Ширли Мерфи - The Flight Of The Fox

"But how did you make it clear to Allensville and back in one day?" Charlie asked finally. "I thought . . ."

"Luck, sonny," the kangaroo rat said lightly. There was no need to whisper now, though the starlings still pressed close around the edges of the plywood. "Just pure luck. Our first refueling was at a farm outside Charmin the way we planned. We landed, located the gas pump, and hid the plane to wait 'til dark. We could smell breakfast cooking and could see the family inside the farmhouse. Well sonny, when they'd finished up their breakfast, the farmer and his wife and three kids locked the house, locked up the chickens, chained up the dog, got in their truck and drove away. Pretty soon the smoke from the chimney died, so we guessed there wasn't anyone else at home. The gas pump was just beside the barn. There were even a couple of oil cans near it. We thought about cats but decided to take a chance.

"Well I'll tell you, sonny, that old German shepherd just about tore that chain out by the roots when we took off at the edge of the woods, circled the Fox real low, and came in just beside the gas pump. He couldn't figure out what we were, or what we were doing, but he darn sure knew we shouldn't be there. We tipped some oil into that measuring cup we carried along, and when we'd got enough oil into the tank, Crispin climbed the gas pump and flipped the switch. It took just a second to fill up the Fox's tank. But that hose adapter we made didn't work so well, we spilled a lot of gas. The next time we did it all different. Anyway, spilled a lot of gas, had to wipe the Fox off from prop to tail, with that dog having apoplexy not six yards from us. When we took off again, he was still lunging at the end of his chain, and he'd woke up the cats, but they were a stupid lot. They didn't like the smell of gas and were all pacing around lashing their tails, but they wouldn't come near the plane. Well we just revved up the Fox and took off, and that put us clear up to Allensville in just under three hours, and there were those flappin' grasshoppers just writhing and wriggling and waiting for someone to come along and sample them . . ."

There was a big rasping sigh from the starlings.

"You had it all planned!" Charlie whispered very faintly. "You went up to Allensville on purpose!"

Rory grinned.

"And in Allensville, sonny, everything was in such an uproar that it wasn't hard at all to locate a tractor left standing alone in a field and siphon out some gas. That farmer's going to be pretty surprised when he finds a dollar bill and a note under a rock on his tractor seat. We had to take oil from a can in his utility box behind the seat, so we left him a note telling him to check it—so he wouldn't run out, sonny, and get caught oilless. At the farm back in Charmin we'd just tossed the money up on top the gas pump. That farmer'll probably think he put it there himself."

"And coming back, Charlie," Crispin said, "we stopped at the very same farm! I was scared to, but Rory said . . . well, the truck wasn't back yet, and the cats had gone to sleep. That old dog sure barked, though. If that chain had ever broken . . ."

It was about that time that they heard a different kind of stirring outside the hangar. The birds had stopped crowding around the plywood, and when Charlie looked out, they had begun to leave. First in threes and fours, then by the dozens, and at last in black knots of birds. And they were not returning to the garbage dump. Nor were they heading for town, or for the pine grove. They were rising straight up into the sky as if bent on some serious mission. They rose very swiftly for starlings, and silently; and, high over the dump, they gave a great whistle of mocking derision, hissed rudely, and set off on a northerly course as fast as starlings could go.

Charlie stared at Rory. Rory stared at Charlie. They both looked at the lemming, whose whiskers had begun to twitch. And they all began to grin.

By four o'clock that afternoon there was not a starling left in Skrimville or anywhere near it. Not at the garbage dump, not in the pine woods, not in town. And at seven o'clock, when Charlie got home for dinner, the word was on TV.

"... like a miracle, ladies and gentlemen. Here in Allensville people are crowding the roads that lead out to the wheatfields, trying to catch a glimpse of the spectacle. The farmers are jubilant. All the churches are open for special thanksgiving. The black cloud of starlings swept in here late this afternoon and began gobbling grasshoppers by the bushelful. At this rate, ladies and gentlemen, it is estimated that nearly half the state's wheat crop may be saved. Now here, live from the scene, is our camera crew and John Mooney ..." The shot panned to John Mooney, then narrowed in on a wheatfield black with starlings diving and screaming as they gorged themselves on giant grasshoppers. The camera zoomed in for some closeups, and the birds could be seen gulping down wriggling grasshoppers as fast as they could swallow. "I've never seen anything like it, ladies and gentlemen ..." John Mooney was saying.

Mrs. Critch got so interested in the television, she burned the spaghetti sauce. She and Charlie and Mush were crowded around the TV. During dinner the phone rang twelve times.

Joe Blake shouted, "Turn on your TV, Charlie. My gosh, the starlings have really left Skrimville!"

Jerry Wise said, "I knew it! Could have made us a nice pile, selling those starlings to the farmers up in Allensville! Drat the luck!"

The mayor screamed, "It's a miracle, Chauncy! A true miracle!"

When Dad called, he said, "Hey Charlie, did you have something to do with putting the starlings onto those grasshoppers?"

"Me, Dad? How could I do such a thing?"

"I don't know, but I had a funny feeling you might. Isn't it great!"

"It's terrific, Dad."

"Are you coming up tomorrow night?"

"I sure am!"

158

"Good. See you then. And I have a surprise for you."

"What is it?"

"I said a surprise, Charlie Gribble! See you at ten."

CHAPTER 24

On Friday morning the Fox took off on her long journey. Rory had stocked her with raisins and jerky, though they meant to live mostly off the land. Charlie had noticed a pilot doll in the dime store and had bought two of the flight helmets for it, to wrap up as going-away presents. The kangaroo rat and the lemming looked rakish in the helmets. "Like barnstormers, sonny! Like a couple of real old barnstormers!"

"Have a good time," Charlie shouted as the Fox revved her motor.

"We'll write to you, sonny."

"Write to me?"

"Sure, sonny," the kangaroo rat shouted. "There're post offices, aren't there? You've heard of mailboxes, haven't you?

"But how . . ." Charlie shouted, running alongside the taxiing Fox, "How can I write you back?"

"General delivery, sonny! I can slip under the door of any post office in the country!"

The Fox roared, lifted, was skyborne while Charlie was still running; she purred above him, circling, as the two animals waved. She tilted her wings once, then headed south straight as an arrow.

Charlie stood staring after her until she was out of sight. And just before she disappeared, he saw another flying shape join her, and another—five big birds, wing for wing, in an undulating flight that followed for some seconds, as if in farewell, then veered off to the right.

The flicker had found his family. And the Fox was off on the most wonderful adventure any animal had ever imagined. Charlie stood there in the middle of the deserted runway and stared at the empty sky for a long time.

The air show was a big success. The people of Allensville were in such a good mood after the arrival of the starlings that they turned out in droves, crowding the grandstand and setting up batteries of folding chairs. The press and television reporters who had come to cover the arrival of the starlings stayed to cover the air show, and the publicity the air show got made everyone even happier.