Hidden Courage (Atlantis) Read Online Free PDF Page A

noticed it read 6:30am . He readjusted the time, then sat and ate another peanut butter sandwich with some water. He hadn’t bathed in four days and even though he hadn’t done anything physical to sweat, he felt dirty.
     
    He found the men’s bathroom and used it to clean up a bit, taking a sponge bath with paper towels. It wasn’t five stars to be sure, but effective just the same. Stripping down to his shorts, he moved as fast as he could, trying to finish before anyone else entered.
     
    Jack leaned over a sink and placed his head under the running faucet. With soap in hand, he washed his hair and face, then began to rinse out the lather.
     
    Suddenly, Jack heard the sound of a man clearing his throat from behind him. Quickly, he stood up and turned around. There, standing in front of him, was an older, distinguished-looking gentleman, impeccably dressed and eying Jack with obvious contempt. Jack smiled feebly, but only received a condescending and indignant stare in return.
     
    Jack searched for something to say to explain his impropriety, but found himself speechless. Realizing there was nothing he could say, he resigned himself to a simple, “Sorry.”
     
    The dignified-looking man merely flashed Jack a nod of disgust, then entered a stall at the far end of the bathroom.
     
    ‘He thinks I’m a vagrant,’ Jack surmised.
     
    Jack felt humiliated and ashamed, so he hurried along even faster. Having completed his cleansing, he dried himself with paper towels, then quickly dressed. He looked down at the occupied stall at the end of the bathroom and said one more time, “Sorry,” then headed out to his plane.
     
    Jack entered the tarmac from the bottom of the airport terminal. The warm morning air felt invigorating on his still wet hair. As he walked to his plane a short distance away, he tried to forget his ‘bathroom experience’, but somehow it forced itself to the forefront of his mind.
     
    “Well, there’s a story for the grandkids,” Jack said sarcastically.
     
    He stowed his gear in the plane and made his preflight inspection, checking the control surfaces as well as his fuel and oil levels. Satisfied all was okay, he unfastened his tie-downs and removed the chocks for the tires.
     
    Before getting into the plane, Jack gave the airport terminal one last glance before leaving.
     
    “What the heck?” Jack said in surprise.
     
    Standing in the plate glass window above him was the distinguished gentleman, waiting for his commercial flight to leave. As Jack made eye contact with him, gone from his face was that awful stare and in its place was an all-knowing smile. With a simple nod of his head, he bid Jack ‘good luck’.
     
    “Huh… I’ll be,” Jack said to himself in amazement.
     
    Jack gave the gentleman a return smile, then stepped into his plane. He started the engine and moments later taxied to the runway as directed by the Ground Controller.
     
    Being cleared for takeoff, he glanced far over at the terminal one last time and saw the distinguished gentleman still watching as he advanced the throttle. Moments later, he was aloft, heading south over the warm inviting beaches once again, the memory of the gentleman’s smile firmly imprinted in his memory.
     
    As Jack flew south, he realized that by the day’s end he would be far away from the safety of American soil. He would have to be very careful not to draw attention to himself in this part of the world. He left the ocean and headed into desert plains, his next destination being Salina Cruz, along the pacific coast. He looked down and noticed there were places to land just about everywhere in case of an emergency. Occasionally he crossed vegetated rolling hills and mountains that reminded him of the Appalachians he had crossed in the southern US. As quickly as the mountains appeared, they were replaced again by plains.
     
    An hour later, after passing the halfway mark, the landscape took a dramatic turn. Jack started to see