The plane is taking off

“Kids! Kids!”

 It’s on one such weekend, a Sunday afternoon specifically, that the children are excitedly called into the barn. They race to the barn as an exuberant Marcus takes his wife’s hand to lead her to the barn at a run.

At the barn the plane stands proud in the centre of the well-worn floor. All of the tools that were previously scattered all over the floor are gone, the doors to the plane stand open, with Jason already in the co-pilot’s seat, a beaming smile on his face.

Even with the fading, peeling paint and dirty windows it looked different in Jaxin’s eyes.

As Marcus tries to slip his hand from hers so he can climb in, she holds on and pulls him back. “It’s working?” she asks. “You’ve fixed it?”

He smiles in responses and kisses her passionately, prompting comments of disapproval from the kids. Then he climbs inside and joins Jason at the controls.

“Here we go,” says Marcus, to Jason and to himself.

“Here we go,” echoes Jason. “Pre-flight’s all done. Kick it over.”

Marcus starts the engine, and for several long seconds the engine simply rattles and grumbles before there is a loud bang and a puff of smoke accompanied by the first slow movement of the propeller. “Thank you,” whispers Marcus.

The kids cheer and whoop, punching the air as the engine’s grumble slowly becomes a growl and the propeller tries to make its way through a full revolution. Even Jaxin is excited, hugging the kids in a massive group cuddle.

The excitement however, is short lived as, not quite making a full revolution, the propeller grinds to a near-halt, leaving looks of disappointment on the kids’ faces.

“Oh, no,” mumbles Marcus as the propeller stalls.

“Have faith,” encourages Jason. “Give it a few seconds.”

Marcus looks at Jason and Jason nods his head to indicate no worries let’s try again. They do their pre-flight checks again and Marcus re-inserts the key into the barrel and he tries to start the engine again.  Nothing happened. Marcus is getting irritated and angry. He raises his voice and smashes the aircraft steering.

“Damn it! What’s wrong with you?!”  

“Stay calm. You don’t want the children to see you like this. We just have to keep trying”.

Jaxin and the children feel despair and are very worried observing Marcus behaving badly.

Marcus turns to look at Jaxin and the children and he can see despair in their faces. Consequently he composes himself. He smiles and raises his thumbs to reassure them.

He tries to start the engine again. Nothing happens. He calms himself and makes another attempt. He is desperate to get it going, obvious from his sweating and anxious looks. The engine starts to rattle and rumbles to a stop. He tries again and the engine turns for a bit longer. The propeller starting to turn faster, increasing in speed of revolution to everyone’s joy and excitement.  

As if on cue, the propeller spins it doesn’t just spin, it rotates so fast it becomes an incomprehensible blur of movement. Again, the kids are ecstatic. Even Marcus and Jason are excited, with Marcus unable to stop himself breaking into fits of hysterical giggles. He turns to look at Jason and give him a high five. He then looks to his family, who continue to whoop and holler and jump for joy at the excitement that the plane is finally working.

Marcus turns to Jason with a serious and determined look. “Ready! We are going full speed to take off now!”

“Yes buddy, all clear and ready to take off.”   

Marcus increases the revs and the plane creeps forward, exiting the barn and heading for the neatly mowed section of grass that he and Jason prepared only that very morning as a temporary runway.

Once the plane is on the grassy runway, Jason tells Marcus, “Let’s do this,” and Marcus accelerates. The plane picks up speed, the nose naturally wanting to tip upward into the air, then the engine spits and cackles and dips low as the plane slows.

As Jaxin and the kids watch from just outside the barn the slowing plane suddenly belches a cloud of black smoke that swirls into the air, the plane then shoots off down the runway. The nose tilts up higher and higher as the plane picks up speed, then as it nears the end of the runway, the rest of the plane follows, up, up and away…

“We’re up, we’re up! We’re off the ground!” yells Marcus. He’s jubilant. After so much stress and so much difficulty, he’s finally achieved what he’s worked towards. He’s taken a pile of junk and with Jason’s help, turned it into a working aircraft.

The plane climbs and banks and twists in the air, staying near to the cottage so the children and Jaxin can always keep the plane in sight.

As the plane comes down, bouncing and bobbing down the runway, the kids run alongside, making sure to stay at a safe distance. They’re screaming and shouting excitedly and as the two dads’ climb from the cockpit they leap into their arms, an orchestra of questions about when they’ll be going on their first flight and where they’ll be going.