GO FLY A KITE
Prompt - Go Fly a Kite : Write about flying a kite
The girl watched raptly as her father laid the box on the grass, opened it, and carefully removed each of the contents and laid them down for her to see. As he did so he kept up a constant commentary on what the objects he handled were called, and their purpose, looking across to her regularly to check that his words were being absorbed and understood. She didn't say anything, but nodded from time to time.
Then came the construction process. There was a point where he invited her to connect one part to another, but she shook her head, frowning as she did so, and he accepted her decision. Thought that her enthusiasm would surely flood out once the point of the exercise was realised.
With everything, done, and the ensemble double checked for any possible weak points, he announced they would now test it out for real. His enthusiasm for the moment wasn't in doubt, but she still did nothing more than nod. He set up a small launch platform, the flat surface of the box raised on a pile of stones he'd collected, ensuring that there would be no snagging when he attempted to get airborne. Then he wound out about six metres of string from the bobbin and looked around, once more. for potential obstacles. A pointless exercise as he'd selected the site, free from trees and cables and with few birds around, weeks ago.
His eyes shone with excitement as he looked across at his daughter. She had closely observed everything he did, but never asked a question or made a comment. He had hoped she'd be more involved, couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong, but decided to go ahead with the big moment, sure that she would be captivated once the kite was in the air.
"Watch now, this is how we get it to fly." She nodded again, still soundless. He licked the forefinger of his left hand, held it to the mild breeze, looking in command of the situation. "We do that to test the strength and direction of the wind." She already knew this, but nodded politely, looking to humour him.
He waited for a bigger gust than most, then launched himself downhill, a perilous move when done backwards, his unsteadiness adding to the drama of the moment. She watched him turn into a stuttering marionette, so unlike his usual smooth presence, and only turned her head skywards when he cried out "Look! Look!". There was the kite, swinging side to side, bobbing up and down, jerking in response to the variations in the wind, and getting higher as he fed out the string. "Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it?" His enthusiasm was bursting from every movement of his body, and she wondered who was meant to be the child here? Who was this for?
He called her down to him, offered to let her hold the bobbin, with his help of course, to feel the power of flying an object so far above where they stood. But she turned him down. Told him she was happy watching and that she liked to see him enjoy himself. So he did. Puzzled and frustrated, but not so much that his childish joy could be suppressed.
Eventually he knew he had to stop, put it all back in the box, go home. In the car she finally spoke.
"Thanks Daddy, I enjoyed that."
"Did you? Really? But why didn't you want to join in?"
"When I fly it won't be like that."
"What will it be like then?" He hadn't heard her talk like this before. Or had he not been paying attention?
"I'll be the kite, not the kite flyer. The falcon, not the falconer. Do you understand?" He didn't, not really, but he said yes, of course he did, and they drove home.
Later he related the events of the day to his wife, wondering if she had any idea what their daughter had meant about kites and falcons?
"She's going to be a pilot. How didn't you know that?"
How indeed.
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