Clive Cussler (3 page)

There in the middle of the barn on the magical mat sat a life-size red tractor with yellow wheels.

Lacey and Casey gazed with joy and rapture at the vehicle. As if in a trance, they walked around it, studying every bolt, every nut and screw, feeling the brown leather on the seat and the gleaming radiator cap with its round thermometer behind a small glass viewing window.

"We did it!" Lacey exclaimed. "The magical box works just as Mr. Sucop said it would."

Casey climbed onto the tractor and settled in the brown leather seat and gripped the big steering wheel. "I wonder if it really runs."

"Do you know how to start it?"

Casey nodded as if the question irritated him. "Of course. It's simple. You turn on the ignition switch, pull out the choke and press the starter button." He did all three and the starter motor whirred as it turned over the big four-cylinder engine. And then there came a roar up the vertical exhaust pipe through the muffler, and the engine began to thump on all four cylinders. A funny little hinged cap that kept water out when it rained flipped up and down on top of the exhaust pipe.

Casey acted as if this was an everyday routine and beamed like a lighthouse. "Come along, Lacey, and we'll drive it up to the house so Mother and Father can see it."

"Not me. Are you sure you can drive this thing?" she asked skeptically. "Your feet barely touch the pedals."

"I told you, it's simple. I only have to shift it into gear and let out the clutch." Saying that, Casey could barely push in the clutch with his toe. Next, he pressed his other foot down on the gas pedal. Having forgotten to straighten the steering wheel, he watched in horror as the tractor leaped forward and crashed through the barn door.

Now really worried, Lacey ran through the hole in the barn door after the tractor as it lurched toward the house. Frantically, Casey pushed the gear level into neutral and pushed the brake with all his might. The tractor came to a stop not five feet from the front porch steps. Ima Nicefolk was in the middle of fixing dinner, and Ever Nicefolk was washing his face and hands after planting herbs all morning. They heard the noise from the crash and came running out on the porch just in time to see Casey climb down off the tractor, his face etched in fright. Dumbfounded, the Nicefolks could not comprehend where the tractor had come from. It was as if it had appeared out of nowhere.

Mr. Nicefolk asked, "Where did that come from?"

And Mrs. Nicefolk asked, "Who does it belong to?"

Casey said, "It is a gift from Mr. Sucop."

And Lacey said, "Isn't it beautiful? It's ours now."

Mr. Nicefolk shook his head in wonderment. "Mr. Sucop gave this to us? I can't believe it. He had no money to buy such a fancy machine. He must have stolen it."

"Oh no," the twins shouted as one. "He didn't steal it. We know."

"He made it from parts of other tractors," Casey said, pleased that he didn't lie.

"Are you children certain of this?" asked Mr. Nicefolk.

"Oh yes," they chimed together. "He worked on it at night in the shop he built in the barn."

Ever Nicefolk shrugged and turned to his wife. "Well, then, I guess we have to thank Mr. Sucop for working all those hours at night to make a new tractor we can use in the fields from now on."

The Nicefolks loved their tractor. Mr. Nicefolk drove it up and down the road and to town to show it off to his friends and neighbors. Neither he nor Mrs. Nicefolk ever noticed that Casey never played with his little tractor in the sandbox again. Nor did they notice that it was gone.

Lacey and Casey did not use the magical box to make any toys grow big during the next two months. They were afraid to overdo the enchantment and decided to save it for only those times when it might be needed.

The spring harvest had come and gone. Summer had arrived, and school was out. During the warm, sunny days, they played in the fields, swam in the rivers and floated on air mattresses their father had bought them from a sporting goods store in town. They also fished and were often successful in catching catfish that they brought home for dinner.

One early morning, before the rooster crowed and while the eastern sky was just beginning to brighten, Casey crept into Lacey's room and woke her up.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Get up and get dressed," he whispered. "I've got something I want to show you."

"What about Mother and Father?"

"I don't want them to know."

Not understanding and her mind fogged from sleep, Lacey dressed and followed her brother quietly down the stairs to the living room, out the door to the porch and across the yard to the barn. Their father had repaired the door that Casey had crashed the tractor through, and it looked as good as new. Floopy trailed behind, yawning from being awakened so early.

The red tractor with the yellow wheels sat in one corner of the barn, all clean and shiny. Mr. Nicefolk always wiped the dust off after he drove it and kept it as neat as the inside of Mrs. Nicefolk's oven.

"Now, what is so secret you have to drag me down here in the wee hours of the morning?" demanded Lacey.

Without answering, Casey stepped over to the workbench built by Sucoh Sucop, where an unseen object was sitting under a cloth. He lifted off the cloth and held up the object.

"What is it?" asked Lacey.

"A model of a Wright brother’s airplane," he replied. "I built it myself."

She moved closer and studied the little model as Casey held it in the air. In her mind, it was funny looking. It didn't look anything like the airplanes that flew over the house. It had the appearance of an old antique that could never get off the ground. She stared at the two wings and the quaint engine. Two narrow chains ran in pulleys from the engine that turned the propellers. The wings and control surfaces were painted a bright yellow with green letters. It rolled on two sets of two wheels attached to ski like runners that stuck out in front of the airplane.

"What does the lettering say?" she asked.

"Its name."

"And what do you call it?"

Casey looked proudly at his work. "I named it Vin Fiz after my favorite grape soda pop."

"What a goofy name," said Lacey. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Make a big one, of course."

"But why?"

Casey looked at his sister as if his mind was made up. "So we can fly it across the country and see all the sights we've only dreamed about."

Before Lacey could protest or complain, he put the little model on the magical pad. She stopped him just as he was about to press the lever.

"Wait!" she said loudly.

"What's wrong?" Casey asked, surprised.

"The wings," she answered. "If you make it full size, we'll never get it through the door out of the barn."

Casey looked at his sister with deep respect. "You're right," he admitted.

He took the little model and the mystic pad outside and laid them on the grass. Then he pressed the left lever and wished with all his might. Now the twins believed in the magic of the box with all their hearts.

After the expected display of mist and lights, a life-size Wright brother’s airplane in all its glory materialized (which means it became a reality). It glowed in the dawn sun.

Lacey stood in amazement. "Surely, you don't expect to fly that thing."

"I most certainly do," answered Casey. "I even built a seat for you and a box where we can carry Floopy."

"When did you learn to fly?" she asked sarcastically.

"I looked at the pictures in a manual published by the Wright brothers that tells all about how to fly their airplane. Besides, I feel most certain that an enchanted airplane will almost fly herself. Now help me push her onto the road."

"Her?"

"Sure, airplanes and boats are always called she and her. Why not he and him I'll never know."

As big and bulky as Vin Fiz seemed, she was light and rolled quite smoothly on her four wheels and skids. The wings easily passed between the palm trees lining the road. It was almost as if the magical box had known what size the plane should be. As they pushed, Floopy walked around and sniffed at the engine with its smell of oil and gasoline. Lacey could not be sure, but she thought that Floopy seemed to look forward to the flight.

The sun was just poking above the herb fields like a big orange ball when Casey suddenly thought of something. "I almost forgot. I'll be right back." He hurried to the house, quietly ran up the stairs to his bedroom and took five dollars he had saved from a piggy bank he kept in his closet. Next he rushed into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door and removed a bottle. When he returned, he held it up and showed the purple soda inside. "A Vin Fiz for Vin Fiz," he said proudly, tying the bottle to one of the wing struts. "Now, everybody in," he ordered as he lifted Floopy onto a pillow inside the dog's carrying box.

"I'm not sure I want to do this," Lacey said hesitantly. She stared uneasily at the thin wooden struts and thin fabric on the wings and control surfaces. "She seems too flimsy to fly."

"Don't be a scaredy-cat." Casey laughed. "She's perfectly safe. You'll see."

"How do we start her?"

"I'll spin one of the propellers to get the cylinders firing. You work the throttle that feeds gas to the engine."

Against her better judgment, Lacey sat in one seat and found the throttle. Next she turned the little lever that turned the ignition switch to ON. "Ready when you are," she announced, still fearful of flying in such an odd machine.

Casey took hold of one of the long paddlelike propeller blades and pulled it around. There was a brief sputter and then nothing. He pulled it around again and again. Nothing. Finally, he yanked it with all his strength and the engine popped once, twice, three times and began to fire on all four cylinders.

Pleased that everything was working as he hoped, Casey ran around the plane and jumped into the pilot's seat. He gave Lacey a leather helmet with goggles for herself and one for Floopy. Next, he pulled his helmet down over his head and adjusted the goggles over his eyes. "Fasten your seat belt and see that Floopy is secure in his box," he told her.

The engine rattled and clanked at first before it warmed up. Then it smoothed out and the exhaust sounded like poppity-pop-pop. The plane had no brakes, so Casey simply moved the throttle and the plane began to roll down the road. Surprisingly, Ever and Ima Nicefolk slept through the loud noise out in the yard. Ima always kept the bedroom windows closed because she did not like the damp air blowing in from the nearby ocean.

Very slowly at first, the Wright Flyer, as it was originally called, crept forward. Soon Vin Fiz picked up speed and moved faster and faster. Casey gripped the controls, two vertical levers that rose up on both sides of his seat. The wind began whistling through the struts and spars and wires as the airplane sped over the bumpy dirt road. Then Casey pulled back on the control levers and Vin Fiz leaped into the air, leaving a great cloud of dust behind her.

Higher and higher Vin Fiz soared, until the herb fields fell away like a green blanket pulled over the end of a bed. Casey and Lacey leaped from a two-dimensional world on the ground into a third dimension of sky and space. Now they could travel up or down in any direction they desired. Lacey's heart beat so quickly that she thought it would burst through her chest as Casey flew over the little hamlet of Castroville. The buildings and automobiles looked so small, they seemed like little toys that she could pluck from the streets. The buildings and houses looked tiny too. For the first time she could see the rooftops. To the people on the ground who stared up when they heard the sound of the engine's exhaust, the Wright Flyer appeared as a yellow bird against a brilliant blue sky, highlighted by a vibrant golden sun.

At first the airplane dipped and swung from side to side until Casey became more familiar with the controls. Soon he had her leveled off and smoothly sailing through the air as if he'd been flying for years. He circled over Castroville and then headed west toward the Pacific Ocean only a mile away. They flew over a wide, white sandy beach, lapped by green waves rolling in from the sea. The water and sky blended into vibrant blue as radiant as a vast sapphire. A flock of seagulls appeared and flew alongside Vin Fiz, staring curiously through beady eyes at the strange man-made machine that flew in their sky. Floopy barked at them, but they could hardly hear him over the noise of the engine and thump of the propellers. Unable to identify the odd bird in their midst, they winged away and dove toward the water in search of a meal.