SOMEWHERE OVER VIRGINIA, 1857 -- We were moving away from the mountain at a pretty good clip. I searched the side of the cliff where Mose and Auntie Bee had been standing
moments earlier but they were nowhere to be seen, lost in the mountain terrain.
I knew Auntie Bee was out there somewhere. At that moment, I thought, she was probably straining to see us in the dark, just as we were desperately trying to find her. She would be calling our names as we called hers. I listened for the faintest sound of her voice. How I longed to hear her one more time.
Instead, all I heard was the metallic racket from the engine.
By now, the sun was blazing full force in the eastern sky. To the west, tall, majestic mountains stood looming as far as the eye could see. We were really sailing along. I kept looking back, trying to locate the edge of the cliff where we started but all the rugged mountain terrain looked alike. By then, Mose and Auntie Bee would have started back to the cabin. They had to be there for the horn. In any case, they were out of sight.
By now, Randall had stopped calling for Auntie Bee. Instead, he sat in a crouch and hung his head, whimpering softly to himself.
I looked ahead toward where we were going, wondering how we would ever find this Land of Freedom. What I saw was truly amazing.
From high up, I saw a world I had never seen before. It was stunning. I wanted to take it all in. I didn’t think my eyes could open any wider.
We were sailing high above the trees over wide green fields. The color green was everywhere, green as far as I could see. Different shades of green—deep green, yellow green, light green, reddish green and green with a purple hue and green so dark it looked almost blue. I saw more varieties of green than I ever dreamed existed.
Clusters of farmhouses were widely scattered over the meadow. From high up they looked like toy boxes. Roads ran through the fields, as straight as ropes. Rivers and creeks curled like snakes. Ponds and lakes were puddles of blue. Grasslands were dotted with clusters of objects that seemed to be constantly moving. As we got closer, I realized these mysterious moving objects were grazing cows.
The entire earth was spread out in front of me. I could see for miles in every direction, from one horizon to the other. At that time, I had never heard of the word horizon. It wasn’t till much later when I went to college that I learned about geography. But that day, I was amazed by the length of
the horizon. It seemed to extend across the entire earth. And what was beyond the horizon? Was it the end of the world?
It was exciting and exhilarating to look at the world from such a height. I wasn’t even scared. I didn’t know what thrilled me more, knowing that we were slowly approaching the horizon line where I would finally find out once and for all what was on the other side, or knowing that every moment we were heading closer to our freedom.
It was still morning. Back at the farm, everyone would be trooping to the fields, starting their long day’s work. Not us. We were above it all. We were on top of the world. We were really flying.
I leaned over to look underneath the flier. Gears and rods were pulsing up and down with a grinding mechanical sound that reminded me of wagon wheels bouncing over stone.
I still didn’t know how this thing worked. It seemed impossible, but we were actually traveling a hundred feet off the ground. I couldn’t figure out exactly what was keeping us up. It looked like a whole lot of nothing to me. There was only empty space below us.
It seemed like magic. It was an honest to goodness miracle and it was real. And the three of us were living proof.
From far off, we began hearing faint honking sounds. I turned toward the ruckus and saw a large flock of birds in the distance. They were flying alongside the mountain in a wide V formation. Since we were heading north, they were coming toward us, certainly heading south.
I recognized the birds as Canada Geese. Their flapping wings carried them at breakneck speed. They were coming closer, hundreds of them, with their large round bodies, long slim necks and sharp beaks. It looked like the dark line of geese was flying right at us.
There must have been a hundred wild geese, honking and whooping, screeching and cawing. They kept coming at us like we weren’t even there. Their loud calls were fearsome and boisterous, threatening any creature who dared get in their way.
There was nothing we could do. The thick gray parade of birds was advancing rapidly, now almost on top of us. Randall stood up, shaking his fist, hollering above the din. “Get away! Get out! Go on! Shoo!”
I grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him down. Emily just stared at the line of birds about to pass over us, more in fascination than fear. Their screeching and honking grew louder, more ferocious and frightening. They were coming fast. They were unstoppable.
They descended on us in a blur. The dark line became one giant creature, a wild monster attacking us. We closed our eyes and covered our heads, holding tight to each other and screaming bloody murder.
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I would love for everybody to read the book and let me know what you think. If you are interested, go to
www.synergebooks.com or
www.wingsfirstflight.com
Posted By: Richard Kigel
Saturday, February 25th 2012 at 9:42AM
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