We'll Fly One Day....
 

This is a story I did a while back for a class.
I just felt like sharing it, I suppose.
I'm trying to find this one story I wrote about Brer Rabbit.....but I can't find it anywhere.....
Anyways, onto the story itself!

One Day We’ll Fly

“One day, I’m going to fly.” Kuno shifted on the branch and jumped down to the soft, mossy forest floor.

“Kuno, that’s crazy. People can’t fly.” Kuno stood and brushed himself off.

“That’s what everyone thought a long time ago, and then two brothers showed up and proved everyone wrong.”

“Wilbur and Orville Wright?”

“Mhmn. That’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to prove everyone wrong. I’m going to fly.”

………

"Pass the wrench.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Yes, yes, now pass the wrench.” Zeno sighed and passed a wrench to Kuno who was laying under a giant wooden chassis.

“So then, what are you doing?”

“I’m attaching the rear wheel axle of the landing gear to the frame.”

“Alright….you said that the frame would be the easiest part.”

“Yep.”

“So what’s going to be the hard part?” There was a creaking sound as Kuno wheeled himself out from under the chassis.

“The part that makes it run.” Kuno chuckled.

“Oh yeah….how are we going do that?”

“I don’t know. I think that we should check out around town. Maybe go to the library and grab some books.”

“Do you really think that we can build a plane from a book?”

“Well….not entirely….we’ll need some expert advice.”

………

“You’re building a what?”

“A plane.” Timmy, or as everyone else called him, Shorty, peered over the counter, pushing his puffy white chef’s hat off of his brow.

“Uhhh, why? And how?”

“Because I can, and, with my dad’s tools. We’re building it in the old barn.” Kuno and Timmy bantered at the counter. Kuno explained his master plan, occasionally being interrupted by Timmy’s interjections. Zeno only half paid attention to them. He was instead, fascinated by an old photo on the far wall of the diner. The framed photo showed four pilots dressed in their aviator gear with huge grins and fresh faces, standing next to a magnificent plane. Zeno imagined the pilots up in the sky, dashing and dodging between enemy planes, a huge dogfight the littered the sky with torn pieces of hull and bullets.

“Shorty is the one on the left…right there.” A long skinny finger with bright red nail polish entered Zeno’s vision. It extended towards the picture Zeno had been staring at and landed on the shortest pilot of the bunch. He had the largest grin of all as he leaned on the plane triumphantly. Zeno traced the pointing finger to see it connected to Kelly, the diner’s one-and-only waitress. She winked and gestured towards Timmy, “He’s as short as he was back then.”

“I heard that.” Timmy flipped up the moveable counter and shuffled over to Zeno and Kelly.

“Admiring that old photo, huh?” Zeno nodded.

“Yeah, I was a pilot back in the day. Fought in World War Two.”

“So you know a lot about planes then?”

“Hmmmmn, maybe not all of the fancy parts. I wasn’t a mechanic, so I didn’t really know my way around an engine. I knew all of the controls, of course. I know how to fly one now, but it has been a few years.”

“Do you know someone who could help us with building an engine?”

“Oh, I’m sure that Joseph could help you with building an engine.”

“That’s great! Joseph could help us with the engine, and you can teach us the controls and how to pilot the plane and-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, just wait a minute. I didn’t agree to anything. Piloting a plane is very dangerous, let alone a plane that you built yourself. It takes a lot of work to create a plane, you can’t just throw a body with wings on some wheels and hope it flies. It’s a lot more complicated than that. I really think you should just give up on building something like that.” Timmy gave a harsh look at the overeager Kuno.

“But why? If we have a good mechanic, and you to teach us how to fly it, we’ll be good, I know we will!” Kuno protested loudly.

Timmy let out a deep sigh. “Even then, there’s no way your parents would let you fly a makeshift plane. Just how were you able to convince them to even let you build it?”

“We didn’t have to convince them!” Kuno said brightly.

Timmy’s eyes narrowed. “I should go tell your parents before you end up killing yourselves.” Timmy started towards the door.

“No, no! Wait, don’t tell them!” Kuno leapt in front of Timmy and spread his arms wide, blocking his way. “Please! We really want to do this!”

“I-I’m not going to help you kill yourselves!” Timmy raised his hands, shrugged his shoulders and shook his head vigorously. “No, no, no. I won’t help you.”

“What better person to teach us how to fly other than you? You know what to do, why can’t you teach us?”

“Flying a plane takes a lot of training. I was in the Air force for twenty years and I still couldn’t fly perfectly! Being in some shoddy, home built plane only makes it worse! You need to stop this before you end up crashing into the forest, maybe even kill yourselves!”

Kuno’s nostrils flared and his eyes gave a menacing glare. “You can yell at me risking my life. You can yell at me for coming up with this so-called ‘stupid’ idea…but there is one thing you can never yell at me for, and that’s my ability to build! I may not be the smartest kid at school, but I do know how to build!”

Timmy expelled a sigh and gave a tired glance. “It’s not that I don’t think you can’t construct something, it’s that you’ve never built a plane before. You don’t have the training or the experience to build something as complicated as that.”
Kuno’s temper simmered down and he regained his calm, orderly composure.
“Please, just think it over. Is this really something to risk your life for? Why are you so determined to build this thing?”

Kuno’s eyes turned shy and stared at the checkered floor. “All my life, every other kid at school said I would never amount to anything.” Kuno’s gaze turned upward. “So I’m going to prove them wrong and build this plane! I’ll fly it over the school, and all those other kids can watch ME at the top!”

Timmy dragged a hand over his face and sighed. “Kids these days, always trying to prove they’re the best. Heh…not much different than when I was a kid, really…I advise that you sleep on it and really make sure you want to put in the amount of effort and patience it takes for a task like this. If you wake up with the same amount of enthusiasm as you have now…then I might consider it…might…”

Kuno gave a half-hearted smile and walked over to the door of the diner. Zeno said bye to Kelly and followed Kuno. Timmy made a slight gesture which caused Zeno to pause.

“I don’t think you guys should do this, you should persuade him to stop building that plane of his.”

Zeno smirked. “Well sir, I couldn’t do that, since I’m as excited about this as he is.”

Timmy was taken aback at the remark. Then he gave a weak smile, “And I thought you were the one with good sense…”

The twins exited the diner with a ring of the bell attached to the handle. There was an air of excitement…

………

“Trucker from Wisconsin, huh? Heh, my dad was a trucker. Long hours, and little family. Here, breakfast is on the house. Shorty, can I get a breakfast special with three pan-” Kelly was interrupted by the sound of the loud bell crashing against the door frame. Kuno strode in triumphantly, slowly followed by Zeno in his slow-paced amble.

“Where’s Shorty? We have a deal to discuss!”

Timmy stepped out from the kitchen at the mention of his name. “Who called me?”

“Me! I’m here to see through my intention to build a plane!” Kuno wore a brilliant smile and stood proudly with his hands on his hips.

“Hmmmn, I see.” Timmy scrutinized Kuno carefully. “Alright then.”

Kuno’s smile was erased and he stood with a look of disbelief. “Whu-what? You’re going to help us?”

“Sure. I figured that there’s no way I could persuade you otherwise, so I thought that it would be better if I just helped you. There’s no way I could let you out there with your….plane….without me actually telling you how.”

Kuno’s face grew ecstatic and he started to jitter. “You mean it?! You’re really going to help us!?”

“Yes, but I have two conditions that you must agree to.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine, what are they?!”

“First, you can’t fly it until I think you’re ready…and who knows how long that could be.”

“Alright, I’ll still do it!”

“And second…you have to tell your parents what you’re up to. I’ll only help you if they agree to this.”

Now Kuno’s ecstatic face turned into panic. “Ehhh…” He glanced at Zeno, who just shrugged. “Ehhh, fine, okay.”

“Alright. We can do this…I hope…”

To Be Continued

This story makes me want to fly. And I'm afraid of heights. Nice!