All the pre-flight checks were complete. Robert Hogan knew this was true, but he ran through the checklist again anyway. Pilot’s superstition, he chided himself every time. But every time, he did two full checks anyway, even though he never told his co-pilot he was doing so.

 

He flicked some switches, read some gauges, and soon the aircraft roared to life. With a nod at his companion in the cockpit, he waited for clearance and then guided the plane down the runway and brought her into the air with grace and ease. Not a cloud in the sky, he thought wistfully, as he leveled her off and looked out of the Plexiglas before him.

 

He should have been smiling as he prepared to speak into the interphone, but the words suddenly struck him as all wrong. He braced himself mentally and then began:

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking…”

 

Someone knocked on the door behind him. Hogan paused, frowning. Another knock. Again, he listened.

 

“Colonel! Colonel Hogan!”

 

Hogan opened his eyes at once and inhaled sharply as he looked from his upper bunk to the young Sergeant who had poked his head into Hogan’s room.

 

“Sorry to wake you, sir. But a new prisoner’s just come into camp. We thought you’d want to know.”

 

“Thanks, Carter. I’ll be right there.” Hogan watched as his fellow prisoner of war disappeared, then took a moment to recover from his unexpected nap before he faced the Stalag’s Kommandant for another game of tit-for-tat.

 

Not even after the war, he thought as his mind briefly flashed back to his dream. Hogan hopped off his bunk and grabbed his bomber jacket, then ran his hand over his hair before putting on his crush cap. It will never be that routine for me.

 

Then, sighing with relief and satisfaction, he headed out.