Chapter 11 - Page 152 - Rhasha Goes Flying

   Jim laughed at her, which seemed to make her more comfortable. She could see he wasn’t scared at all. “Don’t be afraid. God will take care of us.”

   Jim taxied onto the dirt road. He spun the tail of the plane so it was lined up with the runway. The plane’s engines roared. When he spoke to Rhasha, he had to shout. “Did you know I was a paratrooper in the army?”

   “What’s a paratrooper?” she yelled back.

   “Well, if you don’t know what a paratrooper is, then you wouldn’t understand if I told you.”

   Rhasha looked puzzled. “Understand what?”

   Jim winked at her. “That I jumped out of airplanes, way up in the sky.” Before Rhasha could say anything, he revved the engines to a scream. The plane shot down the runway to begin Rhasha’s first flight.

   Rhasha was now more scared than ever, but she kept her eyes open. She wanted to see everything. As the plane left the runway, she gasped. “My stomach! It feels strange!”

   Jim flew low over the village so Rhasha could spot their house, but she was too disoriented to look down. It took all she had to maintain her sanity. At first she felt like screaming, but she controlled the urge.

   Jim saw Charlie driving down the highway, so he tipped his wing. Charlie waved back. Jim climbed to five hundred feet and leveled off. He flew straight so Rhasha could get comfortable. She looked down and all fear left her face, replaced by wonder.