“Whereabouts do you live in Boone?” asks Fred.<\/p>\n
“Over on West Seventeenth Street,” says Homer, as they head to the airfield. “You know where Jackson High is?”<\/p>\n
“Sure,” says Fred.<\/p>\n
“Well, it’s just a couple of blocks past it,” says Homer.<\/p>\n
Fred and Homer arrive at the starboard hatch of the B-17. Fred tosses his luggage into the cabin, waking up a sleeping sergeant.<\/p>\n
“Hi, Sarge,” says Fred, lifting Homer’s sea bag into the cabin.<\/p>\n
“Hiya,” replies the sergeant. <\/p>\n
“My name’s Fred Derry,” says Fred, sitting down across from the sergeant. Homer climbs aboard. <\/p>\n
“Al Stephenson,” replies the sergeant. <\/p>\n
“And this is Homer – – what is it, Homer?” asks Fred. <\/p>\n
“Parrish,” says Homer, offering Al his hook hand. Al grabs Homer’s arm and shakes it. <\/p>\n
“Glad to know ya,” says Al. <\/p>\n
“Glad to know you, Sarge,” says Homer. “You from Boone, too?”<\/p>\n
“Yeah,” smiles Al. “I sure am!”<\/p>\n
“How long since you been home?” asks Fred. <\/p>\n
“Oh, a couple of centuries…” says Al. The three men laugh. <\/p>\n
“Come on, let’s sit up in the radio compartment until after the takeoff, and then we’ll get in the nose and get a nice view of the good ol’ USA,” says Fred. <\/p>\n
“Okay,” says Al, getting up off his seat. <\/p>\n
Soon, the B-17 takes off, and the men are in the bombardier’s nose of the aircraft. Homer sits forward, where the Norden bombsight used to be. <\/p>\n
“Boy oh boy – look at that!” says Homer. “Look at those automobiles!”<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Long time. Long time. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"http:\/\/www.thebestminutes.com\/cm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/b46006.mp3","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"41:08","filesize":"56.71M","date_recorded":"11-01-2021","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"6","itunes_title":"Minute 006: A Couple of Centuries","itunes_season_number":"1","itunes_episode_type":"full","filesize_raw":"59462066"},"tags":[],"series":[3],"episode_featured_image":"http:\/\/www.thebestminutes.com\/cm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/r46006.jpg","episode_player_image":"http:\/\/www.thebestminutes.com\/cm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/b46000-mp3-image.jpg","download_link":"http:\/\/www.thebestminutes.com\/cm\/podcast-download\/122\/minute-006-a-couple-of-centuries.mp3","player_link":"http:\/\/www.thebestminutes.com\/cm\/podcast-player\/122\/minute-006-a-couple-of-centuries.mp3","audio_player":"\n