STORY SO FAR: It’s 1972. Ed Goddard is about to steal money from an airplane and make his escape by parachuting away. On the ground, watching the sky, is Jamie Peters.

CHAPTER FIVE

Jumping into the Sky/Watching the Sky



Jamie was watching television. The Olympics were about to open in Munich, Germany. There was still talk about the Apollo astronauts who had landed on the moon in April. And, as always, there was the Vietnam War. On the screen was a picture of a soldier, rifle in hand, standing before a squatting Viet Cong soldier. Jamie stared at it, but he was thinking mostly about Gillian. He wished she hadn’t come spying, like he was some weirdo. It made him feel bad.

Jamie knew that nobodynot even Grandmabelieved what he saw. But so what? What he saw was his own: better than any television show, better than the stories his parents read to him.

Bored and restless, Jamie searched for his grandma. She usually had ideas about what he could do. He found her on the living room couch, sound asleep. The book she had been reading was on the floor.

Wondering where his grandpa was, Jamie went out onto the porch. He took a quick glance at the sky, saw it was clouding up, and decided to take a walk before it rained. Jamie knew the rule: tell Grandma or Grandpa where he was going. But Grandpa wasn’t home, and Grandma was asleep–and leaving a note was difficult for Jamie. Anyway, he told himself, I’ll be back in time for dinner.

Jamie headed for his regular place, his hill. Then he remembered Gillian. Though her spying had spoiled it somewhat, it was still the best place. He’d just make sure beforehand that she wasn’t around.

He crossed over the back creek and began climbing a big rock that was high enough for him to scan the surrounding countryside. At the top he looked about in all directions. No one was in sight. That clinched it: Jamie headed for his favorite hill.

Gillian, who had come back to watch Jamie just as she had planned, was lying down in the tall grass at the far end of the old orchard. She knew it wasn’t nice to spy on him, so, feeling a little ashamed of herself, she hadn’t told anyone where she was going. But ever since Gillian had seen Jamie cloud watching, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him.

She remembered a teacher talking about daydreaming kids being in Cloudcuckooland. So she didn’t think Jamie was a mental case, like her brother said. But when she’d asked her mother about Jamie the night before, all she could say was that Mrs. Thornton had talked about this thing called dyslexia. Her mother didn’t exactly know what it was, nor could she spell it, so Gillian couldn’t check the dictionary.

What Gillian cared about was that Jamie knew how to do something she didn’t, and he wouldn’t share it with her. City kid! she told herself. She was going to find out what it was and how to do it.

The minute Jamie climbed the rock, Gillian saw him. She could tell by the way he moved that he was searching for something. Probably me, she told herself. The thought made her giggle.

As he headed down the rock, Gillian got up but kept low as she ran back toward the old stone wall she had hidden behind before. This time she was determined not to make a fool of herself.





Jamie plodded up the hill. A breeze ruffled his hair, making the August heat lighter. Clouds were piling up quickly to the north. It looked like a big stormbut Jamie loved storms. They had the most exciting clouds to watch. In the contrasting dark against light, you could see anything.

Reaching the hilltop, Jamie stopped, double-checked to be sure no one was about, then looked hard at the stone wall, the one where Gillian had been. He saw no one.

Setting his feet a little apart, Jamie tilted his head back. Eyes wide open, arms widepretending he was flyinghe stared into the sky and waited to see what would appear.

The Winthrop droned on at fifteen thousand feet, with the pilots in the cockpit behind the closed door. Goddard pulled out his suitcase from under his seat and removed the parachute. Working quickly, he stepped into the harness and drew the straps tightly, first through his legs, then around his shoulders. He checked the security points three times.

Quietly leaving his seat, he went to the back of the plane, drew out a key ring, found the right key, unlocked the luggage door, and swung it open. The money bagwith its million dollarslay right there. Goddard pulled it out. He closed the door, locked it, then broke the key off inside the lock with a quick twist of his hand. That will give me that much more time, he told himself.

Bag in one hand, Goddard stepped toward the door. The handle, painted red, stuck upright. Red letters warned: DO NOT TOUCH HANDLE WHILE IN FLIGHT.

He gripped the handle and twisted it. It would not move. Shifting his feet, he gave another yank, throwing all his weight into the twist. As the door moved slightly out, he could feel the sudden change of pressure in the cabin.

Ed kicked the door. It burst out, dropping away. Nothing but the sky was in front of him. In haste now, he gripped the bag tightly in one hand, clutched the parachute release in the otherand dove out of the plane and into the sky.



(To be continued.)