The Kite Runner (#1, Pastime Series)

Balloons flying
Children sighing
What a day to go kite flying
Breeze is cool
Away from school
Cowboys fighting out a duel
Time seems to stand quite still
In a child's world it always will
-Moody Blues

I read a short story a few years ago by W Somerset Maugham. It was about a boy who went to the park each Sunday and flew kites with his parents. He got to be pretty good. It became such an obsession that when he grew up and married, it interfered with his marital relationship. I recently read The Kite Runner. That was about a boy who was so obsessed with flying kites that he sacrificed his dignity and integrity to win a kite running contest. I am not that obsessed with kite flying. Thank heavens. In fact, it’s something that I do very casually. I only write about it first in my pastime series because it’s been on my mind recently. What can I say? I have spring fever.

ElGirlo and I bought a really cool kite several years ago. It has no frame. I can just roll it up and put it in my pocket. And it flies pretty well. The thing I love most about flying it is seeing ElBoyo and ElKiddo get so excited as it becomes just a dot in the sky. Once, we even saw an airplane fly below the kite. That’s fun. What’s not fun is reeling the kite in. That’s work. I found a solution.

I rigged up a spool holder on my cordless drill. It does most of the work for me. It reels that kite in pretty fast. That’s important when you have the kind of wind we have here in Idaho. It lifts you up, and never lets you down. We had such a wind 2 years ago when ElGirlo was expecting ElKiddo. ElBoyo and I dropped ElGirlo off at the ObGyn, and then went to the nearby park to catch a breeze. The idea was for ElGirlo to call us when she was done. I let the kite out halfway to heaven, tied it to a post, and ElBoyo and I played together.

Pretty soon, we saw ElGirlo coming our way. Walking. She was approaching her due date, so I became a bit nervous and started reeling the kite in. It took forever! The wind was ElStrongo! When ElGirlo approached, she told us that the doctor said she could have the baby any minute. She had tried to call, but my dumb cell phone didn’t ring. So, she decided to walk. It might help her go into labor, anyway. It did.

I couldn’t reel that kite in fast enough! Thank the winds of fortune the labor was a false alarm. That’s the day I invented the drill spool.

I noticed this week in the store that we are selling an 8 foot kite. Looks wicked bad. I wonder how high it will go before it becomes a dot in the sky?