Every year on VE day, it is my task to take my grandfather down to Atlantic City to blow his veteran’s pension on blackjack and the craps tables. It doesn’t take long. The cocktail waitresses flirt with his slow-moving hands and generous tips.
He tells them that he flew for the RAF, that’s the Royal Air Force to you, my dear. And when he says flew, he does not mean the cowardly way of being encased in an airplane, but flew. Really flew with wings. Fought the Nazis like birds, like superior birds. Part of a little known hush-hush group called Lord Stanley’s Winged Reconnaissance Group. They flew with canvas wings. They were used for covert actions, when planes were too cumbersome. They saved many a neck for England and the Allies. They would have been knighted, if they were allowed to admit their existence.
The cocktail waitresses smile broadly, pat his hand, and no doubt water down his next drink. This time, a waitress takes me aside. “Is he for real?” she asks. “I never heard of anything like that before.”
I tell her that my grandfather would show me a worn, folded photograph of young British soldiers on a beach fixing large canvas wings. In the background looks like men flying in the air like kites. On the back, in my grandfather’s hand, is written, “Me and the boys in Dover doing a spot of Wing Mending. 1944.”
She asks, “Can I see that picture?”
I tell her I don’t bring it. I don’t show it. That everyone who sees it tries to find the fault. Everyone explains about photo manipulation and what computers can do, even make something this fake look real. I tell her it’s just not worth the conversation or conjectures.
She does not understand. She asks, “So do you believe it? Do you think it’s real?”
After the pension money is gone, Grandfather orders me to push his chair to the boardwalk. To watch the breakers and see the pretty girls in bikinis. He gets out of his chair, leans on his cane and watches with avid attention. But soon I spy him looking at the seagulls dancing on the horizon. The drunk but perfect dips and circles. The navigation of air currents and want. And grandfather shakes his head dismissively at the distant birds.
“They’re doing it wrong,” he says. “It’s all wrong.”
Dave Macpherson is a columnist for GotPoetry.com.
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27 Responses to “WING MENDING • by Dave Macpherson”
Comments
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March 28th, 2008 at 1:33 am
“They saved many a neck for England and the Allies” - England be damned, it’s the U.K.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:20 am
I laughed outloud…over first cup of coffee even! Wonderful piece. Thanks for sharing it. Starting the day with a smile and a chuckle is always the very best way to go and I have been so depressed lately.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:28 am
woops. Sorry.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:53 am
I love that ending, harking back to ’superior birds’. Course he’s for real. I knew a headmaster once who’d flown reconnaisance, taking photos for future bombing missions. These people were real heroes.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:39 am
Beautifully done.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Awesome.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:10 am
Very original. Great lunchtime diversion.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:50 am
The last line made me laugh, because it was so believable. Everything in the story is believable, told with a nice touch.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Wonderful. Paul Gallico-like,The Snow Goose with a dose of Mrs. ‘Arris’s can-do attitude. Love it and want more.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:10 am
There’s a book here. Expand. An event changes this trip to the casinos and forces the mystery of truth to be revealed. Give me more dialogue and build the relationship between the grandson and grandfather. Enjoyed it. Lynn
March 28th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Gay,
Thank you for the comment. I do not know of Paul Gallico, but my library has a bunch of his work, so I will be enjoying for a few weeks, thanks.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Nice one. You’ve done a great job of making me wonder if it’s all true.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Thank you for this beautiful story. The emotions expressed through the narrative wrings my heart.
Warm Regards,
Rumjhum
March 28th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Enjoyable.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Beautiful.
March 28th, 2008 at 11:21 am
5*****
March 28th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Bloody brilliant. I’m filled with envy.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
This is a delightful piece of writing…not only did i really enjoy the story…i thought the old man character was actually a lot better developed than a lot of people may realise on teh first read…
March 28th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Oh boy did I love this one. A fanciful situation grounded in living, breathing reality. Very well done!
March 29th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Suggest removing:
She does not understand. She asks, “So do you believe it? Do you think it’s real?”
or answering her question with something before the next paragraph, else it looks like a forced pause or an echoing question.
March 29th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I loved this piece and printed it out to save.
I worked for eight years at the VA Hospital here in Tucson. You get talking to some of the vets sometimes and once in awhile one of them claims something extraordinary. Then the instinct is to try to get out your BS detector.
I’ve met the “Drill Sergeant to the Stars” a man who led a special basic training for all of the old-time actors recruited by the U.S. Army for the war effort (there really was such a unit - I checked. I don’t know if he was in it but it sounded like he was).
I’ve met a man who was on one of the boats at Pearl Harbor, HI on Dec. 7, 1942. He knew too many of the small details. I think he was legit too.
One of the easiest stories I’ve been able to disprove was one man who claimed to have played outfield for the New York Giants (the old baseball team). I looked his name up and it wasn’t there.
Good job.
March 29th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Thanks Dave, for an enjoyable read that brought fond memories of my grandfather back. I could live this scene which, in the end, is probably the best thing a writer could hear.
Thank you.
March 29th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Wow Jim,
Thank you for the comment. It means a lot to that I hit something right, I love all of your small examples and would love to hear more,
David
March 30th, 2008 at 5:53 am
No problem. Feel free to contact me offline and I’ll give you my personal “Top 10 Interesting Old Men” list. I suspect any outgoing person who’s ever worked at a veteran’s hospital would probably have similar stories. As a younger person they tell you things because it helps them put their life in perspective. The liars, well, they lie because mentally they wish they had done certain things.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:01 am
[...] Wing Mending [...]
April 1st, 2008 at 2:51 am
lovely slice (of life).
May 1st, 2008 at 12:04 am
[...] Last month was one of our most well-received months so far, and May is sure to raise the bar again, with stories from authors like Nicholas Ozment, Alexander Burns, and a new story by David Macpherson, author of last month’s acclaimed fantasy story, “Wing Mending“. [...]