In Their Own Words - Jinx
Lieutenant (j.g.) Bud Roberts
By Anne (annetaul@home.com)
That Commander Rabb - he's such a great guy! Last Sunday he took me flying in his plane. We had a blast! I even got to take the control for a little while. We'd have probably stayed up all afternoon, if Major MacKenzie hadn't come to find us to fill us in on a new case.
It was kind of weird, though, just climbing out of the cockpit of a plane then hearing that a pilot had been killed in a crash. Another pilot from the Howlers squadron - it seemed really strange that they have so many accidents.
Of course, like always, I showed my incredible talent for saying the wrong thing. I just had to point out that the Howlers had lost another pilot less than a year ago in a crash.. I said it twice, once at the airfield in Virginia, then again when we arrived at the squadron headquarters at Miramar. I could see that something about it seemed to strike a chord with Commander Rabb, but I didn't know what. Then, Major MacKenzie told me about that first pilot being a close friend of his. I wondered how she knew, but she told me later that she read the investigation report from the other crash when she found out we were assigned to this one. I felt really terrible saying things like that in front of the Commander after I knew that the guy was his friend. I tried to apologize to him, but I don't think it really helped. This was a hard assignment for him. I think that's probably why he spent so much time with Mrs. Pendry and her son.
I feel a little stupid about it now, but I was kind of jealous of all the time he was with them. I mean, he and I were just starting to build a friendship, then these other friends showed up. I think it might have bothered the Major too, but I couldn't tell for sure.
The case was very interesting. I was so sure that there really was some kind of jinx or curse on the squadron, especially when I found out that the accidents were all on Moslem holy days. Commander Rabb doesn’t seem to believe in stuff like that, but I sure do. I just think that there are some things that can't be explained.
The Commander had to disprove the jinx theory by going up flying with Lieutenant Ayres. I can tell you I was scared when we heard that the refueling exercise had gone bad on them. It's a wonder that they made it down with the plane's canopy damaged and Commander Rabb injured. He really is amazing!
Well, it's all finished and we're home now, but if you ask me, I still think there was something strange going on with the Howlers.
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Disclaimer: While based on the JAG episode, this is for entertainment purposes only and no profit is being made.