FOWLS of the AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 12 (Supplement)

FOWLS of the AIR

SHORT STORY (Copyright)

lAM one of those whose sympathies wenu to Aunt Agatha and Victor. But I realise that we are in the minority. Almost everyone crooned over Leila, and nothing that exasperating young woman did deflected their allegiance. Oh, I am not attempting to deny what she had. I ■wouldn't be such a fool. A lovely face, a beautiful body, that innocent, •wide-eyed, top-of-the-world expression of one who has always found the world to be her most excellent oyster —but was any of this her fault 1 ? She was born with that face, and at the time I am speaking of, she frequently forgot to put cold cream on at night. And as for that lovely, slim young shape, it craved exercise and ghe gave it exercise. * Not, mind you, that I condemned Leila at once. She carried on exactly as if, left an orphan at fifteen, she was not Aunt Agatha's sole care in life. If there was any criticism to be handed tout at the time, a little might conceivably be spread on Aunt Agatha and [Victor, who never altered their lives to feuifc Lqjla. . Indeed they were a curious trio, each fencased in the rigid pattern of their town life, and gazing from the eminence tof their own ideas on the extraordinary high, jinks of the others. Or rather, to be exact, Victor and Aunt Agatha, who fcould comprehend and approve of each other, gazed upon Leila starring in first one and then another sphere of .the life energetic. Among her other duties toward Leila, 'Aunt Agatha from, the first recognised that of providing her niece with a BU'teble fiance, who, in turn, if he stood the course, might hope to graduate as a husband. I rather fancy that Aunt Agatha'a idea was an engagement from say nineteen or twenty, progressing decorously for some years, and then a quiet, conventional " O-promise-me type of wedding. She canvassed Beriously the claims of all the eligible young men in tho neighbourhood and, in due course, emerged Victor. Thereafter Aunt Agatha, sitting with the backbone of a guardsman on parade, 6heathed in black—skirts to the floor, collar to the ears, sleeves to the wrist — was supported by Victor, pale and serious, restored from the ardours of the office.. Opposite Leila, who looked as if she had dressed in conscious and direct opposition to her aunt, sat the current young athlete. Sometimes in spit# of the austere vision of his hostess, or the indifference of Victor, the young man .would plunge with Leila into a sea of meaningless remarks. " If you would only give him his head before he comes into the wings—" " And have him run out with me?" -" But he wouldn't. I'm standing here. Well then--" Or Aunt Agatha's scandalised ears {would hear: " But, Bill—in the back flying eagle, my legs always curve to the side—" " What I say is, you could take a little run at it--" On an occasion when Leila could confidently expect to be the recipient of one of those unhandy but impressive silver cups sho duly invited Aunt 'Agatha and Victor to the field. In winter they watched Leila carving beautiful designs on the ice; in between seasons they watched Leila take snorting thoroughbreds with wild eyes and flowing tails over h gh jumps; in the heat of summer, from the shade of the pavilion, they watched Leila poised against the sky, ready to describe that downWard arc of perfection. " There's her Aunt Agatha, and there's 1 Victor with her. " " Poor Victor. I wonder why ho (doesn't cave 1 in and take up some sport." "But can yju imagine him being any use at any sport?" No—o. Bun how else is he ever feoing to win Leila?" " Oh, I don't know, my dear. After all he's won A int Agatha. And Leila is an amiable soul. Bather than argue I think she'd marry Victor." This flippant conversation which took place between two young ladies who watched Leila carry off All Canada high diving championship, sheds little or no light on tho question. It was when Leila insisted on learning to fly that I definitely joined that email minority who criticised Leila and sympathised with Aunt Agatha and Victor. For low can anyone follow Anyone Tip in-;o the air? One must draw' the lino somewhere. And definitely, after one has stood watching the aeroplane lake off —perhaps rushed back to the ground to bo in time to kco it land—what moro can one do?.We all know thos* cricks in the neck Attendant on trying to do more on tak' ing a violent interest in what the little silver bird is playing at, a mile or so overhead. "Thsre —he's looping—Look! He's going intD a tailspin! Good grief, he's flying upside down! Oh, definitely, jp: I feel Leila went too far when she left p, the ground. • • * • • j " You take over." i|p| caught the shout and nodded. L' ; closed over the control. She L stick and felt the nose of climbing against the blue

tranquil air. This was the perfection of joy. The pattern of the fields, a checkerboard of light and shade, with patches of colour laid on like stamps fell away, further and further, smaller and smaller; they look like dark pocket handkerchiefs she thought, and her eyes riveted for an instant on the hypnotised black beetles crawling over the pale narrow ribbon that separated the pocket handkerchiefs. Suddenly she saw the instructor's hand reach forward and seize the stick. The machine straightened out, the nose dropped steeply. They began a pointing drop toward the checkerboard that seemed so far below thein, ''Bring her out of it," shouted the instructor. "Now then —I won't touch her. You make the landing." Leila saw the ground. It seemed rushing faster and faster to meet her. She thought she could distinguish the blades of grass. She felt the wheels of the aeroplane bump, bouoce, run forward in a little drunken skid—. (She had landed. She had come down out of that blue emptiness herself. She got out-stiffly. She turned to the instructor who had slammed the door and was walking beside her toward the aerodrome. Her smile was radiant, absurd perhaps in its limitless (benevolence.) His eyes, she thought to herself, are bluer than the sky where we were a minute ago. Thereafter Leila's conversation was a bewildering mosaic of "circuits," controls, stalling, spinning, banking, flying blind, cross country, landingsthere was not another word to be salvaged from it. In her heart she hid her dizzy pride at the blue-eyed instructor's sparse praise. He thought her good. Sometimes he said so. It seemed to Aunt Agatha and Victor that she might just as well have stayed up in the air. For she undoubtedly left her spirit soaring and tumbling among the clouds. An image of the aeroplane climbing the wall of heaven was printed on her inner vision, so she turned to them those lovely eyes confused with the brimming wonder of the new kingdom. Sitting with them at dinner she still felt her cheeks kissed by the limitless breeze of heaven, "I flew solo to-day," said Leila — and they knew it was impossible for them to reach .her. * • • » * Some weeks later when Victor's firm proposed sending him to Cleveland he hailed the suggestion with relief. He saw little of Leila. In the evening she wrote up her leg book. Then engaged in dreaming over those laconic phrases: "Put her into spin at 2000 feet over Lake 0 " , x £ x L - He could not be expected out of this stark sentence to experience a sharp exhilaration that seemed as if it would break his heart. He might just as well travel tamely by train to Cleveland. His letters, describing the state of the firm's finances, could not hope to light in Leila's eyes the fires of remembrance kindled by "4000 feet, visibility fair, wind N.N.E." Nevertheless, Victor scored after all, as you shall see As many a man boforo him ho scored through an accident, or, if pou prefer, through divine intervention. At 9..'10 on a clear starlight night in late spring a telegram arrived. The telegram announced tersely that Victor was ahout to undergo an operation for appendicitis. It was sent by the hospital to Aunt Agatha, and the ominous words "Condition iserious" had been added by the hospital authorities. "I never understood that an operation for appendicitis was serious," complained Aurit Agatha. "They can be," said Leila briefly, "very." And she left the room. When she came hack she was wearing her heavy coat and carrying gauntlets and goggles. Aunt Agatha suddenly took inlhe flying helmet and her knees gave under her. , "Leila," she said, her voice bleak with suspense, "what do you mean to "Fly to Cleveland," said Leila, casual if a little pale. Early in their acquaintance Aunt Agatha had learned the wisdom of not arguing with Leila. "Wait for me," she said. "I will conif as far as the aerodrome." "Hut —" said Leila and stopped. After all Aunt Agatha was devoted to Victor. By the time they reached the aerodrome Aunt Agatha had mastered herself. She stepped out on the windclipped grass and walked beside I<oila, a long thin exclamation point in unrelieved black. Leila opened the door of the aeroplane. The engine was running. "I'll telephone to ycu," she said to Aunt Agatha, raising her voice. VWhere do I sit?" shouted Aunt Af&tha. The ground engineer felt a helpless grin spreading over his face. He was glad of the wind-swept darkness. "But —" said Leila for the second time that night, her hand on the door of the aeroplane.

"If you think," said Aunt Agatha, speaking with acid distinctness in spite of the wind and the racing of the engine, and transmitting her remarks directly into the air-flap of Leila's helmet —"that I am going to allow a young gici like you to fly off into the night alone —I am not. Where do I sit?" Leila threw the' ground engineer a despairing look. "Sit there, Aunt -Agatha," she shouted helplessly, and Aunt Agatha climbed in, giving to the darkness a view of more leg than had been glimpsed for many years. I-eila took her seat. She and the man on the ground shouted something into the wind. They appeared satisfied. •The thing began to move bumpily over the grass. Suddenly it stopped bumping. Suddenly the roar of the engine deepened. At the same time Aunt Agatha was conscious of a strange feeling of lightness. Merciful powers, what was that? The roof of the aerodrome sharply cut the darkness . . . fell away from them. They climbed steadily, impertinently aiming at the far stars. Or were they" so far ? With a shiver Aunt Agatha realised that what seemed infinitely farther away was the blue-black land. "Hanging; on to the seat, Aunt Agatha," said Leila unkindly, "won't do you any good." Temporarily this incredible joy, flying by night, drove out of Leila's mind her fear for Victor, her astonishment at Aunt Agatha. She was engrossed in the entrancing brightness of the stars. Far below water gleamed silver in the blackness. The thin pen lines of a railway cut black on black: a thin strip of grey was the road. She glanced at the altimetre. 1500. That was about right. That must be Oakville, those lights; she would cross the lake here: it was tho narrowest point. Strange—in daylight it did not seem so rash a business. She flew west, until the broad silver of the Welland canal reminded her with a shock of horror that she must fly Lake Erie at its widest or fly back to Buffalo. She looked sharply at Aunt Agatha, but that indomitable soul had not spoken a word. She sat very erect and looked down, tightlipped but expressionless, at the metallic sheen of Lake Erie, ruffled like boiling metal. "Remarkably fine showing of stars," said Aunt Agatha. Leila headed the aeroplane across Lake Erie. Aunt Agatha's tight-lipped expression did not do justice to her feelings. She was surprised beyond words and exhilarated. It wasn't at all like what she expected. After the first sharp rise the sharp, Singling sensation of fear left her and she found herself enjoy-

By Olive Clare PRIMROSE

ing it. She had always resolutely rejected from her mind the pictures of 1 Leila beside her multitudinous cups and trophies—sho had considered sport a trifle vulgar and ostentatious; but this, she decided, wasn't vulgar, it was quite glorious and thrilling. It seemed a long time before the beacons of Cleveland harbour shot up to meet them. Leila had lost track of time crossing Lake Erie. There lay Cleveland, the shipping clustered in the harbour, the dark line of thfi shore, the lighted windows of a stationary train. She flew over the shipping. She picked out the aerodrome with its great searchlights easily enough. Now at this moment circling in the empty sky, she and Aunt Agatha seemed fantastically alone. It did not seem as if they could ever attain a more usual element. To be among those lights, walking those streets—impossible. Nearer and nearer came the great searchlights. Roofs, trees, houses, telegraph poles flashed up into their eyes, enormous, overpowering objects, directly in their path and unavoidable. The aeroplane gliding down, attracted 110 attention. A little gasp escaped from Aunt Agatha as its soft rush, skimming the ground, reached her. The wheels bumped, scraped. They took a little run forward and were still. "Very monotonous, much of that, I should think, dear," said Aunt Agatha to Leila, as they walked off in search of a taxi, "and that roaring sound all the time, in one's ears. But a most interesting experience. One hears bo much about the thrill of flying. Now, if only dear Victor . . Yes, they were assured at the hospital, they could see Victor. He was conscious. No, they thought his condition more hopeful. It had not, the superintendent of the floor assured them with a gloom more suitable to the reverse news, been as bad as they fea red. Although in considerable pain, and hazy from the anaesthetic, Victor's eyes opened incredulously on the spectacle of Leila in flying kit, followed by Aunt Agatha. "How are you, darling P" asked Leila. Victor's exhausted brain registered the "darling" for further reference, but he tried to cope with his wonder. "How did you—?" he said feebly. "We flew." "Aunt Agatha—P" murmured Victor. "Yes, dear. Aunt Agatha, too. I brought her down." "Heaven help us all!" murmured Victor, scarcely audibly. "It did, darling," said Leila. "It did."