by Brian Gola (6th)
When I was a young boy, my father was shipped to the circus, in London it was. Note, I’m in Pennsylvania. Haven't seen him in a while, called him the hairy man they did. He was locked in a yellow and red pulley wagon, with metal bars. We stared at each other until he dipped below the horizon.
I was seven when that all happened, I only have my mom left. We live in a little cottage under a red autumn hill. I'm eleven, and I am determined to find him and get him back here on our farm in eastern Pennsylvania.
So one day, I went to the old junkyard past Maple Street, and into Philadelphia. It was next to ginormous skyscrapers, all with posters for their local sports team, the flyers, that had supposedly won two championships in a row.
I got loads of metal, walked in the burning sun, it burned my back. I had maybe five or six trips. Walking past the Jeffersons wooden fence, their dog Rocky. And past the skyscrapers, and the peanut truck, over to city hall.
I took a break at city hall, I let my metal load down, went to the food cart, and bought a hot dog. He let me use his little umbrella, I saw in the paper, the hottest day in city history. I got some shade in and took off, after I got back to the farm, I had a mountain of scrap metal.
I thought, “How will I find my dad across the sea with all this metal?” So, after contemplating, I saw a blimp in the sky. It was slow, and steady, with a little compartment in the middle. “I said, I would starve to death going over sea in that slow hunk of junk!”
So, I said, “Im gonna build a plane! A plane with the most powerful wind gusts in the oceans!” So I started building the right wing, and welded the metal, my father was a blacksmith, and he taught me. I welded the right wing also. Then the sun dipped down, and I lay in my bed, looking out my window at the stars, I was dedicated to finding my father.
***
So after I built the wings yesterday, I built the base, legs, and motors. The motors my father left me. He said someday they would come in handy, he was right. I put in sweat and tears in the small and flimsy plane. It was time, my mom gave me four sandwiches, and I promised her I would come back, with dad or no dad.
The sun was starting to dip as I made my way five thousand feet in the air. I saw the stable, it looked like an ant. I waved one last time and was sitting in the rusty plane. It was boring at first, looking at the old plains, but after going above Philadelphia, I started smiling.
I saw people on the ground waving at me, and I waved back. And after I crossed New Jersey, I was over the ocean! It was boring, until a seagull flew on the ship, I gave him the name Nico. I gave him a piece of my sandwich, and ate the rest of it.
I saw clouds, and made shapes out of them, and left the captain room. I went to my little living area, and watched a little tv, my tv that I had brought with me. I started cracking up until the plane went into a nosedive! I ran to the wheel and started steering. The plane was underwater, but I put the plane on full power. I had lost hope until the plane jumped out of the water like a dolphin!
After that I promised myself to not leave the wheel, never ever again! So for a while I just stared at the boring ocean, until something caught my eye. I couldn't tell what it was so I let the plane down, it was fun skimming the ocean so fast!
I was watching until a killer whale jumped up on my plane! I raced over to the wheel and nudged the plane. I was trying to twist and turn it until one of the whale's teeth popped under me as it broke through the metal.
I jumped on the tooth and jumped out of the plane and into the whale's mouth. I hung by its tooth and tickled it. The whale started squirming and I hopped on the plane. I took back off just before the whale could knock my plane out of balance. So now there are 2 rules.
1: Always stay at the wheel.
2: Don't get curious.
So after that, I saw london! Land! Big ben! Everywhere was an exciting sight. And then I saw it, in my binoculars was my dad, dressed in a clown suit, being humiliated! So I turned the plane towards him. It was going at five hundred miles per hour, or at least that's what it felt like.
It was hurtling towards him, I yelled, “Grab my hand!” He grabbed my hand but the plane was in a nose dive! I steered up and swerved past big ben. I pulled him up with all my strength, and he was finally on the plane. After he took off his clown costume, he realized who I was.
“Son!” He yelled, and I gave him a big bear hug. We chatted for a while and caught up in each others stories.
***
Its been 5 years since, and we have lived happily ever since! We caught up, and lived as one happy family of three!