this essay begins in part 1
Teaching Ariel to fly
So I taught Ariel Brentwood to "fly." Look, those so-called wings they let tourists wear have fifty square feet of lift surface, no controls except a warp in the primaries, a built-in dihedral to make them stable as a table … The tail is rigid, and canted so that if you stall (almost impossible) you land on your feet. …
I put myself to the humiliation of strapping on a set of the silly things and had Ariel watch while I swung into the Baby's Ladder and let it carry me up a hundred feet to show her that you really and truly could "fly" with them. Then I thankfully got rid of them, strapped her into a larger set, and put on my beautiful Storer-Gulls. I had chased Jeff away … but when he saw her wing up, he swooped down and landed by us.
I looked up. "You again."
"Hello, Ariel. Hi, Blip. Say, you've got her shoulder straps too tight."
"Tut, tut," I said. "One coach at a time, remember? … get above two hundred feet and stay there, we don't need any dining-lounge pilots."
Jeff pouted like a brat but Ariel backed me up. "Do what teacher says, Jeff, that's a good boy."
With Jeff circling above, Holly gets on with the teaching.
I admit Ariel was a good pupil … I found myself almost liking her as long as I kept my mind firmly on teaching. She tried hard and learned fast … she admitted diffidently that she had had ballet training.
Overdramatic metaphor
About mid-afternoon she said, "Could I possibly try real wings?"
Holly tries to talk her out of it.
"… You might get hurt, even killed."
"Would you be held responsible?"
"No, you signed a release when you came in."
"Then I'd like to try it."
… to let her do something too dangerous while she was my pupil . . . well, it smacked of David and Uriah.
It seems Holly knows her Bible; but my goodness that is a dramatic reference. The story is in 2 Samuel 11: David, king of Israel, has a thing going with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his officers, Uriah. When Uriah's presence becomes inconvenient, David sends him to war, carrying a dispatch to to the general saying, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die."
On reflection, I think it is not over-dramatic. It underscores Holly's serious concern that she could be putting Ariel in real danger, and that doing so might be mis-perceived as malice. And it adds weight to what is about to happen.
"Ariel, I can't stop you . . . but I should put my wings away and not have anything to do with it."
"If you feel that way, I can't ask you to coach me. … Perhaps Jeff will help me."
"He probably will," I blurted out, "if he is as big a fool as I think he is!"
The critical moment
What follows is the emotional crux of the story, where a wrong path is taken owing to a complex mix of misunderstandings, anger, and pride. Everything in the story leads up to this; and the conclusion inevitably follows from it.
Her company face slipped but she didn't say anything because just then Jeff stalled beside us. "What's the discussion?"
We both tried to tell him and confused him for he got the idea I had suggested it, and started bawling me out. Was I crazy? Was I trying to get Ariel hurt? Didn't I have any sense?
"Shut up!" I yelled, then added quietly but firmly, "Jefferson Hardesty, you wanted me to teach your girl friend, so I agreed. But don't butt in and don't think you can get away with talking to me like that. Now beat it! Take wing. Grab air!"
He swelled up and said slowly, "I absolutely forbid it."
Silence for five long counts. Then Ariel said quietly, "Come, Holly. Let's get me some wings."
"Right, Ariel."
continue in part 8
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