Flight

They stuffed Ralph back onto an airplane just before Thanksgiving. This time, there was no Captain with him and his parents met him at the airport. They both seemed happy to see him although it was tough to tell sometimes with them. For his part, Ralph lied about the great time he had and gave them the cover story the air force officers had him memorize with threats of jail time if he ever told the truth.

Inwardly, Ralph was very depressed, Home was about the last place he wanted to be. He was still stuck in a hick town going nowhere and he had blown his one good opportunity to leave, except that his one good opportunity had turned out to be not so good. He did not know what to do at all.

When he got back, it was as if nothing had changed. Only gone a couple of months, it seemed as if no one had really noticed that he had been gone and no one barely noticed his return. There was one major change though. After Ralph left, Lee decided to pick on someone else only this time, he wasn't so lucky. Kevin Hyatt got so mad at Lee one afternoon that he dared Lee to hit him and when he did, Kevin responded with a right hook to Lee's jaw that sent him to the hospital just before Ralph's return. "Taking his meals through a straw," explained someone. "Expelled from the school," said another.

There was also another consolation. The tutoring apparently paid off. His teachers were pleasantly surprised that he was now getting A's and B's and he appeared to be working harder at his studies and in fact, he was.

That spring, Ralph even applied to a couple of Universities, not that his parents could really afford it but State wasn't too far away and much to everyone's surprise, he was accepted and even managed a partial scholarship.

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon and Ralph went out for a walk through the neighborhood. He was graduating soon with a still uncertain future and no idea what to do. He was still a bit depressed and a bit lonely.

As he walked, he noticed Susan attempting to climb a very large, tall tree in front of her house and he wasn't sure why but he decided to see what was going on.

"Mister Ruggles has been up there for three days now," she explained as she attempted to inch her way carefully up the tree without success. "He's my cat," she pointed up into the higher branches. "I think he's afraid to come down."

"Have you called the fire department?"

"Yes, but they said they don't do those types of things any more."

"Well, I'm not sure it's safe for you to climb like this. I think if you can find a ladder, you might be able to make it up to that branch up there," he said pointing about ten feet up. "I think my father has a ladder that might reach." Oh no, he was about to do it. He promised himself that he would never again fly. How would he get away with it? The ladder would only take him so far.

"Would you? That would be fantastic. He really is a sweet cat. I have no idea what got into him, no idea at all. I really am afraid of heights you know."

"Not me," he smiled. "Went sky diving at the science camp and made a couple of dives. Not afraid of heights at all. Let me go get the ladder."

He knew right where it was and carried it the three blocks back and set it up against the tree. It was still too short.

"I think Mister Jackson has a longer one," she explained. "Why don't I go see if he can help us?"

"Good idea and I'll see if I can't get up there on my own."

"Be careful, Ralph. I don't want you to get hurt."

Ralph started up the tree and looked around. It looked as if no one could see him. He let go of the tree and fell ever so slightly then floated up the tree. "Hello there Mister Ruggles," he smiled at the cat. He reached out and touched the strange cat who purred as he gently picked him up and the two of them ever so slowly descended to the ground.

"Oh my God, Ralph" Susan screamed. "I saw you! What happened? What happened, Ralph?"

"I climbed up the tree and rescued your cat who was making his way down, that's all, nothing more."

"But Ralph, I saw you. I saw you fly!"

"No. You didn't see me fly. People can't fly except in comic books and on TV. People can't fly and I didn't fly."

Susan took her cat and held it. "I know what I saw, even if I didn't and thank you, thank you very much for saving Mister Ruggles. Would you like to come inside and have a soda? It's the least I can do for you."

"OK but let me put the ladder back first. I don't want my father to get mad at me or anything."

"Promise you'll come right back."

"I will," he smiled and wondered if he was lying again. He put the ladder back right where he had found it and wondered if he shouldn't just ignore her. Damn, but his secret would be out again. How could he have been so stupid? Yet, it had felt really wonderful to fly again, if even for only a minute or two. Then again, he realized he had told so many lies and broken so many promises to so many people that it had to stop some time and now was as good as any. So, he walked and half ran back to her house and knocked on the door and realized that was where he wanted to be just then.

In the kitchen, with ice cold sodas in hand and Mister Ruggles happily purring on Susan's lap, she fidgeted with her eye glasses for a moment and then said, "Lee Flick told everyone that you could fly, you know. No one believed him, no one at all. He was the laughingstock of the entire school and that's probably what got him mad enough to hit Kevin. Frankly, he deserved what he got if you ask me. I never liked him and I never understood why he picked on you the way he did."

"I never understood why either," he admitted.

"Lee was also thoroughly mad when we heard you were going to the science camp. He said it was so unfair. He said that you were the UFO and had dropped the tractor on the police car and now instead of being put in jail, you were being rewarded. He just complained that it was so unfair."

"Life really isn't very fair at all," he agreed and wondered and was afraid of where the conversation was going.

"You can fly, can't you?"

"Susan, I like you."

"I like you too, Ralph, really I do."

"But I can't tell you the truth, either. It's all very classified by the Air Force. I can go to jail for a very long, long time and so can you and I certainly don't want that for you." He paused. "But I don't and won't lie to you either and believe me I've told so many over the last couple of years that it's just amazing how many I've told and gotten away with. Just amazing. I've lied to just about everyone, my parents, my teachers, my friends, the police and the Air Force. That's why I came home early. I was supposed to stay away for a lot longer but I got tired of being a freak and so I lied again. No more." He really wanted to break down and cry.

"I promise, Ralph, I promise you I will never tell anyone what I saw. I just wish you could tell me the truth. You know what the Bible says, don't you? 'The truth will set you free.'"

"Trust me on this one, it will only send you to jail and cause you more problems than you can begin to imagine."

"Thank you for not lying to me," she smiled and reached out and touched his hand as the cat jumped from her lap and onto his. "Mister Ruggles is thanking you for saving him and so am I."

Ralph looked at the cat, his face an inch or two away and smiled and said, "no more tree climbing for you. I really don't think I can get way with rescuing you again."

Suddenly, Susan started laughing. "This is almost too funny in away."

"Oh?"

"You do realize that Lee hardly ever told the truth? He is nothing but a chronic liar and yet most people think he's the greatest. I never did like him though, always saw right through him but the one time he does tell the truth, no one believes him and to top it all off, he gets into trouble because of it. You told the truth about him bullying you and hardly anyone ever believed you, well I did, but when you started lying, people believed you. How's that for strange?"

"You know, that is kind of funny now that I think about it," and for once, he started to both laugh and cry as he sat there in the kitchen with Susan and her cat.

"It's OK, Ralph, really it is. I will never tell anyone, I promise."

After a few moments in the quiet, they heard the front door open and in walked Susan's mom.

"He helped get Mister Ruggles down from the tree," she explained.

"Thank you, Ralph, thank you very much. I was wondering what he was doing in your lap. He's very particular about who he likes. Did I hear you got a partial scholarship to state?"

"Yes, I did," he admitted politely.

"Well, Susan did you tell him?"

"No, I haven't yet," she admitted. "I don't like to brag."

"Well I'm proud and entitled to brag a bit I guess. That's part of being a mother. Susan also got accepted and she's got a full scholarship. I really hope that doesn't bother you but I am just so proud of her. Her father and I just couldn't afford it if it wasn't for that."

"Neither could mine," he agreed. He looked at Susan. "You should have said something sooner."

"It's not who I am," she smiled "or who I want to be."

"Have you thought about a major yet, Ralph?"

"I think I want to try and be a veterinarian," said Susan. "How about you?"

"Not sure. Haven't given it too much thought yet."

"You should become an aeronautical engineer," and Susan and Ralph both had a mild laugh at that.

"You know," began Susan, "the senior prom is coming up. Are you going?"

"No, it never even occurred to me," he replied and then looked at her and then quickly added, "until now."

"Good, then it's settled. We're going."

"I think that's wonderful," agreed her mother.

What was he getting himself into? One minute he had been out for a walk and now he was going to the prom with this girl he barely knew. It was all a bit much for him and when her mother left them alone again, Susan turned to him and said, "sorry to spring that on you all of a sudden but I really do like you. I always have you know but if you don't want to, I won't be upset, really I won't and I do keep my promises."

"You know, I think I really do want to go out with you," he smiled.

"I know I'm not the prettiest,"

"And I'm not the most handsome,"

"But there's no reason why we can't both go and have a good time and if some one else doesn't like it, that's their problem, not ours. Seriously, don't make other people's problems yours. Be true to yourself, Ralph, that's all."

So, they sat there and talked in the kitchen that warm May Saturday afternoon and found out their likes and dislikes and found they had a lot more in common than either of them had thought. When he left there, it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of him and more than once on the walk back home he had to look down on the ground to see if he was actually touching it and not walking on air, yet his feet were firmly there, just as it should be.

His parents were both shocked and delighted when he told them about Susan and the prom.

"Ralph, going to the prom with Susan?" joked a few of his classmates but others said in response, "why not? If they want to go with each other, so what?"

Ralph had to admit, he had a good time and so did Susan. They continued dating that summer even as Ralph managed to find a summer job bagging groceries part time.

Ralph and Susan did take it slowly after that. They decided they were in no big hurry. There was no overwhelming reason to get married so they waited until after college. It was Ralph who became the veterinarian. Mister Ruggles had grown on him while Susan decided she wanted to teach science. Things moved along quietly and slowly.

"Susan, you need to come in here now!" yelled Ralph from the nursery. She raced from the kitchen into their daughter Alexandra's room. "Look!" he began. "I just took her from the crib and set her down on the bed for a moment to fix the broken leg on the crib and she must have slipped off the bed somehow fallen to the floor."

"Is she OK?" and Susan quickly knelt by the infant's side as the baby started giggling and laughing and Susan saw it. "This is not a trick is it?"

"No, it isn't and I had nothing to do with it, nothing at all. There really is a gap between her and the floor. It would appear that she can fly."