A Far Away Home (6 page)

It was in the evening, when their work was finished, that Hossein and Ali were walking
on the edge of town, below where a group of nomads were moving their herds of sheep
and goats closer to their tents for the night. “Wouldn't you like to see them close
up?” Hossein was a good friend. He had always been brave and very curious about things.

“My dad has told me to not meddle with them. He doesn't think they are bad, but he
wants me to just stay away from them.” Ali didn't want to disobey his parents, and
he was really not so curious about these people. He watched them in town, and wondered
about their tents and about how they could live always moving.

“Come on, we won't get too close.” Hossein started to move closer to the tents. Ali
was torn about what to do. He
didn't want his friend to think he was afraid, but
he knew he shouldn't go closer.

“Hossein, I really don't think we should bother them. Let's just go back to town.”

Hossein turned around and made chicken wings out of his arms and waved them at Ali.
“Are you afraid, Ali?”

Just when Hossein turned around again to move closer, they both heard the bark of
a dog. It sounded like a big dog, and it was not far away. Hossein turned again and
started running downhill. Ali started to turn when he saw the dog. It was huge. Its
dark shape seemed like a horse. It was close, heading straight for Hossein. It was
going to get him. Nobody could outrun a dog. Hossein heard the dog, too, and screamed
for help, “Ali, help!”

Almost instinctively, Ali reached into his shirt for his fahlakhmon (slingshot).
He always carried it. He also kept two or three smooth stones in that pocket. He
loaded a stone, focused on the dog, swung the sling around his head, and fired the
stone. The big dog was about ten meters away, running as fast as it could, intent
on catching Hossein.

When the stone hit, the big dog yelped and bit at where
the stone hit, right in the
ribs. For a second, Ali thought it might come at him, but the dog lost all interest
in chasing anyone and turned back toward his tent, yelping, and limping.

Hossein stopped running and looked back. He heard the yelp and turned to see what
was happening. He looked at Ali, then ran over to him, grabbing his hand and thanking
him for saving him. Ali just sat down, shaken, his heart racing. Hossein sat down,
too, but kept looking in the direction of the nomads' camp, worried that the dog
might return. “Let's go, Ali. The dog might come back, or the Koochi.”

Later, as they neared their homes, they started talking about what happened. They
hadn't said much all the way down to town. Hossein kept marveling about how Ali stood
and calmly aimed his slingshot. He said he could only think about running. He couldn't
believe Ali hit the running dog. Ali shrugged his shoulders and laughed a little.
“Ali, what's so funny?”

“I was just thinking, that dog was so big he was a good target.”

Of course, Hossein told all their friends about how the
dog charged and how Ali plunked
it with a stone. Everyone oohed and ahhed about this great feat. Ali was someone
to be reckoned with. He routed the giant Koochi dog. Ali was the slingshot man.

Chapter Five

Ali Learns to Fly

© Don Beiter

Now that he had a new leg, Ali was able to do more to help Dan, the pilot, when he
flew into Sharidure.

He could carry containers of gas, he could load and unload the plane, and because
he was also older and taller, he could reach a lot higher than before. He could also
sit in the co-pilot's seat and put his feet on the pedals that helped control the
plane. So it was, that one afternoon when Dan was finished with all of his work,
and when he was staying that night at Sharidure, he asked, “Ali, you've been watching
me and helping me get the plane ready for two years. How old are you now, fourteen?”

“Yes, fourteen.”

“Would you like to learn to fly this plane?”

Ali had been putting the lid on a barrel of aviation fuel. He stopped, turned, walked
over to the plane, the beautiful, sleek, red and white plane, ran his hand over the
shiny, slick side, then the wing, and quietly said, “Yes, I would like that very
much.”

Dan climbed into the plane on the left side. Ali pulled himself up on the right side,
both clicked their seat belts into the latches, and Dan showed Ali how to start the
engine. It sputtered a second, then roared to life. Then, Dan showed Ali how the
steering wheel would turn and move in and out. He had Ali watch the wings and tail
when he moved the controls. Dan explained what happened when each control moved.
Ali tried each part of the control system, to get the feel of how they felt.

There were lots of things to watch on the panel in front of them. One moved as the
engine changed speeds. One showed how much fuel each tank had (Ali knew about the
plane's several fuel tanks.), another showed how high they were in the air, and another
the directions. There was lots to know about. As he did each check, Dan explained
what he
was doing. Dan turned the plane and increased the engine speed, and the plane
obediently moved toward the top of the runway. Ali had his hands on the wheel but
was just gently holding on, feeling Dan's movements. Dan gunned the engine, holding
the brakes to let the engine get to the speed he wanted, then released the plane
to start down the hill, down the runway.

The little plane gained speed quickly, and about halfway down, the tail lifted. Now,
it was easier to see, and Ali saw the valley ahead. The end of the runway was still
quite a bit ahead. When the tail lifted, the plane seemed able to move faster quickly.
As the end of the runway approached, Ali for a moment wondered if they would be flying
before falling off the cliff, but he remembered he had watched Dan take off many
times, so he turned his mind back to watching Dan and feeling the controls as Dan
moved the wheel a little to lift the plane off the ground.

They were flying! Dan kept talking to him about each part of the takeoff, turning
the wheel to head down the valley over Sharidure. He tried to remember all of the
things Dan said. After flying about five minutes, Dan told him to
find a bridge in
the distance and fly toward it. That involved a turn to the right, so Ali turned
the wheel a little, and the plane responded instantly, his first turn, his first
moment of control, his first seconds of flying a plane. He could feel the response
of the controls and tried to picture the movement of the parts on the tail Dan showed
him before taking off.

Dan asked him to fly a bit higher and showed him the circle of glass on the control
panel that showed how high they were. He showed him the number he wanted to go to,
then told Ali to fly higher and how to do that. So, up they went, slowly, with Ali
watching the gauge to get it just right. He wanted to impress Dan and show he could
do this. It was wonderful. It was as magic as he had always hoped, as freeing as
he had dreamed.

© Don Beiter

Dan had him turn back up the valley toward Sharidure. He hadn't realized how far
they had flown. It soon came in sight on the left, the trees, the homes, the road.
Everything seemed small. It gave him a new perspective on his home town, how small
it was, and how it was a part of so much more.

Dan started the wide left turn that would line them up with the airfield on the hill.
As he guided the plane toward the landing area, Dan explained what he was doing and
why. As the edge of the cliff approached, he showed Ali just where he would set the
plane down. He also said they couldn't slow down too much or the plane would quit
flying and drop. They touched down just where Dan said, and gradually slowed down
as they went up the hill. Ali was in awe of the control Dan had of the plane. He
tried to remember each detail of the flight, the feel of the wheel, the gauges, and
the speed as they landed. When they stopped, he just sat for a while. He wanted to
never forget this first real flight, this first time he was a pilot.

***

The flying lessons continued all fall, usually once a week, when Dan flew to Sharidure.
Dan gradually taught him more and let him have more time flying the plane. Ali was
a good student. They talked when they flew, with Dan often telling him stories about
flying. Dan's favorite saying was, “There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no
old and bold pilots.” It
was his way of saying to be very careful.

Ali's favorite saying, one that he taught Dan was about how gradually, little by
little, something important can grow, “Qatra, qatra dareeawe maysha (Drop by drop
a river grows).” He was talking about his becoming a pilot. It was true, with each
lesson, he grew more confident. Dan hadn't let him land yet. That was the most difficult,
but he said that training would begin the next week.

When Dan landed on Thursday, he asked Ali if he could fly back with him to Kabul
that afternoon. Ali just grinned and ran to tell his family and wrap some things
in a cloth to take to Kabul. “I take that as a yes!” called Dan, as Ali disappeared
down to Sharidure.

“I'm going to Kabul, and Dan is going to teach me to land the plane,” Ali told his
dad as he burst through the door of the carpenter's shop. “Oh, is that OK with you?”
He hoped it would be, but he really knew it was.

“Yes, and may God go with you,” answered Hassan. “Here, you need some money. We don't
want you to be a burden to the pilot.”

“Father, I will repay you when I become a pilot. I'll make
a lot of money, and we'll
have a new house. I promise to be polite and sound like I have a lot of sense. I
won't embarrass our family.”

That afternoon, Ali and Dan flew back to Kabul. Ali asked how long it would take.
He remembered the fifteen hour trip by truck he and his dad made to visit the doctor
when he was younger. “It will take about an hour. We'll land at Kabul airport. The
plane stays there. That's where I want you to learn to land the plane. The runway
is long and wide. It's a good place to learn.”

Dan let Ali fly the plane most of the way. When they got over the mountains and flew
into the wide valley outside of Kabul, Dan told Ali that this was the place where
Alexander the Great had his camp when he was in Afghanistan. Ali remembered studying
about Iksander in school. His army came from Greece. There were legends about him
leaving soldiers behind in Afghanistan, and their descendants still living there,
in Nooristan. That was why some of the Nooristanees had blue eyes and blonde hair.

Dan used the radio to let Kabul airport know they were coming. They told him he had
permission and which way
to land. When they flew over Kabul, it looked huge, a lot
bigger than Sharidure. When they circled in the valley where the airport was, first
the airfield looked small, but as they went lower, it started to look pretty big.
They only took up the end of the runway when they landed, and Ali wondered why it
was so long. After they had driven the plane to their parking place and gotten down
from the plane, a huge plane thundered into the air. Ali now saw why the runway was
so long. The big plane used a lot of it to take off. There were other planes at the
airport. Dan's little red and white plane was much smaller than any other plane.
“That's all right,” thought Ali. “It's a plane, and I am learning to be a pilot.
Maybe, someday, I can fly one of those bigger planes.”

Later that day, Dan and Ali returned to the Kabul airfield to have Ali try some takeoffs
and landings. As usual, they first checked everything on the airplane carefully.
They filled up with fuel, got into the plane, and taxied out onto the big runway.
Dan radioed to the control tower about taking off and practicing some landings. They
radioed back that there was no traffic for several hours, so it was a good time to
practice. Compared to the Sharidure runway, this one was
huge. The plane lifted easily
into the Kabul air. “The plane will take off quicker here than in Sharidure.”