#3 The Avianator

Herbert Wilberforce always dreamed about flying; he signed up to the Air Force on his 16th birthday, only to realise that he was profoundly colour blind so wasn’t able to be a pilot.  Being a passenger in a plane didn’t feel right, neither did hot air balloons, gliders, or even hang gliding.  Parachuting was close but, as he said once, it was more like falling with style than flying.  He spent the next 70 years of his life trying to fulfill his dreams.  Invention after invention was discarded, as he worked to build the ultimate flying machine fuelled by his love for his favourite movie: The Rocketeer.  Every spare penny he had went into his desire to fly; his parents’ home, left to him when they died without him really noticing, was sold off bit by bit until all that was left was the small shed were he built his inventions …and lived, if truth be told … and the large oak tree that sheltered it.  His only company was that tree and the birds that lived in it; birds that he fed each and every day, wind or rain, sharing the meager food he himself ate.  Eventually even this small plot of land was bought from under him …shed, tree, and birds alike.  The strain was a little too much and as he attempted to fight off the developers his frail body gave out but, as his heart gave out, and his body began to collapse, the birds that he had sheltered and fed took him by the arms and lifted him into the sky, higher and higher.  With his last breath he gave a smile as he realised that, finally, he was flying.

Category: 2013, Fantasy