|
PPP-1 The Book Chapter Two |
|
Airshow
Saturday Bobby woke up before the
sun. Already dressed and
eating cereal, he stared at his new paper airplane.
He hadn't flown it much, just a little in the living room before
hitting the sack. He was
planning to get a few flights in before heading to the airport.
Bobby quickly rinsed his dish and headed outside.
The morning sun was just waking up and a little light was
beginning to show. Bobby
took a couple of running steps and threw the PPP-1 as hard as he could.
The PPP-1 carved a large and smooth loop, leveled out four feet
off the ground and stalled gently onto Bobby's outstretched hand.
Bobby was impressed! This
plane had gone higher than any other plane he had thrown and it had done
a picture perfect loop along the way.
Bobby turned to throw another perfect loop but lurched to a halt
at mid-throw. There in the
sky was a huge hot-air balloon with a hang glider hanging below it.
No more than 300 feet off the ground and right over his house was
the Silent Flight glider. He
recognized it from the mall display the night before.
Bobby was startled to hear a voice from above. "Bobby,
is that you?" It was
Dave calling down from the hang glider.
Bobby stood transfixed for a moment then hollered as loud as he
could, "YES, ITS MEEEEE!!”It was still very early and Bobby's
echoing voice caused a few lights to go on.
Dave called down to Bobby and told him that he didn't have to
talk so loud because it was so quiet.
The balloon was drifting very slowly away when Bobby noticed the
local radio stations call letters on the side of the balloon, K F L Y,
memorizing quickly, Bobby ran for the house 99.7 , 99.7 , 99.7,
spinning the radio dial it centered quickly right on the numbers.
Suddenly Dave's voice filled every room in the house.
Bobby had spun the wrong knob and the volume was at the ear
warping level. Dave was
answering a question from a caller live on the radio.
Bobby in his excitement hadn't noticed how loud the radio was nor
did he notice his obviously still tired mother walking up behind him. Bobby sensed a presence and turned quickly.
He recognized the just awake look on his mother and instead of
explaining, he knew it would take forever, grabbed his mother's hand and
hurried her outside. The
morning air was still cool, especially since all Anne was wearing was
the only nightgown Don had ever given her, and her only one. Tattered and short, the cold air cut through it.
Anne shivered as she woke up quicker than she wanted. "Good morning Anne", filtered down through the air.
Anne looked around then glanced in the direction Bobby was
looking. Anne was frozen in
awe, she just stared at the hot-air balloon and the slowly rotating hang
glider. The glider rotated
a little bit more and Anne could see the face of the pilot.
Bobby announced, "that's DAVE!!"
Just as an recognized him. Suddenly
remembering what she was wearing she hollered a loud "GOOD
MORNING!" And hurried inside. Bobby
ran after her and quickly talked her into following the balloon across
town and watch the drop. Dressed
and out the door in record time they were headed across town, the
balloon in sight and the radio station covering the event blaring so
loud that other motorists could hear also.
Bobby was listening to every word and was shocked when he heard
his name. "...
And Bobby Evans, from the city of oakville, will be flying with
me in the opening ceremony. We
will be flying down to the music of the National
anthem and at some point, with smoke trailing, we'll do a series
of aerobatic maneuvers before landing at stage center".
Bobby couldn't believe his ears.
He was excited and felt proud to have his name on the radio.
He also felt a little fear creeping in.
That aerobatic word kept spinning through his mind and it sounded
a little scary. Bobby
decided to trust the pilot and to pay real close attention to everything
and was able to push those uneasy thoughts to the back of his mind.
|