The great silver bird flies, its wings flashing in the strong sun! Barely peeling off the runway, it soars upward, then loops and swoops down! The pilot powers up both engines, the silver bird soars up, up… It doesn’t stop! Suddenly it becomes very quiet… No sound is heard, the bird gracefully turns its beak towards the ground and starts to fall… It’s as if it’s dead… The boy standing next to me looks on in awe and exclaims “this is famous, how is it possible”! The sun envelops the plane, the glare in the wings, dazzles the boy, but he can’t take his eyes off the plane… His admiration grows at every figure the pilot draws, he doesn’t even feel the pain in his strongly arched neck… “It’s a bell”, whispers the boy… The pilot controls the machine, he doesn’t give it peace, he tames it as if he were taming a wild mustang… The sky is blue, the plane turns with the cockpit to the ground… Then whoops and it’s overhead, it shoots towards the mountain, makes a turn and descends low, low… It straightens slightly, the speed is almost zero, it looks like a Cobra that will soon attack… How!? The boy is dumbfounded… His admiration is complete… I will remember this for the rest of my life, he whispers!
After a mad heavenly dash, the shiny silver bird finds the runway… He taxis down it and passes the boy… He timidly waves his hand to the pilot, who waves back warmly!
– Come, let’s go and greet the General, I say, and the boy with his cheeks flushed with excitement and the sun says, how are you going to talk to him, I don’t even dare go near him, he’s great! Yes, but a great man too, I say! A great pilot! A great commander!
As a memento, the boy takes a picture with the pilot, and the pilot asks him, well, are we going to make you a pilot? Out of admiration, the boy is speechless… He can’t utter a word! He sits and just enjoys this wonderful moment that he wants to keep in his heart forever!
The general laughs, and a man on the side asks the child, are your hands shaking? Then the general turns around and says, I don’t know about him, but mine sure do!
There are moments shared with children that leave a lasting mark, change direction, give aspirations and provoke them to dream…