“It must have been great.”
“Oh, it was. Well, some of it can be kept. We still fly our planes, and we savor the danger, because that gives us the thrill. We could fall and crash any time, you understand? Not like in a car. So we hold the controls in our hands and watch, all the time, and stay alert, and—and fly, do you see?”
Jimmy did see. It wasn’t the same at all.
Mr. Forty squatted again, and again Jimmy knelt, and this time sat back down on his behind, pulling his legs forward and crossing them. “What’s it like?”
“It’s like flying. It’s like being alive. It’s like running real fast down hill, and it’s like eating ice cream. It’s so smooth and alive. Did you ever ride a horse? No? A bicycle? Ah, then you partly understand. It’s being in control.”
Jimmy nodded solemnly and thought a
