First Flight Read Free Page A

field. She wanted to run, but the uneven ground would cause her to stumble if she stepped out of walking pace.
    Wilbur looked up as she approached. From his face, she must make quite a picture. An old lady, in a fine plum walking suit, out by herself in a field full of men and machinery. Louise nodded her head. “Morning. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
    “No ma’am.” Wilbur pulled a rag out of his pocket and hastily wiped his grease stained fingers off. “Can I help you with anything?”
    That was one of the handy things about being old, people were always wanting to help out. No telling if the people at the Time Travel Institute had thought of that or not. “I wanted to see what you gentlemen were doing out here. I’ve been reading about your efforts and they’re inspiring, I’ll tell you.” Louise moved around the wing of the plane toward the rudders, where the missing part was. Or not missing. Since the plane was whole and perfect. She turned so her hat-cam was pointing straight at him, recording for posterity. “Please don’t mind me. I’m just the nosy type.”
    “Um. Well. We’re getting ready for a trial flight, so if you don’t mind . . .”
    “Oh, I’ll stand over on the side when you take off.” She lifted the glasses again and aimed them at the part, moving around to get it from a different angle.
    He laughed. “I appreciate that ma’am. It’ll be another ten minutes or so.”
    Louise gasped. The records showed that they took off at eleven and that was two hours from now.
    “Something wrong ma’am?” His face was flushed and so alive that it was hard for Louise to credit that he’d been dead for close to seventy years where she came from.
    “No, no. I didn’t realize how soon it was. Somehow I got it in my mind that you were going to fly later today.” This time travel was a marvel. Standing here as they fiddled with whatever it was on the airplane, it made her pity poor Mr. Barnes who couldn’t travel back more than thirty years. What had there been to see in his lifetime that was like this?
    It made her wish she was a few years older so she could see their first flight. Louise worked her way around the plane, determined to film every inch of it. Did they know that it would break records today? “How long do you think you’ll fly today?”
    He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s good of you to think it’ll get off the ground, ma’am.”
    Orville gave the wrench a twist on the gizmo. “The gentlemen are taking wagers so my brother doesn’t feel as if he can make predictions. It wouldn’t be ‘sporting.’” He lowered the tool and gestured at her with it. “How long do you think we’ll stay aloft?”
    “Well now, I’m not a betting person, so I couldn’t say.” If truth be told, she knew exactly how long it would take. Eighteen minutes and forty-two seconds. In two days, they would do the flight everyone talked about, where the machine stayed aloft for thirty minutes. But this flight, today, marks the first time it will stay aloft for more than a few minutes. There were no records of it because no one knew that it would be a historic moment.
    “Go on. We won’t write your name down,” one of the men said.
    “No, thank you sir. It’d be betting in my heart, because I’d still be hoping I was right.” Louise smiled at him but he shifted uncomfortably and tugged on his collar. Well, if it made him think better of his ways, that was all to the good, even if it wasn’t why she’d traveled through time to get here.
    After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, they got back to work and more or less ignored Louise, which suited her fine. She took pains to look at every inch of the flyer so no one at the Time Travel Institute could say she had neglected her duty when she went off after Homer.
    Orville said, “Is there anything you’re looking for in particular?”
    “Oh! No. Thank you. I’m fascinated.”
    He grunted and lifted his head.