CHAPTER2

Beginning the Journey:

Soaring into the

Unknown

Scraped and battered, the glider flipped upside down
on the grass for the tenth time. "It just doesn't work, Dad,"
Tod said, his eight-year-old face screwed up in frustra-
tion. The plane doesn't work." The big man squatted
down beside him. "Well, I don't know, Tod, I showed you
how to hold it. Maybe you're just not tall enough yet to
make it fly. Come on, let's go in for some lunch." Tod just
stood there looking angrily at his plane.
Grampa was watching them both from the porch.
"Come here, Tod," he called in his gravelly voice. "Bring
that glider over here and let me see it, my eyes don't work
as well as they used to. Let's see if there's anything
wrong with it." Tod loved Gramps and already his mood
had changed. "Hmmm, don't look like anything's wrong
with that plane to me. You're holding it just right. Let's
see. Mind if I tell you a secret?" he said, his eyes twin-
kling. "It ain't the way you hold it, and it isn't the plane,
and it isn't the way you throw it. Tell you what—it's about
how you see it and how you feel about it that makes it fly."
"What do you mean, Gramps?" asked Tod.
"Well, see that hawk hoverin' over there? Close your
eyes. Can you see the hawk still?"
"Sure, Gramps." Tod's eyes stayed closed tightly.
"Hey! Now he's taking off." He opened his eyes and the
hawk was gone.
Gramps laughed, "Did you notice how you could tell
exactly when that hawk was leaving even with your eyes
closed? You got a friend in that bird there and you got the
power to fly that there plane. Close your eyes again and
see that glider fly high and clear. Let it fly from your heart.
Ask that hawk to carry it up for you. He knows all about
flying."
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