Chaplet: 03

"Hi Chris."

I glanced up quickly and smiled, "Hi Karen." My bright, happy face spoke of my thoughts. I was glad Karen was back again, it was much more fun with her. I had fun the months before her arrival, dreaming of the park and surrounding wooded areas with enthusiasm, but all that felt so sad in comparison to the previous day.

Karen and I had spent the day playing in the sandbox.

I felt my cheeks flush slightly as Karen smiled back at me. I didn't realize we wore identical expressions.

Karen fidgeted above me while I returned my attention to the glider in my hands. I held it up to her and said, "Have you ever flown a glider before?"

She shook her head slowly looking at the balsa wood contraption curiously, "No... what do you do?"

I stood up, holding the glider out to her. I waited for a few moments until she realized I was giving it to her and she took it tentatively.

"First figure out what you want it to do."

She looked up at me from the plane, "Do?"

I nodded enthusiastically, "If you want it to fly straight you move the wings here..." I slid the wings where I indicated. "If you want it to do loops then you slide them here." I demonstrated for her.

She watched my hands and then when I was done looked up and asked, "It can do tricks?"

I beamed brightly, "Kind of. Nothing elaborate, just loops but sometimes it'll glide funny."

She smiled.

At me.

Again.

I looked up, gauging the wind. It had been a long time since I had played with a glider but I thought I remembered enough to get it to fly right.

I pointed into the light breeze that was playing with our hair and said, "Try tossing it into the wind and see what happens."

Her face fell slightly, "Me? B-but I don't know anything about this."

"Don't worry, you just have to toss it. You'll see."

She didn't look very convinced but held the glider up near her shoulder, "Just... toss it forward?"

I nodded.

After a moment's hesitation she let her arm swing forward and let go of the glider. With the wings still in the loop position it suddenly caught the wind and shot up into the air looping dramatically and nearly coming back to hit her. She cringed, startled at the movement but then giggled when the plane went for another loop but stalled and flipped, gliding back to the ground a few feet from where we stood.

"I thought it was going to hit me." she said smiling.

"Almost did." I admitted. "Try moving the wings forward a bit, it won't loop so steeply then.

Karen frowned, "I shouldn't. I don't want to break it."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. They're only fifty cents." I said with a small laugh.

I retrieved the glider and handed it back to her, "Here, just slide the main wings forward like I did before."

Very slowly and carefully she nudged the wings forward a little. At my insistance she moved them forward two more times before they were in, what I felt, was the right position.

"Ok, try again."

She pulled her arm back and let the glider go. This time it shot forward smoothly then gently lifted, catching the wind again and then performing a long slow loop, banking near the end as the wind changed.

I watched with a grin as the plane landed and she started jogging over to it. I could barely hear her when she reached it and let out a pained, "Oh no!"

I ran over and glanced at the plane which she was too afraid to pick up. "I think I broke it!" she said quietly.

I noticed the wings had shifted and turned either from the flight or the landing. I picked it up and walked over to one of the swings it landed near. Karen followed me over and stared down at it, horrified with herself.

"Don't worry about it. These things are always like this." I said while working. I slipped the rear rudder out of its slot and found the grain of the wood. With a gentle "snap" I popped off a millimeter of wood near the back keeping it uniform and straight. The smaller piece I snapped in half and slipped one piece in the slot where the main wing went through the body near the back and the other near the front effectively wedging the wing tightly in place.

"There. The wood gets worn after a while so the wings start to slip. There's always a fix... and if it's something we can't fix, we'll just make another plane... out of the parts of the old one, if need be."

Karen watched and then nodded when I was done, smiling at me. With experienced fingers I made sure all the wings were wedged in the slots properly and were straight, then with my finger resting on the rear of the plane, flicked it forward. We both watched as it caught the wind and flew nearly a straight line, bobbing up and down on the wind as it went.

"There, good as new." I said happily.

"You must know a lot about planes." Karen said, staring at where our toy had landed.

I shrugged, my nervousness around her fading slightly having found something I could do. "Not really, just balsa wood ones. I don't know about lift and thrust or bird wing shapes, or the vacuum the wing creates, or propulsion systems... I just know toy gliders from when..." I trailed off.

"When you were little?" She said with a giggle.

I nodded, starting towards the downed glider, "Yeah... way back in the day."

She giggled again repeating softly, "back in the day..."

I laughed too.