Miss E.

Miss E must have read my mind. “Oh, the duster doesn’t look like much, but it’s a good plane. Never had a bad scare with it yet, and don’t expect to.” I raised my eyebrows wondering what the difference between a scare and a bad scare was, but Miss E. had already turned her back on me to climb into the plane. She lifted a foot and hopped up on the wing with an ease that surprised me. Before I knew it she was seated in the plane and looking at me expectantly.

I stammered, searching for a reason not to get into the plane. “I… well, my mother… I guess. Well, I don’t think my mother would want me too,” I said finally deciding that using my mother as an excuse was my best bet.

“Bets, you and I both know your mother won’t be finding out about this. We also know that you wouldn’t let your mother stop you from something you wanted to do. Climb on in.” Admitting defeat, I struggled to pull myself onto the wing, and then carefully inched along until I could grasp the edge of the cockpit and pull myself toward it.