Learning to Fly

"It's Science, Bertie" said Andrew, casting his
young tenor a little crossly into the gusting dim.

"I'm frightened" said his young companion, shivering from more than the blistering wind
off the Channel, and for a moment, that sound was the world.

Andrew stared back across the meadow and said "The kite flies, Bertie, yes?" and after a moment's hesitation, Andrew replied "Yes".

"So if the kite flies, and you're holding on to that lite very tightly, then you will fly too, yes?".  After
a longer hesitation and with much less certainty, Bertie's little voice answered "I suppose so... ".

"Do you want to fly, Bertie? Do you want to soar above us all and see what none of us have ever seen? Is that what you want Bertie?" said Andrew. There followed an even longer hesitation until Bertie responded without any certainty
whatsoever "Yes....?".

"Then fly, Bertie, fly! Fly now, fly today, fly into history and show us the way!" said Andrew and tugged on the string as hard as he dared. Bertie stumbled into a jog that became a run. The golden rays of the sun broke through the clouds and illuminated his face. Flushing pink, he ran as
fast as he could and then even faster.

Holding on to the kite for dear life, he lept
into the sky and the first true moment of exhilaration in his life. As the ground dropped
and disappeared beneath his feet, he was flying, high above the white cliffs, the green grass and the wet blue of the Channel. Straining his eyes, squinting the misty distance, he saw France!

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