The Flexible-Flyer 12-20-17

MORE OLD TIMEY STUFF

THE FLEXIBLE-FLYER - excerpt from my book 12-20-17

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When I was a boy there were two toys we all seemed to have.. girls too. The RADIO-FLYER WAGON (aka 'Lil Red Wagon) and for winter, The FLEXIBLE-FLYER SLED.

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To say it flew was an understatement. It had steel runners and on ice or hard crust it went faster than skis. Looking back I can guess we probably did hit 50mph on a steep icy downhill slope.

Toboggans were for companionship, saucers were for fun, but the Flyer was for speed, no doubt about it! Before we ever heard of Evil Knievel, we knew the Flexible Flyer. It was designed to sit on it and steer by pushing ones feet, but almost immediately we learned to 'belly flop' on it and steer with our hands, and no thought of driving our head into a tree at high speed.. which a few have done.

I got my Flyer when I was nine and received it in the fall so I could enjoy sledding. It was a dream just to look at it! Within a week after first snowfall, I was already pushing the envelope.

We had a steep hill by the south pasture, and along the base ran the creek that fed the pond where my deserted island stood. I and my 2 neighbor friends from adjoining farms stood on the hill and contemplated.

"I betchya if we made a ramp out of snow and ice at the bottom we could jump that 'ol creek!" Peter said. "Hmmmm" we muttered, wheels in our heads already turning. Well it was called a Flyer, wasn't it? So shouldn't it be allowed, even made, to fly? And couldn't we go along for the ride?

The mental arguments won out over safety and we trudged down the hill and began construction of "daredevil ramp". Now there wasn't enough snow so the ramp took a few weeks to build. We packed snow and then threw buckets of water on it from the creek to make a rock hard incline, which steadily grew taller. Peter was several inches taller than me, being a year older. I was already 4 foot 8 inches.. it said so by the pencil mark on the door casing of the kitchen pantry door, where my folks kept a record of my hight with the date.

"It's gotta be taller", I mumbled and the others nodded. We packed more snow and ice. Finally Peter stood by it and we backed off to compare. "Gots to be over five and a half feet", whispered Jimmy in awe. We all agreed it was enough and so we wet it and waited for it to freeze hard.

Three days later we had snow in the night and the ramp looked inviting and I had 'ants in my pants' waiting for the other two to get there after all our farm chores were finished. We three stood on the top of the hill and peered downward at the ramp and the icy creek running just behind it, too cold and fast to ice over. Beyond it was more land then the frozen edge of the pond. Out past it waved the red bandanna from the tree on my deserted island. The pond was frozen hard and thick.. we had already been sliding on the ice with our rubber boots.

"Ima gonna go!" Peter exclaimed, "you watch me!" And he shoved his Flyer and belly flopped on it while it was moving and shot off down the hill. The Flyer.. well it Flew on that thin layer of fresh snow over a base of ice. Peter hit the bottom of the ramp, rose up and was airborne. "Whoa" I said! "Geez" exclaimed Jimmy, "I gotta try that!" and he was pushing his Flyer, belly flopped and was off before I could even move.

Jimmy was small and skinny... "Skinny Jimmy" they called him in school and he was almost airborne flying down the hill. He hit the ramp and sailed upward, a good three seconds before he hit land on the other side. I had been mentally counting "One one thousand, two one thousand...."

Now you remember that devil and angel that get on your shoulders? The ones in the cartoons? They were both talking to me right then! "Whoa.. Go For IT!" cheered the little devil on my right. "ARE YOU CRAZY? asked the little angel on my left?" You are gonna land right in that creek and freeze!" he said sulkily.

That little devil poked me with that small pitchfork and I was running and pushing my Flyer, too late to stop now. I WAS REALLY FLYING and the wind blew my cap off and my hair flattened cold against my head.

The ramp loomed closer and now I was having second thoughts. The angels words rang in my head. "You are gonna land right in that creek and freeze!" I tried to change course and that was a mistake. I was too close and I went up the ramp and did FLY.. for at least two seconds (I was counting again), but my course changing had affected me and I came down short. My bottom half and nether regions landed right in the edge of that creek up to my waist! My butt froze solid then and there! Well it felt like it.

"Bummer", said Peter. "too bad" said Jimmy. "you can try it again". My look in his direction betrayed my thoughts as they pulled me up onto the bank. I started trudging to the farmhouse, cold and dripping, with the grounded Flyer in tow.

The angels words were still ringing in my head. "You are gonna land right in that creek and freeze!"

"I guess Angels are never wrong", I mumbled, a stream of slushy footprints followed my path to the house. "I am really gonna get it!"

© Copyright 2018 by Daniel Blankley. All rights reserved.

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