The Arrow That Would Not Miss

by Matt Musson

  I could not help but think about Roc huddled up in his Teepee. Do Teepee’s keep out the rain? I guess they are bound to or the Native Americans would have come up with some other type of shelter.

  Finally, on Friday the day broke clear and sunny. The sky was an incredible shade of autumn blue. Somehow we all knew that this was the day Gull-ible would make his final flight and we could get out of the Thunderbird business forever.

  I suppose we should have found a new launch site for the finale. But, somehow we were drawn back up to Buckner’s Knob. And, this time the entire club was together. We did not leave anyone behind this trip.

  Once again we loaded up the golf cart and drove out to where the road stopped. Then we hiked up the mountain to the mine. Like clockwork, we assembled the big glider and went through our preflight checks.

  As the sun trailed down to the horizon, we were ready to go.

  Just like before, we came running out of the tunnel along the tracks. Just like before, Gull-ible sailed off the cliff and across the valley. But, that’s when things started to go terribly wrong.

  We agreed on one quick circle and then home, but suddenly Gull-ible hit a powerful updraft that sent the glider soaring higher and higher. Bogdon struggled to regain control and it looked like he was making progress. But, about that time a giant black cloud came blowing over the mountain behind us. The wind hit Gull-ible and he blew up higher than he had ever been. With all the turbulence, we were afraid the glider was going to tear itself apart.

  At one point, Gull-ible disappeared into the big rain cloud that was moving in above us. Suddenly, CRASH. Thunder nearly deafened us, and it echoed across the valley.

  The wind was whipping across what now seemed like a pretty small perch up there on the Knob. So far, we had not seen any lightning, but the weather was still deteriorating. We scanned the edges of the cloud trying to locate the glider. There was another CRASH of thunder and we finally spotted the big bird riding the currents at the very top.

  “There he is,” I shouted above the wind. “He’s at twelve o’clock high!”

  “No!” Thor countered. “He’s at ten o’clock medium.”

  We did a double take. There were two giant black birds above us!

  “Let’s see which one is ours,” Bogdon shouted.

  He put Gull-ible into a steep dive. The bird above us – the one at medium altitude dove. That one was Gull-ible. We had no idea what was above him.

  Our big bird sailed out from the cloud and into the clear skies west of the mountain. But, he was not flying alone for long.

  The creature on top of the cloud suddenly collapsed its wings and dove like a Falcon. It looked for a minute like it was attacking Gull-ible, when suddenly its wings opened up in a flair. The newcomer quick rolled and pulled into position behind our aircraft.

  “Bring it home Bog,” Charlie yelled above the wind. “I don’t like the looks of this.”

  Bogdon was in the process of circling to the right – when suddenly another giant bird darted out of the clouds. This second bird made a head on pass at Gull-ible and his trailer, while Bog struggled to keep the glider steady.

  This newcomer closed the formation at an incredible speed, passed overhead and went into a zoom climb shooting strait up. It slowed at the top of the climb and looped over in a hammerhead stall.

  We stared in amazement as the second Thunderbird slipped in from above and took up a position behind Gull-ible, on the opposite side from the first stranger.

  Bogdon Peabody had had enough of this craziness. He firewalled the glider and quickly emptied the gas jets, but by that time our creation was rocketing toward the knob. Gull-ible streaked forward and despite Bogdon’s best efforts the glider smashed hard into the ground in front of us.

  The two trailing thunderbirds zoomed in right behind the glider, whipped close overhead and shot up the mountain. Slicing through the wind, they passed directly in front of our position, nearly colliding with the exposed cliff face. But, within seconds they hurtled over the top of Buckner’s Knob.

  Once above the mountain, the two creatures separated and began gliding in large loops. For several minutes they circled each other in an intricate dance across the heavens.

  Toby’s voice raised above the wind, “They’re courting!” he shouted.

  Slowly the circles they sailed got smaller and smaller. Suddenly, the giant birds finished with an incredibly graceful turn and were flying side by side.

  The black clouds back dropped the scene as the last pointed rays of the setting sun bathed the Thunderbirds in golden light. They made one final circle above the valley and hesitated in a stall right above Buckner’s Knob. Then, without even flapping their wings, an air current filled their feathers.

  The creatures twirled around and headed south. At an elevation where they were barely visible, the thunderbirds floated straight across the valley and directly over Granite Falls. Reflecting the last of the high altitude sunlight, they shimmered like giant golden eagles.

  **************

  Back on the knob, we just stood in silent awe. I think we all realized who our visitors really were and what was taking place.

  Watching our two friends sailing off to start their new life together made us happy. But, we were also sad, seeing them float away into the night sky. A part of me hoped they would circle around once more and come back. But, they never did. They just sailed off into the night.

  We stood there like statues, until they disappeared. And, then for some reason, we just kept standing, watching an empty sky. We did not want it to be over.

  Finally, Charlie broke the spell. “They’re gone,” he said. “And, we better pack up and get out, too. Before someone catches us up here.”

  We knew Charlie was right, so we began half-heartedly gathering up our stuff. Gull-ible was in pieces all around us. We started picking up the splintered sections and made a pile.

  Suddenly, Thor broke the melancholy silence. ”Hey Guys! Look at this!”

  We gathered around as our friend dragged over what was left of the forward fuselage. Something was hanging from the soda bottle head. Our mouths dropped wide open when we realized it was Roc’s leather tie with the Thunderbird talisman dangling below.

  After that shocker, we did not speak at all as we hiked down the mountain. When we reached the bottom, we silently loaded up our golf cart and headed back to town. When we got to the bat cave, our super secret unit at Martin Stoney’s U-Store-it, we piled what was left of Gull-ible in the back corner. Charlie worked the combination on our big steel floor safe and put the Thunderbird necklace carefully inside.

  And finally, we all went home to bed. But I don’t think anybody slept much that night.

  ************

  Chapter Twenty – Aftermath (Before Science)

  The next day was Saturday. And, it was probably nine-thirty in the morning when we finally met up at the primary club house. There we discovered one final surprise all rolled up and leaning against the great white oak. A note pinned to the side said ‘For the Rangers’.

  And, that is how Company A acquired our genuine hand sewn buffalo hide Teepee.

  As the days passed, the crowds in town got smaller and smaller. I think everyone realized the Thunderbirds were gone. Within a week the multitude was gone, as well.

  So, we gradually returned to normal and got back to the business of being regular seventh grade boys.

  Except… for months afterward, every time we heard a sound that might be thunder – we stopped whatever we were doing and stared up toward Buckner’s Knob. Unfortunately, we never spotted anything but the mountain rising in the distance.

  After all, the thunderbirds had flown south for the winter. We knew in our hearts they were someplace warm, cheerfully starting their lives together. And, although we missed them terribly, we wished them all the happiness in the world.

  However we found
comfort in one thought. Maybe they are not gone forever. Maybe one day they will return to our little town and we will meet again at Memorial Point. Then, we can pow wow around the campfire, eat way too many hot dogs and hear more stories about Wakinyan’s adventures among the human beings.

  Yes, maybe someday our friends will return to Granite Falls.

  Who knows? Maybe even… next spring.

  ************

  Chapter Twenty-One – Science Fair Ahead!

  With the Thunderbirds gone, we just naturally turned our attention toward the fall holidays.

  Halloween has always been a particularly favorite day of mine. I mean how can you go wrong with a celebration where you knock on doors and people practically throw chocolate at you? Plus, with friends like Bogdon Peabody and Toby Trundle, you can engineer all kinds of virtual carnage and butchery.

  Last year they fixed me up with a blood dripping Zombie hand that fit over my real one. And, when I pulled a decaying forefinger and used it to pick my nose, my little sister totally freaked!

  Who doesn't love Halloween?

  However, just after Halloween the club swings in to really high gear as the Rangers prepare for the biggest event of autumn. Of course I am referring to the third Thursday in November and the annual Caldwell County Science Fair Competition.

  There are several fierce educational rivalries in our great country. Stanford/MIT, Harvard/Yale and USC/UCLA all come to mind. But, that is just good natured ribbing compared to the all out war between the Granite Falls Blue Devils and their hated arch rivals, the Lenoir Wildcats. And, of course the Caldwell County Science Fair winner always returns home with that icon of triumph and conquest: the coveted ‘Old Oaken Slide Rule'.

  The permanent spot for ‘the Rule’ is in the Science Trophy Case in the main foyer at Granite Falls Middle. However, that spot had remained empty for ten excruciating years as the result of an unfortunate Wildcat lucky streak. That dry spell led the Granite Falls Gazette to publish editorials bemoaning our losses and wondering if great science fair competitors were a thing of the past in our little town. Had the new millennium ushered in an era where Granite Falls would sink to the level of second class scientific power?

  Finally last year after enduring almost universal criticism since Y2K, the Science Teachers of Granite Falls Middle unleashed their ultimate weapon at the Caldwell County competition. With a ‘no prisoners' go for broke attitude, the desperate educators dropped the Bogdon Peabody bomb. The sixth grader's homemade Wilson Chamber (also known as a Cloud Chamber) used super-cooled, supersaturated water vapor in a sealed atmosphere to detect particles of ionizing radiation.

  Bogdon's entry devastated the opposition and like a coordinated scientific Blitzkrieg, Toby Trundle and Charlie Sinclair placed second and third overall. Company A, representing Granite Falls Middle, swept the competition and reestablished the Blue Devils as the Catawba Valley's premier science power.

  The Granite Falls Gazette reused the exact same print type they first used on VJ day 1945 and began their next issue with the entire above the fold headline ‘WE WIN!'

  However, insiders realized there was a certain hollowness to Bogdon's victory. Lenoir Middle School's premier science scholar, Stuart Sonoma, missed last year's competition as a result of a lingering case of mononucleosis (the dreaded kissing disease).

  Bogdon and Stuart had been contending at the county level since second grade when Bog's homemade EKG machine took second to Stuart's kitchen based DNA extractor. Every year since, like a ping pong ball, first place bounced back and forth between the two competitors. Having now won the Stuart-less sixth grade competition, Bogdon was under tremendous pressure to turn back Stuart's seventh grade challenge and bring ‘the Rule' home for the second year in a row.

  Since the day after last year's stunning victory, Bogdon has been working and planning for this year's competition. He has become almost obsessed with engineering the perfect 7th grade science project. Of course, he has to live within the confines of not having access to either weapons grade plutonium or NASA's Supercomputers. So, this year Bogdon had chosen to work with superconductors in a bath of ultra cold liquid nitrogen.

  Of course Bogdon does not get to have all the fun himself. Every Ranger in the club has picked out a science fair project strong enough to make a run at third place. Toby is setting up an apparatus to measure the electric charge of a single atom. Thor is building a magnetic heat engine that demonstrates the Curie effect. Charlie has a pendulum that detects the rotation of the Earth. And, Shad and Freddie have built a Trebuchet (a type of catapult) out of PVC pipe that launches golf balls.

  I decided to take the electric generator I built for last year's contest and add wind turbine blades. That way I have a wind generator that takes advantage of all the good press that green energy solutions are getting these days. And, all the upgrade took was about an hour and a bunch of tongue depressors. And better still, I am competing in the technology category.

  For you science fair novices, we compete in four categories: Biological Science, Earth/Environmental Science, Physical Science, and Technology. Biological Science always has the most entries. Never enter the Biological Science category unless your biology teacher forces you to!

  Technology always has the fewest entries. I've seen competitions where there were 100 Biological Science entries and 4 Technology entries. That's why I compete in the Technology category. And, if you can beat a hovercraft made out of plastic sheeting and an old window fan, you are pretty much in the driver's seat in this group.

  So the Rangers were set. We had all three returning Science Fair Champions with some highly competitive projects. In addition, Thor, Freddie, Shad and I were ready to jump in with their own experiments if an opening presented itself.

  But, the question on everybody's mind was ‘what will Stuart Sonoma do?'

  As October progressed, bits of information began filtering through the school district that gave us some clues on Stuart's focus. Band members attending a competition at Lenoir Middle School reported seeing ‘smoking milk cans' which were undoubtedly Dewar's containers of ultra cold liquid gases. Bogdon was using Dewar's containers of liquid Nitrogen for his own superconductor experiments.

  Then, in early November, we got our clearest indication. One of our contacts at the Granite Falls Public Library discovered an interlibrary loan request from Lenoir Middle School. The State University was sending over manuscripts on Quantum Physics and Theoretical Computation.

  Bogdon analyzed the situation for us in our regular club meeting for the first week in November.

  “It does not take much to put two and two together. Super cold temperatures + Quantum Physics + Theoretical Computation equals the Answer. In this case the answer is as plain as the nose on your face. Stuart Sonoma is building a Quantum Computer!”

  Bogdon gave us a little background on exactly what that meant.

  “A Quantum Computer stores data using individual atoms. Some atomic level characteristic is chosen to represent the figures 0 or 1 - called a Quantum bit (or Qubit). A Quantum Computer would be very small and store almost unimaginable amounts of data. Realistically speaking, Stuart's computer will not be a functional calculator. It will probably consist of a single atom storing a single Qubit of data. Still, at the seventh grade level, this is an impressive achievement.”

  In response to this disturbing analysis, Bogdon made a fateful decision. His original plan was to create a Yttrium – Barium – Copper alloy disc that he could dunk in liquid nitrogen. When placed over a magnet, the super-conductive disc would levitate – demonstrating the Meissner Effect where an object's magnetic field decays to nothing as it achieves superconductivity.

  Bogdon was now having second thoughts about his project. So, at the last minute he decided to go in completely different direction. Only time would tell if his decision was the correct one.

  ************

  Chapter Twenty-Two – Science Fair Outlaws />
  Finally, the big day arrived. It was the third Thursday in November, and we loaded up our experiments into Charlie's Mom's Suburban and the entire club traveled up to Hudson Middle School which lies halfway between Granite Falls and Lenoir.

  This year's contest would be held at Hudson, which was a newer middle school here in the county. I'm sure that as schools go Hudson is okay and everything. Someday Hudson is likely to be a major competitor. But, it's a new school, and we don't have the history between us that we have with Lenoir. Hudson is kind of like Switzerland. The other schools don't really hate it yet. It's still kind of neutral.

  No one spoke during the trip over. We were too nervous. We were too serious. We knew that the hopes and prayers of Granite Falls rested upon our shoulders. For us every science fair is a military campaign - to be won at all costs or risk the reputation of the entire town.

  When Charlie's Mom pulled up out front, we hopped out of the big SUV like a well oiled machine. It was game time, and we put on our game faces. We unloaded our equipment and headed for the cafeteria and whatever fate had in store.

  We burst through cafeteria doors like the returning champions that we were. I kind of felt like the James gang riding into town. We were science fair outlaws, ready to take ‘The Rule’ home by whatever means necessary, even if it meant running Stuart Sonoma out of town on a rail!

  Wandering up to the registration table, we began the check in process. Each of us was issued an identification number and given instructions on which section of the cafeteria to set up in.

  We picked up our experiments and display boards and were just leaving the registration area when we were hailed by a voice from behind. It took me by surprise and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

  “Hello… Bogdon.”

  The words rang from Stuart's mouth like the clang of church bell. As they faded away, the room was overly quiet.

  Trying his best to appear calm and unaffected, Bog turned around and met Stuart eye to eye. After pausing to look her up and down, Bog replied simply.

  “Hi, Stuart.”