Bobby was sleeping soundly and the scent of blackberry jam floated in the air, as if it was asking to be noticed. A scouting squad of large picnic ants had picked up the scent and were getting closer to the PPP-1.  The ants’ -navigated the vertical climb of the nightstand quickly and converged on the paper airplane.  They all paused and admired the sleek lines of the PPP-1.  They often spent hours watching Bobby and his friends fly in the front yard.  The ants would sit on the roof gorging on some newfound food and marveling at some of the scary looking flights and crashes.  An often-heard comment from amongst them was, "sure glad I wasn't on that thing!"  A good flight was rewarded with “Wowww's” of admiration.  They had never seen one up close and now there was one of the best looking paper airplanes they had ever seen right in front of them.  The smell of jam was overwhelming and the ants boarded quickly.  The drop of jam was a feast and a half for the group.  There was more than enough for all.  Soon the eating slowed to a stop and the    PPP-1 looked as if it had never suffered a direct jam hit.  Totally pigged out and totally in need of a nap, the squad made their way into the open area between the upper and lower surfaces of the wing.  All ten of them were sound asleep in seconds tucked away soundly in the wings of the PPP-1.
     While the ants dreamed about baseball stadium hotdogs, Bobby dreamed of flying.  Captain of his own specially built PPP-1, he soared the world.  Bobby soared all night until the shrill of the cockpit warning alarm, or was it the wake-up alarm?  It was the wake-up alarm.  The pre-designated time for the day to start.  TIME TO FLY!!!
     Bobby's brain kicked into gear immediately and he was soon dressed.  Halfway to the door he turned and went back to the nightstand, quickly retrieving the PPP-1.  The ants abruptly awoke under a positive 4g load as Bobby lifted the plane.  This was followed by 3-g's and some bouncing as Bobby ran to the kitchen.  The ants couldn't figure out what was happening.  The bravest ant, called Penee because of his size, made his way to the upper surface and peered out.   Just as Penee's head peered over the edge Bobby let loose with a throw.  All Penee saw was that they were headed straight towards the Wall, destination squish Ville!  All the ants inside the wing freaked and ran out to the wing tip and caused the PPP-1 to roll right.  Penee heard the tail of the PPP-1 scrape the Wall as he was loaded to over 7 g's in the turn.  The plane continued a high-banked spiral towards the kitchen table.  Sliding on a wingtip, the plane skidded across the table and slammed into the box of breakfast cereal.  The ants remained motionless.  They held on and waited to see what was going to happen.  Nothing happened, it was still and quiet.  Penee looked out again and saw that they were parked right in front of Bobby who was getting ready to have breakfast.  Quickly and quietly Penee made his way back to the others, "Shhhhh!"  No one move, we're parked right in front of him, if we're spotted we're goners!"  All the ants froze when they heard Penee.  They had seen it before.  Being spotted on the kitchen table would lead to a fate that no ant relishes.  A number of things could happen, none of which were pleasant.  Squished with a thumb was probably the worst.  Yet being wiped up with your friends by a sponge was no fairy tale ending either.  Sometimes you would get blown off the table.  This was mostly survivable but definitely not a walk in the park.  It normally went down like this, you're spotted and you know it!  You're putting down a little Pepsi off the top of the bottle.  Now, the bottle is being lifted towards those big human lips and you know what happens next.  A huge blast of wind strong enough to propel you clear across the room where you slam into something and fall to the ground.  There you lay stunned as all your buddies are hurtling through the air and landing with a thud all around you.  Now trapped on the PPP-1 no-one moved, no-one made a sound, everyone waited...
 Bobby finished eating and without even rinsing his dish he grabbed his plane and headed outside.  The ants, flattened again by the sudden g forces, held on for dear life.  Bobby hadn't even gone five steps before he threw his PPP-1 as hard as he could.  The ants slid to the rear of the plane because of the sudden acceleration forces.  This caused to plane to pitch up into a perfect loop landing softly in the grass.  Bobby ran to the plane. All the ants saw was a big foot about ready to come down on top of them.  Bobby's foot thudded down within inches of the wing and caused the ground to shake.  More g forces and they were off again.  This time all the ants were huddled together at the wing tip forcing the PPP-1 into a high speed barrel roll.  All the ants held each other and closed their eyes.  All except Penee and another called Wise-ant.  They were firmly attached to the upper surface of the wing holding on tight with each one of their 6 feet.  Their eyes were open and they were starting to enjoy the maneuvers.  The plane skidded to a stop after the barrel rolls and Wise-ant told Penee how to reposition all the other ants.  They all got repositioned just in time as Bobby arrived, and, without delay launched the PPP-1.  The PPP-1 accelerated straight up about 100 feet then leveled out and began flying slow flat circles.  The air was buoyant from the morning sun and the PPP-1 slowly started getting higher.  Wise-ant and Penee stood on the upper surface and were thoroughly enjoying this early morning climb out.  The other ants were  still hunched over in their takeoff position with their eyes closed preparing for the impact normally Associated with a flight.  The impact didn't come, and, one at a time, they slowly opened their eyes.  The ride was smooth and the Earth was falling away fast.
     Bobby was astounded, he had never had a plane that climbed out and disappeared.  He ran in the house to get his mother to witness the flight.  She was still half asleep and moved to slowly.  By the time she got outside the PPP-1 was nowhere to be seen.  Anne believed Bobby's story and comforted Bobby on the loss of his plane.  Even though Bobby was disappointed at the loss, he was very pleased to have started the PPP-1 on its soaring journey.

Chapter Five