Tom and His Wonderful Magic Kite

Tom and His Wonderful Magic Kite

 

       Tom lived with his folks very close to the little shopping mall that was on the highway.  His mother was always reminding him to be careful whenever he told her he was going there because of the heavy traffic.  The primary reason he went there was for the pizza at the pizzeria.  It was very good and when he had the money for a slice he would walk over and get one for himself.

        Being the smallest of the boys in the neighborhood he had to be careful.  Some of the older, bigger boys would sometimes try to bully him out of his money or sometimes the slice of pizza even though he may have already taken a bite out of it.   In school it wasn’t much better, but at least there the teachers kept the bully’s more or less in check.  But the boys still found ways to make his life uncomfortable.

        The grades in his school ranged from fifth grade up to eighth.  Even though he was in sixth grade he was far smaller than most of the seventh and eighth graders and even some of the sixth graders.  It’s not that he was weak, but his size alone left him decidedly less strong than most of the boys he knew.  In short, he was easy prey for all the pranks and other nasty things they would often pull on him.

       “Thank goodness I’m smarter than they are”., he often thought to himself. He found that by using his intelligence he often found ways to avoid the difficulties they had set for him.

       After going to his locker and heading for homeroom he noticed again the poster advertising the kite flying contest that was going to take place in two weeks from this coming Saturday.  He loved to fly kites and he especially liked to make his own.  He was not only determined to enter but also to win the contest.  He had already bought the materials he would need.  He found the lightest, strongest bamboo he could use for the frame to put the paper and string on.  His favorite color was blue and he bought the most beautiful blue paper he could find.  He would have worked on it this past weekend but his parents had taken him on a visit to his grandparents for the two days.

       “I’ll start to work on it when I get home from school today.” He thought to himself.

       For Tom the school day seemed as though it would never end.  He could hardly wait to get home to work on his new kite.  His father, who was an architect, had always allowed him to use his workbench in the garage for his own projects.  His own plans were done in his especially equipped office in the house. He didn’t much care what Tom worked on as long as he cleaned up his mess afterward.

      He had completed most of his homework on the bus ride home from school.  Since there wasn’t much left to do he completed it before his mother came back home from grocery shopping.  He helped her carry in the bags and then made his way to the garage.  His materials were already there at the end of the bench, waiting for him.

       There were no specific rules about the size or dimensions of the kites to be entered.  Tom decided that he was going to make a huge kite, something he had never done before.  He laid the bamboo strips of wood out on the top of the table and decided that a height of six feet would suit him fine.  Of course this meant that his kite would be taller than he was.  He secured the cross pieces and then strung the string all around the edges.

       Carefully he measured and then cut the paper he would use for the kite itself.  He was so glad that he had gotten this shade of blue, it couldn’t have been prettier.  Not making a mess of it he glued the paper to the string and then set it aside to allow it time to dry.  As it stood on its tail he couldn’t help but to admire how nice it looked.  He was tempted to run into the house and have his mother come out and look at it, but he realized that she was probably getting dinner ready and thought he’d have her and dad come out and see it later.

        After dinner both his parents came out to see the kite.

        “That is one huge kite!”, exclaimed his father.   Are you going to be able to handle it?”

       “Gosh dad, I hadn’t thought of that.” responded Tom.  But I really want to try.”

        “It might be a good idea to give it a test flight before you enter it in the contest.” suggested his mother.

       “Good idea, mom.”

        The following day, after school Tom had his best friend Ralph came over and see it.  Together the two of them bent the bow brace and using the twine fastened it so that the kite now had a big bend in it to catch the wind.

        “I’ve never seen a kite this big before.” offered Ralph.  “I bet this could carry you away if you’re not careful.”

       “You really think so?  I don’t know Ralph it would take an awful lot of wind don’t you think?”

        “Well you’ve got the string, let’s give her a try.  Just don’t let out too much of the string for now.”

        It turned out that they were very fortunate that there was only a slight breeze blowing.  Light as the wind was it lofted the kite before they knew it, they both had enough sense to hold on tightly and even together they felt the strong tug on the string.  It soared up to about thirty feet before it twisted, turned and then came crashing to the ground.

        “She definitely needs a tail to stabilize her!”, shouted Tom.

         “Yes!  Definitely.”, agreed his friend.

       In a few moments some of the older boys that had been watching from across the street came over to them.

       “That’s some kite you’ve got there.  What are you going to do fly to the moon?” the one named John asked.

        “I’m going to enter it in the kite contest they’re having at the school in a couple of weeks.” Tom answered him.

         “It’s a little big isn’t it, especially for a little guy like you.” the other of them, Herman, teased.

        “I’ll be able to handle it, don’t worry.”, said Tom.

        “Oh, I’m not worried not if that’s the best you can fly it.”, the wise guy said to him.

         “Well this was just a test flight, I’ll get it to fly better you wait and see.”

       Ralph could see it coming he could see that the one bully, John, was really getting ticked off at Toms’ arrogance.  He walked over to where the kite was lying on the ground and then picked it up.  Turning it toward Tom and Ralph he grabbed hold of the paper and tore it from the top to the bottom in one long ripping motion.

       No one expected what happened next.  Tom who for years had been pushed and bullied without standing up for himself flew into a rage.  Before he realized what was happening, John found himself being pummeled by Tom who was not only punching and kicking him but cursing up a streak of profanities.  John’s friend Herman stood frozen, uncertain as to what to do. 

       John was so shaken up he couldn’t seem to be able to defend himself and aimlessly flailed his hands toward Tom.  The first moment he had the opportunity to do so, he ran off.  Herman took off with him leaving Tom and Ralph alone with their wrecked kite.  It was then that Tom broke down, not over the fight but the fact that his kite was destroyed.

       “All you need to do is get some new paper and you can fix it as good as new.” offered Ralph.

       “I had saved up special to get this paper.  Didn’t you see how beautiful it was?”, countered Tom.

        Tom was very upset.  He so much wanted to enter the contest but knew that he had used just about all of his saved up allowance to get the paper he wanted.  If anything good came out of this it was what Tom noticed the next day in school.  It didn’t take him long to realize that no one was picking on him.  Many of the boys that he had grown accustomed to their making his life miserable seemed to be going out of their way to avoid him.  In the cafeteria he thought he actually saw a few of them wave to him, in a friendly way.

       Despite the change in the atmosphere in school Tom was still moping about for the next couple of days.  He was wondering how he could possibly get the money he needed to rebuild his kite in time for the contest. 

       Though he didn’t have the money he needed to buy fresh paper for his kite, he did have enough to buy a slice of pizza.  He decided he would treat himself after school thinking it would make him feel better.  Two doors down from the pizzeria is a Chinese restaurant.  Instead of walking home eating it as he usually did he decided to eat it down the alleyway between the stores and restaurant.  He was leaning against one of the large garbage bins when he noticed what looked like a brilliant piece of paper sticking up and reflecting the little bit of sunlight that was in the alley.  The red and purple colors seemed to glow with the light.  He went closer and pulled it out and was surprised that it felt more like cloth and it felt so warm in his hands.  Despite being in the garbage bin it was clean and there was hardly a wrinkle in it.

       He took it back home to his dad’s garage before he opened it up and found that it had gorgeous Chinese writing on it and there were also pictures of mountains and trees that seemed so real.  He thought to himself, ”this will make a fantastic kite.”  He was anxious to get started on his kite with his new found treasure to see what it would look like.

        When he spread it out over the bench he was surprised to find that it was almost exactly the right size and shape for his bamboo frame.  As he glued the edges to the string the colors seemed to jump out at him.  It was almost as though they were alive and were impatiently waiting for him to finish his task.  He had just about completed gluing the last section to the frame when his mother called him in to dinner.  He gazed at it and smiled at how beautiful it looked.  He stood it up in the corner to dry while he went in to eat.

       It was Spring and the daylight lasted longer and although Tom loved dessert he passed on it tonight in the hopes he would have enough time to test his kite.

       He rushed to the garage and his workbench where he had stood the kite up to let the glue dry.  Not seeing it he got a sick feeling in his stomach.  Quickly scanning the area he saw it standing in a nook close to the side door to the garage.  Scratching his head he made his way over to it climbing over the lawnmowers his father had stored there.

       “I know I didn’t put this over here.  Who in the world moved it?  Dad didn’t go into the garage before coming into the house in fact he was already in it when I went in for dinner.”

       He went over and checked the lock on the door and found that it was still fastened.  He was getting more and more puzzled.  He went back and took a closer look at his kite making sure it hadn’t been damaged in some way.  It looked fine and he lifted it up so he could turn it around.  It seemed so very warm in his hands.  Checking to see whether or not there was a heater going that no one knew about he set the kite down.

       “Very strange.” ,he said to himself.  “If I do say so for myself, you are a very beautiful looking kite.  I think you are the best looking kite I’ve ever made.  If you fly as good as you look we should have no trouble winning that kite contest next weekend.”

       To his surprise the kite felt even warmer and he wasn’t even touching it.  His kite simply seemed to give off a glow of energy when he was there with it.  When he began to tie the string to the spar to make a bow in the kite the warmth was even more intense.  Tom kept checking to make sure that nothing was heating up his kite.  Attaching the bridle string proved to be a bit of a chore since his kite seemed to become energized when he fastened the bridle to it.  He found that he had difficulty holding on to it.  Fearful that he might break it in the confines of the garage he decided he would attach the flying string outside in the backyard.

      Picking up the string and carrying it by the bridle he carried the kite outside.  He heard some birds overhead and paused watching them as they flew every which way.

       “That’s what I want you to be able to do.”, he said talking to the kite.

       With a sharp tug the kite almost pulled out his hand, but he gripped the bridle even tighter.  But the kite continued and to his amazement both he and the kite were soaring through the air among the birds.  He was almost frightened enough to let go, but he was determined not to and so the two of them wheeled and tossed through the air. 

       Tom was so exhilarated he couldn’t believe what was happening.  All he knew was that he didn’t want it to end, at least not right away.  He got to thinking that they were in the air because that is where he told the kite he wanted to go.  He thought he’d try a little experiment.

       “Let’s go back safely down on the ground.”, he murmured.

       Within moments the kite glided to a smooth soft landing just inches from where they first took off.

       “Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!  I can’t believe it.  I bet it’s because of that paper with the strange writing on it.  I can’t wait until this weekend when I’ll have more time to fly it.   I’d tell Ralph in school tomorrow but he won’t believe it until he sees it.”

        Fortunately tomorrow was Friday and without telling Ralph why he urged him to be at his house early Saturday morning.

       “Did you manage to fix your kite?”

       “Sort of.”, Tom answered.

       “What do you mean “sort of”?  Either it’s fixed or it isn’t!  Which is it?”, asked an exasperated Ralph.

       Without pity Tom answered his friend, “Sort of.”  Ralph you’re in for a huge surprise.”

       “Okay Tom Willis, I’ll be there bright and early tomorrow and this better be good.”

 

       To his surprise Tom was awakened by the sharp sound of stones being tossed at his bedroom window.  Groggily he looked out and saw Ralph ready to hurl another missile at his now open window.

       “You weren’t kidding when you said “bright and early” were you?” teased Tom.

       “This better be really good buddy, mom was already up and she was going to make me some of her delicious pancakes for breakfast.  You know how much I love those!”

       “You!  I love the way your mom makes them too.  Trust me this’ll be worth it.  Hang on I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

        Ralph slumped into the rocking chair on the front porch and rocked away impatiently waiting for Tom.  He realized that he should have called first since Tom  is always so slow in getting ready for anything.  Just as he was mulling this over in his mind Tom came springing out the door.

       “Let’s go!”

       “Yea, like I’m the one holding things up!”, a disgruntled Ralph mumbled under his breathe.

       Ralph was surprised that his friend practically dragged him over to the garage and then told him to wait outside while he went in to get the kite.  He knew from just the other day that the kite was bigger than the usual, but today it seemed so different.  He saw right away that the colors were nothing like the one they flew earlier in the week.  Like Tom he was amazed at how brilliantly the colors shone in the early morning sun.

       “It looks and I’d say feels as though it were alive.” He finally said to Tom.

       “I know, but that’s not even the half of it!  Watch this!”

        Grabbing the bridle string tightly Tom said, “Let’s go down to the school.”

        Ralph was so scared he fell on the ground as he watched Tom and the kite take off from the ground and easily sail to their school.  He couldn’t believe his eyes as he chased after them and then watched as the two of them effortlessly made their way to the school and then gently alighted on the front lawn.  Being so early in the day there were no other children around.  There was an older man who was out walking his dog but he didn’t see them until the kite and Tom were back on the ground.

       “How in the world did you do that?  That’s impossible!”, screamed Ralph.

       “I don’t know, I think it has something to do with the Chinese paper I found.  I wonder how far I could go with it.  Do you want to try it?”

       “Me?  I’d be scared to death.  Besides maybe it only works for you.” , answered Ralph.

       “I don’t think it would do anything to hurt you.  Come on give it try at least.”

        “Okay, but if I get killed I promise to come back and haunt you.”

         “Ralph all you have to do is hold on to the bridle string and tell it where you want to go.  Like how about going back to my dads’ garage.  Be sure to hold on tight.”

        Not really expecting anything to happen, but at the same time wishing it would Ralph took a hard grip on the string and said Toms’ garage.  To his glee he found himself floating about twenty feet above the ground and moving toward the garage.   He looked down to see Tom running while laughing and screaming below him.  When he landed he was both glad and sad at the same time.

       “My goodness Tom that was incredible!  I’ve never experienced anything like that before in my life!  How can I ever thank you?”

       “We’re best friends that’s thanks enough for me.  Can you imagine the fun we can have with this?  We haven’t even begun to find out how far she could take us.  You know she is a big kite I wonder if she could carry both of us at the same time?”

        “That might be a bit too much Tom.  I’d hate to see us ruin her because we were silly in using her.”

       “I’ll tell you what, let’s try it and see.  Both of us will hold the bridle and we’ll have it fly us around the outside of the house.  It’s still early enough that we perhaps won’t be seen.  I don’t know how we’d explain it to someone.”

        Seemingly with no effort the kite lifted the two boys higher than the housetop and flew them several times in an increasing circle around the house.  Besides flying they were amazed that they didn’t seem to feel their own weight as they clung to the bridle.

        “This is sensational!  We’ll be able to travel together all the time.” , Tom exploded.

       Again they landed without any difficulty, looked around and were surprised that no one had seen them yet.  Though neither of them said it they were glad that so far they wouldn’t have any explaining to do.  The more they thought about it though the more they wanted the whole world to know about their wonderful kite.

       “I wonder if they would take it away from us.”, pondered Tom.

       “Why!  Why would they do that? It’s ours, yours .” Ralph corrected himself.

        “I just have a funny feeling that there would be some government agency that would be interested in a kite that can go anywhere it’s told to go and be able to carry two boys with it.  You know we don’t even know if it could do more.”

       “Do you mean that we might have to keep this secret?”, asked Ralph.

       “I don’t know, I just don’t know.  I think I should talk to my dad about it.” suggested Tom.

       “If you think so.  Look its almost lunch time why don’t we try one more flight.  Let’s have it take us down to the lake and back.”

       “That’s a good distance, do you think we should go that far?  My dad and I clocked it once it’s a good three and a half miles away. ,”Tom told him.

       “Let’s do it anyway.  We’ll be back in plenty of time for lunch.  This way your folks won’t need to know yet.”, urged Ralph.

       Without another word they simply looked at each other and took hold of the string.  In moments they were swiftly moving over the ground several hundreds of feet in the air.  Soaring over the school and the post office they watched the commuter train just pulling into the station.

       “Everything looks so different from up here.”, said Ralph.

       “Yes!  The trains look like the layout in Roberts Hobby Shop in town.   Look over there is the airport.” , Tom said pointing.

       Moments later they were landing at the far end of the lake where they kept the canoes that could be rented.  As beautiful a day as it was they were surprised that no one was out in any of the canoes yet.   All they saw was a single fisherman in rowboat close to the middle of the lake.

       “I can really get used to this.”, said Tom.

       “Me too.  Maybe we should be getting back home now.”, suggested Ralph.

        When they got back to the garage Ralph checked his watch for the time.

         “This isn’t right!”, he exclaimed.

         “What?  What’s not right?”, asked Tom.

         “My watch, it has the same time as when we first left here for the lake.  Check your watch.”

          Looking at his friend quizzically and then at his watch Tom yelped, “ Mine too!  I know we left for the lake just a few minutes before lunch time and that’s what my watch says now!  That’s impossible!”

       “This can’t be happening!  It would mean that any time we travel with the kite time stands still.  We could go and come back and no one would ever know we were gone!  That’s incredible.”, Ralph told him.

      “Maybe that’s why no one has seen us.  We might be traveling in some kind of time warp.  We can see them, but they can’t see us.  I wonder what would happen if we were to do something while we were traveling.  Would it have any effect?  Golly Ralph I’m getting kind of scared about this.”

       They both decided that they were going to have to at least tell Tom’s dad about their kite.  Tom thought that his mom might be too frightened for them to continue with their experiments but dad might even want to join in.

       “Let’s wait a while though before we tell him about it.  Look so far as we know we can go anywhere and get back and no one would know we were gone.  I think we should try one big trip first before we tell anyone else.” ,said Ralph.

       “I’ve always wanted to go to London.  We could see the castles, the changing of the guard, it’d be really neat.”, suggested Tom.

       “That’s pretty darn far!  Do you think we should try someplace that far away?  I was thinking of someplace closer, like maybe the Grand Canyon.”, Ralph told him.

       “Ralph, I’m pretty sure they are both about the same distance from us.  If we’re going to go we may as well try either one.”

       “You’re right Tom, besides it’s your kite you should get first choice.  If everything works out we can always go to the Grand Canyon.  Yes!  Let’s do it!  Let’s do it right now.”

       “Hold on a minute, maybe we should do a little research first.  You know there is a five hour time difference between us and London.  We should get some idea of the things we would like to see while we’re there and then make sure they’d be open while we’re there.”

       “That makes sense Tom, there wouldn’t be any sense in going all the way over there and not get to see any of the things we’d really want to see.  Let’s check on some of these things out on our computers.  Oh and another thing, it would fantastic if we brought along our cameras.  We could take a boatload of pictures to prove we were there.”

       Seeing how the next day was Saturday the two boys figured they would have the whole day to themselves.  Both of Toms’ parents were set to go shopping and Ralph always seemed to be pretty much on his own.

       “Be sure to bring your camera with you.”, Tom told Ralph.

        “I’ll be bringing mine along too.  You know we’re both going to have to leave really early in the morning, be here by 6.”

        “6’oclock  why?   That’s awfully darn early!

       “You’re forgetting it’s five hours later there.  When it’s 6 in the morning here, it’s already 11:00 over there.  I really want to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, it starts at 11:15, their time.”

       “You’re right, I had forgotten about that.  Okay, I’ll see you at about 6 and just in case I’ll bring my passport.”

         “Good thinking there, Ralph.  You never know.  By the way I checked on the possible weather and it’s supposed to be sunny with temperatures about 65.  Maybe we should each wear a light jacket.”

       “Sounds good to me, see you bright and early Tom.”

       Neither of them slept very well that night.  The excitement of their pending adventure was more than enough to keep them both awake.  Tom was sorry that he hadn’t asked Ralph to spend the night with him.

        Despite their lack of sleep both of them awoke much earlier than necessary.  When they got together they each checked the other out.  Ralph was surprised at an extra piece that Tom was carrying.

       “What’s that?, “he asked pointing to a long tube that Tom had strapped across his back.

       “You’ve seen these before.  When my dad is working on a large project he often has to take the architectural plans with him.  To keep them safe he puts them in one of these tubes.  When he gets to where he’s going he simply takes them out and unrolls them onto the table.”

       “Okay, so why do we need one of these?”

       “Ralph, we can’t be walking around London, or anywhere, carrying an oversized kite.  It would be clumsy and we would be asked a lot of questions.  I tried taking the kite apart last evening.  It was easy and it fits smoothly in the tube.  Just before you came over I put it back together again good as new.”

       “Are you sure?   We wouldn’t be able to go anywhere if it didn’t work

anymore.”

       “Trust me I already tried it, just to be sure.”, Tom told him.

       Reassured Ralph turned to Tom, patted him on the shoulder and said, ”Well let’s go!  Off to merry old England!”

       One of the things they weren’t sure about was how long it would take them to get there.  Leaving at six in the morning meant it was already 11 o’clock in London.  If it took them several hours to get there they would miss the ceremony.  Disregarding this possibility, they started out anyway.

       To their amazement they were in the air in just seconds and in what seemed like only moments later they were looking down on the Tower Bridge over the Thames!  Tom was so shook up he almost let go of the bridle string which would have had him tumbling into the river far below.

       “This is impossible!  We are traveling faster than any jet I’ve ever heard of and we have no noise, no feeling of any force on us.  This is absolutely incredible!”, he cried out to Ralph.

       “I know!  I know!  Now look we’re going to have to land as best we can unseen.  Look over there, there’s a huge park with people flying kites.  Let’s try getting down on the far end of it near the trees.  I see it’s not very far from Buckingham Palace so it’ll be a short walk for us once we land.”, Ralph told him.

       As though knowing exactly what was expected of it the huge kite landed the two of them at the very edge of the park before it turned into a dense wooded area.  Looking around to see if anyone had noticed them the two boys began to quickly roll up their kite and carefully place it inside the tube they had brought with them.

       “I forgot to take pictures while we over the Bridge.” said Tom.

        “Me too, we can be sure to get them when we leave.  Besides we’ll get a lot than that.”

       They looked around to get a sense of the direction they should be heading in.  Of course their attention was drawn to the many kites that were flitting above them.  There were many different shapes and sizes, with none of them anywhere near as big as theirs.  One or two of them seemed to be engaged in “kite fighting.”

       “Have you ever tried that?”, asked Ralph.

        “No, I haven’t and now it wouldn’t be fair, don’t you think?”

         “Oh no, we could probably kill off anything that came near us.  It really would be like cheating.”, answered Ralph.

       Hearing what sounded like drums and the brass instruments of a marching band they walked off in their direction.  After about ten minutes of walking they could see a very large crowd standing on the walkways leading to Buckingham Palace.  Squeezing past a large group of people they could now see the band with their bright red uniforms and bearskin hats.  The sun was gleaming off their blaring instruments as they marched toward the Palace.

       “This is so awesome!” said Tom adjusting his camera.

       “Great idea Tom I almost forgot again!  I’m going to get some shots too.  I’ve only seen stuff like this in the movies or on t.v.!  This is so much better than what I expected!  I’m getting it all in my camera too.”

       “I want to actually see the Changing of the Guard Ceremony.”, Tom told him.  “We better get down closer to the Palace before it’s too crowded to get any good pictures.  It already looks like a mob scene.  If we’re lucky maybe we can find a place to squeeze ourselves in.”

       “Last summer our family saw the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, D.C.  That was very impressive, but this with the red coats and the bearskin hats, it’s so totally different.”, offered Ralph.

       “Yes, I know, we’re going to have some really colorful pictures.”, Tom said. “I can’t wait to show these to Mrs. Owens our social studies teacher.”

       “Are you sure about that?  How will we explain them to her?”

        “Hmmmm, you’re right Ralph, I hadn’t thought about that.  But you know sooner or later we’ll have to tell someone, don’t you think?”

       “That’s for sure I just think we should wait a bit longer before we let anyone else know about this.  I’m even thinking I won’t tell my dad yet either.”

       They carefully made their way to the massive front gate where by a happy chance there was just enough room for the two of them to squeeze in without disturbing those already there.  From their vantage point they both had a clear shot of where the guards would be changing their positions.

       Close as they were they were still a good thirty yards or so from the guards.  They were all set with their cameras along with the dozens of others around them.  Everyone was so busy concentrating on taking their pictures they hardly noticed that the wind was picking up very briskly.  A newspaper came blowing in from the area outside and swished its way across the parade ground where the soldiers were.  In moments it had blown all apart and many of its’ pages were flying all over the area where the soldiers in the brilliant red coats and bearskin hats were marching.

       The marchers ignored the invasion of the newspaper and for the most part the spectators did too.  But then something happened that was completely unexpected no one had ever seen it happen before.  The wind must have caught one of the soldiers’ hats just right and tore it from his head sending it soaring high into the air.  Being in formation there was nothing the poor soldier could do except out of the corner of his eye watch his beautiful hat go ever higher into the air.

       Watching to see where it might go Tom and Ralph had their eyes glued on the errant hat.  Hoping it would come down soon they were surprised that it just seemed to soar higher and further away from Buckingham Palace.  While still looking after it they lost sight of it as it passed by a large group of trees.  None in the crowd seemed to have an eye on it either.

       The Changing of the Guard Ceremony was scarcely over when Tom dragged Ralph away from the crowd and into a secluded area of the park.  He then went rifling through the tube holding the stored kite.

       “What are you doing?”, Ralph asked.  “What are you going to do with the kite.”

        “We’re going to get that guard his hat back!  Whether it’s his fault or not I figure he’s going to be in a lot of trouble for having lost his bearskin hat.  So I have an idea on how we can get it back for him.”

        “Tom, we don’t even know where it is!  How can we possibly get it back for him?”

       By now, Tom had completely reassembled the kite and he held it tight while he explained his idea to Ralph.

       “I figure the kite doesn’t need to have seen it, it just seems to know where things are.  Like we didn’t tell it where Buckingham Palace was, it just brought us here.  I’m sure if I ask it to take us to the hat it’ll do the same thing.”

       “You think?”

       “What have we got to lose?  Hang on, here we go.”

       In just moments they were soaring over the tallest treetops and sure enough there on one of the branches just below them was the errant bearskin hat.  The kite seemed to know exactly what Tom wanted him to do.  It moved in slowly and got closer and closer so that Tom could easily reach out and snag the beautiful hat from the branches of the tree.

       “Wow!  Look at that!”, exclaimed Ralph. “It’s so soft just like one of those  stuffed plush teddy bears they give as prizes at the carnivals.  This is great Tom, but what are we going to do now?”

        “We’re going to give it back of course.  In fact I think we are just going to walk right in and give it to him.”

         “You’re kidding, right?”

        The two boys once again carefully took the kite apart and placed it carefully back in the architects tubing.  Before starting back toward the palace both of them took each other’s picture while trying on the hat.  While carefully carrying their “treasure” they tried to keep it from being seen by the huge crowd that was still milling about outside the palace.

       To Ralphs’ surprise Tom walked right up to the front gate and slipped in, dragging Ralph with him, past the soldiers marching out of the palace grounds.  It took only moments for one of them to shout for the two of them to halt.  Tom continued to walk even faster up toward the guard who was now standing on duty.  In a flash the two boys were seized by very firm grips on their shoulders almost making Tom drop the bearskin hat.

       “I say lads, we mean it when we say stop!  Now what’s up with the two of you?”

       In a very short time the officer in charge of the guard detail came over to the now growing group surrounding Tom and Ralph.

      “What is it young fellas?  You’re Americans aren’t you, I can tell from your accents.  And what is this?”

      He looked in amazement at the hat that Tom was carefully clutching in his arms.

        “How did you manage to get this?  We all saw it soaring away high into the air just a short while ago.”

       Quite a few of the otherwise disciplined guards were ogling the hat being held by Tom.  Like their officer they couldn’t imagine how the boys could have retrieved it.

       “We were just very lucky.”, said Tom.  “We kept our eyes on it and saw where it landed in a tree.  Ralph and I are pretty good at climbing trees so we went up and got it.  It doesn’t seem to have been damaged at all.”

       By this time a reporter from the London Times had arrived and decided this would be a good “human interest story” especially when he found that both Tom and Ralph were from the United States.  Both of the boys were careful during the interview to not tell how it was that they had come to London.  Before their session was over the reporter had several photographs of them taken.  They were assured by the reporter that the story would appear in the next days’ London Times.

       As soon as things quieted down the two of them looked for a nice remote section of the park to gather themselves in.

 

       “I don’t know about you”, said Ralph, ”but I’ve had enough excitement for one day.  I’d hate for us to push our luck.  I think we should go back home and figure out what we should do next.”

       “Ralph, you’re right.  This turned out much better than I expected, but there’s no sense in messing it up.  This would be the ideal way to see if these trips aren’t in any way affected by time.”

        “Yes!  I forgot about that!  If it’s true, we’ll get back home in time to do all the stuff we would normally do on Saturday.”

       When they arrived back home it hardly seemed as though they had gone anywhere.  Both of the boys checked the photos they had taken with their digital cameras and sure enough the proof was there.

      They both thought they looked pretty silly with the bearskin hat on. 

      “I just remembered something,” Tom told his friend, “our public library gets some foreign newspapers and one of them is the London Times.  We should be able to see our story in, if not tomorrows’ paper, then the next days.”

       “That’ll be great!  No one else will know except us!”

       “I don’t know about that?”

        “What do you mean?

        “Mrs. Craig our English teacher from last year.  You know she really is from England don’t you?  I seem to recall seeing a copy of the London Times on the corner of her desk a few times while we had her.  We’ll just have to be sure that we avoid bumping into her.”

       “Well I don’t think she would get it every day, do you?  I mean what are the odds of it happening?   Besides it wasn’t like it was great big news our article is probably buried in the back pages of the paper, she’ll never see it.”

 

       On Monday, two days after having been in London the two of them decided to visit the public library after school.  They scurried into the corner where all the newspapers were on display.  They could scarcely contain their excitement when they found the one they wanted, The London Times.  Thankfully, they thought, the article wasn’t on the front page, but almost to their dismay it was on the first page of the second section along with not one, but two pictures of the boys.  In one of them they were handing the guard his hat back.  There was no doubt about it the two of them were very easily recognizable.

       “Holy cow!  Thank goodness no one we know reads this paper!”

       “Well, I can name one person!”, retorted Ralph.

        “It’s been over a year.  Maybe she won’t even recognize us.  Still I think it would be a good idea to avoid crossing her path any time soon.” 

        The boys decided to take it easy with the kite for a while.  They considered themselves lucky that so far everything had gone well for the two of them.  It’s been over a week and they haven’t heard anything about the newspaper article.  Tom had finally put his concerns about it out of his mind.

        When the family was seated for dinner his mother mentioned that she had run into Mrs. Criag while food shopping.

        “She asked me something strange that I didn’t understand.”

         Tom sank down into his chair and asked, ”What was that mom?”

         “How did you and your family enjoy your trip to London?  I saw Toms’ picture in the newspaper last week?”

       “I don’t know what to tell you.  We have talked about possibly going there this summer, but we have never been there.  I’m positive that Tom hasn’t been there either.”

      “Oh it wasn’t just Tom it was his friend Ralph too.  Both of their pictures are in the paper.”

        “It must be some mistake, mom.  It must be a couple of guys that look like us.” , Tom responded.

       “That’s what I thought too, but she happened to have a copy of the paper with her.  Not only do the two boys look exactly like the two of you, but they have the same names too.”

       Mr. Arnold, Toms’ father, up till now had been quietly listening to this conversation.  By now both his patience and his curiosity had reached their limit.

       “Tom, I, we your mother and I want to know what is going on!  You know that we trust you implicitly, but your mother and I feel that there has been a lot of strange things going on around here lately and we have a right to know what it is.”

       “I can’t understand how you and Ralph could have your pictures taken in London when I know darn well you have never left home!  Just time wise it would take you several hours to fly across the ocean and then several more to fly back you’ve never been gone long enough for that to happen.”,   asked his mother.

       “Mother, father, I can show you much better than I can explain it to you.” ,said Tom.

       After the dirty dinner dishes were placed in the washer, Tom led his parents out to the garage.  He went inside and came out with the architects’ tubing he’d been using for his kite.  While they sat on the picnic table bench Tom quickly assembled the kite.  They were both surprised at how big it was.

       “It’s taller than you, Tom.” , said his father.

       “Who wants to try it first?”, asked Tom.

       “Try it?  What do you mean?,” queried his mother.

       “You’ll see.  Okay dad, you first. Stand next to me and hold on to the bridle string with me.”

 

        “Aren’t you going to attach the rest of the string first?”, asked his father.

        “No, it’ll be just fine the way it is.  Now hold on and don’t let go.  Now I must tell you I don’t know if it’s going to work with an adult.  But let’s give it a try.  Where would you like to travel to?”

       “I’ve always wanted to see Venice, Italy.”, his father told him.

       To both of their astonishments they were almost instantly soaring above the canals and watching the gondolas ply their way through them crammed with gawking tourists. 

       “I can’t believe this!” ,exclaimed his father.  “We better get back though your mother is probably worried sick.”

       “No she won’t be, but you’ll see when we get back.”

        They landed alongside the bench his mother was still sitting at.  She looked over to them and asked, ”Well, are the two of you going to leave, or something?”

       “Honey,” his father started to explain.  Tom stopped him and had him look at his watch.

       “Impossible!”

       “I’ll try to explain it when I come back with mother.”

       Taking his mother by the hand he had her grip the bridle string just as his father had done.  Then he asked her, ”Mother if you could go anywhere in the world where would you want to go?”

       Without a moments’ hesitation she said, “Ever since I was a little girl the pyramids of Egypt have always fascinated me.  That’s where I’d like to go.”

       The two of them looked down and saw a long line of vehicles bringing travelers out to see these world wonders.  They flew on and got to see the Sphinx as well.

       “They are so huge!  Pictures of them don’t do them justice.”, she told Tom.  “Speaking of pictures”, she went on, “I’m sorry I don’t have my camera with me.”

       “Next time mom, next time.”, Tom assured her.

       Before she knew it the two of them were back home in their backyard.  Mr. Arnold was sitting down still amazed at what he had just experienced, but now he wanted to hear where his wife had gone to.  When he saw her he rushed over to her.

       “This has got to be the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen or done.  Tom we’re going to need to have a long discussion about this wonderful ability your kite has.” , his father told him.

       So this was the beginning of all the fantastic adventures Tom was going to have with his wonderful magical kite.

 

By

David B. Pincus

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

Now, this is what I call one humdinger of a tall tale. Wow! So easily, this could be made into a children's book or movie. A great job you've done here, Sir.

[Stan Lee]

Hey that's a nice little magical idea. Tom has very accepting parents! lol. I liked your well drawn characters. This is a great story for younger children. :)

[Dave]

Thank you very much. This is a first attempt at writing a short story. I hope to have a series of them with the same main characters.