"CURAÇAO DUTCH ANTILLES" "Don't burn your fingers, Julian." "Where did you come from, Dick?" "Didn't I submit a flight plan?" "Yes, but I'm worried." "Where have you been?" "The flight plan says I've been to Colombia and back." "If you don't believe me, call Barranquilla." "I've called them You were there." "So?" "I want to talk to you." "We both know that your machine isn't up to it anymore." "She'll last another 100 years, if you maintain her well." "If you maintain her." "But be careful, Dick." "I know you often fly without a co-pilot." "I'm assuming you're worth two pilots." "But other people think your bird had better disappear." "Other people." "Not you." "I'm helping you." "But if they ask me questions, I have to have answers." "I have to inspect your plane." "We haven't had an accident for 20 years." "We want to keep it that way." "You know I'm a safe pilot." "I also know that your plane is due for inspection in six weeks." "And that it will cost 10 to 15 thousand dollars to get things fixed." "I have the money." "I also checked a few other things." "Your flight plan." "You needed 6 hours for a 3 hour flight to Barranquilla." "Navigation problems." "Four hours to Saint Martin, 8 hours to come back." "Ten hours to Cristóbal, three hours to come back." "Julian, I've told you before I'm not a business man." "I'll make a detour for a good view." "Don't give me that, Dick." "I don't care how you fly." "But you're being watched." "So don't do anything strange." "Three hours there and three hours back." "Will that be all?" "De Vries called." "Helen de Vries." "Doesn't she live on Spanish Water?" "She might have honest work for you." "What do you mean, honest?" "Ask her." "Hello, Dick." "How are you?" "Why do you ask?" "Doesn't everybody know everything about each other on this island?" "I'm letting go!" "I don't know her." "Who is she?" "Claudia, from Holland." "She's staying with us for a few days." "She wants to see the sights and be flown around in your plane." "As the only passenger in the Dakota?" "At 200 dollars per hour." "Money's no issue in her family." "I guess so." "Hello." "Hello, Claudia." "I wanted to hire your plane for a couple of days." "At 200 dollars per hour." "That's the price, I know." "How many people will be coming?" "Just me." "It's much cheaper to hire a small plane." "I was counting on going for ten days." "I'll pay 2000 dollars in advance." "What's wrong?" "It's money, isn't it?" "Exactly." "Why pay 200 dollars for a Dakota when you can hire a small plane for 30?" "No." "She wants to pay too much for what she needs." "Nobody ever wants to pay too much." "So she wants something else than she says." "A hassle and problems." "And I've just been told I don't need problems right now, Helen." "Thanks." "Can you fill her up?" "200 gallons at the front and 300 at the back." "Hasn't it all been paid?" "The cheque's at the bank." "It's not my fault." "Are you going home?" "No, I'm not." "That's alright." "I'll go with you, wherever you go." "2000 guilders." "Stop!" "You don't throw money away." "And you want to pay me 2000 guilders to fly you around a bit." "Why don't you accept my offer?" "Because you want to pay too much for one ride." "And I don't understand why you want to pay so much." "Don't be so difficult." "You're playing cabbie right now." "And for free." "Next time, I want to pay." "Better get out here." "I'm not going any further." "What's happening with my cheques here?" "I don't understand." "I ordered two invoices to be paid and it never happened." "Why not?" "I'll have a look." "Yes, please." "Your account's overdrawn." "That's why we didn't do what you asked." "Please add this cheque to my balance then." "It's from a bank in the Bahamas." "So what?" "Cash it there." "Isn't that what banks do?" "I'll talk to my superior." "I don't want to see your superior anymore." "What's the use of a bank that doesn't pay my invoices?" "And that doesn't want my money?" "What's the problem?" "I'm the problem." "I want to add this cheque to my account, but the lady refuses." "I think she's trying to help you." "This is a small community." "Everybody knows everybody." "That cheque of yours is from one of the big smuggling organisations in the Caribbean." "If you'd try to cash that cheque here everybody would know about it." "So why cash it here?" "I'll tell you, since we're all one big family." "My bank balance is overdrawn." "And you're not paying my invoices." "And soon everybody will know about that." "I tried to contact you." "Try to help me instead." "If I look at your bank account, I can't help you." "You should look at my bank account in the Bahamas." "Illegal money." "That won't help." "Illegal?" "Most of it has been paid by the American government." "The CIA and the FBI?" "They won't help you either." "Isn't that money?" "Yes, it is." "But it's black money." "You need white money here." "So what do I do?" "I don't know." "That's the hardest thing there is." "To turn black money into white." "Don't touch that." "I forgot I'm only a passenger." "And sit where passengers always sit." "But I pay 200 dollars per hour." "And the meter starts running now." "Don't follow me all the time." "The police aren't interested in you." "I didn't know you noticed them too, yesterday." "They're not interested in me either, but in my dad." "Yes, they told me." "What else did they tell you?" "That I'm in bad company and that my permit has to be renewed every year." "What if you made a lot of money fast?" "You could buy a new plane and leave." "I like this plane." "And this life." "What about women?" "You're not married." "I was married." "Why do you take this gamble with me?" "Is it a gamble?" "The police told me to stay away from you." "And you told me to take you with me." "When I thought about it, you paid better." "Why did you do that?" "Because I want you to be my pilot." "On a very long journey." "That's all?" "Yes, that's all." "Wouldn't it be nice?" "Flying with a co-pilot." "I thought as much." "No." "A plane is a male thing." "Landing your bird in a field a control stick between your legs." "And you think women can't handle that?" "Sir, a telephone call for you." "Hello?" "Dick?" "What kind of work?" "I know what you mean." "She's bad luck." "I have to say yes." "Jesus, girl, please leave." "This is a men's hairdresser." "Will I ever get rid of you?" "Yes, you will." "When?" "When you've done what I want." "No way." "That'll take way too long." "Goodbye." "Yes." "God, there we go again." "I abandoned the silly cow on the bridge and now she's crying." "I told you, Helen." "That girl's bad luck." "And look at yourself." "Normally, you're pretty gutsy, but now you're nagging every evening because I have to take your friend on a flight." "What can I say, Dick?" "You're right, but things are even worse." "Things are not bad at all." "I don't have a problem, because I don't have to see her anymore." "But for me, it's bad." "She told me everything this afternoon." "She's afraid to talk to you anymore." "Good." "You won't see Claudia again." "Excellent, Helen." "But now it's my turn." "What do you mean?" "The situation's serious." "There's something on the island that has to go." "The faster, the better." "Preferably tonight." "You're kidding." "She fooled me too, Dick." "The police are on it." "You're the only one who can help me." "And where does it have to go?" "That doesn't matter." "But when?" "Tonight, right away." "Immediately?" "Wouldn't the police and customs get suspicious?" "Do you have to say where you're going?" "I'll have to submit a flight plan." "What if you didn't do that for once?" "I could never come back here." "That's stuff they don't like at all in the aviation world." "Please Dick, we go way back." "You have to help me." "The Dakota has been filled up." "I could leave without telling anyone." "But can you get away without telling anyone?" "Didn't you have to submit a flight plan?" "It's dark." "They might not even see me leave." "But I'd have to be back tomorrow morning before dawn." "What if they find out?" "I'd lose my permit." "Isn't it dangerous to land in the dark?" "Even in the dark, I could land the Dakota in your lap." "It's in your own interest." "Land here on Curaçao." "SURINAME, PALUMEU 8 HOURS LATER" "Ouch, damnit." "AMELAND 33 HOURS LATER" "So you crossed the ocean in one hit, in an old Dakota?" "Did you hear that?" "He sits there in a dirty shirt, doesn't know anybody here says he took off in Curaçao, made a stop in Suriname and then flew to the Netherlands in one hit." "He landed his bird at Ameland airport." "Yes, on one engine." "Impressive." "On one engine too." "Unbelievable." "From Suriname, on one engine." "A Dakota flies well on one engine." "Yes, it flies well on one engine, but it doesn't take off on one." "So you didn't come from Suriname on one engine." "That's not what I said." "The engine stopped working after you took off." "Why doesn't he just admit he's lying?" "He meant to say he landed on one engine." "What's wrong with that engine?" "What happens to an engine after 30 hours of flight with no maintenance?" "Well, what happens to the engine?" "Fire alarm because something got hot." "Stop talking nonsense, man." "How long did it take you to fly from Suriname to here?" "33 hours to be exact." "33 hours." "How much fuel does a Dakota take?" "802 gallons." "802 gallons." "How long does that last?" "8 hours normally." "But I made it last 11 hours once." "8 or 11, but not 33, so you're talking crap." "I added fuel in the air." "He thinks I'll bloody believe anything." "Did the angels open a petrol station up there?" "Get lost with your Dakota." "Hey Dick, what are you doing here?" "Hello, Evert." "Last week I saw you in Curaçao, with your Dakota." "I was just checking my Jumbo." "Yes, that's possible." "Are you on holiday?" "Which flight did you take?" "No, he flew over in his old Dakota." "Jesus, man..." "That's insane." "That takes guts." "How did that go?" "Fine, although I had to do the last stretch on one engine." "Amazing." "On one engine." "Let's drink to that." "Yes, let's get rid of this bore." "I called Ameland and it's true." "It's not even allowed." "There are no customs there." "That's what the police said when they found him." "But in an emergency, with one engine, you can land in any field." "Doesn't he have to submit a flight plan?" "If you submit a flight plan in Suriname, to fly straight to the Netherlands do you think they'd accept that?" "They did in his case." "He left from a field where they don't check that well." "All filled up with barrels of petrol." "Why would he do that?" "That's what customs want to know." "Smuggling." "Gold, heroin." "Yes, you're the contraband expert." "But they're investigating it." "They've chained his bird until they're finished." "Chained?" "Symbolically, not with a real chain." "You can never take off with one engine." "No." "The aviation industry's built around pilots of our generation." "Men who've flown during the war." "These days they don't learn to fly anymore." "You can't call that bullshit flying." "Sometimes, I'm flying over the ocean and I'm flying solo." "I have a co-pilot, but I'm even afraid to go take a leak." "Imagine something would happen." "And I'd be in the toilet." "He'd be lost." "But that responsibility I have in my work you could have too." "Who knows." "You have to tell me why you crossed the ocean with that bird." "I'll tell you." "Because I really wanted to go back to Holland." "She's asleep." "He has nowhere to sleep." "He flew straight from Curaçao into the cold, in a Dakota." "I'll be gone tomorrow." "That's alright." "I'll take the train to Bergen, to an acquaintance." "There is no train to Bergen." "I'll see." "Good night." "You'll need this here." "And there's really no train to Bergen." "See you tomorrow." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Helen?" "Is that you, Helen?" "Dick speaking." "In Amsterdam." "Yes, in Amsterdam." "Yes, it got out of hand a bit." "I just arrived in Holland." "I didn't have a lot of choice." "They were on to me in Curaçao." "I said they were on to me." "I had no choice." "But where's your cargo?" "What?" "That's what I'm calling you about." "The crates are in Ameland." "Under a tarpaulin." "What's wrong?" "No, no." "They're fine there." "They won't be noticed." "Yes, on the airport." "You can't miss them." "It's cold, wet and expensive here." "Yes, expensive." "How do I get paid?" "How do I get paid?" "Hello?" "Hello." "Dick, how nice of you to come." "Nice, away from the city." "Yes." "Come in." "I was very surprised when you called." "So unexpected." "Suddenly you flew back home." "Was it just a crazy idea or did you need a break?" "Homesick?" "Of course you were homesick for Holland." "It's more about business, but it was convenient." "Very sweet that you came over so quickly." "You must have been curious how your old Mary was doing." "You're looking good." "A bit older." "You must think I've aged a bit less well." "It went out." "Don't pay attention to the mess." "I was arranging some flowers because I knew you were coming." "Look, all from my own garden." "Nice?" "I also have herbs." "Chives, celery, rosemary." "You should have a look later." "It's so nice here." "When you live in the city, you don't know what you're missing." "I've never lived in the city for long." "You have your freedom." "But I gained my own freedom as well." "Do you like my vase?" "Yes, did you make it?" "You're successful, aren't you?" "Yes, I am." "Do they talk about me?" "I have a great studio." "I can work very well here." "Come, I'll show you." "Yes." "Looks very professional." "Not what you expected of me, is it?" "The oven's my pride." "All paid from your money." "It's been a long time since I sent you money." "You quickly made it on your own." "Coffee." "Mary!" "You must be Dick." "I'm Bela." "A colleague of Mary's." "Very nice to meet you." "Thanks." "Where's Rudy?" "He'll be here." "Studying?" "There it is." "Flying seems great but in the meantime, life passes you by." "Everybody else is married and has children or..." "What stops you from marrying?" "The job." "When you fly, you can get plenty of women." "But they're always the type that can get plenty of men too." "I always have to leave after three days and I come back weeks later." "By that time, they're always..." "So what can you say?" "I met an old girlfriend in Bergen today." "Unbelievable how she changed." "Unbelievable." "When the bug gets to you, you're lost forever." "Sometimes, when I'm flying, I think 'why bother'?" "But the moment I land, I want to take off again." "What is it about people?" "You're not happy in a room, between four walls but you are happy in a little tunnel, with one engine, over the ocean." "Strange lighter." "It doesn't work when it's hot." "But when it's cold, it always works well." "Patience." "It doesn't work when it's hot." "But when it's cold, it always works well." "I'm leaving again." "I'm going to Morocco." "Jesus, this is crap." "Where did you get it?" "Don't you know it's dangerous?" "Not dangerous at all." "Where did you get it?" "From Rudy." "He smuggled it." "Rudy." "Another idiot." "He only smuggles as an excuse to fly a bit." "Just like me." "A bit of smuggling, flying bitches around just to stay in the air." "It doesn't get him as far as you." "Rudy, I'm going to Casablanca." "What's with him?" "You're not going to Casablanca." "You have one engine that's not working, so you could never take off." "They can use a few Dakotas in Casablanca." "Thanks." "You too." "I almost forgot." "Your lighter." "What happened between the two of you?" "Nothing." "Nothing at all."