A Far Away Home (4 page)

The plane started back to Kabul, waving its wings one last time as it flew down the
valley. The principals called off school for the day and asked anyone who had a pick
or shovel to come back to help on the airfield. About a hundred did, so the dirt
flew. They made a lot of progress that day. The next day, about four hundred men
came to work on the airfield. Everyone saw the plane and now believed the plane and
hospital were really coming. The boys' school had two shifts. Ali was a morning student
so he could come to work on the airfield in the afternoons.

Ali and his dad were figuring out how to get the drag up to the airfield. It was
really heavy. They put it on the back of a gaudi, a two-wheeled cart usually used
to carry people. The horse struggled to get it up the hill. They unloaded it on the
low end, near the cliff. The plan was for a team of cows to pull it, so they brought
a team of cows with wooden yoghs (a sort of collar) that fit on the cows' necks.
When the team of cows was hitched, the owner urged the cows to pull. They tried,
but the drag was too heavy. They couldn't pull it. “It was a good idea, but your
drag won't work. It needs a truck to pull it.” The owner of the team of cows was
giving up.

Ali thought about it for a while, then thought about a picture that he saw in his
social studies book about America. The picture was of horses pulling a wagon, four
horses. So, why couldn't four cows be used to pull their drag? “Dad, could we get
another team of cows?”

“Maybe, but why would we want another team? They won't be any stronger than this
team. It's the best team around.”

Ali knew he shouldn't argue with his dad, but this was important, and he was sure
it could work. “I saw a picture of four horses pulling a plow. Why wouldn't it work
with cows?”

“OK, let's try it. I'll find another team. You get the hitch ready.” Hassan left
to find another team. Ali went down to town to find a long rope. When he got back,
he figured out the length that would work with two teams of cows. Soon, Hassan returned
with another team. The men there laughed at him and asked each other if they had
ever seen two teams working to pull one of anything. No one had. Ali hoped his
idea
would work. The teams' owners lined up their teams. Ali attached the pulling rope
to the two yoghs. The cows pulled, the drag moved, and they were off. The only problem
was keeping the two teams going in the same direction. Ali solved that by putting
a man on the outside of each cow, directing them by keeping a hand on the outside
horn of each cow. The drag worked like a road grader, leveling out the ground. Once
in a while it would catch a rock and drag it. Hassan started walking behind it, lifting
the back to let the rock out.

The local commandant organized his police to lead groups of workers on different
sections of the field. First a group of pick-wielding men would loosen up the dirt
and dig out rocks. Then shovel-wielding men would follow, leveling out, and filling
in holes. The drag was the final step, making the surface level and smooth. As the
drag went by, the men in that area would stop and cheer, “Wah, wah!” This was followed
by admiring looks, filled with pride at what they were accomplishing. At the end
of the day, almost one-fourth of the future airfield was looking a lot smoother.

After five days, the field looked great, all leveled, all stones out of sight, buried,
or at the edge. Ali wasn't sure, but
he thought it might be ready for the airplane,
so he talked to the doctors. They radioed the pilot, and he agreed to come up by
pickup to see if it was ready. He got there the next evening and immediately went
to see the airfield. He came by pickup and used the pickup to test out the field.
Takeoff speed was seventy-five miles per hour, so he drove at seventy-five miles
per hour. It was pretty bumpy. What looked so level wasn't so smooth at seventy-five.
Ali and Hassan rode in the pickup with him, and they were worried it might not be
smooth enough for the plane. Dan, the pilot, tried it several times, looking for
the best path. The field was plenty wide. He also measured the length, and seemed
satisfied. He told them he had to land and take off one way. That wasn't exactly
the best. It would be great to be a two-way strip, but there was no way to do that.
Because it was uphill, it did help him land and take off. He would land going uphill,
so that helped to slow him down. He would take off downhill, which would help him
speed up to get the plane in the air faster. He told them the plane would have power
to carry three other people with him. The first flight would be the day after tomorrow!
Ali ran to be the first to tell everybody.

***

The plane was coming at ten o'clock, and everyone was going to be there. The governor
was coming, too. School was out for the day. Sharidure was going to have an airfield,
a plane, doctors, and a hospital! This was the biggest day in the history of the
town. Sure enough, right at ten, someone heard the buzz of a plane. Everyone looked
down the valley. The commandant and his police made one last check to be sure no
one was on the runway. The red and white plane flew over once, then circled lower,
and came directly at the runway from the valley end. It came almost to the ground
but skimmed up over the hill and circled around to the valley again. It approached
again and eased its front wheels down on the field. It slowed gradually, stopping
after rolling to the very top, and turned around to face down the hill.

© Don Beiter

The pilot stepped out and climbed down, heading for the crowd. Everyone cheered.

The governor stepped out to greet the pilot. They shook
hands and exchanged greetings.
The governor made a short speech about the future hopes for Sharidure, Afghanistan,
and for the children. It was all very positive, very hopeful, very satisfying. Then
the pilot said he wanted to give the governor, the commandant, and the local Qauzi
(Islamic judge) a ride in the plane. They walked up to the plane and Dan helped them
up. There was a little step halfway up to the door. The governor sat on the seat
beside the pilot, the commandant and Qauzi sat behind them. The pilot taxied back
up to the top of the hill and turned to speed down the hill and airfield to take
off.

Ali was the one who saw the dog. It was on the runway, right in the middle, just
sitting there watching. It was in the way of the plane. The plane was going to hit
it and, probably, crash. The plane couldn't swerve because it was already building
up speed. Ali hopped out toward the dog. He had a couple of stones and his slingshot
in his hand. He swung the sling around his head, once, twice, then flung the stone
as hard as he could, hoping his aim was true. It just took one throw. The dog felt
the stone whack his hip, put his tail between his legs, and ran across the runway
to the
other side. Probably no one else in the crowd realized how dangerous the situation
had been, but Ali did. He used his slingshot many times, mostly in play, but this
had been a pressure shot.

Inside the plane, Dan also realized the danger and had been sorting through his options,
none of them good. The rear wheel was already off the ground because of the built
up speed, so he could see the runway directly in front of him. When the dog disappeared
from in front of the plane, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know why it had
run away, and later, after landing and helping the passengers off, he asked about
the dog and found out someone hit it with a stone.

There was one more short flight to be made around Sharidure, one for the common people.
Dan explained this to the governor. Who would be selected? The word went around,
to choose someone to ride in the plane. The people selected an elderly, gray headed,
gray bearded man, who was greatly respected in Sharidure. Dan asked who hit the dog
to get it off the runway. When Ali was brought forward, Dan smiled and invited him
to ride, too. Ali and the older man got
into the plane. Dan taxied to the top of
the runway, and they zoomed down, then up over the valley, and circled Sharidure
Ali looked out the side window, seeing how small the people appeared, seeing his
home, seeing further than the town, and seeing forever. He didn't have to hop. This
was so great a thing. After they landed, the older man stepped out on the little
step of the plane, raised his hands over his head, and beamed a smile about a meter
wide. The crowd cheered. It was all glorious.

Old Man for Plane Ride • By Rex Blumhagen

Back down on the ground, Dan thanked Ali for averting a dangerous situation, then
asked him if he would be his ground crew. Ali wasn't sure what that meant but quickly
agreed to be the pilot's helper. He also told Dan that he wanted to be a pilot, and
now he was even more sure that's what he would be when he grew up. Dan waited for
him to finish, then shook his hand, and said he would help him
achieve that dream.

The doctors Hagel promised that when the airfield was finished, they would build
a hospital in Sharidure. The very next day after the plane landed, a man arrived
from Kabul who said he was going to start building the hospital. He staked out an
outline of a building, right on the main street of town. The next week work started.
Town people volunteered to help, carrying, digging, and moving things. It took about
four months. Everyone was proud of the beautiful new building.

© Don Beiter

There were twelve beds for people who had to stay overnight or longer. The most intriguing
thing was the operating room. It was lined with tiles and had a huge light hanging
from the ceiling, balancing so it could be easily moved into the right position.
It was the only hospital for miles, the only one for the whole province. Its name
went exactly with Sharidure. It was the Shafakhona Sharidure, the hospital of Sharidure.
There was a pharmacy with lots of
medicine and nurses to help the people and the
doctors.

“Ali, do you still want to be a pilot? I saw you talking to the hospital pilot. Did
you ask him about being a pilot?” This was Hassan. Ali's dad was wondering if Ali
would like to follow him in being a carpenter.

“Yes, he said I could be a pilot, and he would help me. He showed me how to fly his
plane. It's so great flying, and I know I could do it. So far, I know how to turn,
speed up, and slow down. There are a lot of clock-like things that show him how to
fly that I don't know about, yet. He also taught me about the gasoline he uses to
fly. He keeps some here, in a secret place, up on the airfield. I have to keep it
safe and clean. I help him fill up his tanks if he needs gas. We have to pour it
through a clean cloth, to keep any dirt out of his plane. He's very careful about
everything. Sometimes, he opens up the cover on the engine to check it. He showed
me what to check. I'm learning some of the things he does. His name is Dan.”