comparative immaturity. No doubt, he reasoned, their different experience in battle was largely responsible. He was now regarded as one of the successes on the squadron, an established exponent of the craft of air fighting. He knew that Dowst, on the other hand, felt that his performances had been poor. And there was no doubt about it that Dowst had been much more upset by their shared experiences than he had.

Dowst’s callowness was emphasised by comparison with Chantal, who was the same age but had the bearing and poise of someone older. She had, too, the toughness which seemed innate in Frenchwomen.

Archer had already discovered that the boundaries of contentment changed constantly. The most anybody could do was to try to adjust to the limits of constantly changing parameters. If he were to say to the people around the table “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose ... The more things change, the more they remain the same,” they would accept the philosophy because it had been first said by an eminent Frenchman. But it wasn’t universally true and he didn’t think that it was even desirable.

There was no doubt about the rapport between Dowst and Alain and it pleased him; not least because it allowed him to give nearly all his attention to Chantal, and made him feel that they had come closer together because the other two had not reached their level of maturity.

Monsieur Boucard, genially acting the easy companion of the hearty young aviators to whose company he had once belonged in his own right, was mostly occupied with his son and Dowst. Archer courteously gave much of his attention to Madame. He had become aware on his last visit of her subtly intrusive, pervasive presence between himself and Chantal and he was perceptive enough to recognise its cause. He realised that he made Chantal’s mother nervous — and why. He sympathised with her and wished to reassure her; not by a forthright statement or brisk innuendo, but by means as subtle as her own. She need not worry about an unassailable attachment forming between her daughter and himself. He had quite enough on his hands with a war to fight. If his liking for Chantal did ripen into love, he would have to ignore it. It would be another of those changing parameters. He would adjust to it.

All of them were caught up in a cosmic upheaval and events were unpredictable.

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