THE FLYING MACHINE
by
Lynne C.
"What's going on, Adam? Where's Little Joe and the supplies you went
to town to fetch?"
Please stop shouting, Pa," said Adam, pinching his nose and shutting
his eyes. "This is giving me a headache. If you just give me a minute,
I will explain."
When Adam said he had a headache, Ben lowered his tone.
"What happened, son? Did you get bushwhacked?"
"Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose I did."
"Please explain," said Ben.
"Well, Joe and I went into town and once we got there, I went over
to
the bank to get some cash and Joe said he'd go and get the mail."
"Okay, so far," said Ben, as Adam paused and sat down, rubbing
his
temples.
"I was just about to enter the mercantile, to hand over the list of
supplies, when Joe came tearing along the boardwalk and bumped into
me. I remonstrated with him, but he just ignored me, and launched into
this garbled tale about someone waiting for him and how he'd got to go."
"Who was waiting for him, and where did he have to go to?" asked
Ben,
trying to remain patient with his son.
"Someone called Lynne," said Adam. "She'd sent him a wire
and said
she'd be at Manchester Airport, and he was to get there, quick smart."
"Airport? What in heaven's name is one of them?" said Ben.
"I asked the same question and Joe gabbled on about some place where
aeroplanes land. Never heard of `em, but he said they're flying
machines and we should ask Hoss all about `em. Seems that friend of
Hoss', the professor who got him jumping off Devil Wind Hill, has
invented a real honest to goodness flying machine and so Joe is going
to fly in one and meet this Lynne."
"Oh, is he now? And who said he could? And where did he get the money
from?"
"Well, that's why I kinda said I was bushwhacked, Pa. Joe grabbed
the
money off me, that I'd got out of the bank, and skedaddled off to this
airport thingy in Reno. Said he didn't know when he'd be back."
Ben also sat down.
"Oh boy, now I've got a headache, too."
THE END